NOVPUB
Chapter 507: Chapter 503: Promotion
"I’ve finally managed to deal with some of the trivial matters. There’s no need for me to personally take care of everything that’s left."
In the Cultivation Room of the City Lord Mansion, Gu Jinlai let out a long sigh.
Over the past four or five days, he had been so busy that his feet barely touched the ground, with hardly any pause.
Now, the various departments of Wind and Rain City were finally starting to operate again.
Yes, just starting to operate.
As for winning over the hearts of the people and getting them to genuinely follow his commands...
That wasn’t something that could be done in a short time.
Just to maintain the operation of the city’s departments, Gu Jinlai had already had to kill a few as a warning to others more than once.
This included some who were not inherently bad, but who were stubborn to a fault.
He had killed some of these people, and as a result, he himself had reached the point where his Karma was as heavy as blood.
"There are still two key issues. One is the devil tide sweeping in from the Demon Emperor of Dragon Tears, and the other... is the matter of Sixth Princess Duanmu Shan’s death in Wind and Rain City."
Gu Jinlai pondered.
Duanmu Shan was the Sixth Princess of the Holy Dynasty.
She was already part of the upper echelons of the dynasty, a major figure who had the qualifications to compete for the throne in the future.
For such a major figure to die in Wind and Rain City and for the Imperial Family to have no reaction at all...
That was very strange.
There were only two possibilities for such a situation.
One was that the Imperial Family was caught up in some serious matter and was too overwhelmed to be concerned about anything else.
But that possibility was very small.
To maintain the majesty of the Imperial Family, as long as they had a shred of strength left, they would inevitably send someone to investigate; otherwise, how could the Imperial Family maintain its rule over the Forty-Nine Cities of the Holy Dynasty?
Gu Jinlai leaned toward the second possibility.
The envoy sent by the Imperial Family had already arrived.
But discovering the seriousness of the situation, they chose to stay hidden and did not show themselves immediately.
"Jin Fantian and others are speculating that I switched from Void Immortal to Martial Saint, which is why I was able to unleash a power far beyond that of a Martial Saint, even close to that of a Void Immortal. And a Void Immortal... is among the top existences in the Imperial Family!"
Gu Jinlai thought to himself.
Behind the Holy Dynasty were the Six Great Cave Heavens: Wuji Cave Heaven, Taixuan Cave Heaven, Taixu Cave Heaven, True Martial Cave Heaven, Taixu Cave Heaven, and Piaomiao Cave Heaven.
The masters of the Six Great Cave Heavens decided that they would jointly select a suitable person to govern the Holy Dynasty, with a term of thirty years each.
Since Wuji Cave Heaven was the strongest among the Six Great Cave Heavens, the first thirty-year term was taken by Wuji Cave Heaven.
At the turn of the term, the Holy Dynasty fought a great battle with the outer demons. Recognizing the strength of the Demon Gods and with Wuji Cave Heaven lobbying around, Wuji Cave Heaven eventually gained a second term.
As the strongest force, Wuji Cave Heaven openly had thirteen Supreme Elders. Perhaps there were another three or five hiding in the shadows, but the total number would not exceed twenty.
The remaining five Cave Heavens had about ten Supreme Elders at the Void Immortal realm.
The weakest, Taixu Cave Heaven, had only seven Supreme Elders at the Void Immortal realm.
Although each of the Six Great Cave Heavens had more than two Void Immortals serving the Imperial Family, still, deploying a Void Immortal at the "investigation" stage was not a simple matter for the Imperial Family.
Moreover...
The Blood Contract Curse on Duanmu Shan was on Zhao Hua’s body, which he had directly eliminated.
With him not being the primary suspect, it was reasonable for the Imperial Family’s investigators to observe in secret.
"If my guess is correct, the devil tide stirred up by the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor is also a test from the Imperial Family for me. If I... or more precisely, if Li Yang Cave Heaven, which they mistake as backing me, can crush this devil tide and slay the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor, then the matter of Duanmu Shan’s death will essentially be pinned on Zhao Hua’s Body."
As for him...
He would either be the Lord of Wind and Rain City or a Venerable Daoist serving the Imperial Family.
But although he had such speculations, Gu Jinlai did not intend to pin his hopes on others.
His attention quickly returned to his Spirit World.
In the Spirit World, there were as many as four hundred and three streaks of Starlight.
Just from this number, one could guess the extent to how many people Gu Jinlai had personally executed in the past few days.
This was also because the important figures each had the habit of having multiple escape routes.
Before taking action, like Cao Wudao, they made preparations and allowed some key individuals to escape the city in advance.
"Over four hundred streaks of Starlight... Next..."
Gu Jinlai’s gaze immediately focused on the Chaotic Star Light Body.
Without any hesitation.
The Starlight continued to pour in incessantly.
The transformation of his body accelerated visibly to the naked eye.
The more Starlight he poured in, the faster the efficiency of the increase was.
In the later stages, an intense hunger emerged from within his body.
Gu Jinlai paid it no mind but continued to pour the Starlight in one after another.
Finally...
When only thirty streaks of Starlight were left, the hunger became so intense it seemed as though only a large amount of food or a massive supply of energy could complete the final enhancement and Transformation.
After carefully sensing for a moment, Gu Jinlai waved his hand and a box appeared before him.
Inside the box, surprisingly, were two hundred portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold.
He took out a portion of the Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold and placed it in the Eternal Furnace for refinement.
Before long, he had reached a conclusion.
"I need approximately three thousand nine hundred portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold."
This was close to what he had estimated.
With the refinement of three thousand nine hundred portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, his body would thoroughly complete its transformation, evolving from human form to that of an Innate Divine Beast.
As the transformation was completed, his Mahayana stage Chaotic Star Light Body would naturally progress to the Perfect Level, and then erupt with a power far exceeding that of a Void Immortal.
That kind of power...
"True Immortal residing in the world!"
Gu Jinlai muttered to himself.
A power comparable to a True Immortal residing in the world!
"Nine hundred portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold..."
Gu Jinlai took a deep breath.
It would be very soon, very fast.
Without any hesitation, he reached out and added portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold into the Eternal Furnace.
One portion, three portions, ten portions, thirty portions, a hundred portions...
One box, three boxes, ten boxes...
Thousands of portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold were quickly refined into his body.
His body, insatiably thirsty, was rapidly being filled.
He completely ignored the turbulence, wariness, and exchange of interests among the major forces of the outside world.
Even when Liu Feiyun, Qi Sheng and others finally arrived in Wind and Rain City with ten million refugees, he did not make an appearance.
He spent the entire five days refining the Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold.
Even though the three thousand portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold had not allowed him to completely undergo transformation, just like a previously malnourished person...
Although not fully recovered, after eating something to fill his stomach, his condition had undergone an earth-shattering change compared to before.
Gu Jinlai quietly felt the surging Thunder Power inside his body, and the vague resonance that formed between this power and some special Power of Dao in the world...
At this moment, he felt an unprecedented strength.
"Before I pushed across the Chi Long Territory, I knew that as long as I had enough Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, I could gain a new round of enhancement, but... at that time, I just felt that this enhancement would make me reach the Ninth Rank Saint, that is, I could briefly contend with the Demon Emperor. To truly confront the Demon Emperor, I would still rely on the City Protection Array... but now it seems..."
Gu Jinlai clenched his fist, "I underestimated the Cultivation Technique of the Chaotic Star Light Body that could transform a person’s life form into an Innate Divine Beast."
His previous reference was the Eternal Furnace.
But the Eternal Furnace and the Chaotic Star Light Body have different emphases.
The Eternal Furnace does not need Undying Will, does not need to resonate with the Dao, and can release full power to burst forth an attack comparable to that of a Great Divine Power Level.
Moreover...
It has advantages other Cultivation Techniques do not have.
That is to charge up!
As long as there is a strong enough vessel to allow him to charge, the attack power he could ultimately unleash would not be limited to the simplicity of Great Divine Power.
It might even surpass Great Divine Power.
And Great Divine Power...
That is the power that a True Immortal grasps.
Just as often only a Saint will truly master a Divine Skill.
The power above Great Divine Power...
I am afraid even a True Immortal could be blasted to death.
Therefore, the Eternal Furnace cannot be viewed with conventional eyes.
However, the Chaotic Star Light Body is different, it is a Cultivation Technique that can truly transform one’s life, evolving into an Innate Divine Beast.
When the Martial King ascends to Martial Saint, a physical transformation also occurs, but that transformation is far less compared to what the Chaotic Star Light Body can bring—how much less is it!
It’s almost like a Deva originally thought he crafted an Immortal Golden Body of a Saint, but in actuality...
It was the energy-transformed body of a True Immortal residing in the world.
Right now, Gu Jinlai was a little short of a complete transformation into an Innate Divine Beast.
But if you were to say that his progress for transformation was only about one percent before refining the three thousand portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, then now, it had soared to over seventy percent.
His every move seemed to be bursting with Thunder Power.
Even the Thunder Power inside and the trait of the Child of the Stars were undergoing a peculiar resonance, similar to the resonance of the cultivator’s own Dao and the Great Dao of the world, yet seeming to be a completely different power.
As for the specifics, only after the Chaotic Star Light Body reached Perfection could it truly evolve.
"Although I have not completely transformed into a real Innate Divine Beast, comparable to a Devil God, but... Dragon Tears Demon Emperor?"
Gu Jinlai reigned in the surging Thunder Power within his body, took a step into the void, and stepped out of the Cultivation Room.
Just as he had sensed from inside, at this moment outside the Cultivation Room, there were already more than a dozen people gathered.
These dozen or so people were almost all Devas, Martial Kings.
Of course, Zhao Yushu, the woman whose Cultivation had inexplicably risen to the Hugging Pill, drastically lowered the average level of Cultivation of the group.
Upon seeing Gu Jinlai coming out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Feiyun was the first to say, "City Lord, the devils from Dragon Tears Valley are now less than three thousand miles away from Wind and Rain City... We sent out a call for help in the name of Wind and Rain City several days ago, hoping to get support from the surrounding cities, but they all found ways to shirk..."
"I know."
Gu Jinlai interrupted Liu Feiyun, his gaze landing on his Deputy City Lord Su Shian: "How is the evacuation of the population in the Outer City District going?"
"There’s been too little time, especially since there has been a mix-up in the administration of various departments recently. Although the City Lord took action in advance, evacuating eighty million people to the Inner City is still not something that can be done in a few days. Currently, about thirty percent of the commoners have yet to be moved into the city..."
"There’s no need to move them."
Gu Jinlai said.
Su Shian was slightly startled, then quickly said, "City Lord, please give me a little more time, three days... No! Two days! Give me two days! I will safely evacuate everyone to the Inner City, where they will be under the protection of the City Protection Array. I promise..."
"I said, there’s no need to retreat."
Gu Jinlai extended his hand again, stopping Su Shian’s words.
His gaze swept over Han Qing, Su Shian, Qi Sheng, Yan Lie, Liu Feiyun, and others present: "Gather everyone. We will intercept the demonic surge a thousand miles away from Wind and Rain City at Flying Dragon Mountain and annihilate all the invading devils!"
