Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

"Lin Zhao—" His voice was hoarse, "I am seven hundred years old, seven hundred years old, I have no time left."

The sect refused to grant me a fourth-tier opportunity, and the Yan family spared no effort for this expedition. I don't ask for much; I just want to live a few more years.

"I'm begging you, please have mercy and let me complete the fusion of the magic weapon. Once I successfully form my Nascent Soul, I'll offer you spirit stones, spiritual materials, and the Yan family's connections with both hands. I will absolutely not treat you unfairly."

Lin Zhao remained silent.

Seeing that Lin Zhao remained silent, the Yan family patriarch grew even more anxious and increased the stakes once more.

"I'll give you this natal magic weapon. It will soon be upgraded to a fourth-tier magic weapon. If you spare me, it will be yours from now on."

Lin Zhao suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"Yan Ce, no matter how nicely you speak, you can't hide the truth."

Lin Zhao's voice was very calm.

"Can you really survive the Nascent Soul Tribulation?"

The pleading expression on the face of the Yan family patriarch froze instantly.

All his pleas for mercy, promises, and deals were based on the premise that "he can form an infant."

In reality, even if he obtains the Earth Flame True Fire and upgrades the Fire Spirit Shield, his chances of forming a Nascent Soul are only 20%.

Whether the Fire Elemental Shield can withstand the heavenly tribulation is unknown.

His original plan was to use the Fire Elemental Shield to withstand the heavenly lightning, even if the magic weapon was broken, as long as he could survive the tribulation.

Even if he becomes the weakest Nascent Soul cultivator, even if his lifespan is reduced to only 1,500 years, he would be willing to accept it.

As long as I can survive.

Everything he said and every promise he made was a lie.

This includes the sects, the expeditionary force, and the members of the Yan family.

Yan Que's face suddenly twisted.

The pleading on his face faded, replaced by a ferocious expression.

He stood up straight, his gaunt figure casting a long shadow in the firelight.

Before making his move, he lowered his voice, his tone as sinister as a venomous snake: "Lin Zhao, don't you want to know why your master, True Person Qianqiu, has been stuck in the late stage of Core Formation for a hundred years and has been unable to advance to the Nascent Soul stage?"

He was trapped by family ties; his daughter had married into all the members of my Yan family lineage, and I had long since secretly controlled them.

If you dare lay a hand on me today, they will surely die.

What the Yan family patriarch didn't know was that Lin Zhao already knew this information, and his expression remained completely unchanged.

Seeing that Lin Zhao remained unmoved, the patriarch of the Yan family stopped talking and shouted.

His originally emaciated body suddenly swelled up, and his body transformed from a withered old man into a strong young man with bulging muscles and a surge in aura.

He wielded a large halberd and brought it down on Lin Zhao, halberd and all.

The cave was only ten miles in size, and a fourth-order Earth Flame True Fire was burning in the center of the cave. Neither side activated their magic domains and chose to fight close combat.

The teleportation boots beneath Lin Zhao's feet flashed with a magical light, and he instantly teleported several miles away.

The spot where he had just been standing was struck by the Yan family patriarch's halberd, blasting open a crater more than ten feet deep, with rubble falling like rain.

The Yan family patriarch reacted extremely quickly.

The attack missed its mark, and the halberd tip swung horizontally, unleashing a crescent-shaped beam of light a hundred feet long.

The halberd's light slashed across the rock face, breaking the rock strata and leaving a smooth, mirror-like cut.

Lin Zhao took out the Lingyuan Palace.

He tossed the Lingyuan Palace into the sky—the palace grew taller in the wind, instantly becoming two hundred feet in size, hanging above the cave, directly facing the hundred-foot-long halberd light.

With a loud bang, the Lingyuan Palace was cleaved away, tumbling and crashing into the cave wall, shattering half of the rock.

Lin Zhao's cultivation level was far inferior to that of the Yan family patriarch, and the Spirit Origin Palace was only a low-grade third-tier magic treasure, unable to withstand the Yan family patriarch's full-force attack.

However, the palace's magical artifacts were extraordinary, possessing powerful defensive capabilities, and withstood the attack without sustaining any damage.

Lin Zhao reached out and summoned the Lingyuan Palace, which shrank to the size of a palm and flew back above his head, lowering a grayish-blue spiritual light barrier to protect him.

At the same time, the Yan family patriarch secretly activated the Fire Element Spirit Shield.

The Fire Elemental Shield rose from the ground, hovering in mid-air, and began to absorb the spiritual energy in the cave.

The fire patterns on the Fire Elemental Shield pulsed violently, and a large amount of fire-attribute spiritual power began to gather.

The temperature in the cave dropped sharply, but the light on the shield grew brighter and brighter.

Finally, a fire spirit hundreds of feet tall emerged from the shield, almost filling the entire cave.

The fire spirit had a human upper body and a swirling vortex of flames in its lower body, resembling a demon god crawling out of flames.

With a roar, the Fire Spirit spread its arms, forming a fiery domain that covered the entire cave, completely sealing it off.

Supernatural power: Fire Spirit Flame God.

This is Yan Que's true trump card.

Near the fourth-order Earth Flame True Fire, his Fire Element Spirit Shield can briefly borrow the power of the True Fire to unfold a pseudo-Dharma space.

This Dharma-space repels all fire-attribute power.

Although it is not as good as a true Nascent Soul Dharma Form, this is his absolute home ground in this ten-mile underground cave.

The Flame Domain blocked all of Lin Zhao's escape routes, and terrifying power pressed in from all directions.

Lin Zhao looked at the fire spirit that was hundreds of feet tall and placed his hand on the hilt of the Starry Sky Rift Sword.

Rejecting spiritual energy, did you ask my fourth-tier magic weapon?

The runes on the Starry Sky Rift Sword lit up one by one, spreading from the hilt to the tip.

Silvery-white starlight surged from the gemstone, merging with pale blue flowing light, and the space around the blade began to distort slightly.

Endless star power was compressed and gathered wildly, condensing into a ball of starlight several meters long in front of the sword.

Outside, all was calm; inside, countless sword energies surged and churned.

Starburst.

Lin Zhao raised his longsword high and slashed down fiercely!

The compressed starlight crashed down, trailing a long silver-blue flame, and hurtled towards the Yan family patriarch!

Where the starlight passed, it plowed a deep trench in the ground.

The expression on the face of the Yan family patriarch changed.

A fourth-tier magic weapon, let alone his pseudo-Dharma Form Space, even a true Nascent Soul Dharma Form wouldn't be able to withstand it head-on.

This attack was comparable to a full-force strike from a peak Core Formation cultivator.

He quickly activated the fire spirit, and a giant of fire hundreds of feet tall stood in front of the starlight, its arms crossed in front of its chest.

Flames collided with starlight.

All sounds inside the cave were swallowed up by the explosion.

The entire cave briefly lost its color, leaving only a clash between silver and dark red.

The shockwave swept outwards, causing the fire spirit's domain covering the cave to tremble violently. Countless cracks appeared in the flame domain, from which countless flames erupted.

Although the domain has not yet collapsed, the fire spirit itself has dimmed considerably.

The Yan family patriarch roared from behind Huo Ling, "Lin Zhao! Don't you want your descendants anymore?!"

Lin Zhao stood in mid-air, and he sneered: "How do you know that the descendants of that lineage are still under your control?"

The expression on the Yan family patriarch's face changed in an instant.

"You're willing to give up everything for the sake of achieving Nascent Soul?"

Lin Zhao's voice briefly drowned out the roar of the explosion, "In order to survive, the Yan family can naturally abandon you."