Rich?

During the trip to the mortal dynasty, which was named the Great Yi Dynasty, Gu Yuan didn't forget to try and accumulate as many points as possible.

Not only for his future growth, but also to exchange for lazy time, or he would be killed by the panel. Although it wasn't too expensive, he had to think long-term.

Ten points could be exchanged for a month, but one day he would need to stay months or years in seclusion, and he would have no time to troll others at all.

Of course, for that kind of long-term thought to be meaningful, he had to survive until that day first.

He encountered many mortal bandits on his way and even in caravans, but they posed no danger to him.

Trolling mortals, beings weaker than him was very inefficient. Doing an unforgivable trolling on a mortal bandit only gave him a hundred points.

After six months of constant travel, he finally arrived at his destination, the capital of the Great Yi Dynasty, one of the many mortal dynasties under the Dongxu Palace.

Thanks to the many victims he made on his way, he accumulated enough wealth to live comfortably in the capital for many years, so he directly bought a small courtyard on the outskirts of the capital, close to the outer wall.

After establishing himself, he began to prepare for his future endeavors more thoroughly.

Although that was a mortal dynasty, it didn't mean it had no cultivators, but that it only possessed weak and low-level cultivators.

Gu Yuan knew there was a single Foundation Establishment cultivator in the dynasty, the supreme master of the dynasty and the true ruler of it. The emperor was just his descendant and puppet.

Below him, there were some Qi Refining cultivators, but they were spread through the dynasty's territories and only a few dozen were in the capital all the time.

The number of Body Tempering cultivators was huge, tens of thousands. But compared to the many millions of ordinary mortals living in the capital, that number was small as a drop.

Thinking that in the Dongxu Palace, a Foundation Establishment cultivator could only be an inner disciple while in that place it could be an emperor made Gu Yuan sigh in emotion.

When he was done with his preparations, and when the night was dominating, he left his residence wearing ordinary grey robes and a well-crafted mask that he stole from a mountain bandit.

He stuffed many clothes in key places inside his robe so people couldn't determine his true body shape, but it also made it obvious that he was trying to be anonymous.

That night he visited many shady markets and places, trying his best to learn the kind of environment he was going to live in.

He bought a few things that could be useful like more ordinary masks, skin masks, other robes, and a few ordinary hidden weapons.

With his Middle-State strength, no street thug could even track him properly.

Of course, he didn't buy only items, he also bought information. All kinds of information began to form a puzzle in his mind.

The capital was named Ruyi Imperial City, and a big river divided it into two. The imperial palace had been constructed on an artificial island between the two halves of the city, and a magnificent bridge connected it to the city.

The main powers governing the city were denominated in a long conjunt title: One Above, Four Glories, Eight Glows.

The One Above referred to the imperial family, whose surname was Yi. The Four Glories referred to the Four Ancient Families, whose history was older than the imperial family itself. The Eight Glows referred to different kinds of power with equivalent strength and influence, and they were the ones who, except the One Above, actively involved themselves in the affairs of the city.

The Four Glories used the Eight Glows as puppets to control the city, so they could enjoy a comfortable shade and cool wind without doing much.

After possessing a minimal amount of understanding of the city's political structure, Gu Yuan returned to his residence while making sure he wasn't being tracked.

"My modus operandi makes it inconvenient for me to join a force openly..." he muttered while making tea in the lonely courtyard, "Should I make my force? I can easily subdue some street thugs..."

[Call it the Mighty Troll Faction!]

Gu Yuan almost spilled his carefully made tea on the ground and resisted the urge to curse.

[It's a cool name, brat!]

Gu Yuan took a deep breath and ignored the panel's spirit.

|Author's note: From now on, I will put the thoughts of any character between '. Example: 'This author sucks.'

Please don't confound it with ", which is used for spoken dialogues.|

Gu Yuan traced a plan and the next day began to take action.

He first subdued a few dozen street thugs who were already part of small gangs, attracting the gang leaders to him. He then subdued the gang leaders.

The thugs looked down on him because of his young voice under the disguise, but his overwhelming strength gained their fear and obedience.

The gangs he subdued gained their money from threatening honest people and selling illegal items like drugs. He ordered them to begin to expand and take over more streets, only avoiding the gangs with cultivators.

Gu Yuan didn't immediately order his men to stop doing evil, he already planned a bigger web. Instead of doing small or big trolls to a few people over time, he would troll a great amount of people in one go.

He ordered the people under him to call him Justice Fist, for his reputation to spread in the way he wanted.

After a week, he already subdued a few dozen small gangs and reached a bottleneck, he had no more space to expand. His territory was already bordering forces with cultivators in charge.

The men under him amounted to thousands, an impressive number. He was sure he would gain lots of points despite their meager strength.

When he felt the time was ripe, he ordered all his underlings to gather together to attack a strong force that bordered their territory, that force possessed at least one cultivator in charge.

He promised his underlings that the enemy was weaker than him and that he could kill him with one slap. His underlings were very happy with the prospects of subduing another force and gaining more power and territory.

Gu Yuan chose the most infamous among his underlings and appointed them as the leaders of the attack. He promised them that he would help kill the rest of the enemies after killing the cultivator.

On the planned day of the attack, Gu Yuan acted as a great leader and personally led his underlings deep inside the enemy's territory.

The force that he chose to attack wasn't much different than his in how it operated, so Gu Yuan decided to use it as a stepping stone as well.

When all his underlings were engaging in a full-scale war, Gu Yuan ran away, not looking back.

His underlings then began to be reaped as weeds by the strong cultivator that he was supposed to kill.

When his underlings finally realized he had run away and decided to surrender, it was quite late. They already killed too many people and gathered a huge amount of resentment among themselves.

Gu Yuan nailed their coffins by putting fire in the headquarters of the enemy force while everyone was looking away. He used his superior physique to infiltrate and spread inflammable liquid everywhere.

When the leader of that force saw the headquarters burning and his companions dead on the ground, all he wished for was to kill the last one, he would give no mercy.

Gu Yuan then threw two paper and stone balls from very far away, using the night to hide his true location. The paper was actually a letter of his to the enemy force, specifically their leader, and his own underlings.

[Dear friend, I'm the leader of the mighty Justice Gang, Justice Fist. Please take good care of my brothers and don't be so harsh on them, I had a sudden matter on my body and couldn't stay for tea.

Please tell my subordinates that I love them very much, I am always cheering for them, and I'm glad for their enthusiasm in dominating all neighborhoods and forces under our feet. I will certainly lead them to victory, but not today.

I actually found a lot of dangerous insects inside your headquarters, but don't worry, I already solved the problem for you, so please pay back by being caring to my lovely underlings.

With love, Justice Fist!]

[Dear subordinates, please support their offensive for a while! Fight with all you have, we are about to win! I'm about to arrive and kill their leader! Cheer up! We will conquer all the capital!]

After doing all that, Gu Yuan still felt it was not enough, but his strength was limited and he dared not do more extreme measures.

He returned to his residence while counting his gains, his troll points began to reach a new high.

Although all of his thousands of underlings and the underlings of the enemy cultivator were mortals, what he did was a very high level of trolling, so the return was quite high.

The growing number of troll points only stabilized the evening of the next day, when all the shit had already been done and everyone knew what could be known.

Taking into account that an unforgivable troll done to a mortal could fetch him about 200 points, one could imagine how much he gained that night.

[Congratulations, but don't be so happy, the amount of troll points that you will need will grow more and more. Trolling mere mortals will turn inefficient in no time.]

Gu Yuan clicked his tongue at the panel's spirit prompt and happily looked at his troll bank.

[Troll points: 938369]

"I'm rich, rich!" Gu Yuan muttered happily, completely forgetting that the panel's spirit was right. He never expected that the gains would be so high.

But after all, he played with the lives of thousands of people and still mocked them with letters. What about the people related to the victims like lovers and relatives? Wouldn't they be full of hate towards him and his troll?

[Stupid, you will soon know that those small points were just a drop in the ocean.]

"Just let me be happy," Gu Yuan muttered and contained himself, "I spent a lot of effort on this endeavor."

[What a nice way of calling a trolling.]

Gu Yuan began to arrange everything for his next steps, he bought lots of supplies beforehand so he wouldn't need to leave his residence.

Although he disguised himself when going out to meet his underlings, he still wished to be extra careful.

But he didn't need to worry so much since he lived in another region of the capital, that was controlled by other unrelated forces.

He sat cross-legged on the ground of his bedroom and began to add points.

From (5) to (6) it cost him 6000 troll points, but it was still a speck of dust for him. If (5) was labeled as brilliant, (6) was labeled as a shooting star, because it crossed the sky and illuminated many regions of the earth.

His limbs began to tremble uncontrollably and his skin and flesh were ripped open and healed violently again and again. His bones and marrow seemed to be under crushing pressure and he only kept himself conscious with the help of the panel.

It was completely different from the previous time, his body wasn't expelling impurities, they were being crushed by an unknown power into pure energy along the imperfect parts of his body. The same unknown power of the panel also healed his back almost instantly and kept Gu Yuan conscious, experiencing all the excruciating pain.

Gu Yuan wished to simply fall unconscious, but he knew it would be dangerous for him since it was a moment of transformation. Although the Body Tempering Realm focused on the physical form, it also subtly affected the soul.

Only a strong body could bear a strong soul, and only a strong soul could control a strong body.

Experiencing that pain and not falling unconscious had the same effect of tempering as the ripping of the flesh, and the power of the panel constantly healed his consciousness and soul back.

After half an hour, the transformation ended and his body returned to normality. That time there weren't impurities outside his body, and even the ground had not been dirtied by blood.

Gu Yuan took a deep breath and fell asleep without the strength to fight back against the sleepiness.

He didn't know for how long he slept, but when he awakened from his slumber it was morning and the fresh fruits he bought began to show signs of rot.

He began to eat all that he could like crazy. His body was like a furnace that burned everything without being satisfied.

The more he ate, the more he felt how strong he turned compared to before.

"I should be comparable to someone in the fifth layer right now..." he muttered after drinking a liter of water like it was nothing, "But my realm is the same, indeed... How magical...

"Not only that, but I seem a bit taller now...? My body seems bulkier as well, but I guess it's natural after such a drastic transformation."

After resting for a few more days, he prepared himself for another advancement, he was afraid but determined.

From (6) Shooting Star level to (7) Dim Star level, it cost him 30000 troll points. Before he could feel bad about the points, the pain engulfed his body and mind again.

That transformation was even more violent than the last, but it was also quicker. Gu Yuan was sure he saw his arm being turned into dust for a second and then returning to normal, it was scary enough to watch and worse to experience.

His mind also felt as if on the brink of destruction, but the panel's unknown power kept him alive.

Just like last time, he fell asleep as soon as the transformation was over.

When he awakened a few days later, he ate and rested for a few weeks before feeling completely recovered from the traumatizing experience.

His body at that time reached the level of an ordinary sixth layer and was overflowing with vitality and power. His mind also transformed, he felt more quick-witted, and calmer than before.