Coming Here, We Can't Leave Empty-Handed

That's not even the scariest part.

Even more terrifying, after that towering three-meter-tall figure swept through a section of the city wall with a storm of death, more figures followed closely behind, leaping up the wall.

Since no one at the Gang Condensing or Core Forming immediately stepped forward to intercept them, several more figures jumped up after them.

These figures are not as tall as the three-meter-tall figures of the Gu Jinlai, nor do they unleash suffocating firepower, but they are still about two meters tall when wearing special heavy armor.

The weapons they wielded were much smaller and more delicate than the massive metal boxes of the Gu Jinlai, yet the firepower they unleashed was equally astonishing.

It's equivalent to a smaller version of the Gu Jinlai in terms of lethality.

The key is...

There are ten of these smaller versions Gu Jinlai.

Ten monsters clad in modified heavy armor unleashed a barrage of fire from flame-breathing machines, rendering the battle no longer a battle.

It was a massacre.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes wide, his hands and feet were ice cold.

Cold sweat slid down his handsome face to his chin, wetting his collar.

How could this happen! How could this happen!?

He had no idea that just a moment ago, he had offered his grand plan to conquer Star Province, volunteered to lead the Lin family's elite troops to capture Yuanhua City, made great contributions to territorial expansion, and even won the praise of the Spirit Transformation Grandmaster Elder Shi Chen.

If he simply follows the plan and continues with the second and third steps, he will seize control of six cities west of Star Province, completely establishing the Purgatory Sect's foothold in Star Province, and then plotting to conquer the entire Star Province.

A bright future awaits.

But the next second...

From Gu Jinlai to the present.

With Shi Chen, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, around, this is practically a gift delivered to their door, and it might even make their plan to seize Lingxiao City go more smoothly.

Result...

Shi Chen was defeated.

The Cold Feather Sword was drawn, but it failed to kill Gu Jinlai.

On the contrary, this Spirit Transformation elder fled in panic, suffering a great loss of vitality.

Then, Gu Jinlai rushed up to Yuanhua City and clearly demonstrated to him the power of the artifacts forged by the Celestial Master.

Looking at that fire-breathing metal machine.

That is...

"Numbers and swords cannot defeat this monster!"

Lin Xiao shuddered.

Looking at that figure constantly spewing flames, and recalling the elder Shi Chen who decisively fled in a sorry state...

Even Spirit Transformation cultivator was forced to flee, so how could he possibly fight against such a monster!

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"

Lin Xiao jumped off the fourth floor of the attic and shouted to Lin Jianfeng beside him, "Quickly! Send the order for everyone to evacuate and leave Yuanhua City. We cannot allow all the elites of our Lin family to be lost here. Every one who escapes is a piece of cake."

Lin Jianfeng was equally stunned by the eleven beams of light that were unleashing their fury.

In all his years of cultivation, he had never seen such a terrifying killing machine.

Dozens or hundreds of people rushed forward, only to fall down like wheat.

The meaning of life being as insignificant as grass is vividly demonstrated in the face of such deadly weapons.

Upon hearing Lin Xiao's order, Lin Jianfeng jolted awake and quickly realized what was happening. "I... I'll go inform my uncle right away..."

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Without him needing to inform them, a desperate roar echoed from the battlefield ahead.

That was the voice of Lin Xiao, a peak-level Core Forming.

Unfortunately, his actions immediately exposed him as soon as he gave the order.

As a dazzling stream of metallic light poured down, the sound...

It came to an abrupt end.

This scene left Lin Jianfeng completely dumbfounded.

Lin Xiao's face showed pain. "Escape! Let's escape, let's get out of Yuanhua City first, every one of us who escapes is one more!"

After saying that, he turned around and ran after Elder Shi Chen.

Lin Jianfeng looked around, but ultimately decided against foolishly stepping forward to display his fearless courage, and followed Lin Xiao away.

Throughout Gu Jinlai...

There were only a little over a hundred people.

I can't say I know much about Yuanhua City.

Furthermore, Lin Xiao had always been too frightened to move when Gu Jinlai climbed the city wall, and without exposing himself, he couldn't find the culprit.

After a brief barrage of firepower, the battle gradually came to an end.

Several hours later, Nian Buwang led a thousand men to Yuanhua City. All that was left was to take over the city and clean up the battlefield.

"Laugh!"

Gu Jinlai, he has carried a sword and killed a specially chosen master of the Core Forming realm.

At this moment, apart from Gu Chifeng and others who were clearing out the soldiers behind him, there were no other experts above the Qi Refining who were resisting him.

"Yuanhua City has been captured."

It has Gu Jinlai.

Unlike Lingxiao City, which was merely a transportation hub, Yuanhua City, a border city, was able to develop to a scale approaching that of six major cities, including Changjun and Baihe, mainly because it was located near mines.

Iron ore.

It is thanks to this iron mine that Yuanhua City is relatively wealthy. Including the county seat, it has a total population of 2.4 million, which is almost twice that of Lingxiao City, which has only 1.3 million people including all the counties under its jurisdiction.

But then I thought about the news I had just received...

"Lin Xiao actually ran away."

He missed an opportunity to settle things with this "original" enemy.

He squinted slightly.

"Yuanhua City is less than 500 li away from Linfeng City..."

Upon realizing this, he immediately called out, "Gu Chifeng."

"Ancestor."

Armor never leaving his body, gun never leaving his hand, and exuding an air of worldly experience, Gu Chifeng strode up and asked, "What are your orders?"

How many bullets are left?

"Yuanhua City is quite complicated. The clearing out of the army consumed a lot of bullets. Although we reduced the rate of fire, we still have less than 200,000 rounds left."

Ancient Chifeng Road.

"Less than 200,000 rounds."

This number seems like a lot, but in reality, machine guns have absolutely no accuracy.

Under normal circumstances, it might not be possible to kill a person with a dozen or so bullets.

This is because the world doesn't understand machine guns.

Once they devise tactics to counter machine gun fire, the cost of this operation will likely increase several times, or even ten times.

"Does the Ancestor intend to press his advantage and conquer Linfeng City?"

Gu Chifeng guessed something.

"Never mind."

Gu Jinlai shook his head. "Our current ability to occupy two cities is already the limit. Occupying too many cities may not be a good thing."

"If you can't occupy, you can plunder."

Gu Chifeng's eyes lit up. "The Lin family has been operating in Linfeng City for many years, and their wealth is considerable."

"Yuanhua City is our base, and we must occupy it. We don't have enough manpower."

"Our ancestor forgot that the Lineage still has manpower available for deployment."

Ancient Chifeng Road.

"Lineage ..."

Gu Jinlai, a thought has stirred within me.

"Yes, the six thousand soldiers recruited by the Lineage have been training for nearly half a year and are fully capable of actual combat. In particular, the three thousand who are being trained as elites... their combat strength is no less than that of the regular army, and it will be no difficult task to take over the undefended Linfeng City."

Gu Chifeng rallied his spirits. "Didn't our ancestor originally intend to move the Gu Clan to Lingxiao City? Why not split into two groups, one to migrate and the other to Linfeng City to make a big splash?"

"This method..."

I have pondered this from Gu Jinlai present.

The Gu Clan's presence in the territory of Chi Province, the main base of the Purgatory Sect, is a huge hidden danger. After occupying Lingxiao City, he already had the intention of relocating the Gu Clan.

The Gu Clan is also making relevant preparations.

During the migration, elite troops were dispatched to raid the poorly defended Linfeng City...

"Then what are we waiting for? We've come all this way, how can we leave empty-handed?"

Gu Jinlai said, "Su Nanxing with you. I will stay in Yuanhua City to control the situation. You all bring all your equipment and make sure we finish this quickly."

"Yes."

Gu Chifeng responded enthusiastically and quickly withdrew.

After he left, a portion of the spirit from Gu Jinlai focused on the Green Lotus.

No.

It can no longer be called Green Lotus. The pitch-black Karma has completely filled the Green Lotus, making it look somewhat like a black lotus.

"Seventeen floors? That's a bit scary."

They glanced at him Gu Jinlai.

In the two major battles, he didn't participate much in the Battle of Beishan, but he killed hundreds of soldiers in Yuanhua City, mainly Yellow Name, who directly added three layers of Karma to his body.

Although the level of Karma does not represent the enemy's strength, but...

To prevent the Meteor Guards and the Purgatory Sect from disregarding their strategic plans and sending Nascent Spirit Transformation cultivators to him out of the blue for the sake of their so-called face and dignity, he still had to suppress his hatred.

"The fourteenth floor... is not safe enough, the thirteenth floor is more secure."

Upon realizing this, four beams of clear light swept down.

The pitch-black Karma instantly plummeted back to its Bright Red hue.

Although it was still a bit dazzling, he didn't plan to go down.

"Most of the people who died during the siege were ordinary people. Even after the city fell, I specifically targeted those with blood-red Karma and hunted them down. So far, I have only accumulated eight beams of light."

Using half of it at once is already considered a serious injury.

He still needs to reserve two beams of light for use with the close-in weapon system when necessary.

The rest...

A thought crossed my mind.

Two beams of clear light poured into the eternal furnace.

A series of insights came to mind.

He not only gained a deeper understanding of this Cultivation Method, but the efficiency with which he utilized the Qi Refining and Spirit Transformation also seemed to have increased.

As for the Cultivation Method level...

Eternal Furnace: Beginner → Beginner.

When will he be buried?

Gu Jinlai muttered a complaint and then regained his composure.

Gu Chifeng led his men on a new journey.

Those Gu Jinlai have remained in Yuanhua City.

Instead of staying at the City Lord Mansion, he came to the Heavenly Gang Gate.

In terms of scale, the Heavenly Gang Sect is actually larger than the City Lord Mansion.

Long before Su Wen extended his reach to Yuanhua City, the city had already changed its name.

The current and previous city lords of Yuanhua City and that Minister Su all had some connection.

Furthermore, the daughter of Su Fangzheng, the leader of the Heavenly Gang Sect, was married to Su Wen. With this connection, the Heavenly Gang Sect was the true controller of Yuanhua City.

Not long after Gu Jinlai at Heavenly Gang Gate, Nian Buwang came to greet him, "Ancestor, Yuanhua City has been sealed off by us, but... if we transfer Brother Gu Liu and the others away, we may not be able to defend the city gates smoothly."

"Guard the city gates? Why guard the city gates?"

This Gu Jinlai.

Nian Buwang was taken aback. "No need to block intelligence?"

"Not only do we not need them, we also want them to spread the word."

Gu Jinlai at him and said, "Soldiers, keep a close watch on the prisoners. Leave a few people behind to maintain order in the city. As for people entering and leaving the city, there is no need to worry about them."

Shi Chen drew his sword, and the Cold Feather Sword tore through the void, witnessed by many.

But what will the result be?

Shi Chen fled in panic, and the Gu Clan stormed into Yuanhua City. The outcome was self-evident.

Next, all that's left is for the Purgatory Sect and the Meteor Guards to receive this intelligence, and then they will all make the right choice.

The turbulent Lingxiao City and Yuanhua City will also return to peace.