Eight Meridians Open Simultaneously

After practicing the Taiyi Sword Technique, the second sword style Zhou Cheng learned was the Swift Wind Nine Swords.

The Swift Wind Nine Swords consisted of nine moves and was a style focused on speed.

"Your Swift Wind Nine Swords have been successfully cultivated."

"Your Swift Wind Nine Swords feel hostility toward the Taiyi Sword Technique and initiate a challenge. After a brief clash, your Swift Wind Nine Swords are soundly defeated."

"Your Taiyi Sword Technique has absorbed the essence of the Swift Wind Nine Swords, and your cultivation progress has surged."

"Surged by 4."

"Surged by 8."

"Surged by 12."

The system's voice rang out incessantly.

Having absorbed the essence of the Swift Wind Nine Swords, the Taiyi Sword Technique instantly improved to 12.

Zhou Cheng began to learn the third sword style, the Phantom Sword Technique.

Just like the Swift Wind Nine Swords, the Phantom Sword Technique was defeated by the Taiyi Sword Technique. The Taiyi Sword Technique absorbed its essence and surged again, this time even more significantly, instantly improving by 16.

Thereafter, whenever Zhou Cheng mastered a new sword style and it was defeated by the Taiyi Sword Technique, the Taiyi Sword Technique would surge; sometimes it improved by 12, sometimes by 16, and at most by 20.

The more powerful the sword technique defeated by the Taiyi Sword Technique, the greater the improvement.

Soon, the Taiyi Sword Technique broke through to the "Entering the Hall" stage.

Zhou Cheng gave a wry smile. If he had known this earlier, he would have practiced this way from the start. Perhaps his Demon-Subduing Saber Technique, Roaming Dragon White Tiger Fist, and Wind-Facing Willow Steps would have reached the pinnacle by now.

After the Taiyi Sword Technique broke through to the "Entering the Hall" stage, Zhou Cheng continued to flip through the sword manuals.

However, after reaching this stage, the improvement of the Taiyi Sword Technique slowed down considerably. Sometimes, defeating a new sword style only yielded an improvement of 5, and at times, only 2.

Even so, the Taiyi Sword Technique was still improving at an extremely rapid pace.

Two days after Zhou Cheng began practicing the Taiyi Sword Technique, it broke through to the "Pure Fire" stage.

At this point, Zhou Cheng had been away from the Ten Thousand Stars Sect for four days.

Four days ago, Zhou Cheng had broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining and, after consuming eight Marrow-Cleansing Pills, reached 32 at the seventh level. Over the past few days, thanks to his daily consumption of the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill and the automatic cultivation of the Northern Dark Divine Technique, his own realm had reached the peak of the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Therefore, on the morning of the fifth day after leaving the Ten Thousand Stars Sect, he consumed a Nine-Orifice Golden Pill, opened his eighth meridian—the Yang Qiao Meridian—and successfully broke through to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

"Now, all eight meridians are open!"

"Only the Earth Meridian and the Heaven Meridian remain!"

Zhou Cheng thought to himself.

The Earth Meridian and the Heaven Meridian were the final two meridians of the Qi Refining realm.

These two were also the most difficult to open in the entire realm.

Many Qi Refining martial artists opened the first eight meridians smoothly, only to find themselves stuck at the Earth Meridian and the Heaven Meridian for years.

"It seems I need to search for more medicinal materials again," Zhou Cheng said, looking at the last two Nine-Orifice Golden Pills in his hand.

Previously, when he left the Capital City, he had purchased another batch of medicinal materials from the Four Seasons Apothecary, refining a total of twenty Nine-Orifice Golden Pills. Including the two he received as mission rewards, he had twenty-two in total.

Over these days, he had consumed twenty, leaving only two on his person.

Therefore, he would run out of Nine-Orifice Golden Pills in at most two days.

It wasn't that he didn't want to buy more materials from the Four Seasons Apothecary back then, but there were over a dozen types of medicinal materials required for the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill, and even the Four Seasons Apothecary was not well-stocked with them.

He wondered if the Demonic Cult's treasury might contain those dozen or so medicinal materials.

His master, Xing Yao, had said that the Demonic Cult had been collecting medicinal materials everywhere recently to cultivate experts; perhaps the treasury held what he needed.

Since Dongsheng Province was at the southernmost tip of the Great Feng Dynasty, the journey from the Ten Thousand Stars Sect was long. It took Zhou Cheng seven days after leaving the sect to reach Dongsheng Province.

Upon arriving at the Blackwater Mountain Range and Hundred Flowers City in Dongsheng Province, he saw that every intersection was guarded by a large number of Great Feng troops.

After securing his warhorse in a safe location, Zhou Cheng took advantage of the thick night, and together with Qin Meng and Lin Ru, they rode the Ice Snow Phoenix to bypass the heavy military presence and entered the Blackwater Mountain Range.

Looking down from high above, a massive black river could be seen winding through the mountain peaks; this was the Blackwater River, from which the Blackwater Mountain Range took its name.

In a dense forest, the group landed and approached the banks of the Blackwater River, where the surface was shrouded in a faint black gas—this was the cold Sha Qi from deep underground.

This cold Sha Qi was highly beneficial to those who practiced demonic arts.

The surroundings were deathly quiet.

Using the Demon God Garment to conceal his presence, Zhou Cheng led Qin Meng and the others deeper into the Blackwater Mountain Range.

Because Zhou Cheng and his companions had been pushing their warhorses to the limit, the experts from the three major sects and the Great Feng imperial family had not yet arrived.

"According to our scouts, the experts from the Great Feng imperial family and the three major sects will reach the Blackwater Mountain Range tomorrow. This time, they've dispatched one hundred and sixty Innate Grandmasters."

"What is there to worry about! The Sect Leader has already laid a net of heaven and earth. Once they arrive, we'll ensure they die without a burial place!"

"Besides, we've already dug tunnels; we can retreat at any time."

Zhou Cheng and his group hadn't walked far when they heard the voices of Demonic Cult disciples ahead. As Qin Meng and the others ducked into hiding, they saw two disciples walking toward them from the distance.

These two Demonic Cult disciples, one tall and one short, possessed formidable auras; both were experts at the tenth level of Qi Refining.

While experts at the tenth level of Qi Refining did not hold the same status as Xiantian Grandmasters, their standing within the Demonic Cult was by no means low.

Zhou Cheng closed the distance, utilizing the Spirit Monkey Hundred Transformations Movement Technique to arrive before the pair. He struck suddenly, hitting their mute acupoints almost simultaneously, and followed up with a single Roaming Dragon White Tiger Fist that sent both men flying.

The two tenth-level Qi Refining Demonic Cult disciples had no power to resist before Zhou Cheng; they were subdued in the blink of an eye.

Qin Meng held his long saber across their throats and began his interrogation.

After some questioning, Zhou Cheng learned their identities: one was a disciple of the Demon Face Left Envoy, and the other was a disciple of the Demon Tiger General, one of the Twelve Demon Generals.

Half an hour later, having extracted the information he sought, Qin Meng slit their throats with his long saber.

"Fire attack, is it?" Zhou Cheng mused.

From the two, he learned that among the experts sent by the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family, there was a mole for the Demonic Cult. When the time came, this person would lure the experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family into a certain dense forest.

Once the experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family entered the forest, the Demonic Cult experts would launch a fire attack, burning them all to death within the woods.

Zhou Cheng's eyes turned icy.

If the experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family were lured into the forest and surrounded by a massive blaze, it was highly unlikely they would be able to escape.

Even if they were not wiped out entirely, they would surely suffer heavy losses.

However, as disciples of the Demon Face Left Envoy, the two men did not know the identity of this Demonic Cult mole, so Zhou Cheng remained in the dark regarding who the traitor was.

Still, the ability to lure the experts of the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family to a specific forest suggested that this person held a high position, and it was highly probable that they were a member of the Da Feng imperial family.

If that were the case, the experts from the three great sects and the Da Feng imperial family were in grave danger.