The South Heavenly Gate, forged from divine colored glaze, shone under the brilliance of a high-grade Fire Spring. Dazzling and bright, a thousand streams of auspicious light rolled like crimson rainbows, while ten thousand rays of golden clouds billowed purple mist.
Qin Ming stepped onto the field, standing alone to face the sun elven race.
"So it really is him taking the field." An alien expert with mysterious patterns swirling in his purple pupils studied Qin Ming, seeking to see through the youth and assess his strength.
"Let me!"
"No, let me take him on!"
The sun elves shed their gentle, refined demeanors. Scrambling to take the field, their eyes were all fixed on the bronze-masked youth standing before them.
Upon the moon, the contest officially began.
A male sun elf strode forward. He had cast aside their nature-attuned attire and instead wore retro garments styled after Great Yu's fashion, his broad sleeves fluttering and a wooden hairpin fastened in his hair.
Without exchanging a single word, the two moved instantly to strike, both intent on settling the fight swiftly.
The moment he entered the field, the sun elf had already unslung the great bow from his back. In an instant, his slender frame tautened, brimming with explosive power. A spiritual arrow nocked, the bow was drawn like a full moon.
A streak of flowing light shot forth, tearing across the vast sky.
Immediately after, he drew the bow repeatedly, loosing arrow after arrow, each blazing with blinding solar fire.
Only then did the spectators react, overtaken by the terrifying roar.
The shafts were like streaks of lightning and fire hurtling across the open ground before the South Heavenly Gate. Each arrow dragged a luminous tail tens of meters long, accompanied by deafening winds and thunder.
The arrowheads blazed brightest of all, engulfed in burning solar fire.
Nine arrows loosed in rapid succession hurtled through the air like nine diving suns, bearing raging flames.
The human disciples blanched. The aliens had unleashed a lethal trump card right from the start.
Time seemed to freeze for a split second.
The entire expanse before the South Heavenly Gate was engulfed in solar fire, as if nine suns hung in the sky.
The celestial light burned so brightly that it stung the eyes of nearby onlookers. Elves excelled above all in archery, and now all nine arrows were converging upon that single youth.
Many pupils contracted as they saw the figure in the arena seemingly impaled.
"Wait?!" In that instant, numerous disciples of the immortal path gasped, hearts pounding in suspense as though they were living through the ordeal themselves.
Qin Ming's form shattered like a phantom bubble, dissolving where he stood.
It was only an afterimage. His own archery had long reached perfection, allowing him to anticipate the trajectory of the nine stars ahead of time and charge forward at maximum speed, straight toward his foe.
Qin Ming channeled his wind-thunder force complemented by his Wuji force. Wind surged beneath his feet amidst churning crimson thunderfire, while earth energy buoyed him up half a foot off the ground, carrying him through the air.
A distance of a hundred meters seemed no greater than a few paces to him as he closed in with effortless grace.
In that moment, he looked like a man taking a leisurely stroll.
The sun elf's expression changed. His opponent was far too fast.
"Watch out!"
"The Nine-Star Divine Arrows are behind you!"
Voices cried out from both the sun elves and the immortal path, warning the two combatants.
"This world has gone mad—even elves are cultivating the immortal path now," a purple-eyed raven muttered to itself, perched on Tang Jin's shoulder.
Master Wu had ventured into the depths of the night fog world and encountered diverse races before.
Tearing through the sky, the nine arrows abruptly reversed course. Mysterious runes glowed upon the fletchings, carrying fragments of the sun elf's conscious spiritual light that resonated with his true body. Guided by his will, the arrows hurtled back toward Qin Ming's spine, trailing the blaze of nine suns.
Yet Qin Ming was even faster. The heavenly light beneath his feet took form, carrying him forward as though he were riding a bolt of lightning. Buoyed by rising earth energy, he arrived before his opponent with fluid, seamless grace!
With a flick of his finger, thunderfire cascaded forth like a waterfall.
The alien prodigy dodged frantically, but Qin Ming flicked his fingers repeatedly, sending dazzling bolts of thunderfire crashing down in an unrelenting barrage.
With a heavy bang, the sun elf was finally struck. The solar fire shielding his body proved surprisingly thin, far dimmer than the flames carried by the nine arrows.
Qin Ming paused, slightly taken aback. His foe possessed far less solar fire than he had anticipated.
Hit by the thunderfire heavenly light, the sun elf's conscious spiritual light shuddered violently, severing his link to the nine arrows and sending the nine "suns" plunging down.
His face drained of color. Sacrificing a bone blade and raising a light shield, he charged forward in a desperate bid to reach the nine arrows and retrieve them.
Qin Ming threw a punch like a blazing sun crossing the sky. After several clashes, the soaring bone blade snapped and exploded, and Qin Ming punched straight through the light shield.
The sun elf tried to evade, but he was clearly too late.
Qin Ming flicked his fingers in rapid succession, sending rivers of thunderfire surging over him.
The alien genius screamed in agony, his face contorting in unbearable torment. It was not merely physical pain; that terrifying heavenly light was searing his very consciousness.
Outside the field, the immortal seed An Youxing's cheek twitched as unpleasant memories resurfaced.
During their previous wagered fight, he had used his mental field to endure Qin Ming's Flicking Thunder head-on. The boy had flicked his fingers five times, and then five times more; it had looked like someone flicking a forehead, but each strike had hit like a sledgehammer, leaving his head buzzing so severely that it still throbbed whenever he recalled it.
Before the South Heavenly Gate, the sun elf collapsed, his conscious spiritual light pierced by thunderfire heavenly light. He thrashed on the ground in agony, wailing in miserable defeat.
"Stop!" luminaries from both the alien delegation and the immortal path shouted simultaneously. Had the bout continued any longer, the sun elf's head would have burst.
Sensing an odd resonance within himself, Qin Ming walked over to pick up the nine arrows. A wondrous art within him was stirring—the Departing Fire Classic was on the verge of circulating on its own, ravenous for the solar fire.
Without a word, he collected the nine arrows and walked off the field.
"Hey, wait!" several sun elves cried out, demanding their return, but Qin Ming ignored them completely.
"Isn't suffering such a crushing defeat humiliating enough? What right do you have to ask for anything back!" a stern sun elf snapped, holding them back.
After all, they had enjoyed an unbroken winning streak previously. Suffering such a defeat in the very first match of the day felt profoundly humiliating, and they resolved to field stronger seeds to deal with him.
Many prominent figures were gathered around the South Heavenly Gate, ranging from high nobles to luminaries of various paths.
"This young man is extraordinary, displaying the caliber of a youthful patriarch. But why do his techniques look so much like the Newborn path?"
The immortal path representatives squirmed in awkward embarrassment upon hearing this.
Chu Yuan and Jiang Yunfan felt it most acutely. They had personally guided Qin Ming in immortal path arts and taught him how to disguise himself, yet the boy had treated even wearing a mask as a mere formality.
Not far away, the sun elves who had encountered Qin Ming and Xiang Yiwu the night before watched coldly, glaring intently at Qin Ming's retreating back.
"It's fine, just a minor loss!"
"We naturally counter them!"
The handsome alien youths and maidens remained brimming with confidence.
An elderly sun elf spoke up: "Do not underestimate your opponent. It would not do to suffer three consecutive losses."
"How could that happen!" The seeded experts among the sun elves refused to accept the possibility.
"Hm? The door plank has entered the field. Let me go meet him."
By then, Xiang Yiwu had stepped onto the South Heavenly Gate plaza, also wearing a mask.
Yet his physique was simply unmistakable. He stood two and a half heads taller than an ordinary man and was as broad as two adults combined.
Chu Yuan buried his face in his hands. Who didn't recognize the Tathagata renegade's "singular" build? Why hadn't he used bone-shrinking techniques as instructed?
The expressions of several immortal path luminaries soured. The evidence of hiring outside help was far too blatant!
"So burly, so broad... He looks an awful lot like that person from the Rulai sect," remarked a noble lady from the Great Yu imperial capital.
Some immortal path members cast cold glances toward her, but on recognizing her as the noble daughter of Marquis Wuping's estate, they quickly looked away.
Her father, Pei Yan, possessed the potential to become a god and held immense standing in the esoteric sect.
A gentle-looking male sun elf stepped forward, but the moment he made his move, his entire aura transformed completely.
Eighteen pitch-black spears materialized around him, hovering midair. As he surged forward with a deafening sonic boom, they hurled toward the giant opposite him.
"Come on, door plank!" he bellowed.
Xiang Yiwu's face was already grim, and hearing that taunt ignited a murderous rage within him. His flesh took on the luster of yellow jade; his unique constitution allowed him to forge a golden body with minimal cultivation.
In an instant, he turned into a Wrathful Vajra. Crossing the void, he unleashed the Rulai fist. Clang! His massive fist shattered one spear after another.
Such an aggressive, domineering style left everyone utterly flabbergasted.
Those black spears were spiritual weapons, yet Xiang Yiwu snapped six of them with his bare hands.
Torrential solar fire rolled forward, engulfing Xiang Yiwu.
The alien expert grew frantic, realizing that despite unleashing a multitude of techniques, he could not budge the colossus in the slightest. It was as though the man truly possessed an adamantine vajra body.
Both his conscious spiritual light and his spears struck Xiang Yiwu's body only to be repelled by a layer of pale golden radiance, producing ringing clangs and flying sparks.
"Solar fire—good stuff. Pity I no longer need it," Xiang Yiwu said. In the Kunling secret realm, he had already tempered his body and refined his Golden Cicada with solar fire until it was near perfection, awaiting nirvana.
The battle did not last much longer before drawing to a close.
A sun elf cultivating the immortal path was formidable indeed, but in the second realm, facing this mutant among mutants of the Newborn path, defeat was inevitable. Above all, his solar fire simply couldn't burn his foe.
Taking a Rulai fist to the chest, the sun elf nearly burst open, countless bones fracturing. Xiang Yiwu's massive feet then drove him straight into the fractured ground.
"Stop, that's enough!"
"Hold your foot!"
Numerous spectators from both the immortal path and the alien delegation leapt to their feet. Feet of that size carried terrifying destructive power; if he stomped a few more times, the sun elf would be reduced to nothing more than bloody pulp.
In the end, the sun elf had to be carried away, barely recognizable as human—looking for all the world like a little white rabbit crushed beneath a bear.
Fortunately, a sun elf cultivating the immortal path possessed hardy vitality and could still be saved.
This stirred quite a commotion. The watching luminaries wore bizarre expressions as murmurs rippled through the crowd; the Tathagata renegade truly lived up to his reputation!
"This youth broad as a door plank is indeed extraordinary, gifted with a rare constitution and exceptional talent," someone sighed.
Xiang Yiwu heard every word. Snapping his head up, he was about to bark back when he recognized the speaker and instantly swallowed his anger. It was Ling Canghai, Grandmaster of the immortal path. Having talked behind the man's back just yesterday, he had run straight into him today; the man was truly impossible to speak of without appearing.
The alien luminaries could no longer sit still. Two consecutive losses were nothing short of a disastrous start compared to their previous contests.
"We cannot lose again!"
"Look, the bald one is stepping up. He seems the weakest—let me take him!"
Xiao Wu stepped onto the field, his belly full of fury pent up all night. He peered across the field, searching for the golden-haired girl who had spoken to him so tenderly yet provocatively the previous evening.
Sure enough, it was her!
Her waist-length golden hair shone like lustrous silk. Stepping forward with a sweet smile, she greeted him from afar: "Bald Brother."
In an instant, Xiao Wu's neck flushed crimson, the veins on his forehead throbbing violently. This was no gentle teasing—she had brought it up repeatedly, and now shouted it before the entire crowd. It was utterly intolerable.
"You dare humiliate me!" Wu Yaozu charged forward like a divine rainbow crossing the sky.
The girl had clearly provoked him deliberately to draw him in. Prepared well in advance, she unleashed her deadliest trump card right away, aiming to decide the match in a single blow.
The moment Xiao Wu arrived, the air filled with fire ravens. Amongst them, figures of Golden Crows emerged, blotting out the sky to swallow the youth whole.
She released her techniques with reckless abandon, channeling them at any cost.
In an instant, parts of Wu Yaozu's clothes caught fire. But what shocked and infuriated him most was that his short hair... was gone!
He had worked hard all night, using spiritual substance to forcefully spur its growth, only for his efforts to vanish in a flash, leaving his head barer than before.
Then, the arena became the domain of an enraged Xiao Wu!
Even if the gods themselves descended, it wouldn't stop him from pummeling her into dust.
Midair, fire ravens burst apart one after another, and even the formidable Golden Crows shattered—all of them manifestations of the sun elven maiden's cultivation and magic power.
"Ah...!" The girl's face turned pale as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Not only had she suffered a devastating palm strike, but Bald Brother had also seized her.
Fury flared in Xiao Wu's heart as ruthless intent took over. He clamped both hands onto the maiden's head and... scrubbed with all his might!
Her long golden locks snapped inch by inch in the air, reduced to powder that drifted down from between Xiao Wu's hands.
"No! Aaaah!" the elven maiden screamed. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the experience felt more agonizing than death itself.
In moments, she was left completely bald. On the verge of tears, her eyes bloodshot and her entire body trembling, she nearly passed out on the spot.
Standing together, the two drew every gaze in the arena.
They were truly two of a kind!
Two hairless heads, gleaming brightly side by side, stood out impossibly.
Everyone stared in dumbfounded disbelief. What on earth was happening?
Knowing he couldn't kill her here, Xiao Wu felt his fury still unappeased. He slapped her across the face several times, then followed up with a resounding headbutt, slamming his bald skull straight into the elven maiden's head.
"Aaaah!" The girl let out a piercing shriek.
Bang!
Next, Xiao Wu's bald head smashed into her delicate face.
Her face instantly became a bloody mess. Her eyes rolled back, and she passed out from the agony, her nose crushed flat.
"Young man, hold... hold your head!"
"Stop headbutting, you're going to kill her!"
Both sides could no longer remain seated, and shouts rang out across the venue.
Bang!
With one final headbutt, the enraged Xiao Wu fractured the alien girl's sternum, caving it in and sending her flying through the air, covered in blood.
Watching this, several noble maidens clutched their chests, wincing in sympathetic pain just from the sight. That bald youth was far too savage!
"Fellow Daoists, where on earth did you find such... ferocious youths?" many noble experts from the Great Yu capital pressed the immortal path members for answers.
Both the luminaries and young disciples of the immortal path felt deeply awkward. Their reliance on outside help was now laid bare for all to see.
"Solar fire is remarkably useful to me!" Qin Ming remarked, studying the flames clinging to the nine arrows with a curious glint in his eyes. He turned to ask the Tathagata renegade if he needed any.
Xiang Yiwu shook his head.
"Very well, then I'll handle all the remaining opponents," Qin Ming declared.
Rubbing his head, Xiao Wu returned cursing under his breath. He felt the bizarre stares directed at him from all around, which he supposed counted as being the center of attention.
Among the alien delegation, an elderly sun elf spoke up: "I suspect the opponents are still holding back. Do not let those 'minor losses' you spoke of become our side's greatest achievements today."
"It truly was just a minor loss. I'll take the field next!"
"No, let me handle it personally!"
A group of sun elves rose to their feet, several immortal seeds beginning to vie for the next match.
***
"Has it begun?"
"The duels should already be underway!"
In the Dayu imperial capital, many looked up, already aware of where the contest between the immortal path and the alien race was taking place.
Amidst the pitch-black night fog, a bright moon hung high in the sky.
"We won't suffer another sweeping defeat to the sun elven race, will we? I hope this time is different. Even if we lose overall, let's at least avoid getting skunked."
Chapter 279