"I truly never imagined that after stepping through the Misty Gate, we would be thrown off course by hundreds of thousands of li, taking until today to finally return to the Old Land," an old man sighed.
The world of night mist was vast and boundless. After an arduous trek, they had at last reached their destination.
The entire group was covered in travel dust and showed signs of fatigue, yet they were by no means ordinary folk. Some rode astride silver tyrannosaurs, some sat atop massive golden butterflies, and others were mounted on fiery-red giant monitor lizards.
In the dead of winter, the cold bit straight to the bone. Yet these weary travelers, pressing forward through wind and snow, straightened their spines, a blazing joy igniting in the depths of their eyes.
"Night Province may seem remote and desolate—a domain devoid even of an Earth Immortal—yet its waters run quite deep. For Yujing's temporary stopping place, no amount of caution is excessive!" someone warned.
...
Twin Trees Village was blanketed in heavy snow. In this bitter chill, where a single breath froze into frost, two small creatures persevered in their arduous cultivation, practicing their arts up in the trees.
They were also bickering and boasting.
"Red Rat, do you have any idea what Brother Sparrow has been through? I've seen demon immortals and watched patriarchs battle! I even swept across the battlefield, charging through dense demon hordes. You can't begin to fathom how grand and magnificent a spectacle it was! A real man has to experience that at least once in his life!"
The red squirrel was deeply envious, but in the end, it retaliated sourly, "You? Going there wouldn't even be enough to pick the demons' teeth! Brag all you want—Lord Squirrel isn't buying it."
Yuque said, "The Mountain Master can testify! I even served as his mount, carrying him soaring through the heavens and plunging into the earth to rescue his good friend Ning Siqi. Together, we slaughtered our way through with wild quacks, slaying heavenly demon seeds in battle!"
"With that tiny frame of yours, carrying someone in flight? You probably just squawked your head off in terror!" Despite talking that way, the red squirrel actually yearned immensely for the outside world.
Yuque retorted, "Fat Rat, quit slandering me. You mooch off your elders here, living a cushy life, but your horizons and knowledge are sorely lacking. The world is so vast—once you can protect yourself, you really should go see distant lands."
"How do you know I haven't experienced much? I was once an honored guest in a deadly forbidden ground—and a VIP at that..." As the red squirrel bragged, it scampered up and down the tree branches.
Finally, it thumped its chest and declared stoutly, "If we trace things back to this time last year, I even saved Little Qin's life!"
Yuque scoffed, "Bird above, can you ever boast!"
The red squirrel puffed out its chest and held its head high. "Doubt it all you want, but it's a fact! Last winter, when the whole village was starving, that Mountain Master of yours nearly died of hunger. Do you know how he survived? By eating my relief rations! I gave him a second lease on life!"
Yuque countered, "Come off it! From what I heard, the Mountain Master raided your burrow, and you were almost his meal! In the end, he only spared you because he went soft-hearted. You ought to be bowing in gratitude!"
The red squirrel was infuriated. Back when the heavy snow sealed the mountains, its nest had been emptied clean, nearly infuriating it to death. Even now, the memory made it boil with indignation.
"He survived because he ate my squirrel rations! Even if five hundred years pass and he rises to become a patriarch or an illustrious Earth Immortal, nothing can erase that fact!"
Yuque marveled, "Good grief, Squirrel Cub, you've got guts! Inventing dark history for the Mountain Master already? You'd better watch out, or he might silence you to keep the secret!"
Suddenly, a chill ran down their backs, and an avalanche of dumping snow buried them, making both little critters shriek in fright.
"Mountain Master?"
"Big Daddy Qin!"
...
Qin Ming planned to lie low on Black-White Mountain to build up his cultivation.
After all, his consecutive slayings of heavenly demon seeds on the western border battlefield were far too dazzling an achievement. Now was the time to keep a low profile; quietly augmenting his strength was what truly mattered.
"Little Qin, you're back!" Old Man Liu was overjoyed, but then grew contemplative, murmuring, "Lately, this old man keeps having fragmented, bizarre dreams. Whenever I try to draw near them, I can never truly grasp them before jolting awake. I feel my time has come; I won't make it through this winter."
Qin Ming's heart instantly sank. Was Old Man Liu's retracing of his original path going to end in failure?
"In the future, you must never alter your lifeform to achieve immortality. Otherwise, if you regret it one day and try to retrace your original path, you will inevitably pay an unimaginably heavy price. Five hundred years, and it still hasn't ended!"
Liu Mo spoke with an air of profound mystery, but having uttered all this, he felt it bizarre himself, looking thoroughly bewildered.
Then, his eyes lost focus as he muttered, "Only when this lifetime draws to a close can I completely break free from the past."
Clearly, his mental state was amiss.
According to the red squirrel, Old Man Liu's family felt he had been possessed recently and were already preparing his funeral.
Qin Ming said, "Don't worry. With me here, you won't die, Old Senior. I guarantee you will live to ninety-five, bring this life to a consummate close, and usher in a new birth."
Old Man Liu was sometimes lucid and sometimes delirious. At this moment, he was in an abnormal state, his eyes glazed over as he said, "Little Qin, have you ever eaten the flesh of a god? When my day comes, I'll treat you to all you can eat."
In the Liu family's courtyard, the big yellow dog immediately tucked its tail between its legs and slunk into its kennel, keeping a low profile and not daring to utter a single bark.
Having returned to Black-White Mountain, Qin Ming began secluded cultivation. When he occasionally conversed with Old Man Liu, an offhand remark from the old man could deeply affect him.
He was certain that Liu Mo was a being who had fled from Yujing, which was astonishing!
Unfortunately, anything concerning Yujing seemed to be taboo. Whenever Qin Ming probed or inquired in earnest, Old Man Liu's condition would deteriorate.
Liu Mo was tormented by fragmented dreams. Even when he himself tried to approach those illusory bubbles, he would sink into confusion, let alone an outsider trying to intervene.
In the outside world, turmoil brewed. Various strange birds streaked through the night sky carrying flyers and missives, many of which pertained to Qin Ming.
He had visited outer realms and esoteric sects one after another, exchanging battle merits for incomplete scriptures and sparring with seed-level figures, sparking fierce discussion—to say nothing of his entanglements and grudges with the Cui clan.
Even the boundless snow blanketing heaven and earth could not stem the flow of information.
"Hiss... Sun Taichu came out of seclusion, personally visited the Cui estate, and stayed for two days, finally steadying the ship for them. Otherwise, the Cui clan would have been backed into a terrible corner—their rivals were making huge moves."
This news exploded like thunder, shaking the various powers. An illustrious patriarch of the immortal path emerging from seclusion showed just how highly he valued his final disciple, Cui Chonghe.
Many major organizations watched intently: would the immortal path patriarch make a move against Lu Zizai?
Clearly, people were overthinking. Sun Taichu had no intention of escalating into an open conflict. He had stepped out solely on Cui Chonghe's account, merely signaling to all parties not to kick the Cui clan while they were down.
He had arrived calmly and departed without a sound.
Even so, the names of Sun Taichu, Lu Zizai, Qin Ming, and Cui Chonghe were brought up again and again, sparking heated discussions.
Meanwhile, detailed accounts of the duel between Qin Ming and divine seed Helian Zhaoyu on the ice fields outside the pure land spread far and wide.
Under the night mist, people throughout numerous cities talked of it.
"Comparable to an ancient sage dueling in his youth? That formidable, yet the higher-ups suppressed the news, only for it to finally trickle down to the lower ranks now!"
"Watch your mouth! Helian Zhaoyu is a seed of the outer pure land—he has nothing to do with our esoteric sect!"
"Hiss... there are rumors that when Qin Ming was in the immortal land, he also sparred behind closed doors with Jiang Ran! Is the Newborn path about to shine with brilliant splendor once more?"
...
Returning to Black-White Mountain to lie low and cultivate quietly was evidently the right choice. Lately, the night papers and world papers were filled with discussions about him, and he had no desire to be scrutinized by all sides.
Letting the outside world bustle with clamor, he vanished completely from public view, settling down to study various scriptures and enhance his cultivation.
"Sever gods with the mortal body!" Qin Ming contemplated the Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao. With the complete scripture in hand, his physical constitution saw another slight improvement.
He sighed softly. It was truly worthy of being a scripture that even the silk book method patriarchs valued immensely. Had they possessed the full text back then, several patriarchs might have held on for much longer.
"Refining the Mind Monkey in the Eight Trigrams Furnace—this is potent medicine!"
Qin Ming placed tremendous importance on the four jade book pages, pondering them deeply every day. They involved spiritual strength, causing changes in his Eye of the Newborn, making it far more formidable than before.
Yet this brought its own troubles: occasionally, in the layered depths of the dense mist, he glimpsed ancient traveling merchants, ??, and other enigmatic presences.
Half a month later, deep within Black-White Mountain, Qin Ming's fist radiance sliced through the darkness, illuminating the continuous mountain ridges. His comprehension of the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic had deepened.
"In ancient times, there were definitely people who cultivated both paths simultaneously." He was certain that blending divine wisdom, heavenly light, and conscious spiritual power made circulating this classic the smoothest and most powerful.
"It is time for spirit wandering." In the deep night, Qin Ming sat cross-legged beneath the Black-White Twin Trees like a deity meditating on the Dao. Black and white qi swirled above, forming a yin-yang diagram.
On the ground, Qin Ming sat motionless as heavenly light blended with conscious power, breaking free from the physical body. Shrouded in the rag and carrying the exotic metal small sword, his spirit shot straight into the firmament, plunging into the ink-black clouds.
This was an arduous practice he undertook daily: ascending into the mysterious, profound depths of the celestial vault to endure the battering of astral winds, channel heavenly light, and receive the baptism of occasional otherworldly fire to temper himself.
In truth, cultivators of the immortal path who reached the third realm—Softening the Light—would attempt to "cross tribulation" or undergo baptism by "immortal fire."
Most did so accompanied by their sect elders, ascending above the sky to come into contact with various terrifying otherworldly substances and thereby overcome the tribulation.
Now, Qin Ming was experiencing the same rigorous cultivation.
He had no one to accompany him, wandering up in spirit alone each night.
Above the thick clouds, pitch-black darkness reigned. Only when heavenly light or otherworldly fire manifested was there any illumination. Otherwise, it resembled a "heavenly abyss," so black you could not see your fingers held before you—a chilling, suffocating darkness that pressed in from every direction.
Spirit wandering upward, Qin Ming murmured to himself, "Am I approaching the Nine Heavens? Different layers of the sky correspond to different astral winds, and the heavenly light and immortal fire that fall from them vary as well."
Above the Nine Heavens, some terrifying astral winds could scatter one's conscious spiritual light in an instant, and some otherworldly immortal fires could reduce a grandmaster to ashes in a flash.
Hence, Qin Ming was relatively cautious; the more he understood, the more circumspect he became.
Naturally, he did not dare venture into the Nine Heavens proper. Playing it safe, he kept within the range appropriate for the third realm, though capturing heavenly light or otherworldly true fire in this region depended heavily on luck.
Today, his harvest was considerable. A broad sheet of a "meteor shower" cascaded down, and he captured it entirely. It contained heavenly light, strange and nameless fire, and an indefinable red mist—all of which "corroded" him, subjecting him to "endless tempering."
Yet it also contained vitality that could replenish his expenditures.
Otherwise, if there were no benefits, who would willingly ascend to the skies to undertake such perilous tribulations?
Feeling "full," Qin Ming swept along the remaining expanse of the "meteor shower" and prepared to pierce through the cloud layers and return to the ground.
Suddenly, his hairs stood on end. Though he was without a fleshly body at the moment, he still felt a prickling dread on his back, his entire being tensing up.
Qin Ming immediately wrapped himself in the rag, ceasing to endure the buffeting of the astral winds and the tempering of immortal fire, and clutched the exotic metal small sword in hand.
He shifted sideways at extreme speed, streaking far across the night sky. Looking back, his pupils constricted and his heart pounded fiercely. Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes are bound to get wet.
He saw a chillingly sinister "living thing"!
In truth, Qin Ming was not certain whether it was truly alive. The entity was humanoid, draped in a nearly rotted black robe, with a face so pale it sent shivers down the spine.
He had long heard that the black nocturnal expanse was not entirely "clean" and was rife with terrifying legends. Today, he had finally encountered one.
For instance, an outer realm disciple once went spirit wandering and let out a bloodcurdling scream in the night sky. The sound of chewing could be heard from afar, and when experts rushed to the scene, they found only a few drops of "conscious blood" drifting in the air.
Of course, the Nine Heavens also held opportunities. An immortal seed had once chanced upon a golden flower bud drifting in the sea of night mist high above the sky; even managing to pluck just three petals had caused his cultivation to surge drastically, smashing through the heavenly barrier to the fourth realm.
Qin Ming dived beneath the clouds, unwilling to clash with the rotted-black-robed creature in the abyss of the celestial vault.
The inexplicable "monster" pursued him, tearing straight through the dark night and lunging downward.
Qin Ming's Eye of the Newborn had advanced leaps and bounds recently. Looking back, he saw it clearly: the monster's face resembled a human's, yet approached the shape of a skull. It possessed flesh and blood, but was ghastly, unnatural white.
He felt that bizarre visage was more than ten times paler than the dead face of Cui Chonghe's great-grandmother, who had been buried for fifty years.
Circulating the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic, Qin Ming pierced through the upper sky, plunging to the ground in an instant and returning into his physical body.
Beneath the twin trees, his eyes snapped open. Gripping the God-Measuring Ruler crafted from nine-era wood, he rose to his feet, ready to battle the monster from the celestial vault!
Clearly, the black-robed entity was no slower than he; it had already reached low altitude and was swooping straight for him.
Furthermore, it was already emitting a cold, sinister cackle. It was a dreadful sound, like sheets of infernal metal scraping together, raising goosebumps on the skin.
Suddenly, a blood kite cruising through the night sky appeared. Like a streak of bloody lightning, it flashed past; the monster shrieked in agony, shattered directly into pieces, and dissolved away.
Qin Ming stared blankly. Only when he watched the blood kite drift away into the swirling wind and snow did he regain his senses.
At this moment, a large amount of the "meteor shower" remained wrapped around him. He quickly sat back down and began absorbing and refining it with his physical body, cultivating there.
In the latter half of the night, Qin Ming snapped open his eyes, two beams of divine light shooting forth. His cultivation had advanced, stepping from the second tier of the spirit field up to the third.
His entire physical body and spirit field brimmed with vitality, growing even stronger.
"That truly was not easy. Over forty days have passed since the end of the western border war. Back then, I wasn't far from the third tier of the spirit field, yet it took this much secluded cultivation to break through."
Qin Ming was not complacent; instead, he sank into thought. At this rate, without relying on external aids and miraculous medicines, it would take him ten years to break through the heavenly barrier into the fourth realm.
This was close to his earlier estimates. After all, even the Overlord had taken twenty years.
"Hmm, let me think more on how to accelerate the process. Ascend above the Nine Heavens? But putting aside the astral winds and tribulation fires, even the dark celestial vault isn't clean—there are unknown creatures lurking up there."
...
The following day, a grand toll of a bell resonated from Kunling, startling the major organizations. It was summoning the patriarchs of every path—the Newborn path, esoteric sects, outer realms, and more!
No one knew what great calamity or monumental event had occurred.
Chapter 351