Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

Dozens of officials and soldiers had surrounded the area, and more troops were continuously arriving; the martial artists from the Evil Heart Sect's first reaction was to flee.

Otherwise, if they delayed, they all would die there.

"Run!"

One of the martial artists from the demonic sect, at the Outer Breath realm, shouted, pulling his companion to escape. At the same time, several demonic sect martial artists began to engage with the city's defending troops.

Seeing the two Outer Breath realm warriors attempting to break through, Gu Chen's figure flashed, blocking their path.

Their expressions changed, and one of them immediately made a move, yelling, "Get out of the way!"

They naturally had information about Gu Chen, and even the forces that had been sent to attack him last night belonged to them. To their surprise, not only had the assault failed, but many of their own were killed, which led to the discovery of their hiding place.

Their strength was on par with the two who had attacked Gu Chen yesterday, and knowing that they were no match for Gu Chen, they feigned an assault, with the real goal of escaping with their lives.

Now, with Gu Chen defeating Qin Mu and the title of the number one in the Star Ranking nearly spreading throughout the Qiongtian Mansion, there wasn't a martial artist who didn't recognize Gu Chen.

Gu Chen paid no attention to the other Outer Breath realm martial artist; his entire focus was on the demonic sect martial artist possessed by a demon.

Clang!

Gu Chen drew the mid-grade treasure sword from his waist, and with a flash of the sword light, one Outer Breath realm warrior was immediately beheaded. He hadn't even had a chance to release the demon's power before Gu Chen killed him on the spot.

As the dark aura dispersed, Gu Chen struck with another sword, and with a piercing scream, the ghost-class demon was also slain by him. Stay informed on m-vl-em-pyr

The remaining Outer Breath realm warrior, seeing how Gu Chen killed his companion as effortlessly as chopping melons and cutting vegetables, knew his end had come and that there was absolutely no chance of escape.

"Ah—"

He let out a loud cry, utilizing a secret method of the Evil Heart Sect. His heart beat like a drum, and his blood flow accelerated; his entire skin flushed red, looking very much like a cooked shrimp.

This secret method was extremely damaging to the human body but could enhance one's strength in a short period of time. The cost was one's life and potential, and the longer it was used, the greater the damage to the body and internal organs.

Clearly, the martial artist from the Evil Heart Sect had resolved to die; that's why he took such actions.

Still, it was futile. In the face of Gu Chen's over two hundred years of martial prowess, even with the secret method, the martial artist was no match and was burst apart alive by Gu Chen, blood and bones scattering in all directions.

With Gu Chen's current strength, unless it was some martial artist who had opened at least forty meridians in the Tongue Channel realm, breaking through to the Outer Breath realm and had at least the cultivation of the middle to late stages of the Outer Breath realm, they could barely fight with Gu Chen.

Of course, if one had outstanding talent and mastered multiple high-grade martial arts, that would be a different story.

But these martial artists from the Evil Heart Sect were obviously not in this category; after all, such geniuses were in the minority, and the entire Evil Heart Sect might not even have one.

After killing the two leading martial artists of the Evil Heart Sect, the following battles were like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood; the remaining people from the Evil Heart Sect could no longer resist, the dying dead, the captured caught.

Having cleaned up this place, Gu Chen, without stopping for rest, rushed to the next stronghold of the Evil Heart Sect, located in a large mountain outside Phoenix Sun City.

Gu Chen had already made arrangements with the magistrate of Phoenix Sun City, and the city's defense army would deploy several teams to follow him and eradicate the remnants of the Evil Heart Sect.

This stronghold of the Evil Heart Sect was not heavily manned, with only one Outer Breath realm martial artist and no ghost-class demons present. After Gu Chen casually quelled him, Gu Chen left the place.

Using the intelligence provided by the Jing Tian Department, in less than half a month, Gu Chen had discovered five or six strongholds of the Evil Heart Sect, showing that, even in a dormant phase, the demonic sect had amassed a significant amount of power.

It's worth noting that during the heyday of the Six Union God Sect, the Evil Heart Sect was just one of the many affiliated forces, a sect that wasn't considered prominent, without much strength.

Yet now, the Evil Heart Sect alone could have so many manpower, and that's just within one county; it was foreseeable that the entire Six Union God Sect was definitely not as decayed and vulnerable as imagined.

They had been licking their wounds in the dark, waiting for the moment to rise again.

In the following period, Gu Chen successively eradicated five strongholds of the Evil Heart Sect, each with at least one or two, and at most three or four Outer Breath realm martial artists stationed there.

But even when facing four Outer Breath realm martial artists alone, Gu Chen still did not feel much pressure.

Since breaking the limit of the Tongue Channel realm, Gu Chen's strength had become more formidable, to the point that even he couldn't see his own limits, not knowing where they were.

Also, Gu Chen found that the martial artists from the Evil Heart Sect who perfectly merged with the demons were still in the minority. Out of the five strongholds he eradicated, including the one in Phoenix Sun City, there were only three in total; the rest were ordinary martial artists who could not bring Gu Chen any contribution points.

This confirmed Gu Chen's speculation: the demonic sect indeed had obtained some secret method that allowed martial artists to merge with demons and thereby greatly increase their strength.

But at the same time, Gu Chen also discovered that maintaining one's sanity after fusing with a demon spirit, instead of becoming its puppet, was not so easy.

Otherwise, the number of martial artists in the Evil Heart Sect who had merged with demon spirits would far exceed the current count.

This was also something that Gu Chen found quite regrettable; he even wished the Jing Tian Department could provide him with more intelligence, allowing him to annihilate more Evil Heart Sect strongholds.

However, Gu Chen knew that within Anyang County, the strongholds of the Evil Heart Sect were limited in number. Even if some remained, after sensing the movements of the Jing Tian Department, they could only hide cautiously in the shadows, daring not to make another move.

This was the most advantageous counterattack by the Jing Tian Department against the heretical sects, and moreover, this was only Gu Chen's assignment.

With the Jing Tian Department spread across the world, should the Six Union God Sect dare to show itself, it would face the most powerful blow from the Jing Tian Department.

At the same time, the Jing Tian Department was also signaling to the Six Union God Sect that even with demon spirits causing havoc, it could still spare manpower to deal with the Six Union God Sect. As long as any heretical martial artist dared to surface, the Jing Tian Department would not hesitate to eradicate them completely.

Even now, the situation remained within the control of the Jing Tian Department.

When eradicating the last Evil Heart Sect stronghold, Gu Chen finally encountered trouble.

This stronghold had only one Outer Qi Realm martial artist, a young man only a few years older than Gu Chen, with a fierce appearance and sinister eyes, holding in his hand a fresh, blood-red heart, clearly just extracted from someone's chest, still emitting warmth.

The young martial artist named Lv Ming was the most outstanding disciple of the Evil Heart Sect's current generation, having opened nearly fifty meridians in the Communicating Channels Realm before advancing to the Outer Qi Realm and had now reached the mid-phase of Outer Qi Realm cultivation, with his internal energy extending outward a full ten feet.

Lv Ming, holding a long saber, had faint streaks of black qi swirling in his pupils. In front of Gu Chen, without a care, he opened his mouth wide and crushed the vibrant heart in his hand, splattering his face with a surge of blood.

He stuck out his tongue, licking it with an insatiable look. His face smeared with fresh blood and those sinister eyes made him look like a demon straight from hell.

"You're Gu Chen?" His voice was hoarse, devoid of a young person's vitality, more like a gloomy old man.

Of course, Lv Ming had heard of Gu Chen. When the Evil Heart Sect learned that the Jing Tian Department was eliminating their members, they commanded Lv Ming to return immediately to headquarters, but Lv Ming did not agree.

As the strongest among the younger generation of the Evil Heart Sect and a direct disciple of the sect leader, Lv Ming's status within the sect was high. If he didn't wish to comply, there was little the others in the Evil Heart Sect could do about it.

Unless the sect leader of the Evil Heart Sect personally emerged from seclusion and issued an order, perhaps then Lv Ming would listen.

Even some of the sect elders' orders were often ignored by Lv Ming, leaving them helpless.

Because of rumors that he was the sect leader's illegitimate child, Lv Ming could do as he pleased within the sect, killing whomever he wanted.

This was the way of the heretical sect martial artists, with a very strict internal hierarchy and where a slight misstep could result in death.

After all, for the Six Union God Sect, killing was as normal as ordinary people eating and drinking.

This was also the most important reason why the Six Union God Sect was denounced by all under heaven—they truly regarded human life as worthless, killing without any scruples.

"Evil heretic!"

A cold light flashed through Gu Chen's deep pupils. To deal with someone like Lv Ming, only by giving them a taste of their own medicine could one make them experience true pain.

Upon hearing this, a fierce light flashed in Lv Ming's dark eyes, but his expression remained unchanged, even smiling broadly, showing off his snow-white teeth. "You've got guts. I didn't expect you to actually show up at my doorstep. I've been waiting for you, indeed. I really want to try what it tastes like, the heart of the number one on the Stars Ranking!" he said.

Before the sound of his voice had faded, Lv Ming made his move in an instant. He swung his saber and launched a pitch-black saber qi straight at Gu Chen.

As Gu Chen had not yet reached the Outer Qi Realm, he could not launch saber qi like Lv Ming, so he drew the mid-grade treasure weapon he got from Qin Mu. Relying on its sharpness, the sword light flashed, instantly shattering the dark saber qi.

Lv Ming's face changed instantly, feeling a surge of jealousy in his heart. To think that even as a direct disciple of the Evil Heart Sect leader, he only had a low-grade treasure weapon.

Seeing that Gu Chen, merely at the Communicating Channels Realm, possessed a mid-grade treasure weapon, he was evidently very envious.

"Good, after killing you, not only will your heart be mine, but your weapon will be mine as well!" Lv Ming said with a smile, yet the expression held not a trace of warmth but was eerily sinister.

Gu Chen remained silent as his figure flashed, using Phantom Traceless Step to get close to Lv Ming, pointing a finger straight at Lv Ming's chest.

Without having reached the Outer Qi Realm, Gu Chen would be at a disadvantage in a long-range fight against Lv Ming. A close-combat would fully leverage his advantages.

Lv Ming's eyes darkened as he said icily, "I've heard you're a body cultivator, with a physique far stronger than your peers. Well, it just so happens, I am too!"