After a spell of autumn rain, the trees across the vast plain were nearly bare, fallen yellow leaves carpeting the ground.
Qin Ming already knew that Muguang City had fallen to the fiends and monsters, meeting a horrific fate.
From the gate tower hung the corpses of Fourth Realm cultivators, their blood dyeing the walls crimson. The inside of the city was a harrowing sight—splattered with blood and strewn with ruined buildings.
Both sides had suffered heavy casualties this time, losing many experts.
Qin Ming murmured to himself, "This region is considered remote, yet the slaughter has already reached such an extent. It seems the small-scale skirmishes are coming to an end. A major war is not far off."
He took out the auspicious beast blood and offered it to the Thunder King Bird, saying, "Consume this quickly and waste no time strengthening yourself."
"All right!" The Thunder King Bird nodded gratefully. Under such an oppressive climate, a breakthrough in strength meant higher odds of survival.
Qin Ming also took out a transparent spirit crystal, inside of which a precious medicine was sealed. It was truly substantial, nearly the size of an adult fist, and thoroughly deserving of being called a great elixir.
Amidst its snow-white translucence flowed wisps of black patterns. This was the Dragon-Tiger Pill personally concocted by the immortal path ancestor Sun Taichu, a great medicine of astounding value.
Although Qin Ming possessed wondrous blood, it was not enough to propel him through a major bottleneck.
Back when he had trained on the Plain of Divine Demise with the people from the Six Imperials ancestral court, collecting eight types of wondrous blood had yielded him only a single newborn transformation.
Now that he intended to breach a major barrier, he needed potent medicine to break through.
Qin Ming murmured, "There's nothing to regret. Precious concoctions are meant to aid cultivation. An ancestor-level war could erupt at any moment, and the demonic civilization is bound to go mad. In such a massive, bloody war, my first priority is ensuring I can survive."
Besides, once his strength increased, he could seize more resources from the battlefield.
Even the immortal seed An Youxing had fallen in battle, which shook Qin Ming profoundly.
"He might have been able to escape, but as an immortal seed, had he taken the lead in fleeing, a total rout would have ensued. He had a stubborn backbone, choosing to fight the opposing heavenly demon seeds to the bitter end. He severely wounded them, forcing those two demons to withdraw for the time being."
This also made it clear that even immortal seeds had no so-called Dao protectors accompanying them. Perhaps manpower was scarce, or perhaps the immortal path faction intended for them to cross the line between life and death on their own, using the bloody war between the two civilizations to temper the true seeds, letting the victors emerge as pure gold.
"Most of today's Sixth Realm ancestors were grandmasters, immortal seeds, divine seeds, and the like who survived the great war on the Plain of Divine Demise four hundred and fifty years ago."
Qin Ming believed this was a trial of life and death.
Most importantly, the situation was truly critical. If another crisis occurred, he could not place his hopes on reinforcements from experts in the rear; he had to rely entirely on himself.
Qin Ming snapped the spirit crystal open, retrieved the precious medicine, crushed it into several pieces, and popped them into his mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the faint roars of dragons and tigers echoed from the mountaintop as the great medicine took effect.
A heatwave surged through his limbs and bones. The medicinal efficacy was extraordinarily fierce: phantoms of a dragon and tiger materialized, followed by the circulation of mysterious Dao rhymes that enveloped the surface of his body.
With a calm expression, Qin Ming sat cross-legged on a boulder, waiting quietly for the medicinal power to dissolve completely.
"In the Second Realm, I probably wouldn't be a match for late Third Realm immortal seeds or heavenly demon seeds," he murmured to himself. This was one of the reasons he sought to break through as quickly as possible.
Over these past days, the heavenly demon seeds and the seeds of the nomadic hunting civilization he had killed had all been at the early Third Realm.
And through his clash with the silver war beast, he had gained a clearer measure of his limits.
In a straightforward duel, he certainly was no match for a Fourth Realm creature. This time, he had ultimately succeeded only by relying on an ambush, stacked with the effects of the rag and the green precious medicine, which had vastly elevated his combat power.
Even then, he had consumed life-saving purple salves multiple times.
Without the precious medicine preserving his life, he would have been crippled several times over.
As the Dragon-Tiger Great Medicine dissolved, yin and yang complemented each other with rich Dao rhymes. It did not merely surge through Qin Ming's flesh and blood; it also flowed into his mental realm, pouring into his heavenly light.
"What magnificent medicine!" he praised.
On the night-shrouded peak, a wondrous scene emerged around Qin Ming. From the void fell wisps of silver light, while faint black light spread and sank into his body.
Such was the Dragon-Tiger Great Medicine: drawing upon the spirituality in the void and channeling the blessing of Dao rhymes to help one breach major barriers.
Qin Ming stood. At this moment, he timely fused a wind-attribute outer heterogeneous substance—a sacred baleful aura obtained from the sun elven race, originating from the same source as the "Yellow Dragon."
Once he stepped into the Third Realm, he intended to draw upon certain methods and insights from the Overlord's Posthumous Writings; a wind-attribute sacred baleful aura would be of great utility to him.
In truth, back at the Dayu imperial capital, the sun elven race had also prepared one of the Four Sacred Baleful Energies, but Su Yuxiao, a grandmaster of the immortal path, had intercepted it, buying it at a steep price.
Qin Ming simply sneered at the thought; let him do as he pleased.
The man had wanted to stop him from assembling all four sacred baleful energies, unaware that Qin Ming had long since refined them into himself.
In this grand era, some stood high, looked far, and possessed grand vision, while others fixated endlessly on their own petty acre of land; there were all sorts of people.
"Sure enough, no matter the circumstances, refining a sacred baleful aura will always hack away at one's lifespan."
Fortunately, he now had the yin-yang precious medicine to compensate, so his lifespan actually increased instead of diminishing.
In the night sky, wisps and strands of black and white Dao rhymes permeated downward, connecting to Qin Ming's body, bolstering his essence, energy, and spirit to aid his breach through the heavenly barrier.
This profound and enigmatic "substance"—or rather, the essence of this mysterious phenomenon—truly astonished Qin Ming. Could a single pill really be this powerful?
"To think I could be so extravagant in breaking through a barrier."
Regardless of the path, anyone seeking to walk far could not do without scarce resources.
Comparatively speaking, the great medicines and rarities he consumed certainly could not match what the seeds of the immortal path used.
After all, this yin-yang great elixir had been concocted by Sun Taichu in the first place, so Cui Chonghe surely lacked none of it.
Cao Qianqiu, for Li Qingxu's sake, had even ventured through a genuine waterspout phenomenon to retrieve dragon blood for his disciple.
Afterward, Qin Ming began practicing the Geomagnetic Scripture, a wondrous art meticulously studied by Yu Gensheng and Zhao Ziyuan, above which lay a corresponding secret scripture.
Once he stepped into the Third Realm and entered the domain of the spirit field, this scripture would hold considerable value for him.
Having mastered geomagnetic force long ago, with the aid of the precious medicine, he swiftly brought this martial force to grand completion.
Shortly after, Qin Ming adopted a posture as if gripping a sword with both hands. His entire body radiated light as though he stood within a great sun, exceptionally dazzling.
Then, he slowly drew a sword from the void. Though nothing seemed to be there, as he moved, resonant sword hums truly rang out over the mountaintop, accompanied by the expansion of glaring sword light.
He was practicing the elven race's Solar Immortal Sword Art.
Having just consumed the auspicious beast blood, the startled Thunder King Bird hurriedly flapped its wings and took to the night sky; that sword light had nearly caught it in its sweep.
As Qin Ming moved, a sword hilt truly formed within his empty grip, accompanied by vast arrays of golden characters.
With a resounding chime, he drew a golden longsword, illuminating the night sky. Biting sword intent and terrifying sword light surged outward like a tempest.
"Not bad at all. Extraordinary power," Qin Ming remarked, satisfied. He checked his hand in time, not unleashing the strike.
In his hands, the Solar Immortal Sword Art was distinctly stronger by a large margin than when wielded by Liguang. Driven by heavenly light blended with divine wisdom and consciousness, merely drawing the blade briefly already carried the momentum to cleave through all foes.
Fusing the sacred baleful aura and cultivating the wondrous art, Qin Ming sat back down cross-legged on the boulder, silently circulating his foundational scripture—the silk book method.
He knew not how much time had passed when the strands of light in the void grew brighter, quivering faintly as they linked to Qin Ming. His entire body was coated in Dao rhymes, erupting with dazzling golden clouds.
At this moment, his flesh and blood became translucent, his spirit exceptionally full. Dragon and tiger merged, and he breached the obstruction of the heavenly barrier, formally stepping into the Third Realm—the spirit field!
A night passed, yet he felt not the slightest fatigue, his condition better than ever before.
Qin Ming stood atop the mountain peak, his long hair lifting in the cool breeze of the late night, his body crystalline. Near him, space itself seemed to warp and blur.
He perceived the changes within himself. His heavenly light had grown increasingly dense, expanding and spreading outward, while his body turned ever tougher, forming a kind of field.
It was spiritual and extraordinary, able to actively draw in spiritual substances from heaven and earth and absorb outer heavenly light, much like a magnet attracting iron filings.
"The human body blending with heavenly light is like a hazy spirit field."
Qin Ming tested his newfound prowess. Invisible ripples expanded outside his body, capable of instantly pulverizing any opponent who drew near. As he exerted force, the space around him seemed to form a little world of its own.
Opening his Eye of the Newborn, he saw lines of the spirit field densely crisscrossing every inch of space, shielding him within.
"Regarding spirit fields, various powerful systems exist. Some are renowned—such as the Sumeru Field, the Heavenly Demon Force Field, and the like—all incomparably formidable."
Yet ordinary newborns could hardly construct even an ordinary spirit field, much less those legendary fields; most were riddled with flaws.
"Breaking through via the silk book method, the initial spirit field I formed is seamless and evenly distributed. Whether for defense or offense, it is astonishing."
However, this was merely the nascent form. As his cultivation advanced and realm climbed, his spirit field would undergo further transformations.
Without question, after breaking through to the Third Realm, Qin Ming was brimming with the aura of new life. From physical body to spirit, it was equivalent to undergoing a rebirth, his strength swelling significantly.
He did not stop, instead commencing to temper his heavenly light force and hone his spirit field.
He had not forgotten the fate of several ancestors, all of whom had ultimately exploded.
Although Qin Ming felt he had resolved the flaws of the silk book method, he remained cautious, thoroughly tempering his heavenly light force whenever he breached a barrier.
Throughout the morning, thunder and fire burst forth here amidst rolling gales and rumblings. His heavenly light and spirit field overlapped and blended into one, constantly compressing like refining a golden core within a furnace, before being released, unraveled, and sent surging outside his body.
Qin Ming had not worked this hard even during his breakthrough. This time, he spent half a day tempering the golden core spirit field over a hundred times, stopping only when he felt it had reached absolute perfection without a single flaw.
"In the Third Realm, wondrous arts can still be practiced, but one can also begin to study secret scriptures."
In theory, wondrous arts shone brilliantly in the Third Realm, representing their peak era, and could even be practiced into the middle and late Fourth Realm. But by the Fifth Realm, their usefulness diminished greatly.
Therefore, Qin Ming was in no hurry to switch to secret scriptures.
Stretching his limbs, he felt an inexhaustible reservoir of power. After breaking through into the spirit field domain, he experienced the illusion of immense strength—as if a single fist could shatter the night sky and smash through any barrier, making him itch to go pummel Cao Qianqiu.
"Calm down. I'm only at the early Third Realm; I can't let my head get into the clouds." He knew this was caused by a transient imbalance between mind and body from his strength rising too fast.
He then consolidated his new realm, fully adapting to the changes.
"Well, in any case, in this grand confrontation between Yezhou and the demonic civilization, if everyone fights until their eyes turn red, I now possess the basic strength to protect myself."
Of course, that was limited to remote areas; if he stepped onto the battlefield of ancestors, even grandmasters would be reduced to ash in an instant.
The Thunder King Bird descended, brimming with joy. Its feathers glowed with a shimmering purple luster, carrying far denser arcs of electricity, and its aura had strengthened by a notch.
"Master, to stand in the Third Realm at this age as a newborn makes you an anomaly, extraordinarily rare."
This time, it actually addressed him that way.
Qin Ming felt uncomfortable with it and waved it off, saying, "Don't. Let's still address each other as brothers. Just call me Brother Qin. How are you doing?"
The Thunder King Bird replied, "I practice a secret art and am currently storing up power. Most of the auspicious blood essence settled within me this time, so after a while, I should be able to break through to the Fourth Realm."
"Can you transform into a Thunder Emperor Bird?" Qin Ming asked with a smile.
"Sigh, an Emperor Bird is the ceiling of my race's natural aptitude, very few in number. The standout among Emperor Birds is on par with an immortal seed. Though I yearn for it, I know full well I cannot reach that level in this lifetime." The Thunder King Bird shook its head.
It was an optimist by nature; after a momentary daze, it smiled again, thoroughly content with what it had already achieved.
In fact, it understood well that it could probably only fight alongside Qin Ming for a period. As his strength climbed by leaps and bounds, the day would eventually come when it could no longer keep up with his pace.
"Well, in the future, I can brag to my descendants: 'See that? Ancestor Qin, who could slay Earth Immortals in the Sixth Realm, was once my partner!'" It was already indulging in such fantasies.
Qin Ming said, "Nothing is absolute. Deep within the night mist world lie countless mysterious regions. Perhaps there are heavenly treasures, rare flowers, or wondrous fruits that can cleanse your marrow, transform your sinews, and raise your natural aptitude. If we open up new frontiers in the future, anything is possible."
The Thunder King Bird knew this was merely comfort. In truth, when it grew old, if it could become a grandmaster, it would be more than satisfied.
A moment later, Qin Ming's heavenly light—rich to the utmost—blended with his consciousness and unexpectedly broke free from the shackles of his physical body, stepping into the void under its own power.
Although the Thunder King Bird was not discovering this for the first time, seeing him like this still left it unsettled. No matter how one looked at it, this state resembled spiritual consciousness attaining pure yang, which belonged to the ways of immortals.
Qin Ming left a wisp of consciousness within his physical body, then draped the rag over himself, took the exotic metal small sword, and soared straight into the sky.
Now, his constitution was extraordinarily strong. Having completed the Physical Body Chapter and achieved rebirth into the Third Realm, he could battle fiends and monsters of the same realm with pure physical strength alone.
This allowed him to venture far without worry.
Wrapped in the rag to mask his brilliant heavenly light, Qin Ming breached the night mist at extreme speed, pierced through thick layers of clouds, and finally stood high in the firmament.
Though this expanse was vast, it still gave off a sense of desolation, mainly because it was empty, vacuous, and excessively silent.
Having freed himself from the physical body's constraints, Qin Ming could finally traverse the night sky, cleaving clouds and parting mists to dart away in an instant. The experience felt quite novel.
He flew upward once more. High above, astral winds howled, while streaks of flowing light occasionally flashed past, accompanied by the showering down of perilous, mysterious substances.
Upon reaching a certain altitude, he felt some discomfort. Certain peculiar substances high in the celestial vault could injure one's consciousness, and the astral winds grew even more terrifying, carrying violent Dao rhymes that seemed capable of scattering his dense heavenly light.
"Even with the rag's protection, since it's my first time here, I shouldn't take the risk of going too deep." Originally, Qin Ming had intended to press higher and see what the realm beyond was truly like.
"There's plenty of time; I can explore slowly." A look of joy spread across his face.
For above the dark clouds and beneath the vault of heaven, heavenly light and drifting fire fell intermittently, containing substances profoundly beneficial to cultivation.
"The celestial firmament above is a treasure trove waiting to be tapped!"
Qin Ming pondered: since immortal path seeds could ascend to the celestial dome under the escort of sect elders to undergo "tribulation," tempered by all manner of bizarre substances and mysterious phenomena to turn their spiritual consciousness to pure yang, perhaps he could borrow that approach and elevate his strength up here.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, he noticed dark silhouettes emerging in the distance. In this vast, desolate realm, an abrupt disturbance was truly somewhat alarming.
In an instant, Qin Ming sank down into the dark clouds.
Yet the other party actually moved toward him, parting the clouds and mists as they swiftly drew near.
Soon, Qin Ming sensed what they were—unexpectedly, several bird demons.
"No wonder I felt something amiss recently. They were actually hiding in the clouds to spy. Could they still be planning an attack?"
In an instant, Qin Ming guided his sword across the sky. With wet squelches, the heads of several bird demons exploded, and their bodies plummeted from the heights.
One of the bird demons was quite aged, likely in the middle or late Third Realm.
"Old folks lack martial virtues, spending every day plotting to bully a youth like me!" Qin Ming patrolled above the clouds and mist.
Eventually, he felt discomfort. Estimating that he had left his physical body for roughly two hours, his spirit was growing fatigued, and he had no desire to tough it out needlessly.
With a whoosh, he swooped downward and returned to his physical body. Instantly, his spirit revitalized with a warm glow, like a fish out of water returning to a lake, or an uprooted plant taking root in the earth once more.
Seeing him return, the Thunder King Bird let out a long sigh of relief. Earlier, six bird corpses had crashed down nearby with loud thuds, startling it considerably.
Qin Ming looked grave. The enemy's vile intent persisted. He reckoned that with the Black-and-White Sparrow and the Jade Emperor's younger brother, Huang Fei, successively meeting their ends here, someone had set their sights on him.
Moreover, he had also struck at White Elephant Ridge, killing two heavenly demon seeds. The fiends and monsters of that region were likely sharpening their blades as well. Tallying it up, the blood feuds were quite numerous indeed.
"Why haven't the ancestors launched their moves yet?" Qin Ming wondered.
That very day, terrifying explosions suddenly echoed from the distance. Deep within the plain across the way, lightning flashed and thunder roared across the night sky, billows of flame surged, and magnetic field lines warped the air.
"Grandmaster-level figures are clashing!" Qin Ming was genuinely shocked.
For such a massive clash to erupt in this remote place was clearly abnormal.
"Is this the experts of Yezhou taking the initiative to attack, retaliating for the breach of Muguang City?" Qin Ming guessed.
He had thought a major confrontation would break out on the ancestor battlefield.
He had not expected it would still occur in this remote region.
Qin Ming's expression grew solemn. The later the ancestor-level powerhouses entered the fray, the more terrifying it would be; it signaled that the final war would unfold like crumbling mountains and surging tsunamis.
An hour later, two figures appeared, their auras quite formidable. Both were quite aged, but Qin Ming did not mount the Thunder King Bird to flee; instead, he waited where he was.
Two wounded higher-tier exotic fowl bore the two elders as they arrived. They were none other than Yu Gensheng and Jin Yuan; today, it was actually they who had mounted the assault.
"Child, as long as you're safe, all is well." Both were stained with blood, yet wore smiles.
"Seniors, did you launch an attack on the other side?" Qin Ming asked, taken aback.
"Yesterday, the demonic civilization broke through our Muguang City. How could we not make them pay in blood? Naturally, we had to strike back today," Yu Gensheng said, the hundred-odd strands of hair on his head fluttering, stained with blood.
In this battle, the two of them joined forces with two figures from the esoteric sect and the immortal path—four grandmasters in total. Not only did they plow through this entire remote region, but they also tore straight through the fiend-and-monster armies in the adjacent territory.
"We killed two grandmasters of the demonic civilization, and another demon grandmaster had his physical body destroyed, though his spiritual consciousness escaped," Jin Yuan said, reporting their battle achievements.
As for demons of other tiers, they had naturally slain even more, wiping out every one they laid eyes on.
"Senior Jin, your martial nephew..." Qin Ming began.
Clearly, when Jin Yuan arranged for him to come here, he had taken his martial nephew into account, wanting that person to look out for him.
Yet as it turned out, Jin Yuan's martial nephew had fallen in battle beforehand.
Jin Yuan sighed. "How can there be a war without casualties? Multiple grandmasters have already fallen."
It had been more than ten days since his return, and after consuming extraordinarily rare great medicines, his body was fully recovered.
"Little Qin, if an old demon appears that you cannot match, flee immediately. Don't try to face it head-on," Yu Gensheng said.
Jin Yuan had sent a message to Yu Gensheng reporting that Qin Ming had slain four heavenly demon seeds, and Old Yu had rushed over immediately.
Evidently, Jin Yuan and Yu Gensheng were vigilant. Considering that four heavenly demon seeds had died, they realized the other side might target Qin Ming. Since Yezhou was already intent on avenging the fall of Muguang City, the two immediately made arrangements, contacted two other grandmasters, and launched a fierce assault across the lines today.
Regardless of whether the other side had harbored thoughts of retaliation, a whole host of fiends and demons had been wiped out regardless.
"Cataclysmic events of the 'Heaven's Change' magnitude could break out on the main battlefield at any moment. Be careful on your own out here!" the two urged.
They were in a hurry and prepared to depart.
For experts of their caliber, so long as their bodies were hale, were required to hold down different fronts.
"Seniors, I killed a Fourth Realm demon."
Before leaving, when the two caught sight of the silver war beast's corpse, they were stunned. It was almost hard to believe that a youth had slain this creature all on his own.
"After dispatching it, I broke through to the Third Realm," Qin Ming informed them.
When Yu Gensheng and Jin Yuan left, their minds were somewhat dazed and their faces twitched faintly—it felt utterly outrageous!
Over the next few days, Qin Ming honed his spirit field, perused the Overlord's Posthumous Writings, and comprehended various true scriptures, waiting quietly for the calm to be shattered.
During this period, the Thunder King Bird went out every day to help Qin Ming scout for news of his acquaintances.
"Mountain Master, I've finally found you!"
On the sixth day, a familiar voice called out. Yuque stood atop the Thunder King Bird's back, pouring out tears and snot as it lamented, appearing before Qin Ming.
"How did you get here?" Qin Ming was genuinely surprised.
"Never mind me for now, Mountain Master! One of your brothers is in a perilous place; you have to go check on him. Over there, immortal seeds and divine seeds are engaged in sword duels and bloody battles with the heavenly demon seeds of the demonic camp. The area he's in isn't safe at all."
"Hmm?" Qin Ming had not cared about any sword duel, but now that the matter involved an acquaintance and brother of his, he could no longer sit still.
Since breaking through, he had yet to test his sword's edge. If necessary, he would naturally guide his blade to slay fiends and demons, bathe in the blood of future heavenly demons, and rescue an old friend from distress.
Chapter 325