NOVPUB
Chapter 518: Chapter 514 Sweep
Liuhuo City.
By now, Ji Lie had brought a group of troops to this city.
Upon receiving Gu Jinlai’s message, he directly went to the City Lord Mansion.
Since Wu Yan had taken his capable general Wu Shu to Hai Feng City, the one sitting in charge of the City Lord Mansion was a Deva known as Ye Hua.
He was gifted from a young age, showing potential worthy of a Saint and was eventually recruited by Wu Yan, becoming his son-in-law and the person he trusted most.
The one stationed in Liuhuo City, he received the news of Gu Jinlai defeating the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor and single-handedly annihilating a million devils even earlier than Wu Yan did.
Therefore, when faced with Ji Lie and others representing Gu Jinlai, he dared not obstruct them.
Not to mention Ji Lie also had proof sent from Gu Jinlai, which was directly acknowledged by Liuhuo City Lord Wu Yan himself.
He almost effortlessly entered the treasure vault of Liuhuo City.
And then...
He took whatever he saw.
All stuffed into the storage ring.
This scene immediately changed Ye Hua’s expression, "Gentlemen..."
"What, the items we’re taking are approved by your city lord, do you intend to make decisions on his behalf and go back on his word?"
Ji Lie blocked his words resolutely.
"I... I didn’t mean that, just... some of the items you’re taking don’t seem to be among those six kinds of materials..."
Ye Hua hesitated.
"The three families, each one has to provide six types of materials, two thousand portions each, but look, there are only one hundred and ten portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold left, while you should provide two thousand portions. If there’s not enough Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold, naturally, I have to take other materials to compensate, right?"
Ji Lie explained with reason and evidence.
"This..."
Ye Hua was at a loss for words.
It took him a while to spot something amiss and quickly said, "Wait, even if you take other materials to compensate, haven’t you taken more than the required amount?"
"Not more."
Ji Lie stated, "The price of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold has already soared to fourteen million per portion recently; Vice City Lord Ye must be aware of this, and how much is Immortal Essence Gold worth? I’ve heard it’s only five million per portion internally, three portions of Immortal Essence Gold can only make up for one portion of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold. Therefore, it’s only fair we take five thousand portions of Immortal Essence Gold from your Liuhuo City treasury."
"You guys..."
A flicker of anger flashed in Ye Hua’s eyes.
"What, this was personally promised by your city lord, you’re not thinking of refusing, are you?"
Ji Lie said with a deeper meaning, "Vice City Lord Ye, you wouldn’t want Liuhuo City to end up like Dragon Tears Valley, right?"
Saying this, he slightly paused, "Or do you think that the power of Liuhuo City is stronger than the million-devil surge stirred up by the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor?"
With these words, the anger burning inside Ye Hua was abruptly stifled.
The same scenario unfolded in Purple Thunder City.
In Purple Thunder City Lord Mansion, although there was a Saint present, under the persistent "orders" of Lei Xuanyu, this Saint didn’t dare to make any rash moves, watching helplessly as Liu Feiyun and others emptied the entire City Lord Mansion.
As for Hai Feng City...
Being an Inner Ring city with a relatively stable environment, Hai Feng City had even richer reserves of all kinds of materials than Liuhuo City and Purple Thunder City, and Qi Sheng led people around the treasury, and after much scheming, only managed to empty half of the treasure vault, with more than half of the materials remaining.
This level of affluence was truly breathtaking.
Gu Jinlai also felt quite emotional upon receiving the news from Qi Sheng, "Truly worthy of Hai Feng City, its profound foundation is far beyond what an Outer Ring city like ours can match."
Si Xinghui managed a strained smile, "As long as you... as long as you’re satisfied."
In reality, Gu Jinlai wasn’t all that content.
He’d emptied Liuhuo City, Purple Thunder City, and Hai Feng City, but the total amount of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold he obtained wasn’t as much as he had imagined.
Only four hundred and forty portions.
Yes!
It wasn’t even half the amount of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold he was short of.
The entire Holy Dynasty market had only five to six thousand portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold circulating, and counting the shares stored by the major forces, the number didn’t exceed twenty thousand.
And those storing Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold often were the Six Great Cave Heavens and forces just below the level of the Six Great Cave Heavens — various cities, trading guilds — unless there’s a major buyer, even an entire city’s Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold would add up to just a couple hundred portions, same as Wind and Rain City.
Duanmu Shan had already nearly cleaned out the market’s circulating supply in her effort to amass three thousand portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold.
To gather another three thousand portions now, even with her status as a Royal Princess, would take a considerable amount of time.
This alone showed the scarcity of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold.
Moreover, considering Purple Thunder City previously had to sweep through the city and even neighboring cities to gather enough Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold to sell to him, it’s unsurprising that after raiding three cities — or rather four cities — a mere nine hundred portions of Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold failed to meet the goal.
This miscalculation had left Gu Jinlai, who planned to reach Cultivation Perfection of the Chaotic Star Light Body with the Thunder Magnetic Elemental Gold garnered from looting the four cities, somewhat disappointed.
Feeling dissatisfied, his mood was naturally not very good.
He focused his gaze on Si Xinghui, eyes flickering.
Si Xinghui trembled, hurriedly offering a smile, "Ancient City Lord, if you have any requests, just say it. We were at fault first, and we will do everything we can to meet them."
"Really, after a recent major battle with the devils in Dragon Tears Valley, we won but at not a small cost. Many areas are in need of rebuilding, and it’s precisely the time for support from allied cities."
Gu Jinlai slowly said.
Si Xinghui sucked in a breath of cold air.
Defeating a million devils in one battle?
Victorious, but at a not insignificant cost!?
If he hadn’t just seen the images projected by the Heavenly Shadow Instrument, he might have believed it.
However...
That wasn’t the point.
The point was...
Si Xinghui nodded in deep agreement, "I understand, I understand. I’ll immediately gather the supplies and hand them over to the Ancient City Lord for the reconstruction support of the brother cities."
"Then I must thank City Lord Si. Most of the supplies in the City Lord Mansion’s storeroom are what Wind and Rain City needs. I’ll have someone take them away. Don’t worry, these items are considered aid from an allied city. Once Wind and Rain City has developed and recovered its primordial energy, it will naturally be returned."
Gu Jinlai nodded in satisfaction.
Si Xinghui’s mouth twitched for a moment before he tentatively said, "Many of these supplies are specifically requested by Taiao Cave Heaven..."
"Is there a problem?"
Gu Jinlai directly interrupted him, his gaze also falling upon him.
"No problem, you can take them all, no problem whatsoever."
Si Xinghui also made a very decisive decision on the spot.
This response, however, left Gu Jinlai somewhat unable to proceed with his next move.
If he had known it would be like this, he should not have given them the chance to speak and just acted directly.
However...
To punish without instruction is to be cruel!
If he truly disregarded all reason and recklessly slaughtered, how would he be any different from those in power in the Holy Dynasty?
"Hum hum!"
Just then, at the edge of the sky, a bright light broke through the sky.
Accompanying it were two massive waves of qi surging towards them.
Feeling these two waves of qi, Wu Yan, Lei Xuanyu, and Si Xinghui all revealed looks of surprise and delight on their faces.
"They’ve arrived!"
"Venerable Daoist Si Xuanyuan has finally arrived! Excellent!"
However, this joy only lasted a moment before gradually dissipating.
"Why only two?"
"The other one... according to the telepathy, is Sword King Duanmu Yufeng!?"
"It’s the qi of Duanmu Yufeng... Although this member of the Imperial Family known as the Sword King is not weak, at best... he’s just a bit stronger than Venerable Daoist Si, with at most top-level virtual immortal strength."
A top-level virtual immortal and a high-level virtual immortal!?
This lineup would not be inferior even when facing the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor.
But to deal with Gu Jinlai, who is suspected of displaying Great Divine Power level strength?
Is this a suicide mission?
Gu Jinlai said nothing, only glanced at Duanmu Yao.
The face of Mrs. Shun Guo instantly became very awkward.
Duanmu Yufeng was the one she called for.
The death of the Sixth Princess Duanmu Shan was taken very seriously by Holy Master Duanmu Ren, who directly handled the matter to Sword King Duanmu Yufeng with top-level virtual immortal strength.
Duanmu Yufeng sensed something odd and sent Duanmu Yao first to secretly infiltrate Wind and Rain City for investigation.
After patient investigation, Duanmu Yao had already figured out that the mastermind behind this incident was Gu Jinlai.
Jin Fantian wanted the support of the numerous Saints and Martial Saints of Wind and Rain City to overturn City Lord Zhao Hua and take his place, and with the excuse of seeking the heritage of Li Yang Cave Heaven, he collaborated with Duanmu Shan. Together, they ambushed Gu Jinlai.
As a result, after one battle, Gu Jinlai displayed strength far surpassing Duanmu Shan’s imagination. Ultimately, Jin Fantian, Cao Wudao, and including Jin Fantian’s people were all annihilated.
The reason she hadn’t made sense of the events these past few days was mainly that she couldn’t understand why Duanmu Shan’s Blood Contract Curse had ended up on the body of Zhao Hua, the former City Lord of Wind and Rain City, instead of on Gu Jinlai.
Now it seems, Gu Jinlai, originating from Li Yang Cave Heaven and being a True Immortal who converted to cultivation, might have had a clever means to dispel the Blood Contract Curse.
All was clear.
The real culprit confirmed.
And now the only problem was...
It seemed that this true culprit was a bit too strong.
Holy Master Duanmu Ren entrusted Duanmu Yufeng with this task, almost regarding the murderer as a virtual immortal already, but he could never have anticipated...
The murderer didn’t need them to see him as a virtual immortal at all.
He was a virtual immortal.
Moreover, he stood at the peak among virtual immortals, crowned as the Supreme Void Immortal with the title of Great Divine Power.
"Swoosh!"
The figure broke through the sky.
Venerable Daoist Si Xuanyuan and Duanmu Yufeng landed simultaneously above Hai Feng City.
Seeing the two arrive, Duanmu Yao, concerned about nothing else, hastily sent a telepathic message: "My Imperial Brother, didn’t I covertly transmit to you that Gu Jinlai’s power far exceeds our expectations? Only by asking our ancestors to personally take action do we have a hope to suppress him."
"Calm yourself, we have already informed our ancestor about the situation here. The matter... doesn’t necessarily need to be resolved through fight and slaughter," Duanmu Yufeng telepathically replied, while at the same time, his gaze shifted towards Gu Jinlai, his face not at all showing aggression but instead full of smiles as he greeted with clasped hands, "Li Yang Cave Heaven’s Gu Jinlai, Elder Gu? I’ve long admired your reputation!"
