System Defects

Damn it!

Totally screwed!

Gu Qingfeng never expected that he would actually be trapped by a sealing array.

He had encountered similar situations before, but with the Void-Piercing Eyes gifted by the Outer Realm Demons, any array or seal was as flimsy as paper—he could see right through them.

But now? The Void-Piercing Eyes did reveal the weakness in the Heaven-Earth Seal, but the problem was that the gap in power between him and his opponent was too vast. Even with the flaw right in front of him, he couldn’t break it!

It felt like a newborn baby facing a full-grown adult. The baby might know the eyes are the weakest spot, but no matter how hard it tries, it can’t even lift the adult’s eyelid.

This was the first time Gu Qingfeng had ever been in such a situation. Since activating his system, it was also the first time he wasn’t effortlessly overpowering demons and monsters.

"System, your host has been locked up by a demon. What do you have to say about that?"

The system replied, "This system is called the 'Grow Stronger When Attacked by Demons System,' not the 'Grow Stronger When Locked Up by Demons System.'"

"Seriously?! Useless system! Doesn’t being locked up count as an attack?"

The system asked, "Have you sustained any injuries?"

"I’ve been deprived of my freedom! That’s psychological trauma!"

The system fell silent again, refusing to respond.

Gu Qingfeng cursed inwardly, "Oh, so now you’re playing dumb? Weren’t you all high and mighty earlier? What’s the point of you if you can’t even handle something this small?"

With no help from the system, Gu Qingfeng grew restless. At the same time, this situation served as a wake-up call.

Turns out, relying on the system didn’t guarantee invincibility against demons. If the power gap was too large, and the enemy chose not to attack but instead sealed him away, there was nothing he could do.

Even the Void-Piercing Eyes were useless.

What now?

Gu Qingfeng began strategizing. It wasn’t that he feared being sealed—after all, the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor had said that once he finished refining the Heavenly Dao, he’d start testing Gu Qingfeng’s limits to uncover his secrets.

Wouldn’t that be his chance to escape?

What truly worried him was the potential consequences for the Qing Realm once the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor succeeded in refining the Heavenly Dao. His wife and father-in-law were still there.

So he had to break free—fast!

But after racking his brain, Gu Qingfeng still couldn’t come up with a solution.

Frustrated, he resorted to the most brute-force method: Dripping water wears through stone!

If one punch couldn’t break the seal, then a hundred would. If a hundred weren’t enough, then a thousand!

With a fierce exertion, Gu Qingfeng activated his Prison-Suppressing Dragon-Elephant Physique to its fullest. Behind him, the phantom images of a Prison-Suppressing Demon Dragon and a Prison-Suppressing Divine Elephant materialized.

At the same time, he unleashed the Imperial Extreme Fist.

BOOM!

A full-powered strike landed on the weak point of the Heaven-Earth Seal.

Yet, despite his overwhelming force, the seal remained completely unmoved.

Strangely, instead of despair, Gu Qingfeng’s face lit up with ecstasy—because the system’s notification had sounded!

Ding!

Host has been attacked by the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor.

Cultivation +20 million!

Physique +20 million!

At that moment, Gu Qingfeng finally understood the way to break the seal: Self-harm!

If being locked up didn’t count as damage, then he’d just have to provoke it himself!

If you punch a wall, your hand gets hurt, right?

Since the seal was created by a demon, any damage he took would be attributed to the demon!

Only by sustaining injuries could the system absorb the damage and convert it into strength!

And as he grew stronger, what kind of joke was a mere seal? One punch would be enough!

Gu Qingfeng was overjoyed—he was back in the game!

Now that he knew this method, he’d never have to worry about being sealed by demons again.

The reason his earlier attacks hadn’t boosted his stats was because they weren’t strong enough to cause injury. But when he went all out, the damage—and the gains—kicked in.

It was like lightly tapping a wall: Your hand won’t hurt. But throw a full-force punch? You might shatter your bones.

"Again!"

Another full-powered strike landed on the seal. The Heaven-Earth Seal still didn’t budge.

But Gu Qingfeng’s grin only widened.

For once, he was increasing his strength through sheer effort.

One incense stick’s time later...

Gu Qingfeng’s grin faded.

"Dammit! How long is this gonna take?!"

In that short span, he’d already thrown over a hundred punches. Yet, despite his relentless effort, the seal remained unshaken, and the stat gains were meager—nowhere near as satisfying as when the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor casually flicked a finger at him.

Gu Qingfeng realized the flaw in this method: The damage he took was proportional to his own strength. The harder he hit the seal, the greater the recoil.

While his stats did increase over time, the gap between him and the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor was so vast that breaking the seal would take forever.

A rough estimate? At this rate, it’d take at least a year.

Of course, that wasn’t non-stop punching. He’d still need breaks—to eat, rest, watch dances, and enlighten the female spirits in the alternate dimension.

Inside the Heaven-Earth Seal, the alternate dimension could still be accessed, but it couldn’t be used to escape. No matter where you entered from, you’d always return to the same spot when you exited.

Gu Qingfeng couldn’t wait a year—hell, he couldn’t even stand a single day locked up. Even with a thousand female spirits attending to him and all the delicacies he could eat, nothing compared to freedom!

But the problem was, whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to wait.

Currently, there were only two ways to escape:

1. Wait for the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor to finish refining the Heavenly Dao. He’d naturally lift the seal then. But given that he’d already been refining it for over a thousand years, his so-called "critical stage" might still take years.

2. Keep punching, growing stronger bit by bit, until he could shatter the seal in a year.

Neither option appealed to Gu Qingfeng.

So he decided to try a third approach: Call for backup!

Summon a Heavenly Demon!

Maybe the power of the Longevity Heavenly Demon could break the seal.

The Longevity Heavenly Demon was incredibly powerful—just how powerful, Gu Qingfeng wasn’t sure. But from Xiang Tian’s passing remarks, it seemed even stronger than the entire Sacred Clan.

He vaguely remembered that when the Longevity Heavenly Demon was driven out by the Qing Realm’s Heavenly Dao incarnation, it had sneered, saying that if not for the distance, it could crush a minor world’s Heavenly Dao with one hand.

Comparing that to the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor—who had spent a millennium refining the Qing Realm’s Heavenly Dao and still hadn’t succeeded—the difference was clear. Even if the demon’s boast was half exaggeration, it was still far beyond the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor.

Back in the Qing Realm, the Longevity Heavenly Demon had been restricted by the world’s power ceiling. But now, they weren’t in the Qing Realm—they were in the upper realm, the Cangming Realm!

That meant the demon could unleash even greater power.

Gu Qingfeng had considered using the Longevity Heavenly Demon against the Heavenly Phenomena Ancestor before, but there was a catch.

While he could offer others’ lifespans as tribute to the demon, its attack method was strictly "payment first, service after."

As long as the person being sacrificed does not accept the unclaimed lifespan, no connection can be established between them, and thus the Lifespan Demon cannot attack that individual.

Therefore, using the Lifespan Demon to deal with enemies is impractical. Any expert who understands the nature of these demons would certainly refuse to accept unclaimed lifespan.

Of course, Gu Qingfeng doesn’t need anyone’s help. After all, if Patriarch Xiang Tian were to die, how could he ever ascend to become a Celestial Being?