’Huh, someone wants to duel me at the Forbidden City Peak, too?’

The next day, Zou Feng received a message from a disciple of Biyou Palace.

A True Qi Realm expert from the Celestial Essence Sword Sect wanted to challenge Zou Feng before the scheduled battle between Su Qingyu and Gongsun Xiang.

The challenger also made a Heart Demon Poison Oath, guaranteeing that the duel wouldn’t be interrupted because of the Demon Slaying Order on Zou Feng, and that no other Righteous Dao experts would take the opportunity to attack him.

Although the guarantee that no one else would interfere was questionable, for Zou Feng, who had to be there anyway, it was a welcome opportunity to test the results of his recent cultivation.

’Honestly, in my recent fight against Yuchi Jue and Zeng Xiuyuan, I thought that after advancing to the True Qi Realm, I would finally be able to have a truly satisfying battle.’

’But as it turned out, the two of them combined weren’t enough to give me a fulfilling fight.’

’There were even moments when I wished Yuchi Jue was in better shape, so he could properly demonstrate the power of a Second Grade Evil Cultivator.’

’In the end, though... let’s not even go there.’

’So, when I get to the Forbidden City, if I can really have an uninterrupted fight against a top expert from the Celestial Essence Sword Sect and test my cultivation in real combat, why wouldn’t I?’

’It’ll be the perfect warm-up, a bit of an appetizer, before I have my real showdown with Gongsun Jinghong.’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Of course, Zou Feng was so confident mainly because he learned who the challenger was: Chen Jun, the Fire Fierce Sword, one of the Seven Swords of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect.

When he heard the name, Zou Feng couldn’t help but think, ’What a coincidence!’

’Isn’t he my current number one sponsor?’

’And I have this "sponsor" to thank for bearing the side effects of my Formless Divine Skill cultivation all this time.’

’Since he’s my number one sponsor, I have nothing to worry about. I must accept the challenge to thank him for his contributions.’

’It’s just that the duel at the Forbidden City Peak is still over a month away. I’m afraid by then, Fire Fierce Sword might have to change his name to Rouge Sword...’

For the next while, with the aid of the Spiritual Liquid, Zou Feng had no need to return to Biyou Palace. He simply remained in the martial arts hall in Qingchuan City, focusing on his cultivation.

In his spare time, he studied the White Jade Bowl he had taken from Yuchi Jue.

Unfortunately, this thing was different from the Poison Gathering Bottle he had obtained earlier; it couldn’t produce Spiritual Liquid by being infused with Exotic Poisons.

Zou Feng, of course, tried various other methods, like adding medicinal herbs and Elixirs, injecting it with True Qi, and placing poisonous insects inside, but nothing worked.

It wasn’t until Zou Feng dripped his blood into it that the bowl finally absorbed something. Its originally pure-white surface gradually took on a hint of crimson.

After he continued to drip blood into it, once the entire bowl was stained crimson, Spiritual Liquid quickly began to well up from the bottom.

Of course, there was only a small amount of Spiritual Liquid, not even half the bowl’s capacity.

Furthermore, only the blood of a True Qi Realm Martial Artist could be absorbed by the bowl; blood from those in other realms, like the Gang Qi Realm, had no effect.

Zou Feng thus named the bowl the Blood Jade Bowl.

’And then there was the Poison Gathering Bottle. It only absorbed Exotic Poisons that could be refined by someone at the True Qi Realm to produce Spiritual Liquid.’

’In other words, these Immortal Treasures only start showing their true effects when they’re in the hands of a True Qi Realm Martial Artist.’

’What’s more, the Spiritual Liquid produced by these Immortal Treasures is something that True Qi Realm Martial Artists desperately need.’

’Looked at this way, it felt more and more like some kind of scheme set up by that Glazed Immortal Palace, specifically targeting True Qi Realm Martial Artists...’

Time spent in cultivation always flew by. Zou Feng cultivated arduously for over a month without any disturbances.

Naturally, the results were remarkable.

Drunken Immortal Moon Chasing Step (Peak of Perfection), Progress: 79%

Aside from Wangchuan Road, it was difficult to find a suitable Spirit Wine to improve this Skill, so its progress had been quite slow for some time.

But with the Bliss Pills generously provided by Yuchi Jue, he was naturally able to make swift progress once more.

In just over a month, this Body Skill was not far from the level of Extraordinary to Saint.

Corpse Luo Heart Scripture (Peak of Perfection), Progress: 6%

’This Skill hadn’t been my main focus, but I’m a bit obsessive. I felt that if I didn’t get it to the Peak of Perfection soon, something would feel off.’

Thus, he found the time to force the Skill up to the Peak Realm.

However, even after reaching Peak of Perfection, the Corpse Luo Heart Scripture was still leagues behind the Five Poison Sacred Lotus Palm and the Great Universal Hand.

There weren’t many opportunities to use this Skill in actual combat.

So Zou Feng prepared to follow his original plan and attempt to integrate it into the Five Poison Holy Lotus Skill.

As for the Formless Divine Skill, this was the Cultivation Skill Zou Feng had been focusing on recently. And just as he’d predicted, his progress was ridiculously fast.

Formless Divine Skill (Peak of Perfection), Progress: 2%

’Reaching Peak of Perfection in just over a month... Wow. Even with no side effects to worry about, this speed still makes me marvel at how fast Evil Skills are to cultivate.’

Of course, there was another important reason that couldn’t be ignored: Zou Feng was, after all, a True Qi Realm expert now.

Upon reaching the True Qi Realm, the Cultivation Skills one practiced needed to be transformed into Skills.

Thus, many Evil Skills that couldn’t truly be mastered at lightning speed during the Inner Qi and Gang Qi Realms gradually became a simple matter for him to grasp.

To put it bluntly, with his current strength in the True Qi Realm, it wouldn’t take him long to cultivate even a decent-quality Cultivation Skill to the Peak of Perfection.

Only breaking through to the Realm of Transcendence and Sanctity still posed some difficulty.