“Mother!”

Gu Changqing seemed terrified by the scene before him.

He kept rummaging through the corpses until, at last, he truly found those two familiar figures.

“Father… Mother…”

Gu Changqing stared at his parents lying in a pool of blood, his eyes blurred with tears. He fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Hahaha, so the lofty Heavenly Emperor can be frightened to tears too, and have such an embarrassing side.”

Outside the bronze mirror, some cultivators laughed aloud without hiding it.

Because this was truly satisfying to see.

A single glance or expression radiated endless authority that no one dared offend.

The many cultivators who once feared him now secretly rejoiced to see him so disheveled.

However, such voices were only a minority.

Most people pursed their lips and said nothing…

They prided themselves as those who extolled the righteous path, exterminating demons and upholding the way—how could they laugh at a family massacre?

Besides, Gu Changqing was only four or five years old now, an innocent child—how could anyone expect him to be strong?

“Is this why the Heavenly Emperor later became so cruel?” someone murmured unconsciously.

Parents murdered, village slaughtered—no wonder this Heavenly Emperor later became merciless, slaughtering living beings!

“I admit the Heavenly Emperor’s childhood was tragic, but that’s not a justification for his fall.”

“On the contrary, if it were me, I would punish the wicked, but never transfer my childhood suffering onto innocent people.”

Ye Chen said this with a self-righteous air.

Others quickly chimed in in agreement.

“Emperor Ye truly has great magnanimity.”

“Indeed, if everyone were like Emperor Ye, how beautiful the world would be.”

“That said, aren’t these cultivators who mercilessly slaughter mortals afraid of punishment from the Heavenly Palace?!” a cultivator spoke up.

Mortals and cultivators were fundamentally different concepts, almost as if they belong to different worlds.

In the present age, the Heavenly Palace had clear rules: cultivators must not casually kill mortals.

If they interfere in mortal affairs, regardless of their cultivation level, the Heavenly Palace would not tolerate it.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

As followers of the righteous path, they could not stand such family annihilations.

Jiang Minghuang spoke up, “Actually, the rule forbidding cultivators from killing mortals was established after Gu Changqing ascended to the Heavenly Emperor’s position.”

“In ancient times, all races vied for power.”

“The Heavenly Palace’s authority could not yet govern the Three Realms. At best it was just an ancient great power. Back then mortals were like ants—who cared for the life and death of ants?”

“Only after Gu Changqing took the throne and imposed his dominance over the Three Realms did this rule come into being, causing the races to value mortal life.”

Hearing this, everyone was momentarily stunned.

No one expected that this extremely cruel Heavenly Emperor had also done something like that.

“Changqing, run, run!”

Gu Changqing heard his father’s whisper.

He ran to pull his father but was shoved away. His father, in a voice he’d never heard before, roared at him, “Run, quick!”

Gu Changqing had never seen his father look like that. He was truly frightened.

Without looking back he ran out of the village. The road ahead was a mountain of piled corpses.

“Wah…”

As he ran, Gu Changqing seemed to hear a faint sound coming from among the corpses underfoot.

He followed the sound with his eyes.

It was a woman. There was a bloody hole in her neck, exposing the trachea.

The woman was not entirely dead—her mouth opened but no sound came out. Her lips moved while blood gurgled from her neck. She stared at Gu Changqing with eyes filled with endless pleading.

Gu Changqing looked down and discovered a baby still swaddled in the woman’s arms.

He picked up the infant. At that moment the woman’s eyes flickered with a hint of relief, and she weakly nodded to Gu Changqing.

After that, the woman did not move—her life had faded away.

Gu Changqing’s face went pale. He glanced at the dead woman and at the corpses strewn in the blood.

This place had become like a land of death.

The whole village seemed to contain only him and the swaddled infant in his arms—two living beings.

He began to sprint again, heading out of the village toward the ruined temple.

“Could this baby be Miss Youwei?”

When they saw this, all the powerful figures before the bronze mirror were stunned.

Gu Youwei’s eyelids twitched violently.

Everyone knew Gu Youwei was the Heavenly Emperor’s biological sister.

But it seemed, from the current scene, that everyone in Gu Changqing’s family was dead—there was no baby girl!

And the sudden appearance of this infant in the scene was a bit too coincidental!

“Could it be that the Heavenly Emperor and Gu Youwei are not biological siblings, but that the Emperor found her while fleeing?”

At that moment, this guess popped into everyone’s mind.

“No wonder the Heavenly Emperor treated Miss Youwei so cruelly, even trying to strip her of her immortal root—apparently he never regarded her as a true sister from the start.”

“But even if they’re not blood relatives, his actions are inhuman!”

“They grew up together—how could he bring himself to do that!”

Ye Chen spoke opportunely to comfort Gu Youwei.

Gu Youwei was a cold-hearted woman. He wanted to penetrate her inner thoughts, so this was a good chance.

But Gu Youwei had no time to pay him any mind.

At this moment Gu Youwei only felt a buzzing in her head.

Learning she was not actually related to Gu Changqing filled her with complex emotions.

“So just because I’m not your biological sister, you intended to harm me?!”

The old Daoist in the ruined temple had disappeared—no one knew where he had gone.

Gu Changqing hid behind the collapsed beams in the ruined temple, trembling all over. The village’s carnage made him feel as if the sky were collapsing.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Gu Changqing heard footsteps on straw echo through the ruined temple.

He poked his head out and saw a shadowy figure staggering into the temple.

Boom!

Suddenly thunder rolled across the sky, and lightning dispelled the gloom.

It was an extremely terrifying person.

His face was smeared with dirt, his hair hung loose like a madman. He wore blood-stained clothes with drops falling continually, and a long trail of blood followed behind him.

He looked like a blood-soaked Asura descending to the mortal world.

Or like a human rakshasa!

Gu Changqing could no longer bear to look at that face. He hurriedly hid behind the beam and dared not breathe, quietly covering the baby’s mouth with his hand.

“Child, come out.”

Gu Changqing heard a nightmarish voice that stirred boundless fear within him.

The figure staggered and collapsed to the ground.

Suppressing his fear, Gu Changqing slowly approached the figure.

Only when he reached the figure did Gu Changqing realize it was the old Daoist.

“You… what happened?” Gu Changqing asked.

The old Daoist didn’t answer but looked at Gu Changqing with a strange expression, his eyes seeming to hold endless sorrow.

After a long moment, a flash of resolve appeared in the old Daoist’s gaze.

He took an ancient book from his bosom and pressed it into Gu Changqing’s arms.

“This is a cultivation manual—it can start you on the path. Remember, don’t let anyone know you practice this method.”

“And remember, this technique must never be revealed to others!”

Gu Changqing had never seen anyone look so grave.

He nodded instinctively.

The old Daoist continued, “This poor Daoist is dying.”

“My life has been lonely, I have no disciples under me. Now I am about to pass—could you kowtow and call me ‘master’ once?”

Gu Changqing couldn’t understand the old man’s dying wish, but he complied.

The Daoist had left a good impression—kind and gentle—and seeing him about to die moved Gu Changqing.

He kowtowed to the old Daoist and called him “master.”

The old Daoist, utterly weak, waved toward the outside of the temple and whispered like a dying breath, “Go—never come back.”

Gu Changqing began to run wildly, out of the village and into the hills.

Father and mother were dead, the old Daoist was dead—overnight it felt as if everyone had perished.

As the village vanished from view, Gu Changqing couldn’t help but look back.

The village of old had become a bloodied hell—corpses everywhere, flames shooting to the sky…

“Father, Mother.”

In his ears he vaguely heard his father’s voice: “Run, quick…”