Heavenly Grass Pavilion

"Ten layers of karma, and the troubles are indeed coming one after another," Gu Jinlai remarked.

After a moment, he seemed to recall something. "It's not entirely trouble, though. Demonic beasts are elusive; ordinary demon hunters can barely find one or two in a month. I've killed thirteen demonic beasts in three months, which is also a hidden advantage."

If he accumulated a few more layers of karma, he would become the ultimate monster lure.

Consequences?

As long as his strength could suppress them, these wouldn't be considered troubles at all.

At this moment, Su Nanxing came in from outside, carrying a pile of books.

"You bought them?"

"These are all the books on cultivation realms that could be found on the market," Su Nanxing replied.

Gu Jinlai opened one of the books.

"Realms are divided into three stages: Mastery, Intent, and Momentum."

Mastery Realm: This refers to achieving a divine integration with one's power, reaching a state of mastery in controlling one's strength, making the heavy feel light and the light feel heavy.

When cultivated to the extreme, during combat, not a single bit of power is leaked, and it is all directed towards the opponent.

This is somewhat similar to Spirit Refining to the minute, where one unit of power is used as three.

In reality, a Core Condensation martial artist who has comprehended the Mastery Realm might be able to contend with a Spirit Refining True Master, but their endurance would not be comparable to that of a Spirit Refiner.

Above the Mastery Realm is the Intent Realm.

At this stage, cultivators project their own intent onto their surroundings, sensing the subtle. Its profundity is almost indistinguishable from Spiritual Sense. Some powerful individuals can even infuse their intent into their attacks, transforming them into Fist Intent, Sword Intent, or Saber Intent, capable of striking the soul and mind, equivalent to a mental shock carried within a physical attack.

Throughout history, those who managed to kill Spirit Refining True Masters while in the Core Condensation realm had, without exception, comprehended the Intent Realm.

Further up is the Momentum Realm, which involves the profound mysteries of heaven and man. Every action, every word, contains the momentum of heaven and earth.

It has been said since ancient times that a True Monarch who comprehends momentum can contend with a Celestial Being.

"Realms are also related to one's own cultivation. Out of a hundred Core Condensation cultivators, perhaps not even one can comprehend the Mastery Realm. However, if one has achieved Spirit Refining to the minute and then comprehends the Mastery Realm, the difficulty is greatly reduced; one out of ten can achieve it."

Gu Jinlai flipped through the book. "However, for Spirit Refiners, they aim to comprehend the Intent Realm. Once the Intent Realm is achieved, supplemented by Spiritual Sense, projecting their awareness around them, they can evade assassination attempts by Yin Spirits wielding swords. A select few can even condense Sword Intent to kill Yin Spirits wielding swords, thus achieving the feat of challenging opponents of a higher realm."

Of course, only when the sword is wielded externally can Sword Intent harm a Yin Spirit. If a Spirit Transformation Grand Master does not have their Yin Spirit separated from their body, no matter how strong their Sword Intent or Fist Intent, it can at most shake the opponent's mind and spirit.

"Intent Realm... In the entire Starlight City, there is only one person who has mastered the Intent Realm, the Meteor Satellite Lord, Xin Tianqi, who is known as the foremost expert in Xingzhou."

This individual commands the Meteor Guard and, along with the Great General Xue Yue, serves as the left and right arms of the Provincial Lord of Xingzhou.

Especially the Star Lord Xin Tianqi; it is precisely because of his existence that forces like the Purgatory Demonic Sect, Yellow Springs Demonic Sect, and Cold Moon Demonic Sect have never been able to set foot in Xingzhou.

Over the years, the three sects believed they could establish a foothold in Starlight City, only to have more than ten Spirit Refining Titans killed by him.

As a result, the three sects now dare not send Spirit Refining Titans to operate in Starlight City, lest they be sent to their deaths in vain.

"The Intent Realm is too early for me. I already have my movement techniques, secret arts, cultivation methods, and sword techniques..."

Gu Jinlai thought of the Formless Sword Qi and felt it was a pity to have wasted so much Pure Light on it.

The Formless Sword Qi was no longer suitable for his current style.

However, if he hadn't added sword techniques at the time, he might not have escaped the pursuit of the Orthodox Dao Sect, so it couldn't be considered a waste.

"Once I fill the gap in my sword techniques, I will have no weaknesses. If I can comprehend the Intent Realm... the Mastery Realm is enough. With the physique of a High-ranking Demonic Beast, and switching to an Osmium Alloy battle sword, supplemented by Mastery Realm martial arts, I will not fear facing a Grand Master even slightly."

Gu Jinlai "looked" at the small figure of consciousness in his spiritual world.

The Pure Light was exhausted.

But as long as there was enough Pure Light, achieving these goals would be easy.

After this batch of goods is delivered, he would need to choose some missions from the Void True Tower to execute.

Three days later.

Su Nanxing and Gu Chaoyang, along with ten people, drove carriages and arrived at the Heavenly Grass Pavilion located in the north of the city.

The Heavenly Grass Pavilion cultivates spiritual plants and has dozens of alchemists. Its connections are extensive, and it can speak with major powers throughout Starlight City and even half of Xingzhou.

Furthermore, with three Spirit Refining Titans within the sect, it is a behemoth in Starlight City that no one dares to ignore.

Gu Jinlai and his group arrived at the courtyard.

"Everyone, please follow me. Pavilion Master Bai has been waiting for a long time."

A disciple smiled and led Su Nanxing and the others into the backyard.

Inside the Heavenly Grass Pavilion, Bai Yang was waiting with over a dozen people.

Upon seeing Su Nanxing and Gu Chaoyang, he quickly stepped forward. "The treasure armor is ready? I hope you invited a master craftsman to inspect the quality, just to be sure."

"Of course."

Gu Chaoyang smiled slightly. "Our treasure armor can withstand any inspection."

"Okay."

Bai Yang waved his hand.

Soon, several Gang Condensation cultivators stepped forward, selected several sets of armor, put them on, and were measured by other disciples.

Feeling the weight and defense of these treasure armors, the Gang Condensation disciples from Heavenly Grass Pavilion were reluctant to part with them.

"True gold fears no fire; the performance of the treasure armors refined by Master is beyond doubt."

Gu Chaoyang, seeing the satisfied expressions on the faces of these Gang Condensation disciples, said with a smile.

"Leave professional matters to professional people."

Bai Yang did not respond directly, but instead gave a look to the three master blacksmiths who were inspecting the quality of the battle armor.

Soon, one of the master blacksmiths said, "Although the quality of these battle armors is good, they have not yet reached the level of high-grade treasure armor. Moreover, their structural design is unreasonable, which will greatly affect the user's flexibility and reduce their combat power. In addition, these materials... I have never seen them before, but judging by their luster, they are likely fragile and brittle, with a short lifespan, and may even be disposable items..."

Various reasons, which sounded plausible but were completely unfounded, were spouted by these master blacksmiths, immediately dismissing these treasure armors as worthless.

For a moment, Gu Chaoyang's expression froze.

"These battle armors have so many problems?"

Bai Yang put on an exaggerated expression.

"Sect Master Bai, we clearly agreed beforehand... what do you mean by this?"

Gu Chaoyang asked.

"What do I mean? I want to ask Gu... ask Celestial Master Jiang Dongqu what he means."

Bai Yang's expression turned cold. "Passing off inferior goods as superior is looking down on our Heavenly Grass Pavilion, thinking we are easy to bully?"

"We highly respect Heavenly Grass Pavilion, otherwise, we wouldn't have chosen Heavenly Grass Pavilion as our first partner. The true quality of these battle armors..."

"The quality is right here. The master blacksmiths invited by our Heavenly Grass Pavilion have clearly tested it."

Bai Yang said, appearing to have no desire to converse further with a minor figure like Gu Chaoyang. "Go, call your master over, and have him speak with me."

"I understand."

Gu Chaoyang took a deep breath, quickly calmed himself, and put on a smile. "I'll go invite my master right away."

As he spoke, he beckoned to the Gu Family disciples. "Let's take the battle armor with us first."

"Hold on, you can leave, but leave the items behind! These defective battle armors are evidence for my confrontation with Jiang Dongqu! If we let you take them away now, you'll swap them for another batch and then falsely accuse our Heavenly Grass Pavilion of framing you. How would our Heavenly Grass Pavilion explain itself?" Bai Yang said, waving his hand.

More than a dozen Heavenly Grass Pavilion disciples quickly surrounded them.

Among these disciples, each had achieved Qi Refining, and there were three Core Condensation elders.

The three formed a subtle triangle, surrounding Su Nanxing, the only Core Condensation cultivator, as if they would strike with lightning and kill him on the spot if he dared to make any move.