Starlight City

"Out in these barren mountains and wilds, not only did true qi recover more slowly, even the circulation of the Great Sun Demon Radiance Art was affected."

Inside the carriage, Gu Jinlai exhaled slowly as he circulated his energy and regulated his breathing.

The carriage he occupied was the most luxurious of the lot. Although its interior was less than three square meters, it was laid with thick carpeting and equipped with an excellent shock-absorption system, so meditating and regulating his breathing inside it was not greatly affected.

After finishing his meditation and restoring his true qi, Gu Jinlai turned his gaze toward his bundle.

He took stock of his gains.

There were quite a few things in the bundle.

Nine jade artifacts and treasures, twelve books, and two treasure boxes.

Gu Jinlai examined them one by one.

The jade artifacts and treasures were worth quite a lot.

Of the twelve books, six were valuable.

Two martial techniques, one secret art, one biography of a True Lord, one abridged intelligence report on the major powers and great sects of Star Province, and the last one recording the merits required to exchange the Heaven and Earth Universe Diagram for various resources.

Gu Jinlai took a closer look at the abridged intelligence report on Star Province's major powers.

For a great power like the Purgatory Demon Sect, this intelligence was not considered detailed. If it were placed on Sect Master Lu Dengxian's desk, that major figure would not spare it a second glance.

But to Gu Jinlai—especially to Gu Jinlai, who had crossed into this world and had been here for less than two months—it was enough to broaden his horizons greatly.

After flipping through it roughly, he glanced over the martial techniques and secret art as well.

The martial techniques were quite exquisite: one fist technique and one sword technique.

The fist technique was called the Great Heavenly Dipper Hand. It was a fist technique at the Spirit Refining level, and many aspects of it involved using divine sense to control true qi with microscopic precision.

The sword technique was only at the Core Forming level.

However, compared with the martial techniques, it was the secret art that truly made Gu Jinlai's eyes light up.

This secret art was called the Essence Burning Art.

Through a special method, it compressed and detonated the true qi within the body, granting it several times its usual power.

Naturally, the consumption of true qi in the Essence Burning Art state would increase dramatically. If the power of the true qi doubled, then its consumption would increase by at least threefold.

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

"Secret arts, regardless of their grade, possess astonishing value. They are trump cards capable of turning the tables at a critical moment. Many True Persons at the Spirit Refining level may not even be able to master one."

The original "Gu Jinlai" was the best example.

If even he, a Purgatory Demon Sect elder, had been in such a state, what of the other Spirit Refiners?

Yun Guantian's possession of a secret art was most likely related to his control of the Heaven and Earth Universe Diagram.

With such a Dao artifact as his foundation, as long as he had enough merits, what secret art or forbidden art could he not obtain?

Finally, he turned his gaze toward the two treasure boxes.

He first opened the box embedded in the wall.

A crystal-clear gemstone radiating blue light leaped into view.

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

Gu Jinlai was startled.

The Gleaming Light Stone was one of the main materials used to forge flying swords.

This gemstone was not only light, flexible, and easy to melt, but also possessed excellent guidance for divine sense.

And flying swords...

They were the dividing line between Spirit Transformation True Persons and great Spirit Transformation True Persons.

Without a flying sword, a Spirit Transformation cultivator had merely accumulated divine sense further and formed a Yin Spirit.

But if one forged a flying sword, one could control objects with one's Yin Spirit, send the flying sword flying ten li, and take a person's head from afar.

Both its deterrent power and lethality would rise in a straight line.

"If this piece of Gleaming Light Stone were sold, it could be exchanged for a high-grade treasured armor."

Gu Jinlai thought to himself.

He quickly put the gemstone away.

Immediately afterward, he opened the second box.

The second box was simple and direct.

Inside lay a single spirit pill.

"A Spirit Nourishing Pill."

Gu Jinlai stared blankly for a moment.

He studied the pill for quite some time before saying again, "It really is a Spirit Nourishing Pill."

If he had not obtained the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method, the appearance of this Spirit Nourishing Pill would undoubtedly have been timely aid in a snowstorm.

Back then, he had desperately needed Spirit Refining-level combat power.

And his hope of recovering Spirit Refining-level combat power lay in the Spirit Nourishing Pill.

But now...

He had already left Changjun City through the Jiang family's connections, escaped the vortex, and planned to cultivate the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method and embark on the path of a Celestial Master.

To him, the Spirit Nourishing Pill was now merely icing on the cake.

"The Spirit Nourishing Pill can greatly shorten the time needed to nourish the spirit, conceal the spirit, and nurture the spirit after Core Forming. If used on a Core Forming expert, three to five Spirit Nourishing Pills might be enough to create a Spirit Refiner."

Among his disciples, Su Nanxing was already approaching Core Forming perfection.

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

As his master, it was time for him to make some considerations for Su Nanxing's Spirit Refining realm.

"Jade, treasures, and pills together are worth nearly two million. And that's without even counting the value of the martial techniques and secret art... Yun Guantian truly deserves to be the Hall Master of the Demon Refining Hall."

Gu Jinlai put the items away one by one.

Aside from these material gains, killing that mysterious assassin had earned him two streams of clear light.

Everything was ready. He only needed to cultivate the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method and set foot on the path of a Celestial Master.

Shao Hong led the convoy by traveling through the day and night in turns. After six days and a journey of a thousand li, they appeared outside Starlight City, the capital of Star Province.

Starlight City was not located in the center of Star Province, but in its north, near Huang Province.

It was four hundred li from Huang Province and one thousand li from Chi Province.

Moreover, befitting the bearing of an upper province, this city had no walls.

Because of this, Starlight City's urban area was several times larger than those of other cities, and its population had reached six million.

Those six million people were scattered throughout Starlight City, which stretched dozens or even hundreds of li in every direction, making its population density lower than that of Changjun City.

After Gu Jinlai entered Starlight City's territory, all he saw were great courtyards and estates. Some estates had been built like castles, and martial artists clad in armor and carrying weapons could vaguely be seen patrolling the surroundings. Their defenses were so tight that ordinary people found it difficult to enter.

Perhaps because they had reached Starlight City, Shao Hong's mood relaxed somewhat.

Seeing Gu Jinlai look around, he smiled and introduced the place. "Starlight City has the greatest number of aristocratic clans in Star Province, including quite a few top-tier powers. Under the Governor's methods, those top-tier powers restrain one another. Generally speaking, Starlight City is quite peaceful."

"Generally speaking?"

Gu Jinlai glanced at him. "In other words, Starlight City isn't peaceful either?"

"In this current age, I'm afraid even the imperial capital of Central Province wouldn't dare claim to be free of trouble."

As Shao Hong spoke, he lowered his voice slightly. "It's said that the Demon Refining Hall in Changjun City was robbed not long ago. Upon hearing of it, Hall Master Yun Guantian flew into a thunderous rage and ordered a thorough investigation. He even posted a reward of three hundred thousand taels in the underworld for the culprit... Compared with Changjun City, Starlight City can already be considered too peaceful."

"Is that so?"

Gu Jinlai's expression did not change.

"In the capital's territory, the Ten Great Demon Sects are disliked by many great clans and are often suppressed. Elder Gu's identity would be rather inconvenient within the city... Fortunately, my Jiang family has some connections, so we arranged an identity for Elder Gu."

Shao Hong handed a bag to Gu Jinlai. "A collateral member of my Jiang family who left the main lineage began following a Celestial Master in cultivation from a young age. In recent years, after that Celestial Master passed away, he came to the Jiang family. Since he bore the surname Jiang, the family purchased a courtyard to settle him in. From now on, however, he is not permitted to present himself as a member of the Jiang family. 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, the favors between the two sides would be settled.

Clearly, that Jiang family member, Jiang Xiyu, did not want to become deeply entangled with him, a Demon Sect elder.

Considering his abilities as well...

He was probably not merely a collateral member.

However, Gu Jinlai had no intention of currying favor with the Jiang family.

He took the bag and readily said, "Then I'll do as Guard Shao suggests."

"That would be excellent."

Shao Hong let out a sigh of relief.

——