Heaven rewards diligence, but there are always fairies plotting against me.

As the sun sets, it paints the bamboo forest behind Tianxuan Peak with a layer of scattered gold.

With the transformed Golden Geng Demon-Suppressing Sword hanging from his waist, Chu Chang walked steadily back to his new cave dwelling.

Although he deliberately used a secret technique to conceal his aura, suppressing the surging true essence fluctuations of his body to the level of an ordinary early Foundation Condensation stage, the ethereal and otherworldly aura that allowed him to leap across a major realm and reach the mid-stage of the Foundation Condensation stage still drew the attention of the inner disciples he encountered along the way.

As soon as I reached the courtyard entrance, a delicate aroma of tea and a subtle sweet scent of pastries wafted towards me.

Chu Chang pushed open the wooden door and was slightly taken aback.

Two stunningly beautiful women were sitting at the stone table.

On the left is a person dressed in white, as white as snow, aloof and proud, like an ice lotus quietly blooming on the top of a snow-capped mountain.

She held the teapot with her slender fingers, gazing indifferently at the tea leaves floating in the cup; it was Lin Ruoxue.

The woman on the right is wearing a slightly tight-fitting light blue shimmering dress that perfectly accentuates her shapely figure.

She raised her head slightly, her delicate face also bearing a touch of frost, though her bright, lively eyes occasionally darted around, revealing that she was not as cold as she appeared. This woman was none other than Gu Ling Shuang, the eldest disciple of Qingyun Peak.

"Junior Brother Chu, you're finally back."

Seeing Chu Chang push the door open and enter, Gu Ling Shuang spoke first.

She cleared her throat slightly, trying to make her voice sound as cool and indifferent as Lin Ruoxue's, but the concern in her eyes and brows was impossible to hide.

"Greetings, Senior Sister Lin and Senior Sister Gu." Chu Chang smiled, clasped his hands in greeting, and stepped forward.

"Sit down," Lin Ruoxue said succinctly, her voice cold and devoid of any warmth.

With a gentle push of her delicate hand, a cup of freshly brewed spiritual tea slid steadily to Chu Chang's front.

Chu Chang sat down, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and praised, "Good tea. It's slightly bitter at first, but the aftertaste has a sense of growth and vitality. It must be Lin Ruoxue's Three-Leaf Green Vine from the Spirit Herb Garden."

"You do have some knowledge." Gu Ling Shuang slightly raised her chin, pretending to be indifferent as she picked up her teacup to hide the smile on her lips. "I heard you spent three hours in the Cleansing Pool today? The malevolent energy there is something that ordinary newly recruited inner disciples couldn't withstand."

"It was indeed somewhat dangerous, but we were lucky enough to gain something." Chu Chang continued, placing the Golden Geng Demon-Suppressing Sword horizontally on the stone table.

Lin Ruoxue's cool gaze fell on the sword, and her delicate eyebrows twitched slightly.

With her discerning eye, she could naturally see that this sword already showed signs of developing sentience, making it far superior to ordinary mid-grade magic weapons.

"The sword is a fine sword, but in the pursuit of self-cultivation, weapons are ultimately external objects."

Although Lin Ruoxue's voice was cold, her words carried a hint of guidance: "During the competition, your physical strength was extremely strong. But once you reach the Foundation Establishment stage, the true qi in your body transforms into true liquid, and the competition becomes about the strength of your true essence and your understanding of the laws. Relying solely on brute force will not get you far."

Gu Ling Shuang nodded repeatedly in agreement, and then said, "Junior Sister Lin is right. Each step of the Foundation Establishment stage requires a massive amount of spiritual energy to open the dantian. I am currently at the third level of the Foundation Condensation stage, and I know that the further you go, the more difficult it becomes to condense the true essence. You have just broken through, so don't be too ambitious. You should focus on consolidating your foundation."

Chu Chang looked at these two exceptionally talented young women, each with a distinct personality, yet both eager to instruct him, and found it amusing. However, he maintained a humble and receptive expression.

"Your two senior sisters are right. When I broke through, I did feel my meridians swelling and pain, and my true energy seemed to be spiraling out of control. I wonder how you two senior sisters balanced yin and yang when you were condensing your true essence?"

Upon hearing the words "yin and yang," Gu Ling Shuang's pretty face flushed slightly. She forced herself to remain calm, took a sip of tea, and turned her head away.

Lin Ruoxue remained calm and analyzed the situation rationally: "Yin and Yang are in harmony, water and fire are in balance. You mainly cultivate the Metal and Pure Yang techniques, which result in excessive Yang energy, making your meridians prone to damage. In your future cultivation, you need to find some spiritual herbs with cold attributes, or..."

She glanced at Chu Chang and said calmly, "Find a fellow practitioner of ice-attribute techniques to exchange ideas and discuss the Dao, so that the cold energy can neutralize your yang energy."

"I see, I've learned something." Chu Chang nodded with a smile, but in his heart he thought to himself: If Lin Ruoxue knew that not only was she not devoured by the yang energy, but she also used the pure yang energy to almost exhaust the demonic heart beneath the Cleansing Pool, and rushed to the mid-stage of the Foundation Condensation Realm, he wondered what she would think.

The three sat around a stone table, eating spiritual fruits and pastries, chatting idly about trivial matters of cultivation under the moonlight. Although the atmosphere was cool and quiet, it exuded a rare warmth and comfort.

"Bang!"

A sudden muffled thud broke the tranquility of the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, the courtyard gate was violently pushed open with tremendous force, and a figure covered in blood and dressed in rags tumbled in.

"Boss Chu! Help, Boss Chu!"

The newcomer's voice was shrill and filled with fear and anxiety.

Chu Chang's expression hardened, and in a flash, he arrived at the courtyard gate and helped the man up.

"Zhang Erniu?!"

Seeing his outer sect friend covered in wounds and looking utterly exhausted, Chu Chang's eyes darkened instantly: "What happened? How did you get so badly injured?"

Zhang Erniu gripped Chu Chang's sleeve tightly, his whole body trembling violently from extreme fear and anxiety. His lips quivered, and he could barely speak: "Yu... Yu Xiaoxiao! Senior Sister Xiaoxiao... she's gone missing!"

"What?!"

Chu Chang's pupils suddenly contracted.

How could Yu Xiaoxiao, that quirky and clever senior sister from the outer sect who had secretly helped him many times, suddenly disappear?

"Take your time, what exactly happened?"

At this moment, Lin Ruoxue and Gu Ling Shuang also stood up and walked over. Lin Ruoxue waved her hand, and a wisp of gentle, icy blue true essence flowed into Zhang Erniu's body, temporarily protecting his heart meridian and suppressing his injuries.

Zhang Erniu took a deep breath, his eyes filled with panic, and said in a tearful voice:

"This afternoon, I arranged to meet Senior Sister Xiaoxiao outside the Spirit Herb Garden to discuss exchanging Foundation Establishment Pill materials at the market. But I waited for two hours and she still didn't show up. I sent her a message, but there was no response."

"Later, I found this in a remote valley behind the herb garden..."

Zhang Erniu trembled as he pulled a jade pendant that had been broken in two from his pocket.

Chu Chang recognized it at a glance; it was the jade pendant that Yu Xiaoxiao always wore close to her waist. On the jade pendant, there was still a trace of dried blood, as well as a faint, nauseating aura of deathly demonic energy.

"It's demonic energy again!"

Chu Chang narrowed his eyes, and a chilling killing intent erupted from the depths of his heart.

…………

…………

…………

A light drizzle enveloped the town of Qing Shi at the foot of the Divine Sword Sect.

This is a huge market built in association with a sect, frequented by wandering cultivators and low-ranking sect disciples, selling all kinds of spiritual herbs, talismans, and materials from demonic beasts.

Chu Chang, Lin Ruohan, and Gu Ling Shuang were walking side by side on the cobblestone street.

Because the incident happened so suddenly, Zhang Erniu was left at the sect to recover from his injuries, while Lin Ruohan and Gu Ling Shuang insisted on going down the mountain together to investigate.

"The place where Xiaoxiao disappeared still has lingering demonic energy. This Qing Shi Town has the largest flow of people and is also a place where filth and evil reside. If someone forcibly takes her away from the sect, there is a very high probability that they will pass through here," Gu Ling Shuang said in a low voice, her originally playful eyes now full of vigilance.

Lin Ruohan didn't speak, but silently spread her divine sense, keenly scanning every corner of the street.

Chu Chang walked at the very front.

Although he appeared to be just an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator, in reality, the pure Yang energy within him had reached an extremely profound level after advancing to the mid-Foundation Condensation stage.

"call………………"

Chu Chang secretly circulated the breathing technique of the Eight Desolations Demon Suppressing Fist. The sixty drops of pure yang essence in his body trembled slightly, and wisps of pure yang energy, invisible to the naked eye, overflowed from his pores, like an invisible net capturing strange auras in the void.

Yu Xiaoxiao once gave him a talisman that carried her personal scent. Although the talisman was destroyed, its unique cool fragrance and the aura of her cultivation technique had long been recognized by Chu Chang's pure yang energy.

Suddenly, Chu Chang paused slightly.

In his pure Yang perception, two extremely incongruous and cold figures suddenly appeared in the surging crowd ahead.

Amidst the chill, there was a faint, almost imperceptible, familiar aura.

It's Yu Xiaoxiao!

Chu Chang suddenly looked up, his gaze piercing through the heavy rain, instantly locking onto two slender figures a hundred meters ahead, draped in black cloaks and completely covered.

"Chu Chang, what's wrong?" Lin Ruohan noticed Chu Chang's tense body immediately and asked softly.

"We have a clue." Chu Chang remained calm and transmitted his voice in a very low voice, "The two men in black ahead have Xiao Xiao's aura. But their cultivation is not weak, and there are many people around here. If we act rashly, we may alert them and even force them to fight to the death."

"What should we do then?" Gu Ling Shuang asked anxiously.

"You guys follow them openly to draw their attention. I'll go into the shadows and follow them alone." A cold glint flashed in Chu Chang's eyes. "Once they leave the market and reach a secluded spot, I'll make my move."

Lin Ruohan gave Chu Chang a deep look and nodded slightly: "Be careful in everything, and don't be reckless."

"rest assured."

Chu Chang's figure swayed slightly, his entire body like a wisp of smoke, instantly blending into the messy stalls on the street. With his current strength at the mid-stage of the Foundation Condensation Realm, if he wanted to deliberately hide, ordinary cultivators would not be able to detect him at all.

Those two men in black were extremely adept at counter-surveillance.

Instead of leaving the market directly, they led Lin Ruohan and Gu Ling Shuang around the street corners and teahouses for a while.

After confirming that there were indeed disciples of the Divine Sword Sect following them, the two exchanged a glance, then suddenly sped up and rushed towards an abandoned mass grave outside the market.

"Hmph, she took the bait after all. The hothouse flower of the Divine Sword Sect, she really thinks she's a hunter."

One of the shorter men in black sneered, his voice sinister.

"Stop talking nonsense. The task assigned by the young master is important. Capturing that woman is just the first step. The real target is that guy named Chu Chang. Since the bait has been delivered to our door, we might as well take care of him over there." Another tall man in black said in a deep voice.

The two moved extremely fast, leaving two blurry afterimages in the rain, and soon left the market area and entered a desolate mountain shrouded in thick fog.

This is Black Wind Ridge, a place surrounded by scattered rocks and withered trees for miles around, filled with an extremely gloomy atmosphere, and rarely inhabited by anyone.

However, they did not know that in a blind spot less than fifty feet behind them, Chu Chang was like a ghost, always hanging tightly behind them.

"The cultivation levels of these two individuals... are both at the third level of the Foundation Condensation Realm, which is the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage."

As Chu Chang moved through the trees, he silently assessed the strength of his opponents: "Moreover, the aura within them is cold and deathly, exactly the same as the demonic energy on Zhao Wuji's body. It seems that the forces behind them really can't wait to make a move against me."

As they ventured deeper into the desolate mountains, the two men in black suddenly stopped at the mouth of a narrow canyon.

The canyon is filled with jagged rocks, and towering cliffs on both sides block out the sky, making it appear extremely eerie.

"Come out, you two beauties from the Divine Sword Sect. Aren't you tired of following us all this way?"

The tall man in black slowly turned around, pulled off his cloak, revealing a shriveled, mutilated face, his eyes a strange, ghastly green.

Behind them, Lin Ruohan and Gu Ling Shuang's figures slowly emerged from the mist.

"Where is Yu Xiaoxiao?" Lin Ruohan's expression was icy, and she had somehow already grasped an ice-blue longsword that exuded a chilling aura.

"Heh heh, want to know? Go ask her in the underworld!"

The tall man in black let out a strange laugh, and his demonic energy erupted. However, just as he was about to make his move, the short man in black beside him suddenly changed his expression and retreated backward like lightning.

"Wait! There are people behind us!"