In Emei, start by obtaining golden attributes.

Chapter 441 The Trend Has Been Set
"Dead, dead."

Beside him, looking at Zhu Qiyang lying on the ground, blood trickling down his forehead, Cao Zhengchun's face turned pale.

The woman standing to the side, her face veiled by a snow-white veil, also had a somewhat vacant look in her eyes when exposed to the sunlight.

The King of Zhen, a martial artist at the Great Three Harmonies Celestial Realm—either of these identities is enough to demonstrate Zhu Qiyang's extraordinary nature.

In the imperial court, Zhu Qiyang, this ancestor, held a status and position even higher than Zhu Houzhao.

Yet, this very person was so easily killed by Gu Shaoan near Mount Emei.

But before the two could get caught up in the news of Zhu Qiyang's murder, Gu Shaoan's calm and somewhat indifferent gaze fell on Cao Zhengchun and the woman whose face was veiled in white gauze.

Feeling Gu Shaoan's gaze fall upon them, Cao Zhengchun and the woman whose face was veiled by snow-white gauze trembled involuntarily.

Suddenly I came to my senses.

It was only then that the two of them suddenly thought of a problem.

Gu Shaoan could kill even someone like Zhu Qiyang, and he dared to kill him.

What about the other two?

Thinking of this, both Cao Zhengchun and the other man looked up at Gu Shaoan in the distance.

As the two looked up and their gazes met Gu Shaoan's indifferent eyes, both Cao Zhengchun and the woman beside him, whose face was veiled by snow-white gauze, felt a chill run down their spines.

However, neither of them, sensing something was wrong, made a move to escape.

Not wanting, but not dare.

Even Zhu Qiyang, a martial arts master who had entered the Celestial Realm of the Great Three Harmonies, was no match for Gu Shaoan, let alone the two of them.

If Gu Shaoan wanted to take action against them, they would have no chance to resist.

Therefore, even though fear was crawling and spreading through their bodies like ants, Cao Zhengchun and his companion could only stand still and dare not move.

Over here, Gu Shaoan looked at Cao Zhengchun and the other two in the distance, a thoughtful expression on his face.

He seemed to be considering how to deal with the two.

Noticing Gu Shaoan's expression, the tension in Cao Zhengchun and the other man was almost palpable on their faces.

Cold sweat involuntarily slid down their cheeks, but neither Cao Zhengchun nor the woman with her face veiled in white dared to move.

A moment later, Gu Shaoan's soft and calm voice suddenly rang out.

"Please trouble Eunuch Cao to take the body back to Zhu Houzhao, and then help me pass on a message to Zhu Houzhao."

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhengchun felt as if he had been granted a pardon and bowed, saying, "I wonder what message Young Master Gu wishes to convey to His Majesty?"

Gu Shaoan said, "I will wait for him to give me a satisfactory explanation for what happened today."

Cao Zhengchun's voice stiffened slightly. He glanced at Gu Shaoan carefully and then bowed, saying, "This old servant will convey Young Master Gu's words immediately."

Upon seeing this, Gu Shaoan first gave a soft "hmm," then paused before looking at Cao Zhengchun and saying, "If everyone could be as polite as Eunuch Cao, how could things have come to this?"

After saying that, Gu Shaoan shook his head, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his body rose up like a dragon, instantly moving to mid-air more than ten feet away.

While his body was suspended in mid-air, Gu Shaoan lifted his foot and made a virtual tap in the air.

There was nothing to hold onto in mid-air, but the moment Gu Shaoan's toes touched the ground, a wisp of sword energy suddenly condensed beneath his feet.

With a touch of the sword energy at his toes, Gu Shaoan's figure floated away like a feather until he disappeared from their sight.

Only then did Cao Zhengchun and the woman whose face was veiled by snow-white gauze finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Only later did the two realize that the fabric on their backs was completely soaked with cold sweat.

After glancing fearfully in the direction Gu Shaoan had left, the woman asked, "What do we do now?"

Faced with the woman's question, Cao Zhengchun couldn't help but roll his eyes and say, "What else can we do? Listen to advice and you'll eat your fill. Of course, we should do as that young master Gu said and take the prince's body back. Do you want to have a go at that young master Gu?"

Finally, Cao Zhengchun's gaze swept over the ravaged ground surrounding Zhu Qiyang, and his voice trembled slightly.

"I never expected that this young master Gu's strength has reached such a level. Even a master like the old prince, who is at the Celestial Realm, is no match for him."

At this moment, Cao Zhengchun couldn't help but feel grateful that he had never shown any arrogance when facing Gu Shaoan.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I would have died on this plain today, along with Zhu Qiyang.

Faced with Cao Zhengchun's sarcastic tone, the woman did not get angry, but frowned and said, "The King of Zhen is the strongest expert in the palace and the most important helper in His Majesty's next plan against the Great Yuan Kingdom. Now that the King of Zhen is dead, Tu Baichuan also died at the hands of that Gu Shaoan. At present, apart from His Majesty, there is only Wang Yizhao in the palace. General Wang is a martial artist of the Celestial Realm."

"Within the Great Yuan Dynasty, Nasihanfei and Bashiba are both Great Three Harmony Heavenly Realm martial artists. How can His Majesty and General Wang possibly deal with them?"

"Wouldn't the whole plan be ruined?"

Upon hearing the woman's words, Cao Zhengchun fell silent.

After a long silence, Cao Zhengchun finally sighed and said, "Things have come to this point, and it's no longer something we can consider. What we need to do is take the old prince's body back to the capital and report today's events to His Majesty in detail. If we can't appease this young master Gu's anger, let alone the Azure Dragon Society and the plans against the Great Yuan Kingdom, even..."

At this point, Cao Zhengchun suddenly paused and did not continue.

But the woman next to him was suddenly startled and realized what Cao Zhengchun meant.

Gu Shaoan has now killed two experts at the Celestial Realm in the imperial court, one of whom was a member of the royal family, Zhu Qiyang.

If Gu Shaoan cannot be appeased, given his usual decisive and resolute style, he will certainly not give up.

It wouldn't be impossible for them to then conveniently storm the palace and eliminate the remaining two Celestial Realm warriors as well. At that point, the throne of the Great Wei Kingdom might very well change hands.

Thinking of this, the woman didn't dare to delay and quickly left with Cao Zhengchun, carrying Zhu Qiyang's already cold body from the ground.

A moment later, Gu Shaoan returned to Mount Emei and went back to the West Garden and the Golden Summit Hall. Instead, he moved to the back of Mount Emei by stepping on sword energy and using the "Cloud Dragon Void Tour".

After waiting for nearly a hundred breaths, just as they had finished brewing tea in the pavilion, Zhang Sanfeng and Abbess Miejue flashed into the back mountain at almost the same time.

After sitting down, Abbess Miejue took the teacup handed to her by Gu Shaoan, used her inner energy to make the temperature of the tea in the cup drop sharply, and then drank the tea in one gulp.

After setting down her teacup, Abbess Miejue looked at Zhang Sanfeng and asked, "Are you sure that the person Shao'an just killed was Zhu Qiyang, the Prince Zhen of the Imperial Court?"

Zhang Sanfeng said irritably, "You've asked me dozens of times along the way, are you ever going to stop?"

After a pause, Zhang Sanfeng continued, "Since you're scared now, why didn't you stop him when he tried to kill you?"

Extinction looked at Zhang Sanfeng with a strange expression and said, "Do you think I can clearly see the battle between Shao'an and that Zhu Qiyang right now?"

"Uh"

Zhang Sanfeng was taken aback for a moment, then realized what was happening.

He then rolled his eyes and said, "Look at you, your disciple is so strong, but you, as his master, are utterly hopeless. You've made me forget for a moment that this kid is your disciple."

Abbess Miejue was not in the mood to argue with Zhang Sanfeng at the moment. She rolled her eyes at Zhang Sanfeng and then looked at Gu Shaoan.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Sanfeng said, "You brat, no wonder you asked about Tu Baichuan's situation last time. So you were already thinking about taking action back then."

Faced with Zhang Sanfeng's words, Gu Shaoan did not hide anything and recounted the story of Tu Baichuan.

Upon learning that Tu Baichuan had actually come to him of his own accord, Zhang Sanfeng shook his head: "Tu Baichuan and Zhu Qiyang are really unlucky. One of them actually came to us of their own accord. And you, kid, are a little monster. Although your internal energy cultivation has only reached the Qi Condensation stage, you have already entered the Heavenly Sword Realm in swordsmanship. Your strength is even stronger than that of a Great Three Harmony Heavenly Human Realm martial artist."

At this moment, Abbess Miejue spoke up, "This is also something I can't understand. Even if Zhu Qiyang couldn't beat you, why didn't he run away?"

Hearing Abbess Miejue's words, Zhang Sanfeng shook his head and said, "It's one thing to be weak, but you also lack vision. Do you think Zhu Qiyang didn't want to run away? It's just that he couldn't escape and was trapped by this kid's sword domain."

“Within this kid’s sword domain, sword energy is everywhere. Coupled with this kid’s chess and sword techniques, he can anticipate the enemy’s moves. If he dares to retreat and expose his back to this kid, he will die even faster.”

In Zhang Sanfeng's view, although Gu Shaoan's sword domain was strong, it was the combination with Gu Shaoan's chess and sword techniques that was most disgusting.

If they were stronger than Gu Shaoan, that would be one thing.

At worst, I can force my way through this sword domain and rush to Gu Shaoan's side.

But if you're not strong enough, you'll end up like Zhu Qiyang—unable to get close or escape. You either have to fight back or be slowly worn down by Gu Shaoan using this chess-playing and sword-playing method.

Not to mention that before Zhu Qiyang died, he actually thought that Gu Shaoan was afraid to really kill him because of his status.

After understanding why Zhu Qiyang fought to the death and refused to retreat until the very end, Abbess Miejue finally looked enlightened.

My feelings, however, are rather complicated.

Although he learned from Zhang Sanfeng that Gu Shaoan was now very strong, perhaps second only to Zhang Sanfeng in the Great Wei Kingdom.

But the impact of hearing about it versus witnessing Gu Shaoan kill a martial artist at the Celestial Realm is still different.

After a long while, Abbess Miejue, whose emotions had calmed down somewhat, looked at Gu Shaoan and said, "Given your personality, you must have your own considerations when you do things. Now that two experts at the Celestial Realm of the imperial court have been killed by you, what do you plan to do next?"

Gu Shaoan put down his teacup and said, "We've already gone this far. The next step is naturally to make it clear to the court what things it can do and what things it cannot touch."

As he said this, a smile unconsciously appeared on Gu Shaoan's face.

From the moment he joined the Emei Sect, one of Gu Shaoan's goals was to one day make himself and the Emei Sect truly the players on the chessboard of the Nine Provinces.

Gu Shaoan originally thought that this day would be at least a few more years away, until he himself entered the Celestial Realm.

However, the appearance of the [Heavenly Sword] entry brought this scene forward.

With Zhu Qiyang's death at Gu Shaoan's hands today, the die is cast.

From then on, in addition to the Wudang and Shaolin sects, the Emei sect became another force that the imperial court needed to be wary of.

Having achieved his long-held goal today, Gu Shaoan was in high spirits.

Hearing Gu Shaoan's words, Abbess Miejue understood his meaning perfectly.

Even Abbess Miejue's face flushed slightly at this moment.

Ever since they learned about the imperial court and the Azure Dragon Society from Gu Shaoan, whether it was Abbess Miejue, Juechen, Juejue, Zhou Zhiruo, Yang Yan, Mei Jiangxue and others, although they didn't say it out loud, they were all secretly worried.

However, the women were also aware of their own capabilities. In matters concerning the imperial court and the Azure Dragon Society, all they could do was follow Gu Shaoan's arrangements.

Now that Zhu Qiyang is dead, only two Celestial Realm experts remain in the court.

Moreover, those two were only minor third-level Celestial Realm martial artists.

Even if they joined forces, they would be no match for Gu Shaoan.

The relationship between Wudang and Emei sects goes without saying.

The relationship between Shaolin and Emei has been good over the years.

In other words, from this day forward, the Emei Sect will no longer need to worry about any other dangers within the Great Wei Kingdom.

(End of this chapter)