Chapter 118: Turmoil in the Southern Territories

The entire night passed.

The team behind Fatty Gu grew steadily larger. Eventually, he simply divided them into several groups, each tasked with securing a specific location. Those captured had their cultivation sealed before being brought to a central point, where Fatty Gu would oversee them personally.

What started as targeting those who were merely on good terms with him evolved into including those who held grudges or had conflicts with him. By the end of the night, with the exception of the absolute top-tier Soul Formation stage experts, almost the entire upper echelon of the Deathblow Pavilion had been fished out. Naturally, Fatty Gu handled the late-stage and Great Perfection Nascent Soul cultivators himself to ensure the commotion remained manageable.

When dawn broke, two hundred and thirty Nascent Soul assassins of various ranks gathered in the humble courtyard where it all began. Everyone wore expressions of mixed annoyance and suppressed laughter, greeting one another with forced enthusiasm.

"Oh, look, it's Old Li! I thought you were in deep seclusion, you old dog. How do you have time to come out today? Ha!"

"How about that, Old Man Sun? I haven't treated you too poorly, have I? Even though we don't get along, when something good comes up, I thought of you first. Tsk tsk, how about a smile for your brother? Hahahaha!"

"Why the sour face, you old geezer? I've been good to you all these years, and this is how you repay me? You actually dared to drag me into this!"

"Don't just point fingers at him, you old bastard. You're no better. Do you think I treated you badly in the past? It's your own fault for dragging me down with you."

"Enough, none of us are saints. Let's stop lecturing each other."

"You're the bird! Your whole family are birds, you bird-man!"

"Not convinced? Want to fight?"

...

When Fatty Gu appeared with Bai Ling'er, the courtyard fell deathly silent. Countless eyes stared at him. The realization that a whole group of Nascent Soul veterans had been captured by a mere stripling left them burning with shame. However, after a moment's reflection, they considered that the chances of them ever reaching the Soul Formation stage were slim. Since they were now the first batch of servants to the top talent of the younger generation in the Southern Region, perhaps if he grew strong enough, he might offer them some pointers in the future... and so, the situation became easier to accept.

Seeing their reaction, Fatty Gu felt a small sense of satisfaction. To further intimidate them, he unleashed his spiritual energy, layering it with a violent surge of divine sense. A pressure no less intense than that of a Soul Formation expert radiated through the courtyard. Stunned, the crowd felt their hearts skip a beat. The way they looked at Fatty Gu changed—this time, it was genuine submission, and all their petty schemes and calculations vanished. They were all seasoned cultivators; they knew full well that if their young master could exert such pressure while still in the pseudo-Core Formation stage, what would he be capable of once he achieved a Golden Core, shattered it to form a Nascent Soul, and eventually reached the Soul Formation stage?

"Everyone, I am Gu Changqing. I believe you are not unfamiliar with me."

"My methods for gathering you all here were perhaps not the most friendly, but I treat my own people exceptionally well. You may rest assured."

"In the future, I will not interfere much with your affairs. Carry on as you usually do; everything remains as it was."

"Now, I have your first mission!"

After a bout of righteous-sounding nonsense, Fatty Gu issued their first task. Each was given a list of high-ranking members of the Puppet Sect's Southern Region branch. Their task was simple: within the month, every assassin must personally hunt down at least one high-ranking Puppet Sect member of their own cultivation level or higher.

"Yes! Young Master!"

After selecting their targets, the group dispersed quietly. Some returned to their dwellings to prepare, while others headed straight for the locations of their targets. Fatty Gu, acting as if nothing had happened, had originally planned to use Old Man Qin's influence to capture the Southern Region Commander of the Deathblow Pavilion, a Soul Formation powerhouse.

However, after careful deliberation, he abandoned the idea. That expert periodically reported to the Central Region, and if the headquarters were to detect anything amiss, it would be problematic. Furthermore, Fatty Gu knew that one could not rely solely on one's master; true strength came from within.

High above, the Supreme Grand Elder, a formidable expert who had long since reached the early stage of the Tribulation Transcendence realm, rubbed his withered eyes in disbelief. He had been watching over Fatty Gu, but tonight’s events had truly terrified him. What was this brat doing? He was devouring the foundation of the Southern Region's Deathblow Pavilion and digging out the roots of the Puppet Sect. Any one of those two organizations was at least as powerful as the Ethereal Sect.

The Supreme Grand Elder, feeling a lingering sense of fear, took out a jade communication slip and sent a message to the Ethereal Sect Leader, Nangong Kang. If the old man Nangong Hongbo ever found out that Fatty Gu intended to pluck feathers from the Southern Region's strongest power, the Asura Mansion, he would surely be frightened into a seizure.

"Are the young people these days really this bold?"

A confused, soft sigh echoed in the empty sky.

...

The success of this affair far exceeded Fatty Gu's initial expectations. In his original plan, he had anticipated needing at least ten days to half a month, and he would have had to be extremely cautious. But due to that most common of selfish mentalities in the cultivation world—*if I am having a miserable time, so must everyone else*—the task was completed in a single night.

As it happened, the operations of the Heavenly Mansion had been underway for nearly two months. They had always spent at least a week tracking and observing their targets, waiting for the perfect moment to strike when the Puppet Sect's Nascent Soul experts were away from their subordinates. Each hunt took a considerable amount of time.

But then, one day, they noticed that the Nascent Soul experts they had so feared were suddenly and inexplicably falling one after another. They immediately recalled the instructions their Mansion Master had given them earlier—that they were not to touch the Puppet Sect's Nascent Soul high-ups, as he would handle them himself.

The members of the Heavenly Mansion realized their leader had taken action. Shocked by such a massive display of power, they collectively accelerated their own hunting efforts several times over. The Puppet Sect's top Soul Formation leaders, unaware of who their enemy was, initially didn't take it seriously. By the time the situation became irreversible, they were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. By then, the assassins had already completed their missions and retreated. As the Heavenly Mansion members were all juniors, they hadn't attracted the attention of the Puppet Sect's high command; by the time the leaders reacted, the Heavenly Mansion had already gone into hiding.

...

The instigator, Fatty Gu, strolled leisurely toward the center of the Southern Region in the company of beauty. Meanwhile, the Southern Region was in an uproar. In just over two months, more than ten thousand lives had been lost. Some had died in challenges at the Earth Monument, but most had been hunted down. Contrary to the expectations of countless factions, the victims were almost exclusively members of the Southern Region's Puppet Sect. Most critically, the Nascent Soul experts—who were rarely lost—had suffered a depletion of over two hundred in just two weeks.

No one could help but be shocked and curious: which faction dared to openly hunt the Puppet Sect like this? In the minds of all the cultivators in the Southern Region, the only ones capable of such an operation were...

Could it have been them? And why would they do such a thing?

The Supreme Grand Elder Nangong Hongbo and Sect Leader Nangong Kang, who were privy to the truth, felt a lingering dread. The Central Region was also far from peaceful. In a corner of the east, hidden in a miasma of poisonous fog, lay the Puppet Sect. Their disciples, from the Qi Refining stage to the Nascent Soul Great Perfection, were embedded throughout the Wind God Continent. They were like venomous snakes waiting for their prey, hiding their identities within sects, noble families, and even royal courts, making them impossible to guard against.

More importantly, there was the matter of their "puppet" name. Fatty Gu's father, Gu Chenyi, despite having reached the early Nascent Soul stage and being able to fight two levels above his own, had still been suppressed and controlled by the Puppet Sect, becoming a puppet that knew only how to obey and kill. It was only due to Gu Chenyi's extraordinary willpower that he was merely suppressed in soul; many others across the Wind God Continent, whose willpower was weaker, had had their souls forcibly erased and their bodies taken over, continuing to live their lives as if they were still their original selves. Because of this, even though the Puppet Sect did not rank among the peak powers of each region, no ordinary faction—not even the Asura Mansion—dared to underestimate them.

In the center of the miasma, within the main hall of the Puppet Sect:

"Sect Master, how shall we deal with the situation in the Southern Region branch?"

"Go to the Dark Department, select ten people, and send them secretly to the Southern Region to investigate. I want to know which faction dares to target us like this!"

"Also, notify the other regions to draw two thousand men each and throw them into the Southern Region. I will recover the face we have lost this time twofold!"

"But Sect Master, what if this is truly the work of the Asura Mansion?"

"Hmph! What of the Asura Mansion! Even if it is them, I will peel a layer of skin off their backs!"

...

Fatty Gu, the one who started it all, was unaware of the arrangements being made by the Puppet Sect in the Central Region. At the very center of the Southern Region, due to the display of over a hundred Earth Monuments, countless cultivators, especially the younger generation, had gathered. Some hoped to catch a glimpse of the ancient techniques hidden within the monuments; others were there simply to broaden their horizons or make connections with experts; and others were there for profit, working as hired hands or opening shops.

The prime real estate around the Earth Monuments was firmly controlled by the Asura Mansion. Right next to it was a thirty-thousand-square-meter plot of private land, dense with pavilions and countless shops, bustling with activity. Even the Five Regions Chamber of Commerce, which usually looked down on everyone, had rented a small area there to open an auction house, with business beyond imagination. Since Fatty Gu's last visit to the palace, where he had been outmaneuvered by Emperor Zi Qiankun, the Zijin Royal Court had also secured one large and two small luxury storefronts in the area. The remaining shops had been snatched up by various factions—the Crouching Tiger Sect, the Azure Cloud Gate, and others—at varying prices. The rest were owned and operated by the Ethereal Sect itself.