CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER 130 [1000 LI JOURNEY (2)] (6400)_2

The only happy time was probably the years before I began cultivating, during my childhood.

That is why my father doted on me in every possible way—because he understood that it was the only carefree and joyous period of my life. It was... only those few years.

Once I started cultivating, my father was extremely strict with me. If I did not train well, his punishments and scoldings were never light.

My father said that if he showed me even a little bit of leniency, I would become lax in my cultivation. And in the future, when I went to the Town Platform, it might cost me my life!

At ten, I had already made some achievements in cultivation, and my father was pleased, calling me a genius of the Gu Family.

One day, a sudden thought crossed my mind, and I asked my father a question.

I asked: The Heavenly Dao establishes forty-two positions for Saints, why is this?

In the Domain Realm, countless geniuses emerge. Many people clearly have good talent and reach the Great Perfection of the Primordial Spirit Realm, but they are stopped by the Saint Position—clearly endowed with the talent sufficient for it.

However, because of the constraints set by the Heavenly Dao, countless talents spend their lives without entering the Saint Realm!

If those geniuses in the Domain Realm were not restricted by the Heavenly Dao, wouldn’t our Domain Realm be filled with many Saints? Would we still need to worry about the Three Platforms, Eight Passes, and Sixteen Towns? Would we still need to worry about..."

Chen Yan’s heart trembled upon hearing this!

Gu Qingyi’s thoughts were exactly like what the old fox You Su Yi had talked to him about back then: how Chen Jue had once angrily cursed the Heavenly Dao, pointing at the sky. It was the same idea!

Gu Qingyi paused and then, in a low voice, said, "When I was young and ignorant, I asked my father these questions. Why does the Heavenly Dao place such constraints on us, setting these shackles? Yet forcing the people in the Domain Realm to suffer generation after generation."

"...And then?" Chen Yan asked softly.

"I remember, upon hearing my words, my father’s face was unsightly. He harshly punished me and made me receive the family law.

But that night, my father came to my training room, brought me medicine for my injuries, and told me never to say such things again, nor even think them!"

Chen Yan said nothing.

He also recalled You Su Yi’s words in the past.

Chen Jue’s rebellious words of reversing the Celestial Spirit were also commented on by You Su Yi: how countless generations of geniuses had emerged in the Domain Realm, and many had the talent and ability to advance to the Saint Position but were hindered by the rules, wasting their lives—didn’t countless generations ever question these rules?

Of course, many did!

"That day, my father warned me and made me swear a solemn oath on the spot that I would never again say such things or entertain such thoughts..."

Gu Qingyi said with a laugh, "But since I’m not in the Domain Realm right now, but in your world, not bound by the Heavenly Dao there, talking about it here doesn’t count as breaking the rules."

Chen Yan nodded: "And then?"

"Then..." Gu Qingyi’s eyes seemed distant, "Then, I focused on cultivating diligently, enduring all pain and hardship. Until I was sent to the Prison Suppression Platform!"

Gu Qingyi looked at Chen Yan and said, "Do you know how I got to go to the Prison Suppression Platform?"

Without waiting for Chen Yan to speak, Gu Qingyi sighed, "I volunteered to go.

The Prison Suppression Platform is the most dangerous place among the Three Platforms, Eight Passes, and Sixteen Towns. My Gu family cultivates combat techniques and has been War Generals at the Immortal Platform for generations, sending each generation’s disciples to the most perilous places to train!

Otherwise, combat techniques without trials will never achieve great success.

And without sufficient achievement in combat techniques, one would die quickly when serving as a War General!

So, I knew my father was strict with me for my own good.

And that time, when choosing someone to go to the Town Platform for training, our family had only one spot for the Prison Suppression Platform.

That spot was supposed to go to my father’s eldest legitimate son, my elder brother.

But my brother wasn’t as talented as I was, and he had left some hidden injuries from forcibly breaking through during his early training. I knew if he went to the Prison Suppression Platform, there could be accidents, so I volunteered to go in his place.

My brother cared about me and refused to let me go, so we fought, and I defeated him, leaving everyone speechless.

On the day it was decided that I would go to the Prison Suppression Platform, my mother cried her heart out, but my father did not shed a single tear.

It wasn’t until he personally escorted me to the Prison Suppression Platform that he told me he had high expectations for me, that he awaited my triumphant return, becoming the youngest Celestial Human Realm being in the history of the Gu Family!

My father also told me that of all his children, I had the highest talent, and he always had the greatest expectations for me.

Although I was a girl and not a boy, my father had no gender bias. He hoped that if I ever reached a sufficiently high realm in the future, he was willing to skip over my brothers and pass the position of Patriarch to me.

On the Prison Suppression Platform, before my father’s departure, he told me he awaited my breakthrough to the Celestial Human Realm!

If that day came, he would drink three cups in celebration."

When Gu Qingyi said this, her tone turned cold, but Chen Yan noticed that her eyes had already reddened slightly.

A pang hit Chen Yan’s heart!

"When I was twenty years old, on the Prison Suppression Platform, I made a breakthrough during battle, advancing to Celestial Human! After the battle, I returned home as per the norm—the Domain Immortal Platform has rules that anyone advancing to Celestial Human must return home first, and then receive reassignment to the Town Platform that needed reinforcement."