On the Shuyu River, paper lanterns drifted across sparkling ripples, with sheets of pale golden broken glow resembling a hanging river of stars flowing slowly past Chongxiao.
Plunging into the river waters, all three of them were thoroughly unwilling.
The drunken Wu Yaozu had already sobered up, shivering violently in bitter regret.
He was deeply worried that this drunken water discharge would see him off to his grave.
The river waters resembled a jade ribbon, where waterweeds swayed and schools of fish, shrimp, and old snapping turtles swam in groups. Reaching the riverbed, the three found no divine mansion, only surging white mist.
Xiang Yiwu said, "A deity's pure land doesn't exist in reality."
Qin Ming had long had experience with this, having once been targeted by the remnant spirit of a giant centipede that had nearly attained godhood, which guided him into an unknown expanse of the night mist world.
He restrained his aura as much as possible; otherwise, his heavenly light—blended with consciousness and divine wisdom—would be far too dazzling, like a rising sun sinking to the riverbed.
Once the three approached the white mist, the sights before them instantly changed. A path paved with pure white shells joined the void, leading deep into the night mist.
Involuntarily stepping onto the path, the space ahead soon opened up, bright as day.
Walls piled from multicolored corals looked like meticulously woven dreamlike brocade, while an enormous, pure crystal was carved into a great gate.
The deity's residence was indeed extraordinary in grandeur. Auspicious glow lingered, golden-armored guards stood watch, and maidens in feather robes attended upon it, making one feel as though they stood inside an immortal palace.
Walking forward, the three arrived inside a colossal hall. Huge luminous pearls were set into potted landscapes and walls alike, radiating brilliant light. Flood serpents coiled around golden pillars, melodic music filled the air, and clam fairies danced in a scene of peace and harmony.
In the palace, three sun elves, led by maidservants, sat cross-legged behind jade tables as attendants brought them fine wine and delicacies.
Food that even spiritual bodies could consume was likely some extraordinary restorative tonic.
"Goddess of the River, this junior knows his wrong," Xiao Wu immediately gave in upon arriving.
The three noticed that no maidservants led them to any seats, nor were there any spare jade tables.
At the highest point of the grand hall hung a beaded curtain, behind which a dragon throne forged from mythological seven treasures was faintly visible in the white mist, occupied by a seated woman with her hair swept high into a cloud coiffure.
She made no sound, seemingly scrutinizing the trio.
Li Qingyue, Yao Ruoxian, and Zhao Qingcheng were right next to the beaded curtain, clearly favored with special regard by the River Goddess. Rumors that the Great Yu imperial family shared deep ties with this deity were evidently true.
"Inferiors as you are, to show such disrespect outside a deity's sanctuary—in our land, your forms and spirits would surely be incinerated to return you to the Light," a sun elf spoke up.
Having been downstream earlier and thoroughly outraged by Xiao Wu's antics, they were now seizing the moment to poison the well.
Xiao Wu really wanted to argue that on ordinary days, plenty of people in Chongxiao washed clothes and bathed in the river, not to mention children peeing, yet the deity was never seen taking offense. Today had simply been an unfortunate coincidence, entirely at the whim of the River Goddess's mood, and he was now resigned to whatever punishment came.
Still, he found the three sun elves utterly repulsive. In this divine mansion, what right did an alien race have to speak up?
Wu Yaozu never let a slight pass unpaid. Turning his head, he snapped, "Yellow-haired girl, who gave you permission to speak here? Stop spouting nonsense!"
Instantly, silence fell over the grand hall.
Golden glow flashed in the depths of the three male sun elves' eyes, but they remained very composed and did not lash out, merely looking toward the space behind the beaded curtain.
The River Goddess spoke: "All who enter this mansion are guests, yet you three were impolite first, daring to speak disrespectfully of a deity behind her back."
A hand woven from smoky haze reached out and rapidly expanded. With a swoosh, it scooped up Qin Ming, Xiao Wu, and Xiang Yiwu, drawing them toward the beaded curtain.
"Goddess, they harbored no intention to offend," Li Qingyue said.
At the same time, the medallion hanging around Xiao Wu's neck shone with light, and a kindly old grandmother manifested, radiating a brilliant golden haze.
"You come from Kunling?" The River Goddess looked at Xiao Wu with surprise. The multicolored great hand dissolved into luminous mist, and the three dropped to the floor.
Wu Yaozu felt that at crucial moments, it was always Grandma's manifestation that pulled him through. He immediately nodded and said, "Yes!"
"And you?" the woman on the divine chair forged from the seven treasures asked Xiang Yiwu.
"I am a disciple of Rulai," the burly youth replied.
"Considering you are young and ignorant..." the River Goddess said, before her gaze finally swept toward Qin Ming, asking what lineage he hailed from as well.
Strictly speaking, Qin Ming was an unaffiliated practitioner. Having joined Shanhe Academy only briefly before being forced to leave, he currently possessed no backing to speak of.
Yet this River Goddess was clearly quite traditional. Without a respectable background, she truly thought little of a drudge.
Qin Ming took out two leaves, distinctly black and white, and then activated a jade token from the Six Imperials ancestral court, working both angles at once.
"Never mind. You may leave," the woman with the cloud coiffure said. Although her expression remained obscured in the white mist, one could sense she had little regard for the three.
With a wave of her sleeve, she swept the three out the door, expelling them from the grand hall.
Before departing, Qin Ming and Xiang Yiwu distinctly heard the sun elves consulting Yao Ruoxian, Zhao Qingcheng, and the others.
"Fair maidens, might you enlighten us? Although our race has obtained the methods of immortal cultivation, how do those of dull aptitude who have no destiny with the immortal path—such as those three just now—increase their strength? We also wish to set the foolish and mediocre among us upon a path, having heard there is a mature cultivation system here..."
Qin Ming, Xiang Yiwu, and Xiao Wu nearly charged back in to slaughter them.
Yet they held back and restrained the impulse. It was very likely the sun elf was deliberately baiting them, hoping to lure them back so they would offend the River Goddess's majesty once more.
As the three left, they happened to see Pei Shuyan, Cui Chonghe, Sun Jingxiao, and others approaching. The River Goddess was hosting those with affinity across more than one gathering, and these immortal seeds had caught her favor.
At this moment, even the burly Xiang Yiwu grew agitated. How could the gap between people be so vast? They had been driven out, while others became honored guests.
He felt that suppressing immortal seeds like Li Qingxu and Sun Jingxiao would be no trouble at all for the three of them, yet they lacked the qualifications to attend the banquet.
"It's all my fault. I got carried away lately. I shouldn't have indulged myself and offended a deity," Wu Yaozu reflected deeply, offering solemn apologies to the two beside him.
"It has nothing to do with you." Qin Ming shook his head. It was clear to see that the River Goddess had never planned on inviting them in the first place; the hierarchy of the ancient deity-and-immortal system was etched into her very bones as an entrenched belief.
Returning to their physical bodies, the three woke in an instant. Wine had lost all flavor to them now, so they went straight ashore.
"This River Goddess might be a flood dragon," Xiang Yiwu said via secret transmission.
Wu Yaozu communicated through consciousness as well: "Brother Ming, aren't you still short on dragon baleful energy? I wonder if there is any in her divine mansion."
Evidently, he had misunderstood as well, assuming Qin Ming needed the Four Sacred Baleful Energies.
However, if the legendary Azure Dragon Sacred Baleful Energy truly existed here, it was indeed something he needed.
Qin Ming shook his head. No matter how urgently he needed it, he couldn't reach out his hand to a deity.
Today, he had truly come to see that in the end, it was because his status as a Newborn was too low and his strength insufficient; otherwise, he would have long been an honored guest.
In fact, had he not borrowed momentum and used prominent banners to cloak himself, the River Goddess might well have punished him.
When he thought carefully, both brothers at his side had significant backgrounds, whereas his own situation was truly nothing much, leaving him quite isolated and weak.
"I must rise as soon as possible," Qin Ming said.
"Until we become gods and patriarchs," Xiang Yiwu also nodded heavily.
...
In the deep night, they returned to the inn.
Qin Ming sat quietly in his room, earnestly refining baleful energy. Without a thunderstorm and without relying on a place like the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, doing so was exceedingly dangerous.
For any legendary-grade heterogeneous substance would diminish one's lifespan.
Even someone like Qin Ming had to slowly adapt before he could assimilate and refine the Four Sacred Baleful Energies.
Sure enough, after one fierce attempt, the White Tiger Baleful Energy alone cost him several years of his life.
He was alarmed. If this continued, fully refining several sacred baleful energies would burn away at least one to two hundred years of lifespan—nothing short of a death warrant from the underworld.
Qin Ming's expression turned grave. Legendary-grade baleful energy was far too terrifying; throughout history, many prodigies hadn't dared touch it, as it casually claimed lives. Who could endure such a toll?
Combined with the lifespan he had consumed while refining baleful energy in Chixia City, thirty years had already been sheared away in total!
To be safe, he needed to wait for a thunderstorm to absorb beneficial, longevity-enhancing heavenly lights—such as Purple Qi from the East and Fortune at Its Zenith—to offset the damage.
In truth, while refining his yin-yang diagram in the high tower of Kunling, he had already drawn heavily upon them. He worried that he might have developed a "resistance" to certain rare and gentle heavenly lights.
If that were truly the case, consuming his vitality in advance might leave him unable to replenish it.
"It shouldn't be too big an issue, right? Judging by the outer realm research materials Qingyue gave me, there are still many unique heavenly lights, so there's no need to worry excessively."
However, if he broke through, it would be best if he could undergo another Newborn transformation.
Otherwise, if an important breakthrough merely replenished the lifespan he ought to have had without truly extending it, while not quite losing more than he gained, it would still seem unnatural.
In truth, it was primarily because the baleful energies Qin Ming chose were too formidable, all being legendary-grade. Before adapting, the burden on his body was simply immense.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown; wishing to cultivate peerless heavenly light force naturally required him to brave perils and pay the corresponding price.
If the worst-case scenario came to pass, he still had auspicious beast blood to fall back on.
"I'll adapt step-by-step and refine the baleful energy cautiously each day!"
The following day, Meng Xinghai came and informed him of the outcome of his contact with the immortal path.
"They truly won't cast the hawk till they see the hare."
For now, the outer realm had provided a portion of auspicious beast blood as a deposit, while the promised baleful energy had yet to be delivered.
Meng Xinghai said, "They believe that if they can avoid calling on someone from the Newborn path, they will, lest they lose face. They want their immortal seeds to test the waters first."
However, the situation was grim. The second-realm immortal seeds were countered by the supreme prodigies of the sun elves; when the golden flames flared, the conscious spiritual light of the immortal path disciples could rarely withstand it.
As for the sparring in the third realm, the immortal path disciples were not quite as fragile. After all, they had preliminarily "crossed a tribulation" or undergone the baptism of "immortal fire."
That very day, word arrived that the immortal path disciples had suffered two consecutive defeats in the second-realm bouts, both immortal seeds scorched black and blue!
Xiao Wu came looking for Qin Ming and said, "Brother Ming, word is the immortal path took a brutal beating. Shouldn't they be looking for someone from the Newborn path to sub in for them now?"
He had originally planned to invite Qin Ming to ascend to the moon and visit Guanghan Palace, but that now had to be postponed so they could prepare earnestly for battle.
Yet evening brought news that the immortal path had actually invited two divine seeds to fight tomorrow.
To call in the esoteric sect to save the day was something the outer realm found acceptable. After all, tracing back to their roots, both hailed from ancient deity-and-immortal sanctuaries.
Alas, news quickly arrived the next day that the first divine seed had already lost!
All quarters were in an uproar. Many outside were unaware of the inside story and didn't know the immortal path had brought in external aid; all they knew was that in the second-realm matches, they had suffered three straight defeats!
"If you have the guts, stay stubborn to the bitter end and let the sun elven race sweep the second realm completely clean!" Qin Ming muttered to himself.
He did not need to think twice to know that certain factions of the immortal path held a mental block, fancying themselves the orthodox heirs of the ancient deity-and-immortal sanctuaries and unable to swallow their pride.
Yet the cultivating sun elven race was indeed formidable, firmly countering them in relevant domains.
Qin Ming knew that since the immortal path had summoned him to Chongxiao in advance, they would inevitably have to invite someone from the Newborn path to take the field once pushed to the brink.
Soon enough, more terrible news arrived for the immortal path: the external aid they had invited, that even more formidable divine seed, had fallen as well.
With that, amidst the clamor of the outside world, the disciples of the immortal path suffered an utterly humiliating four-bout losing streak in the mid-to-low tier exchanges, leaving them with no way out.
Chapter 275