Zuo Mo made the decision to close up and cultivate with a heavy heart.

  He is now mostly injured, and what's left is to recover. He needs to calm down and sort out the gains and losses of this trial sword meeting, which has encountered many more situations than he imagined, until now, he finally has time to properly sort things out.

  He actually had a lot of questions to ask Pu Yao, such as about dividing his spirit. However, from the moment he opened his eyes, he found that Pu Yao was in meditation again, and no matter how much he shouted, it was useless. Helpless, he could only struggle on his own.

  He has too many things to think about carefully.

  One of the main reasons he was so eager to retreat was the news about the secret realm revealed by Li Yingfeng. What is the secret realm, Zuo Mo didn't know. It was precisely because of this that he knew it was a rare opportunity, and thus resolutely decided to retreat!

  In the secret realm, there are plenty of opportunities. If you're lucky, finding one or two good materials will make a big profit. But if you think the secret realm is your own spiritual field and can be harvested at will, that's a huge mistake. Since Tiān Sōng Zǐ allows people to explore the secret realm, it means this secret realm has not been explored before. If the secret realm had already been fully explored, its heavenly treasures would have been plundered long ago, making it meaningless for people to explore again.

  In the secret realm, there are more dangers than opportunities. The secret realm is a place where ferocious beasts roam, and any precious treasures are generally guarded by ferocious beasts. The rarer and more valuable the treasure, the stronger the ferocious beast that guards it.

  Outside of the demonic beasts, what's even harder to guard against is human nature. Direct interests, direct conflicts. Unlike the trial with Songtao Pavilion, there won't be a referee, no one will call for a stop, and the struggle will be even more direct and brutal. If someone steals the treasure and kills people, Zuo Mo would not be surprised at all.

  It's just the way of the world! But because of this, not participating would be foolish.

  To have gains, besides luck, one must also have real ability.

  Don't look at him getting third place, but he knows his own strength. Getting third place has a lot to do with luck. Moreover, the symbol array that he is good at is not suitable for encounters. He estimates that when the time comes, the sect leader will definitely let the three disciples of this sect work together. Without a doubt, Wu Kong Jian Men's Trident will be the strongest combination. Next, it should be Yu Bai and Nanmen Yang's combination.

  However, Zuo Mo didn't want to become a drag on their heels. Other cultivators might be wary of their strength and take a detour, but those demonic beasts wouldn't recognize them.

  This time's trial sword has too many epiphanies that need to be sorted out, and his Five-Colored Pagoda also needs to be studied carefully.

  Pao You always breaks down at the most critical moment, thought Mo with some indignation.

  Wú kōng táng

  "He wants to go into seclusion?" Pei Yuanran pondered.

  Apart from Xin Yan, who still had a cold and unfeeling expression, the other two looked like they were in pain.

  Yan Le rubbed his temples and said, "He indeed needs to retreat and reflect on this time's gains."

  "What's the point of understanding?" Shi Feng Rong got angry as soon as she mentioned this, remembering the audience's mockery during the competition: "Understanding his symbol array? Or understanding how to make crystal stones?" Thinking of Zuo Mo hearing that he won third place and immediately asking when the prize would be awarded, her head was about to explode.

  How did I end up taking in a disciple who is both greedy and uninterested in cultivating his sword skills?

  She couldn't help but steal a glance at the icy-faced Second Brother, her annoyance with Zuo Mo growing even more intense. She knew that this time, Second Brother was truly angry.

  This little rascal has actually made Second Master angry! Shi Feng Rong secretly hated him in her heart, and she decided to find an opportunity to teach this unruly guy a lesson.

  "It doesn't matter, let him shut up." Xinyin suddenly spoke up, but his words made everyone feel unexpected. They had grown up together since childhood and were familiar with each other's personalities, so who else could tell that Xinyin was angry besides Shi Fengrong?

  Xin Yan didn't stop Zuo Mo from continuing to indulge in the symbol arrays, not minding his own business. In their opinion, Xin Yan should personally go and capture Zuo Mo, give him a good scolding, then lead him back onto the right path.

  The hall was silent, and everyone was shocked by Xin Yan's attitude.

  In this quietness, I heard Xin Yan's icy and oppressive voice echoing.

  "I will make him understand why Jian Xiu can dominate the Xiuzhen realm!"

  "No way! He can't go..."

  A cold and sinister voice suddenly made the other three people shudder, and they involuntarily showed a sympathetic expression.

  Zuo Mo didn't know at the time, but Xin Ruo's determination was very firm. He soon received the prize. As he had imagined, the jade slip easily fell into his hands. His choice also surprised many people. Although the Sword Testing Assembly had ended, the various things that had happened during the assembly still caused a stir in Dong Fu and Tian Yue Realm.

  There were praises and sneers, but Luo Mo's choice was the most unexpected among the top ten.

  This flayed zombie seems to surprise people with everything it does.

  Zuo Mo didn't care about these things. With the jade slip in hand, he no longer had any worries and could focus on his closed-door training.

  He rushed into the stone chamber and sat cross-legged in meditation.

  Only after checking the internal condition did he discover that the situation was not good. This injury was much more severe than he had imagined, and the meridians all over his body basically recovered under the treatment of his master. However, compared to when he was in his prime, it has shrunk a lot.

  Zuo Mo decided to properly cultivate his meridians.

  Cultivating the meridians is not difficult, it only requires using spiritual energy to slowly warm and nourish the meridians, allowing them to regain their vitality. However, this is a meticulous task that especially requires patience.

  Fortunately, Zu Mo was not in a hurry and slowly nourished his meridians. Taking this opportunity, he carefully observed the inner vision of his body.

  The spiritual energy in the air would be absorbed into his body as soon as he got close to him. The magic tattoo would automatically absorb the spiritual energy, and what made Zuo Mo even more amazed was that the magic tattoo not only could actively absorb spiritual energy but also acted like a net, automatically filtering out impurities from the spiritual energy.

  Refining spiritual energy is an indispensable step in a cultivator's cultivation. Without refined and purified spiritual energy, not only can it not be used by the cultivator, but it will also harm the cultivator's body.

  But with the magical elixir, Zuo Mo didn't need to spend time on refining.

  The problem of storing spiritual energy remains unsolved. Spiritual energy is absorbed into the body through magic threads, circulated through the meridians, and then dispersed throughout the body. The largest storage site for spiritual energy in his body is his dantian. Compared to the spiritual energy absorbed into the body, it can only be considered a small puddle.

  The remaining spiritual energy cannot be stored and can only flow through the meridians, dispersing back into the body.

  Ordinary practitioners need to spend a lot of time absorbing spiritual energy, and then repeatedly refine it, removing the dross and taking the essence. It takes a very long time to fill up the elixir field.

  But Zuo Mo felt that the problem was not with this.

  If the practitioner is a large container, now this large container can hold fewer things, then there must be a problem with the container. In other words, it should be that the dantian has gone wrong, his thinking is very clear.

  As expected, when he focused his attention on his own dantian, he finally came to a realization about why his cultivation had been progressing so slowly.

  The dantian is like a pool, and the spiritual energy is like the water in the pool. But this pool is a bit magical, as the water level rises, the pool wall will also rise with it. This way, the stored spiritual energy will become more and more abundant. The problem lies in the magic seal, I don't know what that bastard Pu Yao was thinking, he actually had a magic seal that went right through his dantian.

  It's just like the pool wall has two holes, once the water in the pool exceeds the height of the holes, the spiritual energy will flow out from the two holes, and these two holes are not small. So even if there is constantly water flowing into the pool, the water level in the pool will not rise.

  Zuo Mo couldn't help but smile bitterly.

  This time at the sword-testing meeting, he had a taste of not having enough cultivation. Not having enough cultivation meant that he was destined to not have the ability to collide head-on with others. A sword move that occasionally made people difficult to parry, but after many times, it didn't work anymore.

  Damn it!

  Even if he knew where the problem lay, he still didn't know what to do about it.

  Making movements with hands and feet on the lower abdomen is not something that any ordinary cultivator in the foundation-building stage can accomplish.

  Helpless, he could only open his eyes.

  The problem of cultivation can only be solved slowly, and being anxious is useless. Moreover, now that he has finally figured out what's going on, he can just think of a solution slowly, and he could only comfort himself like this.

  Compared to the stagnation of his spiritual power, his divine consciousness advanced rapidly, and he unconsciously broke through the fifth breath. In the sea of recognition, another star was added to that void.

  Actually, before the Sword Trial Conference, Zuo Mo didn't have a very good impression of "Breathing Technique to Refine the Spirit". Although it could also increase spiritual power, its main effect was still increasing divine consciousness. However, divine consciousness was far less important than spiritual power for Zuo Mo. Moreover, although it seemed quite powerful in cultivating divine consciousness, there wasn't an actual practical application method. In the eyes of this extremely pragmatic guy, Zuo Mo, this thing was just a useless trinket.

  But now, Zuomo attaches much more importance to "Taixi Lianshen" than other heart methods and techniques.

  That mysterious and indescribable state, those seemingly real yet illusory specks of stardust, a sense of familiarity as if it were part of one's own body...

  Zuo Mo gazed at the five-colored pagoda in his palm, and a sense of blood connection arose, the small treasure pagoda seemed like a part of his body, so intimate and familiar.

  Another reason for his retreat this time was the Five-Colored Pagoda. In the last great collision, he was seriously injured and the Five-Colored Pagoda also suffered severe damage. He had a master to help him heal his wounds, but the damage to the Five-Coloured Pagoda could only be repaired by himself.

  The five-colored pagoda in front of him was dull and colorless, the tower body faintly visible cracks, if not for that feeling of being connected by blood still present, Zu Mo suspected whether this was his own five-colored pagoda.

  Feeling the weakness emanating from the Five-Colored Tower, Zu Mo involuntarily reached out his hand to gently stroke the tower's body.

  He closed his eyes and his spirit sank into the Five-Colored Pagoda.

  He went to the Five-Colored Pagoda and was startled at once.

  Inside the Five-Colored Pagoda, the five groups of five elements' essence were all dull and dim, faint to the point of possibly disappearing at any moment.

  The divine sphere floated listlessly in the midst of the five-colored aura, devoid of even a hint of its former vitality. If the previous Five-Colored Pagoda was like an embryonic form of the Five Elements world, then this current Five Elements world is on the verge of collapse!

  Zuo Mo's face was extremely ugly, and the situation was even worse than he had imagined!