The Culprit

"Are you crazy!?"

The act of ruthlessly attacking and drawing one's sword, a tactic that has shocked Jin Yuhai Gu Jinlai, left him utterly astonished.

How dare an outsider with only ordinary Martial King strength and no background attack him?!

Before he could turn his shock into anger, the energy released from the Eternal Furnace, guided by the properties of transformation, instantly turned into intense heat and light that annihilated everything.

That intense, blazing, and violent energy instantly extinguished Jin Yuhai's raging anger, which had not yet fully boiled over.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide.

And in the next second, all vision was taken away by the intense radiance that even King Wu could not look directly at.

When the intense heat that could pulverize his body swept over him, the anger that had not yet arisen was completely extinguished by an unspeakable fear.

"No, stop..."

He screamed in terror, but before he could utter a sound, the blazing white light and terrifying heat completely engulfed him and everything in Gu Jinlai.

Everything left in the entire courtyard was erased.

As Celestial Person of the Lan family, Lan Yuxian possessed a noble status far surpassing that of Jin Yuhai.

Although Jin Yuhai has made contact with another Celestial Person from the Lan family, Lan Yuhua, he still has to be very careful when planning to deal with Lan Yuxian.

Therefore, the area he chose was not only secluded, but he also deliberately activated a layer of formation.

This array is formed by drawing upon the power of heaven and earth; it can seal off sound, light, and aura, and also possesses a certain degree of defensive capability.

However, at this moment, the spell that sealed off sound, light, aura, and defensive power was crushed into dust by a blazing, dazzling light, like the sun in the sky.

Endless light and heat pierced the void, instantly illuminating an area of several miles in radius.

Even though the sun is setting and the sky is not yet completely dark, the dazzling brilliance still makes the surroundings as bright as day.

The daylight lasted for a moment before turning into a storm that swept in all directions.

Although the array blocked it, the shockwave still spread wildly and uncontrollably, a circle of white gas explosion mixed with billowing dust spread wildly, accompanied by blazing flames.

Within a radius of several miles, all the windows of ordinary houses were shattered.

However, although the courtyard Jin Yuhai chose was quiet, it was located in an elegant and upscale area of the city.

After all, given his status, although he was insignificant in the Jin family, he might not care about ordinary courtyards.

This upscale residential area covers more than two miles in radius, but has only a few dozen households, and the occupancy rate is not high.

In addition, almost every household has its own array formation of varying strength.

As the shockwave, accompanied by blazing flames, spread outwards, bright lights illuminated each courtyard, weakening some of the explosive power before being pulverized.

Distance decay, weakening layer by layer.

Furthermore, since Gu Jinlai did not intend to perish together with Jin Yuhai, he controlled the power of the Eternal Furnace, which was at most equivalent to Divine Ability attack released by a peak Celestial Person.

Ultimately, the raging flames subsided after spreading for only one mile, and the shockwave only extended for three miles.

Even so, this attack, equivalent to the full power of a peak Celestial Person Being, still alarmed the entire Wind and Rain City.

A series of auras rose into the air, rushing towards the direction of the explosion at an extremely fast speed.

Inside the Martial Saint Academy, the Martial Saint himself appeared and rushed to the scene.

Several minutes later, even Wu Tianya, the head of the academy who was stationed in the southeast district, descended from the sky.

At this moment, more than a dozen Martial Kings and Celestial Person had gathered here, including two Martial Saints and Zhao Liang, the Saint who arrived later and represented the City Lord Mansion.

Sensing the lingering aura in this courtyard, now a ruin and burning fiercely, not to mention the Martial Kings and Celestial Person, even Wu Tianya, Zhao Liang, and another Martial Saint, Fang Yan, all changed color slightly.

"A peak Celestial Person! This is the Divine Ability of a peak Celestial Person!"

"The power of this Divine Ability is definitely among the best, at least a superior Divine Ability. Moreover, it is a superior supernatural Divine Ability that has been cultivated to the great success or even perfection. It can already threaten some martial saints who are not good at defense."

"Who is it? This blazing, dazzling power of the sun... is it Ji Lie, a member of the Demonic Cult?"

One by one, the Celestial Person and King Wu cautiously discussed the matter via telepathy.

There were survivors.

As Zhao Liang spoke, he waved his hand, and all the heat dissipated.

Then, his gaze fell on a figure whose entire body was completely charred black by the high temperature, making it almost unrecognizable as human.

Upon seeing this person, one of the Martial Kings watching from behind seemed to sense something, and his expression changed. "This faint aura... is it an Ancient Martial King!?"

"You know him?"

Zhao Liang's gaze fell on this King Wu.

"Yes, the Ancient Martial King is a student at the Martial Saint Academy and also a member of our Southeast Purifiers team."

King Wu stepped forward and responded in a deep voice.

He is Dong Yuji, one of the two vice-captains of this purge squad Gu Jinlai.

The southeastern district falls under his jurisdiction, and with such a major incident occurring there, he naturally rushed over immediately.

"The Purgers?"

Upon hearing these three words, everyone in the room quickly realized what was going on.

At this moment, Dong Yuji, who had been silent for a moment, added, "At noon today, one of our team members, Zhuang Ying, was exposed and killed by the Demon Cult member Shang Tielong. This matter involves some secrets, so Captain Lan sent Gu Jinlai as bait to try to lure the Demon Cult members into making a move again... We thought they would only act at night, but we didn't expect... that they would dare to make a move before it was even dark."

"Use this person as bait? To lure the demonic cultists into making a move?"

Zhao Liang frowned; things didn't seem so simple.

"This location... this should be Jin Yuhai's private courtyard."

At this moment, another King Wu spoke up, "He did indeed come here to receive guests today..."

"Jin Yuhai?"

"Is this Jin Yuhai's courtyard?"

A suppressed gasp came from the crowd.

Many people searched the courtyard, and then...

Apart from Gu Jinlai, who was critically injured and on the verge of death, there was no one alive.

"I think I understand why that cultist made his move during the day."

At this moment, Dong Yuji suddenly spoke.

"Call out!"

As he spoke, three more people arrived at the scene: Lan Yuxian, the captain of the Southeast Squad; Hei Jian, the vice-captain; and Yan Lie, who had come from the Martial Arts Academy.

Upon arrival, they quickly inquired about the specific details.

"What else do you know?"

Zhao Liang turned his gaze to Dong Yuji.

Upon hearing Zhao Liang's inquiry, Dong Yuji did not conceal anything and directly recounted the dispute between Pan Dali and Jin Yuhai over the leadership of the Purifiers team, as well as the related grudges. He added, "Gu Wu Wang, Zhuang Wu Wang, and Xia Wu Wang ruined Pan Wu Wang's plans. In retaliation, they are likely to leak their Purifier identities. Not only them, but even Jin Yuhai and Jin Wu Wang are no exception. The Demon Cult killed Zhuang Wu Wang at noon today and should now be targeting Gu Wu Wang. It just so happens that Gu Wu Wang and Jin Wu Wang are together at this moment... Therefore, they took action before nightfall."

After he finished speaking, he added, "Of course, all of this is just my speculation, and I have no evidence whatsoever."

Zhao Liang, Wu Tianya, Fang Yan and the others frowned upon hearing what Dong Yuji said.

The competition for the leadership of the Purge squad was indeed fierce, and there were even those who reached the level of Pan Dali.

And...

They had heard of Pan Dali, this so-called martial arts master, to some extent.

Given his personality, it would be perfectly normal for him to do something like "if he can't have it, he'll destroy it".

However, since there was no evidence and Pan Dali was a potential martial arts master, the group didn't make any promises.

If they really want to investigate Dali, they will take action once Jin Fantian speaks to them directly.

"Could this matter be related to anything in the Gu Jinlai?"

At that moment, someone suddenly spoke up.

"Impossible."

Yan Lie said, "Gu Jinlai, he cultivated the Chaos True Demon Body, and later switched to cultivating the Myriad Thunder Secret Scripture. Even if he developed Divine Ability, they would be related to thunder. They shouldn't be so intense and dazzling. Moreover, we have tested his physical strength more than once. He is just an ordinary Martial King. This cannot be faked. He could not possibly kill Jin Yuhai."

His words prompted Black Sword to nod in agreement.

He had previously served as Gu Jinlai's superior and had witnessed Gu Jinlai's actions; indeed, his strength was insufficient to kill Jin Yuhai.

Moreover...

If he were truly an undercover agent, why would he leave himself so badly injured after killing Jin Yuhai?

The somewhat puzzled King Wu also realized this at this moment and immediately fell silent.

After everyone quieted down, Wu Tianya's gaze fell on Lan Yuxian: "You were reckless in this matter, using your own team members as bait without taking any precautions. Your opponents, the Purifiers, are out-of-control individuals and cultists. They are different from Demonic Beasts; they will strike at any time once they sense an advantage. Do you really have to wait until nightfall to behave yourselves?"

Lan Yuxian's expression changed.

Faced with Wu Tianya's accusations, she dared not refute him in the slightest and could only lower her head and say, "What the academy master says is true, it was my oversight."

Wu Tianya glanced at the courtyard that had been razed to the ground.

Compared to those Gu Jinlai, Kim Yu-hae is clearly more valuable to attack.

Faced with a Divine Ability attack equivalent to a peak Celestial Person, and one of immense power at Divine Ability, Jin Yuhai...

It can't be stopped.

His fate was now a foregone conclusion.

Jin Yuhai is dead. Even though he didn't hold much weight in Jin Fantian's heart, he was still considered an outstanding offspring because he had cultivated to the Martial King level.

Wu Tianya must give an explanation.

"Making such a mistake so soon after taking office suggests you're not suited for the captaincy. Let you act as captain for a month and observe. If you achieve something after a month, it will be considered redemption. If you don't achieve anything..."

"I will resign from my position as captain."

Lan Yuxian took the initiative to speak.

"Can."

Wu Tianya replied, and at the same time said to Yan Lie, "Take this Ancient Martial King to heal his injuries and find out the specific situation."

"Yes."

Yan Lie nodded.

Soon they took the Gu Jinlai the Martial Saint Academy.

The purge team in the southeastern district had just been established when it lost two members, one of whom was Jin Yuhai, a man of considerable status.

This is a serious provocation against the Purge Department.

Next, the Purge Department will inevitably launch a major crackdown on those who have lost control and those who are cultists.