Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

Sword Tower City, City Lord's Mansion, White Bone Foundation Tower, Tenth Floor.

Since being granted twenty years of cultivation time and the freedom to enter and exit the tenth level and below, Zhou Qingfeng has never gone into seclusion to cultivate. It's not that he doesn't want to, but he's busy with official duties, studying magic techniques, and handling personal matters. It's impossible for him to go into seclusion for twenty years at a time.

Only after all these matters are settled can I concentrate on entering the tower for secluded cultivation.

The tenth floor was no different from the other floors, except that the number of training rooms was greatly reduced to only forty. Zhou Qingfeng knew that there were hidden worlds behind these training rooms, so he pushed open the door of the training room on the tenth floor and stepped inside.

After a brief experiment, he discovered that the concentration of turbid air on the tenth layer was ten times that of the outside world, and the speed was six times that of the outside world. He could still make his wishes come true. The world was created by his thought and changed by his thought. Animals could also imagine it, but living people could not.

It is worth mentioning that the tenth floor has a particularly wonderful function, which is that there will be another self completely imagined by Zhou Qingfeng. This fantasy is very wonderful. What Zhou Qingfeng knows, the fantasy also knows; what Zhou Qingfeng knows, the fantasy also knows.

Even the thoughts and actions of the fantasy entity and Zhou Qingfeng are completely consistent.

Fighting the illusionary entity put Zhou Qingfeng under immense pressure, making it impossible for him to defeat it.

Because this is a battle with oneself, a struggle to overcome oneself, how could one possibly overcome oneself?

As you progress, your fantasy entity also progresses at the same time.

So every game ended in a draw, with no clear winner.

However, if one engages in frequent battles with illusionary entities over a long period, one can rapidly improve one's combat awareness and skills, and it is also beneficial for developing the intricacies of spells and physical techniques, thus playing a role in quickly enhancing one's combat abilities.

Improving one's combat ability is not the most pressing matter right now; accumulating mana is what should be done. Don't waste the cultivation time in the Bone Foundation Building Tower, since the time available for cultivation there is limited. It's better to use it to increase mana.

If you cultivate to 500,000 coins of magical power as soon as possible, you can prepare for your ascension to the next level sooner.

With a thought, Zhou Qingfeng's illusion dissipated. He then felt a pang of regret. If it were a rogue cultivator from the common people, they probably wouldn't be able to enjoy such a wondrous cultivation paradise. Only a noble family like the First Family, with its millennia-long heritage, could have such favorable conditions.

Ten times the amount of turbid air, six times the speed, can quickly shorten the accumulation process.

In addition, another imaginary version of himself serves as a sparring partner, comprehensively enhancing his combat abilities.

How can independent cultivators play this game? They simply can't. Most independent cultivators don't even have a systematic set of cultivation techniques. They just practice whatever they have, use whatever they have, and eat whatever they have. They have no choice at all. If they can choose, they can only make limited selections from some low-level items.

Even if one manages to reach the Devouring Fiend Realm by sheer luck, they will still face a very real and cruel problem.

That is, the threshold for advancement is too high. The standard of 500,000 coins of magic power is enough to make 99% of the independent cultivators in the folk feel hopeless. Even if they have the opportunity, perseverance, talent and luck, and do everything perfectly, and do not die an unnatural death along the way, they can smoothly accumulate 500,000 coins of magic power.

Then an even crueler and more realistic problem arises.

The five poisonous hearts required for ascending the ranks, and the sacrificial rituals required for ascending the ranks.

It would be incredibly difficult for a lone cultivator to gather all these scarce cultivation resources on their own, a task so challenging it could drive one to despair.

Even if some small or micro-sized families and sects in the private sector were to drain their family's or sect's resources and sacrifice the resources of one or even three generations to support one person's ascent to the Poisonous Eater Realm, they could probably only barely create one Poisonous Eater Realm cultivator.

Even if a master of the Poison-Eating Realm is supported by the entire clan and sect, they may not necessarily feel grateful and give back to their clan and sect.

There are also instances where they turn around and exploit their own families and sects even more ruthlessly.

There is an interesting little story recorded in unofficial historical anecdotes and miscellaneous records.

The Shui family is skilled in water manipulation. They reside by the sea, making their living from water. The family is large and prosperous, with each member possessing the bloodline of an ancient god. Their lineage is ancient and unique, and upon awakening their bloodline, they are endowed with innate supernatural abilities.

[The family has produced a remarkable number of geniuses, boasting the highest number of experts at the Devouring Fiend Realm in its history.]

[To elevate the family to a higher level, the current head of the Shui family has decided to concentrate all resources on cultivating a master of the Poison-Eating Realm. The candidate must be the most outstanding top-tier genius among the new generation of the family. Only in this way can the family be led to a more glorious era.]

After rounds of selection, a top-tier genius named Shui Ping'an was finally chosen. The Shui family began to devote all their resources to nurturing Shui Ping'an. As expected, Shui Ping'an was exceptionally talented and lived up to expectations, reaching the Food Demon Realm at the young age of thirty-three.

However, as Shui An ascended to the Devouring Fiend Realm, his need for resources increased dramatically, causing him to drain the entire clan's resources. The Shui clan was forced to continuously exploit its members' welfare, compelling them to have more children to bring in fresh blood, and relentlessly driving them to risk their lives collecting resources and hunting water demons to earn money and supplies.

The Shui clan members suffered immensely, spending a terrifying nine hours a day in constant battles. This high frequency of fighting led to a daily increase in casualties within the clan, with 99% of the members' cultivation stagnating and all bearing hidden injuries. Furthermore, the clan had a large number of children, each of whom had to contribute to the clan from the moment they could walk, constantly supporting Shui An.

Under these circumstances, the Shui family began to decline. After all, the entire family's resources were used to support one person's cultivation, leaving the others impoverished. However, every time they thought about how the entire family would soar if Shui Ping'an could reach the Poison Eating Realm, they would be filled with renewed energy, frantically brainwashing themselves and telling themselves to just endure a little longer.

[Once Shui Anxian reaches the Poison Eating Realm, he will give back to the clan and help the remaining clansmen reach the Poison Eating Realm one by one. At that time, the entire clan will be Poison Eating Realm cultivators, and the Shui clan will usher in its greatest and most glorious era.]

After countless hardships and draining the lifeblood of three generations, the Shui family finally helped Shui Ping'an reach the Poison Devouring Realm. They thought he would start to give back to the family, but he repeatedly declined, even demanding more cultivation resources from the family.

With his immense power, Shui Ping'an controlled the entire Shui clan, relentlessly pushing his members to have children, exploiting them, and forcing them to gather resources for him. Under the long-term support of the Shui clan, Shui Ping'an's cultivation level increased daily, rising steadily through the ranks.

[But the price was that the entire Shui family, spanning five generations, was drained dry by Shui Ping'an alone.]

[Until the family's talent pool dwindled, the older generation all died, the middle generation was either disabled or useless, and most of the younger generation of the Shui clan were also good-for-nothings, they became completely useless to Shui Ping'an and could not provide him with any further assistance. So Shui Ping'an took his family and left for distant lands, effectively ending the Shui clan.]

Many years later, in Raging Waves City, a powerful figure emerged known as the Overturning Sea Ancestor, who founded the world-renowned Imperial Water Gate.