"We t near Great Dragon Mountain."
Gu Zheng replied, "Yan Tou, Tao Liu, I’m sorry for disturbing your rest. We’ll head outside to catch up."
"That’s right! You owe a drink—no, we’re drinking ’til dawn!" the burly man shouted. "Co on, let’s go! We’ll find a tavern and drink our fill."
With that, he waved to Tao Liu and Wu Kun, then turned and headed outside.
THUD—
As he neared the courtyard wall, he stomped the ground with a muffled thud. His entire body launched high into the air, gliding away into the distant darkness.
"Xiaoqi, get a good night’s rest. You don’t have to wait up for ."
Gu Zheng turned and shouted into the room, then cupped his fist toward Wu Kun, Yan Hongxue, and the other two. He then stomped the ground, launched himself into the air, and shot into the night sky, chasing the direction the burly man had vanished.
After the two of them left, the small courtyard fell into silence.
AHEM—
After a long mont, Tao Liu cleared his throat and spoke. "It seems Gu knows more people from Noble Families than we imagined. He’s even acquainted with soone in the Super Body Realm."
"And they’re clearly on very good terms," Wu Kun added wistfully. "If the Noble Families weren’t so insular, I think Gu would have entered the gates of a Noble Family rather than joining the Demon Slayer Bureau."
"Having a friend from a Noble Family who’s at the Super Body Realm will certainly be a huge help on future missions," An Xiaoxue added, her face full of envy.
Yan Hongxue remained silent, still pondering.
The relationship between Gu Zheng and the burly man struck her as very strange.
But no matter how curious she was, she could only wonder. She couldn’t bring herself to ask.
"Let’s go back and rest."
Shaking herself from her contemplation, Yan Hongxue spoke softly. After saying her piece, she turned and left.
...
...
SWOOSH!
WHOOSH—
The night wind blew under a dim moon.
Outside Hongliu County Town, two figures descended from the sky, one after the other.
"Greetings, Master!"
The second figure to land imdiately knelt on the ground. "Zhang iyuan has just offended you, Master," he said in a low voice. "I implore you to punish ."
"Get up."
With his hands clasped behind his back, Gu Zheng sized up Zhang iyuan. "What is Zhang Zanyuan’s relation to you?" he asked.
"Thank you, Master."
Zhang iyuan stood up before answering respectfully, "Zanyuan is my younger brother."
"I see." Gu Zheng nodded. "Did you seek out to inquire whether Zhang Zanyuan is dead or alive?"
"Yes," Zhang iyuan confird.
"Then you’re too late. Zhang Zanyuan is already dead," Gu Zheng said, adding, "I’m the one who killed him."
"...Zanyuan deserved to die!"
Zhang iyuan’s expression remained unchanged. "You did well to kill him, Master," he said solemnly.
"...Tell about the situation with your Zhang Family."
Gu Zheng didn’t explain his reasons for killing Zhang Zanyuan. "And about the grudge between the Zhang Family and the Yuan Family," he continued.
’Zhang iyuan, Zhang Zanyuan.’
’Just how much must the Zhang Family hate the Yuan Family!’
"Yes, Master."
Zhang iyuan complied, slowly recounting the long and bitter history between the two Noble Families.
First, the Zhang Family is of the Golden Deer King Bloodline. They inherited its Royal Blood power, which holds the might of Shattering Void. However, to truly achieve Shattering Void, one must break through to the peak of the Super Body Realm.
Zhang iyuan himself had only just entered the Super Body Realm.
The Zhang Family’s hatred for the Yuan Family began several hundred years ago. During a celebratory banquet at the Zhang Family’s Ancestral Land, the mbers of the Yuan family who were in attendance suddenly went berserk and slaughtered more than half of the Zhangs.
A Noble Family’s Ancestral Land is located in a small, independent dinsion that borders the present world but is separate from it.
For thousands of years, before the Celestial Change occurred, they lived in seclusion within these small dinsions. They would only erge once in a while, making a fleeting appearance in the Martial World.
The Yuan Family’s Half-demon Power is extracted from a Demon Fiend: the Eight-ard Demon Ape.
This type of Demon Power carries a certain risk. In other words, all Half-Demons have a chance of going berserk.
However, the Half-demon Bloodline had long since been brought under control using Secret Techniques and Marvels.
But at the Zhang family banquet, the Yuan family’s rampage ca without warning, resulting in the deaths of more than half of the Zhangs.
Their entire Ancestral Land was destroyed as well.
The surviving mbers of the Zhang Family fled their Ancestral Land and have been wandering ever since.
Generation after generation has passed down this burning hatred for the Yuan Family.
However, without the sanctuary of their Ancestral Land, the Zhang Family’s numbers steadily dwindled. By now, only Zhang iyuan and Zhang Zanyuan were left.
And now that Zhang Zanyuan was also dead, only Zhang iyuan remained.
Zhang iyuan had managed to break through to the Super Body Realm by entering a Domain where he found over a dozen Source Fruits. He then killed agents of the imperial court and stole several dozen more.
He was quite lucky. Relying on Source Fruits that were more than half-filled with Divine Energy, plus one that specifically activated Bloodline Power, he successfully advanced his realm.
Fortunately, he had killed everyone during the robbery.
That was the only reason he wasn’t now a fugitive wanted by the Jing Country’s imperial court.
Even so, Gu Zheng had no intention of keeping him by his side.
After getting a general understanding of the Noble Families’ situation, he ordered Zhang iyuan to return to Qingshi County, assu a new identity, and lie low for the ti being.
He was also to secretly watch over the Gu Family.
The Nether Heart Slave Seal was truly amazing. It allowed Gu Zheng and Zhang iyuan to communicate telepathically, even across hundreds of miles.
Because of this, sending Zhang iyuan back to Qingshi County wasn’t a major issue.
...
Having received his orders, Zhang iyuan departed under the cover of night.
Gu Zheng, anwhile, pushed off the ground and returned to the top of the city wall. He silently approached the gatehouse, searching for the soldier who possessed the Evil God’s Relic Pearl.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he was within range of the gatehouse, Gu Zheng’s eyes lit up. He had spotted the pearl he was looking for.
’This equippable item that sent the notification is actually tied right to a banner, used to secure the flag to its pole. I wonder what oddball ca up with that idea.’
’Was it just a convenient tie-down? Or was it ant to be a decoration?’
Gu Zheng watched with amusent. While the City Defense Army Soldiers were sheltering in their bastion, he flickered out of sight, moved over to the banner, untied it, and took the pearl. He then quickly retied the banner and put it back in its original place.
With the Relic Pearl in hand, his body swayed once before he leaped from the wall, soaring high into the city proper.
...
「The next morning.」
Gu Zheng continued his journey with Yan Hongxue’s team, heading toward Fengzhou.
Along the way, they encountered two more Demon Fiend attacks.
However, they were all individual Demon Fiends. The only group encounter had been the Thorny Pig Demons.
「Three days later.」
The team finally entered Fengzhou State City.
Gu Zheng had been to Fengzhou’s largest city several tis before, but this ti, he was struck by a strange sense of unfamiliarity.
It wasn’t that the city itself had grown, but the atmosphere in the air and the mood of the pedestrians on the street were completely different from before.
’Is it tension? Solemnity? Or exhaustion?’
Gu Zheng couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He followed Yan Hongxue into the Demon Slayer Bureau headquarters and went through a series of procedures: registration, receiving his uniform and Token, and logging his rits.
The following afternoon, Gu Zheng was notified that he could head to Internal Affairs to exchange his rits for Treasure Pills and True Skills.
Gu Zheng had no imdiate use for Treasure Pills, so he went straight for a True Skill—a Body Technique called *Eight Directions Travel*.
Upon joining, every Demon Suppression Guard Small Banner in the Demon Slayer Bureau was gifted a Heart thod-type True Skill for cultivating Divine Wondrous power and breaking through realms, as well as a weapon-type True Skill.
The Heart thod was the *All Heaven Jade Void Skill*, but only the Alien Body Chapter.
The Saber Technique was the *Frenzy Battle Saber Technique*. The na was plain, but the skill was complete and remarkably profound. The only issue was that its grade wasn’t high; among True Skills, it was considered low-tier.
Gu Zheng copied these three True Skills and grasped their entry-level principles.
Then, he tried to add points!
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