Volume 1, Chapter 22: What Am I? I Am Nothing but a Joke!
Gu Fan’s breathing suddenly became rapid. Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, he frantically flipped through the pages.
He reached the last one.
The final page depicted the same little figure. But this time, the figure stood at the pinnacle of the world, wearing an imperial crown, receiving the worship of all living things. It was the ultimate form of the "Heavenly Emperor Manifestation" he had previously condensed.
Below the drawing, written in a handwriting that was entirely different yet hauntingly familiar—lazy and casual—was a line of commentary.
"A child worth teaching, yet his temperament is unstable; prone to arrogance and impatience, he will struggle to achieve true greatness. This child's path pursues majesty too fervently, losing its inherent truth; it is, in the end, a shallow pursuit. A post-script observation."
The signature was a flamboyant, sweeping "Gu."
BOOM!
Inside Gu Fan’s mind, it felt as if billions of nuclear bombs had detonated at once.
His lifelong faith, his greatest pride, the very hope upon which he built his revenge… the ancient Heavenly Emperor he worshipped as a god was, in the eyes of his own ancestor, merely a "child"?
His "Great Path of the Heavenly Emperor," in the ancestor’s assessment, was merely "losing its truth, a shallow pursuit"?
The legacy he cherished as his most precious treasure was nothing more than a casual remark written by his ancestor after finishing a "student's project"?
"Pfft, ha... hahahahahaha..."
Gu Fan suddenly began to laugh, and as he laughed, tears streamed down his face.
"So that’s how it is... so that’s how it is..."
"What am I? A chosen genius? A successor? I am a joke! A complete and utter joke! Hahahaha..."
His Dao heart, his faith, his pride, and his very identity were, at this moment, ground to dust by this thin picture book, leaving not a single fragment behind.
He had gone mad.
Gu Changsheng watched Gu Fan, who was laughing and crying, even noisier than before, and finally exhausted his last shred of patience.
"Sigh, honestly, how did looking at a picture book make him even crazier?"
He sighed, waved a hand at Uncle Fu, his tone filled with helplessness.
"Too noisy. Make him quiet. From the root, make him completely quiet."
A sharp glint flashed in Uncle Fu's eyes. He bowed deeply to Gu Changsheng.
"As you command, Young Master."
He turned, looked at the crazed Gu Fan, and slowly raised a hand.
There was no earth-shattering power, no roar of laws.
Uncle Fu simply made a light "wiping" motion in the direction where Gu Fan stood.
It was like wiping a smudge off a pane of glass.
In the next second, Gu Fan, along with every trace of his existence, the legends he had left behind in the Sirius Star Domain, the hatred he held for the Pantheon, and all the causality he possessed in this world...
Were completely erased from the long river of time.
Cleanly, as if he had never existed at all.
The courtyard returned to its former tranquility.
[Detected that the host has performed an act of "housecleaning" due to being "disturbed during a nap," effectively maintaining the purity and style of the family.]
[The host's "bedtime reading" suggestion has caused a devastating cognitive subversion for the branch-family genius, demonstrating the ancestor's educational philosophy.]
[Reward: Special Item - The Ancestor's Pillow.]
[The Ancestor's Pillow: Sleeping on this item greatly accelerates the efficiency of gaining 'lying-flat points.' Dreams will no longer be void, but can interact weakly with the real world, and may even evolve into reality.]
A pillow, emanating a soft glow and appearing incredibly fluffy and comfortable, appeared out of thin air before Gu Changsheng.
Gu Changsheng’s eyes lit up.
"Oh, a new pillow? It looks more comfortable than my old one."
He tossed the old pillow from the rocking chair aside, placed the [Ancestor's Pillow] in its spot, and lay down in satisfaction.
The moment his head touched the pillow, an unprecedented sense of comfort washed over him, as if he were lying upon the origin of the Great Dao itself.
"Ah... comfortable..."
Gu Changsheng let out a blissful moan, and within three seconds, he was fast asleep again.
This time, he should have a good rest.
The expressions of Ye Qingxian and Ji Ruxue remained largely unchanged throughout.
They had begun to understand the unfathomable order that governed this small courtyard. And the core of that order was the man who had just changed his pillow and was sleeping even more soundly.
A single word spoken in his sleep could make the Heavenly Dao flee.
A single impatient wave of his hand could erase a genius carrying the inheritance of a Heavenly Emperor.
His very existence was the ultimate subversion of the word "reason."
In Ji Ruxue’s heart, the last shred of pride belonging to the Empress of Yaochi had long since vanished. In its place was a fanatical worship and awe. To remain here, serving tea and water for such an existence, was perhaps the greatest fortune of her life.
Ye Qingxian was even more straightforward; she had completely immersed herself in the role of a "maid." After seeing the *Baby Bear* picture book, she felt even more reverence for the "Sword Dao Fence" she could observe at any time. She even felt that every pattern on the fence was ten thousand times more profound than any Imperial Sutra she had ever practiced.
The courtyard grew quiet once more.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows. Gu Changsheng’s breathing on the recliner was steady, and the newly acquired "Ancestor's Pillow" radiated a soft halo, bathing him in a sense of serenity.
***
I do not know how much time had passed when Gu Changsheng slowly drifted awake.
This sleep had been unprecedentedly sound and comfortable. The effect of the new pillow was immediate; he felt as if he had roamed the entire universe in his dream before returning to the warmest harbor, his spirit refreshed to the extreme.
"Ah..."
He stretched, his bones popping with a series of crisp cracks.
"Are you awake?"
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Ji Ruxue’s stunning face, carrying a hint of just-right concern, asking softly.
Beside her, Ye Qingxian immediately presented a plate of crystal-clear fairy fruit that emitted an intoxicating fragrance.
This fruit was known as the "Nine-Orifice Exquisite Fruit," a supreme treasure from the Yaochi Sacred Land that ripened only once every ten thousand years. An ordinary cultivator could extend their life by a century just by smelling it, and eating one could cleanse the marrow and reshape the bones.
After becoming a maid, Ji Ruxue, in order to please this new master, had practically emptied the entire treasury of the Yaochi Sacred Land.
Gu Changsheng picked one up and took a bite.
The flesh melted in his mouth, exploding into a massive surge of vital essence.
However, Gu Changsheng frowned slightly.
"Tasteless." He shook his head and tossed the rest of the fruit aside.
He picked up the jade cup handed to him by Ye Qingxian, which contained the "Ten Thousand Dao Divine Origin Liquid," a supreme substance said to allow even a Saint to break through their bottleneck with a single drop.
He took a sip, then spat it out with a "pfft."
"What is this stuff? It’s like drinking light; bland and tasteless."
Ji Ruxue and Ye Qingxian froze, not daring to let out a breath.
This was a supreme divine object that countless experts across the heavens would fight to the death to obtain, yet in the Young Master's mouth, it was dismissed as "tasteless" and "bland"?
Gu Changsheng looked at their nervous expressions and sighed helplessly.
He wasn't trying to be picky.
As a food lover with a modern soul, he simply couldn't stand the food in this cultivation world.
These things were certainly packed with energy, and their laws were indeed pure, but they had no "flavor"!
No sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy; no oil, salt, sauce, or vinegar. Eating them was nothing but pure energy—how was that any different from chewing on compressed dry rations?
He had traveled here for so long, and every day he ate these "delicacies," his mouth felt so bland he could die.