Time passed.
Gu Qingfeng had been staying at the Gu family these days, practicing the Qingyang Jue. He refined the sun's yang energy every day to temper his body, and his breakthroughs in the Qingyang Jue were also astonishingly fast.
In just less than ten days, Gu Qingfeng completed the first level of Qingyang Jue.
With the completion of the first level, there was already a faint breath of heat in Gu Qingfeng's blood.
This kind of hot aura was different from the Fiery Sun Palm's power. The aura came from the yang energy of the sun and was a truly powerful and masculine force.
However, this breath was too weak. It was far less powerful than Gu Qingfeng's current energy and blood. But Gu Qingfeng was not in a hurry. Once the Qingyang Jue was practiced to a high level, the benefits would naturally reveal themselves.
At the same time, during this period, Gu Qingfeng was also exploring the mysteries of refining the internal organs.
Tempering the five internal organs was a symbol of reaching the limits of the human body. In order to bear extraordinary power, one must have a strong enough physique.
Thus, after refining the internal organs, one reaches the so-called grandmaster realm.
Whether it was the innate master or the qi and blood master, they were all beings who had broken the limits of the human body.
Although Gu Qingfeng had never truly witnessed the methods of a Grandmaster, after he entered the Organ Refining Realm, he seemed to have gained a better understanding of the Grandmaster's power.
At that moment, Meng Peng came hurrying in.
"Greetings to the head of the family!"
"What happened?"
Gu Qingfeng frowned slightly as he looked at Meng Peng's hurried expression.
Meng Peng said, "There's news that there's been a problem at Mingri Village. Workers have been disappearing frequently in the past few days. Today, someone found the bodies, and it was discovered that these workers were brutally murdered. Judging from the way they were killed, it's probably not the work of an ordinary gangster."
"It's not like someone from the underworld took action?" Gu Qingfeng narrowed his eyes slightly, and then his expression turned cold again. "There's a problem at Mingri Village, and you're only telling me now?"
"Master, please calm down. Initially, I thought it was just a small issue and wanted to resolve it on my own. I didn't want to trouble you with it. But the current situation is obviously not something an ordinary warrior can handle, so I came here to report to the head of the family," Meng Peng hurriedly explained.
Gu Qingfeng wasn't truly angry; he just took the Zhuxie Sword beside him.
"Today, you'll hold the knife for me."
"It is my honor to be able to serve the master!"
A relieved smile appeared on Meng Peng's face. As he said, it was a great honor to support Gu Qingfeng. This explained that his status in the other person's heart had risen to a higher level.
With such a strong man in charge, the Gu family was destined to grow stronger. It wouldn't take long before it became the top family in Guangyang Prefecture.
In that case, the Gu family was bound to be filled with powerful individuals.
Meng Peng knew himself well. With his current talent, breaking through the Blood Refining Realm would likely be his limit unless other opportunities arose. As time passed, his status in the Gu family would undoubtedly drop lower.
If he could hold onto Gu Qingfeng's favor now, he might have a chance for future advancements.
There were rumors that Gu Qingfeng was a strong man in the Marrow Cleansing Realm.
However, Meng Peng believed that this person might not be as simple as the rumors suggested.
After following Gu Qingfeng for many years, Meng Peng increasingly realized how unfathomable the man truly was.
Tomorrow Village.
This place had been abandoned for decades, only recently regaining some vitality after the Gu family took it over.
Tomorrow Village was located outside Baishi City, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only one main entrance and exit road. It was an ideal location, easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Additionally, there was sufficient water and enough wasteland to grow crops.
Ordinarily, a place like this would not have remained abandoned for decades without anyone taking over.
When Gu Qingfeng arrived, he was very satisfied with the geographical location of Mingri Manor. He had to admit, it was indeed a good place for the Gu family to reside in the future.
At this moment, Meng Peng, who was following behind Gu Qingfeng, spoke: "Mingri Manor covers more than 300 acres, and its location is excellent. It's a shame that rumors in the martial arts world say this place is strange and ominous, which is why it's been abandoned for so many years."
"Strange and ominous? Let me see what exactly is causing trouble in Tomorrow Village!" Gu Qingfeng smiled coldly.
From the moment he stepped into Tomorrow Village, he sensed a faint chilly aura, but he didn't feel much fear.
Even if there was a powerful evil spirit in Tomorrow Village, Gu Qingfeng wouldn't be afraid.
With his current strength, he could easily suppress any evil spirit that appeared in front of him.
According to the records in the Taoist Scriptures of Longevity, evil spirits were divided into several levels.
Among them, the most primitive evils were called the disaster-level.
The weakest of these evils were almost as powerful as warriors in the Blood Refining Realm, while the strongest were comparable to sorcerers in the Spirit Control Realm, able to stand shoulder to shoulder with warriors in the Organ Refining Realm.
At a higher level were disaster-level evil spirits.
Such evil spirits were not something ordinary warriors could contend with.
However, once a catastrophic evil spirit appeared, it could easily overthrow an entire prefecture and bring disaster to an entire county. These spirits would not appear easily.
Moreover, if such an evil spirit had appeared, not only would there be no survivors in Tomorrow Village, but the entire Baishidao would have already become a Shura hell.
Thus, while the existence of evil spirits in Tomorrow Village was still debatable, even if it was true, the strength of those spirits was likely limited.
In a short time, Gu Qingfeng and Meng Peng stopped in front of a manor.
The manor was newly built, with a plaque on the gate displaying several large characters:
Gu Family Manor!
Clearly, this would be the Gu family's future residence. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the manor was only built in rough form, and some internal details had not been fully completed.
At that moment, the guards stationed outside Gu Family Manor noticed the visitors, and their faces lit up as they bowed.
"Greetings to the head of the family!"
"Take me to see the dead."
Gu Qingfeng said this lightly, and the guards, without hesitation, led the two of them into the manor.
In the lobby of Gu Family Manor, there were over a dozen corpses covered in white cloth.
Gu Qingfeng lifted one of the cloths, revealing a shriveled corpse. The deceased wasn't very old, but his pupils were dilated, and there was a look of terror frozen on his face, as if he had seen something horrifying before his death.
Looking further down, Gu Qingfeng saw that the man's chest had been cut open, and all of his internal organs were missing.
More than that, Gu Qingfeng could feel a lingering cold aura through the wounds.
This aura felt somewhat similar to that of evil spirits, but Gu Qingfeng had fought sorcerers more than once. He was familiar with the evil power they wielded, and compared to that, the cold aura before him seemed different.