On the ruins.

It was a long while before the few Demon Suppression Guards managed to calm down.

"So powerful. That King’s Body expert, Lord Gu, was completely dominating the Thousand-armed Evil God!"

"Exactly. The Thousand-armed Evil God tried to escape, but it was killed the moment it left the county seat."

"And he’s so young. He looked even younger than me."

"That’s just a technique to maintain a youthful appearance. Someone in the Heroic Body Realm can live for nearly four hundred years, let alone the King’s Body Realm. Once you reach the King’s Body Realm, making yourself look young must be a piece of cake."

"..."

The few Demon Suppression Guards who had managed to survive were filled with a mixture of envy and admiration, sighing endlessly.

"You’re all wrong."

Having finally recovered from his shock, Cheng Zong spoke quietly, "Lord Gu is younger than all of you."

Hm?

"Lord Cheng, what did you say?" a bearded Demon Suppression Guard asked in confusion. "The King’s Body expert named Gu who saved us is younger than we are? Little Wu is the youngest among us, and he’s already twenty-four."

"That’s right, younger than me? How is that possible!" Little Wu was stunned.

"Lord Gu is twenty-three," Cheng Zong said, his expression complex.

"What!?"

"Impossible! A twenty-three-year-old in the King’s Body Realm? How is that possible!"

"Lord Cheng, you must be joking with us, right?"

"..."

The few Demon Suppression Guards were shocked and stunned, their faces etched with disbelief.

Cheng Zong didn’t explain much, only saying wistfully, "Lord Gu’s full name is Gu Zheng. That’s right, the same Gu Zheng you all know, Grand General Gu."

"..."

Silence.

In an instant, a deathly silence fell over the ruins.

The Demon Suppression Guards, who had just been arguing in disbelief, now stood with their mouths agape and their eyes wide. Their faces were blank, their gazes unfocused.

’Gu Zheng?’

’The King’s Body, "Lord Gu," is the Demon-slaying Grand General, one of the Seven Demon Slayers, Gu Zheng... Gu Ping’an!?’

They all knew of that Gu Ping’an, but they had never met him.

But that didn’t diminish their admiration and reverence for Gu Zheng.

He had climbed the ranks one step at a time, starting from the very bottom.

Gu Zheng’s career was a legendary tale throughout the Demon Slayer Bureau of Jing Country.

A once-in-a-century genius like him was ninety percent certain to reach the King’s Body Realm, as long as nothing unexpected happened.

It was just a matter of how long it would take.

Everyone had been privately guessing how many years it would be before Gu Zheng broke through to the King’s Body Realm.

Even the most conservative estimates predicted ten years.

How much time had passed since then?

’How long has it been? And Gu Zheng has already broken through to the King’s Body Realm!?’

Silence.

The few Demon Suppression Guards, reeling from this shocking news, were lost in a daze, their minds a complete blank.

Cheng Zong didn’t disturb them. He stood where he was, gazing at the eastern sky, and remained silent for a long time.

...

"WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~"

A piercing whistle ripped through the mountain forest.

With a strange noise, more than thirty fleeing men and women stiffened simultaneously before falling to the ground, one after another. THUD. THUD.

A gaping hole had been torn open in each of their chests, from which blood and chunks of flesh gushed out.

Spirit Capturing!

[Demon Points +21]

[Demon Points +22]

...

A clean sweep.

The number of fleeing Evil God Cultists was small, only a little over a hundred.

Gu Zheng didn’t miss a single one, killing them all.

Afterward, holding the Demon-Seeking Pot, he scanned a ten-thousand-meter radius, locking onto all nearby Demon Fiends.

Whether they were hiding or using Invisibility, it didn’t matter.

Not a single Demon Fiend within his range could escape.

Gu Zheng hunted them down one by one, slaying them and reaping the Demon Points.

This hunt lasted another two days.

He was still more than twenty thousand Demon Points short of what he needed to break through to the second stage of the King’s Body Realm.

Gu Zheng’s plan was to gather enough Demon Points, complete his breakthrough, and then pay a visit to the Royal Palace of Kang Country.

Divine Communication offered a limited boost to his overall combat strength, but its support abilities were especially remarkable.

It wasn’t that the current Gu Zheng couldn’t monitor the Royal Palace of Kang Country.

Rather, that kind of monitoring was an external projection of his Spiritual Power.

Anyone below the King’s Body Realm wouldn’t be able to detect Gu Zheng.

But if there was a King’s Body expert inside the Royal Palace of Kang Country, they would be able to sense him.

Once all Five Orifice Divine Techniques were unlocked, however, things would be different.

That would be a process of passively receiving information from the outside world and gathering it in his mind.

One was active, the other was passive.

The active method could be discovered, while the passive one was completely secure.

Northern Mountain Tripod, Original Dragon Tripod, and Sword South Tripod.

’Of the last three Tripod Cauldrons, I’ll deal with Northern Mountain first!’

...

...

「Luozhou.」

「Qingyang Prefecture.」

「Inside a county seat.」

"Greetings, Grand General Zuo!"

"Greetings, General Zuo!"

"..."

At the Demon Slayer Bureau’s city garrison, a crowd of Demon Suppression Guards saluted and called out as Zuo Lingfeng walked through the main gate.

"What’s the situation?"

Zuo Lingfeng raised a hand, speaking as he walked, "Are there any traces of Evil God Cultists in the city?"

"Reporting to Grand General Zuo, we haven’t found any yet," a middle-aged Thousand Households with a handlebar mustache replied, cupping his hands. "However, a dozen or so Demon Fiends have infiltrated the city. We are preparing to root them out first, kill them all, and then continue tracking the Evil God Cultists."

"Do you need that many people for a dozen or so Demon Fiends?"

Zuo Lingfeng’s face was cold as he barked, "Leave a third of the manpower. That’s enough to deal with them. The rest of you, keep searching. No one rests until you find that branch of the Evil God Cult!"

"Yes, sir!!"

In the courtyard, the crowd of Demon Suppression Guards immediately responded in unison.

Every face was solemn, their expressions grave.

A closer look at their eyes, however, revealed a trace of unconcealable fear.

Evil God Cultists... no, to be precise, the Evil God!

For the past half-month, these men had been under orders to track a branch of the Evil God Cult that had fled from the neighboring Jinyang Prefecture.

Half a month ago, the Evil God Avatar behind this cult branch had caused a massacre in Jinyang Prefecture, a tragedy that sent shockwaves through Luozhou and even all of Hongzhou.

In Jinyang Prefecture City, hundreds of thousands of people had all died overnight!

There were no wounds on the corpses, and upon dissection, the organs were mostly intact. Yet, the people were dead.