Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

"Ranked eighth?"

The middle-aged martial artist's heart trembled slightly, and with some hesitation, he said, "Master of the Pavilion, is this... isn't this somewhat against the rules?"

Qi Zhen, basking in the sun, lazily replied, "What's against the rules about it? Gu Chen defeated Zheng Yan with just one move, and he also killed two martial artists of the External Qi Realm and slashed a ghost of the You class. This strength, far surpassing Zheng Yan of the Sunset Sword Sect by who knows how much, places him without question at the eighth position on the Stars Ranking.

If it weren't for the fact that this is his first time on the list, I would have even considered ranking him higher."

"But... Master of the Pavilion, the top ten of the Stars Ranking effectively all have records of slaying multiple External Qi Realm combatants. Directly placing him in the top ten, isn't it a bit too... I fear that the martial artists of the jianghu, and even those sects and clans, will accuse us of being unfair, saying that out of fear of the court, we did this."

Qi Zhen said with nonchalance, "Let others say what they will; remember that our Diancang Pavilion has always acted fairly and justly, not influenced by any person or power. You may go."

Seeing that Qi Zhen had spoken thus, what more could the middle-aged martial artist say? He could only nod in agreement and then retreat.

"This jianghu is finally getting a bit livelier."

After the middle-aged martial artist left, a hint of a smile appeared on Qi Zhen's face. The Stars Ranking had been too tranquil for too long. The young generation of this era had seemingly lost their ambition, not even trying to challenge the ranking. It had been a long time since there had been any changes to the Stars Ranking.

This time, with Gu Chen's meteoric rise—appearing out of nowhere and directly entering the Stars Ranking at eighth place—he didn't believe that the young prodigies listed on the Stars Ranking could continue to remain indifferent.

Especially so for that individual from the Sunset Sword Sect, and the one originally ranked eighth, now ninth, who must surely have some thoughts on the matter.

With this thought, the smile on Qi Zhen's face grew a bit richer. His actions were not out of fear for Da Xia, nor was it out of favoritism for Gu Chen; he simply wanted to make things in the jianghu a bit more interesting—otherwise, life would be too boring for him.

Shortly after, he closed his eyes and pretended to nap.

Outside the headquarters of the Diancang Pavilion hung a huge golden list; this was the Stars Ranking that recorded the top one hundred talented youths of the entire jianghu.

After leaving Qi Zhen's loft, the middle-aged martial artist came to this spot and first used a special solvent to erase Zheng Yan's name. Then, beginning with the eighth rank, he moved everyone else's ranks down one by one, freeing up the space to fill in Gu Chen's name along with a brief introduction of his deeds.

"Gu Chen, age twenty, Circulation Realm, first rank Patrol Envoy of Jing Tian Department (soon to be promoted to Metropolitan Procurator)—defeated Zheng Yan in a single move, slew two martial artists of the External Qi Realm, and killed a ghost of the You class."

Many martial artists of the jianghu were present outside Diancang Pavilion, as well as members from various sects and clans responsible for gathering intelligence. They stayed here so that as soon as the Diancang Pavilion released any news, or any major events occurred in the jianghu, they would be the first to know.

The crowd was instantly reinvigorated upon witnessing changes to the Stars Ranking, which had not seen any movement for quite some time. Whose scion had ascended to the Stars Ranking this time?

After the middle-aged martial artist had departed, these individuals crowded forward to observe the changes on the list.

"Look, Zheng Yan, originally ranked twelfth from the Sunset Sword Sect, has been erased."

"The eighth place on the Stars Ranking has changed hands—the new entrant Gu Chen is the one who defeated Zheng Yan."

Upon hearing this, everyone's gaze immediately fixed upon Gu Chen's name.

"So, it's someone from Jing Tian Department. It's been a long while since someone from the court has made the Stars Ranking. To think that upon his very first appearance, he landed at eighth."

"The one originally in the eighth position was Yu Qiushi of the Canghai Sect. With Gu Chen's arrival, Yu Qiushi has been pushed down to ninth."

The Canghai Sect, ranked among the top seven sects and eight schools, is comparable to the Sunset Sword Sect as one of the world's top powers. However, in recent years, due to the death of the old sect leader of Canghai, and with no worthy successors in the sect, it had seen some decline.

Yu Qiushi was the leading figure of the young generation within the Canghai Sect, the head amongst all the disciples, said to be treated with great expectation by the sect, being nurtured as the future sect leader.

"Humph!"

Unsurprisingly, there were members of the Canghai Sect among the crowd. Upon hearing this, someone scoffed coldly, glanced at the ranking list as if committing Gu Chen's name to memory, and then left, clearly heading to report this news to the Canghai Sect.

Of course, other than the Canghai Sect, the rest of the seven sects, eight schools, and other powers all had representatives stationed there, including members from the Sunset Sword Sect.

Like the person from the Canghai Sect, after taking a long, hard look at Gu Chen's name, he left the area to make his report.

"Now there's going to be quite a show." The others thought to themselves excitedly.

Yu Qiushi could be described as the future of the Canghai Sect, as well as the face of the sect in external affairs. The Canghai Sect would undoubtedly go to great lengths to cultivate him, and naturally hope that he could carve out a higher reputation in the jianghu, which would also greatly benefit his future succession as the sect leader. The Canghai Sect was pleased to see such a development.

But now, with Yu Qiushi bumped down by a hitherto unknown Gu Chen, the Canghai Sect would naturally be discontented, and it's likely that Yu Qiushi himself might feel aggrieved. After all, without having faced a challenger, he had lost a ranking position for no apparent reason—something that anyone would find displeasurable.

On the other hand, there's also the Sunset Sword Sect. This generation's number one on the Stars Ranking happens to be the youngest of the true disciples of the Sunset Sword Sect. Like Yu Qiushi, this person is also the future hope of the sect.

But unlike Yu Qiushi, this true disciple of the Sunset Sword Sect possessed talent that could be described as suppressing his peers, having reached the very limit of the Tongmai Realm. He unlocked a total of fifty-six meridians, news of which immediately sent shockwaves throughout the world.

As a result, the reputation of the Sunset Sword Sect subtly rose a notch in the martial arts community. It is said that even the old sect master of the Sunset Sword Sect was stirred by this event, which goes to show the extent of the importance they placed on him, treating him as if he was being cultivated to be the next sect master.

Everyone across the land knew that the Sunset Sword Sect was extremely overbearing in protecting its own, and Gu Chen had stepped over Zheng Yan to reach the top of the Star Ranking.

It was inevitable that the sect would take displeasure in this, it was just unknown whether the number one of the Star Ranking, a leading figure among the younger generation of Da Xia, would take it upon himself to teach Gu Chen a lesson.

Even though Gu Chen was an inspector of the Jing Tian Department, backed by the imperial court, Da Xia's majesty had greatly diminished over the years. Moreover, as long as no one was killed, normal sparring would not provoke any reaction from the Jing Tian Department.

Just like Qi Zhen, they were all in the intelligence business, with keen senses. Through the changes in the Star Ranking, they could see that the martial arts world seemed to be becoming more lively.

And soon enough, news of the changes in the Star Ranking would sweep through all the states.

...

Gu Chen naturally wouldn't know about the events that took place at the headquarters of the Diancang Pavilion; even if he did, he wouldn't care. After all, even if he was ranked first on the Star Ranking, it wouldn't bring him any merit points.

Moreover, Gu Chen understood the saying, "The higher the tree stands, the stronger the wind blows," and unlike most people, he always left himself a way out and would never fully expose his strengths.

Several days had passed since he killed Zheng Jinan and the others. At the moment, he was drinking with Luo Feng in a restaurant.

This restaurant was the very one where they first encountered each other, when Luo Feng was being chased by Chen Song and the others.

The deeds of Gu Chen had already spread throughout Huaiyang City in less than half a day, and even many places in Li Mountain County had heard about it. Naturally, the restaurant owner was also aware.

Seeing Gu Chen dine at his restaurant, the owner was extremely enthusiastic, specially instructing the kitchen to prepare several fine dishes for Gu Chen and bringing out his many years' collection of fine wines for Gu Chen to taste.

Of course, the price... might correspondingly be a bit higher.

However, Gu Chen didn't mind. He had made a considerable fortune at the treasure grounds of the Evil Heart Sect. Moreover, no matter what, this meal shouldn't be on Gu Chen's tab.

"Brother Gu, I never thought you were actually from the Jing Tian Department of Tiandu. You really kept me in the dark," said Luo Feng.

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Gu Chen's face as he replied, "If I told you I was from the Jing Tian Department, wouldn't you, a flower thief, be scared and go straight into hiding?"

A wry smile emerged on Luo Feng's face as he said, "Brother Gu, stop making fun of me."

Over this period of interactions, Gu Chen found Luo Feng to indeed have a good nature and a compatible personality, so the two became friends.

Of course, up to this moment, Gu Chen had never seen Luo Feng's true face, but everyone has their secrets, and Gu Chen had no intention of prying.

"Brother Gu, I will be leaving Huaiyang City tomorrow," Luo Feng said after drinking a cup of wine suddenly.

Gu Chen nodded and replied, "So will I."

After killing Zheng Jinan, he had completed half of his Metropolitan Procurator assessment task. Over the next period, Gu Chen planned to wander around the vicinity of Huaiyang City to see if there were any demons lurking about.

"Brother Gu, after this parting, who knows when we will meet again," Luo Feng said, seemingly a bit drunk after several cups of wine, his eyes slightly unfocused.

Gu Chen thought to himself that Luo Feng's capacity for alcohol was really not that great; the man had even dared to look down on him for drinking Yuyang Wine last time, claiming he wanted to drink stronger spirits.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Gu Chen said, "The mountains are high and the roads long; we'll meet again in the jianghu."

"Hahaha, yes, let's meet again in the jianghu!" Luo Feng laughed loudly, raising his glass.

The two clinked their glasses and then drained them in one gulp.

"By the way, Brother Luo, I've already arranged with the owner that you'll be picking up the tab for this meal. Don't even think about running away this time."

"What?!"

"Hahahahaha..."