After I Became a Divine Monarch, the Sect Wants Me to Marry In

Chapter 43 - 43 43 Your Cunning Does Not Deserve to Blend in with Us

?43: Chapter 43 Your Cunning Does Not Deserve to Blend in with Us 43: Chapter 43 Your Cunning Does Not Deserve to Blend in with Us Yuan Mujin begged for mercy.

Gu An looked at the man groveling on the ground and didn’t continue his attack.

A lesson taught was enough.

He did not yet possess the strength to make enemies of everyone.

Sometimes, doing just enough means no one will come looking for trouble.

But going too far can lead to more problems.

Of course, the necessary punishment must still be meted out.

Yuan Mujin knew his place and handed over five Spirit Stones to Gu An.

With that, he limped away, bowing his head in gratitude, “Thank you, senior brother, for showing mercy.”

Gu An didn’t care much, such things were common in the Outer Sect.

They usually didn’t lead to any follow-up.

Those who “borrowed” Spirit Stones often had to pay them back.

Unless one had enough confidence in the support behind them.

Or they were insulted to the point of losing their rationality.

Many people would not continue to pursue the matter.

Unless one day they advanced in rank and possessed sufficient strength.

Gu An pocketed the Spirit Stones and headed towards his dwelling.

The incident with Hua Jiyang had caused him some trouble.

But it wasn’t Hua Jiyang himself that was the issue; without Hua Jiyang, those who targeted him were no longer constrained.

Now he had to rely on himself.

“Never thought Hua Jiyang’s presence and absence would make such a big difference.”

Along the way, he felt many eyes on him.

Perhaps they thought he looked old and therefore easy to bully.

There weren’t many people in the East District, and as Gu An walked, he saw no one else.

Passing by Ren Shan’s residence, he didn’t see anyone there either.

It was impossible to guess what plans these people might have.

He only needed to improve himself as quickly as possible.

Especially today.

Gu An glanced at his status panel.

[Name: Gu An]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Seventh Layer]

[Status: Poisoned]

[Magic: 50/50]

[Hard Cultivation: 100/100]

[Ring of Destiny]

All metrics were filled; he was just short of making the jump to the next level.

But Magic was becoming increasingly difficult to come by.

Not like before.

Still, luck was one thing.

If he truly had to rely on the strongest magic for improvement, it wouldn’t be good news.

But as long as he finds better trees, he should be able to fill the meter quickly.

Even now, given time, what he lacked was only the Cultivation Technique.

Green Sun Wood was more than sufficient.

Near his dwelling,

Gu An saw two people standing in front of the courtyard.

One was a man around thirty, and the other a woman about twenty-five.

Gu An recognized both of them.

The former, Zhong Bing, claimed to be a Forging Master, while the latter, Feng Mei, was a Talisman Maker.

Both were at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining.

They were people from Hua Jiyang’s gatherings in the past.

Their sudden appearance here made one cautious.

‘Surely they are here because of Hua Jiyang.

I wonder what their stance is.’

At that moment, their gazes also turned towards him.

“Greetings to senior brother and sister,” Gu An approached and performed the salutation.

“Do you know about what happened to Hua Jiyang?” Zhong Bing asked coldly.

Gu An quietly remarked ‘as expected’ to himself and nodded, “I’m broadly aware.”

Specifics were unknown, but it was clear everyone wanted to dissociate themselves.

“We’ve met Hua Jiyang before, but we are not familiar with him, it was merely a brief encounter,” Zhong Bing said indifferently to Gu An:

“You understand, right?

If I find out you’re talking out of turn, I think there will be no need for your tongue anymore.”

Gu An felt a subtle power locking on to him.

A slight shake of his head might trigger an attack.

“While we don’t want to pressure you with our strength, each of us is not an ordinary Outer Disciple.

It won’t serve you any good to offend us.

So it’s best to be careful with your words in the future,” Feng Mei added.

Gu An nodded and replied, “I haven’t seen much of the senior brothers and sisters either, and I don’t know anything about Hua Jiyang.”

“A bit clever,” Zhong Bing sneered at Gu An disdainfully, “But don’t think you can get involved with us by being smart.

You’re too minor a character to be qualified to enter our circle.

Hua Jiyang was blind to do unnecessary things.

Now he’s nearly ruined himself.”

“I understand,” Gu An nodded.

He had no intentions of getting involved with them in his heart.

Regarding looking down on others, this is quite normal.

To refute something, you need strength to suppress them first.

Otherwise, you’re just asking for trouble.

“Knowing your place is good,” said Zhong Bing as he walked away.

Feng Mei did the same.

Gu An watched them.

Lowered his eyelids.

Ninth Level of Qi Refining.

And not just an ordinary ninth level practitioner.

To make them speak to him as an equal, he must work even harder.

Zhong Bing’s words were blunt, openly displaying his disdain.

Although Feng Mei’s words were more tactful, her sense of superiority was not any less than Zhong Bing’s.

They were the same kind of people.

Only their expressions differed.

Sighing, Gu An turned and went back to his living quarters.

Mountains are hard to cross, no one mourns for those who have lost their way, chance encounters are but guests from afar.

Everyone avoids Hua Jiyang like the plague.

Perhaps today’s him is tomorrow’s me.

Now, all he has left is to enhance his cultivation and strength.

Apart from getting stronger, there is no other choice.

….

Back at his living quarters, Gu An didn’t bother with anything else and began to increase his cultivation.

This time, cultivation comes first.

For a while, Gu An plunged into endless hard cultivation.

He tried little by little to understand, to comprehend.

Only complete comprehension can become his own.

Over the long years, he slowly accumulated Spiritual Energy.

When he reached a certain limit, he started to break through the bottleneck.

However, he failed.

Yet, the hard cultivation continued.

This time, without accumulating for too long, he made another attempt at the breakthrough.

Crack!

Gu An felt a loosening at the bottleneck.

It takes a single breach for a dike to collapse from an ant’s burrow—once the cracks appeared, everything followed logically.

Gu An successfully entered the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining.

He opened his eyes and took a breath.

Dawn was breaking.

After briefly consolidating his cultivation, Gu An immersed himself in cultivation again.

This time to enhance his magic.

Still focusing on the Qi Sea Sky Gang.

Once fully accumulated, he would reach the Ninth Stage.

Heavenly Gang Qi turned misty.

Now possessing enough destructive power.

As the technique’s level decreased, Gu An felt an endless stream of Gang Qi converging in his Qi Sea.

At this moment, he seemed to sense how vast his Qi Sea was.

If it was one at the start, it should be nine by now.

Not just large, the refined Qi Sea demanded purer Gang Qi.

Which took much longer to accumulate.

A long buildup finally brought Gu An to saturation.

This woke him from his state.

He glanced at his status panel, both indicators had dropped to zero.

His cultivation level turned to the Eighth Layer.

And his Qi Sea was brimming, just one release away from completing the ninth refinement.

He took a deep breath.

Gu An went out to the yard.

It was already noon.

Quite late, but fortunately, the logging task could be completed in half a day.

Taking a deep breath, Gu An mobilized the Gang Qi and struck towards the sky.

Pure Gang Qi flowed through his body, tempering the extraordinary meridians.

Boom!

A sonic boom came from the sky.

With this, Gu An felt some pain in his body, but also more resilience.

The Gang Qi in the Qi Sea flowed back, taking shape.

It coiled like mist inside the Qi Sea.

Then Gu An mobilized the Gang Qi again, and a distinct mist of Gang Qi appeared around his fingers.

Thin as mist.

He brushed his hand lightly over the nearby wood.

Without any resistance, as if a blade had sliced through.

The wood split in two.

Next, Gu An clenched his fist, combining the Mountain Opening Fist with Qi Sea Sky Gang.

Gang Qi swirled around his fist.

In this moment, he felt that anyone at the same Qi Refining Eighth Layer would be killed by his punch.