Explosion

At this moment, the Golden Seal had silently led the ten-person team into the warehouse.

Upon arriving at the warehouse, the Golden Seal smelled something.

"This is..."

"According to the information we received, Gu Jinlai has converted to the Celestial Master path. The Celestial Master lineage is euphemistically called forging swords and controlling beasts, but less flatteringly, it involves blacksmithing and feeding horses. It's reasonable for him to have stored a large amount of wood and coal in the warehouse."

A team member said.

The Golden Seal frowned. Out of caution, he quickly searched the warehouse, avoiding any potential traps.

After a while, he felt some black particles in one spot: "This is..."

"Fireworks and firecrackers."

The team member said, "This warehouse was reportedly a place specifically used for storing fireworks and firecrackers. It's quite normal for there to be some residual powder."

"Is that so?"

The Golden Seal said, glancing around.

There were indeed some raw materials for fireworks and firecrackers. Such things could only scare mortals. As for them, the weakest among the ten had already condensed their Qi into Gang Qi, with true Qi protecting their bodies. Mere firecrackers were not worth a second glance.

"Playing these underhanded tricks, I thought this warehouse was a trap set by Gu Jinlai. He lured us into it with psychological warfare, making me want to smoke a cigarette to calm my nerves."

Another team member said.

Although the Golden Seal didn't believe fireworks and firecrackers could break their protective true Qi, which was comparable to iron armor, he still instructed out of caution: "Be mindful of open flames, lest you ignite the fireworks and create a disturbance, alerting Gu Jinlai and causing the ambush to fail."

"Understood."

The team members acknowledged in unison.

At this moment, a light shone from outside, resembling a mirror's reflection.

Seeing this light, the Golden Seal immediately said: "The target is arriving soon. Conceal yourselves and be on alert."

Almost simultaneously, a faint sound came from within the warehouse.

The team member who wanted to smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves involuntarily turned his gaze towards the source of the sound. He saw a streak of fire, accompanied by smoke, flashing rapidly in one direction.

"Where did that fire come from?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the next moment, the intense flame suddenly became brilliant, instantly filling his vision.

A terrifying force compressed the air, carrying high temperatures, and struck them like a tidal wave. Their proud protective true Qi, under the impact of this terrifying force, lasted only a moment before being torn apart.

High temperatures engulfed their bodies, igniting their collars and hair, further charring their skin.

"No!"

Gu Jinlai's enraged roar echoed amidst the flames and explosions. He moved with all speed towards a pile of wood to hide.

But...

Considering the ignition efficiency and explosion speed of black powder, Gu Jinlai had deliberately left a few spots in the warehouse that appeared to be safe from the shockwave. In reality, those spots...

Were filled with even more black powder.

"Rumble!"

A more violent sound, deafening, and the explosion dissipated.

At this moment, Gu Jinlai, who had just arrived outside the warehouse, clearly saw the endless firelight flashing, even outshining the sun's brilliance. Immediately after, a massive fireball appeared out of nowhere, engulfing the entire warehouse from the inside out.

The air was squeezed by the expanding force of the heat, forming visible white waves that swept across the sky and the earth.

Innumerable fragments, wooden blocks, and stones from within the warehouse were thrown by this sweeping force, like arrows shot from a powerful crossbow, scattering in all directions.

The furthest wood chips were flung over a hundred meters away.

Even though Gu Jinlai had deliberately maintained a sufficient distance, under the shockwave, the carriage he was riding still felt the strong wind whistling. If not for Gu Jinlai's more than two thousand jin of weight pressing down, it might have been blown away.

"This..."

Su Nanxing, who was usually rather quiet, couldn't help but widen his eyes at the scene before him.

This kind of power...

Even he, at the peak of Core Condensation, would surely die if caught in the middle of it.

"This is the power of a Celestial Master!?"

"Screech!"

At this moment, the carriage lurched heavily.

Immediately after, Gu Jinlai's voice came from behind: "Alright, it's time for us to clean up the mess. Finish off anyone who's not dead, and see if we can salvage anything useful from the dead."

As he spoke, Gu Jinlai, who was over 1.9 meters tall and approaching 2 meters in his heavy armor, emerged from the carriage. He slung his two-meter-long greatsword into a specially designed slot on his back and then began to walk.

However, after only a few steps, he already felt the burden of two thousand jin pressing down on him.

Just then, within the flames, four red lights—one faint and three brilliant—flickered, breaking out of the fire at varying speeds.

"You go intercept that one person; I'll handle the remaining three."

Gu Jinlai pointed in a direction to Su Nanxing. He activated his Spiritual Burst skill, and in the next moment, his own spirituality seemed to be pushed to its limit, integrating with his battle armor and sword, carrying his spiritual sense.

The spirituality of the armor and sword was awakened.

Instantly, the load of the two-thousand-jin battle armor and sword on him continuously decreased.

One thousand five hundred, one thousand, eight hundred, six hundred, four hundred...

In the blink of an eye, under this burst of spirituality, the battle armor and sword on his body dropped from two thousand jin to less than two hundred jin.

This weight still affected his agility, but it no longer hindered his movement.

Watching the three balls of red light break through the rolling flames and thick smoke, Gu Jinlai's "heavy" body advanced forward, crushing small stones and wood chips underfoot into powder.

Soon, a ball of red light, carrying flames, rushed out of the thick smoke. Before it could even get a clear view of its surroundings, a Sword Gang struck out.

"Bang!"

This unidentified Core Condensation expert was directly shot dead by the Gang Qi.

The commotion ahead seemed to alert the other two balls of red light. As one of them approached, it roared, "Gu Jinlai!"

Gang Qi erupted.

A sharp beam, like a flowing ribbon, tore through the dust and flames, striking ferociously.

It was the Golden Seal!

At this moment, this battle-hardened peak Core Condensation expert was covered in soot, his eyes wide open, the killing intent within them seemingly capable of turning all things into a bitter winter.

Since their team was formed, when had they ever suffered such a devastating defeat?

They hadn't suffered losses this severe even when ambushing a Spirit Refining expert back then, but now...

They were almost wiped out by Gu Jinlai, a Core Condensation cultivator who had fallen from Spirit Refining?!

"Die!"

With a roar, the Gang Qi unleashed by the Golden Seal intensified.

Gu Jinlai didn't even look at it. He raised his greatsword and swung it down.

The battle sword, which looked light and agile in his hands, let out a muffled thunderous sound as it was swung.

The weight of over a thousand jin instantly accelerated to the speed of sound, creating visible hurricanes and air explosions in the void.

"Boom!"

The Gang Qi unleashed by the Golden Seal shattered the airwaves, striking Gu Jinlai's body first.

But...

When the carbon steel armor weighed less than a hundred jin, its defense could already rival High-grade Treasure Armor. Now, it was stacked up to over a thousand jin...

"Clang!"

The Gang Qi collided with the treasure armor on Gu Jinlai, emitting a sound like a great bell.

It felt like shooting a primitive bow and arrow at a knight clad in full plate armor.

Ultimately...

The Gang Qi splashed away.

This attack only made Gu Jinlai's figure sway slightly.

"How..."

The Golden Seal's expression, filled with endless rage, froze.

The next moment, the battle sword Gu Jinlai swung out, like a fly swatter hitting a fly, carrying a terrifying, bone-chilling force, slammed heavily onto this peak Core Condensation expert.

"Ah..."

"Bang!"

Before this peak Core Condensation expert could even let out a scream, his body exploded into a mist of blood.

Then, he plummeted back even faster than he had arrived.

The thick smoke billowed, the flames raged, and he was torn apart by the hurricane generated by this sword strike, creating a vacuum zone without smoke or fire.

Before he even hit the ground, his vibrant red light had vanished.

"Not bad, your strength."

Gu Jinlai glanced at the sword mark on his treasure armor. "You almost broke through a third of my treasure armor."