Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

The price was that the remaining five candidates for Holy Sons could no longer gather the ten number one spots in the Secret Realm; they were all knocked down and lost their qualifications as candidates for Holy Sons.

This is simply a spectacle that has never been seen in Central Continent for thousands of years.

In just a few years, all nine candidates for Holy Son of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect were wiped out.

If not the last, then at least there has never been one before.

Some people on Tianxing.com even joked that...

Lin Zhao came to Zhongzhou and directly "killed" nine candidate holy sons.

There was even a heated debate on the Tianxing Network about whether the nine candidate holy sons could defeat the Prison Suppressing Holy Son if they joined forces.

Lin Zhao shook his head after seeing the online discussions; he decided not to continue the challenge.

The Azure Lotus clone is ultimately a sword cultivator. He can sweep through combat-type secret realms, but he can't gain an advantage in other types of secret realms.

If it were the Five Mountains Avatar, he was confident that he could surpass the Heavenly Law Saint Son, as the Five Mountains Avatar's overall abilities far exceeded those of the Azure Lotus Avatar.

But this is Zhongzhou, their territory. It's meaningless to try and overpower the Heavenly Law Saint Son here.

If someone uses underhanded tactics, they can easily get three hundred, let alone a hundred, to the top spot. It's best to stop while you're ahead.

The intense challenges of the past few years have further enhanced his strength. He has become highly skilled in using the magical artifacts at his disposal, and he can now unleash the exclusive Order Domain of the Heavenly Law Sword Manual.

The greatest gain was the teleportation ability of the Nascent Soul stage—after burning the essence of hundreds of third-tier magic treasures and repeatedly using the Star Instant Technique, he finally mastered the teleportation ability.

No longer needing to consume the essence of the Starry Sky Rift Sword, only a portion of mana is required to teleport hundreds of miles.

Lin Zhao estimated his overall combat strength and concluded that he had truly reached the level of a Nascent Soul Dharma Body. As for the true form of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, he estimated that he still couldn't defeat him.

Nascent Soul True Monarchs not only have the advantage of a higher cultivation level, but they also often possess one or two fourth-tier magic treasures. In particular, their natal fourth-tier magic treasures, which always accompany them, can unleash power far exceeding that of Core Formation cultivators.

However, they are confident in escaping. Although Nascent Soul cultivators can also teleport, they rely more on the powerful abilities of their Nascent Soul to forcibly tear through space. Not every Nascent Soul cultivator is proficient in spatial techniques.

Lin Zhao can teleport himself and can also use the Starry Sky Rift Sword for assistance, so the teleportation mana consumption is extremely low.

If it really comes down to a race to the death, the outcome is uncertain.

On the other hand, in recent years, both his cultivation level and his divine sense have shown signs of breakthrough.

The three conditions for advancing to the Nascent Soul stage and creating the Dharma Realm.

The mastery of sword intent has been achieved.

The Five Elements rules have almost completed four of them, leaving only the Earth rule.

Finally, the structural deduction of the Dharma realm is still underway and will take a relatively long time.

The two avatars have consumed a lot of the main body's deductive power over the years, so it's best to borrow the Heavenly Heart Dharma Wheel less often in the future.

Creating the Dharma realm is the core objective, and we must concentrate our efforts on that.

Lin Zhao has decided to leave Zhongzhou.

I've seen everything I needed to see and done everything I needed to do.

He's practically become a legend here; even many years from now, his story will still be circulating on Tianxing.com.

A secret disciple of the Yunhai Cangming Sect, he swept across seventy-two secret realms with only his sword, slaying nine potential holy sons.

There's no point in Lin Zhao staying any longer.

He found Tianhao and returned the Purple Dragon Pattern Chariot.

Tianhao offered to give it to him, but Lin Zhao refused outright.

This chariot is, after all, a symbol of the Holy Son of the Heavenly Law Divine Sect. He came to Central Continent at the invitation of Tian Hao, so it's understandable that he uses it here.

It would be inappropriate to use this thing outside of Zhongzhou, and he has already mastered the teleportation technique, which is much stronger than this chariot.

Tianhao accepted the chariot without further persuasion, and the two found a place to have a drink.

Tianhao said that he would probably be assigned a lot of things by the sect again, because the Central Continent Secret Realm had become such a mess this time, and all nine Holy Sons were gone.

The sect's higher-ups will inevitably have to readjust these things, and he'll be busy for the next few years.

Lin Zhao raised her glass, wishing him a happy and productive day.

Tianhao downed his drink in a huff.

A few days later, Lin Zhao stepped onto the teleportation array that led him away from Central Continent.

As the light shone, he took one last look at the outline of the city—Qinxia Immortal City, with mountains resembling a horizontal zither and peaks standing like swords, and the jade disc of the Heavenly Law Sword Manual still on it.

The teleportation array lit up.

Lin Zhao left Zhongzhou.

Instead of returning to Yunzhou, he chose to travel to other continents to continue his travels.

The scenery of Zhongzhou receded further and further behind him, until only the hot posts on Tianxing.com discussing his battle record continued to be updated.

Unbeknownst to him, ten years had passed since he left the Endless Demon Sea and returned to the Central Continent.

-----

Far away in the Tongming Domain of Yunzhou, deep within the Luotian Secret Realm.

In the deep underground cavern, the Five Sacred Mountains' avatars still sat cross-legged on that solitary high rock suspended in a sea of ​​lava and fire.

Ten years have passed, and the huge void hundreds of miles below has been filled with countless fire-attribute spiritual energies, turning the sea of ​​lava into a fiery inferno.

The hundred-foot-tall phantom of the Fire Spirit God hovered behind him. This spirit body, formed from flames, had a clear face, and the crimson-gold flames around it had an almost tangible texture.

Above their heads, the Heavenly Treasure Spirit Wheel slowly rotated, casting down a white jade-colored radiance.

The dark golden figure of the Crimson Feather Golden Phoenix occasionally flashed through the stone wall, like a fleeting ray of golden light.

The Fire Spirit Shield hovered in front of Lin Zhao, its crimson-gold spirit patterns having spread to most of the shield's body.

This near-fourth-tier magic weapon is already on the verge of advancing.

After ten years of meditation, the Fire Spirit Flame God has solidified into a physical form, like a Dharma body.

The rules of fire are just one step away from being finalized.

Good news also came from the main body: with the help of the power of a hundred Ghost Crystals, the divine sense finally broke through to the peak of Core Formation and has already glimpsed the threshold of Nascent Soul.

Everything is ready; all that's left is for this shield to take the final step. Once the fourth-tier magic weapon is complete, the plan to hunt down Nascent Soul cultivators will truly begin.

Lin Zhao opened her eyes.

"It's time to advance."

With a push of his palm, the Fire Spirit Shield slowly flew up, and the crimson-gold spirit patterns on the shield surface suddenly lit up, like a fire lotus that had accumulated power for ten years finally blooming.

Spiritual patterns spread out from the shield's surface, and streaks of golden fire crawled across the entire shield. Then, the Fire Spirit Shield began to devour the spiritual energy in the sea of ​​fire.

The entire sea of ​​fire trembled. Lava surged, waves of fire swept across, and flames flew everywhere.

The hundred-foot-tall fire spirit seemed to be breathing. With each breath, the flames of the entire sea of ​​fire rose and fell, and the energy of the sea of ​​fire gathered towards it, causing the magma sea of ​​fire within a radius of hundreds of miles to sink several feet.

Outside the Heavenly Fire Secret Realm, there was also quite a commotion.

A storm of spiritual energy swept out from the depths of the secret realm, with the Heavenly Fire Secret Realm at its core. The sky over a radius of hundreds of miles was darkened, and even as far away as Dingfeng Plain, one could feel the spiritual energy in the air trembling slightly.

The sky turned dark red, and the clouds were dyed by the firelight shining from underground.

All three dynasties simultaneously entered a state of alert.

Inside the Tongxuan Sect, Su Qianxue personally took charge of the situation, dispatching over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators to defend the area within a thousand miles of Dingfeng Plain, prohibiting any cultivator from approaching the Heavenly Fire Secret Realm.

Luo Yu, Ye Xiaoxiao, and Lin You were among them. Over the years, Ye Xiaoxiao had reached the peak of Foundation Establishment, while Lin You and Luo Yu were still in the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Su Qianxue naturally knew who had caused the commotion, but with the three of them on the front lines, there wouldn't be any major problems.