Inside the room.

Li Mo soaked his feet while checking today's investment returns.

[Congratulations to the host, successfully invested in a portion of Icefire Wine and a piece of roasted exotic beast meat.]

[Investment feedback: A jar of Hundred-Flower Dew Balm.]

[Investment feedback: A Night Pearl.]

[Hundred-Flower Dew Balm]: "A top-grade healing ointment, made from the first drop of dew from a hundred kinds of rare flowers and herbs, containing excellent regenerative properties, with miraculous effects on treating external injuries."

[Night Pearl]: "Originating from the North Sea, it shines eternally, a must-have for the residences of esteemed individuals."

...

"This reward should belong to Master."

A round pearl appeared in Li Mo's palm, about the size of a fist, emitting a gentle glow.

He had seen this before.

At the Hengtong Trading Company in Ziyang Prefecture City, a Night Pearl was displayed on the auction stage.

Just from the luster and color, it was inferior to the one in his hand.

In any case, it's quite valuable.

As for its use, it's not as practical as the Hundred-Flower Dew Balm.

Li Mo applied a little on himself, feeling a cool sensation. The minor injuries from tempering his body in the Divine Edge Cavern during the day began to heal almost immediately.

[Congratulations to the host, successfully invested in a portion of Icefire Wine and a piece of roasted exotic beast meat.]

[Investment feedback: Twenty years of Martial Dao Comprehension.]

[Investment feedback: A Mystic Crystal.]

...

"Ying Bing is truly generous."

Li Mo couldn't help but sigh.

Just a little drink with her resulted in twenty years of Martial Dao Comprehension.

Such a thing, no matter how many years, is never too much.

Clearly, the same investment, given Master's apparent preference for wine and meat, yielded far superior rewards from Ying Bing.

This is the terror of a red destiny.

Yes, for the sake of rewards, I must cling tightly to Ying Bing's jade legs.

Is it really legs I'm holding? It's a shining money tree!

[The host has one more feedback to claim, would you like to claim it?]

Li Mo remembered.

He had saved Murong Xiao during the day.

This should count as a significant change in his fate, right?

What good things will it yield...

Li Mo felt a little anticipation, his mind moved.

"Claim."

[Congratulations to the host, invested a bottle of Clarity Pill, successfully saved Murong Xiao, preventing him from falling into madness.]

[Investment feedback: A Stubborn Stone Heavenly Seal.]

[Stubborn Stone Heavenly Seal]: "When stamped on any martial art, it can deduce and perfect it, thereby enhancing its grade, up to an upper-tier level."

"Perfecting martial arts?"

Li Mo was momentarily stunned, almost dropping the Night Pearl.

In the next moment.

A small seal the size of a thumb appeared in his left hand.

For the full version, visit pawread dot com.

The seal had a copper hue, unlike any brass or bronze he had seen, with tadpole-like characters carved on all sides, exuding an ancient charm.

"If there's a stone-made Heavenly Seal, could there be bronze, silver, and gold ones too?"

Li Mo pondered.

The highest level he currently practiced should be the "Ultimate Weapon Slaughter Body," classified as an ultimate art, while the "Lotus-Birthing Flame Technique" was an upper-tier martial art.

Beyond ultimate art is divine technique.

If he were to obtain a silver or gold Heavenly Seal in the future, he could also upgrade the martial arts he had practiced.

Upgrading existing martial arts is much more convenient than switching to other techniques.

"I'll think about it when the time comes."

Li Mo took out the "Wildfire Sword Technique" his master had just given him.

Besides this mid-tier sword technique, there were no other martial arts he could upgrade at the moment.

He gently pressed the Heavenly Seal onto the pages of the book.

Immediately, the tadpole characters on it glowed faintly, all 'drilling' into the book, moving between the words.

Some words were rearranged by the tadpoles, while others were swallowed and replaced with new text.

Li Mo watched in amazement.

About five minutes later.

The tadpole characters completely lost their glow and disappeared.

And the sword technique recorded in the book transformed into:

[Thousand-Feather Fire Crane Sword].

"Gained 20 years of Martial Dao Comprehension."

"If I added it all to the other two techniques, it might not even break through from Major Mastery to Perfection."

"Let's learn the sword technique first."

Li Mo rubbed his hands together, reasoning with himself.

Alright, he just wanted to learn the sword technique.

Who wouldn't want to be a dashing and elegant swordsman, riding the wind and asking the moon?

Strength aside, being handsome is a lifelong pursuit.

With anticipation, Li Mo infused all his Martial Dao Comprehension into the "Thousand-Feather Fire Crane Sword."

[Twenty years of Martial Dao Comprehension, infusion successful.]

[In the first year, you were deeply interested and earnestly studied the "Thousand-Feather Fire Crane Sword," successfully reaching the entry level.]

[In the fifth year, you remained eager to learn the sword technique, and the practice went smoothly, finally reaching early proficiency.]

[In the eighth year, you hit a bottleneck, making no progress for a long time, and began to doubt yourself.]

[In the twentieth year, after prolonged meditation, you finally summarized your sword technique experience through sheer perseverance, barely reaching minor mastery.]

Li Mo opened his eyes.

Instantly, twenty years of day and night practice, through all seasons, became vividly clear in his memory.

He looked at a branch outside the window.

No, this was clearly a peerless divine sword!

Breaking off the branch, he swung it with excitement, and the branch in his hand emitted a faint, clear sound of the wind.

The Wildfire Sword Technique already emphasized explosive power.

The perfected Thousand-Feather Fire Crane inherited this advantage and took it to the next level.

Each hit left a force within the enemy, causing red marks to appear on their body, resembling burning crane feathers.

When the force accumulated to its limit, it could explode all at once.

At minor mastery, the force could be stacked up to nine layers.

"When I reach the Inner Breath Realm, I can replace the force with inner breath."

Discarding the cracked branch, Li Mo was quite satisfied.

Calming down, he couldn't help but ponder.

Twenty years, and only minor mastery?

Is it because martial skills are harder to delve into than mental or physical training, or do I lack talent in swordsmanship?

"When I have other martial skills in the future, I can add some Martial Dao Comprehension to them, then I'll know."

Li Mo refocused his thoughts.

Sitting cross-legged, he began practicing his mental techniques.

"The speed of opening the meridians needs to be faster."

"My Mystic Yin Immortal Physique seems to have more main meridians, making the path in the Vital Energy Realm longer than others."

Buzz—

After a strange resonance with the world.

Li Mo once again entered the state of unity with heaven and man, the purest energy of the world flowing into his body like water.

His consciousness slowly sank, entering his own body.

Inner vision.

This didn't require special practice; after comprehending the Lotus-Birthing Flame Technique to Major Mastery, Li Mo could naturally do it.

Of course, for others, they might only master it proficiently at the Inner Breath Realm.

Ordinary practitioners in the Vital Energy Realm could only rely on diet, practice, and constant tempering of their vital energy, then recklessly impact their meridians.

But with the aid of inner vision, Li Mo could not only use energy to refine his vital energy but also wrap it with energy and precisely channel it into his meridians.

To give an analogy.

The former is like a bucket of water being poured out haphazardly.

The latter is like using a hose, precise and efficient.

Therefore, Li Mo's process of opening meridians could only be described as "when the water reaches, the channel forms."

No bottlenecks, no risk of injury.

It seemed simple, but achieving this was due to multiple factors.

The Mystic Yin Immortal Physique, Major Mastery of an ultimate mental technique, the increase in meridian strength from the Ultimate Weapon Slaughter Body, all were indispensable.

"Sigh, it's a bit slow."

"I estimate it will take until midnight to fully open the 'Yang Meridian'."

Li Mo sighed lightly in his heart.

These words could only be said internally.

Because if spoken aloud, others would want to hit him.

Even the outer disciples in the sect were elites chosen from an entire prefecture, each generation striving to enter the Inner Sect.

The condition was to open twelve main meridians within three years and enter the Inner Breath Realm.

However, only one-tenth of them eventually succeeded in entering the Inner Sect.

And you still think it's slow?

Unknowingly.

Night deepened.

The moon, more than ten times larger than Blue Star, cast a silver glow over the Qingyuan Mountain Range.

In the room, the fluctuation of the world's energy gradually subsided.

"The Yang Meridian is open."

Li Mo glanced up, seeing the moon just moving to the center of the sky.

Approximately... three hours?

If others knew, they might think they had seen a ghost.

But within Li Mo, the newly opened meridian was truly filled with abundant vital energy.

Of course, this was within Li Mo's expectations.

What truly surprised him was the number of meridians in his body.

"I should have thirty-six main meridians?"

Li Mo was both surprised and delighted.

For a martial artist, the main meridians in the body are equivalent to engines.

It means he could utilize three times the vital energy of an ordinary Vital Energy Realm practitioner?

The difference in combat power would be even greater.

"There's a sect trial in about ten days."

"I wonder if there will be any unexpected events."

It's known that Ying Bing's evaluation clearly states her fate is fraught with difficulties.

So, if nothing unexpected happens, something is bound to happen to her.

If something happens to her, then living under the same roof, he might also inevitably get caught up in it.

Li Mo felt a slight sense of urgency.

A desire to break free!

"The energy accumulated vital energy should be enough to open another meridian."

Li Mo murmured to himself.

After a trip to the bathroom and a drink of water, he sat down again.

The world's energy began to fluctuate once more.

Strangely enough.

As long as he practiced, he seemed to feel no fatigue or exhaustion?

If not for the limitation of the conversion speed between energy and vital energy, practicing twelve hours a day wouldn't be impossible...

...

Next door.

In Ying Bing's room, many things were already frozen.

She never lit candles.

Because when she practiced, candles were unworthy of burning.

In the Cassia Palace, the entire palace used Jade Crystal Lamps made from merman fat for lighting.

"Two meridians."

"Still not fast enough."

Ying Bing lowered her eyes, calculating slightly.

The place of inheritance she wanted to go to required at least eight meridians in the Vital Energy Realm.

In other words, in these ten days, she needed to open at least six more meridians.

Suddenly.

Ying Bing seemed to recall that this year's sect trial was not peaceful.

At that time, she hadn't successfully opened her meridians and wasn't a participant, but she had heard some rumors.

It was said that a small number of disciples went missing during this trial.

Not dead, but missing, neither alive nor dead.

What happened in between was unknown.

"The stronger I am, the more confident I will be."

"I must obtain one of the Nine Souls of the Primal Phoenix."

Ying Bing's eyes, like jade snow, flickered slightly.

In her previous life, she had, by chance, entered a secret place born from one of the Nine Souls of the Primal Phoenix, the 'Rosy Essence'.

It was also because of this that she showcased her talent and changed her fate.

In her subsequent life, this inheritance remained closely tied to her.

Later, through either fortuitous encounters or various means, she gathered all Nine Souls of the Primal Phoenix, which became one of her key supports on her path to invincibility.

It could be said that among the major opportunities in her life, the Nine Souls of the Primal Phoenix ranked in the top three.

The divine technique Ying Bing created—the Nine-Colored Mystic Phoenix Scripture—also required the possession of the Nine Souls for practice.

"Li Mo, still practicing?"

"He does have some perseverance."

Strangely enough.

Whenever Ying Bing thought of Li Mo next door, her once icy heart would ripple with a slight wave.

She didn't dislike this feeling, but she disliked being affected by it.

What displeased her more was that she didn't understand the origin of this emotion.

"Could it be because I still owe him a favor?"

After pondering for a moment, Ying Bing made a decision.

When going to the place of inheritance, she would take Li Mo with her.

Any of the other opportunities there, if obtained, could change the fate of an ordinary person.

Perhaps, it could allow him to leave Ziyang Prefecture, even the Eastern Wasteland Region, in his lifetime.

If he could witness the true splendor of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, even just a little, it wouldn't be a life wasted.