Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

"For Xiao Jin's sake..." Li Baichuan sighed, "The situation in Jinsha Market must be very complicated. Wanheng Market is not to be trifled with. Your trip there will be quite dangerous."

Yue Shan walked to the Golden Winged Tiger, squatted down, and placed his large hand on its body. His eyes revealed a rare tenderness. "I know it's dangerous, but I must get the Flood Dragon Demon Core."

His name is "Tiger Roar," not only because of his temperament, but also because of his natal spirit beast, the Golden Winged Tiger, with whom he shares a deep bond.

Years ago, he traveled to distant lands and by chance formed a symbiotic blood pact with this young tiger that possessed the bloodline of an ancient and rare beast. They grew up together and adventured together.

He cultivates an ancient secret technique that allows him to use the power of spirit beasts to break through to higher realms. This is also the reason why he can resist some Core Formation techniques with his Foundation Establishment body.

That attempt to form the Golden Core back then was a near-death experience.

At the last moment, Golden Winged Tiger unleashed its full potential, using itself as a shield to take the most fatal impact for him.

Although he managed to save his life and cultivation, and even became a pseudo-core cultivator by sheer luck, the Golden Winged Tiger's foundation was shattered and its origin severely damaged, causing it to fall into a long slumber, clinging to life only with countless pills and this specially made spiritual nest.

Every time he used the power of that fake core, he was actually accelerating its demise.

The dragon's demon core contains immense power, which is of great benefit to all demonic beasts, especially tigers and leopards, since dragons and tigers have always been linked together.

If we can obtain it, perhaps... it can truly make up for the root cause of Xiao Jin's losses, awaken it, and even take it a step further.

"Master, rest assured," Yue Shan stood up, the gentleness in his eyes fading and replaced by determination. "I have already asked an old friend in the outer realms to find out that there will be a batch of second-tier longevity pills at the Tongming Immortal City's centennial auction more than ten years from now."

No matter what, I will buy one for you; at least, it will extend your lifespan by several decades!

Li Baichuan waved his hand, his eyes filled with both relief and regret: "My old life is nothing. It's best that you and Xiao Jin returned safely."

"Go ahead, but don't tarnish the reputation of my Tiger Roar Market. Don't let that brat Zhu Yi be used as a pawn and then end up counting money for him."

Yue Shan grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. This trip might just run into some old friends, a good opportunity to stretch my muscles."

He paused, then muttered under his breath, "If we slip up and Zhu Yi laughs at me for the rest of my life, then I, the Tiger Roar Master, will have nowhere to hide my face."

Back then, in order to quickly establish his prestige and attract rogue cultivators and Foundation Establishment families to join him, he overdid it by cultivating an image of strength, invincibility, and domineering power, constantly challenging and attacking this person or that person.

This allowed Tiger Roar Market to gain a foothold and become one of the seven upper markets.

Looking back now, fame is exhausting. Sometimes, once you put on that "strongman" persona, it's really hard to let go of it.

-----

At this moment, Lin Zhao had already explored the fifth region.

The area in front of us is marked "Hundred Miles of Water and Marshland" on the map.

On the surface, it doesn't look much different from the marshland along the Jinsha River.

But as soon as Lin Zhao approached, the spirit-sealing box containing the dragon claw in the storage bag emitted an extremely faint resonance, and the source of the resonance was right below.

"There's something..." Lin Zhao's eyes narrowed, and a faint silver light appeared in his eyes—the Sword Eye of Illusion!

The gaze pierces through the murky water, "looking" into the depths of the swamp.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that something was amiss.

At the very bottom of the swamp, near a rock wall, the spiritual energy was unusually active, as if an unseen spring was continuously gushing forth spiritual energy.

This is completely out of place with the surrounding lifeless aquatic environment; something unusual must be going on.

Lin Zhao put away the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat, concealed his aura to the extreme, and silently slid into the cold pool.

A protective aura formed a barrier, and he, like a fish, slid down toward the source of the unusual spiritual energy.

One hundred feet, two hundred feet... The water pressure gradually increased, the light almost disappeared, and the surroundings were filled with a chilling darkness and deathly silence.

Only within the vision provided by the Sword Eye of Illusion could the traces of spiritual energy become increasingly clear.

Eight hundred feet deep, a huge cave entrance, half-hidden by water plants and silt, suddenly appeared on the rock wall.

The edges of the hole are smooth, showing signs of regular cleaning.

Lin Zhao's heart sank, and she carefully reached inside.

After passing through a long underwater tunnel, the view suddenly opened up ahead.

He had entered an incredibly vast, gigantic cave!

Most of the cave is still submerged in water, forming a deep pool, but the top is hundreds of feet high, and the air is filled with a depressing stillness.

His gaze was first drawn to the scene in the center of the cave.

There stand three huge, clearly carved stone pillars, arranged in a triangle.

The pillar's base faintly reveals distorted, unnaturally formed runes that emit an extremely faint, dark green aura.

The area surrounding the stone pillar, all the way to the edge of the cave, was densely packed with monsters!

Armored rhinoceroses, rocky boars, all sorts of strange and grotesque monsters... ranging in rank from low-grade first rank to those whose auras are almost touching the threshold of second rank, their numbers are probably no less than ten thousand!

Most of them lay quietly, their heads facing the stone pillar in the center of the pool, their eyes cloudy, their breathing rising and falling slowly in sync, as if they were lost in some deep dream.

What alarmed Lin Zhao even more was that he saw at least three powerful auras belonging to second-tier demonic beasts crawling on several slightly higher rocks!

They were equally quiet, but their scarlet beastly eyes flashed with even more obvious pain and struggle.

This is definitely not a natural monster's lair.

This place was forcibly gathered and bound here by some force!

As Lin Zhao was pondering whether to retreat immediately to report the news or risk checking the situation again, he suddenly detected an extremely subtle fluctuation of spiritual energy at the edge of his divine sense—belonging to a human cultivator!

The fluctuation was coming from a very hidden crack in the rock wall on the side of the cave, and it seemed to be moving, heading deeper into the crack.

The crack was in a tricky location; if Lin Zhao's divine sense hadn't far surpassed that of others of the same level and if he hadn't been constantly vigilant, he wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.

Inside the crack, a dark green spiritual light, originating from the same source as the stone pillar in the center of the pool, faintly emanates.

"As expected, someone is behind this!" Lin Zhao's eyes turned cold. To catch the thief, you must first catch the kingpin. It's more important to find out who's inside and what they're doing.

He clung to the cold rock wall, silently creeping towards the crevice.

The entrance to the crevice was only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. After extending more than ten feet inward, it turned out to be a cave that had been carved out by human hands.

The cave is about thirty feet square, and several "fluorite" stones that emit a faint light are embedded in the top.

The air was filled with a nauseating, sweet, and bloody stench.

In the center of the cave, a complex array plate with a diameter of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) is carved on the ground.

The array patterns were drawn with the blood of an unknown beast. On the edge of the array plate, there were seven small black banners, each about the size of a palm, engraved with twisted runes, emanating an evil power that could attract the mind.