An hour later, Gu Qingfeng staggered out of the cell where the little corpse Mei was kept.
After a while, he suddenly remembered, "Oh, right! What did I come to the Demon Suppression Prison for today?"
After thinking for a moment, Gu Qingfeng slapped his palm and exclaimed, "Ah, I remember now! It was to kill the Locust Tree Demon! Almost forgot about this little matter amidst the important stuff."
So, Gu Qingfeng hurried to the Locust Tree Demon's cell.
Opening the cell door, he startled the Locust Tree Demon, who had been pretending to sleep.
Upon seeing Gu Qingfeng and noticing the Wood King Sword at his waist, the Locust Tree Demon quickly realized what was happening. "Master, you're here. Congratulations on obtaining the Wood King Sword."
"Congratulations to you too," Gu Qingfeng replied.
"Congratulations to me? For what?"
"Congratulations on leaving this wretched place. I'll send you to a better place."
The Locust Tree Demon was initially stunned, then overjoyed. Could it be that this guy was going to let me go because I contributed the Wood King Sword?
"Master, are you setting me free from the Demon Suppression Prison?"
Gu Qingfeng smiled and nodded.
The Locust Tree Demon became even more excited. "Then, Master, where are you sending me?"
"To the Western Paradise."
Pfft!
A sword thrust.
The Locust Tree Demon's joyful expression froze on his face. He stared at Gu Qingfeng's smiling face, then down at the Wood King Sword piercing his chest. His expression suddenly turned into panic.
"You... you, why are you killing me? I've done you a service, told you stories, and even massaged you. You can't..."
Before the Locust Tree Demon could finish, a burst of emerald green light erupted from the Wood King Sword, creating a powerful suction force that began draining the demon's power, silencing him.
Under this force, the Locust Tree Demon was instantly reduced to his original form—human skin turning into bark, and his body into a tree trunk.
Gu Qingfeng looked at the now-transformed Locust Tree Demon and said indifferently, "How dare you bring that up? I retrieved the Wood King Sword myself, not you. So, no credit for you. As for the stories? What kind of nonsense were those? And the massage? Not even a black silk stocking, way worse than the little corpse charm."
"So, who else should die but you? Don't worry, though. This isn't really death. You're just taking a different form, merging into the Wood King Sword. From now on, you'll be by my side forever. Isn't that touching?"
Gu Qingfeng continued talking, but the Locust Tree Demon could no longer make a sound, so it was as if he had defaulted.
After a stick of incense's time, the Locust Tree Demon's power was completely absorbed by the Wood King Sword, and a powerful ripple emanated from the sword.
Dark-rank Intermediate Grade!
The Locust Tree Demon had caused the Wood King Sword's grade to rise by one level, from Dark-rank Lower Grade to Dark-rank Intermediate Grade.
"Done," Gu Qingfeng said with delight, looking at the increasingly powerful Wood King Sword in his hand.
Then, he glanced at the now-dried bark of the Locust Tree Demon and thought, can't waste this. This bark could make a lot of talismans if sent to the talisman production line. So, he collected all the bark into his extradimensional space.
With that done, Gu Qingfeng dusted off his pants and left the Demon Suppression Prison, heading to the Contribution Hall.
He planned to splurge—with a million merit points, such a huge sum, he wondered how many pills he could exchange for.
His cultivation had been stuck at the peak of the fourth level of Body Tempering for several days, and it was time to break through. Plus, he needed to prepare some materials for bloodline awakening.
Soon, Gu Qingfeng arrived at the Contribution Hall.
Inside the hall, a clerk was boredly flipping through an account book.
Gu Qingfeng walked up and said, "I want to exchange for items."
The clerk didn't even look up. Sensing the visitor's energy level, he simply tossed out a catalog. "Here's the catalog for all low-grade items. Take a look yourself."
Gu Qingfeng didn't say anything but directly placed the Dark-rank Demon Elimination Token worth a million merits on the table.
The clerk was about to scold Gu Qingfeng for being disrespectful, but when his eyes landed on the Dark-rank Demon Elimination Token, they nearly popped out.
"Dark... Dark-rank Demon Elimination Token?"
He looked up in disbelief, noticing that Gu Qingfeng, despite being a Gathering Qi Realm warrior, was wearing the official garb of a Dark-rank Demon Eliminator.
As a clerk in the Inner Qi Realm, his status was only equivalent to a Yellow-rank Demon Eliminator, yet this Qi Gathering Realm martial artist was a Dark-rank Demon Eliminator?
Since Gu Qingfeng had only been appointed as a Dark-rank Demon Eliminator today, his deeds hadn't spread yet.
Could it be fake?
The clerk had this absurd thought, but forging fake Demon Elimination Tokens and official garb within the Demon Suppression Bureau? That would be like asking for a death wish.
The clerk wasn't sure about Gu Qingfeng's background and didn't dare to speak rashly. Instead, he picked up the Dark-rank Demon Elimination Token to examine it closely.
This examination nearly gave him a heart attack.
“Hundred... million merits!?”
The clerk's eyeballs almost popped out. In all his years at the Contribution Hall, he had never seen anyone with so much merit. This was too fake, right?
But to his astonishment, the token was genuine.
"How is this possible!?" the clerk exclaimed, losing his composure.
Gu Qingfeng didn't argue but instead took out the appointment document, which bore Li Qianren's official seal from the Demon Suppression Bureau.
The clerk hesitantly accepted the document. Seeing Li Qianren's seal, he was convinced. As he read, his heart raced more and more.
The document stated that Gu Qingfeng had killed the Seven Demon Generals, hence being promoted to Dark-rank Demon Eliminator.
"You killed the Seven Demon Generals? How did you do that? You're only at the fourth level of the Gathering Qi Realm!" the clerk asked, his worldview collapsing.
The document was abbreviated and didn't explain the details, so the clerk was incredibly curious.
"Oh, it's easy. Just needed hands," Gu Qingfeng casually replied. "Enough chit-chat. Get me the high-grade item catalog. I want to exchange for some stuff."
"But, Mr. Gu, those are the Seven Demon Generals! You..." The clerk was dying of curiosity, like a cat scratching at his heart.
"Stop, stop. My legend will spread in a few days, and then you'll know. Now, hurry up and get me the catalog."
The clerk had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and handed Gu Qingfeng the high-grade item catalog.
The high-grade item catalog had seven volumes: Pills, Spiritual Weapons, Talismans, Arrays, Materials, Techniques, and Martial Skills.
Each volume was thin, with some having only a dozen pages, and the fewest just a few pages. This was mainly because high-grade items were scarce.
Gu Qingfeng eagerly opened the pills catalog first. Looking at it, he thought, wow, so many good things.