In the deep night, blue mist silently spread.
The entire city was desolate and empty, without a single sound.
Sweat beaded on Qin Ming's forehead. It felt as though he had entered a city of the dead; aside from him, not a living soul stirred. The Fire Springs were deeply abnormal—that dense blue was so intense it made anyone who looked feel like sinking into it, resembling will-o'-the-wisps in an ancient graveyard, equally ghastly in their blueness, eerie and quiet. Qin Ming tensed, on high alert.
He could not comprehend where everyone in the city had gone.
The entire city was tomb-like and lifeless, pressing down on him with a suffocating heaviness.
Suddenly, Qin Ming sensed something. Turning back, he spotted a dark figure emerging through the thick mist, heading toward him without any attempt at concealment. Faint footsteps echoed down the empty street. The dark silhouette moved swiftly, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.
He stood only about one and a half meters tall, exceptionally gaunt. He wore a bamboo conical hat, a tattered, ancient woven grass coat, and straw sandals on his feet. The moment he lifted his head, his dark red eyes betrayed an immense craving for the eerie blue Fire Spring, though mixed with reverence and dread.
Only then did Qin Ming clearly make out his appearance, and his grip instantly tightened around his saber's hilt. The figure's face was covered in woven straw as well; to be precise, it was actually a scarecrow.
The scarecrow looked at him, its mouth opening to produce a rustling rasp.
"What are you saying? What's going on here?" Qin Ming asked.
"A newcomer who knows nothing?" Red light flared brightly within the scarecrow's eye sockets as a wave of consciousness rippled outward.
Then, it suddenly charged forward, drawing an iron saber from behind its back. The blade carved a terrifying arc through the air, slashing straight toward Qin Ming's neck.
A sudden, vicious ambush!
Qin Ming was completely baffled. Encountering a scarecrow out of nowhere was bizarre enough, let alone having it attack him without rhyme or reason. But since it aimed to take his life, there was nothing more to say. He swung his mutton-fat jade iron saber, retaliating swiftly.
Against an unknown adversary, he always went all out. As a result, the entire saber erupted with blinding radiance, leaping like roaring divine flames. With a sharp clang, the iron saber snapped in two. Moreover, the mutton-fat jade iron saber possessed extraordinary properties; the brilliant, sacred glow it released seared the scarecrow before the blade even touched it, wringing a shrill scream from the creature.
"Stop! A misunderstanding!" it cried in terror, scrambling backward.
Qin Ming ignored it completely. The creature had struck to kill without provocation, and now that the tables were turned, it wanted him to stop? In battle, the slightest hesitation could plunge oneself into a dead end.
With a sharp slicing sound, a single blow bisected the scarecrow at the waist, sending bits of straw flying everywhere.
A ball of red light surged out, attempting to flee, but Qin Ming swung his saber and cleaved right through it. It burst apart with a bloodcurdling shriek, scattering across the air like a spray of sparks before guttering out.
Qin Ming frowned slightly. This mutton-fat jade iron saber posed a lethal threat to anomalous creatures. Had he gotten entangled in some bizarre event?
Just then, movement stirred in the blue mist once more. A small beast drifted through the air, riding upon an object. It did not seem to have a physical body, appearing faint and hazy, but beneath its feet was a tangible object—a fluffy, two-foot-long animal tail flowing with dim luminescence.
"Riding its own tail... a weasel's yin spirit?" Qin Ming stood saber in hand. Everything that had transpired tonight was simply too bizarre.
Some in the outer realm believed that a certain stage of consciousness projection could be called a yin spirit. Of course, most top outer realm masters did not subscribe to this view.
Those outside this domain could hardly perceive yin wraiths; even if one stood right in front of them, they would only sense empty air. Qin Ming, however, was exceptionally sensitive to them, seeing them as clearly as ordinary objects.
This weasel's yin spirit was more prudent. Glancing at the severed scarecrow on the ground, it immediately cupped its paws toward Qin Ming with great politeness.
"This place..." Qin Ming mused, having no clue what was happening, hoping to draw the other out.
"This place holds great danger as well as immense fortune, well worth risking one's life for, and there is room enough for many fellow travelers. You and I need not cross each other," the weasel declared at once, stating its stance.
"After you," Qin Ming said, nodding calmly without adding more.
The weasel nodded. It clearly felt hesitant, but in the end it rode its tail forward and, with a splash, plunged straight into the eerie blue Fire Spring.
"Ahhh!" Agonized shrieks arose from within the spring as it rolled and thrashed inside, splashing great waves of blue liquid accompanied by an alluring fiery glow.
One could see its form growing less faint and somewhat more solid. Furthermore, that fluffy severed tail shifted from withered yellow to glowing, taking on a pale gold hue and acquiring a certain spirituality.
Qin Ming was startled. What kind of situation was this? He felt a stirring of desire—should he throw his mutton-fat jade iron saber in to test it?
Yet in the next instant, he stepped back warily. The weasel's yin spirit shot out, riding the pale-gold physical tail, its mind completely deranged. It careened blindly, howling continuously.
"Those who blaspheme... the gods... die!" It had gone mad, baring claws and gnashing teeth as it roared, a ferocious gleam in its eyes before it lunged at Qin Ming.
A whistling rush echoed as a snow-white blade ray swept across. Like a red-hot branding iron dropping into dry leaves, with a sizzling hiss, the mutton-fat jade iron saber in Qin Ming's hand not only cleaved the weasel apart but incinerated it to ash.
Next, he swung the blade again. As the only physical object, the pale-gold tail fell, it too was cleanly sliced in two, unable to withstand the pure white blade edge.
"The blue Fire Spring is related to a godkin creature?" Qin Ming's brow furrowed deeply. If so, matters had become grave.
He recalled how, when he had first spotted the blue light, it had blasted apart the high-altitude clouds, expanding in every direction, which had caused his bird mount to crash.
A hiss sounded, and a large serpent appeared in the night. It was likewise a yin wraith, flying in atop a shed snakeskin, shrouded in black mist.
When it caught sight of the scarecrow remains and the severed tail at Qin Ming's feet, it shrank back in fear, halting a short distance away.
"They attacked me first, which is why they met a miserable end," Qin Ming said.
"I have no grievance with Your Excellency and would never dare offend you," the serpent spoke, polite and cautious.
Qin Ming nodded. With his tangible track record lying at his feet, these yin wraiths had finally learned how to speak cordially. He decided to ask directly.
"What exactly is going on here?" As he spoke, he kicked aside the broken scarecrow.
"This is tied to divine grace and contains dense divinity. It can temper all manner of spiritual artifacts and swiftly raise their quality. If one takes the risk, one can also enhance one's own divinity, but it easily causes a backlash. The realm of divinity holds great majesty and is utterly terrifying," the serpent patiently explained.
Riding its shed skin, it landed by the Fire Spring and dipped the snakeskin into the pool. Instantly, the dim skin glowed brightly, its spirituality soaring by a huge leap, after which the serpent hastily retrieved it.
"Why don't you keep going?" Qin Ming asked.
"My old skin cannot bear any more divinity; it has reached its limit," the serpent replied.
Even so, it was thoroughly satisfied and quite thrilled. Several times it was tempted to leap into the pool, but forced itself to hold back.
"What about this city, and its residents?" Qin Ming asked.
"This is a Divine City. There was a great being who was approaching the threshold of godhood, but something seems to have gone wrong. As for residents, I have no idea." At this point, the serpent looked bewildered; it had never seen anyone here.
Qin Ming's expression turned grave. He thought back once more to the blue light he had first spotted. Even from so far away, its might had been palpable, capable of shattering skies full of clouds. Could that truly have been related to ascending to godhood?
Seeing Qin Ming's grim countenance, the serpent hurriedly explained, "This Divine City appeared out of nowhere. That great being likely met an accident... I haven't seen his subjects, that is, those residents."
Startled, Qin Ming asked, "You've never seen this city before? It appeared suddenly in this territory?"
"Yes!" The serpent nodded solemnly.
It, the scarecrow, and the weasel were the divine-natured creatures nearest to this place, which was why their yin spirits had left their bodies at the earliest moment and rushed over.
Qin Ming lightly tapped the bluestone pavement with his jade iron blade, producing a crisp clink. It felt completely real. His expression was heavy—could it truly be this terrifying? "Can my saber be nurtured with this divinity?"
"You walk the Newborn path. The weapon you use on ordinary days hasn't been tempered and refined as a spiritual artifact, so the effect probably... won't be very good," the serpent replied tactfully.
Qin Ming understood that the Fire Spring was the core of the Divine City, holding the dense divinity left behind after that great being met with disaster!
The serpent departed, restraining its impulses instead of leaping into the divine pool, vanishing into the night.
Qin Ming walked over to the eerie blue Fire Spring and dipped the mutton-fat jade iron saber into it, but there seemed to be little change.
Soon, he took out a palm-sized scrap of cloth. Metallic threads were woven through it, embroidered with cloud patterns and what seemed to be other designs, but the scrap was too small to make out the main image.
He had obtained this after slaying the young man who could mistify on Black Sun Mountain. It was extraordinary, for even the mutton-fat jade iron saber had failed to cut through it. Qin Ming placed it into the blue Fire Spring pool.
In an instant, the pool boiled, as though a brilliant sun had plunged into it, illuminating the surroundings and steaming up thick blue mist.
"This is far too dazzling—it will draw attention! What on earth is this thing?!" Qin Ming was shaken to the core, never imagining an inconspicuous scrap of cloth could cause such a massive commotion.
However, this sacred spectacle lasted only a single breath before rapidly subsiding, as if the great sun the cloth had become had extinguished.
Qin Ming's instincts were exceptionally sharp. He noticed that although the phenomenon had vanished, the deep blue of the Fire Spring seemed to be fading very slowly.
He immediately crouched down to examine the scrap of cloth. It had actually grown slightly larger, expanding outward.
Furthermore, a hazy luminescence flowed across it. If it had been lifeless before, it now seemed to have revived.
As Qin Ming stared at it, his heart shook violently. The metallic threads woven into the cloth were no longer dim, revealing their true appearance—some were pure white and flawless, while others were shrouded in purple mist, looking just like various kinds of exotic metal!
He drew in a sharp breath of the blue night mist. This was completely beyond his expectations. This palm-sized scrap of cloth likely had an extraordinary origin. After all, Li Qingyue's near-immortal item—the Eight Trigrams Furnace—was also cast from various exotic metals.
Observing closely, Qin Ming noticed that after expanding slightly, a fragmentary sun appeared along the cloth's edge.
He finally understood why the commotion had been so immense earlier: as the cloth absorbed power and repaired itself, the partial sun emerged and shone directly with light.
The sun was woven from golden threads, undoubtedly made of exotic metal.
Sensing carefully, Qin Ming confirmed that the blue Fire Spring in the pool was indeed fading at a slow pace, while the cloth seemed to be slowly enlarging.
Waves of emotion surged through him, making it impossible to stay calm, and he felt boundless anticipation.
At this time, outside the city, several yin wraiths began appearing one after another, drawn by the Divine City, all wearing expressions of intense longing.
And in the distance, toward the Chixia Domain, several blazing suns seemed to hang across the sky, blindingly bright and illuminating the pitch-black heavens and earth.
"A mere demon bug dares dream of devouring a city to become a god? We have waited for you for days!" someone within one blazing sun spoke. The voice was cold, callous, and carried an unspeakable oppressive weight, shaking many creatures on the ground so fiercely they could not stop trembling.
Clearly, the reason the great being the serpent spoke of had suffered an accident was that formidable experts had ambushed and targeted it for the kill.
The figures within the suns were not physical bodies, yet they burned brilliantly, lighting up the night sky.
From within one of the blazing suns, a white-haired elder with eyes sharp as immortal swords called out, "Qingxu, go! The fortune in the Divine City is considerable—hurry!"
"Yes, Master!" Li Qingxu responded.
A high-grade anomalous bird spread its massive wings, carrying a group of outer realm disciples swiftly away; among them were familiar faces Qin Ming recognized.
"The opportunity is immense; esoteric sect disciples, do not fall behind!" someone called out from another blazing sun. Another massive raptor appeared, carrying esoteric sect disciples as it soared toward the Divine City.
From the third dazzling sun came the trumpet of an elephant, accompanied by a shout: "Catch up quickly!" Clearly, anomalous beasts had arrived as well, including a young six-tusked white elephant, a purple lightning beast, and others.
A great being had sought to approach the threshold of godhood, only to be ambushed by various factions and turned into a gluttonous feast.
Chapter 163