Chapter 103 Infected by the Dragon Clan

Upon hearing this, Gu Heng took his seat at the head of the hall, eyes lowered as he looked at the Thunder Emperor kneeling below.

He didn't rush him or ask questions; he simply waited.

After a long silence, Lei Wanjun's heart was in a state of upheaval.

"Revered Master... must already know, right?"

He gritted his teeth; the power he had offended was Xuantian Hall.

That was one of the top ten forces in the Human Race's God Domain, a power that had endured for countless eons and was guarded by old monsters of the God Realm. In the Three Thousand Great Worlds, a single kill order from Xuantian Hall could leave an Immortal Emperor with nowhere to turn, forced to hide like a rat in the gutters for a million years.

Anyone else, knowing their servant had caused such a catastrophic disaster, would surely cast him out or bind him and deliver him to Xuantian Hall to claim credit.

Keeping him was keeping a liability.

Lei Wanjun lifted his eyelids and stole a glance at Gu Heng seated above.

Gu Heng's face was expressionless, his eyes incredibly calm, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Lei Wanjun lowered his head, tears nearly falling.

"But... Revered Master didn't drive me away."

His eyes began to burn.

Ever since the day he signed the Revered Master-servant contract in the Lower Realm, he had been living in fear. He assumed that an existence of Gu Heng's level could pierce through Karma with a single thought and had long ago cleared up his background.

But he had waited a long time, and Gu Heng had never mentioned it.

He had never asked him once, "What kind of trouble did you actually get into?"

Nor had he ever said, "You caused this mess yourself, go deal with it yourself."

He had said nothing at all.

Lei Wanjun's eyes turned red.

In a million years of flight, he had grown accustomed to betrayal, cold stares, and people kicking him while he was down; his heart had long since frozen like ice.

But at this moment, that ice was being melted by fire.

"He's definitely doing this on purpose..."

Lei Wanjun cried out in his heart.

"Revered Master is intentionally not mentioning it because he's afraid of reopening my scars in public, afraid of embarrassing me."

"He's intentionally not asking because he's afraid I'll resign out of guilt."

"He keeps me by his side and lets me stand equal with other Immortal Emperors not because I'm useful... because before a God Emperor Incarnation, my Immortal Emperor cultivation is worth nothing. He keeps me... because he wants to protect me."

Thinking of this, Lei Wanjun clenched his fists and spoke solemnly, "Revered Master... your kindness to this subordinate... is as heavy as a mountain..."

"This subordinate's life should have ended on that rainy night a million years ago, before I met Revered Master."

"It was Revered Master... who gave me a second life. But now... the people from Xuantian Hall are coming. That old monster of the God Lord Realm has already torn through the Star Domain barrier."

Lei Wanjun spoke faster and faster, his tone resolute. "This subordinate is a jinx and must not involve Revered Master. This subordinate... must leave."

Having finished, he bit his lower lip, struggling to keep his tears from falling.

At the head of the hall.

Gu Heng had just placed his teacup on the table when he heard these words and was momentarily stunned.

"Huh?"

A flash of bewilderment crossed his eyes. "What do you mean 'must leave'?"

Lei Wanjun thought Gu Heng was feigning ignorance to make him stay, making his heart feel even more bitter.

He took a deep breath, and tears splashed onto the floor.

"Revered Master, please stop hiding it. On the day the contract was signed, you used supreme Divine Ability to peer into the secrets of heaven and already knew the details of my offense against Xuantian Hall. I thought you would be thunderously enraged and drive me away..."

"After all... keeping a servant who has offended a top force of the Human Race's God Domain holds a hundred disadvantages and not a single benefit for Revered Master."

Lei Wanjun paused, his voice beginning to tremble.

"But... Revered Master did not."

"From the moment Revered Master knew of this, you never mentioned a single word of it before anyone."

"Revered Master... you said nothing. You silently bore all the pressure and Karma on behalf of this subordinate."

Lei Wanjun grew more agitated as he spoke, suddenly standing up and then kowtowing heavily to Gu Heng.

Boom!

The sound made the hall hum, directly smashing a crater into the floor.

"This subordinate knows... you didn't want to make me feel embarrassed."

"You treated me as one of your own, as a living being with flesh and blood, not as a tool to be discarded at any time."

"Revered Master's kindness to this subordinate cannot be repaid even if my body were ground to dust."

"But... the people from Xuantian Hall have found us. Jiang Daoxuan said that a God Lord Realm powerhouse is descending with a Sect-guarding Divine Artifact. That is a disaster capable of destroying an entire Great World."

"My wretched life is not worth pitying. But I absolutely cannot involve Revered Master and everyone else."

"I implore Revered Master to show mercy, dissolve the contract, and let me go back alone to face Xuantian Hall's Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Refining Punishment."

"In the next life... I will serve as a beast of burden to repay Revered Master's great kindness!"

Lei Wanjun's pleas echoed through the hall.

Gu Heng, sitting at the head of the hall, suddenly froze.

He stared at the Thunder Emperor, who was prostrate on the floor weeping, his mind feeling as if ten thousand Divine Beasts were racing through it; he was both bewildered and speechless.

He was thinking to himself:

"...Huh?"

"What on earth? What do you mean I knew all about this back when the contract was signed?"

"What do you mean I silently bore the Karma for you?"

"The reason I didn't mention it before is because I didn't know about it at all, okay? Are all you cultivators so good at overthinking things?"

Gu Heng felt his temples throbbing.

He had thought Lei Wanjun stayed behind to report some important intelligence; after all that, this guy was just putting on a self-indulgent tragic drama.

Besides, what was this about some God Lord Realm old monster coming with a Divine Artifact? It sounded very troublesome.

Gu Heng sighed, raising a hand to rub his brow.

He looked at Lei Wanjun, who was still waiting for him to "dissolve the contract," and spoke with a helpless tone.

"Are you finished?"

Hearing those three words, the Thunder Emperor looked up tremblingly, his face full of determination. "Revered Master... please grant my request."

"Grant your head!"

Gu Heng finally couldn't help but swear. He pointed at Lei Wanjun's nose and cursed, "Is your brain filled with the scraps left over from a Lightning Tribulation? What are you thinking? You're an Immortal Emperor, and you're actively running off to seek death from a God Lord? Do you think you've lived too long?"

Lei Wanjun was stunned, staring blankly at Gu Heng.

Gu Heng gave a cold snort. "Get your current status straight. You are my servant now, signed to a ten-thousand-year indenture. Your life is my property."

"If you go out and die, Xuantian Hall wins and I lose. I finally managed to get an Immortal Emperor as an enforcer, and before I've even used you, you want to run off and die. Your death would be a tangible loss for me. I'd be losing big time, understand?"

Gu Heng stood up and pointed toward the open door deep within the hall.

"Now, right this instant. Get into the heaven-reaching tower and Cultivate properly for me. Only when you've raised your cultivation can you come out and work."

The Thunder Emperor was dazed by this scolding.

He turned his head to look at that ancient tower, which was emitting Chaotic Primordial Qi and flowing with the Law of time, and his tears began to flow again.

"Revered Master... you..."

Lei Wanjun's voice was so choked with emotion he could hardly speak. "Not only did you not drive me away, not only did you refuse to dissolve the contract... you even want me to enter a supreme divine object like the heaven-reaching tower to Cultivate..."

"You... you intend to personally nurture me, to give me the power to oppose a God Lord."

Seeing him looking like he was about to faint from emotion, the corner of Gu Heng's mouth twitched violently again.

"I'm not nurturing you," Gu Heng said through gritted teeth. "I just think you're too weak right now. If you go out and get slapped to death, I'll have signed that contract for nothing."

"Do you understand?"

Hearing this, the Thunder Emperor nodded heavily. Tears blurred his vision, but the light in his eyes was very bright.

"I understand. I understand everything!"

Lei Wanjun shouted, his tone full of fanaticism. "Revered Master is harsh in word but soft in heart. You say you won't drive me away because you're afraid I'll be sad. You use these seemingly cold words to ease my psychological burden."

"You let me enter the tower to Cultivate to give me an opportunity, so that one day I can personally take my revenge and wash away a million years of humiliation."

"Revered Master is a Revered Master strategist with profound foresight; I admire you with all my heart. I will go and Cultivate now and will not fail Revered Master's painstaking efforts."

With that,

Lei Wanjun stood up abruptly, as if he had been injected with adrenaline, and strode into the Chaotic Primordial Qi of the heaven-reaching tower, his back full of drive.

Gu Heng stood where he was.

His outstretched hand hung in mid-air, and for a long time, he couldn't say a word.

"..."

Silence returned to the hall.

Gu Heng sighed and plopped back into his chair.

"Sigh, is there something wrong with the brains of these Immortal Emperors? Could they have been infected by those overthinking Dragons?"

Gu Heng shook his head, too lazy to correct Lei Wanjun's thoughts anymore. "Whatever, let them think what they want..."

Having settled the matter with the Thunder Emperor, Gu Heng picked up his cold tea and took a sip.

He thought of another matter.

"Hmm... there's still one more trouble to resolve."

Gu Heng set down the teacup. He remembered the group of Myriad Races Geniuses he had swept up back in the Lower Realm.

Han Yuan, the Dragon Clan Prodigy; the Human Race's Taiji Divine Son; Jian Wuxin; and that goddess.

Besides them, there were also young elites from the Yao Race, the Spirit Race, and other various forces, totaling dozens of people.

At the time, in order to prevent them from interfering with his subjugation of the seventeen Immortal Emperors and the two God Emperor Incarnations, Jiang Wanyin and Di Shitian,

Gu Heng had found them to be in the way and simply waved his hand, knocking them all unconscious and storing them in a corner of the heaven-reaching tower.

These geniuses had witnessed the process of him subduing the Immortal and Devil Emperors with their own eyes and had even experienced the aura of Jiang Wanyin and Di Shitian.

"Behind these geniuses stand the various top forces of the Three Thousand Great Worlds."

Gu Heng mused.

If he just let them go back like this, they would surely report everything they saw in the Lower Realm to the old monsters of their respective Sects.

By then, his image as the "Youth in White" would be infinitely magnified, and there was no telling how many God Realm old monsters it might attract.

Although he now had seventeen Immortal Emperors to keep up appearances, if he truly provoked half the experts of the Three Thousand Great Worlds to attack him together, it would be a major headache.

"I have to deal with these little fellows."

With that thought,

Gu Heng stood up, took a step forward, merged into the Void Realm, and entered the heaven-reaching tower.

Inside the heaven-reaching tower,

Gu Heng's form manifested on the ten-thousandth floor of the tower.

Not far away,

the seventeen Immortal Emperors and the two God Emperor Incarnations were sitting cross-legged in the chaotic air currents, absorbing the power of the Laws here.

Sensing Gu Heng's presence, everyone opened their eyes, stood up in unison, and bowed.

"Greetings, Revered Master."

Gu Heng waved his hand, signaling them to dispense with the formalities.

He turned his head to look at the group of unconscious young figures trapped in another corner of the tower.

It was those dozens of Myriad Races Geniuses, imprisoned by a layer of spatial barrier, still in deep slumber.

"I've called you to a halt because I want to discuss something."

Gu Heng pointed at the group of geniuses. "These little fellows saw things they shouldn't have seen back in the Lower Realm. Keeping them is a liability. How do you think we should handle them?"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Jiang Wanyin's voice rang out,

"Kill them to eliminate any future trouble."

Di Shitian, standing nearby, also gave a snort, crossing his arms as killing intent flashed in his blood-colored devil pupils.

"Troublesome."

Di Shitian said, "Why should Revered Master bother with such ants? Just wipe them out with a finger; I guarantee no trace will be left."

Hearing the words of these two God Emperor Incarnations, Gu Heng did not state his position but instead fell into deep thought.

Killing them to silence them was indeed the simplest and most direct method. However, it didn't fit his style. It wasn't that he was soft-hearted, but rather that he had deeper concerns.

Just then,

Star Immortal Emperor, standing at the back, rolled his eyes, thinking this was a good opportunity to show off in front of his Revered Master.

He took a step forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Revered Master, although what the two ladies said is straightforward, I believe that killing them might save trouble for a moment, but it will plant the seeds of even greater hidden dangers."

"These people are all Prodigies cultivated by various races using countless resources. They must have Soul Lamps or Life Tablets held by their respective Sect elders."

"Kill one, and you provoke a family. Kill dozens, and you offend half of the top powers in the Three Thousand Great Worlds. The Karma involved here is too vast."

"When the time comes, those old monsters at the God Realm or the Peak of the Immortal Emperor Realm find out their most prized Juniors are dead, they will surely search the whole world like madmen for revenge. Once they find even a trace of a clue and come here... it will be a huge trouble."

Gu Heng's brow twitched when he heard this.

The word 'trouble' hit his weak spot perfectly. He came to this cultivation world to live a comfortable life.

He hated the cycle of 'beating the young and having the old show up,' and the endless killing and enemies knocking on his door.

"Hmm, Star makes sense." Gu Heng nodded. "But if we don't kill them, we can't just let them go back like this, can we?"

Everyone was at a loss.

Jiang Wanyin's eyes flickered as she looked at Gu Heng and spoke again.

"Revered Master, if we don't kill them, there is actually an even more ingenious way to handle this."

"I can tamper with their memories. I can... replace them..."

"Erasing memories leaves a blank space in the Divine Soul. Once they return to their Sects and those old monsters use secret techniques to investigate, they will find their memories have been tampered with, leading to even stronger suspicion."

"But if it's a replacement—giving them a logically sound, detailed, and realistic false memory—it would be difficult even for a God Lord Realm powerhouse to find any flaws during a soul search."

Gu Heng's eyes lit up.

"Tell me more, how would this replacement work?"

Jiang Wanyin turned slightly, tapped her fingertip in the Void Realm, and a screen of light appeared before everyone.

"We can make them 'remember' an experience that never existed."

"For example, erase all memories of them meeting you in the Lower Realm and replace the person who acted with an unknown, mysterious God Emperor who doesn't belong to any known power."

"In their memories, this God Emperor's aura far exceeds that of an Immortal Emperor, but his appearance is blurred, with only a view of his back visible."

A cold smile played on Jiang Wanyin's lips. "This way, when they return to their respective domains and are questioned or even soul-searched by their Sect elders, the images found will only be of 'an unknown God Emperor with an obscured face descending to the Lower Realm and suppressing everything with supreme pressure.'"

"The major powers will be shocked by the emergence of a new God Emperor-level existence, but no matter how many ancient records they search, they won't find out who this person is."

"Faced with the unknown, even those old monsters will feel wary. The more they can't find anything, the more they will fear."

The more they fear, the less they will dare to act rashly. They might even strictly order their Disciples never to set foot in that Lower Realm Star Domain again."

After hearing this plan,

Star Immortal Emperor and the others took a sharp breath of cold air.

This move, without wasting a single soldier, hung an invisible sword over the heads of the top powers in the Three Thousand Great Worlds.

Gu Heng rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and still raised a concern.

"However, Wanyin," Gu Heng said, "you just said the appearance in the memory is blurred. Wouldn't that be a bit too obvious?"

"If they can't even see the face, won't those old monsters think the memory is too fake, as if it were deliberately fabricated, when they search the soul?"

Jiang Wanyin didn't panic; instead, she shook her head firmly.

"Quite the opposite, Revered Master."

"Existences at the God Emperor level have already merged with the Heavenly Dao. Their true appearance contains extremely terrifying Law radiation."

"If a God Emperor truly descends to a lower domain, the low-dimensional Void Realm simply cannot withstand their true body. For those ants who haven't even stepped into the Immortal Realm or have just touched the edge of the Immortal Dao, looking directly at a God Emperor's true face would cause their Divine Soul to be instantly blown apart by the massive flow of information, resulting in their total annihilation on the spot."

"Therefore, in their memories, being unable to see the God Emperor's face and only being able to perceive that world-destroying aura is what makes the most sense."

"Being able to see it clearly would be unreasonable; that would be the true flaw."

After listening, Gu Heng nodded.

"Alright, do as you said. Get to work."

"As you command."

Jiang Wanyin took the order.

She turned around to face the dozens of Myriad Races Geniuses imprisoned in mid-air.

She raised a hand,

*Wring—*

Countless silver light threads as thin as hair drilled into the forehead of every Prodigy.

The project of tampering with memories began.

Under Jiang Wanyin's Divine Soul control, the memory images in the Prodigies' Sea of Consciousness began to rewind, shatter, and then reorganize.

Han Yuan, in his slumber, furrowed his brows, his body drenched in cold sweat.

In his subconscious, the original memory of 'the Youth in White subduing the Immortal and Devil Emperors' was extracted. In its place was a collapsing Void Realm.

In the new memory, he stood on the ruins of the Lower Realm, the sky torn apart.

Amidst the endless Chaos Lightning, a massive phantom slowly descended. That phantom faced away from all living beings, and just a wisp of the aura it radiated caused his proud True Dragon Bloodline to freeze. Before that back, he didn't even have the qualification to kneel, and could only watch as that existence casually leveled the stars.

"No... cannot look directly..."

Han Yuan let out a fearful mutter in his coma, his body convulsing violently.

The proud Young Lord of the Immortal Race, the Taiji Divine Son who focused on the balance of Yin and Yang, Jian Wuxin whose heart was always as still as water, and that holy and inviolable Goddess.

Even the three great Prodigies of the Human Race, as well as the young elites from the Yao Race, Spirit Race, and other factions, were all undergoing memory reconstruction.

Half an hour passed.

"Phew..."

Jiang Wanyin suddenly withdrew her hands, and the silver light threads connected to the Prodigies' foreheads dissipated.

"Revered Master, I have fortunately fulfilled the mission. The memory tampering is complete."

Jiang Wanyin let out a long sigh and retreated to her original position.

Gu Heng looked at the Prodigies who were still asleep but each had a pale face, and nodded.

"Good job."

Gu Heng waved his hand casually,

Invoking the space Laws within the heaven-reaching tower.

*Crack—*

A spatial tunnel was torn open.

The other end of the tunnel connected to the void turbulence of the Three Thousand Great Worlds.

The dozens of unconscious Myriad Races Geniuses, like kites with broken strings, were swept into that pitch-black spatial tunnel by a gust of wind.

"As for how long they will drift in the void turbulence and when they can return to their respective Sects, that will depend on their own luck."

Gu Heng clapped his hands, and the tunnel closed accordingly.

Having dealt with this hidden danger,

Gu Heng turned around, his gaze sweeping over the seventeen Immortal Emperors and Devil Emperors before him, finally stopping briefly on Lei Wanjun, who had just rushed into the tower and was looking for a place to work hard.

"The matter is resolved. From now on, you have only one task."

"Cultivate well. The time flow here is one to ten thousand, and resources are plenty. Don't be lazy; if anyone goes out and loses face for me, I won't let them off."

"Especially you, Lei Wanjun. Don't spend all day overthinking; use your energy on increasing your Realm."

Lei Wanjun's immortal body shook when he heard Gu Heng call his name, and he responded loudly, "As you command, Revered Master. I will not let you down."

The Immortal Emperors also shouted in unison, "We respectfully obey the Revered Master's decree."

Gu Heng gave a hum, and with a flicker of his body, he disappeared from within the heaven-reaching tower.

...

Outside the tower.

In the main hall of Longyuan Hall.

Gu Heng's figure reappeared in the void, his gaze sweeping across the hall.

The hall was very quiet.

Sunlight streamed through the carved windows, casting mottled shadows on the floor tiles.

That familiar white-clothed figure was still standing by the window.

Lin Qingyue.

She hadn't entered the heaven-reaching tower, nor had she left the hall; she just stood there, looking out at the sea of clouds in the Dragon Domain.

The silver-white mark on her forehead had already faded, and the Law aura from her Breakthrough to the Immortal Emperor Realm was also completely withdrawn.

Hearing Gu Heng's footsteps, Lin Qingyue turned around.

There were no extra expressions on that peerless face, but in those clear eyes, deep thoughts were hidden.

Gu Heng walked to the main seat but didn't sit down, instead looking at her.

"Why didn't you go in?"

Gu Heng asked casually, "You've just passed the Purple-Gold Lightning Tribulation and entered the Early Stage of the Immortal Emperor Realm. Your Realm is unstable, and you need time to settle the most. The ten-thousand-fold time flow in the heaven-reaching tower is the best place for you to consolidate your cultivation right now."

Lin Qingyue shook her head and said softly, "Consolidating one's Realm isn't about the accumulation of time, but about the Perfection of one's state of mind."

She took two steps closer and looked into Gu Heng's eyes, "And... compared to my own cultivation, I'm more worried about something else right now."

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Something else? You mean..."

"That God Lord."

Lin Qingyue spoke those three words.

The temperature in the hall seemed to drop a few degrees.

Lin Qingyue looked at Gu Heng, her tone appearing grave.

"This group of Immortal Emperors from the Dragon Clan has lived in the lower domain for so long that they've become like frogs in a well. They simply don't understand what the three words 'God Lord Realm' truly represent in the God Realm."

Lin Qingyue paused, a trace of wariness flashing in her eyes.

"Immortal Emperors have only mastered Laws. But a God Lord has created their own 'Origin Divine Domain.' Within their God Domain, they are the sole Heavenly Dao."

"Since the God Lord of Xuantian Hall has already come with the Sect-guarding Divine Artifact, tearing through the Star Domain barrier, it means they are definitely not here just to make an appearance. This is a hunt to the death."

She looked at Gu Heng's still nonchalant face, her voice rising slightly.

"I know your background is unfathomably deep, and you have seventeen Immortal Emperors at your service, even an existence like my Revered Master's Divine Sense."

But..."

"Once a God Lord descends, the space Laws of the entire Dragon Domain will be locked down by him. At that time, even if seventeen Immortal Emperors join forces, they might be suppressed before a God Lord's Origin Divine Domain."

Lin Qingyue took a deep breath and voiced her deepest concern.

"If that God Lord really comes to the door to take Lei Wanjun away, have we... really prepared for a direct war?"

Gu Heng listened to Lin Qingyue's analysis.

He didn't refute her.

He just turned his head and looked in the direction Lin Qingyue had been looking, toward the sea of clouds in the Dragon Domain outside the hall window.

At some point,

At the far end of the firmament, the ancestral dragon qi that had shrouded the area year-round began to take on a layer of dark red.

That wasn't the color of the sunset.

It was a gaze carrying the will of judgment, crossing the endless starry river and casting itself toward this domain.

In the Void Realm,

A muffled sound of shattering echoed.

The domain barrier was enduring an incalculable amount of pressure.

Gu Heng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at that dark red horizon, a subtle arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Prepare?"

"Who said I was going to prepare?"