Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

The moment Lin Zhao passed through the circle, her body felt as if it were being gripped by something.

A sense of oppression pressed in from all directions, as if I were buried deep underground. Everything was pitch black; I could see nothing, hear nothing. Even my own breathing had disappeared.

This state lasted for about a few breaths.

Then a soft, pale golden light appeared, like the sun at dusk.

Lin Zhao opened her eyes. In the distance were mountains, trees, and a river. The sky was blue, with a few clouds drifting by. The sun hung in the sky, looking no different from the sun outside.

Calling it a secret realm is an understatement; it's more like a small world in itself.

Then he found himself falling.

Hundreds of feet in the air. The ground was rapidly expanding, and the meadow became increasingly clear; he could see the blades of grass swaying in the wind.

Lin Zhao's mind stirred, and she activated her spiritual power—

Nothing happened.

He urged him again. His spiritual energy seemed to be locked away by something, sinking into his body, completely still.

He tried to communicate with the magical treasures within his body, but the Crimson Feather Golden Robe, the Golden Phoenix Bow, the Mysterious Yin Ghost Hand, and the Spirit Origin Palace remained as still as inanimate objects.

He could sense that they were still there, but the connection between the spiritual power and the magical artifacts had been temporarily severed.

Lin Zhao felt a chill run down her spine.

He had no time to think about any of that. The ground was getting closer and closer, hundreds of feet high. Without spiritual energy to protect him, being smashed down like that...

You'll end up covered in bruises!

He tried several methods. Spiritual power didn't work. Magical artifacts didn't work. Only his divine sense could be used with difficulty, but it was suppressed to about ten zhang.

Without spiritual power to support him, he could only rely on his divine sense to adjust the shape of his robes and change the direction of the wind, slowing down his descent slightly.

Then he landed face down, crashing solidly onto the grass below.

boom.

The grass was smashed into a deep crater.

It took him a while to get up. His whole body ached, and his bones felt like they were falling apart. He touched his face, but his face was actually fine.

Lin Zhao grinned—should he admit he was shameless?

A cultivator's physique is indeed beyond the measure of an ordinary person. In recent years, in preparation for the Core Formation Tribulation, he has used the lightning power of the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool to temper his body.

Their physiques far surpassed those of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the fact that their Core Formation level divine sense slowed them down before landing meant they only suffered minor injuries.

He sat on the ground, and suddenly a question occurred to him. He survived because of his physical tempering and enhanced spiritual awareness. Others might not have this combination.

Surely no one actually died as soon as they entered the secret realm.

He was right. One of the disciples of the Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance was teleported thousands of feet into the air, and without any means of slowing down, he was instantly killed by crashing to the ground.

When Lin Zhao heard about this later, she remained silent for a long time.

The prodigy of the dominant power, who could stand up to a Core Formation cultivator in the outside world, died in such a way.

Lin Zhao stood on the grass and tried to mobilize his spiritual power again.

Or not.

The spiritual energy remained stagnant in his dantian, like a pool of still water. The magical artifact lay quietly in his storage bag and inside his body, completely still.

He tried to expand his divine sense outwards—ten zhang, no more. Expanding further became a hundred times more difficult, and he couldn't push it any further.

He looked up and around.

This is a hilly area with gentle terrain. There are a few trees in the distance with very thick trunks.

There is spiritual energy in the air; he can sense it—the spiritual energy is all around him, but he just can't activate it; he can see it, but he can't touch it.

He thought he was just unlucky and had been teleported to an area where spiritual energy was sealed.

After all, this is a secret realm left behind by a sect at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, so it's not surprising that it's sealed off. However, such a seal requires a lot of resources to be established, so the area cannot be too large.

There were no signs of human activity nearby; after all, it had been there for tens of thousands of years, and it was probably an abandoned area over time.

He decided to leave the area on foot.

----

Half a day later, he stood on a small hill, looking at the smoke rising from the chimneys in the distance.

It was a small village with a few dozen households. The houses were low, with gray tiles on the roofs, and smoke rose straight up from the chimneys.

He dared not go in.

Because he discovered a terrifying fact—the area where spiritual energy was sealed was not a small patch, but rather the entire secret realm, spanning thousands of miles.

He could still sense spiritual energy from the outside world, but even his Core Formation level divine sense couldn't activate that spiritual energy.

Lin Zhao suddenly felt a toothache.

This is an incredible feat. Sealing off spiritual energy within a radius of thousands of miles is something that would be impossible under normal circumstances.

Even a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, after exhausting all their resources, could not set up a seal of this scale.

A thought popped into his mind—the Divine Transformation Realm.

The Nascent Soul's Dharma Realm allows it to alter the form and attributes of all things in the universe according to its own will.

The Core Formation stage is about controlling a domain, the Nascent Soul stage is about changing a domain, and the Divine Transformation stage is about the Dharma Realm being elevated from a physical form.

The Dharma Realm was opened up and fixed by the Heavenly Lord of Transformation, becoming an independent little world.

The Heavenly Lord of Transformation can temporarily resist the will of Heaven and Earth by relying on the power of the Dharma Realm.

Therefore, their influence can last for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is why they are called "Heavenly Rulers".

Although the Luo Tian Sect has not produced a Nascent Soul Celestial Lord, it possesses a fifth-tier spiritual treasure. The power of a fifth-tier spiritual treasure is likely no less than that of a Nascent Soul Celestial Lord's Dharma Realm.

The entire secret realm has probably been altered by that fifth-tier spiritual treasure, forming a sealed-off area.

Lin Zhao stood on the small hill, a cool breeze blowing by. All his previous preparations—magical treasures, pills, cultivation techniques, and magic domains—were temporarily useless.

This was a real blow to him.

He gained a deeper understanding of the power of the Nascent Soul Celestial Lord. His spiritual energy and magical treasures were still there, but he couldn't use them. The only thing he could rely on was his physique, which was much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

He estimated in his mind that he was at the level of a hundred men, which, in the world of martial arts, would be enough to compete for the title of leader of the martial arts alliance.

Lin Zhao squatted on the hill and suddenly wanted to laugh.

Just two days ago, he was sweeping across the sect, unleashing his Dharma Domain and summoning the Seven Spirits, even capable of directly confronting a Core Formation True Person.

Now, squatting here, I don't even dare to go into an ordinary village.

The quality has dropped far too quickly.

The art style is off.

As for the distant villages, Lin Zhao did not plan to go in for the time being.

It looks ordinary, and it really is just an ordinary village.

But who knows if they have special methods? Lin Zhao can't manipulate external spiritual energy, but the people in the secret realm might not be.

The descendants of Luo Tianzong have thrived here for tens of thousands of years, so they must have their own set of methods.

He needs to keep a low profile; fortunately, he still has his consciousness.

Although he was pressed down to ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), his physique made him undetectable to ordinary people.

Of the three elements of essence, energy, and spirit, spirit is the most mysterious. Even a seal at the Dharma realm level cannot completely suppress divine consciousness.