Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

"Ao!"

A demon with ox horns and tiger claws, resembling a bone demon, roared up to the sky. The terrifying sound waves made many warriors tremble, causing severe pain in their minds.

Gu Chen targeted it; this was his prey. With a flash of his body, he closed in and sent it flying with a direct palm strike.

However, the creature's body was extremely hardy. Despite taking a palm strike from Gu Chen, it only lost a few bones and didn't die right away.

In fact, under normal circumstances, the strength of demons is superior to that of warriors of the Human Clan at the same level.

This is because demons employ bizarre methods, and some have strong regenerative abilities and are extremely ferocious. Not to mention their attacks, even the innate yin and evil auras they carry are threats to warriors, and can be deadly.

Therefore, upon encountering a demon, warriors would usually not want to entangle with them, opting to withdraw quickly. Winning a fight wouldn't bring much benefit to them, but losing would undoubtedly mean death.

This bone demon-like demon was about mid-Panic Level in strength, equivalent to a warrior of the Human Clan who had opened around twenty meridians in the Tongmai realm. To Gu Chen, its power was not considered strong.

Initially, Gu Chen had only used thirty percent of his strength in the first palm strike. Following that, he unleashed three successive palm strikes without giving the demon any time to react, and with a bang, the creature exploded.

Gu Chen stretched out his hand to catch the soul crystal and refined it on the spot.

The number of demons that appeared in the great hall wasn't actually that large; the main threats were various strange creatures. There were only three demons at the Tongmai realm level, and as soon as Gu Chen finished off one, Luo Feng also faced one.

Gu Chen felt helpless; it seemed Luo Feng was really determined to compete with him.

He shook his head and found the last demon of the Tongmai realm, which was hunting down several warriors. When Gu Chen arrived, he sent it flying with a palm strike.

"Thank you, Brother Gu."

Hearing the voice, Gu Chen turned his head and saw that the demons were actually pursuing Zhang Chi and his party.

Although Zhang Chi possessed the strength of the Tongmai realm, he was no match for the demon, especially since he had to protect his own disciples. The perilous escape had left him covered in blood and badly injured.

If Gu Chen hadn't arrived, he might have truly died here.

In contrast, his four disciples were in much better condition, having been well-protected by Zhang Chi and sustaining little injury.

"Don't mention it, Big Brother Zhang. You'd better hurry and leave this place," Gu Chen said before turning to pursue the demon.

Zhang Chi watched Gu Chen leave, opened his mouth but found himself unable to say anything. Gratitude? Gu Chen didn't need it; saving them was just a casual deed for him.

By Zhang Chi's side, the young disciples had complicated looks in their eyes. Perhaps out of jealousy, they didn't like Gu Chen at first, but in the end, it was Gu Chen who saved them again.

Gu Chen caught up with the demon, a fierce beast resembling a lion and tiger. Seeing Gu Chen in pursuit, it opened its wide mouth, intending to swallow him whole.

Chi!

With the Red RefinementBlade in hand that he had just retrieved, Gu Chen made a swift cut, splitting the lion-tiger-like demon in two. Its body dissipated, turning into wraiths of black mist, vanishing into thin air.

Just then, the great hall suddenly shook, and a shower of dust fell. After many years of holding up, coupled with today's battle, this ruin could no longer sustain itself and was on the verge of collapse.

"Brother Gu, we need to go!" Luo Feng's complexion changed abruptly.

The ruins were deep underground, over a hundred meters from the surface. Even if Gu Chen were stronger, he was still human and wouldn't survive the hall's collapse.

Actually, there were no demons or strange creatures left in the hall; Gu Chen and Luo Feng had killed some, and the rest had chased the group of warriors out of here.

Immediately, Gu Chen and Luo Feng left the great hall and headed back the way they had come.

On the way, they saw even more bodies than they had on their way in. These were the warriors killed by demons, dying terrible deaths. Some looked like mummies, others were left with only limbs.

"These damned ghostly things!"

Seeing this scene, Luo Feng's face filled with anger. That was the hatred towards demons shared by everyone in Da Xia, mixed with fear, yet with no real solution.

Because no one knew the origin of the demonic ghosts, they seemed to appear out of nowhere, and to this day, no power in Jiuzhou, including Da Xia, had any means to prevent the arrival of the demonic ghosts. It was a disaster that could not be avoided.

Gu Chen's expression remained calm, as a patrolling envoy of the Jing Tian Department, he had long since grown accustomed to such oddities. Indeed, demonic ghosts were the number one hazard in Jiuzhou.

If things continued this way, in a few years, Jiuzhou might very well become a purgatory, because, as of now, the number of demonic ghosts seemed infinite, and with the passage of time, both the number and strength of the demonic ghosts appearing in Jiuzhou continued to grow.

This was a disaster targeting the whole of Jiuzhou. As long as one lived in Jiuzhou, there was no escaping it, no matter where one hid, it was all the same.

Unless someone could find the source of the demonic ghosts' emergence and eradicate it once and for all.

Of course, this idea was currently too far-fetched and not something Gu Chen needed to consider. For the moment, all he needed to do was perform his own duties well.

As they approached the entrance, Gu Chen and Luo Feng suddenly heard a series of screams. Exchanging a glance, they sensed something was off, concealed their presence, and made their way to the ground with extreme caution.

The sky was now dark, clouds shrouded overhead with no moon in sight, and within the Crouching Tiger Mountain, a figure shuttled back and forth, reaping the lives of the martial artists fleeing from the ruins.

His methods were extremely brutal, all of the people were killed by having their hearts gouged out; he would then hold a steaming heart, still slowly pulsating, in his hand, crush it forcibly, and hot blood would spurt out into his mouth.

"Exhilarating, exhilarating, such fresh heart blood!"

The man laughed loudly, tossed the heart aside, and then went off to find his next target. His casual demeanor, as if he considered everyone else as mere bait, cattle bred in captivity, easily slaughtered at a whim, was apparent.

Witnessing this scene, Luo Feng's eyes widened with rage, and Gu Chen's face also turned cold, a murderous intent surfaced in his sharp eyes.

"Zheng Jinan, this man must unquestionably be Zheng Jinan," Luo Feng said through gritted teeth.

Gouging out hearts and sucking human blood was the practice of the Evil Heart Sect; these practitioners of demonic skills, who harmed their own kind, were even more detestable than demonic ghosts.

Gu Chen, after all, was not from this world; in his view, demonic sects were not necessarily evil, as the nature of the techniques was not inherently good or bad, the distinction lay in the people and how they chose to use them.

But looking at Zheng Jinan now, it was clear that he had completely fallen into the demonic path, unscrupulous in achieving his goals, not only bringing disaster to the innocent but also deliberately setting traps to harm others. Such behavior, in Gu Chen's eyes, no longer qualified as human.

If the demonic sects were all like Zheng Jinan, devoid of humanity, then the destruction of the Six Union God Sect three hundred years ago was justified.

"Help... help me... ah..."

There were screams from martial artists, but no one could save them. Zheng Jinan sneered, directly gouged out the heart, and in front of the martial artist, he sucked the blood from the heart dry, as if drinking wine.

The martial artists who had come to explore the ruins mainly had a cultivation of merely opening their meridians, and naturally, none could be an opponent to Zheng Jinan. Gu Chen assessed the strength of both parties and determined that at this stage, he was not a match for Zheng Jinan either.

Zheng Jinan was at the forefront, followed by demonic ghosts and strange creatures. Every time he killed a martial artist, a demonic ghost or strange creature would pounce on the corpse to devour it.

This spectacle made Luo Feng shudder. How could demonic ghosts and Zheng Jinan possibly stand together so harmoniously?

And it seemed that those demonic ghosts and strange creatures were acting under the direction of Zheng Jinan.

Gu Chen's eyebrows knit together, contemplating a possibility. Soon, Zheng Jinan disappeared into the dark night.

Luo Feng's face was filled with anger as he said to Gu Chen, "Brother Gu, you've seen it too, Zheng Jinan is devoid of humanity. He must have done such things countless times. This time, we must expose him so everyone can see his true face and prevent more people from becoming victims."

Gu Chen didn't speak but nodded, agreeing to meet with Luo Feng a few days later at Zheng Jinan's birthday banquet, then the two of them parted ways.

Back at the inn, Gu Chen thought again of the scene where Zheng Jinan cruelly slaughtered those martial artists, and a surge of killing intent welled up in his heart.

Gu Chen didn't consider himself a good person, but he at least had a bottom line that he maintained.

Yet Zheng Jinan seen that day had no bottom line at all and had lost his humanity entirely, completely falling into the demonic path and committing unspeakable atrocities.

Whether it was to fulfill the mission of the Jing Tian Department or for some other reason, Gu Chen had made up his mind, he must kill Zheng Jinan!

Calm down his turbulent emotions, Gu Chen's thoughts stirred, and the interface suddenly appeared before his eyes.