The matter concerning Steward Zhou was relatively easy to resolve. Ye Wen had somewhat discerned Zhou's character, and besides, Zhou had looked after the Liu Muyan family for so many years and maintained a good relationship with the Shu Mountain Sect. Now that he had arrived in the Immortal Realm alongside them, he could be counted as one of Shu Mountain’s own.

Furthermore, he was inherently skilled in saber techniques. These past few decades had not been spent in vain; his mastery of the saber had already reached an exceptionally high level. Coupled with his military background, he possessed a dense aura of killing intent—a talent like this would be quite a boon.

Should the Shu Mountain Sect need to guard the frontier in the future, they might well face attacks from Mount Olympus. Having someone with a military background would undoubtedly prove significantly helpful.

For Steward Zhou to cultivate the Shu Mountain Sect’s techniques, the solution was simple: provide him with those few saber manuals and let him practice independently. The only complication lay in determining which internal cultivation method to impart to him.

Regarding the series of internal arts within Shu Mountain’s Inner Sect, setting aside whether teaching them would violate any precepts, Zhou’s specific temperament made the choice of cultivation method quite a thoughtful matter.

Ye Wen pondered it deeply, and it seemed the most suitable for him would be either the Innate Violet Qi of his own lineage or the Limitless Pure Yang Art that Xu Xian had abandoned due to injury.

However, Zhou was not of a Pure Yang body, meaning he could never reach the highest echelon of the Limitless Pure Yang Art. That left the Innate Violet Qi.

Yet, Zhou was not a formal disciple of Shu Mountain, so imparting the Innate Violet Qi to him felt entirely improper!

Though Ye Wen currently cultivated the Primordial Chaos Art, and the high-tier Shu Mountain technique was settled as the Innate Heaven and Earth Art, the Innate Violet Qi could coexist with both these methods and serve as a foundational core technique.

Even now, the effects provided by the Innate Violet Qi remained irreplaceable for Ye Wen’s fighting style. Without the terrifying recovery ability undergirding him, he would simply exhaust himself.

Fortunately, this problem was not pressing. He could take his time finding a suitable method for Zhou; after all, if the Shu Mountain Sect had nothing else, they certainly had an abundance of cultivation manuals!

As for that eunuch, Liu Fushun…

“What cultivation methods are suitable for a eunuch?”

The first thing that sprang into Ye Wen’s mind was the renowned, invincible divine art, the Sunflower Manual—a technique allegedly created by a high-ranking palace eunuch, once hailed by countless people as the foremost martial art in Jin Yong’s wuxia world.

Of course, Ye Wen had always harbored skepticism about this. The era when the Sunflower Manual reigned supreme in the Jianghu lacked persuasive context. Although the martial record of that time was merely a fragment, so too was another art capable of absorbing others' power. At most, they were fragments of two martial arts, and ones far more potent than the notorious Manual.

“Someone… give the fellow the Star-Sucking Great Law?”

Ye Wen suddenly found the idea remarkably creative—a eunuch practicing the Star-Sucking Great Law, what a hilarious prospect! Best to change the name entirely and just call him Ren Wo Xing!

As for the shortcomings of the Star-Sucking Great Law? In Ye Wen’s current hands, there were numerous ways to resolve them. Not to mention that reaching the Taiji Yin-Yang Transformation Method could easily neutralize it; even cultivating the Purple Cloud Divine Art to its Great Accomplishment stage could resolve this issue—though whether the original Purple Cloud Art possessed this capability was unknown. Ye Wen’s version of the Purple Cloud Art certainly could.

The trouble with the Star-Sucking Great Law lay in the conflict and lack of control over various forms of True Qi. The Purple Cloud Art, when cultivated to its extreme, allowed for effortless manipulation of True Qi and possessed the ability to neutralize heterogeneous True Qi.

“The Star-Sucking Great Law paired with the Purple Cloud Art—it might actually work!”

Although Ye Wen lacked the secret manual for the Star-Sucking Great Law, he could certainly invent and create it himself. During a previous crisis, he had temporarily simulated the Star-Sucking Great Law based on a few incantations.

“Ah, the more I think about it, the better it seems. But this art would likely be classified as an evil or unorthodox path by the righteous sects of the immortal path, wouldn’t it?”

Lost in his pleased thoughts, he almost forgot that even in the secular Jianghu, the act of seizing others' power was viewed with deep aversion. In the Immortal Realm, wouldn't it be even more reviled?

The mortal Jianghu only involved seizing a few years of power, at most a decade or two! But cultivators in the Immortal Realm lived for hundreds or thousands of years; one might accidentally overload themselves in an instant.

Shivering slightly, Ye Wen tossed that unreliable notion into a corner and began contemplating seriously what arts to arrange for Liu Fushun and Zhou Guan.

As he fell deep into thought, the chopsticks that had been moving slowly barely stirred. Huayi, sitting nearby, noticed and asked, “Husband, are you worried about Ru Xue?”

Ning Ruxue hadn't joined them for dinner tonight because she was in the training room practicing the Adamantine Vajra Body of Heaven and Earth. She reportedly made significant progress and was determined to push through a bottleneck; if successful, her cultivation would advance another level.

Ye Wen startled, realizing he had drifted off: “Oh, just thinking about a few things!”

“Don’t think too much while eating. Wait until after the meal to ponder!” She casually placed a chicken wing onto his plate. Huayi knew Ye Wen loved these, so whenever they had chicken, both she and Ning Ruxue would save the wings for him. With a large group eating tonight, they had hastened to secure one for him as soon as they sat down.

Ye Wen smiled, putting the matter aside. Just then, Claire and Li Xiaoyao, seated next to each other, started a conversation that caused everyone at the table to pause.

“Xiaoyao, if you had to choose between the meat bun and me, which would you pick?” Ye Wen looked over to see that the meat buns on the table were finished, and Li Xiaoyao, spotting one untouched bun near Claire, had reached out with his chopsticks to take it, provoking Claire to ask the question.

“M-my…” Li Xiaoyao looked down at the meat bun in his bowl. Its rich aroma was constantly tempting him, almost overwhelming his control.

He turned his gaze to the two buns near Claire. He felt an intense craving for those as well, and suddenly, he couldn't decide.

“Hey! Does a question like that require this much consideration?” Ye Wen found Li Xiaoyao’s tortured expression utterly absurd. “What’s with that look? Is it really that difficult to choose? And where are you looking, you scoundrel!”

Everyone watched as Li Xiaoyao glanced alternately between the bun in his bowl and Claire (?), finally sighing in agony, “This choice is too painful. Kill me instead!”

A burst of laughter erupted. The meal concluded merrily. The only dissatisfied person was Claire, who tragically realized that in Li Xiaoyao’s heart, she ranked lower than a meat bun, which left her quite dejected!

“May you choke on it!”

“Choking to death would be the happiest thing in this world!” Li Xiaoyao, blissfully unaware of the danger, buried his face in a chicken leg, eating happily, only to be sent soaring by an Iron Fist imbued with love and justice from the enraged Claire.

“Mount Lu… Rising Dragon Burst!!!”

“Brother Guo, when did you teach your sister that move?” Chris wiped a bead of cold sweat, entirely unaware of when his sister had learned it.

Guo Jing looked bewildered: “I never taught her! But two days ago, when I was practicing under the waterfall in the back mountains, your sister happened to see me!”

“Oh!”

“I never realized before; she’s quite tenacious!”

After filling their stomachs, everyone settled into casual chatter. Ye Wen asked Huayi about the situation with Ling Zhu.

“That child’s innate talent and comprehension are extraordinary, but strangely, there is a stream of Profound Yin Qi in his innate physique!”

Huayi’s explanation clarified for Ye Wen why Ling Zhu could cultivate the Heavenly Demon Art—it was fundamentally due to his constitution. This suggested the Heavenly Demon Art wasn't strictly impossible for men to practice. But that Profound Yin Qi…

“Doesn't that mean he’s just like you?”

“Yes.”

Huayi’s smile vanished. Perhaps she was reminded of her own past. Because of that Profound Yin physique, she had been noticed by Shen Yuqing, taken back to the sect, and raised as a mere cauldron, all while remaining oblivious. She had regarded Shen Yuqing as the person she cherished most, only to realize everything was just a reflection in the mirror, a moon in the water—shattering into pieces at the slightest touch, never to be restored.

Ye Wen knew he had spoken carelessly and put an arm around Huayi’s shoulder to comfort her: “It’s all in the past. You need to look forward!”

“Mmm.”

As they watched the disciples laughing and making noise, their moods gradually recovered, especially with the lively presence of Li Xiaoyao making it hard not to feel cheerful. Huayi watched for a while and remarked, “Xiaoyao’s disposition… it’s truly enviable!”

“Ha!”

Seeing Huayi calm down, the two walked towards their courtyard while discussing Ling Zhu.

It turned out that Ling Zhu managed to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Art by relying on that trace of Profound Yin True Qi within his body. However, the Heavenly Demon Art was ultimately a martial art for women, and even though Ling Zhu resembled a woman, he was a proper, flawless, pure man!

Thus, as soon as the Heavenly Demon Art was mastered and the Heavenly Demon True Qi began circulating along its predetermined path, the physical differences and the inherent Yang Qi within a male body affected the technique. The Heavenly Demon True Qi started to run wild, making Qi deviation (going berserk) almost inevitable.

It was fortunate that he didn't die on the spot; it was thanks to Zhang Gui unintentionally cultivating the Longevity Art that Ling Zhu’s condition was stabilized! But this was not a long-term solution. Although Zhang Gui’s Longevity Art True Qi was refined, he had practiced it haphazardly, without true understanding, only passively counteracting the Heavenly Demon True Qi in Ling Zhu’s body. The result was that Zhang Gui’s Longevity Art True Qi grew increasingly pure, and under the trial of the Heavenly Demon True Qi, he gradually mastered the methods of Yin-Yang transformation.

Meanwhile, Ling Zhu’s Heavenly Demon True Qi became more dominant under the suppression of the Longevity Art, eventually growing so strong that even Zhang Gui could no longer contain it. Just as this strange phenomenon was about to claim the life of a generation, Ye Wen appeared and preserved Ling Zhu’s life.

However, regarding the Heavenly Demon Art problem, even Ye Wen was stumped. He had no choice but to seek advice from the only person in his sect who had cultivated the Heavenly Demon Art: Huayi.

Huayi had diligently practiced the Heavenly Demon Art for decades and was intimately familiar with it. At this point, Huayi had not only mastered the art to its highest level but had also begun guiding it toward the direction of Hong Kong comic martial arts. Currently, although Huayi relied primarily on the Five-Colored Divine Light when fighting, even if she only used the Heavenly Demon Art, ordinary cultivators couldn't withstand more than a few moves.

The Heavenly Demon Aura accompanying the Heavenly Demon Art, when fully urged by Huayi, could nearly cover half of Mount Shu, though the effect itself was negligible!

“Is there any solution?”

Huayi turned to look at Ye Wen: “Actually, this problem requires Husband to solve it?”

“Oh?” Ye Wen didn't understand why he was involved. He recalled that he had been helpless regarding Ling Zhu’s issue. Although the Heavenly Demon Art was considered a mainstream Daoist technique, its path diverged entirely from what he cultivated. Even if all great paths converge, if the path taken is different, who can fully grasp the problems encountered and the solutions found on another’s road?

Huayi said: “The fundamental issue is the conflict between the True Qi generated by the Profound Yin Qi cultivation and the Yang Qi inherently contained in his body. Once that problem is resolved, everything else is manageable!”

“Didn’t you say his male physique caused many issues?” Upon asking, Ye Wen immediately realized his foolishness. While the difference between male and female bodies is significant, cultivation primarily follows the meridians and the Six Paths, where there is little difference between men and women.

Of course, if a technique required cultivation dependent on special organs, that would be another matter!

As long as Ling Zhu could effectively control his True Qi, his male body could still ensure the normal operation of the Heavenly Demon True Qi. Therefore, the root cause lay in the conflict between the Yin and Yang energies.

Looking at it this way, Ling Zhu didn't need to disband his power or seek out Dongfang Kui to learn the Phoenix Nirvana Art—although that idea was discarded immediately after learning that the Phoenix Nirvana Art was actually created to solve the Phoenix Clan's family planning issues (a different kind of planning) and was never intended for human cultivation.

So, Ye Wen’s initial thought was to have Ling Zhu scatter his power and then teach him a different technique. But after hearing Huayi’s words, he realized solving Ling Zhu’s problem wasn't difficult; it just required balancing the Yin and Yang energies.

“Right, since Ling Zhu could cultivate the Heavenly Demon Art, it shows his aptitude and comprehension aren't poor. Why would he end up serving Zhang Gui as a young sweeping boy?”

Huayi was equally puzzled by this. Given the requirements for aptitude and comprehension, few within the Shu Mountain Sect could surpass Ling Zhu. At the very least, the Shu Mountain Sect possessed martial arts that, even with lesser aptitude, could yield some achievement if practiced step-by-step according to the manual.

But the Heavenly Demon Art was the supreme treasure of the Demonic Sect. Huayi had read the original text; even within the Yin Cai Sect itself, only a very small number of disciples could practice this art—all of whom were highly valued, irrespective of character, possessing world-rare aptitude, comprehension, and appearance.

Even so, these individuals faced immense difficulty cultivating the Heavenly Demon Art, proving how hard it was to master! For Ling Zhu to succeed with an incomplete manual and a mere trace of Yin energy in his body, while being male, spoke of heaven-defying talent. But why would such an outstanding disciple be cast aside by the Shu Mountain Sect? If properly nurtured, the Shu Mountain Sect might have produced another Ye Wen to lead them back to their peak.

Ye Wen also couldn't initially figure this out, wondering if Zhou Zhiruo, Guo Jing, and Nangong Huang had all gone blind, or perhaps the child was ostracized?

But thinking it over, neither made sense, because Zhou Zhiruo herself had personally sent this disciple to Zhang Gui—if he were truly marginalized, he might not even have met Zhang Gui, given that Zhou Zhiruo knew Zhang Gui had gained a fortuitous martial art from a secret encounter in the Water-Returning Pavilion!

Therefore, Ye Wen had long suspected there was a special reason—perhaps Zhou Zhiruo and the others couldn't teach him, so they sent him to Zhang Gui. He couldn't fathom the reason before, but now he understood.

In the end, the problem reverted to the conflict between Yin and Yang energies.

In reality, everyone possesses Yin and Yang energies within their bodies. Imbalance in the body’s Five Elements and the Two Energies causes physical ailments! Even practitioners dare not easily disrupt this innate balance.

Ling Zhu’s situation differed from ordinary people. The Yin energy within him was not the normal Yin component of the Yin-Yang balance; it was the Profound Yin Qi, rare even among women. Combined with the inherent Pure Yang Qi of a male, this caused the conflict.

“Balance the Yin and Yang energies… You mean…?” Ye Wen possessed numerous cultivation methods. When it came to balancing Yin and Yang energies, the most effective was undoubtedly the Taiji Divine Art! Of course, Huayi certainly didn't know Ye Wen understood the Taiji Divine Art, but his Innate Violet Qi had already integrated the Yin-Yang Transformation methods from the Taiji Divine Art.

In fact, Ye Wen's Innate Violet Qi should be fully named Innate Taiji Yin-Yang Violet Qi, but he found the name ugly and cumbersome, so he kept the original title! Moreover, Innate derivation generates Taiji and transforms Yin-Yang; everything was contained within, so there was no need for deliberate emphasis.

Huayi only knew that Ye Wen’s Innate Violet Qi contained the Yin-Yang transformation method. She proposed this suggestion so Ye Wen could transmit the balancing and transformation aspects to Ling Zhu.

However, after hearing this, Ye Wen felt he could teach the Taiji technique independently. Then, Ling Zhu would possess both the Heavenly Demon Art and the Taiji Divine Art, resulting in quite formidable strength!

If he managed to integrate them thoroughly, the Shu Mountain Sect would gain yet another divine art!

“What shall we call it? Taiji Heavenly Demon Art?”

Ye Wen nodded with a smile, finding the name quite suitable. But there was still the question: why should he teach this child his ultimate technique?

Although the Taiji Divine Art wasn't listed among the Shu Mountain Sect’s techniques, its Yin-Yang transformation aspects were integrated into the ultimate art, the Innate Violet Qi. It was still a powerful technique, a pinnacle achievement in the Way of Yin and Yang, and stood strong even when taken out on its own, not inferior to the Innate Violet Qi.

Huayi gave him an excellent answer: “I find that boy to have exceptional aptitude and was already considering taking him as a personal disciple!”

For years, she had stayed by Ye Wen’s side, almost like a personal maid, doing everything for his sake. Now, she unexpectedly wanted to do something for herself for a change.

“Besides, it’s so rare for a boy to practice the Heavenly Demon Art. It seems like even in those web novels on Earth, no one has ever written about it. Being able to personally guide it is quite amusing!”

Ye Wen’s mind went blank. He felt that was the real reason, but he wisely chose to remain silent, nodding repeatedly in agreement.

At this moment, watching Huayi’s eager expression, Ye Wen suddenly felt that the child named Ling Zhu… might have been better off dead, for what awaited him was likely a future more tragic than hell itself.