The great battle of the Western Border drew the eyes of the entire world.
Beneath the long night, cities lit like candles seemed smothered beneath a heavy pall—stifling, oppressive, until even the air felt frozen.
Avenues once thronged with carriages and bustling pedestrians lay quiet today. Many shops had shuttered their doors early. People moved in haste, anxiety and gloom etched deep into their faces.
The bloody clash on the Plain of Divine Demise concerned the destiny of their entire race. Should they suffer a catastrophic defeat, all prosperity would be reduced to ruins, and sprawling cities would become broken walls and crumbling debris, left for ravens to feast upon rotting corpses.
Even in remote villages and hamlets, melancholy hung over the populace. Elderly folk murmured prayers within their homes, staring blankly toward the horizon as they passively awaited an unknown fate.
The demon civilization was driving eastward in force. Once they trampled through the mountain passes of the Western Border, they would sweep unimpeded across the land, leaving no paradise behind on earth—only rubble and ash.
Even those who had spent their days wallowing in wanton decadence were now sobered. They muttered prayers for a sweeping victory, for once Yezhou ran red with blood, they would lose everything they possessed—and might well end up served as snacks and appetizers alongside the demons' merrymaking.
Save for the battlefield in the Western Border, the entire world of Yezhou seemed frozen in place. People gazed westward, hearts trembling with dread, each day dragging on like an eternity.
Without question, the Sixth Realm powerhouses on both sides were the absolute center of the conflict on the Plain of Divine Demise. Their victory or defeat carried the fate of the clans behind them.
Indeed, whenever an apex supreme from either camp surged forward to breach the opposing lines, an equivalent master would swiftly move to intercept.
Otherwise, once such a being tore through, everything in their wake would be pulverized into total ruin.
A tacit understanding had formed between the two sides: eliminate the enemy's high-tier combat strength first, and all else would fall easily into place.
Across the main battlefield, the earth and the night sky were stained a misty crimson. From time to time, terrifying beings exploded in midair, raining down gruesome torrents of blood.
On the great grandmasters' battlefield, every expert fought with bloodshot eyes. If this battle mirrored the war four hundred and fifty years ago, where the patriarchs fought until completely wiped out or crippled, then victory and the race's survival would ultimately rest in their hands.
"He's just a youth, yet he's already a grandmaster! If he gets another hundred years, who could stop him? Cut him down at all costs!"
The grandmasters' arena was equally gory. Several toothless old fiends threw their lives away without hesitation, determined to drag their "young" opponents down into the netherworld with them.
Having lost all hope of breaking through to the next realm, they seized this bloody clash to weed out the future of their mortal enemies.
*Clang!*
Qin Ming drew his mutton-fat jade iron saber and fixed his gaze straight ahead.
Across the dusky world, the night was repeatedly illuminated by bursts of celestial light, conscious spiritual light, and geysers of blood as distant experts disintegrated.
Now, even combatants of the Third and Fourth Realms were charging into the fray. Shouts of slaughter shook the vast plain, blood soaked every stretch of ground, and none could say how many would survive to see the end.
Under the long night, saber in hand, Qin Ming strode forward with unyielding resolve. It was time for cultivators like him to take the field.
This remote stretch served as the battleground for the Third and Fourth Realms.
Behind him, a multitude of troops surged out from Qingfeng Town, their armor gleaming brightly. Among them were experts conscripted from the three great imperial courts, as well as soldiers from aristocratic clans.
Glancing back, Qin Ming caught fleeting glimpses of past acquaintances from prominent lineages. Whatever grievances they had shared in the past, all animosity was set aside now that they had entered the battlefield.
When a few familiar faces glimpsed his profile, their hearts fluttered with dread, and they hastily averted their eyes.
Qin Ming spoke: "Those in the Third Realm, follow me. Those in the Second Realm, keep your distance."
He advanced with his jade iron saber. In this sector, he was naturally the center of gravity; having recently slain multiple heavenly demon seeds, his renown was already towering.
Before long, Qin Ming encountered demonic foes.
A demonic youth brandishing a spear locked eyes with him, an incisive glint in his gaze. At the very least, he was a quasi-heavenly demon seed.
With a sharp rush of wind, the wings on the youth's back beat forcefully, sending him airborne with an ear-splitting sonic boom. Enveloped in billows of white vapor, man and spear merged into one, streaking across the low sky like an astonishing, resplendent rainbow.
Leading the charge, the demonic youth sought to seize the initiative, aiming to skewer the lead human youth on the spot and shatter the enemy's morale.
Behind him, a horde of demons roared: "Kill him! Skewer these erect ape demons on a spear and tear down their towns!"
Qin Ming's stride did not waver in the slightest. Saber in hand, the night wind stirred his long hair, and his deep eyes watched the enemy hurtling through the sky in a blaze of momentum. He made only one movement—he swung his saber!
*Slash!*
A brilliant arc of saber light split the night. Accompanied by the crack of a snapping spear and a spray of crimson, the well-born demonic youth was sheared in half along with his weapon.
The clamor and jeering on the opposite side died out instantly into stunned silence.
With a single strike, a quasi-heavenly demon seed of the Third Realm had been slain. The sight left many demons at a loss.
The human youth looked tender of face, visibly younger than them, yet a single strike had cleaved their leader dead?
"Don't panic! Our sector has heavenly demon seeds—more than one! Strong reinforcements will arrive shortly!"
A demon gave a piercing whistle, sending out a distinct signal to summon aid.
Five-colored mist gathered beneath Qin Ming's feet, granting him fleeting flight as if he had sprouted wings of the five elements. He streaked across the sky, diving at blinding speed.
"Aaargh!" the demons shrieked in terror.
In an instant, he whipped up a crimson storm across the area. Wherever his mutton-fat jade iron saber swept, weapons, armor, and flesh shattered alike.
With each swing, several demons were cut down.
Staying true to his roots, Qin Ming unleashed the saber technique he had acquired years ago on Black-White Mountain. Suddenly, surging waves seemed to rise toward the horizon, where an arc of blade light severed the boundary between ocean and night sky, unleashing the Sky-Severing Saber Intent.
Blood soaked the nocturnal mist. The demons fell like harvested crops—some decapitated, others severed at the waist, spraying copious amounts of gore.
A ring of crimson surrounded Qin Ming, making that pristine arc of saber light look all the more blinding. It was as though he were wiping his edge clean with demon blood, each stroke shining brighter than the last.
Corpse after corpse tumbled like felled timber, crashing to the ground with dull thuds only after Qin Ming had already charged past.
Behind him, whether cultivators from the three imperial courts or scions of aristocratic clans, everyone stared wide-eyed before letting out deafening roars and surging forward in his wake.
"Kill!"
In such an atmosphere, selfish thoughts and reservations were meaningless. The enemy was not human; even if spineless cowards attempted to defect, the demons would not welcome them. To betray their kind across racial lines would only earn them a gruesome end, reduced to demon fodder.
The crowd roared, following Qin Ming's lead as they charged into the fray.
Of course, there were always cowards who lagged behind, trailing in the rear.
Yet they soon had to pick up their pace. Qin Ming struck like thunder, slaughtering enemies so swiftly that he cleared a vast swath of the battlefield ahead.
As demons surged in from the flanks, those lingering behind realized that staying right at Qin Ming's heels was far safer than trailing in the rear, and they were forced into desperate combat.
An elephant's trumpet shook the earth. A golden old elephant charged forward, its pair of tusks several meters long, lunging at Qin Ming like two broad blades.
At the same time, its trunk was bristling with sharp spikes, lashing out like a golden whip that cracked through the empty air toward Qin Ming with ferocious speed.
This was a formidable demon, not only massive in size but also nearing the late stages of the Third Realm.
"Hm?" Qin Ming was exceptionally keen. Seeing precious light and golden radiance shimmering across its body, he realized that although it was not a heavenly demon seed, it was by no means ordinary.
Upon their very first exchange, the golden elephant's ferocity was extinguished. Having just charged from afar, it had no grasp of its opponent's depth. That trunk, capable of snapping cliff faces, vanished in the blink of an eye!
Amidst dazzling blade light, the golden trunk hit the ground. The old elephant wailed, tears and snot streaming down its face, as if all the suffering of its lifetime had converged into this single moment to be swallowed down.
"A wondrous-blood creature!" Qin Ming thought in surprise, catching a faint, refreshing fragrance.
Even among heavenly demon seeds, barely half possessed wondrous blood. The emergence of such extraordinary essence was influenced by broad, unpredictable factors.
Qin Ming pressed forward with his saber. Using immortal methods as the skin and the Newborn path as the bone, his heavenly light surged. With two intersecting slashes, the giant golden elephant was hewn into four massive chunks, blood gushing like a stream to fill the hollows of the ground.
In a flash, a cluster of golden blood surfaced, which he swept into the rag's interior space.
*Rumble!*
A dense horde of demons charged in, met head-on by the advancing humans. The two sides collided like twin torrents of steel.
The dense woodland across this stretch of plain shattered in an instant. Roars of beasts, cries of raptors, and the shouts of men and neighs of steeds blended into a chaotic cacophony of blood and strife. Humans were hoisted high on beast horns and hurled through the air; monsters were torn apart by heavenly light.
In mere moments, bone blades, spiritual artifacts, and rare treasures clashed in the night sky like dense swarms of fireflies, detonating against one another.
Piercing shrieks mingled with low beast growls. In such a massive clash, anyone lacking exceptional prowess faced immense danger and could easily meet a horrific end.
The very first charge left heaps of fallen combatants on both sides. Beast heads, severed bird wings, and human arms still clutching spears littered the ground.
The forest was flattened, the earth stained with gruesome patches of blood.
An old demon shouted: "Brothers, over here, quickly! There's a human seed here, a future patriarch of the erect ape demons! Join forces to crush him!"
His years were nearly spent, and he had no fear of death. The reason these elders fought so fiercely was precisely to snuff out any immortal seeds or divine seeds they stumbled upon.
They had no certainty whether they could truly conquer Yezhou. If hope was lost, these aging demons intended to drag the enemy's seeds of future hope down with them.
However, they had struck an iron plate. When a human-faced lion beast charged forward with its followers and a golden eagle over a dozen meters long led a flock of ferocious raptors in a dive, space itself seemed to warp.
Qin Ming stood his ground. As he drew his saber to strike, an invisible spirit field expanded outward. Though still embryonic, its terrifying might exceeded all imagination.
The moment the raptors made contact, they shrieked in agony, torn apart in midair and plummeting like dropped dumplings, littering the ground with avian corpses.
The demon contingent following the human-faced lion shuddered as well, trapped as if in a mire. They felt as though struck by invisible blows, and their bodies began to shatter.
With Qin Ming at the center, ripples expanded outward in three dimensions like terrifying lines of a supernatural magnetic field, twisting weapons and demonic flesh alike.
Even their mental fields could not escape collapse.
*The consumption isn't light,* Qin Ming thought after testing the technique, gaining a deeper understanding of his spirit field.
This time, the bloody scene wrought by his spirit field waves genuinely terrified the demons. A dozen old demons leading a hunting pack found their hands trembling on their blades and spears, despite their lack of fear of death.
"Since you've all charged over, I'll send every one of you on your way," Qin Ming said. He felt his words sounded rather like a grand villain from a storybook.
Yet when two races clashed for survival, speaking of benevolence or righteousness was a joke. On such a battlefield, wiping out one's foes and laying them to rest forever was the truest form of justice.
This time, Qin Ming guided his saber with energy. Heavenly light force representing earth, fire, wind, and water swirled around him, and the mutton-fat jade iron saber shot forth faster than a flying sword, darting past several foes like a bolt of lightning.
Some demons clutched their throats as torrents of blood leaked through their fingers before their heads tumbled off. Some old demons stood dazed, foreheads pierced through with blood trickling down.
Others were split down the middle, a bloody seam tracing from brow down through chest and belly until, with a wet squelch, their bodies fell into two halves.
Yet another old demon had his skullcap and a tuft of beast fur sent flying through the air, flipped off by the snow-white blade.
Even several old demons broke mentally. They did not fear dying in battle, but such a death was meaningless; they could neither kill their opponent nor restrict or weaken him in the slightest.
"No, we can't beat him! We're nowhere near his match! Why hasn't our heavenly demon seed arrived yet? Summon an expert at once!" an aged demon shrieked.
*Bang!*
He exploded in an instant. A snow-white palm slapped against his torso, blasting him into pieces. He could neither flee nor dodge, and clashing head-on yielded this single outcome.
Qin Ming slaughtered foes by the score, yet not a single drop of blood stained his clothes. Conscious spiritual light served as his skin, heavenly light as his bones, circulating in an endless, vital flow. Not only did it ward off the demons' various weapons, but it also dispersed any splashing demon blood.
Today, clad in white robes, he stood out starkly. Advancing through swirling blooms of gore, treading across a field of bones, he held his dripping jade iron saber, yet exuded an indescribable serenity.
This pristine demeanor, set against severed limbs and pools of blood, seemed distinctly eerie.
Even the humans watching on were awestruck and thrilled, yet they too found his detached, untainted purity somewhat otherworldly.
To the demons, he was unimaginably terrifying—a veritable Erect Ape Demon King. The more serene he appeared, the harsher his methods, and the heavier his murderous intent!
In the distance, a long howl echoed from a mountaintop. A demon whose eyes shot golden beams took in the scene of this sector and heard the distress calls.
Bearing wind-and-thunder wings, he dove from the peak at speeds far surpassing mortal imagination, skimming low over the plain's canopy as he charged in.
Along the way, the shockwaves around his body shredded tree crowns, blasting several trunks into splinters.
A heavenly demon seed was arriving!
Moreover, he was a master of lightning arts. Before even drawing close, he hurled lightning spears from afar with terrifying majesty.
Surging with murderous aura and wrapped in thunderbolts, this future heavenly demon hovered aloft in the night sky, resplendent and imposing as he looked down upon his adversary.
The demons cheered, their morale soaring once more as they cried his name.
"Feng Xinglei!"
"Future heavenly demon, slaughter this seed of the erect ape demons!"
Qin Ming's expression remained unchanged. Shattering the lightning spears falling from above, he drew a bow and notched an arrow, aiming straight at the demon.
By now, he no longer required jade iron for his arrows; ordinary iron shafts could also channel his heavenly light.
In the next instant, everyone witnessed a horrifying sight: the arrow Qin Ming loosed did not produce a mere whistling sound, but a deafening roar akin to a thousand-meter waterfall crashing down.
*Boom! Boom!*
The arrows flew too fast, like heavenly thunder tearing through clouds, the air detonating the moment they were loosed.
This heavenly demon seed had arrived backed by boundless demonic aura, his fierce majesty intimidating many human experts.
Yet now, his formidable aura was shattered, and he was forced to dodge arrows repeatedly.
He soon realized that this opponent was an unfathomable seed, one whose archery had reached an uncanny realm. He could not evade them all.
*Pfft!*
An arrow struck him, blooming blood at his shoulder. Even his lightning failed to deflect the shaft, let alone pulverize it.
His heart sank. This proved that his opponent's conscious spiritual light was terrifying—no, he sensed its core was heavenly light, potent enough to pierce his protective lightning!
*Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!*
Feng Xinglei took three more arrows in rapid succession, blood staining his battle robes and shattering portions of his gleaming armor.
The demons who had been cheering moments ago were left dumbstruck, the noise dying instantly. Just what kind of terrifying erect ape demon youth was this?
"Die!"
Infuriated, Feng Xinglei realized his lightning spears had failed to harm his foe, while he himself had become a target and drawn blood.
He dove at top speed, taking yet another arrow along the way.
Qin Ming put away his bow, standing with saber in hand, waiting calmly for his approach.
*Clang! Clang!*
Dazzling light erupted in the night sky. Feng Xinglei wielded a three-pointed double-edged blade, hacking down repeatedly, only to have his own arms shaken numb by the impact.
"You aren't on the immortal path!" he realized. The radiant spiritual light glowing from this youth was actually heavenly light force at its core—incredibly fierce, capable of jolting his mental field.
That heavenly light looked no different from lightning, utterly masculine, unyielding, and domineering.
Qin Ming gave him no room to speak. Blade light illuminated the night sky as yin and yang alternated, black and white light blooming. Layers of saber qi shattered his opponent's protective lightning.
After a dozen fierce clashes, on the thirteenth slash whistling through the night, Feng Xinglei wailed as one of his arms was lopped off into the air.
No matter how hotheaded he was, he knew he was no match for this erect ape demon. Flapping his wings, he tried to flee into the upper atmosphere.
Yet Qin Ming had anticipated his retreat. Stamping down hard, he blasted the earth apart and vaulted into the sky. His invisible spirit field expanded, unseen ripples layering upon one another to ensnare his foe and drag him toward the earth.
Qin Ming said, "To withstand over a dozen of my strikes, you have earned the right to be proud!"
"You—!" Feng Xinglei tried to shout back, but his words were choked off by the Two Instruments saber radiance, starkly divided into black and white.
*Slash!*
A strike decapitated him, followed by another that demolished his mental field. A heavenly demon seed had fallen.
"Oh?" Qin Ming smiled in satisfaction. This opponent possessed wondrous blood.
"Roar!" An old demon howled, urgently calling for reinforcements, bellowing toward the distance that a young Erect Ape Demon King was here, an elite among seeds.
"Charge with me!" Qin Ming shouted.
Those behind him raised their blades and spears, their morale peaking. They had originally marched with hearts prepared for death, but witnessing this youth cut down a heavenly demon seed convinced them that this sector was no longer a deathtrap; they might actually survive to the end.
Qin Ming encountered a second heavenly demon seed, an extraordinarily potent demon sword immortal.
Evidently, upon receiving word, this opponent had charged from afar specifically to slay him.
Instantly, sword qi and saber light intertwined. Without exchanging a single word, the two erupted into fierce combat. A nearby low hill had its peak cleaved away in the clash.
Sword light and saber radiance resembled two burning dragons locked in combat, clashing and slaughtering with furious intensity.
*Slash!*
The demon sword immortal met his end, his head flying off at an angle, eyes wide in lingering disbelief, completely suppressed in the duel of blades.
The young demons broke completely. No matter how fearless they fancied themselves, facing an invincible adversary broke their nerve, and they scattered in flight.
"Good fortune. Another harvest of wondrous blood." Qin Ming retrieved the glowing cluster of blood, refining it on the fly as he pursued the fleeing demons to replenish his stamina and deepen his foundation.
The fleeing demons looked back in sheer horror, convinced he was a terrifying young ape king.
Qin Ming fought entirely through his sector and into an adjacent area, encountering a third heavenly demon seed. He smashed a wide swath of forest and cut the fiend down on the spot.
He felt fortune was smiling upon him today, having harvested yet another strain of wondrous blood.
Thereafter, Qin Ming went on a rampage, cutting across the battlefield, felling demons left and right, and slaying a fourth heavenly demon seed. Such feats spread terror among nearby demons.
He noticed that no heavenly demon seed dared seek him out of their own accord anymore.
Later, upon slaying an old bear, he extracted a silver bear gall. It was clearly a great medicine capable of bolstering his foundation and aiding his practice of the Vajra Scripture and the Physical Body Chapter.
Harvesting wondrous blood and great medicines one after another was something he could never have dreamed of on ordinary days; only on such a terrifying battlefield could such treasures be obtained.
Qin Ming fought until even he felt weary. Wherever he passed, demons crumbled, and he had long since moved beyond his original deployment zone.
He harvested two more strains of blood medicine in succession.
Standing atop a great mountain on the plain, he peered through the nocturnal mist with the Eye of the Newborn, taking in the brutal slaughter raging farther afield.
Young warriors and aged demons were locked in desperate struggle. On the ground, corpses were trampled into bloody pulp beneath the feet of experts, bone fragments littered the earth, and the entire battlefield bled.
Qin Ming spotted Jin Xiang. Having tempered his heart in the mortal world for twenty years, the ram charged back and forth through the melee. Though he had slain many foes, he was grievously wounded: one of the horns amid his golden hair had snapped, and several weapons protruded from his flesh, painting a tragic sight.
In an instant, Qin Ming's surging excitement and swelling pride subsided. In such a massive clash between two great camps, countless individuals were bound to perish.
He looked on in silence, choosing not to charge rashly into that distant zone, and began fighting his way back.
He thought of the grandmasters' battlefield where Yu Gensheng, Zhao Ziyuan, and Jin Yuan fought—was it even more horrific?
His heart sank. Could such elderly grandmasters survive?
A suffocating weight settled in his chest, for he knew all too well that after this battle, some familiar faces might never be seen again.
The entire Western Border trembled. The battle had reached a white-hot pitch; demonic roars and human battle cries reverberated across the vast plain.
In this late autumn season, yellow leaves drifted in the chill air, laden with biting cold.
In the towns and villages along the border, ordinary folk trembled, weeping softly.
They prayed now for Yezhou's total victory, lest they soon be butchered by demons.
Under the long night, there was nowhere to flee.
The invading foe was no ordinary band of brigands or bandits, but an invading demon civilization. If the Western Border fell, all of Yezhou would be overrun.
Even those with wealth and influence who had moved their households to towns a hundred or two hundred li away would merely buy a little extra time before death if the demons breached the passes.
Qin Ming bathed in blood as he cut through the demon horde. Toward the end, he grew nearly numb, feeling as though he had become a remorseless killing machine.
During this time, having routed the demons in his original area, he crossed multiple sectors to fight. He spotted several acquaintances—Zeng Yuan lying on the ground howling in agony, having already lost a leg.
He saw that Lu Zhenyi had fallen in battle, arriving too late to save him, and saw Chen Bingyan stumbling backward with five blades impaled in her body.
"Even cultivators of the Second Realm have charged forward? Has it truly gotten this desperate?" Qin Ming's numbed heart pounded once more, and he threw himself valiantly into the slaughter!
***
High above, amid surging immortal mist, a colossal silhouette emerged, revealing only a hazy outline devoid of human traits.
Yet he had indeed once been human, suspected to be an ancient patriarch of Yezhou who had attained godhood!
Back when the demons first encroached and prepared to launch their invasion, it was he who had carried a decree from Yujing's old era, venturing alone into the gathering to turn back the godkin creatures and sow division within their ranks.
"In the end, they launched their mad assault after all," the colossal figure murmured amid the immortal mist. "Were they forced to serve as the vanguard for a king?"
Chapter 330