Lord Wang, as always, wore a crimson robe and had a pale, beardless face with a somewhat chilly demeanor. Old Li approached and whispered something in Lord Wang's ear before leaving. Lord Wang, lying on the chair, pondered for a moment and then asked softly, "Finished reading?"

Chen Xuanze respectfully replied, "Yes, my lord. I've read them all."

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them."

Unintentionally, he had made himself sound quite imposing. Chen Xuanze didn't hide anything; Lord Wang had assigned him to read these materials for a reason. As a ninth-grade Demon Suppression Guard, apart from living longer than his peers and bringing in a snake demon, he had nothing particularly noteworthy. A white-clad figure, he had nothing else to offer except his life, making him seemingly immune to any plots. Thus, he spoke the truth without reservation.

"Old Li said you chose the Daoist Twelve-Year Cicada technique?"

Chen Xuanze nodded, thinking, "I just randomly picked one. Is there any other way to describe it?"

Lord Wang's expression turned strange as he asked, "Did you understand it?"

Seeing Chen Xuanze's simple and honest face full of embarrassment, Lord Wang realized that this lad had no idea what Twelve-Year Cicada meant.

"Twelve-Year Cicada, the supreme Daoist technique, the first part of the Yunmeng Secret Art. It requires opportunity, fortune, and enlightenment, and lacking any of these makes it extremely difficult to cultivate. 'Hear the Dao in the morning, become a god by sunset,'" explained Lord Wang, feeling the need to enlighten this clueless lad.

Chen Xuanze was shocked and asked, "Lord Wang, what realm is 'become a god'?"

Lord Wang smiled and continued, "Become a god, the third-grade Daoist realm."

Chen Xuanze nearly exclaimed, "What the heck?" Did a randomly picked technique turn out to be this powerful? Why would you put such a technique among choices for newcomers?

No wonder Old Li's expression was a bit odd, and Lord Wang even made a special inquiry.

Little did he know that every time a newcomer chose a technique, there would always be one special among dozens, a method used by the Demon Suppression Bureau to test the luck of the Demon Suppression Guards.

Before he could recover from the shock, Lord Wang continued, "Twelve-Year Cicada. Below the third grade, every twelve years, you have to go through a feigned death. As the cicada sheds its skin, it enters the realm of becoming a god, and its cry heralds another round of life. What you chose is your fate; go and cultivate it."

After saying this, Lord Wang waved his hand, and Chen Xuanze respectfully withdrew.

The so-called feigned death was a temporary cessation of heartbeat and stiffening of the body on a day in late autumn, resembling death. It would last until spring approached.

During this time, all one could do was pray not to be buried, but rather to remain intact, avoiding being burned to ashes or used by evil cultivators to refine corpses.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

What Chen Xuanze didn't know was that throughout history, many people had practiced the Yunmeng Secret Art, but only a few had attempted the Twelve-Year Cicada technique from the first volume, making those who practiced it exceptionally rare.

It was the time for the canteen to open, and Li Gou and his team had just returned from two missions four days ago. Li Gou, who had lost two newcomers, was almost moved to tears three days ago when he saw a monk and a Taoist reappear at the Demon Suppression Bureau.

This time, they followed Elder Ma to deal with zombies in the river town two hundred miles south of the capital. The two newcomers didn't have strong enough lives, so after the corpse energy entered their bodies, Elder Ma personally burned them to ashes with a sword. If the monk and the Taoist had joined, it would have been much easier to deal with the sixth-grade Purple Zombie, restrained by thunder magic.

Seeing Chen Xuanze appearing three days late, Li Gou was extremely enthusiastic. He personally went to the canteen lady and added an extra dish for Chen Xuanze. This lad had been lucky. Since he became a formal Demon Suppression Guard, no one in Li Gou's squad had died during the missions he participated in. Adding an extra dish was just a small favor, costing five big coins.

To Chen Xuanze's surprise, the snake demon Chen Qianqian was sitting next to San Zang, eating from her bowl very obediently. The charming expression that had appeared smaller before was nowhere to be seen after the meal. Chen Xuanze was delighted to see Chen Qianqian, who had had a tough time these days.

After finishing the meal, Chen Xuanze wanted to go fishing. After being busy for so long, he really missed the fish in the Yan Zhi River, especially the unique flavor of Yan Zhi.

He didn't know if the fox demon Xiao Cui was still around. There was no mention of Xiao Cui and the Mo Bao Ju Qiu Qing Shu Bookstore in the records on the second underground floor.

Long time no see; he really missed Xiao Cui. He missed the delicate waist that fit perfectly in his hand, the pair of ample breasts that rivaled the roundness of a grindstone, and especially what was concealed under the light veil...

For fishing, he naturally had to bring along a monk, a Taoist, and a snake demon. He also wanted to learn about the cultivation system from Wang Qingxuan and see how well Chen Qianqian's demon concealment technique had been practiced.

In the afternoon, by the Yan Zhi River, a monk, a Taoist, a snake demon, and a big pole supporting a fishing rod were leisurely fishing. Not seeing Xiao Cui, Chen Xuanze felt disappointed, thinking she might have gone to Wenfang Street again.

After a while, he began chatting casually with Wang Qingxuan. "Qingxuan, both Qingyun Temple and the Killings Life Temple were so powerful. How come only you two are left?"

Chen Xuanze straightforwardly asked, and these two places had some past glories recorded in the Yellow Register Library, so it wasn't abrupt to start with this.

Wang Qingxuan sighed deeply and narrated in detail the almost "divine punishment" suffered by both families.

After listening to Wang Qingxuan's story, Chen Xuanze summarized, "So, you mean, both your families took shortcuts for higher realms, resulting in excessive slaughter of demons and monsters, and you suffered the 'divine punishment'?"

Wang Qingxuan nodded with a desolate expression. "More or less. We forcibly suppressed a thousand years of luck with some treasures. Before my master passed away, he instructed me to join the Demon Suppression Bureau and leave a legacy. The situation in the temple is similar."

Chen Xuanze shook his head slightly. The heavenly way was too mysterious and distant for him.

"By the way, you are a Taoist. Have you heard of the Twelve-Year Cicada?" Wang Qingxuan didn't think too much about Chen Xuanze's question. Not many people in the Taoist system knew about the Twelve-Year Cicada technique.

In this way, Chen Xuanze learned some anecdotes about this technique from Wang Qingxuan's explanation. Little did he know that he had also been under the surveillance of Han Lao for more than three months since becoming a formal Demon Suppression Guard.

After Wang Qingxuan explained, Chen Xuanze's mouth twitched slightly. "I have the 'Nine Transformations of the Stars' technique. I'm destined to reach the first grade! This ghost technique even requires feigned death if you can't enter the Yang God. What a joke!"

He truly looked down on it. No matter how impressive it sounded, if you couldn't practice it, what's the use?

At this moment, the usually quiet Chen Qianqian, who was focused on fishing, mumbled weakly, almost scaring Chen Xuanze to death.

"The Twelve-Year Cicada combined with the Nine Heavens transformation is a rare path to transcendence."