The night was as dark as ink. Across the barren earth where not a blade of grass grew, black-haired whirlwinds wailed and howled, while inside the wooden fence atop the mountain summit, all remained calm and still.
The crystal figure pulled a glowing mass from beneath the cracked earth.
Qin Ming was taken aback. "Are you really taking 'giving someone the means to fish' in the most literal sense?"
Wu Yaozu tilted his head, giving the crystal figure slumped on the ground an unfriendly look.
In its hand was a spool of very fine, translucent line that glittered brilliantly. Most notably, one end of the line was tied to a gleaming hook.
Xiao Wu curled his lip. "Taken literally, don't tell me you actually plan to give Brother Ming two fish?"
"You aren't entirely stupid," the crystal figure nodded in all seriousness.
Xiao Wu felt an urge to pummel him. "You're the one who's brainless! Who cares about eating your fish!"
The crystal figure replied gravely, "Do you think just anyone can eat fish raised in a baleful ground?"
Wu Yaozu eyed him askance, not even wanting to speak with him anymore. At their level, who cared about satisfying mere appetite?
The crystal figure said, "These fish are medicine. In the ancient path of gods and immortals, the harmony of the dragon and tiger was emphasized to refine yin-yang great medicine. Tell me, is that precious or not?"
Qin Ming said nothing. He walked the Newborn path, which had nothing to do with the ancient path of gods and immortals.
Yet he knew that people beyond the mundane world truly cared about yin-yang great medicines; otherwise, Li Qingyue, Cui Chonghe, and the others would never have traveled all the way to Black-White Mountain back then to search for medicine.
"In the second realm, a mental field can only undergo a small amount of pure yang transformation by relying on itself. In the third realm, one must undergo a 'tribulation' or baptism by immortal fire to continually transform it into pure yang and vastly boost efficiency. This yin-yang great medicine from the baleful ground can constantly temper your consciousness. If you can completely assimilate it into your mental field, its wonders are endless!"
The crystal figure's facial expression could hardly change, yet one could sense that it was speaking with utmost solemnity.
Even Xiao Wu, who had been glaring sideways, put away his dissatisfaction. He realized he had misunderstood earlier—it was a pair of yin-yang fish, a true "famed medicine."
"Fish that have taken form like this have been rare since ancient times. Even among famous mountains, great rivers, forbidden lands, and perilous grounds, they are hard to find."
After giving a brief explanation, the crystal figure collapsed into fragments with a clatter. Yet a wisp of its conscious spiritual light still lingered upon the fishing line, guiding them toward the fish pit.
Before departing, Qin Ming opened his Eye of the Newborn and gazed into the distance at the edge of this barren land. Faintly, he saw a city enclosed by rammed-earth walls that were covered in cracks.
It was an earthen city steeped in the weight of time, exuding an air of ancient vicissitude, riddled with countless holes and scars.
Qin Ming surmised that it was not Yujing.
Even so, he sensed an exceptionally perilous aura from that earthen city. Anyone daring to approach would most likely die a sudden death in an instant.
"Yujing has its share of wondrous legends, yet the road leading there is swept by black-haired whirlwinds and teeming with ghostly shadows. What lies ahead is full of the unknown and terrifying."
The two turned and descended the mountain, retracing their steps to leave the thatched hut area and re-enter the baleful ground.
Beneath the night sky, dense fog hung thick over miles of desolate earth. Occasionally, baleful light steamed upward, and the entire expanse was dead and silent, devoid of sound.
The spool of line in Qin Ming's hand glowed, lighting the way forward.
Along the way, they spotted a stream of "phoenix-shaped baleful qi." They pursued it for quite some time, only to watch it spread its wings and plunge into the pitch-black sky, vanishing in an instant.
Top-tier baleful substances and heterogeneous substances in this place were truly not few!
Qin Ming and Xiao Wu salivated at the sight. They had discovered several kinds one after another. If they could bring them outside, even if they couldn't use them themselves, they could sell them for astronomical prices.
A ripple pulsed from the fishing line as a voice said, "That can only be considered a fledgling phoenix. It still bears an abundance of chicken feathers and really belongs to the level of an old hen."
Wu Yaozu said, "Your standards are ridiculously high!"
The two rushed across three hundred li, finally arriving at their destination.
In this territory, large and small craters stretched across the terrain, packed densely together. At the same time, baleful qi swirled around them. Never mind vegetation—even ordinary rocks would crumble into powder at the lightest touch.
This was the result of years and months of corrosion by all manner of baleful qi.
Everywhere lay metal fragments and various meteorites, every piece of matter webbed with cracks.
This was precisely why an immortal sect of antiquity had cultivated baleful qi here.
Long ago in ancient times, a meteor shower rained down entirely upon this place—a magnificent spectacle and grand wonder that brought along vast quantities of extraterrestrial matter.
Today, most people were no longer willing to harvest baleful qi here, as the vast majority had already been taken. Whatever remained was either flawed or extraordinarily dangerous and difficult to handle.
There were even some types of "bizarre baleful qi" and "slaughtering baleful qi" that specifically targeted living beings, claiming lives at the slightest provocation.
Of course, the greater the danger and risk, the greater the potential harvest.
In the outer realm, a small handful of near-immortal seeds had once come here to gather "rare baleful qi" and seek legendary heterogeneous substances to temper their pure yang consciousness.
In fact, some immortal seeds had been favored by fortune, capturing baleful qi shaped like a flood dragon from this place to merge with their mental fields and temper themselves, which truly counted as a peerless great medicine.
Qin Ming said, "Here, there's strange baleful qi suspended like a divine lantern, fire baleful qi shaped like a Vermilion Bird, and rare baleful qi in the form of the Earth Mother. These are all legendary grade, right?"
Along the way, they had already seen many people's grievances carved into meteorites, expressing the gatherers' frustrations.
The fishing line sent out a mental fluctuation, replying, "None can compare to the fish baleful qi I discovered."
"If the fish baleful qi is even more miraculous, how could it remain without being taken?" Xiao Wu asked.
The lingering conscious spiritual light on the line rippled. "Baleful qi and miraculous extraterrestrial substances have no fixed form, gathering and dispersing at will. Once they gain sentience, they become even harder to detect and capture. Moreover, divine objects conceal their own brilliance, intentionally assuming ordinary guise. Without anyone paying them mind, they are all the safer."
As they spoke, they reached the core area. Several massive pits lay here, pitch-black like abysses, said to connect to vast subterranean chasms that extended into the deepest recesses of the earth.
Many knew that formidable treasures still lurked here. People had sighted Earth Mother baleful qi, and a heterogeneous substance in the form of a Golden-Winged Peng had soared into the sky, once illuminating this firmament, yet no one had managed to catch it, leaving behind immense regret.
All these baleful energies and heterogeneous substances were condensed from rare outer heavenly light, having developed sentience and eventually assumed form.
A small fraction of them was worthy of being recorded in the most prestigious compendiums of famed baleful qi.
"Even Senior Brother Pei of the pure land, an immortal seed capable of discussing the Dao with seniors, failed here. That 'Golden-Winged Peng' was truly profound and terrifying; with a spread of its wings, it tore through the clouds and vanished. If one could harvest it, it would be like a blazing sun suspended aloft. To temper one's conscious mind with it until fully unified—how formidable would that be?!"
Undoubtedly, many words were carved into the meteorites of this area, recording the sentiments, reflections, and regrets of those who came to harvest baleful qi.
"The Earth Mother baleful qi was suspected to have been subdued; it has not appeared for a long time!"
The records here dated from ages ago as well as recent years. Qin Ming looked at messages left within the past year or two, as those from too long ago were no longer relevant.
"Senior Brother Zhuo, who opened a divine eye between his brows, discovered a giant black fish here. He exhausted every means, but ultimately failed to dredge it up."
Following this inscription were numerous replies.
"Senior Brother Cui Chonghe searched through numerous ancient texts and found clues, suspecting that an immortal sect of antiquity raised two fish here that together could form a yin-yang great medicine!"
Sure enough, this note had sparked widespread discussion, drawing many people here to fish.
"The youth of later generations are formidable indeed to have made such a discovery," the fishing line glowed, its mental fluctuation tinged with emotion.
The meteorite mentioned that Cui Chonghe had brought a rare treasure refined by Sun Taichu—a large net imbued with Dao charm—and indeed nearly scooped it up.
At the final moment, his effort fell short. The giant black fish whipped its tail, smacked him across the face, and dissolved into the abyss.
Afterward, Cui Chonghe returned multiple times, only to leave empty-handed in defeat each time.
The meteorite also mentioned that Jiang Ran, the foremost peer of the immortal land who had obtained the greatest fortune from Black-White Mountain, had also come here. She borrowed a treasure from her sect to catch the giant black fish, but failed as well.
Members of the esoteric sect had also made attempts, such as Cheng Sheng, who was at the perfection of the third realm, yet he too left empty-handed in the end.
Older figures had also explored this place, but because such baleful substances gathered and dispersed without form, they ended up with nothing.
The fishing line glowed, urging Qin Ming to be sure to fish it out this time.
No one had ever discovered a white fish here; otherwise, once confirmed that an interplay of yin and yang was truly forming here, if major figures kept watch year-round, the yin-yang great medicine would almost certainly not have survived.
"A whole group of formidable figures all failed. Can this fishing line really work?" Xiao Wu doubted.
"This is a rare treasure left behind by the immortal sect that originally nurtured the baleful qi, specifically designed to hook and catch yin-yang fish. What do you think?" The master of the thatched hut had gone through immense hardship to uncover it from the ruins of the baleful ground.
"Impressive!" Xiao Wu immediately praised.
"Unfortunately, as years went by, this fishing line won't last more than a few uses before snapping. Without the proper method to nourish it, it will eventually return to dust and earth."
The master of the thatched hut's lingering conscious spiritual light dimmed, on the verge of fading completely.
"How can it be nourished?" Qin Ming asked.
"It was refined from heavenly light, sharing the same origin as baleful qi and heterogeneous substances. It requires exceptionally unique human heavenly light blended with a mental field to nourish it, which might halt its decay. No need to try—it's impossible for you..."
Suddenly, the lingering remnant of the hut's master cut off abruptly.
He was astonished to find Qin Ming's fingertips glowing as translucent heavenly light blended with consciousness and divine wisdom, pouring into the fishing line. It grew increasingly luminous and clear, with runes beginning to circulate across it.
The master of the thatched hut said in shock, "You extended its life! That is... a heavenly light force method reaching into the legendary realm, advancing along multiple paths simultaneously—and you can manage all of them at once?!"
Evidently, he should have noticed sooner. It was only because the conscious spirituality he left behind was limited, rather mechanical and rigid, that he had previously mistaken the blazing sun-like heavenly light force for pure yang conscious spiritual light.
"Quite remarkable. Very good!" The final trace of spiritual light left by the master of the thatched hut slowly extinguished.
"A single fish gathers and disperses without form, but a pair of fish can counterbalance each other." This was his final reminder.
Qin Ming bowed to the void, seeing off the master of the thatched hut.
Yet he felt that this person's true body was probably not dead; the "bloodstained kite" had fallen in the distance.
Xiao Wu said, "This yin-yang great medicine is extraordinary. I feel it suits Brother Ming's current condition best."
Qin Ming nodded. He practiced the Withering and Thriving Classic and the Black-White Classic precisely to approach cultivation through the duality of yin and yang, black and white. If he could catch the yin-yang fish now, it would be a perfect match.
When even supreme immortal seeds like Jiang Ran, Senior Brother Zhuo, and Cui Chonghe were sorely tempted by a single black fish, one could imagine just how extraordinary this complete great medicine was.
Qin Ming blended his heavenly light—which slightly exceeded the Four Imperials force—with his consciousness and divine wisdom, infused it into the fishing line, and cast the line into the largest pit.
At the same time, he took out the rag and cleared out the items stored within its internal space, preparing to use it to hold the yin-yang great medicine so that once hooked, it wouldn't suddenly disperse or escape.
At first, there was not the slightest stir from the line. Qin Ming sat there silently for two shichen.
Until he went all out, pouring the full measure of his heavenly light force into the fishing line, causing it to emit a mysterious ripple and shimmer with wondrous patterns.
Deep within the pitch-black abyss, there was finally movement!
Through his Eye of the Newborn, Qin Ming caught a hazy glimpse of a dark shadow flashing past.
Sure enough, to obtain legendary baleful qi, one had to use the right method.
After another half-shichen, Qin Ming gave the line a fierce yank. A giant black fish, longer than a grown man, leaped out from the pitch-black abyss—it had been hooked!
Xiao Wu cried out in astonishment. Sensing the aura of supreme yin, he felt as if his entire body were about to freeze solid. This yin fish was terrifying—could it truly be merged into human heavenly light?
In truth, even among the ancient immortal Dao arenas, core disciples capable of integrating such yin-yang fish into their mental fields were exceedingly rare; in the second realm, it was unthinkable, virtually impossible.
In the distance, onlookers gasped in shock at the sight. After all, even Jiang Ran, Cheng Sheng, Cui Chonghe, and others had failed, yet now someone had actually succeeded in catching the fish.
Some people looked on with burning eyes.
Qin Ming acted immediately, sweeping the giant black fish into the rag's storage space.
Down in the abyss, once the yin fish was gone, a certain balance seemed to shatter. Yang qi surged, white light blazed brilliantly, and the immense "fish pit" could no longer remain calm.
Qin Ming focused with undivided attention. He was angling for the yang fish.
With the balance disrupted by the disappearance of the yin fish, the yang fish appeared.
"Holy crap! Did you hook a dragon or a sun? It's blinding!" Xiao Wu's heart surged with excitement as tears streamed from his eyes; this "heterogeneous substance" was simply staggering.
Even Qin Ming's Eye of the Newborn struggled to bear it, pained by the dazzling glare.
The yang fish broke the surface and was flung out of the deep pit by his pull.
Nearby, anyone who witnessed this spectacle was struck dumb. The yang fish had never shown itself before and was merely the conjecture of a select few. Now, not only was its existence proven, but someone had actually fished it out?!
This was an invaluable great medicine!
Their minds roiled in utter shock.
Qin Ming acted swiftly, taking the yang fish into the rag's space as well.
In an instant, head to tail, they joined together, forming a black-and-white yin-yang diagram.
These were originally legendary baleful qi and outer heterogeneous substances belonging to rare categories of heavenly light. Joined as one, they were revered as a great medicine by people of the outer realm and the esoteric sect—and with good reason!
Filled with joy, Qin Ming felt an immense sense of reward. Such a yin-yang great medicine was crucial to his cultivation and would exert an incomparably profound influence!
Chapter 258