I Have 10 Equipment Slots
Chapter 323 - 192: Shocking Discovery
It was as if a candle flame had been blown out.
The Soul Fire in the hard skull of the Three-headed Silver Bone Purgatory Bone Demon abruptly stopped flickering and vanished into nothingness.
Spirit Capturing!
[Demon Points +32]
[Demon Points +36]
...
Its Bloodshed, Demon Essence, and Demon Pill were all seized in an instant.
THUD THUD THUD~
The skeletal corpse of the Three-headed Silver Bone Purgatory Bone Demon fell heavily back into the magma, splashing up a large amount of molten lava.
SWISH!
Gu Zheng wrapped the Heaven-piercing Halberd with his Divine Wondrous and plunged it into the magma, approaching the mass of accumulated energy he had sensed.
The intense heat touched the Heaven-piercing Halberd, but the weapon showed no reaction.
Under Gu Zheng’s control, it descended rapidly until it touched the accumulated energy mass.
Instantly, the Heaven-piercing Halberd began to tremble.
Gu Zheng could clearly sense that the body of the Heaven-piercing Halberd had opened a giant maw and was continuously devouring the energy.
A Fire Soul!
Deep within the magma, a Fire Soul containing the Fire Origin was now being freely devoured by the Heaven-piercing Halberd to repair its shattered core.
Without needing to see, Gu Zheng could perceive the aura of the Heaven-piercing Halberd slowly strengthening.
About half a minute later, the devouring stopped. A tiny corner of the core area within the small space inside the Heaven-piercing Halberd was now repaired.
Although this bit of repair was insignificant compared to the entire core, it was a good start.
Only when the core is fully repaired can a new Divine Weapon Spirit be born!
SWISH~
The magma churned as the Heaven-piercing Halberd rose from the molten lava and hovered in mid-air, its appearance unchanged.
Gu Zheng wasn’t in a hurry to grab it. He controlled the Heaven-piercing Halberd with his thoughts, making it float by his side as he flew upward, leaving the volcanic crater.
On his way up, he saw Purgatory Bone Demons in the caves of the surrounding rock walls. He brandished the Heaven-piercing Halberd.
ZZZT ZZZT ZZZT~
A scorching beam of light swept out, slicing through them.
One by one, the White Bone and Iron Bone Purgatory Bone Demons had their Soul Fires extinguished before they could even react.
Spirit Capturing!
[Demon Points +9]
[Demon Points +13]
...
Casually reaping over a hundred Demon Points, Gu Zheng emerged from the crater.
He stood in mid-air, facing the scorching, acrid, ash-filled mountain wind. After scanning his surroundings, he charged toward a second volcano and entered its crater.
The Fire Soul was located in the magma.
’Perhaps every volcano has a Fire Soul in the lava at its base?’
Gu Zheng decided to find out.
There were over a hundred volcanoes in this area.
More than half of them were active.
This was what caused the sky over the region to be a gloomy black, with thick, dark clouds that never dispersed.
And as it turned out, Gu Zheng’s exploration was on the right track!
He entered one crater after another, slaying Purgatory Bone Demons and harvesting Demon Points while sensing for the presence of Fire Souls. He found another eleven energy masses that were emanating the aura of Fire Souls.
Gu Zheng controlled the Heaven-piercing Halberd to devour all these energy masses, which finally repaired one percent of the Divine Weapon’s shattered core.
Don’t look down on just one percent. At this rate, if nothing unexpected happened, repairing half of it would take a month at most.
Unfortunately, Gu Zheng’s continuous slaying of Purgatory Bone Demons attracted a fourth-tier Golden-Bone Purgatory Bone Demon.
He immediately flickered, pushing his speed to its limit as he flew back to the Tunnel Between Two Realms.
...
After exiting the tunnel.
Gu Zheng prepared to continue on to Hengzhou, but the Demon-Slaying Seal on him suddenly vibrated intensely.
He took out the Great Seal, read the messages, and discovered that many people had contacted him.
Meng Taiqi, Xie Bisheng, Xiao Xianya, Zuo Lingfeng, Zhuge Tianxing, Zhao Danv...
Even the Grand Director of the Demon Slayer Bureau, Xu Jianzhu, had sent a message.
The content of everyone’s message was more or less the same.
First, congratulations; second, praise.
’The fact that I’ve been running around tackling third-tier tunnels is known to the entire upper crust of Jing Country?’
’And the Sovereign, Zhong Yi, even made Dad a Marquis for this? The Marquis of Qingshi County?’
’What is Zhong Yi planning?’
Gu Zheng’s sharp brows furrowed.
’They made Gu Sihai a Marquis instead of me. Are they afraid my merits are becoming too great, and they’ll have nothing left to reward me with later?’
The problem is, clearing out third-tier tunnels isn’t the same as sealing them completely. The merit isn’t great enough to warrant a Marquis title.
Of course, it’s also possible they’re accumulating all my previous contributions.
Or maybe they see how fast my Cultivation is progressing and are afraid I’ll be poached by other Vassal States. So they conferred a Marquisate directly, a move meant to show how much they value talent!
As for why they gave the title to Gu Sihai, the reason is simple.
Gu Zheng is too strong and can leave at any time. A mere Marquis title isn’t enough to tie him down.
But for Gu Sihai, an ordinary Martial Artist from the Martial World, being made a Marquis now is a grand occasion that brings honor to his ancestors!
The entire Qingshi County is his fiefdom.
Wouldn’t Gu Sihai be ecstatic, happy to death?
With his father in Jing Country, even if Gu Zheng, as his son, wanted to leave, where could he possibly go?
Even if he did go far away, the bond with Gu Sihai would still be there, wouldn’t it?
He went over the cause and effect of the situation.
Gu Zheng chuckled twice. ’As expected of the Sovereign!’
With a simple conferral of a title, they had him completely pinned down.
Zhong Yi is no King’s Body Realm expert.
The Zhong Family doesn’t choose its Sovereign based on who is the strongest, but on who is the most suitable, considering the overall situation.
’Marquis Qingshi, so be it.’
Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, Gu Zheng’s Divine Wondrous surged as he replied to the messages from Meng Taiqi, Xie Bisheng, Zuo Lingfeng, and the others.
Then, he put away the Demon-Slaying Seal and hurried toward Hengzhou.
...
Hengzhou has a total of two third-tier tunnels.
On the other side of the first tunnel, the region of the Demon Realm was a wetland.
After arriving in Hengzhou, Gu Zheng first found Huang Dajin, paid a visit to the Commander of the Hengzhou Demon Slayer Bureau, and had a meal amid the latter’s friendly teasing. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Afterward, Huang Dajin led the way, guiding Gu Zheng into the first tunnel.
The Demon Fiends in the wetland area were mainly Poisonous Thorn Demon Frogs, Phantom Thousand-Handed Demons, and White-Skinned Snake Demons.
Among them, the most troublesome was the Phantom Thousand-Handed Demon. It possessed terrifying Illusion Techniques and Illusion Creation Power. Those with weak Spiritual Power wouldn’t even know when they had fallen into an Illusion.