Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

The sun dipped to the west, and the moon hare rose, stars twinkling above, casting the pure moonlight down from the high sky, penetrating the window and shining upon Gu Chen's body.

At this moment, Gu Chen was sitting cross-legged on the bed, with a thought, he called up the panel.

Name: Gu Chen

Martial Skills: Dragon Roar Tiger Howl Horizontal Training (Beginner), Red Flame Palm (Perfection), Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills

Internal Skill: Pure Yang Technique

Cultivation Age: One hundred eighty-six years

Realm: Late Meridian Connecting Stage

Merit Points: 68

Out of those, twenty-eight merit points were obtained from slaying the spectral ghost inside Zheng Jinan's body, the rest were all from other ghosts in Li Mountain County.

Regrettably, in Li Mountain County, Gu Chen had only found that one spectral ghost; otherwise, his merit points could have been higher.

Feeling the abundant internal energy within his body, Gu Chen opened his eyes and took out the Meridian Connecting Pills that he had exchanged for during the day at the Jing Tian Department.

Meridian Connecting Pills required substantial contributions to acquire, one bottle cost Gu Chen ten points of merit, even pricier than an inferior class treasure weapon.

All the honors Gu Chen had received from his mission were exchanged for Meridian Connecting Pills, a total of three bottles.

A single bottle of Meridian Connecting Pills, if released into the rivers and lakes, was enough to provoke a frenzied grab among countless martial artists, not much less coveted than the Longevity Pills of the Sunset Sword Sect.

Gu Chen opened the bottle cap, a faint fragrance spilled out, the Meridian Connecting Pills were pale green, the size of pellets, Gu Chen took one and swallowed it.

As the name implies, Meridian Connecting Pills are made to aid martial artists in the Meridian Connecting Stage to better break through the meridians within their bodies.

You should know that when a person is just born, they actually possess the innate body, where all meridians are open and all the orifices are clear.

However, when they come into the human world, that breath of innate air cannot reside long and gradually dissipates, along with the polluted air from the great world eroding, the infant's innate body will degenerate into an acquired physique in a short time.

Once the innate air disperses and the polluted air enters the body, it would clog the human meridians, and all the orifices and various mystical gates, thus, if martial artists want to become stronger, they need to spend time and effort to break through these locks that bind the human body, only then can they regenerate a breath of innate air.

The path of a martial artist's cultivation is actually a process of gradually returning from the acquired to the innate.

When the Meridian Connecting Pill entered the stomach, it quickly turned into a stream of burning medicinal effect, traveling throughout Gu Chen's body along the meridians. Seeing this, Gu Chen willed it, and ten and five merit points immediately disappeared from the panel, transformed into ten and five years of internal breath cultivation age that appeared inside his body.

The sudden addition of ten and five years of cultivation power made Gu Chen's meridians, already brimming with internal breath, swell to the point of fullness in an instant.

By then, Gu Chen's internal breath cultivation age had surpassed the maximum of two hundred, reaching an astonishing two hundred and one years.

Boom!

Explosions like spring thunder began echoing continuously by Gu Chen's ears, and in a short period of time, six meridians were broken through by Gu Chen; then, the progress slowed down and met with great resistance, the meridians felt painfully swollen, and his body felt the same.

At this moment, Gu Chen had reached the limit recorded in the Nine Provinces for martial artists in the Meridian Connecting Stage, which was fifty-six meridians.

But Gu Chen knew that this was the limit of other martial artists, not his own.

From the moment he had the panel, Gu Chen was very certain that he could break through the limit of the Meridian Connecting Stage and create a new record.

Without hesitation, Gu Chen opened the cap, swallowed two more Meridian Connecting Pills, noting that one bottle of Meridian Connecting Pills only had five pills after all.

Two Meridian Connecting Pills, along with the increased cultivation power of two hundred and one years, rushed through his body like a river. At that moment, countless capillaries on Gu Chen's body burst, blood sprayed from all over his body, drenching him into a blood-soaked figure.

Gu Chen seemed to feel nothing, wholeheartedly manipulating the vast internal breath within his body to open more meridians.

Seven...

Eight...

Nine...

Ten...

Eleven!

After a long time, Gu Chen, knowing he had reached his limit, opened his eyes. Ignoring the sorry state of his body, tiny specks of light converged in his pupils, shining brighter than the stars in the night sky outside the window.

This time, with the help of the Channel-Opening Pill, Gu Chen had opened up a total of eleven meridians in his body, far surpassing the limit that martial artists in the Nine Provinces could achieve at the Meridian-Opening Stage!

To open up sixty-one meridians in the Meridian-Opening Stage was an earth-shattering event capable of shaking the entire Nine Provinces.

You must know, even some martial artists at the External Qi Stage had not opened as many meridians as Gu Chen had.

At this moment, the records of the Meridian-Opening Stage held for countless years in the Nine Provinces were broken by Gu Chen.

But obviously, this was a secret belonging solely to Gu Chen himself, and he would not tell anyone.

At this moment, Gu Chen felt waves of pain emanating from the meridians within his body, and even his flesh was no different.

This might just be the "side effect" of breaking the limit. It's worth mentioning that Gu Chen's physical strength far exceeded that of martial artists at the same realm, yet he felt this way, let alone others.

This was also why many martial artists at the Meridian-Opening Stage couldn't even manage to open twenty meridians.

The practice at the Meridian-Opening Stage placed great emphasis on one's constitution and physical quality. Only someone like Gu Chen, with the assistance of the panel, who could continuously increase his cultivation level and improve his martial arts realm to strengthen his body, constantly breaking limits, could achieve such a feat at the Meridian-Opening Stage.

If others tried forcibly to open their meridians, they would have succumbed to cultivation deviation and exploded to death long ago.

The next moment, Gu Chen brought up the panel once again.

Name: Gu Chen

Martial Arts: Dragon-Tiger Roaring Horizontal Training (entry-level), Red Flame Palm (perfection), Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills

Inner Strength: Pure Yang Technique

Cultivation: Two hundred and one years

Realm: Late Meridian-Opening Stage

Cultivation Points: 53

"Why am I still at the late Meridian-Opening Stage?" Gu Chen frowned, unable to believe that after breaking his limits and opening sixty-one meridians in his body, he hadn't reached the perfect completion of the Meridian-Opening Stage.

"Could it be that, at the Meridian-Opening Stage, I can still open even more meridians?"

At this thought, even Gu Chen himself was startled, sixty-one meridians and still not his limit; heaven knows how many more he could open at the Meridian-Opening Stage, it was truly astonishing.

"Keep a low profile, I must keep a low profile..." Gu Chen kept whispering to himself, reminding himself not to become arrogant because of this and never to let anyone know of this secret. Otherwise, every martial artist in the Nine Provinces would go insane with desire and would come after him, wanting to dissect him to discover the truth.

At this stage, Gu Chen's strength was not enough for self-preservation, so he must be discreet and keep this secret well-guarded.

"It looks like I'll have to spend even more time in the Meridian-Opening Stage," Gu Chen said, the corner of his mouth curving in a smile. If some other martial artist, even a genius like Chen Yu, heard this, they would certainly be unable to resist the urge to beat him to death.

No other reason, it was just too infuriating, something countless martial artists couldn't achieve even in their dreams.

But now, he had reached his limit and could not continue to open any more meridians. Thus, with a thought, Gu Chen saw twelve cultivation points disappear from his panel, and the Dragon-Tiger Roaring Horizontal Training martial art had reached minor accomplishment.

Hum!

At that moment, Gu Chen's entire body trembled violently. As the Dragon-Tiger Roaring Horizontal Training reached minor accomplishment, the cultivation of his body began anew. His muscles and bones underwent another cycle of refinement, and the dragon and tiger phantoms quickly flashed behind him once more.

If one's eyes were sharp enough, they could see that the phantoms looked much more solid than before.

At the same time, Gu Chen radiated light, a pale golden glow completely enveloping him. At that moment, even his hair seemed to turn a pale golden color.

Gu Chen sat crossed-leg, his presence dignified, appearing as a transcendent Buddha descending into the mortal world.