Immortal County

Fortunately, the spiritual energy in the Lingxu Secret Realm was relatively abundant.

With the Phoenix Bloodline's support, Shi Mengying's body recovered quickly.

What surprised Shi Mengying, however, was that her Cultivation Level had actually regressed!

Shi Mengying suddenly realized that Gu Chen had directly scattered her inner strength.

As a result, her vital energy was severely damaged, and she had no way to rapidly raise her Cultivation Level anytime soon!

In a towering rage, Shi Mengying roared, "Gu Chen! I'll make sure you die without a burial!"

Meanwhile, at the market in East Desolation Commandery.

After leaving the Lingxu Secret Realm, Gu Chen came here at once.

After all, his Cultivation Level was still very low, far from meeting the conditions for Bigu.

When all was said and done, he still had to solve the problem of food and clothing!

Fortunately, he had not spent all of his previous inheritance. Gu Chen bought several large meat buns from the roadside.

As he ate, Gu Chen continued pondering the gemstone he had obtained from the Third Divine Hall.

He could not help finding it strange. Was there actually a Supreme Treasure in this world that he did not recognize?

This made Gu Chen begin to doubt.

Could that gemstone merely be valuable, with no other use at all?

Just as Gu Chen was thinking this, he suddenly heard the conversation at the next table.

"Have you heard? Every last member of the Gu family was killed. They died horribly!"

"I heard the Gu family head's head was cut off, and his body was chopped into eight pieces. Truly brutal."

"The officials have already gone over, but no one knows who the murderer is yet."

"Could the culprit be the person who wiped out the entire Cangshan Sword Sect?"

"Oh, that really is possible. But the Cangshan Sword Sect was supposedly wiped out over a Spirit Sword. What happened to the Gu family?"

"Who can make sense of something like this? Maybe it was revenge, or perhaps a crime of passion!"

Hearing the discussion from those people at the next table, the corners of Gu Chen's lips rose slightly.

He immediately realized that Gu Youwei must have done all of this.

Gu Chen simply had not expected it.

With Gu Youwei's current Cultivation Level, she had actually managed to carve a bloody path out of the Cangshan Sword Sect's encirclement?

But upon thinking it over carefully, an answer quickly surfaced in Gu Chen's mind.

Those people said the Cangshan Sword Sect had lost its Spirit Sword, which meant Gu Youwei had surely claimed the sect's Spirit Sword for herself.

And among all the swords in the world that Gu Youwei could wield, and that could be called Spirit Swords,

there was likely only one: Red Plume, one of the Four Divine Swords from the Ancient Primordial Era.

Gu Chen still remembered it clearly.

In his previous life, Gu Youwei had successfully cultivated to the level of the Empress.

Standing above the nine heavens, she merely stretched out her right hand, and the Red Plume Divine Sword came shooting toward her against the clouds of the nine heavens.

Thus, Gu Chen believed that Gu Youwei had surely received Red Plume's aid to slaughter in all directions like this.

But Gu Chen did not care about any of it in the slightest.

Because he knew Gu Youwei's Cultivation Level was low. Using Red Plume now would definitely greatly damage her vital energy.

Once or twice would be fine, but if this continued over the long term,

she might one day suddenly die on the spot!

But none of that had anything to do with Gu Chen.

After all, in this life, he no longer had those messy thoughts from his previous life.

Love and affection had all been cast behind him.

In this life, he had only one goal: to grow stronger without end!

Then he would stay far away from the clamor of the mortal world, far away from the harassment of those crazy women!

After finishing the buns, Gu Chen simply bought some Spiritual Medicine by the roadside and set out directly for Immortal County.

The Rookie Competition was about to begin, and Gu Chen naturally would not miss such a good opportunity to raise his Cultivation Level.

Before long, Gu Chen arrived at the border between East Desolation Commandery and Immortal County.

There, he happened to see the official announcement for the Rookie Competition posted at the city gate.

After carefully reading the official notice on the gate, Gu Chen nodded thoughtfully.

He could not help thinking to himself, It seems everything is the same as in my previous life. Nothing has changed.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Gu Chen suddenly smiled.

If he said nothing had changed, that would not be accurate.

Compared to his previous life, one sect had not come to participate in the competition.

That was the Cangshan Sword Sect, since Gu Youwei had already wiped it out completely.

More and more people gathered at the city gate, and many could not help discussing it.

"This year's Rookie Competition is truly huge. A full five sects are taking part!"

"And quite a few Rogue Cultivators have signed up as well. The scene then will definitely be explosive!"

"The key is that this year's prizes are plentiful. Even if you only place a little, you can still make a fortune!"

"Not to mention that if you can take one of the top places, you'll soar to greatness for the rest of your life!"

"It's a shame I'm too old to compete. Otherwise, I'd definitely go show off a few moves!"

Hearing the people beside him say this, Gu Chen could not help recalling some memories from his previous life.

In his previous life, Gu Chen had brought Gu Youwei and Wei Qingyu with him to compete.

Because he had to help Wei Qingyu cultivate and soothe Gu Youwei's rebellious emotions, Gu Chen had not even had time to properly prepare for the competition.

Although Gu Chen ultimately obtained quite a few rewards, they still fell far short of what he had expected.

In this life, Gu Chen did not need to bring along the two burdens, Wei Qingyu and Gu Youwei. He was brimming with confidence about taking the championship.

After all, Gu Chen had been the Heavenly Emperor in his previous life. If he failed to place in such a minor competition, it would truly be inexcusable.

With that thought, Gu Chen passed directly through the city gate and entered Immortal County.

Immortal County, an unknown alley.

Gu Youwei was wrapped in a black hooded garment, holding a baked flatbread she had just bought by the roadside.

She squatted in the dim corner at the deepest end of the alley, chewing slowly.

After killing Gu Zhengchun and his wife, Gu Youwei took some silver from the Gu family and fled all the way to Immortal County.

As time passed, Gu Youwei knew she would inevitably be discovered by the authorities.

After all, many servants and maids had escaped from the Gu family at the time. Any one of them might report her.

But Gu Youwei was not worried.

After all, in this world, raising one's Cultivation Level was the only hard truth.

Government laws and such were nothing more than things meant to restrain ordinary mortals.

That was also why Gu Youwei had come to Immortal County.

In her previous life, Gu Youwei had gone to the Lingxu Secret Realm with Gu Chen and had also participated in the Rookie Competition.

Both places could rapidly raise her Cultivation Level and even allow her to obtain secret treasures and cultivation techniques.

She could no longer go to the Lingxu Secret Realm, because given the current timeline, Gu Chen had surely already swept it clean of treasures.

Therefore, the Rookie Competition was currently Gu Youwei's fastest and most convenient path to raising her Cultivation Level.

Moreover, Gu Youwei had another very important reason for coming to Immortal County to participate in the Rookie Competition.

She knew Gu Chen would definitely come here as well. When that time came, she would very likely meet him.