High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

The old Taoist priest accepted Shen Chang'an's bow without hesitation, but the next second, his dignified and otherworldly demeanor vanished completely.

"Alright, alright, stop with the nonsense."

Lingshan Daoist waved his hand, looking completely shameless.

"Hurry up and get to work! Since you promised to replenish our spiritual energy reserves, you can't slack off. It's my turn to patrol and clean today, come on, let's go kill some demons!"

Without waiting for Shen Chang'an's consent, the old Taoist grabbed him and flew out of the city.

With a powerful expert from the Ninth Realm leading the way, the efficiency in finding monsters is ridiculously high.

In less than half an hour, the two landed in a basin filled with demonic energy, surrounded by thousands of demonic creatures.

Before Shen Chang'an could even draw his spear, the Taoist of Lingshan unleashed his thunder magic.

"Boom!"

Purple Heaven Divine Thunder swept across the land, unleashing a barrage of lightning! The entire basin instantly turned into scorched earth, and thousands of demons didn't even have a chance to struggle before being transformed into swirling abyssal demonic energy.

"burn!"

The old Taoist pointed to the sea of ​​demonic energy and spoke succinctly.

Shen Chang'an gave a wry smile and could only resign himself to becoming a spiritual energy converter.

He activated the black flames and began to burn away the demonic energy. More than an hour later, when the last bit of demonic energy was transformed into a cloud of pure spiritual energy, the Lingshan Daoist, who had been unable to restrain himself any longer, opened his mouth wide and, like a whale swallowing its prey, inhaled all of that spiritual energy into his belly.

"Whoosh—ha!"

The old Taoist priest let out a satisfied burp, his face rosy as if he had become ten years younger.

He plopped down on the ground, wiped the sweat from his brow, and asked curiously, "Senior, how much of your spiritual energy reserves would you recover after absorbing a spiritual energy cluster of that size?"

Ling Shan Daoist closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment, then clicked his tongue in disappointment: "What percentage? You wish. At most, it'll only recover one-thousandth."

"thousandth?!"

Shen Chang'an almost fainted, utterly speechless.

The spiritual energy generated from burning over a thousand demons was only enough to fill one-thousandth of his mana bar? Not to mention there were two seniors in the city, Du Qiongyu and Qin Xu, who were eagerly awaiting his help.

This is going to burn for ages!

"By the way, senior."

Shen Chang'an suddenly remembered a very real problem: "I don't have much military rations and water left. If I eat them sparingly, it'll only last me for another ten or twenty days. Not a single blade of grass grows in this abyss. What am I going to eat?"

"What do you want to eat?"

The old Taoist waved his hand.

"When we get back, I'll teach you a technique for fasting. Although practicing fasting at this fifth realm will cause your physical strength to stagnate, at least you'll be able to go without food or water. You can maintain your life by absorbing some spiritual energy. Anyway, you're practically a treasure trove of spiritual energy now, so why worry about starving to death?"

Shen Chang'an was stunned for a moment.

"etc......"

He frowned.

"Even fasting requires a tiny amount of spiritual energy to maintain physical life, right? And you also have to kill demons and repair rifts every day... So how have you survived for thousands of years in this abyss where there is absolutely no replenishment of spiritual energy?"

Ling Shan Dao Ren stroked his beard: "How else can we survive? By just barely hanging on. Every time a spatial rift appears between the abyss and the outside world, a little bit of spiritual energy from the outside world flows in. We take advantage of that time to try our best to absorb a little bit. Although it's pitifully little, if everyone tightens their belts and shares it, it's barely enough to keep us alive."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chang'an's heart skipped a beat.

He stared intently at the old Taoist priest: "That means... once the spatial rift between the two realms completely disappears, it will also completely sever even the slightest source of spiritual energy..."

Ling Shan Daoist waved his hand nonchalantly: "Then we old bones will also die here completely, our souls and spirits annihilated, due to the exhaustion of our source."

"However, it's a good thing that no cracks have appeared, which means that the monsters will no longer invade Donghuang, and our mission is complete."

Seeing Shen Chang'an's worried expression, the old Taoist priest comforted him.

"Hey, so what if I die? It's no big deal. I never intended to leave this hellhole alive when I entered it. I've lived for over three thousand years, I've had my fill of life. My only obsession now is to kill a few more demons and stop them from harming the younger generation of Donghuang."

The old Taoist priest spoke casually, but Shen Chang'an felt a lump in his throat.

This is the true lamplighter. Without flowers, without applause, without even a record in history, he used his own life to block the entrance to the abyss in endless darkness.

"Alright, alright, stop looking so grieved. I'm not dead yet!"

Lingshan Daoist patted Shen Chang'an on the back of the head and changed the subject.

"Didn't I just say in the hall that I'd teach you some real skills? Tell me, is there anything you'd like to learn? Weapons, spells, talismans—take your pick!"

Shen Chang'an immediately snapped out of his daze, his eyes lighting up: "Can I learn that teleportation technique you used earlier, where you made me disappear in a flash? And your lightning magic that instantly kills demons! By the way, Senior, you're dressed like a Taoist master, right? Do you know the Taoist ultimate technique, the 'Golden Light Mantra'?"

"Hahaha!"

The old Taoist priest was so angry at Shen Chang'an's outrageous demands that he laughed.

"You've got some big ambitions, kid. You want quite a lot!"

However, the old Taoist priest did not break his promise. With a wave of his sleeve, two ancient booklets bound in animal hide appeared out of thin air and landed in Shen Chang'an's hands.

"The book on the left is the Five Thunder Orthodox Method, and the book on the right is the original manuscript of the Golden Light Mantra. Take it and study it yourself first."

The old Taoist priest put his hands behind his back.

"As for the teleportation you mentioned... that's called shrinking the earth to an inch, a profound Taoist technique. I'll teach you when you've mastered these two techniques."

For the rest of the day, the two of them frantically scavenged through the abyss. Whenever they encountered a large group of demons, the Taoist of Lingshan would unleash a Purple Heaven Divine Thunder to clear the area, while Shen Chang'an would summon Black Flames to burn away the demonic energy.

Of course, Shen Chang'an wasn't just working for free. Every time he burned out a cloud of spiritual energy, before the old Taoist devoured it, he would retain a small portion to absorb, using it to further expand his spiritual sea. He would also take advantage of his spare time to try and learn the newly acquired "Golden Light Mantra" and "Five Thunder Orthodox Method".

After a day of absorbing four or five massive amounts of spiritual energy, the Taoist of Lingshan was not only radiant but also walked with a brisk pace. Satisfied, he carried Shen Chang'an back to Zhenyuan City.

As soon as the two landed in the courtyard, they saw Du Qiongyu and Qin Xu already waiting there, their eyes filled with resentment, clearly they had been waiting anxiously.

"Old Ghost of Ling Mountain, you've been eating all by yourself all day, isn't it our turn now?"

Du Qiongyu glanced at the old Taoist priest, then looked at Shen Chang'an with burning eyes, as if he were looking at a treasure. Qin Xu beside her was no less eager.

"no......"

Shen Chang'an weakly raised his hand.

"Dear colleagues, I've been working intensively for twelve hours today, and I'm completely exhausted. Shouldn't I take a break?"

"rest?"

The three looked at each other, then quickly communicated using their divine senses.