Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao withdrew his gaze and looked down at the twenty-two people below.

"Wait."

He rode Yinglong slowly down, landing on the edge of that charred scar.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, he swayed slightly.

His magical power was overdrawn several times, and then quickly and forcibly replenished by the Thunder Gathering Pool, resulting in some injuries to his body.

But he steadied himself and didn't show it.

In the distance, ordinary people were peeking and peering around.

Nearby, the surviving Qi Refining cultivators knelt on the ground, trembling.

Closer still, the twenty-two people remained kneeling, too afraid to move.

Lin Zhao took a deep breath.

There is still much to be done after taking over Dingfengyuan.

Settle mortals, recruit cultivators who have committed robbery, integrate resources, and establish order.

But he wasn't in a hurry.

He looked up at the still-flickering lightning field in the distance.

Let's wait until Yan Chiheng finishes his fight before we talk about it.

Fifteen minutes later, the lightning in the sky finally dissipated.

When Yan Chiheng flew back, the lightning around him hadn't completely subsided. He had a smile on his face and was holding a storage bag in his hand—it was the relic of the leader of the Foundation Establishment Peak Tribulation Cultivator.

"Is it resolved?" Lin Zhao asked.

"Absolutely." Yan Chiheng landed, patted the ash off his clothes, "That old bastard even tried to self-destruct, but I just smashed him into the ground with a thunder hammer, burying him twenty feet deep, so he couldn't explode."

As he spoke, he looked up at the battlefield.

Then he froze.

In the basin spanning several miles, a huge five-colored scar stretched across the center, with scorched earth spreading outwards. The stone palace was reduced to ruins, the tents to ashes, and dozens of corpses lay scattered on the ground.

The air still lingered with the aftereffects of the collision of various spiritual energies, the five-colored radiance intertwined with the crimson hue, sending chills down one's spine.

Yan Chiheng swallowed hard.

He turned to look at Lin Zhao, his eyes filled with a complex emotion.

Lin Zhaocai is in the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

If he were to break through to the late Foundation Establishment stage—he would likely have to challenge a Core Formation cultivator.

Yan Chiheng shook his head, banishing the thought from his mind.

I don't want to think about it anymore; thinking too much will keep me awake at night.

He didn't forget his business and took out the Forbidden God Disc from his pocket.

The dark gold compass was about the size of a palm, with runes engraved on its edges and seven holes in the center that let in a faint light.

He walked up to the twenty-two kneeling Foundation Establishment cultivators and placed restrictions on each of them—their essence blood and divine sense entered the talisman, the talisman burned, and their divine sense fell into the plate.

Twenty-two more bright spots appeared on the plate.

Including those he had previously subdued, he now has more than thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators under his command.

Yan Chiheng weighed the compass in his hand, a smile playing on his lips.

This thing works really well.

---

When Lin Zhao made his move, Meng Yong, along with He An and three other Foundation Establishment cultivators, had already sealed off the entire camp outside the battlefield.

Although Lin Zhao's domain covered the core area, there were still several thousand Qi Refining Tribulation cultivators on the outer perimeter, mixed among more than 100,000 mortals.

When Meng Yong and the other four Foundation Establishment cultivators stood there, the Qi Refining Tribulation cultivators immediately became obedient.

But there are always those who are not afraid of death.

Many Qi Refining cultivators attempted to form an array to resist.

Without saying a word, Meng Yong took the initiative and killed many people.

Those Qi Refining cultivators then realized that their opponent was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, not someone at the same level as them.

Resist? With what can we resist?

After nearly a thousand heads rolled, the rest knelt down.

He An held the ritual implement, his palms slightly sweaty.

He had only recently established his foundation and this was the first time he had ever seen such a spectacle.

Meng Yong's expressionless killing manner made his heart pound; no wonder he was able to become the head of the market enforcement team.

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures."

Meng Yong sheathed his sword, glanced at him, and said, "Which of these cultivators hasn't taken a life? Just kill them, don't overthink it."

He An nodded and swallowed.

The three early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators beside them also looked a bit pale.

But they all followed suit.

In the distance, the young Luo Yu and the middle-aged man huddled in a corner, watching this scene with trembling hands.

Luo Yu gripped the uncle's arm tightly: "Uncle... are they also Tribulation Cultivators?"

The middle-aged man turned pale and couldn't speak.

Especially that guy named He An, after killing people, suddenly used a spell - his whole body transformed into a black tiger more than ten feet long, and with a roar, the legs of people within dozens of feet around him went weak.

I've never seen such magic in the Immortal City.

Oh no, it seems we've just escaped one pack of wolves only to fall into another.

But then he realized something was wrong.

After killing the cultivator, those people did not make any further moves.

They began to drive away the Qi Refining cultivators, making them squat obediently, but they did not harm these mortals.

Even when a terrifying explosion came from the core area, the young man who had transformed into a black tiger took the initiative to raise a ray of spiritual light to shield them from the aftershocks.

Luo Yu looked up and saw the sky in the distance.

There, three enormous dragon-shaped phantoms were churning—one silver, gleaming with sword light; one purple, crackling with lightning; and the other with four-colored wings, carrying a person, suspended in the sky.

The person made a hand seal, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth gathered wildly, forming a five-colored radiance, a phenomenon of the five elements converging at the origin.

Luo Yu was stunned.

At that moment, he felt as if he had seen a god.

"boom--!!!"

A devastating explosion.

The five-colored radiance collided and annihilated with the blood-red light, and the shockwave swept for more than ten miles.

Then, everything returned to calm.

The dragon-shaped phantoms gradually dissipated, leaving only the Yinglong with four-colored wings, which carried that person down slowly.

Luo Yu opened his mouth, remained silent for a long time, and finally said, "A god, it must be a god descending to earth."

He An walked over, stood beside them, and looked into the distance.

"That's not a god," He An said. "That's our ward master, Lin Zhao, who guards the area."

Luo Yu was stunned.

"The garrison commander of Cangyun Mountain Market?"

"right."

Luo Yu's eyes grew brighter as he gazed at the white-clad figure in the distance.

The guardian deity of Cangyun Mountain.

Lin Zhao.

He remembered it.

---

Fifteen minutes later, Yan Chiheng flew back.

He was still crackling with lightning as he swept across the sky, and the mortals all looked up.

"Thor!"

"Thor is back!"

"Thor defeated those villains!"

Yan Chiheng almost fell from the sky.

He later landed next to Lin Zhao and asked in a low voice, "What did they call me?"

"Thor." Lin Zhao said expressionlessly.

"...Can I fight them?"

"cannot."

Yan Chiheng shut his mouth in frustration.

When He An saw this scene, he wanted to laugh but dared not, and his shoulders trembled as he held it in.

Watching this scene, the boy suddenly felt that these "gods" and "thunder gods" weren't so scary after all.

They also joke, feel frustrated, and are teased by others.

---

Three days later, Elder He arrived with over a thousand cultivators and supplies from more than a dozen spirit boats.

The old man stepped off the spirit boat and gasped when he saw the devastated battlefield radiating a terrifying aura.

"Governor,...you did all of this by yourself?"

Lin Zhao did not answer, but simply nodded.

Old He fell silent.

Although he knew that the sect had such an unparalleled genius, he had never actually seen him fight against a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Lin Zhao's combat strength was probably not far from Core Formation.

But he didn't ask any more questions and immediately began to arrange for people to take over the camp—to settle mortals, recruit bandits and cultivators, inventory supplies, and build temporary accommodations.