Chapter 7 Disciple
"Crack."
Gu Jinlai set his broken bones back into place.
Pain.
A large amount of cold sweat seeped out on his forehead.
He glanced in the direction of the woods.
Ran Tianxing and Xie Xiaowan had already escaped without a trace.
"They really are my good disciples."
He looked down at Zhang Buxi and Ma Zheng, who had broken one of his hands.
The hand was broken.
Moreover, with most of his True Qi exhausted, if he encountered a Hugging Pill Master, he wouldn't be able to win.
Additionally, since he hadn't learned any movement techniques, he couldn't escape either.
Furthermore, among the regular Qi Refinement and Gang Condensation Realm cultivators, there were too few who had more Karma on their bodies and a redder hue than his own.
To avoid provoking those ignorant of death, a deterrent was necessary.
He stepped forward and beheaded Ma Zheng and Zhang Buxi.
"..."
Looking at the two severed heads, he felt nauseated.
Killing was one thing, beheading another.
But...
These two heads could save him from almost all trouble.
With these two heads, no one would dare come seeking death.
The Refining God Elder of the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect?
The Sect Leader of Zhengyi Dao?
They wouldn't dare.
If Refining God experts acted, it would be a decisive battle.
Without full certainty, those two leaders wouldn't personally enter the fray, lest they fall into a trap.
Moreover, Lin Xiao didn't have sole authority over the Purgatory Demon Sect; if a decisive battle were to happen, the Purgatory Demon Sect would surely send reinforcements.
In a situation where no side was fully prepared, he could catch his breath for a while.
Gu Jinlai picked up the heads of the two Yellow Heaven Dao Sect Outer Sect elders.
"Crossing, I had no choice, but now, I want to be a good person."
He looked at himself, his robes bloodstained and heads hanging at his waist...
"Heh, I really want to be a good person. If you don't let me be one, then you must be the bad guys, and bad guys should die."
He lowered his head, plucked a blade of foxtail grass, put it in his mouth, and leisurely walked toward Changjun City.
...
That's why people should learn to package themselves.
A person can lack education, be short and unattractive, even lack emotional intelligence, but as long as he masters the skill of magic with one hand, he won't have to worry about not finding a girlfriend who's devoted to him.
Similarly, in the domain of Changjun City, as long as he carried the heads of two Hugging Pill Elders from the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect, those hunters chasing him for the past ten or so days would turn as meek as lambs upon seeing him and take a wide berth.
What about queuing to enter the city, being hassled by guards, pursued by Zhengyi disciples, and cultivators acting as agents of heavenly justice?
None of that existed.
In full view of everyone, he ostentatiously walked through the markets and returned to the Purgatory Demon Sect's base in South City.
The architectural complex formed by three palaces and five courtyards.
...
"Elder... Elder Gu."
At the entrance to the base, Guardian Zhao Yiping stood with six disciples, trembling as they awaited his arrival, having received early news.
The Ten Great Demon Sects and the Six Great Immortal Sects typically assign one elder, three to six guardians, and twenty to a hundred disciples of varying numbers to a city, based on its size. They also recruit some Body Refining martial artists in the realms of organ refinement and blood exchange to serve as peripheral members.
Apart from Elder Gu Jinlai, the base of the Purgatory Demon Sect in Changjun City consisted of the three protectors Zhao Yiping, Hong Shan, and Fang Cai, along with twenty-six disciples.
Twelve days ago, both Fang Cai and Hong Shan led the disciples on a mission outside the city, while Zhao Yiping was similarly delayed by matters, allowing the Zhengyi Dao Elder Bai Shu to seize the opportunity, attack the base, and force Gu Jinlai to flee around, losing face under the pursuit of Zhengyi's sixth son.
But now, returning to Changjun City, the only reception he got was still just Zhao Yiping and the six disciples?
"Where are Fang Cai and Hong Shan?"
Gu Jinlai asked, tilting his head.
"Protector Fang sent a message saying that they discovered a hidden resource point outside Changjun City. They have reported it to the Sect, and the Sect has ordered them to guard that resource point with their disciples..."
"An order from the Sect? More like Lin Xiao's order, right? Truly obedient protectors of my Purgatory Sect."
Gu Jinlai said.
Zhao Yiping looked worried and did not dare to respond.
Gu Jinlai glanced at the Karma on his body, powerless to criticize further.
This protector was actually Yellow-ranked.
Not even Light Red.
Many Outer Sect elders of righteous Immortal Sects were stronger than him; he was probably just muddling along even within the Purgatory Demon Sect.
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This sort of person doesn't need to be involved in major matters, but they are convenient for handling some minor ones.
Gu Jinlai removes the heads of Zhang Buxi and Ma Zheng, "Go, hang them at the entrance."
"Yes."
Zhao Yiping hurriedly steps forward to personally receive them.
On the journey, Gu Jinlai did not conceal his whereabouts, plus Fang Yichen and Xie Xiaowan fled back to the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect and spread the word. The news of his slaying these two Hugging Pill Masters was already known to all.
But even when Zhao Yiping personally witnessed the heads of Zhang Buxi and Ma Zheng, he still trembled inside.
In the world today, with great chaos under heaven, everyone practiced martial arts.
By the standards of the Daqian army, those in the Body Refining Realm were considered elite, those in the Organ Refining Realm are regarded as fierce warriors, and anyone in the Blood Exchange Realm would be a Hundred-man Captain.
If one could refine True Qi, one would live without worry, standing out among their peers.
As such was the Qi Refinement Realm, Hugging Pill stood as the pinnacle that cultivators could achieve. In any city, a practitioner of that level could be called a local hegemon.
Star State, being part of the Upper State, was a gathering place for outstanding talents.
Yet in a city like Lingxiao City, where the ownership was already determined within the cultivation world, the number of Hugging Pill Masters wouldn't exceed twenty.
In Changjun City, with its complex web of power, not to mention the City Lord Mansion and the Demon Refining Hall, just the cultivation world powers including the Purgatory Demon Sect, Cold Moon Demon Sect, Yellow Heaven Dao Sect, and Zhengyi Dao together wouldn't have more than forty Hugging Pill Masters.
Now, two such Hugging Pill Masters, including the top-tier Hugging Pill Master Zhang Buxi, who had made a name for himself, had both fallen at the hands of Elder Gu.
With such ability, who would dare say Elder Gu was in the twilight of his years, or that his powers had waned greatly?
"I've beheaded two Hugging Pill Elders from the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect. Among them, Zhang Buxi should have had a ranking, worth three minor merits. With those three, plus the two minor merits I had already accumulated... Report this, I want to exchange for a Nourishing God Pill."
"Nourishing God Pill!?"
Zhao Yiping's heart shakes.
"Hurry!"
Gu Jinlai orders.
Nourishing God Pill.
As the name implies, it is an elixir that nourishes the Divine Soul.
Gu Jinlai, because of the crippling of his Six Desires Demon Skill, had seen a decline in his cultivation, but ultimately, he was a Refining God Giant, and his realm was set. If he could leverage the power of the Nourishing God Pill, there was a great hope for him to ascend to the Refining God level once again.
As long as his cultivation was restored, he could easily solve the various problems he faced in Changjun City.
...
Gu Jinlai's return to Changjun City caused quite a stir within the city.
The Sect Leader of Zhengyi Dao in North City summoned the Zhengyi sixth son and questioned him for the third time in detail about his pursuit of Gu Jinlai.
On another hand, the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect was enraged.
Seated in Changjun City, the Refining God Elder Zhao Bowen's aura rose, filled with killing intent, and every cultivator in East City felt it quite distinctly.
However, that aura lasted only for a moment before subsiding and he did not make another move.
Having lost two Hugging Pill Elders, even if they wanted to retaliate, they would have to wait for reinforcements to arrive before doing so.
The Cold Moon Demon Sect in West City felt somewhat relieved.
They had only stirred things up from behind and did not send direct hands, thus suffered no losses.
After receiving news that Gu Jinlai potentially co-staged a major play with the Sect Leader of Zhengyi Dao, they gradually became wary of this local Zhengyi Dao power.
Several of the twenty-six cities in Star State were controlled by local powers, which the top-tier sects like themselves could not influence.
As for the City Lord Mansion and the Demon Refining Hall situated in the Central Domain, they both maintained an attitude of indifference as if the matter didn't concern them at all.
...
White, Yellow, Light Red, Bright Red, Dark Red.
In the study room, Gu Jinlai paid no attention to the tumultuous affairs on the outside.
He was summarizing the gains and losses of the past half month in a notebook.
Upon obtaining Qing Lian, he acquired the ability to see through the karma on others, which could be categorized into five levels.
"No, not just five levels."
Gu Jinlai writes down two more hues.
Light Purple, Deep Purple.
Most disciples of the Purgatory Sect range between Yellow and Light Red, with a few reaching Bright Red.
Zhengyi Dao mainly consists of White and Yellow, with a few Light Reds.
And an extremely small number were Light Purple.
The Zhengyi Dao Disciple that he countered and killed was Light Purple.
"So, the reason I accumulated another layer of karma after killing just one person, is it because he was Purple?"
He then thought of the Star State Four Fierce.
These four, though Red, had two whose name colors were even less than his, but still, they were added a Qingguang.
In other words...
As long as the karma on one's body reached Bright Red, killing them would add a Qingguang, and a Blood Demon Ancestor with Dark Red karma would add two.
It has nothing to do with his own state.
At most, killing someone with Light Red karma would only slightly increase his karma, more for Yellow, even more for White, and directly another layer for Purple.
After understanding the causal relationship, Gu Jinlai had an idea.
"If I recruit a large group of Purple disciples to protect my surroundings..."
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