[Spend 5 million Experience Points]

[Profound Yang Skill upgraded to Tenth Floor]

[Current Realm upgraded to Celestial Destiny Realm]

...

The first light of dawn slowly crept in,

Gu Zhan walked through the long corridor of the manor, a servant ahead of him leading the way, trembling with fear,

In a daze,

Gu Zhan noticed that the servant seemed to have frozen, and in the next instant, the servant vanished directly from his sight.

The world before his eyes grew blurry,

Thick fog rose up on all sides, shrouding his vision,

Gu Zhan held a saber in his hand,

Step by step, he moved forward. When he emerged from the mist, he found himself upon a plain, and still, he pressed onward,

In the next moment, he arrived at a gorge,

He continued, crossing the gorge,

He spanned a great river, traversed an oasis,

He saw peach blossoms in full bloom, dreamlike and unreal,

He gazed upon a sea of stars and clouds, dazzling and boundless,

At last, he ascended to the crest of a high peak. At the mountaintop, snow was swirling, and a frigid wind howled,

He looked down upon the human world, then lifted his gaze,

Above the human world was the vault of heaven.

He raised his head and looked toward the firmament amidst the drifting snow, realizing how desolate it truly was.

The Dao, truly, is merciless.

"The Dao—is truly merciless!"

...

The morning light was faint,

Gu Zhan was still walking down the corridor, the servant before him now respectfully leading the way, the roar of river waves echoing in his ears,

Mixed footsteps sounded around him,

He heard people wailing in anguish,

He lifted his head slightly, casting a glance beyond the manor,

This dawn, the Kaiyang Sub-Branch was especially restless.

This dawn,

He was treading the Great Dao, stepping into the Celestial Destiny Realm,

Soaring directly to the Celestial Destiny Peak,

Ordinary Great Cultivators, upon entering this Celestial Destiny Realm, would often trigger certain phenomena according to their own Dao. But as always, whatever Realm he entered, everything was peaceful, everything unfolded naturally, and he soared immediately to the peak of this Realm.

Celestial Destiny Realm—complete!

Gu Zhan’s expression was frigid as he glanced at the system screen:

Player: Gu Zhan

Realm: Celestial Destiny Realm

Cultivation Technique: Profound Yang Skill (Tenth Floor 0/10 million)

Skills:

Willow Leaf Flying Knife Technique (Great Success)

Creation Golden Body (Great Success)

Four Seas Unification Blade Technique (Great Success)

Lingxi Sword (Great Success)

Wangchuan Swordsmanship (Great Success)

Frost Ice Finger (Great Success)

Experience Points: 1,460,541

...

In the faint morning light,

The Kaiyang Sub-Branch was shrouded in haze, as a series of bloody incidents unfolded.

After daybreak, everything returned to normal,

Only, a great event shook the entire sub-branch,

The newly arrived Squad Leader Liu Ziyuan, who’d only just taken post, was found colluding with the Demon Dao and even attempted to murder the Sixth Young Master. He was executed, and it was also discovered that the Kaiyang Sub-Branch had been significantly infiltrated by the Demon Dao.

This news came from the collective statement of the Kaiyang Sub-Branch’s upper echelon. Liu Ziyuan’s confidant, Yuan Yi, even produced much evidence; he was the first to discover Liu Ziyuan’s collusion with the Demon Dao and had notified Sixth Young Master.

Now, with Demon Dao villains still hidden within the sub-branch, to stabilize hearts, the upper echelon specially invited the Sixth Young Master in Pingyang City to preside temporarily as acting Squad Leader.

This was the explanation the upper echelon offered for the events of the previous night.

In truth, for most of the ordinary gang members, this rationale would not be doubted—they believed it. As for some of the middle-tier, perhaps they had their suspicions, but all chose to act as if they knew nothing.

Amidst such calm,

The Kaiyang Sub-Branch changed out a large number of people,

Yet everything operated as normal.

As the sun rose, the pier grew lively once more—the horns for launching ships sounded one after another, laborers started a new day’s work hauling goods, and merchants passing by exchanged cheerful greetings.

...

Within the manor grounds of the Kaiyang Sub-Branch.

Gu Zhan slept until noon. As he was eating, Mo Beiyan walked in from outside and said, "Brother Gu, most of the work is done. The Gu Family has sent more people, and with their help, it’s much easier to handle things.

But the Kaiyang Sub-Branch is different from other sects. To have absolute control is not very realistic—unless we receive an appointment decree from Canglan City."

Gu Zhan nodded and said, "That’s enough. Step by step is fine. Sometimes, titles aren’t all that necessary. If we don’t get the appointment decree, Canglan City will just send a new Squad Leader. When the time comes, we’ll take care of that Squad Leader."

Mo Beiyan nodded. "Makes sense. So what we ought to do now is have the Embroidered Uniform Guard coordinate with the Gu Family and take over the Pingyang Martial World as soon as possible."

Gu Zhan nodded and said, "But the Gu Family can’t digest such a large territory overnight. We should also foster a few second- and third-rate sects. We must seize this chance to bring the whole of Pingyang Prefecture under our control as quickly as possible."

Mo Beiyan continued, "By the way, Brother Gu, I’ve decided to allocate most of our resources to the Gu Family. With this, we can quickly train more experts, especially Great Cultivators. The Gu Family actually has quite a few Martial Artists at the Innate Peak, but they lack rare resources. Now, with resources from the six major powers given to the Gu Family, in no time, we can forcibly produce several Great Cultivators."

"Mm." Gu Zhan nodded. "Just discuss these matters with Patriarch Gu."

"Understood," Mo Beiyan laughed. "Brother Gu, you only need to focus on slashing people!"

With that,

Mo Beiyan pulled two secret manuals from his robe and said, "These are two Martial Arts Secret Manuals treasured by the Kaiyang Sub-Branch—Brother Gu, your fortune has arrived!"

Gu Zhan’s brows rose in curiosity.

Mo Beiyan said, "There’s a saber technique, Earth Tier Upper Grade. Honestly, I didn’t expect the Kaiyang Sub-Branch to have such a high-grade martial art. Earth Tier Upper Grade—even a great noble family like the Liu Family might not have many of these."

Gu Zhan was also somewhat surprised and asked, "Does this saber technique have any issues?"

"No problem at all," Mo Beiyan replied. "It’s simply because this Kaiyang Sub-Branch is directly under my father’s command, so it’s always gotten special treatment. This secret manual was sent by my father himself."

Gu Zhan flipped through it,

This saber technique was called Netherworld King’s Array-breaking Saber,

It was created centuries ago by a Grandmaster whose nickname was the Netherworld King. After numerous bloody battles and with later generations making continued improvements, its grade reached Earth Tier Upper Grade.

"This saber technique’s grade is high, so it’s also extremely difficult to cultivate," Mo Beiyan said. "Actually, many in the sub-branch have trained in it, but none achieved much—except for the previous Squad Leader Liu, who trained it to some effect, though now he’s already serving at headquarters as an Elder."

With that, Mo Beiyan pointed at the second secret manual. "This is a fist technique—Earth Tier Middle Grade. If not for all the special care my father gave the Kaiyang Sub-Branch, this would be the highest-grade manual here. It’s called Killing Fist—the name alone suits you perfectly!"