Chapter 79: I Am the Scavenger of the Primordial World (Yesterday’s Fourth Update)

A new storm had already arisen. After experiencing betrayal, Gu could no longer face others with the naïve and awkward heart he once had.

Now, he could only meet everyone he encountered with the most malicious suspicions.

That was why his hammer had never once trembled.

In merely one year, he had slain eighteen renowned martial artists, and more than three hundred seventy figures of the martial world had fallen under his hammer; the wounded were beyond counting.

Such a spree of killing made his infamy absolute, and the wanted notices for him never ceased.

From the imperial courts to the martial sects, all now bore a deep and bloody enmity with him.

In the end, he even provoked the siege of two Divine Arms Masters, just below the rank of the Supreme Three.

In the world of men, there were three Supreme Masters, and below them ranked the Divine Arms Masters—so named not only for their profound cultivation but also because they each wielded ancient divine weapons. In time, their title became synonymous with their sheer power.

Ordinary people could never bear such a title—only extraordinary individuals could.

There were thirty-six Divine Arms Masters, all listed in the Register of Divine Arms.

Those sent to hunt Gu were the eighteenth and twentieth ranked—Heaven’s Flaw and Earth’s Scar, two Divine Arms Masters.

Both possessed unique arts and profound cultivation, each carrying a divine weapon. Moreover, they were fellow disciples, having mastered a formation that complemented each other’s strengths and made up for each other's weaknesses.

When they found Gu, they wasted no words and launched their unique arts at full power, intent on capturing him in an instant.

In that desperate battle, even Gu nearly lost his life. Fortunately, he was aided by the Barbarian God Hammer, and recalling the iron-forging techniques he had learned from Lord Luo years before, the charm that his master had repeatedly hammered into molten iron within him was triggered in the heat of combat. In the end, he turned defeat into victory, altering fate itself, and was listed among the living supreme masters.

By then, Gu also understood that his master was no ordinary figure.

After more than a year wandering the world, he returned once more to the small town he had left behind.

“Back then, provoked by a few words, I left this place, even vowing I would never return unless I made a name for myself. Now... Have I finally made it?” Gu, now in disguise—with his bones shrunk seven inches to diminish his stature—stood on the old bridge at the town’s entrance, sighing.

He made his way back to his “old home” with practiced familiarity, only to feel as if struck by lightning.

He stood in shock, staring at the ruins before him, then dashed madly into the midst, his arms spinning like windmills as he flung broken bricks, tiles, and rotten wood aside.

He saw the broken, familiar forge, the remnants of that well-known reclining chair, and over a dozen identical old garments; Gu collapsed onto the ruins.

After sitting there for some time, he regained his senses and raced into town. As he ran, he calmed himself, brushing dust from his clothes, determined not to appear flustered and draw attention.

He soon found the restaurant where he used to buy his meals—a place where, while waiting for his food, he would listen to storytellers recount tales of gods and monsters, and legends from the martial world.

Stories of the God of War, the Sage of Martial Arts, and the notorious crimes of the Barbarian Lord—all colorful tales that had accompanied his youth and left vivid strokes across his otherwise dull and uneventful early life.

It was precisely those tales—of young heroes and heroines—that had inspired his yearning for the martial world, prompting him to leave the forge and seek adventure.

Alas, the real world of martial arts was far less magnificent: too much petty scheming, too much deceit and betrayal, too many lies. Gu was exhausted, and even fearful.

But he understood that there was no turning back for him.

This visit was for one reason only—to inquire about the fate of the blacksmith shop.

He feared the shop had been destroyed because of him, so he dared not ask directly, instead probing subtly with the familiar waiter. Only then did he finally learn the truth.

The blacksmith shop’s ruin was indeed related to him, but the master had already left long before.

“I remember, when the old man came here for food, he said that after Gu set out into the martial world, he was bound to cause trouble sooner or later, and would implicate him in the end. Not long after, he left.”

“And sure enough, soon after, Gu caused a huge incident, killed so many people, and then his enemies came to our town for revenge. They smashed up the blacksmith shop.”

“I saw it myself. It was something to see! One punch and the shop was flattened. Tsk tsk, did little Gu really get the Barbarian God Hammer and kill all those people?”

“It’s true! My seventh aunt’s godson is a disciple of the Green Bamboo Gang—he told us about little Gu. Little Gu even killed a big shot, someone like a Chief Inspector.”

The townsfolk in the restaurant chimed in one after another, each tale more exaggerated than the last.

The once-invisible youth from their town had now become the talk of the town, and the storyteller seized the chance to recount Gu’s “legendary exploits.”

He depicted the infamous, murderous outcast standing at the eye of the storm in vivid detail.

Gu himself was drawn in, listening spellbound.

Many of these tales were not even his doing—some were the work of other heretics, others were the deeds of people long ago, and some were simply the storyteller’s own invention. The stranger, the more bizarre, the better.

Gu was left so bewildered that he began to doubt himself—had he truly committed so many heinous acts?

Thankfully, he knew with certainty that he was not such a person.

Having learned all he needed, Gu was relieved that his master had not been implicated, but had simply left early. He also discovered his latest title:

“The Ultimate Demon King.”

Since the first demon was named, no one called “Demon” had ever been a “good man,” nor met a good end.

Gu stayed only one night in the small town before leaving once more for the martial world, still hoping to find news of his master.

But after leaving town, his master vanished without a trace, leaving not so much as a footprint behind, as if he had disappeared into thin air.

What Gu did not know was that his master was, at that very moment, “scavenging.”

In the wasteland, there was much to be scavenged—especially after the last great battle between the witches and monsters, when fragments of several flying ship-treasure weapons had rained down, striking Lord Luo himself.

Lord Luo had even marked the locations of several of those fragments.

He had done so for future “scavenging”—for gathering up the scraps.

Previously, he had been too busy—reassuring his people, overseeing reconstruction, and advancing his cultivation toward the Unity of Void and Dao. He simply hadn’t had time to go “scavenging,” and had to set it aside.

But once his affairs were settled, he threw himself wholeheartedly into treasure hunting.

Especially after refining his Primordial Spirit, his divine sense could reach a thousand miles in all directions—forward, back, left, right, above and below—everywhere within its domain.

The only exception was near Kua Fu Lake, where the lingering power of the Kua Fu Witch prevented his divine sense from probing deep within—the best he could do was skim the surface.

Lord Luo could only sigh at his own insufficient cultivation. That area would have to wait for another day.

He remembered, however, that many fragments of the flying ship had fallen into Kua Fu Lake.

The lake itself held many secrets; someday Lord Luo was determined to explore it.

For now, seated in his mountain cave, he didn’t even set foot outside, but locked on to three fragments that had crashed near Salt Spring Village.

They had collapsed mountains and buried themselves three hundred miles underground.

If not for Lord Luo’s divine sense, which could cover a thousand miles, he might never have found them.

He was grateful that he and his one hundred and eight Daoist arts had been able to disperse the shockwave of the fragments somewhat, or else his “Celestial Realm” would have been torn apart by the sheer force, and he himself split in two.

Upon locating the fragments, Lord Luo’s will instantly attached itself to them through his divine sense, and he gave a powerful tug...

Whoosh!

Rumble!

The fragments tore through the earth, slicing a burrowing creature much like a giant earthworm in half, obliterating a nest of ancient wild ghosts, and killing a pair of eight-legged beasts resembling pangolins, before reaching the surface.

Then, transformed into streaks of light, they shot through the air, arriving before Lord Luo in only three breaths.

Rumble!

As the fragments reached Lord Luo, the sonic boom from their passage only then reverberated over Luo Village.

The shockwaves sent the “cave dwellers” clutching their heads and throwing themselves to the ground, fearing yet another battle of immortals that would spell disaster for mortals.

“What treasures! What treasures!” Lord Luo beamed with delight at the three fragments before him.

Now, having reached the Unity of Void and Dao, and having refined his Primordial Spirit, his powers of creation had risen to the level of first-rank Daoist arts. He could create many more things and analyze much more.

He could even begin to analyze these fragments of the flying ship-treasure.

Among the forty-six metallic elements contained within, he had already identified forty-five—only one remained.

Having overslept last night, he vowed to make up the missing three chapters today.