Nearby, the Fire Spring flowed past, bathing the martial grounds in brilliant light.
Dressed in azure robes, his wide sleeves billowing in the wind, Qin Ming appeared ethereal and detached from the mundane world, carrying a hint of immortal grace.
Before him, the youth in white lay flat on his back upon the azure stone ground, soaked in blood and clad in tattered rags.
The contrast between the two was striking—one nearly immortal, the other utterly wretched. Combined with Qin Ming's parting words, many from the Fangwai Immortal Land could hardly keep their composure.
"Ah, to be young is wonderful. You fall down and go right to sleep," an elderly man from the Six Imperials ancestral court chuckled warmly.
Without question, this remark rubbed the Fangwai Immortal Land's elders the wrong way. One elder glanced sideways, taking in the sparse few hairs clinging to the old man's scalp, and felt an intense urge to pluck them all out.
Yet the moment someone whispered to him that this was none other than the personal eldest disciple of the Six Imperials Young Ancestor, the elder stiffened and sat upright, pretending the old fellow had merely exhaled a foul puff of "immortal qi."
There was no helping it. On the Newborn path, the older one grew, the more perilous one became; realms were forged entirely through enduring the passage of time. Even the experts of the outer realm had no desire to provoke an ancient relic who already had one foot in the grave.
Soon, people from the outer realm carried the youth in white away.
A heated discussion broke out among the disciples of the Six Imperials ancestral court. Everyone was asking which senior brother this was; his methods had been exceedingly brilliant, taking down his opponent in a single move.
Qin Ming had agreed to step forward for Lu Zizai and intended to smash through the challengers from the Fangwai Immortal Land with overwhelming force. Naturally, he had no reason to hold back.
"Did all of you understand what just happened?" an elder of the Six Imperials ancestral court tested the disciples.
"Have you discerned his methods?" a middle-aged man from the Fangwai Immortal Land likewise asked his own disciples in a stern voice.
"He used Yimu essence to intercept the flower bud formed from the withered wood force of identical origin. For some reason, he managed to seal the pure Yang conscious spiritual light within it. I suspect he utilized an unknown wondrous art. Then, using some mysterious fire force, he ignited the two buds within the wood domain, detonating the pure Yang conscious spiritual light."
Someone was dissecting the match and unraveling part of the truth. Many came to a realization and were instantly astounded.
That seemingly effortless strike, delivered with such composure by a transcendent figure who appeared to smile like a flower, had actually cycled through three different wondrous arts in the briefest span of time. How could an ordinary person possibly achieve that?
A young woman stepped into the martial grounds. She wore silver armor, and a single lock of black hair fell outside her helmet. She looked quite graceful and moved with nimble, airy steps.
This outer realm disciple said nothing, but the moment she struck, her actions completely contradicted her gentle demeanor—she was fierce, swift, and aggressive.
Shedding all softness, she unleashed a dense purple haze from her palms accompanied by bursts of flame. Beneath her feet, vast swaths of purple clouds swirled as she charged forward at blinding speed toward her opponent.
Qin Ming felt a twinge of envy. Just how many wondrous arts had the outer realm obtained?
Wisps of water mist materialized around him, drawing upon the Fire Spring flowing nearby. A crimson haze wrapped around his figure, the glowing mist diffusing in an enchanting, breathtaking display.
The young woman was completely enshrouded in purple mist, followed by soaring flames.
This was the Purple Palace thunderfire from the Immortal-Combating Classic. Incredibly formidable, it specialized in suppressing all kinds of heavenly light force. The crowd from the Fangwai Immortal Land wore expectant looks, anticipating that the azure-robed youth was about to suffer a terrible defeat. Purple Palace thunderfire was extraordinarily peculiar in its ability to ignite all manners of heavenly light force.
The young woman had already closed in, as if bathed in purple blazing flames. It was the manifestation of heavenly light force condensed to its absolute peak, blooming with full power.
This was one of the trump cards within the Immortal-Combating Classic.
Yet someone sighed inwardly in regret. Her mastery was still lacking; of the Purple Palace thunderfire, she had only refined the fire force and failed to unleash the thunder force. Had she mastered both, her opponent would undoubtedly have suffered a crushing blow unless he used Six Imperials force.
The expressions of many disciples from the Six Imperials ancestral court changed. They were exceptionally sensitive to heavenly light force and could sense the terrifying nature of that purple power; even standing far beyond the grounds, they felt a tremor in their hearts.
Qin Ming was mildly surprised. This purple heavenly light force was indeed extraordinary, but in the end, her cultivation remained incomplete. The faint rumble of thunder failed to burst forth; it was flawed and riddled with vulnerabilities.
Qin Ming swiftly transmuted his heavenly light force, and the water mist vanished.
In an instant, the towering ancient trees encircling the martial grounds began to sway, and a vast surge of Yimu essence poured continuously toward them. Trying to extinguish her flames like this was, without a doubt, pouring fuel on the fire.
In a flash, the Purple Palace thunderfire force across the young woman's body surged wildly, the flames spreading until they threatened to spiral completely out of control.
Immediately after, Qin Ming circulated the Heluo Classic. In a breath, he drew the Fire Spring up from the ground into midair, vaporizing it into vast billows of mist.
He unleashed the Heluo force, blasting it along the clouds of mist straight toward the young woman. Water and fire were incompatible, and in the next moment, a massive explosion erupted!
When heavenly light forces of conflicting natures collided, the outcome would be drastically altered.
*Boom!*
A colossal roar echoed through the martial grounds, deafening to the ears. The purple flames went entirely out of control, triggering an astonishing clap of thunder.
*Crack!*
Lightning intertwined as purple fire flickered.
She had been unable to unleash the thunder force herself, possessing only the fire force. But bolstered by an outside surge of flames, the latent thunder force was forcibly drawn forth, leaving her entire body numb and violently trembling.
With a pitiful cry, her whole body convulsed as she suffered the backlash of her own Purple Palace thunderfire force.
She collapsed to the ground, unable to rise. Her clothes were torn to shreds, blood seeped through the seams of her armor, and her delicate face turned a sickly greenish-black—her life was already in grave peril.
Not far away, Qin Ming stood motionless, his feet having never left their place. Just like that, he had swiftly neutralized another opponent.
The crowd from the Fangwai Immortal Land fell dead silent.
Normally, when this young woman practiced the Purple Palace thunderfire, she could never summon the thunder force. Today, with her opponent's help, she had finally brought it out—only for it to run rampant through her own body.
"What are you all standing around for? Save her at once!" an elder barked.
"What was she doing? Some sort of suicidal charge?" Qin Ming murmured under his breath, though his voice was still heard by many.
A burst of laughter erupted from the Six Imperials ancestral court.
The faces of the people from the Fangwai Immortal Land turned foul. That critique was simply... too spot-on.
In truth, the young woman's Purple Palace thunderfire was quite extraordinary. Yet Qin Ming had defused it with casual ease, using only two kinds of heavenly light force to detonate her from within.
This demonstrated not only exquisite technique, but also an unerring read of the battlefield and impeccable timing down to the finest hair. Even if ordinary people could figure it out after the fact, how could anyone possess such swift reflexes in the heat of combat?
In fact, most could not even discern the critical flaw in her Purple Palace thunderfire, let alone exploit such an opening.
Suffering two consecutive defeats left the party from the Fangwai Immortal Land thoroughly humiliated. Several senior figures had intended to test their methods, even helping the disciples temper portions of pure Yang conscious spiritual light, only for the situation to unfold like this.
A third youth entered the martial grounds, clad in crimson-gold armor. Conscious spiritual light swirled before his brow, capable of merging with terrifying heavenly light force. He approached step by step, projecting an imposing pressure.
This time, Qin Ming took the initiative, unwilling to waste any more time with them.
Keeping Lu Zizai's words firmly in mind, he moved to smash through the opposition with overwhelming force, forcing them to swallow their earlier boasts and scurry back to the Immortal Land to nurse their wounds.
Qin Ming's fist blazed with light, dazzling like blooming thunder, seeking to overpower his foe through pure might alone.
*Rumble!*
A blinding brilliance erupted between the two combatants in the arena.
This youth had also employed a technique from the Immortal-Combating Classic. His heavenly light force was formidable, with a hazy purple glow flowing across his entire body, granting astonishing defense. Yet under Qin Ming's strikes, he trembled violently. During their clash, more than half of his purple heavenly light force was shattered, leaving his palms mangled and finger bones exposed.
With a booming crash, he gritted his teeth and countered in the next exchange, only to be sent hurtling backward. He crashed into the crowd behind him and could no longer get up.
"You should probably spar with me using the methods of people beyond the mundane world instead," Qin Ming remarked. Though his tone was calm, the words grated harshly on the ears of the outer realm disciples.
"I thought your senior predecessors, having analyzed the scriptures left behind by a patriarch of the Newborn path, would train you all into formidable fighters. Looking at it now, you really aren't cut out for the Newborn path," an elder of the Six Imperials ancestral court called out, openly mocking them.
A youth in yellow stepped into the arena without a word. This time, he displayed a technique that turned everyone's expression solemn!
His heavenly light force was immensely profound, condensing into numerous arms outside his body. All of them radiated golden light as they lunged toward Qin Ming, resembling the scion of a multi-armed godkin fiend.
Without question, this art was exceptionally powerful; if cultivated to full completion, its might would be staggering.
It was said that deep within the night mist world dwelt godkin creatures with thousands of arms. A technique that could manifest multiple limbs through heavenly light force was naturally nothing trivial.
Yet Qin Ming saw through to the root of the matter: the opponent was still relying on conscious spiritual light to sustain the heavenly light force, being entirely incapable of giving form to the light on his own.
The air cracked with explosions as even the yellow-clad youth's hair turned a brilliant gold. Eight pairs of golden arms flailed, some throwing punches, others unleashing palm strikes, and still others raking like claws—ferocious and overwhelming.
Qin Ming's expression remained serene. He circulated the Heluo Classic, instantly saturating the surroundings with thick water mist. He drew the Fire Spring in continuously, filling the air with billowing clouds as water mist and crimson haze intermingled.
In an instant, he unleashed his wind-thunder force. Ordinarily, the lightning could only manifest close to his body, but having mastered the Heluo Classic, he had altered the surrounding environment.
Now wind rose and clouds gathered, and arcs of lightning appeared, spreading outward along the water mist.
In the moments that followed, endless thunder rolled across the area. Amid the booming crashes, the yellow-clad youth was struck until smoke rose from his body, convulsing uncontrollably as his eight pairs of golden arms disintegrated. Screaming in agony, he fell to the ground, charred black and unable to rise.
Within the martial grounds, clouds billowed while Qin Ming stood peacefully, his wide sleeves fluttering.
Moreover, the dense fog he had conjured from the Fire Spring was radiant, creating a breathtaking vista of rising clouds and glowing mists. He seemed to stand beside a heavenly palace perched atop the clouds, like an immortal.
"This..." Many stood dumbfounded, tongues tied.
Just who was walking the immortal path here? No matter how one looked at it, this azure-robed youth seemed far more transcendent and untainted by the mortal world than the disciples sent forth by the Fangwai Immortal Land.
The young woman in white, Luo Yao, was stunned. How could practitioners of the Newborn path be so completely different from what she had envisioned? He carried even more of an immortal aura than they did, and how could he possibly be this powerful?
Soon after, another youth took the field. He directly unleashed the methods of an outer realm practitioner, mobilizing the portion of pure Yang conscious spiritual light tempered by his elders to drive a spiritual artifact that gleamed with brilliant radiance.
Yet with a sharp snap, Qin Ming's right palm flashed with light, resembling a Palm Thunder strike that shattered the spiritual artifact to pieces.
Wind surged and thunder rolled as lightning intertwined. Amid the rumbling booms, the youth from the Fangwai Immortal Land foamed at the mouth, his entire body scorched black as he lay trembling on the ground, once again suffering an utterly humiliating defeat.
"You walk the immortal path, and this is an immortal art I devised myself. Sparring with you like this makes for a perfectly balanced exchange," Qin Ming said.
The looks in the crowd's eyes changed!
The outer realm had used methods of the Newborn path to challenge the Six Imperials ancestral court, so he had countered them with immortal arts? Everyone knew full well that this was not a method of the immortal path at all.
Yet when wielded by his hands, these secret arts truly carried far more immortal elegance than many sublime techniques of the immortal path.
Only one person remained among the Fangwai Immortal Land delegation who had yet to take the field—a purple-haired youth named Li Daocheng. He now stood up. A true mutant whose foundations had been enhanced, his reserves were astonishingly profound.
However, the people of the Fangwai Immortal Land had already lost all confidence. An elder reached out and grabbed him firmly, refusing to let him fight. Today had already been a crushing defeat, utterly disgraceful. If their final representative was also laid low, what face would they have left?
"Elder, let me go! I promise I will take him down!" Li Daocheng insisted with absolute confidence. He was the only one who had practiced the complete Immortal-Combating Classic, blessed with extraordinary innate talent.
The elder refused to let go, his heart wavering. His resolve to continue "testing their methods" had been thoroughly shaken.
"Senior, let him enter the ring. I can fight him with one hand tied behind my back," Qin Ming said with a smile.
Chapter 159