Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

After a while, he opened his eyes and shook his head: "Poisonous fog is just ordinary poisonous gas, not rare."

But... there is indeed a force field in the valley, restraining the flow of the poisonous mist and regrouping the dissipated poisonous gas. I can't find the core of the force field.

"Not a trace at all?"

"Yes, but it's intermittent, as if it's being deliberately covered up by something."

Lin Zhao pondered, "Perhaps... we have to use a clumsy method."

He went up above and took out the Three Flames Fan.

Lin Zhao took a deep breath, and his spiritual power surged like a river, flowing into the fan through his meridians.

When he had poured seventy percent of his magic power into his wrist, his wrist trembled.

"Crimson Flames"

"boom--!!!"

The silent valley seemed to have been plunged into a pool of water filled with red-hot iron! Three-colored flames poured out like a burst dam!

Under Lin Zhao's skillful control, the flames transformed into three fire waves, each tens of feet wide, which swept outwards towards the fan-shaped area in front!

Wherever the fire wave passed, the dark green poisonous mist, like snow meeting boiling water, made a strange "hissing" sound and quickly melted away.

A strange, acrid smell filled the air.

But this is not enough.

Lin Zhao twisted her wrist again, a second shake!

On the fan, three-colored spirit feathers simultaneously burst forth with dazzling light! Crimson Feather Eagle, Sky-Burning Sparrow, and Flame Falcon—three lifelike illusory birds—spread their wings from the flames and plunged into the sea of ​​fire with long cries! The illusory wings flapped, actually drawing the originally flat waves of fire to begin rotating and converging!

The poisonous fog in the valley was stirred up.

Poisonous mist and flames mingled together, guided by the phantoms of the three birds, gradually forming a crimson fire tornado with a diameter of over fifty feet!

The tornado moved slowly forward, like a huge and greedy maw of fire, devouring and refining all the poisonous mist in its path!

The firelight illuminated half of the valley, and the heat forced Lin Shanhe to retreat more than ten feet, squinting at the spectacular scene.

Fifteen minutes later, the tornado dissipated.

The poisonous fog that had covered several miles ahead was cleared away, revealing the rocky ground below. Moonlight shone down without obstruction, and the valley enjoyed a rare moment of clarity.

Just as Lin Shanhe's face lit up with joy, he noticed that Lin Zhao hadn't closed the fan; instead, his brows were furrowed.

"That's not right," Lin Zhao said in a low voice.

His divine sense remained locked on this area. Less than ten breaths after the tornado dissipated, a faint, dark green stream of air began to "seep" out from the cracks in the underground rocks and even from the air.

At first, they were just wisps, but soon they connected and spread to fill the emptied area.

Within an hour, the concentration of the poisonous fog had recovered to more than half.

Three hours later, the valley returned to its original state. It was as if the flames from before were just an illusion.

Lin Shanhe sighed, his joy long gone: "It's always been like this. Unless you can turn this entire valley over and burn every inch of land into crystal... but how much spiritual energy would that take? I'm afraid even emptying this mine wouldn't be enough to fill it."

He paused, his tone complex: "A Core Formation cultivator might have the means to completely purify it, but once a cultivator is involved... it's hard to say whether this mine will still belong to the Lin family."

A second-tier mid-grade spirit stone mine that can be quickly converted into cash is a tempting fortune for Core Formation cultivators.

Lin Zhao silently watched the poisonous fog recede, then suddenly said, "The core of the force field... might not be on the ground."

"Um?"

"Underground. Very deep, and its presence is perfectly concealed by something."

Lin Zhao put away the Three Flames Fan, flipped his hand and took out the repaired Eight Desolations Ancient Seal. "I'll try to see if I can... find it."

Lin Shanhe retreated to a distance and raised his strongest protective spiritual light.

Lin Zhao stood holding the seal, his hands beginning to form a hand seal—the Five Emperors Seal Forbidden Technique, even in its initial activation, was an immense burden for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As the hand seals were gradually formed, his aura began to rise, and his robes fluttered and rustled even without wind.

Centered on him, the spiritual energy of the earth's veins within a radius of several miles began to stir and flow, like a pool of water being stirred by an invisible hand.

"town"

Lin Zhao shouted, and the ancient seal in his hand flew out and hovered three zhang above his head! The dark red runes on the seal lit up one by one, emitting a heavy pressure as heavy as a mountain.

The next moment, the ancient seal phantom swelled to a radius of ten zhang and slammed down hard onto the ground below!

Only a profound and extremely deep tremor came from the depths of the earth.

Ripples spread across the ground like water, and the rock strata made a teeth-grinding "crunch" sound.

Dozens of tiny cracks in the ground spread outwards from the ancient seal for hundreds of feet in all directions.

Lin Zhao's eyes flashed with silver light, and he activated the Breaking Illusion Sword Eye at full power!

His divine sense, following the shockwave, probed deep into the earth like keen tentacles, searching for any discordant "nodes".

Ten breaths, twenty breaths, thirty breaths...

When Lin Zhao's forehead was covered in sweat, he suddenly "saw"—

About 130 feet underground, embedded in the rock strata is a strange boulder about the size of a house, with a dark color like black iron.

The surface of the boulder was as smooth as a mirror, seemingly naturally formed, yet it also faintly formed a fragmented, ancient runic array. The force field that restrained the poisonous mist originated from this very stone!

But what caught Lin Zhao's attention even more was that the inside of the boulder was hollow. There was a narrow passage, cleverly disguised as a natural rock crevice, sloping downwards, leading to a deeper, darker place.

There, there are extremely faint spatial fluctuations.

"Secret Realm..." Lin Zhao withdrew the ancient seal, his face slightly pale.

This was quite a drain on resources, and the cracks that the ancient seal had just repaired began to crack again.

"Found it?" Lin Shanhe rushed over.

"Hmm. There's something 130 feet underground."

Lin Zhao explained simply, "It's like the entrance to a secret realm, its aura concealed by a strange rock. The core of the poisonous fog field is that rock."

Lin Shanhe's expression turned serious.

In the world of cultivation, secret realms have always been synonymous with "opportunities" and "dangers," and this is especially true for unknown secret realms.

"Can you assess the level of danger?"

Lin Zhao shook his head: "The entrance is cleverly concealed; my divine sense can't penetrate it. However..."

He thought for a moment, "Judging from the scale of the force field and the characteristics of the poisonous fog, it doesn't seem like there's a living creature in charge."

More likely... it's an abandoned, semi-collapsed secret realm, where the remaining formations are still functioning.

The two exchanged a glance.

"I'll go down and take a look," Lin Zhao said.

"No way." Lin Shanhe refused decisively. "It's too risky. One spirit stone mine isn't worth risking your life for. Ten mines wouldn't be enough to bring you back."

Lin Zhao laughed: "Clan leader, you really think highly of me."

He paused, his tone becoming more serious, "When I was in the sect, I learned how to identify the type of secret realm and assess the risks. The fluctuations at this entrance are very small, and there are no signs of it actively absorbing spiritual energy... It's highly likely that no one is safe."

Lin Shanhe stared at him for several breaths before finally nodding slowly: "...Be careful in everything. If anything goes wrong, retreat immediately. The mine can be abandoned, but people cannot be harmed."