Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Lin Zhao did a quick search and found a discussion thread about how he and Tian Hao had teamed up to kill the Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits. The thread was extremely popular and had an astonishing number of views, with the comment section in complete chaos.

They also stumbled upon another name – Qin Tianjun.

His fellow disciple had come to Zhongzhou for exchanges with the sect's delegation years ago, and had fought ten sparring matches at the Tianlu Divine Sect, winning four, losing three, and drawing three.

His old sparring videos have resurfaced and are being compared and discussed alongside Lin Zhao's.

Lin Zhao suspected that as his cultivation level increased, this discussion would likely continue for many years.

Qin Tianjun will likely have his name etched in history on this Tianxing website.

I just don't know if he likes it or not.

Lin Zhao leaned back in the chariot seat, gazing at the direction the track stretched out ahead.

From his current perspective, the system in Zhongzhou can indeed maximize the development of cultivators' talents and abilities.

The number of cultivators in the Heavenly Law Divine Sect far exceeds that of the Cloud Sea Azure Sea Sect, and their average strength is also one level higher.

Qin Tianjun's ten battles back then were probably exaggerated.

The Heavenly Law Divine Sect probably didn't go all out at all—none of the three Holy Sons participated, and those who defeated him back then were all candidate Holy Sons.

The Heavenly Law Divine Sect has nine candidates for Holy Son. With nine candidates, there's a good chance they could produce nineteen.

On the surface, the strength of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect is three to five times that of the Cloud Sea Cangming Sect.

No wonder they were able to suppress both the Myriad Beasts Spirit Venerable Palace and the Nine Nether Demon Sect at the same time.

But the world of cultivation is not the same as the world of mortals.

A large system is an advantage, but it cannot determine everything.

A cultivator's power is concentrated in one person; a true strongman can change far more than the power of millions of cultivators.

Lin Zhao also learned some things about the deeds of the first patriarch of the Yunhai Cangming Sect. Although his knowledge wasn't detailed, he could make a judgment.

Among the first generation masters of the Yunhai Cangming Sect, they were undoubtedly among the best.

More importantly, tens of thousands of years have passed, and the information about the Cangming Sect's ancestors who ascended to the Spirit Realm has remained very stable. There have been no reports of any of them perishing or having any accidents.

Unlike the ascended ancestors of other dominant sects, some perished, some met with misfortune, and some even turned against each other.

What does 50,000 years of stability mean?

This means that the Cangming Sect's foundation in the spirit world is far deeper than anyone imagined.

The two traveled around Zhongzhou for a period of time, and Lin Zhao gained a general understanding of Zhongzhou's ruling model, the ecology of cultivators, and the society of mortals.

The power of cultivation has permeated the lives of mortals, which also means that when it really comes down to it, trillions of mortals can also play a powerful role. For example, if trillions of first-tier talismans were to be unleashed, the scene would be spectacular—

Tianhao then led him to a celestial city in the heart of the Central Continent.

There are over 100 million cultivators in the Central Continent, and over 100 immortal cities, each with its own unique characteristics.

Most of the spiritual veins in the Central Continent converge near the Immortal City, and there are also eight hundred secret realms for cultivators, which are specifically used to train sect cultivators. There are several to a dozen entrances to these secret realms around each Immortal City.

The Purple Dragon Pattern Chariot sped along the spiritual energy track, with countless towns and fields flashing past the window.

Zhongzhou possesses a sense of order that Yunzhou lacks, like a piece of spirit jade that has been repeatedly polished, with every corner having been assigned a purpose.

Looking at the ordinary people working in the fields and queuing to enter the city, Lin Zhao suddenly thought of the barbarians covered in blood-stained patterns in the dense forests of the Southern Continent.

They are both human beings, both living under the rule of a dominant power, yet their fates are drastically different.

The mortals of the Southern Continent are like flesh worms, born to be devoured, while the mortals of the Central Continent live much better lives.

But in essence, they were just being ruled in a different way.

Lin Zhao did not voice these thoughts.

The chariot continued forward, and the outline of a celestial city could already be seen on the horizon.

Qinxia Immortal City.

The immortal city was built amidst a range of green mountains, its walls a pale blue color, as if they had grown naturally from the rocks.

Two extremely tall mountains stand side by side in the city, one shaped like a zither lying horizontally, and the other like a long sword pointing to the sky.

The city's pavilions are built against the mountain, layer upon layer, high and low, and from time to time, the sound of a zither drifts out from one of the pavilions, clear and melodious, flowing through the city along with the thin mist in the mountains.

Tianhao led Lin Zhao into the city, introducing the city as they walked.

Qinxia Immortal City was named after a Celestial Lord who ascended to the Spirit Realm tens of thousands of years ago. He was known as a master of both the zither and the sword.

He left behind two fifth-tier inheritances: the sword inheritance was the Heavenly Law Sword Manual, and the zither inheritance was the Sacred Sound of Dawn.

These two fifth-tier inheritances have supported a celestial city, which has remained prosperous for tens of thousands of years.

Lin Zhao nodded, his gaze sweeping across the city gate. Seven or eight out of ten cultivators in the immortal city wore zithers, while fewer wore swords. Those who did wear swords at their waists mostly used them for decoration, with extremely beautiful scabbards.

Occasionally, a few cultivators carrying long swords would hurry by, their auras more imposing than others, but they would quickly disappear into an alley.

"I told you before in Dragon Abyss Immortal City that I would take you to see that Nascent Soul level sword technique."

Tianhao led Lin Zhao toward the center of the Immortal City. "I'll use my personal connections to let you in for a few days to meditate. See if it suits you. If it does, you can use your military merits to exchange for an even longer period of meditation."

With your current level seven access, and having accumulated merit points, getting it approved shouldn't be too difficult. Without those, it would be quite challenging.

Lin Zhao glanced at Tian Hao. To be honest, he had always thought this was Zhang Bing—

It was just a casual remark I made back in Dragon Abyss Immortal City to trick him into coming to Central Continent, but I never expected it would actually come true.

Tianhao noticed his gaze and said irritably, "What kind of look is that? I will definitely do what I promised."

"The main reason I took you to the Southern Continent before was to accumulate merit points. Without military merits, your authority won't increase, and it will be very difficult to access the Heavenly Law Sword Manual."

The two walked down the street, attracting the attention of many cultivators.

Tianhao's fame in Zhongzhou is obviously not low, and coupled with Lin Zhao's identity as a secret disciple, it is spread everywhere on the Tianxing Network in Zhongzhou, making it difficult for him to keep a low profile.

Lin Zhao, with his seventh-level authority, was assigned a top-grade third-level cave dwelling, which was in a very good location with abundant spiritual energy.

He couldn't help but sigh, the Heavenly Law Divine Sect was indeed founded on rules—status and rank were everything, the higher the rank, the better the treatment, even if he was just an outsider.

After settling in, Tianhao took Lin Zhao to the two high mountains in the center of the Immortal City.

Qinshan and Jianshan.

They naturally went to Sword Mountain.

The mountain path was steep, with two sword marks stretching from the foot of the mountain all the way to the top, as if someone had cleaved the mountain with a giant sword.

At the top of the mountain is a jade disc hundreds of feet high, crystal clear, like a huge screen.

The jade disc has a smooth, mirror-like surface. When sunlight shines on it, a faint, ethereal glow flows across the surface, and countless silvery-white rays can be vaguely seen moving slowly within it.