After breaking through to the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, Xu Changshou's talisman drafting speed surged. He could effortlessly produce twenty-four talismans a day.

In a single month, his output reached seven hundred and twenty.

Naturally.

His future Sect quotas had also swelled. He was required to submit eight talismans daily. Excluding two days of rest, that amounted to two hundred and twenty-four talismans per month.

The chasm between the ninth and tenth layers of Qi Condensation was a profound watershed. He would inevitably strike a brutal bottleneck.

Shattering this barrier would undoubtedly demand a staggering amount of time.

To prepare, he needed to carve out an uninterrupted block of time for Secluded Cultivation. That meant stockpiling talismans in advance.

Gritting his teeth, Xu Changshou dedicated an entire year exclusively to drafting, churning out over eight thousand Windwalk Talismans.

He had forged enough to fulfill three years of quotas in a single, grueling stretch. Excluding the year spent drafting, his stockpiles would placate the Sect for another two years and four months.

Two years and four months should provide ample time to force his way into the tenth layer of Qi Condensation.

Naturally, Xu Changshou had not neglected his foundation during that year of drafting. He seized every spare breath to sit in meditation and condense his Spiritual Qi.

As his cultivation base grew and his mortal age crept higher, a suffocating urgency hounded him. He drove himself forward with ruthless desperation.

With the talisman quota fulfilled, Xu Changshou sealed his doors and entered total Secluded Cultivation.

One year later, he was forced to emerge, his expression tight with frustration.

His cultivation had reached the absolute peak of the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, slamming directly into the bottleneck of the tenth layer.

No matter how frantically he circulated his Qi or how many pills he refined, it was like pouring water into a bottomless gorge. Xu Changshou knew he was hopelessly jammed at the bottleneck.

He was now twenty-one years old.

Only nine years remained until his thirtieth birthday. Bridging the abyss from the ninth to the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation within a mere nine years was an astronomical impossibility.

This meant his attempt to assault the Foundation Establishment realm would inevitably occur past the golden age of thirty.

His path had just grown infinitely more treacherous.

A grim proverb circulated within the cultivation world: "Arduous at thirty, a severed path at fifty."

He had ground his bones to dust, refusing to squander a single breath, all to reach the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation before thirty. Unfortunately, the Heavenly Dao cared little for mortal plans.

The chasm of Foundation Establishment was truly harder to cross than ascending to the heavens.

So be it. Treacherous or not, he could only exhaust his mortal efforts and leave the rest to the Heavenly Dao.

Shattering a bottleneck could not be forced overnight. Xu Changshou decided to rest his spirit for a few days before resuming his bitter cultivation.

Swallowing a Barrier Breaking Pill now offered no guarantee of success. It was wiser to temper his taut nerves first.

He had kept his bow strung too tightly for too many years. A brief reprieve was necessary.

Over the following days, Xu Changshou scaled the highest precipice of Green Ink Peak. He drank cheap wine, bathed in the sun, and silently observed the cycle of sunrise and sunset.

This tranquil routine persisted until the final day of the month.

Ye Shanhu arrived, bringing a whisper of fateful news:

"Junior Brother Xu, I have tracked down the whereabouts of the Black Antelope Thunder Ox."

"Oh? Speak quickly. Where is the beast?"

A predatory light flickered in Xu Changshou's eyes.

For years, he had scoured the shadows for any trace of this creature. Unfortunately, the Black Antelope Thunder Ox roamed only where heavenly tribulation lightning struck, making it exceptionally rare.

Even if one was sighted, harvesting it was a deadly endeavor.

Ye Shanhu blinked her beautiful eyes, a shrewd glimmer within them. "Junior Brother Xu, I expended a mountain of favors and Spirit Stones to unearth this secret. If I surrender it to you, what fated chance falls into my lap?"

"Ah, my magnanimous Senior Sister, please do not dangle the meat before a starving wolf. Tell me quickly."

Xu Changshou forced a wry smile and boldly grasped Ye Shanhu's soft, jade-like hand.

In an instant.

A rosy flush blossomed across Ye Shanhu's pale cheeks, painting her with a breathtaking charm.

She swiftly withdrew her hand, feigning composure. "I will tell you, but you must swear to one condition."

"What condition?"

"Take me with you."

"What?"

Xu Changshou's eyes widened in genuine shock. "You intend to hunt the Black Antelope Thunder Ox alongside me?"

"Exactly!"

Ye Shanhu nodded, her tone laced with poorly concealed excitement. "I have cultivated within the Green Immortal Sect for nearly ten years without ever stepping out to brave the world. Since you are hunting this beast, I will accompany you to temper my Dao heart."

"Madness."

Xu Changshou curled his lip in disbelief. "Senior Sister Ye, my life is as cheap as dried grass; if I perish, I perish. But you are a privileged scion with a body worth its weight in spirit jade. How can you recklessly plunge into the slaughter of the outside world? It is simply courting death."

Ye Shanhu's expression cooled with displeasure. "I am not seeking your permission. I am offering a transaction. Agree, and the location of the Black Antelope Thunder Ox is yours. Refuse, and the secret rots with me."

Xu Changshou's face darkened, recognizing he was cornered. "Fine. I agree. Speak. Where is it?"

Ye Shanhu's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by grave seriousness. "Within the Thunder Marsh of the Huosang Kingdom."

"The Huosang Kingdom... that far?"

Xu Changshou's brow furrowed tightly.

He was no longer a blind mortal stumbling through the cultivation world. He knew of the Huosang Kingdom-a minor mortal nation situated overseas.

It lay off the eastern coast of the Dongyu Continent, separated by three thousand Li of treacherous waters.

The distance from the Green Immortal Sect to the eastern coast spanned eight thousand Li. In total, the journey to the Huosang Kingdom exceeded ten thousand Li.

Fortunately, the Green Immortal Sect was already anchored on the eastern fringe of the Dongyu cultivation world. There were no rival Sects or powerful factions further east, mitigating the risk of ambushes by rogue cultivators.

If it were a truly deadly meat grinder, Ye Shanhu would never have possessed the sheer nerve to tag along.

"It is a vast distance. Does your courage falter?" Ye Shanhu asked, a teasing smile playing on her lips.

Xu Changshou nodded grimly. "I must go."

"When do we depart?" Ye Shanhu asked.

"The sooner, the better," Xu Changshou replied.

Calculating the cycles, today was the final day of the month.

If they moved with lethal efficiency, they could slaughter the beast and return before the end of the next month, leaving his Sect quotas undisturbed.

Weighing the logistics, Xu Changshou stated, "Senior Sister Ye, return to your quarters and pack your Spirit Stones and pills. We depart at dawn tomorrow."

Ye Shanhu frowned deeply. "Junior Brother Xu, the Black Antelope Thunder Ox is not some mundane cattle. It can summon devastating innate lightning. Are we truly charging in blindly, devoid of any tactical arrays or lethal countermeasures?"

"Ah..."

Xu Changshou froze, cursing his own desperate impatience.

Since grinding his way into the Sect, he had poured his blood and sweat exclusively into expanding his Qi reserves. He hadn't mastered a single offensive Dharma technique.

He lacked the Spiritual Power manipulation to conjure even a rudimentary Fireball. His solitary killing technique remained the mortal Withered Wood Palm imparted by Zhang Zhengyuan.

To confront the elemental wrath of a Black Antelope Thunder Ox armed with mere mortal martial arts was the very definition of courting death.

"Correct, correct. A fatal oversight on my part. We require absolute preparation. My thirst for the breakthrough clouded my judgment," Xu Changshou admitted with an awkward, stiff smile.

Ye Shanhu's voice dropped to a grim whisper. "The Black Antelope Thunder Ox's absolute trump card is its innate lightning. If its lightning core strikes your mortal flesh, your soul will be obliterated on the spot.

Therefore, we must procure an artifact or formation to ground and shatter its elemental lightning."

"Rest easy. I hold the perfect countermeasure against its innate lightning."

Xu Changshou replied, his voice laced with cold confidence.

Within his arsenal lay a specialized script: the Lightning Attraction Talisman, designed specifically to siphon the violent power of atmospheric lightning.

This talisman was not meant to contain the elemental fury. The instant it absorbed the crackling static, the fragile spiritual runes would violently detonate.

Yet, as a sacrificial shield, it would flawlessly intercept and disperse the ox's innate lightning.

"You truly possess a method to counter it?"

Ye Shanhu stared at him, utter disbelief written across her features.

Prior to arriving, she had consulted the seasoned elders of the Wanbao Pavilion regarding defenses against the beast's crackling wrath.

Their consensus was absolute: if a Qi Condensation realm cultivator failed to dodge an innate lightning strike, nothing would be left of them but charred ash.

The power of lightning was viciously pervasive. Even if parried with a Dharma Treasure, the lethal current would arc through the metal and boil the cultivator's blood.

Unless one was a mighty Foundation Establishment expert, capable of forcibly suppressing the violent voltage with an ocean of pure Spiritual Power, survival was impossible.

She could not fathom how a mere Miscellaneous Disciple like Xu Changshou possessed a trump card capable of neutralizing such elemental terror.

"I do."

"Excellent. Then when do we depart?"

"Three days from now."