Starting with The Eagle Shooting Heroes: I gain a year's worth of skill every day.

Qiu Chuji's question, tinged with frost, echoed on the silent cliff top.

There was no reply.

He simply stood there quietly, letting the overwhelming force that seemed capable of crushing mountains envelop him.

Just then, a heart-wrenching wail shattered the silence.

"Master!"

Zhao Zhijing, like a dog with a broken spine, scrambled over and grabbed Qiu Chuji's leg, acting like a madman.

He raised his blood-soaked hand high, his finger pointing straight at Shen Mo.

"Master, you must do justice for your disciple! This child! This child is a demon!"

"He possesses evil skills, bewitched Junior Brother Yin, and even used demonic magic to ambush disciples! Look at my hand!"

His cries were hoarse and desperate, filled with endless grievances and resentment.

However, before he could even finish speaking, Yin Zhiping rushed forward and bowed deeply to Qiu Chuji.

His voice trembled with extreme excitement, yet it carried an undeniable firmness.

"Master, you are wise!"

Yin Zhiping suddenly raised his head, his eyes burning with an almost religious flame.

"This disciple dares to guess that Shen Mo... is not a demon!"

He spoke each word slowly and deliberately, each word like a heavy hammer striking the night sky.

"He... is the legendary 'Innate Dao Embryo,' a once-in-a-century talent, existing only in the ancestral master's notes!"

"A primordial Dao embryo?"

Qiu Chuji was utterly shocked!

These four words exploded in his mind like a thunderbolt from the heavens!

For the first time, his face, as resolute as a mountain rock, showed a violent fluctuation, and he even paused for a moment.

That record exists only in the oldest scriptures of the Quanzhen School!

It's a conjecture by the patriarch Wang Chongyang!

Qiu Chuji forcibly suppressed the raging storm in his heart, and his eyes, which pierced through the night, once again turned to Shen Mo.

This time, the scrutiny and authority have faded.

Instead, there was a sense of solemnity and exploration that even he himself was unaware of.

He ignored Zhao Zhijing, who was crying on the ground, and also stopped looking at Yin Zhiping, who was fanatical beside him.

The whole world seemed to consist only of this seemingly ordinary fire-making boy.

"Stretch out your hand."

Qiu Chuji's voice was somewhat dry, lacking its previous majesty, yet it carried an irresistible power.

Shen Mo silently raised his arm and offered his wrist.

He didn't understand anything about innate Dao embryos, nor did he care about any evil or demonic arts.

All he knew was that the old Taoist priest in front of him was the only person in the room who could decide his life or death.

Obedience is the only way to survive at this moment.

Qiu Chuji held his breath and slowly extended two fingers, with a pale blue aura swirling around the fingertips.

His movements were extremely gentle and cautious, as if he were not touching a person's wrist, but rather a rare and sacred object that carried the fortune of the Daoist sect.

With fingertips, I gently placed my hand on Shen Mo's pulse.

A stream of pure Quanzhen internal energy, cultivated for nearly sixty years, was controlled by him to be as fine as a hair, and carefully probed into Shen Mo's meridians.

The next moment!

Qiu Chuji's body stiffened.

He was completely frozen, as if petrified, and even his heartbeat seemed to skip a beat.

The two fingers resting on Shen Mo's wrist began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.

In his perception, the moment his wisp of internal energy entered Shen Mo's meridians, a strange change occurred that shook even his Dao heart!

What does that feel like?

Is it a stream flowing into a river or sea?

Do not!

It was ordinary iron that encountered divine gold!

His inner strength, which he was so proud of and had cultivated for a full sixty years, and which he thought was already honed to perfection, actually produced a sense of inferiority from the very core the moment it came into contact with the true power in Shen Mo's body!

This is not a difference in total volume!

This is a qualitative gap!

The power within Shen Mo's body was so pure that it was beyond comprehension, untouched by any acquired impurities.

Compared to this, his own internal energy instantly seemed mixed and crude.

All the pride I had ever held in my life became impurities in the face of this power!

"No...it's impossible..."

Qiu Chuji was unwilling to accept this!

With a thought, he hastily avoided the other internal force and tried to probe towards his dantian along the meridians.

He wanted to see what the foundation of this body was really like!

However, his thoughts had just reached outside his dantian.

The next second, he "saw" it.

That is not a "sea of ​​qi".

That was chaos!

A vast, boundless, ever-rotating...sea of ​​stars!

There are no clear boundaries within it, only endless depth and vastness. Countless tiny points of light rise and fall within it, radiating an ancient, boundless, and supreme Daoist aura!

The potential contained within is beyond his imagination!

Unfathomable depths! Vast and boundless!

Just as Qiu Chuji's mind was completely swallowed up by this "sea of ​​stars," and he was utterly shocked, he was completely overwhelmed.

"Buzz—!"

That slumbering, chaotic sea of ​​stars seemed to be disturbed by the outsider's spying, and rippled slightly without realizing it.

A gentle yet absolutely irresistible Daoist aura spread out.

Qiu Chuji felt his probing intent instantly dissolved and dissipated by this Daoist aura!

His body swayed violently, and he staggered backward a large step before barely managing to regain his balance.

He was not injured by force.

He was completely stunned by the sight that overturned his lifelong understanding of martial arts!

The entire room fell silent.

Zhao Zhijing's wailing stopped abruptly. He stared blankly at his master's distraught appearance, his heart sinking straight into an abyss.

Yin Zhiping held his breath, his face filled with intense joy and anticipation.

Qiu Chuji stood there, lost in thought, his eyes wide open, staring intently at Shen Mo, his lips trembling as he muttered to himself.

"So...it was true..."

"There really are... innate Dao embryos in this world..."

His voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The way he looked at Shen Mo had completely changed.

It was a complex emotion that mixed ecstasy, excitement, awe, and even a touch of pilgrimage!

Seeing his master's reaction, Zhao Zhijing lost the last trace of color from his face.

He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his whole body was ice cold.

It’s over.

I'm... completely finished.

His guess came true.

Meanwhile, Qiu Chuji's chest heaved violently as he finally broke free from the immense shock.

He knew that this was more than just a talented disciple.

This is the future of the Quanzhen School! It is the greatest opportunity that Qiu Chuji, and indeed the entire Taoist community, has ever encountered in his life!

He turned around abruptly, not even glancing at Zhao Zhijing, who was slumped on the ground like mud, and instead issued the most severe order of his life to Yin Zhiping!

"Zhiping!"

"Disciple is here!"

"From this moment on, we must protect him every step of the way! His safety is more important than our own lives!"

Immediately, his resolute face flushed red with extreme excitement. He raised his head and, in a voice trembling with ecstasy that resounded throughout the entire Cliff of Contemplation, announced to the deep night sky.

"I must immediately strike the Seven Star Bell! I request all my fellow disciples to emerge from seclusion!"

"Let us discuss this momentous event, unprecedented in the history of our religion!"