Slaughter

"Clang!"

Gu Jinlai blocked another Gang Condensing disciple's rescuing sword strike. Then he swung the greatsword in his hand, cleaving the White Sun disciple he had been watching in two—the man and his sword together.

In fewer than ten breaths, three Gang Condensing cultivators and six Qi Refining cultivators had already died by his hand.

Throughout the entire process, he had not even blinked.

"Gu Jinlai! Are you trying to fight to the death and drag me down with you!? You don't stand a chance!"

White Sun clenched his teeth and roared, "Wearing steel armor makes it difficult to dodge and maneuver. We'll surround him with a war of attrition. Once reinforcements from the sect arrive, he'll have no path but death!"

"A war of attrition?"

Gu Jinlai looked at the additional streak of clear light within Green Lotus.

He had not yet gained entry into the movement technique Across the World, but cultivation techniques and martial skills could be practiced by taking shortcuts.

All he needed to do was use the clear light's enlightenment to optimize and perfect the technique, creating an entirely new method that allowed him to enter it directly. That would save him one or two months, two or three months, or even three or four months of early-stage cultivation.

Although trading ten years for a few months was a crushing loss...

There were times when a few months were more precious than ten years.

"The movement technique I need isn't for dodging and maneuvering. I'm not fighting over every inch of ground, nor do I need endless variations. I don't need to appear and disappear unpredictably, or move without a sound. All I want is speed! Absolute speed! As long as I'm fast enough, I can strike whenever I want and leave whenever I want! Who can stop me!?"

It was just like fighter jets and missiles!

As long as a fighter jet was fast enough that no missile could catch it, what need would it have for evasive maneuvers?

What need would it have for stealth coatings?

"I, Gu Jinlai, stand straight and act upright. What I want is an open and aboveboard fight!"

"Buzz!"

A streak of clear light poured into his consciousness.

In an instant, all kinds of profound principles related to Across the World surged forth. Along with them came information on aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, human mechanics, biology, planning, statistics, and more.

Every piece of information he had ever encountered was continuously broken down and reassembled at that moment, eventually forming something Gu Jinlai could understand with ease.

By the time the clear light faded, a new sphere of light floated out of his consciousness.

Unnamed movement technique: Entry.

In terms of color, this movement technique was Light Purple, inferior to the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method and the Great Sun Demon God Body Refinement Method.

But purple was still purple.

Even at the entry level, it gave Gu Jinlai an entirely new understanding of methods of exerting force, explosive techniques, and charging patterns.

Just then, White Sun swung his sword, striking like lightning at one of the sword scars he had left earlier. When Gu Jinlai was about to counterattack, White Sun withdrew and retreated explosively, leaving the range of his attack.

If this had happened moments ago, Gu Jinlai could only have watched helplessly as White Sun retreated. But now...

Gu Jinlai drew a deep breath. He half-crouched and adjusted his center of gravity, settling into a posture like a crouching tiger and coiling dragon. Both hands gripped the greatsword, while his spirit, consciousness, and aura seemed to fuse into one.

"Step!"

Just as White Sun blurred, intending to launch another attack and pierce his armor completely with a single sword thrust, Gu Jinlai's figure suddenly moved.

The moment he moved, his body surged forward to kill. His powerful physique, comparable to that of a mid-grade demonic beast, sent a vast force rising beneath his feet, like a raging dragon breaking out of the sea and coursing through his entire body.

Along with the eruption of the inner core formed from Qi, the force beneath his feet and the bursting true Qi fused into one. All of it poured into the greatsword in his hands before transforming into unprecedented gravitational potential energy and crashing down in a slash!

"Whoosh!"

The sword's edge ground fiercely against the air, producing a shrill whistle.

At the tip of the sword, a ring of white shock waves visible to the naked eye burst outward.

That suddenly soaring speed made White Sun's expression change. He also wielded a sword, but his was less than one point four meters long.

An inch longer, an inch stronger.

Facing Gu Jinlai's sword, which carried the momentum of thunderous force, the vice pavilion master of the Heavenly Grass Pavilion twisted like a dragon and made an extremely nimble sidestep. The heavy sword's edge, trailing turbulent air currents, passed by him and shredded his clothes.

Yet White Sun showed no great fear at the threat so close at hand. As he avoided Gu Jinlai's savage slash, he twisted at the waist and used that force to thrust his long sword straight forward, viciously stabbing toward the gap in Gu Jinlai's treasured armor that had already been struck twice.

If this sword hit the gap, it would definitely pierce Gu Jinlai's armor and continue through his body without losing momentum.

Unfortunately...

His speed was fast, but Gu Jinlai's was faster.

Just as the sword was about to stab Gu Jinlai, his body sank and his force pressed downward. In the next instant, he erupted a second time, his speed surging by fifty percent!

Movement technique—Across the World!

The fifty-percent increase in speed caused a fatal opening in White Sun's killing strike.

"Not good!"

The pavilion master of the Heavenly Grass Pavilion immediately tried to withdraw and retreat explosively.

But no matter how fast he was, how could he outrun Gu Jinlai now!?

The erupting Gu Jinlai was like a bent bow suddenly pulled straight. As his bones and tendons gave a series of faint cracks, he became a tyrannosaur, roaring as he unleashed overwhelming force. Through his shoulder, he slammed viciously into White Sun's chest.

At that moment, Gu Jinlai was carrying two thousand jin on his body. Combined with his instantaneous burst, his speed exceeded two hundred kilometers per hour, and the force of the impact was like an armor-piercing shell.

"Bang!"

A terrifying, irresistible force erupted at the point of impact. The bones in White Sun's chest shattered instantly. Even though he had summoned every bit of true Qi to protect his body, his chest still collapsed completely. Numerous shattered bones pierced his heart, lungs, and internal organs, while a mouthful of blood mixed with flesh sprayed from his mouth.

The force of inertia swept through his body as well, sending him flying more than ten meters. He crashed heavily into the wall of the courtyard where he lived, blasting spiderweb-like cracks across it before sliding helplessly to the ground.

"I..."

White Sun struggled, wanting to stand up immediately.

But with his breastbone shattered and his internal organs pierced, even as a Core Forming cultivator with an Impervious Body, he felt as though all his strength had been drained away.

The instant he moved, unprecedented pain and weakness left him sprawled limply on the ground.

Blood continuously trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Did you ever think about the price you'd have to pay for offending me?"

Gu Jinlai strode over, his fierce and violent aura billowing outward like an unparalleled savage beast.

The sight filled White Sun with boundless terror.

His heart was also flooded with endless regret.

He had known that Gu Jinlai had once unleashed a killing spree in Changjun City, slain several Core Forming cultivators, and possessed formidable strength. Without a Spirit Refining cultivator taking action, it was best not to provoke him. Yet he still could not resist the temptation of swallowing ten sets of treasured armor and gaining more than six hundred thousand taels of silver for nothing.

Now...

"Elder Gu, I... I know I was wrong. Please, please spare my life..."

White Sun spoke with difficulty.

But before he could finish, what greeted him was the blade of the thousand-jin heavy sword, crashing down as though crushing an ant.

"No..."

"Boom!"

White Sun's head, together with his upper body and the ground beside him, was smashed to pieces by the violent force carried by the thousand-jin heavy sword.

The floor cracked.

Blood mist mingled with dust and drifted outward.

The bloody, terrifying scene brought a powerful visual shock, leaving the few surviving disciples of White Sun gasping for breath.

(Thanks to Male Department, Please Go Upstairs 2 and the familiar faces for coming along. That's truly wonderful. I hope this work can somewhat ease your book famine.)