Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

Master Mei furrowed his brows upon hearing this and said, "But now that little brat Gu Chen has grown up, how are we supposed to deal with him?"

It was clearly not possible for them to take action personally, as the Jing Tian Department would not allow it. Once it was discovered that they dared to take action against Gu Chen, the entire Sunset Sword Sect would be in disaster.

Seventh Master, upon hearing this, also spoke in a deep voice, "What does Yang Ling intend to do to deal with him?"

"Ask the Bloodcloth Tower to take action!" that elder said.

The elder who looked like an old lion with all his hair and beard bristling huffed, "Bloodcloth Tower is just garbage. They've taken action so many times, yet Gu Chen has killed so many of their people. It's more satisfying for us to do it ourselves!"

"Shut up!" Seventh Master rebuked.

Upon hearing this, the bristled-haired elder's face instantly stiffened, a bit embarrassed, but he dared not speak further.

Afterward, Seventh Master's brows twisted together and said, "What exactly does Yang Ling mean?"

The elder said, "Tian Dao Yang Ling once mentioned that among the killers from Bloodcloth Tower, there's one who has reached the full completion of the Gang Qi Stage and has even cultivated the unique Gangqi 'Blood Refinement Shen Gang' of Bloodcloth Tower. His strength is extremely formidable.

He has never failed in an assassination and is ranked first among the Gang Qi Stage killers of Bloodcloth Tower, occupying the first place on Bloodcloth Tower's internal Black List. By asking him to take action to kill Gu Chen, it will undoubtedly be a sure success."

The Black List within Bloodcloth Tower ranks the strength of the assassins only up to the Gang Qi Stage because those who have reached the Returning to True Stage already belong to the upper echelons of Bloodcloth Tower. Their status is akin to that of Sunset Sword Sect's Seventh Master who would not easily take action against anyone, unless it was a critical moment of emergency.

After pausing, the elder continued, "Now, Gu Chen has uprooted thirteen strongholds of Bloodcloth Tower in Qiongtian Mansion, which Bloodcloth Tower has operated for many years. With their removal, Bloodcloth Tower has become blind in Qiongtian City, with no source of intelligence.

Moreover, as Gu Chen has consecutively slain several assassins from Bloodcloth Tower, they must view Gu Chen as a thorn in their eye. If we pay a certain price, the three of us joining forces will certainly be able to eliminate Gu Chen!"

The old man with bristling hair grunted upon hearing this, "This damn kid's courage isn't small!" Continue reading at empire

Master Mei nodded in agreement and said, "With Gu Chen's character, while not seeking revenge for every slight, his methods are extremely ruthless. He is now in a life-or-death struggle with Bloodcloth Tower, Heavenly Saber Sect, and us.

Our three parties will join forces; we and Heavenly Saber Sect will provide precise intelligence on Gu Chen, and Bloodcloth Tower will send someone to assassinate him. This time, Gu Chen is bound to die!"

Seventh Master, however, was a bit puzzled and said, "How does Yang Ling know so much about Bloodcloth Tower, even to the extent of understanding the strength of their internal assassins?"

It is known that for many years, Bloodcloth Tower had been hiding in the shadows, and even Diancang Pavilion and Jing Tian Department did not have overly detailed intelligence about them, at least not to the extent that Yang Ling did, knowing such detailed information about this first-ranked Gang Qi Stage killer within Bloodcloth Tower.

Of course, these minor details are not so important. As long as Gu Chen can be killed, everything else is negotiable.

Otherwise, given Gu Chen's character, should he learn that it was them, the Sunset Sword Sect, who contacted Bloodcloth Tower to assassinate him, it is certain that once Gu Chen grew up, he would come after the Sunset Sword Sect.

So, to prevent trouble before it happens, the Sunset Sword Sect has already decided, in alliance with Heavenly Saber Sect and the added forces of Bloodcloth Tower, that these three top forces of the Shen Zhou rivers and lakes could not believe joint efforts would fail to extinguish just one Gu Chen.

At this moment, the elder who had spoken earlier added, "By the way, Seventh Master, Yang Ling also said that this assassin is highly valued within Bloodcloth Tower. Therefore, if we are successful in killing Gu Chen, we need to deploy people on the outside to ensure his smooth escape."

Seventh Master heard this, slightly furrowed his brow, but still nodded in agreement. After all, in his view, Gu Chen's strength, though formidable, probably couldn't match that of this first-ranked assassin from Bloodcloth Tower's Black List.

Despite Gu Chen having previously relied on divine weapons to kill those at the great full completion of the Gang Qi Stage, this assassin from Bloodcloth Tower was not just at the great full completion of the Gang Qi Stage, he had also cultivated a unique type of Gangqi.

The power of this anomalous Gangqi was something he, as a Returning to True Stage powerhouse, was very clear about.

Moreover, Bloodcloth Tower is an organization of assassins, and assassins would not fight head-on. With Bloodcloth Tower's unique technique for concealing their presence, combined with the powerful strength of this top-ranked assassin, it was unknown whether Gu Chen could react in time to draw his divine weapon for combat.

There was a high probability that Gu Chen would be killed by a sudden attack from this assassin of Bloodcloth Tower, causing great chaos in Qiongtian City. In such a short time, the powers of the city lord's mansion in Qiongtian City might not be able to react, and their support would not be too difficult.

At this time, Seventh Master seemed to remember something and suddenly said, "After Gu Chen dies, how shall we distribute the divine weapon?"

The divine weapon was extremely important to the Sunset Sword Sect, especially since the divine weapon was a sword, which made Sunset Sword Sect even more covetous.

The elder hesitated a bit before saying, "This… Tian Dao Yang Ling did not specify."

Seventh Master nodded slightly, everything else was easy to talk about as long as they could kill Gu Chen.

A cold gleam flashed in the eyes of Seventh Master, who was determined that this time, through their joint effort, Gu Chen was bound to die; there was no chance of survival.

...

Heavenly Saber Sect.

The leader of the Heavenly Saber Sect, Yang Ling, was a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance. His aura was incredibly sharp, and he, like an unsheathed blade, sent chills akin to a cold wind with his sweeping gaze, daring no one to meet his eyes directly.

Even standing beside him, one would feel a tingling sensation throughout their body.

As a martial arts master of his level, he should have been in seclusion for years, focused solely on finding an opportunity to breakthrough and become a Grandmaster of Martial Arts at the Returning to True Stage as soon as possible.

However, upon learning that his beloved daughter and successor had been killed by Gu Chen, he immediately emerged from seclusion. Were it not for the last shred of his rationality, he would have taken matters into his own hands and gone to Qiongtian Mansion to end Gu Chen's life himself.

Yang Mingyue was his only daughter, and with her mother passing away when Mingyue was just a child, he'd poured all his affection for his wife into his daughter, resulting in Mingyue's proud and domineering personality.

Yang Ling was well aware of what his daughter was like, yet that did not mean he could tolerate someone else killing her, not even if that person was Gu Chen of the Jing Tian Department!

At the level of a master, one must have their own path in the martial arts, and Yang Ling's path was one of bravery and relentless advancement, cutting down any hindrance that lay before him into shreds.

But now, Gu Chen had become his inner demon. Gu Chen had to die, the revenge had to be taken, or Yang Ling would never achieve mental clarity; he would never complete the transition from the attained stage to the innate stage, guiding the qi to connect with heaven and earth to become the Grandmaster of Martial Arts, standing proud above all others.

To become a Grandmaster of Martial Arts at the Returning to True Stage, not only did one's cultivation matter, the state of one's spirit was also crucial.

In the instant when one opened the profound gates between heaven and earth, when the mind resonated with the cosmos and drew in its elemental qi, one's heart and spirit needed to be free of any distractions or impurities, for any disturbance could result in being overwhelmed by the forceful tides of the cosmos and perish.

It could be said that, although Gu Chen had meager strength and was considered no better than an ant—easily crushed—in Yang Ling's eyes, he had become an obstacle in Yang Ling's martial path, or rather, his heart's demon. For Yang Ling, Gu Chen must die!

Of course, for Yang Ling, the mere act of Gu Chen killing Yang Mingyue justified a thousand deaths over for Gu Chen.

If it had been up to him, he would have used every means to torture Gu Chen. To Yang Ling, a swift death for Gu Chen would be too kind.

Unfortunately, his status prevented him from taking action himself.

Fortunately, he was aware of the animosity between the Sunset Sword Sect and Gu Chen, so he had sent a message to the Sunset Sword Sect, expressing his desire to join forces with them.

The reason he was so well-informed about the internal affairs of assassins in the Black List was simply because he was one of the deputy chiefs of the Black List!

This was a secret Yang Ling had never shared with anyone, not even his daughter, Yang Mingyue.

If this information were to be revealed, it would shock the entire Shen Zhou, as no one could imagine that the leader of the Heavenly Saber Sect was actually a deputy chief of the Black List.

The Black List was managed with extreme secrecy and rigor, and even Yang Ling did not know how many deputy chiefs there were or their identities—they never made contact with each other.

All matters of the Black List in Shen Zhou were Yang Ling's responsibility, and he was naturally aware of the bounty placed by the Sunset Sword Sect on Gu Chen's head.

What Yang Ling had not expected, however, was for Gu Chen to be so troublesome, and with a martial arts talent so extraordinary. The assassins he had sent not only failed to eliminate Gu Chen but suffered heavy losses themselves, with their stronghold in Qiongtian City being wiped out.

This only deepened the enmity between Gu Chen and Yang Ling.

Even the Black List's elusive leader, seen by others as much as a dragon shows its head but not its tail, had personally sent Yang Ling a message questioning his management of the Black List's operations because of this matter.

This infuriated Yang Ling even more—this was all because of Gu Chen.

In Yang Ling's eyes, there were far too many reasons to kill Gu Chen—he had even contemplated reaching out to the Arsenal to participate in the plan to execute Gu Chen.

But after some thought, he decided against it. After all, with the shadow of the six holy lands behind the Arsenal, the Black List was extremely wary of them.

Besides, to the Arsenal, Gu Chen killing one of their managers in Qiongtian City might not really amount to much.

Yang Ling believed that with the Black List's top assassin in action, Gu Chen would undoubtedly meet his end this time.

He knew very well the power of Blood-Refined Gangqi, for the Black List's leader, while at the Gang Qi Stage, had cultivated this exceptional type of Gangqi, which ranked as the number one among the unique Gangqi within the Black List.

Even among all unique Gangqi across the world, its power was among the top tier.

Yang Ling sat alone in the grand hall, his tall figure exuding an imposing aura, his eyes as intimidating as blades, and he whispered coldly to himself, "Mingyue, rest assured. Before long, I will send that Gu Chen down to accompany you. I will not let off anyone who killed you, who harmed you!"