A mere ninety percent-how was that any different from courting death?

Blood seeped from their seven orifices. The black-robed elder's furious laugh nearly shook the two black-clad cultivators below him to death.

"Pass down my decree! Spare no cost in searching for clues. Anyone who finds a usable lead-

"I will personally cleanse their marrow and transform their sinews. Those without immortal affinity may enter our Holy Sect; those who already possess cultivation will rise three levels!"

"Yes!" Not daring to hesitate in the slightest, the two black-clad cultivators immediately answered in low voices, then turned and hurried away to relay the elder's orders.

After the two left, the dim, unlit hall fell silent once more.

A long while later, the black-robed elder abruptly rose, instantly transformed into a streak of dark light, and left Flower Moon Peak for another grand hall.

Jiali Hall.

The hall towered into the clouds, its interior astonishingly vast.

Rows upon rows of dark iron bookshelves, each hundreds of zhang tall, stood like enormous pillars reaching into the heavens. Countless Jade Slips and scrolls were densely arrayed upon them, exuding the cold air of accumulated ages and holding a vast sea of information.

The dark light landed, revealing the black-robed elder's figure. He raised a hand, took out a jade token, and presented it to a young cultivator at the entrance to Jiali Hall.

"I want to inspect the records of this intake's disciples from the Outer Mansion of Ling Family Mountain."

The young cultivator guarding the entrance glanced at the jade token glowing with a fine blue-green radiance. He jolted in fright, hastily rose, and bowed, his voice plainly tense:

"G-greetings, True Person.

"Please wait a moment, True Person. This disciple will fetch them at once."

Faced with a personal visit from a Foundation Establishment True Person, the young cultivator dared not dally. He was just about to head inside to fetch the records when a sharp call suddenly came from behind him.

"Wait!"

Gently waving a feather fan, a refined-looking middle-aged man in a plain long robe walked slowly out of Jiali Hall.

Looking at the black-robed elder before him, whose expression was cold and whose eyes were like a hawk's, the man in the long robe smiled mildly.

"So it's Senior Brother Song Kun. It's been a long time. Have you been well?"

Casting a cold glance at Yang Cuan before him, the black-robed elder, Song Kun, showed a flicker of irritation in his eyes and said in a low voice:

"I've been perfectly well. No need to trouble yourself over me."

"Heh heh heh, good to hear. Senior Brother, are you here to retrieve records? But the sect rules stipulate that, apart from the True Person on duty, no other disciple may retrieve records without authorization."

The meaning was simple.

You may be a Foundation Establishment True Person, but you hold no office.

If I won't let you retrieve the records today, you won't get them.

Song Kun's loose black robes suddenly billowed without wind, snapping loudly. The faint phantom of a blood-red crescent moon emerged in his eyes, and a terrifying pressure that made hearts tremble crashed down on Yang Cuan like an invisible mountain!

Yet Yang Cuan paid no heed to the frightening pressure coming from Song Kun. He even took another leisurely step forward, as composed as if all that met him were a gentle breeze.

The invisible might of the two Foundation Establishment True Persons collided and tore at each other before the hall entrance. The air seemed to congeal, giving off faint hisses beneath the unbearable strain.

The young cultivator beside them had already gone deathly pale. His legs shook like chaff in a sieve, cold sweat rained from his forehead, and he was on the verge of suffocating and fainting.

The deathly silent standoff lasted several breaths, each second as long as a century.

"Your terms." In the end, Song Kun spoke and compromised.

Jiali Hall was unlike other places. If he truly tried to force his way, he would be the one to suffer.

Being a demonic sect did not mean having no order.

On the contrary, a demonic sect's rules were actually even stricter and colder.

Otherwise, those below would have long since overturned the heavens in rebellion.

"What are you saying, Senior Brother? How could I be someone who abuses public office for private gain?

"It's just that my disciple has been practicing a sword Instruction lately, but keeps struggling to grasp its True Intention. Senior Brother, you're a master of the sword. Might I borrow your swordsmanship notes for a look?" Yang Cuan wore a perfectly measured trace of helplessness, his expression sincere.

"Fine!" Sweeping a glance over Yang Cuan, Song Kun nodded with a cold laugh.

"Decisive! You, fetch the records and respectfully present them to Senior Brother."

Having achieved his aim, Yang Cuan smiled brightly. He pointed at the young cultivator, who stood beside them as dumbstruck as a wooden chicken, and ordered him to fetch the records immediately and hand them to Song Kun.

"Uh, yes..." Coming to his senses, the young cultivator hurried into Jiali Hall. Before long, he emerged carrying a Jade Slip and handed it to Song Kun.

"Hmph!" With the records in hand, Song Kun did not even look at Yang Cuan. Casually tossing out a jade token, he transformed into dark light and departed.

Rubbing the jade token in his hand, which faintly emitted Sword-Rays, and sensing the pure sword intent within it, Yang Cuan slowly lost his smile and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Go make a copy of those records for me.

"A mere few Outer Mansion juniors actually made that old bastard take them so seriously.

"Heh... something must be fishy!"

In the Seventh Outer Prefecture, in a secluded private courtyard residence.

Inside the meditation chamber, Qi Yun sat cross-legged, his eyes tightly shut and his brows drawn into three deep furrows.

His robes billowed without wind, snapping loudly. An invisible current swirled around him like a vortex, stirring up even the fine dust on the floor.

Over the course of a month, with the aid of [Qi Spirit Pill], he had filled nearly all the meridians in his body with Innate True Qi.

Next, as long as he could drive his True Qi through the obscuring miasma within his Purple Mansion, he could guide it into his Dantian and enter the Qi Refining Third Layer.

The back of his clothes was already soaked with sweat. Qi Yun's breathing was slightly ragged, and his face had grown somewhat pale.

The more True Qi he had within his body, the greater the burden controlling it placed on his mind.

Only after his True Qi took residence in his Dantian and his foundation settled could he command it like his own limbs, no longer expending mental effort.

Success or failure would all come down to this!

Drawing a deep breath and mustering his entire focus, Qi Yun immediately drove the Innate True Qi in every meridian of his body. Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, it surged mightily toward his Purple Mansion.

When assaulting the Purple Mansion's obscuring miasma, the greater the quality and quantity of True Qi, the higher the chances of success.

Ordinary cultivators had no precious pills to aid them and accumulated True Qi slowly. They would generally begin the attempt after filling half their meridians with True Qi.

Their chances of success were roughly sixty percent.

But my aptitude is poor, so the obscuring miasma in my Purple Mansion is bound to be thicker. Even with every meridian filled with True Qi, my chances of success are probably only ninety percent.

A full ten-percent chance of failure!

His expression grave, Qi Yun drove all his True Qi forward, his gaze sharpening. The Innate True Qi gathered from every meridian in his body slammed viciously into the obscuring miasma formed from the layer of acquired impure Qi within his Purple Mansion!

Whoosh-

The instant True Qi collided with the obscuring miasma!

It was like a little earthen dam in the countryside meeting a raging tide surging from the deep sea.

The obscuring miasma within his Purple Mansion was instantly smashed to smithereens by the surging Innate True Qi. Without even raising a splash, it dispersed completely.

The mighty torrent of Innate True Qi poured into this Purple Mansion Dantian without the slightest obstruction.

An indescribable sense of clarity, ease, and control instantly spread throughout Qi Yun's body.

The True Qi that had previously required constant mental effort to control now melded perfectly with his flesh, circulating as naturally as breathing.

"Phew..." Letting out a long breath of stale air, Qi Yun raised his sleeve to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead and sighed softly:

"That was truly perilous. I absolutely must never take such a risk again."