The two elders appeared frail, so gaunt that a gust of wind seemed capable of sweeping them away. Lacking the transcendent aura of experts on the immortal path, they were mere skin and bones, worn down almost beyond recognition.
Qin Ming’s emotions surged with profound gratitude and warmth. "Seniors, how can I help you?"
Everything they had done for him had been without asking for anything in return, for they had few years left to live and their lifespans were nearly spent.
Yu Gensheng replied, "Child, at our age, we need nothing. Our only regret is that the Newborn path grows dimmer by the day. The condition of the patriarchs... is likely dire as well."
Zhao Ziyuan sighed softly. "Other paths flourish like gardens in full bloom, constantly producing new talents. But our path suffers from a drought of successors, leaving us in a precarious state. If the patriarchs were to pass away suddenly, the consequences would be unthinkable. What we urgently need now is someone to take up the banner and prolong this path's life—and in you, we see a glimmer of hope."
Qin Ming nodded solemnly. All he could do was cultivate with relentless determination and rise as swiftly as possible!
At the same time, he desperately wanted to extend their lives. "Seniors, I have the Destiny-Altering Scripture, and I even obtained half of the World-Abiding Scripture from the Cui clan."
"We have already tried every method we could think of. The main problem is our advanced age; our steps on the Newborn path can carry us no further, and our realm is thoroughly stalled."
The two shook their heads, thanking him for his goodwill while declining any extra effort on his part.
"Auspicious beast blood will definitely work!" Qin Ming insisted.
In that moment, his fighting spirit burned fiercely. He could not afford to delay. He had to seize every remaining moment to outcompete everyone else, striving to secure two extra portions of auspicious blood.
"There is no need to take risks for us. Two decaying old men have long made peace with fate. Besides, auspicious beast blood would only buy us a short amount of time. It cannot solve the fundamental problem."
"Buying time is enough," Qin Ming said firmly.
As they spoke, he and the two elders swiftly cleaned up the battlefield. Certain memory crystals could be preserved, while others had to have "already" been destroyed during the combat.
"All of them were once dear old acquaintances," Qin Ming murmured, gazing at the bloodstains across the ground.
Yu Gensheng corrected him sternly, "You are far too softhearted, child. For people like this, no pity is warranted—killing them is all they deserve!"
Qin Ming smiled and shook his head. "Acquaintances I personally killed—'personally dispatched acquaintances.'"
The two elders were left speechless.
Zhao Ziyuan asked, "Child, that you could slay someone of the third realm genuinely shocked us. How did you do it?"
When they first heard the news, they had found it utterly unbelievable, like a fairy tale.
Qin Ming did not hide the truth and told them that he had obtained Starfire Essence.
Yu Gensheng and Zhao Ziyuan drew in a sharp breath of the night mist. That was astounding—a heavenly treasure that even veteran elders dreamed of acquiring, an extraordinary item of the highest tier from beyond the mundane.
Qin Ming admitted that he might not actually refine and fuse it. He had his own considerations for his future path and was still weighing his options, suspecting there might be a better approach.
After all, by practicing extraordinary arts alone, he had already elevated his heavenly light to the Four Imperials force!
"Seeking entirely from within?!"
Once they learned of his true state, their minds trembled in awe. This youth was far more formidable than they had ever imagined.
"Less than ten months—no, merely seven or eight months—and you have stepped into the second realm. Yours is a true Outer Sage, not merely an Outer Manifestation!"
"If someone like you cannot blaze a new trail for the Newborns, then no one ever will, and this path might as well come to an end!" they declared in their assessment.
At the same time, both felt that they could not cling rigidly to old conventions. When resources needed to be lavished upon him, they had to be provided; such a prodigy could never be ruined by pampering.
Yu Gensheng asked, "Child, how you walk your path is up to you to decide. For now, are there any particular scriptures you need?"
Qin Ming answered at once, "The Withering and Thriving Classic. In the domain of the Outer Sage, I intend to incorporate it, and I have already obtained half of it."
"Understood!" The two nodded, preparing to find a way to secure it for him.
"Do you need anything else?" they asked again.
For Qin Ming, extraordinary arts were always the more, the better.
He asked, "What scriptures do the two seniors excel in?"
"The one we have devoted the most blood and sweat to is the Geomagnetism Classic, and above it lies an advanced secret manual."
Hearing this, Qin Ming’s eyes burned with anticipation. This was a domain he had never touched before; such an extraordinary art would surely grant him a tremendous boost.
When the two learned just how many extraordinary arts he had already mastered, their scalps tingled with shock. It was simply too many—could something go wrong?
They felt a touch of concern. A single extraordinary art was worthy of a Newborn's lifetime of study. While a genius could cultivate several, he had already mastered nearly ten.
"This child's rate of growth far exceeds anything we imagined!"
"Let us simply provide convenience and refrain from offering arbitrary advice."
***
Outside the Third Peril, across the vast plateau, the demon horde collapsed in utter rout. Once the ancestor-grade auspicious beast was slain, the outcome was set in stone.
Qin Ming went on a frenzy of slaughter, driving himself harder than anyone else. He was accumulating rare blood medicine for his path as an Outer Sage, and even more, fighting to win life-saving treasures for the two elders.
Having reconnected with him, Jin Xiang kicked up its hooves and ran behind him, hauling the armored carriage. The golden ram was struck dumb with awe—this junior brother was truly defying the heavens.
His demon-slaying efficiency was terrifyingly high, and every target was a hardened brute. Encounters that should have been grueling slugfests were swept aside in clean, decisive strokes!
Qin Ming was fighting with the reckless abandon of a desperate daredevil!
"None supported my soaring ambitions..." an exceptionally monstrous demon wailed in despair. It struck down human cultivator after human cultivator, turning the tables and slaughtering its besiegers.
It had once possessed the chance to become a demon seed, but due to various circumstances, it had ultimately failed selection, losing by only a hair's breadth.
Yet the treatment it received was worlds apart. The demon seeds on the plateau had been escorted away ahead of time, while it had been cut off and abandoned.
Corpses littered the ground beneath its feet; it had killed so many that no one in the vicinity dared approach any longer.
"None supported your soaring ambitions? Then I'll send you straight to the Western Heaven!" Qin Ming charged into the fray.
Covering the final distance, he rode his blade forward, five-colored light rings shielding his body. Brilliant blade light cleaved through the night mist as though a young deity had torn through the sky.
"A demon seed 'gatekeeper'? Equivalent to Li Qingxu's level on the immortal path," Qin Ming deduced immediately.
***
Meanwhile, the members of the Li clan were all smiles, their faces radiant with joy.
Word was spreading across the plateau that the Cui clan had lost several detachments!
Furthermore, a small clique of their experts responsible for intelligence gathering and troop deployment had been completely wiped out in one fell swoop.
The Cui clan's allies were dumbfounded. How had this happened? While every other faction was reaping rich rewards, the Cui clan was bleeding heads.
The Li clan confirmed that their rival had suffered substantial losses.
"Fortunately, we exercised caution and passed the intel to the Cui clan to let them test the waters. Heh, who would have thought thunder would strike from a clear sky? The Cui clan kicked an iron plate!"
The Li clan members could not help laughing heartily, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle from the sidelines.
Soon, however, they received a secret report: the original source of the rumor had actually been the Cui clan itself.
"The Cui clan intended to use us from the start? How vicious!" The expressions of several Li clan members darkened.
They had originally been on the verge of setting out. Fortunately, a few cautious and conservative elders had changed their minds at the last minute and gifted this supposed prize to the Cui clan.
They had narrowly avoided stepping on the landmine. In the end, the trouble had been kicked right back to where it began.
At this moment, the Cui clan experts on the plateau were beside themselves with fury. Especially after reconciling their intelligence and realizing the Li clan had played them, their faces turned livid.
The tension between the two factions soared.
Grudges had festered between the two great clans for ages; a single spark was enough to set the entire night sky ablaze.
Before long, multiple clashes erupted between the Cui clan and the Li clan, breaking into skirmishes across various parts of the plateau in mutual hostility.
Of course, while there were still merits to be won by slaying demons, they could not launch an all-out war. Only a few sectors suffered relatively severe bloodshed.
It was also around this time that a fraction of people began hearing the name Qin Ming.
"Word has it that a remarkable genius has emerged on the Newborn path?"
Those hearing it for the first time found the details about the youth rather vague.
Yet a few acquaintances were utterly stunned and deeply shaken.
"Qin Ming? Is it the one we know?!" Zheng Maoze and Zeng Yuan were dumbfounded.
Months ago, Qin Ming had not even been qualified to serve as their gold-armored guard. To think he had inexplicably risen to prominence—they could hardly believe it.
"My best brother... he's here too, and he's starting to shine?!" Ning Siqi was astounded, though his shock soon gave way to worry.
His cousin Wang Caiwei stood lost in thought.
Lu Zhenyi, Chen Bingyan, and the others wondered whether it might simply be an outsider who shared the same name.
"Brother Ming, are you about to be exposed?" Xiao Wu muttered, furrowing her brow.
The rumors were still hazy, with no explosive news yet confirmed across the board.
Cui Chonghe sneered. That was merely his stand-in!
As of yet, he had not received the latest confirmed reports.
***
Blood dripped from the five-colored blade in Qin Ming's grasp. That formidable demon now lay dead, its soaring ambitions cut short forever.
Without a moment's pause, Qin Ming resumed his pursuit of the scattered demons across the plateau, becoming the young slaughtering star of the region and the fiercest competitor in the eyes of many.
Eventually, the battle cries across the entire plateau grew fainter and fainter until they ceased altogether. The great battle drew to a close; in truth, the fighting in most sectors had already ended.
"Attention all forces: withdraw in an orderly fashion. No conflict among allies will be tolerated! Anyone who stirs up trouble or engages in infighting during the march will be severely punished by the patriarchs!"
A powerful expert's voice resonated through the night sky, issuing a stern warning.
Tensions had already shown signs of boiling over, with friction breaking out between several major powers, such as the Cui clan and the Li clan.
"There is no need to return to Kunling City. Battle merits will be tallied just outside the plateau. We guarantee fairness and impartiality; anyone with objections may raise them publicly!"
Hearing this announcement under the night sky, the various factions beamed with delight, and many rogue cultivators cheered aloud.
Even if they could not claim auspicious beast blood, they could still exchange the heads of slain demons for other benefits. Otherwise, why would they have fought with such zeal?
Whenever a Great Reclamation took place, vast quantities of resources were distributed.
Outside the Third Peril, across this plateau, there were numerous secret realms and many dens of powerful demons that the higher-ups had long since cleared out, leaving an abundance of spoils to be allocated downward.
"Good grief, look at that masked fellow named Li Bai! His battle record is dazzling—he'll definitely be able to trade for auspicious beast blood. Incredible!"
"Hiss, did you see that? The white robes of a certain immortal seed from the outer realm are soaked red with blood! His ethereal grace has completely turned into the presence of a god of slaughter. Judging by his haul, he can trade for two portions of auspicious blood!"
***
As the forces sweeping the plateau returned, exclamations of shock rippled through the crowd one after another.
Soon, people caught sight of a golden ram, burlier than an ox or a horse, pulling a cart piled high with demon heads.
At the sight, everyone's expressions practically turned to stone.
"Jin Xiang, has your tempering of the mind in the mortal dust reached great completion? How could you have such an absurd haul? Or are you serving some powerful team?"
Jin Xiang thought to itself: *The spoils are far more than just this.*
Chapter 241