Inside the quiet room, the dark sandalwood table showed fine, tight grain, and the pure-white porcelain cups were as thin as paper. The tea was the color of pale golden amber, its delicate fragrance rising gently with the curling steam.
Grandmasters Lin Yuchen and Qionghui sat peacefully sipping tea, while Meng Xinghai was reduced to "Xiao Meng," personally pouring tea for his martial uncle and the elder sun elf.
Apart from them, Qin Ming and Liguang sat facing each other in the tranquil chamber, the meditation cushions beneath them thoroughly drenched in sweat.
The sun elven race had delivered the legendary sacred baleful aura as promised, and Qin Ming had honored his agreement to sever the immortal contract for Liguang under their guidance. Yet the process was arduous beyond measure.
They had begun at noon, and now the buildings of the city were washed in faint red glow, with only the dying embers of the twilight lingering.
Many sun elves stood guard outside the secret chamber, not daring to disturb them. Youths like He Yan and Chi Yao were extremely tense, terrified that undoing the immortal contract might end in failure.
Meng Xinghai, on the other hand, had relaxed. Fearing that the sun elven race might slaughter the donkey once it was done grinding the grain, he had invited his martial uncle to oversee matters. Looking back, those worries may have been overblown.
Qionghui's brow was furrowed so deeply it formed vertical creases. He had been instructing and overseeing the entire time, and he had seen for himself that Qin Ming was truly doing everything in his power to sever the "document."
A sheet of light paper hovered within Liguang's conscious spiritual light, encircled by dense golden text like a sky sprinkled with stars.
It was rooted deep in Liguang's mental field, proving virtually impossible to obliterate entirely. Even after being torn apart multiple times, it would reconstruct itself anew.
By the end, the immortal contract had grown faint and hazy, lingering like a coil of light and shadow. No matter how Qin Ming wielded the secret technique Qionghui had passed down to sever it, barely any change occurred.
"Senior, I've done my utmost. There's truly nothing more I can do," Qin Ming spoke up. His fingers were pressed against Liguang's head, nearly poking through her glistening white forehead.
Qionghui looked grim. His brow remained tightly knit, and he stayed silent. Ending with such an outcome was truly hard to accept.
Liguang was not only his blood relative, but also the favorite direct descendant of the sun elf patriarch traveling with the delegation.
"Try once more!" he said in a heavy voice. Rising to his feet, he stepped forward to instruct personally again.
Soon, countless characters emerged between Qin Ming and Liguang, forming a bridge that linked the two, and another journey to dismantle the sheet of light paper began.
Deep into the night, Qin Ming tore hungrily into a piping-hot roasted venison leg, crispy on the outside and tender within. He was thoroughly exhausted; this had drained his spirit and vitality even more than a fight to the death.
Across from him, Liguang's waist-length golden hair clung to her translucent white cheeks in damp strands. Her moon-white gown was soaked through with sweat, clinging to her skin and outlining the graceful curves of her figure. She leaned against the wall, on the verge of complete collapse.
"I think we should leave it at that," Grandmaster Lin Yuchen spoke.
Qionghui knew there was no longer any point in continuing.
Right now, the sheet of light paper had temporarily vanished. Yet as long as Qin Ming gently nudged the golden thread in the void, it would faintly reappear. Its roots could not be pulled up.
Qionghui was silent at first, then rose and paced back and forth across the room.
Lin Yuchen set down his wine cup, chewed on another piece of dried venison, and finally remarked, "Weren't you prepared for this long ago? An immortal contract is notoriously hard to remove. Once planted... it's destined to remain an entangled knot that can neither be cut nor untangled."
Meng Xinghai chimed in as well. "Actually, that sheet of light paper won't have much of an impact anymore. Even if something happens to Xiao Qin, Liguang won't necessarily perish."
Qin Ming put down the venison leg and said, "Indeed. I think it should be fine now. Even I'm not worried about being dragged down by her."
Hearing this, Liguang nearly rolled her eyes to the ceiling. This was a one-way binding—how could he possibly be dragged down!
At the same time, she was consumed by regret for her earlier decisions.
Lin Yuchen chuckled. "Isn't this girl from your clan? In fact, if you don't speak of it and I don't speak of it, the sun elves outside won't know it failed. Just treat it as completely resolved. It won't affect her in the slightest, and she can openly compete for the throne of the Elven Queen in the future."
Chest tight with frustration, Qionghui led his people away into the deep night.
Meng Xinghai chuckled. "This is the best outcome. It keeps them from turning hostile, and if you ever set foot in the immortal graves in the future, they certainly won't dare harm you. They might even receive you warmly. And if they really end up raising an Elven Queen, that will be even better."
*Wuuu...*
The following day, the horn of the immortal path sounded once more. Every day, contingents from the outer realms arrived, preparing to set out from the Dayu imperial capital.
Over the next few days, Qin Ming dashed from place to place, chasing after lightning.
To smelt and refine the heterogeneous substance and transform the Five Sacred Baleful Energies into his own strength, he had to temper himself inside high towers amid thunderstorms and absorb long-life heavenly light.
Otherwise, if he endured it with his physical body alone, he would lose at least one or two hundred years of his lifespan.
During his brief attempt earlier, thirty to fifty years of his lifespan had already been lopped off, which was utterly terrifying.
Fortunately, it could all still be remedied.
A lightning sparrow landed in the inn, carrying word from a distant city.
In an instant, Qin Ming took off on a wondrous bird, with Meng Xinghai following alongside him.
Wu Yaozu looked up at the sky and remarked, "Brother Ming's way of cultivating really is something novel. He has to rush from place to place every day, actively looking to get struck by lightning."
Xiang Yiwu was also about to depart. The Present Rulai had summoned him, likely concerning the expedition deep into the night mist world.
"Are you coming with me?" he asked Xiao Wu.
Wu Yaozu hesitated briefly before agreeing. "Sounds good. I'll leave a letter for Brother Ming."
In truth, Qin Ming returned rather early that day, just in time to see the two of them off.
"Once you break through, you can look for us at the Rulai Sect," Xiang Yiwu warmly invited.
Facing a myriad of matters himself, Qin Ming had already made up his mind not to travel with them for now.
The next day, out of courtesy, he also saw off the sun elven race, as their delegation was departing with the vanguard of the immortal path.
Among the sun elves, youths like He Yan and Chi Yao maintained an aloof, haughty demeanor throughout. Yet to their astonishment, Liguang actually looked back at the figure behind them, even hesitantly waving her hand.
They could only marvel that their clan's Sun Goddess possessed such exceptional grace and restraint.
Grandmaster Qionghui was not present; had he been, his face would surely have darkened.
Using the pretext of seeing them off, Qin Ming had tested activating the immortal contract and found it remained effective.
He had not done so to provoke her, but to serve as a reminder and an implicit warning: if Xiang Yiwu and Xiao Wu entered their territory and were treated with hostility, they had best weigh the consequences.
Liguang's spirit trembled. As the sheet of light paper surfaced, even her utmost willpower failed to suppress her instincts, resulting in a backward glance with a smile of captivating charm.
Only after she had traveled a considerable distance did the light paper inside her gradually fade and disappear from sight.
Qin Ming threw himself back into his busy routine, hurrying between various locations.
After staying in the Dayu imperial capital for a while, he had almost forgotten the absolute darkness of the wilderness.
"This is nowhere near enough," Qin Ming sighed.
The rainy season had ended. Even with Meng Xinghai coordinating and obtaining timely news from various regions, he still frequently made fruitless trips.
At this time of year, after a few rumbles of thunder, rain would fall without a single bolt of lightning carrying heavenly light downward, and the rain would soon cease.
"Time is more precious than anything. It's time to use the auspicious beast blood," Qin Ming murmured to himself.
All that talk about how the Newborn path grew increasingly difficult at later stages, how fine steel should only be spent on the blade's edge, and how auspicious beast blood should be saved for breaking through major barriers... he found it unnecessary.
In this grand era where a hundred schools contended and ten thousand flowers bloomed, with the Great Opening arriving, anything could happen.
Qin Ming believed it was best to convert existing resources into immediate strength.
"Time waits for no one. Break through first!"
More than anything, after racing around for days on end, he had barely caught a few wisps of thunderfire heavenly light.
"Decide for yourself!" Meng Xinghai raised no objections. On the Newborn path, he truly could offer no guidance, for this youth was carving out new territory all on his own.
Out in the wilderness, heaven and earth were as dark as if soaked in ink, so pitch-black one could not see one's own hand before one's face.
Qin Ming sat quietly atop a mountain peak barren of even a blade of grass.
In fact, the entire region was desolate. In this uninhabited land without Fire Springs, absolute darkness stretched without end.
A vessel of pure crystal, as large as a human head, sealed within it auspicious beast blood that shone like golden clouds.
Qin Ming unsealed it and drank straight from the container, then began smelting and refining the heterogeneous substances.
He started with the Vermilion Bird sacred baleful energy. As he refined it, it seemed sentient, unruly and rebellious, fiercely lashing out.
The mountain peak was submerged in crimson firelight, melting the rocks. A crimson divine bird repeatedly struck, trying desperately to break free and flee.
Yet it could not stray too far from Qin Ming; fiery red patterns seemed to intertwine the two.
In the end, it let out a long, resolute cry. Firelight surged explosively, dyeing the pitch-black night sky red as it lunged toward the seated youth.
Translucent, glowing red feathers drifted down in vast swathes. The Vermilion Bird seemed on the verge of disintegrating, seeking mutual destruction with him.
Even as its feathers molted and it continually dove downward, with radiant clouds piercing the night mist and molten rock flowing in torrents across the mountain, it could not escape this place.
The Vermilion Bird shattered into pieces, its luminous feathers withering and draping over Qin Ming. Then, amid a shrill cry, the divine bird reemerged within the flames.
It had been thoroughly refined, reborn through fire by Qin Ming's will, soaring through the sky once again.
Next, he brought forth the legendary Azure Dragon sacred baleful energy. The moment it appeared, layered azure clouds covered the surroundings. A colossal beast thrust its head out from the night sky, diving downward.
Qin Ming showed no mercy, executing a dragon right then and there!
Azure light surged and dragon roars echoed. In a daze, Qin Ming seemed to stride atop azure clouds, climbing step by step until he stood atop the massive dragon's head.
The Azure Dragon sacred baleful energy burst apart and was refined by Qin Ming, reborn within his heavenly light!
Nearby, across the newly cooled mountain peak, vast patches of green emerged as grass sprouted—the Azure Dragon sacred baleful energy carried rich, vibrant vitality.
When the White Tiger sacred baleful energy appeared, it displayed sheer savagery. Its colossal body resembled a small mountain, radiating overwhelming pressure. Furthermore, around it swirled numerous white beams of light shaped like sabers, swords, and spears, blazing brighter than lightning as they charged alongside it.
Evidently, those were slaughtering auras of the metal element!
Not only that, but the White Tiger opened its maw and spat out a beauty fiend, which dove alongside it.
Heaven and earth turned entirely pale white!
Across the mountain, all things bore the brunt of the murderous aura. The ground and summit cracked, and many boulders crumbled into dust.
What was more, the White Tiger sacred baleful energy attempted to draw upon the Azure Dragon sacred baleful energy, seeking to unleash a coordinated dragon-tiger strike!
Qin Ming deployed his black-and-white yin-yang heavenly light chart, suppressing it directly and crushing it slowly until it detonated.
A moment later, amid dragon roars and tiger howls, the White Tiger sacred baleful energy was reborn, thoroughly refined by him.
Qin Ming murmured to himself, "Even right now, against immortal seeds like An Youxing and Sun Jingxiao, I could probably grab them by the neck and haul them right over!"
Moments later, a jet-black Xuanwu appeared, colossal in size. Mysterious patterns crisscrossed its shell like a primordial Bagua chart, and a great serpent was coiled around its tail.
Amid rumbling sounds, it felt as though the Northern Sea had burst its dikes, flooding heaven and earth as black waters engulfed Qin Ming.
He slaughtered the Xuanwu as well, integrating the fourth sacred baleful energy!
"Almost there, just one left!" Qin Ming could clearly feel himself growing steadily stronger.
After a brief adjustment, he drank another mouthful of the golden auspicious beast blood, the vitality in his body surging vigorously.
A moment later, yellow clouds and mist billowed. A colossal beast erupted with blinding golden light in the night sky, bearing an aura vast enough to blot out heaven and earth as it bore down upon the youth.
Within the yellow mist of light, the creature resembled a yellow dragon yet looked like a golden qilin. Its form drifted between visible and hidden, churning with overwhelming baleful aura and terrifying power.
It directly thrust a claw forward, instantly spanning the entire mountain peak!
*Boom!*
Qin Ming met it with a palm strike. Around him, the Four Sacred Baleful Energies manifested, accompanying him as he soared straight into the sky.
Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the area. Qin Ming struck out repeatedly, tearing the massive creature apart amid deafening booms.
The final sacred baleful energy shattered, only to be reborn within his heavenly light.
Instantly, five-colored divine clouds surged toward the firmament from the land as Qin Ming smelted and refined the Five Sacred Baleful Energies, breaching the celestial barrier!
He briefly hovered in the night sky. At his side, the Five Elements Mountain floated above his head one moment, a five-colored wheel of light enveloped his body the next, and five immortal swords hovered behind his back, radiating brilliant five-colored light.
Chapter 294