Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Zhao Kun looked at Lin Zhao, remained silent for a long time, and then smiled.

"Junior Brother Lin is right, the Fire Spirit Shield may have been destroyed."

The two then talked about some other things.

Zhao Kun got up to take his leave.

Lin Zhao sat in the cave with his eyes closed, seemingly lost in thought.

After a while, he flipped his hand and took out a shield.

Fire Spirit Shield,

The shield hovered above his palm, its surface a dark red, with countless flame patterns slowly flowing across it.

There is a faint crimson-gold spirit pattern at the core of the shield – this is not something that the Fire Spirit Shield originally had, but a sign of advancement.

While Lin Zhao's Five Sacred Mountains clone was engaged in fierce battle with the Yan family patriarch, he secretly intercepted a portion of the true fire essence that had escaped, just as the Earth Flame True Fire was completely shattered by the ten starbursts.

About one-tenth.

For the past few months, he has been slowly infusing the true fire into the shield in his cave.

The Fire Spirit Shield has now crossed the threshold of the third-tier top-grade level, but it has not yet truly completed the transformation to the fourth tier.

Equivalent to a near-fourth-tier magic weapon

It will take another hundred years for that crimson-gold spirit rune to spread from the center of the shield to the entire shield surface.

If a complete fourth-order fire-attribute spiritual object can be incorporated into it, it will immediately become a fourth-order magic weapon.

A fourth-tier Nascent Soul magic weapon.

Its value is immeasurable.

This is why Lin Zhao wouldn't hand over the Fire Spirit Yuan Shield to the Enforcement Hall.

If it's just a top-tier third-order magic weapon, he still has a chance to get it back from the Enforcement Hall—but once it's deemed to have the potential to advance to a fourth-order magic weapon, then forget about it.

The ownership of the Fire Spirit Shield is inherently a gray area.

This can be considered evidence of the Yan family patriarch's illegal misappropriation of a fourth-tier spiritual item, and should be handled by the sect.

It can also be said to be Lin Zhao's personal spoils of war obtained during his direct defeat of the Yan family patriarch.

There's no definitive answer to this, so it'll just lead to endless wrangling.

In order not to affect the work of the Enforcement Hall, Lin Zhao decided to handle it for them.

Lin Zhao had worked so hard; she couldn't just leave without taking any benefits.

The final outcome regarding the Expeditionary Force has been announced.

More than 20 years ago, when the Yan family launched their expedition, they gathered dozens of Core Formation cultivators and three thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, forming an army of two hundred thousand cultivators.

Later, it also recruited many independent cultivators.

More than twenty years later, there were still twenty-five Core Formation cultivators, six hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and seventy thousand Qi Refining cultivators remaining. This was the total number after adding the dozen or so Core Formation reinforcements from the sect brought by Lin Zhao.

It can only be said that one general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand.

One expedition left behind only a pool of fire and a near-fourth-tier magic weapon.

Of course, those who survived also gained tremendous benefits—they acquired countless spoils of war, and many had the hope of advancing in rank.

Several months later, the matter of the Crimson Nether Mountains was completely resolved.

Except for a small number of cultivators who stayed behind to help establish the stronghold, Lin Zhao led the expeditionary force back to the sect.

Lin Zhao stood at the bow of the ship, watching the dark red peaks of the Crimson Nether Mountains grow smaller and smaller in his field of vision.

Above the Earth Flame Pool, an array was slowly taking shape—it was the cultivators sent by the sect to establish the Crimson Nether Land setting up the array.

The Crimson Nether Mountain Range has more than ten third-order spiritual veins, one of which may be promoted to the fourth order in the future, and a naturally formed, massive Dao field, which is more than enough to support a sect's important location.

As for who will guard this Crimson Nether Land, that has nothing to do with Lin Zhao.

It took Lin Zhao exactly one year from departure to return.

The spirit boat broke through the clouds and flew towards the sect.

The sea of ​​clouds below the boat surged endlessly.

Upon returning to the sect, Lin Zhao spent several days handing over the mission.

He brushed off the matter of the Fire Spirit Shield with a few simple words.

No one pressed for details. Lin Zhao was no longer the Foundation Establishment disciple he once was; with only early Core Formation cultivation, he unleashed combat power comparable to a peak Core Formation cultivator.

While it certainly contains the power of a fourth-tier magic weapon, his own strength is also considerable.

Rumors have already spread within the sect, with some speculating that he might be the legendary secret disciple.

If that's the case, let alone a Core Formation cultivator, even a Nascent Soul True Monarch wouldn't be able to easily harm him.

Unless there are major mistakes, the sect will not make things difficult for him. Besides, Lin Zhao did a really good job this time.

In one year, the team leader wiped out a cult of cultivators and also brought down a Core Formation family.

This kind of thing hasn't been seen in the sect for many years.

Lin Zhao ignored these comments.

Qingyuan Zhenjun did indeed treat him differently, but the sect did not have a formal establishment for secret disciples.

He needs to keep a low profile.

Furthermore, of the five spirit peaks belonging to the Yan family within the sect, only one was preserved by the two Core Formation cultivators.

Outside the sect, the Yan family in the Ziyang Domain still had three spiritual peaks and hundreds of resource industries—after the Yan family fell, these industries were completely devoured by their former allies.

These people didn't even forget Lin Zhao, transferring a villa several hundred feet in size in Ziyang Immortal City, along with five shops along the street, directly to Lin Zhao's name.

Ziyang Domain is the sect's backyard, but the sect has always been very indifferent to outside affairs.

Within the 100,000-mile territory of the Ziyang Domain, there are over a thousand third-tier spiritual peaks, all managed by affiliated forces of sects. The affiliated forces and independent cultivators of the Yan family were all recruited from the Ziyang Domain.

This is true not only for Ziyang Domain, but for all 138 domains of Yunzhou.

Free-range.

Cangming—broad, inclusive, and unfathomable, willing to leave a sliver of opportunity and freedom for the cultivators of Yunzhou.

That's a nice way of putting it.

But the longer Lin Zhao stayed in the sect, the more she understood.

Cangming also has another meaning.

abyss.

The other side of tolerance is indifference.

The sect has never really valued cultivators from outside the sect. Aside from its main strongholds, the Cloud Sea Azure Sea Sect...

It has never collected any offerings from external forces, including the Immortal City.

This also means that sects can destroy a celestial city without any hindrance.

Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs—the sect treats all people and things in the outside world with the same attitude.

The Yan family's mission was thus settled, and the Yan family became an ordinary Core Formation family within the sect.

Thousand Autumns Peak.

The daughter of Master Qianqiu stood at the foot of the peak with a ten-year-old boy.

The boy's name is Yan Zhuo, and he is the grandson of Master Qianqiu.

Master Qianqiu's daughter wanted Yan Zhuo to become Master Qianqiu's disciple, but Master Qianqiu ultimately refused.

He instructed his eldest disciple, He Yuan, to take the child in.

He Yuan completed the sect's mission three years ago and has become the master of a peak named Guanhai.

The apprenticeship ceremony was very simple.

He Yuan led Yan Zhuo to Guanhai Peak and pointed to Qianqiu Peak in the distance, saying something. Yan Zhuo knelt down and kowtowed three times.

That senior sister stood at the foot of the peak, watching from afar, and did not go up.

The human heart is the most complex thing in the world.

Master Qianqiu actually wanted her to come back and make up for his mistakes back then, but what's done is done.

That day, she returned alone to the remaining spirit peak of the Yan family and never returned to Qianqiu Peak.

Lin Zhao never saw this senior sister again.