"Audacious!"
Master Mei was immediately enraged. Gu Chen was merely a junior at the Meridian Stage, yet he dared to insult him. It must be known that he was a master at the seventh stage of martial arts, the Gang Qi Stage, and moreover, a respected elder of the Sunset Sword Sect.
The surrounding crowd all watched the scene with shocked faces, thinking that Gu Chen's audacity knew no bounds. He even dared to insult a martial artist of the Gang Qi Stage?
"Kneel before me!"
Master Mei's face darkened, his aura surging around him. With just a light tap of his finger, he could take Gu Chen's life.
At this moment, Gu Chen was like a small boat in a violent storm, feeling an immense pressure and facing the crisis of death at any moment.
But Gu Chen's expression remained unchanged, and he even went on to scold Master Mei, saying, "The audacious one is you! Do you think you live too long, daring to harm an official from the Jing Tian Department?!"
Upon hearing this, Master Mei's expression instantly stiffened. Nevertheless, as a warrior of the Gang Qi Stage, how could he lose face in front of a junior like Gu Chen? His face as grim as still water, he said in a low voice, "Little bastard, release the person at once, or you'll regret it!"
Gu Chen's brows rose as he asked coldly, "Are you threatening me?"
"Yes, I'm threatening you, what are you going to do about it?" Master Mei couldn't believe that Gu Chen actually wasn't afraid when facing a martial artist of the Gang Qi Stage. Killing Gu Chen would be as easy as slaughtering a chicken for him, and Gu Chen's life was already in his hands.
At the same time, he released his aura, continuing to oppress Gu Chen.
In Master Mei's view, Gu Chen was merely bluffing. The imposing pressure of a warrior at the Gang Qi Stage was extremely strong, and just by standing there, he would be testing both Gu Chen's physical and mental endurance. He didn't believe Gu Chen could hold on to the end.
Clang!
Suddenly, the sound of a sword ringing echoed, followed by a 'pu-chi' sound. Gu Chen's sword rose and fell swiftly, piercing through Qin Mu's chest cleanly.
Qin Mu's eyes were wide open, staring dead at Gu Chen, never expecting that right in front of an elder of the Sunset Sword Sect, Gu Chen would act so fiercely, killing him just like that.
Gu Chen's eyes were cold and fierce. Although he was not someone who enjoyed senseless killing, he was always ruthless towards his enemies. Qin Mu had entered into a life-and-death agreement with him, and had harbored no good intentions in the first place. Now that he had killed Qin Mu, the Sunset Sword Sect could only endure it.
Yu Qiushi, Tang Ming, Huo Zhi, and others were shocked to see that Gu Chen had really killed Qin Mu and in such a resolute manner. They all felt that Gu Chen was incredibly audacious.
In the presence of an elder of the Sunset Sword Sect, killing the Sect's most outstanding young disciple made everyone believe that Gu Chen was a madman.
Was he truly unafraid that Master Mei would become enraged and slay him on the spot?
"You little bastard, I will kill you!"
Master Mei howled towards the sky, his anger reaching a peak. His eyes reddening, he could not believe that Gu Chen truly had such audacity, not giving any face, and slaughtering Qin Mu right before him. Master Mei's anger nearly made him lose his reason, and he was about to take action right there and then.
However, Gu Chen's next words made Master Mei's heart skip a beat.
"Phoenix Sun City is only thirty miles from here, if you kill me, you will die as well!"
Gu Chen's demeanor was cold and composed. As a Metropolitan Procurator of the Jing Tian Department, his battle with Qin Mu was also under a prior life-and-death agreement. If Master Mei dared kill him, the imperial court would definitely not let him off. Once the officials in Phoenix Sun City learned about this, they would directly send people to hunt him down.
Furthermore, an incensed Jing Tian Department might very likely wage war directly against the Sunset Sword Sect. Even if the Sunset Sword Sect was powerful and had immense strength, they would not be able to contend against the Jing Tian Department.
Their end would be having the Jing Tian Department flatten them completely, leaving neither chicken nor dog alive.
Countless forces in the martial world had offended the Jing Tian Department and all had met with such a fate.
With the lesson of history before him, and thinking of the series of consequences after taking action, Master Mei felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, extinguishing the flames of his anger and cooling down his agitation.
Taking action now to kill Gu Chen would satisfy his anger, but not only he himself but also the entire Sunset Sword Sect might have to accompany Gu Chen in death. In such a trade-off, it clearly wasn't worth it.
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But Gu Chen's behavior, which offered Zheng Jinan not the slightest face, brutally slapped him across the face, truly made Master Mei unable to swallow his anger. However, unable to strike, he was left seething, his face flushed red, nearly vomiting a mouthful of fresh blood.
A warrior at the Gang Qi Stage was actually reduced to such a state by Gu Chen. The gathered warriors couldn't help but secretly admire Gu Chen's audacity.
And that wasn't all. With a cold expression, Gu Chen then said, "From today onwards, I am the number one on the Star Ranking."
"You!"
Master Mei was livid. Pointing at Gu Chen, he trembled with rage, but ultimately didn't dare to make a move. He could only shout loudly before turning and leaving the place without looking back.
To continue staying would only subject him to more of Gu Chen's sharp words. In Master Mei's opinion, Gu Chen had a sharp tongue and it would be wise to leave quickly.
Otherwise, he truly might have spewed a mouthful of fresh blood in anger, and then his "reputation" would be known throughout the martial world.
Seeing Master Mei leave, the disciples of the Sunset Sword Sect wore bitter expressions, standing there unsure of what to do next.
But Gu Chen didn't even spare them a glance and turned around to leave the place.
Until long after Gu Chen had gone, dead silence remained. No one spoke a word. What had happened today had left them all greatly shocked.
At the same time, they also realized that the events of today, along with Gu Chen's name, would soon spread throughout the entire martial world.
And in fact, that was exactly what happened.
...
Diancang Pavilion.
"Master, Master, something terrible has happened, something terrible!"
At that moment, Qi Zhen was basking in the sun when suddenly, a warrior rushed in shouting.
Interrupted from his leisure, Qi Zhen frowned and said, "What happened that you're so flustered? Can it be something that terrible? Could it possibly be worse than the Demon Cult re-emerging in the martial world?"
The warrior, gasping for breath, hurriedly said, "Master, Qin Mu of the Sunset Sword Sect, he... he was killed by Gu Chen!"
"What?"
A look of surprise appeared on Qi Zhen's face as he said, "You're telling me that Qin Mu, the number one on the Star Ranking, was killed by the eighth-ranked Gu Chen?"
Qi Zhen was naturally aware of the news from the Sword Contest, but he had not expected Gu Chen to possess such strength to kill Qin Mu. How much time had passed since then?
The intelligence-gathering ability of Diancang Pavilion was top-notch in the world. Qi Zhen knew the detailed information about how Gu Chen had killed Zheng Yan and Zheng Jinan; back then, Gu Chen was nowhere near as strong as now. Qi Zhen was already surprised when Gu Chen defeated Yu Qiushi, but in such a short span of time, Gu Chen had also killed Qin Mu, which was astonishing.
It must be understood that Qin Mu had reached the limits of the Meridian Opening Stage, having mastered two superior martial arts disciplines—clearly not someone like Zheng Yan could compare to.
Even Yu Qiushi was far inferior.
"Could it be that at that time, he didn't use his full strength?" Qi Zhen furrowed his brow in deep thought, while the warrior beside him remained silent.
To be able to defeat Qin Mu was naturally proof that Gu Chen had reached the limits of the Meridian Opening Stage; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to do so.
But it had only been a few months since Gu Chen's breakthrough to the Meridian Opening Stage. Even for a genius, it was impossible to achieve this in just a few months.
Unless...
Suddenly, Qi Zhen's eyes lit up as he thought of a possibility, saying, "Could it be that this Gu Chen possesses a natural-born martial body?"
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