Cui Chongxuan maintained a calm expression, but huge waves surged in his heart. The other party was actually reciting the Six Imperials Heart Scripture—who on earth was he?
This scripture had an immense background; ordinary people couldn't even dream of coming into contact with it!
Back then, even after Father Cui exhausted all his favors and the Cui clan paid countless rare treasures, they had only managed to obtain the first volume for him. The benefactor had told him to give it a try; only if he had affinity could he learn the rest.
"Where is the problem?" Cui Chongxuan asked impassively. Though young, he was far from lacking shrewdness; not a single ripple showed on his face.
Qin Ming looked calm and said, "Your Six Imperials force can only be considered the Lesser Six Imperials. It lacks sufficient grandeur."
In truth, he only knew this tiny excerpt, which was of little practical use to him.
Back then, Cui Chongxuan had pored over and cultivated the Six Imperials Heart Scripture every single day, once reciting it inadvertently.
In the past, Qin Ming had wanted to borrow the scripture to read and cross-reference with his own Newborn method.
That day, Father Cui had regarded him calmly and asked whether he lacked the confidence to master the method on the silk book. Borrowing the scripture was dropped without resolution.
"The Six Imperials distinguish between greater and lesser?" Even as Cui Chongxuan asked, he maintained his composure.
"Heaven has six qi, namely: yin, yang, wind, rain, obscurity, and clarity. Borrowing these six qi can manifest all phenomena, and the Six Imperials force you practice is rooted right here," Qin Ming said.
He wasn't speaking nonsense either; these six qi could be found in other texts, and through their clash, he had already deduced that Cui Chongxuan clearly used them as his foundation.
"What is wrong with that?" Cui Chongxuan asked.
"The foundation is a bit shallow, unworthy of the true meaning of the Six Imperials," Qin Ming critiqued bluntly.
This time, a faint Six Imperials divine glow flickered in Cui Chongxuan's eyes. Having studied it intently for so long and cultivated with bitter diligence, he was actually being looked down upon.
"What counts as Six Imperials with grandeur? Please, enlighten me!" He genuinely wanted to hear this person's brilliant insight to see if he possessed real substance.
Qin Ming spoke, "Yin and yang can remain. Wind and rain are insufficient to govern all things, while obscurity and clarity fall within the scope of yin and yang. You should seek four other foundations that encompass the essence of all things. That is the Greater Six Imperials."
Cui Chongxuan's expression changed slightly, unable to remain calm. Great waves truly churned in his heart, and for a fleeting moment, a hint of hesitation arose.
This was the very moment Qin Ming had been waiting for. He wanted to test whether stirring up intense emotional fluctuations in someone near him would allow him to resonate with their scriptures.
His spirit intensely focused as he gazed at Cui Chongxuan. Sure enough, it worked—he saw fragmented pieces of the Six Imperials Heart Scripture. Not many, but related to the Lesser Six Imperials and Greater Six Imperials he had mentioned.
Unfortunately, this emotional resonance was extremely unstable, and he was forced out in an instant.
Qin Ming's expression remained tranquil as he said, "I have only read one volume of the Six Imperials Heart Scripture. This is merely my shallow opinion; you need not take it seriously."
"Could it be that you are a senior brother from my sect?" Cui Chongxuan grew suspicious.
Otherwise, how could the person before him have ever laid eyes on such a legendary secret scripture? Even with the immense price the Cui clan had paid, they had only earned him a chance to step through the door.
Qin Ming smiled faintly and said, "As for the Six Imperials Heart Scripture, do not merely read it literally. The two words 'Heart Scripture' grant infinite possibilities to the Six Imperials; one must not be shackled by form."
He wasn't misleading him; having captured fragments of the Six Imperials scripture, this was genuinely how he interpreted it.
Back then, he and Cui Chongxuan had been brothers—how could there have been no affection between them? Yet on that final night of parting, when he was sent down another path toward death and looked back, he found that Father Cui, Mother Cui, and Cui Chongxuan had hastened away without glancing back once, chilling his heart to the core.
In his early youth, Cui Chongxuan hadn't known the truth and had genuinely treated Qin Ming as an older brother. But as the parting drew near, he must have understood everything.
Qin Ming had already let go of much of the past, and now he harbored no qualms about coveting the Six Imperials Heart Scripture. After all, his silk book had also been studied by the Cui clan—it was just that none of them could master it.
He spoke again: "In truth, setting aside the Heart Scripture and speaking solely of the Six Imperials force, there is another most fundamental, true meaning."
"Hmm?!" Cui Chongxuan's emotions stirred.
Qin Ming's eyes grew profound as his spirit resonated. After gazing at him for a moment, he said, "In the ancient tomes of people beyond the mundane world, and within the scriptures of esoteric sects, there are vague mentions of six legendary, immortal-adjacent beings and godlike creatures known as the Six Imperials."
Cui Chongxuan naturally knew of this, and his mind shook violently. If the Six Imperials force developed in this direction, it would indeed be terrifying.
Qin Ming did not miss the opportunity. His spirit focused intensely as he watched the youth whose expression had changed before him.
Unfortunately, he could not touch Cui Chongxuan at close range, and the emotions of a living, breathing person were extraordinarily complex, unlike the pure crystallization of ancient predecessors' efforts preserved in secret texts.
The fragments of the Six Imperials Heart Scripture he obtained were scattered and piecemeal. Though lacking a complete system, they could serve as a valuable reference; what was missing was mainly the fine details.
Qin Ming spoke once more: "'Yu,' to govern, inherently means to rule. Such Six Imperials require immense grandeur to master."
Cui Chongxuan murmured to himself, "The six immortal-adjacent beings and godlike creatures are said to have all perished in the depths of the night fog world. This direction truly sparks the imagination."
Qin Ming nodded. "Mm. The Six Imperials force can also be transformed into the Six Emperors force."
Cui Chongxuan's thoughts churned. Over the past two years, he had been borderline obsessed with studying the Six Imperials Heart Scripture; presented with a fresh perspective, his mind was naturally in turmoil. Qin Ming swiftly "absorbed" the scripture, holding the Six Imperials force in high regard.
Back then, when Cui Chongxuan had wanted to practice the silk book, Father Cui had said he would seek out the Six Imperials Heart Scripture for him, promising it could rival Tathagata methods and would not fall short of the silk book.
Qin Ming had been present at the time, filled with longing.
Suddenly, a voice rang out within Cui Chongxuan's head: "Chongxuan, wake up! He's talking you in circles until you're practically crippled!"
"What's going on?" Qin Ming had been concentrating his spirit to capture fragments of the scripture when he actually caught this voice.
"Brother, why did you wake up ahead of time?" Cui Chongxuan asked in his mind.
"Your thoughts were surging too violently and disturbed me," a voice resounded in Cui Chongxuan's mind.
Qin Ming's expression shifted immediately. Because he could resonate with intense emotions, he had unexpectedly captured these ripples—someone had cheated their way in!
This was a remarkably dangerous figure. When the various factions had placed restrictions barring "veteran disciples" from entering, it had in part been targeted at Cui Chonghe, yet he had still smuggled himself in.
His greatest trump card was neither Zhou Chengru nor the young experts he had recruited, but possessing his younger brother with a portion of his conscious power, descending upon this place in person!
Cui Chongxuan's gaze sharpened. Alerted by his brother, clarity returned to his eyes. Regardless of whether he agreed with those ideas about the Six Imperials Heart Scripture, now was not the time to ponder them.
"Huh?" He was stunned to discover that the battle between the core disciples had already ended. Had he committed a grave blunder?
"It would have been useless for you to go over anyway; you're nowhere near her match," Cui Chonghe's voice sounded in his mind.
At this moment, Li Qingyue, clad in silver armor that glowed faintly, walked over from the fiery red lake. Her black hair fluttered in the breeze, and for the first time, her flawless, beautiful face bore such a solemn expression.
Having cultivated a special spiritual pupil, she saw an anomaly within Cui Chongxuan's body: a formidable light of consciousness was awakening, exuding a sense of danger.
By the lakeshore, Zhou Chengru knelt on one knee, coughing up blood continuously. Even his protective golden robes could not keep him completely safe; he had suffered severe injuries.
He struggled to raise his head, gazing at the armored woman with a helpless sigh. He had exerted every ounce of his strength, but he truly was no match for her.
He even understood now why Li Qingyue hadn't invited young experts skilled in special heavenly light force to serve as her gold-armored guards: she simply didn't need them.
Zhou Chengru was certain that even if Cui Chongxuan and the others had joined him in besieging Li Qingyue, they still couldn't have defeated her.
"Cui Chonghe, you broke the rules!" Li Qingyue spoke, having already signaled Qin Ming to fall back.
In fact, Qin Ming had long discovered Cui Chonghe's possession and had been planning to warn her; he hadn't expected her eyes to be so sharp that she had already noticed.
"What?" Zhou Chengru snapped his head up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and unsteadily stood up.
Cui Chongxuan stood motionless.
After a brief silence, Cui Chonghe finally said, "Junior Sister Li, your senses are remarkably sharp to detect me even like this."
He sighed. Had he not awakened early, he wouldn't have alerted Li Qingyue at all. This unexpected turn of events put him at a distinct disadvantage.
"Brother, this was my mistake!" Cui Chongxuan felt ashamed, apologizing to his elder brother in his mind.
In the distance, Zhou Chengru's expression flickered between light and dark, his guard raised to the utmost, knowing this was an extraordinarily perilous moment.
Even though the man was Cui Chonghe, the most favored last disciple of his senior martial uncle, under the circumstances he might silence Zhou Chengru along with the others. To avoid being murdered to keep secrets, Zhou Chengru prepared himself to join forces with Li Qingyue.
At that moment, Cui Chongxuan's physical body emitted a dazzling radiance, as if a terrifying beast were stirring to life within him. The circulating light of consciousness shredded the boulders and vegetation around him, scorching the former ancient herb field once more into charred earth—a frightful sight.
Core disciple Zhou Chengru's face changed abruptly, bracing himself for a fight to the death.
"Cui Chonghe, I heard that your master, that esteemed senior who shakes the night fog world, recently refined a furnace of Dragon-Tiger Great Medicine," Li Qingyue said, her expression serene, showing no intention of starting a fight.
"What if he did?" Cui Chonghe's voice sounded.
Reflected in the Fire Spring, Li Qingyue's armor gleamed, and the breeze gently lifted strands of her hair. She said with utter composure, "I am not an inflexible person. I want three Dragon-Tiger Pills, and we will pretend nothing happened today—while you leave immediately."
Zhou Chengru was dumbfounded. Li Qingyue was actually blackmailing his senior brother Cui Chonghe! How could she dare—wasn't she afraid of triggering an immediate, terrifying storm?
"You are very confident," Cui Chonghe said coldly.
Li Qingyue replied, "In your current state, you cannot kill me. Furthermore, having possessed Cui Chongxuan, you cannot erase the traces in his flesh and blood in a short time. If an esteemed senior investigates in person, you certainly won't be able to hide it."
After a brief silence, Cui Chonghe said, "I will yield that legendary item to you and withdraw here and now."
Li Qingyue's tone remained firm. "You aren't yielding anything. I fight hard for what I earn; if it ends up in my hands, it is mine by right."
"One Dragon-Tiger Pill," Cui Chonghe stated flatly.
"Three!"
...
Afterward, they began communicating via secret voice transmissions.
"Junior Brother, I will compensate you once we return," Cui Chonghe looked toward Zhou Chengru, after which his light of consciousness retracted completely into the depths of his brother's body.
Qin Ming badly wanted to ask: *Everyone else gets something, what about me?*
On second thought, he decided against it; better not to provoke the other party and invite unnecessary trouble.
Cui Chongxuan regained control. With the Six Imperials divine glow swirling in his eyes, he looked at Li Qingyue and said, "Sister Qingyue, we must admit our defeat was absolute. Even if I had joined forces with Senior Brother Zhou Chengru, we couldn't have stopped you."
Zhou Chengru's handsome face was a picture of helplessness; he truly didn't want to remain here a moment longer!
Cui Chongxuan turned to look at Qin Ming. "Who on earth are you?"
Qin Ming replied, "When I claimed to be a Tathagata renegade, you didn't believe it. When I mentioned being a Yuqing disciple, you doubted that too. You might as well treat me as a successor of the Six Imperials force."
"Before I leave, I want to fight you!" An ardent light burst from Cui Chongxuan's eyes; he wanted to thoroughly measure this opponent's mettle.
In truth, what the other had said about the Greater Six Imperials and the Six Emperors had truly struck a chord with him, leaving voices echoing endlessly in his heart that refused to quiet down.
Qin Ming remarked, "Setting aside the Greater and Lesser Six Imperials force, your heavenly light force itself doesn't seem solid enough either. You've undergone more Newbirths than I have, yet you failed to suppress me."
"I have only mastered one Imperial force; I am still building momentum," Cui Chongxuan said.
He was using the Six Imperials Heart Scripture to nourish his physical body and steadily accumulate foundation. Because he aspired to become an exceptional being, he was in no hurry to exhaust his nine opportunities for Newbirth.
According to the records of the Six Imperials Heart Scripture, mastering two Imperial forces during the Newborn stage was required to be considered a true success.
Each Imperial force was a true transmission condensed onto a single sheet of paper, densely packed with complex circulation routes for heavenly light force, extraordinarily difficult to cultivate.
Most crucially, each Imperial force depended on personal comprehension and insight, as well as finding a "domain" attuned to oneself to lay the groundwork for the future.
For the Six Imperials force held boundless possibilities.
Cui Chongxuan erupted into power, his entire body bathed in brilliant light like divine radiance, dazzling beyond measure.
This was the Bright Imperial force he had mastered, an amalgamation of forces associated with light, fire, the sun, and the like.
Thus, when he struck, the fist he threw was like a great sun traversing the sky, blindingly bright and completely illuminating the entire area.
Qin Ming showed no fear, meeting it head-on with the Yellow Clay Palm. With a booming bang, fist and palm collided, and that golden sun dimmed.
Cui Chongxuan's armor roared as if dragon scales were flaring open. Piercing divine flames seemed to erupt from every pore of his body as he attacked his opponent with left fist and right palm.
His speed pushed to the limit, leaving behind a radiant afterimage where he had stood.
Before the fiery red lake, two figures moved like lightning, their heavenly light forces blasting against each other in fierce collisions.
Qin Ming's golden silkworm force seeped slightly beyond his body, stinging Cui Chongxuan's palms scarlet until drops of blood seeped out.
With a resounding boom, Qin Ming's departing fire force erupted, his palm colliding with his opponent's divine flame fist as sheets of fiery sparks burst in all directions.
Qin Ming's right palm adhered to Cui Chongxuan's arm, dragging him into a stumble that nearly brought him to the ground. As their elbows clashed, a detonation like wind and thunder exploded between them.
In those brief moments, Qin Ming drove the hard arts and wondrous techniques he had cultivated using his unified heavenly light force, rattling Cui Chongxuan until his vitality churned violently.
Cui Chongxuan was certain that his opponent had undergone fewer Newbirths than he had—so why could he command so many distinct forces?
What he himself possessed was the Six Imperials Heart Scripture; which supreme lineage could this opponent possibly hail from?
*Pfft!*
Cui Chongxuan coughed up a mouthful of blood and was sent flying by Qin Ming's strike. Wounded, his sun-like fist was now a mangled mess of flesh and blood, with four finger bones cracked.
In a daze, he ultimately left the area alongside Zhou Chengru.
Outside the Luofu Immortal Mountain ruins, many people were closely monitoring the situation.
They wanted to know how long Zhou Chengru could hold out against Li Qingyue.
Moreover, between Cui Chongxuan wielding the Six Imperials force and that mysterious youth, who was weaker, and who was stronger?
Not only were the relevant lineages beyond the mundane world and millennial clans on edge, but even many outsiders found it hard to stay calm, for betting pools across all regions had reached a frenzy.
Chapter 107