Chapter 24: Gu Sui Feng's Past

About three hundred miles from there, in a tall building on the rear mountain of the Hengyuan Sect, Gu Sui Feng gazed toward the place where Qiu Han had just been. Only when Qiu Han departed with the Brahma Gold Tree did Gu Sui Feng turn away, his face still bearing a gentle, kindly smile.

“This little one called Qiu Han seems indeed far above those inner disciples; his future achievements will surely be remarkable. But junior brother Gu, you arranged for him to undertake this trial alone—surely you have another purpose in mind?”

The noblewoman in palace attire smiled faintly, her expression full of meaning as she looked at Gu Sui Feng and spoke.

“You overthink it, senior sister. I have no other motives. Qiu Han is exceptionally gifted; I merely wish for him to gain more experience through this trial.”

Gu Sui Feng answered calmly, paying no heed to the woman’s words.

“I heard you used the Heavenly Calculation technique to divine a future for this little Qiu Han. Why do you value this disciple so highly? If memory serves, before you entered the sect, you had a wife and son in the mortal world, but they were killed. Does this Qiu Han have any connection to your deceased child?”

The smile on the noblewoman’s lips deepened, her gaze more meaningful.

A peculiar light flashed in Gu Sui Feng’s eyes. His expression suddenly grew solemn as he stared at her and said, “Those words, senior sister, touch upon my taboo.”

She laughed softly, gently gathering her hair behind her ear. Though approaching middle age, her charm remained, and she seemed even more alluring. She said, “Forgive my impertinence. I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t disturb you further, junior brother.”

Gu Sui Feng did not mind her departure. It was as if her words had reached deep within, unlocking his memories. He sat quietly, recalling an event from long ago.

More than six hundred years earlier, in a remote mountain village in the Wu Kingdom, there lived a family of three—a young couple and their child. The husband hunted in the mountains to sell game in town and support his family, while the wife stayed home with their child, practicing needlework. Their lives were not rich, but happiness shone on their faces.

Yet such peaceful, uneventful days did not last. One day, after hunting, the husband told his wife he had found a booklet in the mountains—within it, the cultivation methods of immortals. The couple were overjoyed yet fearful, knowing the danger of holding such treasures.

Their routine remained outwardly unchanged, but the husband began secretly cultivating the methods from the booklet. To his delight, he possessed the innate spiritual root described—the rare single elemental root, highly prized among cultivators. He spent his days training at home.

Two months passed, and he reached the second layer of Qi Refining. Nothing untoward had happened, and he believed the secret would remain safe. Then, he discovered his son also had a natural single wood elemental root. The prospect of his family becoming immortals filled him with joy.

His only regret was that his wife lacked any spiritual root and could not cultivate, but he was not greatly disappointed. That period was the happiest of his life.

But happiness was fleeting. His secret was discovered. One day, returning from town, he found his wife’s mutilated body at the door. A group of men in black had invaded, defiled and murdered her, and kidnapped his son, demanding the cultivation manual.

Grief and rage drove him to attack the intruders, but his second layer Qi Refining was no match for these martial experts, several of whom were renowned masters. The battle left him wounded, but he managed to kill nearly half of them.

Exhausted and bleeding, despair overtook him. Then, the black-clad men cruelly killed his son before his eyes. He watched, powerless, as his child died. In that moment, he went mad.

He slew several more in a frenzy and learned they belonged to the infamous Xiongtian Gang, a notorious sect in the martial world. But by then, he could barely resist. Surrounded, filled with hate and hopelessness, he leapt off a cliff.

Perhaps Heaven pitied him. As he thought he would die and join his wife and child in the underworld, a Hengyuan Sect ancestor, recently advanced to Nascent Soul stage and traveling the mortal world, happened to rescue him. This elder saw his miserable state and recognized his extraordinary talent, breaking precedent to accept him as a disciple.

With boundless hatred and a vow for vengeance, he followed his master to Hengyuan Sect, cultivating diligently. His talent, coupled with tireless devotion, allowed him to reach the fifteenth layer of Qi Refining—the peak—within just two years. Then, he descended the mountain.

From then on, all of Hengyuan Sect knew that the ancestor had accepted a new disciple, one of exceptional talent, named Gu Sui Feng.

The Xiongtian Gang was among the top ten sects in the Wu Kingdom’s martial world, with great power and six or seven expert masters. They were infamous for all manner of evil—murder, arson, robbery—true villains.

Those who orchestrated the killing of Gu Sui Feng’s family and the theft of the cultivation manual still lived comfortably within the gang, unaware that death was closing in.

One night, in the headquarters of the Xiongtian Gang, a figure appeared silently. His face twisted with rage, eyes bloodshot and filled with hatred so intense it seemed his gaze alone could kill.

“Xiongtian Gang, I, Gu Sui Feng, have come!”

He said only these words.