Chapter 48: Your speed is too slow

  "It's only two hundred miles to Leshui City, even if it's a cultivator of the Innate Realm at the fifth or sixth level, they won't be able to catch up with me." Liu Tong thought so and felt slightly relieved.

  Gu Chen killed Gu Qian Song with just one move, and Liu Tong knew he was no match for him. Gu Chen's strength could rival that of a fifth-layer cultivator in the Pre-Heavenly Realm, making him at least twice as powerful as Liu Tong, who was only at the fourth layer.

  Although Gu Qian Song was seriously injured, even if he hadn't been hurt, the chance of dodging Gu Chen's swift sword strike earlier would have been slim.

  Liu Tong and Gu Qian Song's cultivation was about the same, so it was naturally obvious at a glance. If Gu Chen had also come at him with such a sword, he would have been tragic.

  Sigh...

  Sigh...

  Due to the rapid flight, the wind by the ear is like a knife.

  Liu Tong accelerated his speed to the maximum extent.

  "I never thought that the young master of the Gu family would become so terrifying, he can't be allowed to grow any further. I must tell the patriarch, we need to send out several cultivators above the sixth layer of the Pre-Heavenly realm to kill him. If the patriarch takes action personally, then there's even more hope. We absolutely cannot let the young master of the Gu family grow up and threaten the position of the Liu family as the number one in Leshui City."

  Liu Tong fled rapidly while constantly thinking.

  After fleeing for dozens of breaths, he had already escaped thousands of feet away. Liu Tong turned his head to look back, and there was no one behind him. Liu Tong's heart suddenly felt at ease. "I've finally managed to escape... Hmph, you little brat from the Gu family, I now know your secrets. Once I return to the Liu family, you're dead for sure...... Heh heh......"

  Liu Tong was overjoyed in his heart.

  "Your speed is really too slow..."

  Just as Liu Tong was rejoicing at having escaped Gu Chen's pursuit, a voice came from the sky, causing his heart to tremble, and a chill ran from the base of his spine to the top of his head.

  Liu Tong raised his head and saw a sword aura that was over two zhang long, flying quickly towards him.

  Gǔ Chén was treading on a flying sword, in the high air tens of meters above his head, no wonder he didn't see even half of Gǔ Chén's shadow when he turned back to look just now.

  How is it possible?

  Liu Tong was shocked in his heart. The cultivator was flying and because he had to control the flight, his reaction ability was much slower than when standing on the ground.

  A master can multitask, and the stronger his true energy is, the more magical tools he can control. However, it's still best to focus on one thing at a time, as reactions are faster that way.

  That sword aura came extremely fast, Gu Chen had a heart that calculated without a heart, and naturally attacked Liu Tong, who was caught off guard.

  Liu Tong did not disappoint as a cultivator of the Fourth Layer of the Innate Realm. At this critical moment, his flying sword suddenly stopped in mid-air, creating a distance between his body and the descending sword aura.

  Liu Tong's body froze, and Gu Chen also controlled Qing Li Jian to change direction. The speed at which Qing Li Jian chopped down was extremely fast, and in a split second, Gu Chen could only make it get closer to Liu Tong's body by a tiny bit.

  It was just this little bit that was enough to make Qing Li's sword slash through the willow tree, leaving a long wound on his body.

  Liu Tong's body paused for a moment, and he didn't think the danger had passed, so he raised his hand to point upwards, and a flying sword suddenly flew out. In this brief moment, Liu Tong had already controlled the second flying sword, with a reaction speed that was much faster than Gu Qian Song.

  Clang...

  The flying sword and Qingli Sword collided, and the Qingli Sword immediately deviated from its direction, slashing into thin air.

  Gu Chen raised his hand, and the Qing Lei sword quickly returned to his hand. The flying sword at his feet was immediately retracted into the Qian Kun ring. With both hands grasping the Qing Lei sword, the sword aura burst out, and his body suddenly fell downwards. Both hands chopped down, and he followed the momentum to slash down towards Liu Tong.

  Congenital boundary cultivators flying must have a condition, need to control the instrument to fly.

  A cultivator of the Innate Realm can jump to a height of over ten zhang, but without a magic tool, it is impossible for one's body to suspend in mid-air motionless. No matter how great one's strength is, it is impossible to lift oneself into the air.

  If one can fly through the air without using a flying device, then he is no longer human.

  Only legendary ancient immortals can reach the realm of flying in the air, even if it is a great master of the mortal spring realm, it is impossible to fly in the air and cannot lift oneself into the air.

  Normally, when a Master flies with his magical instrument, he steps on it with his feet, so that his body is like standing on the ground, and flying is the most comfortable.

  It is also possible to hold the flying tool in one's hand and fly, but this requires both hands to grasp the tool tightly, with the body suspended. Anyone knows that standing is more comfortable than hanging. Therefore, unless one is an idiot or a fool, it is impossible for a practitioner to fly by holding onto the tool with their hands.

  There are foolish monks, but there are no idiot or stupid monks. Therefore, using one's hands to grasp a dharma instrument and fly is something that no monk would do.

  However, there is an exception when the cultivator is fighting in mid-air. With one foot stepping on a flying magical tool and holding another magical tool to fight with, the more magical tools the cultivator controls, the more scattered their innate true energy becomes, and the smaller the power of each magical tool becomes.

  During combat, a monk stepping on one magical device to fly and then controlling another magical device to fight is extremely unwise.

  At this time, monks usually drop the law instruments under their feet and only keep the law instruments in their hands, which can attack enemies and fight.

  At this moment, he had abandoned the flight under his feet and focused all his innate true energy on the Qinglie Sword, unleashing the strongest sword in his life.

  The sword shot out over 20 feet, and the sword energy exploded more than 30 feet away. A huge illusory long sword seemed to split the sky in two.

  Liu Tong had just released his second flying sword to meet the enemy, and his feet were still on the flying sword. Gu Chen's Qing Li Sword, with a sword aura of over two zhang and a sword energy of over ten zhang, had already chopped down to his head.

  Inescapable...

  Nowhere to hide...

  Liu Tong grasped his sword with both hands and instantly shot out a three-meter-long sword aura that swept horizontally above his head.

  At the same time, the flying sword under his feet disappeared instantly, and his body fell to weaken Gu Chen's trend of slashing down with this sword.

  Clang...

  A loud crash.

  Gu Chenke is not just fast, nor is he just a three-layered innate realm.

  The power and intensity within the body have increased by a full two times, far surpassing the physical body of the Fourth Layer of the Pre-Heaven Realm.

  Although Jian Gang looked only two zhangs long, compared to the sword gang sent out by Liu Tong, it was shorter, but the power of this sword was much greater than the one sent out by Liu Tong.

  A metallic cracking sound rang out, and the long sword in Liu Tong's hand broke into two pieces. Qingli Sword was a mid-grade artifact, but Gu Chen plummeted straight down from the air, taking advantage of the momentum to slash down with one sword, adding his own cultivation and the enhancement of the Tian Gang Quan Body Great Method, making this sword's power truly terrifying to the extreme.

  Even a cultivator of the Innate Realm's fifth layer would likely be killed by Gu Chen with one sword strike, let alone Liu Tong, who was only at the fourth layer.

  Liu Tong's long sword in his hand broke, Qing Li sword chopped down with the momentum, he didn't even have time to let out a scream, his entire body split into two and fell to the ground.

  Gu Chen's body also fell towards the ground, but Qing Lie Sword suddenly stopped, Gu Chen's right hand tightly grasped the hilt, and his body hovered in mid-air. His left hand reached down into the empty space below, and Liu Tong's storage bag was controlled by Gu Chen's Xiantian True Qi, flying over to him and being absorbed into his hand.

  Before long, Liu Tong's two corpses fell into the lower Tai Mountain.

  A flying sword appeared under Gu Chen's feet, and he stepped on the flying sword to check the items in the storage bag. Only the spiritual stone was useful, which was taken out by Gu Chen. The rest of the items, along with the storage bag, were thrown down from the mountain.

  A flash of light in the air, Gu Chen sped south towards Tai Mountain at incredible speed. With his tail already dealt with, Gu Chen had no more worries and used Swift Wing Gust to accelerate, swift as a flowing light.

  It wasn't long before Taicheng fell into Guchen's eyes.

  Jiang Xiu controlled it at the first level of the Innate Realm, and Gu Chen fell into the Taiyang City.

  Although the Taisan Mountains separate them, with Taicheng to the south and Lesui City to the north, ordinary people cannot travel between them. However, cultivators of the Prenatal Realm can fly using their magical instruments, so the Taisan Mountains do not block their path.

  Therefore, between the two cities, cultivators of the Pre-Heaven Realm still had mutual visits.

  It's unlikely that at this moment, there isn't a cultivator from the Leishui Sect in the city of Taiyang. Gu Chen was cautious and didn't reveal his cultivation base of three layers of Xiantian.

  As for the Mole Dan, Gu Chen wouldn't be able to eat it either. The small white mole on his shoulder was his trademark. If he ate the Mole Dan and was seen by the monks of Le Shui City, anyone would guess that this ugly dwarf was actually the transformed form of the genius young master of the Gu family.

  In this way, for a year, Dan's identity as a medicine master, and the killer of Liu Huachan... will all be made known to people.

  Taiyuan City is more than twice as big as Baoji City. At this moment, the New Year has just passed and there are a lot of people on the streets, it's very lively.

  "Squeak, squeak......" Xiaobai was very excited on his first trip to Taichung City.

  The shops in Taicheng City sell things that are not much different from those in Leishui City, but the probability of high-grade materials appearing is slightly higher. For example, 300-year-old spiritual grass, Gu Chen entered two larger pharmacies and saw more than 300 years old Lingxincao and Ziyuanhua.

  "Perhaps there really is a sale of Tiger's Inner Elixir here, who knows." Gu Chen thought.

  Some things on the monster's body can cure diseases, and some can be used to forge magical instruments. Therefore, both the spiritual medicine store and the magical instrument store may sell things from the monster's body.

  Neidan usually only appears in Lingyao shops, Gu Chen asked more than a dozen Lingyao shops one after another, and the result was both unexpected and expected. There were no Huotai Neidan for sale, not even any news about it.

  After spending two hours, Gu Chen had asked every spiritual medicine shop in Tai Yang City, but still hadn't gotten any news about Zhu Hu.

  It's normal that he didn't find any place where the Blazing Tiger appears after searching for several months in the Eastern Wilderness. The Blazing Tiger is indeed rarely seen.

  At noon, Gu Chen entered a fragrant wine house, found an empty table in the main hall, and sat down with one person and one fox.

  A cultivator with a spiritual beast by his side was extremely rare, and Gu Chen immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the wine house. Seeing that the white fox sat on the chair like a human being, everyone was surprised.

  Before long, Xiao Er brought up a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks.

  Gu Chen said: "Trouble you to add a set of bowls and chopsticks."

  "Does this young master have any more friends coming?"

  "Squeak, squeak...!" Xiao Bai cried out first, calling out while pointing at himself.

  "Does this fox also want a bowl and chopsticks?" The shopkeeper was shocked.

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak..." Xiaobai let out a sharp cry, her voice filled with anger.

  Xiao Er's expression changed, he was just an ordinary person, and he knew that in this Yang City, there were often those 'immortals' flying around in the sky. The young master in front of him, whose fox by his side could actually understand human language, was clearly not an ordinary person either.

  "Fox Fairy Lord, I'll immediately get you a bowl and chopsticks." The young servant said respectfully to Xiao Bai, then turned around and left.

  Soon, Xiao Er brought over a bowl and chopsticks and placed them in front of Xiao Bai.

  Gu Chen patted Xiao Bai's head, then started eating. Xiao Bai imitated Gu Chen, stretching out his fluffy white paws and picking up chopsticks to eat as well.

  Xiao Bai has been following Gu Chen for a long time and started learning human eating habits several days ago. Now, he is surprisingly proficient at it.

  A white fox, surprisingly holding chopsticks and eating, indeed the world is full of wonders, with all sorts of strange things happening, only what you can't think of doesn't exist, and only what you can't see isn't there.

  Gu Chen bowed his head to eat, but his ears were listening to the sounds of the entire hall of the wine house. The location of the wine house was a place where people gathered and mixed, and any news would spread quickly there.

  Gu Chen brought Xiao Bai to the wine house for dinner, and everyone would be surprised. Once the conversation turned to strange events, if someone knew about Zhi Hu's news, they might have talked about it.

  A tiger that can be ridden, for a cultivator, is no stranger than a white fox that can eat food.

  Beyond Gu Chen's expectations, Xiao Bai learned how to eat like a human, astonishing everyone. The conversation naturally turned to strange and unusual topics.

  "You say, things in this world are really unimaginable, only invisible. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes today, I wouldn't believe there's such a clever fox, haha..."

  "Yes, the world is vast and full of wonders. Without going far, let's just talk about our Yangcheng city. A few days ago, it was snowing heavily, such a cold winter month, but suddenly there was a great fire from the sky, what a wonder...what a great wonder!"

  "I heard there's a fire demon lurking around!"

  "Whether there is a fire demon or not, I dare not determine. However, it's said that someone saw the head of the Wan family walk out from amidst fierce flames, whether true or false, I don't know."

  "This can't be said casually, if someone from the Wan family hears it and reports back, you'll be done for."

  "Haha...Brother, you're right, nonsense, just a bunch of nonsense..."

  ……

  Gu Chen leaned in to listen carefully, but didn't hear any news about Zhi Hu, yet somehow the news of Yang Wan's family had reached his ears.

  Ten thousand family heads walked out of the raging fire?

  Gu Chen suddenly took note that the Wan family was the number one immortal cultivating family in Taicheng City, unlike Leishui City where the Liu, Gu and Yun families jointly held power. The entire city of Taicheng was dominated by the Wan family alone, with their influence covering everything.

  The Xian families and scattered cultivators of Taicheng City all have to rely on the Wan family in order to survive, as the patriarch of the Wan family, Wan Tianrui, has a strength of nine layers of the Innate Realm, just one step away from the Divine Sea Realm.

  Gu Chen paid extra attention to the news of the Wan family's patriarch, and there was a reason for it. In his past life, the Gu family had been slaughtered, and the murderer was the Taiyang Wan family.

  After Gu Cang Yue took the position of Patriarch, for some reason, he became enemies with Wan Jian Cheng and his family. Wan Tian Rui personally led many late-stage and mid-stage post-heaven cultivators to slaughter the entire Gu family.

  Gu Chen's relentless hard work and bitter practice to accelerate his cultivation progress is all for the sake of dealing with the threat of the Taiyang Wan family. Wan Tianrui has a pre-heavenly nine-layer boundary, which far surpasses Gu Chen's current cultivation level. In the future, he will still need to continue his diligent and arduous practice.

  Not until after dinner did Gu Chen hear someone mention news of Zhu Hu, and his heart felt a slight disappointment.

  If I leave now and head to the Eastern Wilderness to search, the hope is slim. I've already spent several months searching in the Eastern Wilderness but still haven't found any trace of the Blazing Tiger.

  This city of Taiyang is the largest city within thousands of miles, but there's no news about Zhuo Hu here. To find out more, one would have to go to an even larger city, one that's controlled by some powerful immortal sects, where at least a few cultivators with a God Sea Realm exist. For Gu Chen, who is still in the Ancient Sword Realm, to try and gather information about Zhuo Hu's whereabouts would be extremely perilous.

  For now, I can only place my hopes in Taichung City.

  Gu Chen stood up, and Xiao Bai jumped onto his shoulder. The movements of the man and the fox once again attracted everyone's attention.

  Gu Chen clasped his fists and turned around in a circle, saying: "Fellow Taoists, does anyone know the whereabouts of the demon beast Zhu Hu? If you inform me, I will definitely thank you heavily."

  The ordinary people of Taicheng all have their own families, and those who go out are mostly cultivators. In this large hall with more than 20 people, Gu Chen took a look and found that they were basically all cultivators. Half of them were pre-heavenly boundary cultivators, and the worst had a cultivation level of six layers in the post-heavenly boundary.

  Burning Tiger, a legendary beast from hell, symbolizing destruction and great calamity. When cultivators encounter the Burning Tiger, they usually meet with disaster, possibly even extinction.

  Everyone who heard Gu Chen's words changed their faces, looking at Gu Chen with disgust in their eyes. The appearance of a tiger is an ominous sign, and even the cultivators didn't want to hear it.

  At this time, a hurried footsteps came from outside the wine building, and the sound was getting closer and closer. Soon, a group of people walked into the wine building.