Yao Ruoxian knew well that once Chaos force was mastered to grand completion, its destructive power was utterly terrifying. According to legend, an ancient patriarch of the silk book method had once slain an immortal bare-handed, without relying on special weapons like the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Now, in the distance, such a "sage" was alive in the world!
For disciples walking this path, the significance was extraordinary—that founding patriarch might have solved the problem of self-detonation.
If given the opportunity to seek an audience, who could restrain the impulse? Most would be swept up in a surge of passion, itching to set off immediately on a pilgrimage.
"You truly are calm. One of the fountainheads of this path has reappeared, a living patriarch sits afar, yet you remain entirely unmoved."
Yao Ruoxian admired him greatly. She could clearly sense that Qin Ming's emotions bore not a single ripple, and his face showed not the slightest trace of excitement.
This composure, confidence, and poise alone were matched by few—after all, this concerned his future path.
Qin Ming spoke, "It is mainly because that mysterious realm is far too distant. Even the patriarchs of the various paths haven't set out, so as a mere disciple, naturally I am in no hurry."
A strange look appeared in Yao Ruoxian's eyes. Those cultivating Chaos force were different from cultivators of other paths; in the grand late stage, they were bound to blow apart. Now that an ancestor had defied death to live on, was he truly not tempted?
She couldn't help suspecting: did he believe he could resolve the hidden danger on his own? That would be overconfident to a fault!
In truth, Qin Ming did possess some confidence. Ever since the first realm, he had begun tackling the problem that Hunyuan force inevitably led to "self-destruction" in the end.
Each time his cultivation progressed, he would, as though decocting a Dragon-Tiger Great Medicine, melt all his heavenly light within his body into a golden core, tempering it through a hundred hammerings and refining it over and over a hundred times.
Most crucially, he was using scriptures such as the Destiny-Altering Scripture to correct and fine-tune the silk book method's original circulation route, bringing it into perfect alignment with himself.
The two drank tea and chatted, enjoying an agreeable conversation.
From her, Qin Ming learned a great deal of recent news. For instance, in the depths of the distant desert, where the immortal grave lay, Night Province had achieved a breakthrough in its investigations.
Yao Ruoxian said, "Perhaps before long, astonishing news will emerge from there."
Qin Ming revealed surprise, catching an unusual note in her words.
He asked, "At the immortal grave, has the trapped Earth Immortal cast out new bait, or has he truly divulged some extraordinary secret?"
Yao Ruoxian shook her head. "Until those at the patriarch level speak, we can only make blind guesses. Better to wait patiently."
Qin Ming inquired where exotic medicines could be purchased at present, and asked whether any unoccupied mountain-river spirit nests remained.
Yao Ruoxian sighed. Following the battle on the Plain of Divine Demise, far too many prominent figures and grandmasters had been crippled or half-ruined. Any opportunity for recovery required waiting in line.
Under such circumstances, even disciples of the Great Yu imperial family could only stare helplessly—they could hardly compete against dying old imperial uncles, could they?
"Nowadays, only the black markets still have rumors circulating, but in all likelihood, most are just massive traps."
Hearing this, Qin Ming felt rather helpless.
In the end, Yao Ruoxian rose and took her leave.
Outside, the bitter wind howled. When Qin Ming saw her out, his lustrous black hair was tossed by the breeze.
"Huh? Why do you have white hair? What have you been through lately?" Surprised, Yao Ruoxian reached out her slender, snow-white hand, intending to inspect the silver-white strands.
Yet the moment she touched it, she discovered that Qin Ming's long hair first blazed with dazzling radiance, then swiftly reverted to black. Earlier, it had actually been bearing heavenly light.
Not far off, the Thunder King Bird was struck dumb by the sight. Here it had been fussing attentively, attempting to "converse" with that beautiful Thunder Emperor Bird, only to receive cold indifference in return.
And what was it seeing now? The Emperor Bird's mistress, Yao Ruoxian, was taking the initiative to stroke Qin Ming's hair. Comparing bird to human was truly enough to infuriate a bird to death!
Qin Ming explained, "Lately I've been cultivating the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic, so my hair often changes color and hadn't fully reverted yet."
Just like when Qin Ming practiced the world-abiding scripture, his hair would turn emerald green and require circulating the silk book method afterward to restore it.
"You've actually made real headway with this celebrated incomplete scripture." Yao Ruoxian looked astonished.
As far as she knew, among her peers in the immortal land, only Jiang Ran had been able to comprehend this scripture.
Amidst the wind and snow, Qin Ming departed, his destination the Great Rui imperial capital.
"Let's go. What are you still looking at, you king of simps?" he said, somewhat exasperated. Even high in the sky, the Thunder King Bird kept craning its neck back.
He had heard Yao Ruoxian mention that Great Rui had the most black markets.
That day, as he drew near Ruicheng and gazed at the grand, magnificent city, bathed in fiery rosy clouds that illuminated it bright as day, he felt a measure of anticipation.
Over the next few days, Qin Ming began frequenting those renowned black markets.
In the deep night, dense fog rolled across a mysterious marketplace packed with stalls. Shadowy figures drifted about, many of them customers wearing masks and black robes.
"Brother, want some Vajra great medicine? Picked straight from a treasure tree at the immortal grave. Even Qin Ming praised it after using it!"
Qin Ming was taken aback. When had he ever said that?
The stall owner whispered, "Brother, you're out of the loop. Don't you know? That figurehead of the Newborn path was once rewarded with an unripe Vajra fruit, and after taking it, he instantly broke through his heavenly barrier!"
Qin Ming was startled. It was truly that treasure medicine—was it actually for sale here?
Looking mysterious, the stall owner pulled him aside and whispered, "Let me tell you, this fully ripe Vajra fruit leaked out from a medicine-refining grandmaster in the outer pure land. It can't see the light of day..."
A moment later, Qin Ming sighed. These black markets were utterly untrustworthy, exciting him for nothing; most were merely hanging a sheep's head to sell dog meat.
Within a few days, he visited seven renowned black markets across the Darui Imperial Dynasty, completely giving up hope. In some black markets, after a deal fell through, the stallholders even tried to tail him and strike from the shadows.
Places like this were too deceitful. Qin Ming ended up turning the tables and killing two batches of attackers, helplessly reaping over a thousand pieces of day gold.
Ruicheng was not only the imperial capital of Great Rui, but also one of the ten great cities of Night Province, truly possessing an extraordinary aura.
Within this grand metropolis lay a spirit lake, where golden rosy clouds rippled and auspicious mist rose year-round, never freezing even in the dead of winter.
It was said that if things continued to develop like this, it had a chance of becoming an auspicious lake akin to a blessed land.
This had fostered numerous scenic spots and historic sites along its shores: shrines, towering pagodas scraping the sky, thousand-year-old trees revived after lightning strikes... everything one could imagine.
"Ah well, since no deals could be made, I might as well tour this famous city." Qin Ming strolled along the lakeshore. At this moment, across the spirit lake with its shimmering golden ripples, lotuses were blooming in abundance, filling the air with auspicious mist.
Meanwhile, snow lay thick along the shore; set against each other, the spirit lake's magnificent scenery appeared all the more extraordinary.
Some people were boating. Amidst swirling immortal mist and spreading golden rosy clouds, bamboo rafts glided leisurely by, filled with poetic charm.
"Brother Ming!" one of the boaters sent a voice transmission to Qin Ming.
Qin Ming had naturally recognized him already—it was Xiao Wu. Who knew he had the leisure to come boating on a lake all the way in Great Rui?
Wu Yaozu waved with delight as his bamboo raft pulled to shore. "Brother Ming, come aboard! Let's tour together."
"Why are you here?" Qin Ming asked.
"To attend a gathering," Xiao Wu informed him. The youths from "Pugong State" frequently gathered and exchanged insights with seed-level figures from Night Province.
This so-called Pugong State was the territory of that vast and glorious human civilization to the southwest.
Wu Yaozu said, "They actually wanted very much to invite you, but you were out of reach. So the moment someone spotted me, they immediately sent an invitation."
He guessed those people wanted to use him to draw Qin Ming out.
"Right, Brother Ming, didn't you show up in the Dayu imperial capital six days ago? Why did you suddenly vanish again?"
Qin Ming said, "These past few days I've been wandering around black markets and didn't bother with anything else."
Wu Yaozu said, "Brother Ming, come with me to the gathering in three days! Let's see just how extraordinary that bunch of young talents from Pugong State really is."
Qin Ming shook his head. He was genuinely disinclined to duel; in the western frontier, blood was drawn whenever he struck, so he had little interest in this sort of friendly sparring.
After all, he felt that exchanges ultimately could not avoid devolving into clashes of technique.
Wu Yaozu chuckled. "Brother Ming, you're overthinking it. Bloody combat is strictly forbidden this time; it's truly just exchanging scriptures. I heard they even brought a priceless genuine scripture."
Qin Ming grew interested. "In that case, going to the gathering isn't entirely out of the question."
Over the next three days, Qin Ming carefully pored through the night papers, world papers, and other periodicals to learn about those youths from Pugong State. Truly, one would never know without looking, but once he did, he was captivated.
He asked Xiao Wu, "Why do I feel the night papers are fawning over the west and worshipping outsiders? They've praised that bunch of prodigies to the skies. Are they truly that remarkable?"
After reading, Wu Yaozu sighed as well. "Those people are indeed extraordinary, but heaping such extravagant praise on them is definitely going too far!"
Lately, the night papers frequently mentioned exchanges between the youths of the two civilizations, claiming they could spur mutual growth. Yet more often than not, the tone would pivot to flattering the geniuses of Pugong State.
Hailed as youthful sages or future super pathfinders, they were showered with all manner of accolades.
Even though Qin Ming had only just begun reading the night papers and world papers, he had already become thoroughly familiar with several individuals. Flipping through casually, he felt those names were already thundering in his ears.
"Jian Huaidao, Xie Lin, Feng Qiwu, Mu Yunzhou, Lu Wei..."
Among these people were descendants and disciples of "wanderers," as well as successors to Pugong State's immortal orthodoxies.
"A prominent clan enduring in the world for four thousand years, watched over by an Earth Immortal: the Xie clan..." This was an excerpt directly from the night papers.
Qin Ming finally understood why the night papers offered such effusive praise. Some individuals possessed truly formidable backgrounds; in the clan of that young man named Xie Lin, there actually sat an Earth Immortal.
"Seven suns superimposed, a true dragon in the heavens..." Next, Qin Ming read of Jian Huaidao's origins.
This brought a look of surprise to his face. The other side had truly sent the descendants of supreme figures.
"This Mu Yunzhou is the one looking for me, wanting a face-to-face exchange. He mastered the Three Imperials force in the first realm and has already reached its late stage. What's more, he might also be cultivating Hunyuan force."
Qin Ming murmured softly. After learning the backgrounds of some of these individuals, he genuinely looked forward to seeing just what caliber they possessed.
Xiao Wu rubbed his hands together eagerly as well, wanting to see what was so remarkable about the direct descendant of an Earth Immortal and the scion of an even more enigmatic practitioner of the Seven Suns Superposition. Did they have three heads and six arms or something?
It was mainly because the night papers and world papers had been reporting heavily lately. Certain names seemed endowed with dazzling halos, known to virtually everyone.
Wu Yaozu said, "I bet if an Earth Immortal or a practitioner of the Seven Suns Superposition truly invaded Night Province, people from certain major organizations would definitely turn into fifth columnists leading the way."
With that, he slammed the night paper onto the table.
Then, as if remembering something, he reminded, "Brother Ming, if you want to attend the gathering, no matter what, you'll need to prepare an art for exchange or trading."
"Mm, that's easy enough." Qin Ming nodded and casually produced a copy of the Upright Ape Fiend Scripture.
This was the scripture Tang Xumi had gifted him back in the pure land to fulfill a promise.
Wu Yaozu took one look and fell speechless, sorely tempted to ask: Will this really work?
However, he quickly nodded again. "It'll definitely work. The important thing is you yourself, Brother Ming. As long as you go in person, plenty of people will likely be interested. In the past few exchange gatherings, people kept bringing you up."
According to him, although Qin Ming had never shown his face, his name had been circulating across every venue.
"So I count as a celebrity now?" Qin Ming chuckled, amused.
Wu Yaozu nodded. "Naturally! It's only recently that Jian Huaidao, Xie Lin, Feng Qiwu, Mu Yunzhou, and the others have been mentioned again and again, with the night papers placing divine halos over their heads. Otherwise, whenever anyone talked about famous young figures recently, there was no skipping you, Brother Ming."
Time flew, and three days slipped by in the blink of an eye. Qin Ming and Xiao Wu arrived on time for the gathering.
The venue for this exchange gathering was naturally within Ruicheng.
Upon the spirit lake, shimmering ripples danced as schools of five-colored dragon carp swam below. A large vessel drifted at the center of the lake—that was the gathering place.
A number of small boats were already waiting by the shore, tasked with receiving seed-level talents from all sides.
While still far off, Qin Ming and Xiao Wu had already spotted some familiar faces, such as the esoteric sect's most renowned divine seeds, Zhao Qingcheng, Cheng Sheng, and others.
Suddenly, Qin Ming felt a stir in his heart and looked toward the crowd in the distance. An old man was hurrying along as if having just rushed from afar, flecks of snow clinging to his clothes.
That was a prominent elder of the Cui family. Drawing a brocade box from his robe, he handed it to Cui Chonghe, who had been waiting for some time.
In an instant, Qin Ming's body went taut, his eyes deepening profoundly. He found that brocade box remarkably familiar—during his childhood, the Cui family seemed to have kept his silk book in that very box.
What was the Cui family trying to do? They had never returned his silk book to him, yet they had actually brought it to an occasion like this.
For a moment, Qin Ming could not help pondering: did Cui Chonghe intend to use this scripture to exchange arts with someone?
Then it dawned on him: some suspected that even without a guide, he had managed to master Chaos force. Could it be they believed the genuine scripture he had comprehended was somehow special? Thus, those individuals had coordinated with the Cui family, intending to exchange scriptures and study it here.
Chapter 354