"Senior Brother, I told you long ago that we shouldn’t get too involved with the Jianghu of Ling Province."

Chunyuan Zhenren of Longevity Palace sighed.

The Palace Master, Master Longevity, had one of his arms severed. Although he found a divine doctor to reattach it, his combat strength was no longer what it once was.

That arm, of course, had been severed by Dong Wanjun.

There might have only been one rank separating the first and second strongest in Ling Province, but only after they clashed did Master Longevity realize just how vast the gap was between him and Dong Wanjun.

It was like the top student scoring a hundred because the maximum score was a hundred, while the second-place student got a ninety-nine because that was the best he could do.

Master Longevity’s face was as pale as paper.

Dong Wanjun’s combat prowess had indeed exceeded his imagination.

However, he didn’t regret his previous actions.

Everyone in the world thought that reaching the Martial Artist realm meant a life of freedom and joy, but in reality, they still aged and died—just a bit slower than ordinary people.

And Master Longevity, as the most senior Martial Artist in Ling Province, was already feeling the signs of his Qi and Blood deteriorating.

Therefore, he was desperate to find a way to live a third life.

Breaking through to the Clear Mind realm was one way, of course, but if it were that easy, he would have done it long ago instead of waiting until now.

Thus, the Divine Mansion became his greatest hope.

According to legend, the founding ancestor of the Divine Mansion Sect had lived for a full three hundred years, despite only being at the Martial Artist level. How could he not be tempted by that?

In the face of death, even those of the highest realms would still panic.

Did people really think he was hiding in Longevity Palace to cultivate his character and rest?

In truth, he had been secretly monitoring the situation on Shenfu Mountain, including, for example, that disciple from the Celestial Profound Sect who had mysteriously vanished...

...

Old Dong had become the Lingzhou General.

This was immensely beneficial to the Divine Mansion Sect. The greatest benefit was that they no longer had to be wary of scoundrels lurking in the shadows.

Absolute power is the best deterrent.

Even Master Longevity of Longevity Palace had been utterly defeated by Old Dong. How could anyone else dare to cause trouble?

With Old Dong as the Lingzhou General, the relationship between the Divine Mansion Sect and Prefect Jiang became delicate.

As the saying goes, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers. It would be a miracle if the relationship between Old Dong and Jiang Changping was a good one.

Therefore, after Old Dong left for Ling Province, Jiang Yan received a letter from Jiang Changping and had already departed for Ling Province herself.

Although Jiang Yan had made a special visit to explain that Jiang Changping was simply desperate to see his daughter, Bai Yuan knew better. ’He just doesn’t want to leave his greatest vulnerability in enemy hands.’

Huanglong Prefecture was the Divine Mansion Sect’s territory, which meant it was Dong Wanjun’s territory.

If he and Dong Wanjun had a falling out, Jiang Yan’s situation would become extremely dangerous.

Even though Bai Yuan and Jiang Yan had a good relationship, when it came to a power struggle between two sides, something like friendship becomes incredibly fragile.

With Old Dong providing cover, the Demon Sect in Ling Province had quieted down significantly.

However, this cost Bai Yuan a good number of Enhancement Points.

With the upgrade of his Rolling Blood Saber to the Legendary level a distant prospect, he turned his attention to the Four-Nine Book.

The Sword Ghost’s versatility was proving to be more and more valuable!

Bai Yuan hadn’t expected that the Sword Ghost could even practice an unorthodox cultivation technique like fortune-telling.

The Four-Nine Book that Old Dong had given him was a Daoist Sect classic, which detailed the methods of casting and interpreting trigrams.

There were many sects within the Daoist Sect, with the Quanzhen and Zhengyi being the most prominent.

For no other reason than that these two sects were the best fighters.

Quanzhen’s Swordsmanship and Zhengyi’s Lightning Arts were both famously powerful.

But besides these two major branches, there was also the Qingwei Sect, which excelled at Alchemy, and then came the Divination School, which cultivated the study of fate.

However, very few pure Daoists of the Divination School remained; most practitioners only studied it as a minor.

And this Four-Nine Book was a Cultivation Technique of the Divination School.

’I wonder where Old Dong managed to get his hands on such a treasure.’

The Four-Nine Book’s name comes from the concept of ’forty-nine heavenly transformations.’ But more important was the implication that ’one path is left to man.’

This was to tell masters that the path of divination was not to be completely trusted, because not even the Heavenly Way itself could account for everything.

Bai Yuan looked at his panel.

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Class: Demon Hunter, Sword Ghost, Boxer, Spirit Cooker, Skin Painter]

[Skills: Rolling Blood Saber (Master), Four-Nine Book (Uninitiated), Broken River Saber (Legendary), Mountain’s Return (Legendary), Demon Qi Lure (Legendary), Thousand Face Technique (Legendary)...]

[Enhancement Points: 0]

He had never studied the Divination Technique, so it was naturally at the Uninitiated level.

’No need to panic. As long as I have enough Enhancement Points, I can always max out this skill.’

The experts from the Demon Sect had gone into hiding again, making them extremely difficult to find. This was where the advantages of having multiple classes came in handy.

Bai Yuan decisively switched to his Demon Hunter class and delved into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

In any case, with Old Dong watching over Ling Province, he didn’t need to worry too much. Although Murong Tian was the only one left in the Supreme Elder Hall, the Divine Mansion Army and the Twelve Peak Masters were all there.

As for the one missing peak, that was naturally Wan Jun Peak.

The power disparity on Wan Jun Peak was currently too great. Bai Yuan and Old Dong were no longer suitable to be its Peak Master, while You Shengnan and Xiongshan weren’t ready to take on the role. Thus, the position had to be left temporarily vacant, with Bai Yuan managing it in the interim.

...

The fighting in the Northern Territory gradually slowed.

Ling Province, in particular, was enjoying a rare period of peace.

But anyone could see that these peaceful days wouldn’t last long. After all, infighting between the General and the Prefect had become a tradition in Xuan Yang.

Or perhaps, this was something Xuan Yang deliberately orchestrated.

If a Prefect and a General were on friendly terms, they wouldn’t be far from demotion.

In the end, the world belonged to the Li Family.

The Royal Family would never allow either side to grow too powerful.

They had no desire to become a background decoration for the next founding emperor’s rise to power.

In a lush, green mountain forest.

A young man was scrubbing himself vigorously in a small river, crimson-tinged water flowing downstream.

The Hundred Thousand Mountains were full of gloomy woods; a pleasant place like this was a rare find.

This young man was, of course, Bai Yuan, out hunting demons.

He finally scrubbed the blood off his body, then splashed his way to the riverbank.

A bonfire, built from logs as thick as a man’s arm, was blazing away. His clothes, set to one side, were already dry.

Bai Yuan took his clothes, dressed neatly, and finally felt comfortable all over.

He glanced at the large black bear beside him.

For it to leave him in such a sorry state, this black bear was obviously no simple beast. It was a Tier Six Demon, a hegemonic existence in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

It wasn’t difficult for Bai Yuan to deal with a Tier Six Demon, but doing so without getting a single drop of blood on himself was a different story entirely.

He had sliced open the Bear Demon’s belly with one strike, only to be sprayed in the process.

That was why he had sought out this place to wash the bloodstains off.

He deftly skinned and butchered the bear.

Ordinary bear meat was gamey and tough. Even bear paws, hailed as a worldly delicacy, were unbearably gamey.

Even a Bear Demon was no exception.

Fortunately, Bai Yuan wasn’t just a Demon Hunter; he was also a cook and naturally knew how to get rid of the gamey taste.

He had picked plenty of flavoring ingredients along the way, perfect for trying a Sichuan-style recipe.

Namely, the legendary spicy hot pot, so flavorful it could make even a shoe sole delicious.

Before long, a fiery and intense aroma drifted through the mountains.

Bai Yuan couldn’t handle much spice, but he had a particular fondness for it, so his hisses and gasps were constant.

’Eating hot pot in the mountain breeze—this is the life.’

After this period of relentless effort, he had finally raised his Four-Nine Book to the Proficient level.

Though he couldn’t compare to a true Divination Master, it was barely enough to get by.

Full and satisfied, he lay down contentedly on the grass.

Suddenly, he scrambled back to his feet.

He took out two wooden Holy Grails from his robes.

He had carved these two Holy Grails from wood himself on a whim. As the saying goes, ’sincerity is what matters.’ The posture of the cast was more important than the material of the Holy Grail.

Besides the Three-throw Spirit Divination Method, most divination actually only required a single throw.

Only those ignorant Jianghu charlatans pretending to be experts would resort to three throws at every turn.

In the eyes of those who knew better, three throws contained twenty-eight variations, which could then be extrapolated into infinite possibilities. This was tantamount to prying into heaven’s secrets and would inevitably shorten one’s lifespan.

So, Bai Yuan simply cupped the Holy Grails together and tossed them casually into the air.

Bai Yuan stared at the result, his brow furrowed slightly.

Both curved sides up. A Yin Trigram.

The single-throw method was very crude, capable of little more than determining good or bad fortune.

A Yin Trigram was an inauspicious result, meaning that the matter one was thinking of would be difficult to achieve.

This was a casual divination from Bai Yuan, so what he had been thinking of was the entire Divine Mansion Sect.

Without using the Three-throw Spirit Divination Method for a full extrapolation, he couldn’t get much useful information.

It was just like how those Jianghu Sorcerers love to say someone’s brow is dark, a sign of great misfortune, without knowing the time, place, or cause.

A trace of unease rose in Bai Yuan’s heart.

He pondered for a moment and decided to trust it.

After all, his divination skill was already at the Proficient level; it had a considerable degree of credibility.

As for performing divination that consumed his lifespan, Bai Yuan would naturally not do it.

Never mind whether he could get an accurate reading; if the matter involved was too great, he might just divine himself to death.

...

「Divine Mansion Sect, Supreme Elder Hall.」

The Supreme Elder Hall was no longer as lively as it once was. After the chaos of that one night, all of the Divine Mansion Sect’s Supreme Elders had died in battle.

Murong Tian had become the Divine Mansion Sect’s sole remaining Supreme Elder.

Ever since his martial arts were crippled, Murong Tian had completely let himself go.

Aside from frolicking with beautiful servant girls, his greatest hobby was fishing.

He would often fish for an entire day, sometimes even continuing alone late into the night.

Just like today.

The reflection of a crescent moon shimmered on the lake’s surface, only to be shattered by the violent twitch of an iron wire as thin as a hair.

"Fish on!"

Murong Tian flicked his wrist, and a large culter was yanked into the air.

Seeing the catch from his hard day’s work, Murong Tian was very satisfied.

Just as he bent down to pick up the large culter, a shadow suddenly fell over him.

Murong Tian, who was looking down, saw a pair of boots appear in his line of sight. He froze in the middle of grabbing the fish and snapped his head up.

He saw an old man with the ethereal air of an immortal standing before him.

Murong Tian’s pupils contracted violently.

The newcomer was none other than the Longevity Palace Master, Master Longevity!

’Very few people know I’m in the Supreme Elder Hall. Why is Master Longevity here?!’

Murong Tian’s mind raced.

Although he no longer had his martial arts, he had been a Sect Leader, after all. He forced himself to remain calm.

"My Junior Brother Dong is in the city. If you leave now, I can pretend I never saw you."

Master Longevity’s expression was cold.

"’So this is what Lu Xiao meant by ’the sacrifice.’’"

Hearing the word ’sacrifice,’ Murong Tian’s expression finally turned grave.