Chapter 1357: Pressure
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was obvious what those from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty were trying to do. Gu Tianxing and the dynasty had serious scores to settle with each other, and it was thanks to the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty that the Gu Clan was destroyed.
At present, knowing that there were survivors from the Gu Clan, the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty naturally saw fit to take them away.
“While the dynasty suffered terrible losses all those years ago, many lives from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven were lost as well, and the Gu Clan was totally destroyed. The feud between the Dynasty and the Gu Clan ended at that time. And right now, are you telling me that you people from the dynasty are unwilling even to let one descendant of the clan off?”
A mighty one from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven said coldly, “We will bring this person back with us. Whatever it takes.”
“I dare you to try,” a mighty one from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty said coldly. There was no point in trying to sort out the mess that happened all those years ago.
Be it the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven or the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty, both parties had suffered considerable losses in the end.
Due to the existence of the Gu Clan in the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven and the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty having a deep history and background, those two forces were at the pinnacle of Heavenly Mandate Realm back then. Both of them had been magnitudes of order higher than the other three supreme forces.
However, that one battle caused both pinnacle forces to be considerably weakened.
That was probably the situation that the others wanted to see.
“The man is now in the custody of the Purple Underworld, and he is to join the ranks of the Purple Underworld. You all claimed to want to take the man, but did any of you bother asking what the Purple Underworld thought about this?” a mighty one from the Violet Heavenly Palace said at that moment.
They had already arrived before and knew that the other forces actually had their own agendas. They knew that it would not be easy to take Gu Dongliu away.
At present, any action would trigger a cascade of events. His emergence caused the five pinnacle forces to show up at the same time. All of them wanted to take him away.
The Heavenly Mandate Dynasty’s claim of wanting to take him away due to vengeance back then was but a ruse. Instead, they were waiting to see if there was anything of Gu Tianxing left on him. The Dynasty would not have bothered with just another descendant of the dead Gu Clan otherwise.
As for the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven, no one knew how sincere they actually were. They might have been up to no good as well.
“You could ask if the Purple Underworld is willing to give the man up to the Violet Heavenly Palace then,” the Jiutian Goddess of Brahma’s Pure Sky said at that moment. All eyes were on the Emperor of Purple Underground within an instant.
The Emperor shot a cold glance at the Jiutian Goddess, wondering if she was trying to have the others target him.
The ones from the Violet Heavenly Palace naturally knew that even if the Emperor of Purple Underground were truly on their side, he would not have easily made his stance clear right there and then.
Offending the four major pinnacle forces would come with dire consequences. There was no way he would have made his stance clear.
All sides wanted to take the man away, putting the situation in a deadlock.
“Well, if all of you want the man so badly, let’s duke it out and let the winner take the man away then. It’d be nice for me to see how capable those top-notch forces in Heavenly Mandate Realm are,” that middle-aged man from 10,000 Divine Mountain, who wore black and white striped robes, continued to smile and said, seemingly out to make things into a bigger mess.
Furthermore, he also never said that he wanted to take Gu Dongliu away.
It was apparent that they were not all that interested. It was as if how he put it before—those from 10,000 Divine Mountain were simply there to see how the event would turn out.
The ones below felt rather speechless at what that mighty one from 10,000 Divine Mountain said. All of those people had tremendous power. Things would be unimaginable if they were to truly fight for the sake of one man.
The scene would be utterly terrifying, enough to bring down the sky.
All of the few pinnacle forces of Heavenly Mandate Realm were rather reserved when it came to having Renhuangs among them clash. If any conflict arose, the fight would be something out of this world. What happened between the Gu Clan and the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty back then served as a very good example.
Everyone was silent again. The eight true lineage forces, which included the Purple Underground, were unable to interfere. They simply looked at the five parties butt heads in the sky above.
Ye Futian looked up at the sky as well. All those imposing, overbearing figures were all who stood at the very pinnacle of the Heavenly Mandate Realm.
His third brother, Gu Dongliu, never knew any of them, and he had no scores to settle any of them. Yet, at that moment, they were all there deciding what they should do with Gu Dongliu, even deciding whether or not to kill him.
“Since we can’t decide what to do with him, we shall end it all right here, right now.” Another voice was heard at the moment. That imposing Renhuang from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty had spoken. His robes billowed on its own as he cast his gaze upon Gu Dongliu.
The way he looked at Gu Dongliu made it as if Gu Dongliu was already a dead man. His eyes were filled with contempt. From the way they saw it, Gu Dongliu’s fate was sealed: he was to end up dead, one way or another.
The Heavenly Mandate Dynasty did not allow Gu Dongliu to live. Even if they were to take him, it was only a matter of time before they disposed of him.
The life of a remnant of the Gu Clan was of no worth to them. They were only concerned about possible connections between him and Gu Tianxing.
They were wondering if Gu Tianxing had indeed perished back then.
That Renhuang stepped out and piled his might of Renhuang onto Gu Dongliu. That Renhuang looked down on him and said, “Who was the one who sent you to the Lower Worlds to train?”
The way he spoke made it seem like he was out to make others submit to him. Gu Dongliu’s spiritual will was rattled, and he began to see illusions. A tall, majestic Renhuang seemed to have appeared right before him, making it so that he was compelled to answer.
Gu Dongliu grunted and bit his lip, shutting his mouth and refusing to speak.
“Speak.” That Renhuang of the dynasty continued to press on him. The Renhuang’s voice reverberated in Gu Dongliu’s eardrums, wearing down on his resistance. It seemed as if the Renhuang’s voice was that of the heavens, utterly undeniable.
The others only understood what was going on right there and then. The five forces were out to determine whether or not Gu Dongliu lived or died, and they were dealing with him on the spot.
Countless voices reverberated in his mind, and his face was twisting in pain.
He was able to sense killing intent from the other party’s will of the great path alone.
“I don’t know.” Gu Dongliu looked up, and his eyes were open, staring coldly at the one who stood tall and mighty in the air.
At that moment, the Renhuang from the Violet Heavenly Palace cast his gaze below, unleashing the terrifying brilliance of lightning from his eyes.
“Have you trained in the mystical ways?” the overlord from the Violet Heavenly Palace asked. Bolts of lightning flashed in Gu Dongliu’s mind, making his hair dance. His brain felt like it was about to crack. His expression revealed extreme pain.
“I’m asking you a question.” That person from the Violet Heavenly Palace took yet another step out after seeing that Gu Dongliu was not answering. Bolts of lightning pierced through Gu Dongliu’s spiritual will, causing the limit of his Life Spirit to be triggered right there and then.
He wanted to see where the limit of Gu Dongliu’s potential lied, and if he had the means of pulling what the Gu Clan had pulled all those years ago.
Gu Dongliu’s body was twisted, and his expression was extremely pained. However, he held his head up high and looked at the godlike figures above. His eyes were bloodshot.
Those people were of the pinnacle forces of Heavenly Mandate Realm, but they were all leaning on a saint like him at that moment.
Nobody stopped them, and nobody dared to stop them.
“Dongliu.” The Sword Saint had demonic gleam flashing in his eyes, looking at all that was transpiring. Ye Futian’s fists remained clenched as well.
This was too much.
“Your Majesty,” Ye Futian yelled, “didn’t you say that you wouldn’t pressure him or anything before?”
The Emperor of Purple Underground took a look at Ye Futian with a plain expression. He was not the only one doing so. All mighty ones from the other eight true lineages turned to look at Ye Futian as well, feeling pity for him.
Ye Futian had broken the limit of Wutu Divine Mountain on that day. He should have been the one to have his name known throughout the world, yet due to the presence of a descendant of the Gu Clan, everyone came to care about Gu Dongliu more than him.
Not only was he unable to join the ranks of the Purple Underground and train under the Emperor, but he was always forced to witness the cruel scene before him and was unable to do anything.
No one said anything, and even the Emperor of Purple Underground was silent. Everything was already out of his hands.
“Speak the truth, and your pain shall be lessened,” the Jiutian Goddess of Brahman’s Pure Sky said, feeling pity for Gu Dongliu, thinking that he might not know about his birth after all.
But then again, his surname was Gu, and he was a descendant of the Gu Clan.
While it was not clear about what the others would have done, the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty, at least, would not let him live.
“Enough, everyone,” a mighty one from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven said, throwing down a powerful will of the great path on Gu Dongliu. It turned into an image of yin and yang, repelling the pressure put on him by those from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty and the Violet Heavenly Palace.
“What are you doing?” the one from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty asked coldly.
“He might really not know anything. Piling what happened all those years ago on a member of the younger generation who knows nothing, don’t you all think you’re going a little bit too far?” that mighty one from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven said coldly.
“So long as there is one man from the Gu Clan alive, what happened back is still not over,” the Renhuang from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty said forcefully. Countless from the dynasty perished in that battle all those years ago. Their blood had stained the vast regions of the dynasty.
Many had even thought that it would have been the end of the dynasty back then, and that Renhuang saw what a doomsday that day had been.
On that day, all of them swore to eradicate the Gu Clan.
The conversation between the two men caused everyone’s hearts to race. The commotion all those years ago affected the entire Heavenly Mandate Realm. At that moment, they were wondering if the Heavenly Mandate Realm and the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven would clash once again due to Gu Dongliu’s emergence.
Overwhelming might descended from the sky as the Renhuang from the dynasty spoke, with his will of the great path clashing with that from the mighty one from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven, on Gu Dongliu’s body.
That scene made the mighty one rescind his power immediately. It would have caused Gu Dongliu’s body to overload from the stress and collapse immediately.
“You went to the Lower Worlds to train. So why are you here now?” the mighty one from the Celestial Gate of Vast Heaven asked. That probably would have been the very last of the blood of the Gu Clan.
However, judging from the attitude of those from the Heavenly Mandate Dynasty, they seemed to have no intention of letting Gu Dongliu leave alive.
“Spill it.” The Renhuang from the Violet Heavenly Palace continued to pressure him. Boundless lightning rained down on Gu Dongliu’s soul. Terrifying lightning coursed throughout Gu Dongliu’s Life Spirit at that moment. It seemed as if his body would crumble at any given moment.
He was out to see if that would have been Gu Dongliu’s limit and if Gu Dongliu had been hiding anything.