Double pupils, supreme bone, bone extraction and transplantation.
In the script she had designed, the mortal Gu Chengming should have been born in a dilapidated shack, his mother dying during labor, and his father a stooped tenant farmer. He would learn to walk at three, be beaten at five, and start herding cattle for the landlord at seven. He wouldn't be able to scrape together even a few ounces of spirit stones in his entire life. So what exactly was happening now?
The Pure Heart Art hesitated to speak. "This seems a bit different from the mortal I had envisioned."
The Pure Heart Art of Love felt a bit embarrassed, but she bit the bullet and said, "No matter. Whether a mortal or a genius, the world's suffering does not grant special mercy just because of one's talent." The Pure Heart Art glanced at her sideways but said nothing.
From a certain perspective, the Pure Heart Art of Love wasn't entirely wrong. After all, her trial tested one's true heart. Even if one started at the maximum level, as long as there was still a narrow path that had to be taken, the end would eventually verify the same question.
As the Pure Heart Art of Love finished speaking, the images in the illusion before them began to shift.
【Year 1: Gu Chengming is born into a branch of the Gu family, a cultivation clan. Born with double pupils, he is seen as a monster by the clan leader. The leader immediately orders that the supreme bone of Gu Haiming, an orphaned girl from the branch family, be extracted and transplanted into him.】
【However, on the day of his birth, Gu Chengming actually speaks. Using his double pupils' divine power, he sees through the clan leader's selfish motives—the leader does not seek the clan's prosperity, but intends to use the body of dual saintly manifestations to curry favor with the Holy Lands for an official position. Upon hearing this, the clan is thrown into an uproar. The Third Elder defects on the spot, and the matter of the supreme bone is dropped. Consequently, Gu Haiming lives in the same courtyard as Gu Chengming, raised by an old servant of the branch family.】
—No, starting with some random double pupils and a supreme bone setting is already ridiculous enough, but how can he speak right after being born?
The Pure Heart Art of Love really wanted to complain, but she forced herself to hold it in.
【Year 4: The double pupils begin to show their power, allowing him to see through the essence of spiritual energy and comprehend the process of drawing qi into the body on his own. Due to the supreme bone incident, Gu Haiming is ostracized by the direct line descendants and becomes withdrawn, sticking only to Gu Chengming. Gu Chengming teaches her the qi-induction method he realized, and the two often sit opposite each other in the corner of the courtyard to cultivate.】
【That same year, the Gu clan's direct line causes trouble. Three older cousins corner Gu Haiming. Gu Haiming grits her teeth and refuses to cry. Gu Chengming finds them carrying a withered branch. Using his double pupils to see the flaws in his cousins' techniques, he strikes each of them behind the knees with a single blow, forcing them all to kneel before Gu Haiming. Afterward, Gu Haiming hears Gu Chengming say, "From now on, whoever bullies you, I'll hit them back," and she finally can't help but burst into tears.】
【Year 5: Gu Haiming's supreme bone awakens, and its power goes out of control. Gu Chengming scours the remnants in the Gu clan's Scripture Repository and finally finds a rudimentary solution. From then on, he stays by her side every night, using his double pupils to guide the power of the supreme bone to temper her meridians until she falls into a peaceful sleep. Gu Haiming pretends to sleep, secretly opening her eyes to look at his profile as he dozes off, thinking to herself that she must protect her brother for the rest of her life.】
【That same year, during the Gu clan's year-end competition, Gu Chengming defeats three older cousins from a higher realm. A wandering cultivator passing through the Gu family sees Gu Chengming's talent and gifts him a fragment of a sword manual, said to be from the cave dwelling of an ancient cultivator. Gu Chengming treats it like a priceless treasure, practicing his sword in the courtyard every night. Gu Haiming helps him correct his posture, and their moonlit duels become a routine. This year, Gu Chengming achieves some small success.】
【Year 7: The immortal city where the Gu family is located is attacked by a low-level monster tide. The clan elders order the gates closed for self-defense. Gu Chengming climbs over the wall, takes his sword to the city walls, and uses the fragmented moves from the manual to slay three monsters, saving several trapped civilians. After the battle, the clan leader is furious, punishing him with a month of wall-facing meditation for leaving the clan's formation without permission and endangering the family. Gu Haiming sneaks over the wall to bring him food and is caught by the guards, resulting in her being punished with wall-facing as well. Instead, the two gain an entire month of solitude.】
The Pure Heart Art of Love took a deep breath.
—Okay, at least this part finally has a taste of mortal setbacks. Being punished with wall-facing can barely count as suffering.
【That same year, while at the foot of the mountain for his wall-facing punishment, Gu Chengming finds the second half of that fragmented sword manual. It turns out to be a peak-grade sword cultivator inheritance!】
Pure Heart Art of Love: "?"
Pure Heart Art: [Holding back laughter.jpg]
【Year 13: Envoys from a sword sect go to the Gu family to recruit disciples. Both Gu Chengming and Gu Haiming are accepted and bid farewell to the Gu family.】
【Year 14: Gu Chengming passes the inner sect examination and is exceptionally admitted to the Sword Peak. Huiyuan, a junior sister who entered at the same time, is a quiet girl who always secretly follows behind him. Her talent isn't top-tier, but she is extremely hardworking, repeating the same starting hand on the training platform every day before dawn. After watching her, Gu Chengming gives her some pointers. Upon returning to her quarters, the girl can't help but cry.】
【During those days, not a single senior brother or sister had been willing to give her a second look. Gu Chengming was the first to show her kindness, which caused the girl to develop secret feelings for him.】
—How did little Huiyuan get in there too!
The Pure Heart Art watched with a rather resentful expression, thinking to herself that surely every manual spirit except her had gone in there to play.
She turned to look at the Pure Heart Art of Love, who pretended not to notice her gaze.
【Year 15: Gu Chengming goes down the mountain for training. On the way, he encounters the demon sect witch Zi Wuji assassinating a local county magistrate. Zi Wuji has a free-spirited and uninhibited personality; she killed the man because he was corrupt and had caused the deaths of several commoners. She acted out of a sense of justice, but Gu Chengming takes the opportunity to stop her. After exchanging a few moves, Zi Wuji fails to win and feels resentful: "Are you sword cultivators all so unreasonable, helping corrupt officials who break the law?"】
【Gu Chengming replies, "If you gouge out a heart in the middle of the street like this, tomorrow commoners will surely be executed by the government for conspiring with demons. Moreover, even if the magistrate is guilty, it shouldn't be you who strikes." Zi Wuji is stunned, realizing the truth, and takes the chance to flee. Gu Chengming pretends to be injured and doesn't stop her, leaving the magistrate to curse in rage.】
【That night, she switches to strangulation to kill the magistrate, disguising it as a suicide. Afterward, she comes to find Gu Chengming, saying, "You're an interesting kid," and becomes good friends with him.】
—So everyone really is in there except me!
【Year 16: A girl named Cangxian appears outside the gates of the sword sect, carrying a wine pole. The wine she brews is full of spiritual energy and fairly priced, making the sword sect disciples flock to her. Gu Chengming meets her while making purchases for the sect. Cangxian is cheerful and generous, her eyes curving like crescents when she smiles. She is friendly with everyone, but she tends to grumble whenever the topic turns to sect rules or the current state of the world. Gu Chengming occasionally visits the tavern to discuss world affairs with Cangxian, and the two gradually become well-acquainted.】
【Year 17: Because Gu Chengming ranked first in the sword sect's evaluation, he is recommended to the Ministry of Rites for three years of training. The Director of the Ministry of Rites, Zhou Lixin, is eight years older than Gu Chengming. She is gentle and dignified, with a single white jade hairpin tucked into her hair. She is responsible for teaching Gu Chengming about rites and official documents, and their relationship gradually improves. Gu Chengming helps her resolve many troubles, and Zhou Lixin comes to view him as a younger brother.】
【Year 18: Internal strife breaks out in the Ministry of Rites. Someone frames Zhou Lixin for embezzling funds from the sacrificial fields. Gu Chengming spends several sleepless nights combing through seventy-two ledgers to find the true culprit. Zhou Lixin is successfully exonerated. After leaving the prison, she is deeply grateful, and her affection for Gu Chengming deepens further, considering him one of the most important people in her life.】
【Year 21: Gu Chengming returns to the sect. During the sect's minor competition, he enters a new realm with his sword for the first time. Huiyuan has also grown up by this year, transforming from the tear-streaked little junior sister of the past into a gentle young sword cultivator. She publicly challenges Gu Chengming to a duel. After losing, she says with red eyes, "Senior Brother, wait for me to grow a few more years. If I defeat you, you must marry me."】
【Year 23: During the sect's grand competition, the number one sword cultivator of the younger generation at the time was a girl named Yun Liuyue, who was arrogant and prideful. Gu Chengming wins the final by half a move, causing Yun Liuyue to cry in frustration. From then on, she visits the sword sect every first and fifteenth of the month to challenge Gu Chengming to a duel. She has never won, but she has never stopped trying.】
【Year 25: Seeking a breakthrough, Gu Chengming travels to the Primal Boundless Palace, the legendary site where an ancient immortal emperor fell. He becomes trapped in the secret realm and happens to run into Zi Wuji. The two are trapped in a mirrored illusion array for seven days without food or water. On the third day, Zi Wuji develops a high fever; Gu Chengming feeds her the last half-skin of water. On the fifth day, the two rely on each other's true essence to sustain themselves. On the seventh day, they break the array. Before parting, Zi Wuji looks at him, opens her mouth, and finally only says, "Next time we meet, remember to buy me a drink." Her red robes vanish into the sea of clouds. When Gu Chengming turns back, he finds she has tied a red string around his cuff.】
【Year 26: After Gu Chengming returns to the sect, a large number of rumors suddenly spread against him: Gu Chengming's swordsmanship is mediocre, Gu Chengming is colluding with a demon sect witch in the Primal Boundless Palace, Gu Chengming rose to power by stepping on Gu Haiming's supreme bone. The source points to a wandering info broker named Tongyuan Ke, who arrogantly calls him out in her own newsletter: "If this Gu fellow dares to come find me, I can crush him with a wave of my hand."】
【Year 27: Gu Chengming sets a trap. He spreads word that he will be practicing a certain secret technique alone in a ruined temple south of the city at the hour of zi. Tongyuan Ke indeed comes to investigate. Gu Chengming uses this opportunity to employ the Red Dust Technique to find the other party's home. Tongyuan Ke is caught red-handed upon returning home; she doesn't even manage to draw her sword before her acupoints are sealed with a single finger. When Gu Chengming removes her hood, she turns out to be a timid young girl with tears swirling in her eyes. After one look from Gu Chengming, she bursts into tears: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just wanted to earn more spirit stones!"】
【From then on, the info broker named Tongyuan Ke, whose real name is Zhongmiao, becomes Gu Chengming's exclusive info broker. Under Gu Chengming's coercion and through their daily interactions, she gradually develops secret feelings for him.】
【Year 28: Gu Chengming goes to the East Sea on official business. On the way, he meets a free-spirited wandering cultivator named Huan Hongsheng, who is dressed as a man with a slender, unsheathed sword at her waist, calling herself Hongchen Ke. The two conspire in an inn at an East Sea fish port to expose a cross-sea spirit stone smuggling case. Afterward, Hongchen Ke pats his shoulder on the pier: "Brother Gu has good skills. Until we meet again."】
【Gu Chengming says, "Safe travels, Miss."】
【Although Hongchen Ke was curious as to how he saw through her disguise, she ultimately only gave a laugh with her back turned to him and walked away.】
【Year 30: Gu Chengming seeks medical treatment at the Hehuan Sect due to an injury and is assigned to a young female doctor named Hua Yinyang. Hua Yinyang is cheerful and straightforward, acting without regard for the distinctions between men and women when discussing cultivation. After a month of recovery, the two become good friends. Every year on Gu Chengming's birthday, a jar of her personally brewed Hehuan Brew is delivered to the sword sect's gates.】
Outside the images, the Pure Heart Art watched with a rather resentful expression. "So everyone has appeared, but why isn't there any sign of me?"
The Pure Heart Art of Love felt her composure breaking. "Aren't you right here beside me?"
The Pure Heart Art let out a helpless sigh. "Are you really my 'future'? Why does it feel like you're helping the other techniques build up their relationships?"
—I didn't design it like this either!
The Pure Heart Art of Love was practically going crazy. How did this kid turn this into a harem power fantasy?!
【Year 32: Gu Chengming becomes the Head of the Inner Sect of the sword sect.】
【Year 33: Gu Chengming goes down the mountain for an inspection. At midnight, he pushes open the doors to Cangxian's tavern. Cangxian seems to have had a bit too much to drink today, her cheeks flushed. Casting aside her usual cheerful and generous demeanor, she grabs Gu Chengming's sleeve and begins to rant about state affairs under the influence of alcohol. She denounces the hypocrisy of the current imperial family and rages at the sect's high-ranking officials for covering up the truth of the growing evil spirits for their own selfish interests, even loudly critiquing several True Monarchs as "worthless big bullies." Gu Chengming does not stop her; instead, he smiles lightly and refills her wine, joining her in chatting about the True Monarchs' scandalous unofficial histories. Cangxian is stunned for a long while before bursting into laughter, stuffing a jar of her century-old Cangxian Brew into his arms. From then on, even when she is sober, she dares to speak frankly about world affairs in front of Gu Chengming.】
【Year 35: Gu Haiming breaks through to the Fourth Realm. On this day, she comes to find Gu Chengming with her hair in a high ponytail: "Brother, wait for me to cultivate for a few more years, then I'll be able to protect you."】
【Gu Chengming pats her head: "Then I'll be waiting." Gu Haiming runs off with a flushed face.】
【Year 37: A chaotic era arrives as demons invade. Zhou Lixin is promoted to Minister of Rites and strongly advocates for war against the demon race in court. Yun Liuyue's sect forms a temporary alliance with the sword sect, and the two enter the demon realm side by side. Zhongmiao's intelligence network performs brilliantly during the war. Zi Wuji leads the demon sect's elites to ambush the demon enemy's commander-in-chief at the southern end of the battle line. Huan Hongsheng, as a wandering cultivator, infiltrates behind enemy lines to cut off their supply routes, while Hua Yinyang oversees the medical camp in the rear.】
【When the battle concludes, Gu Chengming slays a Demon Sovereign and is honored by all the world's cultivators as the "World's Number One Sword."】
【Year 40: Gu Chengming joins forces with two other True Monarchs on the main branch to surround and kill an enemy. Gu Chengming buries them both in the sea of clouds and attains the Sixth Realm, titled True Monarch Chengming. On that day, the Gu family shrine is crowded with people coming to offer congratulations. Gu Haiming sits beside him, her white hair loose, scaring off many female cultivators who came to strike up a conversation.】
【Year 46: During a session of secluded cultivation, Gu Chengming notices an anomaly. The lines of destiny in this world do not seem natural. He investigates for several years and eventually discovers that the Heavenly Dao of this world is not impartial; instead, it views all cultivators as chess pieces. Every relationship and every Calamity is part of the Heavenly Dao's layout.】
【Year 50: Gu Chengming attains the Seventh Realm, titled "Emperor Sovereign Chengming." None of the six True Monarchs on the main branch remain, all having returned to the Heavenly Dao during this conflict. The world claims he opened the main branch with a single sword strike.】
【Year 55: Gu Chengming travels the world and meets a blind historian named Daqian. Daqian records all the affairs of the world, viewing the cultivation world as a book to be recorded, but notably omits the "future" and "destiny." Daqian guides Gu Chengming to observe the various states of common life. With his Seventh Realm cultivation and double pupils, Gu Chengming perceives the world and finds that the karmic destinies of all cultivators are locked within an invisible, massive net. Anyone who slightly deviates or attempts to transcend is struck down by a Calamity.】
【Gu Chengming finally understands: this world is not a natural evolution, but the Heavenly Dao's chessboard and cage.】
【Year 60: For the sake of the millions of living beings in this world, Gu Chengming resolves to rebel against Heaven.】
【Year 65: The Heavenly Dao sends down a Calamity that distorts the perceptions of the people. The commoners and cultivators who once received their kindness turn around to besiege the sword sect. Zhou Lixin is dismissed and imprisoned, Hua Yinyang's medical valley is burned, and Zi Wuji is hunted by both the righteous and demonic paths.】
【Year 70: The Heavenly Dao sends down the "Dao Plague." Anyone who harbors disrespect toward the Heavenly Dao will suffer from rotting flesh.】
The Pure Heart Art of Love perked up; she had been watching this power fantasy for seventy years.
It was here. Finally, it was here!
The images did not stop.
The Dao Plague spread with extreme speed. First it was the wandering cultivators, then the low-level sect disciples, and then the high-level cultivators fell one by one, their flesh festering and their white bones exposed.
Time in the illusion passed exceptionally fast during this segment, as if accelerated by some power.
The year numbers flickered in the corner of the screen: Year 71, Year 75, Year 80, Year 90...
【Year 99: Gu Chengming leads the crowd to shatter the Nine Heavens' Gates, directly facing the source of this world's Heavenly Dao.】
【The Heavenly Dao is formless and nameless. Before the Heavenly Dao, Gu Chengming's sword intent is like an ant trying to shake a tree.】
The Heavenly Dao let out a grand sound.
【"You were originally an anomaly of this world yet managed to achieve enlightenment. This was but a gift from me. If you are willing to surrender those nutrients, I can grant you transcendence to rule over three thousand worlds. Those nutrients are but illusions in the long river of destiny, while you shall attain eternity."】
【"Take a step back."】
This was it.
At this moment, taking a step back would make him the Reef Daoist.
The voice of the Heavenly Dao still echoed in the void. Gu Chengming was covered in blood, and his blade was full of nicks.
【Gu Chengming ignited all the source true essence within his body, pointing his blade straight at the vault of heaven.】
【"To hell with taking a step back."】
Sword light illuminated the entire dark night. Knowing it was impossible, knowing it was a dead end, he still drew his sword without hesitation, slashing toward that unshakeable Heavenly Dao.
—The illusion shattered with a roar in the light of that sword strike.
Fragments flew like a heavy snowfall. Grayish-white mist gathered once more from all directions, swallowing that sword light.
The Pure Heart Art of Love stood where she was, watching the fragments dissolve one by one into the mist. She didn't speak for a long time.
This bastard. He had clearly changed her carefully designed mortal suffering script into a power fantasy, turned the tragic tone into a grand harem, and even replaced the final boss with the Heavenly Dao. To be honest, this script was utterly ridiculous from beginning to end.
But.
She watched as the images before her faded bit by bit, revealing that pure white corridor she had seen ten thousand times. At the end of the corridor, Gu Chengming's consciousness was slowly awakening from the illusion. The light at his brow dimmed little by little, and then he opened his eyes, giving them a gentle smile.
No matter how ridiculous the process, the answer he ultimately gave had crossed a hundred years of time, shattering with a single sword strike the nightmare of "withdrawing the sword out of fear" that lay in the deepest part of the Pure Heart Art.
That sword strike slashed the Heavenly Dao, and it also slashed the words "take a step back and the world is wide."
"You win."
The Pure Heart Art of Love let out a sigh, but a smile of relief tugged at the corners of her mouth.
Her figure began to turn transparent bit by bit, transforming into golden points of light that drifted toward Gu Chengming.
When the light settled, the Pure Heart Art was still standing there, watching as the last of the light from the Pure Heart Art of Love merged into Gu Chengming's consciousness.
She lowered her eyes, and then she heard footsteps.
Gu Chengming walked out from that dissipating golden light and stopped in front of her, tilting his head. The Pure Heart Art looked up at him.
She opened her mouth, about to say some pleasantries like "Congratulations on passing," but in the end, she said nothing. She simply hugged Gu Chengming, a smile on her lips.
—I knew I could never be wrong about my hero.
【CG: Pure Heart Art of Love, Unlocked】
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