Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow. Tian Hao usually valued his manners, so for him to utter a word like "old man" meant he had indeed been beaten quite badly.

Tianhao picked up his teacup and took a big gulp, as if to suppress his anger. "While I'm outside the fortress welcoming an expeditionary force of cultivators..."

That old bastard ambushed me from the shadows, and his first move was a deadly strike. He pierced through the defenses of the Purple Dragon Pattern Chariot in one blow. If the chariot hadn't teleported me back in time, I would have died outside.

"A dignified Nascent Soul True Lord, bullying the weak, has no shame whatsoever."

Lin Zhao couldn't help but roll her eyes.

While there is an unspoken understanding among the major powers not to easily kill important figures, this understanding does not apply to the Heavenly Law Divine Sect and the Myriad Beasts Spirit Venerable Mansion.

The two sides have been fighting for tens of thousands of years, using every means possible and every trick in the book.

On the battlefield, it doesn't matter whether you're a holy son or an ordinary disciple; if you can kill someone, you kill them, and if you can't kill them, you cripple them.

If given the chance to kill the enemy's Holy Son, the Myriad Beasts Spirit Lord's Palace would only think that it was too lenient.

Tianhao was just grumbling, but he knew the truth better than anyone else.

After he finished cursing, his eyes turned and his gaze fell on Lin Zhao's face. He then changed the subject: "Speaking of which, Brother Lin had a grudge against the Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits from the Ten Thousand Beasts Spirit Venerable Mansion, right?"

Why don't we join forces and take him down?

Lin Zhao nearly choked on his tea. He put down the teacup and said irritably, "No thanks."

The Southern Continent is the territory of the Myriad Beasts Spirit Lord's Mansion. Even though Tianhao, the Holy Son, had more than two hundred Nascent Soul True Monarchs backing him, he almost died at the gate of the fortress.

He was just a secret disciple of the Yunhai Cangming Sect, and he didn't even have a Nascent Soul elder in the Southern Continent. Why would he follow Tianhao to kill the Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits? Did he have a death wish?

Tianhao refused to give up and tried to persuade him, saying that he had already contacted a Nascent Soul elder in the sect for help and that there would be no danger.

They also said that they had found out the whereabouts of the Holy Son of All Spirits, and that this opportunity should not be missed.

Lin Zhao just wouldn't budge.

The two talked back and forth for an hour before Tianhao finally sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Tell me, what is it about me that you've got your eye on?"

He had been dealing with Lin Zhao for more than just a day or two; from the Endless Demon Sea to the Southern Continent, he had long since figured out Lin Zhao's temperament.

If this person really didn't want to do it, they would have run away long ago. It's clear that they just couldn't agree on the price.

He hadn't realized it before, but with the reminder from the Nascent Soul elder, he understood that Lin Zhao was currently just a dharma body. Even if it were gone, it would only cause the main body to lose some cultivation and resources. Therefore, as long as the price was right, there was no risk he couldn't take.

Lin Zhao chuckled: "Didn't your Haoyang Pearl run out of its source energy before? How come it recovered so quickly? Don't tell me it recovered on its own while it was lying there."

Tianhao remained silent for a while before confessing, "The Heavenly Spirit Source Transformation Technique is a special secret technique that can extract the essence of a third-tier magic weapon to restore it. I obtained many magic weapons from the Qingyu Clan, and it took me more than a dozen to restore this natal magic weapon."

This is exactly what Lin Zhao wanted.

Although Tianhao felt a pang of regret, after weighing the options, he still took out the secret technique jade slip.

Although the Heavenly Spirit Transformation Technique is not the core inheritance of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect, Lin Zhao will have to pay a considerable price to pass it on.

But if Lin Zhao could actually take action and kill a holy son of the Myriad Beasts Spirit Venerable Palace, it wouldn't be a loss.

The two reached a deal.

After Tianhao left, Lin Zhao played with the jade slip in his hand, a satisfied smile on his face.

He took out the Starry Sky Rift Sword and placed it across his lap. The sword gleamed with a bluish-silver light under the illumination of the cave's lamps, and the star patterns on the sword resembled a flowing galaxy.

The Starry Sky Rift Sword comes with a teleportation ability—Star Instant Technique.

The basic usage is to consume one's own spiritual power and use spatial fluctuations to instantly travel a hundred miles away. If activated at full power, consuming the sword's own essence, one can instantly teleport a thousand miles away.

Lin Zhao was previously being chased by the avatar of True Monarch Gray Owl, but she escaped by using the Star Instant Technique.

The cost was that 30% of the sword's essence was consumed, and then there was Meng Wuhen's matter. Over the years, he has recovered quite a bit, but the essence of the magic weapon has only returned to about 70%.

This kind of consumption is too extravagant. Each teleportation consumes one unit of source energy, and it would take ten years to recover.

After obtaining the Starry Sky Rift Sword, Lin Zhao had always wanted to use this magical artifact to comprehend the rules of space.

In his early years, he had some superficial understanding of spatial power through Fang Yue, and although he used Star Instant Technique and Sky Rift Slash many times, he never managed to grasp the fundamentals of spatial rules.

After much thought, he realized there was only one way to go—to teleport more often.

The experience of personally traversing space is more effective than anything else; the more you use it, the more you'll understand.

However, the full-power teleportation of the Star Instant Technique burns one-tenth of the sword's original essence each time, and it takes ten years to recover one-tenth. This consumption and recovery speed simply cannot support the number of times required for comprehension.

Now that we have the Heavenly Spirit Transformation Technique, things are different.

He can use a third-tier magic weapon to replenish the Starry Sky Rift Sword's energy consumption, teleport several more times, and comprehend the power of space through repeated spatial traversals.

Of course, third-tier magic weapons aren't exactly commonplace.

He spent some time fusing and improving the Heavenly Spirit Source Transformation Technique and the Star Instant Technique, creating a new Star Instant Technique—a short-range version.

It can teleport one hundred miles by consuming one percent of the sword's essence.

For battles at the Core Formation level, a hundred miles is not far, but it is enough to comprehend the power of space.

The key is that it consumes little energy and can be used repeatedly.

Lin Zhao experimented several times in the outside world. After each teleportation, he immediately used the strange perception of his body passing through space to comprehend it, and the Heavenly Heart Dharma Wheel deduced it at the same time.

The effect is good; I can now faintly sense the power of space.

However, he also sensed that comprehending the rules of space was more than one level higher than comprehending the rules of the five elements, and it was not something that could be mastered in a short period of time.

The hundred or so third-tier magic treasures he has are probably far from enough.

But Lin Zhao didn't regret it—if he could truly comprehend the rules of space, it would be worth sacrificing even a fourth-tier magic weapon, let alone a third-tier one.

Only he has the necessary conditions. He has already comprehended multiple rules and has a basic understanding of the power of rules. With the assistance of the Heavenly Heart Dharma Wheel's deductions, other cultivators, even if given a bunch of fourth-order spatial magic treasures, could not achieve this.

Take it slow. For him right now, third-tier magic weapons are precious, but not particularly difficult to obtain.

Several months later, Tianhao was ready.

He took Lin Zhao away from Wanshu Town Rock Fortress and headed to another fortress.

Ten Thousand Laws Heavenly Wheel Fortress

It was a fortress with a completely different style from the Wanshu Town Rock Fortress, suspended in the air and slowly rotating.

This fortress is closer to Lin Zhao's understanding of "weapons of war".

The entire piece is forged from some kind of silver-gray metal, with all the structures molded in one piece. It is smooth as a mirror, with sharp edges and corners, exuding a cold, metallic gleam.