Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

At noon, the caravan reached a plain, and the white jade ring on Lin Xuan's hand suddenly emitted a black light.

Suddenly, like a swarm of locusts, countless figures appeared on the surrounding horizon, instantly surrounding the caravan.

At least seven or eight hundred Tribulation Cultivators roared in, filling every inch of the land in sight. Various colored spiritual lights exploded on their bodies, and spiritual light, wind blades, fireballs, magic artifacts and talismans rained down on the caravan. The entire plain was instantly engulfed by shouts of battle and the explosions of spiritual energy colliding!

"Enemy attack! Form ranks!" The piercing alarm was quickly swallowed up by even greater chaos.

In their haste to regroup, the caravan members were horrified to discover that their leader, Liu Yifeng, and more than ten core members of the guild had vanished without a trace. No wonder so many cultivators had gotten close without noticing them.

Without a leader, the caravan instantly fell apart.

Looking around, the area within several kilometers had been transformed into a bloody meat grinder.

On the left, the third team desperately erected a massive, earthen-yellow light shield. Countless spells from the Tribulation Cultivators slammed into the shield, creating ripples across the sky. Outside the shield, magical artifacts rained down like rain, and the formation was quickly cracked by the combined efforts of several late-stage Qi Refining Tribulation Cultivator leaders.

On the right, the cultivators of the ninth team formed a wedge formation. More than thirty of them joined forces, transforming into a giant arrowhead that charged straight to the right, causing chaos and destruction in their path as they attempted to create an opening. Nearby caravan members also joined in, but the number of raiding cultivators was simply too overwhelming.

The members of the Ninth Team attracted most of the nearby Jie Xiu, who surged forward like a tide, their arrows visibly dimming until they finally came to a complete stop.

Further away, chaos reigned, with everyone fighting their own battles. Some squads were surrounded and cut off by enemies several times their size, their protective auras shattering like bubbles, and screams echoing throughout the area. Raging flames burned on the cargo, billowing black smoke straight into the sky.

In this massive vortex of chaos, the area where Team Seven was located seemed like a temporary safe haven.

However, the storm has only just begun, and even safety is no longer safe.

"It's hopeless, everyone escape!" Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Song Yuan shouted and prepared to break through with his trusted men.

"Why is Captain Song in such a hurry to leave?" Zhao Kun sneered, his array plate blazing with spiritual light, instantly enveloping the entire Seventh Team in a pale blue light screen. "Hand over the merchant guild treasures you've been hoarding!"

It turned out that Song Yuan had already secretly put the team's most precious dozen or so treasures into his storage bag.

"You're spouting nonsense!" Song Yuan's expression changed, and his long sword magic weapon was already unsheathed, with blue spiritual light flowing on its blade.

Zhao Kun said no more. He turned the array plate, and dozens of ice spikes shot out from the light screen, carrying a bone-chilling cold as they attacked Song Yuan. At the same time, more than ten team members behind him also attacked, and various magical lights rained down like raindrops. Several of Song Yuan's confidants were killed instantly.

Although Song Yuan's cultivation was higher, he could only barely hold on under the suppression of the formation. He was surrounded by a layer of earth-yellow spiritual light, which turned out to be a first-grade high-quality magic robe. He wielded the magic weapon in his hands so skillfully that it blocked all the incoming attacks.

Just when Zhao Kun thought victory was assured, a sudden change occurred! The two team members who had been silently standing behind Zhao Kun suddenly sprang into action, their short blades gleaming with a ghostly blue light, aiming straight for Zhao Kun's back! "Watch out!" someone exclaimed, but it was too late.

Zhao Kun grunted, and his protective aura shattered. He turned back in disbelief to his two trusted teammates beside him. "You two."

After their successful attack, the two turned and began to slaughter more than ten people around them. After killing several people, the array they had activated instantly disappeared, and the two stepped forward to stand next to Song Yuan.

"Didn't expect that, did you?" Song Yuan laughed triumphantly, but a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. The attack earlier had also left him with serious injuries. "You think you're the only one who can plant people? I can too. How could I be the captain of the seventh team without some strength?"

The situation suddenly became tense. The remaining members of the seventh team stood frozen in place, their eyes shifting between Zhao Kun and Song Yuan.

Zhao Kun staggered as he swallowed a bright green pill, and a faint blue spiritual light rose around him in an attempt to suppress his injuries.

He took a deep breath, his voice hoarse but carrying an undeniable sternness: "What are you all standing there for! He's at his last gasp! Kill him! I am a member of the Zhao family of Qingquan Mountain. If we survive this ordeal, our family will surely reward us handsomely. In this situation, only by following me can we survive!"

"A generous reward," Song Yuan's sallow face was full of sarcasm and pleasure, "Don't dream! You've been poisoned by the 'Azure Scorpion Tail,' the blue patterns on the blade are specifically designed to corrode a cultivator's spiritual foundation! Even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator can't withstand it for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, so who would risk their life for a dying person?"

As if to prove his words, Zhao Kun coughed up a mouthful of blood that glowed with an eerie blue light. The already unstable cyan spiritual light around his body flickered violently, clearly unable to suppress the toxins raging within him.

Seeing this, Song Yuan immediately turned to the other hesitant team members and said in a seductive voice, "Fellow Daoists, the Liuyun Chamber of Commerce is finished. Now is the time to plan for yourselves. As long as you stand here, we will divide the wealth equally, and then each of you can break through based on your own abilities. It's better than being buried with a dead man!"

The lure of profit and the pressure of survival gradually erased the struggles on the faces of the remaining people, and they began to move towards Song Yuan.

As Zhao Kun watched the last few people around him leave, a look of utter despair and madness flashed in his eyes. "Fine! Fine! Since you all want me dead, then let's all go together!" he roared, using his last bit of strength to pull a fist-sized, jet-black pearl covered with fine silver patterns from his storage bag.

Landmines are one-time use magical artifacts. They are magical artifacts that guide and seal the power of lightning. Their power is comparable to a strike from a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining. Moreover, lightning is known for its speed.

The moment the pearl appeared, an aura of destruction that sent chills down one's spine filled the surrounding air, with faint silver electric snakes darting across its surface.

"Oh no! It's a landmine!" someone who recognized it screamed in terror. But it was too late! Zhao Kun grinned maliciously, and with a forceful squeeze of his five fingers, the black bead shattered.

Boom! A blinding silver lightning bolt suddenly erupted, like a divine punishment descending! The violent lightning spiritual power instantly formed a sphere of destruction tens of meters in diameter. Lightning snakes darted about, and bolts of electricity surged, devouring and vaporizing everything within its range—soil, corpses, cargo wreckage, and even cultivators who couldn't escape in time!

The deafening roar even temporarily drowned out the fighting on the plains.

Fortunately, Lin Xuan had already pulled Lin Qingluo and several neutral cultivators with whom he had a good relationship to leave more than a hundred meters away.