Outside the mirror.

The crowd listened to the young Heavenly Emperor’s murmurs in the image and inexplicably felt a surge of shock.

Even though the Heavenly Emperor was young now, he already bore the shadow of the later Heavenly Emperor in his features.

But from this moment on, people clearly felt that this youth seemed to overlap with that once-domineering, peerless Heavenly Emperor of old.

“With the sword in my hand I cut down injustice, with the weapon in my hand I level inequity. Even if the whole world stands as my enemy, I will cut them down with a single sword!”

“The Heavenly Emperor’s dominance was overbearing and oppressive to all life. Who would have thought that in his teens the Heavenly Emperor had already erected such an invincible heart?”

The crowd sighed with some emotion.

To set up an invincible heart was actually not hard. The difficulty was to keep walking that path.

Because this was bound to be an extremely extreme path. If one day the heart yielded, the Dao-heart would shatter.

With his sword heart clarified, Gu Changqing began to cultivate day and night without rest.

He stayed in the loft all day, sleepless and without pause.

Immersed in his own sword dao, he found it hard to extricate himself.

Teenage years were usually one’s most restless age, yet the figure sitting cross-legged in the loft would often sit for months at a time.

He had a strong will.

Although he had been allowed into the sect by the Sword Saint and had the name of master and disciple, he always felt he owed the old man greatly for being led in, so he never disturbed him.

After all, being allowed to cultivate in this loft was already enough for him.

He would also encounter cultivation confusions, but perhaps because he truly was a sword dao genius, after spending some time on it he could always comprehend them.

Just like that, a year passed.

It wasn’t until this day that Gu Changqing saw his master for the second time.

It was also this day that he left the loft, answering his master’s summons to go observe his fellow disciples’ debate.

The crowd looked at the young Heavenly Emperor now, who had grown so emaciated over the year he was hardly recognizable.

Their gazes were slightly moved.

“The Heavenly Emperor was perhaps too harsh on himself. Maybe a large part of why he could become Heavenly Emperor was because of this attitude toward cultivation,” a cultivator murmured softly in admiration, and there was even some jealousy in his eyes.

In this world, people who work hard have never been lacking, but the most terrifying thing was that this person, clearly a peerless prodigy, cultivated more desperately than anyone else.

Back when Gu Changqing first stepped into cultivation, he was already this hardworking.

At that time, it was understandable—after all, he needed to survive.

But now, having joined the sect and with a master who favored him and accepted him as a personal disciple, on top of already being a peerless sword way genius, his indomitable cultivation attitude remained as fervent as ever despite being in such sheltered conditions.

One might ask, if such a person couldn’t become Heavenly Emperor, then who could?

Ye Chen sensed the emotion in the cultivators’ gazes and a flash of jealous fire passed through his eyes.

However, that spark of jealousy quickly subsided.

He wanted to see how long these cultivators would continue to admire the Heavenly Emperor.

He was waiting for this portion of the past to be revealed, the part where the Heavenly Emperor committed those deeds of betraying his master and destroying his ancestors. When that happened, he wanted to see whether this group of cultivators could still maintain this attitude.

However much they admire him now, he imagined later they would despise this Heavenly Emperor just as much.

On the white jade-paved plaza, a tall arena platform had been erected.

Beneath the platform, a sea of people surged.

The annual debate, while called a debate, was in fact a physical competition.

It was highly entertaining.

However, this was not the reason cultivators valued the debate so much. More importantly, those who ranked high in this competition would receive focused training from the sect and be granted top-tier rewards.

Gu Changqing, following the Sword Saint, sat upright on the highest stone steps.

A position where he was below one man, but above ten thousand.

The moment Gu Changqing appeared, countless gazes converged upon him.

Envy, jealousy.

But more than that, was resentment.

The Sword Sect had tens of thousands of disciples, yet not a single one was convinced by this senior brother.

If not for the master’s prior instruction not to disturb Gu Changqing, the number of people who would have come to cause him trouble this past year would have been unimaginable.

Soon.

The contest began.

The Sword Sect was entrusted with guarding the Tianji Sect’s mountain, so its disciples’ strength was naturally formidable.

Even the weakest were equivalent to strong Spirit Condensation stage cultivators. Other more senior disciples could even crush Half-Saint level opponents.

From beginning to end.

Gu Changqing watched the contest silently the whole time.

In fact, he wasn’t interested in this debate. If he were not summoned by his master and unable to decline, Gu Changqing wouldn’t have even wanted to leave the loft.

Three days passed and the contest approached its end.

The disciple who took first place was a cultivator named Wushuang.

Amid the cultivators’ cheers, the cultivator called Wushuang cupped his hands toward the Sword Saint atop the steps.

“Master, I don’t want any reward. My only wish is for Senior Brother Gu to spar with me.”

“I want my fellow disciples here to understand clearly that Senior Brother Gu far surpasses any of us in quality.”