Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Far beyond the secret realm, in a cave in Tiger Roar Market, a Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Jin, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes!

"puff--!"

His face turned deathly pale instantly, and he spat out a mouthful of dark red blood. His aura weakened at a visible speed, and he looked as if he had aged ten years!

"Damn it! We failed?! The split soul was annihilated?!"

His eyes were filled with shock, anger, and heartache. "Only a Core Formation cultivator could completely annihilate my fragmented soul. It's just an abandoned secret realm, yet it's valued so much by Core Formation cultivators!"

He endured the excruciating pain that felt like his soul was being torn apart, a resolute and ruthless glint in his eyes: "This identity... cannot remain! I must leave immediately!"

He struggled to his feet, quickly gathered his most important belongings, and erased all traces in the cave related to his true identity.

"Don't let the patriarch know who ruined my plans! I will avenge this!" he growled through gritted teeth.

Unfortunately, the fragmented soul was annihilated too quickly and too completely; he was completely unable to perceive what exactly happened within the secret realm.

What he didn't know was that the one who destroyed his split soul and ruined his grand plan was just a junior cultivator he didn't even take seriously.

This incompetent rage is destined to be nothing more than an empty threat.

A moment later, the injured Core Formation cultivator vanished from Tiger Roar Market as if he had evaporated into thin air, leaving no trace.

Lin Zhao, however, was completely unaware of this.

In the deathly silence of the Silent Stone Forest, time quietly slips away.

After nearly a day of focused meditation, Lin Zhao's injured consciousness has stabilized initially. Although it has not fully recovered, it is no longer a major problem.

At the same time, the fragments of memory originating from the split soul of the Demonic Path's Core Formation were finally sorted out by him, useless information was removed, and only a small amount of valuable information remained.

He exhaled a long breath.

Then, with a solemn expression, he took out the strangely shaped black hourglass.

The hourglass lay quietly in his palm, its surface cool to the touch.

The special material absorbed the faint light from the surroundings, and the twisted, writhing runes on its surface remained dormant.

But Lin Zhao could vaguely sense a heart-stopping power contained within it.

Based on the information in my memory, this black hourglass was originally only a first-tier top-grade magic artifact.

But what makes it special is the slowly flowing, dark gray sand inside the hourglass—

That wasn't real sand, but rather the magical power of a demonic cultivator forming their core. This power was sealed in an hourglass after undergoing a special secret technique.

It is this power of Core Formation that endows the hourglass with its powerful abilities, allowing it to briefly release the Golden Core Domain, which only Core Formation cultivators can control, once activated.

That is the absolute domain formed by a Core Formation cultivator communicating with heaven and earth through their own Golden Core!

Under the influence of this domain, the spiritual energy within a radius of dozens of miles is entirely under its control.

Within the Dharma Domain, let alone Qi Refining cultivators, even Foundation Establishment cultivators cannot even dream of drawing upon a single trace of spiritual energy from the outside world.

They can only fight using their own spiritual power, and their strength is suppressed to the extreme.

This is the insurmountable chasm between Core Formation and Foundation Establishment, a true suppression of "domain" power.

Recalling his past pride in creating the pseudo-domain of the Celestial Sword Dao using the third-tier technique "Unity of Heaven and Man,"

Lin Zhao couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile.

His so-called "law domain" was merely a way to "guide" the surrounding spiritual energy of a specific attribute to a certain extent using his powerful divine sense.

This makes it easier for oneself to control, creating an environment favorable for combat.

This is not much different from the principle by which Foundation Establishment cultivators draw upon spiritual energy to empower themselves.

This is different from the absolute "control" of the Core Formation Domain, which transforms a region into one's own domain.

The difference is like night and day; one is merely borrowing power, while the other is true control.

"The difference between Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators is so huge..." Lin Zhao muttered to himself. The slight sense of pride he had secretly felt earlier due to his rapid improvement and the creation of many techniques was completely crushed at this moment.

Instead, there was a yearning for the Core Formation realm and a deep reverence for higher powers.

His gaze returned to the black hourglass in his palm.

The information in the memory indicated that about one-tenth of the Core Formation power sealed in the hourglass had been consumed after the previous use.

At the same time, he found the key to drive the hourglass from his fragmented memories, and could use it easily.

At the same time, an extremely bold and dangerous idea began to grow and linger uncontrollably in his mind.

"If we first use the Four Elements Pearl to fully condense the powerful Four Elements Sword Dragon, and then activate this hourglass artifact to solidify the spiritual energy of the battlefield..."

Lin Zhao's eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint flashing within them. This form of the Four Elements Sword Dragon...

The core principle lies in compressing all the power and then forming a devastating blow in an instant, pursuing the ultimate attack power.

Once formed, its power primarily comes from the four elemental pearls that constitute it, as well as the spiritual energy infused by Lin Zhao himself.

The need to absorb external spiritual energy is very low.

Within this small, stagnant area of ​​spiritual energy created by the hourglass, it will be one of the very few killer moves that remains unaffected and retains the vast majority of its power!

"The Four Elements Sword Dragon and the Hourglass combined... perhaps... could even kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

The thought made his heart skip a beat, and a sense of dread mixed with excitement and awe swept down his spine.

When he previously used the sword dragon to kill Liu Yuan, the explosive power of the Returning Origin Four Strikes had already touched the threshold of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator's attack.

Otherwise, how could he have shattered two top-grade first-tier magic artifacts in an instant?

However, Foundation Establishment cultivators have many methods and would never stand still and take the hit head-on.

Now that he has this hourglass that can imprison spiritual energy and greatly limit his opponents, the situation is completely different.

After a while, he calmed down and began to carefully analyze the key points and potential limitations of the idea.

This hourglass is ultimately just a first-tier magic artifact; it cannot control the magic domain like a true Core Formation cultivator.

The stagnation of spiritual energy it brings is "indiscriminate".

This means that during the hourglass's effect, not only are enemies unable to use nearby spiritual energy,

Lin Zhao herself is also limited! The Four Elements Sword Dragon form is alright, but...

His other form, "Four-Element Yinglong," possesses a massive size and enduring fighting power, heavily reliant on constantly absorbing spiritual energy to replenish itself during battle.

The small magical domain of this hourglass artifact was completely suppressed.

"Indeed, there are no truly perfect spells or methods in this world."

Lin Zhao sighed, the path of cultivation is full of mutual generation and restraint, a cycle of checks and balances.

His sword dragon was once trapped by Meng Xu's transformed cloud dragon, which in turn was restrained by Yinglong's ability to control spiritual power. Yinglong's endurance was also severely suppressed by the hourglass spell.