After Ye Shanhu departed, Xu Changshou bolted the courtyard gates, then opened his Storage Bag to inspect his spoils.

Nestled within the spatial pocket sat a full twenty-three Spirit Stones.

Xu Changshou stared at them, his eyes tracking the luminous gems over and over, as if terrified the illusion would shatter. Never in his mortal life had he beheld such a staggering fortune.

"Xu Changshou, compose yourself. This is but a drop in the ocean. You shall command far greater wealth in the future."

He ruthlessly crushed his mortal excitement, anchoring his Dao heart.

Once his mind was an empty void, he retrieved the pelt of the Century-Old Yellow Weasel.

Drawing a Fine Steel Sword, he began the arduous task of sectioning the hide.

The weasel's pelt was unimaginably resilient. It demanded an agonizing expenditure of physical strength and Spiritual Qi just to carve it into twelve identical canvases, each mirroring the dimensions of standard Yellow Hemp Paper.

The beast's diminutive size meant that twelve canvases were the absolute physical limit.

He left the weasel's tail completely intact, preserving the bristles to refine a spirit brush core.

Next, Xu Changshou produced his drafting brush, grinding his ink as he prepared to lay runes upon the freshly cut hide.

He drafted twelve talismans without pause, every single one an Earth Stalwart Talisman. Among the defensive arrays inscribed in his mind, the Earth Stalwart Talisman stood absolute.

Green Ink Peak distributed a standard defensive array known as the Earth Shield Talisman.

A mundane Earth Stalwart Talisman boasted three times the defensive density of an Earth Shield Talisman. By drafting it upon the spirit-conductive flesh of a Yellow Weasel, that density was multiplied by another two or three times.

Therefore, an Earth Stalwart Talisman born of this pelt was virtually indestructible within the Qi Condensation realm. Unless struck by a Foundation Establishment Almighty or a lethal Magical Artifact, the barrier would not shatter.

Furthermore, these premium arrays held enough spiritual density to be triggered three separate times.

If he dragged these into the open market, they would command a price far eclipsing his Windwalk Talismans.

Yet Xu Changshou possessed no intention of liquidating such a trump card. True treasures were hoarded for one's own survival.

With the Earth Stalwart Talismans complete, he swept them-alongside the weasel's tail and his twenty-three Spirit Stones-into the boundless void of his Jade Talisman Space.

Within his mundane Storage Bag, he left only a handful of fragmented Spirit Stones and a smattering of ordinary arrays.

Xu Changshou strictly confined his true wealth to the Jade Talisman Space. Not only was its capacity limitless, but retrieval bypassed the physical limitations of a Storage Bag-a mere thought could summon any item directly into his palm.

If an ambush demanded immediate defense, an Earth Stalwart Talisman would materialize in his hand at the speed of thought.

Naturally, to deceive the watching eyes of the cultivation world, he habitually patted his Storage Bag whenever he seemingly drew an item.

With his life-saving measures secured, Xu Changshou returned to the grind, churning out mundane Windwalk Talismans.

His next strategy was absolute hoarding. He intended to stockpile a monumental reserve of Windwalk Talismans, sufficient to blindly fulfill a year's worth of Sect quotas. Once the quota was secured, he would seal his doors and enter long-term Secluded Cultivation to break through to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation.

With every realm breached, the temporal toll of cultivation multiplied exponentially.

Xu Changshou calculated the brutal arithmetic: even while gorging on Qi Gathering Pills, ascending from the eighth to the ninth layer would devour at least a year and a half.

Without the pills, he would rot away for five agonizing years.

Now that he commanded actual resources, he intended to bulldoze his way to the ninth layer with absolute speed.

But first, the grind.

Xu Changshou chained himself to his drafting desk. The grueling labor consumed over nine unbroken months, halting only when five thousand Windwalk Talismans filled his reserves.

Naturally, he did not entirely abandon his cultivation during this drafting hell, though his progress was crippled, yielding only half the efficacy of focused meditation.

Throughout these nine months, Ye Shanhu arrived like clockwork, carrying away ten premium Windwalk Talismans at the end of each cycle.

Xu Changshou's wealth violently snowballed. By the end of this period, his hoard had swelled to an astonishing one hundred and eight Spirit Stones.

It was during this time that Xu Changshou quietly passed his eighteenth year.

On a rare rest day.

"Is Junior Brother Xu Changshou present?"

An unfamiliar voice pierced the silence of his courtyard.

"Who approaches?"

Xu Changshou moved to unbar the gate. The voice was alien to his ears, yet it carried an inexplicable phantom of familiarity.

"Hehe, Junior Brother Xu, just unseal the gate and you shall see." The voice outside held a teasing lilt.

Pushing open the heavy wooden doors, Xu Changshou was met by a tall, striking youth exuding an imposing aura.

A bright smile plastered the young man's face, a face whose contours stirred old memories.

But the instant the youth laid eyes on Xu Changshou, that arrogant smile evaporated into absolute shock. "Eighth layer of Qi Condensation? Impossible! How could you possibly be at the eighth layer of Qi Condensation?"

"I wondered who had come calling. It is Junior Brother Jiang. It has been far too long."

Xu Changshou offered a measured smile.

Three years had ground them both down. Jiang Xiaochuan was virtually unrecognizable; his voice had deepened, his frame had broadened, and he now stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Xu Changshou.

"Long time no see, Xu.. Senior Brother Xu."

Jiang Xiaochuan choked out a bitter, grimacing smile.

For three years, he had intentionally avoided Xu Changshou, hoarding his pride until the very moment he breached the eighth layer of Qi Condensation. His singular goal had been to force Xu Changshou to bow his head and call him Senior Brother.

In the past, Xu Changshou's cultivation had eclipsed his own, yet his innate talent was laughably inferior.

Jiang Xiaochuan had violently closed that gap, breaking through to the seventh layer before Xu Changshou. Thus, the Heavens naturally dictated that he would reach the eighth layer first.

The very instant his cultivation stabilized, he had marched here to parade his supremacy-only to have his face brutally slapped by reality.

What Jiang Xiaochuan failed to comprehend was the ruthless arithmetic of the Dao. In the past, Xu Changshou possessed garbage talent and zero resources. Relying purely on suicidal diligence, he could never outpace Jiang Xiaochuan's innate gifts.

The paradigm had shifted.

Xu Changshou now wielded the power to harvest wealth. He choked on resources. In the face of a mountain of Spirit Stones, the meager allowances of a minor clan scion like Jiang Xiaochuan were rendered less than dust.

Endless resources wedded to suicidal diligence practically guaranteed that Xu Changshou's progression would violently outstrip Jiang Xiaochuan's.

Blind to this truth, Jiang Xiaochuan only saw the surface: a peer with inferior talent, barren resources, stationed on a desolate peak, and chained to an agonizing drafting quota.

By all laws of the Dao, it was a mathematical impossibility for Xu Changshou to match his speed.

Yet, here Xu Changshou stood, radiating the undeniable pressure of the eighth layer. Jiang Xiaochuan found the reality utterly repulsive.

"Junior Brother Xu, speak truthfully. How did you force a breakthrough?"

Jiang Xiaochuan's tone bled with indignant refusal.

"It is nothing worthy of note. I merely stumbled upon a minor Fated Chance," Xu Changshou deflected with cold indifference.

"I see.. so that is the truth. I knew you could never outpace my talent. You relied on blind luck." Jiang Xiaochuan's words dripped with naked envy.

"Junior Brother Jiang, I heard you were assigned to tend the medicinal fields of Taiyi Peak. How fares your post?"

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaochuan forcibly straightened his spine, projecting absolute arrogance. "The Spiritual Qi of our Taiyi Peak is naturally supreme, leagues beyond this desolate rock you call Green Ink Peak. Furthermore, tending the medicinal fields is trivial labor. It places no burden on my cultivation."

"That is excellent news."

Xu Changshou gave a fractional nod.

Jiang Xiaochuan's voice and face had shifted, but the rot had set deep into his core. The naive boy had been consumed, replaced by a calculating, petty cultivator.

This was not solely Jiang Xiaochuan's failure; the meat grinder of the Sect forged all disciples in this image.

Back on Chuxiu Peak, they were unburdened by the lethal struggle for resources. They were children, allowing a fragile harmony to exist.

Now, the struggle had begun. They had stepped onto the path of immortality, where every breath was a calculation. The hollow innocence of Chuxiu Peak was dead and buried.