NOVPUB
Chapter 105: Chapter 102: Debt Collection
"Heavenly Grass Pavilion."
Gu Jinlai naturally was not unfamiliar with this power.
The reason he had originally presented the Mystic Steel Armor and joined the Meteor Star Guard was to vent the frustrations in his heart and burst into the Heavenly Grass Pavilion, creating a massacre.
Now, his power increased day by day, neither the Purgatory Sect nor the Meteor Star Guard dared to easily oppose him, yet the Heavenly Grass Pavilion actually took the initiative to step forward.
"The people of the Heavenly Grass Pavilion don’t seem like fools."
Gu Jinlai said, "Dragon Sparrow Manor has always been behind them. Not long ago, the Meteor Star Lord Xin Tianqi personally visited Dragon Sparrow Manor as a guest, intimidating Dragon Sparrow Manor. If I am not mistaken, it’s not just the Heavenly Grass Pavilion who is targeting us, but also Dragon Sparrow Manor."
It should be said that Dragon Sparrow Manor and the Heavenly Grass Pavilion responded to each other immediately.
The Heavenly Grass Pavilion sought to avenge the burning of the Seven Treasures Pavilion and the slaughter of the elders.
What Dragon Sparrow Manor coveted...
was the gunpowder, machine guns, and other such items he possessed.
Among the Six Great Immortal Sects, Dragon Sparrow Manor’s artifact refining techniques were unparalleled in the world, and its divine weapon, the Dragon Sparrow Saber, was even hailed as the number one spiritual artifact.
Of course, the reason for this title was not only because the spiritual artifact itself was extraordinary, but also because its cost performance ratio and circulation were extremely high.
Just from the title "number one," one could see the artifact refining skills of Dragon Sparrow Manor.
South of Tianhe, more than half of the artifact refining masters probably gathered in this power.
"Dragon Sparrow Manor... Two months ago, someone secretly approached us, hoping to purchase the gunpowder formula and machine gun design diagram from us. They had a great tone, and the price was ours to set..."
Gu Chaoyang thought of something.
Gu Jinlai also knew about this matter.
However, gunpowder and machine guns were the foundation of their establishment and survival; they could not lightly teach them to others.
He naturally refused.
Now it seemed...
"That person should have been representing Dragon Sparrow Manor."
Gu Jinlai said, "He did not dare reveal his identity nor mention cooperation because we still held the identity of a Golden Robed Elder of the Purgatory Sect... Good and evil do not coexist. If Dragon Sparrow Manor collaborated with us, it would inevitably cause a huge impact on the reputation of Dragon Sparrow Manor."
Gu Chaoyang nodded.
"How has our military training been going during this period?"
Gu Jinlai inquired.
"We originally had six thousand soldiers in Lingxiao City. After the battle at Monument Mountain, we captured many elites and selected some to replenish our soldiers. Now, we can count three thousand as elite soldiers and five thousand as regular soldiers."
Gu Chaoyang rapidly said, "Additionally, due to pressure from the Purgatory Sect and Meteor Star Guard, the military strength in Yuanhua City has reached twelve thousand, but only three thousand are elite."
Gu Jinlai nodded his head.
It’s not easy to cultivate elite soldiers.
Recruiting cultivators from the region to enlist...
As the Gu family had only just arrived, these people were probably still observing and might not be willing to invest in the Gu family.
"Our true elites are still the Demon God Body Refining Martial Artists."
Gu Jinlai said, "How is the newly formed Demon God Guard?"
Speaking of the Demon God Guard, Gu Chaoyang’s spirit was invigorated: "Currently, there are three hundred people in the Demon God Guard, among them, more than one hundred thirty have cultivated the Demon God Body, and twenty-eight have cultivated the Middle-level Demon God Body. Additionally, Gu Chifeng, Gu Qingmei, Gu Luochen, Gu Yunxin, and Gu Xiliu, five people have cultivated the Upper Demon God Body."
Devil cultivators always claimed themselves as the Devil God Lineage.
Calling the demon body the Demon God Body was also a common consensus.
"Good."
Gu Jinlai nodded his head.
Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City had been recuperating for nearly half a year now; having such accumulation was not surprising.
"Speaking of which, the Heavenly Grass Pavilion still owes us ten sets of Treasure Armor, and has yet to pay the silver totaling over 600,000 taels."
"Ten sets? I thought it was clearly one hundred sets?"
Gu Chaoyang said in surprise.
"One hundred sets of Supreme Treasure Armor?"
Gu Jinlai nodded, "Perhaps, I remembered it wrong."
"One hundred sets of Supreme Treasure Armor... even if considered heavy armor, three hundred thousand taels per set is not expensive... The Heavenly Grass Pavilion still owes us thirty million taels."
Gu Chaoyang said earnestly.
"Just in time to attend the alliance meeting."
Gu Jinlai directly said, "Let’s mobilize the troops. Draw one thousand five hundred elites from each of the two cities, and additionally, deploy one hundred experienced hands of the Demon God Refining Body to go; it’s time for the Heavenly Grass Pavilion to pay back what they owe us."
"Yes."
Gu Xiangyang and Gu Chaoyang both responded simultaneously.
After the two had left, Gu Jinlai went to the study and rummaged for a while, pulling out a piece of intelligence.
The intelligence on Dragon Sparrow Manor.
Within the Daqian Territory, there were the Ten Great Demon Sects and the Six Great Immortal Sects.
The so-called division between immortals and demons was actually just a choice of sides during the uprising of the Heavenly Demon Hall.
Of course, overall, the Six Great Immortal Sects, taken alone, were slightly stronger than the Ten Great Demon Sects.
Just as the Purgatory Sect had limited forces it could mobilize, Dragon Sparrow Manor also had limited forces it could utilize within Star State.
"Heavenly Grass Pavilion."
Gu Jinlai squinted his eyes slightly.
This was Star State’s largest elixir supplier.
Dragon Sparrow Manor’s prompting the Heavenly Grass Pavilion to act was unmistakably also using them as bait.
"After lying low for half a year, the Meteor Star Guard has already freed their hands and are preparing to strike, although they are more likely to attack Baihe City first. However, to help them make their decision completely, Lingxiao City should appropriately demonstrate sufficient strength."
Gu Jinlai felt the True Spirit that could be condensed within no more than half a month: "The Heavenly Grass Pavilion... or more precisely, the experts stationed in Starlight City by Dragon Sparrow Manor are a very good target."
After tidying up, he went upstairs for a bath, then took out his set of Spirit Armor.
His war armor and war sword had transformed into spiritual artifacts during the opening of the Demon Realm Rift.
Big and Small Ruyi Scepter.
This trait was somewhat superfluous, but personally, he was quite satisfied.
What suited him was the best.
"The next step is to increase the weight of this set of spirit armor," he said.
Gu Jinlai glanced in the direction of Qiushan Mountain.
In the past half year, even though he had poured nearly ten million taels of silver into it, all exchanged for Primordial Spirit Pills, he had only refined two spiritual artifacts.
A short-range defense cannon and radar.
He planned to refine three sets of short-range defense cannons to form a cross-fire.
Once the short-range defense cannon was completed, he would also need to assist in refining some "Thunder" Gatling guns.
Fortunately, the molds for the machine guns had become more realistic over the years, requiring very little co-spirit.
Moreover, the captured Zhou Mingshi, after half a year of observation, was now usable. The part of the co-spirit machine gun that couldn’t be manufactured by human efforts could be entrusted to him in the future.
Even so, the upgrading of his spirit armor and spirit sword still seemed far off.
"We can only wait for the opening of the Demon Realm Rift. If it could surge with hundreds of demon spirits like last time, it wouldn’t just be the upgrading of the spirit armor and spirit sword; the two short-range defense cannons would quickly be co-spirited as well," he thought.
Thinking this, he ascended to the fourth floor of the loft he resided in, his gaze traveling beyond the city walls to the surroundings.
In half a year, Lingxiao City had undergone major changes.
Even though Star State had subtly blockaded Lingxiao City to some extent, it couldn’t stop its vitality from thriving.
The citizens living in Lingxiao City were now full of laughter and joy, compared to the lifeless atmosphere when Gu Jinlai had first arrived.
During his occupation of Lingxiao City, he had issued several policies.
He abolished various strange taxes on the market such as coal tax, milli-tax, and landing tax.
He established public hospitals to regulate medicine prices and ensure public health. 𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
He set up literary and martial arts academies, promoting six years of compulsory education so that everyone could practice martial arts and read books.
He separated the military from politics, establishing a clear promotion system.
He clarified the judiciary, increased enforcement efforts, and made it as fair and just as possible.
...
A series of decrees greatly improved the order in Lingxiao City.
Due to the existence of cultivators, the lower class in this world hardly dared to resist cultivators and had long endured passively.
The regulations and systems Gu Jinlai implemented, even though they still had many issues, such as...
The Gu family disciples were above the law, and only family laws could judge their mistakes.
Some who were not major criminals, or those who were not subjectively criminal, could join the military, achieve great military merits, and get a chance to be let off the hook, and so on.
Yet, these flaws did not make people feel inappropriate; instead, they felt natural.
Moreover, with Gu Jinlai’s strict control over the "promotion" system and clear definition of Lingxiao City’s military and political promotion systems, it allowed Lingxiao City’s native populace, as well as captives and defectors, to see opportunities to stand out, which naturally upheld this system.
It must be said that the military-political system Gu Jinlai implemented in Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City was not excellent.
But everything is relative.
Compared to other cities and state capitals where the upper class controlled the life and death of the lower class, making them scream silently and leaving them with no recourse, Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City were much better.
"Nearly four million people..."
Gu Jinlai looked at the unending stream of pedestrians on the streets: "I am limited in what I can do. I can’t create an ideal country, but at least, I can provide everyone with the most basic life protection, and... under the condition of meeting their safety needs, I will try to keep the upward channels as fluid as possible."
This was the only thing he could do for this world now.
...
Six days later.
Three thousand heavily armed soldiers gathered outside Lingxiao City, their presence formidable.
Before them stood a hundred robust and tall Demon God Warriors clad in mystic steel armor.
Each of them had cultivated a Demon God Body. With the defensive power of mystic steel armor surpassing top-grade treasure armor, coupled with their cooperative traits and extensively trained battle formations, these hundred were equivalent to a hundred disorganized Gang Condensation.
If a Refining God Immortal did not use a hit-and-run tactic, he would undoubtedly be encircled and killed by these hundred face-to-face.
"Roar."
A deep roar followed.
A line of knights rode in on fierce beasts, the Swift Dragons.
It was Gu Jinlai, Gu Xiangyang, Gu Chaoyang, Gu Chifeng, and others.
Seeing Gu Jinlai appear, the leading Gu Family Disciples waved their hands, and the hundred Demon God Warriors and three thousand elite soldiers shouted in unison.
"We greet the City Lord."
The sound was magnificent and soared to the skies.
Gu Jinlai looked at these hundred Demon God Warriors and three thousand elites...
When he had first come from Blue Star and struggled in Changjun City, he had envied the numerous Qi Refinement and Gang Condensation disciples of Zhengyi Dao and envied City Lord Zhao Huayu for commanding six thousand elites.
And now...
He had six thousand elites.
He had many masters.
He had built this foundation from nothing in just over a year.
Along with the short-range defense cannons entrusted to Gu Chifeng for use, and the second cannon mold he could command when necessary, even if faced with two Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators at the same time, they possessed the power to fight.
This power, within Star State territory excluding the State Lord Mansion, was already considered first among others.
Even when compared to the colossal Four Great Families initially, individually, his current might was superior.
His aspirations were now realized; nothing surpassed this.
Gu Jinlai’s gaze swept over the crowd, and he waved his hand: "Let’s move out; we’re off to the Heavenly Grass Pavilion to settle a debt."
