The dilapidated courtyard was quiet, its stone steps overgrown with moss and its courtyard walls cloaked in climbing vines, completely isolated from the bustle and clamor of the town.
Wu Yaozu's eyes were rimmed with red, tears clinging to his bearded cheeks as he looked on with deep reluctance.
"What are you crying for? Once you go out there and find yourself a wife, you'll forget all about your granny!" the old woman teased with a smile.
She hung a jade plaque carved with a divine image around the youth's neck, strictly instructing him never to take it off while on the road.
Then she turned to Qin Ming and cautioned, "The cloth you're carrying—I couldn't discern its origin, but it shouldn't be anything ordinary. Keep it in hand as you travel!"
Qin Ming understood at once. A stretch of the upcoming journey was bound to be infested with demonic fiends, so they needed warding talismans close at hand.
"Granny, when you get the chance, you must help me collect my debts. That bunch of old geezers went back on their word, claiming they didn't bring their wagers on them and promising to pay next time!" Wu Yaozu complained.
"All right, I know!" The old woman nodded.
In the bizarre town, all manner of transactions took place. Intelligence trading was the most common, followed by the sale of soul medicines and the exchange of cultivation arts. Suddenly, purple clouds billowed from the divine temple, surging forth with rumbling thunder. Such terrifying heavenly might caused the expressions of even the seasoned old figures to shift.
"What's going on? Why does it feel like it's coming straight for us?"
"Oh no, this is bad! My soul is about to be blasted clean through!"
Chaos erupted as people and mounts were thrown into disarray. The four-tusked white elephant collapsed to the ground, unable to rise, while the golden-haired elder upon its back took a direct blow from the purple divine mace. Scorched black from head to toe, he swayed precariously.
An undeserved disaster.
They felt terribly wronged. They had never provoked the divine temple, nor had they ever stepped foot inside—so why were they being struck? Cracks, roars, and crackles of lightning tore through the air.
Above the town, purple qi blotted out the sky as bolts of thunder crashed down without pause. Amidst the barrage, a divine mace swept across the heavens, swooping down periodically.
Wherever someone was formidable, that area bore the brunt of the assault. A crowd howled in agony and scattered in disarray.
It could only be said that there were indeed ferocious figures present—likely an elder of profound attainment who managed to withstand several strikes from the purple divine mace and quickly scrambled back to his feet.
"All right, that is about enough," the black-robed figure reminded from within the divine temple.
Departing in the morning caused the physical body to collapse, while leaving at night caused the soul to detach. Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu set out at noon under the personal escort of the old woman, finally embarking on their way.
Along the road, crimson mist rolled thick and heavy. All manner of inexplicable cries rose and fell: one moment someone wailed, the next brought shrill laughter, followed soon by sounds of bitter weeping.
Moreover, indistinct silhouettes lurked within the blood-colored haze, drawing near from time to time. Had the old woman not accompanied them, her body radiating a sacred radiance to shield their path, the two of them would never have made it out alive.
"This is... way too terrifying." Even Wu Yaozu, a native of the place, felt his scalp tingle.
A stench of blood rushed toward them as a massive black claw pressed downward. Leaving aside the creature's true form, its dripping, razor-sharp talons alone spanned several meters.
Yet the moment it brushed against the divine light radiating from Granny Wu, it caught fire with a hiss. Accompanied by a shriek of agony, it swiftly retreated into the distance.
Qin Ming's expression grew grim. This stretch of the road was perilous in the extreme; if it had been only him and Wu Yaozu, they could never have pushed through.
Amidst humid heat and a foul stench, a tongue over ten meters long slithered into view, attached to a colossal, ghastly pale face pressing close to lap them up.
With a booming crash, it was pierced through by the divine light from the old woman, exploding entirely.
Dense clusters of shadows crowded all around. More crucially, every single one was absurdly enormous, looming like mountain ranges. A single claw extended at random was enough to blot out half the sky.
A dark cloud descended, only to reveal itself as nothing more than insect wings accompanying a sharp proboscis that stabbed downward, looking as if it could pierce the night sky. Thump, thump...
The earth trembled as a colossal foot stepped past nearby, sending boulders weighing hundreds of jin bouncing alongside its stride.
Amidst the blood-red mist, it felt as though all manner of ghosts and deities were on the march—a wild revelry of fiends and demons, a scene of sheer apocalyptic devastation. How could an ordinary person survive such an encounter?
The old woman reprimanded sharply, "You've been dead for so many years, so why torment the locals now? A bunch of cowards! Back when the peril was pierced through, none of you showed much backbone either—every last one of you shivered like clay chickens waiting for the slaughter!"
Hearing this, Qin Ming felt a chill run down his spine. Judging by their sheer size alone, these fiends, ghosts, and monsters must have been astonishingly mighty in their prime. Yet when facing that unknown entity, had they truly been so fragile and helpless?
It only went to show that the person who had pierced the Fourth Peril back then was overwhelmingly, monstrously powerful.
At this moment, the old woman resembled a divine effigy cloaked in pure yang light. She cleared the way ahead, either repelling or setting ablaze the towering figures of every shape and size.
Throughout their journey, demons appeared ceaselessly, ghosts and deities howled in sorrow, and endless monsters of every description emerged. It was practically a trek through the depths of hell.
Even Little Wu grew terrified. Was this truly his homeland? What kind of monsters had the local forebears been? Had the ancestors possessed such repulsive visages—massive as mountains and grotesquely deformed?
The entire way, the two kept silent, pressing forward swiftly until they finally arrived at the outer perimeter of the Fourth Peril.
Upon reaching this point, the old woman halted. She could go no further, seemingly bound by a force from which she could not break free.
Vaguely, what appeared to be chains could be seen connected to her back, pulled taut and straight. This boundary was her absolute limit.
"Granny!" Seeing this, Wu Yaozu burst into tears at once.
"Silly child, I'm fine. It's not bad like this. With ties in my heart, a person has a place to return to. That is the path I came by, so I won't lose my way," she comforted him.
At last, she wiped the tears from Little Wu's face and looked at Qin Ming, saying, "Child, look after Little Wu for two months. He adapts very quickly; once he gets used to the outside world, he'll be fine!"
Qin Ming nodded immediately. "Rest assured, Elder!"
Finally, the old woman mapped out a route for them, complete with a diagram, warning them under no circumstances to wander off course, as the region just outside the peril was hardly peaceful either.
"Even if there are twists and turns, it shouldn't be an issue. March forward boldly, and don't go scaring yourselves," she said, waving them off.
Taking a step forward, Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu felt the entire world transform. The stifling oppression vanished in an instant. The howling ghosts, deities, and mountain-sized silhouettes from moments ago all disappeared, replaced by absolute serenity with insects chirping in the distance.
The two looked back. A night breeze stirred the rustling leaves of a forest, and further off, mountain ranges stretched across the horizon.
They retraced their steps back into the woods, but it was no longer the path they had come by. The Fourth Peril had simply vanished into thin air.
Qin Ming said, "All the unknown and mysterious exists only because our strength falls short and our attainment is lacking. All we can do is cultivate diligently!"
"Yeah." Wu Yaozu nodded, secretly vowing that once he became strong enough, he would certainly bring a wife back to visit his grandmother.
Soon after, he shaved off his full beard and altered his physical appearance. His stocky frame grew slightly taller, and his black hair quickly sheared away, leaving behind short golden locks.
This was his true face: robust, with spirited eyes and stark, rugged facial lines. While far from delicate beauty, he radiated masculine vigor.
In that bizarre town, no one ever revealed their true visage.
"What are your plans from here on?" Qin Ming asked him.
Wu Yaozu replied, "I'll go with you to Kunling Great City. My grandmother said the path of rainbow transformation can't be walked to the very end—treating the physical body as a cage has flaws. I want to visit the major dao arenas and academies to see for myself!"
Qin Ming said, "I've been wanting to say this for a while. That moon in the Fourth Peril probably isn't real. Transforming into a rainbow to ascend toward it might not be a good thing."
Wu Yaozu nodded. "Sigh, I know. Using the physical body to carry the rainbow light was an art originally passed down from that moon in the first place. Whence it came, thither it must return!"
At this moment, Qin Ming's body faintly gleamed, burning hot. His eighth Newborn rebirth was currently underway; back in the dilapidated courtyard, he had already begun drinking the heavenly light liquid.
Now, he took out the five-color bottle and threw back another hefty gulp. Instantly, thunder seemed to intertwine within his flesh and blood, bathing his entire body in dazzling brilliance.
Wu Yaozu's face twitched slightly as he watched. "My grandmother said that stuff is meant for refining spirit weapons and extraordinary treasures. Is it really safe for you to drink it like that?"
"Tastes fantastic." Qin Ming wore a broad grin. Though his stomach burned with intense pain, the vivid sensation of his constitution improving and his strength continuously growing was truly magnificent.
His joy was heartfelt, filled with immense delight and excitement.
"Heavenly light liquid... is a priceless treasure medicine to me!" Qin Ming said.
The liquid in the five-color bottle not only contained the spiritual substance required for his eighth Newborn rebirth, but could also push his newly practiced heavenly light forces toward great accomplishment.
The three-colored spirit flower, five-colored spirit branch, and fallen fruit—their parent plants had absorbed a portion of heavenly light, but filtering it through them caused a severe loss of spirituality, leaving them fit only for elevating heavenly light and merging techniques.
Whether in the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, the giant heavenly light crater on Luofu Immortal Mountain, or the five-color bottle before him, all held genuine outer heavenly light, which counted as potent, fierce medicine.
As Qin Ming hurried along, he digested the heavenly light liquid. His five viscera and six bowels burned, every inch of his flesh and blood was purified, and his strength climbed steadily higher.
"Hiss."
Soon, both of their expressions changed. Following the route Granny Wu had mapped out, they encountered numerous ruins along the way, and shadowy specters swarmed among them.
The two broke into a dead sprint, but shrill screeching quickly rang out, bringing splitting headaches that warped the surrounding scenery.
With a boom, the jade plaque Wu Yaozu wore began to glow. The divine statue carved upon it was surprisingly Granny Wu herself, leaving Qin Ming staring wide-eyed.
All around, large swaths of dark shadows were scorched and ignited, letting out agonized shrieks.
Yet the grievance in this region was far too heavy. Every time they passed a village, it was packed with ghosts and monsters that pounced toward them with savage howls.
Qin Ming also brought out the cloth woven from exotic metal, pouring heavenly light force into it. Instantly, a radiant sun manifested, illuminating all directions and burning the surroundings until ghosts wailed and spirits wept.
"There are no ghosts! These are just grievances, baleful qi, and illusions. Pay them no heed and just charge through!"
Rubble, ashes, and broken walls littered the landscape. These were all villages and towns on the periphery of the Fourth Peril that had been laid to ruin in the past.
In the end, the two grew utterly exhausted. The things they encountered became increasingly sinister; they claimed there were no ghosts, only grievances, baleful qi, and remnants of the past, yet when they stopped to rest along the road, they found a woman in a black dress hanging from an ancient tree. As she swung back and forth, she radiated a mental force field that gave them splitting headaches, nearly causing them to faint on the spot.
Everything they witnessed along the way was profoundly strange. While passing by a mountain god temple, their consciousnesses were actually pulled from their bodies, forcing them into a grueling battle with the monster dwelling within. Pushed to the brink of exhaustion, they barely survived, ultimately setting fire to the ancient temple.
And this was already the safest path Granny Wu had charted. Had they taken any other road, what on earth would they have run into? Both of them felt a chill in their bones.
They were certain they had yet to fully escape the peripheral boundary of the Fourth Peril; danger still lurked everywhere, and they needed to break through as quickly as possible.
The sky was as black as ink. Weeds grew wild in the wilderness, where skulls and skeletal remains could occasionally be spotted half-buried in soil steeped in rising yin qi.
Wu Yaozu asked, "Brother Ming, is there something on my back? Why do I feel like someone hopped on, but I can't touch anything?"
Qin Ming saw nothing, but by relying on emotional resonance, he detected a cluster of black light carrying intense resentment. Without a second thought, he suppressed it with his sun-like heavenly light force. With a sharp hiss, flames flared, and accompanied by a shrill scream, the black shadow dispersed.
The very next instant, Qin Ming felt his own neck tighten as a sensation of suffocation washed over him.
"Brother Ming, your neck turned black!" Wu Yaozu stepped in to help, the rainbow light in his body surging forward in a sweep.
"This old fellow is tough; we're in for another hard fight," Qin Ming said. He saw an old man billowing black smoke, wrapping an iron chain around his throat.
The moment they severed the black chain, both of their spiritual consciousnesses were yanked out of their bodies.
Fortunately, Wu Yaozu was adept at this art, projecting the rainbow light within him, while Qin Ming was accompanied by all of his heavenly light forces, capable of using heavenly light to carry his consciousness in spirit wandering. The two fought the old fellow tooth and nail.
With a dull thud, they finally shattered the elder's pitch-black residual consciousness into oblivion.
"Little Wu, do you think any of these grievances and sinister entities could be your ancestors?" Qin Ming sat on the ground, gasping for breath. This journey had been far too harrowing.
Wu Yaozu lay sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving in utter exhaustion. "Don't bring it up. Right now, I don't see ancestors—all I see are fiends, demons, ghosts, and monsters."
Resuming their trek, they watched a paper boat drift lazily across the night sky, frightening them into holding their breath.
A woman with disheveled hair sat aboard the boat, her grievance terrifyingly thick, and her residual consciousness blazed like a black sun. The radiance proved unbearable to flesh and blood, feeling as though further exposure would cause them to rot away.
The woman glanced at them, caught sight of the jade plaque Little Wu wore, and murmured, "Descendants of an old acquaintance? Forget it, then." The paper boat carried her slowly into the distance.
"The outside world is too terrifying. I want to go home," Wu Yaozu whimpered.
Qin Ming corrected him, "This isn't the outside world. This is the town where your ancestors once dwelled, still on the edge of your Fourth Peril. We haven't made it out yet."
They sprinted with all their might, wishing nothing more than to leave this land behind immediately.
Suddenly, musical instruments played cheerfully ahead, sounding as if a wedding procession were escorting a bride.
The two instantly froze. Experience had taught them that the stranger the occurrence, the greater the danger.
"The auspicious hour has arrived, yet the groom perished abruptly halfway! What are we to do?" Wailing drifted from afar.
Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu exchanged a glance and bolted in the opposite direction.
From the distant red sedan, the bride radiated neither black light nor golden light, but a chilling silver light, more formidable than anything they had ever encountered.
Even from a great distance, the two could hardly endure it.
Unfortunately, this time they had crossed paths with an unfathomable entity. A slender, fair hand reached out toward them, and the two immediately began flying backward through the air.
"Granny, open your eyes!" Wu Yaozu hastily pulled out the jade plaque hanging on his chest.
Then he shouted toward the bride, "Ancestress, we're on the same side! Look at this plaque—do you recognize it?"
Qin Ming was astounded. The procession was colossal, densely packed, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Seeing that they were about to fly into the red sedan, Wu Yaozu panicked and hollered, "We're close kin! I can't be the groom—I'm a Wu!"
With a thud, he tumbled to the ground, panting heavily.
Qin Ming was dumbfounded and yelled, "One of your own! I'm from a peril too!"
"We are people of the First Peril, merely passing through your territory!" an old man spoke up.
"Why do you have a keepsake on you?" a woman's voice drifted from the red sedan.
"I don't have one!" Qin Ming cried in panic as he plunged straight toward the red sedan.
Chapter 185