"I’ve never been there either. I asked a senior brother, and he said it takes a Tai Chi Cultivator about three days to get there at full speed using the Swift Technique," Qin Shizhong said.

Zhang Deming nodded. "Alright. I’ll remember this. You’ll be well-rewarded for it later."

Qin Shizhong lowered his head and replied, "If not for your guidance, Master Zhang, I wouldn’t have any of this. It’s only right that I do these things for you."

Zhang Deming looked at Qin Shizhong and nodded. "Alright, that’s all for today. The time on this invitation seems a bit tight. Once I’ve confirmed the information, I’ll submit the mission as complete."

Hearing this, Qin Shizhong said, "Then I will take my leave."

With that, Qin Shizhong turned and left the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.

Zhang Deming glanced at the information on the invitation again, then with a flip of his hand, he stored it in his storage bag.

He quickly went into his room, gathered a few things, and then left his residence.

Because time was tight, Zhang Deming only said a quick word to Yang Guangfu before hurriedly leaving the Sect.

After leaving the Sect, Zhang Deming didn’t immediately set off. Instead, just as he always did, he spent a long time taking a circuitous route to be cautious.

Once he confirmed he wasn’t being followed, Zhang Deming opened his editor panel and gave himself a complete disguise.

Using the editor, he modified everything from his facial features and body shape to his overall aura.

After making sure not a single trace of his original appearance remained, he took out the map-type Magical Artifact. He had already loaded it with a fairly complete map.

The map covered the entirety of the Hongmeng Realm.

Of course, it was completely different from the satellite maps of his past life. No one on Hongmeng Star could create something like that, as the Three Great Holy Lands would never permit such "eyes" within their territories.

Zhang Deming had copied this map from the Information Room on Spirit Nurturing Peak.

It included a general overview of Hongmeng, the complete layout of the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land’s territory, and a detailed map of the Celestial Spirit Sect’s domain and its surrounding areas.

To the outside world, this was a rather precious map.

Zhang Deming studied the map for a long while before putting it away. Light Wings materialized on his back, and he flew at high speed in the direction of Tongzhou.

He clutched several Spirit Stones in his hand to ensure he wouldn’t run low on Spiritual Power.

···

After leaving the Celestial Spirit Sect, Zhang Deming flew rapidly toward Tongzhou. His speed was slightly faster than a helicopter, but because his Flying Technique wasn’t at Tier Four, he couldn’t maintain flight for extended periods.

Every half hour, he would land and run for ten minutes before taking to the air again, repeating this cycle over and over.

While he couldn’t match the speed of a Duality Great Cultivator, he was still several times faster than an ordinary Tai Chi Cultivator.

Zhang Deming had set out mid-morning, and by the afternoon, he had already covered a third of the distance.

Along the way, Zhang Deming noticed something strange.

When he had left the Sect for a mission in Liuzhou two years ago, he had encountered all sorts of ambushes and robberies along the way, as if it were an age of chaos.

Now, Zhang Deming had already crossed more than half of Yuanzhou, reaching the area outside the Sect’s standard jurisdiction.

But in over half a day of rapid travel, he hadn’t seen a single bandit.

He had even passed through several towns and found them all to be peaceful and orderly. It was as if all the chaos he’d seen before was a fluke, as if his luck had simply been so bad that he had encountered all the trouble at once.

Zhang Deming was shrouded in a faint mist, making him unnoticeable. Forget mortals; even an ordinary Tai Chi Cultivator wouldn’t necessarily spot him.

So, as he traveled, it wasn’t a case of people spotting an Immortal like him and deliberately getting out of his way.

The peace he was witnessing was real.

’Well, maybe it is peaceful...’

Just then, Zhang Deming’s expression flickered. For the first time, he heard something out of the ordinary.

He paused, a faint light flickering in his eyes. The surrounding scenery blurred and became transparent. His vision pierced through a stretch of woods to a path within.

’Is this... a conflict in the martial arts world?’

Slightly surprised, Zhang Deming manifested his Light Wings and flew directly toward the source of the commotion.

Shrouded in a swirling gray mist, Zhang Deming reached his destination and landed gently on the very tip of a tree.

Aided by the Feather Fall Technique, he stood as light as a feather on the treetop, silently observing the scene below.

Below was a wide, dirt path cutting through the forest, its edges overgrown with weeds.

On the path, a group of what could only be described as legendary "Martial Artists" were engaged in a fight.

To be more precise, an old man and a young boy were being surrounded by a group of men in practical fighting attire.

What piqued Zhang Deming’s interest was their swordsmanship. It seemed a bit... very... ’Does this have the feel of the Couple’s Swords?’

The old man appeared to be in his sixties or seventies. His face was weathered, his hair was white, and he wore clothes that had been washed until they were faded. He had the air of a servant.

The younger one was a rather handsome boy of about fourteen or fifteen with fair, clean-cut features.

Though his clothes were plain, Zhang Deming could tell from the boy’s complexion and features that he didn’t come from an ordinary family. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The two fought in coordination, using a rather strange style of swordsmanship to barely fend off the attacks of the surrounding men.

Zhang Deming could tell at a glance that the martial arts of the old man and the boy weren’t particularly strong—roughly equivalent to the Peak of Postnatal.

’Hmm, based on what I used to know about the Martial Arts World, they’d be considered geniuses.’

After all, from what he had previously understood about Hongmeng Martial Arts, Innate Martial Artists who could rival a Junior Apprentice were supposed to be as rare as a phoenix’s feather.

Unfortunately, subsequent discoveries had shown him time and again that this saying was complete and utter bullshit.

···

P.S. Please read the following; this section is free of charge.

From the day this book was launched until now, today marks its very first feature on the mobile app’s recommendation list. It has never been featured on mobile before—not on the paged lists, not even on any of the third-tier sub-pages.

I’ve been struggling since the beginning. After the book went premium, it stumbled along with just a hundred average subscribers. For those of you who are still reading, you must at least find the book tolerable.

Since this is the first recommendation feature after going premium, its performance is critical. It needs to achieve a certain number of subscriptions to have any chance of getting future recommendations. Otherwise, this book is completely finished.

So, for those of you who enjoy this book and read the official version, I hope you won’t stockpile Chapters for the next couple of days. Please read them as they come out.

As for those reading on pirate sites, given the book’s situation when it went premium, I didn’t even ask for a high number of launch-day subscribers. If you’ve read this far on a pirate site, you must enjoy the story. So, if you can, please come and support it with a subscription. It doesn’t have to be much; even subscribing for a day or two would be a great help.

If you really don’t have the money, Qidian is running an event right now. The coins you get from the daily check-in and lottery aren’t the free kind; they count as real subscriptions. If you could just check in, do the lottery, and use those coins to support the novel for a few days, I (Weidu) would be incredibly grateful.

To everyone who wants to see this book continue, I’m counting on you all! Thank you!