In the dark night, the forest stretched without end. A moon rippled across the ground, its lunar radiance curling upward like aquatic mist or thin vapor, tinting both forest and sky.
From high above the Earth Moon, one could see what looked like an unfolding scroll slowly spreading within.
Inside the colosseum, torches burned among the tiered stone stands. All were fueled by Nanming Departing Fire, illuminating the grounds as swarms of living beings surged in from each of the eight mist gates.
"An outsider?"
"No wonder! He was the one who activated the colosseum! He must have brought a rare treasure, stirring the Earth Moon to revive for him!"
Crowds of creatures stared at Qin Ming with burning eyes, as if gazing upon an incomparable gem.
Some of the beasts could no longer hold back and shouted, "Replace him! Take his place!"
For a moment, Qin Ming could not make sense of the situation. Their gazes were scalding hot, treating him like an exceedingly rare treasure they wished they could swallow whole.
More importantly, their appearances were extraordinary—each stranger than the last. From jellyfish to giant moths, wooden automatons to pale faces contorting within immortal mist, there was an astonishing variety of bizarre and grotesque forms.
"We can't confirm his identity yet. Perhaps he merely stumbled into the Earth Moon by accident, nothing more than a fluke. Don't end up rejoicing over nothing," said a humanoid creature with eight octopus tentacles, bringing with it the salty stench of the ocean.
These remarkable beings came from different realms, belonging to different races and speaking different tongues. They communicated via conscious thought while keeping wary eyes on one another.
Inside Guanghan Palace, the petrified figure slowly turned toward the osmanthus tree. Immediately, a rich fragrance filled the air as tiny, delicate petals drifted on the night wind, fluttering down into the colosseum.
"It's confirmed! This is no accident—he carries a sacred object capable of repairing the Earth Moon!" Several beings grew ecstatic.
Many more kept their eyes deep and unreadable, watching Qin Ming in persistent silence.
The osmanthus blossoms carried flowing light, their sweet fragrance invigorating the spirit. Drifting petals fluttered down, blanketing the ground beneath Qin Ming's feet and extending all the way to an empty seat.
It resembled a ceremony inviting him to sit among the spectator stands.
Qin Ming found it strange. Though these alien beings eyed him like predators with aggressive gazes, not a single one made a move. All behaved with strict propriety.
Moreover, after emerging from the various mist gates, none entered the spectator stands. Instead, they gathered outside the central ring of the colosseum, occupying the lowest depression of the terrain.
Though full of doubts, Qin Ming followed the gentle twitching of Old Rag, stepping forward to take his seat upon the petal-strewn chair.
He had become the colosseum's sole spectator.
The moment he sat, it felt as though a certain rite had commenced and everything was finalized. A stir ran through the alien crowd.
Someone even snorted with pig-like laughter: "Oink, chortle..."
"Young man, choose me in a moment! This seat will bring you into my divine clan and guarantee your safety!" a bald, burly man shouted, his voice shaking the colosseum.
Qin Ming's expression changed instantly. Earlier, this man had restrained his aura, but now Dao resonance flowed through him—he was a Grandmaster!
A woman smiled faintly. "Young man, come with me instead. This elder sister is destined to become a Heavenly Immortal. I can take you with me to the Golden Palace, where we will stand above the nine firmaments and look down upon all living things."
Immortal mist swirled around her breathtaking form, her voice gentle and soft. Most strikingly, the aura radiating from her forced even the bald Grandmaster to step back.
She appeared to be a formidable female expert of the Sixth Realm!
Qin Ming remained calm on the surface, though waves stirred within his heart. Were these figures trying to recruit him? Despite their formidable power, none acted rashly, which meant they were almost certainly bound by the colosseum's rules.
He gradually relaxed. So what if a Sixth Realm powerhouse or a Grandmaster stood before him? For now, they posed no threat; on the contrary, they were eager to show him goodwill.
As Qin Ming pondered this, an untimely voice rang out: "Human, crawl over here!"
His pleasant mood was instantly spoiled. He looked toward the fighting ring.
The speaker was a massive moth whose wings bore countless contorted human faces. Even from a distance, Qin Ming could faintly hear whispers resembling voices from another dimension, issuing from those human countenances as if speaking right beside his ear.
"Immortal-Faced Moth, the moment of fateful choice has not even arrived, yet you already seek trouble?" Someone glanced over, warning the moth to obey the rules.
Qin Ming remained silent. Ignorant of the colosseum's rules, asking questions haphazardly might invite deception and exploitation. For now, it was best to watch quietly.
In the ring, a bloody battle commenced under a challenge-based system.
Creatures from the First to the Sixth Realm were all present. So long as both sides consented, even a combatant of the First Realm could spar with one of the Sixth.
Qin Ming sat quietly, but his heart was far from peaceful. Every fighter who entered the ring was astonishingly formidable—vicious characters capable of fighting across cultivation realms in the outside world!
He was certain this place was exceedingly remote from the lands influenced by Yujing, as these combatants walked paths quite distinct from those in Night Province.
Some wielded bloodline power, while others commanded curses, their methods arcane and profound.
The slaughter within the arena was exceptionally brutal; no sooner had the fighting begun than a deep-sea creature was torn to shreds.
The next challenger leaped up immediately. These rankings seemed of paramount importance to them, and none held back.
Qin Ming watched intently. As the sole guest of honor, he enjoyed the privilege of spectating from outside the ring.
Footsteps sounded from beyond the colosseum, catching his attention.
Qin Ming was left dumbfounded. A large rabbit appeared, walking upright at the height of a grown man, completely hairless. Was this the skinned rabbit from Guanghan Palace?
It wore coarse, bloodstained cloth clothes and carried a jade pestle and mortar. Had it come to grind medicine here?
Soon, Qin Ming understood its purpose: healing the wounded and saving lives.
The deep-sea creature torn apart moments earlier was pieced back together by the large rabbit, who applied medicine until the beast actually revived.
*A kindhearted rabbit,* Qin Ming thought to himself.
"You think I want to do this? This is just work I'm forced to perform," the large rabbit said frankly, as if reading Qin Ming's mind.
It continued, "Watch the battles carefully. In the end, you must either acknowledge a master and follow them away, or step into the ring yourself, pick nine opponents, defeat them all, and leave on your own."
Hearing this, Qin Ming felt a heavy weight settle on his chest. There were few low-level beings here; a casual glance revealed Grandmasters and even experts of the Sixth Realm. How could he possibly defeat nine opponents?
More critically, he doubted low-level beings would ever accept his challenge.
Sensing that despite its grievances, the rabbit was decent at heart, Qin Ming took the opportunity to inquire about the details of this place.
He even cautiously asked who had treated it so disrespectfully and stripped its fur.
The rabbit immediately gnashed its teeth. "The Earth Moon servant!"
Following its gesture, Qin Ming realized who the Earth Moon servant was—the monster with a human head, a centipede body, and divine vines sprouting from its back that had awakened earlier in the ring.
The rabbit said, "It doesn't matter now. Once the gladiatorial ceremony restarted, his life as the previous Earth Moon servant reached its end."
Filled with curiosity, Qin Ming continued pressing for answers.
The rabbit explained, "Last time, he sat in the spectator stands just like you. In the end, he stepped up to challenge opponents. His performance wasn't good enough—he stumbled through and killed six opponents, becoming a servant of the Earth Moon."
Qin Ming felt a chill. With a single misstep, would he be trapped here as well?
The rabbit informed him, "An Earth Moon servant can turn to stone at any time and die stiffly here. If you reach the higher rank of 'Earth Moon temporary carrier,' you can at least grow old and die here naturally. As for an 'Earth Moon temporary owner,' they enjoy relatively more freedom and can leave this place..."
Suddenly, the rabbit's eyes went wide. Sensing a faint fluctuation from Qin Ming, it stared at the rag inside his sleeve, dumbstruck: "Holy... hare!"
Its consciousness trembled as it transmitted mentally, "You actually brought such a large piece! You took a terrible loss stumbling in here! Out there, you would already be a temporary owner, yet you charged straight inside for the Earth Moon!"
Qin Ming instantly grasped part of the truth behind this place.
The rabbit said, "For you, fighting bitterly in the arena is merely a test to see if you qualify to become the Earth Moon's temporary owner. The gains do not compensate for the losses."
Qin Ming figured this was Old Rag testing him.
He asked, "Has anyone succeeded in the past?"
The rabbit nodded. "Yes. Temporary carriers and temporary owners have both appeared, but in the end, all grew old and died. Afterward, the Earth Moon returned to its place. Those extraordinary beings were nothing more than passing travelers to the Earth Moon."
Qin Ming's expression grew solemn.
Eventually, ninety percent of the contenders in the colosseum were eliminated, leaving behind only the fiercest combatants.
Some smiled warmly, expressing goodwill toward Qin Ming.
Others provoked him deliberately, because defeating Qin Ming meant replacing him and inheriting all his qualifications.
As for the Grandmasters and Sixth Realm experts, no matter how persuasively they spoke, Qin Ming ignored them completely.
"This maiden is about to break through and become a True Immortal, maintaining my human form without altering my life state," an extraordinarily beautiful woman dressed in black said with a radiant smile. She offered to swear a public Dao Oath to become Qin Ming's Dao companion and ascend to the Heavenly Immortal realm together in the future.
Someone nearby undermined her claim, sneering, "What use is your Dao Oath? There is at least one ancient art and two new arts capable of breaking it."
"Human, do you know how I was born? A mighty powerhouse once soaked my body in the blood of an entire city of humans, allowing me to attain divine sentience! It's a pity an accident occurred, or I wouldn't be standing here among the rest of you—I would already be looking down from above the nine firmaments!" spoke a living metal being, its entire form as crimson as fresh blood.
Qin Ming studied it closely. Its Dao resonance was thin, reaching the Second Realm at best. How dared such trash brazenly provoke him?
"You're one of them, then!" Qin Ming pointed, locking in his choice.
The rabbit warned, "That is a Blood Metal Spirit. It was living metal to begin with, awakened through the blood of an entire city. Though its Dao resonance is thin, its body is indestructible and exceptionally formidable."
Qin Ming nodded, then proceeded to choose the rest of his opponents. To be safe, he even tried to select First Realm beings, but was refused.
In the end, he settled on two Second Realm aliens, four Third Realm monsters, and three Fourth Realm entities, each pairing confirmed mutually without hesitation.
*Old Rag, is there any problem? There aren't any other traps here, are there?* Qin Ming asked the haughty rag in secret.
Breaking precedent, it responded for once, giving a faint tremor that seemed like a nod.
Qin Ming hesitated no longer. Leaving the spectator stands, he walked down the stone steps toward the arena ring.
His first battle was against the Blood Metal Spirit.
"Even though an Earth Immortal shattered your grandfather's cultivation and ruined my evolutionary ceremony, taking down a greenhorn like you is child's play!" Every word out of the Blood Metal Spirit's mouth was grating.
Standing as tall as a man, its crimson metallic body gleamed with precious light. In an instant, it disintegrated into dozens, even hundreds of strands of metallic vapor that shot toward Qin Ming.
Indeed, judging cultivation levels solely by Dao resonance was unreliable here.
When Qin Ming swung his ink-jade hammer with formidable force, the treasure was dented in numerous places; the metallic vapor split from the Blood Metal Spirit was virtually indestructible.
Only when Qin Ming went all out, deploying his spirit field to forcibly imprison the dispersed metallic vapor, refining it with heavenly light, and sweeping his exotic metal small sword through the void did the creature shriek in agony.
The Blood Metal Spirit was melted into a lump of scrap metal by Qin Ming's heavenly light and pierced through by the exotic metal small sword, thoroughly defeated and destroyed.
This was merely the first battle, yet a Second Realm creature had forced him to deploy multiple trump cards, which was truly abnormal.
From the scrap metal remains, Qin Ming dug out a translucent crimson block of metal.
The rabbit called out, "That's needed to save it! Unless you become the Earth Moon's temporary owner, you'd better leave that blood-metal core alone."
For the second battle, Qin Ming's opponent was another Second Realm monster—a colossal beast that charged like a small mountain, shaking the entire arena.
Indeed, one could not judge an opponent by their Dao resonance alone. The brute strength of this giant beast was enough to slaughter formidable Third Realm figures.
"By combat strength, I rank firmly in the Fourth Realm! How dare you look down on me?" Covered in golden scales, the giant beast roared, descending with a claw as large as a house toward Qin Ming.
It was a raw clash of power!
In the end, Qin Ming punched a bloody hole through its massive skull.
His third opponent was a deep-sea creature of the Third Realm, sharing his cultivation level.
Shaped like a jellyfish, its semitransparent body bore colorful spots and constantly steamed with luminous vapor. Its true name was the Nightmare Mother.
Floating in midair, its tentacles suddenly snapped taut like spears, thrusting toward him with a sharp whistle!
Qin Ming swung his hand like a blade, heavenly light flashing across to sever a section of tentacle. He felt a trace of surprise—was that all the Nightmare Mother had?
The next instant, a chill ran down his spine. His surroundings transformed completely, as if he had arrived at a glowing seabed. Then, he saw his grandfather.
Qin Ming's heartstrings were plucked, overwhelmed by deep grief. Here, he saw his grandfather already dead, reduced to a pile of withered bones by the roadside.
He knew this was the deepest, most hidden pain in his heart, as well as the expected outcome; by all reason, an ordinary old man without cultivation wandering the night mist world would find it nearly impossible to survive.
Though Qin Ming was now quite famous, his grandfather had never reappeared, and all his efforts to search through his connections had yielded nothing.
Qin Ming knew this was an illusion, a nightmare. He had already unleashed his Sumeru field along with the Heavenly Demon force field to protect himself, yet his heart still ached, proving how terrifying the Nightmare Mother was in striking at the most fragile corners of the human heart.
Before long, his grandfather's figure faded. Having broken free of the emotional entrapment, Qin Ming was instantly invigorated, his state of mind rounding toward perfection with an impending sense of enlightenment.
Within moments, rich Dao resonance wrapped around him. As his spirit field engaged in combat, his mental state sublimated into seamless harmony, filled with profound joy as though stepping into an ultimate paradise.
*Still an illusion! The Nightmare Mother truly leaves no crevice unexploited!* Qin Ming was astonished. Had he indulged in that joy even slightly, he would likely have fallen into a spiritual execution.
He was genuinely surprised that this Nightmare Mother was so formidable, capable of sniffing out every crack in one's heart and infiltrating everywhere.
Ultimately, Qin Ming opened his Eye of the Newborn and resonated with the creature's emotions, breaking through layers of mental traps to see the true scene clearly.
The colosseum was filled with iridescent bubbles drowning the area around Qin Ming. Each bubble was a spiritual journey, an enclosed dream.
Anyone trapped within would have their conscious spiritual light slowly ignited until nothing but an empty husk remained.
Having weathered two psychological dreams, Qin Ming freed himself completely. As he poured in his full strength, the colorful bubbles shattered, ignited, and burned in reverse.
He did not underestimate his opponent; instead, he wore a grave expression. Had his consciousness not merged seamlessly with his heavenly light into an immovable whole, those two spiritual journeys alone might have wounded him.
Enduring a few dreams did not mean safety; merely experiencing them consumed one's spiritual light.
Even an immortal seed might perish here if careless.
Qin Ming's fourth opponent was a three-foot-tall cloth doll, its body covered in rusted scale-armor, its eyes two sentient gemstones. It stepped forward with an aura that seemed capable of corroding all things.
The moment they clashed, Qin Ming realized its dreadfulness: it could devour life-spirit. Touching it meant shedding a layer of skin if not outright death, a method far more overbearing than conventional cultivation paths.
Qin Ming went all out, shifting from the Withering and Thriving Classic to the Black-White Classic, utilizing the corresponding domains to resolve this foe.
It took more than a hundred and fifty exchanges before he finally shattered the puppet.
In the end, Qin Ming defeated nine opponents in succession, his own body stained with blood. The final three combatants at the early Fourth Realm were powerful beyond imagination.
The very last opponent, in particular, displayed extraordinary strength.
This weighed heavily on Qin Ming's heart. Outside Yujing, in a bizarre realm stumbled upon by chance, he had already encountered so many terrifyingly difficult adversaries.
*The road ahead is long. I must strive for new births, transforming my physique through great nirvanas to allow my heavenly light to evolve in turn...* he spurred himself on. In the depths of the night mist world, formidable opponents abounded.
The onlookers wore complex, shaken expressions. He had actually achieved a clean sweep, clearing the trial to become the Earth Moon's temporary owner.
The rabbit's eyes went wide. It parted its mouth, wanting to say that the strongest opponent was unlike the others—it was the previous temporary owner of the Earth Moon, remolded for the trial.
In the end, it kept silent. It was merely a tool rabbit; why poke its nose into so much? In the dark night, extraordinary prodigies were simply too numerous.
After all, the same moon that shone on the ancients shone today. All those temporary owners had achieved fleeting success, yet hadn't they all returned to decaying dust in the end?
With a whoosh, Qin Ming was inexplicably whisked away from the colosseum, teleported to the edge of the Earth Moon.
Then he saw a scroll burning. Within it was the scene of the colosseum, the crowd stepping back into the mist gates as everything there turned to ash.
Next, he watched the osmanthus tree ignite on its own, the rabbit skin caught fire, and Guanghan Palace collapsed halfway into ruins.
Rumble!
The ground shook as the Earth Moon rose into the sky. At first, it shone with blinding, dazzling brilliance, but then it seemed to extinguish forever, plunging heaven and earth into absolute darkness.
A piece of cloth woven from exotic metal, barely the size of a palm and patterned with a crescent moon, floated into the air and drifted soundlessly toward Qin Ming.
The rag in his hand trembled, rising to meet it, and the two pieces seamlessly joined together.
The Earth Moon was actually a revived rag!
In the distance, the dense black mist dispersed, and Qin Ming left the area immediately.
Having obtained another piece of old cloth, he had no wish to linger and risk discovery. After all, the origins of such cloth were far too grand.
"Hmm?" Traversing the forest, Qin Ming spotted an immense sea of glowing colored clouds in the distance, as if an immortal maiden from above the nine firmaments was slowly rising. That was... Jiang Ran.
Qin Ming rushed toward her at once.
Behind him, the night grew completely dark. In the realm devoid of moonlight, within the collapsing Guanghan Palace, the standing woman's figure had also dimmed, on the verge of dispersing. Yet at that moment, her eyes snapped open: "Someone here is gathering Lunar Yin power, manifesting my shadow..."
Rising into the air, she gazed into the distance.
Chapter 407