The old swordsmith was named Zhou Deqing. After Ying Baishou opened the Heaven's Gate, he became the most skilled swordsmith in Cuiwei Mountain.
One of the five divine-grade swords produced by the Sword Pavilion was forged by his hands.
If it were not for his reputation, Ning Songjun would never have entrusted his personal sword to him for maintenance.
No disciple in the Sword Pavilion ever imagined that he would be swayed by the Path of Righteousness and commit an act that went against his own principles.
For a swordsmith, the greatest taboo was tampering with a sword, destroying one's own lifelong credibility.
For this reason, in the original course of events, after Zhou Deqing's deeds were exposed, he committed suicide immediately.
However, Gu Fangchen did not find that strange.
The Path of Righteousness had even greater persuasive power than the Path of Emotion.
The Path of Emotion thrived on deceit, and its followers knew they were deceiving others, all for the purpose of harvesting the extreme rise and fall of emotions.
But the followers of the Path of Righteousness truly believed they were doing the right thing. They genuinely thought they were helping others fulfill their wishes, upholding what they believed to be justice.
Under such emotional fervor, anyone who harbored resentment or dissatisfaction could easily be swayed.
Moreover, Zhou Deqing's son, during the Sword Pavilion's civil conflict, had not supported the rebel Xue Qi, but had firmly stood by the Ning family.
His son, unfortunately, perished in that internal strife. In other words, the murderer of his son was not the Ning family, but Xue Qi and the traitors who supported Cuiwei Mountain's rebellion.
Among them were those who later formed the Seven Sects.
But everyone knew how that civil war ended, because Xue Qi begged for mercy, Ning Songjun chose to spare most of the Seven Sects' members.
Zhou Deqing was furious at the time, demanding that every one of the Seven Sects be slain.
Yet Ning Songjun had made his decision.
Zhou Deqing could understand it rationally, it was for the Sword Pavilion's reputation and stability, to gain the support of other righteous sects after the turmoil. So he quietly accepted it.
But emotionally, the pain of losing his son tormented him day by day, twisting his heart into hatred.
Since ancient times, sentiment and righteousness have been hard to reconcile.
It was in this festering hatred that the Path of Righteousness found him.
Under its indoctrination, his hatred for the traitors and the Seven Sects shifted, onto Ning Songjun himself.
If Ning Songjun had not chosen mercy, if he had not acted for the sake of reputation, Zhou Deqing would have long avenged his son.
His son had died for the Ning family.
It was Ning Songjun who had killed his son!
Thus, Zhou Deqing's mind became distorted step by step, until he committed the act most disgraceful for a swordsmith, betraying the Sword Pavilion and joining hands with his true enemies, the Seven Sects.
On that day, when the Sky-Piercing Sword of the Seventy-Two Peaks appeared above Dragon Hollow Lake, his soul as a swordsmith finally awoke.
He realized what an unforgivable mistake he had made!
Now, he only wished to atone for his sin before death, and to see once more that near-Supreme-Grade Sword left behind by the founder of the Sword Pavilion.
Then, he would welcome death.
Sensing someone approaching, the old swordsmith opened his eyes to see Gu Fangchen entering alone, having dismissed the others.
Gu Fangchen crouched down and asked, "You wish to see the sword in my hand again?"
Zhou Deqing said solemnly, "Yes."
His eyes burned with fervent sincerity. "That sword, if its earth vein can be completely refined, it will become a true Supreme-Grade Sword, the second divine weapon of its kind in the world!
"I wish to see it once more before I die, to touch it. That is the greatest desire of a swordsmith's life."
Gu Fangchen sneered, his tone cutting.
"It truly is a sword worthy of dying for. But do you deserve it?
"You betrayed your creed and your sect. You tampered with a swordsman's trust, defiled the blade he wielded. Why should you die without regret?
"If I had not arrived in time and drawn that sword myself to clear the Sword Pavilion's name, do you know what fate would have befallen them?"
Zhou Deqing was silent for a long time before answering, "I thought... even without the sword, with the Young Pavilion Master's strength, the Seven Sects' rabble would still have been no match.
"At worst, it would have been a draw."
He gave a bitter laugh. "I was a fool. I thought the Seven Sects could avenge the Pavilion for me."
He had even named his son "Chengzong", to inherit the Pavilion's glory.
But in the end, he had betrayed it.
Before he could say more, Gu Fangchen's cold voice interrupted him.
"You're wrong. Utterly wrong."
His eyes hardened.
"You never understood why the Demon Cult got involved, why they incited the Seven Sects and not other powers.
"They never meant for the Seven Sects to destroy the Sword Pavilion. The true hand behind it was the Yaoshan Academy."
Gu Fangchen seized Zhou Deqing by the collar and leaned in.
"You thought the cursed sword was just an excuse, a pretext to accuse the Pavilion, expecting the Confucians to mediate and expose the truth.
"In reality, they planned to use the mediation to turn the accusation into fact, to annihilate the Sword Pavilion entirely.
"You, the great hero, nearly destroyed it yourself, and still think you deserve to die without regret?"
Zhou Deqing's pupils shrank. His face paled. "What proof do you have?"
Gu Fangchen said, "The blueprints you forged for the cursed sword, they could really reproduce a sword that was already destroyed, could they not?"
Zhou Deqing hesitated, then nodded.
Gu Fangchen's smile turned razor-sharp. "You're lying."
Zhou Deqing was one of only two men who might have known anything about the Heaven's Gate. From the hidden lore in the game, at least one thing was clear, Zhou Deqing had learned his brewing from Lü Ping.
Their relationship had been far from ordinary.
He was likely the only person who knew the truth after Lü Ping went into hiding.
But in the original timeline, no one ever heard it from him, because he killed himself too soon.
Now, thanks to the Sky-Piercing Sword of the Seventy-Two Peaks, Gu Fangchen had delayed his death, and gained the chance to ask.
And just like Lü Ping's refusal to speak of Ying Baishou, Zhou Deqing avoided all mention of Lü Ping.
Gu Fangchen now intended to use Zhou Deqing's guilt to make him confess, using atonement as leverage.
"You deliberately wrote one step wrong on the blueprint," Gu Fangchen said. "But the truth was seen through long ago. What should have gone into the furnace wasn't Greenlight Gold, but Celestial Sand, correct?"
The old swordsmith's expression changed drastically.
Few in the world could have noticed that error, only a handful of swordsmiths at his level.
And one of them was at the Yaoshan Academy.
No one else fit the pattern. Only the Confucians.
Zhou Deqing trembled violently, raising his hands as endless regret filled his heart.
If that were true, he had truly almost destroyed the Sword Pavilion.
He said hoarsely, "You are right... I have no right to die without regret.
"I was presumptuous to ask the Young Lord to come here. A man like me is unworthy."
Gu Fangchen stared into his eyes and said quietly, "You met Lü Ping, didn't you?"
Zhou Deqing's lifeless face suddenly turned ashen at that name.
After a moment of silence, he said, "Why does the Young Lord ask? The Lü family's winehouse is famous across the land. Naturally, I have met him."
Gu Fangchen snorted. "What about when he wasn't called Lü Ping, but Lü Atie?"
That was the real name of Ying Baishou's sword attendant.
"How... how do you know that?" Zhou Deqing's voice trembled.
Gu Fangchen took out a sobering stone, stolen from Yi'er.
"I know him because I met him too. This is the token he left."
Zhou Deqing was about to protest, it was impossible, given Gu Fangchen's age. Lü Ping had died when he was still a child.
But when he saw the stone, he fell silent.
The Sobering Stone was unique to the Lü family's winehouse, used to suppress the strong aroma of Drunken Spring Breeze and protect Lü Ping's wife and daughter.
It was something he had personally found for them. If it had become a relic, his daughter would never have given it away.
And stealing? Zhou Deqing couldn't believe a noble-born heir like Gu Fangchen would stoop so low.
It wasn't about trusting his character, but about knowing his arrogance.
Thus, it might truly have been given to him by Lü Ping himself.
But how?
Gu Fangchen narrowed his eyes, pocketed the stone, and said, "When I knew him, he also wasn't called Lü Ping.
"He told me that to set Ying Baishou free, one must unravel the mystery of Heaven's Gate."
He looked directly at Zhou Deqing. "That was his final wish. But before he could tell me how, he lost his mind."
In truth, Gu Fangchen had no idea what Lü Ping had intended. He fabricated this story from fragments of the sword attendant's legend.
Zhou Deqing knew a portion, but not much.
Otherwise, with Heaven's Gate's corruption, he too would have gone mad.
He must have met Lü Ping after his insanity, learning something from his broken words, and the terror of it kept him silent for years.
At last, overwhelmed by guilt, Zhou Deqing decided to speak.
"I do not know what it means," he said. "But since he forbade it to be spoken, I kept it secret for over ten years. Please, Young Lord, lean closer."
Gu Fangchen stepped forward and listened.
"When the Saint opened the Heaven's Gate," Zhou Deqing whispered, "Lü Ping fainted instantly. When he awoke, seven days had passed.
"And the Saint, had sacrificed himself to seal half of the Gate."
"Beside his body, two lines were carved into the stone by sword."
...
'Heaven and earth are a vast crucible, yin and yang are the charcoal, man is the copper, and the Dao is the fire.'
'Those who teach the Dao as if saving fire with kindling shall only burn themselves in the end, wrong, wrong, wrong...'
Gu Fangchen murmured the lines softly, watching the scenery rush past outside the carriage window.
"Your Highness, what are you muttering about?" Xuexiang leaned in curiously.
"Nothing."
Gu Fangchen sighed, rubbing his temple.
Since hearing Zhou Deqing's confession and leaving the Sword Pavilion for Huangtian City, these two lines had haunted his mind.
They were words that had never appeared in the game's storyline, not even for a player who had unlocked every achievement. A message from Heaven's Gate itself.
To Gu Fangchen, it felt like a new game had begun, one full of fresh mystery and excitement.
For two days, he had been recalling every piece of related information.
But clearly, he still hadn't found the answer.
The first line resembled an ancient saying once cited in the game, one that the Tenfold Dao's Revelation Path followed. Its believers sought to open the Heaven's Gate.
According to their belief, drawing from the ancient Zhou alchemists' philosophy: heaven and earth were a furnace, yin and yang were the fuel, and man was the copper.
The world was a crucible. The lid of that crucible suppressed the limit of human cultivation, and their mission was to lift that lid, open the Heaven's Gate.
But now, another phrase had been added: "The Dao is the fire."
Yin and yang are the fuel, man is the copper, and the Dao itself is the flame.
That one statement defied the very foundation of cultivation.
Everyone knew that the end of cultivation was to seize the Dao of heaven and earth and make it one's own. Only then could one reach the upper three ranks.
Gu Fangchen was deep in thought when his heart suddenly jolted.
"Neigh, !"
Outside the carriage, the Dark Spirit Horse screamed.
"Careful!" Gu Yuandao's voice rang out.
Ding Xingfeng hung upside down from the carriage roof, his face uncharacteristically serious.
"It's the people of the Path of Destruction," he said gravely.
"And... it's someone I know."