Chapter 713: Gu Xie Can No Longer Hold Back

The fire erupted suddenly. Gu Xie saw the danger; if he burned to death here, any talk of filial piety would be moot. Furthermore, as a mortal, he couldn't use his spiritual powers. Waiting for the fire to die down or for someone to rescue him was not an option. To survive, there was only one way: gritting his teeth, he adjusted his stance and leaped from the top of the barn. Fortunately, he only broke his leg.

A day later, Gu Xie lay there in despair. No one in his family cared for him; he didn't even have the luxury of a bed, forced instead to lie on a straw mat, covered by a straw mat.

"Son, are you alright?" Gu Father asked, feigning concern.

Gu Xie thought to himself, 'I'm lying here like this, and you're asking if I'm okay? If you hadn't set the fire, would I have been burned alive?' If this were reality, he would have killed Gu Father many times over. But this was a test of filial piety, so he had to suppress his anger. Forcing a smile, he replied, "Father, I'm fine."

Gu Father breathed a sigh of relief. "I told you there was no need for a doctor to prescribe medicine; it's a waste of money. You've been strong since childhood, so you'll recover without medication."

"Father is right."

During mealtime, Gu Xie's stepmother's voice was shrill and whispering: "When will he recover? The family can't afford to keep a useless person."

Three months later, Gu Xie finally recovered and was able to work in the fields.

Another three months passed. Gu Father approached Gu Xie, remarking that other families had wells while theirs didn't, and suggested digging one. This task naturally fell to Gu Xie, as Gu Father and Gu Mother were unwilling to let Gu Xie's younger brother do any work.

Gu Xie was very strong. Grunting, he wielded the shovel, and in just half a day, he had dug a well three to four meters deep. Just as Gu Xie was about to take a break, a shovel full of dirt landed on his head. He looked up to see his father and brother filling the pit.

"What are you doing? I'm still down here!"

His father and brother ignored him, accelerating their shoveling to bury Gu Xie in the dirt. Gu Xie was enraged; they weren't even bothering to pretend anymore. Luckily, while digging the well, he had carved small footholds into the well wall to serve as a ladder. In a few swift moves, he climbed out of the well, thoroughly startling both his father and brother.

Covered in dirt, Gu Xie demanded, "What are you doing?!"

Gu Father quickly composed himself. "We didn't know you were down there."

Gu Xie gave his father a hateful glare. If it weren't for the test, he would have buried the entire family himself!

Time passed. Gu Xie seemed to forget the two life-and-death crises and his family's abuses, remaining respectful to his parents and kind to his brother. Unfortunately, his father fell gravely ill and eventually succumbed, while his brother married into another family in the city, never contacting them again. In contrast, Gu Xie appeared exceptionally filial, becoming a well-reputed exemplary son in the village.

Later, Gu Xie's filial piety reached the county town, and the magistrate, seeking to honor him, promoted him to constable. Gu Mother had, at some point, developed a gambling addiction. As a constable, Gu Xie encountered her multiple times during raids on gambling dens, but each time he secretly let her go. This eventually came to the magistrate's attention, and Gu Xie was dismissed.

Gu Xie successfully married and had children, living with his mother. Unfortunately, their good fortune was short-lived; his mother gambled away all their family's wealth. It was winter, and Gu Xie's family was left without money or enough food for everyone. His wife discussed with Gu Xie, "We can have another son, but we only have one mother. Let's bury our son."

Gu Xie agreed to his wife's suggestion. One night, as they dug a pit, their shovel hit something before they had even dug very deep.

"A jar?"

The couple opened the jar and discovered it was full of gleaming gold! Both were overjoyed. With this jar of gold, not only would they not have to bury their son, but their family would become renowned wealthy figures! His wife knelt on the ground, believing their filial piety had moved heaven.

With the gold, Gu Xie's family quickly began a prosperous life, moving into a large mansion. Gu Mother enjoyed her later years and eventually passed away peacefully.

Six months later, the original owner of the gold found Gu Xie's family and demanded its return. However, the jar of gold had long been spent by Gu Xie's family and could not be repaid. Gu Xie was imprisoned.

The illusion ended.

Gu Xie awoke to find he was the last to regain consciousness; Gu Junye and the others had woken up much earlier. Seeing Gu Xie awaken, Dai Bufan gently shook his head. "You failed."

"I failed?" Gu Xie was bewildered. How could he have possibly failed when he was doing so well? His filial piety was renowned throughout the region.

"Setting aside the fact that your family tried to murder you multiple times, you still treated them with great reverence. Not only did you fail to stop your stepmother from repeatedly gambling, but you also perverted justice. Furthermore, your subsequent attempt to bury your son constitutes attempted murder, and your use of the unearthed gold to allow your stepmother to enjoy her old age, rendering you unable to return the gold, constitutes embezzlement."

Gu Xie's trusted subordinates also failed, but unlike him, they couldn't endure as much. Under their families' constant harassment, they reached their breaking point and killed their entire families, not even enduring long enough to become constables.

Gu Xie pointed at Gu Junye and the others. "So they all passed?"

"Naturally, they passed."

Sensing that allowing Gu Xie to return immediately might provoke an extreme reaction, Dai Bufan snapped his fingers and replayed Gu Junye's illusion. After Gu Junye jumped from the roof and broke his leg, he immediately reported his parents to the magistrate. The magistrate ruled that his parents were guilty of attempted murder and sentenced them to ten years in prison. He passed.

"How is that considered filial piety?!" Gu Xie exploded in anger. He distinctly remembered that the third test was about filial piety.

"Ensuring parents understand that malicious intent is unacceptable and that wrongdoings must be punished naturally aligns with filial piety."

Dai Bufan then replayed the Xiantian Daoist's illusion. The Xiantian Daoist was digging a well when he saw his father and brother attempting to bury him alive. He leaped out of the well and killed both of them. He passed.

"He killed people and still passed?!" Gu Xie exclaimed. He had also wanted to kill his father and brother at the time but had restrained himself.

"That was self-defense."

Gu Xie angrily pointed at his failed subordinates. "Then why did they fail for killing people?"

Senior Brother Dai patiently explained: "Self-defense requires urgency. They had been bullied and suppressed for so long that their hearts were filled with pent-up rage, which finally erupted all at once over a minor incident. There was no immediate threat, so it doesn't qualify as self-defense. Accumulating unvented anger is not the path of cultivation."

Seeing Gu Xie's emotions spiraling, the Xiantian Daoist stepped forward to kindly comfort him, albeit a bit shyly: "Fellow Daoist Gu Xie, you are too kind. How can you endure it when others try to kill you? That's not good. You should be decisive, like me."

Gu Xie could no longer suppress his fury. Since he began the test, he had faced continuous humiliation: first, he was inexplicably struck by lightning eighty-one times in the second stage, then Yunzhi beat him until his bones were broken and his body was covered in bruises. Later, in the third stage, he endured immense humiliation for the sake of filial piety, only for the Wen Dao Sect to tell him he failed, and even called him "too kind"! This was simply too much to bear!

"My kindness, my foot!" Gu Xie roared, wanting to swat away the Xiantian Daoist with a flick of his sleeve. He had originally planned to pass the test, then infiltrate the core area of the Wen Dao Sect to break it from within. Who would have thought that no one from their Great Yu Alliance would pass, leading to a complete wipeout! What utter humiliation! He couldn't take it anymore. "You will all die!"

"How dare you strike at others!" Han Hai Daojun sensed trouble the moment murderous intent flared in Gu Xie; this 'Gu Xie' was concealing his true strength! Han Hai Daojun struck decisively. His attack collided with Gu Xie's sleeve, and the two forces clashed, surging upwards and erupting into the sky! To try to kill an Ancestor—they must be tired of living!