The demon camp was truly formidable, an old nemesis of Night Province. Over four hundred and fifty years ago, the two sides had waged life-and-death bloody battles.
A year ago, in the battle on the Plain of Divine Demise, Night Province had paid an immense price. Many veteran seniors had perished—among them the master of the Present Rulai, Meng Xinghai's martial granduncle, and patriarchal founders of the Immortal Path such as Wu Zhaoye and Yu Shaohua. The younger generation had suffered just as grievously; some of the most exceptional seeds had fallen one after another, including Su Shiyun, Xue Yunzheng, the young sect master of the Yuqing Sect, and the Sky Shaker of the Qingtian Sect.
Remembering all this, a fierce wave of emotion surged within Qin Ming. His old friends Lu Zhenyi and Zhuo Ya had perished in the western frontier. There were also Yu Gensheng's longtime partner Zhao Ziyuan and the Five Elements Palace's old grandmaster Jin Yuan. Both old men had cared deeply for him and stepped forward on his behalf time and again, yet in the end had returned wrapped in horse hide.
Through the night mist, Gengjin City sprawled ahead. Its walls were not particularly tall, and it could hardly be called a grand city, housing merely several hundred thousand people. Yet because of the massive vein of rare ore here, it had become a place of vital importance.
With a sharp clang, Qin Ming drew his mutton-fat jade iron saber, eager to charge into the city and slaughter them immediately.
Donning crimson armor and grasping a long spear, Yao Ruoxian radiated a chilling battle intent. For a horde of demons to invade deep into Great Yu's heartland, reducing the local populace to blood food and mining slaves—it was something she could not abide.
The female grandmaster said, "Our reinforcements have arrived and are fully rested."
As a major metropolis in southeastern Great Yu, Yuheng City naturally had powerful experts stationed within. This time, an old grandmaster had personally led a contingent, rushing through the night from five hundred li away to reinforce them.
"It's confirmed. There are two demon grandmasters in the city. We can strike now!"
It was already the first hours of night. The two detachments entered the city from different directions, their target naturally being the City Lord's Manor.
These foreign demons had never planned on staying long; once they finished plundering, they intended to flee far away. As such, they governed the city with an iron, bloody fist.
Anyone who dared resist was slaughtered outright. On the very day they arrived, severed heads had rolled across the City Lord's Manor, and blood had seeped through the crevices beneath the main gates, staining the white marble steps crimson.
Early each morning, people drove ox carts laden with children into that tall manor draped in demonic mist.
Moreover, there was more than one ox cart coming from afar. The children huddled aboard shivered with dread, while some had been frightened out of their wits, staring blankly ahead.
"What is this?"
"Likely... blood food for the demons!"
"Absolute beasts."
As Qin Ming and the others approached the heart of Gengjin City, the people they saw along the way appeared numb and hollow. The entire city felt suffocated under a pall of death.
It had been occupied by demons for so brief a time, yet a city that should have brimmed with life and vigor was already turning into stagnant water.
"Both demon grandmasters are inside the manor," said Grandmaster Zhuo Qing, who stood by Yao Ruoxian's side.
As long as those two most troublesome enemies did not escape and were eliminated, nothing else would pose a problem.
Evidently, having reached the grandmaster realm, one's senses were exceptionally keen. Even though the group had approached under concealment, the two old demons had still caught wind of them.
In an instant, two pillars of blood qi surged from deep within the City Lord's Manor like beacon smoke, heralding the fearsome might of the two adversaries.
At the same time, guards by Yao Ruoxian's side stepped forward and blocked the ox carts about to enter the gates.
Before the demons guarding the manor entrance could even speak, the man driving the lead ox cart snapped furiously, barking in reproach, "Who do you think you are? Out of the way!"
A burly man atop a cart behind him shouted, "Are you looking to die? If you delay the lords' mealtime, can you take the blame? How many people have been killed these past days, and yet there are still stubborn fools stirring up trouble? You're truly tired of living!"
In this moment, Qin Ming and the others felt that such scoundrels were more detestable than the demons themselves.
To say they were serving as jackals to the tigers did not even begin to capture the depths of their wickedness.
Those doing the demons' bidding were fierce and callous—originally members of local street gangs, wicked thugs through and through. Now tasked daily with supplying children as blood food for the demons, being permitted to drive ox carts into the City Lord's Manor made them fancy themselves superior to ordinary folk.
Spurt!
With a flick of his saber, Qin Ming decapitated the burly man. The headless corpse slumped into the street.
"How dare you?!" the others escorting the blood food shrieked.
The guards beside Yao Ruoxian lunged forward in an instant, cutting them down in a flurry of wet thuds.
"Impudent worms! You dare commit murder before the City Lord's Manor?!" Several demons standing before the vermilion gates finally spoke up. Earlier, they had merely been watching the spectacle.
Now they realized something was wrong: these intruders were far stronger than any defiant fools who had stirred up trouble before.
Grandmaster Zhuo Qing and the veteran grandmaster from Yuheng City, Qi Liancheng, dissolved into wisps of mist simultaneously and hurtled forward, storming the manor. Following the aura signatures they perceived, each locked onto an opponent.
"You—" The demons guarding the gate paled in fright.
"Leave not one alive!" Yao Ruoxian commanded.
In a breath, demon blood stained the stone steps before the manor gates.
From within the manor, an old demon sighed. "Your noses are sharp indeed. How long has it even been? We haven't unearthed a single grain of exotic metal, yet experts have already arrived."
Several courtyards and halls blew apart as a group of great demons charged out.
Boom!
Zhuo Qing and Qi Liancheng were already locked in furious combat with two elderly demon grandmasters. Wherever they clashed, decorative rockeries shattered, and frozen lakes vaporized into steam—an earth-shattering struggle.
"They're just two human grandmasters! Our demon race deployed only elites on this raid! Aside from our grandmasters, we have late-stage fourth realm powerhouses and several heavenly demon seeds! More than enough to butcher the lot of them!"
"Attack! Kill these vermin first, then go assist our grandmasters!"
Cold malice washed across the great demons' faces. Billowing demonic mist around them, they surged forward of their own accord.
Upon receiving Yao Ruoxian's personal letter, Yuheng City had indeed dispatched potent reinforcements: several elders stood in the mid-to-late stages of the fourth realm, and together with imperial guards and retainers, they met the assault head-on.
Several heavenly demon seeds naturally spotted Yao Ruoxian at once. Sensing that the crowd revolved around her, they bounded toward her.
"So young—could she be a top-tier immortal seed? Take her down first!"
"Wait, she's a princess of Great Yu!"
Back then, they had taken part in the great battle on the Plain of Divine Demise; they knew of the young human champions and had clashed with them.
"And the other one... Damn it, that's Qin Ming! Kill him!"
One of the demons recognized Qin Ming, eyes turning blood-red with rage.
Back then, Qin Ming had slain heavenly demon seeds in succession, provoking outrage among the younger generation of the demon race.
These demon seeds were either in the late third realm or early fourth realm—exceptionally accomplished figures among their peers.
Qin Ming turned to Yao Ruoxian. "Leave this to me. Take your men and encircle the other demons!"
Yao Ruoxian nodded without another word. Even though multiple heavenly demon seeds were sweeping toward them in terrifying concert, she had full faith in Qin Ming's martial prowess.
The guards were astonished; those were high-tier heavenly demon seeds, each on par with immortal seeds and divine seeds.
"What gives you the right to be so arrogant?" one heavenly demon seed barked. Streaking forward as a beam of flowing light, his true form was a silver bear, yet not in the least clumsy; he closed the distance in an instant.
Yet he went out as quickly as he had come. In less than a breath, his severed head went flying back, leaving only a body collapsing into a pool of blood.
Qin Ming stood where he was, crimson demon blood dripping from the edge of his mutton-fat jade iron saber.
"What?! A little over a year ago, he hadn't even entered the third realm and only killed low-realm seeds..."
How much time had passed? Qin Ming was already capable of instantly slaying a late third-realm heavenly demon seed!
Those demons who knew of him were thoroughly shocked, finding it hard to believe how meteoric his rise had been.
"Where is the Jade Emperor?" The one Qin Ming wanted to kill most was that locust beast, renowned even among heavenly demons. In the past, Qin Ming had been forced to avoid him, but today he was ready to face him head-on.
The heavenly demon seeds exchanged glances, then unleashed their full might at once, charging Qin Ming together to eliminate him as swiftly as possible.
The human youth's growth rate filled them with intense dread; if they did not eradicate him now, he would surely become an insurmountable threat in the future.
A red-haired youth transformed from a fire salamander lunged through the air bathed in roaring flames. He thrust out his right hand, which morphed into a colossal beast claw the size of a house, clawing down at Qin Ming.
A blond young man possessed terrifying physical strength. His true form was a golden beast, hailed as royalty among behemoths. Exceedingly rare, once grown, their late-stage power was apocalyptic.
Though still young, he had already reached the fourth realm!
There was also a white-robed youth whose movements were ethereal and graceful. Following the path of a demon sword immortal, his true form was a white crane.
The three heavenly demon seeds and their retainers abandoned all pretense of single combat, surrounding Qin Ming in a coordinated hunt to nip him in the bud.
Qin Ming flicked his finger. A wisp of Nanming Li Fire shot forth—not particularly blazing, only a faint trace, yet it sliced right through the demon flames that lit the night sky red.
Then, with a sweep of his saber, he severed the fire salamander's house-sized claw!
"Ah!" As a heavenly demon seed at the peak of the third realm, suffering such severe maiming at the very start of the clash left the fire salamander in disbelief.
Enduring the excruciating pain, he gasped, "Everyone, this boy is a monster! We must join forces and slaughter him today!"
For a heavenly demon seed to call someone a monster showed just how deeply they feared him.
The blond youth brandished a lustrous purple cudgel forged of pure jade iron. Crushing in weight, it had already battered toward Qin Ming dozens of times in rapid succession.
Yet Qin Ming, wielding his light, agile jade iron saber, met every strike head-on and blocked them all.
"Just what realm are you in?!" The blond youth was a golden behemoth whose greatest forte was brute strength, yet his arms felt numb and ached fiercely. It made no sense at all.
"Seventh Heaven of the Spirit Field," Qin Ming replied.
In truth, he had already perfected the third realm, but he did not wish to draw undue attention to that fact just yet.
"Parrying my divine strength while in the third realm?!" The blond youth was shaken. Enemy though he was, he had to admit this was an incomprehensible human anomaly.
He could only think back to the ancient tales: within the terrifying race of upright ape demons, certain rare individuals possessed unimaginable potential that seemed to know no ceiling.
The white-robed youth seemed like a demon sword immortal reborn. He, too, stood in the fourth realm, yet after unleashing over a hundred sword strikes without piercing Qin Ming's guard, he multiplied his sword lights even further.
In the end, standing amidst a swirling wheel of swords, he dove toward Qin Ming.
Spurt!
The fire salamander's head flew, severed clean by Qin Ming's saber—the first to fall.
"Aaargh!"
Next was the white-robed youth. Drenched in blood, his demon sword—formed from his crane beak—snapped in half. Reverted to his true form, not only had his beak been cleaved away, but his wings were also shredded by saber light.
Earth qi surged beneath Qin Ming's feet, lofting him into the sky. With an effortless glide of his mutton-fat jade iron saber, the white crane detonated into a mist of blood.
Finally came the blond youth. Coughing up mouthfuls of blood, he assumed his colossal true form, but Qin Ming hacked into him a dozen times in succession, spraying blood everywhere until the beast ruptured and collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Counting the silver bear from before, four heavenly demon seeds had engaged him, and in mere moments, all four were dead. Even their followers lay slain across the ground, amid a gruesome expanse of severed limbs and demonic gore.
Only Qin Ming remained standing quietly in the open area, his dripping mutton-fat jade iron saber hanging at his side.
A moment later, he picked up the glowing purple jade iron cudgel from the ground. It was a fine spoil of war, immensely valuable.
"Speak! Where is the Jade Emperor?" Qin Ming interrogated a captive demon he had taken alive nearby.
"The Jade Emperor is tempering his sword against tsunamis!" Demons had their stubborn ones, but cowards were just as plentiful; this one quickly spilled everything.
"A sea within the Night Ruins?" Qin Ming was surprised.
The Jade Emperor was indeed an extraordinary figure. He had been interacting with the Night Ruins, tempering his physical body against it, and ultimately using the oceans of the Night Ruins to practice his swordsmanship.
A look of joy crossed Qin Ming's face. Although Yao Ruoxian had sent scouts and found clues pointing toward a sea, those regions were all far too dangerous.
If the Jade Emperor could enter this sea, Qin Ming felt he could approach it as well, and use it to break through the barrier into the fourth major realm!
Zhuo Qing and Qi Liancheng were seasoned grandmasters. Even facing two ancient demons of terrifying cultivation, they successfully held their ground and gained the upper hand.
Evidently, once the grandmasters' battle was decided, the direction of the entire battlefield was sealed.
Moreover, Qin Ming's sweeping annihilation of four heavenly demon seeds thoroughly cowed the remaining demons, shattering their morale and forcing them into desperate defense.
There was no suspense in this battle. In the end, every demon inside Gengjin City was slain!
Soon, the whole city was in an uproar!
The numb faces and the children who had been too terrified to weep all began crying and cheering out loud.
"We thank Your Highness for rescuing us!" Representative elders arrived, expressing heartfelt gratitude with trembling lips as tears streamed down their aged faces.
Helping them up, Yao Ruoxian said, "As subjects of Great Yu, you have suffered greatly. This is only my duty."
Qin Ming had already set off, eager to see the sea.
Reportedly, the Jade Emperor had initially set his sights on a special landform in Great Yu: an earth secret aperture, which could nourish the body with effects comparable to a mountain-and-river spirit nest.
However, that aperture had long fallen into ruin; now, it intertwined with the Night Ruins, leading into another world entirely.
According to the demons, the Jade Emperor had entered and exited multiple times, proving that certain individuals could step into the Night Ruins without dying.
Yet when other demons attempted it, they retreated in fear, for their physical bodies suffered severe erosion the moment they crossed over.
Later, Yao Ruoxian also arrived with a detachment, intending to eliminate the Jade Emperor.
"Qin Ming has already gone in?" Yao Ruoxian asked.
The Thunder King Bird immediately nodded. Guarding outside the earth secret aperture, it dared not act recklessly before the fourth princess of Great Yu, who had originally gifted it to Qin Ming.
This abandoned earth secret aperture lay less than three hundred li from Gengjin City.
Walking into the pitch-black heart of the mountain, Qin Ming already heard the roar of tsunamis. Gradually, hazy scenery began to reveal itself.
Along the way, blue fire springs flickered with eerie light.
He knew he had already crossed into the Night Ruins.
All the while, needles of pain pricked his flesh as an unfathomable Dao resonance surged toward him, attempting to penetrate deep into his blood and marrow.
Qin Ming adjusted step by step, continuing toward the depths of the night mist.
Finally, the landscape cleared. Qin Ming beheld an expansive ocean, surging with monstrous waves from time to time, while faint blue gleams swept across the deep.
Qin Ming stood entranced. Born and raised in Night Province, this was the first time he had ever seen the sea; the vista before him was breathtakingly majestic.
Standing here, he felt profoundly small. Surging crests rolled in like ten thousand charging steeds, deafening to the ears, the crashing breakers shredding the boundary between heaven and earth.
Moreover, from this sea within the Night Ruins, blue luminescence rose now and then to merge into the celestial vault, blending sea and sky into one.
Moved by an inner resonance, the Heluo Classic began circulating on its own.
Though the Night Ruins eroded flesh and blood, he knew this was the place he had been searching for. Here, he could smash through the heavenly barrier and step into the fourth realm: Mind Lamp.
Chapter 427