Four Evils of Star Province

Watching Gu Jinlai's wild delight, the Four Evils of Star Province exchanged glances, their expressions gradually turning grave.

"Something's wrong."

Second Brother among the four said, "Tell me, is there a possibility that Ancient Demon Gu first requested a transfer to Changjun City, then pretended to suffer cultivation deviation? In truth, he was showing weakness to lure out his enemy—the deputy sect master of the Purgatory Demon Sect, Lin Xiao."

"His cultivation deviation cannot be fake. The Headmaster of Orthodox One Sect went to Ancient Demon Gu's residence and used the Mystic Mirror Technique to recreate the scene. His power truly has been greatly damaged. At present, he is no stronger than Core Forming, and may not even be able to exert Core Forming strength. The four of us have worked together for years and coordinate flawlessly. Even against a Core Forming expert, we could retreat unscathed. What is there to fear?"

Third Brother said.

"Stay alert. If things cannot be done, preserving our lives comes first!"

Eldest Brother, their leader, said.

The four were exceedingly decisive.

When it was time to cut, they cut!

"Four Evils Formation! Rise!"

The four gave low shouts and struck at once, forming a battle formation.

The moment they attacked, they went all out.

These four possessed Demonic Beast bloodlines. As they moved, they seemed to transform into four ferocious beasts, each rolling up terrifying fiendish balefulness as they closed in on Gu Jinlai from four directions.

Refining Qi into Gang! Gang Qi taking form!

Before the men arrived, the phantom beasts formed from Gang Qi had already roared and pounced down!

Gang Qi possessed astonishing destructive power.

A thousand elite soldiers of Great Qian could surround and kill a True Qi realm cultivator, but before invincible sword gang and blade gang, their encirclement would be smashed apart like bamboo splitting before a blade.

When a peak Gang Qi realm expert erupted with full force, a single sword strike could tear open a bloody path more than ten meters long.

Now, four Gang Condensing experts surged in to kill him from four directions. Any one of the manifested beasts could shatter a boulder weighing more than ten tons.

Unfortunately...

Just as Gu Jinlai had said, arriving early was not as good as arriving at the right time.

Having comprehended the Profound Mystery of Red Lotus Sword Qi, he happened to need someone to test his results on.

As the four beasts formed from Gang Qi pounced in, he flicked the treasured sword in his hand. Centered on him, a lotus composed of crimson sword light seemed to bloom. More than ten petal-like strands of Sword Qi burst forth, cutting toward the beasts formed by the four Gang Condensing experts at a strange rhythm, as if alive.

Buzzz!

Amid vibrations swift to the extreme, the four Gang Qi beasts shattered inch by inch.

"Such swordsmanship!? Not good! The Old Devil is treacherous!"

With one strike, the difference between them was immediately laid bare.

Gu Jinlai, who possessed such swordsmanship, could be called outstanding even among Core Forming experts.

"We were careless! Move!"

"Retreat!"

The Four Evils of Star Province made their decision without hesitation!

"Retreat!?"

Gu Jinlai fell silent for a moment.

The next instant, a frigid killing intent erupted from him like a volcano blasting forth, carrying boundless flames as it surged straight into the heavens.

"Retreat!? When you were hunting me, you bit down like four mad dogs and refused to let go. Now that you've caught up to me, you want to retreat!?"

Clang!

His sword split the firmament.

A point of cold light, like a star ripping through the night sky, flashed forward in a lightning-fast thrust with bleak, dazzling brilliance.

"Who allowed you to retreat!?"

Before the man arrived, the sword gang was already there.

Gang Condensing could absolutely be called the realm of masters in Great Qian.

Clad in mystic armor and charging into battle, one rider could break through a thousand.

But Core Forming was already the pinnacle countless cultivators could only dream of reaching.

Gu Jinlai's sword gang howled. That icy killing intent made the hair of the Four Evils of Star Province stand on end.

The four took a deep breath. True Qi coursed through their entire bodies, boiling as it began to pulse according to a special rhythm!

"Thousand Sway!"

Buzzz!

As the four men's True Qi vibrated, Gu Jinlai felt as though something had interfered with his aura. It actually became slightly disordered, and his swordsmanship scattered by a fraction. A flaw appeared in that lightning-fast sword strike, almost allowing the four to break it.

"A dying struggle!"

However, his Red Lotus Sword Qi had reached great completion after two epiphanies. Like steel tempered a thousand times, its transformations followed his heart.

The instant his True Qi was thrown into disorder, he turned the situation to his advantage. It transformed into even colder Sword Qi, becoming streaks of blood that slashed out along the sharp sword in his hand!

Qi pierced the long rainbow!

"Careful!"

"Retreat!"

Eldest Brother and Second Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province shouted at the same time. Under the pressure of those blood-red sword energies, their battle formation was shattered in a single blow.

"Let's see how long you can dodge!"

Gu Jinlai shouted sharply. His tattered robes fluttered, his sword howled like a dragon, True Qi crisscrossed the air, and killing intent chilled the four directions.

His sword edge turned sharply. At the instant their formation broke, he suddenly swept toward Third Brother, who was closest to him.

"Third Brother!"

Bang!

Cold light reflected frost, swift and valiant as a shooting star.

Third Brother was swallowed whole by the sword light and torn to pieces.

"Gu Jinlai!"

Eldest Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province glared with eyes wide open.

"Die!"

After killing one man, Gu Jinlai's sword turned again. Like a shooting star piercing the moon, it struck toward Second Brother once more.

Facing Gu Jinlai's shooting-star-fast strike, this Gang Condensing expert drew in a fierce breath and let out a low, wild roar at the instant the sword reached him.

Roar!

His True Qi shook violently!

Secret Art—Tiger Roar Thunder Sound!

Sound waves exploded outward, disrupting the circulation of True Qi within Gu Jinlai's body.

"Pay for my third brother's life!"

Seizing the chance, the other two charged in fiercely.

Among them, Eldest Brother, leader of the Four Evils, had Gang Qi flowing around his arm as though it had turned into the claw of a ferocious beast. It cut in like lightning and slammed hard against Gu Jinlai's treasured sword as it thrust before his eyes!

Clang!

The treasured sword cried out mournfully!

The sword in Gu Jinlai's hand seemed to have been struck by a giant hammer swung through a full three hundred and sixty degrees. It rang like a great bell, splitting the web between his thumb and forefinger as it shook free from his grasp.

No!

As the sword shook loose from his hand, he reacted with incredible speed, borrowing the force of that deflection to hurl it out. In an instant, it pierced through the head of Second Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province.

"Second Brother!"

"Stop!"

Blood splashed through the air, accompanied by the grief-stricken cries of the other two.

Even without his sword, Gu Jinlai's movements did not slow in the slightest. Cold light blazed in his eyes as he locked onto Fourth Brother. His body turned sharply, and at the instant he lunged to kill, True Qi condensed from his form—Qi transformed into gang, gang condensed into a sword. Like a peerless divine weapon drawn fiercely from its sheath, it tore through the void with an invincible edge!

Bang!

Fourth Brother's head burst apart like a watermelon struck by a sniper bullet.

Whoosh!

Only after Fourth Brother was instantly killed did the piercing sword howl, formed by sword gang scraping against the air, explode through the space of less than ten meters between them, sending ripples outward.

"No..."

In the blink of an eye, only one of the Four Evils of Star Province remained.

The sudden blow finally awakened the surviving Eldest Brother. Terror and shock mingled in his eyes.

After killing three men in succession, Gu Jinlai, bathed in blood, gave full rein to his ferocity.

"Didn't you love laughing so much? Laugh for me! Give me a good laugh!"

These past dozen days...

In the month since he had transmigrated, he had lived far too repressively. That he had not been driven mad already counted as strong will.

Now, against these people steeped in sin, he slaughtered without holding anything back, venting every ounce of negative emotion to his heart's content.

Seeing Gu Jinlai's somewhat crazed state, Eldest Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province shuddered. He no longer dared hesitate in the slightest and turned to flee at full speed!

"The devil is too cunning!"

"You dare run!?"

Killing intent burst from Gu Jinlai. With True Qi boiling, his figure became like a cloud of blood as he flew in pursuit. Each step carried him more than ten meters.

As he swept across the ground, he snatched up the sword that had shot through Second Brother.

With sword in hand, a blood-red lotus seemed to unfold in the void behind him. It spun rapidly, and in the instant it turned, thirteen strands of Sword Qi burst forth, howling toward Eldest Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province.

Wherever the sword light went, trees snapped and blades of grass flew.

Every strand of Sword Qi that swept past left a sword scar several meters long in the ground.

This was Core Forming!

If Gang Condensing could only slaughter through a thousand-man army formation and break out of its encirclement, then given time to restore his True Qi, a Core Forming expert could crush an entire thousand-man army formation.

Under this all-out barrage of Sword Qi, Eldest Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province had no chance of escape.

First, a strand of Sword Qi swept across his waist.

Though he immediately used True Qi to protect his body, his figure still staggered. Then a second strand pierced his thigh, followed by a third through his chest, a fourth through his throat, and a fifth through his head...

"I..."

Still running at full speed, he continued forward for a few moments on sheer momentum. In the end, his body was ripped apart and dismembered by the successive strands of Sword Qi, turning into chunks of flesh that collapsed to the ground.

Gu Jinlai, who had been pursuing him, watched the leader of the Four Evils die without an intact corpse. He continued forward for a few moments on inertia before slowly coming to a stop.

He could clearly feel his own weakness.

To ensure his enemy could not escape, his inner core had erupted completely, leaving his condition somewhat unstable.

This world was not one of those high-energy immortal cultivation worlds where being one realm higher meant one could easily crush dozens or hundreds of weaker cultivators. Without cultivating movement techniques, to chase down the desperately fleeing leader of the Four Evils of Star Province, he could only unleash a major move. Naturally, the consumption was tremendous.

"I survived!"

Gu Jinlai looked at the corpse that could barely still be pieced together into a human shape and spoke softly.

The Four Evils of Star Province who had wanted to kill him were dead.

He had survived.

"When people are killed, they die."

Gu Jinlai raised his head and looked at the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves. His eyes had no focus.

His thoughts turned to everything he had experienced over the past month.

He had wanted to abandon evil and turn to good. Before those who tested him, he had endured and yielded. During the ten days he had been hunted, he had even shown mercy to those from the Orthodox One Sect.

But it had been useless. Instead, it had only fed their arrogance and made them push their luck even further.

At that thought, he collapsed onto the ground. Though he was a great Core Forming expert, his entire body trembled and his hands and feet turned cold.

Could this world not get any better?

Hell was empty; the devils walked among men!

How exactly was he supposed to live before those pursuing him would be satisfied?

Looking at the mangled corpse of Eldest Brother of the Four Evils of Star Province, looking at the blood flowing over his own hands...

He felt lost.

This immortal cultivation world was filled everywhere with the jungle law of the strong devouring the weak. When could a Blue Star man who obeyed the law and wholeheartedly wished to abandon evil and turn to good finally live in peace?

Only after quite some time did Gu Jinlai calm down from this violent emotional turmoil.

After being hunted for so long, he understood very clearly.

Weakness could not earn any mercy. It would only make him die faster.

He was Gu Jinlai.

An elder of the Purgatory Demon Sect, one of the Ten Great Demon Sects—the monstrous devil of the demonic path, Gu Jinlai!

Sunlight was obscured by dark clouds, casting a shadow over him.

"You uphold justice and eliminate demons. That is only natural. I explained, but you would not listen..."

Gu Jinlai rose from the ground and shook the grass clippings from his clothes.

"Then for me to kill in order to survive is just as natural."