NOVPUB
Chapter 180: Chapter 177: The Second Battle
"Boom!"
Even though Zhao Qian was already prepared, the words of Gu Chifeng still set off a storm of thunder in his mind.
It shook his very soul.
So much so that he couldn’t hear a single word that followed, with only one sound echoing in his ears.
In that battle, Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia, two Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, perished, four out of seven Divinity Transformation Cultivators fell in battle, with merely three escaping by the skin of their teeth, barely clinging to life!
Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia, two Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, had fallen!
In every top-tier sect, they would be considered at the level of Supreme Elders...
The same level as Liu Jingtiao from their own Purgatory Sect...
Two had died!?
With four Divinity Transformation Cultivators as a bonus!?
Under the impact of such terrifying news, he staggered, nearly unable to stand firm.
"How... How... How is this possible!?"
Zhao Qian’s eyes widened, feeling as if the world before him had turned surreal.
Primordial Spirit True Monarch!
That was a Primordial Spirit True Monarch!
Within the entire Purgatory Sect, there were only three beings of this caliber!
And now, Gu Jinlai had, with his own power, slain two!
Among the Purgatory Sect’s three Supreme Elders, let’s not mention Lu Zhanxian; even if Liu Jingtiao and Zhang Liefeng, who hadn’t crossed swords with Dragon Sparrow Manor’s Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia, were likely of the same level.
If Gu Jinlai was able to slay Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia, then that meant...
Not just him.
Nian Buwang and the other members of the Gu family had almost the same reaction.
Even though in their minds, their patriarch was invincible, possessing various types of incredible talents and capable of producing one powerful Slaughter Spirit Artifact after another, not long ago he had led the Demon God Guards to crush the Demon Ape army led by the Upper-level Demon, the Demon Ape Commander, in the Yunqi Mountain Range.
But...
Primordial Spirit True Monarch!
That was an existence that had stood at the peak of the cultivation world south of Tianhe for a long time.
When they were just born, they heard of the illustrious reputation of the Purgatory Sect’s three Primordial Spirit True Monarch level Supreme Elders more than once!
To them, such beings were simply unimaginable figures in their lifetimes.
But now...
This top-level existence, akin to the peak of Tian Nan, had been killed by their patriarch, slaying two at once!?
Their Gu family patriarch, the power of the Lingxiao Six Cities, had become so strong!?
Strong enough to genuinely contend with top forces like the Purgatory Sect and Dragon Sparrow Manor?
...
Gu Jinlai did not pay attention to the dazed Zhao Qian, Nian Buwang, and the others who were as if lost in a dream. He simply waved his hand at Gu Chifeng, "Hurry and go."
"Yes."
Gu Chifeng bowed and quickly retreated.
Gu Jinlai had his own reasons for doing so.
He needed time.
Lingxiao City needed time.
The Gu family needed time as well.
In this period, the Gu family had expanded at an extremely fast pace from owning one Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City to taking over Sunset City and Changjun City, and even further, controlling both Baihe City and Taihe City, their steps too large.
Had it not been for his rapid growth, a myriad of problems would’ve already surfaced by now.
However, he understood that the reason he was able to kill Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia this time was entirely due to the advantage provided by the Heavenly Sword Missiles.
Without the Heavenly Sword Missiles, all Wang Yinfeng and Ye Wuxia needed to do was maintain a height of one kilometer in the air and continuously shoot him with flying swords, leaving him only able to look on helplessly.
Ten Directions Annihilation Throwing Sword?
The Cheng Ying Sword thrown to a kilometer away couldn’t possibly harm a Primordial Spirit True Monarch-level powerhouse.
Therefore, he was well aware of his own position.
He needed time to ease into it, allowing Lingxiao City to assimilate the expansion of the past few years.
Not to mention the distant future, at the very least...
He needed to truly possess the power to annihilate a Primordial Spirit True Monarch.
At the same time, Lingxiao City needed to manufacture dozens, if not hundreds, of Artillery, and the Thunder Machine Guns and Short Range Defense Cannons had to keep up.
If there could be several dozens of weapons like Sharp Sword, Justice, or even the Truth cannon, plus a few hundred Heavenly Sword Missiles, that would be best.
After returning, Gu Jinlai did not enter Lingxiao City.
On one hand, cultivators from the Devil God Lineage weren’t too demanding about the intensity of the external spiritual energy.
On the other hand...
Gu Ya was too big.
It was very inconvenient inside the city.
Every time he went in and out, he had to summon a great effort to open the main gate.
So, he chose to live outside the city.
Anyway, now that his opponents are at least at the level of Divinity Transformation, it’s meaningless whether he stays in the city or not.
He soon arrived at a large manor that was partly completed and partly under construction.
Once the manor is finished, it will span over ten square kilometers, effectively becoming another city.
In fact, this manor was indeed built according to the standards of a fortress city.
Not far from this manor is a military workshop, also constructed to fortress specifications. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
As time went on, the first batch of trained craftsmen had emerged, and the scale of the military factory expanded again, finding the space within the city increasingly insufficient.
Moreover, gunpowder is quite dangerous. Producing it within the city poses the risk of a catastrophic accident, so Gu Jinlai decided to move outside the city walls and rebuild it beside his new manor.
In this way, even if something goes wrong inside or someone infiltrates to scout, he could react immediately and provide reinforcements.
"Gather the elite, prepare for war."
Upon arriving at the manor, Gu Jinlai instructed Nian Buwang, "Although we need to maintain stability in Lingxiao City and should not lightly start a war, if others bring the fight to our doorstep and we have no response, it will only lead others to underestimate us."
"Yes."
Nian Buwang’s spirit was lifted, "How many troops should we gather, and what is our target...?"
"The four cities occupied by Dragon Sparrow Manor, as well as... the four cities occupied by the State Lord Mansion, including Starlight City, a total of eight cities."
"As for how many people we need, you can discuss it amongst yourselves. Just make sure we can maintain order in these eight cities," Gu Jinlai said.
"Starlight City!?"
Nian Buwang’s eyes widened in shock, "We... we’re going to take action against both the territory occupied by Dragon Sparrow Manor and the four cities occupied by the State Lord Mansion at the same time?"
"To be precise, it should be three cities," Gu Jinlai clarified.
Starlight City to the south is occupied by the Meteor Star Guard.
At present, the Meteor Star Guard has shown him quite a bit of goodwill. If he were to attack them directly...
It would be somewhat unreasonable.
However, Gu Jinlai figured that once he took down the cities controlled by Dragon Sparrow Manor and the State Lord Mansion, holding half the territory of Star State, the Meteor Star Guard led by Xin Tianqi would naturally make the right choice.
Nian Buwang quickly left after receiving his orders.
As expected by his observation.
Gu Jinlai had been back at the manor for less than half a day when Nie Qingqing, led by Gu Xiangyang, arrived.
The girl, who represented the Star Sky Alliance and sought to form a marriage connection with Gu Jinlai, expressed her worries as soon as they met, "Brother Gu, please help the Star Sky Alliance out of your alliance with us, and save us."
"Has the State Lord Mansion launched an attack on the Star Sky Alliance?" Gu Jinlai asked.
Nie Qingqing was startled but then quickly said, "Brother Gu is prescient. Recently, there’s been frequent troop movement in the State Lord Mansion, and just at dawn today, led by the Divinity Transformation Cultivators Wen Rulong, Zhang Wuliang, and Xie Shanhe from the Xie Family of the Four Great Families, they assembled hundreds of Gang Condensation and Hugging Pill experts, including Refining God masters, to form an assassination team to ambush the Star Sky Alliance."
Three Divinity Transformation Cultivators...
This lineup was undoubtedly strong.
However, perhaps because his own strength had greatly increased, Gu Jinlai felt unimpressed when hearing this news.
"It seems both sides are making their moves simultaneously. The State Lord Mansion targets the Star Sky Alliance, and Dragon Sparrow Manor targets me. They seem to want to eradicate our two forces in one fell swoop while the Purgatory Sect, Netherworld Sect, Cold Moon Sect, and Yellow Sky Sect are too preoccupied to care, reclaiming much of Star State and then using this as a base to expel the four major powers."
While saying this, Gu Jinlai glanced at her, "How is the Star Sky Alliance faring now?"
Nie Qingqing responded with a bitter expression, "Although my brother reacted immediately to the attack by dispersing our forces, the Elder Council of the Alliance was still overwhelmed. Several Refining God seniors fell, and the others had to hide themselves in various places to avoid the flying swords of the three Divinity Transformation Cultivators from the State Lord Mansion."
"The command from the Elder Council cannot be relayed, and the State Lord Mansion’s army took this opportunity to attack. The northern counties under the control of the Star Sky Alliance rapidly fell into the hands of the State Lord Mansion..." Nie Qingqing continued.
Gu Jinlai listened without surprise.
How could the Star Sky Alliance, with only Nie Shisan as a Divinity Transformation Cultivator and a dozen or so Refining Gods, withstand an assassination campaign by the high-level experts of the State Lord Mansion?
"Now, the only one who can save the Star Sky Alliance in Star State is you, Heavenly Monarch Gu," Nie Qingqing earnestly pleaded.
She no longer dared to hope that Gu Jinlai would look upon her with favor.
Although talented and beautiful, with countless young heroes pursuing her over the years in the Star Sky Alliance, including many sect young masters and direct disciples of Refining God masters, they and even she herself paled in comparison to Gu Jinlai...
If the news from a few hours ago was true...
This was a formidable being capable of slaying even a Primordial Spirit True Monarch.
In the lands south of Tianhe, he could be counted among the mightiest.
At this moment, Gu Jinlai had truly become a hegemon, even a monarch.
She was well aware that in front of such a hegemon, a monarch, her so-called beauty and talent were utterly insignificant.
"Since Lingxiao City and the Star Sky Alliance have formed an alliance, I naturally won’t stand idly by when you are in danger," Gu Jinlai declared. "I’ve already ordered the mobilization of the elite. Soon, they will move out to enter the Star Sky Alliance territory and assist in defending against the State Lord Mansion forces. To ensure the safety of Alliance Leader Nie and the others, I will lead my most elite Demon God Guards to Star Curtain City, the Star Sky Alliance headquarters, ahead of the troops."
Nie Qingqing thought she would need to spend more effort persuading Gu Jinlai to deploy troops, perhaps at a great cost to the Star Sky Alliance. Unexpectedly...
He agreed so readily!?
"Thank you, Heavenly Monarch Gu, for your kindness. Our Star Sky Alliance will remember this forever," Nie Qingqing expressed her heartfelt gratitude.
"Speed is of the essence in warfare." Gu Jinlai stood up, "Call my Mechanical Tyrannosaurus. We depart immediately."
