The Heavenly Court is gone, I don't want to be a True Lord.

Zuo Qi did not mention Wang Zheng's probing.

Wang Zheng's actions were inexplicable; perhaps it was because he liked Shang Yingying, or perhaps someone was instigating him behind the scenes.

He didn't want to delve into it further.

He simply marked Shang Yingying as someone he couldn't associate with in his heart, and after this incident, he didn't plan to have much contact with her.

"Miss Shang, our transaction is complete. You gain fame and I gain profit; it's a win-win situation. As agreed beforehand, could the divine tablet be returned to me, Zuo?"

"That divine tablet..."

After hesitating for a moment, Shang Yingying revealed the price Yao Ningnan was willing to pay.

She spoke in considerable detail, even describing the effects of the Five Luo Supreme Lord Divine Token.

Zuo Qi's expression turned subtle upon hearing this.

The process of breaking through the barrier to the embryonic stage is surprisingly complex.

"I won't be going to Yuncheng for the time being. If your senior uncle wants to, he can come to Fushan City to find me."

After learning that Yao Ningnan could only use the Five Luo Supreme Lord Divine Token by giving it away voluntarily, Zuo Qi put forward his conditions.

He didn't trust Shang Yingying and worried that Yao Ningnan would turn his back on her once she obtained the divine token.

In Fushan City, he still had some influence, but in Yun City, he was completely helpless.

Shang Yingying looked at Zuo Qi with complicated emotions; she could clearly sense Zuo Qi's indifference.

He also knew that the two were drifting apart, and since they didn't have much of a relationship to begin with, all that remained was business.

……

The year-end is approaching.

Liu Zhong was still busy investigating Liu Gongming's death, but he had also become much more restrained.

The true master of Fushan City, the city's governor Murong Qiong, is returning.

For a time, martial arts practitioners and the martial arts world were filled with a sense of unease and fear.

The incident at Baoyue Lake must have already displeased the city guards. Now that they've committed this offense, given their temperament, they won't have a good ending.

Liu Zhong didn't care about suppressing Zuo Qi and his group.

Zuo Qi had no interest in the outside world's affairs; he had been living an exceptionally fulfilling life lately.

Preparations before changing the fundamental law, blacksmithing, cultivation, socializing...

A month passed quickly.

In the quiet room, Zuo Qi's breathing was calm.

He sat cross-legged on a futon, placing the twelve-tiered jade book in front of his knees, his third eye half-open, the golden light contained within.

After reading for a long time, Zuo Qi had gained some understanding of this skill. This skill is called Jade Tower, which emphasizes the foundation. It fills the twelve towers with the martial arts of the five elements, gathers the qi of heaven and earth, and transforms the Jade Tower into a celestial palace. From then on, the qi and blood in the body are balanced by the five elements.

After cultivation, the power of qi and blood circulates among the clouds and mist of the celestial palace and jade tower, rotating through the five elements, and can be transformed into qi and blood by gathering cloud energy.

Zuo Qi also tried to build the twelve levels of the Jade Tower's Qi and blood circulation within his body to confirm that he was qualified to cultivate.

Close your eyes and let your mind sink into your body.

His body was filled with qi and blood surging like a river. Due to the stable circulation of qi and blood he had built through practicing the Golden Ease Technique, his direction was slowly changed.

The body's Qi and blood were like a train that had gone off the tracks, and immediately began to surge violently.

Between the skin, flesh, meridians, and internal organs, the accumulated qi and blood surged wildly like a burst dam, causing the qi and blood pathways originally built by Jin Yi Gong to collapse inch by inch.

The excruciating pain felt like a thousand needles piercing his body. Cold sweat beaded on Zuo Qi's forehead, and he clenched his teeth, but remained silent.

The pain of losing one's martial arts skills is equivalent to having one's bones and marrow stripped away; nine out of ten martial artists will collapse and become crippled at this stage.

The process of a normal person dissipating their internal energy is not as violent as his. Instead, it is a gradual process from the outside in, breaking the original trajectory of the energy method and changing the weak point. This process usually takes several months or even years.

Zuo Qi possessed the Heavenly Eye, and through five days of continuous preparation, he had already determined the energy circulation trajectory of the Jade Tower's twelve levels.

With its all-seeing eye, it can see clearly every strand of uncontrolled qi and blood, every broken meridian, and every location where old martial arts techniques have been broken.

He forcibly extracted the incomparably violent power from his meridians, flesh, and internal organs, and then drew upon the ice and fire energies from his practice of the Dragon-Slaying Halberd Technique and the Ice-Sea Fist Seal. Using these two as tools, he drove the violent blood and energy into the Jade Tower Circulation like cattle and sheep.

This process saved him at least three months.

The Jade Tower is a structure built with the body as its tower, the soul as its beams, and the vital energy as its bricks.

Each level represents a new realm, each building a unique universe.

It perfectly suited his physical body, which had just shed its old skills and emptied itself of the Great Dao.

"rise."

The moment the Qi and blood entered their proper channels, clouds appeared above the meditation room and slowly flowed into the meditation room where Zuo Qi was!

The cloud-like energy, containing the essence of heaven and earth, gradually flowed into Zuo Qi's body.

Zuo Qi took out the lotus leaf of the Tongluo Xuanlian that he had prepared beforehand, quickly swallowed it, and mixed it with the cloud energy that surged into his body.

It merges with one's own Qi and blood, surging into the Jade Tower Qi and blood circulation in one go, transforming into a purer, longer, and more powerful Jade Tower Qi and blood.

Buzz!

The flesh resonates softly, and the bones vibrate.

Jin Yigong's originally rough and fierce blood and qi have now become as warm and smooth as jade and as refined as a sword edge.

[Jade Tower Twelve Levels - First Level: Effect: Daily cultivation grants fifty units of basic Qi and Blood]

Is the first level just fifty basic Qi and blood channels?

Zuo Qi was shocked. The Jade Tower Twelve Levels was a level-one cultivation technique. Only 10% of the energy was lost during the sublimation of qi and blood. The cultivation speed of the first level alone was faster than that of the third level of the Golden Change Technique.

He slowly finished his practice and stood up.

His aura was restrained.

Through internal vision, Jin Yigong's old weakness completely disappeared.

The Jade Tower's twelve hidden defenses are located in the Jade Tower pivot of the spine, layer upon layer. In fact, these defenses are not weaknesses, but rather harder than ordinary bones.

If his cultivation improves further, someone could remove his spine and use it to forge a decent divine weapon.

What's even more extraordinary is that the Earth Scripture level cultivation technique comes with its own unique phenomena. With each breath, it can draw in the barely perceptible clouds between heaven and earth, allowing one to cultivate without practice and increase their skill day and night.

"It's done."

Zuo Qi exhaled a breath of stale air, his breath as clear and melodious as jade.

Although he had to start over after dispersing his cultivation, his strength did not decline significantly. The only difference was that the amount of refined blood and qi in his body decreased from seventy to more than forty.

Furthermore, before the cultivation technique is upgraded to the third level, the Qi and blood in the body cannot be increased.

It doesn't matter, since it's just starting over, there's no need to re-temper and refine the body. In a maximum of two or three months, the cultivation technique can be pushed back to the third level.

……

"Tempering is the final and most important step in sharpening a divine weapon. Your divine weapon has the life scales of a serpent and the life bone of a martial artist. Both of them died tragically and are filled with resentment. Use the heavy hammer to force the life scales and life bone to fuse together, and then use your blood to quell their resentment."

Ou Nanfeng sat in front of the stove, while his disciples kept pulling the bellows beside him.

Zuo Qi, shirtless, slammed his fist onto the embryonic divine weapon.

"The most difficult part is the integration of the two and the pacification of resentment. When you feel that the recoil force transmitted to you by the divine weapon with each hammer blow is weakening, that means that the divine weapon no longer rejects you, which can be considered the initial establishment of the life contract."

Ou Nanfeng spoke eloquently.

Zuo Qi listened attentively as he hammered away.

"Thank you, Master Ou."

Ou Nanfeng smiled slightly, "No need to thank me. I want to walk the righteous path of humanity. Humanity's various arts and crafts can forge a divine weapon, which is of great benefit to my cultivation."

humane?

Zuo Qi was a little puzzled, but seeing that Ou Nanfeng had no intention of explaining, he didn't ask any further questions.

At noon, Zuo Qi had a free meal at Master Ou's place.

The meat was sent by one of Master Ou's disciples in Yuncheng. I heard that he works for a ranch and manages a large herd of exotic cattle and sheep. Every now and then, he would send Master Ou some cultivation food.

Zuo Qi knew that Master Ou was powerful and had extensive connections, but through a small matter like having a meal, he discovered just how terrifying the other party's background really was.

In the afternoon, I continued my work at Baoyue Lake.

Liu Chong is currently investigating the cause of his son's death. After learning from Li Yue that Zuo Qi and the other two had no opportunity to commit the crime, he stopped constantly picking on them.

Zuo Qi also has time to do other things, such as blacksmithing, which he goes to every day recently.

Nothing much has happened at Baoyue Lake recently; things have been relatively calm. Zuo Qi has returned to cultivate.

Although repeating a course is painful, the process is also very enjoyable, just like a top student who has to repeat a grade, where every day of practice is a strong positive feedback loop.

Because he had some free time recently, Zuo Qi asked Lin Yuchan to hire a skilled old doctor to teach the three of them to read and identify medicines, making up for their lack of martial arts knowledge and foundation due to their poor background.

Besides that, they were also secretly keeping an eye on the Xu family's ancestral home.

Before changing his cultivation method, he had visited the ancestral home once, but he did not find the treasure left behind by the mysterious group of people.

He felt that the group probably hadn't put anything down yet.

All we can do is wait patiently.

Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.