My son is about to break through.

Every rustling of wind and every subtle change in the immortal energy within the Xuan Tian Immortal Realm was clearly presented to Gu Qingfeng's perception, as if he were looking at the lines on his palm.

At his level, the peak of the Eight Tribulation Celestial Venerable Realm, nothing that happens in the Immortal Realm can escape his notice, as long as he is willing.

Over the course of a century, countless cultivators flocked to the Xuan Tian Immortal Realm like a swarm of locusts crossing a river.

Among them were naturally some demons corrupted by the power of evil gods, willing to serve as their henchmen, or simply spies disguised as members of the evil god clan, attempting to infiltrate the immortal realm.

However, these demons and monsters are as conspicuous as torches in the night.

There was no need for Gu Qingfeng to personally intervene; the Xuan Tian Guards completely suppressed them.

The Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty's approach to exposing evil gods and demons is simple, direct, and extremely cruel.

Destroy their physical body, extract their soul using secret methods, and then knead and shape their soul essence using special means, turning it into lamp wicks burning with ghostly blue flames.

These soul lamps were then hung in the heavens, adorning the sky like stars, burning day and night, emitting mournful and invisible howls, warning all those with ill intentions.

Such a brutal and ruthless scene naturally chilled many cultivators who were witnessing the methods of the Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty for the first time, as if they could feel the eternal pain emanating from the soul lamp.

However, many others, after a brief moment of shock, clapped and cheered, feeling a long-suppressed resentment finally released.

The evil god clan has wreaked havoc on the heavens for many years, and countless human ancestors have perished at the hands of the evil gods and their minions. The blood feud has long been etched into their very bones.

Seeing the Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty suppress evil spirits with such strong and ruthless methods, they naturally felt happy and triumphant.

……

"Using the souls of evil gods' minions to light sky lanterns and display them to the public in the heavens—this practice by the Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty is truly gratifying!"

A swordsman carrying an ancient sword, with a fierce aura between his brows, laughed loudly, his tone full of admiration.

"Indeed! I have long heard that His Majesty the Xuan Tian Immortal Emperor deeply hates the evil god race and is filled with righteous indignation."

Since the founding of the Xuantian Immortal Dynasty, it has fought in the south and north, destroying countless strongholds of evil gods and killing countless evil gods and their followers, probably exceeding hundreds of millions!

Having witnessed his skills firsthand today, I can confirm that his reputation is well-deserved.

An old Taoist priest standing nearby, holding a whisk, stroked his beard and nodded, his eyes filled with admiration.

However, amidst this almost unanimous praise, a slightly untimely voice rang out from the side.

"That being said, isn't this approach a bit too cruel?"
While the evil god's henchmen certainly deserve to be killed, since they have already been captured, it would be better to simply kill them and annihilate their souls.

Why go through all this trouble, extracting his soul, lighting the soul lamp, and subjecting him to eternal burning agony? Isn't that truly against the principles of humanity and compassion?

As soon as these words came out.

The once bustling square fell silent abruptly, as if the sounds of discussion had been cut off by a sharp blade!
Almost all the cultivators' gazes instantly fell on the young cultivator who spoke, whose face was somewhat frail but whose eyes were somewhat uncertain.

The young cultivator's expression changed slightly as he was stared at by countless gazes, feeling an invisible pressure.

He forced himself to remain calm, raising his voice slightly, a hint of bravado masking his underlying fear: "What do you want? I'm just making a statement about someone. Are we not even allowed to speak in this Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty? Is there no freedom of speech left?"

"freedom of speech?"

Upon hearing this, a burly man with a hideous scar on his face took a step forward, his body radiating a murderous aura, and laughed in extreme anger.

"Hmph! The evil god race has plagued our human race for many years, slaughtering living beings and committing countless crimes!"

Today you actually stand here to complain about the suffering of the evil god's minions and speak on their behalf. I think you are actually siding with the evil god!
"Tell me, are you a spy planted by the evil god's clan?!"

The young cultivator was forced to take a half step back by the burly man's murderous aura, and his face turned pale upon hearing this, but he still stubbornly tried to steer the conversation toward a grander narrative.

"You...you mustn't make false accusations! I...I'm just stating the facts!"

Moreover, this boundless immortal realm is vast and has never been a place exclusively for the human race!
The war between the two races has lasted for millennia, with constant conflict. Is it possible that the human race is entirely without fault in this conflict?

Why can't we understand each other and coexist peacefully...?

As soon as these words came out.

Like lighting the fuse of a powder keg, it instantly ignited the suppressed anger of everyone around.

"Damn it! This bastard is definitely a spy for the evil god clan, daring to spread heresy and mislead the public!"

One hot-tempered cultivator could no longer hold back and kicked the young cultivator hard with a kick imbued with magical power!
The young cultivator hastily raised his hand to block, but was shaken by the immense force, causing his blood and qi to surge. He was about to speak and continue to argue, trying to persuade everyone with his theory, when he saw that the other cultivators around him were also like enraged lions, all attacking with red eyes.

"I don't know if the human race is wrong, but the biggest mistake your mother made in her life was giving birth to a thing like you who can't distinguish right from wrong!"

"You beast! You can't be a decent human being. Instead, you choose to sympathize with those evil gods who revel in destruction and chaos, and become their dogs!"

"Beat him! Beat this ungrateful bastard to death!"

"Be careful not to shatter his soul directly. Keep this bastard's soul alive and hang it in the sky with those evil god's minions to light as a sky lantern!"

Let everyone see what happens when you serve an evil god!

The crowd's anger erupted like a volcano, giving the other party no chance to speak again.

The dense, furious attacks instantly overwhelmed the young cultivator like a raging storm.

His protective aura shattered like paper, and his body, under the impact of countless torrents of power, was blasted into dust before he could even utter a few screams, turning into a cloud of blood mist and dissipating.

As the physical body was completely annihilated, only a slightly illusory, blank-faced, and terrified divine soul remained, seemingly still unable to react to this sudden and fatal blow.

But that's it.

In the sky, wind and clouds gathered, and a golden hand formed entirely of immortal energy appeared out of thin air. With irresistible majesty, it gently grasped the incomplete divine soul in its hand as if plucking a flower.

Immediately afterwards, a cold and ruthless voice, like a decree of heaven, echoed in the sky above the square, clearly reaching the ears of every cultivator.

"By order of Emperor Xuantian: Within the territory of the Xuantian Immortal Dynasty, any cultivator who openly advocates for the evil god, shakes the hearts of the people, and acts as a traitor shall be punished the same as the evil god's henchmen."

"Let their spirits light a sky lantern and hang it in the heavens as a warning to others!"

As soon as the words fell, a terrifying power of Dao surged from the golden hand, forcibly kneading the struggling and wailing soul and ultimately turning it into a twisted wick that flickered with painful light.

Then, the wick was placed into an ancient bronze ever-burning lamp that appeared out of nowhere.

"laugh--"

A ghostly blue flame instantly rose up, igniting the wick and producing a faint yet soul-piercing crackling sound.

The newly born soul lamp trembled, as if bearing endless pain and regret, and slowly drifted towards the sky, eventually hanging beside the soul lamps of those evil gods' minions, becoming a new member of the warning star map.

This scene was clean, swift, and ruthless!

After a brief silence, all the cultivators in the square felt an indescribable sense of exhilaration.

Should!
This is the consequence of failing to recognize one's own stance, claiming to be clear-headed, but actually being extremely foolish and advocating for the enemy!

For most monks who have endured hardship and know the cruelty of racial wars.

People who believe they stand on a moral high ground, indiscriminately talking about "peace" and "understanding," and even questioning the righteousness of their own race, are often more despicable and disgusting than those hideous enemies.

Racial conflict has always been characterized by clear-cut positions, with fundamental interests determined by one's birth.

In such a life-or-death struggle, attempting to criticize from a rational and objective standpoint is itself an extremely naive and laughable betrayal.

In a sense, this internal enemy is more repulsive and chilling than the evil gods on the battlefield.

Inside the palace.

Gu Qingfeng stood with his hands behind his back in front of the hall, gazing at the newly hung soul lamp in the sky, his eyes indifferent and without any ripples.

With a flick of his finger, a mysterious and profound aura, too subtle for the naked eye or divine sense to detect, silently pierced through the air, disappeared into the sky, and precisely merged into the newly lit eternal lamp.

This wisp of immortal energy contained a trace of his immortal Daoist essence. Its sole purpose was to reinforce the divine soul structure that served as the lamp wick, greatly slowing down the rate at which it would be burned by the soul fire and eventually dissipate.

After all, the soul of an ordinary Great Emperor Realm cultivator has limited strength. Under the constant burning of the Soul Lamp, it can only last for a few thousand years at most before being completely annihilated.

However, with the blessing of Gu Qingfeng's wisp of immortal energy containing the meaning of immortality, let alone thousands of years, even if it persists for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, it may not be completely extinguished.

This means that the traitor will suffer the extreme pain of being burned by soul fire for a long time to come, unable to die!

Like the angry cultivators in the square, Gu Qingfeng also instinctively felt a deep disgust for his own people who couldn't recognize the fundamental truth, whose hearts were twisted, and who might even have been secretly corrupted by the ideology of the evil god.

and so.

He would never let the other party get away easily.

This punishment serves as both a severe penalty for their betrayal and a direct warning to those who follow.

"When the forest is big, you'll find all kinds of birds."

Gu Qingfeng withdrew his gaze, his tone indifferent.

"The conflict between the two races has lasted for countless years, with each race using every means to infiltrate the other. It is inevitable that some dregs will be corrupted within the human race."

He shook his head slightly, completely dispelling the last trace of displeasure he felt because of that fool.

Fortunately, the infiltration of such petty people will ultimately not affect the foundation of the human race, nor shake its true backbone.

The rise and fall of a race, the survival of a civilization, ultimately rests on the shoulders of those truly powerful beings who uphold the heavens and earth, on the victory or defeat at the level of immortality.

……

A hundred years is a long life for mortals, but for the cultivators waiting to preach, it is just a blink of an eye.

The Xuan Tian Immortal Realm was originally vast and boundless, but in the past hundred years, as cultivators from various immortal realms poured in like rivers flowing into the sea, this core territory began to show signs of saturation for the first time.

In the chaos, temporary cave dwellings, floating immortal mountains, and enormous ships could be seen everywhere, their spiritual light shimmering and their auras intertwining, creating a grand picture of all cultivators coming to pay homage.

Many powerful cultivators, unwilling to enter the Immortal Realm and crowd with others, directly used their great magical power to create temporary dojos in the chaos, which were scattered like stars in the dark chaos.

They meditate here, waiting for the hundred-year period to arrive, for the moment when Gu Qingfeng will begin to expound the Great Dao.

On this very day, the centennial anniversary arrived.

A vast, magnificent, and terrifying aura, seemingly originating from the very depths of the universe, rose without warning from the depths of the Xuan Tian Immortal Dynasty's imperial palace!

This aura swept across the entire Xuan Tian Immortal Realm like a tsunami, and its momentum showed no signs of abating. It continued to spread at a speed that transcended time and space, towards other distant immortal realms controlled by the Immortal Dynasty, and even to the outermost chaotic void.

As this aura spread out completely, countless beings in the vast chaotic void, regardless of their cultivation level, clearly felt this overwhelming and suffocating pressure that transcended all living beings in that instant.

Many cultivators with lower cultivation levels felt their legs go weak under the influence of this aura, their hearts filled with awe and fear.

Those with profound cultivation, such as Celestial Venerables, also had extremely solemn, even horrified, expressions.

Inside a training ground carved out from chaos, a being whose cultivation had reached the Seven Tribulations Heavenly Venerable Realm was now deathly pale, with fine beads of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

He felt the terrifying pressure that was omnipresent and seemed capable of easily crushing him, and his heart was filled with fear.

"Xuantian Immortal Emperor!"

He believed he knew something about Gu Qingfeng's strength and had heard of his glorious achievements.

While he could understand it, only when he personally experienced the immense divine power that seemed to press down like the entire universe could he truly comprehend just how terrifying this Xuan Tian Immortal Emperor was, and just how unbelievable it was.

Faced with this aura, not to mention fighting back, even having the slightest thought of resistance seemed so ridiculous and futile.

If the opponent's true form were to appear before him right now, he probably wouldn't even need to lift a finger; a single finger would be enough to easily crush his foundation of cultivation and obliterate this Seven Tribulation Celestial Venerable like an ant.
Such an absolute gap in strength is like an insurmountable chasm, how can it not make people feel a sense of horror and powerlessness from the depths of their souls?

"Xuantian Immortal Emperor Gu Qingfeng—"

On the other side of the chaos, the Taiyi Saint Lord also had an extremely complicated expression as he gazed in the direction of the Xuan Tian Immortal Realm and muttered to himself.

once Upon a time.

Before the rise of the Xuantian Immortal Dynasty and when Gu Qingfeng's name first appeared, although his strength was formidable, he was still roughly at the same level as himself.

But now.

Gu Qingfeng had already surpassed him by far, reaching a height that even he had to look up to.

From this vast aura that permeated chaos and covered all realms, the Taiyi Saint Lord could clearly understand just how desperately the gap between them had widened.

Simultaneously.

Deep down, he couldn't help but feel secretly fortunate.

"Fortunately, our Taiyi Holy Land assessed the situation and did not make enemies of such people for the sake of temporary gain."

Otherwise, given his vengeful and ruthless nature, our Taiyi Holy Land might be in serious trouble!

Simultaneously.

Fortunately, I decided to come and listen to the teachings; otherwise, I would have missed a great opportunity. (End of Chapter)