45: Cao Mengxian forcibly seized the mandate of heaven.

Lin Dong retorted angrily, "I will go and kill Gu Yun, but as for marrying Gu Lingshuang, that is absolutely impossible!"

After finishing, he added another sentence, "Who knows if you two siblings are..."

Once these words were spoken, the entire scene fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared at Lin Dong, their faces full of disbelief.

Lin Dong trembled all over, only then realizing he had said the wrong thing.

Gu Lingshuang raised her head directly from Cao Bu's embrace, a hint of anger added to her sorrowful eyes.

Cao Bu released Gu Lingshuang and flashed in front of Lin Dong.

Looking at his eyes filled with rage, Lin Dong subconsciously took a step back.

"What, what do you want to do?"

Cao Bu sneered, "What do I want to do? Obviously, I want to beat you!"

A sharp palm wind whistled through the air.

With a crisp "slap," Lin Dong, who was already heavily injured, was slapped to the ground once again.

Under Lin Dong's bewildered gaze, Cao Bu said, "Someone, beat him for me!"

The Gu Clan Disciples moved at the word.

"Let me do it!"

Gu Yingying was the first to rush up, a flying kick sending the heavily injured Lin Dong flying more than ten meters away.

Lin Dong's body rolled several times on the ground before coming to a stop.

Gu Yingying shouted to the people behind her, "All of you, go up and beat him for me! Daring to insult our Gu Clan Young Miss, he deserves to die!"

In an instant, over a dozen of Gu Yingying's underlings surrounded him, kicking and punching Lin Dong.

Lin Dong was already heavily injured and had little combat power; otherwise, he wouldn't have been slapped by Cao Bu, who only had the cultivation of the "Heavenly Bridge Realm First Level."

"Big Brother, was my kick just now impressive?" Gu Yingying walked to Cao Bu's side to claim credit.

Cao Bu nodded calmly, "Impressive."

Suddenly, Gu Yingying noticed something was off with Cao Bu.

Scanning with her peripheral vision, she saw that the hand Cao Bu had used to slap Lin Dong was shaking, and upon closer inspection, it was bleeding.

Seeing this, Cao Bu calmly hid his hand behind his back, "What are you looking at? Never seen Big Brother take action?"

Gu Yingying laughed until she was doubled over, "Big Brother, you are too useless."

Not far away, Gu Lingshuang witnessed this scene, and her heart warmed.

Big Brother knew that there was a gap in cultivation levels between him and Lin Dong, yet he still exerted all his strength to attack, only to not injure the opponent at all, instead cracking his own hand.

For a moment, she gazed at Cao Bu's back, her heart surging with an indescribable feeling; in that emotion, there was gratitude, guilt, and a fluttering sensation she couldn't even identify herself.

Gu Chuyan, who was standing to the side, saw it clearly and stomped her feet angrily, her eyes full of dissatisfaction.

Gu Yingying finished laughing and took a golden brick from her storage ring, handing it to Cao Bu.

"Big Brother, your cultivation is low, don't join in the fun; if you want to hit him, try using this."

Cao Bu took it, feeling a heavy weight, but fortunately, he was able to hold it.

"What is this?" he asked curiously.

Gu Yingying whispered, "This is called the Afterlife Golden Brick; it is a Sacred Artifact. How is it? The name is domineering, right?"

Cao Bu's mouth twitched; a young girl using this as a weapon felt awkward no matter how he looked at it.

"I'll give it a try."

As he spoke, he walked to the dozen people surrounding Lin Dong, "Move aside, let this Chief Steward try the weapon Yingying gave me."

The crowd moved aside, revealing Lin Dong, who had been beaten until he looked like a pig's head.

Lin Dong caught his breath and, seeing Cao Bu, sneered, "You still want to hit me? I am not only a spiritual cultivator but also a Body Cultivator; you can..."

Before he could finish, Cao Bu raised the golden brick and smashed it down fiercely.

With a loud "bang."

Lin Dong only felt stars before his eyes, and fresh blood flowed down from the top of his head, instantly staining his clothes red.

"Cao Bu, you are damn well courting death!" Lin Dong roared.

Seeing this, Cao Bu stepped back a few paces and instructed the people on both sides, "Beat him, if you beat him to death, it's on Yingying."

The group of underlings immediately rushed up again, surrounding Lin Dong in the middle.

Soon, Lin Dong's angry cursing gradually weakened.

Gu Yingying looked at Cao Bu, aggrieved, "Big Brother, you are too bad; why would beating him to death be on me?"

Cao Bu said seriously, "A family doesn't speak of two different households; don't be a stranger."

Gu Yingying nodded, "That's true, then beat him to death."

Hearing this, the underlings hit even harder, but they all had a sense of proportion and didn't actually deliver a lethal blow.

Seeing this scene, Lin Rou had no intention of stopping it.

She finally understood; men in this world are all the same.

Gu Lingshuang didn't want to watch anymore and said to Gu Chuyan, "Chuyan, help me inside."

Gu Chuyan nodded, "Okay."

Cao Bu calmly put away the Afterlife Golden Brick and turned to the crowd of onlookers, speaking loudly:

"Everyone has come from afar, and we should have celebrated the grand ceremony together, but unexpectedly, this incident occurred, so the ceremony is temporarily suspended."

"However, having said that, precisely because the ceremony was not finished, it shows your intentions even more."

"It doesn't matter if the gifts you brought are valuable or not; the key is that you are able to stand here, and this support is more important than anything else."

"Since my Gu Clan has accepted these gifts, it means we have accepted your kindness. Regardless of how the times change in the future, my Gu Clan will definitely keep this sentiment of today in mind."

"In addition, if there has been any lack of hospitality, I hope you will forgive us."

"This Chief Steward wishes everyone a safe journey home!"

The millions of onlookers twitched their mouths upon hearing this.

Good heavens, this was clearly not wanting to return the gifts, yet he said it in a way that made them too embarrassed to speak up.

This time, they really suffered a huge loss.

Cao Bu walked to the outside of the mountain gate, smilingly seeing off the various forces as they departed.