Li Qingxu's scalp tingled with shock. That was his master, Cao Qianqiu, a man who had reigned supreme in his era. Yet someone actually dared show such blatant disrespect and challenge his majesty.
For a brief moment, he desperately wanted to charge forward and defend the honor of his sect, refusing to let anyone dishonor it.
However, reality was cruel. He was no match. Even his master simulating heavenly light force hadn't been able to withstand the opponent's ferocious hammer techniques.
He had no choice but to force himself calm and remain standing where he was.
Cao Qianqiu spoke with utter detachment. "How many years has it been since someone dared challenge me? Being young is truly wonderful—always so full of vigor, possessing a fearless heart. Yet such people also tend to die very quickly."
If Qin Ming had been at a disadvantage, his state of mind might indeed have been shaken by those words. Right now, however, having just shattered Old Cao's warhammer, he held the dominant position and wore an easy smile.
He remarked, "I've finally figured it out. Everyone in your lineage is remarkably skilled at hammering with your mouths, and you're all extraordinarily good at putting on airs!"
For all these years, Cao Qianqiu had held himself high—wild, domineering, and flamboyant, running rampant across the world without restraint. He had the power to back it up, fulfilling most of what he boasted, whereas his disciples could only be said to swing empty hammers, shooting hot air.
In the distance, Li Qingxu's face shifted between green and pale. Powerless to step forward and refute the claim through action, he could only leave it to his master to intervene in person.
The shattered hammer shaft in Cao Qianqiu's hand let out an explosive blast as runes expanded outward, reassembling into a massive warhammer swirled with pure yang heavenly light force that appeared terrifyingly formidable.
His domineering demeanor had long become an instinct. Over decades of roaming unhindered beneath the heavens, he had always cleaved straight through his adversaries and had never known the taste of defeat. Thus, he took up the hammer to fight again.
In doing so, he naturally sought to suppress his opponent in the domain where the opponent was strongest.
Qin Ming said nothing. Gripping his Dragon Snake Hammer, he strode forward. When dealing with an arrogant old madman, beating him to pieces in real combat was the only fitting response.
Cao Qianqiu's spiritual body appeared light and ethereal, yet once he moved, his strength was incomparably fierce. With a gentle shake of the warhammer, he caused the very air to detonate.
In an instant, he glided across the void as though hauling a great mountain, the slight tremor of the weapon unleashing terrifying sonic booms.
At this moment, Qin Ming felt deep "respect" for this senior. He had to hammer him with every ounce of strength he possessed. The heavenly light force throughout his body broke through his skin, blazing like raging flames as its brilliance surged violently.
With a single bound crossing over twenty meters, he arrived in a flash and swung his hammer down, meeting Old Cao midair like a hurtling meteor.
*Clang!*
A deafening roar erupted across the expanse. Beyond the clash of heavenly light force, the shockwave of air alone obliterated the surrounding remnants of the forest.
"Old senior, I respect you deeply! First, take a hundred strikes from my hammer!" Qin Ming shouted.
In a breath, the two traded ferocious blows, neither yielding a single step.
The terrain seemed to witness the collision of two colossal mountains: the earth trembled, the ridges shook, and heavenly light force intertwined as if unleashing countless bolts of lightning. Within a single instant, they traded over a dozen strikes.
As Qin Ming descended from midair, Cao Qianqiu dove straight down, following up with another blast.
The ground could be seen cracking open, massive fissures half a foot wide spreading in every direction.
Both traded speed for speed, shifting like bolts of lightning. Crucially, their power was fiercely brutal and frighteningly destructive. Wherever they passed, giant boulders burst apart, and the surviving woods were ground into powder.
They fought until the ridges and hills collapsed, the ground crisscrossed with spiderweb fractures, any obstacle in their path thoroughly demolished.
"You've got quite some strength, old senior! Thrilling! Don't stop—that was only forty-some strikes. Again!" Qin Ming brandished the Dragon Snake Hammer, his heavenly light force seething as he leaped into the air and struck at his opponent.
Cao Qianqiu's cheek twitched slightly. His warhammer had shattered once again.
"Didn't you want to clash in the domain I'm best at? Please, don't waste time!" Qin Ming landed on the ground and raised his hammer, shouting out.
Cao Qianqiu dove down. This time he landed on the earth, reforming the warhammer with runes to clash fiercely with his foe. Yet this exchange was even briefer: after merely a dozen blows, his weapon exploded completely.
"What happened? Another fierce battle broke out! Is that Li Qingxu's pure yang conscious spiritual light? Why is it so terrifyingly powerful?!" Across the secret realm, atop various peaks, countless onlookers were thoroughly shocked.
Along the immortal path and the divine path, apart from Li Qingyue, seeds like Cui Chonghe and Su Shiyun all wore grave expressions, already suspecting that the beam of light was Cao Qianqiu.
"Don't run, come again!" Qin Ming yelled, pursuing with the warhammer.
Cao Qianqiu's silver hair whipped in the wind, his weathered face icy. How many years had it been? His dominance had actually been overturned, and by a youth wielding heavenly light force!
All these years, he had nurtured the ambition that upon making another breakthrough, he would capture a founding ancestor of the Newborn path to serve as his laborer.
Yet right now, clashing blow for blow against a Newborn on the same level, he was actually struggling to hold his ground, causing his facial muscles to twitch.
With silver hair flying, thunder, wind force, fire force, and earth force manifested across the hammer in his hand. His momentum skyrocketed as though the entire landscape were resonating with him.
Around him, clouds stirred, a gentle rain fell, and lightning intertwined.
Qin Ming sighed inwardly. This was the Overlord's secret method. Old Cao had studied it and was now actually deploying it. He didn't know whether to laugh or grieve for the Overlord.
At this juncture, there was nothing more to say—he would hammer Cao Qianqiu with everything he had!
Qin Ming fought with reckless abandon. Though operating the Dragon Snake Scripture, he was using the silk book method to drive multiple fused heavenly light forces into a full-scale eruption.
After repeated collisions, Old Cao's hammer shattered who knew how many times.
Moreover, this time he failed to dodge, taking a hammer blow squarely from Qin Ming. His pure yang conscious spiritual light shook violently, his entire form twisting, blurring, and tumbling backward through the air.
Under normal circumstances, had this been a body of flesh and blood, his injuries would have been far more severe.
Qin Ming streaked across the sky like lightning in pursuit. Dragon-snake force erupted like a soaring dragon, granting him brief flight.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
In that split second, he swung the warhammer repeatedly, smashing Cao Qianqiu again and again.
For a time, Old Cao was driven into a miserable plight, even his hammer handle blasted away. No matter how domineering and imperious he had once been, he had to bite the bullet and admit that relying solely on heavenly light force, he was no match for this youth.
"Don't back off! We haven't reached a hundred strikes yet. Again!" Qin Ming grew more ferocious as he fought. With adhesive force, he caught the wide sleeve formed of pure yang conscious spiritual light and hauled him back toward himself.
At the same time, the Dragon Snake Hammer in his other hand slammed forward with crushing force.
Li Qingxu looked on in sheer horror. He watched his master take four consecutive hammer strikes, beaten into the air with his form dimming.
At the final moment, Cao Qianqiu severed his sleeve, sacrificing a portion of his pure yang conscious spiritual light. Even so, that arm was smashed to pieces.
Simultaneously, the youth followed up at lightning speed with another blow, sending him flying dozens of meters away, his entire body fracturing. Fortunately, this was his pure yang conscious spiritual light, capable of reforming after shattering.
His expression turned pitch-black. Even in his youth, he had never suffered such a defeat, having crushed every adversary along his path. How was it that in his old age, fighting someone on the same level, he was instead pummeled repeatedly by this youth?
His combat experience, his vast knowledge, his understanding of diverse scriptures, and his pure yang conscious spiritual light should have rendered him inherently invincible.
Yet reality was absurdly cruel. The youth before him crushed everything with sheer power. That heavenly light force was far too tyrannical—in this first realm, it likely surpassed the Three Imperials force.
Qin Ming called out, "Old senior, keep your word! You said you would smash me in the domain I'm best at. Come on, there are still a dozen strikes left to reach a hundred."
Cao Qianqiu's face was chillingly cold as he said, "In this domain, you win."
Li Qingxu felt as though the heavens had collapsed. His master, invincible throughout his life, forcing enemies on all sides to bow, was actually thrashed here today by a youth.
Worst of all, this demonic youth was an opponent he had brought upon them!
"Master!" At this moment, Li Qingxu felt like a sinner who had brought humiliation upon his master and caused him to suffer such an agonizing loss.
"What is going on? That clash was far too intense. I can hardly believe that's Li Qingxu!"
Across the peaks, many onlookers were skeptical and deeply shaken.
Li Qingyue breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then couldn't help but smile. Cao Qianqiu had actually been hammered.
Cui Chonghe, Cai Jingcheng, Su Shiyun, and the others, having guessed that the figure was Old Cao, turned solemn upon seeing the outcome of this initial clash.
"Then unleash your immortal path techniques!" Qin Ming stated bluntly.
Li Qingxu clenched his fists. How could this demonic youth speak with such insolence when facing his master?
Cao Qianqiu spoke impassively. "Heh. In past eras, there were also newcomers who sought to make a name off me, Cao Qianqiu. But in the end, they were all turned to ash by my hands."
Immediately, dense runes formed a treasure mirror before him, pure yang aura surging within an instant.
Just then, Cao Qianqiu's expression shifted slightly. His body sank, dropping to the ground, no longer able to float in midair. He glared into the void and said chillingly, "You dare interfere in my affairs?"
Clearly, had he possessed a physical body, he could not fly in midair within the first realm at all. Now he was restricted by the Heavenly Demon Mirror.
Qin Ming smiled, then charged straight in.
Cao Qianqiu looked cold and aloof. The mirror condensed from runes blasted a blinding beam of light toward Qin Ming. This was the Body Illuminating Mirror, bearing tens of thousands of runes, using pure yang as blades to specifically slaughter the physical bodies of demons and Newborns.
Heavenly light flowed in Qin Ming's left hand. Emulating the technique, he shaped a mirror from heavenly light, infusing divine wisdom and conscious spiritual light into it for defense.
This mirror resembled a blazing golden sun, dazzlingly bright, instantly blocking the pure yang light, turning the sharp blades into flames that burned away harmlessly.
"Hm?!" Cao Qianqiu's brow furrowed deeply. He had forgotten that he was currently in the first realm; against heavenly light that surpassed the Three Imperials force, penetrating it was indeed difficult.
Holding the Blazing Sun Mirror in his left hand and the warhammer in his right, Qin Ming cracked the earth beneath his feet and charged forward at extreme speed.
The Body Illuminating Mirror in Cao Qianqiu's hand fired beam after beam of terrifying light, its pure yang nature exceedingly formidable. Anyone else would have been pierced through on the spot.
Yet Qin Ming either deflected them with the mirror face like a shield or shattered them directly with his hammer.
Closing in through a barrage of exchanges, he smashed the Body Illuminating Mirror and struck Old Cao with the Dragon Snake Hammer once more.
Cao Qianqiu was enraged. When had he ever suffered such humiliation? Runes burst into full bloom across his body as he moved like a pure yang phoenix, exchanging blows with Qin Ming at breakneck speed.
Yet the astral wind howled, and the youth swung his warhammer, driving him to the point of exhaustion.
The youth of the first realm was peerlessly valiant. Everywhere his hammer struck, Cao Qianqiu's pure yang conscious spiritual light shuddered and fractured multiple times.
*Boom!*
Cao Qianqiu was sent flying. The youth pursued, slamming hammer strike after hammer strike down.
Li Qingxu's eyes nearly split with rage. That was the invincible master of his heart, yet today he had taken hit after hit, and now he was struck squarely in the chest, sent flying dozens of meters away.
Cao Qianqiu's face was frosty. His body had already shattered before; he realized that had he possessed a physical body rather than pure yang consciousness, he would be in mortal peril!
His gaze turned chillingly dark: this youth could not be allowed to live!
*Dong!*
A heavy hammer blow landed squarely on his head, rapidly splitting it apart.
Chapter 217