Anyone could see that the stalwart, heroic youth on the demon path was formidable and supremely confident. With loose black hair and brimming with wild ferocity, he pressed forward.
His demeanor was not that of someone about to wage a life-and-death duel; rather, he was radiant with vitality, carrying an air of solitary supremacy without the slightest trace of tension, as if he had stepped onto the field merely to reap a harvest.
"Now that is the confident brilliance of our demon race's heaven-sent prodigy! Strike now and split that immortal seed clean in two with a single blade!" Within the secret realm, demons were already waving banners and cheering wildly.
Li Qingxu's spirit and vigor had shifted. Nine divine chains swirled across his physical body and extended into his conscious spiritual light. His power surged violently as a result—it was actually climbing!
A deeply perilous aura radiated from his body. Next, a dull boom erupted where he stood. Not only did the battlefield tremble slightly, but even the high heavens of the secret realm seemed to shudder, striking awe into many onlookers.
Around Li Qingxu, rain-like light steamed upward in dense clusters.
His feathered robe fluttered, and his aura turned ethereal, as though he were ascending as an immortal, sacred glow shining in every direction.
Gazing from distant peaks, many spectators felt that his power was exceptionally formidable even from afar, causing their muscles to tense involuntarily.
In an instant, all the clamor died down.
Whether demons or disciples of the various sects, everyone fell silent, fixing their eyes on the two figures suspended in midair.
Waiting passively was not in Qin Ming's nature. Moving like a god or demon setting out, each of his steps flickered into phantasmal motion. As if teleporting through mist and cloud, he charged at extreme speed.
With a soft shout from Li Qingxu, the dazzling light-rain before him shot forth. Amid sharp hissing, every droplet stretched out.
The threads of rain extended limitlessly, growing longer and exuding a dangerous aura. The final battlefield between the two was a mountainous terrain, lush with vegetation, ridged with high knolls, trickling with streams, and strewn with jagged rocks—a fairly complex topography.
In an instant, the great trees and boulders along the way were pierced, sliced through, and shattered into dust by those threads of rain. Such destructive power was shocking.
Many felt horrified, wondering what would happen if it were them. Most likely, they would be torn to pieces in the blink of an eye!
Outside Qin Ming's body, two beams of light—one black, one white—joined head to tail like a dragon and serpent, revolving around him at high speed as a black-and-white diagram that formed a protective curtain of light.
When the crystalline threads surged forward and struck the dragon-snake diagram, deafening metallic clangs rang out, sounding like divine armaments clashing violently.
Along the way, the scene was horrifying: the land turned to ruin as trees and massive boulders were obliterated. Fine as silk though the rain was, it swept away everything in its path, breaking through all resistance.
Between Li Qingxu and Qin Ming, no obstacles remained.
This terrifying power was enough to dice some Outer Sages into pieces upon first contact!
Yet these elongated raindrops, these rainbow-like threads, were all blocked by the black-and-white dragon-snake diagram and shattered completely. With his hair flying, Qin Ming cut across the air like a demonic bird, arriving before his opponent in the blink of an eye.
Overwhelmingly dominant, the dragon saber formed from heavenly light in his right hand—coiled by a colossal dragon phantom—slashed straight down.
Light-rain boiled around Li Qingxu. The bamboo staff in his hand parried the supremely rigid, purely yang dragon saber, while his other hand reached out like a golden roc extending its claws. Encircled by dazzling runes, it clawed toward his opponent's head.
The serpent sword in Qin Ming's hand surged with black light, stabbing straight toward that hand. Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, the two moved like lightning, rapidly shifting positions and colliding several times. Blood spurted forth, staining the woodland red.
Soon, they separated silently like two specters.
Li Qingxu panted heavily, blood dripping from his face, where a gruesome wound cut bone-deep.
Most alarming of all was another blade wound on his head; a clump of black hair had been shorn off, drifting down soaked in blood.
Everyone who witnessed this showed shock. In that state, Li Qingxu was undoubtedly formidable, yet blood had been drawn right from the start!
Evidently, everyone realized that the youth on the demon path was aiming for his head, intending to cleave him straight in two.
Li Qingxu's heart churned violently, as if rocked by a massive earthquake; he could hardly believe the outcome. Qin Ming was uninjured, but he frowned, sensing something amiss with the nine divine chains coiled around his opponent.
Earlier, it was their movement across Li Qingxu's body that had parried the dragon saber; they were extraordinarily tough.
However, one of the chains stretching toward Li Qingxu's head had been cracked by Qin Ming's blade and looked ready to snap. The heavenly light force on Qin Ming blazed with intensity. Raising the dragon saber and gripping the serpent sword, with his long black hair flying, he struck out domineeringly once more. In this moment, he fully displayed the true colors of a demon!
No one would ever mistake him for a human youth now.
The Dragon Snake Scripture he displayed was acquired on this very path, belonging to the demon race's original version. Like a dragon soaring through the heavens, Qin Ming swept across the sky. Saber and sword chimed in unison as black and white light surged.
Li Qingxu counterattacked. In the process, one of the divine chains on his body detonated with a deafening crash, releasing an utterly terrifying surge of energy.
Even Qin Ming was startled, halting abruptly and standing in the distance with weapons in hand, staring at him. Another wound was added to Li Qingxu's head; a large swath of hair fell away, and blood gushed like a fountain, yet it remained merely a superficial wound.
Witnessing this, many spectators felt their scalps tingle with dread even as they were awestruck. That youth on the demon path was truly fixated on cleaving the head.
Qin Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. He could sense that after Li Qingxu was injured, the vitality of his flesh and conscious spiritual light actually increased.
Furthermore, Li Qingxu became exceedingly proactive, as a portion of his pure yang conscious spiritual light resonated and merged with the runic power in his flesh and blood.
In an instant, his right hand pointed the bamboo staff toward the heavens. With a boom, golden clouds of mist surged out of his body, thick as clouds and heavy as mountains, bearing down upon Qin Ming.
Next, his other hand pointed toward the ground. Silver radiance erupted, and earthlight steamed upward like billowing mercury, ascending toward the sky.
In a flash, both lights—gold and silver—were immense and heavy, like heaven and earth closing in to sandwich Qin Ming between them and crush him into bloody pulp.
At this moment, even the immortal seeds and divine seeds on other paths watched intently, for this was a terrifying technique frequently employed by Cao Qianqiu.
Over all these years, who knew how many formidable experts Cao Qianqiu had crushed to pieces with this method, shaking the night-fog world with his might.
As for the other onlookers, this instant felt like an eternity; their breath caught, and they did not dare blink.
The silver earthlight surged upward, lifting Qin Ming, while the golden clouds pressed down. The two acted like a grinding mill of cloud and mist, spinning furiously and letting out horrific booming detonations.
Qin Ming stood tall with head held high, eyes gleaming and long hair billowing. Outside his body, the black-and-white dragon-snake diagram held off that combined force that seemed to stem from heaven and earth.
Naturally, he would not defend passively. Raising the dragon saber in his right hand, he thrust it skyward; with the serpent sword in his left, he stabbed toward the ground.
In the first realm, rarely could anyone manifest heavenly light into physical form.
Yet now, Qin Ming acted with wild abandon, displaying transcendent talent. The dragon saber transformed again into a true dragon, boring through the golden clouds before burning like a blazing sun to incinerate all things.
Meanwhile, the serpent sword in his left hand became a colossal black snake, carrying endless darkness as it dove toward the earth. People watching from afar were thoroughly alarmed.
Li Qingxu's arms shook. Between heaven and earth, it was as though two continents of gold and silver were about to collide, or massive misty millstones were coming together with horrifying might.
Yet someone held back such "heavenly might" with a single blade and a single sword.
Then, dragon roars echoed across the land. The great dragon pierced the golden firmament, tearing it apart, while the black serpent ground the dense earthlight to pieces, scattering it completely.
With a colossal rumble, brilliant rays burst between heaven and earth. The golden clouds detonated, and the silver earthlight dispersed.
The secret art created by Cao Qianqiu, a technique that struck fear into rivals from all sides, had been unleashed through the hands of his disciple Li Qingxu, only to be shattered by the youth on the demon path.
The entire area was flooded with light. Even in the distance, sand flew and stones rolled; not only did flora burst apart, but even roots buried underground were blasted to pieces.
Amidst the dispersing golden mist and silver radiance, amidst the violent fluctuations of energy, Qin Ming maintained his dominant posture, plunging straight through the hazardous zone of radiant vapor to attack his opponent.
In an instant, blade flashes and sword shadows filled the space as the black-and-white dragon-snake diagram roared.
The two collided and separated like twin bolts of lightning in the battered terrain, splashing large sprays of blood.
Qin Ming's brows furrowed deeply. At the final moment, another divine chain had detonated, exuding an inexplicable fluctuation that blocked him and knocked him back.
Nevertheless, Li Qingxu was still heavily wounded. Ahead, the youth in the ragged feather robe was covered in blood, leaning on his bamboo staff as his chest heaved, appearing thoroughly drained.
Another wound had been carved into his head; this time, not only was the scalp cut open and more hair shorn, but a crack had appeared in the skull.
Li Qingxu was furious. He realized the opponent was doing this deliberately, fixating solely on hacking at his head. In fact, this was strikingly similar to some of his own habits.
A dead silence fell over the secret realm, followed by an uproar. Li Qingxu, the immortal seed, had taken three consecutive slashes to the head, each delivered by the demonic youth with the clear intent to burst his skull open.
Many demons were extraordinarily thrilled, feeling that this demon seed's methods were astonishing. From the moment he engaged, every clash inevitably drew blood from his foe, demonstrating supreme dominance.
"This is... dazzling on the demon path, and now he's about to suppress the immortal path as well!" Gan Jincheng, Jiang Ruoli, Liu Hanya, and others were deeply shaken.
The disciples of the outer realm were equally startled. Many knew Li Qingxu had employed Cao Qianqiu's signature technique—and even that had been broken so quickly?!
Many stood on mountain peaks, watching the battle with turbulent emotions.
Amidst drifting clouds and mist, Li Qingyue stood quietly, divine light flickering in her beautiful eyes.
On another path, Xiao Wu chuckled foolishly, itching to spar with Li Qingxu himself. After watching, Xiang Yiwu gestured with his hands, seemingly trying to crack the technique using his own methods.
Cui Chonghe stood with hands clasped behind his back, his expression unreadable.
Su Shiyun, Cai Jingcheng, Tang Yutian, and others closely followed the battle from start to finish.
Qin Ming ceased frowning and smiled instead. So what if those divine chains were peculiar? He would simply sever them all and see what lay beneath!
Besides, in doing so, he could use Li Qingxu to observe Cao Qianqiu's wondrous and formidable methods.
In an instant, Wind-Fire Force manifested beneath Qin Ming's feet, like sunset clouds blanketing the ground or fiery divine wheels carrying him aloft. Rising off the ground as if taking flight, he charged across in the blink of an eye.
Bathed in rain-like light, Li Qingxu reenacted another of Cao Qianqiu's renowned methods—one that had once caused several monumental, peak elders of the night-fog world to shed blood.
Yet at this moment, the brow of the youth on the demon path shone with light. Confident and peerlessly domineering, he held no reverence whatsoever for the celebrated supreme art of this so-called Senior Cao.
Qin Ming simply went wild, unleashing the most essential tenets of the Dragon Snake Scripture with fierce, domineering power. When practiced to the utmost, this scripture possessed a portion of "Qingtian characteristics," capable of shaking heaven and earth.
The blade and sword in his hands struck like thunderbolts piercing the night fog, like comets streaking across the firmament. After several exchanges, his blade fell once more, making Li Qingxu's eyes spit fire—for his head was struck yet again!
Then, Li Qingxu felt a searing agony in his chest as a sword pierced right through, blood splattering in all directions. Two consecutive divine chains snapped on his body, accompanied by a spurt of crimson blood.
"Let me see what I find once all your divine chains are peeled away!" Qin Ming said. In this battle, he could wound his opponent while dissecting Old Cao's techniques—what was there not to be satisfied with?
Chapter 214