At the start of the game, you have one equipment slot; the effects of unequipping the equipment rema

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[Task ID: Northwest Region 571]

[Task Level: Upper Earth Rank]

[Mission Objective: This is a late-stage Tier 6 Purple Lightning Bat Demon residing in Thunder Valley (its level was determined seven years ago). Please slay it and bring back its corpse or a unique identifier proving its identity.]

[Mission Recommendation: Priority will be given to candidates with aerial combat experience and expertise in speed and long-range attacks...]

[Mission Rewards: Two Superior-Rank Earth-Level Merits; accompanying companions may receive one Superior-Rank Earth-Level Merit at the discretion of the mission leader.]

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Thunder Valley, a towering valley shrouded in dark clouds and perpetually filled with lightning and thunder.

Due to its particularly harsh weather, the Demon Slayer Bureau has sent people to investigate multiple times, hoping to find out if a blessed land has been born there.

As it turned out, there was no blessed land, but there was a powerful demon.

Unlike ordinary bat demons that rely on sight to detect targets, this purple lightning bat demon has extremely poor eyesight, but its perception is incredibly amazing.

When it encountered a seventh-level martial artist leading a group, it would use its keen senses to hide in a valley filled with thunderstorms.

When faced with a team led by a sixth-tier martial artist, it strikes with full force, using its advantage of flight and its control over lightning to cut down the intruders.

Many self-proclaimed domain seekers attempted to hunt it, but most were severely injured, and two even perished in Thunder Valley.

Fortunately, although this purple lightning bat demon is powerful, it almost never goes out and lives in the valley all year round.

Over time, no one paid any attention to it anymore.

"Thunder Valley, it's quite close to Wind and Cloud Cliff, this is the one!"

He wanted to see just how strong this Purple Lightning Bat Demon, which had caused countless Seekers of the Realm to fail, really was.

After confirming the mission, Mu Yang left the secret room and followed Lu Zongsong to the armory in the prefectural city.

To be honest, the armory in the prefectural city is quite impressive.

The entire structure is made of dark blue-black boulders, and is engraved with special patterns that Mu Yang cannot understand.

The building has three floors.

According to Lu Zongsong, the first floor is open to everyone in the Demon Slayer Division.

Most of the items needed by the Demon-Hunting Captains can be exchanged here; they are all items of rank 5 and below.

The second floor requires the identity of either a Demon Slayer or a Domain Seeker to enter, and the maximum number of items that can be exchanged is seven tiers.

As for the final third level, only the Demon Suppressor and the High-Rank Domain Seeker can enter.

It contains rare eighth-tier martial arts techniques and eighth-tier items, which are extremely valuable.

As a direct subordinate of Muyang, the Seeking Domain Envoy, he was naturally able to enter the third level.

However, the items on the third level are not cheap; at the very least, one needs to have a Heavenly-level superior merit.

Clearly, Muyang, with only a prefecture-level merit, cannot afford such a sum.

Therefore, his target is naturally the second level.

The front hall on the second floor of the prefectural armory is a huge hall.

The hall was about five zhang high, and the walls were inlaid with huge fluorite stones, illuminating the entire hall as if it were daytime.

Mu Yang glanced at them and found that each of the giant fluorites was of grade five.

In the center of the hall was a huge counter, behind which sat an elderly man with white hair and beard.

Perhaps because the hall was empty at the moment, the old man was dozing off with his eyes half-closed, and there was even a huge snot bubble that swelled and shrank with his snores.

"Old Yao!"

Lu Zongsong stepped forward and said softly.

The old man, referred to as Yao Lao, seemed startled, and his snot bubble burst with a "pop".

He abruptly sat up in the recliner, and upon seeing that it was Lu Zongsong, he said with a resentful look, "I knew it was that little rascal who dared to disturb my peace and quiet! So it was you!"

As he spoke, he looked at Mu Yang behind Lu Zongsong: "New here? The exchange catalog is over there. Pick whatever you want. Don't be like this kid in the future, always disturbing my rest."

After saying that, Old Yao lazily leaned back in his recliner, and soon after, a steady snoring sound began, and a huge snot bubble appeared again.

Lu Zongsong gave Mu Yang a look that said, "That's just how it is," and then stepped aside to wait quietly for Mu Yang to make his choice.

Mu Yang:.........

Mu Yang stepped forward and looked at the counter.

Just as Yao Lao said, the exchange catalog for the armory was right there on it.

Because there was so much material, martial arts, military strategy, elixirs, and secret techniques were each compiled into a separate volume.

Mu Yang immediately opened the martial arts catalog.

Unlike the pitifully small variety of weapons in the Demon Slaying Division's armory in Qinghe County, this place not only has over a hundred types of Meridian Opening Techniques, but also dozens of sixth-tier Acupoint Opening Techniques.

Among them are the "Breath Earth Opening Method", the "Blazing Fire Opening Method", and the "Mysterious Ice Opening Method".

Besides these, there are also many other methods for unlocking the potential of other attributes.

The price isn't too high. The price for an Enlightenment Method without attributes is one Earth-level Superior Merit, while the price for one with attributes is two Earth-level Superior Merits.

It's basically dirt cheap.

It is clear that martial arts skills are not difficult to acquire in the Demon Slayer Division as long as one is willing to put in the effort.

After studying the Enlightenment Method, Mu Yang sought out the True Qi Refractory Method that he had been longing for.

Compared to the dozens of methods for opening the mind, the number of methods for calcining the true qi is significantly less.

There are only ten in total.

Eight of the gates have the five elements plus the three attributes of ice, thunder, and fire, while the other two gates have no attributes.

One is called "Hun Yuan Yi Qi Zhen Gang Calcination Method", and the other is called "Chun Yuan Zhen Gang Calcination Method".

These were all names that Mu Yang was familiar with.

Clearly, the martial arts techniques of the Demon Slaying Division in the county town were not used casually.

Many of them are martial arts techniques that lead directly to the True Qi Realm.

The exchange price for these True Qi Calcination Methods isn't expensive.

A uniform price is a low-level achievement.

Based on the exchange rate of one out of ten, Mu Yang could just barely exchange for one book.

However, Mu Yang was not in a hurry.

After all, equipping the True Qi Forging Method means that the true qi in the body will be transformed into True Qi, and one will break through to the seventh level.

However, he has not yet opened the two apertures of his life soul, so there is no rush for him to break through.

What he needs right now is to exchange for more Enlightenment Techniques to quickly open up the two apertures of his life soul.

Thinking about it, Mu Yang looked at the section on Enlightenment Methods again.

He made his choice very quickly.

They exchanged for the following: the Metal-attribute "Geng Metal Awakening Method", the Wood-attribute "Green Wood Awakening Method", the Water-attribute "Canghai Awakening Method", the Earth-attribute "Mountain Awakening Method", the Thunder-attribute "Purple Thunder Awakening Method", the Ice-attribute "Extreme Ice Awakening Method", and the non-attribute "Primordial Qi Awakening Method" and "Pure Yuan Awakening Method".

Apart from the "Extreme Ice Aperture Opening Method," all of these have corresponding advanced True Qi Forging Methods.

These methods of opening the orifices require a total of eight high-level Earth-grade merits, while their corresponding methods of building the dantian and opening the meridians require a total of eight low-level Earth-grade merits and six high-level Xuan-grade merits.

At this point, Mu Yang still has 10 top-tier merits at the prefectural level, 1 lower-tier merit at the prefectural level, and 4 top-tier merits at the mysterious level.

The reason for keeping ten was not to exchange them for the True Qi Forging Technique, but to see the seventh-tier martial arts skills.

Unlike martial arts skills of the first to sixth ranks, seventh-rank martial arts skills are extremely powerful not only because they require the use of true qi to activate them, but also because they require the support of the eighth-rank Martial Soul Realm, making it much easier to comprehend the martial will.

Therefore, Mu Yang prepared to take a look and see if there were any seventh-tier martial arts skills that could be used as his natal martial arts skills.

However, to his disappointment, these seventh-tier martial arts techniques seemed quite ordinary, none of them having names that sounded particularly unusual.

Until Mu Yang finished flipping through the table of contents and saw the last special section—

Fragmentary Martial Arts Manual