Hostile

The great city of Baihe.

Tan Qingquan personally oversaw the operation.

However, nowadays, in addition to Tan Qingquan, there is another figure in Baihe City.

Ye Yiren of the Taihe Sword Sect.

Not long ago, in the battle of Starlight City, Tan Qingquan saved Ye Yiren's life from Cheng Wanli's sword.

Furthermore, Ye Yiren realized that the situation in Star Province would inevitably be decided among the six major forces. Fence-sitters like herself, the Nine Secrets Sword Sect, and Gu Jinlai had no choice but to pledge allegiance to the six major forces.

Among the six major forces, the State Lord's Mansion and they are now locked in a life-or-death struggle.

The rest...

Yellow Heaven Sect's situation is precarious due to the fall of a significant portion of Huangzhou.

The Cold Moon Sect and the Yellow Heaven Sect Path are in similar situations, both facing a severe threat from the Demonic Beasts of Muzhou.

Longque Manor was also regarded as a traitor by the State Lord's Mansion and was targeted as a key target, with the possibility that it would be the first to be expelled from Star Province.

In this way, only the Purgatory Sect and the Underworld Sect remain.

Compared to the Yellow Springs Sect, the Taihe Sword Sect occupies Taihe City, which is right next to Baihe City.

In addition, there's the personal connection of being saved by someone else...

The two forces naturally came together.

"This time, I am very grateful for Elder Ye's great help. After the matter is accomplished, I will definitely introduce Elder Lu Zhanxian of my Purgatory Sect to Elder Ye. In the future, when our Purgatory Sect takes over Star Province, Taihe City will still belong to Taihe Sword Sect. My Purgatory Sect will never interfere in the slightest."

Tan Qingquan made a solemn promise.

"Then I thank Elder Tan very much."

Ye Yiren nodded slightly and said, "My task is simply to hold back one 'Crimson', right?"

"Right."

Tan Qingquan nodded. "There was only one 'Crimson' left in Lingxiao City, so I brought two. Gu Jinlai leave one to Sect Master Ye, and I'll personally take charge of the other one's defense."

"Good."

Ye Yiren didn't ask any further questions.

She didn't delve into why Tan Qingquan would suddenly target Gu Jinlai.

As well as...

Whatever plans Tan Qingquan has made, she only needs to use this battle to show her stance.

After the two exchanged a few words, a figure walked over.

It was Xue Wuqing.

"Senior brother, everything is arranged."

Xue Wuqing said.

The Purgatory Sect assigned Tan Qingquan to assist Xue Wuqing in maintaining order in Baihe City because the two shared the same master.

Although their master has passed away, it does not affect the bond between the two brothers.

"Very good."

Tan Qingquan calmly said, "That area has a lot of obstructions and obstacles. When we activate it, we will have someone ignite the gunpowder, burn the flames, and create thick smoke. I don't believe that under these circumstances, his killing Spirit Artifact 'Crimson' can still lock onto my White Creek Sword and shoot it out unpredictably."

"We also have many assassins disguised as craftsmen, who will launch attacks on Gu Jinlai when necessary. Although these people can't do anything to him, they can distract him."

Xue Wuqing paused slightly as he spoke, "However, shouldn't we go and explain things to Elder Sha?"

"No need, Lao Sha. He's getting old and doesn't have the drive he used to have. There's no point in talking to him about these things."

Tan Qingquan said, "Besides, he already knows all the things we've arranged, yet he remains unmoved, which in itself represents a certain attitude."

Xue Wuqing nodded.

Despite his status as the Gold-Robed Elder of the Purgatory Sect Gu Jinlai, anyone who could kill him would be considered to have performed a great service within the Purgatory Sect.

After all, he represents the interests of nearly ten million people and their territories in four cities: Lingxiao City, Changjun City, Yuanhua City, and Sunset City.

In this situation, it Gu Jinlai considered incredibly fortunate for Elder Sha not to even join in the action, let alone stop it.

"Go ahead. Gu Jinlai left Lingxiao City around noon. If they go at full speed, they should arrive by nightfall. However, to conserve their energy, they will probably wait until tomorrow morning to carry out any action. Once they arrive, have someone take them there. He will never expect that we would launch an indiscriminate attack without regard for our own people."

Tan Qingquan gave the instructions.

"Good."

Xue Wuqing took his leave.

In Baihe City, Tan Qingquan had already made arrangements, adopting a posture of personally taking action against Gu Jinlai for the further development of the sect's Star Province strategy.

Outside Baihe City, Gu Jinlai had arrived safely under the cover of night.

Just as Tan Qingquan had guessed, he did not launch an attack immediately, but rested for a night, and only headed straight for Baihe City when the sun was high in the sky the next day.

However, upon arriving outside Baihe City, they discovered that the city gates were wide open, and a group of people seemed to be waiting for something.

Upon seeing Gu Jinlai and his group, the leader, a master at the Core Forming level, said loudly, "Is Elder Gu here in person? This is a misunderstanding."

"Um?"

Gu Jinlai somewhat surprised.

The expert at the Core Forming stage quickly replied, "Elder Gu, you may not know this, but half a month ago, a group of people acted under your name, spying on the defenses of Baihe City for several days before Elder Xue discovered their activities. However, before they could be brought to justice, the Gu Clan members entered the city again. Elder Xue, caught off guard, mistook the Gu Clan for spies from other forces and detained them. After clarifying the Gu Clan's identities, we released them and treated them well. We even sent someone to Lingxiao City to explain. If Elder Gu had arrived a day later, they would probably have already set off to return."

"Misunderstand?"

Gu Jinlai's expression remained largely unchanged. "I see. Where are they?"

"It's in the South City, please follow me."

The man Core Forming bowed respectfully and led the way.

Gu Jinlai hearing this. "Let's go into the city."

Gu Luochen, who had come with him, quickly approached and said, "Ancestor, I'm afraid there's a trap."

At the same time, he lowered his voice. "I just received news that someone saw Elder Ye of the Taihe Sword Sect appear. If this news is true, in addition to the original two elders, Tan Qingquan and Sha Wujin, there is now a third Spirit Transformation cultivator lurking in the city. If we rashly enter the city..."

"Enter the city."

As if he hadn't heard the worry in Gu Chifeng's tone, Gu Jinlai directly gave the order to follow the man with the Core Forming into the city.

Seeing this, Gu Luochen and the others had no choice but to quickly follow.

But...

After walking for a while, Gu Jinlai suddenly said, "Baihe is a large city, and its bustling prosperity is incomparable to Lingxiao City. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, I will take a stroll in the city first, and then go to pick up our Gu Clan members later."

After saying this, he led his men in a long stride toward another direction.

The man with the Core Forming was slightly taken aback, and quickly stepped forward, saying, "Elder Gu, Elder Xue is still waiting for you over there. Why don't you take care of the important matters first, and then Elder Xue and I will show you around the city?"

"I've already said it's a misunderstanding, and they're still enjoying good food and drink there, so why should I be in such a hurry?"

Gu Jinlai, he glanced at him and said, "What, do you have some other purpose? Or... do you want to harm us?"

"No, no, absolutely not. How could I dare to be disrespectful to the elders?"

"This man, Core Forming), said with some trepidation."

"Is that so?"

Gu Jinlai, he sneered, "They clearly want to deal with me, yet they resort to so many schemes and tricks. Unlike me, I can simply lock onto a target and charge straight at it."

Gu Luochen, who had been following along and was still considering how to persuade the ancestor to act cautiously, was slightly taken aback.

He recalled the map of Baihe City and realized that the place where the ancestor had turned was the intersection closest to the City Lord Mansion.

In other words...

Is our ancestor planning to strike at the heart of the enemy's territory and make the first move?

But...

"Ancestor... that's an elder of the Purgatory Sect. To attack before we even know if he intends to deal with us... what if the Purgatory Sect..."

"Unless something goes wrong, I didn't bring so many people here for tourism."

Gu Jinlai, they have carried two close-in weapon systems, one in each hand.

The speed underfoot noticeably increased.

"Whether it's a misunderstanding or Tan Qingquan truly harbors ill intentions towards me, since he chose to take action, I have a legitimate reason to retaliate... Even if there isn't a legitimate reason, as long as I can kill him, I will eventually find a reason why he intended to harm me. If I really can't find one..."

Gu Jinlai sneered, "I can make it up myself."

His True Spirit had already been infused into the two close-in weapon systems (CIWS). Under the detection of the CIWS, the two red lights on the left and one on the right were clearly distinct.

He didn't know if this was Tan Qingquan's tactical arrangement, or what reason he had to do it...

It's about closing the distance between the two as quickly as possible, and then...

"Sizzle!"

A metallic scraping sound rang out.

When they were still two kilometers away from the two red dots, Gu Jinlai opened fire.

In an instant, two streaks of light, like bolts of lightning, shot towards a six-story building amidst a burst of flames.

Almost at the same moment he opened fire, Tan Qingquan, who was in the high-rise building, realized that their plan had not worked at all.

Throughout Gu Jinlai, they have never played by the rules.

And...

He seemed to have some special method to lock onto their location in advance, so he used that Core Forming to lull them into a false sense of security and only launched an attack when he was closest to them, thus compressing the Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivator's ten-mile attack range advantage to less than four miles.

When his scheme failed, Tan Qingquan made a decisive move.

The White Stream Sword soared into the sky, its Sword Qi crisscrossing.

As the laser-like meteors struck the tall building, the flying sword shot out, instantly breaking the sound barrier and shooting straight towards the Gu Jinlai place with a visible white shockwave.

Less than half a second after Tan Qingquan drew his sword, Ye Yiren followed suit.

As she leaped into the air, dodging the bullets fired from the close-in weapon system, she used her Yin Spirit to control her sword.

The sword light whistled, shaking the void, and Tan Qingquan's flying sword shot towards the direction where Gu Jinlai was.

"Good timing."

Gu Jinlai, a low shout has stirred the True Spirit.

Not only did he control the two close-in weapon systems using the method of manifesting True Spirit, but he also stimulated the spiritual perception of the simulated atmosphere to the extreme.

With this perception, he seemed to have discerned the traces of the flying sword.

At that very moment, he was in a state of shared consciousness with the two close-in weapon systems (CIWS). The CIWS, possessing a kind of "life," were linked to his thoughts and perceptions, and instantly...

The close-in weapon system's aiming system seems to have been upgraded, with its accuracy improved several times over.

"Sizzle!"

Sparks flew.

Before Tan Qingquan's flying sword could even get within 500 meters of Gu Jinlai, it was already hit by a bullet, bursting out a dazzling flash of light.