Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

The young man in the brocade robe felt his soul sink, as if he were trapped in an invisible quagmire, and the spiritual energy circulating around his body instantly froze.

His body, which had just been airborne for less than 100 meters, plummeted straight down like a bird with broken wings!

He crashed heavily to the ground, before he could even react.

Chu Xin had already reached his vicinity; the blue ice sword's spiritual light surged, transforming once again into a roaring frost storm.

A thick layer of frost covered his body, making his movements extremely slow.

Once he broke free of the ice, everyone had already surrounded him.

Old Wu's Dragon-Trapping Formation has been activated, with seven purple spiritual energy shackles coiling upwards like serpents!

"Don't even think about it!" The young man in the brocade robe roared, his face contorted, as he unleashed his last life-saving talisman.

A solid, illusory pagoda of spiritual light appeared, protecting him within it and temporarily resisting the constraints of the formation.

But he knew in his heart that this was nothing more than a desperate struggle.

As the menacing crowd surrounded him, a chilling aura instantly seeped into his bones.

The golden pagoda was extremely sturdy. Despite the attacks of everyone's high-grade magical artifacts, which emitted bursts of spiritual light, they could not budge it.

"Stop! I am an inner disciple of the Thousand Radiance Sect! If you kill me, the sect will grind you to dust. As long as you..." The young man in the brocade robe still wanted to negotiate with the crowd.

"Today it's a fight to the death!" Gao Yuan interrupted decisively, his voice as cold as iron. "Kill him with all your might, leave no room for future trouble!"

Lin Zhao's eyes narrowed, and he had already pinched a talisman [Gengjin Sword Qi Talisman] between his fingers!

This talisman is the most powerful offensive talisman among first-tier high-grade talismans. With a flick of his finger, the talisman instantly transformed into a golden sword aura, and with a wave of his hand...

The golden sword energy, like lightning tearing through the night sky, struck the golden pagoda.

"Clang! — Snap!"

For the first time, the golden pagoda emitted a sound of being overwhelmed, its spiritual light flashed violently, and the point where it was struck exploded with spiritual light, revealing a crack.

Seeing that it was effective, Lin Zhao released five [Gengjin Sword Qi Talismans] in succession.

The same spot on the golden pagoda was hit repeatedly, causing the cracks on the pagoda to expand rapidly, and it looked like it was about to completely break apart!

As the young man in the brocade robe saw the protective golden pagoda's spiritual light flicker violently and cracks spread, the fear of death instantly seized his mind.

With no hope of escape, a desperate madness appeared on the young man in the brocade robe! "You forced me to this!"

He roared and unleashed his last trump card, another golden seal talisman radiating a powerful aura!

The golden seal swelled in the wind, carrying an even stronger pressure than before, and crushed down on everyone!

"I'll do it!" Gao Yuan roared, throwing his heavy sword, which had been with him for many years, at the golden seal without hesitation!

Knowing full well that his magical weapon could not withstand the attack, he recklessly detonated the heavy sword the moment the two made contact!

"boom!"

A deafening roar erupted, and a violent shockwave of spiritual energy swept outwards like a tsunami!

The golden pagoda, already on the verge of collapse, shattered like glass under the destructive energy impact of its self-destruction, dissipating into countless golden specks of light.

At the same time, Lin Zhao slapped a Gengjin sword qi talisman onto the Qingfeng sword!

The talisman transformed into a dazzling stream of gold, instantly merging into the sword. The longsword rang out with a clear sound, emitting a sharp golden light about a foot long, ready to strike!

The powerful shockwave temporarily halted their attack; taking advantage of this precious opening,

A look of pain and determination flashed across the young man's face. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood essence, and the blood mist instantly enveloped him—Blood Escape Technique!

A streak of blood-red light shot into the sky at an astonishing speed, hurtling towards the distance!

"Trying to leave?"

Lin Zhao had already prepared himself, and the spiritual energy within his body was circulating wildly in an unprecedented way, pouring it all into the Qingfeng Sword.

He unleashed the most powerful and mentally taxing move of the Azure Profound Sword Technique.

"Azure Profound Sword Technique, Piercing the Sun!"

The golden light condensed on the sword blade completely merged with the Azure Sword Qi, transforming into a golden-blue stream of light that was condensed to its extreme and only as thick as an arm, as if it absorbed all the surrounding light into it! Like a divine spear shot down from the heavens, it ignored the distance in space, arrived first after it came later, and instantly caught up with the fleeing blood light!

"Pfft!"

Blood blossoms burst tragically in the air.

A streak of cyan light pierced the back of the young man in the brocade robe with unparalleled precision, emerging from his chest and spraying out a shower of scorching blood.

The young man in the brocade robe shuddered violently, his forward momentum coming to an abrupt halt.

The madness, fear, anger, and resentment in his eyes all turned into a deathly silence of bewilderment and disbelief.

The surging spiritual pressure around him suddenly dissipated like a punctured balloon.

The bloody light dissipated, and his stiff body fell limply from the low sky, crashing heavily into the mess of rocks below with a "thud," and then fell silent.

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

The wind seemed to have stopped blowing, leaving only the heavy, lingering smell of blood and the gradually cooling corpses of four Thousand Glory Sect disciples, silently recounting the brutality of the battle that had just taken place.

Gao Yuan leaned on a spare longsword he had temporarily taken out, breathing heavily. His hand was already split open, and blood was flowing down his arm.

His gaze toward Lin Zhao carried a hint of relief at surviving a disaster, but also an overwhelming sense of resolute determination.

His voice was hoarse, like a broken gong: "Clean up every trace, leave not a single hair! Without stopping for a moment, leave the Cloud Mist Mountains immediately!"

Lin Zhao nodded silently, suppressing the churning blood and qi within her body and the weakness caused by the depletion of spiritual energy.

Old Wu had already led everyone to quickly take action, clearing away and destroying the traces of the battle around them.

Cheng Jin picked up the mutilated corpse of the Bewitching Fox with regret and carefully put it away.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the battlefield had been roughly dealt with.

The crowd gathered together, the atmosphere heavy.

Gao Yuan turned to the silent Pharmacist Chen and said in a deep voice, "Pharmacist Chen, I'm begging you."

The mask concealed all of Chen Yaoshi's expression; he simply nodded slightly.

She took out a palm-sized white jade plate engraved with countless fine runes and tossed it into the air above the crowd.

The jade plate hovered, emitting a soft and continuous white spiritual light, with white ripples spreading out from the center of the jade plate like waves of water.

It covered an area of ​​several hundred meters in radius, encompassing everyone and the entire battlefield.

As Lin Zhao watched the peculiar ripples sweep across his body, he felt as if he were being washed by a gentle spring, and the remaining restlessness of his spiritual energy was calmed down somewhat.

He couldn't help but ask, "Pharmacist Chen, what is this?"

The voice of Pharmacist Chen came through the mask, carrying a hint of the indifference unique to disciples of a sect: "Disciples of a major sect like the Thousand Radiance Sect have special cultivation methods, and their spiritual power attributes are different from those of cultivators outside the sect, bearing unique marks."

Those cultivators who have fought with them will have traces of this spiritual energy remaining on their bodies for at least three years.

The array formations in the seventeen major towns surrounding the Cloud and Mist Mountains could all detect this trace.