The towering imperial court, its guards densely arrayed.

On the towering palace wall, a dark figure leaped into the court.

Like a stone dropped into a calm lake, it soon sent out huge ripples.

“Who comes there?!”

The court guards surged like a tide. The black-clad army, in an instant, surrounded the boy in black.

Gu Changqing stood proudly atop the imperial city, looking down at the awe-inspiring army below.

There was little expression on his face—only a pair of eyes, dark and terrifying.

“Get out of the way!”

With one step he shattered the majestic gate. His figure, like an arrow, shot into the inner palace.

Each emanated a terrifying aura, as if they could crush half the sky.

“A boy who’s merely at Palace Tempering? How dare you offend the royal family like this.”

The elder in charge shouted in a severe tone, “Get out!!”

“Twelve Great Power cultivators!!”

Outside the mirror, the onlookers’ pupils contracted slightly.

They had not expected that a mortal nation—even with the backing of the Jade Void Palace—could possess such depth.

“The young Heavenly Emperor is now only at the Palace Tempering realm. There’s a world of difference between him and Great Power cultivators. How did he survive twelve of them?”

No one thought the boy in the mirror would back down.

From the moment he decided to enter the imperial court, everyone saw in him a resolve that didn’t count the cost.

So how did he survive?

“I imagine it must have been an extremely brutal bloodbath. Perhaps his dao foundation was destroyed at that moment,” a cultivator speculated.

Back in the mirror, Gu Changqing showed little emotion. Only a calm, plain sentence came out of his mouth, “Those who block me shall die.”

The twelve Great Power cultivators spoke no more and launched a fierce attack.

What is the Great Power realm?

As the name implies, each move links heaven and earth. A lift of a hand or a step can pluck stars and seize moons!

Utterly formidable!

However, despite facing the combined crushing assault of twelve Great Power cultivators, his response was unusually nonchalant.

His Dao Palace’s power condensed at his fingertip and was pushed out.

The twelve Great Power beings—each a realm above him—were killed in a single move!

This scene filled the cultivators watching with shock.

Was this even human?!!

“Although an Immortal Root is extraordinary and grants the Heavenly Emperor the qualification to fight across realms, for it to be done so casually is simply unbelievable!”

Countless cultivators gaped in disbelief!

If a same-realm foe were killed in an instant, they wouldn’t be surprised.

But these were Great Power cultivators—and twelve of them too!!

Why!! How?!!!

“I’m really shocked. The Heavenly Emperor’s combat power in his childhood years was already terrifying to this degree!”

Everyone felt a weight in their hearts.

Since the Heavenly Emperor stepped into the Great Emperor realm, he looked down on all beings and scorned heaven and earth. Even Great Emperor-level powers could only look up at his back.

He was an insurmountable mountain in the hearts of all cultivators on Beixuan Continent!

They thought this was already unbelievable, yet unexpectedly, the young Heavenly Emperor in his childhood was already this extraordinary.

The boy in the mirror crushed his foes in an utterly unreasonable fashion.

It made everyone suddenly realize, as if this boy had, without anyone noticing, already overlapped with the Heavenly Emperor who once suppressed ages and dominated all realms.

Within the splendid palace, the young Heavenly Emperor gazed at the throne, where the Zhao emperor already sat, his authoritative position long gone from fright.

“Return my sister!”

“Sir, I really haven’t seen your sister! I swear!!!”

“The city was in chaos, corpses everywhere—do you dare say it’s unrelated to you?!”

“Sir, this isn’t my doing—it’s Jade Void Palace. Every ten years the sect master orders people to go into the city to take boys and girls, in order to refine their essence-blood and extend their own lifespans.”

“Take me there!”

Gu Changqing’s expression was terrifyingly dark as he seized the Zhao emperor.

At only eight years old, he lifted the Zhao emperor as if lifting a chick.

“Using boys and girls to refine essence-blood to increase lifespan?”

“In the ancient times, such demonic techniques existed in the world?”

Outside the mirror, a cultivator commented in astonishment.

Cultivators pursue only one goal: immortality.

But there was an alternative demonic technique that could extend life and increase lifespan.

That was the use of children’s blood.

Children’s blood was the most vigorous essence in heaven and earth. Consuming it and refining essence-blood could naturally extend lifespan.

But such an act grievously offended the natural order.

Once one cultivates this demonic art, it would surely bring disaster. To gain one year of life might require the blood of hundreds of children.

In the present age, only immensely powerful demons would dare do such things.

Jiang Minghuang said calmly, “Not only did it exist, it was common. In ancient times, many whose cultivation had no hope and whose lifespans were ending would choose this method.”

“Until the Heavenly Emperor later ascended and humanity gained importance, only then did such techniques gradually vanish from the world.”

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

The Heavenly Emperor was brutal and the world knew his cruelty, but it seemed the Heavenly Emperor had done many good deeds for mortals.

Even though all his present sufferings were caused by mortals.

“Jade Void Palace is a sect that has kept the Zhao nation standing in the mortal world for thousands of years. Its foundation must be terrifyingly deep.”

“Did the Heavenly Emperor really dare to go to them?” someone suddenly spoke.

It chilled everyone’s hearts. At that moment all eyes once more converged on that boy.

Under the guidance of the Zhao emperor, Gu Changqing arrived at a famous immortal mountain sect.

At the foot of the mountain, the mountain-guarding cultivators sat around a bonfire, roasting beast meat.

But the pile of blood-stained leopard pelts was particularly conspicuous.

The Young Heavenly Emperor stared at the pelts. His body seemed to tremble slightly.

He raised his hand and summoned a mountain-guard disciple.

“Where is my sister!!”

Anyone could hear the boundless panic contained in those words.

The mountain-guard disciple was filled with terror and did not dare answer.

He only turned his gaze toward the cliff.

Gu Changqing hurried to the cliff and looked down: there were dense piles of children’s corpses.

Among that mountain of piled corpses, Gu Youwei’s small body was glaringly among them!