Chapter 115: Chapter 107: Gang Qi Stage Great Battle (Three more ten thousand words, asking for subscription!)_1
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Huang Xiu's eyes lit up at these words, for he knew that Chen Yu had finally arrived!
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Although he and the two old demons from the evil sect were all at the Gang Qi Stage, there were still distinctions based on the depth of cultivation, divided into Inner Gang and Outer Gang.
One must understand in the path of martial arts, the further one progresses, the greater the disparities become. Once reaching the later stages, even a minor difference in a small realm can result in a vast dissimilarity in combat power.
Even at the Gang Qi Stage, there still lies a chasm-like gap between Inner Gang and Outer Gang, which was why Huang Xiu followed Chen Yu's orders in everything along the way.
Chen Yu was a martial artist at the Outer Gang stage, and had reached great completion - just one step away from achieving Gangqi returning to true form.
That step would move one beyond the category of ordinary martial artists. Not to mention others, even Huang Xiu found such a realm extremely remote, perhaps unreachable in his lifetime.
Huang Xiu felt extremely content to have reached the Outer Gang Stage.
Chen Yu arrived slowly in his blue robe, his expression cold, and said, "Today, I will kill you two old fiends first, to exact some interest for the tens of thousands of innocent lives brutally taken by you!"
"How arrogant!"
The two old men said coldly, yet their eyes were very cautious, evidently sensing Chen Yu's formidable strength.
"Master Chen, you've finally come," Huang Xiu exhaled in relief, genuinely afraid that Chen Yu would abandon them to their fate.
After all, the life and death of Cao Zhen and his group had nothing to do with Chen Yu, which was the agreement he had made with King Huai before arriving.
Even if Chen Yu watched them die, no one could criticize him, as the upper echelons of the court were well aware of Chen Yu's character.
Chen Yu said indifferently, "Hurry and take your men out of here."
Huang Xiu hesitated, asking, "Does Master Chen not need my assistance?"
Chen Yu glanced at him as if to say, do you have the guts?
Seeing this, Huang Xiu gave a sheepish smile and quickly led Cao Zhen and the others away.
The two elder demons of the Red Flame Demon Sect, seeing this, didn't say much more, as they too felt an oppressive pressure emanating from Chen Yu.
"You two old fiends are quite confident, daring to hide within the county city. Aren't you afraid of being besieged by the army?" Chen Yu said coldly.
This was, after all, the county city of Xu'an County, with ample defense forces. Though there were no martial artists at the Gang Qi Stage keeping guard, there were many at the Vajra Stage within the city guard, and the city was equipped with numerous defense mechanisms.
Once martial artists formed into battle arrays, their strength would greatly increase. If two martial artists at the Outer Gang stage were surrounded by an endless army, they would eventually be worn down to death.
Not to mention with the aid of numerous weapons such as bows and crossbows.
After all, the Gangqi of a martial artist at the Gang Qi Stage isn't inexhaustible; there is always a moment when it runs out.
This was why the Red Flame Demon Sect chose not to attack the county city but targeted smaller towns instead.
The demise of the governor of Xu'an County was due to his lack of expectation that the Red Flame Demon Sect would be audacious enough to infiltrate the county city and assassinate him.
Since that incident, the defensive forces of the major provinces of Da Xia had been strengthened without delay.
The two old men sneered grimly, "No matter, before we die, we'll make sure the hundreds of thousands of citizens of the county city accompany us in death."
At those words, Chen Yu's gaze intensified; it was a threat.
"Evil deviants, meet your demise!"
Chen Yu's eyes turned cold as he made his move, swinging his hand to release a palm strike. His robust Gangqi coalesced into a giant palm imprint that attacked the two elders of the Red Flame Demon Sect.
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, one of them forcefully struck out with a palm, unleashing a mighty Gang Wind that met Chen Yu's attack head-on.
In their haste, they could only launch several attacks toward where the civilians were, causing the crowd to scream in horror.
Chen Yu's expression changed, and he made a split-second decision. Ignoring the two elders, his figure flashed, and he appeared in the distance, scattering the incoming attacks.
Using this opportunity, the two elders from the Red Flame Demon Sect exerted all their strength and vanished without a trace in moments.
Chen Yu frowned but chose not to pursue, fearing it might be a ploy by the Red Flame Demon Sect to draw him away. If he left and other demon sect martial artists arrived, the county city would be endangered, risking countless civilian lives.
Chen Yu gazed into the distance. The Six Union God Sect had truly grown powerful. Just a subsidiary like the Red Flame Demon Sect was this formidable; what of the other five major demon sects?
Besides, he had a nagging feeling that this might not be the full strength of the Red Flame Demon Sect. Chen Yu struggled to understand how, after over three hundred years since their apparent annihilation and nearly a hundred years without a whisper of them, all thought their legacy to be broken.
Yet their emergence was marked by such terror-inspiring strength.
Indeed, Chen Yu suspected that within the Six Union God Sect, there could well be masters, even grandmasters. Otherwise, the god sect would not dare to surface.
You see, Gang Qi Stage martial artists are no common matter. Any sect on the martial path owning one Gang Qi Stage martial artist could immediately become a first-rate power.
And if there is more than one master-level artist, it's equivalent to sects like the Sunset Sword Sect and the Canghai Sect—top-tier factions within the martial world.
The reason behind the recent flourishing of the Sunset Sword Sect is due to their old sect master's attainment in the Vajra Stage as a grandmaster, which keeps them largely unchallenged.
Even the Jing Tian Department would need to dispatch several veteran commanders to bring them down.
Of course, if the Protectors took action, they could easily erase some of the top sects from the martial world.
After all, several of the twelve Protectors had long surpassed the scope of grandmasters, reaching a new realm altogether.
Furthermore, for Da Xia, the high-tier combat power isn't just these twelve Protectors.
That is also why Da Xia dares to rule over the nine provinces with the confidence of being the strongest in this era.
If not so, the world wouldn't have remained stable for so many years.
The resurgence of the Six Union God Sect this time has made the Jing Tian Department feel genuinely threatened, not because of anything else but their ability to fuse with demons.
That is what the Jing Tian Department fears the most.
After all, demons can enhance themselves just by devouring the flesh and blood of living beings, which is far quicker than martial artists toiling away to improve their skills.
Shortly after, Chen Yu vanished from the scene, leaving the aftermath for others to handle later.
At night, members of the Jing Tian Department returning from various neighboring cities after quelling the Red Flame Demon Sect also bore injuries. Almost everyone was hurt in some way.
After receiving the reports, Chen Yu became aware that the Red Flame Demon Sect had far greater strength than previously recorded.
Quite a few Jing Tian Department forces were lost during this encounter. A first-tier Metropolitan Procurator, being a Vajra Stage martial artist, was merely injured and no deaths occurred.
As for the second-tier Metropolitan Procurators, the martial artists of the External Qi Stage that Chen Yu took with him numbered twenty-seven, but now only twenty-one remained, with six casualties.
Simultaneously, Chen Yu received new intelligence that demons had suddenly appeared in various places within Xu'an County, urgently requiring the Jing Tian Department's suppression.
Chen Yu quickly surmised this as the demon sect's tactic to wear down the Jing Tian Department's fighting capacity.
The demons were there; if he sent forces to suppress them, he couldn't focus on confronting the Red Flame Demon Sect, but if he didn't and waited for the Tiandu Sect to send people, countless innocent lives might be lost in the coming days.
For a moment, Chen Yu found himself caught in a dilemma.
At this time, Gu Chen and others returned to report the situation.
They also saw their injured colleagues, but this was within their expectations.
After all, they couldn't be the only ones with bad luck running into ambushes set by the demon sect; surely others faced the same.
Gu Chen understood that the Red Flame Demon Sect had made up its mind to seriously challenge the Jing Tian Department.
After listening to Xu Qing's briefing, Chen Yu nodded slightly and turned to Gu Chen and the others with a fierce killing intent, "I've received a confidential report that the Kunyuan Sect in Xu'an County is a branch of the Red Flame Demon Sect. They have been hiding here for years. You all rest tonight, and tomorrow, head to the Kunyuan Sect.
Break down their gates, and leave none alive—eliminate anyone connected to the demon sect!"