Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Tianyao Saint Son was the number one in the twelve secret realms, and before Lin Zhao came to Zhongzhou, he was a strong contender among the candidates for Saint Son.

Unfortunately, this candidate for Holy Son, who was ranked number one in twelve secret realms, was suppressed by Lin Zhao with a single sword strike.

This incident caused Tianyao Saint to lose face completely, and the public opinion in Zhongzhou will not give face to the loser.

The discussions on Tianxing.com were getting increasingly unpleasant, and Tianyao Shengzi finally couldn't sit still any longer.

He came forward to clarify, saying that Lin Zhao had ambushed him before he got off the chariot and was ready, and then used a fourth-tier magic weapon, so it didn't count as truly defeating him. He said that he has now obtained a fourth-tier magic weapon and will challenge Lin Zhao again.

Lin Zhao ignored him.

He turned his attention to the eight hundred secret realms, where challenging them would yield a considerable amount of resources.

If you can win first place, you will also be eligible to exchange for a top-grade spirit stone, which is completely different from an ordinary spirit stone.

The Nascent Soul True Monarch possesses boundless magical power, but after a great battle, recovery is extremely slow. Without fourth-order spiritual veins in the outside world, it can take anywhere from a few months to several years to fully recover.

The spiritual power of top-grade spirit stones is extremely pure. After absorption, it can quickly restore mana, making them an essential item for Nascent Soul cultivators.

What's even more precious is its unique characteristic: once a top-grade spirit stone is used up, it can be buried in a fourth-order spirit vein to absorb spiritual energy and automatically recover, and can be used again after hundreds of years.

Ordinary cultivators cannot wait a hundred years, but Nascent Soul True Monarchs have long lifespans and can easily afford to wait that long.

Therefore, the wealth of a Nascent Soul cultivator is generally estimated using top-grade spirit stones.

Because of the reusable nature of top-grade spirit stones, most of them are controlled by dominant forces as a strategic reserve.

In a sense, it is itself a special kind of fourth-order spiritual object.

Lin Zhao has gained a lot from his travels over the years, but he has never actually obtained any top-grade spirit stones. Now that he has the opportunity, he will naturally not let it pass.

He began to challenge the secret realms one by one, specifically choosing those that tested his combat strength.

As a sword cultivator, he can't very well compete with others in alchemy.

After all, the Heavenly Law Divine Sect is constantly on expeditions, and has many combat-type secret realms, which Lin Zhao swept through one by one.

Some of the secret realms were indeed quite difficult, but they weren't a big problem for him.

Lin Zhao currently has the Five Elements Returning to Origin Sword Formation and the Four Symbols Heavenly Gang Sword Formation for group attacks, and the Four Symbols Heavenly Gang Sword and the Prison Suppressing Heavenly Law Sword for single attacks, as well as the Divine Fiend Sword Qi, a one-time killing move.

During the challenge of the secret realm, Lin Zhao also upgraded the Demon-Slaying and God-Devouring Sword from a low-grade third rank all the way to a top-grade third rank.

This sword can devour demonic beasts to grow stronger. The demonic beasts that Lin Zhao killed in the secret realm, along with the spoils of war from before, came in handy.

The Blood Crystal Maha Sword was originally a top-tier third-grade item, and the Maha power within the sword was nurtured and strengthened in the blood pool of the Blood Essence Bone Fiend Palace.

Add to that the Blood Essence Bone Demon Palace, the Nine Luminaries Thunder Pool, the Hundred Luminaries Demon Burning Banner, the Purple Chen Spirit Protection Pearl, and the Condensing Yuan Treasure Mirror—you wouldn't know until you calculate it all, and the sheer number is astonishing.

The magic weapons equipped by the Azure Lotus clone are quite luxurious, including seven top-grade third-tier magic weapons, two magic weapons with the potential to advance to the fourth tier, plus the fourth-tier Starry Sky Rift Sword in its hand.

This configuration is excessively luxurious for a Core Formation cultivator; even ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators might not have that many magical treasures.

Lin Zhao had an extra gain during the secret realm challenge: he had been trying to comprehend the power of space. The rules of space were still far away, but he had already made progress in the teleportation technique at the Nascent Soul level.

He used the secret realm as a training ground and incorporated his teleportation ability into combat.

Although it's not yet possible to teleport like a Nascent Soul cultivator, it can already manage short-distance maneuvering and dodging.

He treated these secret realms as training grounds to familiarize himself with magical treasures, the Heavenly Law Sword Manual, and teleportation techniques, conquering them one by one.

The cultivators of Central Continent on Tianxing Network could only watch in disbelief as he swept through various secret realms, with posts about Lin Zhao being refreshed one after another on Tianxing Network.

Lin Zhao's popularity has surged again.

Several years have passed, and Lin Zhao has traveled to most of the immortal cities in the Central Continent, conquered seventy-two secret realms, and achieved the top ranking in all seventy-two places.

Seventy-two top-grade spirit stones were exchanged.

This number is astonishing; it would make many Nascent Soul True Monarchs envious if it were out in the open.

But even more alarming consequences were yet to come.

There were originally nine candidates for Holy Son in the Central Continent. In the seventy-two secret realms that Lin Zhao has conquered over the years, a considerable number of them have pushed the original number one out of the top spot.

According to the rules of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect, if ten top performers from secret realms are not gathered, the candidate for Holy Son will be disqualified.

The nine candidates for Holy Son were reduced to five. The four who were eliminated were all those whose top spot in the secret realm was snatched away by Lin Zhao.

Among them was the Holy Son of Heavenly Radiance.

I don't know if it was intentional or not.

Lin Zhao challenged all the top-ranked secret realms under his name, and some of them he challenged more than once.

He forcefully snatched eight first-place rankings from Tianyao Saint Son, leaving him with only four, and directly kicked him off the position of candidate Saint Son.

The Holy Son of Tianyao—now he should be called the True Disciple of Tianyao—has completely turned his previous boasts into a joke.

The fourth-tier magic weapon he had borrowed was taken back, and his family stopped providing him with resources.

He no longer cared about competing with Lin Zhao. While there were still people who believed in him, he desperately challenged other secret realms, hoping to gather ten first places again and return to the position of candidate for Holy Son.

The other candidates for Holy Son were also fighting desperately; those who hadn't fallen were desperately trying to keep their positions, while those who had fallen were desperately trying to climb back up.

Their madness inspired countless young cultivators in the Central Continent to follow suit and challenge them, setting off a craze for challenging secret realms throughout the entire Central Continent.

The Tianxing website is full of strategy guides and challenge live streams, and long queues have formed at the teleportation arrays leading to the secret realm from various immortal cities.

Tianhao was amazed when he saw this.

He was a formal Holy Son, and the ranking in the secret realm wouldn't affect his position, but Lin Zhao alone turned the younger generation of Central Continent upside down, which was something he hadn't expected.

But some people still couldn't sit still.

The Holy Son of Heavenly Law, ranked number one among the Holy Sons of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect.

Lin Zhao's challenge in the secret realm naturally wouldn't affect his status, but this matter concerned the face of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect, the number one overlord.

An outsider ran into the secret realm of Central Continent and wreaked havoc, even killing four of the nine candidates for Holy Son.

The cultivators from the Central Continent expressed their admiration verbally, but they still harbored a sense of resentment in their hearts.

As the first Holy Son, if the Heavenly Law Holy Son doesn't step forward and do something, it will be a disgrace for the Heavenly Law Divine Sect.

The Heavenly Law Saint Son is naturally powerful. He originally had fifty top-ranked experts in secret realms under his command. It was previously thought that no one could rival him, but now it seems that this is not necessarily the case.

The Celestial Law Saint took the initiative to act. He was a master of the Celestial Law Dao Token, a secret technique that was considered a panacea, capable of everything from combat and support to exploration and deciphering.

He single-handedly boosted his ranking from 50th to 100th, proving to the entire Central Continent that he was still the one who called the shots among the younger generation of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect.