Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Zhao Kun took out a jade talisman prepared in advance by the Enforcement Hall from his waist. The moment he crushed it, a hundred-foot-long celestial blade took shape and pierced through the air.

The seven stars on the blade lit up one by one, and the overflowing sharp blade energy directly cleaved a bottomless crack in the ground.

Supernatural power, Seven Star Heaven-Slaying Blade

Lin Zhao summoned the Fire Spirit Shield. It was a near-fourth-tier magic weapon. Fire patterns lit up on the shield's surface, and flames shot into the sky, condensing into a human-shaped upper body and surging flames on the lower body, like a fire-breathing demon god.

Supernatural power: Fire Spirit Flame God.

All four techniques have surpassed the peak of ordinary Core Formation stage; when combined, their power is comparable to a strike from a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

Four attacks were launched simultaneously.

The Danqing Holy Sword struck the main trunk of the demonic tree first, causing the runes on the sword to explode. Thousands of sword energies surged and crashed inside the tree trunk, tearing open huge wounds.

Immediately following, the Seven Star Heaven-Slaying Blade slashed down horizontally, the blade cutting into the wound and cleaving the entire demonic tree in two.

Seven illusory stars exploded at the break, the power of the stars eroding the remaining demonic energy and sealing its self-healing ability.

The Fire Spirit Flame God leaped forward, its massive body, hundreds of feet tall, tightly embracing the struggling demonic tree.

Endless flames poured into every crack, igniting the tree from roots to branches, completely burning it from the inside out.

The demon's arms were locked tightly, giving it no chance to escape.

Finally, Master Gu's Blood Flame Thunder crashed down.

A lightning ball, tens of feet in size, plunged into the sea of ​​fire. The blood flames collided with the demonic energy of the demonic tree's origin, and a pillar of light shot straight into the sky, exploding into a huge spiritual ring in the high sky.

A violent shockwave swept across all directions, instantly dissipating the gray-black mist that filled the sky, and reducing everything in its path to nothingness.

-----

Half a day later, the dust slowly settled.

The former capital city is now just a giant crater covering hundreds of miles, with the deepest part reaching a thousand feet.

A few wisps of demonic energy rose from the bottom of the pit, struggled in the air for a moment, and then completely dissipated.

The source of the evil calamity was completely buried.

After resting for half a day, the group began to deal with all the remaining mortal bodies tainted by demonic energy within the dynasty's territory. This massive project took a full month to complete.

Lin Zhao personally dealt with batch after batch of zombies.

These bodies still retain their instinctive reactions, but their souls have long since perished, leaving only empty shells parasitized by demonic energy.

He personally destroyed these bodies; nearly ten million were disposed of by him alone.

Knowing full well the cruelty, yet having no other choice, each body carried the residual aura of Xuanhe demonic energy, which, once released, would cause endless trouble.

Not only ordinary people, but also dynasties had to deal with it.

Lin Zhao hovered in mid-air, slowly pressing down with both hands, pouring vast magical power into the earth.

The ground cracked and spread like a spider web, the city walls collapsed one after another, buildings were reduced to rubble, the entire city was torn apart and slowly sank into the ground, and was eventually swallowed up by the earth.

The rumbling sound from underground continued for a long time, and dust rose hundreds of feet into the air, obscuring half of the sky.

Lin Zhao clasped his hands together, and the cracks were mended and filled again, thus completely erasing a mortal city.

One city after another vanished into the earth.

The river channel was forcibly cut off and filled in, and the accumulated water froze into a lifeless lake in the lower areas.

Dozens of mountains within the territory, which possessed spiritual veins, were also forcibly destroyed to prevent any possible concealment of demonic energy.

The earth's veins were severed, and the spiritual veins were destroyed one by one.

Spiritual energy surged forth, giving rise to temporary spiritual lands on the ruins, where vegetation grew wildly and flowers bloomed in abundance.

Unfortunately, without the support of the earth's veins, these sacred sites completely dissipated within a few days.

The entire land lost its spiritual nourishment, the grass and trees withered, the land rapidly turned into desert, and all living things disappeared.

The ecological environment of the entire dynasty was completely destroyed.

This is the power of a Core Formation True Person; a dynasty was reduced to nothing, not even a trace of ruins remained.

Looking around, all that remains is desolation; the land is yellowish-brown and cracked, the riverbeds are dry and exposed, and the mountains are crumbling and broken.

The surrounding area, spanning thousands of miles, was completely altered after this upheaval, turning it into a forbidden zone.

The residual power of a Core Formation cultivator's attack can last for hundreds of years; any mortal who steps into it will die instantly, and even ordinary cultivators dare not approach rashly.

It will take at least a thousand years to restore the environment to a habitable state.

Even after such measures were taken, strange phenomena continued to occur in this land.

A cold wind often passes by, carrying faint gray shadows that reveal the outlines of streets, buildings, and crowds in the market. Countless figures move back and forth within them, only to slowly dissipate after a few breaths.

These are not vengeful spirits or malevolent ghosts, but rather strange and eerie remnants left behind by the natural world after a massive number of lives perished in a short period.

This land, tainted by demonic energy, has somehow solidified these remnants into a special ghostly dojo, which manifests in the world every so often.

If left unaddressed, these lingering images may become real in the future and reappear in the world.

Such strange occurrences are rare, extremely troublesome, and difficult to eradicate. They generally possess an indestructible attribute, making them very difficult for ordinary cultivators to handle.

However, the sect has a deep foundation and naturally has a solution.

Zhao Kun took out several black jade disc magic treasures and distributed them to everyone.

The jade plate is entirely black, with a smooth, mirror-like surface.

Infused with spiritual energy, the jade plate floated in the air, releasing a ring of black light.

The group used their magical artifacts to slowly sweep across thousands of miles of land. Wherever the jade disc passed, those strange afterimages seemed to be drawn by some force, turning into countless gray dots and disappearing into the jade disc.

A faint light shone on the surface of the jade plate, then gradually dimmed.

After finishing his work, Zhao Kun put away the jade plate and explained, "According to the sect's records, the soul is not the most central part of a living being's body. What truly preserves all the past is the mark of the true spirit."

Legend has it that after a living being dies, its true spirit imprint will be reincarnated through some means.

Of course, no one can say for sure about reincarnation.

The truth of this matter cannot be verified, but the sect has always possessed methods for collecting such eerie afterimages, which are said to allow them to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

Lin Zhao couldn't help but ask, "Is reincarnation really possible?"

Others may not understand, but doesn't he understand himself?

He is not a person of this world.

After death, one is reincarnated and comes to this world of cultivation.

However, the period in between was a blank, and he was unsure whether he had gone through reincarnation.

Zhao Kun shook his head.

"I don't know, it's just a saying that's been passed down through generations in the sect."

He glanced at Lin Zhao, who seemed particularly interested in the matter of reincarnation, and added, "If Junior Brother Lin is interested, we can handle the follow-up matters of this batch of jade plates together."

Lin Zhao nodded.

He was indeed interested in this.

The four began to say goodbye.

True Person Chenyuan and True Person Suluo walked up to True Person Gu and bowed, saying, "We wish True Person Gu a speedy completion of the Great Oath of the Heart Demon and a successful breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm."

Master Gu nodded slightly, without saying anything more.

Lin Zhao was young and didn't know exactly what the Great Oath of the Inner Demon referred to.

Seeing this, Zhao Kun lowered his voice and quietly explained to him.

In his early years, Master Gu traveled to other continents and witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the rampant spread of demonic forces.

Upon his return, he made a solemn vow to guard the Demon-Suppressing Immortal City for a full five hundred years.

This vow is both a shackle on his inner demons and the path he paved for himself to achieve Nascent Soul.