God Emperor

Gu Songzi immediately sat upright. With a stern face, he looked like an esteemed figure. “Young man, as an elder, I must tell you something. It’s best not to know things that you shouldn’t know.”

Zhang Ruochen walked over and sat down across from Gu Songzi. Staring into his ancient eyes, Zhang Ruochen said, “What are things that I should know? What are things that I shouldn’t know?”

“You shouldn’t know because your cultivation is too low. It’s not time for you to know yet. Plus, you’re too frivolous. You shouldn’t know.”

Zhang Ruochen was silent for a bit. “Even with my current cultivation, I still don’t qualify to know?”

“Yes.” While Gu Songzi answered Zhang Ruochen, he sniffed powerfully. “Miss Qing Mo, how much longer do we have to wait? The meat looks done and the spiritual medicine is about to burn. Can we start eating now?”

Zhang Ruochen smiled. Gu Songzi really changed his tune quickly. Before, he always called Qing Mo “little girl.” Now, she was a “miss.” It sounded like he was trying to get on her good side.

He threw away all shame for food!

Qing Mo didn’t entertain Gu Songzi. “Lord Zhang said that you can only have food if you tell us about the Immortal Vampires’ secrets.”

“Tsk, I already said that your cultivation is too low. It’s not time for you to know yet.” Gu Songzi sighed, thinking that Qing Mo was too stubborn.

“Then let’s change the question,” Zhang Ruochen said. “What conflict do you and the Crazy Alcoholic have? You can answer this one, right?”

“This…I can’t either.” Gu Songzi shook his head. His eyes had a strange look.

“What if we add a flagon of Dragon Fire Wine, eighth of all liquors in the world? We have meat, soup, and wine. A story goes best with this, right?”

Zhang Ruochen took a flagon of Dragon Fire Wine out of his spatial ring. He opened it and placed it before Gu Songzi. The thick fragrance floated out, making Gu Songzi’s eyes burn with hot light. He couldn’t help but lick his lips.

Seeing this, Zhang Ruochen knew that his guess was correct. Since Gu Songzi had once been close friends with the Crazy Alcoholic, he must love drinking as well.

Gu Songzi pounced to grab the flagon, but he missed. Zhang Ruochen had already pulled it back beforehand.

Gu Songzi sighed. “It was all in the past. What is there to talk about?”

“Since it’s in the past, from hundreds of years ago, why can’t you talk about? Do you really want to take your relationship and conflicts to the grave?”

Zhang Ruochen really wanted to know the reason. He felt like with the Crazy Alcoholic’s personality, he didn’t seem the type to betray friends. What exactly was the reason that two closest friends turned on each other?

Was it a misunderstanding?

If possible, he should try to help them resolve the misunderstanding.

Zhang Ruochen took a spatial ring out and put it before Gu Songzi. “I’ll also add this spatial ring. Is it enough now?”

Gu Songzi grabbed the spatial ring. He released his Spiritual Power into it. Checking the space within the ring, his expression grew even more excited.

A spatial ring was very useful for a Pill Master. It could save them a lot of trouble.

“A spatial ring in exchange for a story? And I won’t owe you any favors? You aren’t thinking about my Hua Divine Pill formula, right?”

Gu Songzi didn’t really believe Zhang Ruochen. How could there be such a good deal in this world?

Zhang Ruochen took the soup that Qing Mo ladled out. “A Pill Saint’s story is worth this price.”

Gu Songzi no longer had any other concerns. He put the spatial ring on his right pinky. He really liked it after studying it.

Then he grabbed the Dragon Fire Wine and drank a mouthful. Looking up at the crescent moon in the sky, he sank into the endless memories and scoffed. “Pill Saint my ass. Six hundred years ago, you should’ve called me Poison Way Saint. My attainment in the Poison Way is much more advanced than in the Pill Way.”

Zhang Ruochen’s expression changed. “You really are the Poison Way Master, Lord Ku?”

“It’s been 600 years. Kunlun’s Field has produced generation after generation of talents. I thought that people had long forgotten my past title. Heh, you’re so young, but you actually know my real name. This is quite rare.”

Gu Songzi felt more positively about Zhang Ruochen. This young junior actually knew his name. He felt more or less happy about this.

“What exactly happened 600 years ago?” Zhang Ruochen asked.

“It was in the near ancient times, when Kunlun’s Field was in the most chaos. Wars were endless. No force was spared, including the powerful Moon-Worship Demonic Sect. At that time, the Empress hadn’t come into power yet. The First Central Empire hadn’t been established either. Of course, Empress Chi Yao was already very powerful. She could bring her army to attack the headquarters of the Moon-Worship Demonic Sect.

“In one battle, the strong cultivators of the sect were practically all killed. Even the sect leader had died. Of course, the sect had a very large heritage and wasn’t completely wiped out. Some important figures survived and united the scattered disciples to reform the sect. Amongst them were Shi Qianjue and Ling Xiu, first and fourth disciple of the sect leader.”

Zhang Ruochen’s expression changed. “Shi Qianjue, leader of the Demonic Sect.”

“Six hundred years ago, Shi Qianjue wasn’t a sect leader yet. There were actually many people who supported Ling Xiu. Of the six major disciples of the sect leader, Ling Xiu’s talent was the highest. He was also the sect leader’s son, so he was practically the best choice for the new leader.”

“What happened after that?” Zhang Ruochen asked.

Gu Songzi drank some Dragon Fire Wine before continuing. “The close disciples turned on each other to fight for the position of sect leader. They began a bloody fight and the sect was almost destroyed.”

For some reason, Zhang Ruochen thought of the Sacred Central Empire. After Emperor Ming had gone missing, there was also a group of people who fought for power and finally caused the empire to fall apart.

“You were an elder of the sect and must not have had a low status,” Zhang Ruochen said. “Who did you side with?”

Gu Songzi closed his eyes and shook his head. “I didn’t want either side.”

“It couldn’t have been so easy, right?” Zhang Ruochen asked.

“Indeed.” Gu Songzi nodded. “One night, a group of cultivators broke into my residence with the dying Ling Xiu. They wanted me to treat him. According to them, Ling Xiu had been injured by Shi Qianjue.”

“It seems that you had to take a side!”

“I didn’t want to at all. I didn’t dare to either. My family and clan were all under Shi Qianjue. If I saved Ling Xiu, my family and clan would die. If I didn’t, then I would die. So I immediately sent a message to the leader’s third disciple, Feng Zuisheng, hoping he could come help me. Of the six major disciples, only these three were still alive. Feng Zuisheng was close to both Shi Qianjue and Ling Xiu. As long as he could come back, he could save my family even if he couldn’t stop the inner conflict.”

Zhang Ruochen was stunned. “The Crazy Alcoholic was the third disciple of the Demonic Emperor, Feng Zuisheng, also known as the Alcohol God?”

With this, Zhang Ruochen finally understood why the Crazy Alcoholic was so advanced in the Alcoholic Way. He had such a shocking identity.

However, in Zhang Ruochen’s memories, people’s impressions of Feng Zuisheng from 800 years ago were of him being a handsome and playful man. He was completely different from the Crazy Alcoholic.

Even though people would change miserably after aging, he’d changed way too much.

“Alcohol God? He’s just a liar, a cowardly turtle. After I messaged him, he agreed to help me save my family. That’s why I saved Ling Xiu. But…but… When he came to me, all he brought to me was corpses scattered on the ground. They’d died, all died. No one was spared.”

Gu Songzi laughed, but tears flowed out of his eyes.

Zhang Ruochen fell silent. A moment later, he said, “Perhaps he had his troubles too.”

“He told me that some things happened that delayed him. When he went to see Shi Qianjue, everyone was already dead. I just wanted to know what could be more important than saving my family when we were that close? I think he was just afraid of taking a side, afraid of offending Shi Qianjue, afraid of putting himself in danger. He purposely went late.”

Gu Songzi was furious. He clenched his jaw and fire spread through him.

Zhang Ruochen thought carefully. The Crazy Alcoholic really might have done that, because he indeed feared death. Back then, he’d knelt down before Chi Yao to save himself, and made some horrible vows.

He was a Saint and disciple of the Demonic Emperor, but he didn’t even feel ashamed to kneel before the woman who’d killed his master. This was indeed unforgivable.

Zhang Ruochen didn’t know what to say. “What happened later?” he asked. “What happened to the Moon-Worship Demonic Sect? Why did Shi Qianjue become the leader, while Ling Xiu with more supporters became unknown now?”

Gu Songzi shook his head. “After that, I was heartbroken and left the Demonic Sect. I did hear about some things later. Apparently, Ling Xiu and Shi Qianjue’s war pushed the Demonic Sect even closer to the brink of collapse. Some clans and sects in the central region prepared to unite and destroy the Demonic Sect so they could split the spoils.

“At this life-or-death moment, Ling Xiu gave up on the position. He disabled his own cultivation at a mountain. From then on, Shi Qianjue became the newest leader. Ling Xiu went into isolation and never took part in the sect’s matters.

“Apparently, after becoming the sect leader, Shi Qianjue was also filled with regret. He felt that senior and junior brothers shouldn’t have fought like this. Thus, he searched for all the saintly medicines and Pill Saints in the world to heal Ling Xiu. He even gave Ling Xiu’s daughter the title of Saintess. She was second only to him in the sect. But in my opinion, he was just trying to win people over.”

Gu Songzi scoffed.

He hated the Crazy Alcoholic, but he truly had implacable hatred for Shi Qianjue. Unfortunately, Shi Qianjue’s cultivation was too high. He would probably never be able to take revenge.