Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao shook her head.

His disciple, though nominally a disciple, has a good character, but his approach is too narrow.

Fire magic, when mastered to its highest level, is indeed powerful, but in the world of cultivation, there are no magic spells that can truly guarantee success with a single, powerful technique.

She's still managing her Qi cultivation, but once she reaches Foundation Establishment, she'll be fine. Foundation Establishment cultivators have long lifespans and numerous abilities...

She is likely to encounter opponents who can counter fire, which will put her in a difficult position.

In the future, we need to expose her to other attributes more often. The five elements of magic cultivation are mutually generating and restraining, and only by integrating them can we find the right path.

Lin You is quite interesting.

Sword cultivators are inherently unparalleled in attack.

But she deliberately didn't take the purely offensive route; instead, she forged her own path, choosing a way to "defend through offense and attack through defense."

When faced with a strong opponent, one becomes stronger; if one cannot retaliate, one simply self-destructs the sword lotus to seek survival through explosion—this is also an alternative way of swordsmanship.

Although her Karmic Fire Sword Lotus can only reflect fire attributes now, given time, she will master this technique.

As long as the attack power does not exceed the sword lotus's maximum capacity, she can reflect it all back, which makes her truly troublesome and invincible.

However, her true foundation lies in swordsmanship.

The stronger the sword, the stronger the sword lotus.

-----

At this moment, Lin Zhao was not in the villa, but in a tall building near the east gate of the Immortal City.

The building has five floors, with the top floor reserved for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Lin Zhao sat by the window, with a pot of second-grade spiritual tea in front of him, its aroma wafting through the air.

The window faces the city gate directly, offering an excellent view of people entering and leaving the immortal city.

In the past few days, he had vaguely sensed that a target connected to him was approaching the Immortal City.

The distance was too great for him to sense clearly what it was.

But that subtle connection was something he couldn't ignore.

His intuition told him he should come and take a look.

The tea went cold three times, but the person still hadn't shown up.

Lin Zhao was not in a hurry. He slowly sipped his tea and looked in the direction of the city gate.

Several hours later, a person entered the immortal city.

He was a young man, dressed in fine clothes, handsome, and at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

He walked with composure, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings with a scrutinizing look before quickly withdrawing it.

Lin Zhao glanced at him from afar, then looked away.

He already knows who it is.

Deep within his consciousness, fragments of memories that had been dormant for many years suddenly stirred.

The events of that year came to mind.

Before joining the sect during his youth, Lin Zhao experienced a secret realm.

That time, he encountered a demonic cultivator who had reached the Core Formation stage and had his soul possessed in the secret realm.

He fought desperately in the battle of souls and won, not only surviving but also gaining some of his opponent's memories and knowledge.

From those fragments of memory, he learned that the owner of that wisp of soul was named Xuan Yinzi, a Core Formation True Person of the Xuan Yin Sect.

The Xuan Yin Sect was defeated in a battle, and he was seriously injured. He fled to the relatively secluded Yunxia Mountain Range for refuge.

The physical body is too damaged and needs to possess a body with good qualifications to recover.

He later possessed Lin Zhao's body by a twist of fate.

But it didn't work.

Lin Zhao thought the matter was over.

Unexpectedly, I ran into the person in question here today.

To be precise, it is the body that the original master possessed.

The hourglass artifact, a spoil of war he left behind, also helped Lin Zhao in a way.

But Lin Zhao was not grateful at all; he had not forgotten the grudge of being possessed.

What a small world!

Perhaps it's because Lin Zhao obtained fragments of his divided soul's consciousness.

At this moment, Lin Zhao and he have a vague, mysterious connection.

To be able to pinpoint his location precisely within a radius of a hundred miles, and even to vaguely sense some of his thoughts...

But he seemed oblivious to Lin Zhao's presence.

Lin Zhao suspected that it was his own innate supernatural power causing the problem again; the more he cultivated, the more he realized this.

The strangeness of Amaterasu Rinshō.

Lin Zhao even began to wonder if he was another part of her consciousness.

But that's impossible. Lin Zhao has comprehended sword intent; there's no way she wouldn't have noticed.

It can only be said that the world of cultivation is truly full of wonders.

He didn't dwell on the issue, since he had the Divine Soul Sword Tower in his consciousness, which could resist the invasion of Lin Zhao from the heavens.

The richly dressed young man passed by Lin Zhao's building without looking up.

Lin Zhao didn't look at him, but simply picked up her teacup and slowly took a sip.

The closer the distance, the more information is conveyed by that mysterious connection.

It turns out that after he escaped from the Yunxia Mountains, he possessed the body of this young man.

This person is a member of a certain family with good aptitude. He has taken over a physical body and is cultivating anew with a new identity.

Decades later, he has recovered to the peak of Foundation Establishment and made a name for himself as a genius in his region.

He has now sided with a powerful force that is qualified to participate in the distribution of spiritual items in the Foundation Establishment competition.

The purpose of coming to Tongming Immortal City this time is to participate in the Foundation Establishment competition, strive for a top-three finish, and obtain a third-tier spiritual item.

With a third-tier spiritual artifact, he will be able to restore his Core Formation strength.

The Xuan Yin Sect is inherently a demonic sect, skilled in concealment and disguise.

He possesses a set of profound Yin techniques that can evade the detection of most Core Formation cultivators.

Unless a Nascent Soul True Monarch comes in person, virtually no one can see through his disguise.

A Nascent Soul True Monarch wouldn't care too much about a Foundation Establishment competition.

As is customary, they only make an appearance at auctions.

Lin Zhao put down her teacup, a slight smile curving her lips.

This is really... great.

He originally had no particular interest in the three spiritual beings involved in the Foundation Establishment competition.

I don't want to get involved, and I don't want to cause trouble.

But it's different now.

Someone else stepped in for him to compete for the third-tier spiritual item.

Lin Zhao will make his move once that person has obtained the spiritual item.

To avenge my grievances and incidentally acquire a third-tier spiritual item.

Kill two birds with one stone.

The only question is, how far away can Lin Zhao pinpoint that person?

Lin Zhao closed his eyes and carefully sensed it.

Precise positioning within a hundred miles.

Even from over a hundred miles away, its location can be vaguely discerned.

enough.

He possesses the third-tier magic weapon, the Golden Phoenix Bow, and archers are most skilled at flying kites.

His Five Sacred Mountains Spiritual Body, aided by the Hundred Beasts True Technique he created, has undergone continuous refinement and transformation over the years.

The Five Sacred Mountains Shifting Technique has already moved a distance of forty miles, far exceeding the range of divine sense.

Using a Foundation Establishment cultivator to kill a Core Formation cultivator—even if it's a Core Formation cultivator who has fallen from their cultivation level, it's still a Core Formation cultivator.

This is the real challenge of going beyond your level.

Lin Zhao opened his eyes, stood up, paid for the tea, and slowly walked down the high-rise building.

-----

When we returned to the villa, the courtyard was bustling with activity.

In the evening, Lin Zhao returned to the villa.

The courtyard was brightly lit. Zhou Jun and Lan Jingchi had arrived, along with Yan Lie and Luo Yu, while He An stood aside, joining in the fun.

The stone table was covered with spiritual fruits and wine, which were Zhou Jun's congratulatory gifts.

Lin Zhao stepped into the courtyard, and everyone stood up.

"Brother Lin, you're finally back!" Zhou Jun waved with a smile. "Your niece is amazing! She even beat Ye Yatou in the finals. Brother Lan was just saying that we should try to recruit her to the Bihai Chamber of Commerce."

Lan Jingchi laughed and said, "I'm serious, if Lin You is willing to come, he'll be paid the same as a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

Lin Zhao waved her hand: "Stop fooling around. She's just starting out, don't spoil her."

When Lin You saw Lin Zhao return, she waved and smiled.

Ye Xiaoxiao, standing to the side, didn't seem too disappointed. Instead, she was discussing with Lin You the timing of the sword strike that had defeated her earlier.