I Only Stomp on Weaklings

The old Daoist’s brows furrowed unconsciously. "If it really is the Heavenly Slaughter Sect, then this is troublesome. They failed this time. Next time they’ll definitely use far more vicious methods."

Chen Ming naturally understood how serious this was.

The way this Heavenly Slaughter Sect operates is quite sophisticated, almost equivalent to a platform.

The most formidable part of this platform is that once you become their member, you don’t need to pay any price at the start, yet you can receive one service. You can eliminate your greatest enemy without lifting a finger.

And the price is to help them with one matter in the future.

For such a good deal, very few people in this world could resist.

Especially someone like Gu Zhengwu, who believes he’s about to lose his Crown Prince position, while a former rival is about to render great merit for the family and thereby rise to the top. His future end is almost predictable.

In a desperate situation, the vast majority of people in this world are willing to make a deal with the devil.

To him, if he can’t make it past the difficulty in front of him, then there is no future. As long as he can remove this mortal threat, no matter how great the price he pays later, it’s acceptable.

The most ingenious part is that Client A’s commission can be completed using Person B; the people of the Heavenly Slaughter Sect don’t need to act personally at all.

For example, Gu Zhengwu now has only Second Grade Cultivation. But once he ascends to the position of Family Head and holds great power, and then steps into the Divine Treasure Realm—how much could he do for the Heavenly Slaughter Sect then?

That Slaughter Demon Venerable of the Heavenly Slaughter Sect is truly a remarkable figure!

It was just that, when Chen Ming thought of himself becoming a target of the Heavenly Slaughter Sect, he felt rather miserable. In his eyes, this Heavenly Slaughter Sect was far more dangerous than the Blood Demon Sect, Nine Nether Sect, and Undying Sect.

With a grave expression, he asked, "Daoist, will this Heavenly Slaughter Sect keep coming after me?"

The old Daoist said, "Not necessarily. The Heavenly Slaughter Sect never does losing business. If the person who commissioned them dies, the Heavenly Slaughter Sect naturally won’t continue to hunt you."

Chen Ming’s eyes lit up. "You’re saying, as long as I kill the one who commissioned them, that’ll be enough?"

Dealing with Gu Zhengtian and Gu Zhengwu is much easier than dealing with the Heavenly Slaughter Sect.

The old Daoist said, "That’s indeed the case. It’s just that killing someone inside the National Duke’s mansion—how could that be easy? There is more than one Martial Artist in the Divine Treasure Realm sitting in town there."

"Killing someone inside the National Duke’s mansion is naturally out of the question, but what if it’s inside Qingwei Heaven?"

Chen Ming gave a confident smile; he already had an idea in mind. "I don’t think anyone can turn down a chance to enter an Immortal Estate."

The old Daoist immediately understood his intention.

He was already the master of Qingwei Heaven and could naturally forge an Immortal Summoning Order. As long as one possessed this Immortal Summoning Order, they could enter Qingwei Heaven at fixed times.

This was what people called a quota.

After speaking, Chen Ming suddenly grew a little worried. "Daoist, you’ve brought me here several times. Will the experts of the Duke Jingguo’s mansion notice? I heard the first Duke Jingguo is still alive, an old monster who has lived for five hundred years."

The old Daoist said, "It’s fine. The first Duke Jingguo normally never leaves that cave dwelling of his."

The implied meaning was that aside from the first Duke Jingguo, no one else could detect his existence.

Chen Ming couldn’t help but feel a sliver of doubt in his heart. Wasn’t this old Daoist supposed to be equivalent to First Grade? How did he have such powerful divine abilities?

He had just beheaded a half-step Yang Spirit not long ago and felt it wasn’t all that impressive. A single fourth-layer Godslaying Needle was enough to finish him.

He probed, "Daoist, your cultivation should be more than just First Grade, right?"

The old Daoist smiled and countered with a question, "What do you think?"

So it’s true!

I knew it.

Back then, what Tang Shouzheng said was that he was equivalent to a First Grade Martial Artist. He had naturally assumed this old Daoist was a First Grade Yin Spirit.

In reality, it probably referred to the old Daoist’s weak combat strength, right?

According to his own words, the Cultivation Technique he practiced was solely for longevity and not combat. His realm was likely far beyond First Grade.

To live for three hundred years—could it be above the Divine Treasure?

Chen Ming asked directly, "I wonder what cultivation realm you have reached now, Elder?"

The old Daoist shook his head and did not answer. He only asked, "How do you plan to lure your two elder brothers into Qingwei Heaven?"

"I have my own way."

"In that case, this old Daoist wishes you success on this trip in advance."

With that, he waved his hand and sent Chen Ming back.

...

Chen Ming was currently more or less under house arrest in the Duke Jingguo’s mansion. To hook the second and third brothers, he could only borrow someone else’s hand.

The next day, Princess Mingyu came to visit him. In others’ eyes, the two of them had just gone through life and death together; forming a bond was a perfectly normal thing.

Chen Ming merely asked Princess Mingyu to perform a scene with him. He received something from her, then his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly put that item away.

By the afternoon, he was summoned by Gu Haochuan. When he returned, the Immortal Summoning Order hidden on the beam had already vanished without a trace.

They took the bait as expected; he just didn’t know which unlucky fellow it was.

So thinking, Chen Ming still had to act the part of an incompetent man in a rage, even storming off as if to seek out his father. Halfway there, he abruptly turned back towards his small courtyard.

Then he shut himself inside the courtyard all the way until late at night.

All this was for the benefit of those secretly observing him.

...

"This is an Immortal Summoning Order?"

In the Grinding Blade Hall, Gu Zhengwu stared at the purple jade token in his hand in disbelief; even his hands were trembling a little.

Tokens for different levels of Secret Realms were also different.

Ordinary Secret Realms all used gold tokens.

Jade tokens were the proof for entering an Immortal Estate.

An Immortal Estate!

At present, among all the great families in the Capital City, only the royal clan possessed Immortal Estates, and more than one at that. Aside from them, there were only the nine great sects.

As everyone knows, each of the nine great sects controls an Immortal Mansion, which is how they’ve managed to stand unshaken for so many years.

You have to know, the imperial clan only releases five Immortal Mansion quotas to the outside world every twenty years; with so many noble households in the Capital City, they all scramble for them till their heads break and blood flows.

Yet ever since the founding of Great Jin, in these five hundred years, the Duke Jingguo Manor has never once obtained a single quota.

It shows just how precious an Immortal Mansion quota is.

And now, he had actually obtained an Immortal Mansion quota. As long as he offered it to that grand-uncle, how could he possibly fail to become Crown Prince?

Wait!

After Gu Zhengwu calmed down a bit, he noticed that this Token was purple. If he remembered correctly, the imperial clan’s Immortal Mansion Token was red.

So which Immortal Mansion was this?

A purple Token... he seemed to have heard of it somewhere.

Suddenly, as though he had thought of something, he hurried to the book repository and searched. At last, in an ancient text, he found a diagram whose pattern was exactly the same as that on this Token.

"It’s actually Qingwei Heaven!"

Wild joy surged up in Gu Zhengwu’s heart; this was a heaven-sent fortune!

As everyone knows, the Ninefold Heaven is the holy land of the human race; as the most top-tier Immortal Mansion, it has already been refined by an ancient mighty one and turned into human territory.

In other Immortal Mansions, you might encounter danger, but the Ninefold Heaven is different. There is no danger there at all; no matter who obtains the Immortal Summoning Order, they will gain an immense opportunity.

"Good thing I didn’t offer it up."

Gu Zhengwu was thrilled to the extreme. A chance like this should naturally be kept for himself.

If he could break through to First Grade within Qingwei Heaven, his status would be as solid as Mount Tai.

Following the method described in that ancient book, he used his mind to sense and obtained a piece of information from the Immortal Summoning Order: at midnight tonight, he could ascend directly to Qingwei Heaven with this order.

With that, he no longer had any doubts and decided to head to Qingwei Heaven tonight.

Right away, he returned to his courtyard and declared to the outside world that he would be entering seclusion.

Then, he stayed alone in the Blade-Grinding Hall, quietly waiting.

...

Midnight.

Chen Ming felt the Turtle Shell in his hand tremble slightly, and thought, "It’s here!"

At the same time, a scene appeared before his eyes: a handsome man holding the Immortal Summoning Order entered Qingwei Heaven.

This was the third son, Gu Zhengwu, also the person Gu Xianyu feared and hated the most in his memories.

The second son, Gu Zhengtian, could still put on a bit of a show, maintaining an act of brotherly harmony in front of outsiders.

But this third son openly showed his scorn, constantly bullying him verbally.

Once Chen Ming confirmed that the one entering Qingwei Heaven was the third son, he no longer hesitated. He stirred the power within the Turtle Shell and opened up that pocket world.

Swish!

He vanished from where he stood.

...

"Huh?"

Gu Zhengwu, full of anticipation, stepped into Qingwei Heaven. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was a ruined world. The whole heaven and earth were shrouded in a layer of gray mist, with not a trace of life to be felt.

He found it hard to believe. "This is Qingwei Heaven?"

Wasn’t it an Immortal Mansion?

Wasn’t it a holy land?

How had it turned into this damned state?

As though the end of days were coming.

"Very disappointed, aren’t you?"

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him. "The legendary human holy land Qingwei Heaven has actually turned into a dead land."

Gu Zhengwu spun around, and when he saw the person behind him, his pupils shrank slightly. "You?"

At this moment, he also realized he’d walked into a trap.

Chen Ming smiled. "Surprised? Delighted? The day you sent assassins to kill your own blood brother, you should have thought that retribution like this would come."

Gu Zhengwu’s gaze swept around and found only him alone. He suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Just you? You really think that just because you killed two First Grade cultivators of the demonic path, you’re invincible? How laughable."

Chen Ming stared at him. "I admit, I underestimated you before. I didn’t expect you to actually have dealings with the Heaven-Slaying Sect. To kill me, you put on quite the show."

Gu Zhengwu’s expression froze.

How was that possible? This brat even knew about the Heaven-Slaying Sect.

So it really was him!

Chen Ming caught that trace of shock in his eyes and confirmed that the one who had hired the Heaven-Slaying Sect was indeed him.

He smiled faintly. "Let me tell you another secret. Actually, Gu Xianyu had already been killed by the people you sent. The one standing in front of you now is an impostor. And what’s more, Gu Haichuan knows about this. He just saw that my strength was formidable and wanted to use me to help the Gu Family obtain an Immortal Mansion quota."

What?

Gu Zhengwu’s pupils shook violently.

The next instant, his vision blurred and the person before him disappeared. The next instant, a chill spread through his chest as a sword tip pierced out from it.

The voice of the person behind him continued, "So you see, if you’d done nothing at all, you could have smoothly and steadily taken the Crown Prince seat. Unfortunately, you just had to harbor killing intent toward me, and even went and hired the Heaven-Slaying Sect. I had no choice but to kill you..."

On the brink of death, endless regret surged up in Gu Zhengwu’s heart.

If only he had known...