Two divine chains on Li Qingxu snapped in succession, bursting like thick, viscous runic light to block Qin Ming and repel him backward.
Li Qingxu felt flames of rage ignite in his chest and flare straight into his head. This demon was definitely doing it on purpose, relentlessly targeting his head.
In truth, Qin Ming had not made it so obvious. After landing several slashes at his skull, he had already shifted targets, striking at vital areas like the chest and abdomen.
Throughout the fierce battle, even though Li Qingxu was enraged beyond measure, he did not utter a single word.
He felt he had disgraced his sect. As Cao Qianqiu's final disciple, he was actually failing to defeat a demon, driven into such dire straits and drenched in blood. Spewing threats now was utterly meaningless.
Yet he did not panic. The remaining divine chains on his body slithered, penetrating into his conscious spiritual light and linking deep into his flesh and blood. His power climbed once more.
Li Qingxu knew full well the consequences if all nine divine chains shattered. His eyes narrowed slightly, radiating pure killing intent.
Qin Ming raised his saber and charged straight in. In that instantaneous collision, another secret art pioneered by Cao Qianqiu was unleashed, draping the area in kaleidoscopic colors accompanied by torrential killing intent.
With a crack, another of the nine-colored divine chains broke. Li Qingxu's abdomen was pierced clean through by the serpent sword, and he fell back, half of his body dyed red with blood.
On his body, only four divine chains remained.
Yet Qin Ming's expression grew solemn; he felt more and more that something was wrong with his opponent's condition. Li Qingxu had clearly suffered severe injuries multiple times, yet he remained unnaturally calm.
The mountainous terrain fell silent as the two locked eyes.
A vast shower of silver light-rain rose from Li Qingxu's body while the four divine chains within him chimed resonantly. The bleeding wounds on his abdomen and chest began to knit closed.
A rustling sound arose around him as groves of silver bamboo materialized, accompanied by a fine drizzle drifting from the sky, while lightning flashed and thunder roared directly overhead.
For a moment, this wondrous spectacle left onlookers from all sides spellbound.
Anyone could see what was driving it: the four divine chains were vibrating, manifesting this marvelous phenomenon.
Then, torrential rain poured over the battlefield. Dark clouds pressed low, thunder detonated, and lightning intertwined with the silver bamboo across the ground.
This was not natural lightning drawn down from the heavens, for the dark clouds hung so close to the earth they were practically within arm's reach.
Though Li Qingxu's feathered robe was stained with blood, he still appeared remarkably ethereal. He raised his bamboo staff and pointed it at his opponent. With a terrifying boom, bolts of thunder and lightning tore across the void one after another, crashing down toward Qin Ming's head.
In the secret realm, many people standing atop the high peaks looked on with grave expressions. Li Qingxu's ability to manipulate lightning horrified them; they asked themselves whether they could withstand such bombardment and knew they could not.
None of them expected that Qin Ming would likewise summon thunder and lightning to clash head-on!
Beneath his feet, earthly qi surged and departing fire roiled, turning the ground bright red. He engaged the Wuji Classic and Departing Fire Classic to construct earthfire, while in midair, wind-thunder force, Five Thunders force, and Purple Palace thunderfire force resonated together to forge heavenly thunder.
At the same time, he circulated the Heluo Classic, causing heavenly thunder to kindle earthfire. In truth, unleashing just one or two force arts would have produced electric flashes.
But now, with Qin Ming channeling several extraordinary arts together, the terrifying power of his thunderous strikes surged drastically.
In an instant, lightning flashed and thunder roared between the two youths. Blinding radiance intertwined, charring the ground and blasting nearby trees to splinters.
Crack! Ultimately, the dark clouds over Li Qingxu's head were scattered, and the thunder vanished.
In this duel of lightning, neither had an easy time, each relying on other wondrous methods for defense.
After releasing that dense barrage of lightning, Qin Ming blocked the backlash with the yin-yang black and white light from the Dragon Snake Scripture. Then, the instant the lightning dissipated, he charged forward.
Li Qingxu flew backward. Struck by the black and white light, he coughed up a great mouthful of blood and crashed through a large swath of trees. Another divine chain within his flesh and blood snapped.
At this point, atop the various peaks in the secret realm, the onlookers who had been tensely watching gradually began to realize something: Li Qingxu made a grand display each time, yet ended up getting pummeled every single time.
Many had initially held deep awe for his techniques—they were, after all, Cao Qianqiu's secret arts—yet now their gazes toward him were growing peculiar.
"Every time, he looks so ethereal and busts out all kinds of legendary ultimate moves, looking so magnificent and dazzling. Yet every single time, he loses!"
"Exactly. He fancies himself an immortal seed. He's never lost when it comes to acting lofty, but when it comes to fighting, he hasn't won a single crucial battle."
Some could not hold back and began discussing it aloud.
Even Li Qingxu's acquaintances couldn't help wanting to nod upon hearing that.
Back then, in the most important battle of his life, he had lost to Li Qingyue and missed out on the near-immortal item—the Eight Trigrams Furnace. Now, in this clash between two paths, he was repeatedly battered and gravely injured by the youth on the demon path.
"Li Qingxu can really take a beating!" someone sighed.
Many noticed that he had been suppressed from start to finish, continually taking injuries, yet had never retreated and still stood his ground.
Precisely because of this, those who had just been jeering gradually fell silent again; had it been any of them, they would likely have perished long ago.
One could only say it was not that Li Qingxu was weak, but that the youth of the demon path was simply far more formidable!
Li Qingxu swayed, his face livid. "It shouldn't be like this! My master is Cao Qianqiu—how could I lose to a demon? I have brought shame upon the old master!"
Crack! This time, he took the initiative to shatter a divine chain himself!
Moreover, that dazzling divine chain was stained with his blood and accompanied by dense runes.
At the same time, Li Qingxu's body shone as a massive amount of light-rain steamed out, all pouring into that divine chain.
A phoenix's cry resounded between heaven and earth. The divine chain transformed into a blood phoenix that soared abruptly and swooped down toward Qin Ming, bearing boundless killing intent.
Qin Ming operated the demon race's primitive edition of the Dragon Snake Scripture. The dragon saber in his hand shone like a blazing sun, accompanied by billowing demonic qi. He cleaved into the blood phoenix; in an instant, tens upon hundreds of blade lights erupted, cleaving it into an explosion.
Though the blood phoenix shattered, it did not vanish. It hovered directly above Qin Ming's head, as if capturing his aura to place a mark upon him.
Li Qingxu spoke: "If I lose after this, I will accept it—I can only say I failed to master the essence of the sect-guarding secret art passed down by my teacher."
At this moment, the six divine chains that had severed earlier broke free from his body, rushed out, and disintegrated in the void. Dense runes swarmed together and reorganized into a runic pouch with a wide open mouth.
With a roar, it swooped down to envelop Qin Ming.
"The Myriad Talismans Pouch, one of Cao Qianqiu's trump cards!" Many recognized this secret art and were deeply shocked. Could Li Qingxu have actually mastered it at his age?
At this moment, even immortal seeds and divine seeds like Li Qingyue, Cui Chonghe, Zhao Yaoting, and Su Shiyun were watching intently, for this secret art was far too renowned, having shaken the night mist world.
In the past, when Cao Qianqiu encountered an extremely perilous rival, he had captured him in the Myriad Talismans Pouch and refined him alive into a cloud of blood mist. There were even rumors that a founder of the Newborn path, during an isolated life-or-death seclusion in his twilight years, was nearly trapped in the Myriad Talismans Pouch and suffered severe injuries.
Qin Ming did not evade and was gathered into the bag woven from runes. Furthermore, the shattered blood phoenix reassembled and pounced upon the Myriad Talismans Pouch, binding and knotting the mouth tight like a phoenix knot.
"Our demon race's heaven-sent prodigy has been drawn into the Myriad Talismans Pouch! Is he... going to be refined?" some demons cried in alarm.
Even they had heard of this trump card of Cao Qianqiu's, and today his disciple had actually displayed it. Li Qingxu formed a hand seal, his conscious spiritual light seething as he refined and activated the pouch.
Once inside the pouch, Qin Ming immediately felt waves of discomfort. Boundless runes flickered, squeezing in on him and trying to sink into his flesh and blood. Countless streams of light inside darted back and forth like blades and swords, piercing relentlessly.
Outside Qin Ming's body, the black-and-white dragon snake diagram rotated, immediately keeping this erosion at bay.
'These runes don't carry Li Qingxu's aura.'
Qin Ming frowned. He had sensed something amiss earlier, and now that inexplicable foreboding surfaced in his mind again.
Regardless, he had to get out first.
In the secret realm, those close to Li Qingxu breathed a sigh of relief and cheered. After waiting so long, they were finally witnessing him turn the tables in adversity!
"Could he... be in trouble?" Jiang Ruoli, Gan Jincheng, and others looked solemn, while even Xin Youdao, who knew Qin Ming fairly well, knitted his brows deeply. After all, Cao Qianqiu's Myriad Talismans Pouch was far too famous.
The path Xiao Wu stood upon vibrated; he could barely restrain himself from stepping in. Yet he believed in Qin Ming and trusted he would break free from such peril.
No one could see what was happening inside the Myriad Talismans Pouch. Qin Ming certainly wouldn't hold back or suffer through it; right off the bat, he unleashed the heavenly light force unified from six extraordinary arts.
Dazzling fist radiance erupted like an exploding sun, smashing against the Myriad Talismans Pouch.
Then, everyone saw the contracting runic pouch suddenly inflate, expanding outward as blinding golden rays projected from within.
Then, with a deafening boom, the entire pouch blew apart.
Qin Ming didn't realize how tremendous an impact his punch made. Even if a peer-level expert could break free after being captured, it would typically come at a steep price.
Yet he had broken out an instant after entering, shattering the Myriad Talismans Pouch into pieces! This was earth-shattering! At this moment, even Cui Chonghe on the immortal path narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly to see through the truth.
The esoteric sect's Cai Jingcheng, Tang Yutian, and others also shot divine light from their eyes, looking over in hopes of discerning the truth. Li Qingyue's beautiful eyes shone with wonder as she gently traced her slender white hand through the air, deducing a mysterious secret art.
Su Shiyun, Xue Yunzheng, Leng Feiyue, and seeds from the various paths all watched intently, no longer nonchalant, their expressions turning serious.
Li Qingxu could not believe it and found it impossible to accept. "How can this be? In a duel within the same realm, no one can break my master's secret art like this!"
In the secret realm, atop the various mountain peaks, many were stunned, their hearts filled with shock. Just how domineering was this youth of the demon path?
"I truly wish he had been born in Cao Qianqiu's era! If he were around back then, he'd definitely have pummeled old Cao to death—how could that old geezer have ever been allowed to run rampant?" In an instant, the emotions of several demons flared with fiery excitement. "Our demon race is destined to rise!"
Qin Ming instantly realized that the power of his six extraordinary arts combined was far too astonishing. It likely surpassed the Three Imperials force, and was likewise stronger than the Rulai Sect's Golden Body Nirvanic One and the Qingtian Sect's Sky Shaker!
He immediately gave a faint smile and remarked, "Old Cao's trump card is naturally peerless and mighty, but as his disciple, you haven't mastered it. The Myriad Talismans Pouch was full of holes—cracks running all through it, letting light leak out. It was riddled with flaws!"
Even as he spoke, he moved like a phantom crossing the night mist sea, practically teleporting as he launched his final assault against Li Qingxu.
Before everyone's eyes, he continued to execute the Dragon Snake Scripture. Yin and yang qi flowed as black and white light blazed brilliantly; a great dragon and a great serpent flew from his hands, blasting toward his raggedly feathered opponent.
Though Li Qingxu resisted with all his might, he truly could not hold out any longer.
After several clashes, his conscious spiritual light was scorched by the utmost yang, utmost unyielding aura of that great dragon until it burned with unbearable agony, on the verge of igniting.
Meanwhile, repeatedly struck by the black and white light, his arm fractured, his chest caved in, and the purple bamboo staff flew from his grip. In just a few breaths, Li Qingxu's leg bones snapped, and his shoulder blades nearly shattered to powder.
Even his forehead was grazed by the black and white light, displaying prominent cracks. Countless bones across his entire body were broken, leaving him mangled and bloody.
No one had anticipated that the demon youth would grow fiercer the longer he fought, sweeping through his opponent with devastating force in the final stage and giving the immortal seed not a single moment of respite. Was he about to blow him apart completely?
"Didn't they say those brave enough to pioneer a path would be protected and kept safe?" Those close to Li Qingxu grew frantic.
Over on the demon side, many cheered loudly: "Thrilling! This is our demon race's peerless prodigy! What immortal seed? Suppress him, slaughter him!"
"This demon youth's natural endowment is truly transcendent. For an immortal seed like Li Qingxu to be suppressed to such an extent—who can keep him in check?" Many disciples of the outer realm were deeply shaken.
"Alas, that it has come to this... My Nine Dragons Body Nourishing Technique has been broken by you just like that." Li Qingxu spat out a mouthful of bloody froth and proactively snapped the final two divine chains.
"I don't care if you have nine dragons or nine worms!" Qin Ming mobilized the black and white light and sent Li Qingxu flying sideways again, nearly tearing his body completely apart, with some wounds pierced clean through so light shone from front to back.
At that moment, Li Qingxu's immortal path ruptured with a boom, then collapsed into total ruin.
Yet right at that instant, after all nine divine chains had shattered, a streak of pure yang light erupted from his body, terrifyingly potent, condensing in an instant into the form of an old man.
'I...' Qin Ming badly wanted to shout "Holy crap!", for after battering Li Qingxu until all nine divine chains were broken, he was actually seeing Cao Qianqiu!
Chapter 215