Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

However, the Wen family is very greedy, and it takes a considerable amount of money to ask them to do something.

Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow.

So, before he even met True Monarch Qinglan in the Immortal City, he had to pay a sum of spirit stones to pave the way?

Before he could say anything, the Shen family patriarch spoke again.

This time, the words were spoken very bluntly: the Wen family had curryed favor with a disciple of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, and were very arrogant in the Immortal City, causing many conflicts with the Shen family, and the relationship between the two sides became very strained.

The Shen family can cover the expenses for him, so Lin Zhao doesn't need to spend a single spirit stone.

Lin Zhao understood immediately after hearing this.

The patriarch of the Shen family is using his influence to suppress the Wen family.

What kind of conflict could make a Core Formation family willingly offer to pay for an outsider's expenses?

The animosity between the two sides has likely escalated beyond mere conflict; they are probably on the verge of taking physical action, but haven't completely broken off relations yet.

The Shen family needed an external force to break the deadlock, and Lin Zhao was that external force.

Lin Zhao did not refuse.

He needed a channel to deliver the letter to True Monarch Qinglan, and the Shen family was willing to provide the money and effort, so he was happy to save himself the trouble.

As for the feud between the Shen family and the Wen family, he didn't care.

As long as no one gets in his way, he doesn't mind being used by others to gain influence.

He nodded, which was taken as agreement.

The next day, the Shen family patriarch arranged for a strange Core Formation cultivator to accompany Lin Zhao to the Wen family.

This person had an ordinary appearance and didn't talk much, but he was extremely efficient in his work, clearly someone carefully selected by the Shen family.

When they arrived at the Wen family's door, he handled the entire process of delivering the invitation, negotiating, and maneuvering, while Lin Zhao only nodded at crucial moments.

The Wen family members were arrogant, but after confirming Lin Zhaocangming's identity as a Core Formation True Person, they toned down their attitude somewhat.

There was no trace of the Shen family appearing in this whole process.

Lin Zhao presented a sealed letter, the contents of which were not visible to outsiders.

This time, in addition to the mark of True Lord Qingyuan on the white paper, the whole story of what happened back then was written down clearly:

As for Lord Qingwu, things are alright; at least he's still alive.

The Azure Mist Immortal City is different. Seven thousand years have passed, and the current Azure Mist True Monarch has been passed down for several generations.

Whether people even heard of that verbal promise from back then is another question.

If he doesn't write it clearly, people can just dismiss him with a simple "I don't know," leaving him with no recourse.

Lin Zhao thus settled down in the Immortal City.

Although the Wen family is greedy, they are generally reliable in their work.

The letter was passed through layers of channels and finally arrived on Qinglan Zhenjun's desk a month later.

However, True Monarch Qinglan was busy with cultivation and only opened it three months later.

Qinglan Zhenjun opened the letter, read it, and frowned.

He was unaware of this.

But after all, it is a celestial city with a history of seven thousand years, so it still retains its original heritage.

He had his men search through all the secret texts in the Immortal City's Scripture Pavilion, and finally found the relevant record in an old book—written by the first Qinglan True Monarch himself, just a few sentences.

The gist is that he received a second-tier spirit tree from Qingyuan Zhenjun of the Yunhai Cangming Sect, with the agreement that he would return a fourth-tier spirit item after advancing to the fourth tier.

The handwriting on the booklet was somewhat blurred, but the content matched what Lin Zhaoxin had written.

Qinglan Zhenjun closed the ancient book and sighed.

He sent out a communication talisman to summon the Nascent Soul cultivators for a meeting. Fortunately, the other three Nascent Soul cultivators in the Immortal City were all present, neither in seclusion nor away from home.

The core area of ​​the Immortal City, deep within the Azure Mist Ancient Tree.

A verdant palace is embedded inside the tree trunk. The palace was naturally grown by the ancient tree, and the wood grain is layered like dragon scales. Deep within each grain, there are restrictive array patterns that glow faintly.

The hall was shrouded in layers of array formations and restrictions, which even the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator could not penetrate.

Inside the hall, there was a long table and four armchairs. Light filtered through the wooden walls, bathing the entire hall in a tranquil, bluish glow.

The four Nascent Soul cultivators gathered together.

After he finished speaking, the hall fell silent for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

The first to speak was a Nascent Soul cultivator sitting on the left, with gray hair and beard, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger.

"A mere Core Formation junior thinks he can take a fourth-tier spiritual item from us with just a mark and a so-called verbal promise?"

ridiculous."

The other two Nascent Soul cultivators nodded simultaneously.

A short, stout man in the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm tapped his fingers on the table: "It happened seven thousand years ago, who knows if it's true or not."

Even if it's recorded in ancient texts, it's merely a few lines casually written by the First True Lord; there wasn't even a formal contract.

After they finished speaking, True Monarch Qinglan said, "I have already asked a friend to investigate. This True Man Zhaoyang has a special status in the Yunhai Cangming Sect and is highly regarded by True Monarch Qingyuan. He is very likely to be the legendary secret disciple. This news should be true."

"So what if he's a secret disciple?"

The Nascent Soul with gray beard and hair sneered, "Back then, it was a second-tier spiritual object, and now it has become a fourth-tier spiritual object. How many generations of our ancestors spent so much resources and manpower to cultivate it?"

The value of a second-tier spirit tree differs from that of a fourth-tier spirit tree by more than ten thousand times. Now, they want to take it away with just a casual remark? On what grounds?

Qinglan Zhenjun did not argue. He waited until the noise in the hall had completely subsided before slowly speaking.

"Because it is the Cloud Sea Azure Sea Sect. Because it is the overlord that rules Cloud Continent. Because its strength is greater than ours."

His tone was calm, and he enunciated each word clearly: "Is this reason clear enough? Is it understandable enough?"

The hall was completely silent.

Someone muttered under their breath, "This is just too much."

The voice was very soft, as if it were being spoken to oneself.

Qinglan Zhenjun ignored him and continued, "The sky over Yunzhou belongs to the Yunhai Cangming Sect. Even if there was no promise back then, who would dare refuse the Cangming Sect if they wanted it?"

A long silence.

The four Nascent Soul cultivators had different expressions on their faces—some were indignant, some were helpless, and some were expressionless.

They all knew that True Monarch Qinglan was telling the truth.

But the truth is sometimes the hardest to hear.

Finally, the Nascent Soul cultivator who hadn't spoken much spoke up.

True Lord Xuanjing.

The one with the deepest seniority and the most profound thoughts among the four Nascent Soul cultivators.

His seat was right next to True Monarch Qinglan: "Since True Monarch Qingyuan has spoken, we must give it to him, but how we give it is another matter. Could we use other fourth-tier spiritual items instead?"

The other two Nascent Soul cultivators quickly nodded in agreement.

Qinglan Zhenjun certainly knew what they were thinking.

After seven thousand years of cultivation, the Azure Mist Ancient Tree is no longer an ordinary fourth-tier spiritual plant.

The fourth-order spiritual objects separated from it all contain the effect of prolonging life—allowing Nascent Soul cultivators to extend their lives by hundreds of years, comparable to a mid-grade fourth-order spiritual object. This is a treasure that is hard to come by in the entire Yunzhou.

The Immortal City never lets anything flow out; every output is consumed internally among a few Nascent Soul cultivators, and only occasionally is one or two items taken out to exchange for more important strategic resources.

Asking them to produce a piece of fourth-tier Azure Wood is more painful than cutting off a piece of flesh.

Especially for True Lord Xuanjing, whose lifespan was not long to begin with.

The Azure Mist Immortal City possesses unique fourth-tier life-extending pills, the Life-Sustaining Pill, which can extend one's lifespan by three hundred years.

If combined with another fourth-tier Azure Wood, one can gain a lifespan of 2,600 years.