Amidst the snow and ice, Qin Ming stood clad in black with his hands behind his back, looking at the young man and woman whose bones creaked and groaned throughout their bodies.
Though he did not speak, his gaze pierced straight into their hearts with detached scrutiny, as if asking: *Is this what passes for the orthodox lineage of Chaos force?*
In this bustling world, possessing the strength to back oneself up often spoke louder than a thousand words. This single scene, looking down upon them, was more than enough!
The two were on the verge of collapsing before Qin Ming, bowing and paying homage to him.
No one had anticipated that practitioners of Chaos force would clash the very first time they met.
Many understood in their hearts that this went beyond a superficial dispute over orthodoxy.
The young man, Xie Zhaoheng, let out a low roar. His outer robes burst apart, exposing gleaming silver armor beneath as his heavenly light boiled and blazed like a roaring fire, illuminating the night sky.
His entire right hand radiated brilliant golden rays. His flesh turned translucent, revealing pale-golden bones within. Threads of gold surfaced, swiftly spreading across his entire arm and rippling out through the rest of his body.
Xie Zhaoheng's power surged, holding off Qin Ming's heavenly light!
"Hm? Is that a 'sage bone'? Did they truly manage to make that path work?" Several elders could not help but show surprise.
Within the young man's body, dozens, then hundreds of golden threads intertwined like awakening flood dragon sinews, making him palpably dangerous as his heavenly light seemed to undergo a qualitative transformation.
What was going on? Many were puzzled and consulted the elders.
"Progress along the Newborn path is slow, and Chaos force is overly tyrannical, prone to making the body burst apart. A past patriarch racked his brains wondering whether the living bone essence left behind after a worthy predecessor's dissolution could be implanted into later generations to aid their metamorphosis."
Hearing this, everyone understood what had happened.
The sage bone implanted in the young man was certainly far below the level of a patriarch, yet it seemed to unlock his body's full potential, making it appear as though he had achieved a metamorphosis in an instant.
Xie Zhaoheng felt humiliated by how he had almost dropped to his knees moments ago. Though he looked young and tender-faced, in truth he was noticeably older than the youth before him.
As he advanced, the ground of the estate trembled faintly. The snow covering the area was shaken into the air, the granules surging upward like an inverted cascade.
Yet the youth across from him remained as calm as ever, still looking down upon him.
Xie Zhaoheng's hair whipped wildly amidst the cascade of snow. Raising his right hand, densely packed golden "flood dragon sinews" manifested throughout his body as his heavenly light surged out violently.
From head to toe, sword qi shot forth, whistling toward Qin Ming. His right hand was particularly blinding, trembling so fiercely that space itself seemed to warp and cave in, accompanied by deafening rumbles of thunder.
Qin Ming stood quietly in the wind and snow, like a human-shaped Golden Crow traversing the sky. A brilliant, magnificent light illuminated the eternal night, dyeing his black robes in dazzling golden glow, while the corners of his eyes, his brows, and strands of hair all blazed with radiance.
Xie Zhaoheng was appalled. He had unleashed the *Ascending Sky Sword Scripture*, awakening numerous golden meridians across his body to mobilize terrifying potential and slash hundreds of sword qi beams toward his foe. Yet what did he witness?
Every single beam of sword qi shattered upon contacting the radiance of the great sun surrounding Qin Ming, dispersing into faint ripples before fading into empty air.
Even with the blessing of the sage bone causing the golden light of Xie Zhaoheng's thrusting right hand to flare like divine flame, he still could not breach that majestic, sacred sun.
Amidst the dazzling sunlight, the black-clad Qin Ming abruptly took a step forward. With a tremendous roar like the collapse of heaven and earth, a surge of brilliant heavenly light slammed into his opponent, sending him staggering backward.
Xie Zhaoheng coughed up mouthfuls of blood. His body hunched under the crushing weight, forcing him into a deep bow.
In truth, he was on the verge of falling to his knees.
At this critical juncture, unwilling to endure such humiliation, Xie Zhaoheng's hand bone cracked loudly. Golden runes erupted from his sage bone to resist Qin Ming's unrestrainedly pouring heavenly light.
In an instant, Xie Zhaoheng's sage bone dimmed, nearly piercing out through his flesh.
He took advantage of the momentum to retreat, yet Qin Ming's heavenly light still tossed him like a solitary leaf adrift upon a raging sea.
Qin Ming did not halt. Standing enveloped in golden heavenly light, he took another step forward. Since others had struck at him, how could he simply let the matter drop?
Astride the four-tusked white elephant, Little Rulai sat like a divine Buddha pinching a flower, exuding an aura of sacred transcendence amidst tranquil clarity. Heavenly light force circulated between his two fingers, conjuring a golden lotus.
With a flick of his wrist, his unique Primordial Rulai heavenly light flew out in the form of a divine flower. It was crystalline and translucent, with morning dew rolling atop its golden petals. While seemingly delicate, the power contained within struck dread into the hearts of onlookers, startling even grandmasters.
The Life-Cherishing Elder stepped forward. With a flick of his fingers, thunder seemed to crash from the highest heavens as terrifying, dazzling heavenly light poured out in plain view.
*Boom!*
Gu Xicheng's Great Thunderclap heavenly light struck the golden lotus. It was as though two comets had collided in midair above the estate; the night sky instantly turned bright as day, followed by an outward wave of heavenly light that vaporized every fluttering snowflake, sweeping the area completely clear.
The four-tusked white elephant trumpeted in distress, overturned by the shockwave.
Little Rulai took to the air and swiftly retreated, though he remained unharmed.
Many looked solemn. This practitioner of Chaos force from Pugong was truly terrifying—after all, he had just faced down a grandmaster.
The estate fell dead silent.
Little Rulai was still in the fourth realm, yet he could clash head-on with a grandmaster?
For a moment, waves surged in everyone's minds. Chaos force truly was fearsome; once mastered, it became a massive headache for all factions.
As for Little Rulai's two disciples, their mastery was clearly far from complete.
Suddenly, a flash of light reappeared in the empty air.
After the golden lotus had been shattered by the Great Thunderclap heavenly light, a remnant of its divine charm actually manifested anew!
It recondensed into a faint, ethereal bud and bloomed against the wind and snow—a feat bordering on absurd.
Little Rulai's heavenly light was enduring and unceasing, already carrying traits of immortality!
Swaying gently, the lotus sped directly toward Qin Ming.
Gu Xicheng stepped forward, intending to intercept it.
Qin Ming, however, acted himself. Reaching out two fingers, he lightly pinched the faint lotus as though admiring an ordinary flower, his pace unbroken as he walked forward.
This sight stunned just as many people.
Even if it was only a lotus formed from remnant charm, catching it so casually between his fingers was extraordinarily impressive!
By now, even the simplest-minded observer could tell that while these people from Pugong appeared to direct their blade at Qin Ming, their true target was the Present Rulai lineage.
Undoubtedly, after Past Rulai's return, handpicking "Little Rulai" had been an act of seizing power.
Internally, the Rulai Sect had been anything but peaceful lately, rife with fierce infighting.
Practitioners of other paths said nothing. They too were facing similar dilemmas; whether in the esoteric sect or the immortal path, ancient "Retired Emperors" were making their returns.
For instance, Helian Chengyun's martial uncle had been a formidable figure five hundred years ago, originally sent out on orders to explore and pioneer new paths.
Now that he had returned to Yezhou, resting on his laurels and aiming to reap the fruits of the immortal path by becoming master of the Pure Land, he was causing immense headaches across all sides.
Admiration of the "flower" in hand, Qin Ming strolled over the snow. The force radiating from him blasted both the stumbling Xie Zhaoheng and the female disciple flying. Both coughed up blood continuously before collapsing into the snow.
From start to finish, Qin Ming had not truly raised a hand. Relying entirely on the overflowing radiance of his Golden Crow Night-Illuminating heavenly light, he had suppressed the two of them like helpless chicks.
Qin Ming naturally understood why Little Rulai had sat back and let his disciples step into the fray. Seeing Qin Ming close with Xiang Yiwu and standing on the side of Present Rulai, Little Rulai had wanted to use him as a point of leverage.
The other party knew full well how tied Qin Ming was to Present Rulai's faction, yet deliberately commanded him to pay audience to Past Rulai.
Qin Ming naturally had no intention of indulging them. If they wanted to use him as a stepping stone, they had picked the wrong target!
With a gentle flick of his fingers, the lotus between his fingers shattered like an illusory bubble. Without sparing the young pair on the ground a single glance, he walked past them across the snow.
In truth, the atmosphere remained extremely tense, for among the returnees from Pugong was another master who had cultivated Chaos force, terrifying beams of light coursing across his body.
A top-tier grandmaster appeared without a sound. It was the eldest disciple of Present Rulai, who personally blocked this man.
Otherwise, once this elder master of Past Rulai's faction made his move, there might truly have been no one present able to keep him in check.
Chills ran through the onlookers. Those who mastered Chaos force were simply too terrifying, capable of striking up against higher-realm experts at a moment's notice.
Fortunately, their bodies were prone to bursting, so they did not strike recklessly!
Just as now, after a brief standoff between the Chaos-force master and Rulai's eldest disciple, the former reined in his heavenly light and vanished into thin air from the snow.
"Troubled times," someone sighed softly.
The tangled internal politics of the Rulai Sect were by no means unique in Yezhou.
Soon after, the three patriarchs guarding Golden Light Cave showed themselves, warning everyone that troublemaking was strictly forbidden in this place.
The newly arrived explorers were all confined to the estate and informed that they could not enter the new world in the near future.
The group of experts from Pugong was bitterly disappointed and voiced plenty of dissatisfaction in private, yet they were helpless to change it, as the restriction was not aimed at them alone.
……
*Rumble!*
Amidst the wind and snow, thick clouds collided in the pitch-black night sky. Lightning unexpectedly surged forth, tearing through the darkness.
Many were stunned to realize it was winter thunder—a rare sight indeed.
Moreover, it was not merely a crack or two. The thunder roared ceaselessly. As the night fog burst apart and dark clouds churned, colossal serpents of electricity slithered across the heavens as if the firmament had been pierced and torn to shreds.
Within the estate, Qin Ming grew restless; he wanted to ascend into the sky.
Whenever storms raged, heavenly light was drawn into the void. He wished to wander in spirit upward, but with dragons and fish jumbled together in the estate, it was not particularly safe.
Qin Ming spotted Xiang Yiwu sprinting at full tilt in search of Gu Xicheng, shouting, "Elder! The thunder is here—the time to temper our souls with heavenly light has arrived!"
"You're going to wander in spirit above the clouds?" Qin Ming asked.
Xiang Yiwu nodded. He knew his own situation best: possessing an extraordinary physique, he was known as the Golden Cicada, hovering between life and death and undergoing cycles of reincarnation with a living physical body in the mortal world once every few years.
"You want to go up too?" Xiang Yiwu looked surprised.
Qin Ming's mind was unsettled. The Newborn path differed from others; at this realm, spirit wandering was normally impossible!
No wonder Xiang Yiwu had once said his life's mission was to blaze trails for the Newborn system.
"Then let's go together!" Qin Ming said.
Xiang Yiwu nodded. "I'll ask the elder to guard us!"
His heart churned with emotion. Only after entering the third realm and undergoing another nirvanic rebirth within the Rulai Sect's Seven Treasures Pool had he established such an extraordinary foundation.
Yet the brother before him had simply brute-forced his way up entirely on his own.
Xiao Wu also came running over at the news. He walked the path of rainbow transformation, condensing his essence, qi, and spirit into a divine rainbow, capable of leaving his fleshly body behind even in the first realm.
Gu Xicheng arrived and escorted the three as they wandered in spirit upward. Naturally, they took a wide detour, unable to pass directly through the thunderclouds.
Even a grandmaster would not dare confront heaven and earth's thunderfire head-on.
The four arrived above the dense clouds. Today, this expanse was no longer pitch-black, illuminated by vast amounts of heavenly light drawn here, along with various extraordinary substances.
The depths of the night sky were bustling today; they were not the only ones who had appeared.
Not far away, Little Rulai shone with radiance. He was in the fourth realm and had mastered Chaos force, already able to wrap his mental field in heavenly light to journey far from his body.
At this moment, he sat cross-legged atop a golden lotus, solemn and dignified, appearing quite extraordinary.
As he breathed, beneficial heavenly lights—such as "Fortune Like the Eastern Sea" and "Longevity Like the Southern Mountain"—sank into his heavenly light body.
He snapped his eyes open, disbelief written across his face.
In truth, along the Newborn path, even upon reaching the fourth realm, many people's mental wills still could not leave the body; only fierce talents like him were unrestricted.
Yet across from him, three youngsters merely in the third realm—how had they managed to ascend to the sky?
Farther out stood other figures, such as Jiang Ran, Pei Shuyan, and Xie Lin. They were using the various hazardous substances in the sky to temper their conscious spiritual lights, hoping to undergo complete pure yang transformation and evolve toward immortality.
Moments later, someone noticed an anomaly.
Qin Ming was simply too indiscriminate an "eater." Whatever he encountered along the way, whether longevity-extending "Purple Qi from the East" heavenly light or life-draining "Netherworld" heavenly light, he drew it all in.
At such a juncture, those who dared ascend to the night sky were naturally extraordinary figures of transcendent status, and all were taken aback by this sight.
Xiang Yiwu was dumbfounded. The wild path his brother was treading was truly frightening!
Qin Ming realized how it looked and hurriedly opened his mouth, spitting out with a loud *ptui!* to expel the harmful heavenly lights as a cover-up.
He flew toward the distance, unwilling to be watched, and farther away he gulped and drank voraciously, sweeping through everything like clouds before the wind as he devoured all sorts of glowing otherworldly substances.
In the end, he returned laden with spoils, burping as he carried dense heavenly light, flowing fire, and other energies back into his physical body. That brief quarter of an hour alone was worth many days of painstaking effort.
Outside his body, his terrifying spirit field expanded, its scope visibly growing larger. Moreover, its spirit field waves were nearly materialized to the point that ordinary people could perceive them.
Qin Ming looked forward to the future; once Early Spring and Midsummer returned, in the absence of great medicinal herbs or special terrains to assist his cultivation, ascending to the heavens would become an essential option for him.
……
Half a month later, the entirety of Niuben City was submerged in dense fog, while the estate outside the city was gripped by howling winds and lightning, as though hurled straight into hell by some immense magic.
Tremors struck every heart, and grandmasters were no exception. Nearly everyone was rendered blind with their eyes wide open, unable to see a thing.
The world turned ink-black, sinking into dead silence.
"An Earth Immortal is passing through!"
The three patriarchs of this region felt a creeping terror. They decisively dissolved their pure yang conscious spiritual light, choosing not to touch a realm that made even them feel deeply oppressed.
The vital domain of the minotaur race seemed to have fallen into the underworld—cold, boundlessly dark, and devoid of sound. Many felt as though their five senses had been stripped away, their consciousness frozen stiff and unable to function.
Beside Golden Light Cave, that super Fire Spring was having its power furiously siphoned. Accompanied by resonant metallic clangs, an unfathomable entity worked rapidly there, expanding and reinforcing the deep, shadowy tunnel.
Immediately afterward, Golden Light Cave shook violently with relentless rumblings as a terrifying pressure spread. Light of an Earth Immortal rose in steam, and only after a long moment did calm finally return to the place.
Chapter 360