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

Zhou Qingfeng shook his head, not really caring.

The tower built with white bones was filled with turbid air.

The complex and turbid air contained a large amount of the three calamities.

You just need to be selective when using it.

Pair it with pills of the appropriate grade.

My cultivation speed will still be very fast.

He took out three bottles each of the prepared plague pills, blood pills, and five internal organ pills from his storage bag.

The plague pill contains a large amount of plague energy.

The Blood Pill contains a large amount of blood-red energy.

The Five Visceral Elixir contains a large amount of famine-inducing energy.

These pills are all very valuable, classified as calamity-level, and are exclusively for cultivation by cultivators in the Calamity Realm.

A bottle contains thirty pills, each pill increasing one qian of mana. A bottle costs 1 coins, which is unaffordable for ordinary people, even alchemists themselves. Only the big shots at the top of the pyramid can afford to buy them by the bottle.

Zhou Qingfeng is now standing at the very top of the pyramid.

"Continue your cultivation. When the one-year period is up, you can come out of seclusion."

During Zhou Qingfeng's secluded cultivation...

His deeds are still widely circulated in the city, after all, there are only so many things that can be discussed in the Sword Tower.

Finally, I have something to talk about.

Everyone loves to join in the fun.

However, as Zhou Qingfeng faded from the sight of the Sword Tower citizens, fewer and fewer people mentioned him anymore.

The conversation then turned to the Triennial Contest of the Prodigies.

The only person still obsessed with talking about Zhou Qingfeng is Zhou Zi'ou, who claims to be a storyteller.

Zhou Zi'ou travels to various teahouses, telling stories for free and recounting the latest deeds of Zhou Qingfeng.

He seeks neither fame nor fortune, and seems to be a die-hard fan of Zhou Qingfeng, even having Zhou Qingfeng's portrait painted on the fan he holds.

"I can guarantee you right now that Young Master Zhou will definitely participate in the 666th Heavenly Pride Tournament held by the Sword Tower, and will win the championship without any doubt!"

The cultivators and mortals enjoying tea in the teahouse didn't believe it: "Don't exaggerate. Zhou Silang is indeed powerful, but there are many geniuses in the Sword Tower. The Zhu family, the Tang family, the Song family, the Ma family, the Mao family—which of them isn't a family that produces geniuses?"

"Yes, yes, yes, our Sword Tower is full of talented people and geniuses. Whether it is a security escort agency, a martial arts school or a rogue sect, there are outstanding geniuses in every one of them. Zhou Silang defeating all the geniuses of Sword Tower to win the championship is wishful thinking."

“Zhou Silang is no good. He is obsessed with power and neglects his cultivation. He is still only at the Food Turbidity Realm. To be honest, it is unknown whether he can make it to this year’s Heavenly Pride Competition.”

The Sword Tower City Lord will regularly host the Heavenly Pride Tournament.

The lords of other cities also hold events regularly.

It's just that Sword Tower is the largest super city within a radius of tens of thousands of miles.

Therefore, each time it is held, it attracts many geniuses to participate.

There are only two requirements: applicants must be cultivators in the Food Disaster Realm, and their bone age must not exceed 24 years old.

There are many reasons for holding the Tianjiao Championship.

First, it allows you to release your emotions regularly.

It should be understood that in this turbid and evil world, both mortals and cultivators suffer greatly.

Over time, the negative emotions that accumulate in your heart will eventually reach their limit.

People's nerves will be very tense in this situation.

It is extremely easy for violent, bloody, and extreme terrorist incidents to occur.

This requires an outlet to release the negative emotions that have been building up for so long.

The triennial Heavenly Pride Tournament serves as an outlet for venting frustrations in an effort to stabilize the city's security.

Second, recruit independent cultivators from the lower levels.

After all, those who can reach the Food Calamity Realm under the age of 24 through solo cultivation generally possess above-average talent.

If someone is mediocre in talent, then they must be lucky, or have some ability and skill.

With such talent that can be immediately utilized and given certain resource support, reaching the Food Demon Realm is a certainty, and taking another step forward is not impossible.

Third, one can gain both fame and fortune, and establish a renowned reputation.

Sword Tower has a leaderboard that records player rankings. The winner is undoubtedly the number one prodigy in Sword Tower, and the champion also receives generous prizes.

Within Sword Tower City, every family, sect, escort agency, and gang—any talented individual who met the registration requirements—was eager to participate.

Even those who aren't from Jianta will travel from other places to participate in this triennial tournament.

Zhou Zi'ou flicked his fan and sneered, "What do you know? Even if you are a cultivator in the Devouring Fiend Realm, you still have to bow down in the face of power."

"Now that Zhou Fushuai has been adopted as the city lord's son and appointed as the deputy governor, his power and status are so great that you will never see the cultivation resources he enjoys in your entire lives."

"Moreover, Commander Zhou has already entered the White Bone Foundation Building Tower for secluded cultivation, precisely in order to leapfrog to a higher realm."

"The White Bone Foundation Building Tower is the number one cultivation holy land in the Sword Tower. All living beings from the Thirty-Six Realms provide resources for the White Bone Foundation Building Tower, and the turbid energy is extremely abundant."

"One year of cultivation at the first level is equivalent to two years of arduous training outside. The Calamity-Eating Realm? It's nothing more than something we can easily seize."

"Just you wait and see, Zhou Fushuai will definitely win the championship in this competition!"

The tea drinkers in the teahouse all lowered their heads and whispered among themselves. They didn't dare to speak disrespectfully to Zhou Qingfeng. In the past, Zhou Qingfeng was a servant, so they could scold him or belittle him without consequence.

But now Zhou Qingfeng is the young master of the Sword Tower. What kind of status do they have? They really don't deserve to insult him. Publicly insulting the young master of the first family? Tsk, get ready to wash your ass and go to jail.

"It's no fun discussing philosophy with you ants!" Zhou Zi'ou glanced at the group of ants with disdain and decided to sign up for the Heavenly Pride Competition. Winning or losing didn't matter; what mattered was being able to admire Zhou Fushuai's unparalleled demeanor up close.

Time flies like an arrow; eight months have passed in the blink of an eye.

"Snowing?"

Heavy snow covered the entire city lord's mansion.

The cold weather made Zhou Qingfeng feel a little uncomfortable.

It's not that it's cold.

But before we entered the tower, the sun was shining brightly.

When he came out again, it was snowing heavily. After a whole year of seclusion, Zhou Qingfeng felt as if he had lived through another world.

However, this is only the beginning, because the time required for cultivation will become longer and longer in the future.

Perhaps one cultivation session takes ten, fifty, or even a hundred years, so a mere year is insignificant.

"Fourth Young Master!" A servant, clearing snow, saw Zhou Qingfeng emerge from the tower and immediately clasped his hands in greeting.

Zhou Qingfeng snapped out of his reverie and smiled slightly: "You can continue with your work."

"Yes." Upon hearing this, the servant continued to sweep the snow.

Zhou Qingfeng rubbed his temples; he had just come out of seclusion and seemed a little out of sorts.

Simply put, spending too much time alone means remaining in one's own world, lacking humanity, and feeling out of place in the outside world.

This is the common mental state of people who live alone for a long time.

It's not difficult to recover; simply reintegrate into the mundane world, and you'll recover quickly.

Once outside the city lord's mansion, no one recognized Zhou Qingfeng on the road. Snow was falling heavily, and in the cold winter, people were busy making a living, and even passersby were in a hurry.

In just one year, the people of Jianta had almost forgotten about Zhou Qingfeng.

"Uncle, a cup of milk tea, please." Zhou Qingfeng called out with a smile to a peddler selling milk tea on the street.

"Alright." The peddler quickly put down his carrying pole, took out a cup of heated and insulated bamboo tube milk tea from the bamboo basket covered with a quilt, and served it with a bamboo straw.

Zhou Qingfeng took out two coins and handed them over, then took a sip of the warm, sweet goat milk tea: "Tsk, delicious."

He continued to stroll and shop along the bustling streets, using the everyday atmosphere to recover his abnormal mental state.