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Chapter 446: 442
Martial Saint.
Compared to the Martial King stage, the gap between Martial Saints and Saints had further narrowed.
If the same calculus of the Sanjiu Ascension List were applied, ordinary Heavenly Beings would be equivalent to Third Rank, then Saints would only amount to Second Rank.
In other words, high-level Martial Saints possessed the ability to compete with ordinary Saints.
Although Fang Yan had transformed into a Martial Saint through the purification of Fierce Beast Essence Blood, with relatively low potential, as a Martial Saint, the combat power he commanded was not something any Martial King could contend with.
Even Peak Heavenly Beings struggled to resist in his presence.
"Martial Saint."
Gu Jinlai spoke with a heavy tone, "So, even though it was them, aligned with the Zhang Family and Bai Family, who attempted to assassinate me, and I ended up killing them in self-defense, he will not only remain unaffected, but I will also have to bring significant gifts to apologize? If I had not had the strength and ended up dying there, who would have spoken on my behalf?"
Yan Lie was speechlessly silent.
Gu Jinlai, looking at Yan Lie, also realized that it was meaningless to discuss these matters with him.
From the level of Karma on Yan Lie’s body, it could be seen that he...
was a good man.
He possessed the strength of a Martial King yet never committed evil—an individual worthy of trust.
The reason he had recommended that Gu Jinlai bring significant gifts to seek Fang Yan’s forgiveness was out of consideration for his safety.
He himself...
probably felt disdain for his own actions and words as well.
For a moment, Gu Jinlai took a deep breath, adjusting his emotions.
"I had already prepared myself for various pressures when I planned to rectify the Southeast Outer City District," Gu Jinlai said calmly. "As you said, even if Fang Yan wants to deal with me, he wouldn’t dare to do so openly. Thus, as long as I conduct myself impeccably and don’t give him any opportunity to exploit, he naturally can’t do anything to me."
"But that being the case... your path ahead will be very difficult..."
Yan Lie sighed.
"This is the path I have chosen."
Gu Jinlai said, his words resolute, "It is also the true self I seek."
"True self..."
"The process of every Martial King seeking their true self is not simple, and I am no exception. If I can indeed withstand the pressure from Fang Yan Martial Saint and uphold my beliefs, it would rather facilitate my taming of my true self and solidifying of my Martial Arts Will amid these adversities."
Gu Jinlai’s eyes sparkled: "Compared to the dangers other Martial Kings encounter in the process of solidifying their Martial Arts Will, the oppression from Fang Yan Martial Saint is trivial. If I truly fall on this path, it merely proves that I didn’t qualify to seek, tame, or solidify my Martial Arts Will, that’s all."
Yan Lie, seeing the light in Gu Jinlai’s eyes, seemed slightly encouraged by his passion as well.
"I understand."
He nodded deeply, "I will do my best to hold off Fang Yan Martial Saint and prevent him from targeting you."
"You don’t need to worry about this matter, Dean Yan..."
Gu Jinlai said.
But he was interrupted by Yan Lie before he could finish: "Don’t worry, I am a disciple of the Dean, and Fang Yan wouldn’t dare to harm me, no matter how bold he is. So, you don’t need to worry about my safety."
Gu Jinlai shook his head and did not continue to dissuade but instead said, "Dean, if you truly want to help me, transfer me from the Southeast Outer City District to another district."
"Transfer?"
Yan Lie was surprised and then seemed to realize something: "Fang Jianfei!"
Gu Jinlai’s direct superior was indeed Fang Jianfei, who was a descendant of Fang Yan.
Having Gu Jinlai work under him...
"I have been negligent. I will immediately look for a way to transfer you."
Yan Lie promptly agreed, "However, Fang Jianfei will likely try to hinder the process... it will take some time."
Then, as if something occurred to him, he said, "Aren’t you a Sweeper in the Sweeper Team? Black Sword gave you a month off, and now that the time is up, you could simply go to the Clearing Department. The Clearing Department is directly under the control of the City Lord, Dean, Cao Junzhu, and Hall Master Jin, so even Fang Martial Saint can’t interfere there."
Gu Jinlai nodded.
In truth, his request to be transferred from the Southeast Outer City District was primarily because he had already cleared out most major powers there.
There might still be a few who slipped through the net, but those whose Karma reached the Bright Red level would definitely be less than a handful.
Under these circumstances, switching to another district to start anew, using the cleaning proceeds to refill with Primordial Magnetic Divine Light and Star Kingdom, and integrating the three Divine Skills into the Chaotic Star Light Body, by then...
"You don’t need to go to the Law Enforcement Court for the next few days to avoid Fang Jianfei making things difficult for you,"
Yan Lie said, pausing in his speech, "Although the Fang family will exert their power to obstruct, I will try my best to get your transfer processed within ten days. Just hold on for these ten days."
"I understand."
Gu Jinlai nodded.
Then, he left Yan Lie’s office and walked out of the Martial Saint Institute.
As he left, he passed by the main hall.
Inside the hall, students who had been admitted from various Martial Arts Academies across Wind and Rain City were practicing their martial cultivation under instruction.
Even the weakest among them were at the military general level, and upon graduation, many were likely to reach Martial Sect.
And the most outstanding batch could even achieve Martial King.
However...
Ever since they had entered the Martial Saint Institute, various top families had approached them to recruit, signing various agreements.
According to these agreements, these top powers would sponsor their cultivation in exchange for their service after graduation.
Many of those from ordinary backgrounds saw these agreements as opportunities to rise to great heights.
However...
What they didn’t realize was that once they truly joined these top powers, the lifestyle they led might not be as they had imagined.
Withdrawing his gaze, Gu Jinlai directly went to the Sweeper Team’s station.
This was also the residence of Captain Lan.
Gu Jinlai arrived at the courtyard and discovered that there weren’t any official Sweepers present.
Only a few similar to logistics staff such as Refining God Immortals and Martial Sect military generals were there.
Gu Jinlai summoned one of them and asked, "Has everyone gone out?"
"Yes."
The man, a Refining God Realm cultivator, respectfully responded, "These past few days, the captain has been leading dozens of Sweepers and staying outside almost all the time, hardly ever coming back."
After finishing, he added, "It is said that they have found a clue about Liu Zhenyuan."
"Liu Zhenyuan!?"
Gu Jinlai quickly thought of the Sweepers’ internal reward list.
Liu Zhenyuan was second on the danger level list.
With a cultivation of High-level Devas, a Demonic Cultist, he had a bounty of six hundred million.
Compared to him, the Shang Tielong that Lan Yuxian had wanted to investigate clearly lacked a level.
"Where are Captain Lan and his team now?"
Gu Jinlai asked.
"Sorry, we do not know," the man replied with his head bowed.
Gu Jinlai pondered for a moment. Demonic Cultists were much more cunning than those who are out-of-control.
Out-of-Controllers sometimes couldn’t control their own conditions and would expose themselves, but Demonic Cultists...
Each one of them intended to split the Holy Dynasty and were scheming to destabilize the dynasty’s order.
Capturing and killing such a being indeed required extreme caution and proper confidentiality work.
With that thought, Gu Jinlai did not insist further, and went to the team’s archives to review the Sweepers’ squad’s log for the month.
It had to be said, Lan Yuxian, in order to secure a spot to Grotto Heaven, had thrown caution to the wind, relentlessly pursuing out-of-controllers and Demonic Cultists all month without rest.
In total, they had captured more than twenty people.
The total rewards claimed had also reached six hundred million.
Of course, her frenzied apprehension of out-of-controllers and Demonic Cultists also provoked severe counterattacks from them.
In that month, three official Sweepers and six Reserve Sweepers had fallen, nearly half of the numbers they eliminated.
Not to mention those who were injured.
This kind of loss made the Sweeper team grumble incessantly.
However, Lan Yuxian was set on snatching the Grotto Heaven spot from Lan Yuhua and didn’t care about the pressure on her team members.
Like these past three days, in order to track down Liu Zhenyuan, the entire team had been working tirelessly without a moment’s rest.
Fortunately, they had finally grasped some clues.
"Liu Zhenyuan, a leading figure among the Demonic Cultists."
Gu Jinlai thought to himself.
This fact was apparent from the six hundred million bounty on this High-level Deva.
"So busy... I seem to have come at a bad time."
Gu Jinlai then placed the documents he was holding on the desk, exited the records room, and was about to leave the courtyard.
At that moment, two figures hurriedly approached.
One was Black Sword, and the other was another official member of the Sweeper Team, named Zhong Ti.
"Gu Jinlai? You’re here? That’s right! It’s been a month already."
Black Sword saw Gu Jinlai first and greeted him while saying, "Where’s the doctor? Come quickly for treatment."
"Captain Black Sword, Martial King Zhong... he was injured while pursuing a Demonic Cultist?"
"Well..."
Black Sword looked somewhat uneasy: "Sort of."
"Sort of?"
Gu Jinlai found it strange.
"Lan Yuxian, she’s gone mad."
At that moment, Zhong Ti seemed to regain some consciousness and said through gritted teeth.
"Martial King Zhong, you mustn’t speak irresponsibly and disturb people’s minds."
Black Sword sharply admonished Zhong Ti, then turned to a Reserve Sweeper responsible for logistics and ordered, "Take Martial King Zhong to rest."
"Yes."
The Reserve Sweeper didn’t dare to ask more and quickly escorted Zhong Ti away.
From his reaction, Gu Jinlai guessed something and looked at Black Sword to ask, "Was he injured by Captain Lan?"
Black Sword sighed, "Yes."
"What!?"
Gu Jinlai was somewhat taken aback.
It was Lan Yuxian?
Injure her own teammate?
But he immediately remembered, a month ago when Lan Yuxian had ordered him as a bait to draw out Shang Tielong just because he had retorted, she immediately struck without hesitation...
This Miss Lan from the top-ranking Lan Family certainly didn’t regard them, a bunch of mud-legged followers of the Demon God Warriors’ path, highly.
"She’s under too much pressure right now..."
Black Sword glanced at Gu Jinlai, "If you hadn’t come, I would have looked for you too, we’re really short on hands, now that you’re here, let’s join us in tracking down the Demonic Cultist, Liu Zhenyuan."
