Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao tilted her head slightly.

Beneath the surface of the sea, a huge shadow was approaching at an alarming speed, but only a tiny bulge appeared on the water's surface, barely revealing any movement.

The Azure Lotus Sword was drawn and gently swung.

A streak of cyan sword energy flew out from the tip of the sword, as thin as a hair, its trajectory almost invisible.

It submerged without making a splash.

The sea suddenly became calm.

Then—a dull thud exploded from underwater.

The seawater, which stretched for tens of feet in radius, suddenly surged upwards, and a giant black fish, tens of feet long, floated on the surface, its body intact except for a sword scar piercing through its brow.

Lin Zhao sheathed his sword, no longer glancing at the giant fish's corpse.

He had conducted countless clean and efficient hunts over the past year.

The stench of blood emanating from the giant fish quickly attracted monsters from all directions, which Lin Zhao occasionally unleashed with his sword energy to eliminate.

With the Azure Lotus Sword in hand, he was no match for ordinary late-stage Core Formation cultivators, and he could even put up a fight against peak Core Formation cultivators.

However, the endless sea of ​​demons is never short of demons. In just one hour, more than 100,000 demons flocked together, including five third-tier Core Formation demons.

With his strength, killing them all wouldn't be difficult, but the blood aura emanating from the deaths of so many monsters could easily attract even stronger sea beasts, so a swift victory was necessary.

Lin Zhao unleashed his most powerful magic weapon for group attacks—the Divine Soul Sword Tower.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the sword tower trembled slightly, and the souls of all the nearby demonic beasts were locked onto.

The sound of the sword.

A clear, melodious sword cry echoed softly from within the tower, its pleasant sound carrying a terrifying power capable of annihilating souls.

The movements of over 100,000 low-level demonic beasts froze instantly, the fierce red light in their eyes rapidly fading, turning into lifeless ashes.

Their souls were instantly obliterated with a sword cry, leaving them no room to struggle, and piles of corpses slowly floated to the surface of the sea.

However, third-tier demonic beasts are different from ordinary demonic beasts; their physical bodies are stronger and their vitality far surpasses that of cultivators.

Moreover, the soul and the physical body are closely connected; the soul sword sound can severely injure them, but it cannot kill them.

The moment a sea scorpion at the early stage of Core Formation was locked onto by the sword tower, its body suddenly froze, its raised tail suspended in mid-air, as if imprisoned by an invisible hand. The other three third-tier demon kings were also unable to break free from the soul lock.

Lin Zhao fully released the Divine Soul Sword Tower, and the entire jade-gold tower appeared, covered with layers of sword runes. The top of the tower shone with golden light, and its sharp aura was awe-inspiring.

Golden light enveloped several third-tier demonic beasts, and a second sword cry rang out, piercing their consciousness and shaking their souls.

Lin Zhao activated the sword tower, absorbing all the souls of the several demonic beasts into the tower;

Golden light descended from the top of the tower, and all the runes on the tower body lit up. Countless divine soul sword energies raged within the tower, repeatedly eroding the divine soul will of the demonic beasts.

Over the years, he had already refined the Ghost Crystal.

His divine sense broke through to the late stage of Core Formation, and his domain expanded to a full seventy miles.

Ordinary early-stage Core Formation demonic beasts had their souls and wills extinguished within a few breaths of entering the tower.

Even those in the mid-stage of Core Formation can only last for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

As for those in the later stages of Core Formation, it takes more time, generally about an hour.

But once your soul is captured by the sword tower, you're basically doomed.

Only peak-level third-tier monsters are an exception.

He tried to attack with the sword tower, but failed to shake the opponent's soul.

Such powerful beings possess strong spiritual energy and a close connection between their physical bodies. The sword tower can only be used to restrain and control the battlefield, interrupting their attacks. Ultimately, one must rely on swordsmanship to kill them head-on.

Besides the few spare magical artifacts he used to conceal his identity, he also possessed...

There are also four other matching magical artifacts.

The Azure Lotus Sword, Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool, Divine Soul Sword Tower, Spirit Origin Palace, and Teleportation Boots—five core magic treasures working together.

With the configuration of this magic weapon,

He fought across these tens of thousands of miles of sea for more than a year.

Countless ordinary demonic beasts were killed, and the battle raged from dawn till dusk for countless days and nights.

The Azure Lotus Sword Qi carved long streaks across the sea, and the blood of the demonic beasts repeatedly stained large areas of the sea red.

When spiritual energy is depleted, find a deserted island, use the magic treasure Lingyuan Hall to calmly regulate your breathing and restore your spiritual energy, and step into the battlefield again the next day.

He also encountered countless dangers that year.

It was besieged by a powerful beast horde.

Once, Lin Zhao had killed so many demonic beasts that he was condensing blood crystals when three waves of beast tides merged, totaling over a million demonic beasts, and surrounded him in the middle.

Lin Zhao did not choose to flee. The palace's magical treasure, the Lingyuan Hall, unfolded to protect her. The Azure Lotus Sword continuously unleashed sword energy, countless sword energies carving deep ravines into the sea.

The swords of the Divine Soul Sword Tower rang incessantly, and hordes of demonic beasts died and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Lin Zhao fought tirelessly for ten days and ten nights until the spiritual liquid in the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool was almost exhausted.

He single-handedly repelled the terrifying beast tide formed by millions of demonic beasts. The massive amount of demonic beast corpses and blood essence gathered together and eventually condensed into tens of thousands of blood crystals.

It was also hunted down by powerful monsters in the third tier.

It was a peak third-tier armored dragon, a hundred feet long, with scales that looked like they were made of refined iron. When the Azure Lotus Sword slashed at it, it could only leave a white mark.

When the dragon swept its tail, the Lingyuan Palace was sent flying dozens of miles away, and Lin Zhao tumbled several times along with it.

After regaining his balance, he quickly activated his teleportation boots and ran away.

This armored dragon is definitely among the strongest of the peak third-tier demonic beasts.

In the end, Lin Zhao was chased and killed by the armored dragon for three days and three nights.

If Lin Zhao hadn't gone out to hone his skills and didn't want to use the Starry Sky Rift Sword, he really wanted to let that armored dragon experience the power of a fourth-tier magic weapon.

He was also ambushed by a Core Formation cultivator.

Two late-stage Core Formation cultivators launched a sneak attack while he was hunting a third-tier demonic beast.

Lin Zhao was unaware of the attack until it struck, as some secret technique had been used.

In the critical moment, he activated the Spirit Origin Palace to block the attack, and then summoned the Divine Soul Sword Tower to forcibly obliterate the soul of one of them.

Upon seeing this, the other person turned and fled, but Lin Zhao chased him for over a hundred miles, using countless sword energies to forcibly shatter his protective magic treasure before finally killing him.

Unfortunately, most cultivators who go out to sea do not carry too many valuable resources with them. Apart from a few magical treasures, they did not have many spoils of war in this battle.

The only pity is that he has never successfully hunted a peak third-tier demonic beast, as peak third-tier demonic beasts are just too difficult to kill.

Third-tier peak demonic beasts are all quite powerful, with enormous size, incredible defense, and almost inexhaustible vitality.

Lin Zhao hunted three times in total, and although he could defeat his opponents, he was unable to kill them.

The first opponent was a black-scaled dragon.

It was hundreds of feet long and perched on a giant underwater rock, its entire body covered in jet-black scales, making it extremely defensive.

Lin Zhao spent a full six days, from probing to fighting with all his might, the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool recovered its power, and the Divine Soul Sword Tower launched a sneak attack.

By the fourth day, most of the Ink Scale Dragon's scales had cracked, but every time Lin Zhao tried to use the Sword Tower to invade its sea of ​​consciousness and destroy its soul, he would hit an indestructible barrier.

This dragon actually possesses a natural talent for soul defense, greatly diminishing the effectiveness of the sword tower.