While Feng Shuran returned to dealing with her lightning tribulation, Gu Chen gazed at the incoming cultivators in green uniforms.
He watched them get closer on their flying swords while silently counting.
There were a total of seventeen cultivators from the Dae Qu sect, and only two of them were at the Core Formation Realm; the rest were only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.
"I guess this can be considered a huge force in this region, considering that someone like Feng Shuran could become the Leader of an assassin temple despite being at the Core Formation Realm." Gu Chen mumbled to himself as he thought of the most effective way to stop these people.
Or at least stall them until Feng Shuran finished her breakthrough. Once she entered the Nascent Soul Realm, dealing with a few Core Formation Realm cultivators would not be an issue for her.
He was currently weaker than a person at the Body Tempering stage; fighting these people from the Dae Qu sect was out of the question!
"Kill her!"
"She’s ignoring us and trying to break through quickly; attack together!"
The two Core Formation Realm cultivators shouted one after the other, leading the foundation establishment realm cultivators to attack Feng Shuran.
"Stop if you value your life."
As they got closer, they heard a cold tone from somewhere on the ground.
For some reason, the two Core Formation Realm cultivators stopped flying forward and looked at the source of the voice. Naturally, the others behind them stopped as well.
They all looked at the ground and saw Gu Chen standing calmly with both hands behind his waist.
The system skill, Deceiver, immediately activated. His long black hair swaying from the wind caused by Feng Shuran’s tribulation, his calm eyes that stared at them with a lack of interest, and his Heavenly-grade White robe made him look like a peerless expert from a faraway land.
A look of hesitation appeared on the faces of the two Core Formation Realm cultivators. They immediately became cautious of Gu Chen; they didn’t even notice him until he spoke.
One of the Core Formation Realm cultivators, an old man with a very long moustache hanging under his nose, stared at Gu Chen with inspecting eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked.
Gu Chen looked at him. His neck hurt from looking at them in the sky, but he could only endure since he couldn’t fly.
"That is not important; just know that she is currently under my protection. Move further and all your years of cultivation will be wasted." Gu Chen said with a disdainful tone.
An ugly look appeared on the faces of the Core Formation Realm cultivators. Gu Chen’s words didn’t feel like a bluff; they felt that they would really die if they moved forward.
But how could they simply listen with so many juniors behind them? Also, the leader of the assassin temple was right in front of them and in the best situation to be killed.
If she broke through, it would be the end because their sect wouldn’t be able to kill a Nascent Soul Realm master assassin!
They just couldn’t go back; it was now or never!
Time passed slowly as the cultivators stood in the air; they didn’t advance nor did they retreat. By now, Feng Shuran had blocked the sixth tribulation strike and was awaiting the 7th.
She looked over and saw the scene of Dae Qu sect cultivators hovering behind Senior; none of them dared to come meet her.
’Why is Senior not killing them?’ Feng Shuran thought to herself.
Could it be that Senior wanted her to handle this grudge by herself?
"Forget it, I’ll break through first." She shook her head and returned her focus to the vortex.
The 7th strike was about to come down.
Seeing this, the cultivators from the Dae Qu sect were becoming impatient. The invisible killer was close to breaking through, and they could already feel her threads around their neck!
The second Core Formation Realm cultivator, a strong man with messy brown hair, flew to the ground in front of Gu Chen.
He cupped his hands towards Gu Chen in a respectful manner.
"Senior, you clearly aren’t from around here. This woman is an evil cultivator. She is the leader of an assassin temple and has slaughtered a lot of innocent people.
We are from the Dae Qu sect, which is a righteous sect in this region. Our sect has suffered from her slaughter as well and has been hunting her for weeks.
If Senior allows us to kill her, we will open our sect treasury to you and let you take anything you want. Senior will forever be a guest of our sect, and we’ll welcome you whenever you come to Oghara," the man said. His words were rushed as the 7th lightning dragon descended from the vortex at that moment.
Bang!
Feng Shuran had started to block it.
Gu Chen glanced at Feng Shuran before returning his gaze to the man in front of him; his expression was still disdainful.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Su Zhui, I am the current sect leader of the Dae Qu sect. Our former sect leader was killed by her." Su Zhui said quickly.
"Mm," Gu Chen nodded with a grunt while retrieving something from the system.
Hearing the grunt, Su Zhui’s eyes brightened as he thought that Gu Chen had agreed to let them attack Feng Shuran.
"Thank you, Senior! The Dae Qu sect will forever remember this." He said as he lifted his gaze, only for him to see that Gu Chen was holding something towards him as if trying to show him.
"Uh, Senior, what is that?" Su Zhui asked with a confused look. Why did this strange thing have an opening? And why was it facing him?
"It’s a Glock, from a place called Earth." Gu Chen said casually before pulling the trigger.
Bang!
A shot rang out as a bullet flew out from the pistol and pierced Su Zhui’s heart before exploding from his back.
Su Zhui "..."
The cultivators in the sky "..."
Nobody expected this strange Senior to suddenly attack Su Zhui, and instantly at that!
Su Zhui looked down at his chest with wide eyes; he was horrified.
"W-why?" He managed to speak with blood gushing out from his mouth, his eyes rolled up, and his body fell backwards.
After killing Su Zhui, Gu Chen looked at the other cultivators in the sky while still holding his gun.
"I said not to move any further. Does anyone else want to test what the consequence of ignoring my warning will be?" He asked in a low tone.
Thankfully, they were all cultivators, so their enhanced hearing allowed them to hear him.
The remaining sixteen cultivators all instinctively moved back on their flying swords after hearing Gu Chen’s question.
Su Zhui was their sect leader and the strongest amongst them, yet he had been killed instantly and with one attack.
They definitely couldn’t ignore this person!
Meanwhile, Gu Chen was secretly feeling pleased that his bluff had worked. He only had five rounds after all and had wasted one on Su Zhui, hoping to scare the others away.
And although it worked, he wasn’t too happy. The Glock was of the Heavenly-grade after all and could kill a Spirit Transformation Realm cultivator; using it on someone at the Core Formation Realm was simply too wasteful.
Gu Chen couldn’t bear to use another one; he might as well let them attack Feng Shuran if killing Su Zhui didn’t work. Luckily, it did.
Feng Shuran had not witnessed Gu Chen killing Su Zhui; she didn’t hear the sound of the gunshot either due to the noise of the lightning tribulation.
By the time she was done with the 7th strike and looked over, she saw that there was a corpse in front of Senior, and the rest of the cultivators from the Dae Qu sect had moved even further back.
’When did Senior kill someone? He must have done it instantly since there wasn’t any fighting and I didn’t notice!’ Feng Shuran thought to herself.
She silently let out a breath of relief; she was thankful to not have offended Gu Chen earlier, that was how he would have easily killed her.
She shook her head and returned her focus to the lightning tribulation. The 8th strike was coming, and she could already feel the pressure; it was three times stronger than the 7th strike!
In the distance, the remaining cultivators felt the aura from the vortex as well.
They looked at the figure of Gu Chen on the ground, and then at Feng Shuran in the distance.
The old man with a long moustache gritted his teeth. All hope was lost; they couldn’t kill Feng Shuran because of this person who was protecting her, and they wouldn’t be able to kill her once she broke through.
Their only option now was to...run away!
They had to escape from Oghara before Feng Shuran finished her breakthrough; otherwise, she was definitely going to wipe them out after what they did to her temple!
"Senior, we’ll be leaving first." The Core Formation Realm old man cupped his fist towards Gu Chen on the ground.
He could see that this person was still holding the strange magical treasure that killed Su Zhui and didn’t dare turn his back.
Gu Chen waved his hand without saying a word; he wanted them to leave as well.
They didn’t leave immediately and kept looking at Gu Chen.
"What?" Gu Chen asked with a snort.
"Senior, can we please take his body with us?" The old man asked fearfully, looking at the corpse at Gu Chen’s feet.
After a moment of silence, Gu Chen turned away while saying.
"As you wish."
"Thank you, Senior!" The old man shouted and rushed down to get Su Zhui’s corpse before flying away with the others.