Cultivation Expert

After emerging, Zhou Cheng concealed his presence and carefully navigated the corridor paths.

It was already midnight.

As Zhou Cheng passed a courtyard, he heard the voice of the Prince of Southern Ming and stopped. He climbed onto the roof and, peering through the light, saw the Prince of Southern Ming conversing with an old Taoist priest.

Upon clearly seeing the Taoist robe worn by the old man, Zhou Cheng's heart stirred.

"Daoist Yan, with the experts from the three major sects arriving tomorrow, I must trouble you and the other Daoists of the Peach God Sect to take action," the Prince of Southern Ming said to the old priest.

"Rest assured, Sect Master," the old priest stroked his beard and smiled. "And please, do not forget my end of the bargain."

The Prince of Southern Ming chuckled, "That goes without saying." He then produced the jade box he had previously taken from the stone chamber. As he opened it, the fragrance of lingzhi permeated the air.

The old priest's eyes lit up, and he stared at the lingzhi with burning intensity.

"Once the deed is done, this Century-Old Spirit Lotus shall be yours, Daoist Yan," the Prince of Southern Ming smiled. "As for that Daoist scripture, I ask that you exert your full strength when the time comes."

"Very well!" The old priest beamed. "That will be no problem."

The old priest and the Prince of Southern Ming chatted for a while longer before parting ways.

Zhou Cheng watched the old priest's retreating figure and followed him.

The Immortal Martial World was a realm where martial arts and Daoist arts coexisted, though the Great Feng Dynasty had always favored martial arts, and practitioners of the Dao were rare.

Furthermore, Daoist arts were more difficult to cultivate than martial arts, and because they required reaching a certain level before possessing offensive power, the influence of Daoist sects in the Great Feng Dynasty was not strong.

The old priest before him was likely Yan Chengkun, the sect leader of the Peach God Sect.

Martial arts cultivated the physical body, while Daoist arts cultivated the spirit.

The realms of Daoist arts, from low to high, were the Out-of-Body Realm, Spirit Wandering Realm, Object Manipulation Realm, and above the Object Manipulation Realm was the Form Transformation Realm.

Having previously flipped through the book The World from the Ten Thousand Stars Sect, he recalled it described Yan Chengkun as an expert at the late peak of the Object Manipulation Realm, which was equivalent to an expert at the tenth peak of the Xiantian Realm.

Of course, because the offensive power of a Daoist in the Object Manipulation Realm was inferior to that of a Xiantian Realm martial artist, Yan Chengkun's strength was significantly weaker than that of his master, Xing Yao, and the other five supreme grandmasters.

Just as Zhou Cheng was following Yan Chengkun, the latter suddenly stopped and looked suspiciously behind him.

Zhou Cheng quickly halted, suppressing his focus and aura.

After scanning the area, Yan Chengkun found nothing unusual and continued walking forward.

Zhou Cheng felt a wave of relief.

Although the offensive power of an Object Manipulation Realm Daoist was inferior to that of a Xiantian Realm grandmaster, their cultivation of the spirit meant their spiritual power was formidable, granting them sharper perception than a Xiantian Realm grandmaster.

Zhou Cheng continued to follow, though he was much more cautious this time.

A while later, Yan Chengkun entered a courtyard where more than twenty Peach God Sect priests were gathered; they were all likely Object Manipulation Realm experts.

After returning, Yan Chengkun sat in a circle with the other Daoist experts of the Peach God Sect and discussed the plans for tomorrow.

After listening for a while, Zhou Cheng heard nothing of value and was about to retreat when the system suddenly alerted him to a new mission.

Zhou Cheng was stunned and opened the mission panel.

"Mission: Kill five Object Manipulation Realm Daoist experts of the Peach God Sect."

"Reward: Primordial Boundless Scripture."

Primordial Boundless Scripture?

Although there was no description of the level of this scripture, judging by the Indestructible Vajra Divine Technique and the Northern Dark Divine Technique he had previously obtained, the grade of this Primordial Boundless Scripture was likely not low.

At this moment, Yan Chengkun said to the members of the Peach God Sect, "For tomorrow's fierce battle, everyone should return to meditate and rest to replenish your spirits."

The members of the Peach God Sect left the courtyard and returned to their respective rooms.

Zhou Cheng followed one of them and slipped into the room without a sound.

Just as the man closed the door and prepared to meditate, Zhou Cheng struck; his God-Slaying Saber instantly pierced through the man's throat.

The Peach God Sect expert stared at the suddenly appearing Zhou Cheng with wide eyes, opened his mouth, and then collapsed.

Before the body hit the ground, Zhou Cheng caught it with one hand and stored the corpse inside the Earth Cauldron to prevent the scent of blood from arousing the suspicion of other Peach God Sect experts.

Following this, Zhou Cheng left the room and headed toward the room of another Peach God Sect expert.

Just as before, Zhou Cheng killed with a single strike, without making a sound.

Furthermore, the Peach God Sect experts he selected were all in the early stages of the Object Manipulation Realm.

After Zhou Cheng had silently eliminated five of them:

"Congratulations to the host for completing the mission."

"Reward: One copy of the Primordial Boundless Scripture."

He saw that a Daoist scripture, Primordial Boundless Scripture, had been added to his inventory.

"Do you wish to cultivate the Primordial Boundless Scripture now?"

Zhou Cheng silently recited "Cultivate."

Instantly, a supreme, wondrous incantation flooded his mind.

"Daoist Word: In the beginning, within the Azure Heaven, the empty songs of the blue sky, the great floating earth. Receiving the Primordial Salvation, the boundless supreme grade, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, when speaking this scripture. Circling ten times, to summon the ten directions, beginning at the seat. The true divine gods, the high saints and noble ones, the wondrously acting True Persons, and the countless multitudes, arrived riding upon the void..."

The Primordial Boundless Scripture began to cultivate automatically.

Zhou Cheng opened his character panel.

Host: Zhou Cheng

Northern Dark Divine Technique: Qi Refining Eighth Layer (Progress 46)

Primordial Boundless Scripture: Out-of-Body Realm (Progress 1)

He was now in the early stage of the Out-of-Body Realm.

The reason cultivating Daoist arts is so difficult is that the soul is an ethereal and intangible thing; one must sit in meditation to sense the existence of their Life Palace and soul within their mind. Some people spend their entire lives unable to sense their own Life Palace or soul, and thus, they have no way to cultivate Daoist arts.

However, now that the Primordial Boundless Scripture had automatically advanced to the Out-of-Body Realm, Zhou Cheng could clearly sense the Life Palace in his mind and see the soul residing within it.

His soul looked like a miniature version of himself, sitting cross-legged in the Life Palace with eyes slightly closed, as if in meditation.

"Due to your soul having innate full soul power, the cultivation progress of the Primordial Boundless Scripture has begun to increase significantly."

"Increased by 2."

"Increased by 4."

"Increased by 90."

Zhou Cheng was stunned.

Innate full soul power?

It must be because he had previously consumed the Marrow-Cleansing Pill and the Nine-Orifice Golden Pill.

Zhou Cheng sat down cross-legged, formed a hand seal as instructed by the Primordial Boundless Scripture, and silently recited the incantations. He imagined his soul climbing a high tower step by step, and upon reaching the top, it suddenly leaped out.

Zhou Cheng's soul leaped out from his mind, leaving his body and emerging into the outside world.

This was the soul projection of the Out-of-Body Realm.

However, Zhou Cheng's soul was currently like the wind—an intangible entity—so it was invisible to the naked eye.

Of course, because his soul was intangible, it possessed no offensive power. A Daoist master must reach the Object Manipulation Realm before they can use their soul to manipulate other objects for attacks.