Boom!
Lv Ming countered with a palm strike, colliding with Gu Chen's Seal Meridian Finger. He felt a soft and yin finger force penetrate his skin, rushing towards his meridians.
"Humph, child's play!"
With a cold snort, Lv Ming's internal energy burst forth, instantly crushing the soft Seal Meridian Finger force.
Gu Chen's expression remained unchanged as he lifted his hand to deliver a Red Flame Palm.
"Did you really think, that by reaching the great perfection of the Meridian Unblocking Realm and opening fifty-six meridians, you could contend with me?" Lv Ming sneered, and the internal energy around his body gathered on his surface, forming a wall of energy that blocked Gu Chen's palm strike.
Though he proclaimed himself a physical cultivator, he took no chances with Gu Chen's attacks. After all, demon sect warriors grew up in constant combat, with abundant fighting experience and a very cunning nature.
More importantly, Lv Ming didn't want to capsize in a shallow ditch by being killed by Gu Chen. He was thinking of killing Gu Chen to make a name for himself in a single battle.
As a physical cultivator, Gu Chen's vigor was robust. Devouring Gu Chen's heart and flesh would greatly benefit Lv Ming.
This was why he chose to stay put and wait for Gu Chen instead of leaving.
It could be said that Lv Ming was absolutely confident in his own strength, after all, he was at the mid-stage of the External Qi Realm.
"Die!"
Lv Ming reversed his palm towards Gu Chen and struck, his palm wreathed in black qi and brimming with a chilly aura.
Seeing this, Gu Chen's eyes flickered, and he met the strike with his own palm. With a bang, in a direct clash, Lv Ming naturally wasn't a match for Gu Chen and staggered several steps backward.
Lv Ming's face darkened. He had refined a mid-grade physical cultivation skill to perfection. Moreover, with the strength of the demonic specters and his realm suppression, he believed his physique was no weaker than Gu Chen's. Yet, to his surprise, he was at a slight disadvantage after this blow.
"Good, the stronger your body, the more I want to consume you!" Black qi surged within Lv Ming's pupils, and at that moment, he lost all resemblance to a Human Clan member, no different from a devil that had fallen into hell.
Gu Chen's expression was stern. With a slight movement of his fingers, a resplendent sword light, akin to the aurora, flashed across.
Whoosh!
Lv Ming's reaction was extremely quick. The moment the sword light shone, he retreated backward like lightning, evading Gu Chen's Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship.
Even so, a few strands of his hair fell by the side of his forehead. It was a close shave, as Gu Chen was just a hair's breadth away from cutting off Lv Ming's head.
This scene turned Lv Ming's face ashen. He thought he could easily defeat Gu Chen, but instead, he had been bested by him twice in succession, and had even nearly perished under Gu Chen's sword just now. Especially since Gu Chen was seemingly at ease the whole time, not even using his full strength, which infuriated him greatly.
Boom!
Black qi burst forth from his entire body, attacking Gu Chen like numerous long snakes.
With a composed and undisturbed expression, Gu Chen circulated his Pure Yang Technique. His intensely hot internal energy wrapped around his body, quickly burning the black qi to nothing.
"Crush Heart Palm!"
The attack just now was a ruse by Lv Ming; his real killing move lay here. The Crush Heart Palm, a high-grade martial skill of the Evil Heart Sect, and Lv Ming had almost brought it to the pinnacle of mastery.
With this palm strike, Lv Ming was confident he could severely injure Gu Chen, if not kill him on the spot.
However, to his surprise, Gu Chen stood his ground, not dodging or avoiding. Seeing this, Lv Ming's pupils contracted instinctively feeling a trick, but in a split second, he gritted his teeth and still launched the palm strike.
Dong!
A sound like a great bell rang out as the Crush Heart Palm landed on Gu Chen's chest. Suddenly, a point of golden light shone on Gu Chen's body, quickly spreading across his entire body. Then Lv Ming only heard the sound of a dragon's roar and a tiger's howl ringing in his ears, and he was sent flying backward with blood coming out from his orifices.
Since the Horizontal Training had reached perfection, this was the first time Gu Chen had fully employed it. He had not expected even its sonic waves to become offensive weapons.
Even the demon ghost inside him died along with Lv Ming under Gu Chen's punch.
Gu Chen, clad in black robes, tall and lean, stood on the spot as the light that enveloped him slowly faded, reducing to a single point and disappearing from Gu Chen's body.
If it were an ordinary person unleashing the previous terrifying attack, they would surely have been drained of all strength within their body, but Gu Chen still looked as if nothing had happened.
After all, his internal energy was profound and his strength enduring, far beyond that of an ordinary person.
Gu Chen raised his hand and caught the soul crystal, absorbing it on the spot.
With this, all six strongholds of the Evil Heart Sect in Anyang County, as detailed by the information provided by Jing Tian Department, were eradicated, and Gu Chen also reaped a large number of merit points.
Right away, Gu Chen led his men back to Phoenix Sun City immediately. After returning his men, he found a relatively secluded place and began seclusion.
With a thought, the panel appeared before his eyes.
Name: Gu Chen
Martial Arts: Horizontal Training (perfection), Red Flame Palm (perfection), Seal Meridian Finger (major achievement), Phantom Traceless Step (minor achievement), Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills (perfection)
Inner Strength Technique: Pure Yang Technique
Cultivation: Two hundred twenty-one years
Realm: Advanced Stage of Meridian Opening
Merit Points: 110
This operation against the four Ghost-class demons of the Evil Heart Sect contributed a whopping hundred and ten merit points to Gu Chen, which was the first time Gu Chen's merit points had breached the hundred mark.
This clearly excited Gu Chen, for it meant that his strength was about to experience an unprecedented major breakthrough.
Mind you, when it came to merit points, the more Gu Chen had, the better.
Of course, the top priority right now was to break through to the great perfection of the Meridian Opening realm, and Gu Chen was eager to find out, with the help of the panel, just how far he could go in this realm.
Immediately, Gu Chen took out a bottle of Meridian Opening Pills and swallowed them.
Five Meridian Opening Pills entered his stomach, and the scorching medicinal power surged at the pit of Gu Chen's stomach. As his thought moved, the merit points on the panel began to disappear.
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, two more meridians in his body were opened up.
But soon, much like before, Gu Chen encountered a tremendous resistance, and the medicinal power of a bottle of Meridian Opening Pills had been exhausted.
As he continued to consume them, the efficacy of the Meridian Opening Pills weakened, and eventually, they might not work at all.
But, undeterred, Gu Chen swallowed two bottles of Meridian Opening Pills this time and began to assault the next meridian with the overwhelming energy within his body.
Boom!
Another meridian was opened, but the further he went, the more difficult Gu Chen found it to be, and even with the aid of the Meridian Opening Pills, it proved to be quite challenging.
When five bottles of Meridian Opening Pills had been consumed, Gu Chen had opened seventy-eight meridians in his body.
At this point, he had opened most of the meridians in his body, including those in his limbs, torso, and even his internal organs.
But Gu Chen felt this number was not his limit.
He gathered all his inner energy at one point, and then stormed through with force.
"Open for me!"