Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

As Gu Chen thought about it, eight points of merit were deducted from the panel, and the newly acquired "Golden Bell Shield" martial skill displayed the phrase "Initial Insight," followed by a surge of corresponding martial knowledge flooding into his mind.

Hum!

Gu Chen's inner breath instinctively surged, accompanied by a layer of golden light. Vaguely, a phantom of a grand bell appeared outside his body, enveloping him completely.

The "Golden Bell Shield" can also be considered a body cultivation martial skill, or rather, a form of Horizontal Training Qigong.

After Chen Yu's introduction, Gu Chen already knew what he would soon have to face; the cultivation at the Vajra Stage places the most emphasis on physical strength. Therefore, at Chen Yu's suggestion, Gu Chen had exchanged for this martial skill at the Hall of Merits.

As "Golden Bell Shield" reached Initial Insight, Gu Chen's previously stagnant physical strength imperceptibly improved again.

Without hesitation, Gu Chen's thoughts moved again, and another eight points of merit disappeared, bringing "Golden Bell Shield" directly to Entry Level.

As "Golden Bell Shield" reached Entry Level, the bell formed by the inner breath outside Gu Chen's body solidified further.

According to the records, if "Golden Bell Shield" is perfected, a solid gold bell will form outside the body, as real as can be. Against opponents of the same realm, even if more than a dozen martial artists strike together, they might not be able to break through the defense of the "Golden Bell Shield" as long as there is enough inner breath.
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Even if one is a whole realm higher, the same holds true.

It could be said that the "Golden Bell Shield" is an excellent protective martial skill, the best method for facing multiple opponents. By nature, it places one on invincible ground.

After "Golden Bell Shield" reached Entry Level, Gu Chen glanced at the remaining merit points on the panel, and after a brief moment of contemplation, raised "Golden Bell Shield" again, achieving Small Success.

In the current state of Gu Chen, even superior martial skills at the Entry Level felt somewhat insufficient.

Boom!

The room was filled with surging energy as the inner breath within Gu Chen stirred, and the gold bell that enveloped him solidified even more. On this pitch-black night, it shone with a dazzling brilliance, lighting up the entire room, as bright as day.

After reaching Small Success with "Golden Bell Shield," Gu Chen did not choose to elevate it further; at this stage, the skill was sufficient.

After all, his goal in enhancing the "Golden Bell Shield" was to strengthen his body and then to improve his cultivation.

Whoosh!

Accompanied by Gu Chen's thoughts, thirty points of merit directly vanished from the panel, transforming into thirty years of inner breath cultivation, which then appeared within his body.

With the increase in physical strength, the meridians within Gu Chen's body became wider, able to hold more inner breath, and the sudden addition of thirty years of cultivation did not make him feel that he had reached his limit.

So, with another thought, twenty merit points disappeared from the panel, transforming into twenty years of inner breath cultivation within his body.

In just a brief moment, Gu Chen had gained an astounding fifty years of inner breath cultivation — something a regular martial artist would need to laboriously cultivate for fifty years to achieve.

Even for some geniuses, who could achieve in one day what ordinary people achieve in a month, several months, or even a year, obtaining fifty years of inner breath cultivation still required a long period of hard, continuous cultivation.

Otherwise, one would have to pay a huge price to buy some miraculous pills on the market to enhance one's cultivation. Nowhere could one find the ease that Gu Chen had, where a mere thought could rocket one's cultivation to such a rapid increase.

It can be said that in addition to his own hard work, the panel played an especially crucial role in Gu Chen's journey, serving as an essential tool along the way.

With a sudden gain of fifty years of inner breath, now totaling two hundred ninety-four years, it caused a sense of fullness in Gu Chen's meridians.

And Gu Chen's realm had also advanced from the early stage of the External Qi Realm to the middle stage of the External Qi Realm.

With his current level of cultivation, no one in the External Qi Realm could match his profound accumulation; perhaps only martial artists in the Vajra Stage could be comparable to him.

At this moment, Gu Chen's panel showed twenty-eight remaining merit points, while both his cultivation and "Golden Bell Shield" had seen respective enhancements.

Therefore, Gu Chen turned his attention to the last martial skill, "Great Vajra Fist."

Compared to warriors of the same realm, Gu Chen's advantages were not only his deeper cultivation, but also his superior physical strength. Even someone many realms higher might not have the same physical strength as him.

Right now, in terms of physical body alone, Gu Chen possessed a strength of one hundred thousand catties. Even some martial artists who had entered the Vajra Stage might not possess such immense power.

Since strength was his advantage, Gu Chen directly used his merit to exchange for a boxing technique, maximizing his strengths.

"Great Vajra Fist," like the "Golden Bell Shield," is also a superior martial skill, originally a Buddhist technique of profound mystery. In Buddhism, it was only granted to disciples with exceptional talent or those who made significant contributions.

Twenty-three years ago, after the Summer Emperor's coronation, he swept through the martial world and acquired many techniques from various sects, enriching the imperial secret vault and the Jing Tian Department's library, and "Great Vajra Fist" was obtained at that time.

It is said that once "Great Vajra Fist" is mastered, one possesses the power to subdue dragons and tigers. The technique is fierce and powerful, with absolute firmness and yang, perfectly aligned with Gu Chen's style.

Looking at the remaining twenty-eight merit points on the panel, Gu Chen directly put them all into "Great Vajra Fist," elevating the skill to Small Success. In an instant, a vast expanse of martial knowledge poured in.

After fully assimilating it, Gu Chen focused on the newly acquired inner strength technique.

Ever since switching to "Pure Yang Wuji Gong," the inner breath in Gu Chen's body had become much purer and hotter than before. Traveling through the meridians, it was like a blazing fire. Especially when Gu Chen executed the "Pure Yang Wuji Gong" technique, he was like a furnace, radiating astonishing heat.

This was Gu Chen's first encounter with a superior inner strength technique. "Pure Yang Wuji Gong," an advanced technique of "Pure Yang Technique," was many times stronger than its predecessor.

Now, facing that same Black List assassin from the Bloodrobe Tower, Gu Chen was confident that without utilizing any martial skills and just by launching a palm strike, the scorched inner breath could immediately incinerate the opponent into char.

If superior martial skills and inner strength were already so powerful, who could imagine the extent of the legendary Superior Martial Skills?

Perhaps when martial arts are cultivated to profound levels, moving mountains and seas really is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Gu Chen looked at the Horizontal Training and Golden Bell Shield on the panel. He wondered if he could create a Superior Martial Skill by fusing these two high-grade martial arts?

Of course, by now Gu Chen's merit points had reset to zero. If he wanted to know the result, he would have to acquire merit points again and then upgrade the Golden Bell Shield to perfection to deduce the answer.

Immediately, Gu Chen pulled up the panel to check his current information.

Name: Gu Chen

Martial Skills: Horizontal Training (Perfect), Burning Vein Finger (Perfect), Phantom Traceless Step (Perfect), Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills (Perfect), Golden Bell Shield (Elementary), Great Vajra Fist (Elementary)

Inner Strength: Pure Yang Wuji Gong

Cultivation: 294 years

Realm: Middle stage of the External Qi Realm

Merit Points: 0

The deeper his cultivation grew, the more keenly Gu Chen understood the importance of merit points to his own progress.

No matter when, acquiring merit points was always Gu Chen's top priority.

Only in this way could he continuously improve his strength. Having grown accustomed to the help of merit points, Gu Chen now felt that relying solely on painstaking cultivation to advance his cultivation was far too slow.

Just like the past, when he was cultivating in Phoenix Sun City, he trained hard for two days and nights, and yet his cultivation did not improve at all. That feeling was truly distressing to extremes, nowhere near as exhilarating and comfortable as he felt now.

The following night was spent by Gu Chen getting familiar with the new techniques.

The next day, early in the morning, Gu Chen opened his eyes. After washing up, he had breakfast with his uncle's family. His uncle then left for duty.

Before leaving, Gu Chengfeng repeatedly exhorted his wife and daughter to be very careful in the inner city, to listen to everything Gu Chen said, and to refrain from causing him trouble.

It wasn't until Xu Qinge grew somewhat impatient that Gu Chengfeng finally left, satisfied.

At Gu Chengfeng's waist, on the left, hung the standard weapon of the Royal Sword Guard, and on the right, the Red Lian Sword given to him by Gu Chen the previous day. Stepping out of Gu Mansion, several subordinates were waiting for him. Seeing Gu Chengfeng's outfit, they were somewhat surprised but did not voice their curiosity.

Once Gu Chengfeng arrived at the Imperial Sword Camp and saw several old comrades, he couldn't help boasting as if afraid others wouldn't know that he had a treasure blade at his waist.

His comrades indeed gave him face. Mainly, they had truly never had close contact with a treasure weapon, and they clamored for Gu Chengfeng to give it a try.

Gu Chengfeng had no objections, and after demonstrating the sharpness of the Red Lian Sword, everyone gasped in admiration, looking enviously at Gu Chengfeng and marveling at his good fortune to have such a talented nephew.

"Right, I forgot to tell you all, my nephew returned yesterday. He is now a second-rank Metropolitan Procurator of the Jing Tian Department," Gu Chengfeng said proudly. In front of outsiders, he made no secret of his pride in Gu Chen.

After all, Gu Chen's parents had died early, and he and Xu Qinge were no different from his parents. In fact, they indeed regarded Gu Chen as their own son.

"What?"

"Really?"

"Old Gu, don't joke with us."

The colleagues were all shocked and crowded around to ask questions. Upon receiving confirmation, they whispered, "Old Gu, when you get rich, don't forget about us old comrades."

"Of course not. Tonight at Emerald Jade Building, it's my treat. Let's have a good meal and drink," Gu Chengfeng said.

The colleagues' eyes lit up, and they all said, "Alright, Old Gu, you said it, no backing out!"

"No backing out!" Gu Chengfeng affirmed.

The Emerald Jade Building, with its nature between a brothel and a tavern, was a premium social venue in the outer parts of Tiandu. While dining, one could also watch singing girls dance, and if mutual affection was found, there might even be a chance to seek further intimacy. Many of the outer city's influential figures and businessmen frequently visited.

Of course, the price was also exceedingly expensive. A meal would cost at least five or six taels of silver, which made it a high-cost establishment. This meal would easily cost Gu Chengfeng several dozen taels of silver—his annual salary being just over two hundred taels.

But Gu Chengfeng did not mind, for Gu Chen had become successful, and he was obviously very happy, wishing he could tell the whole world about his nephew.

At this moment, the commander of the Imperial Sword Camp arrived, and seeing the clamorous gathering, his expression darkened, and he barked a few cold words.

This commander was notoriously stern-faced, but his demeanor was not targeting anyone in particular; it was just his character. The men hurriedly lined up, ready for the commander's roll call.

When the commander of the Imperial Sword Camp saw Gu Chengfeng, his expression softened, showing much better treatment than he did to others.

Gu Chengfeng's fellow officers realized that Gu Chengfeng had indeed not lied. Being a camp commander with a wealth of intelligence, he must have received some information, which accounted for his demeanor.

And with that, Gu Chengfeng's status soared overnight because of Gu Chen.

But all this was unknown to Gu Chen. At this moment, he was leading his aunt Xu Qinge and Gu Qingyan out of Gu Mansion, renting a horse carriage to head towards the inner city.