Starlight City (Thanks to Nian Chan for the Alliance Leader's reward)

"Wild mountains—not only does True Qi recovery slow down, but even the operation of the Great Sun Demonic Radiance Technique is affected."

Inside the carriage, Gu Jinlai, who had been circulating his energy and regulating his breath, let out a sigh.

The carriage he occupied was the most luxurious. Though its interior space was less than three square meters, it was padded with thick carpets and equipped with a good shock absorption system, so even regulating his breath inside wouldn't cause much disturbance.

After finishing his breath regulation and recovering his True Qi, Gu Jinlai turned his gaze to his bundle.

Time to tally the spoils.

The bundle contained quite a few items.

Nine pieces of Jadeware Treasures, twelve books, and two treasure boxes.

Gu Jinlai examined them one by one.

The Jadeware Treasures were of considerable value.

Among the twelve books, six were worth keeping.

Two martial skills, one secret art, one True Lord biography, one simple intelligence report on the major powers and sects of Star Prefecture, and the last recorded the Merit Quota required to exchange for various resources from the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Diagram.

Gu Jinlai focused his attention on the intelligence report on Star Prefecture's major powers.

This intelligence was hardly detailed for a major force like the Purgatory Demonic Sect. If placed on the desk of Sect Master Lu Dengxian, that great figure wouldn't spare it a second glance.

But for Gu Jinlai—especially for Gu Jinlai, who had only been here for less than two months after crossing over—it was an eye-opener.

After skimming through it roughly, he glanced over the martial skills and secret art.

The martial skills were quite exquisite—one fist, one sword.

Among them, the fist technique was called the Great Heavenly Gang Hand, a fist art at the Spirit Refining level, involving many aspects of divine thought application and True Qi micro-manipulation.

The sword technique, on the other hand, was only at the Embryonic Pill level.

But compared to the martial skills, it was the secret art that truly made Gu Jinlai's eyes light up.

This secret art was called the Burning Origin Art.

It used a special method to compress and detonate the True Qi within the body, granting the True Qi several times its normal power.

Of course, under the Burning Origin Art, True Qi consumption would greatly accelerate. If the power of True Qi doubled, the consumption would be at least three times higher.

Moreover, if sustained for too long, it would damage the user's own body.

"Secret arts, regardless of their level, hold astonishing value. They are trump cards that can reverse the tide at critical moments. Many Spirit Refining True Persons may not even possess a secret art."

The original Gu Jinlai was the best example.

Even as an elder of the Purgatory Demonic Sect, he was like this—let alone other Spirit Refining cultivators.

That Yun Guantian possessed a secret art was most likely related to his control over the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Diagram.

With this Dao Artifact as his foundation, as long as he had enough Merit Quota, what secret arts or forbidden arts couldn't he obtain?

Finally, he turned his attention to the two treasure boxes.

He first opened the box embedded in the wall.

A crystal-clear, blue-glowing gem leaped into view.

"This is... a Shimmering Light Stone?"

Gu Jinlai was startled.

The Shimmering Light Stone was one of the main materials for refining flying swords.

This gem was not only lightweight, flexible, and easy to melt, but it also had excellent guidance properties for divine thought.

And flying swords...

That was the dividing line between a Divine Transformation True Person and a Divine Transformation Grand True Person.

A Divine Transformation cultivator without a flying sword was merely one step further in divine thought accumulation, forming a Yin Spirit.

But if one could forge a flying sword and use the Yin Spirit to control objects, they could fly a sword ten miles and take a head from afar.

Both deterrence and lethality would skyrocket.

"This Shimmering Light Stone, if sold, could be exchanged for a High-grade Treasure Armor."

Gu Jinlai thought to himself.

He quickly put the gem away.

Then he opened the second box.

The second box was simple and straightforward.

Inside lay a single spirit pill.

"A Spirit Nurturing Pill."

Gu Jinlai was stunned.

He stared at the pill for a long moment before muttering again, "It really is a Spirit Nurturing Pill."

If he had obtained this Spirit Nurturing Pill before acquiring the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method, it would have been a timely gift of aid in a time of need.

At that time, he urgently needed to possess combat power at the Spirit Refining Realm.

And the hope of restoring Spirit Refining Realm combat power lay in the Spirit Nurturing Pill.

But now...

He had already left Changjun City through the Jiang Family's channels, escaped the vortex, and planned to cultivate the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method to embark on the Path of the Celestial Master.

The Spirit Nurturing Pill was merely icing on the cake for him.

"The Spirit Nurturing Pill can greatly shorten the time for Core Condensation cultivators to nurture their spirit, conceal their presence, and refine their essence. For a Core Condensation Perfection expert, three to five Spirit Nurturing Pills could potentially forge a Spirit Refining Realm cultivator."

Among his disciples, Su Nanxing was approaching Core Condensation Perfection.

The brief time they had spent together had allowed him to develop a certain degree of trust in this disciple.

As his master, it was time to consider his path to the Spirit Refining Realm.

"Jade, treasures, pills—the total value is close to two million, and this doesn't even account for the Martial Skills and secret techniques... Yun Guantian truly lives up to his title as Hall Master of the Demon Refining Hall."

Gu Jinlai carefully stored all these items away again.

Beyond these material gains, slaying that mysterious assassin had earned him two strands of Pure Light.

Everything was ready; he was just waiting to master the Great Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method and set foot on the Path of the Celestial Master.

Shao Hong led the convoy, traveling by night and resting by day. In six days, they crossed a thousand li and appeared outside Starlight City, the capital of Star Prefecture.

Starlight City was not located in the center of Star Prefecture but rather in the north, near Huangzhou.

It was four hundred li from Huangzhou and a thousand li from Chizhou.

Furthermore, as befitting a capital city, this metropolis had no city walls.

Because of this, Starlight City's urban area was several times larger than other cities, with a population reaching six million.

These six million people were spread across Starlight City, which spanned dozens to hundreds of li in every direction, making its population density even lower than that of Changjun City.

As Gu Jinlai entered Starlight City's territory, his eyes fell upon countless large courtyards and estates. Some estates were built like fortresses, with martial artists in armor patrolling the perimeter, heavily guarded and difficult for ordinary people to enter.

It seemed that reaching Starlight City had lightened Shao Hong's mood.

Seeing Gu Jinlai looking around, he smiled and explained, "Starlight City has the most aristocratic families in Star Prefecture, including many top-tier powers. Under the Prefecture Lord's methods, these powers check and balance each other. For the most part, Starlight City is quite peaceful."

"For the most part?"

Gu Jinlai glanced at him. "Meaning Starlight City isn't peaceful either?"

"In this age, even the Central Continent Imperial Capital wouldn't dare claim to be completely safe."

Shao Hong said, lowering his voice slightly. "I heard that not long ago, the Demon Refining Hall in Changjun City was burglarized. Hall Master Yun Guantian flew into a thunderous rage upon hearing the news and ordered a thorough investigation. He even posted a bounty of three hundred thousand taels in the underworld for the culprit... Compared to Changjun City, Starlight City can be considered peaceful."

"Is that so."

Gu Jinlai's expression remained unchanged.

"In the capital city, the Ten Great Demonic Sects are disliked by many major families and are often suppressed. Elder Gu's identity would be quite inconvenient if you entered the city... Fortunately, my Jiang Family has some connections and has arranged an identity for Elder Gu."

Shao Hong handed a pouch to Gu Jinlai. "A branch family member who broke away from the main Jiang Family line. He followed a Celestial Master in cultivation from a young age. Recently, the Celestial Master passed away, and he came to seek refuge with the Jiang Family. Out of consideration for his surname, the Jiang Family purchased a courtyard to settle him, but from now on, he is not permitted to present himself as a Jiang Family descendant. What does Elder Gu think?"

Gu Jinlai understood Shao Hong's meaning.

If he accepted this identity and moved into the courtyard arranged by the Jiang Family, their debts of gratitude would be settled.

Clearly, that Jiang Family member, Jiang Xiyu, did not want to have too deep a connection with this Demonic Sect elder.

Considering his abilities...

He was probably not simply a branch family member.

But Gu Jinlai had no intention of clinging to the Jiang Family either.

He took the pouch and said readily, "Then let it be as Guard Shao says."

"This is for the best."

Shao Hong breathed a sigh of relief.

(Thanks to Nian Ca for the support. Speaking of which, I actually didn't recognize this character. Only after looking it up on Baidu did I learn it's pronounced "ca," third tone.)