I Have 10 Equipment Slots-Chapter 153 - 111: The Might of the Heroic Body
"That won’t be necessary."
Gu Zheng waved his hand as he walked. "The sooner we get rid of it, the sooner this is resolved."
"Then... then I wish you swift success, my lord, in eliminating the Demon Fiend!"
Ma Jianshan cupped his fist and bowed.
"Of course! Hahaha..."
Gu Zheng chuckled lightly and strode into the depths, disappearing around a corner.
As the sound reached his ears, Ma Jianshan straightened up, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile.
...
TAP TAP TAP~
In a tunnel where multicolored light refracted and reflected.
Gu Zheng advanced slowly, his eyes scanning the surroundings as he walked, looking at the particularly conspicuous crystal pillars.
He stopped in a spacious cavern and frowned in thought. ’They said a Demon Fiend was hiding in here, didn’t they? Why isn’t there a single trace of Demon Qi?’
"Of course there’s no Demon Qi."
A mocking voice suddenly rang out.
A figure abruptly appeared in a corner of the cavern, cloaked in a black robe that completely concealed their face.
"Gu Zheng, Gu Ping’an, Gu Baihu, the rare rising genius of the Demon Slayer Bureau. What a pity!"
"Why waste time talking to him?" another, raspy voice sounded. At the entrance to the tunnel Gu Zheng had come from, another black-robed figure appeared.
"Let’s hurry up and finish this. We still have to get back," a third, gruff voice came from the far end of the cavern.
Three people, all cloaked in black robes, and their auras were all at the Super Body Realm!
After revealing themselves, they surrounded Gu Zheng from three directions.
"Get back?"
Gu Zheng showed no sign of panic. Instead, he sized up the three with great interest, his gaze finally landing on a dark corner. He smiled, "Lord Wang, aren’t you going to show yourself?"
"Hmm?"
"Something’s wrong!"
"Attack now!"
The three figures who had appeared cried out in alarm and roared, erupting with powerful auras as they charged at Gu Zheng.
From the dark corner Gu Zheng had been watching, another figure shot out swiftly.
But instead of charging at Gu Zheng, it bolted like lightning toward the far end of the cave.
BUZZ~~!
In a flash, the void suddenly trembled.
A terrifying pressure, as immense as a mountain holding up the sky, was abruptly born from thin air, enveloping the entire cavern.
Under this dreadful pressure, the three men charging Gu Zheng and the figure fleeing into the depths of the cave were instantly slammed to the ground, their bodies stiff and unmoving.
"Heroic... Heroic Body pressure?"
"How is this possible!?"
"Hahaha... We came to ambush Gu Zheng, but we never expected to be caught in his trap instead!"
Of the four immobilized people, three cried out in shock and horror, bursting into miserable laughter.
Only the fourth figure remained motionless and silent.
"Lord Wang, you don’t seem surprised?"
Gu Zheng, largely unaffected, was even in the mood to stroll closer.
"Someone who dares to go undercover has long prepared for failure. Why would they care about one or two surprises? Am I right, Wang Xianyi, Lord Wang!"
Accompanied by a magnetic voice that sounded like clashing metal, a tall, burly old man emerged from the tunnel Gu Zheng had entered. He had white hair tied up in a crown, wore a suit of gleaming golden armor, and his cloak depicted a great sun rising. He walked with the imposing gait of a dragon and the stride of a tiger, his aura majestic, his eyes indifferent, and his face expressionless.
In the old man’s hand, he held a person.
Ma Jianshan!
However, the current Ma Jianshan’s legs were both broken, and his arms hung limply at his sides. His face was deathly pale, cold sweat poured down like rain, and his terrified eyes were filled with despair.
"Ping’an greets Master Xie!"
Gu Zheng faced the approaching Xie Bisheng and bowed respectfully.
The newcomer was none other than the Demon-slaying Grand General, Xie Bisheng, who was supposed to be stationed outside Four Directions Prefecture City!
A Heroic Body Realm expert had made his move, and with just the release of his terrifying pressure, he had subdued four Super Body Realm cultivators, including Wang Xianyi.
Wang Xianyi was even at the peak of the Super Body Realm.
Yet, facing Xie Bisheng, he was captured without being able to make a single move.
As for why Xie Bisheng was here...
It all started before Gu Zheng left Sishui Prefecture and entered Changying Prefecture. He had used a Communication Bamboo Token to send a message to Xie Bisheng.
The matter in Wulong Mansion was over, and Gu Zheng had asked if Meng Taiqi had assigned him a mission before leaving: to go guard the Qingtanshan passage in Kai Valley County.
In response, Xie Bisheng’s message was: Impossible!
Meng Taiqi might arrange a mission for Gu Zheng, but he would certainly have given him advance notice.
Assigning a mission without notice was something done to ordinary subordinates with whom one had a typical relationship.
Gu Zheng’s relationship with the two of them was one of cooperation, and also a publicly acknowledged master-student bond.
Therefore, if Meng Taiqi were to make arrangements, he would definitely give notice.
Very few people knew about this differential treatment.
But Xie Bisheng knew it well, as he had been dealing with Meng Taiqi for two hundred years.
Gu Zheng had sent the message just in case, and as a result, the two of them had truly discovered a problem!
Wang Xianyi had dared to forge Meng Taiqi’s orders!
What was he trying to do?
Why target Gu Zheng?
Having just learned about the "Dragon Struggle," Gu Zheng barely had to think before concluding that Wang Xianyi was a mole from another country!
Targeting Gu Zheng was naturally to eliminate this rising genius of a Hundred Households!
Eliminating an enemy’s young prodigies and genius experts has never been a rare occurrence.
Since Gu Zheng knew, how could he not be prepared?
And so, he had led Xie Bisheng straight here.
The earlier exchange with Ma Jianshan was all part of the act to avoid alerting the enemy.
Now that everyone was under control, there was no longer any need to hide.
...
WHOOSH~!
A gust of wind whipped up, blowing past the four black-robed figures.
RIP! RIP! RIP!
Amidst the sound of tearing, their black robes shredded, revealing two middle-aged men and two old men.
Wang Xianyi was one of the old men. He wore armor bearing the mark of a full moon, and his face was incredibly grim.
Of the other three, one also wore Silver Moon Armor, while the other two were in fitted martial attire and hemp clothes, their faces unfamiliar.
"Do it."
Wang Xianyi spoke calmly, meeting Xie Bisheng’s cold gaze without shouting, begging for mercy, or crying.
"So eager to die?"
Xie Bisheng grunted. "You want to die? I’m not going to grant your wish."
BUZZ~
The edge of his fist suddenly struck, piercing the air and enveloping Wang Xianyi.
With a BANG, a cloud of blood mist erupted around Wang Xianyi, but his body didn’t explode. His face just turned deathly pale in an instant, and his Spirit rapidly withered.
But the other three weren’t so lucky.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Before the men could even beg for mercy or scream, Gu Zheng couldn’t even see how Xie Bisheng threw his punches. The three of them exploded, turning into piles of mangled flesh that splattered across the ground in a rain of blood.
’What a pity!’
Gu Zheng sighed inwardly.
’If I had done it myself, I could have used the Slave Seal on one or two of them.’
"Don’t worry."
Xie Bisheng misunderstood, however. He glanced at Gu Zheng and said nonchalantly, "The people behind Wang Xianyi won’t be able to escape!"
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Gu Zheng asked in surprise, "Master Xie, are you saying there are people behind Wang Xianyi? Within the Demon Slayer Bureau Headquarters, the only ones who can command Wang Xianyi are the few Grand Generals and Commanders..."
"Not quite," Xie Bisheng interrupted calmly. "I’m referring to the Departmental Headquarters of the Demon Slayer Bureau."
’...I see!’
The five Heroic Body Realm experts in the Fengzhou Demon Slayer Bureau were all cultivated by the Zhong Family over the past few hundred years.
’If it’s a mole...’
’Wait!’
’It’s possible they might really be moles too. I can’t completely rule out the other two Grand Generals.’
After all, Cao Handing was also cultivated by the Zhong Family, but his ancestors had been infiltrated generations ago.
Gu Zheng couldn’t be sure about this matter.
But with Wang Xianyi captured, he would be slowly interrogated. Master Xie would be in charge of that.
...
Xie Bisheng came and went quickly.
He annihilated three Super Body experts and took Wang Xianyi with him.
He left the half-dead Ma Jianshan for Gu Zheng to deal with.
The Qingtanshan passage was real, although it was only first-tier.
So the Demon Suppression Guard’s post was unavoidable.
Fortunately, Gu Zheng didn’t have to stand guard for long before Xie Bisheng sent over a peak Alien Body Commander.
After completing the handover, Gu Zheng headed straight for Four Directions Prefecture City.
The Domain in Four Directions Prefecture City was about to open.
This Domain was huge. It was definitely second-tier, with a high probability of being third-tier.
The larger the Domain, the more treasures like Marvels, Source Fruits, and Magic Gold it would contain.
Gu Zheng was in the Super Body Realm and could enter it, so he naturally wouldn’t give up such an opportunity.
But by the time he reached Four Directions Prefecture City, the Domain had already opened!
