Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

"Ah—"

At that moment, Yang Ling Qin's face contorted fiercely, and with a ferocious roar, blood spurted from the pores all over his body, instantly dyeing him the color of a blood-soaked man.

Hiss!

With both hands gripping the sword, he aimed at Gu Chen and fiercely slashed across, the sharp sword light vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. This strike, carrying all his life force and spirit, could be said to be his finest sword strike in life!

Such an ultimate move was unprecedented in Yang Ling Qin's life and would never be seen again. Never before had he felt his power so refined and unified.

It could be said that the pressure Gu Chen applied had pushed him to surpass himself, and should he survive this battle, he would surely become an external Gangqi master!

"Kill!"

With a fierce cry, Yang Ling Qin, in the final moments of his life, unleashed his own last blaze of glory. His entire being, filled with Gangqi that contained all his vital blood and essence, was fully poured into this one sword strike.

At this moment, the sword light was dazzling and blinding, like a blood-red sunset painting the surrounding environment in a deep crimson hue.

Gu Chen's gaze slightly flickered; he had not expected that at the brink of death, Yang Ling Qin's sword would elevate to such a level.

But when facing an enemy, Gu Chen never held back because he knew all too well that showing mercy to an enemy was cruelty to oneself.

Moreover, Yang Ling Qin, known as the Blood Drop Sword, was an executioner by nature, his sword tainted with the blood of countless lives. Gu Chen naturally wouldn't hold back, nor would such a figure inspire admiration in him.

Boom!

The inner energy within Gu Chen's body erupted, his aura surging like a tumultuous wave, pressing down like a giant crest. Five hundred eighty years of internal energy was not something just anyone could withstand.

Add to that the formidable intent of his fist and the staggering force of five hundred thousand jin, the moment Yang Ling Qin's sword light touched Gu Chen's fist, the iron sword instantly shattered, breaking into pieces that flew off into the distance.

With Gu Chen's current physical body, not even superior treasure weapons could harm him in the slightest; only legendary divine weapons could pose a threat to him at this stage.

But divine weapons are rare in this world, not something just anyone can possess.

"Pfft!"

As the weapon broke apart, Yang Ling Qin had no more strength to resist, and with just one encounter, Gu Chen's punch sent him flying out like a broken ragdoll, his mouth spurting out blood ceaselessly.

This was the terror of the Four Extremes Propping Heaven Fist; each strike carried the impression of the sky collapsing and the earth caving in, its intent profoundly intimidating.

Although both the Four Extremes Propping Heaven Fist and the Great Vajra Fist had disappeared from Gu Chen's skill panel, it did not mean that Gu Chen had forgotten these two techniques. They were merely assimilated into the Great Vajra Divine Power on the skill panel, but Gu Chen could still use these two fist techniques and their respective martial truths.

With a thud, Yang Ling Qin's battered body fell onto the distant ground, blood continuously flowing from his body and swiftly staining the surrounding ground red.

In his last moments, his eyes were wide open, staring at the sky.

"Clean up," Gu Chen ordered without looking back.

"Yes."

Instantly, soldiers behind him, upon hearing the command, stepped forward to start dealing with the bodies.

The reason Gu Chen had asked Wen Ziyun for soldiers was to ensure the stability of the bystanders and to avoid accidentally harming them when he engaged in combat.

This was, after all, within a city, and one had to be extremely careful when fighting. Even as the Metropolitan Procurator of the Jing Tian Department, who could take action within the city, he couldn't allow innocent civilians to be harmed.

Otherwise, even he would face punishment.

After dealing with this Black List outpost of the Red Dust Tower, Gu Chen, along with Luo Feng and a group of soldiers, rushed to the next stronghold of the Red Dust Tower.

In this way, Gu Chen spent nearly a month to erase the remaining twelve strongholds of the Red Dust Tower in Qiongtian Mansion.

In these twelve strongholds of the Red Dust Tower, the assassins' cultivation was mostly at the Vajra Stage, with very few at the Gang Qi Stage. Including Yang Ling Qin of Qiongtian City, Gu Chen had encountered only two.

After all, the preciousness of martial artists at the Gang Qi Stage went without saying, and even the Red Dust Tower couldn't afford to discard them so readily.

However, when Gu Chen arrived at the last stronghold of the Red Dust Tower, he encountered some hurdles.

Because there was also an assassin at the Gang Qi Stage, whose strength was slightly stronger than Yang Ling Qin's, very close to the mid-Gang Qi Stage.

Gu Chen ordered Luo Feng and the soldiers to step back as he engaged the Black List assassin from the Red Dust Tower in a fierce battle.

With Gu Chen's current strength, martial artists in the early Gang Qi Stage had essentially become no match for him, mainly due to his immense and profound accumulation.

In martial combat, the disparity in combat power mainly stems from physique, cultivation, martial techniques, martial truths, as well as the corresponding combat experience and weapon.

Among these, Gu Chen far surpassed others in the first four aspects by an unfathomable margin for his current stage. As for combat experience, Gu Chen had experienced countless battles since arriving in this world, so it was naturally not lacking, even rich.

Thus, for him, fighting across levels was hardly difficult.

After all, if even someone with Gu Chen's foundation could not do so, then no martial artist in the entire Nine Provinces could achieve it either.

Gu Chen crossed swords with the inner Gangqi martial artist of the last Red Dust Tower stronghold for thirteen rounds. The opponent was indeed strong, but unfortunately for him, he was facing Gu Chen.

With Gu Chen's final, peerless strike of the Great Vajra Fist, a splendid golden light illuminated him as if a war deity had descended. The assassin from Red Dust Tower, already on the brink of exhaustion, stood no chance. With a loud bang, his body shattered, blood and bone scattering in the strong wind and littering the ground.

By now, all thirteen Red Dust Tower strongholds within Qiongtian Mansion had been eradicated by Gu Chen. Without these strongholds, Red Dust Tower in Qiongtian Mansion had become blind, devoid of sources for intelligence gathering.

Once the news reached the headquarters of Red Dust Tower, it was sure to cause them considerable pain.

For Gu Chen, this was merely the interest he collected from Red Dust Tower. Sooner or later, once his strength was sufficient, he would lead the men of Jing Tian Department to ascend to Red Dust Tower himself and utterly wipe out this scourge of the nine provinces.

In the meantime, the news of Gu Chen leading a hundred soldiers everywhere had nearly spread throughout the entire Qiongtian Mansion. All the martial factions, especially the weaker ones that had shown hostility towards Gu Chen, were trembling with fear, worried that Gu Chen would come knocking on their door to flatten their sects.

Fortunately, every time Gu Chen merely passed by. Over time, these people grew curious about what Gu Chen was up to.

Naturally, there were many capable individuals in the martial world, some of whom, despite their mediocre martial talents, were highly skilled at gathering intelligence. Soon, Gu Chen's objective during this period began to circulate in Qiongtian Mansion.

When numerous martial artists learned that Gu Chen was eradicating the strongholds of Red Dust Tower, they were all shocked.

Just like Wen Ziyun, they also secretly exclaimed at Gu Chen's restlessness. It hadn't been long since the meeting at Yao Platform, and here Gu Chen was making another big move. Many martial factions believed that Gu Chen was making an example of Red Dust Tower, a warning meant for them to keep the local powers of Qiongtian Mansion in line.

Of course, only a few knew of the deep enmity between Gu Chen and Red Dust Tower, and among them, Sunset Sword Sect was the most fearful.

They were terrified that Gu Chen would find concrete evidence proving they had hired murderers, and if so, they estimated that Jing Tian Department's army would storm their gates the very next day.

Thus, the elders of Sunset Sword Sect who were privy to the situation lived in fear and trepidation for quite some time before they finally settled down.

After eradicating Red Dust Tower's last stronghold, Gu Chen allowed Luo Feng and the soldiers to leave one after the other.

As a member of the Black List, Luo Feng naturally had his own matters to attend to and couldn't stay with Gu Chen all day.

Moreover, it was not appropriate for two grown men to be together all the time.

After expressing his gratitude to Luo Feng, Luo Feng took his leave directly. The two agreed to meet again if fate willed it in the Jianghu, and then Luo Feng left in a free and easy manner.

All good things must come to an end; such is the way of the Jianghu. Today's farewell was for a better reunion in the future.

This moment of parting was very much like their initial parting in Huaiyang City, except that back then, Gu Chen's cultivation was weak, and it took a long time to plan even to deal with an aged, outer Gangqi warrior like Zheng Jinan.

It was also the first time he and Luo Feng had met, and neither had expected that they would meet again in Cloud Smoke City.

This time, Gu Chen believed that they would meet again, but he did not know what the circumstances would be when they did.

...

Night fell, and the sky poured endless rain down from the heavens, washing the paths to either side into muddiness.

At this moment, within a nearby dense forest, two figures were running through the rainy night, their breaths ragged and their appearance frantic.

"Quick, Yining, hold on, we're almost out of their reach!" a man shouted urgently in the rain, dragging a woman behind him, their drenched clothes revealing the woman's shapely and attractive figure.

On the run for nearly two hours, even for warriors, they were nearly at their limits, barely hanging on by sheer willpower.

Zhang Yining gasped for air, her full chest heaving, her face filled with panic, and she looked back to say, "Brother, I really can't do this anymore, let's stop. They're not in sight anymore."

Zhang Zining clenched his teeth, determined, "No, they must still be behind us. Those bastards won't let us go. Run, Yining, just a bit longer. If we can get a bit farther, the rain will wash away our tracks, and they won't be able to find us."

Hearing this, Zhang Yining, with gritted teeth, chose to obey her brother, channeling her nearly depleted inner qi into her leaden legs, pushing on towards the distance.

For she knew that being found by those people meant death for her and her brother.

After another half-hour of running, Zhang Yining could no longer hold on, and with a thud, she fell to the ground, splashing mud all over herself.
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"Yining, how are you, are you okay?" Zhang Zining's face grew pale with panic, and he asked hurriedly as he saw his sister fall.

"I... I can't go on..." Zhang Yining uttered weakly, feeling dizzy and completely exhausted.

"Yining, hold on. Look, there's a light not far ahead, we should be able to find an inn there, let's go rest for a bit," said Zhang Zining, glancing behind them. Having evaded pursuit for so long without seeing their pursuers, and with the continuous rain washing away their tracks, he believed they were safe.

Then, he lifted his sister, and they supported each other towards the distant light, arriving at the roadside inn.

"We'll eat something here and then set off immediately," said Zhang Zining, who was also struggling to endure after nearly three hours of running. He planned to eat quickly and then get back on the road.

"Okay," Zhang Yining nodded hastily, for she was already at her limit.

Then, they pushed open the inn's door and entered to find the flickering light of candles and several tables of guests eating and drinking.

One table in particular caught their attention, where sat a man who was quite striking. He was clothed in black, with handsome, masculine features, and a tall and straight figure. His full head of black hair was casually tied with a hemp rope, gathered at the back of his head. His demeanor was distinctly extraordinary.