In the night sky, azure clouds billowed and the New Board shone. Qin Ming stared at the top-ranked Lord of Yujing and the Heavenly Immortal, hesitating to step onto the sword-dueling platform.
Any move he made would draw intense attention; who knew how many pairs of eyes were fixed on this spot?
"Senior!" someone transmitted secretly from nearby. It was surprisingly Su Yuxiao, a grandmaster of the immortal path, who had ascended to the celestial realm in his true appearance.
Qin Ming looked back, harboring little goodwill toward this man.
Back when he had traded with the sun elf race in the Dayu imperial capital for rare sacred baleful aura, Su Yuxiao had attempted to cut in and sever his path forward.
Adopting the poise of an old senior to perfection, Qin Ming asked placidly, "What is it?"
Su Yuxiao spoke: "You ought to switch identities, Senior, to keep people from joining forces to block you."
He and Taiyi had never had any dealings before; offering such advice was speaking beyond the intimacy of their acquaintance.
"Oh?" Qin Ming offered neither agreement nor denial.
"Your cultivation encompasses the wonders of creation, Senior, yet no one can guarantee they will reign supreme across every major realm..." Clearly hoping to cling to a powerful patron, Su Yuxiao sought to seize this opportunity to offer counsel.
He explained that aside from a select few, the supreme experts ranking at the top of the New Board used an identity twice at most before immediately discarding it.
"Until the final sweep of the rankings, they prefer not to attract too much attention, lest certain ancient Earth Immortals conspire against them and cause unexpected mishaps."
By now, everyone knew that the New Board and Gold Board carried immense significance. In the future, there might be a chance to claim residency in the embryonic Yujing, attain the status of a Heavenly Immortal, and even become the sacred patriarch of an entire cultivation system—there was tremendous hope for this.
Consequently, many old monsters had come this time, every one of them brimming with ambition.
"Little Su, wasn't it? You've done well," Qin Ming said with a nod.
He had indeed harbored this very intention. If he didn't change identities, then after reaching the fourth realm, his limited cultivation would prevent him from competing. When "no such person" could be found, it would almost certainly arouse suspicion.
Su Yuxiao bowed slightly, seemingly thrilled to receive praise from a venerable senior of great renown—though whether he truly felt that way inside remained unknown.
Qin Ming could not help but sigh. While some people had poor character, they were indeed adept at seizing opportunities and knowing how to curry favor above their station.
Su Yuxiao did not expect an immediate return either. Right now, he merely wanted to make a familiar impression and leave the rest for the future, trusting that a peerless Earth Immortal of this caliber would remember him.
Unfortunately, he was destined for disappointment. Old Senior Qin Ming addressing him as "Little Su" was already the highest courtesy he would ever receive.
In particular, when the truth was uncovered in the future, he would most likely feel stifled to the point of coughing up blood.
Qin Ming remained composed, watching others duel. In truth, he wanted to grasp more of the situation while also attempting to communicate with the New Board.
Then, he vanished noiselessly from the spot. Not a single person could trace the path of his departure.
Anyone who made the board received special treatment, their safety and privacy stringently protected against unforeseen incidents.
In the sea of night mist, a wooden boat hoisted its sails, carrying him across the pitch-black nine celestial heavens. It had to be said that the unpopulated expanse above the heavens was far too desolate and terrifying.
In certain regions, outer realm toxic fire blazed so fiercely that the night sky twisted and collapsed. Qin Ming even saw mysterious ancient corpses floating in the sea of night mist, having somehow endured wind tribulations, fire disasters, and more.
Before leaving, he even caught sight of a fingernail as massive as a mountain, stained with a wisp of silver blood, drifting across the sea of night mist—a truly chilling spectacle.
"You're back already?" Meng Xinghai was astonished. Others stayed away for days on end, yet Little Qin had returned on the very same day. Had he suffered some major setback and fled back in disgrace?
"I was thirsty, so I came back for a cup of tea," Qin Ming said with a smile after his spirit wandering returned. The wooden boat had delivered him straight to the City Lord's Manor and moored in the rear courtyard, ready to set sail again at any time.
Seeing him like this, Meng Xinghai knew nothing was amiss.
As for Qin Ming's physical body, which had been cultivating, it abruptly opened its eyes. He had left behind only a wisp of consciousness, but that was ample for self-defense; ever since attaining success in the Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao, the lethality of his flesh was comparable to a full resurgence of heavenly light.
"Hiss... you called yourself Taiyi and actually seized first place on the first-realm board?" Meng Xinghai was usually steady and composed, but right now he rose in shock, his heart surging with emotion.
He had always known Qin Ming was extraordinary, an absolute anomaly, but he never expected that going above the heavens to compete against ancient monsters would yield the top spot.
"Uncle Meng, stay calm," Qin Ming smiled.
Meng Xinghai could hardly sit still. "No, I need to go see the nine heavens for myself as soon as possible."
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Qin Ming took the wooden boat toward the outer realm. This time, he borrowed the vessel of a wooden puppet.
Wreathed in azure qi, the wooden boat carried him through the mist vortex, emerging from the void tunnel in an instant and arriving directly in the divine city corresponding to the second realm.
Silently, he blended into the crowd as if he had never left.
Now, however, he had assumed a new identity. After some thought, Qin Ming gave himself a new name: Realm Faction.
He was just that unpretentious. "Taiyi" sounded too high-profile, so this time he made an adjustment to balance things out.
Eighty percent chance his identity would be uncovered later, revealing that the wooden puppet was actually Taiyi, but for now, being simple and low-key was enough.
Qin Ming immediately spotted Little Rulai, who was walking into the small city looking somewhat dazed.
"It truly might have been the Patriarch in person. Gathering various types of heavenly light as medicinal herbs, fusing them in a single furnace, and refining that peerless saber radiance... perhaps only a contemporary saint can accomplish such a feat."
Little Rulai muttered to himself, then shook his head. "My mastery in the first realm is still lacking; I need to polish myself earnestly."
He had walked all the way back in a trance because he had been insta-killed by that single saber strike!
"According to the records, the Patriarch wasn't necessarily much stronger than me in his youth. He grew steadily stronger, step by step. I still have a chance."
Radiance returned to Little Rulai's face. He resolved to press forward in hot pursuit, following in the footsteps of the saint, hoping one day to stand shoulder to shoulder with his founding patriarch!
"The arrival of Taiyi and the Bodhi Saint has undeniably shaken up the established order. Now more senior figures have entered the field, causing noticeable shifts in the first-realm top ten!"
Someone brought the latest news: three more old monsters had made a bold entrance, forcefully breaking into the top ten, and had likely arrived in the divine city by now.
This naturally caused a massive stir, as those three were very likely veteran Earth Immortals—figures at the very pinnacle of the contemporary world.
"Did they end up challenging Taiyi?" someone asked.
"Yes. Although a few ranks still separated them from first place, they all tried to push their limits in the end."
Unfortunately, all three were defeated. Facing that saber strike that surpassed the Four Imperials force, it seemed no one in the first realm could withstand it.
A grandmaster on the scene offered an assessment: "As time goes on, the worth of Taiyi's saber strike will only rise higher. I dare say some ancient Earth Immortals won't be able to resist taking the stage once they hear of it, just to see if they can block that blade."
Many experts agreed. The more an insurmountable mountain blocked the path, the more people yearned to scale it.
Especially those old monsters harboring great ambitions toward the embryonic Yujing—they would surely want to test themselves even more.
Qin Ming mused, "Since the Bodhi Saint and the three new old fellows are suspected of changing their identities to enter the divine city as well, I can slip back into the fray amid the chaos."
He stepped onto a sword-dueling platform in a relatively low-key manner, challenging the expert ranked ninety-fifth. His primary goal was to test the waters and see the caliber of those at the bottom of the second-realm board.
This was an authentic youth from Sky City, and he traded blows back and forth with Qin Ming.
"To compete against those old fellows and still make the New Board makes him an extraordinary figure already," Qin Ming silently appraised.
This was a sword cultivator whose attacks were razor-sharp. His flying sword moved like a rainbow across the dueling platform, dazzling many young onlookers.
Sword radiance surged to the heavens, illuminating the night sky.
After making his assessment, Qin Ming deflected the flying sword barehanded, clashing directly with the youth over a dozen times to give him ample face before concluding the fight.
"Realm Faction?" Seeing the newly updated name on the board, several people were taken aback.
In a place like this, the realm faction held no advantage.
"You're the one!" Below the platform, Helian Zhaoyu glared at Qin Ming, resolving to challenge him.
He was a staunch adherent of the extreme realm faction, dedicated entirely to rivaling the ancient saints within the same realm.
That the newly victorious person had actually named himself "Realm Faction" brought a cold smirk to Helian Zhaoyu's lips. "Just your bad luck!"
Having watched the duels for a long time, he felt that breaking into the top eighty would count as a major victory. After all, this was an asymmetrical competition filled with "Celestial Demon Reincarnators"—the old fellows were shameless to the extreme.
If he could fight his way into the top fifty, he would be among the strongest young geniuses in the world today. He didn't even entertain wild hopes for the top thirty, and as for the top ten, he believed not a single youth occupied those ranks.
He murmured to himself, "Jiang Ran is unfathomable; perhaps she could contend with those old monsters. But she didn't come."
Before Qin Ming could leap down from the high platform, Helian Zhaoyu called out: "Hold on, fellow Daoist! Since you are already up there, I would like to spar with you in the flesh. Would you be willing?"
He wanted to save time and avoid fighting a manifested copy.
Catching sight of him, Qin Ming immediately nodded.
Geniuses of the esoteric sect could open a portion of their inner landscape early in the second realm, summoning wind and rain and manifesting deities to join the fray.
Helian Zhaoyu's talent was naturally extraordinary; otherwise, he wouldn't be conceited enough to aim at standing alongside the ancient saints.
Sure enough, once he took the platform, rain of light cascaded over him. The void before him seemed to tear open a fissure, within which a divine pure land faintly shimmered.
This was the foundation of his confidence, his means to crush his opponent.
In an instant, golden mist surged within his pure land. The Zhurong golden body emerged in the distance, appearing ready to push open the mysterious void rift and stride into reality.
Next, black light surged, and the Gonggong dharma manifestation manifested in the pure land as well.
The hazy figures of the two great gods of water and fire drew near Helian Zhaoyu, joining him in battle.
Displaying such methods in the second realm proved him a heaven-sent genius, truly astonishing.
Many marveled, sensing that this youth with vigorous life aura was destined to become a rising star.
"Rank ninety-five... mm, a fine omen and starting point. Supreme Sovereign of the Ninth-Fifth," Helian Zhaoyu murmured with a smile, intending to crush this "Realm Faction" with extreme realm methods.
Soon, however, his smile faded. Even bringing forth dazzling rain of light and commanding two deities, he failed to blast his opponent off the platform at the very outset.
Qin Ming held a broadsword condensed from sacred baleful aura. Moving like lightning, he cleaved continuously.
Helian Zhaoyu was horrified. His painstakingly manifested divine pure land fractured, and above all, the Gonggong dharma manifestation and Zhurong golden body dimmed, unable to block the heavy sword.
He soon realized that even with his extreme realm cultivation, he could hardly defend against those sword rays; blood was already trickling from the corner of his mouth.
In the end, that wooden puppet tore apart his Zhurong golden body and Gonggong dharma manifestation with raw force, cleaving him straight down the middle on the platform.
Terror filled Helian Zhaoyu's eyes. If this had been the outside world, he would have died a gruesome death, hacked apart by that massive sword.
"What kind of monster is this?" He could not believe it.
He felt his opponent was also a youth possessing the wooden puppet, given the fresh, vibrant life aura. Yet here he was, completely swept aside by a peer.
The opponent he had picked was ridiculously strong.
Engulfed in Dao rhythm, Helian Zhaoyu's injured body gradually recovered. Standing below the platform, he looked up at the wooden puppet and asked, "Was your name chosen at random, or..."
Qin Ming replied earnestly, "I truly belong to the realm faction. I seek to rise in the shortest possible time. As long as one's realm is high enough, one can look down upon all adversaries."
Hearing this, Helian Zhaoyu's face turned pale. He pursued the extreme realm, only to be crushed by a youth of the realm faction. How could his pride bear this?
With a spurt, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling his Dao heart waver as his convictions suffered a devastating blow.
Afterward, unhurried, Qin Ming challenged the experts ranked eightieth, seventieth, and sixtieth in succession, advancing steadily and hacking down rivals along the way.
"Hm?" On the fiftieth-ranked platform, he encountered an unusual expert.
Intuition told him this was likely a youth as well.
Crucially, this person walked the immortal path, possessing considerable pure yang conscious spiritual light while only in the second realm—a rare anomaly.
Qin Ming had noticed that from the first realm to the second, high-ranking beings were mostly body refiners, exotic anomalies, or dual-path cultivators.
Those on the immortal path truly held no advantage in the first two realms; only upon reaching the third realm could they thoroughly temper their pure yang consciousness, causing their combat prowess to soar.
"Could this be an innate pure yang physique?" Qin Ming wondered.
Among his acquaintances, Leng Feiyue possessed this special gift.
However, this was a man, so he was likely not an acquaintance.
In an instant, on the platform, nine fiery dragons erupted from the body of this man, who was registered on the New Board as "Pure Yang." Each dragon was terrifying and lifelike, as though genuine celestial dragons had descended into the mortal world.
Qin Ming did not get careless. Fiftieth place might not even be the limit for this young man named Pure Yang, as he had only just advanced to this rank.
Sure enough, once he crossed blows with Pure Yang, he found the man truly extraordinary!
Before Qin Ming, a black-and-white diagram emerged, blending various types of heavenly light as it rotated slowly. It blocked the nine pouncing celestial dragons and began strangling them.
"Roar!"
Dragon roars shook the heavens. The nine dragons underwent nirvana, resembling nine blazing suns ascending into the sky before swooping down once more.
Moreover, the man named Pure Yang shone brightly as his pure yang consciousness boiled, cloaking him in golden glow before unleashing ten thousand swords at once!
Every sword blade gleamed with dazzling golden light, all formed from pure yang power.
"Hiss, he's Zhou Tiandao!" Some spectators from Sky City recognized his true identity.
"The divinely gifted Zhou Tiandao, who has hope of becoming a 'Blazing Sun'?"
"That's him, no mistake. He isn't an impersonator; it's the man himself! I thought he would only make a name for himself in the third realm. Who would have thought he'd be this formidable, competing ahead of time against the older generation!"
Several people gasped. Hailing from Sky City, they were well aware of Zhou Tiandao's transcendent talent, yet here he was, putting on a display that far exceeded expectations right from his debut.
"A pure yang physique, an innate fire physique—those blessed by heaven naturally perform this well."
Amid the crowd's chatter, the situation abruptly shifted. The wooden puppet's black-and-white diagram spun faster, black and white particles steaming as yin-yang power shook the night sky.
In a flash, the nine golden dragons and the brilliant sword lights were all obliterated by the diagram. As it rotated with a rumble, the ten thousand swords fell silent.
Bang!
In the end, Pure Yang was knocked off the platform, mouth full of bloody foam.
Instantly, sharp gasps arose from all directions. Having realized Pure Yang was Zhou Tiandao, the crowd erupted into an uproar.
Divine light flashed in Little Rulai's eyes as his blood surged. "He is an immortal body refiner, and there are traces of my Newborn path in him. I really want to battle him!"
Yet before he could step up to issue a challenge, the wooden puppet had already found a new target.
This time, Qin Ming directly challenged the expert ranked twentieth.
Little Rulai looked solemn. No matter how confident he was, he did not believe he could break into that domain—the top twenty was the exclusive territory of old monsters.
He believed that fighting his way into the top fifty would already be a source of immense pride.
After a fierce clash, Qin Ming emerged victorious.
He gained some insight: the experts in the top twenty truly possessed unique abilities that demanded his utmost seriousness, not falling far short of the top ten.
"This person is not someone I can provoke—likely an Earth Immortal. I still need time to temper and polish myself!" Little Rulai sighed.
"He's from the realm faction?" Helian Zhaoyu began to question his entire existence.
"Our realm faction actually has someone so powerful? The path I chose wasn't wrong!" Li Qingxu had also arrived, speaking with deep feeling.
However, he did not enter the ring, keeping his eyes on the unruly youth beside him—Cao Tian.
This was someone his master had specifically instructed him to look after.
Li Qingxu felt utterly exhausted. This Cao Tian had stared at the Bodhi Saint's back for the longest time and had cocked his head to stare shamelessly at the other old monsters in the top ten.
At that moment, a commotion broke out across the dueling grounds, and many cried out in shock.
An old monster had actually defeated the third-ranked "Ferocious Beast"!
By now, nearly everyone knew that Ferocious Beast was the Giant Spirit God, who had once stood unrivaled at the top of the first realm. Even if his dominance wasn't as absolute in the second realm, he was still frighteningly formidable.
In recent days, only the Heavenly Immortal and the Lord of Yujing had bested him.
Now another had been added to that list, knocking "Ferocious Beast" off the platform after a bloody struggle.
"As expected, the reclusive old monsters can no longer sit still and are taking the stage one after another," someone sighed.
The powerhouse who had usurped Ferocious Beast's rank—Tiangang—took no rest and directly challenged the Heavenly Immortal.
Moments later, everyone was shaken to their core; the Heavenly Immortal's strength vastly exceeded expectations.
Her true self had not returned; the manifestation conjured by the New Board launched just a single strike, yet it made countless onlookers turn pale.
She seemed to hang high above the nine heavens, extending a pristine white finger to tap gently downward. Ranked third, Tiangang was unable to block it; a bloody hole pierced through his palm, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
A dead silence fell over the grounds!
Tiangang did not press on. Suffering the injury, he sighed softly and conceded defeat, refusing to prolong the duel.
Only moments later did the area erupt into a roar!
"Terrifying! Truly worthy of the name Heavenly Immortal!"
"In the second realm, can anyone pass her trial?"
Suddenly, pupils contracted as a new figure appeared on the second-ranked sword-dueling platform.
"That wooden puppet named Realm Faction... his rank is still nowhere near the top ten, yet he's going straight to challenge—the Heavenly Immortal!"
At this moment, Qin Ming wore a grave expression. He realized one truly could not underestimate the heroes of this world; this Heavenly Immortal was bound to be a formidable adversary.
As the Heavenly Immortal hung high in the night sky and her lustrous white finger tapped down, the black-and-white diagram before Qin Ming spun and slashed upward with blinding speed!
Chapter 437