Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

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With a thought from Gu Chen, this time a full thirty-six merit points disappeared from the panel, causing him to click his tongue in secret amazement.

It should be noted that this was merely to elevate the Golden Bell Shield of Dragon and Tiger Roars—a Superior Martial Skill—to minor achievement, and he had already spent nearly ninety merit points on it inside and out. Those points could have brought a high-grade martial art to perfection.

Of course, although that was so, the power of a Superior Martial Skill was incomparable to that of a high-grade martial art.

However, the merit required for Superior Martial Skills was simply too expensive. Even though Gu Chen had achieved great merit this time in Xu'an County and the Jing Tian Department had treated him with extra generosity, his merit was still insufficient.

Moreover, he needed to exchange for soul crystals to improve his merit points; after all, even if a Superior Martial Skill was laid out before him, without the merit points, he would be unable to improve it.

Relying on his current martial arts perspective, trying to cultivate a Superior Martial Skill would progress extremely slowly—nowhere near as satisfying as utilizing the panel's merit points to improve a martial art.

With the Golden Bell Shield of Dragon and Tiger Roars achieving minor achievement, the protective golden bell around his body became more solid, and moreover, the dragon and tiger phantoms hovering above it did too, as if they were about to come to life, slowly moving, lifelike.

At the same time, even if Gu Chen did not drive the Golden Bell Shield of Dragon and Tiger Roars to its limit, relying solely on his flesh, he already possessed a tremendously strong recoil force. With this recoil force, those with weaker cultivation who attacked Gu Chen would be shaken and injured on the spot.

Gu Chen raised his palm, with his fingers long and translucent, like a reduced version of a pillar reaching to the heavens. The more he cultivated the body-refining skills, the more robust his body became.

At this moment, his muscles were bulging, but not protruding—instead, they were like neatly arranged mutton-fat jade, pleasing and delightful to look at.

Such a strong body, though exceedingly pale, was still full of masculine vigor.

Gu Chen's hair was loose, his face handsome, his facial features well-defined, his manner gentle, with a smile lingering on his lips and his eyes brighter and more splendid than the stars beyond the sky.

Right now, with the Golden Bell Shield of Dragon and Tiger Roars reaching minor achievement, Gu Chen's internal organs were shining with a faint luster, but he was still short of achieving a solid state as if cast from bronze and iron.

If the Vajra Stage's first level of imperviousness to fire and water refined the outer flesh, making external attacks no longer easily injure the martial artist's body, then the second level of being solid as cast in bronze and iron was the internal refining of the organs.

Once reaching the solidity of being cast in bronze and iron in the second level, the toughness of the organs would surpass that of steel, so even the incursion of inner Qi would hardly cause injury.

That day, if it wasn't for Gu Chen having ample Qi and his cultivation being too strong when battling Wulna, otherwise, if it were someone else, they simply wouldn't have been able to break through Wulna's defense.

But to train the fragile internal organs to such an extent was extremely difficult; even Gu Chen, who had undergone countless enhancements to his physique, still had relatively fragile internal organs.

Luckily, the Golden Bell Shield of Dragon and Tiger Roars was a Superior Martial Skill that provided an all-around enhancement to Gu Chen's body, immensely intricate, which naturally included the internal organs. As long as he continued to improve it, Gu Chen was not worried about his continued cultivation in the Vajra Stage.

At this time, Gu Chen's gaze fell slightly as he called up the panel again.

His panel, after several upgrades, still had ninety-two merit points remaining.

Gu Chen looked at the martial arts listed on the panel. At this stage, his cultivation and physical body were strong enough, but the realm of his offensive martial arts still lagged slightly behind these two aspects.

Thus, with a thought from Gu Chen, forty-six merit points instantly disappeared from the panel, and the Great Vajra Fist, a high-grade martial art, went from minor achievement directly to perfection.

A torrential flood of martial arts experience poured into his mind. Once Great Vajra Fist reached perfection, Gu Chen instantly understood this fist technique in an extraordinary way, comprehending the corresponding martial essence.

In a trance, Gu Chen seemed to arrive at a temple where, at its center, a golden-bodied arhat was stretching his limbs and practicing fist techniques.

And this set of fist techniques was precisely the Great Vajra Fist that Gu Chen had learned.

Boom!

A punch from this person was grand and fierce, possessed the power to subdue dragons and tigers. The entire world before Gu Chen's eyes fragmented in an instant, and he woke from his surprise.

This was the understanding of the martial essence attainable after Great Vajra Fist reached perfection; the martial art truly deserved to be called superior even amongst Buddhist practitioners for its extraordinary power.

The last forty-six merit points Gu Chen used to enhance the Condensing Pulse Sword Wave, elevating this martial art from minor achievement to perfection as well.

Zing!

A series of clear sword chimes resounded next to Gu Chen's ear, one after another, totaling five. Gu Chen only felt five different sword lights flash before his eyes, tearing apart heaven and earth.

This was the martial essence understood upon achieving perfection with the Condensing Pulse Sword Wave.

As the two martial arts reached perfection and Gu Chen understood their martial essences, he subtly felt his intuition and spirit strengthen further.

That was the mental enhancement Gu Chen gained from the understanding of two martial essences.

At this moment, the panel showed a zero for the merit points. However, behind the two martial arts, appeared the words "Can be deduced."

They were the Condensing Pulse Sword Wave and the Burning Vein Finger.

"It seems that the deduction of martial arts by the panel also depends on the compatibility and affinity of the martial arts," Gu Chen thought to himself. He had thought that upon achieving perfection with Great Vajra Fist and Condensing Pulse Sword Wave, he could deduce a Superior Martial Skill.

It appears that he had been too simplistic in his thinking.

After all, one martial art was a fist technique, the other a finger technique; one was supremely forceful and the other was for ranged killing. The compatibility between the two was indeed not high.

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However, the Burning Vein Finger and Condensing Pulse Sword Wave were different, both being finger techniques suitable for long-range attacks, with great compatibility and martial arts synergy.

The only pity was that Gu Chen no longer had any skill point value left.

At the same time, his panel now also featured an upper-grade martial skill named the Four Extremes Propping Heaven Fist.

This was also exchanged by Gu Chen at the Jing Tian Department. Like the Great Vajra Fist, this technique was fierce and violent, but what set it apart was its name, Four Extremes Propping Heaven, referring to a person's arms and legs.

Although this martial skill was a fist technique, when practiced to a high level, every part of the body could become a lethal weapon, particularly the arms and legs—the Four Extremes Propping Heaven primarily focused on these limbs.

This martial skill likened the limbs to four pillars supporting heaven and earth. If perfected, comprehending the martial path's true meaning, a casual strike would possess immense power, the combined force of the Four Extremes capable of propping up a small world of one's own.

If the Four Extremes Propping Heaven Fist reached perfection and was combined with the Great Vajra Fist, Gu Chen had a premonition that he could surely deduce a superior martial skill.

Meanwhile, after reaching the Vajra Stage, Gu Chen's inner cultivation span had terrifyingly increased to four hundred and sixty-four years, enabling him to fully unleash the power of Pure Yang Wuji Gong.

Now, whenever Gu Chen operated his skills, his entire being seemed to transform into a great furnace, releasing astonishing heat.

Even the qi within him was utterly yang and extremely rigid, scorching hot. At this stage, Gu Chen's inner qi alone was enough to burn steel.

What Gu Chen didn't know was that a conspiracy targeting him was quietly unfolding in the shadows.

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Night, at Uncle Dingyuan's residence.

At the moment, Huang Xiu stood there, trembling with fear, surrounded by Uncle Dingyuan, the Marquis of Wuwei, and Cao Ying.

"Huang Xiu, you really are useless!"

With a 'bam', Uncle Dingyuan lashed out with a kick that sent Huang Xiu flying a good distance. Although Huang Xiu was also a martial artist at the Gang Qi Stage, the same as Uncle Dingyuan, he dared not fight back.

The reason was simple: he owed everything he had to Uncle Dingyuan, and as a Wuyuan Hall instructor, he was but a dog under the feet of these Da Xia nobles.

Huang Xiu's face showed bitterness. In the battle of Xu'an County, everyone but him had benefited. Not only had he exerted himself without gaining any advantage, but upon returning, he was even being cleaned up by Uncle Dingyuan and the others. Huang Xiu even felt like dying, so great was his grievance.

"Huang Xiu, I ask you, on that day, when my son faced the demon cult martial artists, did he seek help from Gu Chen?" Uncle Dingyuan asked gravely.

Huang Xiu frowned. The situation at the time was extremely chaotic; he was preoccupied with saving his own life and didn't pay much attention to anything else.

"Think carefully before you speak!" the Marquis of Wuwei said, his eyes deeply set on him.

Seeing this, Huang Xiu's body shuddered. Desperately recalling the day's events, luckily, as a Gang Qi Stage martial artist who hadn't cultivated a true martial intent, he still had a strong mental spirit from his cumulative practice. It didn't take him long to remember everything that had happened that day.

Hastily, Huang Xiu nodded and said, "I remember, on that day, the young lord and his companions fled in Gu Chen's direction, but Gu Chen did make a move, and he was injured as well."

"He was faking it, definitely faking it!"

Cao Ying declared decisively, "Think about it, with his strength, how could he possibly have been made to vomit blood by four Vajra Stage martial artists?"

Upon hearing this, Huang Xiu's brow also began to furrow as he too felt something was amiss.

Indeed, with Gu Chen's powerful abilities, it didn't make sense for him to suffer like that.

Could it be that he had been hiding his strength all along?

Furthermore, Huang Xiu even recalled the scene where Gu Chen easily dealt with two Vajra Stage assassins from the Blood-Clothed Tower. At this thought, he grew even more convinced that Gu Chen might have been pretending.

Yet he said nothing more. He wasn't foolish; Gu Chen was the darling of Tiandu, his fame booming and having been granted a title. He couldn't afford to offend him.

Of course, neither could he afford to offend Uncle Dingyuan since his attainment in Gangqi had reached its peak. As he couldn't afford to upset either side, Huang Xiu thought it best to keep silent and obediently stand by.

"What a Gu Chen, to stand by and watch my son die!" Uncle Dingyuan and the Marquis of Wuwei were instantly furious.

Cao Ying had a sinister look in his eyes. At that moment, he had achieved his goal.

But then, Uncle Dingyuan and the Marquis of Wuwei's brows furrowed again, contemplating how to deal with Gu Chen.

Words alone obviously couldn't serve as evidence. Even though indifference to one's comrades, failing to assist, wouldn't be enough to have Gu Chen beheaded, if the matter spread, and they put in a little effort, they could ruin Gu Chen's reputation.

At the present stage, the common people of Tiandu had heard of Gu Chen, and the cries of support were high. Uncle Dingyuan and the Marquis of Wuwei had long been uncomfortable with this. If they spread the news, although they couldn't do substantive harm to Gu Chen, at least they could ruin his reputation, and perhaps even strip him of his title.

After all, the title hadn't been fully confirmed yet; they had to wait for the Emperor Emeritus's decree. If they were to heavily promote the issue, who knows? They might even persuade King Huai and the Crown Prince to revoke Gu Chen's title.

In doing so, if Gu Chen became a commoner again, their means of dealing with him would multiply.

With this thought, Uncle Dingyuan said to the Marquis of Wuwei, "Tomorrow, at the Jinluan Hall, both of us will speak of this matter in public. This time, even if that youngster doesn't die, we must strip him of his skin!"