Dao Jun swiftly finished dealing with the Warrior path and turned his attention to the new information he had extracted.

  The Great Tang Dynasty was divided into nine states, with the emperor seated on the throne as the apparent ruler of the country. However, this was merely a misconception among ordinary people. In reality, the true power lay in the hands of the noble clans who governed and controlled the nation.

  These noble families, known as the major clans, numbered seven in total, each ruling over one state independently. As for the remaining two states, one housed the capital and was jointly controlled by all seven clans, while the last state was considered public property, lacking a clear owner among the major families.

  Dao Jun currently found himself in the Chu State, a territory under the dominion of the Xiang clan. Everything within Chu State belonged to them without exception—a rule that applied to all other states governed by the noble clans.

  With the emperor incapable of exercising real control, the only force capable of keeping the seven clans in check was the six major sects. These sects, despite not owning any territory of their own and existing within the nine states, acted as a balancing force. They provided ordinary people with a sliver of opportunity to walk the path of cultivation and practice martial arts, preventing the noble clans from gaining absolute dominance.

  After grasping the geography and power structure of the Great Tang Dynasty, Dao Jun decisively chose to remain in Zhuzhi Village to heal his flawed body.

  The Zhu family, which had taken residence in this village, was a wealthy martial clan with some influence in Yufeng City, located outside Zhuzhi Village. This house in the village functioned as both a front office for managing the village’s resources and a retreat for Zhu family members seeking a countryside escape.

  At present, the only occupants of the house were Zhu Xing and his uncle. However, not long ago, Zhu Xing’s uncle had returned to the main house, leaving Zhu Xing alone with only a few Warriors for protection.

  Among these Warriors, apart from the uncle who had already left and had a Second-rate cultivation, the remaining guards were all Third-rate Warriors—without exception.

  This made the Zhu family residence a perfect hiding place for Dao Jun to recuperate and begin his training on the Warrior path.

  Having made up his mind, Dao Jun proceeded to enslave Zhu Xing, Chen Liu, and Li Guang.

  Lining the trio before him, he placed his finger on Zhu Xing’s forehead first. A wave of soul energy flowed through his fingertip and into Zhu Xing’s mind.

  Warriors did not possess a Sea of Consciousness—or rather, they did not open it in the same way as Qi Refining cultivators did. Their minds, spirits, and souls were an enclosed space, solidified within their heads. While they could access their own consciousness, they were unable to explore beyond its limits. This was the result of enlightenment gained through comprehending the mysteries of their mental techniques.

  On top of this solidified mind, additional protection came from their Internal Energy, as both were interlinked like the relationship between a chicken and an egg. More precisely, bypassing a Warrior’s Internal Energy was virtually impossible since it surged from the mind itself.

  Dao Jun had long mastered the art of enslavement, having refined and improved upon the technique he had acquired from the outside world through his own experiments. With some modifications, he had adapted it to work using soul energy, making it both more flexible and potent.

  Zhu Xing’s body convulsed as he instinctively resisted the foreign invasion. Unlike soul searching, which merely extracted information, enslavement required the cultivator to plant a slave brand within the target’s Sea of Consciousness.

  Sensing the intrusion, Zhu Xing’s Internal Energy flared up in an attempt to shield his mind from the external force.

  Dao Jun remained unfazed, continuing his actions while carefully observing how a Warrior’s mind reacted to his probing.

  It didn’t take long for him to overcome the resistance from Zhu Xing’s Internal Energy. With his soul body at the Second Level, he effortlessly broke through and proceeded to drill an opening into Zhu Xing’s hardened mind, carving an entry point to implant the slave brand.

  As Dao Jun retracted his finger, he exhaled slowly. Under his soul body’s command, Zhu Xing awakened from his unconscious state. His eyes widened the moment he saw Dao Jun’s face, and he instinctively took several steps back.

  "You… what are you? What did you do to me?" Zhu Xing’s voice trembled with shock and confusion.

  Though he had been unconscious, his Warrior’s mind had allowed him to sense everything that had transpired. He was fully aware that he had suffered a mental attack and that someone had tampered with his mind.

  Dao Jun frowned slightly. He had believed his enslavement technique to be flawless—holding control over life and death, the ability to inflict punishment by triggering the slave brand, and even reducing hostility toward him.

  Yet, unexpectedly, a mere Third-rate Warrior had managed to resist the final modification. At this moment, Zhu Xing still harbored animosity toward Dao Jun, displaying none of the obedience expected of a servant toward his master.

  "Silence," Dao Jun commanded sternly.

  A formless power instantly forced Zhu Xing to shut his mouth. His wariness transformed into sheer horror—he hadn’t expected the situation to escalate to the point where he couldn’t even speak against his will.

  "Come here," Dao Jun gestured.

  Zhu Xing’s body defied his own will, moving forward despite his desperate desire to retreat.

  Ignoring the terrified expression on Zhu Xing’s face, Dao Jun resumed his work, determined to uncover the flaw in his enslavement method.

  His soul energy entered Zhu Xing’s mind once again. This time, there was no obstruction from the Internal Energy since the mind had already granted him passage.

  "I see," Dao Jun muttered as his awareness explored Zhu Xing’s consciousness.

  Unlike when Zhu Xing was unconscious, his mind was now filled with a dense web-like structure of mental strength. This intricate network allowed him to resist the force of the slave brand, functioning almost like a subconscious will.

  Warriors strengthened their minds through meditation on their mental techniques, enhancing their spiritual awareness and fortifying their will. In doing so, they wove thread-like structures within their consciousness, solidifying their minds from the inside out. These threads granted them access to a deeper level of their spiritual potential and enabled the production of Internal Energy.

  From a certain perspective, this process separated their active consciousness from their inherent nature, allowing them to cultivate a will untainted by biological factors such as hormones and neural impulses. In essence, it granted them the ability to impose their conscious control over their subconscious.

  In the world of immortality, Dao Jun’s method of enslaving cultivators of the same realm or lower had been flawless. By planting his slave mark deep within the target’s subconscious, he could control them at their very core, gradually altering their personalities into that of loyal servants.

  The current situation did not prevent Dao Jun from truly enslaving a mere Third-rate Warrior like Zhu Xing—he simply lacked the necessary factual data to refine his method.

  "If that’s the case, then I’ll just resort to a more direct approach," Dao Jun smirked, pressing his palm against Zhu Xing’s forehead and sending a surge of soul energy into his mind.

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  Zhu Xing’s consciousness was bombarded with overwhelming force, causing him to wail in agony. His bloodshot eyes reflected the sheer torment he was experiencing, yet he remained powerless to resist.

  “Interesting,” Dao Jun observed as he noticed the web-like structure in Zhu Xing’s mind rapidly expanding under extreme pressure.

  This confirmed his hypothesis—Warriors grew stronger through meditation and trials, but the most effective method for their advancement was facing life-and-death situations.

  “But that’s as far as it goes,” Dao Jun remarked.

  With a mere thought, he suppressed the sudden growth in Zhu Xing’s mind, preventing any further resistance. Then, he continued engraving the slave brand directly onto Zhu Xing’s consciousness. Since the subtle method had failed, he opted for brute force instead.

  With Zhu Xing’s martial will crushed, his support system collapsed, and he immediately lost consciousness. However, Dao Jun had already seized control of the web-like mental structure, preventing it from hiding or resisting his influence.

  Not long after, the process was complete.

  Dao Jun issued a silent command through his soul body, and Zhu Xing’s eyes snapped open. Unlike before, his expression was no longer filled with defiance or fear. Instead, his face turned solemn as he instinctively bowed, his posture that of an unquestioning servant.

  Dao Jun took a moment to analyze the drawbacks of this brute-force enslavement technique. Since it involved directly branding the consciousness, it effectively stripped the target of free will.

  In the immortal world, this method was equivalent to severing the path of future advancement, and the same seemed to apply to Warriors in this world.

  He shook his head. He didn’t feel any guilt about his actions, but he also had no intention of creating useless subordinates.

  Dao Jun was a true Taoist—he followed the natural flow of the world, avoiding unnecessary harm to living beings in order to keep his spirit pure from external influences.

  With that thought, he moved on to enslave Chen Liu and Li Guang.

  “Master,” the two warriors greeted in unison, bowing deeply in submission.

  Since he had decided to claim the Zhu family house as his base, ensuring absolute control was his top priority.

  “Go and summon the other two guards,” he ordered.

  “Yes, Master.” Chen Liu and Li Guang immediately obeyed, leaving the main hall without hesitation.

  A short while later, two more men arrived, following Chen Liu and Li Guang. They seemed completely unaware of the situation, chatting casually along the way.

  Without a word, Dao Jun’s soul body cast an immobilization spell on them, freezing them in place. Then, he swiftly enslaved them just as he had done with the others.

  Once the process was complete, Dao Jun had officially taken full control of the residence—at least, until Zhu Xing’s uncle returned from the main house.

  “Inform the servants that I will be residing here from now on. Have them treat me as an ordinary guest,” Dao Jun commanded Zhu Xing before turning away and leaving the hall.

  His next destination was the study room.

  Although he had already extracted all of Zhu Xing’s knowledge, he knew that this so-called young master had been a useless fool—one who never bothered reading anything beyond the martial books his father had forced upon him.

  Upon entering the study, Dao Jun released his divine sense, scanning every book in the room. There was no need to physically pick them up or flip through their pages; his divine sense was powerful enough to read them directly.

  Moreover, his divine sense was no longer as fragile as that of ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. For most, damage to their divine sense would directly impact their soul. But Dao Jun’s divine sense had evolved—if it suffered harm, it wouldn’t fully rebound to his soul, and it could even regenerate with the aid of his soul energy.

  It didn’t take long for him to finish reading all the books in the study. After withdrawing his divine sense, he began to process the information.

  Most of the books were related to culture and primary education. Only a few contained valuable knowledge, such as those on medicinal theory and martial arts.

  Among them, Dao Jun discovered three mental techniques and five martial skills.

  In this world, the techniques practiced by Warriors were classified based on both level and quality.

  For those in the First Realm, mental techniques were referred to as Entry-level techniques.

  For those in the Second Realm, they were known as Qi-level techniques.

  “The classification is quite straightforward,” Dao Jun mused. “Entry-level techniques are essentially a beginner’s guide to cultivation, while Qi-level techniques correspond to the type of energy that Masters in the Second Realm use.”

  Beyond levels, techniques were also categorized by quality: Inferior, Ordinary, Superior, and Perfect. These classifications applied not only to mental techniques but also to martial skills and secret techniques. Martial skills were active techniques that enabled Warriors to wield extraordinary energy in combat, while secret techniques were specialized methods used to refine something internal within a Warrior’s body—not an external object, but a condensation of Internal Energy with unique characteristics.

  Having acquired all the useful knowledge, Dao Jun left the study room and headed to one of the guest chambers. Since he had now arrived in this world and obtained a method to cultivate the Warrior path, there was no reason to hesitate.

  It was time to begin his training.

  Of the three Entry-level mental techniques he had found in the study, all were of Inferior quality. Instead of choosing one of them, Dao Jun decided to practice the technique he had obtained from Zhu Xing—the Zhu Meditation Method.

  This was the Zhu family’s inherited technique, refined over generations from an older Inferior quality method. As for its original name, Zhu Xing hadn’t even bothered to remember it.

  The Zhu Meditation Method required the practitioner to regulate their breathing rhythm and enter a meditative state. From there, they had to comprehend the deeper meaning embedded within the method’s teachings.

  For an ordinary person seeking to step onto the Warrior path, enlightenment could be achieved by understanding just the first two lines of the Zhu Meditation Method:

  "The moon drinks the ocean, yet the river remains unbroken; in stillness, the tempest is born. A single leaf drifts through ten thousand autumns, but the root has never moved."

  Dao Jun silently chanted these lines as he entered meditation.

  Since he had sou searched Zhu Xing, he had inherited Zhu Xing’s lifetime of experiences, including his understanding of these two lines.

  However, Dao Jun had lived for five hundred years in the immortal world—his comprehension of the Dao far surpassed that of an ordinary Warrior.

  After two minutes, he opened his eyes.

  His gaze remained calm, without the slightest ripple of excitement or change.

  “It’s useless,” he muttered.

  “The key to stepping onto the Warrior path is enlightenment. This can come naturally—through everyday experiences like eating, drinking, separation, or survival in a dire crisis. Those with great comprehension and wisdom can achieve this without external aid. This is known as natural entry.

  “The other method relies on mental techniques passed down from predecessors. By deciphering their mysteries, one can gain insight into the truth of the world.”

  Dao Jun compared his situation to a student copying an answer from a textbook.

  “I used Zhu Xing’s understanding to decipher the technique’s meaning… but I lack the personal realization needed for true enlightenment.”

  Although he had comprehended the first two lines of the Zhu Meditation Method, it wasn’t enough to initiate his cultivation.

  “This mental technique is too shallow for me.”

  Even if he had access to a Superior or Perfect quality Entry-level technique, Dao Jun doubted it would be enough. His vision was simply too high.

  What he needed was either a mental technique of the Qi level or a natural moment of enlightenment.

  “Since I can’t cultivate for now, I’ll simply follow the natural course,” Dao Jun decided.

  Closing his eyes, he shifted his focus to other matters. His soul spells required further modifications, as they had originally been designed to function with divine sense.

  With his soul body assisting him, his efficiency was far greater than before—not simply one plus one equals two, but something even greater.

  While communicating with his soul body, Dao Jun could sense that his entry into the Warrior path was not far off, as his Soul Refining path also required him to undergo enlightenment. Unlike Qi Refining cultivators, who refined the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, or Body Refining cultivators, who absorbed medicinal substances or trained under extreme conditions to strengthen their bodies, Soul Refining cultivators like Dao Jun followed a different path.

  Technically, Dao Jun could take the medicinal route to supplement his soul. However, this approach was problematic, as he was now in a world with inferior spiritual energy.

  Alternatively, he could train his soul through extreme conditions, but this was risky. Unlike the physical body, the soul was inherently fragile. Given his lack of knowledge about Soul Refining—and his own current soul body condition—this path was also uncertain.

  That left two remaining options. The first was the Visualization Method, commonly used by ordinary Qi Refining cultivators to expand their Sea of Consciousness and increase soul power. However, since Dao Jun no longer had a Sea of Consciousness, this method was ineffective for him. The second option required a different approach, which he considered in two ways: immersing himself in the mortal world to experience various emotions, desires, and struggles, thereby stimulating the natural growth of his soul, or developing a new form of soul training, akin to physical exercise, based on the idea that if the body could be refined, then perhaps the soul could also be strengthened through specialized techniques.

  “There’s a lot of work to do, and each task has its own priority,” Dao Jun’s soul body remarked with a hint of excitement.

  The main reason Dao Jun had been able to reach the Nascent Soul realm in his previous world—despite being a mere commoner with poor talent—was his ability to improve old methods and innovate new ones.

  He had taken countless immortal arts and refined them into his own personal creations.

  Now, he had an opportunity to do the same in this new world.

  Exploring the mysteries of the soul body, modifying his soul spells, researching Soul Refining techniques, and seeking the moment of enlightenment—these were not mere tasks to him.

  To Dao Jun, this was like opening a treasure trove of knowledge.

  His soul avatar smiled at his soul body, sharing the same enthusiasm.

  “Yes. Let’s do more research,” Dao Jun agreed. “There’s no greater joy than creating something new and growing stronger.”