Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao faced off against the leader of the Jiexiu once again.

The Five Prisons Suppressing Heavenly Dragon faced off against the Illusory Reality Law Domain, and just like last time, neither could gain the upper hand.

The Five Emperors Seal, imbued with five-colored spiritual light, clashed fiercely with the blade light bursting from the Seven-Colored Blade. Booming sounds exploded one after another in mid-air, like thunder resounding throughout the heavens and earth.

Lin Zhao proceeded steadily and cautiously, without rushing to change his tactics.

The leader of the bandits fought very cautiously.

Midway through the battle, the spiritual energy storms generated by the two sides had turned hundreds of miles into a chaotic mess.

Traces of magic remnants were everywhere, and spiritual energy turbulently intertwined, making it difficult even for the divine sense of a Core Formation cultivator to penetrate easily.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Five Emperors Seal and the Seven-Colored Blade clashed again and divine sense was blocked,

A palm-sized, pitch-black ghost hand flew out from Lin Zhao's hand.

A third-tier magic weapon, the Mysterious Yin Ghost Hand.

This magical artifact was previously assigned to Qinglian's clone, and he is borrowing it for use now.

This magical artifact weaved through the raging storm of spiritual energy, passing through the opponent's domain without revealing a single trace.

Just as the leader of the Tribulation Cultivators raised his hand to block the attack of the Five Emperors Seal, the air around him suddenly distorted slightly, and an ethereal ghost claw suddenly reached out from the void, heading straight for his dantian.

The leader of the treacherous cultivators suddenly contracted his pupils.

His divine sense and legal domain had not detected any unusual activity beforehand; the ghostly hand seemed to appear out of thin air, launching a surprise attack without warning.

The instant the ghost's fingertip touched him, a burst of dazzling golden light exploded from his chest.

The Tier 3 superior-grade magic robe automatically activated, and a dense layer of golden spirit patterns appeared on its surface, forcefully blocking the ghost hand's attack.

The Xuan Yin Ghost Hand collided with the golden patterns on the robe, emitting an extremely sharp screech. The ghost hand was bounced back, and the golden spiritual patterns dimmed by three points.

The leader of the treacherous cultivators retreated dozens of miles, a fine layer of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

He looked down at his chest; the spiritual patterns on his robe were still flowing, but the area that had been touched by the ghostly hand had clearly become darker.

The leader of the calamity cultivators raised his head, gritted his teeth, and squeezed out a sentence: "Today I've seen it all. The so-called geniuses of the Holy Sect are nothing but shameless scoundrels."

Lin Zhao ignored him.

Jie Xiu has the right to say such things to him.

He was just a little disappointed.

The Xuan Yin Ghost Hand is of too low a grade, only a third-grade low-level item.

The timing, angle, and concealment of that attack were all executed flawlessly.

If the Xuan Yin Ghost Hand is a high-grade third-tier weapon, then a single claw strike would not only trigger the magic robe's defense, but would also severely injure the opponent, even if they didn't die.

This magical artifact was seized when Xuan Yinzi was killed, along with many secret manuals of the Xuan Yin Sect.

After Lin Zhao achieved Core Formation, he studied the Xuan Yin Sect carefully and discovered that it was not simple either.

At its peak, it was definitely at the peak of the Core Formation stage or even the Nascent Soul stage, especially those mysterious Yin techniques, which were extremely strange.

He suspected that the Xuan Yin Sect might have originated from the Nine Nether Demon Sect of the Western Wilderness Continent—which was also a dominant force.

Come to think of it, Xuan Yinzi's cultivation level had fallen to the Foundation Establishment stage back then.

He still dared to act recklessly and plot for a third-tier spiritual item right under the noses of more than a dozen Core Formation cultivators, and yet he was not detected by the Core Formation cultivators. This shows his ability.

After Xuan Yinzi fell to the Foundation Establishment stage, his combat strength was no less than that of an ordinary Core Formation cultivator; in fact, it was even stronger.

The Xuan Yin Sect does indeed possess some merit.

Lin Zhao has studied those secret techniques over the years.

Today, he used the secret technique in combination with the Mysterious Yin Ghost Hand for the first time, and the effect was even better than he had expected.

If the opponent didn't have any defensive magic items, it might actually work.

However, he also knew that a cultivator who could reach the peak of the Core Formation stage would inevitably possess defensive magic treasures.

However, if the defensive magic weapon is destroyed first—or if the magic weapon is exhausted to its limit in the melee—the Xuan Yin Ghost Hand might actually have a chance.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate again. Just like before, as the fighting progressed, both sides tacitly began to consolidate their lines and cover each other's retreat.

The second head-to-head encounter ended in another draw.

Back in his cave, the Azure Lotus clone was already waiting for him inside.

"It's confirmed," said the Azure Lotus clone. "The fourth-tier spiritual object born this time is the Earth Flame True Fire."

Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly.

Earth Flame True Fire is a fourth-tier spiritual fire with both fire and earth attributes, and its attributes are not particularly compatible with the cultivation techniques of the Yan family patriarch.

But the next second Lin Zhao understood—it wasn't for him, it was for the magic weapon.

"His natal magic weapon is the Fire Elemental Shield," Lin Zhao said. "He wanted to use the Earth Flame True Fire to forcibly push the Fire Elemental Shield to the fourth tier."

Then, when his magic weapon was being upgraded, he used secret techniques to risk breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, following the path of merging the weapon and the Nascent Soul.

"That old guy is ruthless," Lin Zhao said softly.

This type of Nascent Soul cultivator is the weakest tier because their power is largely based on magical artifacts rather than their own abilities.

Lifespan will be reduced—a normal Nascent Soul cultivator has a lifespan of two thousand years, but he'd be lucky to have fifteen hundred.

Outside the realm of cultivators, such beings wouldn't even be recognized as fellow cultivators of the same level by true Nascent Soul cultivators.

They are generally called false infants—they might not even be able to defeat a Nascent Soul Dharma Body.

"It's not that bad," the Azure Lotus clone replied calmly. "If he advances smoothly and has a fourth-tier magic weapon, he'll be considered a Nascent Soul cultivator."

The Yan family's escape route probably lies here—if they succeed, all the better; if they fail, they'll offer up the fourth-tier magic weapon, the Fire Elemental Shield.

Whether offered to the sect or to the Nascent Soul True Monarch who supports him, it can save the Yan family's life.

Lin Zhao chuckled. "A fourth-tier magic weapon? Just dreaming about it."

He sat down and said, "The Nascent Soul stage requires undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation. It's hard to say whether the Fire Element Spirit Shield can withstand three bolts of heavenly lightning."

The Yan family patriarch was a gambler—the expedition was a gamble, and the Nascent Soul stage was also a gamble.

In the cultivation world, false infants are rare, not because no one wants to follow that path, but because heavenly tribulations specifically target all sorts of flashy, unorthodox methods. If one's strength is insufficient, they are instantly killed; how could they possibly even have a chance to form an infant?

After recounting the Yan family patriarch's plan, Lin Zhao turned his thoughts back to the current battle situation.

"We've uncovered the details of the Yan family patriarch; now it's time to deal with the leader of the Tribulation Cultivators."

That leader is indeed troublesome—but his strength may not be as great as that of the Yan family patriarch, so Lin Zhao may not be unable to defeat him.

When Lin Zhao was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, he was able to learn a significant portion of Fang Yue's spatial abilities during their battle.

Over the years, I haven't specialized in any particular area, but my understanding of spatial power has been accumulating.

The leader of the Jiexiu sect's ability to switch between reality and illusion is essentially the application of illusion techniques and spatial power.

The biggest challenge is to completely lock onto the opponent and deliver a fatal blow.

As the leader of a powerful force, this person must have many trump cards up his sleeve to protect himself.

During this time, Lin Zhao also kept a trump card hidden, never using his strongest offensive divine power—the Five Elements Extinction Divine Arrow.

This was his most lethal technique after he formed his core, and he had never used it in front of the leader of the Tribulation Cultivator.

Now that the methods of the leader of the Jiexiu have been thoroughly investigated, it is time to consolidate our plans and prepare to eliminate our opponent.