readbooksol Chapter 372 Gao Gen: A Thief
Chapter 372 Gao Gen: A Thief
"Gao Gen, how dare you, a sinner, return to the Gao family? I am ashamed for the Gao family."
Lu Ci stared at the old figure of the newcomer, whose clothes were tattered. He raised his hand and slapped his face, showing great disdain and mockery towards the newcomer.
The scene was somewhat comical. You must know who Lü Ci is. Although he has a good reputation now, he was known for his cunning and ruthlessness for the past few decades. Most of his peers and juniors in the world of supernatural beings secretly mocked and despised this mad wolf.
Lu Ci didn't care about those bad reputations; in fact, he was secretly pleased that his reputation could make others fear or even admire him.
But today, he was able to straighten his back and point at the Gao family members outside the door without any pretense, expressing his contempt in almost vulgar language without stopping.
"Giving up a perfectly good position as the leader of the Qi Stream Sect to become a lackey of the leader of the Quanxing Sect, he's utterly despicable to the core..."
"Tap tap tap..."
The cloth shoes stomped heavily on the floor. The person, whom Lü Ci called "Gao Gen," moved slowly, and his gait and movements seemed somewhat uncoordinated, as if his body, hidden under the tattered clothes and strips of cloth, had long since decayed.
"Pah, what bad luck!"
Seeing that the person who came in seemed not to hear his scolding and just walked in on his own, Lü Ci felt bored, rolled his eyes, and swallowed back the words he was about to say.
"Bang!"
The person walked slowly to the table, found a spot, and sat down. But unlike a normal person who sits down lightly, this hunched body seemed to lose control and slammed heavily onto the stool, making a dull thud.
"Um?"
Lu Ci's ears twitched, and he looked at the figure in front of him suspiciously, asking inexplicably, "You've actually become so crippled?"
Lu Qian, standing to the side, concealed the golden light shining in his eyes, then flicked his fingers, and an invisible sword aura was released out of thin air, tearing apart the clothes and strips of cloth that Gao Gen was using to conceal his figure.
"Grandpa, there's no doubt about it. This man has almost ruined himself. No, he's already ruined."
"Sizzle—"
His clothes were torn and tattered, revealing a scarred, aged face. Down the face, from the neck down to the chest, there was hardly a patch of intact skin. The flesh was withered and dry, with only a emaciated skeleton supporting a skin-and-bones body.
Compared to a living person, Gao Gen at this moment looked more like a skeleton crawling out of a grave.
"call--"
"Skull" Gao Gen exhaled a breath, a soft, weak, long, and slow breath. He opened his only remaining eye, the cloudy pupil aimed at the Lu family grandfather and grandson, and a hoarse sound like dirt and dust rubbing together came from his throat.
"Lu Ci, your descendant is just like you, direct and straightforward."
Covered in wounds and looking frail, Gao Gen forced a smile. "What's wrong? Weren't you quite pleased with your cursing just now? Keep cursing, let this old man have a moment to reminisce about the old days."
"Hmph, you seem to enjoy it now that I've insulted you."
Lu Ci was not frightened by Gao Gen's miserable state. He had seen far worse scenes before. However, seeing his old friend in such a state, Lu Ci, whose mind had returned to that of a young man, could not help but feel a little sad and emotional.
Back then, Gao Gen was considered the pride of Northeast China. Born into the Gao family, he didn't have to worry about food, clothing, or daily necessities. As an extraordinary person, he possessed exceptional talent. He became a disciple of the leader of the Qi Stream Sect and, through his own cultivation of martial arts, became a recognized candidate for sect leader.
If nothing unexpected happens, Gao Gen will undoubtedly be an exceptional figure in Northeast China for the next few decades.
But reality is often unexpected. Gao Gen unexpectedly betrayed the sect, abandoned his status as a candidate for sect leader, and joined the Quanxing sect. Later, he became a follower of Wugensheng.
Few people know the details of what happened back then, but Lü Ci, as someone who was there at the time, had also visited the Northeast and interacted with various extraordinary people. Gao Gen's affairs were not a secret to him.
The truth of the matter is also the reason why Lü Ci now mocks and despises Gao Gen. In Lü Ci's words, Gao Gen is a good-for-nothing ingrate.
The reason this prodigy of the Gao family betrayed his family, his master, and his own cause was simply because he opposed the world's attitude towards Quanxing; he was an extreme idealist.
Gao Gen inherited his family's bloodline and the sect's skills, as well as a simple and straightforward ideology of "eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path."
He did not believe that everyone in the Quanxing Sect was a villain who deserved to die. This attitude was very clear and correct, but Gao Gen's extreme idealism led him to do something extremely foolish.
Gao Gen neither inherited the position of leader of the Yiqi Stream Sect, nor did he openly and honestly eliminate evil and protect the righteous path. Instead, he betrayed his past stance with a seemingly "compassionate" ideology and joined the Quanxing Sect.
In Quanxing, he advocated "neither killing the innocent nor letting the guilty go free." This contradictory idea led him astray, as he could neither distinguish which evil people "deserve to be killed" nor which good people "deserve to be let go."
His initial purpose in following Wugensheng was not to ask for help to "release" him, but to kill him, to kill this acting leader of Quanxing.
Later, Gao Gen viewed his actions within the Quanxing organization as a form of "undercover work." He seemingly made righteous contact with Wugensheng, wanting to eliminate this "troublemaker" as soon as possible to prevent future disasters.
However, when Gao Genzhen had a chance to act, he gave up those opportunities several times. The conflicting thoughts of whether or not to kill made this "undercover agent" let the other party go with complicated thoughts. In order to ensure Wu Gensheng's safety, he even killed his former fellow disciples.
Such a hesitant, indecisive, and even somewhat naive story opened Lü Ci's eyes back then. He thought it was an exaggeration, but as he heard more and more of it, the high degree of overlap between the stories forced Lü Ci, an outsider, to believe it.
In this world, there are still shameless, self-righteous ingrates like Gao Gen.
"Tell me what you did wrong, so that Grandpa Lü can diagnose and help you recover."
Even though Gao Gen looked miserable at this moment, Lü Ci was unmoved. He just sighed and sneered in his heart that Gao Gen had brought this upon himself. Then he put on a businesslike attitude and asked Gao Gen to reveal the Gao family's purpose.
"Thank you, Lü Ci, but what I want is not resurrection, but complete death."
Gao Gen did not respond to Lü Ci's promise of "resurrection." This figure, resembling a demonic skeleton, sat in the lamplight, shaking his head with a bitter smile, praying for death that was the complete opposite of resurrection.
"The current situation is entirely my own doing. I have no regrets, I only regret that I realized it too late. But the Gao family can no longer afford to cause any more trouble because of me, the tomb-guarding demon."