At the highest realm, closing up felt like one day, yet thousands of years had passed in the real world.

Some people merely felt as if they had closed and opened their eyes while in seclusion, but multiple eras might have actually already passed in the world outside.

Song Shuhang naturally had not reached such a realm.

When it came to practicing, the longest time that he had ever gone on without breaks was merely one night.

Inside the Scarlet Dragon Cave.

Song Shuhang found a flat area with moderate temperature before sitting down in a cross-legged position. It was probably due to recalling the terrible experience that Young Monk Guoguo had of incurring hemorrhoids that Song Shuhang subconsciously avoided hot and poor terrain when choosing a place to meditate at.

Since he was at the Fifth Stage Realm, he had long become immune to incurring such things, though.

After sitting down, Song Shuhang placed Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword on his knees and placed his hands on it, feeling a sudden burst of emotion. "Sure enough, swords are so beautiful."

By sitting cross-legged with a sword on his knees, one would experience a feeling of freedom and ease.

But if what was on one's knees was a saber, they would likely experience a feeling of recklessness instead.

...The only thing that ruined the entire style of this scene was the pink gloves that Song Shuhang was wearing.

There was nothing that could be done about it. After searching through the entire Dragon Blood Tribe, they had not been able to find a pair of gloves that fitted Song Shuhang. In the end, it was a quick-witted and cute Dragon Blood Tribe girl who made a pair for Song Shuhang.

However, it was already good that he had gloves. The color really didn't matter as long as they did their job.

Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword reminded, "Stop having those chaotic thoughts. Calm your mind, and enter a state of seclusion."

"Yes, Senior." Song Shuhang nodded and closed his eyes.

He first circulated the ❮True Self Meditation Scripture❯ to calm his mind and adjust his state.

Then, he circulated the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Technique❯ to warm up his body.

Soon after, Song Shuhang entered the 'Inner Sight' state.

When he was in the Inner Sight state, Song Shuhang's divine sense could feel that there were three types of energy surrounding him, providing assistance for his seclusion.

Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword, who lay on his knees, was entwined in profound laws and the brilliance of a path.

These laws and the path were the powers of an Immortal, and Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword had deliberately restrained them. Otherwise, cultivators who were of a much lower realm might find themselves engrossed in these laws and the path, possibly suffering damage to their soul as they ended up being unable to extricate themselves from their immersion.

Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword brought great augmentation to Song Shuhang's comprehension speed of saber techniques, saber intent, and the Heaven Burning Flaming Saber Technique. Moreover, due to the bright, high-level 'path' that shone from it, Song Shuhang's cultivation speed also found itself being enhanced.

Fairy Creation had not returned to Song Shuhang's body. Instead, she sat with her back against Song Shuhang's, also entering a state of cultivation.

The energy emanating from her body was able to enhance Song Shuhang's speed in understanding the cultivation techniques of the scholarly faction. For Song Shuhang, these were the ❮Scholarly Indestructible Body of the Buddha❯, the ❮Righteous Body Tempering Poem❯, the ❮Virtuous Man's Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯, and the ❮Celestial Sprint❯.

At the same time, the energy was able to calm Song Shuhang's mind, cleansing his spirit and making him less prone to any distractions while cultivating. It also prevented inner demons from disturbing him.

Finally, there was Senior White's clone, who was lazily floating in the air and resting his hands behind his head, seemingly having entered a state of sleep.

The energy that was coming from him was strange. It seemed to be extremely weak yet also extremely strong.

This energy was very well suited for Song Shuhang. Unconsciously, Song Shuhang's figure had transformed into a figure of smoke, resonating slightly with the energy of Senior White's clone. After all, the pseudo-eternity smoky mode had come from Senior White.

Senior White's clone enhanced Song Shuhang's understanding of his main cultivation technique, the ❮Thirty-Three Divine Beasts' Technique❯, as well as his comprehension ability overall.

With the help the three were providing, Song Shuhang felt as if he was being helped by the heavens while he was in seclusion!

And not only that.

In the mind of Song Shuhang's clone, there were two kinds of 'Golden Core Composition Finishing Touch' inspirations that would flash brightly every now and then.

One was coming from the 'steel manifestation', which corresponded to the mechanical core reactor, thus providing inspiration for the 'Star of Creation and Destruction'.

Meanwhile, the other one was coming from his struggling main body. Although the signal wasn't very good, and there was a delay, there was nevertheless inspiration that was being sent over from his main body. This inspiration was meant for the finishing touch of the Golden Core Composition 'The Forever Impregnable Holy City'.

Going into seclusion could truly bring one great joy.

As time passed by, he could feel his realm slowly rising.

Of his seven small golden cores, two had already successfully lit up and become Lustrous Golden Cores.

Of the remaining five, there were now two for which he already had clues as to how to proceed... As for 'The World-Ending Holy Sword' composition on the colorful monster core, his second small core, it was only lacking the final boss.

Song Shuhang had a feeling that once he lit up the core reactor and the first small golden core, he would soon be able to light up the 'colorful monster core' as well!

Once he was able to fully ascertain how to proceed, completing three in one swoop shouldn't be a problem.

How wonderful!

Time passed by little by little.

Song Shuhang was fully engrossed in his seclusion.

It turned out that closing up really was rather addicting.

The wondrous feeling it brought was just like that of the Immortal Feast that Immortal Fairy Bie Xue held every now and then. Once you had a taste of it, you would want to continue relishing in that taste, never stopping.

In this way, one day had passed.

Early the next morning.

The sun, which the people of the Black Dragon World longed for, no longer rose.

The old tribal chief walked around outside the 'Scarlet Dragon Cave', trying to sense the situation inside the cave.

With the various barriers and defensive formations that Senior White's clone had set up, the old tribal chief was unable to determine the situation inside. He could only vaguely sense that Song Shuhang was still inside.

It's been one whole day. Does a clone not need to excrete waste? the old tribal chief thought to himself. While he was in thought, he left the Scarlet Dragon Cave.

As the leader of an entire tribe, he was very busy.

It was especially so now that his sub-tribe was in a period of reconstruction, with numerous things waiting to be done.

These past few days, the old tribal chief had been occupied with approving matters, applauding Scarlet Heaven Sword, eating with the guests, and making butterfly nets for Fairy Creation...

"Wait, I feel that something is wrong." The old tribal chief squeezed his chin.

Shouldn't I be very busy? But then, why does it feel like I haven't actually been doing much recently?

He recalled that when he and his friends had arrived in the Dadamar Forest empty-handed and had to build the 'Dragon Blood Tribe' from scratch, he would be busy building houses, setting up formations, adjusting the tribe's defenses, hunting fierce beasts in the forest, and slaying evil beasts and zombies.

Those years were difficult but fulfilling. Every day was accompanied by sweat and laughter.

But now, these things were done by the juniors of the tribe. It seemed that the only thing he was responsible for was the approval of different things, but he didn't actually have to do much himself.

The old tribal chief suddenly felt empty inside.

❄️❄️❄️

Inside the Scarlet Dragon Cave.

Song Shuhang felt that his divine sense, spiritual energy, and will had reached the limit.

This feeling was just like when he was to 'jump through the dragon gate' back in the First Stage Realm. He felt as if he could break through numerous obstacles, and enter a new realm with just one leap.

Am I about to break through?

I feel that with just one leap, all the inspirations I need to complete the Golden Core Compositions will come rushing into me!

And so, Song Shuhang jumped up with great force.

"Whoosh~"

His primordial soul left his body.

His primordial soul emerged on top of his clone's head. It had a dazed expression on its face as it looked at the clone's physical body.

The primordial soul leaving the body was a basic ability that Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperors had, but Song Shuhang had never actively tried to use this function.

Song Shuhang's primordial soul said, "Strange, this feels very unscientific."

He was saying this because he was a clone!

The clone was different from his main body. Why did it have a 'primordial soul'?

Song Shuhang still had this kind of basic knowledge related to the cultivation world.

One person had one primordial soul. No matter how many clones a cultivator created, they should only have one primordial soul.

It was impossible for a cultivator to generate 100 primordial souls as a result of generating 100 clones.

Song Shuhang frowned, and said, "What's going on? It can't be that I have two primordial souls, right?"

Could it be because of Lady Kunna?

Could she have directly transferred my primordial soul out?

That is most likely the case, Song Shuhang thought to himself.

He remembered that when his clone had been brought out from Ninth Stage Heavenly Tribulation Realm, he couldn't tell the difference between his clone and the main body for a moment.

It appeared as if the difference between the two had been blurred.

Thinking about it now, Lady Kunna must have used some unknown method to sneakily transfer his primordial soul out.

Scarlet Heaven Sword's voice sounded. "Hey, Shuhang, what are you doing playing with your primordial soul while in a seclusion?"

Song Shuhang embarrassedly said, "I just felt that there was an opportunity for a breakthrough in my realm, so I jumped up like this... But then, the only thing that ended up happening was my primordial soul jumping out of my body."

"..." Scarlet Heaven Sword. 

Song Shuhang raised his head, and said, "However, perhaps my next breakthrough requires my primordial soul to be outside my body."

His primordial soul gently stretched out its hand as it closed its eyes, sensing the space around.

In the air, the omnipresent Dragon Network lit up, responding to Song Shuhang's scanning.

Song Shuhang suddenly said, "Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword, I'm planning on taking a trip with my primordial soul."

"It's only the second day of your seclusion." Scarlet Heaven Sword felt very tired.

After thinking for a while, Song Shuhang said, "But I feel that my primordial soul leaving my body is also a part of my seclusion... I might have some karma I need to resolve."

Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword sighed deeply. "Sure enough, you really don't have much fate with closing up. Alright, let's go. I'll go with you wherever you want to go."

After saying that, an illusory 'sword spirit' manifested from Scarlet Heaven Sword.

It was a miniature version of Scarlet Heaven Sword.

The sword spirit floated beside Song Shuhang. "A Fifth Stage cultivator's primordial soul is still very fragile. You must be very careful while outside your body. I will come with you to protect you."

"Eh? Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword, so you were an actual sword spirit," Song Shuhang said in surprise. "I really thought that Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword was a 'saber spirit' deep down."

"..." Scarlet Heaven Sword. 

Brat, take this slash!

Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword turned around, and pierced Song Shuhang's waist.

"I was wrong, I was wrong~ I'm sorry, Senior!" Song Shuhang quickly begged for mercy.

After a while...

Under the protection of Scarlet Heaven Sword's sword spirit, Song Shuhang's primordial soul left his body and the Scarlet Dragon Cave.

When one's primordial soul was outside of one's body, it could fly very fast. Primordial souls had the innate ability to quickly traverse great distances. With one step, they would be able to move up to thousands of meters.

After half a day.

Song Shuhang and Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword appeared in a castle.

The residents of this place were all members of the Dragon Blood Tribe, with black dragon scales on their bodies.