Courtyard House: Starting in 1938, kill enemies and loot equipment.

After the Temple of Heaven was breached, the elite Japanese troops around Beiping suffered heavy losses, and the pressure on the anti-Japanese base areas was suddenly relieved. Zhou Ye did not stop, as he knew that the Japanese army still had many remnants of cultivators lurking in various parts of China—remnants of the Yin-Yang Dao and escaped members of martial arts groups. These people used their special abilities to plunder cultural relics and harm the people, making them a more troublesome cancer than ordinary Japanese soldiers.

After resting for three days, Zhou Ye carefully organized the cultural relics in his system space and left a large amount of gold and silver coins for Zhao Hu to replenish the base's supplies. He then quietly left the stronghold. In the deep mountains and dense forests outside Beiping City, he circulated the power of his Golden Core. The bronze sword transformed into a golden stream of light and hovered beneath his feet. With a thought, the sword rose with him, soaring into the sky and becoming a faint golden streak across the horizon, flying towards the heart of North China—this was the first stop of his plan: to patrol the borders on his sword and eliminate all Japanese cultivators.

At the Golden Core stage, the speed of flying on a magical artifact has reached the level of chasing the wind and lightning. The mountains and rivers beneath his feet flashed by, and the flames of war in the occupied territories and the smoke from the cooking fires in the base areas were all within his sight. Zhou Ye's spiritual sense spread out like an invisible net, covering a radius of a hundred miles, leaving no place for any sinister cultivation aura to hide.

Upon arriving in Datong, Shanxi, Zhou Ye's spiritual sense instantly locked onto an abandoned coal mine—deep underground, a dense aura of Yin energy permeated the area, the very hideout of the remnants of the Japanese Yin-Yang Dao (Onmyoji) sect. Zhou Ye swooped down on his sword, piercing through the soil and entering the heart of the mine. Inside, three Yin-Yang masters were cultivating around a pile of contaminated Northern Wei Buddhist statues, attempting to absorb the spiritual energy of the artifacts and transform it into Yin-Yang power.

"How dare you evil spirits defile this sacred land of China!" Zhou Ye's voice boomed like thunder, his golden core power surging, and his body radiated golden light. Caught off guard, the three Yin-Yang Masters were about to unleash their Yin energy in retaliation when they were enveloped by the Taiyan golden light, their Yin energy instantly dissipating. Zhou Ye lightly tapped his fingertips with spiritual energy, and three golden beams of energy shot out, instantly killing the three Yin-Yang Masters. With a thought, he stored the Northern Wei Buddhist statue in his system space, then struck out with his palm, the golden core energy completely sealing the mine, preventing any leakage of Yin energy.

Leaving Datong, Zhou Ye flew to East China on his sword, eliminating several Japanese martial arts masters hiding in ancient towns and temples along the way. These men were mostly remnants of martial arts corps, robbing cultural relics and oppressing the people, unaware that they were like ants trying to shake a tree before Zhou Ye, a Golden Core cultivator. In an ancient temple in Suzhou, he witnessed a Japanese samurai stealing an ancient Tang Dynasty bell. Without a word, he unleashed a golden sword aura, cleaving the samurai and his katana in two, while the bell was safely stored in his system space.

Upon reaching Wuhan in Central China, Zhou Ye's spiritual sense detected unusual fluctuations in spiritual energy on the surface of the Yangtze River. He swooped down and discovered two Onmyoji skilled in water escape techniques hidden in the cargo hold of a Japanese military transport ship. They were using dark magic to corrupt a batch of artifacts from a sunken Song Dynasty ship, attempting to transform them into Yin-evil weapons. Zhou Ye stood in mid-air, his hands forming a seal, activating the "Taiyan Water Control Technique" (a derivative divine power of the "Taiyan Golden Elixir Technique"). Instantly, a giant wave surged on the river, engulfing the transport ship. Just as the two Onmyoji were about to escape by water escape, they were struck by golden runes within the giant wave and turned to ashes. Zhou Ye retrieved all the Song Dynasty porcelain, gold, and silver artifacts from the cargo hold, then smashed the transport ship with a single palm strike, causing it to sink to the bottom of the river without leaving a trace.

Heading south all the way to Guangzhou in South China, Zhou Ye wiped out the last group of Japanese cultivators—three sinister cultivators hiding in an ancient tomb in Yuexiu Mountain. They were using human blood to sacrifice looted jade artifacts from the Nanyue Kingdom in an attempt to break through their cultivation levels. Enraged, Zhou Ye activated the Taiyan Golden Light Array, completely purifying the ancient tomb. The three cultivators were burned to ashes by the golden light, and the Nanyue Kingdom jade artifacts were preserved.

Throughout his nationwide tour, Zhou Ye kept a close eye on Xiaocao's situation using his telepathic connection. The little girl continued to keep her secret, living a low-key life at the Yan'an Nursery. Every day, she secretly cultivated the *Taiyan Foundation Building Technique* when no one was around, her spiritual energy becoming increasingly pure, showing faint signs of breaking through to the mid-stage of Foundation Building. She never revealed anything unusual to outsiders; her body simply grew stronger, and she studied even more diligently. Teacher Wang and her classmates all assumed she was naturally intelligent and had improved health; no one knew her secret. Each time she sensed her brother's divine sense, Xiaocao would quietly report her situation using her mind, her tone filled with concern for her brother and anticipation of victory.

Over a period of more than a month, Zhou Ye traversed the main occupied areas of China on his sword, eliminating 27 Japanese cultivators, including 15 Onmyoji, 9 martial arts masters, and 3 evil cultivators. He also recovered more than 100 cultural relics, completely eradicating the Japanese army's cultivation forces in China. From then on, no Japanese cultivators could threaten the base areas and the people, and no one could use evil magic to pollute or plunder Chinese cultural relics anymore.

After completing his patrol and mopping-up operations, Zhou Ye flew back to Beiping. At this time, the anti-Japanese situation in Beiping had changed dramatically. Led by Zhao Hu, the troops in the Pingxi base area had repeatedly attacked Japanese strongholds and disrupted transportation lines. The Japanese army was holed up inside the city, and their morale was low. Zhou Ye did not enter the city directly, but instead quietly landed at a stronghold on the outskirts, much to the surprise and delight of his comrades.

"Brother Zhou, where have you been for the past month? We thought you had some important mission!" Zhao Hu rushed up to greet him, his face full of excitement. During this time, the Japanese cultivators suddenly disappeared, and the pressure around the stronghold greatly decreased. They had thought there was a problem within the Japanese army, but now that they saw Zhou Ye return, they vaguely guessed that it was thanks to him.

Zhou Ye smiled, offering no further explanation, only saying, "I dealt with some of the Japanese 'special forces,' so those devils with sorcery won't cause trouble anymore." He took out a batch of captured Japanese military equipment and gold and silver coins from his system space and handed them to Zhao Hu: "Replenish these supplies for the team. Now we can properly deal with the Japanese in the city."

The comrades at the stronghold cheered with joy upon seeing this. With the supplies Zhou Ye brought back, coupled with their previous accumulation, the base's combat strength had greatly increased. Although Zhou Ye was already a Golden Core cultivator, he did not leave the team but continued to participate in the battle as an ordinary soldier, only secretly using his spiritual energy to assist at crucial moments.

During nighttime reconnaissance, he would use his spiritual sense to probe the defenses of Japanese strongholds and accurately transmit intelligence; in battle, he would take advantage of the chaos to use his spiritual energy to destroy Japanese heavy weapons and detonate armories, yet he never revealed his true strength; when a comrade was wounded, he would secretly inject a wisp of spiritual energy to accelerate the healing of the wound, only saying it was "an ancestral healing technique." His comrades all felt that Zhou Ye was becoming increasingly mysterious and his abilities were growing, but no one questioned the reasons, only knowing that following him in battle increased their chances of victory.

With Zhou Ye's assistance, Zhao Hu led his troops to a series of victories: a surprise attack on a Japanese arsenal outside Beiping, destroying a large amount of ammunition; sabotaging the Japanese railway transport lines, cutting off their supply lines; and a night raid on the Japanese military police headquarters, rescuing a large number of arrested anti-Japanese patriots and civilians. The Japanese troops inside Beiping were in a state of panic and made several attempts to counterattack, but were all routed.

Zhou Ye stood atop the watchtower of the stronghold, gazing towards Beiping City, a faint golden light gleaming in his eyes. He knew that he alone could not completely drive out all the Japanese invaders; only by uniting all anti-Japanese forces could victory be ultimately achieved. His cultivation power was a shield of protection, a blade to shatter the enemy, not a privilege to lord over all living beings. He would work with his comrades, with blood and courage, step by step, to drive the Japanese out of Beiping, out of China.