After seeing off Ye Shanhu, Xu Changshou sought out Yang Bailao. Together, they headed out to submit their quota of talismans.

Within Li Daotu's Dao Field.

Once the sect tasks were submitted, Li Daotu swept his profound gaze across the gathered disciples, ultimately locking onto Xu Changshou.

"Changshou, remain. The rest of you may withdraw."

"Yes, Martial Uncle..."

The disciples swiftly departed, leaving Xu Changshou standing alone, his expression a mask of bewildered respect.

Internally, he reeled. Why had a high elder singled out a lowly Miscellaneous Disciple like him?

"Martial Uncle Li, what are your instructions?"

Li Daotu spoke with the chilling calm of a deep pool. "Changshou, you have been within the Green Immortal Sect for nearly ten years. Yet, you have never stepped beyond our borders to seek worldly experience, have you?"

Once a cultivator breached the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, even a lowly Miscellaneous Disciple possessed the right to petition for a mortal realm expedition.

However, strict edicts governed this privilege: an expedition could only be undertaken once every three years, and must not exceed four months.

Usually, when Miscellaneous Disciples grew desperate from the agonizing toll of their chores, they leapt at the first chance to escape the sect's grind.

Yet, Xu Changshou had never submitted a petition. He knew the outside world was a slaughterhouse, and he valued his life too much to court death blindly.

"That is correct, Martial Uncle!"

Xu Changshou bowed his head respectfully, waiting for the heavy shoe to drop.

Li Daotu continued, "The mortal royal family of the Huosang Kingdom shares a bond of incense and karma with me. Recently, a young princess of their bloodline awakened an Exceptional Spirit Root."

"They transmitted this news to me via a secret dharma array; the outside world remains entirely oblivious. I require you to travel to the Huosang Kingdom and escort this girl back to the sect."

"Succeed, and I shall waive your talisman quotas for three months while maintaining your monthly stipend. Furthermore, I will personally bestow upon you a reward of ten Spirit Stones."

"Are you willing?"

"This disciple obeys!"

Xu Changshou rejoiced in his heart.

He had already planned a clandestine trip to the Huosang Kingdom to hunt the thunder beast. He had been agonizing over missing his quota deadline, yet here was a pillow delivered just as he grew drowsy.

"Within this jade disc, I have sealed three of my techniques. Should you encounter fatal peril, trigger it to obliterate your enemies."

With a flick of his expansive sleeve, Li Daotu tossed out a luminous, perfectly round jade disc.

Xu Changshou snatched it from the air. The jade was warm to the touch, pulsing with three distinct streams of treasure light. In an instant, his Divine Sense grasped the artifact's profound mechanics.

It was brutally simple: a single thought would unleash one of those sealed lights as a devastating attack.

The spiritual arts sealed within was no heaven-defying forbidden art. It was merely a casual strike from Li Daotu.

Yet, even a casual flick of the wrist from a Foundation Establishment grand cultivator possessed enough sheer Spiritual power to effortlessly erase any Qi Condensation ant from existence.

"I offer my deepest gratitude, Martial Uncle Li."

"Go."

"Yes!"

...

Stepping out of Li Daotu's oppressive Dao Field, a cold paranoia began to gnaw at Xu Changshou's mind.

Thinking carefully, this sudden task reeked of hidden venom.

There was a massive, fatal flaw in the logic.

First, Li Daotu explicitly stated his mortal lineage was tied to the Huosang royal family. If a genius with an Exceptional Spirit Root had truly awakened within his clan, he could effortlessly tear through the skies and retrieve her himself.

Even if his cultivation demanded his presence at the sect, he could have commanded a far more lethal disciple to run this errand.

Xu Changshou was merely at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation. For several recruitment cycles, not a single new disciple had been banished to the cursed Green Ink Peak.

Within Green Ink Peak itself, Xu Changshou's cultivation base was absolute bottom-tier trash.

Grabbing any random Inner Sect disciple would yield a vastly superior escort.

The most glaring inconsistency was the target herself. An Exceptional Spirit Root!

The Great Dao recognized only five Exceptional alignments: Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness, and Ice.

Cultivators blessed with such roots possessed monstrous innate talent, utterly eclipsing those shackled to standard Five Elements alignments.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth-none of these mundane roots could even hold a candle to the terrifying potential of an Exceptional Spirit Root.

Such a heaven-defying genius was destined to radiate absolute glory within the sect.

As long as she did not perish prematurely, time would forge her into a peerless overlord.

Entrusting the safe passage of such an invaluable asset to a ninth-layer Qi Condensation ant? Was Li Daotu not terrified of bandits or rival sects slaughtering them on the road?

The deeper Xu Changshou dug into the logic, the more his blood ran cold.

When things deviate from the Dao, demons are at work. Under no sane circumstances would a high elder dispatch a lowly miscellaneous laborer for an escort of this magnitude.

Therefore, a lethal conspiracy was undoubtedly in motion.

A terrifying chill gripped Xu Changshou's spine. Is Martial Uncle Li trying to silence me?

What is my play? Should I flee into the wilderness?

The cowardly thought sprouted in his mind, but he ruthlessly crushed it. Fleeing without cause was a death sentence. The sect would issue a blood warrant, hunting him down like a rabid dog.

Forget it. I will cross that bridge when the blade is at my throat.

Gritting his teeth, Xu Changshou boarded a public flying spirit boat and navigated toward the trading hall of Duty Peak.

Before stepping into the slaughterhouse of the outside world, he desperately needed to cram offensive techniques into his arsenal. It was a pathetic last-minute effort, but whether useful or not, he needed fangs.

Within the sect, only one's foundational cultivation method was bestowed freely. All martial techniques and Dharma techniques demanded heavy payments of Spirit Stones.

He marched directly toward the counter dedicated to scriptured jade slips.

Xu Changshou walked over. The attendant was a wizened elder exuding the aura of the twelfth layer of Qi Condensation-Grand Perfection.

However, his mortal coil was frail and withered. He was clearly a man at the end of his lifespan, preparing to abandon the Dao and retire to the mortal realm.

"Senior Brother, I wish to comprehend some offensive Dharma techniques. Do you have any recommendations?"

Xu Changshou's knowledge of combat arts was an absolute void, forcing him to seek counsel from this dying veteran.

The elder lazily tossed a jade slip onto the counter. "The Complete Compendium of Techniques. One Spirit Stone. Every basic art you could ever desire is recorded within."

"Oh?"

Xu Changshou's eyes gleamed with hungry anticipation. He immediately slapped down a Spirit Stone and claimed the compendium.

Pressing the cold jade against his forehead, a torrent of spiritual knowledge flooded his sea of consciousness:

Fireball Art. Ice Sculpture Art. Water Manipulation Art. Earth Spirit Art. Thunder Strike Art...

The jade slip contained no less than several dozen distinct techniques. However, they were all foundational parlor tricks.

Their offensive output was pathetically weak. In a true life-and-death struggle between cultivators, tossing a mundane fireball was tantamount to throwing a pebble.

Out of the entire compendium, only the Thunder Strike Art possessed a meager semblance of lethality.

Xu Changshou shot the wizened elder a glare dripping with dissatisfaction. He had been ruthlessly scammed out of a hard-earned Spirit Stone. "Senior Brother, I require techniques with genuine, murderous attack power."

It was the raw truth. Xu Changshou desperately needed a technique capable of reaping lives.

A seasoned cultivator typically mastered arts across three core domains: Offense, Defense, and Evasion.

Xu Changshou possessed Earth Stalwart Talismans, Earth Escape Talismans, Invisibility Talismans, Windwalk Talismans, and Flight Talismans.

His evasion and defensive parameters were virtually impregnable. A cultivator below the Foundation Establishment realm would struggle to even scratch his robes.

However, his offensive capabilities were severely crippled. The most lethal talisman he could reliably draft was the Sharp Gold Talisman.

While it simulated the full-force strike of a Qi Condensation Grand Perfection expert, its destructive radius was vastly inferior to the legendary Thunder Explosion Talisman. It left Xu Changshou feeling painfully exposed.

Thus, he needed an offensive technique to act as his executioner's blade.

Hearing this demand, the elder sneered, his cloudy eyes flashing. "You are nothing but a lowly Qi Condensation ant. You lack the Spiritual power to sustain truly devastating Dharma techniques. However, there are martial techniques that channel Qi into weapons to multiply lethality."

The elder spoke the harsh truth. Qi Condensation cultivators lacked the immense spiritual reserves to manifest advanced magical phenomena. Even if handed a Heaven-tier technique, it would drain them dry before activation.

"I beseech Senior Brother to guide me."

"Come back here and dig through the archives yourself."

The elder unlatched a small gate, allowing Xu Changshou to step behind the counter.

The rear wall was a honeycomb of square wooden compartments, each housing dozens of archaic jade slips.

The elder pointed a bony finger toward a specific row. "The lethal martial arts are stored in these grids. Pick your poison."

Xu Changshou approached the shelves, sweeping the jades with his Divine Sense one by one:

Thirteen Forms of the Golden Spear: Aligned for Metal Spirit Roots. Cultivated to the pinnacle, one can effortlessly slaughter peers of the same realm.

Phantom Boomerang Art: Aligned for Darkness Spirit Roots...

Hunyuan Staff Technique: Aligned for Wood Spirit Roots...

Yin-Yang Blade: Aligned for Water and Fire Spirit Roots...

Five Elements Sword: Aligned for a chaotic Five Elements Spirit Root...

...

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