The three of them memorized the cultivation technique.

He didn’t know what Lu Yu and Fatty Huang planned to do, but he himself had no intention of cultivating the Demon Soul Technique for now.

With his cheat ability, it was far more practical to grind for more enhancement points than to risk cultivating the Demon Soul Technique.

’Worshipping a Demon God...’

Although he didn’t believe in Immortals in this world, worshipping a Demon God truly seemed to grant a great power beyond human ability. Take resurrecting a soul in a new body, for instance—without the step of sacrificing to the Demon God, forging the vessel would be useless.

Lu Yu smiled again. "This method is truly sinister."

Fatty Huang nodded in agreement.

In Sanhua Town, the three of them each made a copy of the Demon Soul Technique, then destroyed the original.

The Celestial Heart Sect’s methods were too bizarre. Who could guarantee the original text didn’t have some unexpected effect? It was better to destroy it.

Bai Yuan and the others didn’t stay in Sanhua Town for long.

News that the Celestial Heart Sect’s branch had been wiped out would soon reach the experts of the Demon Sect.

Jingshan Prefecture wasn’t Huanglong Prefecture; the Soul-Chasing Tower’s influence there was still immense.

Once the Celestial Heart Sect discovered they were responsible, they would surely send powerful experts to hunt them down, leading to endless trouble.

Fatty Huang had to return to the Lingzhou Army, so his path diverged from Bai Yuan and Lu Yu’s.

After parting ways with Fatty Huang, Bai Yuan and Lu Yu rode through the night, heading straight for Huanglong Prefecture.

By dawn, they had already left the borders of Jingshan Prefecture and arrived in Qingyang Prefecture.

The overnight gallop was taking its toll even on the Demon Horses. To prevent them from collapsing from exhaustion, they had no choice but to slow down.

Lu Yu suddenly spoke up, "Are you going to practice the Demon Soul Technique?"

Bai Yuan shook his head.

He didn’t want to rashly delve into a field he knew nothing about. Even though no Immortals had ever appeared in the little game from his past life, not even by the final level... who really knew?

Lu Yu said, "I don’t plan to practice it either."

"..."

After traveling for another two days, the two of them finally returned to Huanglong Prefecture.

Eliminating a Celestial Heart Sect hideout in a remote town hadn’t caused much of a stir. Huanglong Prefecture City was as bustling and peaceful as ever.

After parting with Lu Yu, Bai Yuan went straight back to Wan Jun Peak.

He read over his transcribed copy of the Demon Soul Technique one more time, then burned it to ashes.

The words "Demon Soul Technique" had appeared on his panel, but he had no plans to cultivate it for now.

...

「The next day.」

When he went to the Xinglong Pawnshop in the South City to find Lu Yu, the old bookkeeper told him that Lu Yu had already gone north to Ling Province.

He heard that the fighting in the Northern Territory had grown increasingly brutal, and Lu Yu had been recalled by the Lord General.

’The Northern Territory...’

Hearing those two words made Bai Yuan’s heart sink.

Although Old Dong had achieved a breakthrough, his strength alone was nowhere near enough to turn the tide of battle. Unless the Grand Ancestor Emperor was reborn or a Demon God descended, this war would drag on for a long time.

Ling Province was already close to the battlefield, so it was only logical for the General and the Prefect to mobilize troops and send them north as reinforcements.

In fact, under pressure from the Prefect, the Divine Mansion Sect had also dispatched many of its experts. Four True Disciples had already gone north, and half of the Thirteen Peaks’ Peak Masters had gone as well.

Bai Yuan was only exempted from the fighting because he was Old Dong’s disciple.

’Chaos... chaos...’

Bai Yuan reined in his thoughts.

No matter how the world changed, the only true path was to become powerful yourself.

With his cheat ability, he would actually grow much faster on the Northern Border Battlefield. Of course, he might also die much faster.

A True Disciple from the Divine Mansion Sect had already fallen on the battlefields of the Northern Territory.

Bai Yuan didn’t think he was the type to take on ten thousand enemies on the battlefield. It was far safer to peacefully grind for enhancement points.

...

「On Wan Jun Peak.」

The two young women, Liu Qing and Jiang Fei, were chatting leisurely under a large willow tree.

Although the Young Master showed no intention of taking them for himself, he treated the two of them well.

Unlike the True Disciple from Feishi Peak, he didn’t have any strange fetishes like playing with dripping wax, nor did he kill people indiscriminately.

Lately, he was spending less and less time on the mountain.

The two women, though at ease, couldn’t help but feel bored.

"Little Sister Jiang, what do you think of the Young Master’s wife?"

Liu Qing’s eyes darted about as she asked with a mischievous grin.

The "Young Master’s wife" she spoke of was, of course, Xiao Qiaoniang.

Xiao Qiaoniang had lived in this courtyard for a while, and clever as they were, the two women had long since figured out that she was the proper mistress. As for any other women, they were likely just fleeting pleasures.

"Her legs are very long, and her waist is very thin."

The round-faced and charming Jiang Fei replied with great seriousness.

Liu Qing sighed inwardly. ’Plus, she’s a Female Martial Artist. No wonder our Young Master took a liking to her.’

She and Jiang Fei both came from decent local families. They had even attended a Martial Arts Hall for a few months, but unfortunately, they lacked the talent and couldn’t endure the hardship. They ended up staying home to learn the four arts—zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting—and were later sent to the Divine Mansion Sect.

Their situation was already much better than that of other women in similar circumstances.

Liu Qing had seen too much misery. The higher one climbed, the uglier the hidden filth became.

She had long since grown disheartened by such matters.

Following Bai Yuan meant she could enjoy a peaceful life for at least ten years. Afterward, if she were cast down the mountain, her looks faded and her youth gone, her family certainly wouldn’t take her back. By then, the silver taels she’d have saved should be enough to open a dyeing workshop.

As for Jiang Fei, she’d heard that her own brother was progressing smoothly on the Martial Dao and had recently joined the Divine Mansion Sect.

The siblings had a good relationship. Even when she grew old and her beauty faded, she could at least return to her family and live as a person of leisure.

’Unlike me...’

As Liu Qing thought of this, a touch of irresolvable melancholy appeared in her eyes.

"Sister Liu?"

Liu Qing suddenly heard Jiang Fei call her name. She looked in horror at the Jiang Fei sitting beside her.

Because in a room not far away, there was another woman who looked exactly like Jiang Fei!

In the next instant, the appearance of the Jiang Fei beside her began to change, finally morphing into the likeness of Bai Yuan.

"Y-Young Master?!"

Liu Qing’s eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the Bai Yuan before her.

’What kind of immortal technique is this?!’

She never could have imagined that the Jiang Fei she had spent her days and nights with was actually Bai Yuan.

’Then who was it that helped rub my back last night?’

Her face instantly flushed red with embarrassment.

The real Jiang Fei, her big eyes sparkling with excitement, ran up to Bai Yuan. "Young Master, you’re amazing!"

Bai Yuan smiled faintly. The methods of a Skin Painter were truly profound and extraordinary.

That’s right. After several months of slaying demons, on top of killing those fake monks from Hongfa Temple in Sanhua Town, he had finally upgraded "Half-Hidden Face" to Master level and "Thousand Faces Technique" to Legendary level, which in turn unlocked a brand new class: Skin Painter.

He had been living with Liu Qing for four days, disguised as Jiang Fei.

Liu Qing had been completely unaware.

This was the power of a Skin Painter.

Beyond just voice and appearance, a Skin Painter had the ability to imitate a person’s very soul.

It was somewhat similar to the hypnosis techniques from Bai Yuan’s previous life, except the one being hypnotized was himself.

Over the past few days, he felt as if he had truly become Jiang Fei.

’Only by deceiving yourself can you deceive others. This is the ultimate principle of disguise.’

Otherwise, since Liu Qing and Jiang Fei spent their days and nights together, Liu Qing’s profound and indescribable intuition alone would have been enough to see through Bai Yuan’s disguise.

Yet Liu Qing hadn’t felt the slightest thing was amiss.

’What a technique!’

Bai Yuan praised it in his heart.

With a powerful ability like the Skin Painter’s, he could do so much more in the future. The skill of freely changing his form alone had endless applications.

He glanced at his panel.

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Class: Demon Hunter, Sword Ghost, Boxer, Spirit Cooker, Skin Painter]

[Skills: Broken River Saber (Adept), Demon Qi Lure (Master), Thousand Faces Technique (Legendary), Half-Hidden Face (Master), Sunflower Acupoint Striking (Adept)...]

[Enhancement Points: 0]

In the class section, "Screen Master" had changed to "Skin Painter," and the three golden words "Thousand Faces Technique" radiated a pay-to-win aura.

However, Broken River Saber was still stuck at the Adept level. Forging a new path was far more arduous than following one already laid by predecessors.

With Bai Yuan’s level of comprehension, his progress would naturally be even slower.

But if he could truly succeed, the benefits would be obvious. It would be almost equivalent to having a self-created cultivation technique.

Rather than trying to find two cultivation techniques on par with something like the Tiger-Crane Style, it was more cost-effective to create his own.

However, Broken River Saber currently consumed too many enhancement points, which was why he had chosen to unlock the Skin Painter class first to boost his immediate combat strength.

Besides, Huanglong Prefecture seemed to be growing restless lately...

...

「Outside Huanglong Prefecture.」

A sprawling sea of black tents created an almost suffocating sense of oppression.

This was a military encampment.

To be precise, it was the encampment of the Lingzhou Army.

With the battle on the front lines at a stalemate, the Prefect of Lingzhou and the Lord General had decided to establish a second line of defense in Huanglong Prefecture to repel the Demon Sect’s southward invasion.

As for whether there was a deeper meaning to this, no one could say.

Murong Tian, the Sect Leader of the Divine Mansion Sect, voiced no objection to this.

Just yesterday, General Zhao Wu of the Lingzhou Army, Ji Chang, had arrived at Huanglong Prefecture with a thousand elite soldiers and set up camp outside the city.

But any discerning person could see that the Divine Mansion Sect and this General Zhao Wu did not seem to get along.

The Lingzhou Army had been in Huanglong Prefecture for a day.

The Divine Mansion Sect had sent only an irrelevant, octogenarian Supreme Elder to greet them; not even a single Peak Master had shown their face, to say nothing of the Sect Leader, Murong Tian.

The arrival of the Lingzhou Army had cast an incredibly delicate atmosphere over Huanglong Prefecture. For a time, even the sounds of children playing in the streets had quieted.

Many gossips speculated that this was very likely the Lord Governor and the Lord General using the Demon Sect affair as an excuse to put the Divine Mansion Sect in its place.

It was true that the Xuan Yang dynasty and the sects co-ruled the world.

But the initiative still had to remain in the hands of the Imperial Court.

Yet Huanglong Prefecture had always remained separate from Ling Province’s governance, and the Divine Mansion Sect was the key reason why.

Huanglong Prefecture was practically a land outside Ling Province’s jurisdiction, and successive Prefects and Generals had all been displeased with the Divine Mansion Sect.

But what could they do? The Divine Mansion Sect produced heroes in every generation. As long as no one was willing to completely break off relations, there was nothing they could do to the sect.

After all, if some Lord General were to dispatch troops to annihilate the Divine Mansion Sect, the Lingzhou Army would surely suffer devastating losses as well.

Ling Province belonged to the Court, and the Court would not allow them to act so recklessly. If they truly dared to do such a thing, they wouldn’t be wearing their official robes for much longer.

The Divine Mansion Sect’s roots in Huanglong Prefecture ran too deep. Anyone who tried to bite into it would end up bleeding profusely.

Therefore, for a thousand years, although successive Prefects and Generals had been displeased with the Divine Mansion Sect, they never did anything too out of line. Most of the time, they chose to turn a blind eye.

However, the current Lord General seemed to have other ideas.

Otherwise, the Lingzhou Army would not have entered Huanglong Prefecture. The army staying out was an old rule that the Huanglong Prefecture People had followed for a thousand years.

...

"Something has come up. Meet at the Xinglong Pawnshop tomorrow."

Bai Yuan stared at the letter in his hand.

The letter was from Lu Yu. Apparently, he had returned to Huanglong Prefecture.

The old bookkeeper at the Xinglong Pawnshop had said Lu Yu went to Ling Province, but now he had suddenly returned to Huanglong Prefecture.

Connecting this to the Lingzhou Army setting up camp outside Huanglong Prefecture today, Bai Yuan wouldn’t believe for a second that the two events were unrelated.

「Early the next morning.」

Bai Yuan descended Wan Jun Peak early and headed toward the South City of Huanglong Prefecture.

He planned to get some useful information about the Lingzhou Army out of Lu Yu.