Across the vast no-man's-land, the night was as thick as ink.
The Thunder King Bird truly lived up to its reputation as one of the mounts favored most by young nobles of Great Yu. Under the eternal night, like an old horse that instinctively knew the way, it flew accurately along the path they had taken on their journey out.
A pack of raiders with fierce gazes, all riding powerful flying beasts, gave relentless pursuit from behind.
This was the first time Qin Ming had ever experienced such extraordinary treatment: being hunted down by more than a dozen fourth-realm experts in concert.
To be precise, a grandmaster was pursuing as well. Even though his body was mangled and his spirit field torn like Jin Yuan's, he remained the greatest threat.
Even farther back, a good number of third-realm raiders were trailing along.
Clearly, they had no intention of letting the big fish—Jin Yuan—slip away. Such a grandmaster-level figure was simply too conspicuous, and experts of this echelon were regarded as prime targets for revenge.
"Senior, how are you holding up? Do you feel unwell anywhere?" Qin Ming asked.
It had to be said that grandmaster-level figures were truly formidable. Once Jin Yuan's torn and shattered flesh was pieced back together, he was already able to sit on the bird's back under his own power.
However, his battle robes were shredded, his entire body soaked in crimson, and the fissures running across his neck, chest, spine, and thighs were clearly visible, still weeping blood.
"It's fine. I won't die," the old man said rather weakly.
Qin Ming took out the auspicious beast blood and handed it over. Even if it was far less miraculous than when consumed for the first time, its dense spiritual substance would surely be of immense help in healing wounds.
This time, Jin Yuan did not stand on ceremony. He tilted his head and gulped down a large mouthful. This sort of blood medicine was useless for his shattered spirit field, but at the very least, it would keep his physical form from falling apart.
Qin Ming asked, "Senior, time was far too tight earlier... Is your body missing anything?"
It was clearly a grim and tragic circumstance, yet put in such words, even the corners of the Five Elements Palace grandmaster's mouth could not help twitching twice. Jin Yuan replied, "For the most part, it's fine."
"Ah, so something was left behind after all?" Qin Ming was startled.
Jin Yuan shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Just a few old teeth. I've been wanting to replace them for a long time anyway."
Qin Ming breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he was not missing a piece of skull, fragments of his heart, or some vital section of his body, everything was manageable.
"Turns out we were already close to the edge of the no-man's-land—faster than I imagined!" Qin Ming showed a look of delight.
They broke out of the pitch-black stretch of world. Ahead, spots of fire springs appeared, followed by a vast tract of forest and mountains. After crossing over, they saw a grand prairie where magnificent creatures resembling pegasi galloped.
Suddenly, the roar of a dragon reverberated beneath the vault of night.
It was a storm of consciousness sweeping fiercely toward them.
The Thunder King Bird accelerated and altered its flight trajectory, nimbly evading the blast.
Behind them, shrouded in flames, a red monstrosity flapped its wings and closed a massive stretch of distance, proving not a bit slower than the Thunder King Bird, which was renowned for its speed.
"They have reinforcements. Several more experts have arrived, and that fire dragon might catch up to us," Jin Yuan said.
A fire dragon at the early stage of the fourth realm, shaped like an alligator lizard and bearing a pair of enormous fleshy wings, was bathed in flowing flames. Its speed rivaled that of late-stage fourth-realm exotic birds. It had just consumed a secret medicine and was accelerating furiously.
The raider grandmaster who had pieced his body back together stood alongside the dragon rider on the beast's back, glaring fixedly in their direction.
"Come, let us fight another round!" Jin Yuan stood up to intimidate the enemy.
In the end, the raiders' grandmaster exercised restraint. He knew his counterpart truly dared to risk his life, having already displayed a suicidal posture earlier, ready to drag him to the grave.
Now they held every advantage and could easily encircle and hunt down their prey.
"You cannot escape! You will die in the end!" shouted a mid-stage fourth-realm raider, his mental fluctuations surging violently.
Their mounts had all ingested secret medicines and were picking up speed, intending to capture their quarry once the Thunder King Bird was exhausted.
"Do you know what happened to your companions? Most of them were slaughtered, and they died miserable deaths!" an elderly raider laughed wildly, his beard and hands stained with blood.
Naturally, they were all transmitting with their spiritual consciousness, as their mounts were flying far beyond the speed of sound.
"The crews of your two ships were utterly pathetic! The so-called experts at the same realm as me couldn't even withstand four strikes of my blade! I cleaved them straight through, rider and mount alike, right out of the night sky! Bathing in their boiling blood was an absolute delight!"
Several raiders laughed unscrupulously from behind, deliberately provoking Qin Ming and Jin Yuan.
They were not exaggerating entirely. Their suits of armor were mottled with blood, deliberately left splattered to flaunt their savagery and martial prowess.
"Some famous elder, some genius girl—I smashed them all to bits with a single strike of my iron club!" shouted a burly man with a thick beard.
Fourth-realm experts of the two-headed werewolf race and the fire lizard race chimed in with raucous laughter as well.
A chilling glint surfaced in Jin Yuan's eyes as he stared dead at them.
Instantly, the raiders behind shivered. No matter what, that was still a grandmaster; if he singled one of them out for a death strike, that person would hardly survive.
Qin Ming looked back and said, "A pack of stray dogs whose home nest was just wiped out, with over ninety percent of your forces exterminated! What right do you have to act arrogant before me? Nothing but barking mutts!"
This struck a raw nerve among the raiders. Their homeland was gone, destroyed by several ancestral masters in league with the sun elven race—a wound in their hearts that could never heal.
Otherwise, they would not have traveled hundreds of thousands of li to seek refuge with the demons of the Plain of Divine Demise in order to avenge themselves on their sworn enemies.
A middle-aged raider snarled savagely, "Say what you will, we took our pleasure back there! Every blade drew blood, every club shattered bone! Next, it's the turn of you two!"
Though killing intent boiled within Qin Ming, his expression remained calm as he said coolly, "Back during the decisive battle in the desert, I alone slaughtered one hundred and fifty-eight youths of your younger generation, crushing them until none dared raise their heads—among them several seeded prodigies! Did I boast about that to you? Oh, right, half a day ago when we crossed paths, I killed over a dozen of you as well. You are nothing more than a mob of bandits, utterly brittle!"
He used no exaggerated words, yet this blood-soaked truth carried devastating weight, striking a deep nerve in these raiders.
These were veteran brigands. Their descendants, their sons and nephews, had all vied to join the expedition in hopes of trampling the splendid lands and securing resources from the ancestral grounds of various sects to elevate themselves—only to be wiped out entirely, not a single one making it back. Now, their eyes turned bloodshot.
A gaunt middle-aged man exhaled a lightning-like stream of breath and snarled, "I will flay you alive, tear you into ten thousand pieces, turn your soul fat into lamp oil, and torment you in the flame for over a hundred years!"
Qin Ming looked back and said, "Why get so worked up? Let's talk things through reasonably!"
A burly man wore a savage expression. "Boy, I hope your mouth is still this sharp when we catch you! I'll make you lick the soles of my boots for a hundred years!"
Qin Ming sneered, "What kind of foul habit is that? Laughing one moment, flying into a rage the next. You keep tossing around 'a hundred years'—do you even have that much life left? Since you care so much about your sons and nephews who died in the desert, why don't you just go reunite with them sooner?"
"Little bastard, enjoy your sharp tongue for now! We'll deal with you properly in a moment!"
The pursuing pack stopped making empty threats. Instead of rattling their targets, they had only choked their own chests with rage; the thought of their mighty raiding civilization being annihilated filled them with inconsolable grief.
"Watch out for that ghastly thing. It has been following us, lingering nearby," Jin Yuan warned in a quiet mental transmission.
It drifted through the night sky, never straying far.
"Why did it fixate on us?" Qin Ming asked, his expression grave.
This matter involved an Earth Immortal. Even if it was merely a layer of shed immortal skin, it inspired boundless dread.
Jin Yuan said, "It has either set its sights on you because you're suitable for possession and vessel snatching, or it's targeting the two of us heavily injured grandmasters, wanting to devour our souls to replenish itself."
In short, the immortal skin trailed them with profound malice.
"Be careful," Jin Yuan said, already aware of what Qin Ming intended to do.
"Understood!" Qin Ming nodded solemnly.
He turned and called out, "You band of brigands, do you intend to chase me all the way to the Plain of Divine Demise? When the time comes, you are destined to be smashed to pieces by our seniors!"
Then he added, "There are still multiple ancestral masters in the desert. They might have already set out on their return journey and could catch up any moment. You'll be dead soon!"
"Speed up!" Cold light flickered in the raiders' eyes. They fed their mounts secret medicine once more. Having pursued this far, abandoning the chase was out of the question; they wanted to finish off the two ahead as swiftly as possible.
Qin Ming transmitted instructions for the Thunder King Bird to coordinate, slightly easing its speed by a fraction to let the pursuers close the gap.
*Whoosh!*
Someone drew a bow and loosed an arrow, seemingly warping the night sky.
Grandmaster Jin Yuan formed a spirit field around his body, shredding dozens of arrows to splinters.
"Almost there!" Seeing the forest emerge ahead and the fire springs multiplying, Qin Ming knew they were about to reach their destination.
During this time, the eighteen riders drew even closer. The raiders laughed heartily and ceased shooting arrows, believing they would soon encircle their prey.
Qin Ming glanced back to see them all sneering viciously. Their bloodstained armor, the gleaming butcher blades, and heavy iron clubs were glaringly offensive to the eyes. A deep chill filled the depths of his gaze.
On the ground, in the midst of a vast primeval forest, fire springs converged into a lake, rendering the area exceptionally brilliant.
Guiding the Thunder King Bird, Qin Ming abruptly surged toward the firmament, ascending at extreme speed. Furthermore, fearing it might not be enough to disturb certain "presences," he violently hurled a long spear straight down toward the earth.
*Rumble!*
Suddenly, from the ground, an enormous tongue of fiery light reached toward the night sky, thousands of meters long. Like an overturning mountain and an emptying sea, it detonated the nighttime mists across the sky.
The commotion was horrifying beyond measure, far louder than the crash of heavenly thunder, deafening the ears.
Even though Qin Ming was prepared, he was nearly "licked" out of the air.
If that terrifying blast wave, colossal sonic boom, and expanding fiery red runes were to touch him, he would unquestionably fall into a hopeless predicament.
The Thunder King Bird tumbled amid the tempestuous night mist, but fortunately, it was not engulfed by the light radiating from that colossal tongue.
One could say they were barely skimming the boundary line, effectively treading on the brink of death.
Qin Ming had no choice but to take this risk; he feared that staying at an entirely safe altitude would allow the pursuing pack to escape unscathed as well.
"Ahhh..."
Cries of agony erupted from the raiders. Pursuing closely and filled with exhilaration as they seemed about to overtake their quarry, they were suddenly plunged into deadly peril.
Even Qin Ming had barely avoided it, to say nothing of those who were wholly unprepared.
Back when Qin Ming and the others rode the airship to the desert, they had suffered an ambush here, leaving an extremely deep impression on him.
According to Yu Gensheng, this fiery tongue might be a mysterious and terrifying "natural phenomenon."
Another possibility was that it was the "lingering catastrophe" of a grand figure from the esoteric sect who had entered the depths of the night mist world to break through bottlenecks, only for an accident to occur and the ancestral master to fail.
The gigantic fiery red tongue, covered in dense runes, restrained everyone behind; not a single raider could escape.
The fire dragon wailed in grief. Before this "tongue," its massive body was like a mosquito.
The raiders' armor shattered instantly, "dissolving" within the runes. Even the mid-stage fifth-realm grandmaster could not resist.
His pieced-together body disintegrated in an instant. His spiritual light of consciousness attempted to break free, but the "tongue" immediately "stuck" to him and dragged him back.
Even having retreated to a sufficient distance, Qin Ming and Jin Yuan were still thoroughly shaken. Suspended high in the air, the Thunder King Bird trembled all over.
That "tongue" was truly terrifying, possessing the combat power of a "mighty ancestral master."
The mounts wailed mournfully, unable to struggle at all, rapidly reduced to blood and bone.
"You!"
The raiders glared at Qin Ming in the distance, filled with fury, grief, and indignation to the extreme, yet powerless to change anything.
Their physical bodies were destroyed at the very outset, and their spiritual consciousnesses found escape impossible, shredded in an instant and swiftly "licked clean."
At this point, only ghostly shrieks remained.
Even that immortal skin was caught by the fiery red tongue, its runes eroding the skin until it dimmed drastically, unable to break free for a time.
"Though it is connected to an Earth Immortal, it isn't as terrifying as imagined," Qin Ming remarked, opening his Eye of the Newborn to watch.
*Pfft!*
Ultimately, the mountain-sized tongue spat it out, as though thoroughly disgusted by it.
It had to be said that the skin of an Earth Immortal was remarkably sturdy and did not sustain damage. However, it had grown exceedingly dim, devoid of luster, and no longer wept blood.
Tottering unsteadily, it vanished into the night, its speed significantly diminished.
"If you cause trouble again in the future, I'll drag you to Twin Trees Village and fly Old Man Liu's kite to wear you down to death!" Qin Ming muttered, staring at its fading silhouette.
Jin Yuan said, "You've achieved no small merit this time. More than a dozen fourth-realm experts and a crippled grandmaster wiped out—that easily accounts for half the elite force of that band."
Qin Ming said, "If Senior hadn't heavily injured that grandmaster, how could I have claimed any credit? I would have died long ago."
He dearly wished to wait here and wipe out the trailing group of third-realm pursuers. However, for the sake of safety, he decided to press on; after all, there were still grandmasters among the raiders further behind!
The Thunder King Bird whimpered aggrievedly, conveying that it had flown for nearly a day and was exhausted, needing rest.
"Very well, we'll rest nearby for a bit," Qin Ming agreed readily. He still had to rely on it for the journey ahead.
Just as they had rested enough, the young raiders trailing the fourth-realm experts arrived.
After repeatedly scanning and confirming that there were no grandmaster-level figures among them, Qin Ming and Jin Yuan acted immediately.
Jin Yuan held the line, watching Qin Ming ride the Thunder King Bird and cleave through the third-realm raiders with his blade, thoroughly shaken.
Although he had long heard of Qin Ming's extraordinary talent, witnessing the boy slaughter raiders an entire realm above himself with his own eyes was still quite startling.
Qin Ming's speed in dispatching foes was simply too swift, and he employed various methods of the Five Elements wondrous skills.
The more Jin Yuan watched, the more shaken he became. As the mutton-fat jade iron saber slashed repeatedly, five-colored divine light radiated in all directions, cleaving down all the riders and flying beasts in midair.
Jin Yuan felt that this youth was even fiercer than those ancestral masters had been in their youth!
"Your Five Elements wondrous skills are practiced well."
"I welcome Senior's guidance." After sheathing his saber without a single drop of blood on his clothes, Qin Ming had wiped out the eighteen riders, avenging those who had died.
Jin Yuan nodded, looking at him with ever-growing approval. No wonder Yu Gensheng had repeatedly mentioned having him offer guidance.
"Good, we shall discuss it on the way." During their flight, the grandmaster spoke to Qin Ming about the Five Elements divine skills.
The most crucial element was to master the five wondrous skills associated with the Five Elements. As for the methods to wield them, though secret transmissions, they were not difficult to train.
Qin Ming had already mastered the Heluo Classic, the Wuji Classic, and others, and had even cultivated the Departing Fire Classic to the realm of perfection to unlock a hidden trove. Hearing the grandmaster explain it now was like poking through a paper window screen—everything became instantly transparent.
Prior to this, he had already been putting various methods of the Five Elements arts into practice on his own and would have mastered them completely sooner or later; this had merely accelerated the process.
"Five-Colored Divine Light, five-element movement arts, five-colored sword wings, Five Finger Mountain..."
All along the way, Qin Ming refined his arsenal. Some arts were already polished, while others had been somewhat crude before; now, everything was integrated and mastered.
The more Jin Yuan taught, the harder it was for him to keep his composure. The youth learned far too quickly, and he had already delved into many of the secret techniques on his own beforehand.
One could say that the two enjoyed their conversation immensely throughout the journey, speaking entirely of topics related to the Five Elements.
The night was boundless. The Thunder King Bird crossed the skies, resting several times, and finally neared the Plain of Divine Demise on the sixth day.
Jin Yuan sighed with emotion. "One can never let one's guard down. The night mist world is fraught with peril. If we hadn't coveted the ancient grotto-heaven that might exist in the celestial vault, none of what followed would have happened. Alas!"
He had survived the bloody battles in the desert, only to nearly perish on the journey home.
"Yezhou, we're finally back." Jin Yuan gazed ahead.
Yezhou—the land within the night.
This was the term used by the immortal path, the esoteric sect, and the Newborn path for the territories they had already opened up.
After learning of the perils lurking in the distance, they had abandoned names such as the Divine Province or the Eastern Lands.
As for the derogatory terms used by distant civilizations—the Eastern Margin, the Dust-Covered Corner—they certainly would not accept them.
Cangwu City, a famous city at the world's edge three hundred li from the Plain of Divine Demise, was considered the largest stronghold in Yezhou's western territory.
Qin Ming and Jin Yuan entered the city smoothly. They needed to rest here and report the situations they had encountered along the way.
Naturally, Qin Ming did not need to worry about such matters; Grandmaster Jin Yuan would personally meet with several prominent figures.
This grand pass was renowned throughout the western frontiers. Over the years, it had withstood countless assaults from demons and fiends, the ground outside once flowing with rivers of blood and littered with demon corpses.
"Right now, a major battle hasn't broken out on the Plain of Divine Demise." Upon his return, Qin Ming learned of the latest developments and was quite surprised.
Presently, while the region at the world's edge had not yet been soaked in blood, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
The ancestral masters left behind to guard their domains and the experts from various Perils had all traveled west, each guarding a stretch of territory. Even the ghost path experts who had reappeared in the mortal world upon the unsealing of Kunling, along with experts from immortal dao arenas, had all shown up.
Whoever was in Yezhou, regardless of race or path, was duty-bound to defend the land against foreign invasion.
This was a rule established long ago by the ancestral masters of each path and the beings within the Perils.
This time, the commotion in the depths of the Plain of Divine Demise was immense. It was said that hordes of demons from the southwest, spanning various races, had formed a super alliance.
Even god-like creatures had appeared—more than one—brandishing an intent to slaughter their way into Yezhou and trample the ancestral grounds of every sect.
Evidently, they were in league with the raiding civilization and had coordinated beforehand, deliberately choosing this moment to invade.
Back then, in this region at the world's edge—Yezhou's western front—the tension had been so thick the air felt frozen, and a bloody war hung on the edge of erupting.
Some of the creatures from the Perils were exceptionally strong, yet upon witnessing the opposition's disposition, their confidence wavered slightly.
At the critical juncture, a mysterious powerhouse from Yezhou appeared, venturing alone into the Plain of Divine Demise to negotiate with the god-like creatures.
On that day, many saw that although the mysterious powerhouse swept forth a tempest of celestial mist, their physical form seemed even more terrifying than that of a demon—colossal beyond measure, with a black outline faintly visible.
At the time, a grandmaster of humanity spoke with a trembling voice and reddened eyes, appearing to recognize who it was.
"Old Ancestral Master!" someone heard him mutter.
Yet that towering black monstrosity bore a figure that did not resemble a human in the slightest.
"It is said that this mysterious powerhouse carried an ancient decree left behind by Yujing of old, venturing forth alone. When mysterious script illuminated the void, some of the god-like creatures retreated on the spot."
Otherwise, the great war would have erupted long ago.
Even so, the allied demon army had not withdrawn. Instead, they grew increasingly restless. Backed by major powers, they could march forward at any moment.
This was the talk that still echoed throughout Cangwu City.
Now that the raiding civilization had been wiped out and more ancestral masters were returning, the atmosphere on the Plain of Divine Demise, far from easing, grew even more tense.
Consequently, Qin Ming did not see a single acquaintance in the city; all had gone to the frontier.
Yezhou had maintained an ancient tradition of repelling enemies beyond its borders, unwilling to let warfare unfold on its own soil. Forces had already advanced in full, pushing westward beyond the world's edge.
The western frontier was immensely long. Fortunately, the experts from the various paths and the Perils were not few, each holding down their own station while maintaining instantaneous communication with one another.
The ancestral masters stood at the very forefront, their gazes undoubtedly fixed upon the opposing big figures.
"Word has it that experts from the three imperial dynasties have arrived as well, pushing forward with full force. In all likelihood, another passive Great Reclamation is about to take place."
There were even rumors that the river god of the Shuyu River had been conscripted.
Hearing all this, Qin Ming felt a throbbing headache. This battle seemed tied to the fate of their race—a colossal war where every path committed all its strength, treated with far greater gravity than the campaign against the raiding civilization.
A renowned senior elder, upon learning that Qin Ming had lured more than a dozen fourth-realm experts to their deaths on his return journey and subsequently slain nearly twenty third-realm raiders, was astonished as well as thoroughly pleased and satisfied.
Had those fourth-realm raiders breached the lines, such numbers would have wreaked no small amount of havoc. The senior elder promptly recorded the merit to Qin Ming's name.
"Your body..."
"Senior, I am fully recovered and ready to head to the front lines," Qin Ming replied. Everyone he knew was up ahead, and he naturally wished to go as well.
Besides, his injuries had indeed healed long ago.
"Very well. Go to Qingfeng Town, five hundred li away. They are still short of a minor expert to hold the station. Although you are in the second realm, you should be more than capable."
Qin Ming set out that very day.
He understood Yezhou's style of warfare: the main battlefield belonged to the ancestral masters.
As for the rest, they were distributed along the lengthy western boundary, with experts of corresponding realms stationed at designated points.
Qingfeng Town was relatively remote. If a full-scale war broke out, small groups of demons would inevitably slip through here. Theoretically, having someone of the third realm guard such an outlying post was sufficient.
Upon arriving, following the overarching principle of repelling enemies beyond the borders, Qin Ming sat cross-legged on a mountain outside town, gazing toward the distant horizon.
He already knew that the allied demon army was marching with tremendous momentum and terrifying might, mobilizing numerous top-tier clans on an unprecedented scale.
It was reported that several prestigious factions within the demon civilization—such as Hanging Ridge, Fire Phoenix Mountain, Azure Flood Dragon Palace, Longevity Temple, Demon Emperor Hall, Thunder Cloud Cave, and others—had all mobilized.
Early on, even god-like creatures had appeared one after another, an unmistakable testament to their determination.
The decree left behind from the ancient era of Yujing seemed to have exerted a certain deterrent effect, prompting some deities to withdraw.
Nevertheless, the current situation remained far from optimistic. The dark clouds of war had completely blanketed the region at the world's edge.
"A major war could erupt at any moment. I can't afford to savor the resources on me slowly anymore—if some goes to waste, so be it!" Qin Ming muttered to himself, seated atop the mountain.
Lately, he had been practicing various arts every day, never stopping even while seated atop the Thunder King Bird during their journey.
The glittering leaves of the Vajra treasure tree, which he, Xiang Yiwu, and Wu Yaozu had nearly stripped bare back then, had been part of his daily diet, and a portion still remained.
Today, Qin Ming chewed up all the remaining twigs and leaves, swallowing them down.
Afterward, he consumed the radiant Vajra fruit in three or four bites. Instantly, his eyes flashed like lightning, and his entire body turned golden, as if forged from exotic metal, radiating boundless light.
Chapter 319