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Chapter 418: Chapter 414: The Killer
"Are you insane!?"
Gu Jinlai ruthlessly lunged forward, drawing his sword from its sheath, an action that shocked Jin Yuhai immensely.
An outsider, merely an Ordinary Martial King without any background, dared to attack him!?
But before he could transform his shock into anger, energy released from the Eternal Furnace, guided by the transmission characteristic, instantly transformed into annihilating high temperatures and brightness.
That violently fierce energy instantly extinguished the fury that had yet to fully boil within Jin Yuhai, leaving him cold.
He widened his eyes dramatically.
And in the next second, a brilliance so intense that even a Martial King couldn’t directly gaze at stripped him of all sight.
As the annihilating heat that could pulverize everything enveloped his body, the anger yet to fully form dissipated into smoke and clouds, shattered by an indescribable fear.
"No, stop..."
He yelled in terror, but before any sound could escape, the blinding white brightness and terrifying heat had already completely engulfed him, along with Gu Jinlai.
Everything left in the entire courtyard was utterly obliterated.
...
Lan Yuxian, as a Deva of the Lan Family, held a much more esteemed status than Jin Yuhai could ever compare to.
Although Jin Yuhai managed to contact another Deva from the Lan Family, Lan Yuhua, he still had to be extremely cautious about planning against Lan Yuxian.
Thus, he chose a quiet area and specifically activated a Formation.
This Formation, drawing upon Heaven and Earth’s momentum, could seal off sound, light, and Qi, and also had significant defensive power.
However, at this moment, this Formation that sealed off sound, light, Qi, and its defensive abilities were being crushed into dust by a fiercely blazing brilliance, like the Great Sun dominating the sky.
Endless light and heat pierced the Void, illuminating the surroundings for scores of miles in an instant.
Even as the sunset descended and darkness had not yet fully fallen, this brilliantly dazzling brightness still rendered the surroundings as bright as daytime.
The daytime lasted for a moment before it transformed into a storm, sweeping in all directions.
Although Blocked by the Formation, the shockwave still spread relentlessly, a white air explosion mixed with rolling dust spread wildly, accompanied by fiercely blazing flames.
In a several-mile radius, the glass of ordinary homes shattered into pieces.
Nevertheless, the courtyard chosen by Jin Yuhai, though secluded, was located in a high-end area of the city known for its elegant environment.
After all, with his status, although insignificant in the Jin Family, ordinary courtyards could hardly catch his eye.
This high-end residential area spanned over two square miles but had only a few dozen households, and the occupancy rate was not high.
Additionally, almost each household was protected by Formations of varying strengths.
When this wave of shock mixed with the fiercely blazing flames spread towards the outer areas, bright lights flared up in one courtyard after another, weakening some of the explosive force before they were "smashed" into pieces.
The distance decreased, layer by layer weakened.
Furthermore, Gu Jinlai was not intending to perish together with Jin Yuhai, thus he controlled the power of the Eternal Furnace, which was at most equivalent to a strike of Divine Power released by a Peak Heavenly Being.
Eventually, the wild flames merely spread for a mile before dying down, and the shockwaves spread only about three miles.
Still, such an attack, equivalent to a full-force strike by a Peak Heavenly Being, still alarmed the entire Wind and Rain City.
Streams of Qi rose into the sky, speeding towards the direction of the explosion.
In the Martial Saint Institute, a Martial Saint himself appeared on the scene.
After a few minutes, even the Dean, Wu Tianya, who was stationed in the Southeast City District, descended from the sky.
By then, the site had gathered over a dozen Martial Kings and Heavenly Beings, including two Martial Saints and Saint Zhao Liang, representing the City Lord Mansion.
Feeling the Qi residuals in the ruinous, fiercely burning courtyard, not just the Martial Kings and Heavenly Beings, but Wu Tianya, Zhao Liang, and another Martial Saint, Fang Yan, all showed slight changes in expression.
"Peak Heavenly Being! This is the Divine Power of a Peak Heavenly Being!"
"In terms of power, this Divine Power undoubtedly ranks among the top, it’s at least a Top-grade Divine Power, and it has been Cultivated to Mahayana, even to Perfection, enough to threaten some less defensively skilled Martial Saints."
"Who is it? This fiercely blazing power of the sun... is it the Demonic Cultist Ji Lie?"
The Heavenly Beings and Martial Kings cautiously discussed through telepathy.
"There are survivors."
Zhao Liang spoke, and with a wave of his hand, all the heat dispersed.
Then, his gaze fell on a figure entirely charred by high temperatures, barely recognizable as human.
Seeing this person, someone among the onlooking Martial Kings seemed to sense something, their expression changing: "This faint Qi... could it be Ancient Martial King!?"
"Do you recognize him?"
Zhao Liang’s gaze shifted to this Martial King.
"Yes, Ancient Martial King is a trainee at the Martial Saint Institute and also a member of our Southeast Sweeper Team."
This Martial King stepped forward and responded gravely.
He was Dong Yuji, one of the two deputy captains of this Sweeper Team led by Gu Jinlai.
The Southeast City District was under his jurisdiction, and with such a major event occurring here, he naturally rushed over immediately.
"Sweepers?"
Hearing these three words, those at the scene quickly realized something.
After a moment of silence, Dong Yuji added, "Today at noon, one of our team members, Zhuang Ying, had their identity exposed and was killed by the Demonic Cultist Shang Tielong. This incident involves some secrets, so Captain Lan had Gu Jinlai act as bait, hoping to lure the Demonic Cultist into action again... We thought they would only act at night, but we never expected... they would dare to strike even before darkness fell."
"Using him as bait? To lure the Demonic Cultist into action?"
Zhao Liang furrowed his brows, sensing that the situation was far from simple.
"This location... this must be Jin Yuhai’s private courtyard."
At this moment, another Martial King spoke up, "He did indeed come here to meet guests today..."
"Jin Yuhai?"
"This is Jin Yuhai’s courtyard?"
A suppressed gasp spread through the crowd.
Many eyes frantically searched the courtyard, only to find...
Apart from the critically injured Gu Jinlai on the brink of death, there was not a single living soul.
"I think I understand why that Demonic Cultist struck during the day," said Dong Yuji suddenly.
"Swoosh!"
As he spoke, three people arrived at the scene: the Southeast Team Captain Lan Yuxian, Deputy Captain Black Sword, and Yan Lie, who had come from the Martial Arts Academy.
Upon arriving, they quickly inquired about the situation.
"What else do you know?"
Zhao Liang’s gaze fell upon Dong Yuji.
Hearing Zhao Liang’s question, Dong Yuji did not hold back and shared the disputes and grudges between Pan Dali and Jin Yuhai concerning the leadership of the Sweeper Team, adding, "Ancient Martial King, Martial King Zhuang, and Martial King Xia, they spoiled Pan Dali’s plans. To retaliate, it’s very likely that he might have exposed their identities as Sweepers. And not just them, even Martial King Jin might be implicated. The Demonic Cultist killed Martial King Zhuang during noon today and is probably targeting the Ancient Martial King now. As it happens, the Ancient Martial King and Martial King Jin were together... Hence, they didn’t wait for nightfall and took action directly,"
After concluding, he added, "Of course, this is just my speculation. I have no evidence whatsoever."
Upon hearing Dong Yuji’s words, Zhao Liang, Wu Tianya, Fang Yan, and others all frowned.
The competition for the leadership of the Sweeper Team was indeed fierce, and it wasn’t unprecedented for someone like Pan Dali to go to such lengths.
Moreover...
They had heard quite a bit about Pan Dali, the Martial Saint Seed.
Given his character, it was all too typical for him to destroy what he couldn’t have.
However, without evidence, and given Pan Dali’s status as a Martial Saint Seed, they promised nothing.
To truly investigate Pan Dali, they would wait for Jin Fantian to reach out to them directly, and they would act accordingly.
"Could this event be related to Gu Jinlai?" someone suddenly asked at this moment.
"Impossible,"
Yan Lie asserted, "Gu Jinlai cultivated the Chaos True Demon Body and later switched to the Ten Thousand Thunders Secret Scripture. Even if he developed Divine Skills, they would be related to Thunder, not this intense and brilliant. Moreover, we have checked his physical strength more than once. He’s just an ordinary Martial King. It’s incontrovertible. He simply couldn’t have killed Jin Yuhai."
His statement made Black Sword nod in agreement.
Previously, as Gu Jinlai’s superior, he had witnessed Gu Jinlai in action. Truely, his capabilities were not sufficient to kill Jin Yuhai.
Furthermore...
If he were really some hidden agent, after killing Jin Yuhai, why would he leave himself critically injured and remain at the scene?
The somewhat puzzled Martial King also came to this realization at this moment, and he fell silent.
As everyone quieted down, Wu Tianya’s gaze turned to Lan Yuxian: "You were reckless in this matter, using your own team member as bait without proper precautions. Your adversaries are the Out-of-Control and the Demonic Cultists, who are different from devils. They strike whenever they see an opportunity. Did you really expect them to play by the rules and wait until nightfall?"
Lan Yuxian’s face changed.
Yet facing Wu Tianya’s reprimand, she dared not rebut and merely lowered her head, "The Dean is right, it was my oversight."
Wu Tianya glanced at the courtyard, which was now leveled to the ground.
Compared to Gu Jinlai, Jin Yuhai clearly had more value as a target.
And faced with a strike equivalent to one from a Peak Heavenly Being, a tremendously powerful Divine Skill, Jin Yuhai...
could not withstand it.
So his fate was no longer in doubt.
Though Jin Yuhai might not have been greatly valued in Jin Fantian’s eyes, having reached Martial King status, he was nonetheless a significant member.
Wu Tianya knew he must provide an explanation.
"To make such an oversight upon taking office suggests you might not be suited for the captaincy. Serve as acting captain for now. Observe for a month. If you achieve something noteworthy within this month, consider it as atoning for your misstep. If there’s no achievement..."
"I will resign from the captaincy,"
Lan Yuxian offered proactively.
"Agreed,"
Wu Tianya responded, then turned to Yan Lie, "Take this Ancient Martial King for treatment and find out more about the specifics."
"Yes,"
Yan Lie nodded.
Soon, he took Gu Jinlai toward the Martial Saint Institute.
With the Southeast District’s Sweepers newly established, they had already lost two team members, one of whom was the rather prominent Jin Yuhai.
This was a severe provocation toward the Clearing Department.
Forthcomingly, a significant crackdown on the Out-of-Control and the Demonic Cultists by the Clearing Department was inevitable.
