Chapter 197 : Gu Xianyu
Chapter 197: Gu Xianyu
Deep within the bottomless cave, dark red magma flowed everywhere, occasionally bubbling up and releasing a puff of black smoke.
A heavy stench of sulfur permeated the surroundings — for ordinary people, this was a place of certain death.
“Gu Xianyu, you think hiding here means we can’t find you?”
A fat and a thin figure descended from above, glaring maliciously at the young man slumped in the corner, covered in blood.
Gu Xianyu cried out in despair, “I’ve already fled all the way to Xiazhou, why won’t you let me go?”
The fatter man said with a hint of pity, “Blame yourself for insisting on acknowledging your ancestry. Seventh Young Master, may you go well. In your next life, be born into a better family—”
Suddenly, the magma river beside them began bubbling violently, as if something were about to emerge from it.
The two were extremely alert and instantly decided to strike at the Seventh Young Master.
The Seventh Young Master reacted swiftly, leaping several feet into the air, but still failed to dodge. He was sliced cleanly in half at the waist, not dying immediately, and let out a shrill, miserable scream on the ground.
At that moment, something finally burst out from beneath the magma — it was a completely naked human figure.
The two, who had been on high alert, were stunned. They had never imagined a person could emerge from under magma.
“Where the hell have you dragged me to now?”
It was a young man, not a single stitch on his body, holding only a strangely shaped longsword, yelling in midair.
His appearance was far too bizarre.
The fat man and the thin man exchanged glances, then struck simultaneously — one with a saber, one with a sword — toward the strange man in midair.
It was almost a sneak attack.
This was because the assassination they were carrying out had to remain absolutely secret; no one could be allowed to know. This man was strange, his strength unknown, but for secrecy’s sake, they had to kill him.
The moment they struck, the man seemed to sense it. He snapped his head toward them, coldly “hmph”ed, and raised his longsword to block — deflecting their combined full-force attack.
Not good!
Seeing how easily he had done this, the two realized his strength was likely far beyond theirs. They felt dread rising, but before they could react, they heard a resonant hum.
A heart-wrenching sadness surged into their chests, a pain beyond description.
This is bad.
It was sword intent!
Just as they realized this, the sword was already upon them.
The protective true essence barrier that could withstand the full-strength attack of a Third Grade Expert popped like a bubble under the sword’s tip.
A peerless divine weapon?
The thought flashed through their minds — and then their throats were pierced, killing them instantly.
…
【You have slain an LV75 enemy, gaining 300,000 Experience Points.】
【You have slain an LV76 enemy, gaining 320,000 Experience Points.】
The man who had crawled out of the magma was none other than Chen Ming.
He didn’t know how long he had been soaking in the magma, only that he had drifted endlessly along the earth’s veins until he finally found an exit and escaped with his life.
And the moment he emerged, he ran into two Third Grade Experts who suddenly tried to kill him, giving him quite a scare.
If others wanted to kill him, of course he would not be polite — and so, without mercy, he killed them instead.
If they had been Fourth Grade Experts, he might have spared one to interrogate them on why they were after him.
But with Third Grade Experts, killing them outright was much safer.
What surprised him was how weak they were, dying in an instant.
Chen Ming suddenly sensed something and turned toward the young man who had been sliced in half yet was still stubbornly crawling toward him. “There’s still one alive.”
“Save… save me…”
The young man reached out a trembling hand, his face twisted in pain as he begged for help.
Chen Ming noticed that he was wearing the official uniform of the Six Doors Authority, and was actually a Fifth Grade Constable.
Those two Third Grade Experts were truly bold, daring to assassinate someone from the Six Doors Authority.
Chen Ming said, “Sorry, I can’t save you.”
If it had been another type of injury, his Mysterious Wood True Art might have been able to help. But with wounds like this, he was helpless.
Then he noticed that the man’s wound was actually frozen over. This meant he cultivated an ice-attribute technique to freeze the wound and stop the bleeding.
Even so, with such a fatal injury, he wouldn’t survive. His life force was slipping away, and death was imminent.
Seeing this, Chen Ming suddenly had an idea — why not use him for an experiment?
“You can’t speak now, so I want to know if you have any last wishes. If possible, I’ll fulfill them for you. But I’ll have to stab you. How about it?”
“You don’t answer, I’ll take that as agreement.”
With that, he thrust his sword into the young man’s body.
Instantly, the Phoenix Cry Sword, which had completely changed its appearance, emitted a faint purple glow.
The young man froze for a moment, then seemed much more at peace, and passed away.
“Let me see.”
Chen Ming sat cross-legged, linking his mind to the Phoenix Cry Sword. In an instant, scenes of the young man’s life flashed before his eyes.
“This man’s name was Gu Xianyu… an illegitimate child carrying Gu family blood… after acknowledging his ancestry, he was too outstanding, which threatened the heir’s interests…”
“The heir struggle is always like this.”
Opening his eyes, Chen Ming saw the Phoenix Cry Sword had returned to normal.
This ability to devour another’s soul came from the Immortal Demon Lord.
When he had fallen into the lava and been swept into the depths of the fire veins, he could only barely hold up his true essence barrier. By his strength alone, he couldn’t have lasted long.
But then, the purple figure had taken the initiative to shield him, forming a violet barrier to protect him from the magma’s heat.
Next, the Phoenix Cry Sword underwent a strange transformation, actively devouring the golden flame, and underwent some astonishing change.
After a long time, once the sword digested the golden flame, its appearance changed greatly — as if regaining its former power.
It then devoured the purple figure as well, and even released a golden barrier to shield him.
Chen Ming guessed that after devouring the golden flame, the sword’s power greatly increased, enough to suppress the purple figure within it.
Now, the sword’s power had weakened somewhat, but it had gained strange new abilities.
He learned all this through communicating with the sword.
Overall, he owed his survival to that golden flame Yu Haitang had thrown to him. Without it, even if he lived, he would have been possessed.
…
Chen Ming didn’t leave right away. He studied the three corpses on the ground, pondering his next move.
“My possession by the purple figure was seen by many people. In their eyes, I’ve likely already been taken over.”
“If I go back to Qingfeng City now, the Six Doors Authority might be waiting to arrest me for a reward — or even a Heaven’s Path Alliance top expert might be waiting at my home.”
He shook his head. “Looks like I can’t use this identity for now.”
“But a new identity can’t be random either.”
A Third Grade Expert couldn’t just appear out of nowhere — they had to have a traceable background.
He looked at the young man on the ground. “Got it.”
He took all of Gu Xianyu’s belongings, stripped his clothes, put them on, then altered his own face carefully, making sure there were no flaws.
“Borrowing your identity for a while. Consider it a favor owed — when my strength is great enough, I’ll avenge you.”
He threw the halved corpse into the lava, then tossed the other two bodies in as well, completely erasing the evidence.
From this moment on, he was Gu Xianyu.
…
Along the way, Chen Ming kept reviewing Gu Xianyu’s memories.
Gu had previously lived in the capital. Because he was ostracized by the heir, he had requested a transfer to Xiazhou to avoid conflict, staying far from the capital’s intrigues.
“And yet they chased me all the way to Xiazhou.”
Chen Ming was speechless. Although Xiazhou was next to Jiangzhou, it was still far from Qingfeng City — at least a thousand kilometers.
So far, pretending to be Gu Xianyu seemed easy enough. His Mysterious Water True Art was an extremely yin, soft-attribute technique. As long as he didn’t encounter someone deeply familiar with Gu’s technique, he wouldn’t be exposed.
The only problem was that Gu Xianyu had traveled to Xiazhou with several companions, including a personal maid who handled his daily needs. She was the most likely to see through him.
“Too bad the Phoenix Cry Sword can’t extract overly detailed memories.”
It was a pity. Details like Gu’s favorite foods, the nuances of his interactions with companions, and even his exact cultivation methods couldn’t be retrieved.
After all, the sword’s soul-devouring power came only after suppressing the purple figure — it was still a layer removed.
Before long, Chen Ming returned to the place of the original attack — and unexpectedly found several people there.
“Master!”
A stunningly beautiful young maid spotted him from afar, ran over in tears, and said, “It’s such a relief you’re alright… this servant… this servant was scared to death…”
The scene was a mess. Two bodies lay on the ground — one an old servant, the other a young pageboy.
Chen Ming said nothing, his face heavy with grief.
The old servant was from Gu Xianyu’s mother’s household, who had watched him grow up. The pageboy had also come from his mother’s family.
These two had been Gu Xianyu’s closest people.
Now, they were dead.
As for the personal maid, she had been assigned to him by the Gu family after he returned, and had served him for three years.
The question was — why had she not been present when the three of them were attacked?
Chen Ming’s instincts told him this maid was suspicious.
Next, a young man in blue rushed over, asking anxiously, “Brother, what on earth happened? You’re not hurt, are you?”
This was Gu Xianyu’s cousin from his mother’s side, someone who should have been trustworthy. But why had he also been absent when trouble came?
Right now, Chen Ming felt like everyone was a potential enemy.
Then a young woman in green walked over and asked with false concern, “Seventh Brother, are you hurt?”
Looking at her feigned expression, Chen Ming thought Gu Xianyu had lived a truly pitiful life — surrounded by nothing but possible enemies, with no one who truly cared for him.