Caveat Stone

"Assist the Immortal Kingdom in defeating the Demonic Beasts of the Blood Abyss..."

Duanmu Chengyun and the others listened to what Gu Jinlai had said and pondered for a moment.

In the past six months, they led the elite forces of the six great grotto heavens and the mighty army of the Holy Dynasty, sweeping across 40,000 li, recovering the 40,000 li territory centered on the thirty-six outer cities, and rescuing more than 600 million humans who were originally imprisoned.

Not only did they achieve great feats, but they also recaptured many valuable resource points.

With these resource points, they no longer needed to rely on plundering the supplies brought by outsiders to strengthen themselves. The situation of the Holy Dynasty has shifted from frantic infighting to outward expansion, and has greatly improved.

And Demonic Beasts...

Whether it was because they genuinely couldn't spare enough resources for reinforcements, or because they feared the power displayed Gu Jinlai when spirit beings swiftly and decisively annihilated two high-ranking spirit lords, they organized almost no decent resistance during this period.

In this situation, the Holy Dynasty was actually able to spare some resources to aid the Immortal Kingdom, and it even became the final straw that broke the camel's back in the Blood Swamp Demon Abyss War.

Thinking of this, Duanmu Chengyun's gaze fell on Gu Jinlai: "Our strength is mainly concentrated in divine weapons and grotto-heavens. Once we are too far away from the grotto-heavens, we will not be able to obtain the amplification of spiritual energy. In reality, our combat strength is only slightly stronger than that of a supreme illusory immortal, and we cannot compare with a resident true immortal..."

"It can condense spiritual energy into spiritual crystals and fully activate the divine weapon at critical moments, unleashing power close to that of a mortal immortal."

Gu Jinlai said, "My idea is to leave two people to guard the Holy Dynasty, and send four people with forty Void Immortals and a number of Saints. In this way, you four Void Immortals, plus me, will be equivalent to three True Immortals. I think we can deal a heavy blow to the Demonic Beasts of the Blood Swamp Demon Abyss."

"Four people..."

Duanmu Chengyun pondered for a moment. Although they knew that even powerful beings like them, whose combat strength was close to that of a True Immortal, were in danger of losing their lives on the Blood Swamp Demon Abyss battlefield, if the Immortal Kingdom were to be defeated in the Blood Swamp Demon Abyss, and the Demonic Beasts were to spare their strength to besiege them, their fate might not be much better.

The saying "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold" is more apt than this.

"We are willing to follow the ancient immortal to the immortal realm."

Duanmu Chengyun cupped his hands in greeting.

"Good!"

Gu Jinlai nodded to Duanmu Chengyun.

Although the Holy Dynasty's leadership has pursued an escapist policy for the past decade or so, only thinking about abandoning the Holy Dynasty and fleeing to Blue Star with enough resources, but...

That's because they see absolutely no hope of victory.

Now that hope is right in front of them, they are not lacking in courage to fight the Demonic Beasts.

After all, their courage to establish the Holy Land was indeed motivated by a desire to unite all forces and fight against Demonic Beasts.

Regarding unity and solidarity...

The mutual support and close cooperation among the six great grotto-heavens shows that they have done a pretty good job.

"To quell external threats, we must first secure internal stability. We have suddenly withdrawn such a large force to reinforce the Immortal Kingdom. In case any ambitious individuals within the Holy Dynasty take the opportunity to stir up trouble, we must thoroughly purge the Holy Dynasty, both inside and outside! Those who deserve to be killed should be killed. Even those with formidable strength, though it would be a pity to kill them, can be used as the first wave of attackers in the Blood Swamp Demon Abyss battlefield to atone for our sins."

This Gu Jinlai.

Upon hearing what Gu Jinlai said, Duanmu Chengyun, Zhao Piaomiao, Dong Xuanzi and the others exchanged glances and laughed at the same time, "Don't worry, True Immortal Gu, we understand this principle as well. Before the outbreak of the full-scale war with the Demonic Beasts, that is, during the time you left, we actually carried out a purge within our ranks, and just as you said, we sent the most heinous criminals to the front line to fight the Demonic Beasts and atone for their sins."

"Have you... purged the Holy Dynasty?"

This has surprised many Gu Jinlai.

"Certainly."

Dong Xuanzi, standing to the side, chuckled and said, "We know that the Ancient True Immortals are irreconcilably opposed to evil. This can be seen from the fact that the Ancient True Immortals spent several months purging the twenty-nine outer cities one by one. In fact, we can no longer tolerate the people below corrupting the rule of the Holy Dynasty. Therefore, it is also our duty to purge evil."

The others nodded in agreement.

They had studied the history of the Gu Jinlai, and although they knew he was not a pure martial artist, he seemed to have tried to condense an indestructible will.

His unwavering will is to uphold order and eradicate evil.

Having witnessed firsthand Gu Jinlai even a creator could be killed and that such a forbidden creature as the Void Beast could be created, the six great grotto heavens' fear of him had surpassed that of ordinary true immortals.

Knowing that Gu Jinlai always hated evil, they naturally dared not allow evil to proliferate.

So that one day he might become unhappy and doubt their ability to rule the Holy Dynasty, and overthrow them directly to take his place.

Therefore, during the six months that the Six Great Grotto-Heavens waged war against the Demonic Beasts, it was also a large-scale internal purge.

Handle what can be handled directly.

Those that were inconvenient to deal with directly were sent to the battlefield and eliminated by Demonic Beasts.

Those who were lucky enough to survive also killed many Demonic Beasts, thus cleansing themselves of their sins.

Therefore, when Duanmu Chengyun and the others said these words, their faces were full of smiles, as if they were just waiting for Gu Jinlai to personally praise them for doing a great job.

This result...

Gu Jinlai, it's hard to say whether to praise them for carrying out their will to the end or to reprimand them for meddling in other people's business.

Only...

Ultimately, the six great grotto-heavens were indeed acting in accordance with his methods, and if he were to truly reprimand them...

That would be putting the cart before the horse.

After all, he did have the idea of ending the chaos and restoring order to all parts of the Immortal Realm.

If he were to criticize others simply because they cleansed away evil in his place, thus preventing him from obtaining enough purification light, wouldn't he be becoming a slave to purification light?

How is this behavior any different from condoning the growth of evil on one hand, and then secretly cleaning up the mess to seize it all?

People...

Ultimately, you should rely on yourself.

"You have done a good job. Only a nation with order and hope, and which firmly upholds this order, deserves to be called the true holy land of our human race."

Gu Jinlai, their wishes have been fulfilled, and they have been praised.

Finally, he immediately added, "I have special skills to distinguish between good and evil, loyalty and treachery. For safety's sake, I will conduct another round of purges. In addition, purging evil and promoting order will strengthen my mind and solidify my will. From now on, I will personally conduct the trials. With my special skills, I can also effectively avoid wronging innocent people."

The elders nodded in agreement. "The Ancient Immortal is truly kind-hearted; we will certainly cooperate fully."

"The Ancient Immortal actually possesses such abilities? In the future, if there are any heinous criminals, we will definitely have the Ancient Immortal personally judge them to avoid any misjudgments or wrong decisions."

Several people spoke up one after another.

Duanmu Chengyun added, "It just so happens that we have consolidated our expanded territory. It will take some time to cleanse the Demonic Beasts in the expanded areas. If the Ancient True Immortal wants to cleanse the forty-nine cities of the Holy Dynasty again, please go ahead. I will immediately appoint Duanmu Ren as the Inspector of the Holy Dynasty of the Ancient True Immortal and provide him with the necessary assistance."

"You all have put in a lot of effort."

Gu Jinlai, people have bowed respectfully.

He vaguely understood why Duanmu Chengyun was so proactive in purging the Holy Dynasty.

Duanmu Chengyun had naturally studied his style of doing things carefully, and he would naturally know that clearing out the thirty-six outer cities was by no means his limit. In the future, he would eventually turn his attention to the twelve inner cities and the capital.

This can be seen from his swift appointment of him as the chief inspector of the forty-nine cities.

Knowing full well that he wouldn't let it go, their proactive purge of the Holy Dynasty, compared to waiting for Gu Jinlai purge it, had a completely different impact.

They could have easily saved some of the people they wanted to protect, sending them to the battlefield to atone for their sins and cleansing their names.

Furthermore, internal oversight is itself a means of promoting power and legitimacy, and of intimidating local authorities.

If the Holy Dynasty were to be thoroughly purged Gu Jinlai and the Six Great Grotto-Heavens remained unmoved, then who would ultimately rule the Holy Dynasty from this day forward?

This is also why they acted hastily while Gu Jinlai away.

Once this point is understood, emotions have not changed much Gu Jinlai.

"I need some Cave Heaven Stones, and Cave Heaven Divine Crystals would be even better. Does anyone have any for sale?"

This Gu Jinlai.

"The Stone of the Grotto Heaven? The ancient immortals are planning to build a grotto heaven?"

Duanmu Chengyun was startled.

"I have this idea."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

Cave Heaven Stone is the main material for building cave heavens, and it is an even more precious treasure.

If Demon Soul Crystals are considered the hard currency of the Creator stage, then the hard currency of the Residual Immortal is the Cave Heaven Stone.

Even materials of the Five Elements such as Immortal Refined Gold, Heavenly Spirit Wood, Floating Water, Six Yang Flame Crystal, and Obsidian Divine Stone cannot compare in value to Cave Heaven Stone.

"Rest assured, I will not build a grotto-heaven in the Holy Dynasty to share in its spiritual energy."

From Gu Jinlai, this has been explained.

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Chengyun breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He then put on a smile and said, "We have specially stored some Cave Heaven Stones, so there's no need to buy them. With the help that the Ancient Immortal has given to our Holy Dynasty, talking about money would hurt our feelings. We are willing to give the Ancient Immortal ten portions of Cave Heaven Stones for free."

"Let's just buy and sell at market price."

This Gu Jinlai.

The number of cave stones needed to build a cave heaven is in the hundreds.

Ten portions are far from enough.

Given the wealth of the Holy Dynasty, there are definitely a hundred or two hundred units left over.

Seeing that Gu Jinlai had insisted on this, Duanmu Chengyun had no choice but to agree.

Although the Cave Heaven Stone is a strategic resource, judging from their persistent efforts Gu Jinlai, they clearly have no choice but to sell it.

Furthermore, based on Gu Jinlai leading Chao Jiuyin and the others away, they realized that he had another territory elsewhere, so there was no need to worry that his cave heaven would affect the operation of the six major cave heavens. In the end, they agreed.

The two sides discussed some details and finalized the transaction of the Cave Stone.

Finally, Duanmu Chengyun added with a smile, "We have specially arranged a group of people for the Ancient Immortal. These people are all those who have redeemed themselves through meritorious service. They are at the Ancient Immortal's disposal. In fact, if the Ancient Immortal feels that their crimes are unforgivable, it would not be a problem to kill them on the spot."

"Oh?"

Gu Jinlai listened and vaguely knew that this group of people must be somewhat unusual, but he did not ask any more questions and just nodded.

After withdrawing his spiritual consciousness from the Void Palace, Gu Jinlai continued his journey with Liu Feiyun.

Now, let's see how much the second round of crackdown will yield.