Gu Qingfeng's Dao

"Quite shocking, isn't it?" The woman from the Fallen Feather Clan smiled.

Xiao Weier's small mouth parted slightly as she nodded unconsciously.

"Why is it like this? This isn’t at all how I imagined the Heavenly Demon Sect to be."

"Then how did you imagine it?"

"It should be... like what people outside say—a living hell. What exactly is going on here?"

The Fallen Feather woman shook her head. "Truthfully, even I don’t know. Before the Sect Master arrived, the Nether Domain was ruled by our clan. While it wasn’t a land of utter suffering, the Fallen Feathers upheld the law of the strong, with a rigid hierarchy. The powerful could freely decide the fate of the weak.

Life in the Nether Domain was far from good, filled with daily strife and slaughter.

But after the Sect Master came, everything changed. It was as if everyone had been purified, their hearts cleansed. The malice and darkness that once festered within them vanished, leaving only goodness behind.

The Sect Master truly is a remarkable man."

Xiao Weier was deeply shaken. "He did all of this?"

Her mind involuntarily replayed the few moments she had shared with Gu Qingfeng. Soon, her cheeks burned as if on fire.

Her curiosity about him had reached its peak. To the outside world, he was a terrifying, hated demon—some even called him the most vicious fiend in the history of the Cangming Realm.

Yet here in the Heavenly Demon Sect, everything was the complete opposite of what the world claimed.

"Gu Qingfeng... just what kind of person are you?" Xiao Weier murmured under her breath.

Meanwhile, in the grand hall of the Heavenly Demon Sect’s headquarters, Gu Qingfeng—who had been absorbing the Nether Domain’s malevolent energy to restore his Sin Origin—suddenly sneezed.

"Damn it, who’s bad-mouthing this Sect Master behind my back? If I find out, I’ll make sure they suffer in ecstasy!"

After cursing for a while, he stopped absorbing the energy and continued grumbling. "Tch! I’ve nearly drained the Nether Domain’s malice, and my Sin Origin is only at two percent of its former strength. Looks like I’ll have to make another trip to the Primordial Forbidden Land soon.

Too bad the Heavenly Dao is such a pain. Guess I’ll have to use that old ghost for my plans."

Mention of the old ghost reminded Gu Qingfeng of the man’s unfathomable power. Though he might have been bragging when he claimed to have mentored multiple Heavenly Emperors, there was a chance he really was an Emperor’s teacher.

Without knowing whether the old ghost was man or monster, Gu Qingfeng decided the best course was to focus on cultivation and grow stronger. His wonderful life had only just begun—he couldn’t let anyone cut it short.

Even if the old ghost couldn’t kill him, someone bold enough to defy the Heavenly Dao might still seal him away like it had. That would be disastrous.

He assessed his current strength. His cultivation was at the Nine-Star Sovereign realm, stuck at the threshold of Quasi-Emperor, unable to forge his own path.

His Chaos Body had reached the Minor Completion stage, making him invincible among Quasi-Emperors.

But that was far from enough. The old ghost kept yammering about Heavenly Emperors—no matter how strong he was among Quasi-Emperors, he couldn’t contend with an Emperor.

No telling when his demonic allies would come to back him up, so for now, he had to focus on his cultivation.

Since the strongest demons available were only Quasi-Emperors, progress in body refinement was slow. The only option was to forge his own path.

Once he did, breaking through to Quasi-Emperor would grant a massive boost in power—though how much depended on the path he chose.

But forging one’s path was no easy feat, especially for someone like Gu Qingfeng, who had barely cultivated seriously and relied mostly on his system.

He pondered—what path should he take?

He pulled out over a dozen Emperor Scriptures, hoping to draw inspiration. But after three days of study, he still had no clue.

Though he had dabbled in countless paths, reaching Quasi-Emperor wasn’t about learning from others—it was about carving his own way.

He had to find the path that suited him best. Every Emperor Scripture warned of the dangers of Quasi-Emperor breakthrough—if one forced themselves down an ill-fitting path, influenced by others, the only outcome was qi deviation, destruction of the Dao, and death!

Gu Qingfeng hesitated. While he couldn’t die, he didn’t want to lose all his hard-earned cultivation to a reckless mistake.

Wait—

Qi deviation!?

A realization struck him.

The path best suited to him... qi deviation... demonic!?

Since the world already called him a demon, why not walk the Demonic Path?

His cultivation time was short, and his understanding of Quasi-Emperor was shallow. If he wasn’t careful, he’d qi deviate—but if he couldn’t walk the right path, why not embrace the wrong one?

From his experience with the system, it was the bane of all evil forces—just like when his human-demon transformation had failed. That meant qi deviation would be nearly impossible for him.

In other words, he could wield demonic power freely without fear of losing his mind.

And demonic power was far from weak. As the saying went, "Darkness empowers tenfold, redemption weakens threefold." If he could discard the downsides of the Demonic Path while harnessing its strength, why not take it?

The more he thought, the more excited he grew. Though he was a good man, he wasn’t a rigid one. If demonic power was stronger, why reject it?

"Power knows no alignment—only the heart does. Even demonic power in this Sect Master’s hands is righteous. Yes, that’s how it is! Keh keh keh..."

He resolved to walk the Demonic Path. And it wouldn’t be hard.

If the righteous path was a straight road, the demonic path was a twisted one. There was only one straight path, but countless ways to stray.

Like mathematics—there was only one correct answer, but infinite wrong ones.

The Demonic Path was the same.

"If I’m to embrace the demonic, I’ll forge the strongest Demonic Path possible. How? By gathering all the wrong answers, all the twisted roads, into one!

This Sect Master will push the Demonic Path to its limits—and become the Ultimate Heavenly Demon!!"

"Demonic arts! I need every demonic art in existence!"

"Not just demonic arts! Every vile artifact—flesh-devourers, soul-consumers, mind-twisters, emotion-manipulators, even the most bizarre poisons—I want them all!!"

"And every demon!!"

"Let all the world’s wickedness and malice fuel my cultivation!!!"

"Keh keh keh..."

The empty hall echoed with a bone-chilling, maniacal laugh.