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Chapter 94: Chapter 94: Since You’re Here Already
This was not yet the most terrifying thing.
The more terrifying aspect was that once the towering figure, standing three meters tall, swept through the city wall with a storm of death and cleared a section, more figures followed suit and leapt onto the wall.
Because the Gang Condensation and Hugging Pill Masters did not intercept in time, several more figures followed suit and jumped up.
These figures were not as tall as Gu Jinlai, standing three meters, with overwhelming firepower, but after donning specialized heavy armor, they too stood about two meters tall.
The weapons in their hands were more delicate compared to the huge metal box carried by Gu Jinlai, yet the firepower they sprayed was equally astonishing.
They were akin to a slightly less lethal version of Gu Jinlai.
The key point was...
There were ten such smaller versions of Gu Jinlai.
Ten monsters in modified heavy armor indiscriminately firing their flame-throwing mechanisms made this battle no longer resemble a battle.
It was a slaughter.
...
Linxiao’s eyes widened, his hands and feet ice-cold.
Cold sweat slid down his handsome cheeks to his chin, dampening his collar.
How could this happen! How could this happen!?
He couldn’t understand. Just a moment ago, he had presented his grand plan to conquer Star State, volunteering to lead the elite of the Lin family to capture Yuanhua City, pioneering and expanding their territory, and even earned appreciation from the Divinity Transformation Elder Shi Chen.
He just had to follow the plan, proceeding with the second and third steps, and he would be in control of the six cities west of Star State, solidifying the Purgatory Sect’s foothold in Star State and then plotting over the entire Star State.
The prospects were boundless.
But in the next second...
Gu Jinlai arrived.
With Elder Shi Chen, a Divinity Transformation Cultivator there, this should have been an effortless display of merit, even easing their subsequent plans to seize Lingxiao City.
But...
Elder Shi Chen was defeated.
The Cold Feather Sword was unsheathed, yet it failed to kill Gu Jinlai.
Instead, this Divinity Transformation Elder hurriedly fled, severely drained of his primordial energy.
Then, Gu Jinlai storming into Yuanhua City clearly demonstrated the power of the Heavenly Master-forged weaponry.
Looking at that flame-spewing metal mechanism.
That was...
"Numbers and swords can’t defeat this monster!"
Linxiao shivered.
Watching the figure continuously spewing flames, and recalling Elder Shi Chen’s panicked and hasty escape...
Even a Divinity Transformation Cultivator was forced to flee, what chance did he have against such a monster!
"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"
Linxiao jumped down from the fourth-story attic, shouting to Lin Jianfeng who was beside him, "Quick! Send the order, let everyone evacuate, exit Yuanhua City. We can’t have all of our Lin family’s elite perish here, save whoever can be saved."
Lin Jianfeng too was stunned by the eleven beams of devastating firepower.
In all his years of cultivation, he had never seen such a terrifying killing machine.
Tens, hundreds charged forward, only to fall like wheat.
The insignificance of life was fully demonstrated before such a murderous weapon.
Upon hearing Linxiao’s command, Lin Jianfeng shivered, quickly reacting, "I... I’ll go inform uncle right away..."
"Retreat! Retreat!"
There was no need for him to relay the news, as desperate cries had already emerged from the front lines.
That was the voice of Lin Tianlei, the second most skilled expert in the Lin family right after Linxiao, a Peak Hugging Pill Master.
Regrettably, as soon as he gave the order, he immediately exposed his position.
Amidst a cascade of brilliant, metallic torrents, his voice...
suddenly ceased.
This scene left Lin Jianfeng stunned.
Linxiao, however, showed a pained expression: "Escape! Let’s escape, we’ll talk after leaving Yuanhua City, save whoever can be saved!"
Having said that, he turned and sprinted towards the direction Elder Shi Chen had escaped.
Lin Jianfeng glanced around, but ultimately didn’t foolishly try to show off his fearless courage and followed Linxiao in departure.
And Gu Jinlai...
was only accompanied by a little over a hundred people.
and knew little about Yuanhua City.
Moreover, since Linxiao had been too scared to make a move from when Gu Jinlai climbed the wall, without exposing his position, he couldn’t pinpoint this instigator.
The firepower continued for a moment, and the battle gradually reached its end.
Several hours later, when Nian Buwang, leading a thousand men, arrived at Yuanhua City, all that was left was to take over the city and clear the battlefield.
...
"Tss!"
Gu Jinlai, brandishing his sword, deliberately targeted and killed a Hugging Pill Master.
At this moment, besides Gu Chifeng and others mopping up the lesser soldiers behind him, there were no more higher-level Qi Cultivators left to resist.
"Yuanhua City has been captured,"
Gu Jinlai stated.
Unlike Lingxiao City, which merely served as a transportation hub, Yuanhua City’s development to almost match the scale of six large cities like Chang County and Baihe was primarily due to the nearby mine.
An iron mine.
It was precisely because of this iron mine that Yuanhua City was relatively affluent, with a total population of two million four hundred thousand including the county, nearly double that of Lingxiao City which, including all governed counties, reached only one million three hundred thousand.
However, considering the recent news...
"Linxiao actually escaped."
He missed an opportunity to settle the score with this "original enemy."
He slightly squinted his eyes.
"Yuanhua City is less than five hundred li from Linfeng City..."
With that thought, he immediately called out, "Gu Chifeng."
"Patriarch."
Never without his armor or weapon, and reeking of gunpowder, Gu Chifeng quickly stepped forward, "What are your orders?"
"How many bullets do we have left?"
"Yuanhua City is complex, and clearing the military consumed a lot of bullets. Although we reduced the firing rate, there are still... less than two hundred thousand rounds remaining."
Gu Chifeng said.
"No more than two hundred thousand rounds."
This number may seem large, but in reality, a machine gun has no precision to speak of.
Under normal circumstances, a dozen bullets might not even kill a person.
This is still because the world doesn’t understand machine guns.
Once they think of tactics to counter the killing power of machine guns, this consumption is bound to increase several times, perhaps even more than tenfold.
"Does the Patriarch intend to take advantage of the victory to conquer Linfeng City?"
Gu Chifeng guessed something.
"Forget it."
Gu Jinlai shook his head, "With our current capabilities, occupying two cities is already our limit; occupying too many might not be a good thing."
"We may not occupy, but we can plunder."
Gu Chifeng’s eyes lit up, "The Lin Family has been managing Linfeng City for many years and possesses no small amount of wealth."
"Yuanhua City needs to be occupied as our base; we already do not have enough people."
"The Patriarch has forgotten, there are still family forces we can call upon."
Gu Chifeng said.
"The family..."
Gu Jinlai’s mind stirred.
"Right, the six thousand soldiers recruited by the family have been trained for nearly half a year and already possess combat capabilities, especially the three thousand being trained as the elite... Their strength is no less than that of the regular army. Taking the vulnerable Linfeng City will not be difficult."
Gu Chifeng’s spirits lifted, "Originally, wasn’t the Patriarch thinking of moving the Gu family to Lingxiao City? Why not split the forces, one moving and the other heading for a big fight in Linfeng City."
"That method..."
Gu Jinlai pondered slightly.
The Gu family was a significant hidden danger remaining in the Purgatory Sect’s stronghold in Red State; after seizing Lingxiao City, he had thought of moving the Gu family.
The Gu family side was also making preparations accordingly.
In the process of moving, dividing out the elite to plunder the defensively weak Linfeng City...
"Then what are we waiting for? Having come all this way, how can we return empty-handed?"
Gu Jinlai exclaimed, "Su Nanxing will act with you, I will stay in Yuanhua City to control the situation, you all bring all the equipment, quickly strike and quickly decide."
"Yes."
Gu Chifeng responded resolutely and promptly withdrew.
After his departure, Gu Jinlai concentrated a strand of his Spirit onto Qing Lian.
No.
It could no longer be called Qing Lian; the pitch-black Karma had long since overwhelmed Qing Lian, showing a bit of the appearance of a Black Lian.
"Seventeen layers? A bit frightening."
Gu Jinlai observed for a moment.
In two major battles, during the battle at Monument Mountain he hadn’t personally acted much, but in Yuanhua City, he had killed hundreds of soldiers, primarily of the Yellow designation, directly granting him three layers of Karma.
Although the layers of Karma do not represent the level of the enemy but...
Lest the Meteor Star Guard and Purgatory Sect ignore strategic layout for the so-called ’face’ and ’dignity’, sending Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators directly to him, he still needed to suppress some hatred.
"Fourteen layers... unsafe, thirteen layers are more stable."
With this thought, four rays of clear light washed down.
The pitch-black Karma in a moment fell back to bright red as blood.
Although still somewhat dazzling, he did not plan to reduce it further.
"During the siege, the commoners who died by my hand were numerous; even after the city was breached, despite my specific targeting of those with blood-like Karma, I have only accumulated eight rays of clear light up to now."
Using half all at once is already quite debilitating.
He still needed to keep two rays of clear light for an essential time like the close-range defense cannon.
The rest...
With a thought.
Two rays of clear light were infused into the Eternal Furnace.
Various insights surged into his mind.
He not only gained a deeper understanding of this Cultivation Technique, but the efficiency of harnessing Qi Refining and God Transformation seemed to have climbed as well.
As for the realm of the Cultivation Technique...
Eternal Furnace: Entry-level→Entry-level.
"When will it reach the earth level?
Gu Jinlai remarked, then retracted his Spirit sense.
...
Gu Chifeng led his people to depart again.
Gu Jinlai remained in Yuanhua City.
He did not sit in the City Lord Mansion but went to the Heavenly Gang Sect.
In fact, in terms of scale, the Heavenly Gang Sect was above the City Lord Mansion.
Ever since Su Wen extended his hand to Yuanhua City, the city had already changed its name.
This generation and the previous generation’s City Lords of Yuanhua City and that Minister Su, all had some connections to a certain extent.
And with Heavenly Gang Sect Leader Su Fangzheng’s daughter married to Su Wen, it was due to this relationship that the Heavenly Gang Sect was the true controller of Yuanhua City.
...
Not long after Gu Jinlai arrived at the Heavenly Gang Sect, Nian Buwang had already come to greet him: "Patriarch, Yuanhua City is already under our blockade, but... if we move Sixth Brother Gu and the others away, I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold the city gates smoothly."
"Hold the city gates? Why should we hold the city gates?"
Gu Jinlai said.
Nian Buwang was stunned, "Don’t we need to block the news?"
"Not only do we not need to, but we also want them to spread the news."
Gu Jinlai looked at him, "Watch the prisoners well, keep some people to maintain the city order, and as for the movement of city personnel, no need to bother about it."
Elder Shi Chen unsheathed the Cold Feather Sword, tearing through the Void, witnessed by many.
But the result?
Elder Shi Chen fled in panic, and they of the Gu family charged into Yuanhua City; the outcome speaks for itself.
Next, they just wait for the Purgatory Sect and Meteor Star Guard to receive this news, and by then, they will all make the right choices.
The continually unsettled Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City will also return to peace.
