After sending off Purple Subtlety and Longevity, Gu Hai left his people some instructions before entering closed-door cultivation. Then, the flying ship headed for Chaoge City.
Gu Hai entered closed-door cultivation to consolidate his cultivation. His other purpose was to deal with the Heaven Punished Stone in his forehead space.
Buzz! Buzz!
Boom! Boom!
The Heaven Punished Stone emitted dazzling purple light at the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal.
The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal countered with dazzling black light, completely suppressing the Heaven Punished Stone. No matter what the Heaven Punished Stone did, the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal always suppressed it.
Nevertheless, the Heaven Punished Stone continued attacking the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal. However, the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal possessed great power, always suppressing the Heaven Punished Stone.
This was the first time the Heaven Punished Stone met such a tough opponent. It refused to submit and kept trying.
“Roar!”
The Heaven Punished Stone let out a roar. Then, a crack appeared down the middle of the stone, like a mouth to eat up the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal.
Perhaps the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal had just been toying with the Heaven Punished Stone. Now that the Heaven Punished Stone resorted to such crude means, the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal released a black light that was a hundredfold brighter than before.
Boom!
The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal suddenly pressed down on the Heaven Punished Stone.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Suddenly, the Heaven Punished Stone could not move.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal did not relent, increasing the pressure. The Heaven Punished Stone could not resist.
Buzz!
Gu Hai formed a consciousness body, making it appear beside the Heaven Punished Stone.
“You were asking for trouble. Of all the things, you went and offended the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal?” Gu Hai revealed a cold smile.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!” The Heaven Punished Stone felt anxious, refusing to submit.
Buzz!
Gu Hai’s consciousness body immediately rushed to the Heaven Punished Stone and instantly entered it.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!” the Heaven Punished Stone roared anxiously and furiously.
“Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal, continue suppressing it. I’m going to refine it!” Gu Hai said.
Boom! The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal increased the pressure.
The Heaven Punished Stone trembled frantically, trying to resist.
Gu Hai spent three days refining the Heaven Punished Stone.
Three days later:
Whoosh!
“You are like a stone in the latrine pit, hard and smelly. No wonder those powerful experts do not want to refine you. It turns out that you cannot be refined? Your consciousness has become one with the stone?” Gu Hai’s voice rang out, full of dissatisfaction.
“Since I cannot remove your consciousness, then never mind. I’ll merge my consciousness with you.”
Buzz! Buzz!
The consciousness body that Gu Hai formed merged slowly with the Heaven Punished Stone.
Ten days after Gu Hai started this merging process:
“Roar!”
The Heaven Punished Stone roared again.
Blargh!
Outside, Gu Hai suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood, and he opened his eyes wide.
“Not only did my consciousness fail to refine you, but you even ate it? Did the backlash injure my mind?” Gu Hai appeared shocked.
“That’s not right!” Gu Hai’s eyes suddenly narrowed.
Although the Heaven Punished Stone had eaten that strand of Gu Hai’s consciousness, he felt like he had developed an intimacy with the Heaven Punished Stone.
“Intimacy? A feeling of intimacy?” Gu Hai raised his eyebrows.
While Gu Hai felt some intimacy with the Heaven Punished Stone, the Heaven Punished Stone also felt some intimacy with Gu Hai.
“Heaven Punished Stone!” Gu Hai called out.
However, the Heaven Punished Stone ignored Gu Hai.
Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly. “Intimacy? Just a trace! You are still not paying attention to this feeling? Ha! That’s fine as well. I’ll deal with you later. You will only feel the benefits of this intimacy after you get thoroughly bullied. Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal, ruthlessly teach it a lesson!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal started mercilessly suppressing the Heaven Punished Stone.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
The roaring Heaven Punished Stone seemed to lose spirit. However, the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal ignored this, simply continuing to suppress the Heaven Punished Stone, bullying it nonstop.
Gu Hai waited patiently.
Outside where Dragon Vein City had been:
After Gu Hai and the other cultivators left, another group of cultivators rushed over.
After all, Ba caused a huge commotion. Countless experts came after hearing about it.
The land was scorched for five thousand kilometers around, a horrifying sight.
The various cultivators anxiously sought people out to figure out what happened. However, the earlier group of cultivators had already left.
Li Shenji stood in a valley, looking coldly at the many cultivators that arrived.
“Milord, are we really going to do that?” one of his subordinates asked.
“Release the information. Leak everything that Gu Hai experienced and claim that he obtained the treasure that sealed Ba,” Li Shenji said coldly.
“What treasure did he get?”
“Huh?” Li Shenji’s face sank as he looked at that subordinate.
“Milord means to frame him and cause him trouble. It does not matter what it is. Even if there was nothing, so what? It will be fine as long as it brings Gu Hai trouble. Furthermore, most of these cultivators are new here. Even if they go and investigate later on, they can only verify that these were falsehoods that were being spread,” the other subordinate said.
Li Shenji nodded. Clearly, that was what he meant.
Whoosh!
Just as the three plotted how to bring trouble to Gu Hai, a figure flew over quickly from a distance and landed in the valley where Li Shenji was.
This figure turned out to be a nondescript, gray-clad cultivator. His clothes and the sword he carried looked extremely ordinary, so ordinary and average-looking that he would blend perfectly in a crowd.
“Huh?” Li Shenji’s face sank.
“Who are you?” Li Shenji’s two subordinates’ expressions turned cold as they drew their weapons.
“I am a centurion of the Qian Heavenly Dynasty’s Divine Night Guards. Greetings, Lord Li!” the gray-clad cultivator said.
“The Divine Night Guards?” The two subordinates’ expressions changed.
“The Divine Night Guards? The Qian Heavenly Dynasty’s secret service, responsible for collecting information all over the world for His Holy Eminence and answering to only His Holy Eminence?” Li Shenji’s eyes narrowed.
“Before Ba returned, I was already in Dragon Vein City. Rather, this humble one had been in Dragon Vein City ever since Lord Li set up a plot to lure Gu Hai here and set him up to be killed by Xi Yan and Qin Zibai,” the gray-clad cultivator said respectfully.
“Oh?” Li Shenji’’s eyes narrowed.
This person knows about my plan to lure Gu Hai to his death? The Divine Night Guards are the Qian Heavenly Emperor’s eyes and ears. Doesn’t this mean that the Qian Heavenly Emperor knows about this already?
“His Holy Eminence issued a new decree, which he sent me to bring to Lord Li!” The gray-clad cultivator respectfully handed over a decree.
The gray-clad cultivator then left, disappearing into the crowd.
“The Divine Night Guards? Why are the Divine Night Guards here? How did he know we were here? How does he know what we were doing?” one of the subordinates said with an unsightly expression.
Li Shenji watched sullenly as the Divine Night Guard left.
“Ha! Hahaha! To think that someone in my Divine Strategy Battalion is secretly working for someone else?” Li Shenji said with a cold expression.
“Milord, it’s not me!”
“Milord, it’s definitely not me. It should be someone else. I have been by Milord’s side all the while.”
The two immediately swore innocence.
Li Shenji showed a sullen expression but did not pursue this. Instead, he took a deep breath and swallowed his anger. Then, he turned to look to the north.
“A decree? Milord, His Holy Eminence came to know so quickly, even sending a decree at such speed? Why is it so fast?” one of the subordinates said, feeling confused.
“The Divine Night Guards naturally have their way of communicating. Humph!” Li Shenji snorted coldly.
Li Shenji slowly unfurled the decree. As he read, his face darkened.
“Milord, what did His Holy Eminence say?”
Li Shenji took a deep breath and looked to the east. Then, he let out a long breath, feeling upset. “Ha! Although His Holy Eminence did not say it, I understand that he is reprimanding me. Haha! Gu Hai? You are very lucky!”
“Huh?” The two subordinates appeared confused.
“Cancel the earlier plan. Don’t cause trouble for Gu Hai for now,” Li Shenji said coldly.
“Yes!”
“Summon the others and prepare to head to Chaoge City,” Li Shenji said.
“Yes!”
“Milord, why are we going to Chaoge City?”
“His Holy Eminence’s decree requires Gu Hai and me to escort Long Wanyu to Major Metropolitan City. Long Wanyu is to represent the Qian Heavenly Dynasty, functioning as an envoy to the Yuan Imperial Dynasty,” Li Shenji said.
“Escort Princess Wanyu? Go to the Yuan Imperial Dynasty as an envoy?”
“I understand now. I did not consider things thoroughly enough. Ha! His Holy Eminence is rebuking me for not considering Long Wanyu’s safety when setting up this plot.” Li Shenji frowned heavily.
“Escort Princess Wanyu? Gu Hai is going as well? Who is in charge?” a subordinate asked in confusion.
“Long Wanyu,” Li Shenji said with a frown.
“Ah? Princess Wanyu? Doesn’t Princess Wanyu listen to and obey her brother-in-law? Doesn’t that mean that we will be under Gu Hai’s thumb?”
Li Shenji showed a sullen expression as he said, “That’s how His Holy Eminence is reprimanding me. Ha! Alright, go summon the others.”
“Yes!” The two nodded, appearing upset.
After the two left, Li Shenji turned his head to look at the crowd.
“The Divine Night Guards? Ha! You truly are everywhere. I wonder if any of you are by Gu Hai’s side?” Li Shenji muttered, feeling upset.
Gu Hai’s flying ship approached Chaoge City.
Rumble…!
The Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal stopped suppressing the Heaven Punished Stone.
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
The Heaven Punished Stone sobbed, sounding very aggrieved. It had been badly bullied over the past few days.
“Alright, Heaven Punished Stone. I’ve already stopped the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal. It won’t bully you anymore,” Gu Hai said gently.
As Gu Hai spoke, he took out the Heaven Punished Stone. At the same time, a large amount of metal appeared with a wave of his palm, mostly fragments of swords and sabers. It looked like Gu Hai was trying to fill the room.
Buzz! A crack slowly appeared in the Heaven Punished Stone.
Whoosh!
The Heaven Punished Stone immediately sucked in all the metal.
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
After the Heaven Punished Stone consumed the metal, it immediately seemed much closer to Gu Hai. However, it still felt very wronged by the Heaven Suppressing Divine Imperial Seal’s bullying.
Gu Hai took out all sorts of metals in a constant stream, and the Heaven Punished Stone kept eating.
“Can you take on another shape?” Gu Hai asked.
Now, the Heaven Punished Stone found Gu Hai’s words much more pleasing, so it did not reject his suggestion.
Whoosh!
Gu Hai took out a model of a saber.
“Can you take on the shape of this saber?” Gu Hai asked gently, as though trying to coax a child.
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
After sobbing some more, the Heaven Punished Stone suddenly released a purple lightning bolt.
Boom!
The lightning bolt shattered the saber. Then, a suction appeared from the crack in the Heaven Punished Stone, swallowing the resulting shards.
After that, the Heaven Punished Stone slowly changed its shape, consolidating, then turning thinner.
Gu Hai waited patiently. The entire process took ten days.
The flying ship had long since arrived in Chaoge City. However, no one dared to interrupt Gu Hai while he was in closed-door cultivation.
Ten days later, the Heaven Punished Stone had changed its shape, turning into a purple saber. Its shape was very similar to a Tang dynasty saber that Gu Hai had seen on Earth but longer.
[TL Note: A Tang dynasty saber looks like a straight katana. It is said that the katana took inspiration from Tang dynasty sabers.]
Buzz!
The Heaven Punished Stone trembled slightly before completing its transformation.
Gu Hai unhurriedly took it into his grasp.
Now, the Heaven Punished Stone seemed very close to Gu Hai.
“Haha! I will keep using you in the future. We will become closer and more intimate. The Heaven Punished Stone? The first piece is the Immortal Executioner Sword. You are the second? In that case, you shall be called the Life Executioner Saber from now on. Don’t worry. I will continuously temper and sharpen you. Some day, you would not lose to the Immortal Executioner Sword.” Anticipation flashed in Gu Hai’s eyes.
Buzz!
Suddenly, some electricity crackled on the Life Executioner Saber, as though answering this most intimate person to it.
