A surge of intense unease rose within Qin Ming. Before he had even made it out of the Fourth Peril, people from the First Peril had already appeared. It truly was one wave rising before the last had settled.
Wu Yaozu shouted, "Whether it's the First or the Fourth, they're both perils—we're all on the same side! If you marry my Brother Ming, be sure to treat him well! Don't make things hard for him!"
Qin Ming looked at him with an aggrieved expression. Was this brother truly straightforward, or was he deliberately throwing him under the bus?
With a soft thud, Qin Ming fell into the crimson sedan chair, and the fair, slender hand withdrew along with him.
Wu Yaozu scrambled up from the ground where yin qi steamed upward. Should he run for his life alone, or wait around for Brother Qin? He stared ahead.
The massive bridal procession was boundless and densely packed—it really was excessive in its grandeur.
"Is this the sort of spectacle the First Peril puts on? Well, it's not doing my Brother Ming dirty, then!" Wu Yaozu muttered to himself.
Inside the crimson sedan chair, Qin Ming saw the bride, who had already removed her red veil. A chilly silver luminescence flowed across her figure; she truly was exquisitely beautiful.
Adorned in a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe, her brows were like distant misty mountains, her complexion fairer than snow. With her crimson rouge and dark hair, she resembled an immortal maiden stepped right out of a painting.
Qin Ming instantly realized what the supposed token of pledge was—it was none other than the rag woven from exotic metal held in his hand. The bride stared at him intently for several moments before directly taking the rag from his grip.
Qin Ming had not wanted to let go, but there was never any suspense; there was simply no way he could overpower her.
The bride glanced at it for merely an instant before gasping in astonishment. Lifting the sedan curtain, she called out, "Ninth Uncle, come look quickly!"
An old man appeared before them like a ghost. Staring at the rag in her hands with a solemn expression, he said, "How can there be a sliver of a waning sun added, as well as a patch of black fog? Could it be..."
His eyes widened in shock, filled with disbelief.
"This isn't a replica—it seems to be the original!" Breathing rapidly, the bride in the phoenix coronet and embroidered robe felt her chest heaving violently, deeply shaken as well.
'It's over!' Qin Ming thought to himself.
He felt that this rag of unknown origin was about to change owners.
If even a replica could serve as a token of pledge for the First Peril, how extraordinary must the authentic article be?
Sure enough, the exquisite bride lifted the curtain and declared, "Take it back for the Ancestor to see!"
Lifting her crimson skirt, she darted toward the edge of the earth swift as lightning. Ninth Uncle followed close behind, and the vast bridal procession moved along after them.
"Brother Ming, are you all right?" Wu Yaozu hurried over.
Before Qin Ming could speak, a horrifying fluctuation pulsed from the horizon, sending chills through the soul. The bride and Ninth Uncle suddenly blew apart!
The stunning beauty withered in an instant, blood and bone fragments spraying everywhere.
Next was the massive bridal procession. Everyone was engulfed by a blinding light, turning translucent and crystalline before violently disintegrating in a truly gruesome sight.
In that region, a rain of blood drifted through the sky. Every single person had detonated simultaneously, staining even the night fog red.
Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu stood frozen like wooden statues, their bodies turning cold and tense, chilled from head to toe. This scene was far too terrifying. One could only imagine just how monstrous the person who struck must have been!
To their bewilderment, countless figures reappeared right near them. The crimson sedan chair was completely intact, and the bride lifted the curtain.
"Is this... a reenactment of the past?" Qin Ming was dumbfounded.
The bride sighed and said, "So it turns out we are all dead. Every day, we do nothing more than repeat the past across this land, unable ever to leave. Today, it was rare for us to attain a moment of clarity."
Holding the rag, she felt a wave of sorrow, melancholy gracing her peerless countenance.
"Returning it to you!" she said, tossing the cloth woven from exotic metal back into Qin Ming's hands.
Ninth Uncle sighed, "Alas. Back then, when the Fourth Peril was pierced through, we happened to be passing by. Merely brushed by the aftershocks, all of us blew apart in an instant!"
"You are..." Wu Yaozu was flabbergasted.
"We are no different from the monsters, phantoms, and illusions wandering this land, repeating the exact same actions day after day..."
Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu understood. This massive bridal procession—as well as the figures they had encountered earlier, such as the woman on the paper boat—had all practically turned into bizarre phenomena.
Bound and imprisoned by some sort of power, they patrolled the border regions of the Fourth Peril.
The bride said worriedly, "The Fourth Peril is finished. I wonder if my First Peril will also be subdued and turned into sustenance for that person."
Qin Ming wanted nothing to do with the great perils or the formidable existence intent on devouring them; beings at that level were simply too terrifying.
He only wanted to know the background of this rag, so he could not resist asking.
To his surprise, the bride actually answered, "During the Great Reclamation, it made a fleeting appearance."
Deep beneath the subterranean depths of the night fog world, the rag had been the highest-tier burial item within a grand tomb, and was seemingly enshrined therein. By all appearances, its status was no lower than that of the tomb's occupant.
"The tomb's master was at the very least a godkin creature, if not an immortal-adjacent being!" the bride informed him.
Back then, the chieftain dwelling at the periphery of the First Peril—the bride's founding ancestor—had entered the tomb alongside two others of equivalent standing.
It was merely a remnant scrap of cloth, yet a being standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid held it in such high regard as to enshrine it within the tomb even in death. Naturally, this aroused the curiosity of the three great experts. They had even erupted into a bloody war over it.
"In the end, the remnant cloth was activated, emitting dazzling radiance, and was knocked away during the fierce battle, never to be found again," the bride sighed.
The three masters suspected it was a fragment of some weapon, or perhaps a map. Thus, they had all created multiple copies from memory, observing its patterns in hopes of deciphering it.
Even as they journeyed onward, Qin Ming's head was still spinning. This rag truly had an extraordinary background.
Wu Yaozu said, "Brother Ming, your rag is quite the piece. The tomb's master was either a godkin creature or an immortal-adjacent being, yet they enshrined this cloth. When you really think about it, that's rather chilling!"
"Stop talking!" Qin Ming cut him off, warning him never to bring this up again and to act as if he had never heard of it, fearing it might invite immense catastrophe.
"Are we completely out this time?" Wu Yaozu fell into a daze. After passing through the ruins and putting the villages and towns far behind them, the landscape before them shifted once more. Looking back, the earth steaming with yin qi was gone.
Qin Ming nodded. He was all too familiar with the world shrouded in night fog. They had likely stepped beyond the territory where Wu Yaozu's ancestors dwelt and reached the outside world.
Wu Yaozu looked at the dense night and remarked, "Who would've thought? People outside have it even worse than me, living in utter misery. The world out here is way too dark."
He was quite disappointed. In the Fourth Peril, there was at least a moon, its pure glow blanketing the courtyards like soft, delicate mist, imparting a muted, hazy beauty.
Qin Ming said, "The real world is just like this, though things will improve once the shallow night arrives."
Afterward, the two sprinted a hundred and fifty li in one go, putting distance between themselves and the land behind them first.
Wu Yaozu looked up at the night sky with a melancholy expression and said, "How sorrowful. From now on, I have left my homeland behind."
At this moment, they were traversing the wilderness.
"We are both wanderers cast adrift in the world. Alas, may I travel alongside you?" From the distance, a white-robed woman holding a wine gourd, completely drunk, staggered over swaying from side to side.
"Sure!" Wu Yaozu nodded immediately. But soon after, he screamed.
The white-robed woman clamped her hands around his throat, eager to snap his neck on the spot.
A moment later, the white-robed woman lay dead. At the same time, in the nearby woods, Qin Ming's fist pulverized the skull of an enormous fox. Clearly, a wild fox demon had been manipulating the human woman to hunt flesh for it.
"Is the outside world always this blunt? Not even any preamble or warm-up—just going straight for the kill!" Wu Yaozu rubbed his neck. Although the assailant hadn't managed to injure him and had been killed in retaliation, it still left him shaken. Back in the strange town, people refrained from fighting whenever possible and were thoroughly hypocritical.
Without a doubt, he had grown accustomed to the ways of those spirit wanderers. Arriving outside and encountering such crude, brutish tactics left him intensely uncomfortable.
"Go through it a few more times, and you'll get used to it," Qin Ming consoled him.
Wu Yaozu fell silent, secretly warning himself never to suffer such a loss again. Yet being on high alert could also cause problems.
After traveling several dozen li further, they finally reached a small town. Though the hour was late, a wonton stall at the town entrance was still open. Qin Ming led him over to sit down and grab a bite.
As a result, Wu Yaozu bounded over, grabbed the proprietor by the collar, and demanded, "Confess! Are these wontons stuffed with human flesh?!"
The proprietor turned pale with fright. "?"
Qin Ming hurriedly pulled him away. This brother was jumping at shadows now, likely remembering his grandmother's warning about fearing he wouldn't make it a hundred li before becoming dumpling stuffing in some illicit roadside inn.
"Are you out of your mind?! I'm not doing business with you two!" the proprietor cursed, having been thoroughly scared out of his wits.
Fortunately, there were other eateries in town that had not yet closed. After leading Wu Yaozu to eat and drink his fill, Qin Ming said, "It's good to be vigilant, but there's no need to see enemies behind every bush. There are still more good people than bad in this world."
Wu Yaozu gave an awkward chuckle. He knew that after entering the true human world, he had become overly strung up.
After finding an inn to rest for the night, they set out early the next morning, heading toward Kunling Great City over one thousand three hundred li away.
Along the way, the scorching heat throughout Qin Ming's body gradually receded; his eighth Newborn rebirth was nearing its end!
Before long, he stopped, focusing his senses on the changes within him. Aside from an enhanced physical constitution, another light had appeared inside his body.
This was the ability born of his eighth Newborn rebirth. Qin Ming was already certain that this time, it was related to divine wisdom.
Afterward, he began drinking heavenly light liquid once more to fuse techniques. This pertained to the transformation of his heavenly light force and could drastically increase his combat strength.
First, he circulated the Heluo Classic. This remarkable scripture had already proven its worth in actual combat, and today he could finally push Heluo force to the stage of great mastery.
Mist drifted everywhere as Qin Ming sat cross-legged in the woodland. The place resembled a celestial realm, with radiant glow swirling around him as white vapors billowed, expanding into the distance.
Next, he took a sip of heavenly light liquid and began practicing Purple Palace thunderfire force. In an instant, heavenly thunder stirred earthly fire, and lightning and flames illuminated the woods all around.
During this process, Qin Ming examined them with Mundane Fire and found he felt no discomfort toward any of these techniques.
However, some forces clearly overlapped. For example, between Tiger's Roar and Five Thunders Viscera Tempering, he chose the latter, as it was an advanced, more formidable scripture.
Qin Ming took out his bow and arrows and began practicing the techniques from the Archery Classic. Although the name "arrow force" wasn't particularly imposing, within major sects it was an absolute masterwork!
This was the scripture he had obtained from the great silver hedgehog at the reclamation frontier.
With this, Qin Ming's archery reached a frightening level. Drawing his bow in rapid succession, not a single arrow missed its mark.
He felt his archery was extraordinary, master-tier at the very least, surpassing his hammer techniques, spear techniques, and the like.
Afterward, he practiced Lieyang Sword, also obtained at the reclamation frontier from the Godkin Society, advancing Lieyang force to great mastery.
"At this point, I am proficient in the saber, hammer, spear, bow, lance, and sword—I could be said to possess six masteries," he said with a smile. Next, he pushed Jade Splendor Force, Black Peng force, Zong force, and Mountain Quelling force all to great mastery.
Then, Qin Ming began fusing the techniques with utter seriousness, relentlessly conducting it through the method of blending dragon and tiger like medicine, undergoing a thousand tempers and refinements until it was finally complete.
To the side, Wu Yaozu watched in stunned disbelief. This brother's entire body glowed, his flesh turning crystalline, and a great elixir manifested at his chest and abdomen, followed by the appearance of a humanoid silhouette... It was similar to what he had witnessed before, but the disturbance was even greater this time, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling throughout the woodland.
A long time later, Qin Ming rose to his feet, his cultivation complete.
This time, the five extraordinary arts he practiced fully corresponded to the five elements, causing his heavenly light force to undergo a qualitative leap.
"Let's go. It's time to head to Kunjun City," Qin Ming said.
The two did not rush, and three days later, they arrived smoothly at Kunling.
Though called a great city, it had no city walls. It was completely open, housing numerous powerful dojos and academies that had no need for defensive walls at all.
"What a huge city—it's far too bustling!" Wu Yaozu's eyes could hardly take it all in. Even from afar, he could already sense the clamor of the crowds.
Traffic flowed like water along the broad streets, filled not only with humans but also various other races. Thriving shops lined both sides of the avenues, doing roaring business.
Gazing into the distance, there were clusters of ancient architecture, brand-new commercial streets teeming with prosperity, and numerous mountain peaks wreathed in drifting immortal mist, said to be the locations of the various dojos.
After entering the city, the two naturally headed toward those dojos and academies.
"The pure yang physique is truly incredible. His conscious spiritual light already carries pure yang attributes—who could possibly rival that?"
"In my opinion, Ling Yu from Liuguang City might be even more formidable. He walks both the Newborn path and the immortal path, having tested his sword across a hundred cities, and has now arrived in Kunling!"
"Your news is outdated. There are people fully capable of contending with them, or even surpassing them! Word is that more than one immortal seed and divine seed have arrived!"
While asking for directions, Qin Ming and Wu Yaozu overheard many people discussing the formidable disciples of the major academies and dojos.
Chapter 186