"They’re not satisfied with being Dukes and Kings. They want to reach the very top, to be the one and only!" Gu Zheng said coldly. "These Noble Families are already high and mighty. How could they allow soone to sit above them, even if only in na?"
Mo Jiateng fell silent.
The situation was more or less clear now.
In a word, it was all for profit.
The Eight Great Vassal Kings, including those of Jing Country, were vying to unify the throne in a "Dragon Struggle."
If they succeeded, the destiny of the newly established dynasty would be enough to fend off an invasion from the Demon Realm.
As for how many commoners died during the struggle, that was a minor issue.
As long as they didn’t all die, which would affect the convergence of the dynasty’s destiny, it wasn’t considered a real problem.
To this end, the Vassal States set traps for one another and resorted to treacherous sches.
They sent spies into each other’s territories, constantly creating chaos to hinder one another’s progress.
How many people died in the process was irrelevant.
"Is the Observatory the agency Jing Country uses to cause trouble in the other Vassal States?" Gu Zheng asked.
"Yes, Master," Mo Jiateng replied. "Publicly, the Observatory is responsible for overseeing the Governnt Offices throughout Jing Country. Secretly, they infiltrate Kang Country and Yue Country to wreak havoc everywhere."
’I knew it!’
While Gu Zheng mulled this over, he asked, "Have these eight great families won over most of the other nobles?"
"Yes, but to be more precise, there have always been marriage alliances between the Noble Families."
Mo Jiateng explained, "For thousands of years, the noble youth have almost exclusively married other noble youth. Even a family like the Yu Family, which largely marries its own mbers to maintain bloodline purity, will occasionally arrange marriages with other Noble Families."
"Over ti, feuds have developed between so Noble Families, while others have beco close allies."
"Including the Su Family of the Snowy Spirit Cat clan?" Gu Zheng inquired.
"Yes."
Mo Jiateng nodded. "The Su Family is very close with the Yang Family of Shang Country."
’No wonder Su Zhenyun had a hard ti answering!’
Shang Country is to the west of Jing Country.
’The Demon Creation incident in Wulong Mansion was probably orchestrated by agents from the Yang Family.’
’Su Zhenyun must have felt ashad and flustered. That’s why she couldn’t—and wouldn’t—answer!’
"They’re all cut from the sa cloth."
Gu Zheng took a deep breath, calming his mind.
The Noble Families were high and mighty, and they didn’t treat others as human beings.
Now, for the sake of the "Dragon Struggle," who knew how many more would die.
’Enough of this.’
Gu Zheng sighed.
Jing Country had been plotting for the "Dragon Struggle" for three hundred years.
The other Vassal States were likely no different.
Gu Zheng couldn’t afford to get involved in this kind of grand, thousand-year sche that had been plotted for centuries. Nor did he want to.
He would just focus on his job: killing Demon Fiends and getting stronger.
And, of course, take care of those close to him.
"Enough about the Noble Families," Gu Zheng said, his composure restored. "Take out what you harvested in the Domain. Let see."
"Yes!"
Mo Jiateng hadn’t found any Marvels or Magic Gold when he entered the Old Ox Mountain Domain, but he had managed to find nineteen Source Fruits.
He now took them out of his Storage Pouch one by one and handed them to Gu Zheng.
Gu Zheng took them and placed them into his equipnt slots one by one.
[Source Fruit: Strong Body]
[Source Fruit: Dali]
[Source Fruit: Divine Wondrous]
...
As he identified them, he found most were Strong Body, a few were Dali, and one was Divine Wondrous.
Another was "Fasting." Consuming it would allow a person to go without food or drink for three to six months.
And one more was "Divine Essence." Consuming it caused a massive surge in Spiritual Power, providing an excellent boost for breaking through to the Super Body Realm.
This "Divine Essence" Source Fruit was the best of the entire batch.
Gu Zheng kept the others but handed the "Divine Essence" fruit to Mo Jiateng.
"This is a ’Divine Essence’ fruit. If you eat it, you should be able to break through to the Super Body Realm."
?
Mo Jiateng was stunned for a mont, then he knelt to the ground in joyful surprise. "Thank you, Master!"
The Source Fruits had been picked for Gu Zheng.
In other words, from the mont he entered the Old Ox Mountain Domain, Mo Jiateng had never intended to keep any of the spoils for himself.
Gu Zheng giving him a "Divine Essence" fruit now was a massive, pleasant surprise.
Another thing was that Gu Zheng could sohow identify the function of each Source Fruit.
Before a Source Fruit was consud, its ability was unknown.
That was why it was often compared to opening a blind box.
’And Gu Zheng could tell what they did beforehand?’
Mo Jiateng tactfully remained silent.
...
Gu Zheng gave the best fruit, the "Divine Essence," to Mo Jiateng for a couple of reasons. First, Gu Zheng didn’t need it himself—or rather, its effects wouldn’t be maximized if he consud it.
His family couldn’t use it at the mont, either.
It was far better to give it to Mo Jiateng, helping him break through to the Super Body Realm and increasing his power.
That way, both of Gu Zheng’s subordinates would be at the Super Body Realm.
Once Mo Jiateng reached the Super Body Realm, he could kill Demon Fiends more easily, which would make it more convenient to collect even greater amounts of Bloodshed.
That Bloodshed, in turn, would be passed to Gu Zheng, helping him grow stronger as well!
In contrast, the Strong Body, Dali, and Divine Wondrous Source Fruits were of much greater use to Gu Zheng himself.
Enough Strong Body and Dali fruits could even stack up to build an Alien Body.
With this new batch of Source Fruits, Gu Zheng was already thinking about which mber of his family he would help achieve a breakthrough next.
Gu Xue? Gu Feng? Or Gu Wan’Er?
...
The Old Ox Mountain passage had ford.
To prevent more of the Black Sheep Demon Race from erging, Gu Zheng remained behind. He had Zhang Ning, An Xiaoxue, and Tao Liu return to the Demon Slayer Bureau headquarters in the State City ahead of the others.
He also kept half of the three hundred Warriors with him.
They would work with the Mutun County Soldiers to transport the corpses of the slain Demon Fiends.
The Beast Demons that Gu Zheng had personally obliterated had exploded into piles of shredded flesh. However, the corpses of the fiends that Mo Jiateng had killed sporadically, that Su Zhenyun had dispatched while on guard, that had fallen to their deaths from the northern cliff, or that had survived the fall only to be killed by Zhang Ning—most of these were still largely intact.
The at of the Long-haired Ox, Fire Wolf, Shadow Rhinoceros, and Two-headed Tiger was edible for humans and contained excellent energy.
Only the at of the Three-tailed Python was poisonous.
Gu Zheng had Guo Zengyuan organize people to salt or roast the edible at into jerky.
With grain so scarce, this jerky would serve as reserve food supplies.
As for the poisonous at, he had his n pile it up and burn it.
Unexpectedly, when the townspeople heard about it, they snuck out of the city and began carting away the piles of shredded flesh.
If it was the shredded at of the Long-haired Oxen or Fire Wolves, it was still edible.
But mixed in with it was the shredded flesh of the Three-tailed Python, which was lethally poisonous!
By the ti Gu Zheng received the news, over a dozen people had already been poisoned to death. They had suffered imnse agony before dying, their bodies turning a dark purple, the pupils of their eyes becoming violet. They died hunched over, curled into tight balls.
After seeing the bodies, Gu Zheng didn’t know whether to be angry or just despair.
"It is my fault, Your Excellency. I didn’t make it clear enough."
Wiping away sweat, Guo Zengyuan knelt on the ground and said in a panic, "I am willing to accept punishnt. I only ask that you, my lord..."
"This has nothing to do with you."
Gu Zheng raised his hand. His Divine Wondrous power surged, condensing an invisible wave of Powerful Qi that lifted Guo Zengyuan back to his feet.
"These people brought this upon themselves."
"Here’s what you’ll do. Go and post notices at the beginning and end of every single street!"
Gu Zheng commanded. "From now on, any Demon Flesh from outside the city must be processed by soone from the Governnt Office before it can be taken ho."
"Yes, sir!"
Guo Zengyuan breathed a sigh of relief. "I’ll go arrange it at once."
He left quickly but returned just as fast, a look of sheer terror on his face.
"My lord, it’s terrible!" he stamred. "Sothing else has happened outside the city!"
"Did soone else get caught stealing the at scraps?" Gu Zheng’s brow furrowed as he strode outside.
"It’s not the at, it’s fire!"
Wiping away more sweat, Guo Zengyuan hurried to keep up. "A kind of wicked, blue-white fla has appeared outside the city! Anyone touched by it dies in an instant... No, that’s not right. They don’t die, but they can still move around and attack other people."
"The living dead?" Gu Zheng offered.
"Yes, the living dead!"
Guo Zengyuan spoke quickly, "Exactly, the living dead! Once they’re infected, they can still walk and run, but they lose consciousness and feel no pain. They’re just rotting corpses that move. More than twenty of the people who were carrying Demon Flesh or digging for scraps have already fallen victim."
"Those twenty or so people are now running around, attacking others."
"My lord, what do we do? The fla spreads by touch..."
WHOOSH!
A sound of rushing air broke the silence as Gu Zheng leaped into the sky, flying toward the city outskirts. He called back one final command.
"Close the city gates first!"
’A blue and white fla? It spreads by touch and turns people into the living dead?’
Gu Zheng thought of one possibility: an Anomalous Fire!
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