Dominating the Night Sky

In the great desert, yellow sand filled the sky amidst dense crowds of figures; experts from every cultivation path were everywhere. "Senior, is there a seven-aperture bodhi seed as a reward?" Some disciples of the immortal path also had their fighting spirit aroused, shouting at the top of their lungs as they charged into the fray. "You certainly have quite an appetite!" Last time, Luo Jingxiao had gone to the summit of the tomb to comprehend the Vajra Scripture holding a snow-white five-aperture bodhi seed, which had allowed him to immerse himself in the state of serene clarity and draw upon Dao rhymes. Meanwhile, a seven-aperture bodhi seed reportedly took three hundred years to form a single one. It could induce sudden enlightenment and was priceless. "There are indeed seven-aperture bodhi seeds! What is more, after more than two thousand years, the immortal bodhi tree might yield a nine-aperture bodhi seed for the very first time. As long as you possess the ability and render great enough merit, anything can be bestowed upon you!" "Splendid!" "Kill!" Up ahead, after the grandmasters pounced upon their targeted foes, the standouts among the prime-aged cultivators also launched a charge, colliding head-on with the formidable hunters. In the vanguard, an intense clash was underway. Higher-order mutated birds let out mournful wails, their plumage drenched in blood as they plummeted directly toward the ground, while flying beasts exploded midair. Naturally, many elites from each cultivation path groaned in pain. In a large-scale confrontation of this scale, people were constantly grievously wounded, and some were killed on the spot. Such gory reality immediately made many people's pupils contract. High morale and hot blood alone were not enough; one also needed corresponding strength and immensely rich combat experience to adapt to the battlefield. An elder of the immortal path roared, "Today, there is no winning or losing, only life and death! Pull yourselves together, every last one of you!" A senior figure of the esoteric sect even instructed on the spot: "Your everyday sparring and spellcasting duels were merely showing off tricks! Here, you must wager your lives—defeat means death! Sharpen your vision, and when you strike, make it swift, accurate, and ruthless!" Although most of them had drawn blood before, experiencing a battle of such scale was a first for them, and they were indeed somewhat unnerved at first. On the grandmasters' battlefield, a mist of blood erupted in all directions as a two-headed werewolf from the hunting civilization was blown apart. The one who struck was a grandmaster of the Five Elements Palace. The Five Elements Rings he unleashed completely suppressed the old wolf's twin ice-and-fire wolf-fang sabers into dull dimness, ultimately stripping them away. Then, divine radiance shone in all directions as the Five Elements Rings, as heavy as a mountain, blasted the opponent to pieces. "Well done!" many youths cheered. Immediately afterward, the immortal path grandmaster Ling Canghai executed the Ascension to Immortality Art. Luminous rain ascended from his entire body, transforming the entire night sky into a sacred pure land. His opponent was a giant who was now submerged in the dazzling shower of light, letting out a shrill scream: "Ah..." Dense sprays of luminous rain shot out, spinning at high speed, covering and tearing the hill-like giant apart. Tens of thousands of strands of immortal light shone. Amidst a scene resembling immortal ascension, blood rained down in torrents from midair. A scene where holiness was mingled with gore was truly frightening. Almost at the same time, a grandmaster on the immortal path's side was slain. Among the hunters, a silver-haired man—whose pupils were even silver—walked bathed in blazing light. Executing the wondrous Thousand Hands Technique, numerous arms sprouted along his flanks, some wielding swords, others holding golden pestles, and battered the immortal path grandmaster into pieces alive. This was like a bucket of cold water dumped over their heads, chilling those blindly confident people to the bone and quickly sobering them up. The immortal path grandmaster died with his eyes open, and in the blink of an eye, his head was smashed apart by a golden pestle. Among the non-humans, there were indeed naturally gifted talents who stood among the very best in the grandmaster realm. At this moment, after the prime-aged cultivators engaged with their opponents ahead, muffled groans and shrill screams also rang out. Higher-order mutated birds had their wings torn off, flying beasts had their heads burst like watermelons, and non-human knights were torn limb from limb. However, among the experts of the immortal path, Newborn path, and esoteric sect, quite a few fell one after another, some being quite well-known figures. All at once, the young disciples in the rear paled. Some blood had already splashed down at their feet, while massive amounts of blood mist surged ahead, staining the entire night sky a desolate, vivid red. A senior figure yelled loudly, "Are you afraid? This is what it looks like to confront foreign enemies! Have you ever seen a scene where only a handful of people crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood? That was true despair—four hundred and fifty years ago, an ancestral master lived through it on the Plain of Divine Demise!" In the sky, many Bone-Illuminating Mirrors reflected and revealed the opponents' strength. After the ancestral masters clashed, the grandmasters charged, and the prime-aged cultivators and senior notables picked their opponents, the rest were swept to the outermost fringe. It was here that the younger generation began to taste blood. This was not only the result of the experts selecting their foes, but also because lower-realm individuals actively withdrew toward the outlying areas of the desert; otherwise, in the main battlefield, they would be torn apart merely by the aftershocks of the high-level clashes. "Let us settle our score on the battlefield and see who slays more foes!" Clad in purple robes, Luo Jingxiao charged forward, glancing back at Qin Ming, Xiang Yiwu, and the others. On the other side, Helian Zhaoyu also swept an indifferent glance their way. Wei Cheng snorted coldly and said, "A second-realm Newborn—what are you butting in here for!" "Are you talking about your father?" Wu Yaozu snapped back. "Those who engage in infighting on the battlefield will be executed without mercy!" a senior figure warned. Wei Cheng said nothing more. Being in the third realm, he believed his record would far surpass Qin Ming, Xiao Wu, and the rest, so there was no need to bicker for now. Swaths of youths surged forward courageously and soon collided with non-human races such as two-headed werewolves, fire lizards, and feathered serpents. The moment the two sides clashed, great splatters of blood burst into the air. Under such a massive charge, some died horrific deaths, their entire bodies torn to shreds after being struck simultaneously by runic beams, alien claws, and gleaming weapons. "The most useless generation is actually yours! Truly pathetic! You have extraordinary combat techniques for nothing, completely lacking fiery valor! At the final moment of impact, why did some of you hesitate? Why were you so panicked?!" Elder-level figures from the immortal path, esoteric sect, and Newborn path all berated them. "Are you bean sprouts raised in a greenhouse? If you weren't dragged out to train, we wouldn't have known how dreadful you truly are!" Someone also quietly reminded them not to scold too harshly—back in their day, these old fellows had been even worse than the young disciples before them. In the night sky, densely packed flying mounts swooped down once more, stirring up gusts of gale accompanied by the cold gleam of metal. Holding his mutton-fat jade iron saber, Qin Ming's gaze was sharp as lightning. With a squelch, he cleaved a bat-like flying beast in two, its rider similarly bifurcated amidst the flash of the blade. Immediately after, he leaped upward. A snow-white saber light swept past, severing the neck of a black peacock. Its rider roared in fury. Standing atop the headless peacock with a spear in hand, he thrust downward trailing purple flames. With a resounding clang, Qin Ming severed the spear in the rider's hands with a single slash, followed by an extremely swift second strike that sent the head flying obliquely. Blood spattered everywhere, dripping from the edge of Qin Ming's saber. Midair, several nearby knights struck at him simultaneously. In an instant, a Vermilion Bird with dazzling crimson wings surged out from within his body, and a colossal Azure Dragon riding azure clouds materialized in midair. Heavenly light in the form of the Vermilion Bird swept past as raging flames burned. Two men screamed agonizingly as they felt not only their bodies charring black, but their lifespans sharply plummeting. The Azure Dragon swept across the sky, striking two armored youths and shattering the metal visors over their faces, drawing muffled groans from them. When the two legendary sacred baleful energies struck their foes, they did more than shatter organs and bones—they also let the enemies clearly feel their longevity being severed. Even Qin Ming himself had nearly two hundred years of lifespan cut away when fusing and refining the five great sacred baleful energies, so what chance did they have? Though it was only a brief clash, these knights were utterly shaken, sheer terror filling their hearts! When Qin Ming landed, five corpses of flying mounts crashed down around him, their riders having perished right alongside them. "There is a super-seed youth here! He actually fused the legendary Vermilion Bird sacred baleful energy and Azure Dragon sacred baleful energy! Quickly, gather to surround and eliminate him!" In the night sky, several knights sent voice transmissions. During their eastward march, the higher-ups had commanded that if young hunters like them discovered any extraordinary seeds of the opposition, they must do everything in their power to strangle them. Otherwise, hundreds of years later, they would be facing an ancestral-master-level figure. Given the opportunity in this generation, they naturally had to nip such a super seed in the bud. Although they were at a disadvantage today and their situation was dire, many young hunters still remembered the ancestral masters' words and continued to carry them out. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen flying mounts swooped down on Qin Ming from all directions. All of them unleashed beams of light: some deployed exotic treasures, some cast immortal arts, and others brought down heavenly light. A brilliant riot of colors burst forth as dense showers of light filled the air—strikingly gorgeous, yet thoroughly blanketing Qin Ming's battlefield in a splendid, deadly glow. Had it been any other youth, they likely would have been blown to pieces in such a saturated assault, meeting a horrific end on the spot. Qin Ming moved like a phantom crossing the night mist sea, narrowly dodging the piercing beams of light. Although he could withstand them head-on, he would not expend a single fraction of extra strength on the battlefield. At the same time, he did so to lure the flying mounts closer. Sure enough, they dove again, believing that by unleashing consciousness attacks and heavenly light force from closer range, their opponent would be hard-pressed to dodge. Around Qin Ming, the four kinds of heavenly light force—earth, fire, wind, and water—emerged, weaving a magnificent spectacle of heavenly light. Then thunderous light blossomed as the Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon surged forth alongside it. In midair, more than a dozen muffled groans rang out. Several people were torn to shreds as the four heavenly light forces of earth, fire, wind, and water spun, raining down chunks of flesh and broken bones. Qin Ming leaped into the air. After flashes of fist light and blade light, the dozen-plus birds of prey, vicious beasts, and the knights on their backs were torn to pieces, their corpses crashing to the ground one after another. Nearby, many youths witnessed this scene, their hearts shaken to the core; such efficiency in slaying enemies was terrifying. Luo Jingxiao was deeply shaken. Among the knights this fellow had slain, nearly half were in the third realm. Wei Cheng's eyes glazed over. He looked at the foes he had personally slain—they were actually fewer than Qin Ming's, and crucially, the opponents they had each killed were roughly comparable in strength. Qin Ming paid no heed to the surrounding gazes. Carrying his blood-dripping mutton-fat jade iron saber, he looked up into the night sky to search for more foes. As for battle merit, he did not need to keep track of it now; he had memory crystals on him, so it would simply be calculated afterward. Another wave of young hunters charged in wielding spirit artifacts, while others released flying swords, hoping to decapitate Qin Ming from afar. From Qin Ming's body, crimson heavenly light force detached itself—the Vermilion Bird sacred baleful energy sweeping across like a brilliant blade of light, severing several flying swords. Qin Ming channeled it with full strength; within a limited range, the manifested crimson sacred bird was even sharper and swifter than flying swords. Squelch, squelch, squelch! Flashes of bloody light erupted across the night sky, and this entire pack of attackers soon tumbled down, turning into cold corpses. The surrounding young hunters dared not draw near any longer. Although the ancestral masters had given orders, nothing was more important than their own lives. Qin Ming felt somewhat helpless. He could only hover in the air briefly and was unable to fly long distances; in the blink of an eye, his immediate area had grown relatively quiet, leaving him without an opponent. "Qin Ming, I'll give you a Thunder King Bird!" The Fourth Princess of Great Yu, Yao Ruoxian, stood atop a mutated bird wreathed in golden lightning. Beside her followed another mutated bird whose wings radiated purple arcs of lightning. This was a high-order mount she had requisitioned on short notice from a noble of Great Yu. She introduced, "A Thunder King Bird of the third realm. In terms of speed, it is faster than, or at least equal to, mutated birds of the late fourth realm." "Many thanks!" Qin Ming grinned from ear to ear; right now, he truly lacked a mount. Although this was not the Imperial Bird Yao Ruoxian had mentioned previously, it was still an exceptionally rare breed. In the next moment, Qin Ming stood atop the Thunder King Bird and soared into the sky, charging toward the young hunters. The sky here was thick with flying mounts; the aerial battle was fierce, and some cultivators from the immortal path and esoteric sect possessed flying mounts of their own. Now riding the Thunder King Bird, Qin Ming was like a tiger with wings. Dominating the night sky, he held the mutton-fat jade iron saber, flanked by the two sacred baleful energies of the Vermilion Bird and the Azure Dragon. Everywhere he passed, higher-order aliens and hunters perished continuously, tumbling downward. As he grew increasingly accustomed to aerial combat, onlookers saw that this man and mount were as swift as lightning. Wherever he swept through, a single flash of snow-white saber light was enough to cleave a flying beast apart and decapitate its rider. The young hunters were horrified. Wherever Qin Ming went, a single slash of his blade ended the life of whatever opponent he encountered. Those around him grew terrified. Amidst the dense swarm of fierce birds and flying beasts, Qin Ming, solitary with his mount, crisscrossed at will and bored right through them. Who could withstand such a thing? In this sector, the corpses of young hunters dropped like dumplings into boiling water, tumbling down in rapid succession. "There's a super seed here!" someone yelled, transmitting their voice to those in the distance. In an instant, a youth wearing a golden mask charged forward. Astride a flying beast, an imposing aura radiated from him; this was undoubtedly a youthful seed of the hunting forces. Sure enough, the youth was very strong. Wielding a bone blade white as jade, he actually clashed blades with Qin Ming dozens of times in succession. "Hiss!" The surrounding hunters gasped, for they knew full well that this was the grandson of a prominent figure. That prominent figure had been exceedingly strict with the youth and personally supervised his cultivation, making his strength terrifyingly high. Yet now, the youth in the golden mask could not overcome his opponent. Squelch! After trading blades over a dozen more times, the youth's body froze, motionless. Then, blood trickled from between his brows, followed by the appearance of a horrifying fissure—he had actually been cleaved in two by the dazzling blade light, his mount cut in half along with him. "What? Tuoba Han was killed in battle!" Tumult swept across the area, filling many hunters with dread. In the distance, higher-level cultivators also witnessed this scene, and an expert of the fourth realm suddenly broke away from combat, charging over at top speed to slay Qin Ming. With a whoosh, a cyan bird carrying a white-robed young woman swooped in from nearby, intercepting the fourth-realm expert. In her hands, Li Qingyue held a damaged Eight Trigrams Furnace. She unleashed a sheet of flames that spread across the void, engulfing the middle-aged expert with a roar. "Ah..." Burned by the furnace fire, the fourth-realm expert screamed in agony and plummeted from the night sky. Evidently, Li Qingyue had been watching the battle in this sector all along. Standing on the back of the cyan bird, she arrived near Qin Ming to face the enemy together.