Volume One, Chapter 10: Relatives with a Death Wish
“Elder Xuan, this is our chance. The main lineage is declining, and that young master Gu Changsheng is likely a worthless figure with only a name. For my cousin to marry him is a blessing that cannot be earned in eight lifetimes within this mortal realm. Taking this opportunity, we can rightfully take over the main lineage and uncover the legendary ultimate secret of our family.”
Their intentions were laid bare, their words dripping with condescension and calculation.
The flying vessel slowly descended in front of the Gu family mansion.
Gazing upon the plain and unadorned gate and the elderly servant sweeping the ground, Gu Tianjiao’s disdain deepened.
He arrogantly shouted at the old servant sweeping the ground.
“Hey, down there, go report at once! Tell your master that the branch of the Gu family from the Nine Heavens Azure Profound Realm has come to pay respects. Have him come out to greet us!”
The old servant didn’t even lift his eyelids, continuing to sweep quietly.
This blatant disregard infuriated Gu Tianjiao completely.
Just as a bodyguard behind him was about to react, the figure of Elder Fu appeared quietly inside the gate.
He looked like an ordinary old steward, without a trace of a powerful aura.
“What business do you have here?” he asked calmly.
Gu Xuan stepped forward, puffing out his chest and scrutinizing Elder Fu with a piercing gaze.
“We are members of the Gu family from the Azure Profound Realm. By seniority, your main lineage should address us as ‘uncles.’ We have come today with great tidings.”
He paused and then continued in a tone full of patronizing generosity.
“I’ve heard that the young master of the main lineage, Gu Changsheng, is mediocre and unfit for responsibility. We of the branch cannot bear to see the main line wither, so we have come to form a marriage alliance, offering our branch’s proud daughter to marry him and help restore the main lineage’s prestige. Hurry and call him out to thank us for our kindness.”
These words caused Ye Qingxian and Ji Ruxue inside the courtyard to frown deeply.
Especially Ji Ruxue, whose admiration for Gu Changsheng had already permeated her very bones. Hearing someone dare to belittle Gu Changsheng like this, her eyes grew cold with murderous intent.
Inside the chamber, Gu Changsheng, having just finished his morning meal and preparing to return to bed, frowned in irritation upon hearing the commotion at the door.
“Elder Fu, so early in the morning, who’s out there chirping like a swarm of flies?”
Elder Fu’s respectful voice sounded in his mind.
“Master, it is a group of irrelevant branch family members making a ruckus outside. Their words are quite disrespectful towards you.”
Gu Changsheng waved his hand impatiently.
“Branch family? Marriage alliance? What a nuisance. I have no interest. Tell them to leave and not to disturb my nap.”
“Yes, Master.”
Receiving the order, Elder Fu turned his back on Gu Xuan, Gu Tianjiao, and their entourage, his respectful expression shifting to bone-chilling coldness.
“Our young master has no interest. Please leave.”
Gu Tianjiao laughed scornfully, as if hearing the greatest joke.
“No interest? A worthless wretch, what right does he have to refuse? Does he not know this is his only way out...”
“Our young master says,” Elder Fu interrupted coldly, his voice low but distinct, “that you should leave.”
Gu Xuan’s face darkened instantly.
“How dare a mere servant speak to us like this? It seems this main lineage is rotten to the core, from top to bottom, and no longer respects rules!”
Elder Fu calmly looked at them and slowly spoke.
“Rules?”
“Since you mention rules, I shall tell you the family rules.”
“Gu family regulations, Volume Three, Article Seven: Any branch family member who dares to disrespect the main lineage, plot against it, or insult the heir shall be severely punished.”
His voice was even, but carried the weight of an unassailable decree.
“With the young master’s approval, I hereby pronounce: you are stripped of the surname ‘Gu’ in the Azure Profound Realm branch, your bloodline severed, and you are expelled from the family.”
The moment his words fell,
Gu Xuan, Gu Tianjiao, and all their kin trembled violently.
An indescribable, searing pain erupted from the depths of their bloodline, from their very soul’s core.
“Ah—”
Gu Tianjiao screamed in agony.
He looked at his hands in horror; the once ceaseless power of the Divine King Realm that he had always prided himself on was now draining away at an unstoppable pace.
His divine sea was drying up, his foundational Dao collapsing, and the laws were slipping from his grasp.
Gu Xuan’s condition was even more tragic; his once youthful face instantly filled with deep wrinkles, his life essence pouring out like a breached dam.
In mere breaths, this titan of the quasi-Emperor realm was transformed into a decrepit mortal on the brink of death.
“No! My cultivation! My bloodline power!”
“How can this be? This is impossible!”
Desperate wails echoed one after another.
In this brief moment, all of them were ruthlessly cast down to the mortal realm, reduced to powerless commoners.
The “Gu” bloodline that had been their birthright, the supreme honor that had allowed them to stand atop the Nine Heavens and Ten Worlds, was completely stripped away.
Elder Fu didn’t even bother to glance at them again. Turning, he gave a single command to the old servant sweeping by the gate.
“Clean up the garbage at the gate. Don’t sully the young master’s sight.”
With that, he turned and re-entered the mansion as if performing a trivial task.
Before the gate, only a group of once lofty “immortals” remained, now wailing like lost dogs.
The once arrogant branch of the Gu family in the Azure Profound Realm lay collapsed on the ground, feeling the brutal extraction of their strength and vitality.
Gu Tianjiao’s handsome face twisted in agony. Summoning his last ounce of strength, he grabbed the sleeve of an elder nearby, his voice hoarse.
“No... my Divine King Dao Fruit... my future... how could this be...?”
Yet no answer came, only the soft “swish swish” of the broom sweeping.
The old servant who had kept his head bowed the entire time, as if everything outside the gate was of no concern to him, finally strolled over leisurely.
The broom in his hand was the same plain bamboo one, sweeping the ground and stirring up a small cloud of dust.
“Get lost!” an elder shouted at him, as if finding a vent for his despair, roaring with his last bit of strength.
“Do you know who we are? How dare the main lineage act this way? Aren’t they afraid of heavenly punishment?”
The old servant ignored him, not even lifting an eyelid.
He simply continued his work, the broom sweeping lightly and casually, as if clearing a fallen leaf.
But with that single sweep, a silent force swept up everyone on the ground.
No fluctuations of law, no surging spiritual energy, no grand spectacle of spatial rifts.
They were treated like actual trash, swept up along with a few withered leaves and dust, flying toward the servant’s dustpan.
The dustpan was black and ordinary, just a common household item.
Yet when Gu Xuan, Gu Tianjiao, and their group were swept inside, no sound of collision was heard, nor was any space occupied.
It was as if they were cast into a bottomless black hole, their screams instantly swallowed clean.