In the night sky, azure clouds billowed, and the New Board shone like the first light of dawn, casting golden rays in all directions. The "Lord of Yujing" at the very top of the board had actually been replaced!
Below the sword-dueling platform, utter silence fell as the crowd stared at this scene in shock.
Many stood baffled. Had there even been a battle?
"Just how fast were the hands of this wooden puppet senior—Realm Faction? How could I have missed it entirely before he defeated the Lord of Yujing?!"
"What happened?" Bewilderment was written across countless faces. Without anyone seeing a thing, the names and rankings on the New Board had already shifted.
"This senior's hand speed must be eighteen thousand strokes..." someone murmured in a measured, deliberately profound tone.
He surmised that the wooden puppet had struck at incredible speed to disperse the Lord of Yujing's phantom projection, prompting the true body to concede directly rather than step forward to fight.
Before he could finish, a heavy slap landed squarely on the back of his head.
"Stop spouting nonsense here," an elder warned. Even he had failed to see anything, his mind swirling with doubts, yet this brat from his family dared to brag and act clever.
Several old monsters were certain of one thing: the wooden puppet had not struck at all!
Most crucial of all, the Lord of Yujing had not slid down into second place—his name had simply vanished.
"Ranked second is... Heavenly Immortal!"
She had been defeated by Realm Faction, yet her ranking had not shifted in the slightest.
As the crowd came to their senses, everyone realized something was deeply amiss. A serious anomaly had occurred with the New Board. Why had the Lord of Yujing's name been stripped away entirely?
Many realized that in the end... the wooden puppet had won by default.
Of course, few felt any envy, and none dared call him weak. Just moments ago, he had opened an inner landscape and forced the Heavenly Immortal to undergo a tribulation inside a divine pure land. Who could possibly counter a technique like that?
"I know! Heavenly Immortal... has another identity! She is also the Lord of Yujing!" someone blurted out.
Others immediately chimed in. "Right, that must be it! She played two roles with one body. Defeating one of them allowed him to ascend to the top!"
A few had an epiphany. The Heavenly Immortal was exceedingly oppressive in the second realm, possessing absolute dominance and ample ability to maintain two powerhouse identities.
Yet others shook their heads, saying, "Earlier, the New Board recognized the identity of the Lord of Yujing. There is no reason for him to be wiped out entirely now."
Meanwhile, in the other cities, more cultivators noticed the change on the New Board, sparking fierce disputes and heated discussions. Numerous experts moved at once to investigate the situation.
Qin Ming was equally perplexed and was currently trying to communicate with the New Board.
In the night sky, dense Dao rhymes swirled through the azure clouds as immortal talismans interlaced on the New Board, surfacing lines of text: *The phantom projection of the Lord of Yujing cannot be manifested. He has vanished completely.*
"Why is that?" Qin Ming inquired.
The New Board responded: *Either a power surpassing the New Board erased the Lord of Yujing, or he was expelled by the embryonic Yujing.*
At the same time, the few Earth Immortal old monsters communicating with the New Board received the identical response, and their expressions grew grim.
"Why would the embryonic Yujing expel him? Did his name violate some taboo?" Qin Ming asked.
Text surfaced on the New Board once more: *It is highly probable that he is not a being within Yujing's sphere of influence, but hails from a distant otherworld!*
Qin Ming immediately thought of Jiang Ran and Li Qingyue, neither of whom had come above the Nine Heavens. Had they stayed away to avoid suspicion because they carried special weapons from afar?
One Earth Immortal old monster speculated, "Could he come from the depths of the Night Ruins?"
The Night Ruins possessed thirty-six heavens. While low-realm cultivators knew nothing of this, it was no longer a secret at the level of an Earth Immortal.
"The outer domains, the Night Ruins, a colossal entity... all are possible!"
This anomaly on the New Board set off a tremendous uproar.
However, none of this concerned Qin Ming. He had received no special favoritism, having fought his way to the top of the second realm purely through his own capability. He leapt down from the sword-dueling platform.
Li Qingxu watched his retreating back with burning eyes and declared, "Did you see that? The peerless paragon of our realm faction leads the multitude, truly standing as the model for our path!"
He felt honored by association, his expression flush with excitement.
Not far away, Helian Zhaoyu felt utterly miserable seeing him like this. He badly wanted to issue a challenge and knock this realm faction sycophant straight down from the Nine Heavens.
Beside Li Qingxu, Cao Tian, who was tilting his neck to look at people with an unruly and wild demeanor, possessed an exceptionally sharp eye. He spoke up: "Do you truly believe he's an ordinary cultivator of the realm faction? If you must see it that way, then he is a realm-faction practitioner among the extreme realm faction. A figure like this pursues the domain of a Heavenly God, perhaps even striving to become an eight-sun accumulator or master the eight governing jins."
...
Qin Ming noticed the Heavenly Immortal watching him without blinking.
Her black dress had long since been torn to shreds, unable to conceal her shapely, graceful figure. Her forearms gleamed like white jade, and a portion of her long, rounded, slender legs was exposed, perfectly straight.
Her features were extraordinarily striking, cold and breathtakingly aloof, standing detached from the mortal world. At the same time, her presence was immensely formidable. Though standing in the crowd, she gave the impression of looking down upon all under heaven.
Her chosen name of Heavenly Immortal suited that demeanor remarkably well.
Seeing her watching him, Qin Ming spoke up. "Fellow Daoist, did we meet one hundred and fifty years ago?"
He spun nonsense off the top of his head, casually tossing out spans of over a century, which fit his persona as an old Earth Immortal monster.
Instantly, many eyes turned their way. This was a dialogue between figures at the very pinnacle of the pyramid, one that might easily touch upon incredible secrets.
"Am I really that old?" the Heavenly Immortal countered. Though distant and aloof, her voice was very pleasant to the ear.
Not only did Qin Ming pause, but everyone present was taken aback. A hundred and fifty years was hardly a long time for an Earth Immortal, yet she actually took offense at being called old?
What was going on? Could she not be an old monster, but a genuinely young woman?
A casual remark like that was tantamount to exposing crucial information about herself.
Naturally, many refused to believe it. How could someone so extraordinary, possessing such terrifying dominance in the second realm, possibly be a young maiden? Most assumed she was intentionally sowing confusion to mislead the crowd.
Qin Ming remained unmoved, still treating her as an ancient Heavenly Immortal.
Yet he noticed this mysterious powerhouse was still staring at him, seemingly determined to dissect and understand him completely.
In a place like this, he had nothing to worry about. The New Board guaranteed the safety and privacy of everyone on it, forbidding old monsters from prying into the minds of others.
Besides, within this city corresponding to the second realm, he was the most dangerous person around.
The black-robed woman spoke: "I hope to have the chance to visit you in the future, Fellow Daoist, to come as a guest to your manor and engage in a few rounds of friendly sparring."
The crowd noticed that the Heavenly Immortal had shed her distant demeanor and was being surprisingly proactive toward the wooden puppet.
At that moment, Qin Ming nearly tilted his neck to look at her just like Cao Tian.
What did this mean? Having lost in her virtual form, did this black-dressed woman intend to follow the trail into reality and pay him a physical visit?
Qin Ming said, "If Fellow Daoist is unconvinced and wishes to duel me again, you are welcome to step onto the stage."
The Heavenly Immortal shook her head and replied, "No need. My true body is not here, and certain techniques cannot be brought to bear. Fighting again would still end in defeat. Well, I harbor no malice; I genuinely only wish to discuss the Dao."
She smiled and nodded, her frosty demeanor completely vanishing. Her tattered black dress fluttered in the night wind, which did not detract from her beauty in the slightest, instead accentuating her world-toppling grace.
The woman in black walked forward and held out a lustrous white jade disc. "Even if Fellow Daoist harbors reservations and prefers not to meet in true body within the real world, we can still communicate and discuss the Dao through this conch disc."
The pupils of a few old monsters shrank, recognizing it as a treasure.
"That is a rare treasure from the ocean depths—a wondrous pearl contained within a snow-white conch of the seventh realm. Sliced into wafers and polished into jade discs, paired conch discs from the same source can transmit voices even across vast distances," an elder explained, discerning the object's origin.
According to him, one could communicate from far away in Sky City to someone on the ground in Yezhou, so long as enough Dao rhyme was supplied to resonate between the two discs.
Even to an Earth Immortal, this was a treasure of astonishing value.
Qin Ming thought to himself, *And you claim you don't want to track me down in reality? Old Heavenly Immortal, I've got your number!*
Still, as a respected senior and the most dangerous being here, he maintained a tranquil facade and took it with nonchalant ease.
"Very well!" He replied with just two words, appearing even colder and more detached than the Heavenly Immortal.
Afterward, he rode the rising mist, stepping upon the black-and-white haze to ascend into the night sky, resonating with the New Board to inspect the rewards he could claim.
Seeing this, the black-robed Heavenly Immortal drifted away, her icy, aloof demeanor returning once more.
"Heaven-Transmitted Jade Book... three pages." Qin Ming's heart gave a slight jolt. The very first reward made his expression shift, prompting him to scrutinize and inquire further.
He soon learned that it shared the same origin as the four jade pages he had obtained in the outer pure land—one of the three most difficult true scriptures of the immortal path.
Moreover, it existed in the form of a remnant scripture.
"How stingy. Only three pages here, and you dare offer it as a reward?" Qin Ming complained. It wasn't even as much as he already possessed.
Text surfaced on the New Board to remind him that after accumulating the rewards from both the first and second realms, the jade book would likely amount to more than three pages.
Qin Ming scrolled downward. Another option was: Wishing Pool.
*Even this is possible?*
A strange look crossed his face. Could a wish truly come to pass?
The New Board informed him that it was only beneficial to cultivation, potentially resolving major flaws on one's path. As for wild, chaotic desires—such as attaining the seat of a Heavenly Immortal, ruling Yujing, or taking a female Heavenly God as a wife—he could forget about it.
Qin Ming said, "Then you might as well just call it a Cultivation Pool."
A faint ripple of emotion radiated from the New Board, as if wondering whether he truly harbored such wild ideas.
Qin Ming looked at the next option: Lifespan extension by eighty years.
To aging monsters on the brink of exhaustion, this was indeed a lethal temptation.
...
After reviewing all the options, Qin Ming said, "Keep accumulating them."
He knew very well that he could only participate in the third realm's competition next, which would be his final time on the board. He planned to stack all the rewards until the very end.
As for the fourth realm, that was out of the question; he had only just stepped into it.
Even peerless talents with the presence of blazing suns from Sky City, like Cui Chongxiao and Little Rulai, would merely be running alongside the frontrunners if their fourth realm was not yet perfected.
He estimated that none of these figures would step onto the fourth realm's sword-dueling platform either.
"In the third realm, the advantages of the immortal path and the esoteric sect will truly show. It seems many acquaintances will be engaged in bloody battles in the next city, lingering without leaving."
At that moment, in the other cities, a small group remained unconvinced, feeling that the wooden puppet had never truly contested the Lord of Yujing and had practically coasted to victory as a life winner without lifting a finger.
"If you're not convinced, go on then—challenge Realm Faction yourself!"
"Can't I even voice my doubts? His ascension to the top is simply unjust. I don't think he amounts to much."
"If you're so capable, you step up! Go on, just challenge him!"
None of these arguments had anything to do with Qin Ming anymore. He had already set sail, traversing the Nine Heavens to return to the City Lord's Manor in Chixia City.
On the way, he had already tossed the conch disc into the interior space of the ragged cloth. Only that gave him peace of mind, leaving it to be studied at a proper time and place.
Meng Xinghai was speechless. Little Qin was traveling back and forth far too frequently, wasn't he? Twice in a single day, and here he was again.
"Isn't it dinner time? I came to have dinner with Uncle Meng," Qin Ming said with a smile.
There was no helping it; he had reached perfection in the second realm as well, and needed to switch identities before appearing again.
"You conquered the top of the second realm too? Come, let us two have a drink to celebrate!" Meng Xinghai was both astonished and delighted. He fetched the fine wine he had once offered to Liu Mo, and a rich, fragrant bouquet instantly filled the room.
The following day, Qin Ming boarded the azure-mist-wreathed wooden boat in the rear courtyard, passed through the void tunnel formed by the Nanming Distant Fire vortex, and arrived once more above the Nine Heavens.
He headed straight for the third city, quietly blending into the crowd without making a sound.
Sure enough, he spotted many familiar faces here: Cheng Sheng and Zhao Qingcheng of the esoteric sect; Pei Shuyan and Helian Yaoqing among the immortal-path seeds; and Gao Chan, Su Moran, Lu Chengyuan, and others from Sky City.
By intuition, Qin Ming knew that Cui Chonghe and Cui Chongxiao were also present, though the two brothers had likely altered their forms and appearances by now.
He truly wished to test the mettle of a few old acquaintances here, as this was the final realm he could participate in.
Qin Ming was most interested in the top ten experts. Looking up, he fixed his gaze on those names; only a very few looked familiar, while most were completely new.
However, he learned from the chatter of others that even when certain old monsters changed their identities, their true backgrounds were ultimately exposed and dug up once they fought their way into the top ten.
A handful of individuals had consistently remained at the very front from the first realm to the third, such as Heavenly Venerable, Giant Spirit God, and Guanghan.
Though their names had changed, they were undeniably the same people.
Originally, the Lord of Yujing had held the first rank, but now he had completely vanished.
The current top rank was: Withered Tree Meets Spring.
The Heavenly Immortal remained formidable, holding second place, closely followed by the Bodhi Saint.
Qin Ming muttered to himself, "Old Bodhi is quite strong. I didn't get to pummel him in the first two realms—ahem, I mean spar with him. What a pity."
Little Rulai appeared again, torn and conflicted. Was Taiyi the sage, or was the Bodhi Saint the true ancestor? He had come to the third realm seeking an answer.
He murmured to himself, "Or could it be that neither of them is the ancestor, and the sage is still on his way riding a dragon?"
Qin Ming was in no hurry to enter the ring. He studied the names on the New Board, then observed the battles before the various sword-dueling platforms, looking for someone he wished to "knead."
For instance, the true master behind that mind monkey from the fiendcamp!
Suddenly, Qin Ming spotted Li Qingxu, along with Cao Tian beside him, who was still tilting his neck to look at people.
*Damn, why does everyone look like the mind monkey to me? Could multiple monkeys have shown up?* Qin Ming found it absurd.
He had been studying the four pages of the jade book—the Subduing the Mind Classic—so he naturally possessed a unique sensitivity.
As Qin Ming moved through the crowd, besides watching matches and searching for people, he listened to the surrounding discussions. Surprisingly, quite a few rumors concerned him.
"The wooden puppet—Realm Faction—is truly strong to the point of despair! He shouldn't have taken that name; I think he ought to be called the Extreme Realm Transcender!"
"Indeed. At first, some were dissatisfied, thinking the New Board was showing favoritism to protect this Realm Faction. A few newly arrived old monsters challenged him directly, and their defeats were utterly tragic."
"More than that! A small group of experts who previously voiced complaints about Realm Faction also snuck in to test him, only to all meet their tribulation inside the divine pure land without any suspense."
Qin Ming was surprised, listening with great relish.
Several old monsters had been displeased with Realm Faction and challenged him one after another, only to return home thoroughly battered.
"Taiyi is unshakeable at the top of the first realm, while Realm Faction is monstrously perverse in the second. Between the two, who do you think holds greater dominance?" Many were actually drawing comparisons between Taiyi and Realm Faction.
"It has to be Taiyi! Many prominent figures tested his technique in person and concluded that his saber light is simply unblockable."
"Top-tier old monsters underwent tribulation in Realm Faction's divine pure land until their bodies were charred black, every single one meeting their doom. Even Taiyi wouldn't be able to withstand going in there!"
Qin Ming had never imagined that his two identities would spark such fierce debate among so many.
In the end, he stepped onto the sword-dueling platform. Following his old habit, he decided to test the waters starting from the bottom of the board.
"Hmm?" Qin Ming successfully qualified for the challenge. When the true contestant appeared, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
"Cui Qi!" He had never expected to encounter Cui Chonghe's father. Having lived in the Cui family for over a decade, he was intimately familiar with this man's habits and mannerisms.
*To think he hid so deeply, actually qualifying to stand at the bottom of the board.*
Yet when Qin Ming considered that Cui Chonghe and Cui Chongxiao were his sons, it made sense. Old Cui was indeed extraordinary.
He wondered: if he swept Cui Qi right off the platform, would Cui Chongxiao and Cui Chonghe step up to fight on their father's behalf?
Chapter 439