The rich aroma of roasting meat drifted across the plains. A monstrously large beast leg was impaled on a steel spear, roasting over a fire, fat dripping down with a sizzling sound.

As the pig skin turned a golden hue, Zong Shou carefully brushed on a layer of fragrant oil and applied spices, making the meat’s scent even more tantalizing.

The more-than-four-ton Wild Tusk Pig had been divided into several portions. At least half of it was fed to the Cloud-Horn Horse nearby, also known as the Cloud-Treading Colt. Mixed with soybeans and fodder, they ate with great relish.

Only three legs remained. Besides the one currently being roasted, Yin Yang and Su Chuxue each claimed one, devouring it until their mouths were slick with grease.

The former maintained a semblance of decorum, but the latter completely disregarded her image, as if wishing she could swallow the bone too. She gnawed and chewed fiercely while gazing up at Zong Shou with an expression of profound admiration.

"So fragrant! Gulp! Delicious! Young Master’s grilling skills have improved so much—"

Her voice was muffled, almost unintelligible if one wasn't paying close attention. Zong Shou couldn't help but smile faintly. Chuxue was his handmaiden, originating from the Tiger-Cat clan, a branch of the Yao race. Despite her beautiful features, she was inherently gluttonous and restless. She appeared demure, graceful, and refined, like a lady of high birth, yet she could barely stay still for a moment. Especially when eating, she always presented a startling spectacle. Though named Su Chuxue (Pure Snow), beyond her skin that was indeed like frost-kissed snow, none of her temperament or disposition matched the name at all.

As for the so-called Yao race, according to later records, they were descendants of the ancient pioneers who integrated the blood of powerful exotic beasts into themselves to enhance their combat strength against the savage, world-ravaging monsters of that era.

But when that tragic age ended, these people became objects of suspicion for humanity, eventually forming their own separate race—the origin of the so-called Yao.

Ten thousand years later, this lineage was nearly extinct; Zong Shou had only encountered them in games.

Using the dagger in his hand, Zong Shou casually sliced off a piece of roasted meat and ate it slowly. Then, his gaze inadvertently drifted once more toward the carriage beside them.

"Uncle Yin, with a great enemy still lurking nearby, is it wise for us to light a fire and halt here?"

Having been in the carriage for seven days, Zong Shou hadn't personally witnessed Yin Yang or Chuxue fighting. However, the scars on both sides of the carriage were fresh. There were also countless puncture marks, almost piercing through the iron plating of the carriage walls. Some spots were even stained with blood, a horrifying sight. It was clear that before arriving in this world, he must have endured great peril.

These past two days, the two of them had occasionally slipped away under the guise of hunting, yet each time they returned, they carried the heavy scent of blood—not animal blood, but the residue of human lives taken.

Yin Yang visibly froze upon hearing the question, then immediately dismissed it, continuing to devour his meat, his voice chillingly flat. "Rest assured, Young Lord. Everything within six hundred li has been purged. Only the Kites are shadowing us day and night. Whether we make a fire or not makes no difference. My Snow and I also require time to recuperate—"

Zong Shou looked up and indeed spotted several tiny black dots darting through the clouds. His heart sank again. With these 'eyes' in the sky, the enemy could track their movements as easily as reading their palm.

Furthermore, given how conspicuous the carriage was, concealing their presence was entirely impossible.

It seemed indeed that a formidable enemy was dangerously close, the situation as precarious as an egg balanced on a precipice.

However, what concerned him more at the moment was Yin Yang's address. Chuxue called him Young Master, but Yin Yang addressed him as Shizi (Heir Apparent/Princeling).

Shizi among the Yao race must mean the direct descendant of the Demon King!

The hundred branches of the Yao race were mostly wild and untamable. For the King’s successor to possess no strength to even truss a chicken—one could only imagine the consequences.

With a sigh, Zong Shou continued eating the Wild Tusk Pig meat. When he felt about ninety percent full, he sensed warm currents surging and coursing through his body.

Zong Shou straightened up and moved to a nearby open area. He began moving his body, sometimes bending sharply at the waist, sometimes bowing low, sometimes stretching his limbs—movements somewhat similar to the fitness exercises popular in later generations.

Chuxue had finished her pig leg by then and tore off half of the roasted front leg. While eating, she looked over curiously.

"Practicing those poses again. They look so strange, and they don't help you fight anyone. Young Master, did you learn this at Linhai Academy? Those Spirit Masters only know how to deceive people, claiming to teach all alike and embrace the world—"

Zong Shou acted as if he hadn't heard, his expression focused, striving to execute every movement with the utmost perfection.

The Basic Guidance exercises were not an inheritance from ancient times. They were created by players in the game Divine Emperor. Their purpose was to guide the body to absorb external energy and convert it into one's own reserves. When practiced alongside internal breath cultivation techniques, they were highly beneficial, increasing efficiency by at least thirty percent during the training of foundational methods.

Zong Shou was one of the participants and initiators. Before coming here, he had researched up to the seventh set of movements, but unfortunately, before he could complete them, the Cosmic Destiny Scripture manifested, triggering the War of the Seven Emperors in the Cloud Realm.

After that, he inexplicably arrived in this world.

Now, every time Zong Shou completed a movement, a thread of vital energy was forcefully guided by him into the Qihai (Sea of Qi) below his abdomen.

But this energy was not true internal force; it was the so-called 'Essence Energy' (Jingyuan), condensed from the purest spiritual energy. Absorbed from the Wild Tusk Pig meat, it should have dissipated naturally over time. Now, however, Zong Shou’s guidance technique forcefully gathered it into his Dantian. It could strengthen the body, or be converted into internal breath, capable of healing injuries or transferring to others—its uses were many.

In his previous life, Zong Shou’s ability to dominate hundreds of millions of players owed a great debt to this Guidance technique.

Normally, Zong Shou practiced within the carriage, three times a day. Chuxue had witnessed it long ago and quickly lost interest after a moment’s glance.

Yin Yang saw it for the first time. After the very first glance, a sharp glint pierced his eyes, and he watched intently, unblinking.

Only when Zong Shou completed the entire set of Guidance exercises did the sharp light in Yin Yang’s eyes recede. He said faintly, "Young Lord, where exactly did you learn this set of movements? If practiced diligently, even if you cannot become a towering figure in the future, you will certainly strengthen your body—"

Zong Shou nodded slightly, acknowledging the advice, but a flicker of strangeness crossed his face.

In these seven days, the only things he had learned were that he had studied at the very familiar Linhai Academy for a considerable time, only recently being picked up by the two of them.

And there was Yin Yang; even with his level of insight and experience, he could not gauge the depth of the man before him.

Calm and composed, meticulous in his actions, he in no way resembled a mere carriage driver.

After finishing their portions of pork, Yin Yang and Chuxue both settled down to meditate and regulate their breathing, becoming as still as if they had fallen asleep.

Zong Shou also sat down cross-legged. He first tentatively circulated a basic internal breath cultivation method, converting the Essence Energy in his Qihai into internal breath. At first, he felt nothing, but just as those streams of energy began to pour into his meridians, he felt a piercing pain throughout his entire body, as if a hundred thousand steel needles had simultaneously stabbed him, nearly making him cry out.

Zong Shou instinctively gasped, unwilling to disturb the two beside him, and forcibly endured it. Only after a moment did the intense pain subside slightly, leaving cold sweat clinging to his front and back.

"As expected! It’s due to the parallel meridians!"

A flash of understanding crossed his eyes. Zong Shou urged his will, commanding all the warm currents to retreat entirely back to the Qihai. He temporarily abandoned the thought of continuing to cultivate internal energy.

All races in the Cloud Realm based their cultivation on the Nine Cycles of the Body Meridian. Nine circular channels circled the entire body.

But when Zong Shou circulated his energy just now, he clearly felt the Essence Energy splitting into two distinct paths within his meridians.

His body, just as he suspected, contained two coexisting meridian systems!

This physique was that of a half-demon, possessing both human and fox bloodlines, both of extraordinary origin. Possessing the strengths of both families, his inherent constitution and Five Element Spiritual Roots must be exceptional.

However, precisely because of this duality, they conflicted, resulting in a terrifyingly low physical stamina, preventing him from cultivating any normal internal breath.

For someone with a physique like dual parallel meridians, most would abandon any thought of martial arts. But for him, it wasn't a hopeless situation.

Coming to this world, his greatest fortune was the martial arts experience accumulated over decades of reading in his previous life and verifying in virtual environments—an experience far surpassing all martial artists of this era!

Recalling information from his past life, Zong Shou’s brow furrowed deeply.

He either needed to cultivate a special technique suited for dual meridians—and Zong Shou’s memory held several such methods, all of extraordinary power, at least master-level—but none were suitable.

Alternatively, he needed to obtain several rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures to enhance one bloodline while suppressing the other, thus improving his constitution and unifying the dual meridians.

But these innate spiritual objects were even rarer. Zong Shou hadn't even dared to consider them.

"I really deserve this! The Blazing Fire Cold Flame Art, the Great Rebellious God Formula, the Sun and Moon Brilliant Wheel—why didn't I examine these closely when I first obtained them? Even if they were a bit trashy—"

Just as he was worrying, a flash of inspiration struck his mind, and another passage of text swept through.

"The way of Heaven diminishes excess and supplements deficiency. The way of Man diminishes deficiency to serve excess—"

Zong Shou’s expression instantly froze. Then, in the next moment, as if seeing a venomous snake or scorpion, he frantically drove this memory away from his consciousness, burying it deep within the recesses of his mind.

These characters originated from an ancient martial arts secret text he had accidentally acquired in his early years, called the 'Devouring Origin' (Tun Yuan). It had once stirred up boundless storms and endless bloodshed in the Cloud Realm, becoming famous across ten thousand worlds, regarded by many as forbidden lore.

If deployed, this technique could indeed resolve his bloodline conflict and even cause his cultivation to surge explosively. But this method—unless forced into a desperate, life-and-death situation—he was unwilling to touch lightly. Especially with his dual-meridian body, it might create even greater hidden dangers. He remained hesitant.

With a bitter sigh, Zong Shou dispersed all the gathered Essence Energy into his limbs and bones, strengthening his physique.

He focused particularly on his hands, making the muscle groups firmer and the tendons and bones more resilient.

He then felled a piece of Ironwood, common in the Cloud Realm, from the nearby grove, and began carving small, half-foot-long wooden throwing knives with the exquisite steel sword in his hand.