"You must be Xiangxiang's senior brother? Thank you for taking care of her all this time. I am very grateful."

Gan Xiuming spoke to Song Liqing very politely, while Song Liqing twitched the corners of his mouth. Because he was his junior sister's future Daoist partner, he could only suppress his impatience and respond with a few words.

"When we hold our Immortal Couple Ceremony in the future, we hope that you will grace us with your presence."

Song Liqing's lips froze, and for some reason, a dull pain rose in his heart. He didn't want to reply and pursed his lips.

Junior Sister, is she really going to marry this man before her? Song Liqing's heart was in turmoil.

"Alright, Senior Brother is so engrossed in the way of the sword, how could he have time to deal with worldly affairs?" Tu Longjian stepped in to smooth things over.

"Senior Brother, are you here to visit Master?"

"Hmm. Just passing by." He replied aloofly, bid them farewell with a troubled expression, and turned to disappear into the bamboo house.

Having resolved all matters, Tu Longjian took some time to visit Danfeng and Elder Peng.

The process of learning divine arts was long and tedious. When she got bored, she also learned many ancient pill formulas. Although many of these formulas are no longer available, quite a few still have research value.

However, since she only learned theoretical knowledge, she naturally needed to put it into practice.

After entering the Golden Core stage, Tu Longjian's cultivation speed dropped rapidly. He knew he couldn't be impatient, as his realm couldn't be improved in the short term. He could take advantage of this time to learn alchemy, gain the peak master's approval as soon as possible, and obtain the secret technique of his natal pill.

However, having made a prior agreement with the peak master that she would become a purple-grade alchemist on her own, she only exchanged a few words with Elder Peng.

Back in her cave, she secluded herself and devoted herself to alchemy practice, completely unaware of the outside world.

----------------

"Finally, I have successfully refined a purple-grade pill."

Tu Longjian examined the round pill in his hand, which exuded a rich medicinal fragrance, and his face lit up with joy.

Once you become a purple-grade alchemist, you can enter the Pill Peak and receive instruction from alchemy masters, striving to break through to the gold grade as soon as possible and obtain the secret technique of your natal pill to save your life.

As she was about to leave her cave, she saw a young disciple peeking nervously at the entrance. His face looked somewhat familiar, and she recognized him as a disciple from the Hall of Affairs.

Upon seeing her emerge, the young disciple's face lit up with joy, but he quickly composed himself, bowing respectfully with a mixture of curiosity and admiration in his hands.

"Senior Sister Chun, you have finally emerged from seclusion. The sect leader has sent me to deliver a message."

"The demonic cultivators and demons of the Demon Realm have come out in full force to invade. As disciples of the Guanqing Sect, we should shoulder the responsibility of resisting the demons and go to the dispatched area to fight."

"A demon invasion?" Tu Longjian raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by the news.

"Yes, the situation was urgent. Apart from a few disciples who stayed behind at the sect, the others were all dispatched by the sect leader."

"Your destination is Luoxia City. The leader of the group is Senior Brother Song Liqing. They have already gone there. Before they left, Senior Brother Song and the others told you to go and meet them on your own."

"I understand." Tu Longjian nodded, then went to the bamboo house to visit Yan Xiuzhu, and inquired about some things from him before packing his things and setting off.

She piloted the small spirit boat given to her by Yan Xiuzhu, traveling swiftly like a shooting star, and soon arrived at the border of Luoxia City.

As they approached Luoxia City, Tu Longjian keenly sensed an ominous aura, and the dark energy within his body began to stir restlessly.

Suppressing the dark energy, Tu Longjian did not rush to the city gate. Instead, he turned around and entered the dense forest near the city gate to carefully observe the situation.

The heavy city gates slowly opened, and a group of demonic cultivators emerged, arms around each other's shoulders, laughing and joking.

"Brother, we've been busy attacking Luoxia City these past few days and haven't had a proper meal."

"I heard the black bears in the nearby woods have delicious meat. Go catch one, bro, and we brothers can have a treat!"

"You're such a flatterer, you know your big brother likes this stuff. Let's go, let's make the way, drink and eat heartily."

The gray-robed demonic cultivator who made the suggestion bowed and scraped to the burly demonic cultivator who was the leader of the group. The burly demonic cultivator nodded deeply, but his eyebrows couldn't help but smugly rise.

A thin, gloomy male cultivator beside him rolled his eyes and bowed to the great demon cultivator, saying:

"I suggest that since we're going, we should hunt a few more beasts. I heard there's going to be a victory banquet in the city. I wonder who will be there. I've seen the Demon King making the arrangements, so this way, you can share his burden."

"You're quite well-informed, you knew about this even before I did." The great demon cultivator glanced at him. "But the suggestion is somewhat useful, so let's do it this way."

The group walked towards the dense forest where Tu Longjian was hiding.

She climbed onto the tree, using her snow-white gauze robe to conceal herself and blend into the surrounding trees. As expected, the demon soldiers with Foundation Establishment stage strength did not notice her, and even the demon general with Golden Core stage strength did not find her.

The levels of demonic cultivators are similar to those of human cultivators, ranging from low to high as follows: Demon Man, Demon Soldier, Demon General, Demon King, and Demon Lord, corresponding to Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and above, respectively.

During this time, she looked through the city gate into the city and saw that the city's bricks had collapsed, the houses were dilapidated, bricks and stones were scattered, and many stalls were lying messily on the ground, with no one cleaning them up.

The doors and windows on the street were tightly shut, and some dilapidated windows creaked and swayed in the wind, as if they were afraid of something.

The streets were filled with a mix of people, mostly demonic cultivators and strangely shaped monsters; human cultivators and ordinary people were rarely seen.

Tu Longjian lay on the branch of a tree, gazing at the scene in the city, her pupils shrinking.

Luoxia City is the hub city of this region, a central city of utmost importance. Presumably, it is for this reason that the sect leader sent his senior brother, who has the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator, to guard this place.

How long has it been? Why did it fall and be defeated?

Where are the eldest disciple and his fellow disciples hiding?

Tu Longjian glanced at the group of demonic cultivators who were walking towards him, chatting and laughing. He raised his eyelashes slightly, an idea forming in his mind, and quietly followed them.

Before long, the demonic cultivators encountered their target and began hunting.

Tu Longjian observed that although these demonic cultivators seemed to have a good relationship, they actually had little intention of cooperating. Instead, they were vying to show their strength and were scheming against each other, each using their own methods and refusing to give way to the other.

The demon general sat calmly to the side, not even watching how his underlings were fighting.

This black bear wasn't large, but it was incredibly ferocious. Its body swelled several times its normal size, and it swung wildly at the annoying demonic cultivators like flies with tremendous force.

Several demonic cultivators, who were only at the Foundation Establishment stage, were surprisingly not very troubled by the Golden Core level demonic beast, the Black Bear, which weighed several hundred kilograms.

The black bear's large paw struck a demonic cultivator heavily on the head. It expected this annoying fellow to suffer a head injury like the other two-legged creatures, but to its disappointment, the demonic cultivator took the blow without any harm and instead became even more ruthless.