Youmen County.

Beneath the notice board outside the County Magistrate’s Office.

"What does it say? Why is everyone so happy?"

"Of course they’re happy! The Demon Fiend passage over in Fish Scale Town was wiped out by a lord named Gu Zheng!"

"Really? Are the Demon Fiends in Fish Scale Town all gone?"

"Not all gone. It means there will be fewer Demon Fiends from now on. Even if some emerge, the lords from the Demon Slayer Bureau stationed in Fish Scale Town can easily slay them. In short, the dangerous section of the river will be confined to the Fish Scale Town area from now on. The danger in our part of the river has been eliminated."

"Doesn’t that mean we can go fishing again?"

"Yes, we can fish again! It’s all thanks to Lord Gu that we can continue fishing and go about our business."

"Didn’t you see? It says Lord Gu also wiped out the passages in Longxi County, Sanming County, and Huangliu County! Lord Gu didn’t just save our Youmen County; he saved Sanming, Huangliu, and Longxi too!"

"For a lord like him, shouldn’t we erect a monument in his honor?"

"The masters at the Government Office are already carving a monument. We can just carve Longevity Tablets. Look, it says his name is Gu Zheng, and his courtesy name is Ping’an. What a wonderful meaning!"

"Right, right! We’ll carve Longevity Tablets! A lord like him must live safely to be a hundred, even a thousand years old!"

...

The crowd gathered before the notice board was abuzz with discussion.

More than half of them went straight home to carve Longevity Tablets, grateful for Gu Zheng’s contributions.

Only those who knew the harm Demon Fiends could cause truly understood how terrifying they were.

Just a month ago, Youmen County had been besieged by Demon Fiends, and the city had nearly been breached.

No one who had seen a Demon Fiend ever wanted to see one a second time.

Gu Zheng had slain Demon Fiends and eliminated the scourge, and the gratitude of the people was heartfelt.

This scene was not unique to Youmen County.

Longxi County, Sanming County, Huangliu County... and even Dahong Prefecture City.

Throughout Dahong Prefecture, once the people in every city learned of Gu Zheng’s deeds, most of them spontaneously carved Longevity Tablets for him.

...

「At the same time.」

News of Gu Zheng wiping out four second-tier passages in a single month spread beyond Fengzhou.

Luozhou, Hongzhou, Shuzhou...

Eventually, the news reached the Capital City of the Jing Country, the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Bureau, and its supreme commander—the First Grade Grand Director.

"Only twenty-two years old, promoted to Thousand Households for just a month, and has already wiped out four second-tier passages, one of which has been sealed for a hundred years. Not bad, not bad at all."

A smile appeared on Xu Jianzhu’s calm face as he read the message a second time.

"Congratulations, my lord!"

An old man in his sixties standing to the side clasped his fist in salute and added with a smile, "It is precisely under your lordship’s wise leadership that our Demon Slayer Bureau continuously produces such young and talented prodigies."

"Elder Yang, that’s some clumsy flattery. You’ve completely missed the mark."

Xu Jianzhu shook his head. "A genius like Gu Zheng relies almost entirely on himself. Just like Zuo Lingfeng from Luozhou, Jiang Hao from Shuzhou..."

"Speaking of which, the geniuses in our Demon Slayer Bureau from every province are indeed very young."

Xu Jianzhu mused.

"Your Lordship’s meaning is?" the old man asked, bowing slightly.

"Ha, my meaning is simple. Since they are so young and outstanding, we might as well give them some extra motivation."

Xu Jianzhu chuckled. "Relay my order. As long as these seven—Gu Zheng, Zuo Lingfeng, Jiang Hao, and the others—ascend to the Heroic Body Realm within half a year, they will each receive an Earth Pill! I will personally bestow their seals!"

Hearing this, the old man’s body trembled, and his eyes filled with astonishment.

An Earth Pill?

That’s a Sixth-Turn Treasure Pill!

Even the Demon-slaying Grand Generals stationed in various regions only receive one per year.

The regulation might state one per year, but in reality, they still have to wait in line to receive it.

Naturally, the ones Xu Jianzhu was promising now would not require any waiting.

And this was a reward for promotion; the reward for actually breaking through to the Heroic Body Realm would be calculated separately.

Such a reward could only be described as exceedingly generous.

Even the old man was tempted.

As for Xu Jianzhu personally bestowing the seal, it was naturally the seal of a Demon-slaying Grand General!

"This subordinate will go issue the order at once."

The old man bowed deeply, took his leave, and departed.

"Gu Zheng of Fengzhou, Zuo Lingfeng of Luozhou, Xiao Xianya of Hongzhou, Jiang Hao of Shuzhou..."

Xu Jianzhu remained seated, reciting the seven names before chuckling softly. ’Let this Grand Director see which of you will be the first to ascend to the Heroic Body Realm.’

...

Fengzhou.

Kaiyuan Prefecture, Grand Canyon Mountain passage.

"Ping’an, the Grand Director has taken notice of you!"

Meng Taiqi, his face alight with excitement, handed the Communication Token to Gu Zheng so he could read the message.

"Break through to the Heroic Body Realm within half a year and you’ll be rewarded with an Earth Pill. Tsk tsk, the reward Lord Xu is offering this time is truly enviable."

Gu Zheng didn’t respond immediately. He read the message and fell silent for a moment.

His current status was—

[Gu Zheng]

[Realm: Super Body·Radiant]

[Strength: 400/399]

[Agility: 400 (+5)/399]

[Constitution: 400/399]

[Spirit: 400/399]

[Divine Wondrous: 238.5]

[Demon Points: 422]

[Demon Techniques: Super-speed Self-healing, Spirit Capturing, ..., Fire Manipulation, Steel Claw, Water Manipulation, Earth Manipulation, Spear of the Soul, Underwater Walking]

[True Skills: > (Perfection), ..., > (Perfection), > (Perfection), > (Perfection), > (Perfection)]

[Equipment Effects: Bronze Elephant Body (Inactive), Nether Heart Slave Seal, Deceptive Appearance, Lord of Hundred Insects, Eyes of Golden Flame, Fearless Hero]

...

He had consumed nearly six thousand Demon Points to raise his Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit, all to 400.

Based on past experience, he should have already broken through to the Heroic Body Realm.

Yet he was still at Super Body·Radiant.

Gu Zheng carefully sensed his own body. There was no problem; his > had long since reached perfection, and he had tried to break through according to the method, but there had been no reaction.

"If I may ask, Master Meng, how does one break through to the Heroic Body Realm?"

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Zheng handed back the token, bowed in salute, and asked, "To ascend to the Heroic Body Realm, does one need to break through some kind of bottleneck?"

"Yes and no."

Meng Taiqi didn’t give it much thought and answered casually, "The first stage of the Heroic Body Realm is called ’Union.’ What that means is your physique, spirit, and Divine Wondrous—all three aspects—must reach their absolute limits before they can achieve Tripartite Unity and complete the breakthrough."

"Tripartite Unity?"

Gu Zheng’s brow arched as he glanced at his Divine Wondrous stat.

238.5

’No wonder...’

’No wonder I couldn’t break through and ascend.’

’So that’s where the problem lies.’

His Strength, Constitution, and Spirit had all reached 400.

But his Divine Wondrous was only at 238.5.

’There’s still a long way to go!’

"Tripartite Unity is just the procedure, but actually achieving it is extremely difficult," Meng Taiqi continued. "Just like the bottleneck you mentioned, yes. Everyone’s constitution is different, so their bottlenecks are different, and the difficulty of breaking through varies."

"For some people, achieving Tripartite Unity is simple; they can break through in the time it takes to drink a sip of water."

"But others might need to spend decades before they can complete the Union in a fleeting moment."

"If you want to take a shortcut, you can do it with certain Marvels or Treasure Pills. But such Marvels are very rare. As far as I know, only the royal family of Jing Country possesses them. If the Demon Slayer Bureau wants to borrow one, the Grand Director has to personally make the request."

"As for Treasure Pills, they must be at least Seventh-Turn! The Earth Pill the Grand Director is preparing to reward you with is only a Sixth-Turn. Seventh-Turn Treasure Pills are equally scarce. Even if you have enough merits, the Grand Director still has to personally step in to apply for and receive one."

"So, in the end, it still comes down to your own luck?" Gu Zheng summarized.

"Yes."

Meng Taiqi smiled. "When breaking through to the Heroic Body Realm, aptitude is one part, and luck is another. Which one plays a bigger role depends on the individual."

Gu Zheng was speechless.

’Isn’t that just stating the obvious?’

However, that applied to other people. Gu Zheng himself didn’t need to rely on luck.

He carefully sensed his abilities just then.

The ability to use points to break through was still there.

As long as he increased his Divine Wondrous to 400, he could break through immediately!

He didn’t need to worry about bottlenecks, aptitude, or luck.

...

BZZZT~

The token in Meng Taiqi’s hand vibrated.

"Another message?"

Meng Taiqi said as he read it.

In the next instant, he grinned. "Haha, Old Zhao from Hongzhou gave the seven of you a fancy title. He’s dubbed you the ’Seven Demon Slayers’!"

"Seven Demon Slayers?"

Gu Zheng came back to his senses and asked curiously, "Besides myself and Zuo Lingfeng from Luozhou, who are the other five?"

"You know about Zuo Lingfeng too?"

Meng Taiqi responded first, then answered, "There’s also Xiao Xianya from Hongzhou, Jiang Hao from Shuzhou, Huang Dajin from Hengzhou, Zhao Danv from Muzhou, and Luo Cheng from Guangzhou!"

"Among the seven of you, the oldest is Zhao Danv from Muzhou. Speaking of which, that girl has a very folksy name, but she’s only twenty-seven."

"The youngest is Luo Cheng from Guangzhou, who just turned twenty this year."

"...Are those six all Thousand Households as well?" Gu Zheng couldn’t help but ask.

"Yes, they’re all Thousand Households."

Meng Taiqi’s expression turned serious. "The others broke through in the last three months, but that Luo Cheng was just promoted to Thousand Households half a month ago. This Luo Cheng is a real go-getter, a madman. The news I received said that, like you, he charged into the Demon Realm and fought off two Demon Tribes. He lost an arm and a leg in the process. Fortunately, one of the Source Fruits he’d obtained before was a Regeneration Fruit. Otherwise, he would’ve been crippled."

"Of course, he has now been accepted as a disciple by the Commander of Guangzhou. I suppose his suffering has finally paid off."

’He really is a go-getter, and his talent is high enough.’

Gu Zheng had a cheat system, not to mention treasures from Meng Taiqi and Xie Bisheng, which was why he dared to use the passage to barge into the Demon Realm.

That Luo Cheng, on the other hand, relied on sheer desperation.

’Of course, it’s also possible he had some treasure as a hidden trump card.’

’The Marvels obtained from Domains have endless functions; no one knows all of them.’

But after this, Gu Zheng, Luo Cheng, and the others had all become famous.

Famous throughout the entire Jing Country, in fact.

’The Seven Demon Slayers?’

...

...

Changying Prefecture City.

The Prince of Lie Mountain’s Mansion.

CRASH~!

A beautiful, man-sized porcelain vase was smashed to the ground by Zhong Tianlang’s mother, shattering into countless pieces.

"Zhong Zhengtang!"

The beautiful, palace-robed woman, her face twisted in a snarl, pointed at the King of Lie Mountain, Zhong Zhengtang, and shrieked, "Keep waiting! If you wait any longer, that bastard Gu will reach the Heroic Body Realm! The Seven Demon Slayers! That bastard Gu has now caught the eye of Grand Director Xu! If you keep waiting, believe it or not, the next time you see him, you’ll have to bow to him!"

"So what?"

Zhong Zhengtang’s expression was impassive. He didn’t even glance at the beautiful woman.

"Hehehe~"

The beautiful woman sneered, "You may not care, but I’m not prepared to wait any longer!"