Chapter 110: Settling Old Scores

After hearing of Zhong Tianyao’s death, Chen Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief. If Zhong Tianyao had remained alive, then once he recovered, he would surely have unleashed a crazed retaliation against Stargazing Valley and the Great Xia Empire.

Although Chen Mu would no longer be in Great Xia by then, having gone somewhere far more distant, Stargazing Valley would still remain on this land. For the sake of its future, he had to make certain that Zhong Tianyao was truly and irrevocably dead.

After enjoying a brief reunion with his family, Chen Mu ignored everyone’s objections and insisted on getting out of bed.

His body had already recovered more or less completely. He was merely unaccustomed to movement after being inactive for so long, as though his muscles had rusted. The moment he stepped outdoors, he stretched his limbs and loosened his joints.

When Chen Mu saw the scene outside the house, he nearly thought he was no longer in Stargazing Valley. In only a month, the valley had undergone a drastic transformation.

All the grand halls and pavilions that had once stood abandoned and collapsed had been rebuilt. The entire Stargazing Valley had taken on a completely new appearance.

These changes were largely thanks to the disciples of the Azure Charm Mountain Sect who had come to help. They had worked tirelessly every day to rebuild the valley, which could also be regarded as compensation from the Azure Charm Mountain Sect for having previously handed Chen Feng over to the Azurefall Dao Sect for imprisonment.

When they saw Chen Mu awaken and come outside, the disciples of both Stargazing Valley and the Azure Charm Mountain Sect hurriedly greeted him with respect.

Chen Mu returned each greeting in turn. He also noticed several unfamiliar faces among the disciples. These newcomers were all dressed in the robes of Stargazing Valley’s outer disciples, so they had presumably joined the valley only recently.

Looking at those new disciples, who regarded him with a measure of fear, Chen Mu sighed inwardly. Stargazing Valley could finally recruit disciples again.

He could not help but smile bitterly. It seemed that his fearsome reputation had grown too great, leaving the new disciples somewhat terrified of him.

Still, he paid it no mind. So long as Stargazing Valley could return to the right path, nothing else mattered.

At present, Stargazing Valley was already the strongest power in Great Xia. Although its disciples were few and its numbers had dwindled, it still possessed Nascent Soul cultivators. With Chen Mu and the other fiends stationed there, no one dared provoke it.

Furthermore, after Chen Mu and the others wiped out the Azurefall Dao Sect, all the city lords and officials within Stargazing Valley’s territory who had once secretly reported information to the empire and the Azurefall Dao Sect were dismissed and stripped of their property by the empire one after another.

This was also a gesture of goodwill from the empire, intended to repair its relations with Stargazing Valley. After all, there was no way those people’s covert schemes could escape Chen Mu’s notice. If their actions caused Chen Mu to develop hostility toward the empire once more, then the empire’s reconciliation with Stargazing Valley would have been entirely meaningless.

Before long, Gu Xingyuan came to find Chen Mu as soon as he learned that Chen Mu had awakened. After asking with concern about Chen Mu’s condition and confirming that he was unharmed, Gu Xingyuan said that there was something Chen Mu needed to handle personally.

Chen Mu was puzzled. What matter could possibly require his personal attention? He was not even the head of Stargazing Valley. Could there be something that needed his approval?

When Gu Xingyuan led him into an underground prison, Chen Mu immediately saw someone being held inside.

It was Gu Daozhen.

At some point, Gu Daozhen’s cultivation had been sealed by special means. He could not circulate even the slightest amount of vital energy, much less detonate his Nascent Soul.

During this period, Gu Daozhen had looked utterly devoid of hope. Although more than a month without food or water had not caused him to starve or grow thin—after all, he was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and such abilities were within his power—his entire body nevertheless appeared bleak and desolate.

It seemed that the death of his ancestor, Zhong Tianyao, had dealt him a tremendous blow. Having personally witnessed the destruction of the Azurefall Dao Sect, he had inevitably been overwhelmed by despair.

Seeing Gu Daozhen in such a state, Chen Mu merely sneered. When Gu Daozhen had destroyed Stargazing Valley and hunted him throughout the land, had he ever imagined that he would one day end up like this?

He had brought this entirely upon himself.

When Gu Xingyuan brought Chen Mu before Gu Daozhen, Chen Mu understood the others’ intentions. They wanted him to deal with Gu Daozhen personally, for Gu Daozhen was one of the sources of everything that had happened.

The true root of the matter lay with the Meng family of Meng Rushan. Yet the Meng family had ultimately been nothing more than a dog of the Azurefall Dao Sect. After everything that had happened, they had surely vanished into obscurity and assumed false names. They would never dare show themselves again and invite Chen Mu to exterminate their clan.

Moreover, Meng Rushan, the heir whom the family had painstakingly cultivated at such tremendous cost, had already died at Chen Mu’s hands. The family would certainly need a long time to raise another outstanding younger generation.

Without a suitable heir, once the old Core Elixir cultivator of the Meng family died in the years ahead, the clan would inevitably decline and collapse. Recovering afterward would be even more difficult.

There was nothing Chen Mu could do about the Meng family for now, but fortunately, Gu Daozhen had been captured alive. As long as Chen Mu personally dealt with him, this grudge could be considered to have reached a fairly satisfactory conclusion.

During the past month, while repeatedly reliving the memories of his former life, Chen Mu’s state of mind had already risen to a higher level, and he had let go of much of his resentment.

But when he saw Gu Daozhen, he still wanted to kill him with his own hands.

When Gu Daozhen saw Chen Mu approaching, his eyes were hollow and lifeless. He had long since resolved to die. Even if he wished to detonate himself and end everything, he was unable to do so. Now that Chen Mu had arrived, he instead felt a kind of relief.

Gu Daozhen slowly opened his mouth.

“Kill me. The Azurefall Dao Sect was destroyed because of me, and my younger brother, Dao Yan, also lost his life because of this grudge. I have no reason left to go on living.”

Chen Mu looked at him coldly.

“You want to die so easily? I will kill you, certainly—but I will not grant you a swift death. I will feed your Nascent Soul to one of the demonic beasts under my command, while your soul will be imprisoned within my Soul Suppression Tower. The tower can slowly refine your soul and transform it into pure soul energy for me to absorb. The process will be an agonizing torment. I will make you die and vanish amid that endless suffering. Such a death does not lead into the cycle of reincarnation. In other words, you will have no next life.”

At those words, a trace of terror finally appeared on Gu Daozhen’s face. Trembling, he said, “You monster! Will you not even grant me a peaceful death? You act with such merciless cruelty. Are you not afraid of retribution?”

“Retribution? When has Heaven ever brought you retribution? If I had not fought back and sought revenge with my life on the line time and again, perhaps you would have already formed that so-called Dao Alliance and ruled all of Great Xia in comfort. Your downfall was not retribution delivered by Heaven. It was the result I bought with my life! Of course, it can also be considered retribution for you. That is precisely why I should finish the matter completely, so that you will never have the chance to retaliate against me again. What retribution is there to fear in that? Enough nonsense. Soon, you will experience true pain and despair within the Soul Suppression Tower.”

Chen Mu’s voice was utterly cold.

“Monster! You monster!”

Gu Daozhen cursed him with every vile word he could summon, but Chen Mu remained unmoved.

He summoned the Soul Suppression Tower and drew Gu Daozhen’s soul into it. Then he destroyed Gu Daozhen’s body, extracted his Nascent Soul, and collected his soul as well. The entire process flowed as smoothly as running water, clearly something Chen Mu had long since grown accustomed to doing.

Watching Chen Mu employ such extreme and ruthless methods, Gu Xingyuan finally understood why people outside called him a little devil. He sighed.

He did not know whether Chen Mu’s transformation would bring fortune or calamity in the future. Yet so long as Chen Mu remained true to his original heart, did not lose himself to power, and retained the emotions that made him human, perhaps matters were not yet as bad as they seemed.

His methods might be ruthless, but so long as he could answer to his own conscience and his heart remained unburdened, what harm was there in being a little more ruthless?

With that thought, Gu Xingyuan sighed again and stopped dwelling on the matter. His concern for Chen Mu’s future came from a hope that Chen Mu would not take the wrong path and become an evil fiend.

After Gu Daozhen was drawn into the Soul Suppression Tower, he suffered the agony of refinement within it. His soul continued to shriek and howl in torment.

Chen Mu, however, paid no attention to any of it. He silently absorbed the benefits brought to him by the soul energy transmitted from the tower, allowing his own soul to continue strengthening and advancing.

After dealing with Gu Daozhen, Chen Mu left the underground prison with Gu Xingyuan. They spoke for a while before Chen Mu sent Gu Xingyuan off to attend to his own affairs. After all, this nominal master of his still had to direct the disciples in rebuilding Stargazing Valley.

Before long, Chen Mu found the swift eagle beast Brownfeather lying listlessly in some corner. The moment Brownfeather saw its master approach, it immediately rose and affectionately nudged Chen Mu with its massive head.

Chen Mu stroked its feathers, then tossed over the pure Nascent Soul he had just obtained and gave it to Brownfeather to refine. Brownfeather did not hesitate. It snapped up the Nascent Soul in one bite, swallowed it, and closed its eyes to begin refining it.

Seeing that Brownfeather had started absorbing and refining the power within the Nascent Soul, Chen Mu did not disturb it. He quietly left and began wandering through the newly reborn Stargazing Valley.

As he wandered, Chen Mu suddenly felt empty.

His great revenge had been accomplished, yet he now found himself with nothing to do. It seemed that everything he had done throughout those years had been for revenge, rather than for the sake of cultivating for himself.

He felt as though he had forgotten the joy of cultivation. He found himself missing the days he had spent in Stargazing Valley. Life there had been difficult, but at least he had had companions and close friends by his side.

A trace of desolation appeared on Chen Mu’s face. He knew he could never return to the past. The past was ultimately the past, and life still had to move forward.

The affairs in Great Xia could now be considered settled. His only concern was whether Blood Heaven would continue causing trouble everywhere. If Blood Heaven continued killing without reason, it would indeed become a troublesome matter.

After learning that Blood Heaven had vanished without a trace following the battle at the Azurefall Dao Sect, Chen Mu felt slightly more at ease. After all, Blood Heaven had not slaughtered any of Great Xia’s common people during the past month.

Although he did not know what Blood Heaven was thinking, Chen Mu still advised Gu Xingyuan to remain wary of him and to keep constant watch over his movements and actions.

That said, this was not something Stargazing Valley alone should be responsible for. Great Xia was imperial territory, and the empire’s rulers ought to be the ones worrying about it.

After learning all he could about the situation in Great Xia, Chen Mu decided to make a trip to the Brightmoon Empire.

He did not know what condition the Brightmoon Empire was in. When he had left, the Nine Nether Sacred Land and the Brightmoon Empire had merely exchanged minor blows, with both sides recuperating and rebuilding their strength.

But so much time had passed since then. He had no idea how the situation had developed. He hoped he could do something for the Nine Nether Sacred Land—ideally, help his godfather and godmother seize control of the Brightmoon Empire.

If the Brightmoon Empire and the Great Xia Empire joined forces, he would feel far more at ease.