In the darkness of the night, the Fire Spring gurgled softly, clear and molten like burning carnelian, casting a vivid crimson glow across the pristine white snow.
No one had expected an all-out confrontation between these groups of youthful powerhouses.
One side hailed from Night Province, while the other came from the Eastern Lands. In a sense, two distinct factions were now locking horns!
"Friend, it would be best if you stayed your hand."
From the Eastern Lands' side, a youth stepped out from the crowd with a gentle smile. His voice carried great power, suppressing all other noise.
Clad in scholar-green robes, he seemed as pleasant as a spring breeze. Yet when his eyes opened and shut, the ring of celestial swords resonated deep within his pupils, poised to fly out at any moment.
Even as he offered this counsel, his group did not halt their advance. They pressed forward step by step, projecting an invisible aura of pressure.
Wu Yaozu spoke up. "When your man made his move, I didn't see any of you stepping in to stop him. Now that he's been captured, you can't bear it?"
Both he and Xiang Yiwu possessed striking, unconventional features, making them stand out prominently at Qin Ming's side.
The green-robed youth smiled faintly. "We will all be entering Sky City soon, and we have many days ahead of us to interact. Taking a step back now leaves the sea vast and the sky open."
His demeanor was placid, yet everyone knew that taking that so-called "step back" was near impossible.
The cultivators from the two major Earth Immortal Palaces of the Eastern Lands strode forward, causing the ground beneath them to tremble slightly. This was nothing less than forcing the other side to bow their heads.
Under the gaze of so many onlookers, this was no longer a mere personal clash of tempers. It concerned the honor of two camps, and one side clearly sought to subjugate the other.
Gentle as the green-robed youth's words sounded, the unruffled confidence he exuded laid bare the domineering will in his heart.
As one of their leaders, he had already drawn very close. Still retaining his cultured, refined air, he said, "Friend, desist immediately!"
"Are you giving me orders?" Qin Ming's hand had already come down upon Liu Zhenghong's head. A sharp crack sounded, as if he were tapping a fully ripe watermelon.
His mind clouded and lost in a haze of confusion, the agonizing pain finally brought Liu Zhenghong to his senses. He realized instantly what had happened: his cranial bone had fractured.
Furthermore, the other party's hand had not pulled away. As if petting a dog, Qin Ming continued to stroke his head, his slender, lustrous fingers radiating immense danger.
Through the searing pain, Liu Zhenghong felt a surge of profound humiliation and fury. He had only just stepped forward, yet he had mysteriously succumbed to this trick, leaving him utterly mortified.
*Crack.*
Qin Ming gave him another "massage," this time indiscriminately across his entire skull, sending hairline fractures spidering through the bone.
Liu Zhenghong had initially looked for a chance to strike back, but now he did not dare twitch a muscle. His entire skull had become fragile beyond measure; any drastic movement would cause it to burst like a gourd.
The smile on the green-robed youth's face gradually faded. The opponent had paid no heed whatsoever to his warning, directly fracturing his junior brother's skull with a mere touch.
"Sovereign Qin Ming is skilled in the Taiyin Hand. With the slightest physical contact, he can sever a foe's lifespan. Friends from the outer domains had best be careful from now on," a voice transmitted secretly through the shadows.
Without question, plenty of onlookers were eager to fish in troubled waters, deliberately stirring up controversy and directing hostility toward Qin Ming.
Qin Ming patted Liu Zhenghong on the shoulder and released him. "Look after yourself."
Immediately, several figures rushed forward to escort Liu Zhenghong back to safety.
The green-robed youth examined Liu Zhenghong's condition himself, his expression turning frosty on the spot.
"Brother Liu!" Qi Yunxiao called out anxiously, rushing over.
No longer burdened by concern for a hostage, the youthful powerhouses of the Eastern Lands wore dark expressions. Free from restraint, they advanced with heavy strides.
It was fair to say that the Eastern Lands boasted a truly luxurious lineup, with every individual hailing from an Earth Immortal sanctuary.
By then, Jiang Ran and Li Qingyue had already positioned themselves at Qin Ming's side.
Both women enjoyed immense popularity along the immortal path, possessing beauty capable of toppling cities. Stepping forward together now, they drew all eyes, sparking fervent discussion among the onlookers.
"In my heart, Jiang Ran and Li Qingyue are both like heavenly maidens! To think they're standing together to face an enemy!"
"Listening to the chatter, the people across from them hail from two Earth Immortal Palaces. Their backgrounds are staggering. That pressure is simply too suffocating—how can anyone stand against it?"
On the Night Province side, several acquaintances frowned, visibly anxious.
The visitors from the outer domains had originally wanted to test the waters. Now that someone from the Eastern Lands had been caught chirping behind people's backs, provoking the green-robed youth and his companions to enter the fray, things could not have aligned better for them.
Some had already been fanning the flames and shaping the narrative; events were now unfolding precisely in the direction they desired.
"An unexpected delight. To drag the youthful masters of two Earth Immortal Palaces into this and have them test the waters—how exciting," someone murmured.
Qin Ming glanced at his companions and said, "Dragging you all into this feels wrong. I can set up a duel with them myself."
Xiao Wu immediately replied, "Brother Ming, saying that treats us like strangers!"
Jiang Ran offered a faint smile. "There's really nothing to it. Since they clearly intend to crush us with their momentum, we'll just sweep right through them."
Her features were exquisite as a painting, her figure slender, her fluttering robes ethereal. Yet her calm words rang with indomitable strength, instantly sending ripples through the surrounding crowd.
"I truly believe Emperor Ran possesses incredible conviction and transcendent might!"
"You troll, how dare you stir up trouble for Fairy Jiang like that? You're crossing the line!"
Many spectators fell back, clearing a wide open space. The figures from the two opposing factions stood facing each other in the center, primed to strike at a moment's notice.
Dressed in pure white, Li Qingyue was the first to step forward. She leveled a finger toward a youth opposite them who bore a vertical purple mark between his brows, saying simply, "You!"
Sparing no words, she picked her opponent on the spot.
"Hiss! That youth with the divine mark between his brows looks like bad news. He's clearly one of their leaders!"
Jiang Ran smiled, pointing toward a youth in golden robes, selecting her opponent as well.
On the Eastern Lands' side, several people were startled. The two women possessed terrifyingly sharp eyes, instantly picking out the foremost figures among their ranks.
"Then I suppose I'll reluctantly settle for you," Qin Ming said, pointing at the green-robed youth.
Earlier, it had been this very youth who had spoken up repeatedly, urging Qin Ming to stay his hand and step back.
As one of the leading figures, the green-robed youth stripped away every trace of his smile and said coldly, "Very well. You're the one I wanted anyway!"
Xiang Yiwu and Wu Yaozu stepped forward as well.
Qin Ming immediately said, "My two brothers here have yet to reach the fourth realm."
He did not want to see them placed in undue danger. In response, youths in the third realm stepped out from the opposite side.
This time, with Sky City about to appear, the registration process had set no boundary on cultivation realm—as long as a candidate was young enough and held sufficient potential, they could ascend to the heavens.
Consequently, let alone prodigies of the third realm, even youthful geniuses of the second realm had arrived in droves.
The colossal Fire Spring excavated from beneath the frozen earth dyed the swirling night mist in soft sunset hues, bathing the confronting youth masters in a pale golden glow.
"Let me fight!" Liu Zhenghong barked from the Eastern Lands camp. He downed a flask of blue liquid, his entire body glowing as his skull produced loud crunching noises, rapidly knitting itself back together.
He refused to accept his defeat, believing he had merely been careless. As long as his pure yang conscious spiritual light boiled into active combat, he felt certain he would not be subverted by that illusion.
He felt he had suffered an extraordinary humiliation today, and he was determined to pick himself up right where he had fallen.
"Junior Brother, rest well!" The green-robed youth glanced back, barring him from entering the ring, before turning to meet Qin Ming himself.
With a booming crash, the pristine snow outside the earthen city erupted, ice particles swirling upward into the nocturnal sky.
A great battle erupted across five pairs of youthful masters.
The green-robed youth brimmed with self-assurance. His pure yang conscious spiritual light coalesced into a snow-bright celestial saber, trailing a long streak of radiance like a comet streaking across the sky as it slashed toward Qin Ming from a distance.
He remained wary of the Great Dream Divine Mushroom spirit field, deliberately keeping his distance to avoid falling into an illusion.
Five hundred years ago, the Hunyuan force had struck dread into the founders of various cultivation paths.
Even after disappearing from Night Province for centuries, its sudden resurgence in this era remained as weighty as Feixian Mountain to cultivators of the Newborn path.
Beyond these borders, however, its reputation was not nearly as formidable. The Earth Immortal sanctuaries of the Eastern Lands, for instance, held no particular reverence for any Hunyuan force.
Although Qin Ming had created a sensation throughout Night Province by defeating Sun Chengjun, who had mastered Chaos force, the prodigies from the outer domains had paid little heed.
They had never even heard of Sun Chengjun before, recognizing only his senior brother, Little Rulai. Learning that Qin Ming had defeated the former had hardly stirred their emotions.
Yet when the green-robed youth faced the Hunyuan force in person, his fine hairs stood on end. Qin Ming did not clash with him via spirit fields this time, deploying purely heavenly light to attack.
Qin Ming unleashed the Golden Crow Clamping the Saber stance. His fist light billowed like a bolt of silk, surging like a golden divine waterfall accompanied by dazzling radiance. A Golden Crow took flight, clamping a broad blade condensed of heavenly light in its beak. With a sharp clang, it cleaved the opponent's pure yang conscious saber to pieces.
At the very first clash, the green-robed youth lost a strand of his conscious spiritual light. Rather than reforming after shattering, it was incinerated clean away by the Golden Crow.
"This..." He drew in a cold breath of night mist, thoroughly shaken. Pure yang consciousness was notoriously difficult to destroy, yet the celestial saber he had manifested had been dismantled and extinguished permanently by that Golden Crow.
The green-robed youth realized the gravity of the situation, no longer daring to harbor the slightest contempt. That Hunyuan force was terrifying beyond reason, seemingly acting as a direct counter to his pure yang conscious spiritual light.
Amid a metallic clatter, spotless white armor covered his entire body. Holding a jade shield in his left hand and a baleful spear wound with immortal radiance in his right, he charged toward Qin Ming.
He immediately brought forth a sect-defining supreme art, going all out.
Qin Ming was currently at the seventh heaven of the spirit field realm, which generally placed him in the late spirit field stage. Thus, even when facing a dazzling prodigy of the fourth realm from beyond the province, he felt no fear and could trade blows head-on.
Regardless of the path, progress slowed to a crawl once one attained the fourth realm. As such, even the immortal path prodigies from Earth Immortal sanctuaries were mostly at the early fourth realm.
The Newborn path, by contrast, met severe impediments starting from the second realm, leaving almost no youths at the fourth realm.
As for Little Rulai, he was essentially an "aged youth" whose face did not reflect his true years.
The green-robed youth was truly formidable, fully living up to his status as a seed of an Earth Immortal Palace. Even Qin Ming nodded inwardly in acknowledgment; this was a remarkably powerful foe.
Had Qin Ming blasted through his opponent right from the start, he would have doubted the true caliber of the Earth Immortal Palaces instead. The geniuses accepted under their banners were indeed exceptional.
Yet the green-robed youth saw things entirely differently. He found it impossible to believe that he had been forced into such a passive position, needing to give his all against a mere native of Night Province.
*This person is actually countering me with pure heavenly light force!* This ran completely counter to the intelligence he had gathered.
He had heard that Qin Ming cultivated two paths concurrently, serving as both a figurehead of the Newborn path and an immortal seed. In his view, Qin Ming must have relied on the immortal path to break through realm bottlenecks—using immortal methods to simulate the spirit field of the Newborn path much like Jiang Ran did. But now he discovered that every assumption had been dead wrong.
Everything Qin Ming was displaying belonged strictly to the Newborn path, completely devoid of immortal arts!
What proved most intolerable was that Qin Ming was fighting across realms from below—he truly stood only in the third realm, without having concealed his cultivation in the slightest.
For someone accustomed to absolute pride, a heavy shadow crept over the youth's heart.
"Not bad at all. You truly live up to your status as an heir of an Earth Immortal sanctuary," Qin Ming commented even as he struck.
The green-robed youth's expression twisted. Was this opponent trying to break his mental state? For a third-realm youth to offer him such condescending praise was maddening.
His killing intent surged. In an instant, his entire body blazed. Dense arrays of immortal Dao runes surfaced upon his pristine white armor; the shield in his left hand shone like a scorching sun, while the spear in his right crackled like a thunderbolt. Wherever his feet trod, the earth tore open and collapsed, wide fissures several feet across snaking into the distance.
The green-robed youth's combat power spiked dramatically, making him resemble a descended deity cloaked in pure yang runic brilliance that illuminated the night sky as he engaged in fierce combat.
Qin Ming turned solemn. As he threw his punches, terrifying fist seals unfurled, their heavenly light blasting away the surrounding night mist and manifesting marvelous phenomena all around him.
Within his fist light, the scene of spring burst forth, vibrant life flourishing across magnificent mountains and rivers. Next, the legendary radiance of daytime emerged, a scorching summer sun hanging overhead while divine birds rampaged across the earth. Then followed the rustle of falling leaves, autumn winds sweeping away withered foliage in an enervating display like the slash of heaven's own blade. Finally came an all-encompassing freeze, where heaven and earth fell silent, marching toward destruction to freeze a cultivator's conscious spiritual light.
As Qin Ming attacked, the Four Sacred Baleful Energies—the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise—manifested in unison, turning and cycling alongside the four seasons.
For a time, Qin Ming was bathed in wondrous phenomena. Every punch he threw erupted with terrifying heavenly light as dragons and tigers clashed and the Vermilion Bird struck horizontally...
Blood trickled from the green-robed youth's nose and mouth. When the White Tiger's heavenly light pounced upon him, his shield shattered. Immediately after, the Vermilion Bird's heavenly light scorched his armor to the point of melting, while the Azure Dragon extended its claw, snapping his spear in two.
In an instant, he was wounded, his situation growing ever more dire. He was actually being overwhelmed by someone from a lower realm.
He had looked down on the likes of Sun Chengjun, dismissing him as a nobody. Yet now, he was on the verge of becoming just like Sun Chengjun.
"How is this possible?" He could not believe it. To think he was about to be defeated by someone in the third realm!
On another front, Li Qingyue drew gasps of astonishment from the crowd, leaving many utterly awestruck.
A layer of soft light expanded outward from her body, resembling a bright full moon. Standing at its center, she looked sacred and transcendent, like a heavenly maiden descended to the mortal world.
"That's... the Six Ding Divine Fire!" someone's voice trembled. That seemingly gentle light was none other than the legendary divine flame, matching the ancient texts stroke for stroke.
Even among seed-level figures of the fourth realm, rare was the individual capable of wielding divine fire—let alone a flame of such renown, which currently enveloped Li Qingyue completely.
"Is she a born fire physique? To bathe in divine fire without sustaining the slightest harm!"
Li Qingyue's opponent was exceptionally strong. Yet against the Six Ding Divine Fire, his temper was thoroughly scorched away, costing him several exotic treasures in rapid succession.
"Ah..." Her opponent staggered backward, unable to endure the ravages of that divine flame. Had his cultivation not been terrifyingly profound, anyone else would have been reduced to ashes long ago.
No one mocked him. Everyone wore solemn expressions; confronted with such flames, even heirs of Earth Immortal sanctuaries felt deep dread and dared not face them head-on.
"Sacred and transcendent, like the Moon Goddess herself!" someone remarked.
In the eyes of the crowd, Li Qingyue seemed to stand atop a flawless bright moon, graceful and untainted by the mortal world.
Elsewhere, though Jiang Ran was a woman, her strikes were as decisive as thunderbolts. She simulated a spirit field using pure yang consciousness, executing the *Eight Views Divine Radiance Classic*.
Her bearing was extraordinary. Though her movements were graceful, her power was terrifying beyond measure. Pure yang light pierced through the clouds, pummeling her formidable opponent until he coughed up blood continuously.
"To hold out for a hundred and fifty moves under Emperor Ran's hands—that golden-robed youth is already terrifyingly strong!" someone sighed.
Within the battlefield, however, the golden-robed youth's composure was crumbling. It had always been others who served as his stepping stones, yet today, he was being pummeled and kicked head-on by this celestial woman in utter humiliation.
In the distance, Xiang Yiwu had long since switched opponents; cultivators of his own cultivation realm were simply incapable of withstanding him.
The cultivator dispatched by the Earth Immortal sanctuary this time was clearly beyond standard specifications, subjecting him to immense pressure.
Yet just when everyone assumed he was headed for a crushing defeat, a mysterious Dao resonance rippled from his body.
"A cycle of samsara every few years." Xiang Yiwu wiped away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. Then, his entire presence shifted. Behind him, the Great Thunder Sound Temple materialized. Within the temple stood an enormous millstone, pressing down upon a solitary figure.
Each time the stone mill slowly ground, it released wisps of heavenly light essence that drifted into Xiang Yiwu's body.
At that moment, from between the two massive stone millstones, that mysterious figure broke free. Like a sacred being emerging into the world, its release caused the entire Great Thunder Sound Temple to shake violently as bells tolled in deafening resonance.
Thick mist churned, revealing a glimpse of an imposing, magnificent figure striding forward step by step, gradually drawing closer to Xiang Yiwu.
This sight startled even Qin Ming. Remembering Xiang Yiwu's claim of undergoing samsara within the living world through his physical body, it truly was far more mysterious than imagined.
With a resounding boom, Xiang Yiwu erupted with power, sending his fourth-realm opponent flying through the air.
Behind him, the tall, imposing figure had long black hair draping over its shoulders and eyes like cold lightning, resembling a god-king revived and returning to the world.
Instantly, many onlookers were struck dumb with amazement.
"He looks... like a Sage!" someone appraised, feeling that Xiang Yiwu's current aura was profoundly unique, like a peerless master stepping out from the thick mist into reality.
Qin Ming blasted the green-robed youth away with a single punch, then turned to watch Wu Yaozu's fight.
Xiao Wu had been coasting the entire time, yet he had still dispatched his third-realm opponent. As he looked back toward the gathered spectators, an eager, expectant look filled his face.
After all, earlier on, someone had praised Qin Ming to high heaven as a Sovereign.
Just now, Jiang Ran, Li Qingyue, and Xiang Yiwu had also been lauded, earning the titles of Emperor Ran, the Moon Goddess, and the Sage respectively.
At this moment, Xiao Wu flashed a brilliant smile, his short golden hair practically glowing with light.
"Blondie!" someone in the crowd shouted at him.
Chapter 392