Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

"go!"

Holding the Qingfeng sword, Lin Zhao moved with the sword, speeding towards Yunmen.

The nine-zhang-long sword dragon above roared and surged forward, like a highly efficient killing machine.

Sword energy swept across, dragon claws tore, and the dragon's head spewed out a terrifying storm of sword energy, crushing and annihilating the cloud beasts blocking its way!

With each cloud beast that dissipated, a white light point flew out and disappeared into the token at Lin Zhao's waist.

Lin Zhao himself focused on eliminating the cloud beasts that managed to slip through the gaps in the sword dragon's attacks.

The sword dragon cleared a path above, using its sword light to protect itself as it moved swiftly.

Within a hundred-meter radius around him, a small sword energy field faintly formed, composed of countless interwoven four-colored sword energies!

Any cloud beast that trespasses into this area will be attacked by both the Stegosaurus and Lin Zhao.

He deliberately kept his attack range within 100 meters, not daring to be too conspicuous.

Because in his divine sense, above this sea of ​​clouds, especially closer to the Cloud Gate,

There were dozens of enormous cloud beast auras belonging to the Foundation Establishment level! He didn't want to attract the attention of these "big guys".

Charging forward with unstoppable momentum, the nine-foot-long sword dragon, empowered by liquid magic, displayed terrifying attack capabilities.

Lin Zhao advanced at an extremely fast pace, and the number of Cloud Spirit Marks he obtained was also quite considerable.

However, just as he was not far from the Cloud Gate, something unexpected happened!

The dense clouds on the right suddenly churned violently, and a violent, heavy pressure descended like a mountain!

A colossal black shadow tore through the clouds, revealing itself to be a cloud lion over ten zhang tall! Its aura had reached the second-tier Foundation Establishment level.

The cloud lion seemed to be attracted by the "eye-catching" spiritual light and sharp aura of the sword dragon, and raised one of its front paws, pressing down in mid-air!

"Buzz—!"

The surrounding clouds condensed into a giant claw, which crashed down towards the area where Lin Zhao and his sword dragon were!

There was no way to avoid it! This powerful strike covered an area of ​​about a mile in radius!

A cold glint flashed in Lin Zhao's eyes as he made a decision in an instant.

Engaging in a prolonged battle with a cloud beast at the Foundation Establishment level is not a wise move; we must defeat the enemy in one decisive blow!

"Steel Dragon, Return to Origin!"

He roared inwardly, his divine sense instantly resonating with the sword dragon above his head! The nine-zhang sword dragon let out a dragon roar, and its massive body suddenly contracted and collapsed inward!

All the runes, all the sword energy, and all the spiritual light converged and surged toward the dragon's throat in an instant.

The next moment, the Stegosaurus's shape blurred at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just as the Stegosaurus was about to completely disintegrate—

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!"

Four incredibly sharp sword beams of destruction, condensed to their fullest extent, shot out like meteors from the dragon's throat, which was on the verge of collapse! They hurtled towards the giant cloud claw and the body of the cloud lion behind it!

Four terrifying explosions overlapped! A dazzling four-colored ball of destructive light exploded in the air, and the resulting sword energy swept away the clouds and mist hundreds of feet around it!

The lion's paw was shattered into countless spiritual points! The destructive force continued its relentless march, slamming heavily into the cloud lion!

The massive, seven-zhang-long body was blasted backward, its outer shell shattered, revealing churning clouds of mist within. Most of the Foundation Establishment aura had vanished.

Just as it was being blown senseless,

Lin Zhao moved! His magic power surged wildly, and his body and the Qingfeng sword in his hand almost merged into one, transforming into a long rainbow of sword energy, increasing his speed to the limit, and passing through the broken body of the cloud lion!

In the instant it passed through, the Qingfeng Sword swung fiercely, and in an instant, hundreds and thousands of incomparably sharp sword energies appeared.

Centered on Lin Zhao, the energy erupted from the Qingfeng Sword, transforming into a terrifying storm of sword energy that penetrated the Cloud Lion's body through its shattered wounds.

Sword Qi Storm, another wide-range attack ability of the Stegosaurus.

Lin Zhao could naturally do it too. The Four Elements Sword Dragon was originally created by him, but it required him to charge up and consumed a great deal of energy to wield it.

This attack consumed seventy percent of his magical power.

The already severely injured Cloud Lion was further weakened by Lin Zhao's sword energy storm attack.

"Bang—!"

With a muffled, deafening roar, his body exploded from the inside out! He ultimately transformed into a vast cloud of mist.

The mark that flew out from the clouds was about the size of a fist, and it disappeared into Lin Zhao's token in a flash.

The attack was successful in one strike! Lin Zhao dared not linger for a moment.

The moment it landed, it recalled the Four Elements Pearl. The Four Elements Pearl was somewhat dim, but it was not damaged. After returning, it flashed with four-colored spiritual light.

In an instant, four elemental sword wings condensed behind him.

Sword wings appeared once more! The defensive sword wings transformed into armor covering his body.

A flash of light appeared on the Wind-Riding Sword Wings behind him, carrying him away as a streak of four-colored light.

The attack sword wings detached from the body and flew out, circling on the left and right sides, constantly shooting out sword energy, quickly killing and eliminating any cloud beasts blocking the way.

The sword-wing form was versatile, but its aura was not strong, and it did not attract the attention of the powerful Foundation Establishment cloud beasts nearby.

Lin Zhao successfully traversed the final stretch of distance using the power of her sword wings.

Finally, it broke through the surging sea of ​​clouds and landed steadily on the ground of the cloud gate.

Looking back, the sea of ​​clouds was still churning, and the sounds of battle could still be faintly heard. He exhaled a breath of stale air, his face slightly pale.

The Foundation Establishment Cloud Beast is still somewhat inferior to a true Foundation Establishment Demon Beast.

The bursts of power just now, especially the activation of the Four Elements Pearl to unleash "Four Elements Shattering Star" and "Sword Qi Storm", consumed a great deal of spiritual energy and mental power.

But sensing the mark on the token, he knew that he had not only passed the first test, but his score should also be quite high.

The token immediately transmitted a message.

The first stage, "Sea of ​​Illusory Clouds," has concluded. Final score: 91 points.

"Ninety-one points?" Lin Zhao's heart stirred slightly. "According to the rules, 90 points is for killing a Qi Refining stage cloud beast?"

Could the extra point belong to that second-tier cloud lion?

If that's the case, to get a perfect score of 100, would one need to kill ten second-tier cloud beasts?

He shook his head inwardly; for a Qi Refining stage cultivator, this was almost an impossible task.

After catching his breath, he looked up at Cloud Gate.

The cloud gate is ten thousand feet high, with a white jade ladder extending upwards below it.

The cloud ladder is hundreds of feet wide, and each step is shrouded in a light mist, exuding an aura that calms the mind yet contains a hidden pressure.

The jade tablet sent another message: Those who pass the first test, ascend the "Ladder of Inquiry."

The second stage: The Heart-Searching Test. The ladder has a total of 100,000 steps. The test begins.

Lin Zhao straightened his slightly disheveled blue robe without hesitation and stepped onto the first step.

A pressure came from above, but it wasn't heavy.

However, he soon discovered that he could not mobilize any magical power, and the spiritual power in his dantian seemed to be dormant.

Lin Zhao thought to himself, "Next, I'm afraid we'll be tested by the illusion."

He wasn't too worried about this, as his divine sense had already broken through the "Divine Barrier." Refining Qi from level ten to twelve was essentially breaking down the three stages of Foundation Establishment and completing them ahead of schedule.

Although Lin Zhao's current spiritual sense range is not as wide as that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, its quality is already comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and it has the ability to resist illusions.

Sure enough, a series of illusions soon followed.