Nobody even had the time to grasp the meaning of the Young Heavenly Emperor’s words.
They then saw Gu Changqing raise his axe.
Impassively, he sliced off a bloody strip of flesh from his own arm.
That indifferent posture seemed as if it did not belong to his body.
Yet his face, pale to the extreme in that instant, and his violently trembling body, undeniably told one fact: he was enduring excruciating pain.
At this moment.
Both the cultivators outside the mirror and the giant leopard visibly grew astonished.
Was this boy fucking even human?!
Outside the mirror, all the powerful ones drew in a cold breath.
“Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Emperor in his youth could be this ruthless, and moreover, toward himself…”
“How can a five-year-old child bear such pain, how could he summon such courage…”
Countless cultivators were speechless.
Even Ye Chen had his mouth slightly open, his face showing surprise. Clearly this scene was far beyond his expectations.
Gu Youwei stood dumbstruck, her body struck as if by lightning.
Her cold eyes, without her noticing, were somewhat moist.
“Why were you so good to me back then, but later became so ruthless to that extent?”
This question echoed in her heart like a bone stuck in her throat, stabbing at the depths of her heart.
Silence filled the place.
Everyone was moved. For a moment everyone forgot that that youth was the great demon who once bathed the world in blood.
“To go this far for a younger sister of a different surname, the Heavenly Emperor back then was truly a real man.”
“It’s a pity, he changed later…”
In that one moment, countless people sighed.
…
“In exchange for the milk.”
Holding that strip of bloody flesh, Gu Changqing looked at the giant leopard.
Perhaps frightened by the human’s ruthlessness, or perhaps as a mother it was moved to see Gu Changqing cut his own flesh for his sister.
The ferocious beast was finally moved.
She opened her big mouth, took the meat from Gu Changqing’s hand into her jaws, and then passed it to her cub.
After that, it lay at the cave entrance, exposing its belly to Gu Changqing.
“He actually managed to persuade the ferocious beast.”
Outside the mirror, the cultivators were somewhat moved. “This ferocious beast possesses intelligence, so perhaps it was also touched by the Young Heavenly Emperor’s actions.”
“Compared to this ferocious beast, the people living at the bottom of the mountain seem even more terrifying. No wonder the Heavenly Emperor fled into the mountains.”
…
Perhaps fearful of Gu Changqing’s ruthlessness.
In the following period of time after that, whenever Gu Youwei cried, Gu Changqing was always able to obtain milk from that she-leopard.
At first he exchanged human flesh for milk.
Gradually, it became beast meat.
The Young Heavenly Emperor’s hunting skills were indeed impressive.
Though he wasn’t as agile as the ferocious beasts, a single strike of his sword qi was tremendously powerful.
Any beast he spotted succumbed under the splintering sword qi. He almost never returned empty-handed.
And in the process, his sword qi grew ever more mature.
The Young Heavenly Emperor, praised by the cultivators outside the mirror as an unparalleled sword way prodigy, actually used such a gift for hunting.
People weren’t sure whether to cheer or to cry.
In exchange for milk.
In exchange for milk.
In exchange for milk…
The scenes repeated, indicating that during this period Gu Changqing’s life repeated in the same way.
An unknown amount of time passed.
The tiny infant gradually learned to walk in a stumbling way.
“So it turns out Miss Youwei got through the nursing period entirely because the Heavenly Emperor hunted again and again, risking himself each time…”
“At that time, the Heavenly Emperor truly gave his all when it came to Miss Youwei.”
Seeing the mud-streaked, battered youth repeatedly bringing prey and tossing it before the she-beast, many quietly sighed with emotion.
Everyone could see and process Gu Changqing’s deeds over that period of time.
Their prejudice against him gradually began to change.
Even if they were biological siblings, or even father and daughter, such devoted protection wasn’t guaranteed.
What more a sister from a different family?
…
Gu Changqing and that she-leopard grew increasingly familiar.
They even established a certain trust.
The two even lived side by side.
Even after Gu Youwei no longer needed the beast’s milk, when the she-leopard couldn’t catch prey, Gu Changqing would share the animals he hunted with them.
These days continued until Gu Youwei was two years old.
When Gu Youwei turned two, to give her a better life Gu Changqing set aside his prejudices about human nature and moved with her to a mortal village.
Under the influence of the environment, the two-year-old gradually learned to speak.
“You’re so little — let’s call you Youwei. I’m your Elder Brother.”
“Papa…”
“No, Elder Brother.”
“Papa…”
The two children seemed stubborn. Neither would change how they addressed the other.
…
“Elder Brother.”
She could finally call him that.
But she was also able to say more now.
She always rode on Gu Changqing’s neck and asked, “Why do others have Papa and Mama, but I only have Elder Brother?”
At first Gu Changqing didn’t answer her. Later, unable to stand it, he would say, “Father’s dead, Mother’s dead, and you’re not my biological sister.”
Little Youwei would then cry with tear-streaked cheeks, take the little wooden knife her brother gave her, and wildly chop at his head, “You’re lying, you lying to me…”