Fairy, don't go! I have a mod.

The interface instantly lit up with a dazzling light, and countless words and patterns spun rapidly on the light screen, like a carousel that dazzled the eyes.

The icons for various categories—cultivation techniques, elixirs, magical treasures, spiritual materials, and miscellaneous items—flashed by so quickly that they were impossible to see clearly.

Mu Tianmiao wasn't in a hurry.

There's no use rushing when it comes to system lotteries; you get what you're meant to get.

He stood with his hands behind his back amidst the sword light, even having the leisure to whistle twice.

The rotation speed on the light screen gradually slowed down and eventually stopped.

A line of large characters popped up.

[Top-Tier Cultivation Technique: Yin-Yang Harmony Technique]

Below, a line of small print appears: "Hehuan Hehuan, overcoming all difficulties, yin and yang intermingle, heaven and earth in harmony."

Mu Tianmiao's expression froze.

He stared at the words for a long time, so long that the sword light beneath his feet trembled slightly.

Then he slowly raised his hand and wiped his face.

"...Hehuan Gong (a type of Qigong)".

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying an extremely complex emotion.

"I just had some fun with a female cultivator at the Golden Core stage last night, and today you've given me the 'Joyful Union Technique.' System, are you doing this on purpose?"

The system did not respond.

The more Mu Tianmiao thought about it, the more she felt she had lost out.

Last night, he held Yun Qingyao and tossed and turned on the grassy bank of the river countless times.

The dragon poison was indeed potent; it wouldn't stop until all the toxins in her body were eliminated.

The two of them struggled to get from the water to the shore.

They thrashed around on the shore and then onto the grass.

Finally, when she was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

If he had received the reward last night, the combined power of dual cultivation (a hundredfold increase in cultivation level) and the Yin-Yang Harmony Technique would have meant that the gains from that night would have been far more than just detoxification.

Perhaps his cultivation level can jump significantly...

"I should have gotten it last night..."

Mu Tianmiao muttered something with a face full of regret, then pondered it in her heart for a moment...

No, given last night's situation, even if he received the cultivation technique, would he have had time to read it?

Is there enough time to practice?

When Yun Qingyao's burning hot hands wrapped around him, his mind was practically a complete mess, and he couldn't remember anything about the system or the cultivation technique.

Forget it.

He shook his head and tapped "Study" on the screen.

The incantation for the Yin-Yang Harmony Technique transformed into a stream of light and surged directly into his sea of ​​consciousness. The very first sentence made his eyelids twitch.

"The way of heaven and earth is simply yin and yang. Isolated yin cannot produce anything, and solitary yang cannot grow. Therefore, the sage uses the laws governing men and women to understand the creation of heaven and earth..."

The text, spanning several thousand words, is entirely about the methods of dual cultivation.

There are techniques for replenishing essence and replenishing qi, as well as methods for mutual supplementation; there are methods for refining essence into qi, as well as secret techniques for the fusion of spirit and soul.

The entire cultivation method does not follow the low-down approach of absorbing yin to replenish yang, but rather the upright way of yin and yang complementing each other.

At a high level of cultivation, one can even enter the Tao through emotion and prove the truth through desire.

Mu Tianmiao glanced through it and had to admit that it was indeed a top-tier cultivation technique.

If this were placed in one of the major sects outside, it would probably be treated as a treasured heirloom.

The only drawback is... this technique cannot be practiced by one person alone.

"It's alright," Mu Tianmiao reassured herself.

"It's always good to have more skills; you never know when you might need them."

The sword light pierced through the clouds, transforming into a streak of light.

Mu Tianmiao stood with his hands behind his back on his sword, his gaze piercing through the clouds and looking at the distant, undulating mountain range.

In that direction, there is a mountain peak hidden in the clouds and mist, with snow covering its upper half all year round, while its foot is like spring all year round.

That is where the Immortal Shadow Sect is located.

It's been a while since I left, it's time to go back.

As he flew on his sword, he casually thought about all sorts of things.

No one has ever truly measured the extent of the Eight Desolations World.

The Central Continent, as far as he knew, stretched for millions of miles from east to west, and a mortal could not even cross the border of a single continent in his entire life.

Beyond the Central Continent, there are various islands in the east, west, north, and south, each so vast that it seems to have no end.

If you were to put all eight wastelands together, it would probably take a hundred Earths to contain it...

This world is so vast, and it is home to hundreds of millions of ordinary people.

Those who possess the aptitude for cultivating immortality and have a wisp of innate Qi within their bodies account for only about one in a thousand.

One in a thousand sounds like a lot.

But among these one in a thousand people, those who can go through the stages of Qi Refining, Foundation Building, and Golden Core Formation are extremely rare.

The gap between the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages is immense. It is said that the total number of Nascent Soul cultivators in the entire Eight Desolations World is far less than eight hundred.

Eight hundred people, among hundreds of millions of living beings, are rarer than a grain of gold in the desert.

As for the Nascent Soul stage and the Spirit Transformation stage, which are beyond the Nascent Soul stage, they are beyond rare.

There are only a handful of powerful beings above the Nascent Soul stage in the entire Eight Desolations World.

The Nascent Soul stage represents those who truly stand at the pinnacle of all beings; each of them is capable of establishing a sect and passing down its legacy for thousands of years.

The highest realm, the Supreme Realm, exists only in legends.

It is said that a supreme being ascended to heaven in ancient times, but that was tens of thousands of years ago, and now even the relevant records are incomplete.

No one knows exactly what the Supreme Realm is.

The sect leader of the Immortal Shadow Sect, Li Xizhao, had a master who was at the Nascent Soul stage.

A cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage can live for up to three thousand years, and Li Xizhao has been comprehending this realm for a hundred years.

With a Nascent Soul Sect Master presiding over the Immortal Shadow Sect, no sect within a million miles dared to harbor any rebellious thoughts against it.

But the entire sect, from top to bottom, has only a little over a thousand people.

It's not that I don't want to collect more, it's that there's no one to collect from!

With a cultivation aptitude threshold of one in a thousand, this single hurdle eliminates 99% of the applicants.

Even if one is lucky enough to enter the sect, the majority of disciples are at the Qi Refining stage, with only a hundred or so reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, and only a dozen or so at the Golden Core stage.

Cultivating immortality is not that easy.

Outsiders only see the magnificent sight of cultivators flying through the sky on their swords and overturning rivers and seas, but they cannot see the mountains of spiritual stones and pills piled up behind each realm.

They couldn't see the perilous moments of walking on the edge of life and death during each breakthrough.

We can no longer see those predecessors who were stuck at the bottleneck for a hundred or two hundred years, and who eventually died with regrets after their lifespan was exhausted.

This road always gets narrower the longer you walk on it.

Thinking about this, Mu Tianmiao suddenly felt that she was quite lucky.

In the distance, the mountain peaks above the snow line are already faintly visible.

The Immortal Shadow Sect's mountain gate is hidden in those clouds and mists. The three-thousand-year-old pine tree in front of the mountain gate looks like a giant umbrella from a distance.

Mu Tianmiao quickened the speed of her sword light, rushing home as fast as an arrow.

Chapter Four: A Sect That Struggles to Make Money

The sword light landed in front of the Immortal Shadow Sect's mountain gate. Mu Tianmiao sheathed his sword and straightened his robes.

The ancient pines on both sides of the mountain gate are lush and verdant, and the stone steps extend upwards, disappearing into the clouds and mist.

He had only taken a few steps onto the stone steps when a series of exclamations came from ahead.

"Senior Brother Mu is back!"

"Uncle Mu! It's Uncle Mu's sword light!"

"Uncle-Master, you've been gone for a long time this time..."

On both sides of the stone steps, in the training ground, and by the herb garden, female disciples stopped what they were doing.

They all looked in his direction.

Some people were carrying buckets of water for watering, while others stopped practicing their swordsmanship halfway through. They gathered in twos and threes, waving to him with smiles.

As Mu Tianmiao walked along, all she could hear was a cacophony of chattering.

"Senior brother, did you bring back any good food?"

"Uncle-Master, what treasures did you obtain in the secret realm?"

"Senior Brother Mu, why did you change your clothes? You weren't wearing this when you went out!"

Mu Tianmiao kept walking, a calm smile on her face, and occasionally nodded in acknowledgment, giving her a rather outstanding presence.

He certainly has the qualities to stand out from the crowd.

Of the more than a thousand people in the Immortal Shadow Sect, only a few dozen were male disciples, a ratio that was outrageously disproportionate...

What's even more problematic is that most of these dozens of male disciples have absolutely no interest in women, and several of them are actually in pairs...

Male cultivators like Mu Tianmiao, who are both physically and mentally normal, upright, and magnificent, are rarer than ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum in the Immortal Shadow Sect...

No wonder these junior and senior female students' eyes light up when they see him...

Thinking of this, Mu Tianmiao straightened her back even more.

After passing through the front hall square and crossing the central courtyard corridor, you will arrive at the main hall of the patriarch.

The main hall is majestic, with upturned eaves and corners. The entire building is carved from a single piece of spiritual jade, and its whole body is filled with a faint spiritual light.

The palace doors were open, and several figures could be vaguely seen inside.

Mu Tianmiao straightened his clothes in front of the hall and stepped inside.

In the center of the main hall, a tall and slender figure stood with his back to the hall door. He wore a moon-white robe that was spotless, and his black hair cascaded down to his waist. There was no fluctuation of spiritual power around him, but he had an aura of profound composure.

It was none other than Li Xizhao, the sect leader of the Immortal Shadow Sect and a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage.

Mu Tianmiao walked into the hall, respectfully clasped his hands in a fist and bowed in greeting.

"Disciple has returned late, please punish me, Master."

The hall was quiet for a moment.

Li Xizhao slowly turned around.

The atmosphere inside the main hall was not relaxed.

Mu Tianmiao silently stepped aside, stood with her hands at her sides, and glanced around.

The elders, all of them female cultivators, stood on both sides of the hall.

They were talking back and forth, and the conversation had clearly been going on for a while.

Li Xizhao sat back in the main seat, her beautiful eyes slightly lowered, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest twice, and she hummed in agreement.

This can be seen as an acknowledgment of his return.

Mu Tianmiao smiled bitterly to himself.