Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

As expected, conflict arose at the city gates last night. Some people sensed something amiss and attempted to flee under the cover of darkness, but fortunately, Gu Chen was well-prepared. He ordered Wu Qian to seal off the city throughout the night, and with his timely arrival, he subdued these individuals on the spot, turning them into points of merit, which contributed to his own standing.

Having been up all night, Gu Chen was in the prime of his youth and strength, and as a cultivator of some accomplishment, the lack of sleep had no effect on him.

But Zhou Rang was different. Already old and being just an ordinary person, staying up all night with Gu Chen had indeed taken a toll on the elderly gentleman.

The next morning, Zhou Rang sat in the county government office drinking tea, leaning back in his chair, his aged face looking extremely haggard.

"Youth is truly wonderful," Zhou Rang remarked, admiring the still lively and spirited Gu Chen after a half night's rush and an all-nighter.

In response, Gu Chen offered a slight smile and said, "This night has truly been trying for Elder Zhou."

He then extended his palm and placed it on Zhou Rang's wrist, channeling his robust inner energy through the meridians, transferring it into Zhou Rang's body.

With the nourishment of Gu Chen's inner energy, Zhou Rang instantly felt reinvigorated. The deficit in his body was replenished, warmth spread through him, dispelling the weariness on his face.

The elderly gentleman pinched the teacup, squinting his eyes as he leaned back, looking rather content.

"I'm indebted to Lord Gu," Zhou Rang said with a smile, clasping his hands towards Gu Chen as he withdrew his palm.

"Not at all, Elder Zhou is being too polite," Gu Chen said with a smile on his face. He glanced at the sky and added, "It's about time. The heads of the families should be ready by now."

"Wu Qian."

Gu Chen called Wu Qian over and ordered him to set out immediately with his men.

After that, Gu Chen and Zhou Rang also left the county government. They had discussed the previous night that Ning City had a population of 150,000. Searching every household was too time-consuming, and it was uncertain how long a thorough search would take. Temporarily sealing the city was feasible, but if prolonged, it would inevitably cause public anxiety.

Therefore, after discussions, Gu Chen and Zhou Rang decided to divide Ning City into four areas, searching one area per day. If all went as planned, they would need only four days to completely eliminate all the demons lurking in Ning City.

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Of course, Gu Chen dared to do this, to gather everyone together because of his absolute confidence in his own power. Should any demon appear, he would suppress it immediately, preventing any harm to other citizens.

After all, if the demons in Ning City truly had formidable strength, they would not choose to hide; they would have already devoured everyone in the city.

And the first to be searched today were naturally the prominent families of Ning City because the three demons found last night all came from these families.

The first family Gu Chen visited was the Sun family. Sun Li had been waiting with his clan for a long time, and he no longer possessed the arrogance he had the night before. He stood there respectfully, awaiting Gu Chen's arrival.

Upon arrival at the Sun family's residence, Gu Chen didn't waste words. The Sun family had roughly the same number of members as the Fang family. After spending some time confirming that there were no demons besides Sun Changzhi in the Sun family, Gu Chen left.

Ning City had seven noble families in total. The Fang family had already been searched by Gu Chen, and with the Sun family just inspected, that left five more, including the Zhou family.

Next, Gu Chen visited each of the remaining households in turn. After last night's incident, it seemed that all the demons in each family had been eradicated, with no new discoveries made.

After searching these families, Gu Chen arrived at a temporary venue set up by Wu Qian and the county government staff. The citizens of Ning City had already gathered in groups, waiting there early on.

The abrupt sealing of the city, coupled with today's events, had left the citizens feeling bewildered and fearful. However, fortunately, Zhou Rang was by Gu Chen's side, and with him addressing the crowd, the people were somewhat pacified.

The Zhou family had been respected in Ning City for many years, and Zhou Rang had once been the governor of Qingyang County, known for his integrity and fairness. He also had a stellar reputation in Ning City, often commanding people to set up tents and distribute porridge to benefit the poor of the city.

With this elderly gentleman present, the people of Ning City were naturally very cooperative.

By the time the search ended, the sun had already set, marking the end of the day's investigation. No demon spirits had appeared in this area.

As time passed, another three days went by. Gu Chen had thoroughly searched Ning City, and during this period, he discovered three demon spirits hiding among the crowd, all of which he subdued with a single palm strike, minimising the commotion.

After four consecutive days of exhausting his mind and senses to detect demon spirits, Gu Chen also felt drained, a trace of fatigue showing on his face.

Since Gu Chen's arrival in Ning City, in just a few short days, he had already slain nine demon spirits, including one as powerful as a martial artist in the channel-opening realm. Fortunately, it was Gu Chen who came to Ning City this time; any other city guard would have been unable to deal with the situation and might have even been ensnared themselves.

Of course, although the process was somewhat arduous, the rewards were also extremely rich. These few days of searching had brought Gu Chen more than sixty merit points.

Apart from initially inheriting the legacy of his predecessor upon arriving in this world, Gu Chen had never been so wealthy.

So many merit points were enough to bring Gu Chen a significant improvement, allowing him to open up more meridians and accumulate a more profound foundation in the channel-opening realm.

Even the usually composed Gu Chen felt a surge of excitement and exceptional joy at this moment.

However, beyond the joy, Gu Chen also felt a sense of urgency.

If a single county in Ning City was already in such a state, it was hard to imagine how many demon spirits lurked in other places across Qingyang County, or even in Qiongtian Mansion, throughout Da Xia, and the rest of the nine states.

And how many innocent people would these numerous demon spirits cause to die tragically?

"It seems that the scourge of demon spirits has become increasingly serious and is likely already eating away at Da Xia, even the entire nine states," Gu Chen pondered.

The threat of demon spirits was not only to Da Xia but to the entire nine states. By their very existence, demon spirits inherently stood in opposition to all of the Human Clan, or rather, all living beings, as no creature could escape their predation.

No one knew the origins or source of the demon spirits, nor how they came to appear in the nine states.

At least, Gu Chen couldn't find any trace of them in the memories of his predecessor, and the Jing Tian Department had no related records, either.

The only thing Gu Chen knew was that the demon spirits first appeared over three hundred years ago, which was when the nine states first became aware of their existence.

Now, after more than three hundred years, the Human Clan of the nine states still had not figured out the source of the demon spirits. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, leaving no trace or method to be found.

As a member of the Jing Tian Department, whose duty it was to eliminate demon spirits, battling against them was an inevitable part of Gu Chen's life.

Even if he were to leave the Jing Tian Department, the mystery and unpredictability of the demon spirits meant that no place was absolutely safe. Furthermore, the number of demon spirits had been increasing over the years, so leaving the Department did not equate to safety.

On the contrary, as long as he was with the Jing Tian Department, Gu Chen could continuously enhance his own strength by unceasingly slaying demon spirits, thus ensuring his ability to protect himself in such a dangerous world, and perhaps even safeguard his family.

Moreover, as the Jing Tian Department was one of Da Xia's most important organizations, Gu Chen could exchange the merits earned from slaying demon spirits for various techniques and treasures to further strengthen himself.

After searching for four consecutive days, Gu Chen was mentally and physically exhausted. At dusk and back in his room, he chose not even to practice his inner energy as usual but to fall into a deep sleep instead.

With this, the matters of Ning City were considered to come to a close. However, what Gu Chen did not know was that at this moment, the Gu Family was facing a crisis.