Chapter 7

**Snap.**

Throughout the ages, Gu Jinlai reset the broken bones.

Pain.

Cold sweat poured from his forehead.

He glanced in the direction of the forest.

Fang Yichen and Xie Xiaowan had already fled without a trace.

“What a fine disciple of mine.”

He lowered his head, looking at Zhang Buyi and Ma Zheng, who had broken his arm.

His arm was broken.

Moreover, with his true qi nearly depleted, if he encountered another Core Formation expert, he wouldn't stand a chance.

Additionally, he hadn't learned any movement techniques, so he couldn't escape either.

Furthermore, among ordinary Qi Cultivation and Core Formation practitioners, there were very few who had more karma and a redder name than him.

To prevent them from recklessly challenging him, a show of force was necessary.

He stepped forward and beheaded Ma Zheng and Zhang Buyi.

“…”

Looking at the two heads, he felt nauseous.

Killing was one thing, beheading was another.

But…

These two heads could save him from almost all trouble.

With these two heads, no one would dare to recklessly come and seek death.

The Elder of the Spirit Refinement of the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect?

The leader of the Orthodox Dao Sect?

They wouldn't dare.

A Spirit Refinement expert's intervention would mean a decisive battle.

Before they had a hundred percent certainty, these leaders wouldn't personally get involved, to avoid being the last to act.

Moreover, the Hellfire Sect wasn't under Lin Xiao's sole control. If a decisive battle were to happen, the Hellfire Sect would certainly send reinforcements.

With all parties unprepared, he would have some breathing room.

Gu Jinlai lifted the heads of the two outer sect elders of the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect.

“Traversing, I had no choice. Now, I want to be a good person.”

He looked at his blood-stained clothes and the heads hanging from his waist…

“Hey, I really want to be a good person. If you don't let me be a good person, you must be the bad guys. Bad guys deserve to die.”

He lowered his head, plucked a blade of grass, and put it in his mouth, walking leisurely towards Changjun City.

…

So, one must learn to package oneself.

A person can lack education, be short and ugly, and have low emotional intelligence, but as long as they have the skill to drive a Ferrari with one hand, they won't lack a girlfriend who is devoted to them.

Similarly, in Changjun City, as long as one had the heads of two Core Formation elders of the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect hanging from their body, the pursuers over the past ten days would immediately become as docile as lambs, avoiding him from a distance.

Things like queuing to enter the city, guards being difficult, Orthodox Dao disciples pursuing, and cultivators enforcing justice on behalf of heaven…

None of these existed.

He walked through the city in broad daylight, in front of countless people, and returned to the Hellfire Sect's base in the southern part of the city.

A complex of three palaces and five courtyards.

…

“Gu… Gu Elder.”

At the entrance of the base, Ouyang Yiping, the protector, along with six disciples, waited nervously, having received the news early.

The top ten demon sects and six immortal sects, based on the city's size, generally had one elder, three to six protectors, and twenty to one hundred disciples. They would also recruit some Body Refinement and Blood Change martial artists to serve as peripheral members.

The Hellfire Sect's Changjun City office, besides Gu Jinlai, had Ouyang Yiping, Hong Shan, and Fang Cai as the three protectors, and twenty-six disciples.

Twelve days ago, Fang Cai and Hong Shan led the disciples on a mission outside the city, and Ouyang Yiping was also delayed, allowing the Orthodox Dao Sect's elder Bai Shu to seize the opportunity, forcing Gu Jinlai to flee, losing face under the pursuit of the Orthodox Dao Sect's six disciples.

But now, upon returning to Changjun City, he was greeted by only Ouyang Yiping and six disciples?

“Where are Fang Cai and Hong Shan?”

Gu Jinlai tilted his head and asked.

“Fang Protector 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 the resource point…”

“Ordered by the sect? Ordered by Lin Xiao, I guess. Truly a loyal protector of our Hellfire Sect.”

Gu Jinlai said.

Ouyang Yiping frowned and dared not answer.

Gu Jinlai glanced at the karma on his body, feeling powerless to comment.

This protector was actually a yellow name.

Not even a light red.

Many outer sect elders of the righteous sects were stronger than him, and he was probably just passing the days in the Hellfire Sect.

Such a person, not much use for big matters, but convenient for handling small tasks.

Gu Jinlai unhooked the heads of Zhang Buyi and Ma Zheng: “Go, hang them at the entrance.”

“Yes.”

Ouyang Yiping hurriedly stepped forward to take them personally.

Throughout the journey, Gu Jinlai had not hidden his movements, and with Fang Yichen and Xie Xiaowan fleeing back to the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect to spread the news, the information about him killing these two Core Formation experts was already widely known.

But when he saw the heads of Zhang Buyi and Ma Zheng with his own eyes, Ouyang Yiping still felt a chill in his heart.

In the current world, with chaos and everyone practicing martial arts…

By the standards of the Great Dry army, Body Refinement could be called elite, Filth Refinement could be called a brave warrior, and Blood Change could be a commander of a hundred men.

If one cultivated true qi, they would be free from worries about food and clothing, and rise to prominence.

Even Body Refinement was so significant, and Core Formation, as the pinnacle that cultivators could reach, was a dominant force in any city.

Xingzhou, as an upper state, was a gathering of talents.

In cities like Lingxiao City, where the cultivation world had already determined its allegiance, the number of Core Formation experts would not exceed twenty.

Changjun City, with its complex power dynamics, had four major forces in the cultivation world: the Hellfire Sect, the Cold Moon Sect, the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect, and the Orthodox Dao Sect. The total number of Core Formation experts would not exceed forty.

Now, two Core Formation experts, including Zhang Buyi, a top-tier Core Formation expert with a distinguished record, had all fallen to Elder Gu's hands.

With such prowess, who would dare say that Elder Gu was in his twilight years, or that his power had greatly diminished?

“I have beheaded two Core Formation experts of the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect, one of whom, Zhang Buyi, is well-known, worth three minor merits. Three minor merits, plus the two I already had… report it, I want to exchange for a Spirit Nourishing Pill.”

“A Spirit Nourishing Pill!?”

Ouyang Yiping was shocked.

“Go quickly!”

Gu Jinlai said.

The Spirit Nourishing Pill.

As the name suggests, it was a pill to nourish the spirit soul.

“Gu Jinlai” had fallen in cultivation due to the loss of the Six Desires Demon Art, but he was ultimately a Spirit Refinement giant. If he could use the power of the Spirit Nourishing Pill, there was a great hope of regaining his Spirit Refinement status.

As long as his cultivation was restored, the various problems he faced in Changjun City would be resolved.

…

Gu Jinlai's return to Changjun City caused quite a stir.

In the northern part of the city, the leader of the Orthodox Dao Sect, Zhang Zhengyang, summoned the Orthodox Dao Sect's six disciples and questioned them in detail for the third time about their pursuit of Gu Jinlai.

On the other side, the Yellow Heaven Dao Sect was enraged.

The Spirit Refinement elder, Zhao Bowen, who was stationed in Changjun City, had his aura rise, and the entire eastern part of the city felt the killing intent clearly.

However, this aura lasted for a moment and then subsided, with no further action taken.

With the loss of two Core Formation elders, they would have to wait for reinforcements before taking revenge.

The Cold Moon Sect in the western part of the city felt somewhat relieved.

They had only pushed the situation from behind and had not dispatched any direct forces, so they had no losses.

After receiving the news that Gu Jinlai and the leader of the Orthodox Dao Sect might have staged a grand performance, they gradually became wary of the Orthodox Dao Sect, a local force.

Several of the twenty-six cities in Xingzhou were controlled by local forces, and the top sects couldn't intervene.

As for the City Lord's Office and the Demon Refinement Hall in the central domain, they still maintained a stance of non-involvement.

…

White, yellow, light red, bright red, dark red.

In the study, Gu Jinlai paid no attention to the external turmoil.

He was summarizing the gains and losses of the past half month on a notebook.

When he obtained the Green Lotus, he gained the ability to see through others' karma, which could be divided into five levels based on the amount of karma.

“No, not just five levels.”

Gu Jinlai wrote down two more colors.

Light purple, dark purple.

Most of the Hellfire Sect's disciples were between yellow and light red, with a few reaching bright red.

The Orthodox Dao Sect, on the other hand, was mainly white and yellow, with a few light red and a very few light purple.

The Orthodox Dao Sect disciple he had killed in retaliation was light purple.

“So, the reason I gained a layer of karma from killing one person is because he was a purple name?”

He thought of the Four Fiends of Xingzhou.

These four, though red names, had two whose names were not as red as his, yet they still added a layer of clear light.

In other words…

As long as one's karma reached bright red, killing anyone would add a layer of clear light, and for a dark red Blood Demon Ancestor, it would add two layers.

This was unrelated to his own state.

However, when he was a bright red name, killing a light red name would increase his karma, but if he was a yellow name, killing a light red name would not increase his karma.

Understanding the cause and effect, Gu Jinlai felt a stirring in his heart.

“If I recruit a large number of purple-named disciples to protect me…”