In the evening, within the earthen city, the Fire Spring grew dim as night mist swirled around.
Qin Ming gazed out the window. "Ape" was likely drawing near, instilling in him an intense sense of danger that made the hairs on his skin stand on end.
It had been a long time since he had experienced such a sensation; a peer could actually threaten him!
"Master!" Su Mohua felt a touch of unease, for she saw the youth before the window suddenly tense, and in a flash, he vanished.
With a swish, Qin Ming appeared in the courtyard, no different from teleportation.
He spoke calmly, "Mohua, step back a bit further. Just watch quietly."
In an instant, Qin Ming felt a dull ache at his left temple, as if a sharp weapon were slicing through the night sky and thrusting toward him, on the verge of piercing straight through his head.
Warned in advance, he captured the obscure trajectory of the weapon in the unseen.
That eerie, cold glint blended into the night, astonishingly turning from substance to formlessness, vanishing from the world to coexist with the chill wind, like an ordinary current of air approaching.
The weapon ceased to exist entirely.
Qin Ming's heart stirred. Had he still been in the mid-stage of the spirit field realm, he very well might have found himself in mortal danger!
Now that he stood at the seventh heaven of the spirit field—in the late phase of the third realm—his spirit field expanded outward like tangible thoughts spreading wide, enabling him to perceive every minuscule shift in the surroundings.
It was a five-color blade, vanished from the physical realm, turning from reality into illusion, sneaking along with the wind like the fog of a dream, capable of slaying prodigies of the fourth realm without their ever realizing it!
This was terrifying indeed. By such means alone, this person could easily pass as a king of assassins.
Qin Ming's eyes deepened as he tilted his head slightly.
In a flash, the faint sting at his left temple vanished, while in the distance, a slight hitch occurred in an air current, dissipating naturally in the biting wind.
Yet in the next moment, Qin Ming felt a slight burning pain at the top of his skull.
Was his foe truly this fast? It felt uncanny and unpredictable—turning substance to void, accomplishing a teleportation in the blink of an eye.
With this technique alone, "Ape" could cut down formidable immortal seeds. It was truly formidable.
Yet Qin Ming was able to receive early warning and guard against it.
It felt as if a Heavenly God's staff hung high above the nine firmaments, aimed squarely at him, ready to smash down at any moment.
Qin Ming could foresee that terrifying sight: once unleashed, it would surely shake heaven and earth, like a meteorite piercing the night mist to ruthlessly pulverize its target on the ground.
Qin Ming believed that recently mastering the Nine Firmaments Book had drawn him closer to "mind lucidity," sharpening his perception even further.
Suddenly, he left an afterimage where he stood, reappearing dozens of meters away.
In the night sky, the weapon that had shifted from illusion to reality dispersed once more.
Without doubt, Ape harbored murderous intent. Coming tonight armed with a lethal weapon, he had held his strike poised not out of restraint, but because Qin Ming had neutralized each attempt before it could land.
At first, Su Mohua did not realize a terrifying figure had arrived in secret. Only upon seeing Qin Ming shift through space several times did she understand that a battle beyond her comprehension had already begun.
"Still want to test me?" Qin Ming said.
"Tonight, while contemplating the Dao, I gained a sudden insight and wish to compare notes with you, Daoist Brother. Would you grant me that?" a man's voice carried over the cold wind.
"If you want to draw your blade, there's no need for words. Come here!" Qin Ming said.
The other party harbored killing intent and had come uninvited; how could this end peacefully?
Were it not for Qin Ming's extraordinary telepathic perception, this man would have dealt him a fatal blow already.
In the distance, a figure manifested, wearing pristine white robes that fluttered in the night wind amid drifting snowflakes, exuding an ethereal grace. Handsome and striking, he strode forth across the darkness.
He was an unfamiliar youth with long, sword-like brows reaching toward his temples. Within his eyes lay golden cross patterns, his gaze blazing bright like flitting arcs of lightning.
Qin Ming sensed danger from him, though not quite as acute as a moment earlier.
"Ape?" He looked at him.
The white-robed youth did not answer the question. Smiling faintly, he said, "My hands grew itchy tonight, so I came uninvited. Please forgive the intrusion."
Qin Ming believed this person shared the same origin as the Mind Ape he had slain on the Plain of Divine Demise; it was an intense spiritual intuition.
"Which one are you?" Wu Yaozu appeared soundlessly, cutting off his retreat.
Xiang Yiwu gripped his demon-subduing pestle and stood atop the courtyard wall, ready to unleash his strongest strike at any second.
Clearly, both of them sensed this person's extraordinary might.
"I'll handle this myself," Qin Ming said. Tonight, he intended to test his mettle against this Ape.
"Please!" the unfamiliar youth, Ape, said.
He sped off into the distance first, quickly leaving the earthen city behind.
By then, a crowd had followed along—some visitors from beyond the region, but mostly a group of youthful prodigies from the sky.
With steady steps, Qin Ming calmly arrived outside the city and swept his gaze over everyone.
Tomorrow, Su Mohua was scheduled to duel others in a clash of prodigies. Tonight, someone had come to intercept Qin Ming. Inflicting severe wounds on both master and disciple would likely delight many onlookers.
"Little Master!" Su Mohua was somewhat worried. She could naturally sense the atmosphere; this entire affair had started because of her, and these people had arrived prepared, wanting master and disciple to take a hard fall.
Qin Ming said, "Watch closely. Your master will set an example for you!"
His words were calm yet forceful. Such a confident demeanor immediately affected many of his acquaintances.
Su Mohua quieted down, her furrowed brow smoothing out.
"Brother Qin's disposition truly has... an aura!" Bai Meng murmured to himself. What he really wanted to say was that Brother Qin had the aura of a villain—familiar, like something he had seen before.
Having hit it off with Qin Ming and sharing a good bond now, he couldn't bring himself to voice such words.
"How arrogant!" someone whispered.
A group of boys and girls from the sky knitted their brows, watching the youth in the field. Naturally, they hoped Qin Ming would suffer a miserable defeat tonight.
A violent gale surged up. The pure white snowfields quivered and split, sending grit and stones flying as snow granules shot upward into the sky, instantly drowning the world in a blur of white.
The great battle between the young powerhouses erupted!
Without another word, the moment they met outside the earthen city, they struck simultaneously.
Ape's pristine white robes whipped violently in the wind. Jade-like and striking, he was an exceptionally distinguished youth, golden light radiating from his eyes, an immortal mist swirling around him.
With a metallic ring, a five-color blade appeared in his grip, razor-sharp, like a heavenly saber capable of sundering the vault of heaven, bearing dense Dao rhythm.
As it cleaved through the void, the ground itself seemed to destabilize. Vast saber qi tore open the earth, sending black fissures one to two feet wide creeping across the frozen soil.
Many recoiled in terror, stepping back. If the intangible saber intent alone could do this to frozen soil, what sort of crushing pressure must the defender in the center of the fray be facing?
Golden haze surged from Qin Ming's entire body, dazzling brilliantly in the dark night as terrifying strength churned within him. Channeling the Vajra Scripture, he met the attack with bare hands.
His right palm, as if forged from gold and gleaming with flame-like radiance, struck fiercely against the five-color blade, producing an ear-piercing clash of blades.
In the next moment, Qin Ming formed a Vajra seal. His black hair whipped about, immortal Dao patterns intertwining in his eyes like a wrathful Vajra reviving, every movement carrying a sacred aura.
In an instant, his bare hands clashed against Ape's five-color blade dozens, even a hundred times.
Qin Ming's flesh began to take on a golden body form. As he smashed forward with the Vajra seal, sounds like great bells and vast drums rang out, waves of golden haze churning tempestuously across the clearing.
The five-color blade in Ape's grasp flared with blinding light, its pure yang aura skyrocketing. In that moment, it slashed through the night sky as though sundering the clouds, the saber qi fierce and terrifying.
"Hss!"
Someone sucked in a breath of cold air. Only now did they realize that the five-color blade was not a physical weapon, but manifested from spiritual consciousness light, and above all, forged from five distinct types of pure yang power.
Many looked on with altered expressions. The white-robed youth's strength inspired awe; he had mastered at least five top-tier scriptures, formed pure yang seeds in each, and fused them into one to create this Pure Yang Five-Color Blade.
Simultaneously, behind Ape's head, a dazzling great sun surfaced, illuminating all directions like a revived deity descending into the mortal world.
The divine wheel behind his head radiated myriad strands of divine haze, blessing the five-color blade and granting it seemingly indestructible power. Moreover, the divine wheel expanded, swelling in size to suppress the opponent before him.
Clang!
A Vajra pestle manifested in Qin Ming's grasp, smashing against the five-color blade as Hunyuan force detonated like thunder. Facing such a powerful foe, he naturally held nothing back.
From head to toe, he was cloaked in heavenly light, looking as if bathed in immortal fire—sacred and transcendent.
Upon the Vajra pestle, a temple was reflected, accompanied by the chiming of bells, manifesting a wondrous phenomenon as though an ancient, millennium-old monastery had formed from heavenly light and crashed forward.
Upon the five-color blade, several varieties of pure yang power intertwined, ultimately transforming into five great dragons coiled together, sweeping across the front.
Amid splintering cracks, roaring dragons, and the boiling clash of pure yang power and heavenly light, their first lethal confrontation rippled outward, caving in and shattering the frozen earth and scattering the night mist beneath the high skies.
Clang!
The five-color blade snapped, the Vajra pestle shattered, leaving both pairs of hands bare.
Ape, clad in snow-white robes, saw the sun-like divine wheel behind his head expand. The blazing flames it radiated were exceedingly terrifying; pure yang power ran wild, crashing toward Qin Ming like roaring tidal waves.
It seemed inherently invincible: protected by the Pure Yang sun, with such fearsome might surging all around.
Qin Ming's eyes deepened as he raised his left hand. Boundless chill surged forth; amidst sharp cracking sounds, he seemed on the verge of freezing a hundred li in ice. Beneath his feet and in the void ahead, snow and frost blankets took hold, solidifying into ice.
Qin Ming was employing the Heluo Classic, experimenting with unleashing extreme chill within the domain of water.
The white-robed youth was briefly encased in dark ice, but it burst open in a flash as blazing pure yang power wreaked havoc.
In the distance, Helian Zhaoyu's pupils constricted; he realized that Qin Ming was showcasing his own signature technique.
On the field, Qin Ming used Hunyuan force to evolve extreme yin and extreme yang. On his left, yin mist steamed; on his right, flames surged skyward. Then, astonishingly, a Gonggong dharma form and a Zhurong golden body emerged!
Helian Zhaoyu stood dazed. He walked the path of the esoteric sect, nurturing two great deities within his inner landscape, yet the opponent who had brought him such humiliation had manifested them using heavenly light?
He was shaken. Could the rumored Hunyuan force truly integrate anything? His rival had actually stolen techniques from him, imitating an inner landscape that birthed deities!
Behind Qin Ming, the Gonggong dharma form and Zhurong golden body merged seamlessly, spinning a yin-yang diagram imbued with divine aura before flying out to crash into his opponent.
The white-robed youth's expression changed slightly. His opponent opened with ultimate techniques, clashing head-on without quarter.
Undaunted, he sent the divine wheel behind his head flying as well. The Pure Yang sun traversed the sky, colliding with the yin-yang deities with a thunderous roar.
Under the long night, it was as if two comets streaking across the sky had collided, slamming into each other before detonating, illuminating the entire expanse until it was as bright as day.
Spectators were terrified. Even though they were already standing far away, they instinctively retreated several steps further in shock.
The group of youths from the sky were deeply unsettled. This battle exceeded their expectations; Qin Ming was far stronger than they had imagined.
The Pure Yang sun wheel shattered, and the divine yin-yang diagram broke into pieces. The two young powerhouses stared at one another, neither having any intention of stopping.
The cross patterns in Ape's pupils blazed. Around him, the detonated fragments of the sun rose into the air, each transforming into sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and other weapons, each bearing the purest pure yang power as they flew toward Qin Ming in an overwhelming deluge.
The void boomed and the night mist ruptured. Watching such a dense barrage of pure yang weapons pour down made one's scalp tingle; anyone in the middle of that field would tremble.
Before the weapons even drew near, the horrific killing intent and boiling pure yang power caused the ground to cave in. The immense pressure bearing down made onlookers in the distance feel as if they were suffocating.
Outside Qin Ming's body, his spirit field surfaced, blocking every weapon. Furthermore, channeling the Geomagnetic Classic with Hunyuan force, he brazenly swung his fist seal.
Between heaven and earth, it sounded as though thunderclaps had erupted, deafening to the ears.
Unlike in the past, his fist light appeared in thread-like strands weaving through the void. Those were geomagnetic lines darting back and forth, blending with heavenly light into a dense network that actually pierced straight through all the weapons formed from pure yang power.
Driving the geomagnetic fist with Hunyuan force, Qin Ming sent countless threads everywhere, enveloping the white-robed youth and piercing right through him.
A gasp broke out among the onlookers.
Yet with a rustle of white cloth and a flash of light, Ape reappeared in the distance.
"Those are the ripples cast by the Calamity-Avoiding Immortal Scripture—capable of averting all calamities, keeping all techniques from harming the body!" someone murmured, recognizing Ape's wondrous art.
Back on the Plain of Divine Demise, the Mind Ape had also used a calamity-avoiding art, but it fell far short of what this white-robed youth demonstrated.
Ape walked forward, treading across the frozen ground riddled with gaping black fissures, braving the snowflakes falling from the sky. Sacred ripples flowed across his entire being as he operated the Calamity-Avoiding Immortal Scripture.
At the same time, his glabella shone, manifesting a furnace that hovered above his head. Flames burned toward heaven, seemingly an application of the Heart Subduing Classic.
Qin Ming wore a grave expression. This opponent was exceptionally formidable—a rare and formidable rival. Now that Ape was employing two legendary pillar scriptures of great sects, he held back nothing; when he struck, it would be utterly devastating.
With a metallic clang, Qin Ming, clad in black, formed a saber in his right hand—gleaming, dazzling, condensed from Hunyuan heavenly light.
The saber grew increasingly brilliant, like a sun manifested in the shape of a blade, unleashing horrific fluctuations.
Ape sought to avoid calamity, keeping all arts from touching his body.
Qin Ming, however, practiced the Great Dao in its simplest form, channeling every technique into a single stroke: he invoked the Heaven-Severing Saber intent.
Crucially, the heavenly light within his body was being drawn out and concentrated into his right hand—in itself an application of a profound art.
This was the technique created by Tang Jin's master, Li Wuwei, the patriarch who cultivated both paths: the God-Beating Whip. It drew out seventy to eighty percent of one's heavenly light and focused it into the whip in hand, an ultimate strike whose final purpose was to blow even deities to pieces.
Qin Ming adapted the technique freely, drawing out his entire body's heavenly light to manifest not a whip, but a Heaven-Severing Saber, intending to breach all things, sweep away obstacles like dry weeds, and cleave through every resistance!
When others deployed such a technique, they feared leaving their physical body depleted; but Qin Ming had mastered the Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao. His physique was immensely powerful and extraordinarily sturdy, giving him complete confidence.
The white-robed youth was bathed in immortal light, ripples oscillating across his body as if capable of extinguishing all arts. He stood as though in a pure land, the roaring furnace above his head blazing with surging flames, like a cage trapping a Mind Ape, or like refining a furnace of great medicine.
At this moment, he erupted with full force, seeking to slay his foe.
Clad in black, Qin Ming held a long saber radiant to the absolute extreme, like a blazing sun rising over the mist-shrouded horizon, illuminating all directions.
With a swish, he slashed forward. The saber intent—reputed to be capable of severing heaven itself—was terrifyingly awe-inspiring. Saber light surged into the sky, seemingly linking straight to the nine firmaments above.
With a soft squelch, blood splashed across the field!
Chapter 399