"The duel is over?" Qin Ming had already unleashed his sword—how could he possibly pull it back!
Even if the black pagoda secretly took human form and stepped into the arena right now, it would have to take this slash first.
The blond youth's flesh and blood had completely sacralized. Densely packed, mysterious symbols shone with blinding brilliance, bursting from his body and illuminating the night sky like a god or fiend coming into the world.
This display of power stunned many of the young cultivators.
Before the black pagoda, a group of young men and women were filled with awe, many of their eyes burning with fanaticism as they gazed upon this saint from a supreme sanctuary. He could look down upon all his peers with utter condescension.
Qin Ming's magnificent sword radiance split the night curtain, as if cleaving the dark dome of heaven squarely in two. The night mist erupted outward with a deafening roar.
Outside the blond youth's body, those dazzling symbols coalesced into a majestic golden figure that soared into the sky like an attacking god-fiend to clash head-on against the resplendent sword baleful aura!
"I said, it is over," the black pagoda rumbled. Its ripples of Dao rhyme were eerie and terrifying, surging like an ocean ready to engulf the entire grotto-heaven ruins.
At the same time, the New Board in the night sky flared with light, spreading ripples that appeared gentle at first, but soon unleashed sounds like crumbling mountains and crashing tsunamis, as if to shake down the nine heavens.
Both intervened to shield the prodigies of their respective camps.
In the night sky, two tidal surges collided. Ultimately, both Qin Ming and the blond youth were swept away by the Dao rhymes backing them.
The full-scale duels of the third realm had drawn to a close.
Swirled in multicolored sword baleful aura, sword qi soaring to the sky, Qin Ming felt deep regret that the great battle could not continue, having been artificially cut short.
By now, he had truly immersed himself in the mindset of a sword cultivator—belligerent, eager to sweep away all formidable foes, and wanting nothing more than to upend this foreign youth suspected to be the "Lord of Yujing" with a single slash!
Before the black pagoda, the blond youth stood bathed in golden runes. His flesh was translucent, and the sacralizing power was still expanding, taking a long time to subside.
Many youngsters knew that the saint had truly met his match.
"Oleg, how are you?" asked a white-robed young woman who stepped forward. Even her shoes and stockings were pure snow-white, unstained by a speck of dust. She had waist-length silver hair and skin like congealed jade. Her standing was clearly exalted, allowing her to address the blond man by name as an equal.
"I'm fine. He is indeed a formidable opponent—perhaps one of Yujing's saints!" the blond youth, Oleg, replied.
The onlookers were startled. That wasn't an old monster after all?
Elena, the white-robed girl, nodded, her long eyelashes fluttering over deep, dark eyes. "This is Yujing, after all, glorious in its prime. Even if it disintegrated once, a few saints have likely survived. He is truly extraordinary—defeating five legendary figures single-handedly, after all."
The other youths kept silent; none had the standing to interrupt a conversation between two saints.
Qin Ming steered the wooden boat wreathed in azure mist back into the Yujing camp.
Immediately, a crowd came forward to greet him, showering him with flattery.
"Senior, your cultivation reaches the divine..."
Qin Ming had held off five legendary figures single-handedly and slain them all; the feat was simply too brilliant.
Anyone who had once sparred with "One Sword" on the sword-dueling platform now felt honored, their faces flushed with pride. In the future, every encounter would serve as bragging rights.
None of them considered themselves to have suffered a crushing defeat; if asked, they would say: "I once had the honor of battling a peerless sword immortal on the sword-dueling platform!"
Cui Chonghe was too proud to come over, but the elders of the Cui clan were beaming so broadly that the wrinkles on their faces smoothed out, boasting about the feats of "One Sword."
Praising this mighty sword cultivator was, in their minds, no different from praising one of their own.
Even several Earth Immortal old monsters stepped forward to converse with Qin Ming.
Everyone offered their goodwill with reasonable restraint, not pressing him excessively.
Acting the part of a venerable, highly respected senior, Qin Ming nodded and smiled from time to time before making his way through the crowd.
He retreated far to the rear, standing aboard the wooden boat floating in the Night Mist Sea, finally finding peace and quiet.
Qin Ming took out the Myriad Gods Banner to study it here. He always felt this weapon had an eerie quality; if any hidden hazards lurked within, it was better to trigger them early so he could petition the New Board to suppress them.
He tried to resonate with it. Instantly, his body shuddered violently, and his Pure Yang consciousness trembled. It had been a long time since he had experienced such a fierce impact.
His spirit field fluctuated, his mind turned unsteady, and a tearing pain racked him.
Fortunately, as his cultivation deepened by the day, his mental fortitude had grown increasingly formidable, allowing him to withstand the onslaught of chaotic emotions.
"Could it truly be an invaluable treasure that has merely gathered dust?" Qin Ming was quite surprised.
Not long ago, he felt he had made a huge loss in this battle; now, his spirits instantly lifted.
Resonating with it carefully, he sensed sacred baleful aura associated with chill, extinction, and malice within the Myriad Gods Banner. This was exceedingly terrifying, making him doubt whether he could refine it.
After all, certain sacred baleful auras were genuinely unfit to be fused into the physical body—such as the true deathly quiet heavenly light.
"Could this be a sacred baleful aura of the death domain? If so, it belongs solely inside a weapon."
Sacred baleful auras naturally severed a cultivator's lifespan; if this was a death sacred baleful aura, it could not be carelessly absorbed and refined right now, or it might torture him to death.
Qin Ming keenly perceived that the Myriad Gods Banner was rejecting him; there might be a remnant weapon spirit within.
As he resonated further and grasped the method to refine the banner, it suddenly turned dangerous.
In an instant, the Myriad Gods Banner fluttered without wind. Entity after entity of consciousness surged forth—bloodthirsty, mad, and tyrannical, fiercely attacking Qin Ming.
"Is this one of those ancient cursed weapons that hungers to slay its master?" Qin Ming gave a cold snort. The eight-colored sword baleful aura rotated, ruthlessly detonating the consciousness entities lunging at him and obliterating them on the spot.
In the blink of an eye, he slaughtered nearly a hundred relatively powerful soul bodies with decisive strikes, causing even the Myriad Gods Banner to fall still. Did this sword cultivator truly not care about it? Doing this would weaken it further and make restoring its rank even harder.
Qin Ming's stance was uncompromising. "If you cannot serve me, of what use are you!"
It was the truth. For a weapon of unknown origin that might be a supreme treasure fallen from its original rank, harboring malice toward him would spell catastrophe should it fully awaken one day.
The Myriad Gods Banner turned deathly still; no more soul bodies flew out to attack him.
Qin Ming said, "If you obey, then in the present environment, you actually have boundless prospects and a splendid future."
This was no empty boast. Now that the Night Ruins were drawing near and myriad monsters roamed the night, obliterating a few consciousness entities in the Myriad Gods Banner was nothing; they could be replenished at any time.
In the Night Ruins, whenever deep night fell, coffins floated across the ocean, corpses bobbed with the waves, and danger lurked everywhere. Even the heavens would crack open, dripping blood and raining down severed heads.
Against such a backdrop, conditions were simply ideal for a weapon like the Myriad Gods Banner to grow. If it was indeed a supreme treasure covered in dust, it would surely shed its dross, unleash its radiance, and illuminate the heavens.
Especially since the Night Ruins possessed thirty-six layers of heaven.
Seeing that it had calmed down, Qin Ming held it in his palm to inspect it: a miniature banner no longer than a palm, its pitch-black metal staff inscribed with patterns, its ink-dark cloth bearing faded, damaged designs.
He began refining it, but to his surprise, it resisted stubbornly, causing his first attempt to end in failure.
"If that's how it is, then you're useless!" Qin Ming didn't want to waste time and threw it into the rag's inner space.
Yet, at that very moment, he clearly sensed the deathly Myriad Gods Banner revive, growing restless and uneasy, trembling faintly.
He could even detect a faint, blurry consciousness attempting to communicate with him.
Qin Ming discovered that while it remained deeply reluctant, it finally yielded to being refined. This was a pleasant surprise.
"Because of the rag?"
Qin Ming caught on. The Myriad Gods Banner seemed deeply terrified and unwilling to remain inside the space of Old Cloth's rag.
Old Cloth remained plain and unremarkable, without a ripple.
"The Myriad Gods Banner is truly extraordinary; it can actually perceive the terror of Old Cloth!" Qin Ming was amazed.
Holding the Myriad Gods Banner, he completed its initial refinement despite its lingering resistance.
Qin Ming communicated with it secretly through resonance, saying, "You look far too mournful and ominous. Can you change your form?"
The Myriad Gods Banner ignored him, its weak consciousness feeling that he was pushing his luck and asking for too much.
Qin Ming said, "What normal person uses a banner? Are you summoning souls or conducting a funeral?"
The Myriad Gods Banner twitched, as if expressing vehement displeasure.
Qin Ming figured that if it weren't so exceedingly weak, it would probably strike him and send him off to the afterlife instead.
"Can you transform into a yellow imperial parasol?" Qin Ming felt the banner form was truly grim and inauspicious. What normal person would use it as a weapon?
He reckoned that whoever forged this weapon, even if not an unmatched arch-demon, was certainly no virtuous soul.
The Myriad Gods Banner fell dead silent, offering no response.
Qin Ming decided he would study it later when he had time, so he put it away.
"Hmm?" He noticed the dust-covered weapon stirring again, clearly loathing the interior of the rag's space.
Qin Ming paid it no heed. Yet moments later, to his astonishment, the Myriad Gods Banner truly transformed, taking the shape of a magnificent canopy from an emperor's ceremonial guard, no longer so grim and ghostly.
He was genuinely stunned; an offhand remark had actually prompted the banner to alter its form!
Qin Ming observed that the yellow imperial parasol was decorated with dragon and phoenix motifs, topped with cloud patterns, and dotted with the sun, moon, and stars, conveying the meaning of "upholding the Heavenly Dao above, sheltering the myriad people below."
"Very good!" Qin Ming was quite pleased. At last, the treasure appeared sacred and auspicious—at least on the surface.
However, he dared not take it out right now. He couldn't let anyone see it like this, so he left it inside the rag for now!
From the grotto-heaven ruins, intense sounds of dueling echoed.
The battle had not ended after all; Grandmasters were clashing!
While no one was fighting in the third realm anymore, duels were underway in the fourth and fifth realms, and they were heated indeed.
In truth, virtually no one entered the arena in the sixth and seventh realms, because fighting at those levels required battling in one's true body in bloody combat, and none of the old monsters were willing to take the risk.
Comparatively, when the elders severed avatars, even if those avatars were defeated and slain in the earlier realms, the losses were bearable and caused little lasting harm to their true selves.
There were far fewer combatants in the fifth realm than in the fourth, but battles were indeed taking place.
That Big Red Dragon from Pugong had actually stepped into the ring, facing a rather divine silver dragon opposite it.
"The Dragon Mother, a peerless expert of the seventh realm, has entered the fray as well." Before the black pagoda, several elders looked grim. She was an illustrious giant among dragonkind.
In truth, she had only agreed to descend after the black pagoda promised substantial benefits and personally invited her; otherwise, she wouldn't have bothered in the least.
The Big Red Dragon had no idea what the title "Dragon Mother" signified. It merely saw a shapely female dragon flapping sacred dragon wings as she gracefully descended into the arena.
"We are both dragons..." it began, attempting to curry favor.
And then it was pummeled violently. Right from the start, it met a tempestuous onslaught.
The Big Red Dragon was shocked to realize it was genuinely no match. After suffering a succession of heavy blows, it grew furious: "Do you truly think I can't do anything to you?"
In an instant, it became exceedingly dangerous as a terrifying power began to awaken within its body.
The Dragon Mother immediately unsealed herself to counter it.
Yet no one anticipated that the Dragon Mother would ultimately be pierced by an exceptionally terrifying beam of light, bathed in blood, and forced to flee the battlefield in frantic haste.
On the other side, the Big Red Dragon was scared out of its wits, turning around and bolting as well.
It hadn't realized that the Dragon Mother was an Earth Immortal-level being, a whole realm above it.
The power it had awakened just now was not its own, but Chaos force sealed within its body by the silk book method patriarch as a trump card.
"The Dragon Mother was actually defeated!"
"That Big Red Dragon... ran away too!"
Before the black pagoda, the crowd stood in dazed disbelief. A sacred dragon like the Dragon Mother had unsealed her power, yet had been grievously injured. What kind of power was that? It sent chills running down their spines.
The Yujing side was likewise stirred into a commotion; even the Earth Immortal old monsters wore solemn expressions.
"That contemporary sage who arrived riding a dragon... he is truly terrifying. Is this the legendary Chaos force of the seventh realm? Breathtaking!"
Far in the rear, Qin Ming was astonished as well. Though he had yet to meet that sage in person, the man's seventh-realm heavenly light force had appeared beforehand, living up to its reputation as truly terrifying to the extreme.
The Big Red Dragon looked back and realized it was a false alarm. The Chaos force left behind by the old man had heavily wounded the opponent and frightened her off.
"Though my sage is sluggish and takes his sweet time traveling, his combat strength, if not supreme in the seventh realm, is definitely at the very pinnacle," the Big Red Dragon thought, holding its head high as its confidence returned.
Soon after, Qin Ming entered the arena again. Under the New Board's arrangement, he boarded a wooden boat in the form of a scarecrow, descending upon the ruins in the identity of Taiyi.
The duels in the first realm had originally been deserted, with almost no participants. But once Taiyi entered the fray, he kicked up an overwhelming storm.
In his clashes with others, he ended battles in barely two or three blade strikes, sweeping through them like dry weeds before a gale!
"What, none of you are willing to use Longevity Leaves to ransom your lives?"
Qin Ming hadn't expected that everyone in the first-realm duels would show no fear of death.
Soon, he understood the situation: for those old fellows, losing an avatar at the lowest realm carried very little consequence.
Annoyed, Qin Ming held nothing back, unleashing the supreme methods of an immortal-path body refiner—power that in truth surpassed Four Imperials force. Who could block such blade light?
Once he went all out, he practically felled opponents in a single blade stroke each.
Before the black pagoda, many refused to believe it. Killed in a single strike? That defied all sense!
Even old monsters of the seventh realm had some among them sneak into the arena, trying to challenge the terrifying blade light of this figure named Taiyi.
Reality was brutal. Unless they fought on the move, no one could withstand that blade in a direct clash!
Even the two saints, Oleg and Elena, dared not enter the arena, deeply sensing that this body refiner held an absolute advantage in the first realm.
More importantly, the black pagoda had warned them against dueling this person in the first realm.
"So I am not a sword cultivator after all." After defeating foreign rivals in unbroken succession, although Qin Ming gained no Longevity Leaves, he completely walked out of the sword cultivator mindset.
His strongest technique was—Hunyuan force!
Qin Ming pondered that he was indeed immensely powerful in the first realm, likely because he had once undergone disintegration. His silk book method was completely flawless, having reached the most consummate realm of this stage.
"I thought 'One Sword' slaughtering five legendary experts was already shocking enough, but compared to this Taiyi, the latter's dominance seems even greater—utterly unshakeable."
In truth, people from both camps thought the same.
The competition in the first realm fell completely silent; no one stepped forward anymore.
Not long after, Qin Ming was arranged by the New Board to appear as a wooden puppet, challenging the black pagoda's side in the second realm.
This time, he displayed the methods of the esoteric sect's path to godhood.
"Damn it, this wooden puppet—Realm Faction—is truly a hard bone to gnaw on, holding an unbroken winning streak up to now."
Below the black pagoda, many frowned.
In the end, Qin Ming hooked a big fish. Elena, the white-robed girl, entered the arena. As a saint, her renown was immense, sparking heated discussion the moment she appeared.
Qin Ming was surprised: "I didn't get that foreign youth styling himself the Lord of Yujing, but this woman's status seems quite high too—their side is in an uproar."
He had already confirmed that the blond youth he encountered earlier was the so-called "Lord of Yujing," but unfortunately their clash had not been fought to the end.
The white-robed girl's face was flawless, her dark eyes spirited and piercing. After introducing herself, she asked, "Who are you? A peerless Earth Immortal of Yujing, or... a saint?"
"A rogue cultivator—Realm Faction," Qin Ming replied.
The battle erupted. The white-robed girl was exceptionally powerful, rivaling even Heavenly Immortal.
At this moment, Qin Ming wondered: could Heavenly Immortal be a "saint" of Yujing?
With such a rare opportunity and a big fish finally in the arena, Qin Ming naturally went all out, opening his inner landscape to reveal his divine pure land.
When Elena charged forward, intent on piercing this sacred pure land, Qin Ming erupted. Reluctant to display his ninefold sacred baleful aura directly, he placed it quietly in the depths of the pure land, tracing back to the origin and manifesting the power of tribulation qi.
Within the pure land, an ancient era when Heavenly Gods and Heavenly Immortals walked the world seemed to reappear. Strands of tribulation qi cascaded down, severely wounding Elena—shredding her white robe, dimming her sacralized flesh, erasing her golden runes, and blasting through her body.
Drenched in blood, she staggered back and collapsed inside the divine pure land.
Before the black pagoda, an uproar broke out. A saint had actually been defeated!
"Do you want to ransom yourself?" Qin Ming asked.
"Ransom my life," Elena corrected him. Even in such dire straits, she maintained a serene demeanor and a sacred aura. Faint golden runes rekindled in her flesh like a reviving deity, healing her injuries.
"Same thing!" Qin Ming scored a major deal, receiving ten Longevity Leaves in one go.
"Defeated... Even a saint from our side was no match for him?"
In the end, the blond youth did not enter the arena, having been held back.
"This realm of Yujing is truly eerie. Taiyi, Realm Faction, and Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword are all unbelievably strong."
Before the black pagoda, several people sighed.
After several more duels in the fourth and fifth realms, the experts on both sides ceased fighting.
The black pagoda spoke solemnly: "Pardon the intrusion; we shall take our leave. We are not your enemies, but merely passing through by accident. If fate wills it, we shall discuss the Dao again."
It crossed the Night Mist Sea and departed into the distance.
On Yujing's side, some pessimistic cultivators had initially feared a bloody war between supreme lineages, never expecting the storm to settle so swiftly.
"Our paths shall cross again in the future," characters appeared upon the New Board.
Moments later, it led everyone into an expanse of jasper halls and jade pavilions, where immortal blossoms flourished, medicinal herbs carpeted the ground, and flying immortal lights drifted amidst myriad wonders.
Soon, palace maidens served fine wine and rare delicacies.
The New Board flared with light, reiterating its promise that all rewards would be doubled.
Qin Ming's three identities were all present: the scarecrow, the wooden puppet, and the stone man. With his mental consciousness divided into three, having three versions of himself gaze at one another was a bizarre experience.
In truth, others were in similar situations—for instance, Guanghan and Changxi were actually the same person, and Giant Spirit God and Ferocious Beast were one and the same.
An Earth Immortal old monster walked over in person, warmly clinking cups with Qin Ming's sword cultivator persona, "One Sword."
Heavenly Immortal also appeared, raising a cup with a smile toward "Realm Faction."
Qin Ming remained serene, fully carrying the bearing of a peerless expert, though deep down he felt a stir of excitement, already contemplating his various rewards.
For him, the battle above the nine heavens had completely concluded; it was time to reap his rich harvest.
Chapter 449