"Insolent youngling, what grandiose nonsense!"
The elder bellowed sharply, raising his hand and hurling a palm strike through the air. A pitch-black palm print flew towards Gu Chen.
He considered himself to be significantly stronger than Qi Changyun and, coupled with the fact that Gu Chen was only at the Tongmai Stage, he did not fear Gu Chen.
Without any hesitation, Gu Chen drew his Red Refinement Blade with a clang, channeling all his power into a single strike.
Clang!
Suddenly, a sword's cry pierced the air, accompanied by a brilliant flash, a colossal head soared towards the heavens.
Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills!
This swordsmanship prioritized speed; in the world of martial arts, speed was unparalleled. Gu Chen had perfected the Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship, and his striking velocity was akin to lightning, with hardly anyone able to evade his attack.
Of course, since it was a swift swordsmanship, the first move was always the most unpredictable and difficult to defend against. If the first strike was blocked, then the successive moves of the Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship were unlikely to achieve much.
This differed greatly from the Canghai Sword Skill that Yu Qiushi employed against Gu Chen earlier.
Blood spurted out, and a demonic spirit burst forth from the body. Without any hesitation, Gu Chen struck again, killing the ghostly demon on the spot and converting it into contribution points for his own use.
Gu Chen's eyes flickered; the contribution points from a ghostly demon were indeed considerable. Slaying two ghostly demons had granted him nearly sixty points of contribution value.
However, at the same time, a trace of concern arose in his heart. The situation with Qi Changyun was apparently not an isolated case; the old man, just like Qi Changyun, had retained his own consciousness after being possessed by a demon and could manipulate the demon's power.
Gu Chen suspected that the demonic sect might have acquired a secret technique that allowed for the perfect fusion of a demon with a martial artist.
If that were the case, it would be terrifying. This matter had to be brought to the attention of the Jing Tian Department, and even reported to Da Xia, for the court to take timely measures. For if this were true, the entire world would fall into chaos.
Demons possessed unpredictable and formidable power, making them exceedingly difficult to guard against.
The Jing Tian Department has been able to suppress them until now, allowing the world to remain undisturbed by demons, for two reasons: first, the number of demons was not too large, and the Jing Tian Department suppressed them swiftly; second, demons lacked intelligence, acting purely on instinct.
Yet, if demons could perfectly fuse with martial artists, combining their powers, Gu Chen had seen the extent of Qi Changyun's transformation—his strength would skyrocket several-fold, including physical strength, stamina, speed, etc. The demons would bring an all-around enhancement to the martial artist, a prospect that was chilling to even contemplate.
Consider that a martial artist at the level of Qi Changyun, an ordinary External Qi Stage fighter, could easily be killed by Gu Chen. But after merging with a demon, he managed to match Gu Chen in many moves. And that was just the combination of a ghostly demon with an External Qi Stage martial artist. What if a higher-tier demon perfectly merged with a Gang Qi Stage martial artist?
The stronger the demon, the greater the boost it could provide to a martial artist post-possession.
And could martial artists become like demons, no longer needing to cultivate with arduous effort, but instead increasing their power simply by devouring flesh and blood?
"The remnants of the demon cult, they are indeed cunning!" Song Yu spoke with hatred. By now, he knew that everything had been calculated by the demon cult, aiming for the martial arts tournament to kill young talents of the martial world and to announce their return to the whole of Da Xia.
In this aspect, they resembled the Six Union God Sect from over three hundred years ago — equally arrogant.
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"The demon cult must have secretly accumulated a lot of strength over the years, otherwise they wouldn't dare create such trouble now," Wang Yan also said.
"It's all because the Human Emperor is in seclusion. If the Human Emperor was present, these scoundrels wouldn't dare to jump out. The whole world would be at peace, and the people would live and work in contentment," Song Yu said coldly.
Hearing this, both Gu Chen and Wang Yan strongly agreed, for the strength of the current Human Emperor of Da Xia was not lesser than the leader who brought the Six Union God Sect to its pinnacle more than three hundred years ago. In fact, he might even be stronger.
Because the current sovereign had achieved what even the Six Union God Sect leader had not been able to do.
Moreover, Da Xia's strength now was not necessarily weaker than the Six Union God Sect at its heyday.
"Now, you two should return to Jing Tian Department immediately," Gu Chen said, sharing his speculations about the events at Phoenix Crying Mountain with Song Yu and the others.
Upon hearing Gu Chen's conjecture, the expressions of Song Yu and Wang Yan changed drastically, and they also realized the severity of the situation. They decided to immediately return to Tiandu to inform Chen Yu.
Such a matter was beyond Chen Yu's decision-making power; he too must report it, informing the imperial court so they might decide.
"What about you?" Song Yu and Wang Yan looked at Gu Chen.
"I plan to stay here and observe for a while longer," Gu Chen said solemnly.
Song Yu and Wang Yan nodded. With the Six Union God Sect just reemerging in the martial world, it was uncertain what they might stir up next. With Gu Chen's strength, as long as he was careful, he should not encounter any greater danger.
"Alright, then take care of yourself and be very careful!" With decisive finality, after speaking these words, the two left Phoenix Sun City and rushed towards the Jing Tian Department in Tiandu.
Gu Chen watched them leave before returning to the inn. After instructing the inn's errand boy not to disturb him in the coming days, he began his seclusion.
At this moment, the hearts of the people in Phoenix Sun City were filled with trepidation, and many influential figures were packing their belongings, ready to flee the place.
With a minimal sense of knowledge, it was well-known that Phoenix Crying Mountain was just tens of miles from Phoenix Sun City, so they greatly feared whether the demon cult warriors would attack the city.
But Gu Chen was aware that this operation involved mostly warriors from the Evil Heart Sect's subordinate branches. The young talents at the martial arts tournament were their targets, not likely to attack Phoenix Sun City anytime soon nor could they muster that large a force in a short span of time.
Moreover, with the imperial court soon to be aware of the situation here, they would undoubtedly send additional forces to Phoenix Sun City. The people of the Evil Heart Sect were not so foolish; as a large city of Anyang County, Phoenix Sun City was not so easily breached, with strong defenses.
Back in his room at the inn, Gu Chen cast aside distractions and calmed his mind, bringing up the panel.