119: Chapter 119 The Integrity of the Gu Family

Inside Gu Garden, it was terrifyingly quiet.

All the guards and servants were currently clutching their weapons, gathered in the front courtyard. Their hands were trembling, their faces were as pale as paper, and their teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

Facing the magnificent celestial might of a Golden Core Master, fear was an instinct.

But, not a single person fled.

Not a single person retreated.

They only stared fixedly at the back standing at the very front—the Family Head who had given them dignity and wealth, allowing them to stand tall as human beings.

"Big Brother Gu..."

A sorrowful voice broke the deathly silence.

Leng Yuechan, dressed in white, was already soaked in cold sweat. She stumbled to stand behind Gu Yan, watching that broad back, and her tears finally broke through the dam.

"Hand me... over."

She reached out, wanting to touch the corner of his clothing, but stopped in mid-air, as if afraid of tarnishing him.

"This matter started because of me; it is I who have implicated the Gu Family. As long as I go out, as long as I die... perhaps he will spare the Gu Family..."

"This is the only path to survival... I beg you, let me go."

She did not want to die.

But she wanted even less to watch the man who loved her deeply, and the Family that had warmed her cold heart, be destroyed because of her.

Gu Yan did not look back.

He only reached out his hand behind him, precisely grasping that cold, trembling jade hand suspended in mid-air.

Then, with a forceful pull.

He pulled her to his side.

He turned his head and looked at the tear-stained Leng Yuechan, his face devoid of any fear of impending death, instead revealing an extremely gentle smile.

He raised his hand and gently tidied the messy strands of hair at her temple.

"Silly girl."

His voice was very soft, yet it clearly echoed in everyone's ears.

"Since you have called me husband and entered the doors of this Gu Family, then you... are a member of my Gu Family."

"Although my Gu Family is not some famous sect, nor do we have any Golden Core or Nascent Soul Old Ancestor presiding over us."

"However, the Gu Family has one rule."

Gu Yan's gaze slowly swept across Shen Qingxue, Bai Linger, Zhao Feiyan, and Jin Feiyan behind him, swept across the young children, and swept across every servant and guard.

His voice suddenly rose, becoming sonorous and powerful, resounding with force!

"And that is... never to betray friends for glory! Never to abandon Family!"

"If today, for the sake of surviving, I hand you over, then tomorrow, when disaster strikes, must I also hand over Shen Qingxue? Must I hand over Fan'er and Xuan'er?"

"If that were truly the case, would this Gu Family still be the Gu Family? Would I, Gu Yan, still be worthy of being a husband and a father?!"

This series of questions, like a great bell tolling, struck fiercely at everyone's hearts!

Shen Qingxue wiped away her tears, stepped forward, silently stood by Gu Yan's side, and drew the short sword from her sleeve.

Jin Feiyan, Zhao Feiyan, Bai Linger...

All the womenfolk, all the children, all the guards.

The fear in their eyes, under the agitation of these words, miraculously dissipated.

Replacing it was a resolute, death-defying... mettle!

"The Family Head is right!"

Steward Gu Zhong, the old housekeeper who was usually the most cautious, now straightened his hunched back and roared with tears streaming down his face: "This old servant has lived to this age, it's enough! Today, I am willing to follow the Family Head to death!"

"Willing to follow the Family Head to death!"

"Fight them to the end!"

The roars of hundreds of people converged, and under the suppression of the Golden Core might, they actually tore open a crack!

Gu Yan looked at these faces that showed no fear of death, his eyes filled with gratification and heroic spirit.

This was the backbone of his Gu Family!

[Beep... beep... beep...]

Just at this moment, in Gu Yan's mind, the System, which had been frantically urging him to run away, suddenly emitted a burst of rapid and chaotic static.

[Warning... Logic error... Survival rate calculation... Zeroed out...]

[Host... My core algorithm... cannot understand your current behavior...]

The System's voice was no longer filled with the panic from before, but had become exceptionally complex, even carrying a trace of... confusion.

[Clearly... handing over one person would make it possible to survive... why choose this path of certain death?]

[Human emotions... are truly... unparseable garbled code...]

[But...]

Zzzzt—

A burst of electric current crackled.

[I don't know why... my core program... is a little hot.]

[Forget it!]

The System's unique, slightly rogue, office-worker tone returned, but with an unprecedented sense of resolve.

[If you aren't running, then I'm not running either!]

[Damn it! Isn't it just an Early Golden Core Stage? At worst... I'll format along with you!]

[Host! Give it to him hard! Let him know just how hard the bones of us cheaters are!]

Gu Yan's mouth curled slightly.

Even this cowardly and greedy dog System had decided to go crazy with him.

What else did he have to be afraid of?

"The incense has gone out."

Gu Yan watched as the last spark of light was completely extinguished in the wind.

He slowly drew the long sword from his waist.

It was a Low Grade Profound-level Dharma sword, with crimson light faintly flowing across the blade.

"Open the door."

He ordered indifferently.

"Creeeak—"

The heavy gates of the Gu Mansion opened slowly to both sides at this moment.

Outside the door was a street silent as death.

Millions of commoners and Cultivators in the city knelt on the ground, their heads bowed, resembling a vast, dark expanse of corpses.

Between heaven and earth, only one person strode out with his head held high.

Gu Yan.

Dressed in green robes, holding his long sword, he walked down the steps, one step at a time.

He walked very slowly, very steadily.

Every step he took seemed to land on the heartbeats of everyone present.

He walked to the extinguished incense stick and stopped.

Then, he slowly raised his head.

His gaze was like a sword, piercing straight into the firmament!

High above in the sky.

Golden Core Master Wu Yong looked down at the tiny, ant-like figure below, a flash of cruel gratification in his eyes.

"Time is up."

"It seems you have chosen... total annihilation of your clan."

His voice was cold, devoid of any emotion. He slowly raised his palm, and within it, the terrifying power of a Golden Core began to gather frantically, causing the surrounding space to twist and collapse!

A massive black palm, blotting out the sky, took shape above Baifeng City, carrying an aura of absolute destruction as it slowly pressed down!

However.

Just at this moment of doomsday.

That figure standing before the Gu Mansion, so tiny that it seemed a gust of wind could blow him over, let out a... roar that resounded through the heavens and shook the nine skies!

"Members of my Gu Family!"

Gu Yan circulated all his Foundation Establishment true essence, sending these words to every corner of Baifeng City, into the ears of everyone kneeling!

"Only die in battle!"

"None... will be handed over!"

Boom!

This sentence, like a world-shattering thunderbolt, fiercely split open this oppressive, despairing world!

All the Cultivators kneeling on the ground, at this moment, suddenly raised their heads, looking with a gaze of extreme shock at that... lonely figure, sword in hand, facing the firmament!

He stood there.

Behind him was his home, his wife and children.

Above his head were gods and demons, an irresistible celestial might.

But he did not kneel.

He did not even bend his back!

His spine was straight, like a divine sword that would rather break than bend, piercing through this suffocating darkness and fear!

At this moment.

Gu Yan's figure, in everyone's eyes, grew infinitely tall!

This was... the backbone of the Gu Family!