The path snapped and an old man appeared—this "pleasant surprise" came so abruptly that Qin Ming stumbled backward three steps.
He had sensed early on that something was off with the nine divine chains, initially suspecting that Li Qingxu had sealed away some mysterious power that would eventually erupt.
At that point, he might face an even more formidable Li Qingxu. Yet within this first realm, Qin Ming feared no challenge.
In fact, he had even looked forward to it.
Who could have guessed that an old fossil would jump out instead?
It was like unveiling the bride on a wedding night only to find a withered old geezer grinning toothily back at him. All his anticipation turned into a frightful shock. Rather than a "complete form" Li Qingxu, Qin Ming was met with Li Qingxu's master, a man detested by gods and ghosts alike.
"You will pay a price for breaking my Nine Dragons Body Nourishing Technique!" Li Qingxu roared. Covered in blood and suffering extensive fractures, he could barely remain upright.
At this moment, endless killing intent roiled within him. Even when he had suffered grave injuries earlier, he had managed to keep his composure, but now his emotions were fluctuating violently.
His voice was especially loud this time, carrying clearly to the onlookers watching from the surrounding mountains.
"Even his immortal path was shattered, so what is he still so arrogant about? Sure enough, even if he's never won a crucial battle, his high and mighty posturing can never lose."
"The beam of light surging from within him is extraordinarily dangerous. Is that his trump card?" Separated by great distance, many could not make out the true nature of this pure yang light.
With hands clasped behind his back, Cao Qianqiu rose slowly into the air and looked down upon Qin Ming. His overbearing tyranny and overwhelming force were just as they had always been, projecting an aura of disdain for all under heaven.
Li Qingyue saw clearly because she possessed spirit eyes. Her delicate brows knitted slightly, sensing disaster. Cao Qianqiu was notoriously protective of his own—who could stand against him?
The immortal seeds and divine seeds on the other paths all sensed the anomaly, divine light gleaming in their eyes as they gazed over with grave expressions.
This was a wisp of Cao Qianqiu's pure yang conscious spiritual light. In an instant, he grasped the situation here and looked at his disciple with a somewhat complicated expression.
He had spent his life practically unable to find defeat; how had a disciple under his tutelage ended up in such a miserable state?
The Nine Dragons Body Nourishing Technique was recorded in his sect's foundational scriptures. If left to accumulate until the divine chains naturally severed and shed, Li Qingxu's innate talent and strength would have surged dramatically.
Yet here he was, his art forcibly broken ahead of time, and in such brutal fashion that nearly every bone in his body was fractured.
Li Qingxu felt deeply ashamed. Having lost to a demon and forced to trigger the life-saving trump card his master had left him, he felt he had completely lost face.
"It does not matter. The Nine Dragons Body Nourishing Technique also has a principle of breaking before rebuilding; you will only be stronger in the future," Cao Qianqiu said.
Out in the world, he ran rampant without restraint, hands soaked in blood. He had even tried to suppress the founder of the Newborn path to make him a laborer, and had shamelessly bullied the weak by trying to kill the Overlord, earning the disdain of many. Yet when it came to shielding his own disciples, he was undeniably generous and loyal.
Deeply moved, Li Qingxu nodded with reddened eyes. Even at a time like this, his master was still comforting him.
"A pity, though," Cao Qianqiu added. "In my youth, I never had the opportunity to break before rebuilding."
The moment these words left his mouth, Li Qingxu's expression froze.
"Mirror, come out quickly! Something's gone wrong here!" Qin Ming called out inwardly. The old man before him possessed heaven-defying abilities; hardly anyone would ever want to face him.
"Presently, he has not exceeded the realm's limits," the Heavenly Demon Mirror replied.
Yet the dark haze in Qin Ming's heart did not lift in the slightest.
If this wisp of pure yang conscious spiritual light remembered him and resonated back to the main body, his future path would be as good as severed.
Whomever this old man wished to kill was decided purely on a whim, completely at his whim, and scarce few could hold him in check.
Back then, in the Divine City constructed by the giant centipede, simply because he felt Qin Ming's fighting demeanor slightly resembled the Overlord's, Cao Qianqiu had wanted to crush him with a single finger.
Had Meng Xinghai's Martial Granduncle not intervened in time, Qin Ming would have been reduced to a mist of blood before he even realized what happened.
"Watch closely how I crush him to pieces!" Cao Qianqiu said.
Li Qingxu's heart jolted—his master was preparing to take action personally!
Qin Ming knew this matter could not be resolved peacefully. The old fellow was indeed going to step onto the field himself—truly a time-honored tradition of their lineage.
"Come here and be slain!" Cao Qianqiu declared, his words thick with murderous intent.
Things having reached this point, Qin Ming remained silent no longer, much less retreated. He spoke calmly, "If you returned to your youth, or if I had been born in your era, I might well have pinned you down and beaten you senseless!"
Cao Qianqiu sneered. "Refusing to accept it? Heh. I look down upon all paths; how many so-called heroes have turned to dry bones with the passing of years? Even the mighty of an entire era were merely barely qualified to step forward into my presence."
His full head of silver hair was shrouded in a red sun, and his gaze turned exceedingly sharp. Hovering in the air and looking down at the youth before him, he said, "As for youths like you, not even kowtowing with every single step would earn you an audience before me."
Qin Ming's eyes changed. He admitted this old fellow was indeed formidable, having forcefully shattered countless unyielding obstacles throughout his life, but the man was also arrogant beyond measure.
His own temper flared as well. "I indeed do not accept it. Words are useless. Give me a chance to fight you within the same domain, and I guarantee I'll choke you to death."
Cao Qianqiu was quite surprised. How many years had it been since anyone dared speak to him like this? The last person to openly defy and berate him to his face had been that Overlord.
He spoke coldly, "Mmh, so this environment forces me to fight at the same level? Heh, fine by me. In the days of my high spirits, I dared to sweep away all rivals under heaven. Today, I shall indulge in insolence once more and strangle you so-called heaven-sent geniuses with a single hand."
Qin Ming finally understood why this man was detested by gods and ghosts, envied and hated even by demons, and why even a stray dog by the road would want to take a bite out of him. Every single word out of this old fellow's mouth was intensely infuriating.
One could completely sympathize with his opponents' feelings: unable to do anything against him, liable to be blasted apart if they dared provoke him, leaving them filled with resentment, indignation, and bitterness, forced to swallow their defiance even if they refused to accept it.
In just these few moments, even Qin Ming's emotions had been stirred up.
With a clang, the light of the dragon saber in his hand flared explosively. In an instant, black and white light flowed as dragon and snake resonated together. "Cut the patronizing crap about your age! Today, we'll see whether I hack you in half alive, or you strangle me with one hand!"
The old fellow had provoked a tremendous battle intent within Qin Ming; it had been a long time since he felt such an urgent desire to fight someone.
"Very well. The river of time through which this old man has waded shall merely gain one more insignificant skeleton," Cao Qianqiu nodded, an incomparably dangerous aura coursing around his body.
He pointed a finger, and densely packed runes filled the air by the tens of thousands, shimmering like a river of stars, or like immortal path flower buds on the verge of blooming.
Li Qingxu was both ashamed and thrilled. In the end, it was his master who had manifested here to personally slay the demon seed.
In the secret realm, the various factions did not know what was happening on the battlefield, unaware that the light manifesting from Li Qingxu's body was Cao Qianqiu, nor could they hear the conversation taking place there.
Undoubtedly, if this "casual exchange" between the elder and the youth were leaked, it would cause an uproar! Only a few people had sensed something and guessed the truth.
Following Cao Qianqiu's point, the dense runes in midair converged with a rumbling crash, forming a massive warhammer engraved with numerous patterns.
Holding it in his hand, he said, "Whether demons or Newborns, the early pathways are roughly the same. I shall hammer you to pieces in the very domain you excel at most."
Amid ringing metallic clangs, the dragon saber in Qin Ming's grasp transformed as well, reconverging into a massive warhammer, alternating black and white, wrapped in yin and yang qi.
His fighting spirit was stoked; he was ready to meet the old fellow tit for tat.
Driving the Dragon Snake Scripture with his unified heavenly light force and tinged with demonic qi, he manifested the Dragon Snake Hammer, his essence, energy, and spirit focused to the utmost.
Then, Qin Ming took the initiative, charging forward with warhammer in hand.
He would not dance to the old fellow's tune. When dealing with such an old madman, smashing him to bits was the finest response.
Having lived a life of dominance, Cao Qianqiu moved forward to clash head-on upon seeing this.
His body, formed of pure yang conscious spiritual light, was feather-light yet exceedingly swift. Brandishing the runic warhammer, he swooped down in a flash.
Dazzling heavenly light surged as he swung the hammer, its explosive detonations deafening as it smashed toward the youth before him.
Qin Ming was deeply surprised: Cao Qianqiu had actually simulated the terrifying properties of heavenly light force using pure yang conscious spiritual light. He truly was somewhat heaven-defying.
With a heavy thud like exploding thunder, the entire battlefield shook. Plants and boulders across the mountainous terrain, wherever struck by the streaming light radiating from their blows, were shattered and blown apart.
In the clearing, both men's hair flew backward, their clothes snapping violently in the wind under the impact of that terrifying "heavenly light force."
Though Cao Qianqiu was manifested from conscious spiritual light, he behaved no differently from a body of flesh and blood.
He stood in midair, spun around, whipped his right arm, and smashed downward with even greater fury.
Qin Ming remained fearless. Leaping into the air to seize the high ground, he extended his frame and swung the Dragon Snake Hammer toward his opponent.
In an instant, a dull, deafening boom erupted in midair as beams of light clashed wildly like lightning descending from the nine heavens, causing the entire region to shake violently.
Cao Qianqiu was borne back by the shockwave. His pure yang spiritual body was very light, seeming almost weightless, and he bounded over twenty meters away while gripping the rune-inscribed hammer.
Qin Ming dropped from the sky, cracking the ground beneath his feet. The heavenly light force surging through the warhammer in his hands seemed wrapped in lightning.
"Quite a bit of skill. Mmh, there's something off about you," Cao Qianqiu muttered, staring at him.
In truth, ever since he first laid eyes on Qin Ming, he had sensed that this person was not a pure demon, but had not given it much thought. Now that they had traded blows, his vast experience and insight naturally yielded a great deal of information.
Qin Ming cut him off, saying, "Cut the chatter. I'm eager to see just how you plan to strangle me. Don't bother with one hand either—use both!"
In fact, Qin Ming himself was holding one hand behind his back.
Cao Qianqiu's expression was chilly as he raised the warhammer in his hand once more.
The power he displayed was ostensibly heavenly light force, but in truth he had simulated it using pure yang conscious spiritual light. It was far more powerful than the heavenly light force cultivated by practitioners of the immortal path themselves; the single attribute of "pure yang" alone was enough to overwhelm everything.
By layering runes continuously, he structured this pure yang light into an exceedingly terrifying "force."
In the rear, Li Qingxu was utterly shaken. This was his first time witnessing his master's power at this stage; he truly fell short of surpassing his master.
Clutching the warhammer, Cao Qianqiu flew in his spiritual state, swift as lightning, swooping down toward Qin Ming once again.
This time, Qin Ming stood his ground without moving. Vigorously channeling heavenly light force, he caused the Dragon Snake Hammer in his right hand to vibrate and roar, enveloped in blinding beams of light, even producing shrill, tearing sounds through the air.
Like a torrent bursting its banks or lakes and seas breaching their dikes, rumbling thuds resounded without cease. Qin Ming and Cao Qianqiu clashed hammers repeatedly, as if ready to sink the mountains and tear open the night sky.
At last, the two abruptly separated. Holding the Dragon Snake Hammer, Qin Ming looked across at his opponent.
Cao Qianqiu's spiritual body drifted lightly backward more than ten meters. The runic warhammer in his hand was already shattered, leaving only half a handle behind.
"Use your immortal path techniques!" Qin Ming commanded, left hand behind his back, pointing the black-and-white Dragon Snake Hammer in his hand toward Cao Qianqiu in midair.
Chapter 216