The furrowed brows that had just appeared to have completely relaxed.
His small mouth was slightly open, and his breathing was shallow and rapid.
Because of the warmth of the blanket, a faint blush finally appeared on Gu Yuan's pale, bloodless face.
Gu Tang lay there without moving.
He turned his head and looked back at the hotel's pristine white ceiling.
He was dreaming just now.
In fact, he couldn't quite remember how long it had been since he had a dream.
In his dream, he was still seven or eight years old.
Orphaned and living at the very bottom of the cultivation world.
Every day, I have to worry about what to eat for my next meal.
In order to survive, he ran away with a group of children to a very small cultivation sect.
They can't actually teach them anything there; they just want to trick these kids into doing hard labor.
Even so, thanks to his extraordinary talent, Gu Tang managed to make some progress even with the worst cultivation technique from that small sect.
He was praised by the masters and elders in the sect.
However, that minor sect was far too low-level, and even praise couldn't change anything.
To them, they were a group of disciples who were hardworking, capable, and obedient.
He is far more useful than a disciple with exceptional talent.
But it was precisely this insincere praise that spurred Gu Tang to cultivate even more diligently.
He always felt that he belonged to the path of spiritual practice.
He only felt genuinely happy when he felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth washing over his body.
As a result, he quickly became the target of ostracization by the other children.
They thought Gu Tang was lazy and disobedient.
Other children of Gu Tang's age, after finishing their own tasks, had to help older children who had started earlier with the work.
Gu Tang, however, did not!
Because he wanted to cultivate himself.
Finally, one day, the older children banded together and taught Gu Tang a lesson.
They beat him black and blue and stole his food for three days.
He was starved for three whole days.
If he hadn't already begun his cultivation, Gu Tang even felt that he might not have made it through.
But he still refused to bow down to them.
He will still persist in his spiritual practice!
The older kids were angered.
Gu Tang became everyone's punching bag.
There was almost no patch of intact skin on his body.
But he didn't care; as long as he had a breath left, he could continue his cultivation.
Until that day, he was pinned down in the river by seven or eight children who were over ten years old.
The river water went over his head, and he couldn't breathe at all.
He could only vaguely hear someone mocking him: "People say that cultivators can live well without breathing or eating. Since you like cultivation so much, you can definitely live well in the water too. Hahahaha."
The laughter of those people reached Gu Tang's ears across the river.
Even the sound seemed to be distorted.
He clearly felt he was running out of strength, but in that instant, perhaps it was the instinct to survive, or perhaps it was just his destiny.
Or perhaps, his unwavering dedication to cultivation, despite being beaten, hungry, and bullied, ultimately protected him.
A terrifying power erupted from within Gu Tang's body.
He overturned the children who were pinning him down.
The river water blurred his vision, but he didn't care. He reached out, grabbed one of them, and threw it into the river.
"Gu Tang killed someone!" A sharp scream suddenly erupted.
More children started screaming: "Gu Tang killed someone!"
"Gu Tang killed Cheng Ming!"
"So much blood! Ahhhhh!"
...
The voices were getting farther and farther away from Gu Tang, and he knew they would run back to their sect to complain.
Then he would be expelled from the sect and return to a life where he might not have enough to eat next time.
Then Gu Tang heard a gentle voice say in front of him: "Your clothes are all wet."
That voice was the most melodious and pleasant voice Gu Tang had ever heard in his thousands of years of cultivation: "How about you come up first?"
At that time, Gu Tang was standing in the river, completely soaked.
He was in a sorry state, and his clothes were torn to shreds by the children.
His face was bruised and swollen, wet and messy.
It looks as ugly as it can possibly be.
But when he looked up and saw that voice, which sounded like the melody of Lunyin.
The other person smiled slightly at him.
That smile was so warm that it instantly dispelled the chill that the river water had brought to Gu Tang.
"My name is Qingcheng." He heard the other person ask, "Would you like to come with me?"
Gu Tang reached out and vigorously wiped the water off his face.
Then he nodded emphatically to the man who looked like a bright, clear moon.
...
This is a memory that Gu Tang never mentioned to anyone again.
After Qingcheng's soul was scattered, no one in this world, except him, would remember these things anymore.
When Qingcheng had just left, Gu Tang couldn't sleep at night.
Whenever he closes his eyes, he remembers Qingcheng, who reached out a hand to him when he was at his most wretched and miserable.
Later, he numbly searched the cultivation world for hundreds of years.
When he finally retrieved all of Qingcheng's souls and brought him back to life, he discovered that even though he could finally live, Qingcheng was no longer the Qingcheng he remembered.
Gu Tang was heartbroken and cried bitterly.
She even wanted to completely destroy this man who had Qingcheng's face but had no memory or feelings for the other person.
In the end, he still didn't.
“Hmm…” came a low voice from Gu Yuan beside Gu Tang.
Before he even opened his eyes, his little hands were already groping around him.
Gu Tang's heart softened, and she placed her hand beside him.
Sure enough, as soon as Gu Yuan grasped his hand, he immediately stopped moving.
After waiting a while, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Awake?" Gu Tang said to him, "I've been here the whole time."
Gu Yuan blushed slightly, his secret thoughts exposed.
He released Gu Tang's hand and sat up blankly.
With its big eyes looking around, it seemed to finally realize where it was.
Gu Tang had already gotten out of bed and asked him, "Are you hungry?"
Gu Yuan shook his head, took the new clothes Gu Tang handed him, and obediently put them on himself.
"Dad's a little hungry," Gu Tang said to him. "Would you like to eat something with me?"
"Okay." Gu Yuan nodded quickly.
Gu Tang's request seemed to please him, and his eyes even became more lively.
Their movements also became more hurried.
He jumped out of bed, walked quickly to the dining table, and climbed into a chair to sit down.
Then she turned her head, opened her large, clear eyes, and quietly looked at Gu Tang.
"Good boy." Gu Tang patted Gu Yuan's little head.
He had the food brought back, then pulled out his incessantly ringing phone.
"Dad, take this call." Gu Tang glanced down at the caller ID.
It was an unfamiliar number, but he answered it quickly.
"Gu Tang, it's me." Qiao Si's voice came from the other end of the phone. "Qiao Si."
"Young Master Qiao, hello."
"Hey, I told you not to be so polite," Qiao Si laughed happily on the other end of the phone. "By the way, about that matter, my family has already agreed."
He said, "But the leader of the hunting party wants to see you."
Qiao Si paused here: "He said if you really have the skills you showed on the show, then he will welcome you to join, and next week he can take you to hunt ferocious beasts."