Book 2: Chapter 30: Golden Horn

When Gu Hai’s group read the letter in the palace hall, their faces filled with suspicion.

“Milord, rest assured. We will do our best to search the Great Feng Mafia Family!” Gao Xianzhi declared.

Gu Hai nodded. Then, he reached out to put away that letter before turning his head to look at Li Wei.

“Afterwards, make a copy of Li Wei’s tattoo,” Gu Hai instructed Shangguan Hen.

“Yes!” Shangguan Hen answered.

Then, Gu Hai walked out of the palace hall.

Everyone followed Gu Hai out.

The many evil men had been anxiously waiting outside the Dragon Tortoise Palace. When they saw Gu Hai and the others arrive, they immediately stood up in excitement.

“Greetings, Milord!” the evil men cried out in unison.

Gu Hai nodded his head and stood at the plaza as he looked at the evil men.

The entire place fell silent.

“Everyone, if you follow me, Gu Hai, you will encounter countless dangers. These dangers can send you to the brink of death!” Gu Hai said.

The evil men’s expressions turned solemn.

“However, I want you to know that, along with danger, there will be rewards. We have ransacked the Great Feng Mafia Family and gathered the spirit stones, which I will be sharing with everyone!” Gu Hai shouted.

“Many thanks, Milord!” everyone immediately shouted.

“Today, I laid the strongest Spirit Gathering Ritual Array. It is one-time use and will drain all the spirit stones. It will probably allow us to soak in the spirit spring for about one day. We will begin operating the beast arena tomorrow and have to be ready for attacks!” Gu Hai said.

One day?

The expressions of the evil men who earlier were excited changed. They had heard from Chen Tianshan that the artificial spirit spring drained a lot of spirit stones. Unexpectedly, it would be this much.

There were hundreds of thousands of spirit stones in the pool, including thousands of superior-grade spirit stones. Despite this number, it could last only one day?

How extravagant was this? Of course, no one would shun it.

“Yes!” the evil men shouted excitedly.

“Follow me and enter the pool in order of your ranks!” Gu Hai said.

As Gu Hai spoke, he stepped toward the center of the spirit spring. The four legates followed close behind. Then, the centurions, the decani, and the various evil men.

Buzz!

Surging Spiritual Energy rushed out of the spirit spring and poured into everyone’s pores. A sense of comfort immediately filled everyone’s body, causing them to show pleasure on their faces.

Bang!

Suddenly, ripples appeared around a person. Apparently, he made a breakthrough in cultivation.

“Excellent!” that evil man exclaimed happily.

There was only one day. How could the others bother with this person? They all focused on enjoying this gentle Spiritual Energy.

Gu Hai sat on a rock in the large pool, absorbing only purple Spiritual Progenitor. Immediately, a small purple dragon appeared around him, taking in the surging Spiritual Progenitor.

Rumble…!

People were making breakthroughs every now and then. The volume of Spiritual Energy was naturally much more than when Gu Hai previously laid a Spirit Gathering Ritual Array. No one wanted to waste any time.

——

At the west of Nine-Five Island:

Rumble…! 

Dark clouds covered the place, and heavy rain fell.

The huge baxia sea beast plodded forward. Everywhere it passed flooded. As it moved slowly, the three thousand prawn and crab soldiers paved the way.

An increasing number of cultivators gathered along the way, watching the baxia’s progress from afar; no one dared to get close.

“Roar!”

The baxia reared its head and roared. Immediately, lightning flashed, and thunder rolled, answering the baxia.

“The baxia sea beast? Why did it come ashore?” a cultivator in the distance said with a frown.

“Many ordinary people failed to flee in time, drowning in the attendant flood followed it. What a travesty!”

“Is there some kind of treasure appearing?”

“That might be possible. The Divine Strategy Battalion’s battalion commander came as well.”

“Where is he? How come I do not see him?”

“In the sky. Look, that flying ship!”

As the cultivators discussed this, they looked up.

Indeed, there was a large flying ship in the cloud-covered sky, displaying a large banner with the words “Divine Strategy Battalion.”

The flying ship had ritual arrays covering it. Despite the torrential rain, the flying ship was not wet at all.

At this moment, the Divine Strategy Battalion Commander, Li Haoran, stood at the ship’s bow, dressed in golden armor. He held the railing with both hands, studying at the huge baxia below.

“Battalion Commander, this baxia is steady in its course. Did it really sense something?” a subordinate asked, feeling curious.

Li Haoran narrowed his eyes slightly. “We searched using the map but could not find anything. However, it is definitely on this island. It would be best if this beast can sense it.”

“Yes! Battalion Commander, when we checked the map, the baxia will probably cross the Great Feng Mafia Family!” that subordinate said.

“The Great Feng Mafia Family?”

“The Great Feng Mafia Family is the weakest of Nine-Five Island’s five major sects. Their don, Li Wei, is an early-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, considered weak. The Great Feng Mafia Family is a large-scale casino, but the sect seems to be a puppet of Elite Hall’s Fire Division. While they earn a lot of spirit stones, they have to give them away as tribute,” that subordinate reported respectfully.

“The Great Feng Mafia Family? It is just an insignificant, little sect!” Li Haoran did not think much of it.

“By the way, Battalion Commander, the three thousand prawn and crab soldiers following the baxia are at the Golden Core Realm at the very weakest. They are all excellent tonic ingredients,” that subordinate said with a somewhat pleading tone.

“When we find what I want, it won’t just be the prawn and crab soldiers. You all can even eat the baxia!” Li Haoran said confidently.

“Yes!” the Divine Strategy Battalion disciples answered.

——

At the spirit spring in the Great Feng Mafia Family’s family region:

Gu Hai rapidly absorbed the purple Spiritual Progenitor around him. The spirit stones under him soon dimmed.

Not far away, Shangguan Hen looked at Gu Hai in shock.

“Spiritual Progenitor? How can that be? Milord absorbs only Spiritual Progenitor?” Shangguan Hen’s eyelids twitched.

The ordinary evil men might not understand how precious Spiritual Progenitor was. However, Shangguan Hen did. If Spiritual Energy were compared to food, Gu Hai was eating dragon livers and phoenix hearts, while everyone else had porridge and plain tea.

Boom!

A loud sound rang out around Gu Hai. Then, a ripple spread out in all directions.

However, such ripples were spreading out all over the spirit spring. The commotion Gu Hai caused did not stand out.

“The Innate Realm’s seventh layer?” Gu Hai suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

Buzz!

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

It seemed like the final bits of Spiritual Energy were completely drained. Hundreds of thousands of spirit stones immediately shattered in the spirit spring, turning into powder.

The evil men opened their eyes one after another and looked reluctantly at the spirit spring.

Only one day had passed.

“I broke through. I reached the Golden Core Realm!”

“Damn! All my hidden injuries healed. Now, I can fight five of my previous self!”

“All my hidden injuries healed as well. The spirit spring is indeed extraordinary. To think that it has such recuperative effects!”

“How unfortunate! If only we had another day!”

The evil men started discussing their gains noisily, all of them extremely excited.

On one side, Chen Tianshan’s eyes filled with regret. They had drained so many spirit stones in one day, something that he would not even have dared to think about in the past. However, Gu Hai did it so casually.

Splash!

Gu Hai stood up from the pool slowly.

The spirit spring suddenly turned quiet; everyone stopped speaking and looked at Gu Hai.

Gu Hai walked to the side, the evil men making way for him. Incredible respect filled them as they looked at Gu Hai.

“Alright. We have already soaked in the spirit spring. It’s time to get to work!” Gu Hai said.

“Yes!” the evil men answered.

The various evil men walked out of the spirit spring with refreshed expressions.

Then, Chen Tianshan led the Earth Legion out of the Heavenly Saber Death Match to start work on the beast arena as well as check on the surrounding news.

The remaining three legions searched the Great Feng Mafia Family’s family region, even digging out a meter of earth.

Gu Hai stayed at the Dragon Tortoise Palace with many of the Great Feng Mafia Family’s books.

The Great Feng Mafia Family did not possess vast accumulations. At the very least, Don Li Wei lacked foresight. Hence, the books did not contain much information, mostly just recording the major matters that happened in the Great Feng Mafia Family over the past few decades.

Gu Hai gave it his all, no matter how insignificant the matter was, carefully scrutinizing all the books.

Outside, the evil men had just made breakthroughs and were now in high spirits. They went to carry out Gu Hai’s instructions extremely strictly.

Outside, the beast arena started again.

“The evil men are operating the beast arena? Is that true?”

“Let’s go and see!”

“It really is a cycle of karma!”

The various cultivators entered the beast arena. However, they only took a quick look at the Great Feng Mafia Family disciples crying loudly before focusing their gazes on the evil men.

These cultivators seemed to be observing the evil men as if they were trying to discover if there was anything different.

“Alright. Ten Great Feng Mafia Family disciples cowered from the battle earlier, and all of them already died. Now, we finally have two who dare fight. Start your bets!” a voice shouted.

However, very few of the gamblers made bets. They only watched as their eyelids twitched.

Meng Tai held Feng Ling in his embrace in a corner at the side of the beast arena, slightly narrowing his eyes as he looked around.

“Just three days? What have they experienced? Why do all the evil men look so spirited, like they had undergone an earth-shattering change? Did Gu Hai discover that place? That’s impossible, right?” Meng Tai said worriedly, looking sullen.

Feng Ling remained silent, appearing disinterested in everything.

Just at this moment, a golden-robed, middle-aged man strolled over.

“Mister Meng!” the middle-aged man said with a smile.

“So, it is Don Golden Horn!” Meng Tai said with a faint smile.

“I’m indebted to Mister Meng for providing pointers. My younger brother, Silver Horn, and I have organized close to ten thousand cultivators. All of them swore to participate in breaking the ritual array. After that, the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach will belong to whoever obtains it first. We will not fight each other for it; everything will depend on each individual’s fate,” Golden Horn said with a smile.

“You organized things very quickly,” Meng Tai said with a faint smile.

“My younger brother and I are Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. We just arrived here two days ago and nearly headed straight for the ritual array. Fortunately, Mister Meng stopped us and advised us. Otherwise, we would have followed in Li Wei’s footsteps. That would have been bad. As per Mister Meng’s advice, we organized the surrounding cultivators. Indeed, everyone was willing to cooperate and attack the ritual array together, working to capture Gu Hai and snatch the Century Lifespan Immortality Peach.”

“We are just working towards our own interests. Others think that you two brothers will become Gu Hai’s primary targets, allowing them to take advantage of you. However, they do not know that the participation of so many of them will split up Gu Hai’s attention, allowing you more opportunities to capture Gu Hai!” Meng Tai smiled.

“Yes, we are just working towards our own interests. However, I believe that we brothers will be the first to capture Gu Hai. Unexpectedly, I managed to make such a huge harvest upon arriving in Nine-Five Island!” Golden Horn said excitedly.

“When are you breaking the ritual array?” Meng Tai asked, appearing curious.

“There are ten thousand men now. I’m going to try and get more. I heard that this Gu Hai is extremely strange. I would like to wait another two days and attack after gathering twenty thousand people!” Golden Horn said after a deep breath.

“You are still going to wait?” Meng Tai frowned, apparently in somewhat of a rush.

“Mister Meng, I am somewhat curious. Why are you helping me? Aren’t you and Gu Hai colleagues in Elite Hall? Furthermore, Gu Hai seems to have rescued you recently?” Golden Horn asked, feeling curious.

“There is no why. I still have something to do. I’ll be leaving first.” Meng Tai shook his head.

While holding on to Feng Ling, Meng Tai walked away from Golden Horn, as some of the evil men in the surroundings were already looking over.

As Golden Horn watched Meng Tai leave, an odd expression flashed across his face. “What a strange person!”

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