Joint Training and Breakthrough

A melodious chime shattered the stillness of the night sky as a lightning bird sped on its way. Only about a foot in length, its feathers shimmered brilliantly, standing out vividly in the darkness. True to its name, it streaked through the clouds and mist like a bolt of golden lightning. It was one of the fastest of all bird species, best suited for delivering urgent messages. It had broken through the sound barrier long ago. A pristine white jade bell was bound to its leg, sending out gentle ripples whose "sound" transmitted straight into the minds of the living beings along its path. Evidently, this was an extraordinary treasure capable of resonating with a person's spiritual field. "Utmost urgency, a message carried by a jade bell!" Many people looked up into the night sky in dread. In the world of night mist, there were certain things one simply could not provoke. For instance, this lightning bird bearing a white jade bell. It was said that such treasured bells were personally crafted by patriarchs. Unless under extraordinary circumstances, messages would never be dispatched in this manner. Who would dare intercept it? Anyone committing such high treason would inevitably face retribution later. A streak of golden radiance entered Kunling City unimpeded. Atop each towering spire, all the divine ballistas remained utterly silent. *** That night, Qin Ming received word that there would be joint training tomorrow. To be precise, he was merely an accompanist—or rather, a training partner. "You want me to go and train alongside the immortal seeds of the outer realm?" Qin Ming was reluctant. The key point was that he was just a sparring partner, not someone receiving special instruction. In short, he, Xiang Yiwu, and several divine seeds from the esoteric sect were all merely practice partners, rather than the primary subjects of the joint training. Yu Gensheng smiled and said, "Don't be in a rush. The immortal path's side will provide a portion of auspicious beast blood as compensation." "Well... that isn't entirely out of the question." Qin Ming's tone softened. Suddenly reasonable and obliging, his bottom line had clearly become flexible. In truth, a single portion of auspicious beast blood was enough for his needs. But such precious medicine was rare hard currency, far more useful than day gold—who would complain about having too much? Besides, he still needed some to give away. "Do you have any other requests?" Yu Gensheng asked him. The main factor was that a patriarch of the Newborn path had nodded and agreed this time. Without a doubt, a patriarch from the immortal path had conferred with the higher-ups of other paths. This made Qin Ming both suspicious and curious. What on earth had happened to warrant joint training for the seeds of the immortal path? "I want to read the Immortal-Combating Classic. If that really won't work, sending over the complete Eight Views Divine Radiance Classic would do as well. Hmm, and it'd be best if you gave me some of those legendary otherworldly heterogeneous substances too." Qin Ming opened his mouth wide to demand exorbitant terms. Yu Gensheng sighed with feeling. The kid's requests were indeed plain and unpretentious—just those few items, entirely without frills, yet every single cut drew blood. "I reckon they won't agree. For example, the Immortal-Combating Classic has been completely overhauled and blended with parts of the immortal path's scriptures." Sure enough, after Yu Gensheng relayed the request, the other side grew somewhat annoyed, replying that it was merely a simple sparring session and that offering a portion of auspicious beast blood was already more than enough to demonstrate sincerity. Yet in the end, after deliberating for a long while and taking into account Qin Ming's truly stellar performance in the second realm, they grudgingly agreed to one additional term. Yu Gensheng said, "They left the choice to you. Either you wait until you reach the third realm, at which point they will lend you the Eight Views Divine Radiance Classic to study, or once this affair concludes, they will disclose a mysterious baleful ground to you to satisfy your request." Zhao Ziyuan frowned. "The former is a secret classic, an only surviving copy currently held in the hands of the immortal land. It cannot be comprehended until one reaches the spirit field realm." They were banking on the fact that Qin Ming had no chance of stepping into the third realm while still young; leaving the scripture for him to read in the future naturally left room for countless variables. Moreover, while the outer realm offered a baleful ground, they never guaranteed that he could actually obtain a legendary otherworldly heterogeneous substance. It was plain to see that the people of the immortal path had conceded with great reluctance. "No rush to choose just yet," Qin Ming said. He agreed to serve as a training partner, but with the condition that he would not attend on rainy days with thunder. Publicly, he declared that he needed to study secret manuals involving lightning and fire. He was unwilling to waste time and wanted to fuse and refine the yin-yang fish as soon as possible. "Are they looking down on me? Why didn't they call for me!" Wu Yaozu grumbled in dissatisfaction, eager to earn some hard currency himself. Zhao Ziyuan nodded. "Mm, that makes sense. I'll ask for you. Auspicious beast blood is there for the taking; it'd be a waste not to earn it." Qin Ming was met with several rainstorms with thunder, but unfortunately, none lasted very long, serving only to warm him up. During this period, he had already mastered seventy to eighty percent of the Eight Views Classic. In the days that followed, he was destined to be thoroughly occupied, his schedule packed to the brim. The next day, Qin Ming was invited to Feixian Academy. Time seemed rather tight, bringing him over to spar on such short notice. Xiao Wu tagged along as well. The other side had readily agreed, considering his record while hunting demons on the plateau had been quite extraordinary too. "What on earth is going on? Why are the people of the immortal path in such a rush to gather all their near-immortal seeds for training?" Many were intensely curious, wondering what the reason could be. The previous night's urgent message delivered by the jade bell had already sent shockwaves through every faction. Inside Feixian Academy, Martial Arena No. 1 was completely cordoned off, forbidding other disciples from using or approaching it. The four seeds from the esoteric sect all wore masks and had temporarily altered their physical appearances, making their identities difficult to discern. They, too, were merely sparring partners. After all, this involved exchanging pointers with immortal seeds. Winning or losing concerned their reputation, and the four did not wish to expose their true identities. Here, there were six near-immortal seeds, all in the second realm. Qin Ming had guessed long ago that Jiang Ran, Cui Chonghe, and the others would never seek out sparring partners at a lower cultivation realm than themselves. "I reckon the ancestral grounds of the pure land, immortal land, yang land, and calamity land must have other near-immortal seeds in the second realm. Looking at it this way, the outer realm's foundation is terrifyingly profound." "Brother, over here!" Xiang Yiwu grinned broadly and waved at Qin Ming. With his burly, thickset build—not to mention other features, his head alone was almost twice the size of anyone else's—wearing a mask would have been pointless. And since there were only the two of them from the Newborn path, Qin Ming naturally had to appear in his true person as well. "We're all on the same side." Qin Ming, Xiao Wu, and the Tathagata renegade gathered together, chatting. Xiang Yiwu said, "I just learned a bit of the situation. Supposedly, this is connected to a transmission from deep within the world of night mist." In recent years, the various paths had actively sent people to explore the depths of the world under the long night. Lately, the immortal path seemed to have obtained a major "revelation." This time, all immortal seeds were required to undergo joint training. Those in higher realms, such as Su Shiyun and Xue Yunzheng, naturally required higher-level figures to hone them. "Even Jiang Ran, the foremost talent of her generation in the immortal land, has to take part in this training without exception. You can imagine how seriously the outer realm takes this matter." The martial arena was expansive, its ground paved with bronze flagstones inscribed with fine, dense runes, allowing them to fight with abandon without fear of breaching the floor. The six immortal seeds all wore masks as well, their designations quite unadorned: Jia One, Jia Two, and so on. If they lost to the sparring partners, they would feel they had lost face. In truth, losing was only normal. After all, the sparring partners were exceptionally powerful—there were divine seeds from the esoteric sect, a disciple of the Rulai lineage, and Qin Ming himself. None of them were pushovers. Qin Ming suspected that Jia Six was Li Qingxu. He did not even need to activate his Newborn Eyes; his instinct alone told him as much. Li Qingxu stared across the arena in silence, wanting nothing more than to vent. Had they invited exclusively his personal nemeses? He had taken a heavy slap from Xiang Yiwu, had been swept away by Wu Yaozu's divine rainbow, and had been battered by Qin Ming, nearly cleaved in two by the five-colored blade. Above all, the grudge between him and Qin Ming was far from minor. "Jia Six, you go first," Jia One spoke up. Shortly after, Li Qingxu was battered through three consecutive bouts by his three personal nemeses! Without a single word, he silently walked to the side. For a moment, the venue grew rather quiet. Who was supposed to be the sparring partner here? Had it not been for the masks, someone's expression surely would have been a sight to behold. "Jia Five, your turn," Jia One said once more. As the clash began, Qin Ming realized who Jia Five was—Sun Jingxiao of the pure land. He did not hold back, using this person to practice and hone his own miraculous arts. Qin Ming circulated the Golden Cicada Classic. In an instant, the hum of a cicada arose like fine silk threads. Though faint, it hummed continuously, its Zen undertone unbroken. Around his body, a drizzle fell like silk and cicada wings sliced like blades. The relentless Golden Cicada force battered Sun Jingxiao until his hair was disheveled and he was spattered with blood. Sun Jingxiao had once sneered that a nominal defeat was no defeat at all, that Qin Ming on the Newborn path was merely a passing scenery along Li Qingxu's immortal path, a traveler of no account. Yet now that it was his own turn to be beaten until bloody foam spilled from his mouth in utter humiliation, he could barely endure it, unable to maintain his composure. His gaze turned sinister as he unleashed an ultimate technique, a halo of light manifesting around his body, poised to blast outward. Yet Qin Ming's Golden Cicada force shifted once more. The cicada's hum boomed like thunder as the heavenly light force took physical shape—a tangible golden cicada emerged, blazing with radiance that illuminated every direction. With a booming crash, the golden cicada swept past, tearing through the halo of light and sending Sun Jingxiao flying. The immortal seed was thoroughly defeated in an instant. His mask shattered on the ground, leaving him with disheveled hair and half his body drenched in blood. His expression was dark and grim, taking several moments to compose himself. Qin Ming was in high spirits. Using an immortal seed to temper his miraculous arts felt remarkably satisfying. Next, he fought a match against Jia Three, who proved far more formidable. Qin Ming sensed that this person was likely in the late stage of the second realm. The two clashed fiercely for a long time before parting, both holding back. Qin Ming felt there was no need to fight to the death; after all, he was merely a sparring partner. Xiang Yiwu grinned and said, "What sort of trouble has your immortal path run into? You could hire us as outside help to hold the line for you." "The patriarchs have their own arrangements!" The figures opposite were not inclined to say more. Jia One and Jia Two did not fight Qin Ming. Instead, they had him unleash his heavenly light force to scorch the portions of conscious spiritual light they projected, subjecting themselves to brutal tempering. In that moment, the light of their consciousness twisted from the burning, their spiritual fields shaking violently. When they stepped back, an unusual look appeared in both of their eyes. The pair, a young man and a young woman, were thoroughly shocked. The two most powerful immortal seeds sensed the danger within Qin Ming's heavenly light and concluded that he had held back as well. "It's raining. Excuse me." Hearing thunder in the distance, Qin Ming left the arena immediately. This was an agreed condition; his cultivation could not be delayed. "To possess such combat power at the early stage of the second realm is truly formidable. Unfortunately, relying solely on himself to break through makes his progress agonizingly slow." Elderly figures were watching in secret. "Are you really planning to seek outside help?" another asked. "Forget it. The early stage of the second realm is of no use yet. Besides, inviting a young disciple of the Newborn path into the field is a loss of face we cannot afford. Unless driven to absolute desperation, don't even think about it!" *** This time, the storm was exceptionally violent. Across the night sky, lightning bolts fell one after another. In the high tower of Shanhe Academy, Qin Ming sat cross-legged, submerged in outer heavenly light, his entire person blazing with dazzling brilliance. By now, he had cultivated the Eight Views Classic to great mastery, putting it to official use. The secret-classic-grade Divine Radiance Classic would ultimately allow a single lamp to kindle, with lightning and fire reaching into the heavens to thoroughly illuminate flesh and consciousness, incinerating and baptizing the self. Enduring it surpassed ordinary marrow cleansing and tendon shedding. And the miraculous-art-grade Eight Views Classic had its own unique brilliance, its mysteries boundless. Qin Ming grasped its true essence. In his torso, he condensed a tangible Eight Trigrams Furnace out of heavenly light, refining internally with lightning fire and Mundane Fire, instantly wreathing the furnace in ten thousand strands of rosy glow. Before long, he fused the Eight Views forces into one. Ultimately, Qin Ming governed all arts with the teachings of the silk book, reconstructing a brilliantly radiant Eight Trigrams Furnace to temper a dazzling golden elixir within. Then, the color of the golden elixir changed. In a flash, it transformed into a black-and-white elixir. Even the furnace itself divided into the two hues of yin and yang. For at this moment, Qin Ming made his move, taking the risk to refine the black and white fish. They joined head to tail, forming a black-and-white Dao diagram, profound and subtle. This was a furnace of yin-yang great medicine, tied directly to the metamorphosis of Qin Ming's heavenly light and his breakthrough in realm! Heavy dark clouds blanketed the night sky as torrential rain poured down and violent thunder cascaded like waterfalls! Dense sheets of lightning poured down as though flooding the high tower. And inside the tower, Qin Ming was thoroughly submerged in an abundance of outer heavenly light. As the yin-yang diagram spun, a furnace of heavenly light great medicine released a delicate fragrance!