One person: I, Daoist Master, am a cultivator of immortality!

At Sun Yao's command, the main force of the Unloading Ridge army immediately changed from the rear to the front and headed outwards. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, after the main force of the Unloading Ridge army had left, the mountain where the Xianwang Minglou underground palace was located began to collapse, and rocks kept rolling down the cliff.

Fortunately, the falling rocks on this mountain did not affect the peak where the gourd cave is located. Although the Xieling brothers who were carrying items from the burial pit at the front of the gourd cave felt the shaking of the mountain, they were not affected by it.

After confirming that the location of the other mountain would not affect the mountain peak where the gourd cave was located, Sun Yao returned to the location of the white miasma in front of the mountain god temple.

Here, Sun Yao found the Purple-backed Heavenly Centipede, which had already eaten its fill. It had absorbed enough white miasma here, and its strength and realm had improved by leaps and bounds.

Although simply absorbing the white miasma didn't have much effect on its toxin accumulation, the sheer quantity of white miasma allowed its strength to increase dramatically.

While its current strength may not be comparable to that of the six-winged centipede in Ping Mountain, it should be close enough.

Sun Yao handed the Muchen Pearl to Partridge Whistle and specifically told him about it. He also informed Partridge Whistle about various matters concerning the Kunlun Demon Kingdom and the Evil Luo Sea City.

Sun Yao believed that Partridge Whistle was not just a figurehead; he had earned his position as the leader of the Mountain Moving Clan through his own abilities. Therefore, Sun Yao chose to have Partridge Whistle lead the team to explore the Kunlun Divine Palace, or more precisely, to locate its position.

As for the matter of the Kunlun Divine Palace, it will ultimately be Sun Yao's responsibility. Other things like the White Wolf King are alright, but the Dapu Ghost Insect is an extremely terrifying existence for ordinary people.

The Dapu Ghost Insect is a small, transparent ladybug, a demonic insect driven by the Demon Kingdom. The Dapu Ghost Insect primarily has two forms: Boundless Karmic Fire and Impoverished Divine Ice.

Boundless Karmic Fire emits blue flames, burning anyone who touches it to ashes. Its only weakness is its fear of water. Naiqiong Divine Ice is entirely silver-white, instantly freezing anyone who touches it into frost and shattering them into ice dust. Its only weakness is its fear of fire.

Aside from exploiting its unique weakness to eliminate the ghost worms, any other method will only increase their numbers.

Upon encountering this, Sun Yao's first thought was that it was a Gu worm. Moreover, it was definitely not a Gu worm refined through ordinary means; it was very likely that it was created by borrowing the power of the Serpent God's Eye, also known as the Muchen Pearl.

Only a power beyond the mortal realm could enable a frail ladybug to wield unimaginable ice and fire power. In Sun Yao's memory, besides the Muchen Pearl, the eye of the serpent god, the only other thing that could easily accomplish this was the Heavenly Star Copper that fell from the sky.

Although the Dapu Ghost Insects held the lowest status among demon slaves in the ancient Demon Kingdom, Sun Yao believed that these insects posed a far greater threat than the so-called priests, demon mothers, or even the Pure Vision Agamas.

After arranging everything, Sun Yao led his men away first. After all, the tomb of the King of Xian had been completely destroyed, and he had more important things to do. He wasn't afraid that the King of Yunnan would dare to seize his troops, because he knew the King of Yunnan wouldn't dare; he wouldn't dare to disrupt the peaceful situation.

After returning to Shacheng, Sun Yao once again entered a state of seclusion, because this trip to Yunnan had loosened his cultivation level.

During his trip to Yunnan, he finally felt that his body had achieved a unity of spirit and flesh. In other words, his body was now strong enough to support his continued cultivation, which is why his spiritual realm had begun to loosen.

It was only at this moment that Sun Yao realized that his stagnation was not due to the world's suppression, but to himself.

Yes, all cultivators pursue the dual cultivation of body and mind, and follow the path of the unity of spirit and flesh. Otherwise, they will never be able to overcome the many tribulations on the path of cultivation.

Even those who aren't body-refining cultivators often use spiritual energy to hone their bodies during cultivation. However, Sun Yao never considered this when he started cultivating, which is why his cultivation stagnated after reaching a certain level.

This was also thanks to his bloodline level upgrade, which resulted in the Crimson Gold Blood. The Crimson Gold Blood continuously absorbed external spiritual energy and the spiritual energy cultivated by Sun Yao to temper his body.

Otherwise, Sun Yao might have been overwhelmed by the massive spiritual energy he had gained from cultivating with the medicine. However, this also served as a reminder to Sun Yao that he needed to learn a method to strengthen his physical body, or that during his daily cultivation, he shouldn't try to concentrate all his spiritual energy in his dantian, but should also distribute some of it appropriately to nourish his body.

After Sun Yao got a clue, he began to seclude himself in Shacheng, a seclusion that lasted for three years.

Over the past three years, the Xieling faction has entered a phase of rapid development due to the massive investment of resources. Chen Yulou has been continuously expanding his army, which has grown from two or three hundred thousand to six hundred thousand.

Moreover, all the armaments used by the Hubei-Hunan Army today are produced by themselves, including not only rifles and submachine guns, but also more sophisticated pistols and heavy machine guns. The Hubei-Hunan Army can even produce field artillery.

Today, the Huguang Army is divided into 6 armies, each with 10 men. Each army also has 6 full-strength divisions with 1.2 men each. The remaining 2.8 men are directly affiliated to the army-level departments, including the army-level guard brigades.

It can be said that the Huguang Army was undoubtedly the most powerful warlord in the entire land of China. In just three years, the Huguang Army became the largest arms supplier in the country.

Even Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army came to the Huguang Army to buy equipment, which shows how influential the Huguang Army was throughout China.

As the influence of the Huguang Army grew, Sun Yao also became increasingly famous. Everyone knew that Chen Yulou, the governor of the Huguang Army, was only the nominal master, while the actual leader was the Taoist priest who had been living in seclusion in Shacheng for three years.

On this day, Sun Yao finally emerged from his seclusion. Over the past three years, without harming the thousand-year-old fleshy plant, Sun Yao had used its branches and vines to refine numerous elixirs to aid his cultivation.

With the help of these pills, Sun Yao successfully advanced his cultivation to the twelfth level of Qi Refining. Advancing from the tenth to the twelfth level of Qi Refining in just two years is an astonishing feat even in the spiritually rich world of cultivation.

All of this is thanks to the Thousand-Year Flesh Spirit, a naturally born wood spirit. Without its help, Sun Yao would have been cultivating for who knows how long.

However, the first message Sun Yao received upon leaving the pass was not a congratulatory message for his great improvement in strength, but rather that Xiao Rizi had launched a brazen attack on Wanping County under the pretext of a missing soldier.