Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhaoke never forgot her true mission in coming here.

It wasn't to help the Yan family defeat the Tribulation Cultivator Alliance, nor was it to seize a fourth-tier spiritual item; it was to resolve the inner conflict of True Person Qianqiu, allowing him to successfully form his Nascent Soul.

Therefore, he had already made secret contact with the Yan family before he arrived.

Yan Ning, a fellow disciple from the same year as them, was the man in black robes who came to find him half a year ago.

Yan Ning came representing one of the Core Formation cultivators from the Yan family.

Lin Zhao agreed to one thing: to expand the protection from that lineage to the lineage of the Yan family, specifically to the lineage of a Core Formation cultivator.

With his current power and status, it's just a matter of a word from him.

In exchange, some members of the Yan family cooperated with Lin Zhao, and all members of that lineage had already been secretly sent back to their sect.

That's what gave him the confidence to take action today.

Lin Zhao gave the Yan family patriarch no time to catch his breath.

The second starburst has already struck.

Then came the third shot.

Silver-blue sword energy exploded repeatedly within the cavern.

The pseudo-Dharma space set up by the Fire Spirit finally couldn't withstand the continuous attacks.

The fourth starburst blast pierced through space, scattering fiery spiritual energy in all directions.

The entire cave was on the verge of collapse, and the rock strata at the top of the cave began to collapse in large areas. Huge boulders weighing tens of thousands of kilograms fell from the sky and crashed into the magma on the ground, splashing up waves of fire dozens of feet high.

"Lin Zhao, stop!"

The Yan family patriarch roared frantically, his voice completely changed, "If this place collapses, the fourth-tier spiritual treasure will be gone! You won't be able to complete your sect mission either! When the sect blames you, you won't be able to escape punishment!"

His response was a fifth Starburst.

The silver-blue starlight slammed into the fire spirit's chest, blasting flames everywhere.

The fire spirit trembled violently, and its spiritual power began to dissipate.

The Yan family patriarch was almost driven mad—in his seven hundred years of life, he had never seen anyone like Lin Zhao.

She's unresponsive to both gentle and forceful approaches, and completely impervious to both oil and salt.

Lin Zhao didn't care about any of that.

It's not like it's his fourth-tier true fire; he wouldn't even care if it destroyed.

Moreover, the Crimson Nether Mountain Range has long formed a vast natural training ground. As long as the training ground remains, the reunion of the fourth-order true fire is only a matter of time.

His sect mission could not be failed.

The Yan family patriarch had no idea why a fourth-order spiritual object would suddenly appear in the Crimson Nether Mountains, nor did he understand where Lin Zhao's confidence came from.

Lin Zhaoqinglian's clone contains the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool, and the Spirit Origin Palace above her head is also continuously providing spiritual power.

He can use more than ten Starbursts.

Even if my spiritual energy is exhausted after ten shots, it doesn't matter—the Five Mountains clones are already on their way.

After the Five Sacred Mountains clones arrived, the Five Elements Extinction Divine Arrows continued to bombard them.

In total, there are still twenty powerful attacks.

If Lin Zhao still can't defeat the Yan family patriarch after twenty attempts, he can turn around and run away.

The sixth shot, Starburst

The fire spirit of the Yan family patriarch could only forcibly withstand the sixth Starburst.

After the Fire Spirit took over, its size shrank to less than a hundred feet, and the color of its flames turned dark yellow.

The Yan family patriarch's face turned completely pale. The Fire Spirit and the Fire Elemental Shield were one entity. If the Fire Spirit were completely shattered, the magic weapon itself would also be damaged.

This is the foundation upon which he attained enlightenment; it cannot be destroyed here.

He gritted his teeth and waved his hand. The fire spirit rapidly contracted and merged back into the fire spirit shield, which flew back into his hand.

The fire patterns on the shield had dimmed considerably, and several cracks had appeared along the edges.

Lin Zhao shook her head as she watched him carefully put away his magic weapon.

Perhaps this is also the reason why the Yan family patriarch has been unable to form a nascent soul.

Everything is a gamble – expeditions are a gamble, forming a Nascent Soul is a gamble, and fusing with the Earth Flame True Fire is also a gamble.

But when the time came, they hesitated, fearing damage to the magic weapon, fearing the heavenly tribulation was too strong, and fearing this and that.

This is perhaps a common problem among gamblers.

When gambling, they feel like they're risking their lives; when they lose, they're unwilling to accept their fate and always think they can turn things around.

To put it bluntly, the Yan family patriarch is already old.

He was just a failure in his pursuit of Nascent Soul.

Lin Zhao sensed that the Five Sacred Mountains clones were almost there.

Let's end it here.

Lin Zhao no longer held back.

The seventh shot, the eighth shot, the ninth shot, the tenth shot—in one breath, he completely drained the magic power of the Azure Lotus clone, the spiritual liquid of the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool, and the spiritual power of the Spirit Origin Palace.

Four silver-blue starlight beams crashed into the underground cave at the same instant.

The entire cave was illuminated in a white light.

The Yan family patriarch was completely engulfed by the starlight sword energy.

The rock strata at the top of the cave could no longer withstand the pressure.

The underground cave has completely collapsed.

A massive boulder, thousands of feet thick, crashed down from the mountainside.

Even the fourth-order Earth Flame True Fire couldn't withstand such a powerful attack and exploded a thousand feet underground.

A pillar of fire, hundreds of feet in size, shot into the sky from the ground.

The deep red flames, imbued with terrifying earth fire power, blasted straight through the low mountain above.

The entire hill was blasted open from the inside by a pillar of fire, then shattered into countless fragments.

The shockwave sent rocks flying thousands of feet into the air, and flames shot straight up into the sky, turning half the sky a dark red.

The shockwave swept outwards. Nearby trees were uprooted, debris flew everywhere, and the ground for dozens of miles around shook violently.

The expeditionary cultivators who were pursuing the robber cultivator stopped what they were doing and looked at the pillar of fire shooting into the sky.

The vibration lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

As the smoke and dust began to dissipate, the low hill had completely disappeared.

All that remained was a huge crater, thousands of feet deep and more than ten miles in size.

Although the Earth Flame True Fire was shattered, its spiritual power did not dissipate much. The remaining Earth Flame power gathered in the deep pit, forming a pool of fire with churning lava.

Above the fire pool, Lin Zhao stood suspended in mid-air, his robes stained with dust, but his aura remained stable, showing no signs of injury.

In the pool of fire, a disheveled figure struggled to his feet from the lava.

The Yan family patriarch returned to his previous emaciated appearance, his robes burned down to just a few charred scraps hanging on his body, revealing his burned body underneath.

His defensive robes were gone, his halberd magic weapon was shattered, and his fire elemental shield was nowhere to be found.

He stood in the lava, looking around, muttering something in a low voice, as if he were talking to himself.

"Gone...all gone..."

The Yan family patriarch has gone mad.

The path to Nascent Soul, which he had pursued for hundreds of years, vanished before his eyes.

The Earth Flame True Fire is gone, and the Fire Element Spirit Shield is lost.

The Yan family betrayed him, and the sect had no place for him; he lost everything.

But when he saw Lin Zhao, who was high above him, he finally regained a sliver of his rationality.

It's all this person. It's all him.

The Yan family patriarch let out an angry roar, abruptly stopped in the fire pool, and then leaped into the air, charging towards Lin Zhao.

Lin Zhao did not move.

Just as the Yan family patriarch was about to rush in front of him, an ethereal ghost claw suddenly emerged from the void and headed straight for his dantian.

The Yan family patriarch's body suddenly froze in mid-air.

He looked down at his abdomen—it was a ghostly hand, with a golden ball pulsating violently on its claws; that was the golden core he had cultivated for hundreds of years.

Jin Dan struggled desperately, but was firmly locked in place by the ghost claws and could not break free.

After stealing the golden elixir, the Xuan Yin Ghost Hand changed direction and flew towards another figure.

The Five Sacred Mountains Dharma Body arrived just in time to catch the golden elixir.