Above the towering mountain, dark clouds gathered densely, torrential rain poured, and blood-red lightning streaked across the sky from time to time.
Amid the sheet of rain, Qin Ming was enshrouded in green haze, untouched by a single drop. The vegetation essence combined with his heavenly light force, forming a colossal palm print that illuminated the night sky like the Giant Spirit God striking out to subdue demons and slay evils in this realm.
As he thrust out a palm, brilliant green haze surged, vaporizing the pouring rain with a deafening roar that drowned out the thunder.
Raging flames billowed from the Fire Qilin Lion. When its claw struck downward, it was as if it carried the full might of Heaven and Earth's thunderstorms, scarlet light drowning this stretch of land.
The giant green palm collided with the red beast claw like the Thunder God meeting the Lightning Goddess; green haze and crimson light radiated in all directions, sweeping across the peak of the great mountain.
On this pitch-black mountain in the rainy night, such a ferocious collision erupted in dazzling, terrifying light that seemed about to pierce through the veil of night.
A human youth's hair drifted in the wind, serene and otherworldly, as his fair white palm held back a gigantic beast glowing fiery red all over!
Across the mountain, a pride of blood lions stared with wide eyes, unable to believe what they saw. That was their king! How could such a gigantic beast claw, erupting with peerless crimson haze and blazing flames, fail to suppress a slender youth?
Standing upright, the Old Donkey let down the sleeves it had just rolled up, momentarily not daring to step forward to help.
In just a single day, this youth had undergone a complete transformation and was already able to clash head-on with Second Brother!
"Roar!" The Fire Qilin Lion let out a bellow that shook the great mountain, its roar piercing through the curtain of rain and reverberating across the great plains.
Across the surrounding lands, numerous demons wore looks of shock, and several bird demons took to the night sky, utterly astounded.
"Even the Lion King can't suppress that human youth?!"
The Fire Qilin Lion's elephant-sized body glowed scarlet, as though coated in molten iron fresh from the forge. Trailing blazing flames, it swung its giant claws relentlessly.
Qin Ming's hair fluttered, his entire body enveloped in Yimu essence. He clashed head-on against the old lion, striking out palm after palm with complete fearlessness.
They shifted at blinding speed across the mountain peak like two intertwining streaks of lightning.
The giant lion spewed flames, its crimson scales glowing brightly, exuding an unmatched sense of oppressive dread in the pitch-black, rainy night.
Yet Qin Ming fended off all its attacks, exhibiting a transcendent, untainted grace.
Moreover, his power grew greater and greater as he resonated with the vegetation of the entire mountain. Bathed in green haze, his fists and palms smashed into the great lion's claws, throwing off sparks until trickles of blood actually seeped out!
Hissing and roaring, its claws glowed as it channeled a peculiar surge of energy, manifesting a pair of broad cleavers. These were weapons forged from a fusion of heavenly light and demonic qi, and they cleaved apart the Yimu essence before Qin Ming with an explosion.
The Fire Qilin Lion's forehead bone was translucent, harboring a formidable reservoir of conscious spiritual light.
It was on guard against that little white sword. Having suffered a bitter defeat once, its conscious spiritual light was intensely active, determined never to let itself be ambushed again.
With a ringing clang, vegetation essence converging from all directions coalesced in Qin Ming's palm into a jasper-green longsword.
Translucent and glittering, it shone as brilliantly as a green sun.
Resonating with the vegetation, Qin Ming wielded the Yimu sword and slashed forward.
Amid ringing metallic clangs, the Fire Qilin Lion's two broadswords were severed, dissolving into dissipating demonic qi and heavenly light.
Struck by the Yimu sword, a wide swath of the Fire Qilin Lion's scales exploded. Mangled and bloody, a massive gash opened across its flesh—a grievous wound.
Raging flames surged around it as both claws struck forward, clamping onto the emerald Yimu sword in an attempt to snap it. Instead, three of its sharp claws were sheared off, the flesh at their bases torn and fractured from the shock, gushing fresh blood.
Releasing the blade, the Fire Qilin Lion retreated rapidly.
Last time, Qin Ming had been completely suppressed by it, barely able to pierce its protective heavenly light, his strongest strike managing only to shatter a few scales.
After Qin Ming's seventh renewal, everything had changed.
Swinging the Yimu sword, he cleaved downward, carrying the vegetation essence of the entire mountain.
With nowhere to dodge, the Fire Qilin Lion flared with scarlet light, demonic qi and heavenly light boiling together as it braced to take the blow head-on.
With a thunderous crash, the Yimu sword dimmed and promptly shattered.
The Fire Qilin Lion was in a wretched state. Hurled through the air, half its body was soaked in blood, a massive patch of scales blown apart, leaving mangled flesh and a gash deep enough to expose bone.
It had turned into a literal blood lion!
The Black Peng, unexpectedly, had not joined the fray. It watched coldly from the sidelines, intending to use the Fire Qilin Lion to gauge the human youth's true depth.
The Fire Qilin Lion's expression was as dark as water, the fiery radiance on its face seemingly on the verge of being doused. Just a day ago, this human youth had almost been battered to death by its own paws; now, the tables were turned!
The youth advanced, wrapped in green mist, calm and unhurried with a serene countenance like a banished immortal. This tranquil demeanor made the lion feel all the more unsettled.
Without a word, the Fire Qilin Lion brought out a helmet forged from secret metal and strapped it onto its massive head.
It believed that earlier it had been distracted by guarding against the little white sword, which hindered its performance. Now, its vital spot was protected!
A smile crept onto Qin Ming's face, for he caught the faint whiff of a delicate fragrance, confirming that the heavily wounded Fire Qilin Lion indeed possessed "wondrous blood" inside!
This filled him with immense anticipation. It should yield a "wondrous medicine" that could bolster his foundation, shatter his limits further, and elevate his strength.
Seeing him smile, the Fire Qilin Lion assumed he was mocking it for donning a helmet, and charged forward in a towering rage.
Qin Ming relaxed his posture, graceful and natural, spreading his fingers as he executed the Dragon Claw Hand—a technique acquired from Luofu Immortal Mountain.
Of course, all of this was underpinned by the qualitative transformation of his heavenly light force, which could now tear through the Fire Qilin Lion's protective light.
Qin Ming clashed head-on against it, repeatedly ripping through the scarlet scales on its body.
Then he deployed the Gold-Severing Finger, severing several more of the great lion's sharp claws and leaving its forelegs dripping with blood.
The Fire Qilin Lion looked down, only to find its claws were gone, bare nubs remaining. In the next instant, it was sent flying sideways as the youth unleashed a Yimu Palm that shattered its scales, drenching its body in blood.
Clang!
Its helmet caved in from three successive palm strikes, cracks spreading across its skull.
In moments, the Fire Qilin Lion suffered one severe blow after another: four ribs fractured, a gaping hole punched into its abdomen, and it coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
"Step aside!" the Black Peng King barked. Both it and the Fire Qilin Lion were colossal behemoths; there was simply no room for them to crowd together in combat.
It hovered like a black blazing sun in the sky, then swooped down quick as lightning.
Qin Ming drew his blade. He did not dare underestimate this Black Peng, knowing full well how formidable it was.
With a metallic ring, he cleaved through the dark radiance cloaking its body—a blend of baneful qi, heavenly light, and demonic qi that ordinary Outer Sages could never hope to pierce.
Dodging its talons, Qin Ming swung the mutton-fat jade iron saber toward its wing, grazing the feathers!
The Black Peng swept past, shedding over a dozen black feathers in its wake.
Hovering midair, its wings moved continuously like a human's arms, then clasped together as though forming a specialized hand seal before slashing violently downward, discharging streak after streak of dark light.
Qin Ming blocked them with the mutton-fat jade iron saber, eliciting crisp, metallic ringing notes.
Gazing at the dark clouds weighing down almost to the summit and the increasingly dense lightning, a thought stirred in his mind. He wanted to attempt a certain terrifying secret method.
Back in the heavenly light crater on Luofu Immortal Mountain, Qin Ming had contemplated testing it, but ultimately gave up on the idea.
Now, he was strong enough to have a measure of confidence.
The jade iron blade in Qin Ming's hand glowed, wind force erupting as though sweeping away scattered clouds, even diverting the path of the torrential rain.
He probed further, taking the Overlord force as his core and deploying wind-thunder force, attempting to catch the lightning striking near the mountain.
He then circulated the Wuji Classic; beneath his feet, earth essence billowed up to protect his entire body.
Next, Qin Ming circulated the Yimu Scripture, resonating with the vegetation across the whole mountain until rising green haze submerged him.
Holding nothing back, he pointed the mutton-fat jade iron saber toward the heavens, vibrating his wind-thunder force to channel the nearby lightning.
With a deafening rumble, lightning interlaced across the mountain peak in an extraordinarily terrifying spectacle.
Through wind-thunder force, he truly summoned the lightning.
Spreading its wings, the Black Peng shrieked in agony as residual arcs of electricity struck it, causing its feathers to stand on end.
Qin Ming made another bold attempt. Channeling both the Overlord force and wind-thunder force, he brought down a streak of lightning that was not particularly bright.
Thunder detonated across Heaven and Earth, shaking the entire mountaintop.
Qin Ming let out a muffled grunt and fell backward onto the ground. Even with wind-thunder force at his command, and guarded by earth essence and Yimu essence, he was still struck. Controlling wind and thunder was far less easy than he had imagined.
Fortunately, he had only been grazed. Apart from a brief bout of numbness, he sustained no fatal injury.
In theory, mastering wind-thunder force allowed one to harness electricity, including the lightning on a rainy night; however, his realm was still low, preventing him from smoothly commanding natural thunder and lightning.
He dared to execute this technique today because he had studied the Overlord's Testament for a long time and grasped part of its essence.
The reason the Overlord had risen to prominence upon reaching the spirit field realm was precisely that he used his unique Overlord force as a core, combining it with wind force and channeling Heaven and Earth's overarching momentum through his distinct spirit field to effortlessly crush opponents into dust.
Qin Ming possessed the Overlord force and had insights into wind-thunder force. In this special weather, utilizing the Wuji Classic and Yimu Scripture to alter the mountain's environment and construct a "pseudo-spirit field" for self-preservation made attempting to channel lightning barely feasible.
The Black Peng roared, tumbling down with a miserable screech.
Qin Ming had merely been grazed by lightning; the bird's plight was vastly worse. One of its wings had been pierced through, leaving a gruesome bloody hole.
Any other creature would surely have been reduced to ashes of calamity, dead beyond doubt.
The Black Peng was stronger than the Fire Qilin Lion; having lived long enough, its cultivation was exceptionally profound. Yet never did it imagine that right at the start, it would be severely wounded by the human youth's summoned lightning.
Crashing to the ground, one of its wings was bare, feathers shedding in the wind to reveal a scalding red, naked flesh-wing.
The Old Donkey was dumbfounded. Was this still its omnipotent Eldest Brother? In a single exchange, someone had blasted all its feathers off!
The bird demons across the mountain were terrified and in shock. Was even their Great King no match?
The Black Peng stood in the pouring rain, letting water pelt its body.
Its left wing was glossy and pitch-black, while its right had not a single feather left—a true yin-yang body.
It was incensed beyond measure; looking like this freakish monster, it had no face left to show anyone!
Qin Ming lay there for a brief moment before rising, for the enraged Black Peng was already skimming low over the ground, charging in to kill!
Now he was at ease; this giant bird could no longer flee, since it couldn't fly into the sky.
"Baldy, let's see where you run this time!" Qin Ming called out.
Hearing these words, the Black Peng first froze, glanced down at its body, and then released an enraged shriek that shook the night sky, sending the pouring rain flowing backward toward the heavens.
Without a doubt, Qin Ming's words were exceedingly damaging and deeply humiliating, striking King Black Peng like another bolt of lightning.
Its talons planted on the ground, the Black Peng executed an "unfurling single peng wing," sweeping its intact black wing toward the youth before it.
Qin Ming grasped the mutton-fat jade iron saber and met it head-on. With his heavenly light force transformed qualitatively, he could cleave through the creature's protective light.
With a metallic clash, his strike sheared off numerous flight feathers!
The Black Peng opened its beak and spat out a beam of dark light radiating terrifying energy, as though warping space itself.
Qin Ming shifted sideways, and the beam blasted a grand building to pieces.
The Black Peng's footwork was astonishing; even on the ground, it moved with blinding speed like a streak of black lightning. Its wings functioned like broad blades, shaking the mountain and collapsing the ground with every strike.
Around Qin Ming, lightning crackled and wind force surged. Releasing the jade iron blade, he employed wind-thunder force to manipulate the saber, sending it whirling and slicing in circles around him.
"The Saber Control Technique!" the Old Donkey exclaimed in shock. It was a good friend of the weasel, knowing well that Huang Yuan, a master of bladecraft, was researching how to remotely control a saber to decapitate foes from afar, yet had made no progress.
Now, this human youth had cultivated the wind-thunder force to such a degree that he could manipulate the blade! Although it only orbited closely around his body and could not travel far, it proved that his comprehension of the Wind-Thunder Saber manual far surpassed Huang Yuan's.
Indeed, Qin Ming was manipulating the saber, controlling it with the heavenly light force outside his body to strike his opponent incessantly.
Amid flashing blade light, peng blood splattered, plumes fell away in clumps, and the Black Peng's bare flesh-wing in particular was riddled with deep wounds exposing bone.
The mutton-fat jade iron saber stayed within roughly a foot of Qin Ming, yet it moved with supreme agility, dancing up and down while charged with wind-thunder force, repeatedly hacking at the Black Peng.
In the end, he could not resist channeling lightning once more.
From the night sky, an arc of lightning plunged down, striking the Black Peng square on the back. It punched a bloody hole into its spine and stripped away the remaining half of its feathers.
Shrieking piteously, it stumbled backward, grievously wounded by the Wind-Thunder Saber!
Qin Ming seized the opportunity to flop to the ground as well... using his wind-thunder force to simulate flashes of lightning, making it seem as if he had been struck too.
He had already sensed that powerful demons had arrived in secret!
Sure enough, the Black Peng cried out, "Three brothers, if you don't strike now, what are you waiting for?!"
Three figures emerged from the darkness: a massive silver hedgehog, a strange bird vaguely resembling a phoenix, and a human man!
The Black Peng and Fire Qilin Lion had known that once Qin Ming refined the silver heart, his strength would inevitably soar. Unable to track him down, they had enlisted allies and waited for him to come knocking, laying an ambush right here.
The Black Peng spoke: "Three brothers, he truly has a miniature sword forged from exotic metal on him, priceless in value. Furthermore, once you slay him, I will keep my word and offer up a share of wondrous blood!"
Qin Ming stood up, his fighting spirit surging high. Today, he might just obtain three portions of wondrous medicine!
Chapter 147