Such a woman of peerless elegance—no one knew who she was, not even leaving behind a name—and her luminous figure was extinguished forever in the night sky.
On Yezhou's side, many felt a suffocating gloom, their hearts heavy and aching.
"It cannot go on like this!" Several sixth-realm experts stepped forward, determined to stop the ancient ancestral masters who wished to march to their deaths for one final battle.
In the demon camp, many great demons trembled in spirit as well. Those were demon gods, after all, perishing one after another before their very eyes.
Among the demons of the Azure Flood Dragon Palace, some old flood dragons wished they could soar into the sky. They finally understood who the three-headed flood dragon god had been: a demonic ancestor who had inaugurated an entire grand era.
Surging white mist churned as another ancient ancestral master strode out in silence. Relatively speaking, his colossal frame still retained some human characteristics.
At that moment, Leng Mingkong, Helian Chengyun, the Present Rulai, and several other powerhouses stepped forward together to block his path.
"If there is a battle of gods, it must be fought by the likes of us." The ancient ancestral master remained calm, asking them to make way. He told them he could not endure in the mortal realm much longer anyway.
"Those are two different matters. We are capable of taking part in a divine war. How can we stand by time and again, watching you march to your deaths one by one? What kind of thing is that?"
Without question, none of the contemporary pathfinders on Yezhou's side could accept such an outcome.
Among the dead were their martial granduncles and even their masters. Even with wills forged of iron, they could no longer bear to watch.
Were they truly supposed to sit by and let these elders exhaust their lives to the last?
One ancient ancestral master said, "Even as gods or immortals, true longevity remains elusive. After altering our life forms, our lifespans are only marginally extended. We are merely offering what little light remains in us. Otherwise, we would gradually rot away into dust."
Another ancient ancestral master approached and said, "You are constantly blazing new trails, far stronger than we were in our prime, with real hope of breaching the heavenly barrier of the seventh realm. It is precisely for this reason that you must preserve your useful lives."
The clash between the two great camps was destined to cost countless lives.
Even if both sides desired a cessation of hostilities, that could only come after a horrific, bloody war.
Without a brutal, decisive clash, one side would always remain restless, unable to see reality clearly.
Large-scale fighting had already erupted, claiming untold dead and wounded. Having bled to this extent, it was nearly enough. The ancient ancestral masters had stepped forward, willing to fight to the death to bring the western border war to an end.
An ancient master said, "Now, the various paths are yours to lead, and you know all the hidden truths. The mysterious faction behind the demon civilization likely will not descend upon Yezhou in person—at least not in the short term. They dare not set foot here. Yujing, after all..."
Leng Mingkong spoke up: "Seniors, everything you say is true, save for one point: you have underestimated our strength. Now, witness our power!"
The ancient master immediately intervened with stern rebuke: "Do not take such risks. Avoid damaging your foundation."
A powerhouse from the esoteric sect spoke: "It will not harm our foundation. A few years of recuperation will suffice. With enough fortune, we might even break through the heavenly barrier of the seventh realm."
Deep within the Plain of Divine Demise, an ancient demon god made his appearance. With every step he took, a blood lotus blossomed. Dressed in divine armor, he steamed with a towering mist of blood.
With a ringing chime, the long saber strapped to his back unsheathed itself, hanging horizontally across the night sky and cleaving through the blanket of dark clouds.
Everyone could see that this demon god was overwhelmingly domineering.
To the demon camp's surprise, it was not a deity who stepped forward from Yezhou's side this time. No ancient monster who had attained immortality emerged; instead, a human ancestral master walked forth.
Leng Mingkong appeared in his mid-twenties, his blood-stained black hair fluttering backward. Life vitality surged vigorously within his wounded body.
With a slight flex, his shattered armor detached and fell away.
In his hand lay a short, pale section of the Sky-Measuring Ruler. It was clearly a broken relic, barely longer than a palm, its fractured end jagged as though snapped by sheer brute force.
Yet no one dared underestimate such a weapon.
Even gods and demon immortals turned solemn.
The severed Sky-Measuring Ruler was forged from exotic metal and engraved with densely packed, profound patterns of enigmatic design.
Leng Mingkong took a deep breath, and power surged through his entire frame. Instantly, every inch of his flesh flowed with immortal radiance, and even the strands of his hair shone brilliantly.
In that split second, the broken relic in his grip resonated and glowed, undergoing a rapid transformation.
The Sky-Measuring Ruler seemed to melt, spreading along his arm. A layer of runic silver light expanded, enveloping him from head to toe.
A ringing clash of metal echoed across the vast sky.
This miraculous shift startled the ancient monsters of both camps.
It was a full suit of armor, unified from head to foot, covering Leng Mingkong entirely. Sleek and silver, with a polished helmet and gleaming plates, it even concealed his face.
No one had anticipated that a palm-length remnant could manifest such a transformation.
By any standard, the armor appeared flawless and resplendent, every inch densely covered in countless minute immortal symbols.
Furthermore, Leng Mingkong's right hand still gripped a section of the pale Sky-Measuring Ruler to serve as a weapon, rising with piercing immortal radiance.
Without a doubt, this weapon and armor possessed an extraordinary pedigree. Even the most critical eye had to acknowledge its sublimity; it was like an exquisite work of art.
Leng Mingkong stood in the night sky, resembling a celestial immortal descending to the mortal world.
Evidently, activating the severed Sky-Measuring Ruler to manifest such armor took an immense toll on him. He wasted no time and struck directly at the demon god.
As the two clashed, they surged into the black vault of heaven.
Gods and demon immortals on both sides moved to intercept the destructive shockwaves left behind at their point of departure.
Many grandmaster-level figures among Yezhou's forces and the demon army were shaken to the core. To witness a contemporary ancestral master engage a demon god—who would prove stronger?
Yezhou's side yearned for Leng Mingkong to slay a god, while the demons hoped their deity would crush this mortal human master to dust.
Both camps were fraught with tension. This was a challenge against the heavens; neither side could stomach defeat!
High in the pitch-black heavens, ferocious astral winds whipped fiercely enough to scatter the spiritual light of consciousness. Yet now, this realm rarely trodden by mortals was illuminated, bursting into blinding radiance and boiling over.
Rumble!
The demon god was truly terrifying. With a single breath, he swallowed the boundless sea of clouds. The long saber in his grasp seemed to slice through eternity, hacking out repeatedly as dao resonance surged like an ocean.
Yet in the most brutal exchange of blood and steel, the heavenly saber he had spent a lifetime refining shattered.
The short Sky-Measuring Ruler in Leng Mingkong's hand shimmered with a lustrous white gleam, covered in dense runes. The ruler's fractured end collided with the heavenly saber repeatedly; it remained entirely unharmed, while the saber blew apart.
As an ancient demon who had once looked down upon an entire era, the demon god possessed not only terrifying combat strength but also boundless experience. In an instant, invisible saber intent bloomed from him, interweaving with patterns of order.
The extraterrestrial battlefield was vast enough to avoid harming the innocent. The two figures streaked across the night like twin bolts of lightning, exhausting every technique and repeatedly shaking the vault of heaven.
In the end, the demon god was blasted apart by the Sky-Measuring Ruler!
Leng Mingkong was also jarred into coughing blood, but the silver armor around him burned like immortal fire, radiant beyond measure. It stripped away most of his opponent's power, preventing the demon god from dragging him down in mutual destruction.
He swung the broken Sky-Measuring Ruler again and again, until pure white brilliance became the sole light between heaven and earth.
The demon god reformed several times, only to be shattered anew. He attempted to flee, but he was completely locked down, and he finally perished high in the sky.
When Leng Mingkong pierced through the cloud layer and reappeared over the Plain of Divine Demise, a brief silence fell, followed by an explosion of deafening clamor.
Yezhou's side erupted in roaring cheers. At last, no ancient master had died in the exchange.
In the demon camp, many experts struggled to accept the result. The other side had successfully defied the heavens, slaughtering a god right before their eyes!
Though blood traced the corner of Leng Mingkong's mouth, he appeared like a heavenly god descending to the mortal world, blazing with boundless light. The broken Sky-Measuring Ruler in his hand struck fear into many ancient demons.
He did not linger, returning directly to his camp. Activating this weapon had clearly placed an enormous burden on him; he immediately dispelled the state and ingested precious medicine.
"Who else dares fight?" Helian Chengyun stepped forward. With disheveled black hair and the visage of a handsome youth, a red mark sat between his brows.
A demon immortal marched straight out of the demon camp, radiating murderous intent as though driven by an old grudge.
"Four hundred and fifty years ago, you slew my eldest and second sons in succession. Today, we settle that old score!" the demon immortal declared coldly.
Helian Chengyun said, "Is that so? This old man has slain too many demons and long forgotten who they were. Since you have stepped forward, I shall send you along to join them!"
In his youthful form, he gave a slight shake, and the battered crimson-gold armor on his body blew apart. In his right hand, he held a dripping red, broken arrow.
In a flash, the broken arrow seemed to melt, and a layer of crimson haze cloaked him from head to toe, shielding him entirely.
Amidst ringing metal, his armor shone with resplendent brilliance, and order interwoven like phoenix plumage unfolded behind him, lending him an otherworldly, transcendent air.
In this youthful state, Helian Chengyun looked chillingly austere. The blood-red mark between his brows glowed with majestic authority. In his right hand remained only a single arrowhead, pinched between two fingers, flowing with profound and terrifying ripples.
The demon camp fell dead silent. Having just witnessed the power of such mysterious armor when Leng Mingkong slew a god, they were thoroughly shaken.
Now, Helian Chengyun had armed himself with a single broken arrow, sending chills down the spines of many ancient demons.
"Come!" Helian Chengyun shouted. Like an immortal phoenix soaring into the sky, wrapped in boundless crimson light, he tore through the night and pierced the dark clouds, charging toward the extraterrestrial battlefield.
The demon immortal's face turned grim. He felt pinned down; even across a vast distance, a beam of light from that mysterious arrowhead remained locked onto him.
"Die!" Left with no choice, he surged into the heavens.
No one saw the battle unfold. Only at the very end, when a sky full of bloody rain transformed into divine rainbows, shattering clouds and pouring down in flames, did the people witness the outcome.
Helian Chengyun stood ethereal and peerless, the crimson plumage across his armor humming sharply. The arrowhead between his fingers was buried in the demon immortal's forehead, having shattered his opponent countless times.
"Demonic Ancestor!" Many in the demon camp cried out, but nothing could alter the outcome.
Beneath the night sky lit by that arrow's radiance, the shattered dark clouds gathered once more, obscuring everyone's sight.
Helian Chengyun descended through the heavy clouds, his crimson armor dazzling. He swept his gaze over the demon army, said nothing, and returned to his camp.
On Yezhou's side, everyone was thrilled.
The stifling oppression of earlier vanished almost entirely, replaced by surging excitement.
Conversely, the demon camp's morale hit rock bottom. Even a former demonic ancestor who had become a god had fallen in battle, slain in defiance of the heavens. It crushed their confidence.
In the pitch-black night, far in the distance, a human skin stood with hands clasped behind its back. Beside it rose a colossal plant, and a gory beast eye dripped blood, suspended in the night mist.
Evidently, they were three immensely powerful entities.
"As expected of a place where Yujing once briefly 'paused.' Dig around at random and you can unearth weapons like that. Remarkable."
"Ah, Yujing... it evokes hatred, fear, and longing all at once."
They were spectating, belonging to neither the human nor the demon camp.
Along the western border line, Li Qingyue felt the Eight Trigrams Furnace turn scalding hot, showing signs of "melting" within, sending mysterious ripples into her heart.
Her emotions surged, though her stunning countenance remained entirely placid.
Qin Ming gazed at the battlefield and thought of his own piece of rag. He felt it in secret; although it was also woven from exotic metal, it showed no reaction whatsoever.
"Useless cloth!" he judged, realizing he had gotten his hopes up.
In the sky, another Yezhou ancestral master stepped forward, an expression of sorrow on his face, ready to battle demon gods and demon immortals.
It was the Present Rulai. In his right hand appeared half of a demon-subduing pestle. Though it had not yet "melted" into mysterious armor, it was clearly a weapon of that class.
The demon camp erupted in an uproar. How could they fight this? Stepping forward meant another demon god or demon immortal would perish; the previous two examples were still fresh in their minds.
Not only that, but behind the Present Rulai, two pathfinders of the esoteric sect strode forward together with overwhelming might, coldly sweeping their eyes across the demon stronghold.
The demon leadership immediately fell into heated debate.
"Those weapons are all broken relics with inherent flaws! Even powerhouses like them must pay a heavy price to activate them, and they cannot have many!"
"Rumor has it that such armaments require corresponding control techniques to activate. They might be bluffing; it's impossible for every broken remnant to revive!"
"Easy for you to say! Every failed attempt could cost a demon god's life. We have done our best today—it is time to withdraw!"
...
Soon after, the heavily injured Qingtian strode onto the field, hefting a massive greataxe.
Several acquaintances gave him strange looks, thinking to themselves: Don't make the bluff so obvious. Your greataxe is completely intact, so stop making a mess of things.
Yet the demon leadership felt immense pressure. Did this dangerous brute also possess a special artifact?
"Old demons, come fight!" Qingtian roared.
Indeed, as he advanced, several more figures stepped forward from the ranks of ancestral masters.
Some of the masters naturally knew they were bluffing.
On the Immortal path, an ancestral master had wanted to take Li Qingyue's Eight Trigrams Furnace into battle—that was genuine, intact divine armor—yet its exclusive control art had long been lost to history.
As multiple ancestral masters advanced together, pressing forward, the demon camp could no longer endure the pressure. Such battles simply "consumed" too many demon gods.
No civilization, regardless of its strength, could bear such losses. Sacrificing a former demonic ancestor in every bout was simply too terrifying!
"Enough! Let us sit and talk!" a high-ranking demon called out, his tone stripped of its earlier arrogance. They had no desire to fight further.
By their estimation, even honoring the agreement with that distant faction, they had done everything expected of them.
"You want to stop just because you say so? On what grounds!" the Present Rulai spoke. Though he resembled a sacred golden statue, terrifying killing intent leaked clearly from his opening and closing eyes.
"What do you want?" a demon god stepped forward and asked coldly.
The Present Rulai raised the half pestle, poised to strike him.
The demon god recoiled involuntarily. Having reached the negotiation stage, he had no wish to die a senseless death.
An ancestral master of the esoteric sect declared, "Fall back and cede the entire Plain of Divine Demise!"
"Impossible!" the demon god flatly refused.
"Then we fight!" Leng Mingkong and Helian Chengyun stepped forward side by side, closing in once more.
As for the Present Rulai, the half pestle in his hand had already begun to glow as he took the lead.
In the demon camp, the faces of every leader changed. Under no circumstances could they lose another demon god. Otherwise, if the demon civilization encountered other tribulations, disastrous consequences would follow.
"Grant us time to consider!" an ancient demonic ancestor said.
Uttering such words was practically a concession.
"If you truly wish to cease hostilities, then to prevent further friction, pull your forces back five hundred li first!" an esoteric sect master stated gravely.
One demonic ancestor found it nearly intolerable: "Your demands are excessive! We have not even begun talks, and you expect us to withdraw our troops?"
The Present Rulai said nothing, advancing with the demon-subduing pestle.
The demons realized that he genuinely wanted to keep fighting!
For a moment, several demon leaders furrowed their brows in deep thought. After a hurried consultation, they decided to retreat three hundred li.
"Agreed!" After a brief exchange, the Yezhou council of masters nodded.
The demon camp knew that Yezhou had once again succeeded in passively opening up new territory!
Though bitter, they understood well that the Plain of Divine Demise could no longer be held.
The moment they agreed to pull back three hundred li, the outcome was sealed; what remained were merely matters of detail.
That day, carrying resentment and sorrowful rage, the demons departed in silence.
On Yezhou's side, following the initial joy and cheering, silence descended, and soon many began to weep aloud.
Too many had perished in this battle. Every path suffered devastating casualties, and even celebrated luminaries had fallen.
Setting everything else aside, more than half of the sixth-realm ancestral masters were likely gone. When they withdrew from the main battlefield, a vast number were missing.
Cries rose one after another. Many had lost relatives, sect elders, senior brothers, and junior sisters.
This was not the tragedy of a single path, but of all paths—each had suffered grievous attrition!
Qin Ming felt a deep ache in his chest. Old friends he once held dear would never share wine and laughter with him again—people like Lu Zhenyi, who had spoken up for him when he was down on his luck.
Chen Bingyan's body had been pierced by multiple weapons, her life barely preserved after being fed life-saving medicine.
Looking across the field, corpses blanketed the ground; far too many had died.
"Cousin!" Yu Zhuohan wailed, cradling Zhuo Ya's corpse in utter anguish, his trembling hand repeatedly caressing her pale face.
Qin Ming walked over. He had only spoken a few words of comfort before his own body went rigid.
He heard a familiar sound of weeping in the distance.
Qin Ming rushed over and saw a hunched, elderly figure collapsed almost flat against the ground, drenched in blood.
Yu Gensheng was covered in wounds, deep gashes nearly tearing him apart. Trembling, he clutched a severed leg, old tears streaming down his face.
"Senior, this is..." Qin Ming felt a chill run through him, sensing the worst.
"He is... Old Zhao!" Yu Gensheng answered.
Only a single leg remained of Zhao Ziyuan; the rest of his body had completely exploded.
Qin Ming felt as if struck by lightning. Back in Kunling, he had been cared for and shielded by these two elders, owing them an immense debt of gratitude. Now, one of them had died in battle like this.
Though he had harbored a bad premonition before, facing the reality left him struggling to bear it.
"Old Jin has gone as well..." In Yu Gensheng's other hand was half of a severed palm—the only flesh and blood left of Five Elements Palace Elder Jin Yuan.
Qin Ming took another staggering blow to the heart. He had returned from the great desert alongside Jin Yuan, receiving his guidance and sharing hardships with him. Moreover, when Qin Ming was guarding Qingfeng Town, Jin Yuan and Yu Gensheng had moved together to wipe out the opposing grandmasters simply out of concern for his safety.
And now, this old grandmaster had fallen in battle!
Grievous news arrived one after another, and the western border was filled with the sound of weeping.
It was now confirmed that Jiang Zhiyuan, the ancestral master of the Yin-Yang Monastery, had fallen.
Six Imperials Patriarch Lu Yu had nearly completed his nirvana, but it had not been thorough; he had run into catastrophic trouble during this battle, and his survival remained uncertain.
A pall of gloom hung over the Newborn path. Aside from the confirmed dead, other masters remained missing, their fates a mystery.
The Immortal path was likewise drowned in tears, having lost multiple ancestral masters.
For instance, Wu Zhaoye of the Misfortune Land, who was relatively young, belonged to the radical faction, and had some friendship with Cao Qianqiu, left behind neither corpse nor bone.
There was also Yu Shaohua of the Yang Land. This female ancestral master had always been gentle, maintaining good relations with all paths and sharing a deep bond with Lu Yu; she, too, had perished.
During the previous battle at the immortal graves in the desert, when the masters used mirages to deceive their foes, she had "fallen"—a scene that seemed to have foreshadowed her true end today.
Even the mighty Sun Taichu was half-crippled, requiring secluded cultivation to recuperate.
At present, the exact number of ancestral masters who had died on the Immortal path remained undisclosed.
The esoteric sect had also suffered immense losses, with many divine seeds, grandmasters, and ancestral masters withering away.
As the battlefield was cleared, mangled remains of notable figures were unearthed one after another, plunging the western border into a sea of mourning.
Yet there were pleasant surprises as well. Some grievously injured cultivators were pulled from the piles of corpses still breathing, such as Helian Yaoqing and Tang Xumi.
Others crawled out of the dead on their own, like Tang Jin. Covered in blood after being ambushed by several ancient demons, the strange treasure she wielded—a pale gold grass rope—had been stained entirely blood-red.
"Martial Granduncle!" Meng Xinghai wept bitterly, seeing off an ancient ancestral master of the esoteric sect.
That day, the Newborn path, the Immortal path, the esoteric sect... all paths were clothed in plain mourning white.
"Brother Ming..." Xiao Wu walked over with red-rimmed eyes, joining Qin Ming to see Zhao Ziyuan off. He too was covered in wounds, having endured numerous life-and-death clashes.
Undoubtedly, while battling the demons, he had been forced to break his seal and advance directly to the third realm; otherwise, he could never have survived.
"Elder Zhao!" The two bowed in mourning.
"Senior Jin Yuan!"
That day, Qin Ming's eyes turned red and grew somewhat numb, having paid respects to far too many dead.
In such a massive conflict, human life was like wild grass—utterly cheap.
The following day, the demon leadership made contact with Yezhou's leaders.
Word arrived that the demons would most likely compromise and ultimately abandon the vast plain.
However, they would not concede directly; numerous conditions and fine details remained to be negotiated.
Yezhou's side stood unyielding. Some ancestral masters had bloodshot eyes, appearing ready to ignite another bloody war at the slightest disagreement.
The demons harbored foul resentment and stifled rage, having suffered equally catastrophic losses.
"Then let us fight once more!"
"Who are you threatening? Bring it on!"
"Fine!"
"Forget it. If our two civilizations fight to the bitter end, someone else will reap the rewards." At the final moment, the demon leadership was forced to exercise restraint once again.
Yezhou possessed Yujing to deter the various civilizations lurking in the dark night, whereas the demons possessed no such foundational asset that was so perilous to both foe and self alike.
Evidently, with bellies full of anger and lingering dissatisfaction, an ancient demon spoke up: "The apex combatants of our two sides have already clashed fully. Why not allow those below to challenge each other freely? They may decline or choose to take the field—no one will be forced. What say you?"
"Agreed!" An ancestral master on Yezhou's side nodded without hesitation.
That very day, news of the arrangement leaked out.
Instantly, eyes turned red on both sides, preparing to issue challenges.
Even Qin Ming felt an uncharacteristic restlessness, beginning to sharpen his blade, knowing he would almost certainly take the field.
The next day, a large group of heavenly demon seeds, including the renowned Jade Emperor and Tianfeng, appeared.
"Jiang Ran, Pei Shuyan, come out! I challenge you! And Qin Ming, roll out here and face death!" The Jade Emperor had someone call out on his behalf.
He already knew that his younger brother, Huang Fei, had died at Qin Ming's hands.
"Go back for now! The talks aren't finalized yet, so stop making trouble!" an old demon scolded, yet a look of gratification appeared on his face. Their younger generation had not been broken; their fighting spirit still burned bright.
"Big grasshopper, you want to tear up your family genealogy?" Wu Yaozu, who was accompanying Qin Ming, bolted straight out upon hearing the shout.
Chapter 335