Speaking Human Words

The Meteor Guard, as the Provincial Lord's instrument for governing the cultivation world, possessed an expansive estate.

However, the entire backyard was now occupied by Gu Jinlai.

And today, the backyard was quite lively.

Led by Gu Chaoyang and Nian Buwang, a group of Qi Refining realm cultivators...

Gu Chaoyang, through the recently adopted Innate Primordial Chaos Art and supplemented by Qi Refining Pills, had successfully refined his Qi into Gang.

This group, along with over thirty people who had just arrived from the Gu Family, led by Gu Xiangyang, filled the courtyard.

"Have the areas where demonic beasts have appeared been thoroughly investigated?" Gu Jinlai inquired.

"They have been," Gu Chaoyang nodded, producing a map. A strange look crossed his face. "However... there are very few traces of demonic beasts around Lingxiao City. Recently, there have been hardly any reports of demonic beasts preying on people or massacring villages."

Gu Jinlai was somewhat surprised.

Lingxiao City's defenses weren't strong, yet there were no demonic beasts nearby?

"The closest demonic beast traces are three hundred li from Lingxiao City."

"Three hundred li."

He had only taken control of the Meteor Guard's West City branch a few days ago. If he were to venture three hundred li to clear out demonic beasts...

It would likely invite unforeseen complications.

But then, something else occurred to him.

Eliminating demonic beasts was, in itself, one of the Meteor Guard's duties.

As long as he took all the Meteor Guard, including their peripheral members, away from Lingxiao City, what purpose would anyone else have in trying to do anything?

If the people were gone, would they occupy an empty shell?

"Assemble all the Meteor Guard. Since I am the Commander of Lingxiao City, I shall contribute to its stability. Starting today, we will conduct a month-long demon hunting operation to eliminate the surrounding demonic beasts and bring peace and order to Lingxiao City!" Gu Jinlai declared righteously.

"Understood." Gu Chaoyang cupped his hands and sent for the men.

"Gu Junxiu, Gu Junlei." Gu Jinlai turned to two Gu Family disciples. These two possessed extraordinary blacksmithing skills, and Gu Jinlai's swords and armor were crafted by them, after which he imbued them with spirit, shared spirit, and summoned spirit. He handed them the blueprints he had drawn. "You two, go to the courtyard Nian Buwang secretly purchased and forge these implements according to the specifications on these drawings. I want to see the finished products in a month."

The two looked at the peculiar iron pipes on the blueprints. Though they didn't understand the reason, their ancestor had given the order, so they complied. "Yes."

Looking at the two, Gu Jinlai thought of the bullet production process. The casing and the projectile were formed by stamping with molds, then loaded with propellant and primers. To ensure safety, hundreds of processes were often required. Without automated production, the formation of each batch of bullets would inevitably consume considerable manpower and resources. With this in mind, he said to Nian Buwang, "Send a message back, asking our family to recruit a group of skilled blacksmiths, and simultaneously select loyal and reliable individuals for training. I will write a manual detailing how they should be trained."

"Understood," Nian Buwang replied.

Gu Jinlai then looked at the thirty new clansmen who had reached the Viscera Refining and Blood Changing realms. These thirty individuals primarily practiced the Great Sun Demonic God Body Refining Method and cultivated the Great Sun True Demon Body divine ability. Once conditions and techniques were mature, they would don armor, holding a Gatling gun in their right hand and a sword in their left, specifically for charging and breaking formations. They didn't need to be exceptionally strong; as long as they reached his current level and were fully equipped, thirty of them could definitely contend against ten thousand.

"It would be even better if we could equip each of them with a Battle Tyrannosaurus mount clad in full steel armor," Gu Jinlai added in his mind.

The Battle Tyrannosaurus, over ten meters long and weighing tens of tons, possessed astonishing strength, with an average speed of eighty kilometers per hour and a top speed of one hundred and forty kilometers per hour. Coupled with a load capacity of ten tons of ammunition... defeating ten thousand would not even be difficult for thirty of them. Elites? Ordinary soldiers? They would all be the same in their eyes.

Soon, over twenty official Meteor Guard members, led by Zhao Fan, and one hundred and forty-five reserve Meteor Guard members were assembled. With a single command from Gu Jinlai, the more than two hundred people marched out of the city, heading directly for the first location where demonic beasts had been sighted.

When Fang Que and the others received the news and sent people to investigate the West City branch, the entire branch was already empty.

Two hundred people, armed with sabers and swords, roamed the wilderness. Wherever they passed, pedestrians and merchants alike quickly made way.

However...

There weren't many pedestrians or merchants to be seen on the road.

Not only were there few pedestrians and merchants, but cultivators traveling the land were also rarely encountered.

At some major intersections, many patrol soldiers could be seen, seemingly maintaining order, or perhaps guarding the area.

Since Gu Jinlai and his group were numerous and flew the banner of the Meteor Guard, these patrol soldiers naturally did not dare to stop them.

As there were few carriages, the group traveled a hundred miles a day, taking three days to reach the location where demonic beasts appeared.

It was a small town abandoned for three years, located at the foot of Autumn Mountain.

After a day of rest, Gu Jinlai ordered all official and reserve Meteor Guards to swarm into Autumn Mountain to search for traces of demonic beasts.

Many hands make light work.

Within a single day, a demonic beast appeared.

It was a Mid-tier Demonic Beast.

Gu Jinlai led the group in an encirclement and kill, quickly dispatching the beast.

Afterward, he instructed the Meteor Guards to continue searching for demonic beasts, and had Gu Chaoyang and Nian Buwang lead people to maintain vigilance in the surroundings. He, along with thirty disciples of the Gu Family, went to the corpse.

"In the past few days, you have gained a preliminary grasp of the Great Sun Demonic God Body Refining Method. Although you haven't officially entered the path, you can already absorb the blood of demonic beasts. Now, in order, one by one."

Gu Jinlai said in a deep voice.

"Yes."

The thirty people responded in unison.

Even though they knew that walking the path of a Demonic Body Cultivator might involve various dangers, and they might not live long in the future, the thirty individuals showed no hesitation.

The education they had received since childhood was to contribute everything for the growth and rise of the family, including their lives.

Not to mention, these thirty people were carefully selected members from the Gu Family, their will and beliefs beyond question.

"I will guide your cultivation. Gu Chifeng, you are first. Begin."

Gu Jinlai commanded.

Gu Chifeng, who had reached the peak of Blood Changing, quickly smeared some of the demonic beast's essence blood onto himself, inscribed runes, and began to absorb it by circulating the Great Sun Demonic God Body Refining Method.

As he absorbed the power of the essence blood, Gu Jinlai placed a hand on his head. In the next moment, a blazing, radiant Great Sun seemed to appear behind him.

The Great Sun shone down, emitting dazzling brilliance. The demonic nature remaining in Gu Chifeng's essence blood let out a mournful cry under the irradiation and tempering of the light, being burned away.

With the interference of the demonic nature gone, Gu Chifeng absorbed the essence blood at a faster rate. As his aura surged, he showed signs of condensing into a demonic body.

"Good!"

Gu Jinlai said heavily.

Recalling his previous speculation, Spiritual Awareness should also possess the mysterious qualities of Spiritual Sense, just that its effects were not as significant as Spiritual Sense.

Immediately, he used his Spiritual Awareness to activate Gu Chifeng's spirituality, subtly assisting him in forging a true demonic physique.

Just as he had predicted.

If Spiritual Sense guidance was like a teacher's one-on-one instruction, then Spiritual Awareness leading was akin to video lessons. Although it was not as good as direct instruction, for Gu Chifeng, who was only a step away from shaping his demonic physique, it pointed him in the right direction.

In less than half an hour, a malevolent aura surged from Gu Chifeng. His original height of about 1.76 meters directly increased to 1.81 meters, and his muscles and physique visibly expanded.

"Thank you, Ancestor, for your fulfillment."

Gu Chifeng said solemnly.

"Good."

Gu Jinlai patted his shoulder. "Well done. Now go and properly experience the power you've gained."

Then, he turned to another person. "Gu Qingmei, it's your turn."

Gu Qingmei, also at the peak of Blood Changing, stepped forward.

For the next month, Gu Jinlai led the Gu Family disciples and over 160 Meteor Guards, traveling through the mountains and forests.

With two hundred people actively searching, and the added buff of twelve layers of Karma for monster attraction, they hunted thirteen demonic beasts in a month!

This included three High-ranking Demonic Beasts!

With the essence blood contributed by these demonic beasts, everyone successfully transitioned their cultivation to that of a Demonic Body Cultivator.

Of course, due to differing foundations, only six people, including Gu Chifeng, Gu Qingmei, and Gu Luochen, were able to condense their demonic bodies in one go.

The other twenty-four individuals, while not having cultivated demonic bodies, had a significant increase in their Blood Essence compared to before.

More than half had reached the peak of Blood Changing, and the other half had advanced from Viscera Refining into the Blood Changing realm.

This kind of growth…

was terrifying.

"Are there more demonic beasts outside Lingxiao City than Starlight City, or are there more demon hunters in Starlight City, or is it because the Karma buff has grown to the twelfth layer?"

Gu Jinlai walked through a desolate small town, pondering slightly.

At this moment, Gu Chaoyang quickly reported, "Ancestor, another Mid-tier Demonic Beast has been discovered. Zhao Fan and Senior Brother Su are leading the men to surround and kill it."

"Good."

To prevent any casualties on his side, Gu Jinlai immediately got up and rushed to the location of the encirclement.

When he arrived at the encirclement site, Zhao Fan and Su Nanxing were still fighting the Mid-tier Demonic Beast, which wielded an iron rod and resembled a giant ape.

This demonic beast was extremely agile. Even with the combined efforts of two Core Condensation cultivators, they could only suppress it, not kill it. If not for the Meteor Guards at the Gang Condensation realm occasionally intervening from the surroundings, it would have likely escaped.

"Screech!"

Just then, the demonic beast let out a cry, and then…

it spoke human words.

"Humans… you… don't keep your word…"

When the demonic beast spoke, not only Su Nanxing but even Gu Jinlai was slightly stunned.

They had always known that demonic beasts fused with Demon Spirits possessed intelligence, and their methods of tempering their bodies even contained a civilization system. Some with special bloodlines could even speak human languages. They never expected to encounter this!

After all, the structure of demonic beasts was completely different from humans. Those that could produce human language were all exceptionally talented!

This demonic beast before them…

"Whoosh!"

While Su Nanxing and Zhao Fan were dazed, the demonic beast suddenly leaped, breaking free from their suppression at extreme speed and pulling away.

But before it could escape to safety, Gu Jinlai's footwork erupted with power. Without using his sword, he struck the demonic beast with a palm containing immense force. Accompanied by the sound of cracking bones, the leaping demonic beast was slammed heavily to the ground.

"Bang!"

Soil flew, and grass fragments scattered.

"Tell me, how are we humans not keeping our word?"