"Is it really that serious?" Qin Ming asked in surprise, sensing that catastrophe could strike at any moment.
A gentle evening breeze blew through the woods, carrying the delicate fragrance of mountain wildflowers and the fresh scent of greenery. Small streams of the Fire Spring flowed slowly, their light casting a soft glow over the hanging vines and branches.
Li Qingyue said, "Pioneering reclamation is never a trivial matter."
"What kind of danger is there, exactly?" Qin Ming asked.
Amidst the forest, the Fire Spring gurgled softly, blurring the scenery into a gentle haze. Li Qingyue’s whole body seemed to emanate a subtle light. Her dark hair cascaded to her waist, and her fair profile was translucent and crystalline. She shook her head slightly.
The higher-ups of the immortal path had not gone into detail about the matter.
Perhaps they feared causing unnecessary panic, or perhaps there was another hidden reason, but no one was openly discussing it now.
Li Qingyue said, "The atmosphere is rather tense. Recently, even the patriarch-level figures have been exceptionally grave."
Every patriarch from the Newborn path and the esoteric sects who could make the journey had arrived, yet none made public appearances. Instead, they held repeated secret discussions with the higher-ups of the immortal path.
Li Qingyue’s master was a grandmaster. Although she was not seated at the meeting, she had contact with those figures and could genuinely feel the heavy, stifling oppression of a brewing storm.
"Did the leadership of the sun elven race take part?" Qin Ming asked.
Li Qingyue nodded. "They held several secret talks."
Lately, the sun elven race had been actively cooperating, searching for and providing all kinds of materials to unravel the restrictive seals.
"Qingyue, make sure to protect yourself first. On my end, Senior Brother Lu Zizai is looking out for me, so there shouldn't be any major problems." Qin Ming looked at her intently, far more concerned about her safety and worried that someone might try to fish in troubled waters.
Perhaps Old Monster Helian was not the only one eyeing the Luofu Sect's foundational scripture and the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
"At a critical moment, Lu Zizai might not be able to attend to everything," Li Qingyue said, shaking her head. She solemnly warned him not to enter the mountain city in the near future and advised that staying by the airships would be safer.
Qin Ming already knew that the entire mountain city of the sun elven race had been built atop a colossal coffin lid, a fact inadvertently discovered by a senior predecessor of the immortal path while scouting the surrounding territory.
Her white clothes fluttering in the wind, Li Qingyue gazed up at the pitch-black night sky. "The land we stand upon has likely long ceased to be the homeland recorded in the ancient texts."
Qin Ming was taken aback, then nodded. Before the sun vanished, the world could never have been so vast.
A single expedition into the depths of this realm easily spanned hundreds of thousands of li, and that was merely a solitary corner. The original planet could never have been so colossal.
The boundless night mist was like a bridge, yet no one knew where it had carried and merged their ancestral land.
"What a pity that we have never seen the brilliant, starry sky recorded from the old era."
"Perhaps this is the true face of the world—darkness is the norm, and illuminated homelands were merely blessed lands during special periods in history."
"That is true. Even according to the ancient texts, across the profound universe, dark realms are far vaster, while starlight is like mere fireflies scattered over a pitch-black sea."
"Even so, if the opportunity ever arises, I would still like to see that legendary sea of brilliant stars."
As the two walked and chatted, Qin Ming realized that he could no longer clearly gauge the depth of Li Qingyue’s cultivation.
"Qingyue, did you break through again?"
Li Qingyue murmured softly, "Time waits for no one; drooping wings soar into the distance."
Qin Ming was startled. "Qingyue, you..."
She gave a faint smile. "Do not overthink it. A great era has arrived, and we must elevate ourselves as quickly as possible. I have already converted the Dragon-Tiger Pill and the auspicious beast blood into my own strength."
"Breaking through realms in succession in such a short time—won't there be hidden drawbacks?" Qin Ming looked at her, feeling that she was rushing things.
Li Qingyue told him not to worry. "I used the residual flames of the Eight Trigrams Furnace to temper my body. It is completely consolidated."
Qin Ming could not tell what level she had reached by now.
Back then, when the two of them were inside the Mountain-River Spirit Nest at the Luofu Immortal Mountain ruins, both had received immense benefits, causing Qin Ming’s foundational reserves to skyrocket.
And Li Qingyue had stayed inside even longer than he had.
Qin Ming suspected that merely by slowly digesting the lingering blessings of that encounter after returning to the outer realm, she could have broken through into the third realm.
Even though she seemed ethereal, otherworldly, and composed right now, Qin Ming still felt she was moving a bit too fast, consuming potent medicines back-to-back.
"People call the Eight Trigrams Furnace a near-immortal item, but its level might actually be higher. It came from the deepest reaches of the night mist world," she revealed.
In fact, Qin Ming had heard before that the Eight Trigrams Furnace had been discovered during an early Great Reclamation expedition, rather than being forged by the Luofu Sect.
"A faint spirit has awakened within the Eight Trigrams Furnace. It told me that this immortal grave territory carries an aura it finds somewhat familiar."
That night, the two conversed at length, their topics wandering freely.
"The supreme sect master of the Yuxian Sect has a forty-percent chance of stepping into the seventh realm. He cares deeply about what lies inside the main tomb. If he fails, it might become even more dangerous..."
"Qingyue, if danger comes, head to Twin Trees Village with me. There is someone there who might be able to protect you." Qin Ming briefly and quickly transmitted a message to her regarding Old Man Liu.
Old Liu might not be of much use elsewhere, but in the Black-White Mountain region, he might passively awaken if danger loomed, providing a deterrent.
"All right!"
...
The next morning, while the sky was still dim, Qin Ming arose early to practice his arts.
A pale golden sheen surfaced across his body, a sign that his practice of the Vajra Scripture had reached a certain level. Aided by the branches and leaves harvested from the treasure tree atop the grave mound, his progress was remarkably rapid.
As time passed, rumbling sounds echoed from within him. Even his internal organs were tinged with a faint gold. Soon, golden radiance flared brilliantly, overflowing outward until every strand of his hair grew crystalline, resembling strands of golden light.
"The true body is as firm as the vajra, abiding eternally with supreme truth!" Qin Ming snapped his eyes open.
He began executing strikes in the woods. Every blow seemed imbued with an indestructible momentum, as the eternal intent of the vajra began to reveal itself.
After finishing a routine of the Vajra Fist, he formed a seal with his hands. A vajra pestle faintly materialized and was thrust forward. With a thunderous boom, the trees ahead were completely obliterated.
Qin Ming stood in place, lost in thought, before switching to practice the Physical Body Chapter imparted by the silk book method patriarch.
Instantly, his fists and kicks stirred gusts of astral wind. No peculiar light bloomed, yet every move he made seemed far more lethal.
Without circulating any heavenly light force, relying solely on his physical might, he remained as swift as lightning as he darted through the woods. Whatever his limbs brushed against—be it vegetation or mountain rock—was instantly reduced to powder.
All of a sudden, Qin Ming stopped, a smile touching his face.
Comparatively speaking, he placed greater value on the Physical Body Chapter; this method could pave an entirely separate path.
While the Vajra Scripture was fierce and profoundly powerful once mastered, it ultimately relied on heavenly light force, and he currently had no shortage of such scriptures.
It was not a rare, irreplaceable manual, for other secret scriptures could substitute for it.
However, while the Vajra Scripture consumed heavenly light force, it also strengthened the physical form, which pleased him quite a bit.
Qin Ming even actively executed the secret techniques of the Vajra Scripture multiple times, converting the essence of the Vajra force to further nourish his physical body.
Afterward, when he practiced the Physical Body Chapter again, he found that receiving the feedback of the vajra essence truly doubled his results with half the effort.
With his silk book method, the heavenly light force he cultivated was already powerful enough to look down on all other force techniques within the same realm. No matter how strong the Vajra force was, it could not compare to the former.
Therefore, he integrated a portion of the Vajra force into the diverse forces governed by the silk book method, while directing another portion back into his body to serve as fuel for the Physical Body Chapter.
Shortly after, Qin Ming chewed up a section of a golden branch like a stalk of sugarcane. The golden sap that flowed out carried a dense fragrance.
Every pore across his body opened wide as golden vapor circulated and his flesh turned translucent. Light rain spilled from him, as though he were shedding his mortal coil and ascending to immortality.
"Indeed, consuming the sap of the Vajra treasure tree while cultivating the Physical Body Chapter yields even better results."
As Qin Ming channeled his art, all the golden haze over his skin was reabsorbed inward. Unable to escape, it was completely swallowed by his flesh and blood.
"Brother Ming, up this early working hard?" Wu Yaozu walked into the forest, feeling that Qin Ming had been pushing himself relentlessly lately.
Qin Ming replied, "'If you slack in youth, you'll end up in Tianque when old'—I don't plan on drowning in a drunken stupor just yet."
Wu Yaozu remarked, "Who set you off this time?"
Qin Ming said, "Xiao Wu, come, attack me."
"Huh? Without using heavenly light force?" Xiao Wu was startled.
"Come on."
...
Under a waterfall, Qin Ming washed away his sweat. His slender, robust body boasted smooth muscle lines that gleamed with a crystalline luster, brimming with vibrant vitality.
He had tested it: ordinary blades could hardly scratch him, and even a cut from his mutton-fat jade iron saber would heal rapidly, leaving scars that vanished in no time.
Long after their sparring ended, Wu Yaozu remained stunned. Without using heavenly light force, Qin Ming could already trade blows with him on even footing.
Naturally, Qin Ming was not worrying about the complete extinction of all arts; he simply wanted an extra means of self-preservation. If he ever fought an enemy to the point where both of their heavenly light forces were exhausted, his physical body could still erupt with devastating power, potentially turning the tide between life and death.
"Come on, let's divide the loot. No, wait, let's divide the treasures," Qin Ming called out to Xiao Wu and Xiang Yiwu.
Last time, after teaching Helian Zhaoyu, Wei Cheng, and Luo Jingxiao a lesson in the teahouse, he had collected three spatial pendants, which he had left untouched until now.
So many days had passed without anyone coming to demand them back, so it seemed there would be no trouble.
The three studied them for a while before using their heavenly light force to dismantle the restrictive seals.
"What's this?" Wu Yaozu pulled out a small crystal vial, inside of which a purple liquid gave off an eerie glow.
Qin Ming said, "I have a bottle here as well."
Coming from the Rulai Sect, Xiang Yiwu recognized it at a glance. "This is a life-saving miracle medicine. As long as you still have a breath left, drinking this will immediately extend your life and restore you in a short time."
The three took inventory of their "loot," which was exceptionally abundant. Aside from the life-saving purple medicine, there were various other jars and vials, such as a blue precious fluid sealed in crystal and an azure paste sealed in a jade jar.
"This potion is extraordinarily precious. If you run out of energy during a life-or-death battle, drinking it restores you to peak condition instantly."
"*Hiss*, this medicine can unleash a person's latent potential during combat!"
As they inspected the items one by one, their eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Without a doubt, these reserves carried by Helian Zhaoyu, Wei Cheng, and Luo Jingxiao were rare, precious supplies meticulously prepared for this Great Reclamation.
Still uneasy, they specifically went to Yu Gensheng for appraisal and found that every item was authentic, with no hidden traps.
Yu Gensheng said, "These are all rare commodities, hard to buy on the open market. Just obtaining these bottles and jars makes your trip worthwhile; their value is ridiculously high."
Afterward, Qin Ming fished a jade box out of Helian Zhaoyu's spatial pendant. Inside were over a hundred golden leaves, clearly plucked from the Vajra treasure tree.
He was certain that without obtaining the complete Vajra Scripture, one could not touch that ancient tree.
Evidently, an important figure from the Helian family had harvested them in advance and bestowed them upon Helian Zhaoyu—most likely a gift from that grandmaster.
Wu Yaozu said, "They can tilt resources like this to give him private perks?"
"Pity they didn't give him a Vajra fruit," Xiang Yiwu remarked.
...
Two days later, a patriarch of the immortal path sent a voice transmission, ordering everyone to withdraw from the immortal grave territory.
In an instant, the crowds fled into the distance, and all the airships set sail, heading into the boundless desert.
"What happened?" Many felt a sudden surge of dread.
Back in the immortal grave territory, dense fog surged upward, dispelling the original night mist. White immortal mist veiled the heavens in an endless, borderless expanse.
"Something terrible must have happened—there are living creatures inside those great graves!"
"How is that possible?"
Everyone was utterly shaken.
Word began to spread: beneath the great mounds lay corpse-liberated immortals, and perhaps even Earth Immortals. The place was terrifyingly perilous, and a dire catastrophe was likely brewing.
Fortunately, the days were long and the nights short; daylight still lingered.
Chapter 302