Demon Slaying, Gaining 60 Years of Cultivation From the Start

Upon entering the Hall of Merits, what faced him was a large hall, divided into many rooms, each staffed with corresponding personnel. There were a lot of these staff members, essential for maintaining the daily operations within the Jing Tian Department.

They were also part of the Jing Tian Department but, unlike the Metropolitan Procurators and patrol envoys, they did not have to go out on missions and had no cultivation to speak of.

At the moment, the Hall of Merits was bustling with people coming and going, all of them patrol envoys. After all, this was only a branch located in the outer city of Tiandu, and once a patrol envoy passed the assessment to become a Metropolitan Procurator, they were qualified to enter the headquarters of the Jing Tian Department in the inner city.

Since Gu Chen was a first-tier patrol envoy of the Jing Tian Department, many people along the way took the initiative to greet him, to which Gu Chen didn't act arrogant or ignore them. Instead, he responded with a smile, acknowledging each one of them.

Afterward, making his way through the crowd, Gu Chen arrived at one of the rooms for checking merits and handed over his Jing Tian Department command token to the clerk across him. Through the roster, the clerk quickly found out the current merit points Gu Chen had.

"Master Gu, you currently have a total of twenty-eight merit points."

Before leaving the Jing Tian Department, Gu Chen had already spent all of the original owner's remaining merits, which meant that the twenty-eight merit points were entirely the result of this Ning City mission.

Do not underestimate the mere twenty-eight merit points. It's important to know that merits from the Jing Tian Department are hard to come by, and everything depends on one's strength. The more demons one kills, and the higher their rank, the greater the merits.

As for the merits Gu Chen obtained from this mission, it was much more than what the original owner had earned over several years.

Of course, this was mainly because in the beginning, the original owner's cultivation was weak, and the missions involved killing strange creatures, which only granted one or two merit points each time. When the original owner reached the Containment Stage and could deal with demons, the merits started to increase.

However, even then, each mission only rewarded three to four merit points, which shows just how precious Jing Tian Department's merits are.

You should know that within the Jing Tian Department, there are countless treasures and martial techniques. The original owner's martial arts, aside from the Pure Yang Technique received for free upon joining, the rest, like the Iron Shirt, Red Flame Palm, and Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Skill, were all hard-earned through missions and then exchanged from the Jing Tian Department.

In the Jing Tian Department, as long as you have enough merits, whether it is a mid-grade technique or a high-grade technique, even a super-grade, or even Earth Grade and Heavenly Martial Skills, all can be exchanged for.

This is different from the various major sects and noble families in the Nine States martial world.

For these powers, important martial techniques and secrets are only passed on to a few individuals. Some may never learn them in their lifetime. But it's different in the Jing Tian Department, which embraces all rivers, as long as you have enough merits, you can get everything you want.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have enough merits.

Because the higher the level of the martial technique, the more merits it costs. Some lower-grade techniques may require only three to four points, mid-grade techniques are around five to six points, with the better ones at seven points, and high-grade techniques are even more expensive.

As for super-grade and even higher, ordinary patrol envoys or even Metropolitan Procurators can hardly earn that many merits in a lifetime.

Apart from martial techniques, there are various divine weapons, natural treasures, and even elixirs inside the treasure vault of the Jing Tian Department.

Of course, these all require merits to exchange for as well.

Therefore, within the Jing Tian Department, merits play a tremendously important role. The twenty-eight merit points Gu Chen acquired this time, if mentioned, would be enough to make all first-tier patrol envoys throughout the Nine States envious to death.

The main reason for this was that Gu Chen, on this journey, had slain nine demons and saved Ning City, which is why the Jing Tian Department awarded him so much merit. Apart from Gu Chen's own strength, a part of it was also due to luck.

Gu Chen had long decided on his purpose for coming to the Jing Tian Department this time, which was mainly to exchange for martial techniques. Apart from the Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist, all of his martial techniques had reached a complete state and had no room for improvement.

As for internal techniques, the Pure Yang Technique was mid-grade, and there was no need to change it for the time being. Besides, internal techniques required more merits and were outside his financial capabilities, so he did not consider internal techniques and high-grade martial arts.

"I want to exchange for martial techniques," Gu Chen said to the clerk.

"Alright, Master Gu, please wait a moment," the clerk nodded, then took out another roster and handed it to Gu Chen.

"Master Gu, this includes all the low-grade and mid-grade martial arts within the Jing Tian Department. You can take a look and tell me your choice afterward."

Gu Chen looked at the thick roster before him, which was much thicker than any of the exercise books he had used during his college entrance exams in his previous life.

After opening the roster, it contained the names of the techniques, their general effects, and the merit points required for exchange.

The Iron Shirt Technique and Red Flame Palm martial arts practiced by the original owner were both prominently listed.

Before coming here, Gu Chen had already decided on the direction of his exchange. After flipping through a few pages and making several comparisons, he had chosen the martial arts he needed.

Of course, his options weren't many, after all, the merit points he received for this mission, though much more than other Guards of the same rank, were still limited.

"Master Gu, have you decided on choosing the Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, and Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills as your three martial arts?" the clerk asked.

"Yes," Gu Chen nodded. Seal Meridian Finger was a technique of the fingers, capable of sealing a martial artist's meridians, causing their inner qi to circulate poorly, or even temporarily disabling their ability to mobilize inner qi, losing seven or eight parts out of ten of their full strength. It was an extremely practical martial art.

The Phantom Traceless Step was a movement technique that compensated for Gu Chen's lack of speed. Up until now, although Gu Chen was fast, it relied on the robustness of his inner qi which would naturally lead to great bursts of speed.

However, if he encountered an opponent whose realm was higher and whose cultivation was not far off from his, that speed could very likely become Gu Chen's weakness.

Generally speaking, martial artists would specialize in one area of cultivation because everyone's energy is limited. It is impossible to master every technique unless you're some kind of genius or exceptionally gifted individual, but those are the minority.

Although Gu Chen's aptitude was not poor, more importantly, he had the support of a panel. As long as he had enough merit points, he could cultivate many techniques to perfection.

Therefore, he naturally aimed towards comprehensive development, to eliminate as many weaknesses as possible.

The last martial art, Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills, filled the gap in Gu Chen's weaponry.

Hand-to-hand combat skills are important, but at times, when facing formidable enemies, the importance of a weapon is self-evident.

The main reason he didn't choose a heavenly-grade martial art was because Gu Chen's merit points were limited. Uplifting a heavenly-grade martial art would consume a significant amount of merit points, which could be inferred from his previous experience upgrading the Dragon Tendon Tiger Bone Fist.

"Master Gu, these three techniques together will cost twenty-one merit points, would you like to proceed with the exchange?"

"Exchange," Gu Chen nodded.

"Alright," the clerk nodded and said, "The exchange for the techniques is complete, but you will need to go to the library later to collect them."

This was a standard procedure, and Gu Chen already knew it from the memory of his predecessor, so he naturally had no issue with it.

"I should still have seven merit points left, please help me exchange for a weapon," Gu Chen said.

"Of course," the clerk nodded, and handed over another roster to Gu Chen.

Gu Chen looked through it, chose a suitable weapon based on his merit points, and confirmed the exchange.

Afterward, Gu Chen left the Merit Hall and headed for the library. He picked up Seal Meridian Finger, Phantom Traceless Step, and Astonishing Swan Swordsmanship Skills, memorized them quickly, and then returned them.

By the time Gu Chen returned to Gu Mansion, it was already the afternoon. After helping his second uncle with some health adjustments and having dinner, he returned to his room.

Next was the real highlight of the day. Tonight, Gu Chen planned to use his merit points for a dual breakthrough in both strength and cultivation.