He also had a Daoist skill called One Breath, a Thousand Jun, which he had learned in the sect. It was a technique focused on generating immense weight and was suitable for both offense and defense.

Although the skill was famed to "turn a single breath into the weight of a thousand jun," its actual power naturally depended on the Cultivator’s proficiency with Daoist skills and their level of Magical Power. If Xuzhuang were to use it now, its might would likely exceed a mere "thousand jun"—it might even be capable of crushing mountains.

He possessed a simple and practical technique for tracking and locking onto targets. Its name was just as common: the Minor Tracing Technique.

There was also a Nameless Eye Skill, a highly mysterious technique that Xuzhuang had found in the same Immortal Mansion where he had obtained the *Secret Record of the Three Phases, Six Seals, and Nine Orifice Condensing Pill*.

Although Xuzhuang focused on cultivating this eye skill due to its unique origins, it seemed no different from ordinary eye skills or Qi Observation Methods. Its effects were limited to seeing through environmental illusions and perceiving hidden restrictive spells. It was even inferior to a profound eye skill from the Yuxiao Sect that Xuzhuang had once witnessed, which could abruptly shoot bolts of lightning from one’s eyes with extraordinary power.

Finally, there was a lightning technique called Red Fire Gang Thunder. It wasn’t a technique from the Tai Su Orthodox Sect; rather, Xuzhuang had learned it from a Yuxiao Sect disciple he knew. The very fact that it could be taught to an outsider meant it was naturally not a particularly profound Daoist art, and its power was nothing special.

This lightning technique, however, had a unique advantage: one could use Fire-attribute Cloud Sand to refine Thunder Pearls, which were a Half-Magical-Artifact-Half-Daoist-Skill. A single blast of the Gang Thunder was weak, but hundreds or thousands of them were incomparably mighty.

Xuzhuang had once refined a large number of these Thunder Pearls, and he still had many left. However, the power of a third-tier Red Fire Gang Thunder was no longer sufficient for him, so he later gave them all to Li Changfeng for protection.

Speaking of his "bargain" disciple, although Li Changfeng had gained some benefits after being accepted, he had received very little actual guidance from his master. The young man, however, was extremely diligent in his own cultivation.

During his ten years of seclusion, Xuzhuang had only received a few messages from Li Changfeng. The first came seven years ago, when Li Changfeng reported that the renovations on Chongyun Peak were complete and updated him on his cultivation progress.

After breaking through the bottleneck of seventy-two paths of pure and muddy qi, his progress was smooth, and he finally achieved the state of Eighty-one Paths of Pure and Muddy Qi Perfection.

Upon reaching this stage, as long as he merged the pure and muddy qi and refined it into Magical Power, his perfect foundation would qualify him as a true disciple candidate within the sect.

However, "true disciple candidate" was merely an informal title; they were still technically Inner Sect Disciples. And with tens of thousands of members in the Tai Su Sect, there was no small number of these candidates, and the disparity between their cultivation levels was immense.

Thus, after five more years of bitter cultivation, Li Changfeng finally broke through to the Refining Realm. Yet he felt no pride, only a greater sense of urgency. Once he felt he had stabilized his cultivation base and mastered a few protective Daoist skills, he followed in his master Xuzhuang’s footsteps and left the sect to wander the world.

That was the last message Xuzhuang received from Li Changfeng, sent a little less than half a year ago.

In addition, Han Wang had sent letters twice during these ten years. The first letter came with a talisman, which he said was a Demon Exorcism Talisman refined by one of the sect’s Nascent Soul Venerables. It was meant to help Xuzhuang fend off demonic interference, but its effects were not particularly impressive.

The second letter described a rare incident. A Demon Dao fiend at the Golden Core realm had appeared out of nowhere, daring to slaughter mortals and Loose Cultivators within the territory of the Tai Su Orthodox Sect for his cultivation. He had even gravely injured a Golden Core Cultivator from the sect who had been sent to eliminate him.

For centuries, order in the Shen Zhou Land had been maintained by the orthodox cultivation sects. It had been an age of peace, with no room for Demon Cultivators or practitioners of heretical paths to survive, let alone within the territory governed by the Tai Su Orthodox Sect.

This incident was therefore both extremely rare and heinous. Consequently, Han Wang had to handle it personally, and the search for a way to counter the Celestial Demon’s influence was temporarily put on hold.

Xuzhuang, however, didn’t feel a great sense of urgency. Protected by the sect’s Grotto Heaven Array, his ten years of cultivation in seclusion at the Beiji Pavilion had been peaceful and stable. To this day, he had yet to truly feel any demonic influence.

Besides, Xuzhuang had only recently formed his Golden Core. Despite a short period of secluded cultivation, he was still far from hitting any bottleneck. He felt his potential was limitless; it was the perfect time to forge ahead.

’Since I have nothing else to do, I might as well go back and check on Chongyun Peak, then enter seclusion again for a while.’ Xuzhuang had a true cultivator’s temperament. If simply sitting in meditation could raise his cultivation, he wouldn’t mind shutting himself away and cultivating in one long stretch until his Golden Core was perfected. Even better would be to form a Nascent Soul, transcend the Life and Death Profound Gate, and attain a Primordial Spirit.

’If that day ever came, what otherworldly demons or mundane entanglements could possibly trouble me anymore?’

Just as he was lost in thought, Xuzhuang felt his Spiritual Sense suddenly seize up. His vision went black. He jerked his flying light to a halt and looked up. The sky seemed to have been abruptly swallowed by dark clouds, becoming dim and lightless. Immediately, heaven and earth began to spin. He felt as if he had been plunged into a vortex, sinking endlessly ’downward.’ As Xuzhuang struggled to stabilize himself, a piercing laugh suddenly echoed from somewhere extremely close behind him, grating like metal on stone. It was utterly bizarre.

"Who’s there?!" Xuzhuang whipped his head around, but nothing was behind him. In a daze, he realized that his surroundings were completely normal. The sky was a brilliant blue, dotted with white clouds. Looking down, he could see Chongyun Peak in the distance. His streaking light hadn’t paused for even a moment. It had all been an illusion!

’The otherworldly demons!’ Xuzhuang’s expression darkened. He never imagined that just moments after dismissing the demonic influence as harmless, he would be invaded by an external demon. Although it vanished in an instant, he could no longer afford to treat the threat as nothing!

’I’m clearly within the sect’s Grotto Heaven Array; I should be safe. I was never disturbed during my ten years of cultivation in the Beiji Pavilion...’