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Chapter 416: Chapter 412: Bait
"All the effort with no reward."
Gu Jinlai returned to his own courtyard.
No, worse than no reward at all.
Not only did he fail to obtain the Thunder Origin Divine Body Technique he desired, but he also completely offended Pan Dali.
However...
Gu Jinlai fell silent for a moment.
"At least, I have seen the true face of Wind and Rain City. Wind and Rain City does not abide by the rules as I had imagined."
His expression was somewhat complex.
It was a near miss.
So very close.
How he wished that Wind and Rain City could, like their Lingxiao City and the Lingxiao Palace system, govern by law, with everyone adhering to the legal system.
If he truly lived in such a city, no matter how hard or tiring, he would accept it.
Even if he were wronged, he would endure it.
Because he knew better than anyone how stable and wonderful a place with rules and laws could be.
Unfortunately...
It was all shattered.
His beautiful dream persisted for less than two months before being mercilessly crushed to dust.
Laws govern ordinary people.
Laws, too, are the stick used by the upper echelons of Wind and Rain City and the entire Holy Dynasty to control the common folk.
Ordinary people must strictly and severely abide by the law, or else, they can find a hundred ways to legally bind the common folk, who cannot offer any resistance.
But those true upper-echelons...
The law is made for their convenience.
Like Pan Dali’s treatment of those three innocent girls.
If it were truly a lawless place, the three girls would never have trusted Pan Dali, a stranger, so easily. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
He said they were targeted by the Out-of-Control, they believed him, recognizing him as able to ensure their safety, and willing to follow him.
It is precisely because of the law that they were so easily deceived.
So easily that they seemed almost stupid in Pan Dali’s eyes.
Because...
He doesn’t know that, in the eyes of ordinary people, his status as a consultant represents the credibility of the law.
"Pan Dali, Jin Yuhai..."
Gu Jinlai muttered these two names, associating them with the pitch-black karma on their bodies.
"The only consolation is that the people still believe in the law; they have light in their eyes, confidence in the rules of Wind and Rain City, and full confidence in the entire Holy Dynasty. If so..."
Gu Jinlai’s eyes began to shine with determination.
"Please believe in the light, believe in miracles!"
The next moment, his attention focused on the miniature figure in his spirit world.
The Chaotic Thunder Primordial Body had been stuck at the Small Achievement stage.
There were only two ways to cultivate this technique to the Mahayana stage.
One was to obtain between one hundred fifty to two hundred pieces of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold to lay the foundation for the Chaotic Thunder Primordial Body and complete the cultivation of this technique.
The other...
Just like when he was cultivating the Grand Sun Nine Refinement Visualization Method and got stuck at the Seventh Revolutions True Spirit, he could use more Qingguang to forcefully push through.
"The Chaotic Thunder Primordial Body is of a purple-gold color, and though it’s not golden, to push through this barrier, it’s estimated it would need Qingguang like a Golden Technique— at least fifty or sixty rays!"
And he now had only twenty-four rays of Qingguang.
Little by little adds up, a trickle becomes a river.
"Believe that it won’t be long now..."
Gu Jinlai said to himself internally.
Then, without any reservation, all twenty-four rays of Qingguang were poured into the purple-gold technique of the Chaotic Thunder Primordial Body.
Suddenly, the power inside Gu Jinlai surged tumultuously.
The Thunder Magnetic Elemental Power, which should have been born with the help of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, instead began to condense into a semblance of form by extracting the bioelectricity from his own body.
But...
It was merely the semblance of form.
To truly condense it out, it seemed that a long time of meticulous research and arduous cultivation was needed.
"Which means, I need more Qingguang."
Gu Jinlai understood the situation quite easily: "Furthermore, even if my body is as strong as that of a Demon King, if I consume too much bioelectricity, it will still cause problems with my body, electrolytic chaos, and so on, just as before, when I condensed the True Spirit, but compared to a real Heavenly Monarch True Spirit, it was like a premature baby."
He slightly mobilized the Eternal Furnace within him.
He still couldn’t control the energy of the Eternal Furnace.
But through the transmission trait, the control over the direction of the energy release seemed a bit more refined.
If previously he used the transmission trait to unleash the power of the Eternal Furnace for attacks, the indiscriminate explosion would cause the enemy to bear sixty percent of the damage, with forty percent borne by himself, but now...
The enemy would bear sixty-five percent.
His share of the damage would drop to thirty-five percent.
"So, the twenty-four rays of Qingguang weren’t completely useless."
Gu Jinlai spoke aloud.
And then he calmed his mind to properly comprehend the specific effects of the Chaotic Thunder Primordial Body on the Eternal Furnace.
...
Lan Yuxian had an estate not far from the Lan Family grounds.
The inner courtyard of the estate was connected to the Lan Family, and in some ways, it was also considered a part of the Lan Family.
Early the next morning, Gu Jinlai arrived at the mansion.
Compared to the courtyard arranged by the Yellow Dragon Commerce, Lan Yuxian’s mansion was much larger.
In the outer court alone, carpets were laid everywhere, and the pedestrian pathways in the garden were even made of white jade pebbles, with both sides flanked by exceptionally precious varieties of flowers. Moreover, there was a plethora of gardeners bustling amongst them, tending and pruning day and night.
Gu Jinlai glanced around and noticed that all the servants were women; there wasn’t a single man among them.
These servants and maids had fair skin and wore luxurious clothes; their clothing billowed gracefully, and they carried themselves with an exceptional air. If they were placed in the outside world, no one would doubt if they were described as misses from a wealthy family.
Gu Jinlai had arrived quite early.
At that time, there were only four people in the courtyard.
One of them was Black Sword, who had been Gu Jinlai’s superior for a month.
Seeing Gu Jinlai, he greeted him with a smile, "Although the Clearing Department has come to the forefront, we can still claim the same contributions and rewards; and when many Sweepers join forces, it becomes easier to strike at those powerful targets. At the very least, there’s hope in dealing with the top ten on the danger list."
This Sweeper briefed Gu Jinlai, "In the coming months, sixteen Sweeper Teams will be hunting. Our prey includes Pu Tizi, Liu Zhenyuan, Mo Ang, and ten others. Whoever can be the first to hunt down one or two of these ten will have the opportunity to shine in front of the City Lord and others. The process is undoubtedly perilous, but it’s also an opportunity, so make sure to grasp it well."
"The hunt for Pu Tizi, Liu Zhenyuan, Mo Ang, and the others, huh."
Gu Jinlai listened and nodded his head.
These individuals were all Peak Martial Kings or High-level Devas.
Moreover, the methods they possessed meant that only Top Devas could stand a chance of defeating them in single combat.
However, each Sweeper Team now consisted of twenty or thirty members. Even though not all of them might be Martial Kings or Devas, just having eight to ten Martial Kings or Devas, led by their respective team captains, meant they had the confidence to take these individuals down.
After all, even newly advanced Martial Kings, when eight to ten of them worked together, harbored the hope of killing a Peak Martial King, not to mention that the team captains were at least Top Martial Kings, if not Peak Martial Kings, in strength.
As one of the two deputy captains, and having a senior-subordinate relationship with Gu Jinlai, Black Sword felt somewhat closer to him.
Additionally, because Gu Jinlai was now a member of his team, he spoke earnestly regarding some important matters for the Sweepers.
As he explained, more and more Sweepers arrived in rapid succession.
Among them were Dong Yuji and Jin Yuhai.
The arriving Sweepers included Martial Kings, Martial Sect members, and Primordial Spirit Monarchs.
Before long, more than twenty people had gathered in the courtyard.
Just then, a Martial King hurried over and said something to Black Sword.
Black Sword’s expression immediately changed, and he declared, "Everyone, follow me to Sixteenth Street; the captain has already gone ahead."
The others, unaware of the reason, quickly followed Black Sword towards Sixteenth Street.
As the weakest among the twenty-plus individuals were Martial Sect members, it took only a few minutes for them to arrive at the scene on Sixteenth Street.
When they reached the scene of the incident, Xia Ruyi’s complexion slightly changed.
"Is this... Zhuang Ying’s courtyard?"
A bad premonition immediately surged in his heart.
The group swiftly poured into the courtyard.
Indeed, Lan Yuxian was already waiting there.
Other formidable experts were also in attendance.
Shortly after entering the courtyard, the attention of everyone was drawn to the dozen or so corpses that had been arranged and brought out.
One of those corpses...
It was Zhuang Ying!
Xia Ruyi and Gu Jinlai both narrowed their eyes in shock.
Zhuang Ying, dead!?
"Is this Zhuang Ying? He’s dead?"
Jin Yuhai also saw Zhuang Ying’s corpse, and immediately exclaimed, "It must be Pan Dali’s doing! Definitely!"
"It was the work of a Demonic Cultist; there are survivors who saw that the assailant was the Demonic Cultist Zhang Yuyao," Lan Yuxian said icily.
Immediately, Jin Yuhai’s voice choked off.
"However, we can’t rule out the possibility that someone intentionally leaked Zhuang Ying’s whereabouts to lure the Demonic Cultist into action. After all, even though the Sweeper Teams are to come to the forefront, at this point... at least our Southeast Team hasn’t had any public actions that would expose our identities," she reflected.
At this moment, another voice rose.
Lan Bailin, a Sweeper from the Lan Family, had been called to assist Lan Yuxian.
The reason Lan Yuxian hadn’t appointed him as a deputy captain was because he was just an Ordinary Martial King, and such power was insufficient to command respect.
Lan Bailin took several device-like objects out of his hand, saying, "A Martial King could easily destroy this courtyard with brute force, yet the entire compound is intact. From this, it’s evident that Zhuang Ying was killed with hardly any resistance. To accomplish this, the opponent must not only be strong but also highly skilled in assassination."
"Strong and skilled in assassination."
Every Sweeper immediately thought of the person ranked eighth on the danger list.
"Peak Martial Saint, Shang Tielong."
Someone voiced the name.
At this point, Jin Yuhai spoke up again, "Zhuang Ying has been a Sweeper for nearly a year, without exposure. Yet just now, his identity is revealed and he’s killed by a Demonic Cultist. Someone must have leaked his whereabouts, and that person is Pan Dali."
"It’s something Pan Dali would do," several others who knew about Pan Dali agreed.
"And he won’t stop there," Jin Yuhai added, while he turned his gaze to Xia Ruyi, who was ashen-faced with fear, and also to Gu Jinlai, who wore an equally grave expression.
"So, Shang Tielong will strike again?"
Lan Yuxian, the captain, quickly grasped another key point, "Then let’s set a counter-trap to draw out Shang Tielong!"
As she spoke, her gaze fell upon Xia Ruyi and Gu Jinlai.
"Captain..."
Xia Ruyi’s pupils dilated with terror. Before he could utter a word, Lan Yuxian had already turned her eyes to Gu Jinlai, "It will be you who lures out Shang Tielong. If you can hunt down Shang Tielong, it will be counted as a great merit for you."
