Upon the sword-dueling platform, Cui Qi stood tall, severe, and rigid. In his childhood, Qin Ming had felt an instinctive sense of oppression whenever he saw this man.
At this moment, Cui Qi's expression thawed into a smile. "Fellow Daoist, after you!"
Qin Ming nodded, familiar with the man's temperament. Cui Qi's stern, humorless demeanor depended on who stood before him; when dealing with outsiders of notable background, smiles came easily to his face.
"After you," Qin Ming replied. His presence was formidable, carrying a sharp, undeniable edge that exerted a heavy pressure.
His identity had changed. Now, he was an expert walking the path of an immortal sword cultivator.
A chilling sword qi spilled outward from his form. Like a divine iron forged over endless years, he had transformed into an immortal sword, laying bare his piercing edge in an instant.
Cui Qi's smile faded. Faced with someone whose heart was devoted wholly to the blade, clever rhetoric or emotional provocation would achieve nothing; there was only total war.
In a flash, Cui Qi was enveloped in a radiant jade glow as verdant divine light erupted from his form. His thick black hair turned entirely green, fluttering in the wind as a "longevity spirit field" manifested around him.
Qin Ming was surprised. He had never seen Cui Qi cultivate the *World-Abiding Scripture* in the past, yet the man had actually comprehended it to such a degree.
With nothing left to say, Qin Ming unleashed a brilliant ray of pure yang sword radiance. Like a rainbow arcing across the sky, it sheared through the night mist and swept out in an instant.
Cui Qi was formidable indeed. His emerald hair whipped about as he moved like an apparition, his tall frame flickering from left to right to evade the pure yang sword radiance.
He closed in rapidly, intent on melee combat.
Now walking the immortal path, Qin Ming naturally employed immortal methods. After shooting forward like a white silk ribbon, the pure yang sword radiance traced an elegant arc, spun around, and slashed toward the evading Cui Qi.
Though Cui Qi drifted like a ghost, his trajectories shifting unpredictably, he still could not outpace the pure yang flying sword. The biting sword radiance closed in on him relentlessly.
With a low shout, the green light around him surged. The longevity spirit field seemed to warp the void as he attempted to deflect the flying sword's trajectory and use the opening to close the distance.
*Clang!*
Pure yang sword qi sprayed outward. Blood surfaced on Cui Qi's cheek, and a lock of long hair was severed.
Although his longevity spirit field was extraordinary, it could not halt the flying sword's momentum. Had he not dodged swiftly, he would have been cleaved in two.
Below the platform, many wore stunned expressions. None of them had expected a duel at the very bottom of the board to erupt with such ferocity right from the start.
Blood trickled down Cui Qi's face, his severed green hair drifting to the floor, yet he fought on with savage bravery. Instead of retreating after evading the blade's edge, he accelerated his charge, aiming to bind his foe with his tangible spirit field.
An instant later, Qin Ming's resplendent sword light flashed past, nearly taking his head off.
Cui Qi shifted laterally to evade, but he still could not shake off the flying sword's relentless pursuit. At the critical moment, he thrust out his right hand to block, sending blood flying in all directions.
His palm was pierced, and with a vicious twist of the flying sword, his entire right hand shattered.
Cui Qi was ruthless enough to ignore the agony, using the exchange to close the distance. His longevity spirit field warped the space around them, seeking to lock down his opponent completely.
"Huh?!" gasped numerous onlookers below.
The sword cultivator on the platform was entirely unhindered. The flying sword flared with dazzling brilliance, ripping straight through the glowing green, tangible spirit field.
Yet Cui Qi did not panic. In front of him, an earthen-yellow vapor suddenly billowed out, and without any warning, he opened his inner landscape.
His foundational art actually hailed from an esoteric sect—he was walking the divine path to godhood!
The so-called Newborn path and his spirit fields were mere auxiliary arts; now that he was close, he erupted with his true power.
Cui Qi's instincts warned him that this opponent was extraordinarily dangerous, so he threw himself into a life-and-death struggle immediately, laying bare his ultimate trump card.
He wanted to drag his foe inside without warning, crushing him within the domain where he held absolute supremacy.
The divine pure land unfolded, swallowing both his opponent and the terrifying pure yang flying sword.
This caught Qin Ming off guard. During all his years with the Cui clan, he had never known Cui Qi was an initiate of an esoteric sect.
Even so, Qin Ming remained calm. No matter how many tricks the man hid, he would simply carve a path with his blade. Before absolute strength, ten thousand arts and myriad techniques were meaningless.
*Chi!*
Qin Ming raised his blade toward the sky. Blinding sword radiance surged outward, threatening to cleave the entire pure land apart.
Cui Qi summoned his deity. Earthen-yellow currents rose, and from within the inner landscape, a colossal figure emerged from the soil, crashing toward the flying sword while lunging to seize Qin Ming.
"An Earth God?" Qin Ming sneered. Was such a deity really the foundation of Cui Qi's godhood? In myth and legend, an Earth God was hardly of high rank.
With a sharp ring, sword qi surged like a rainbow within the inner landscape. Qin Ming drove his flying sword forward, shearing the Earth God cleanly in two.
Next, he guided the sword outward, seeking to disintegrate the entire pure land.
"Hm?" Qin Ming murmured in surprise. Earthen-yellow vapor boiled within the pure land, and a blurry Earth God shrine abruptly condensed into form.
With a swift rush, the shrine swallowed his flying sword whole.
This was rather unusual. When others opened their inner landscapes, they summoned wind and rain or manifested divine apparitions; why had Cui Qi erected an actual shrine?
Qin Ming's expression shifted slightly. That hazy structure had successfully trapped the flying sword formed from his pure yang power, which was bizarre indeed.
Cui Qi unleashed the full might of his esoteric methods. The inner landscape rumbled as the Earth God remanifested, joined by an Earth Goddess, the two deities launching a concerted assault.
Qin Ming found that his connection to the flying sword had been severed, which was truly unexpected.
Yet to him, it mattered little. A fresh pure yang flying sword blazed to life, sweeping back and forth through the pure land, sundering the earth and decapitating the Earth God once more. It was the very definition of overbearing might: one sword breaking ten thousand arts.
Cui Qi's expression darkened. With a low roar, he contracted the entire divine pure land, attempting to trap Qin Ming within. The space acted like a quagmire; the more prey struggled, the deeper it sank.
Meanwhile, Cui Qi closed in, releasing his longevity spirit field to resonate with the pure land in an attempt to seal the sword cultivator for good.
Qin Ming remained cool and aloof. Diverse though his opponent's techniques were, not a single one could inflict substantial harm on him.
In a flash, pure yang sword light erupted around him, manifesting several more flying swords like little suns suspended aloft. Slashing horizontally and vertically with overwhelming force, they tore the pure land to pieces and shattered the spirit field.
Cui Qi fell back, hair disheveled and green aura dimmed, his body drenched in blood. His divine foundation had been shattered; had this been the outside world, his fate would have been wretched beyond words.
Qin Ming was startled to find a handful of yellow soil beneath the ruined Earth God shrine. It had actually succeeded in wrapping around the pure yang flying sword and cutting his connection to it. Only now was he able to reclaim his blade.
*A rare treasure!* Certain that this soil was extraordinary, he decided to... take it.
Cui Qi's face grew taut. That mysterious earth possessed unfathomable properties, capable of helping him become a true Earth God and perhaps even peer into higher realms.
Still, he was not panicked; the origin of this yellow soil was mysterious, but he had long since refined it, so he believed he could recall it at will.
"Hm?" Qin Ming raised an eyebrow. Like fine sand, the yellow soil slipped through his fingers, attempting to flee.
Suspecting it was a priceless material, he certainly had no intention of letting it escape. Besides, taking a treasure belonging to the Cui clan gave the harvest even greater meaning.
He blocked it with pure yang power, pulling it back. When he noticed the grains attempting to scatter and float away again, Qin Ming decisively kicked out, striking the source and sending Cui Qi flying.
Then, drawing the yellow soil into his body, he quietly stowed it away inside the rag's internal space.
"My treasure of godhood!" Cui Qi's face drained of color as his connection to the peculiar soil vanished entirely.
He lunged forward, but Qin Ming gave him no opening, sweeping his sword across to knock him from the platform.
Given their tangled history, Qin Ming had no desire to humiliate Cui Qi in public.
Had it been anyone else from the Cui clan, he would have landed dozens of sword strikes before finishing it.
"Had this been reality, I would already be dead," Cui Qi muttered, his face pale.
His chest felt hollow, as if he had lost something of monumental significance. An instinctive feeling told him that the yellow soil carried an even greater heritage than he had ever imagined.
Qin Ming stood motionless. Having thrashed the elder, shouldn't the younger ones be coming up?
At that moment, the New Board shimmered, and the name at the very bottom changed to: Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword.
"That's his name? He actually dared to call himself that?!"
"Good grief, such a long name—is he trying to take up more space on the New Board just to stand out?"
"What a ferocious, murderous title!"
Voices murmured in appraisal as the crowd gazed at the figure on the sword-dueling platform.
Now an immortal sword cultivator, Qin Ming naturally had to exude the presence and unyielding spirit of one. There was no need for restraint; slashing through all creation with a single sword suited his present persona perfectly.
Having borrowed a vessel in the form of a stone man, pure yang sword qi coursed through every inch of his body.
Standing on the high platform with a sharp aura, he swept his gaze across the crowd, yet neither Cui Chongxiao nor Cui Chonghe stepped forward immediately.
*What happened to fatherly devotion and filial piety? Why aren't you coming up?* Qin Ming waited inside the stone vessel for a moment, but Cui the Eldest and Cui the Second remained nowhere to be seen.
Helpless, Qin Ming leaped down from the platform.
He surmised that the two brothers were cautious as always, unwilling to retaliate immediately for fear of exposing their true identities.
He figured they would probably try to intercept him later.
"That stone man is climbing up again! He's challenging the eightieth-ranked expert—does he really intend to fight his way to the very top?"
"He's certainly capable, but if he expects to slice through the entire third realm like his name suggests, he's dreaming."
Qin Ming's name was too long for anyone to read in full, so the crowd simply abbreviated it to "Single Sword."
Before long, he shattered the phantom projection upon the platform, earning the right to challenge the real person.
The eightieth-ranked expert's true body arrived, white robes fluttering, brimming with vitality and the distinctive vigor of youth. Looking at the stone man, he remarked, "You are a sword cultivator? What a flamboyant name!"
"It passes," Qin Ming replied with a nod. He judged that this was a genuine youth rather than an ancient monster; to rank so high at such an age was quite remarkable.
The white-robed youth, Gu Yanci, spoke up. "Very well, let us duel. Starting from the third realm, it is time for our immortal faction to rise. Those brutes ought to clear the stage!"
Qin Ming felt a twinge of displeasure. He was not a true member of the immortal path; had he been in the fourth realm, the pure yang spiritual light he cultivated would have fallen far short, mostly blending into heavenly light.
Only by standing in the third realm and reversing the pure yang power within his heavenly light did he possess an abundance of it, allowing him to fight as an immortal sword cultivator.
Qin Ming cautioned, "Fellow Daoist, watch your tongue. A hundred schools contend, and every path strives forward. No single system can claim absolute supremacy."
Gu Yanci stood with his hands behind his back, his white robes billowing with an ethereal, transcendent grace. He replied calmly, "Aside from our immortal lineage, who dares claim supremacy?"
Qin Ming had no interest in further debate. He initiated the challenge directly, unleashing wisps of sacred baleful aura right from the start.
Gu Yanci frowned. "You dare underestimate me by using the tricks of a drudge?"
Qin Ming replied flatly, "Do you know what distinguishes the finest sword cultivators? Refining sacred baleful aura into sword light."
Gu Yanci could tell that his opponent had not deployed sword baleful aura. Was this deliberate contempt? In his eyes, it was purely a drudge's method.
He said darkly, "Since you dare to be so arrogant, watch how my immortal arts break every brute technique you possess!"
Seeing the youth's hubris, Qin Ming decided to teach him a proper lesson. He would strike him down using pure rays of sacred baleful aura, dispensing with sword baleful aura altogether.
"You!" Gu Yanci felt insulted that a sword cultivator would not even draw a blade or use real sword arts.
Qin Ming cut him off bluntly. "'You' what? Don't you know that every advanced sword cultivator refines baleful aura and is considered a body refiner? Since you dare disrespect me, I shall suppress you with the most primitive of means!"
Soon, Gu Yanci paid the price for his arrogance.
No matter how his pure yang conscious spiritual light blazed, how many treasures he deployed, or how much pure yang sword qi he unleashed, none of it availed him.
He realized his opponent was employing an esoteric marvel that threw his five elements into chaos. When the fire-attribute sacred baleful aura manifested nearby, the pure yang power within him nearly caught fire.
"No!" What horrified him most was that when the water-attribute sacred baleful aura enveloped him, the water inside his body slipped out of control, surging violently.
Though Qin Ming's moves appeared simple and unadorned, he was actually executing the *Five Elements Secret Manual*, a profound art that set the five elemental forces into motion.
Gu Yanci felt as though he were drying into a mummy. Steam hissed from his pores, and his flesh began to shrivel.
Worst of all, an overwhelming urge to urinate seized him!
He was present in his true body, not in spirit wandering, yet he could no longer hold it in... and began relieving himself right before the crowd.
"What the... fuck!" He nearly exploded on the spot, feeling as though every misery of a lifetime had been forced down his throat in a single gulp. Under the gaze of countless onlookers, where could he hide his face?
Below the platform, everyone stood petrified.
Consumed by fury, Gu Yanci charged at Qin Ming, yet the humiliating reality was that while sweat poured from him like rain, he was also leaving a steady stream behind him.
"This brother just can't stop dripping!" someone marvelled.
Gu Yanci was on the verge of madness. Born of the heavens, when had he ever suffered such degradation? Before his opponent even attacked, his pure yang conscious spiritual light fell into utter disarray.
"As you wish!" Qin Ming said. Sword baleful aura flared as brilliant sword light fused with sacred baleful aura, flashing out to sever the white-robed youth's head with a clean swipe.
Anyone could see that Gu Yanci was genuinely powerful, but his composure had shattered first, sealing his defeat.
With a wretched scream of terror, the conscious spiritual light within his severed head struggled violently, gripped by the chilling shadow of imminent death.
Fortunately, this took place upon the sword-dueling platform rather than the outside world; otherwise, he would truly have perished.
Daoist rhymes descended from the night sky, restoring his wounded body, and he leaped down from the platform, his face deathly pale.
"Just you wait!" Having recovered his spirits, Gu Yanci felt he had suffered a humiliating disgrace. He turned and fled, intent on finding someone to avenge him.
Qin Ming called after him, "Go ahead! Even if you drag your venerable ancestor here, I'll take him on!"
He was now a sword cultivator styled *Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword*; his personality naturally had to match his persona, speaking his mind with bold abandon.
In less than ten breaths, Gu Yanci returned, having changed into black robes. His connections were indeed extensive, for he brought back three experts spanning old, middle-aged, and young generations.
The three were straightforward. Without a single word, they mounted the platform in succession and struck immediately.
This time, Qin Ming showed them full respect. Deploying his sword baleful aura, he engaged each in a fierce contest before delivering the fatal blows—beheading, bisecting, and severing them at the waist one by one.
"This stone man is monstrously strong! Could he actually break into the top sixty? Those three just now were clearly no ordinary figures!"
"He truly lives up to his name, cutting down all opponents with a single sword."
Most of those voicing admiration were vibrant youths, as this range of rankings was precisely where competition was fiercest among their generation.
Possessing exceptionally keen perception, Qin Ming noticed many gazes fixed upon him.
At that moment, Cui Chonghe stirred, preparing to step onto the platform. His father had secretly informed him that a treasure vital to his cultivation path had been lost.
Cui Chongxiao stood quietly within the crowd, his expression serene, making no move for now.
He strictly followed his master's teachings, severing heavenly will with his own mind, undisturbed by external concerns.
Meanwhile, Cui Chonghe leaped onto the sword-dueling platform.
Though he had altered his form and aura to look completely different from his true self, Qin Ming recognized him the moment he made his move.
At present, Cui Chonghe was radiant and brimming with confidence, striding forward amidst bathed immortal light like a supreme deity descending to the mortal dust.
Having mastered three great immortal scriptures and consumed three cauldrons of supreme elixirs concocted by his master, Sun Taichu, he had undergone three complete nirvanas—across his physical form, his spirit, and his cultivation arts.
Having remedied all past flaws and regrets, his conviction was at its peak. Determined to make his mark within the third realm of the New Board, he chose to launch his campaign starting with the sword cultivator before him.
Three thick bands of immortal light swirled around his body, the manifestation of three great immortal scriptures perfected to consummate harmony. He appeared draped in three dazzling divine halos.
With his left hand resting behind his back, the sword cultivator Qin Ming regarded him with total composure. Entangled in old grudges, the two finally stood face to face.
Chapter 440