At first, Qin Ming was somewhat distracted, his mind wandering to the rewards from the New Board. But as several old monsters approached to toast him, he had no choice but to rein in his stray thoughts.
"Fellow Daoist, forgive my earlier slight!" Bodhi Saint walked over. Though he bore the appearance of a youth, every gesture carried the steady gravity of an overlord.
"You are too polite, Brother Dao," the straw man Taiyi replied with a smile.
In the first realm, when both of them had appeared together high above in the Nine Heavens, Bodhi Saint had treated Taiyi like a junior. In the end, however, he had watched Taiyi overturn one powerhouse after another and take the very top of the board.
The Big Red Dragon craned its head over, peering at Bodhi Saint again and again before shrinking back and shaking its head at Little Rulai. "Probably not the old man from our family."
Giant Spirit God stepped forward and said, "Fellow Daoist, that blade strike of yours left a deep impression on me. I believed my fleshly divine light had already reached the level of perfection. When Tianzun exerted his full strength several times, he failed to cut through it. I never expected that a single slash from you would shatter my defense."
Qin Ming said, "I had to pour forth every ounce of my power and unleash my strongest strike just to barely cleave through your fleshly divine light. Brother Dao, you have likely walked the path of Giant Spirit God further than anyone before you."
Everyone liked to be flattered, and Qin Ming understood this well. He smiled and praised the other's formidable cultivation.
Yet these were not empty compliments. The path of Giant Spirit God truly could not be considered a profound Grand Dao; rarely could anyone become an unmatched powerhouse along it. The burly man before him was an outright anomaly.
And who was Tianzun? An immortal body refiner who had achieved the Nine-Turn Golden Body, possessing terrifying offensive might. Yet in the domain of physical bodies, he had lost to Giant Spirit God, which many people found utterly absurd.
"Has this old man become a subject in your conversation?" Tianzun walked over. His black hair reached his waist, his facial features distinct and sharp. Usually overbearing, he now wore a broad smile, remarkably approachable.
Nearby, many had originally intended to come over and offer toasts, but they halted their steps. In their eyes, this clearly belonged to the "high-stakes tier," a circle they could not casually join.
Taiyi, Bodhi Saint, Giant Spirit God, and Tianzun stood together side by side, inspiring awe in many experts.
Elsewhere, however, the atmosphere was lively.
In a gathering like this, many felt like fish in water, carrying their wine cups around to make friends. To them, this was an extraordinary opportunity to build connections.
Those who could make the rankings and enter this palace garden were either veteran powerhouses or standout figures of the younger generation. Not a single mortal walked among them.
Some elderly seniors possessed deep, enigmatic eyes and a celestial aura, conversing about strange legends and anecdotes. Some women were veiled in white mist like true immortals descending to the mortal world, exchanging insights into their cultivation.
High above in the Nine Heavens, jade towers and pavilions stood in picturesque order, making all present seem like beings from the immortal realm.
"Could this be inside Yujing?" someone whispered.
"It is merely a dilapidated outer garden left behind by Yujing," someone informed them, having asked the New Board and received such a reply.
The pavilions and kiosks here were either built of fine jade or cast from secret metal. Sparkling gems and wondrous treasures embedded in the flying eaves and bracket sets shone with blinding splendor, making the grounds look as if bathed in the radiance of the sun and moon, dispelling the darkness of the Night Mist Sea.
Beneath the arched bridges, seven-treasure lotus terraces rested on clear lakes where jade flood dragons swam, and celestial blooms vied for beauty in the gardens, lending the place an even richer immortal grace.
Inside the jade halls, goblets clinked as laughter and pleasant conversation flowed.
"Greetings, Senior!" Zhou Tiandao approached the wooden puppet Realm Faction and bowed with great respect.
In Sky City, he was hailed as a divinely gifted talent. He had presupposed that Realm Faction was an old monster—otherwise, how could he have suffered such a crushing defeat?
Qin Ming, currently discussing the Dao with a Heavenly Immortal as the wooden puppet, felt an immediate wave of relief. Someone had finally arrived to give him a way out.
His other identity, "One Sword," was just as busy. When grandmasters came forward to salute him, they carried themselves with great restraint, brimming with reverence for the sword cultivator who had slaughtered his way through the black pagoda's champions.
Even key figures from top-tier factions came to forge ties, such as direct disciples of Earth Immortal Daoist sanctuaries, experts from Sky City's Cicada Pavilion, and elder figures from the Immortal Palace.
Qin Ming even noticed relatives of acquaintances—for instance, Yao Ruoxian's grandfather, the Supreme Emperor of Dayu, had also arrived and made his identity known.
Qin Ming sighed inwardly. They truly treated him as an Earth Immortal. Unfortunately, once he left the Nine Heavens, this illusion of glory would vanish.
Grandmasters from several millennium-old clans of Night Province also stepped forward one after another to offer toasts, many having attended the banquet as relatives of ranked cultivators.
Among them, Qin Ming spotted a grandmaster of the Cui family, who walked over and bowed respectfully to him.
If they had met in their true bodies back in Night Province, even if they did not draw their blades on the spot, they would at least have faced each other with cold detachment. A scene like this would have been utterly impossible.
All of this stemmed from the glorious battle record he had forged atop the Nine Heavens, commanding everyone's reverence and respect.
This made Qin Ming acutely aware of the importance of status and strength.
Having claimed the top spot across three realms in succession, even the aloof New Board looked upon him with special favor, considering his potential boundless and granting him preferential treatment.
"Yujing has just undergone nirvana, and some of the old mechanisms will gradually begin to operate once more. Do you wish to participate early? Go and try to become a saint."
"Does that mean entering Yujing?" Qin Ming asked.
"Naturally."
"Allow me to consider it." He tactfully declined, having no desire to accept this special treatment and participate ahead of time.
He harbored deep wariness toward that place. Even Heavenly God Liu had fled from it; how could he take the initiative to "enter the city"? The waters in there were simply too deep.
Even if it was only the "embryonic form of Yujing" at present, he could not be careless. He wanted to wait and see if any Earth Immortal-level old monsters ventured inside first.
Not far away, Tianzun spoke with a smile: "Fellow Daoist, here is my jade pendant. If you ever visit Sky City and present this token, I will sweep the couch to welcome you."
Those nearby showed stunned expressions. He had laid his cards on the table; Tianzun had revealed his background, though some had already guessed that he was an ancient Earth Immortal from Sky City.
"By claiming the top rank, even a Great Perfection Earth Immortal treats him with such courtesy. Our generation must work harder!" The fighting spirit of several young cultivators was ignited.
Tianzun said, "Fellow Daoist, I have already attained the Nine-Turn Golden Body and achieved boundless sublimation, reaching the peak realm. As a fellow immortal body refiner, how were you able to take another step forward? Could it be that you forged an entirely new path out of nothing and reached a tenth turn? Theoretically, that should not exist."
Qin Ming replied, "The arts you and I cultivate are different. If measured by your standard of the golden body, I am likely still within the scope of nine turns."
"Impossible!" Tianzun believed there was a strong probability Qin Ming had surpassed nine turns.
Then, Tianzun secretly chanted a mnemonic and transmitted it to Qin Ming. It did not involve the core cultivation technique of the Nine-Turn Golden Body, serving merely as a testing method.
When Tianzun demonstrated it himself, layers of spiritual divine light radiated around his body, dividing into nine distinct tiers. He explained that this was already considered the ultimate display of a body refiner.
"Fellow Daoist, give it a try. Channel your body-refining methods and see how many layers of spiritual radiance appear." He desperately wanted to know whether Taiyi had truly surpassed legend.
Instantly, even the clinking of wine cups in the far distance faded away. Clearly, many people were closely observing what was happening here.
"Very well!" Qin Ming nodded. He also wanted to see his own state.
Though he had divided into three bodies, as long as he compressed his cultivation to the first realm, it would be more than enough for the present moment.
Tianzun sighed. "Fellow Daoist, you truly are cautious. What harm is there in revealing your Earth Immortal methods?"
Qin Ming smiled and did not reply.
His body began to glow. Layer upon layer of spiritual radiance lit up, surging straight to the ninth tier. Then, the nine-colored brilliance blended together. With a booming resonance, a tenth radiant halo rose into being!
*Hiss!*
Many gasped in shock. Had he truly shattered the limit of immortal body refiners?
Tianzun exclaimed in marvel, "Indeed, there are anomalies in this world! Some have always pursued this depth of foundation. Predecessors likely touched upon this realm, though none know whether they ever punctured that mythological layer of window paper."
The scene erupted into an uproar. No one had anticipated that Taiyi would be monstrous to this degree; this truly counted as carving out a path forward from nothingness.
Several old monsters cast burning gazes in his direction.
Fortunately, no one could pry into others' secrets here. The Dao rhymes draped from the New Board blanketed the area; otherwise, those old fellows would have used their gazes to turn Qin Ming inside out.
"Fellow Daoist, how did you achieve this?" Tianzun bowed deeply to ask for guidance.
Qin Ming pondered briefly, then said, "In short, it can be summarized in four words: breaking down, then establishing anew."
"This..." Many looked astonished. Naturally, they grasped the meaning, but it also implied a tortuous, treacherous process—a path ordinary people could never hope to traverse.
Though Li Qingxu had not ascended the sword-dueling platform to challenge anyone and was not on the board, he knew many acquaintances and had accompanied them inside. Hearing this, he trembled slightly with excitement.
Was this not the exact path their lineage was currently taking?
Beside him, Cao Tian remained silent at first, then nodded as well.
Qin Ming had not been talking entirely out of turn. His first realm was visibly stronger, which was likely tied to that previous physical disintegration, through which he had adjusted the silk book method until it reached absolute, flawless harmony.
Next, many began discussing the path of breaking down and establishing anew, with even genuine Earth Immortals joining the conversation.
Bodhi Saint could no longer hold back and asked directly, "Fellow Daoist, forgive my presumption, but how did you shatter yourself and then revive?"
Qin Ming thought for a moment and said, "High above in the Nine Heavens, draw astral wind and thunderfire into the body, smash yourself to pieces against the ground, and if you survive the tribulation without dying, you will probably succeed."
Back then, the mortal tribulation he had endured would probably require heavenly lightning striking the crown of their heads if applied to these old monsters.
So he had not spoken falsely either.
The entire venue fell dead silent.
Both Changxi and the Heavenly Immortal felt like rolling their eyes. How twisted did someone have to be to do that?
Though Tianzun and Bodhi Saint were tempted, they would never blindly accept his words at face value, for no matter how one looked at it, this sounded like courting death.
In the end, an Earth Immortal sighed. "No ordinary man, no ordinary might. Indeed, it takes extraordinary means to forge such an achievement!"
In any case, he would never seek his own death; such opportunities were best left to extraordinary men.
The New Board silently recorded this in text, intending to let the core successors of Yujing test it in the future.
Only after a long time did the discussion on the "path of breaking and establishing" come to an end.
Afterward, someone brought up a very realistic and pressing problem.
"Everyone, we are all 'ill' now. Many climbed onto the sword-dueling platform while bearing afflictions. How can this situation be resolved?"
In truth, many old monsters had run into severe problems in their bodies and were lying low, never showing themselves atop the Nine Heavens.
On the whole, the rankings here could not represent the true state of affairs across the lands touched by Yujing's reach.
Even though the younger generation had not been affected for the moment, not all divinely gifted geniuses had taken to the sword-dueling platform.
For example, Tang Yushang of Taixu, the true figure behind the Mind Ape of the demon race, the mysterious Jin Puti, Chunyangzi, and others—these supreme "blazing suns" had all left Night Province when the great upheaval of heaven and earth occurred, and they had not come to compete for rankings on the New Board this time.
Even within Night Province, Jiang Ran, Li Qingyue, and others had not appeared.
The New Board responded: "Survival of the fittest. Beings unable to keep pace with the era will naturally be eliminated."
The text it displayed was icy, even striking people as bloody and devoid of any warmth. It provided no effective cure, leaving cultivators to endure it on their own.
Someone solemnly asked why this state of affairs had come about.
The New Board manifested lines of text: "As you surmised, the grand environment of heaven and earth has shifted. Order is being realigned, and Dao rhymes are changing. The truest aspect of the world is unfolding; all things shall be reshaped."
The mood turned somber. If they could not survive this tribulation, some powerhouses might be crippled, or even perish!
Even several Earth Immortals knit their brows deeply. They had come despite their illnesses specifically to seek a solution, never expecting to receive such an answer.
Upon the dark jade tables, jade chalices were filled with fine nectar, the liquid shimmering with flowing light and fragrant aroma. Yet many felt the wine had lost all flavor as they drank.
The New Board displayed another line: "No matter the time or the era, heaven and earth are never mistaken. You must adjust your own errant Daos. So long as you forge ahead proactively to pioneer new paths, so long as you are strong enough, nothing will be an obstacle."
Finally, it announced that rewards could be claimed at any time.
The oppressive atmosphere was at last broken, and many filled with anticipation.
The crowd dispersed, communicating with the New Board to redeem various scriptures, opportunities, and treasures.
Many of the ranked youths cried out in excitement, their hearts overflowing with joy, feeling that their journey had not been in vain!
As for the old fellows, perhaps because they kept their emotions hidden, or perhaps because their unresolved bodily ailments soured their mood, they showed little expression.
Qin Ming was very satisfied. The New Board had not been stingy; it had treated him with immense favor.
The opportunities he had previously coveted—such as having the Law Realm shine upon his body to inspect his shortcomings, having Dao chains encircle him to temper his spirit, body-refining true scriptures...
Originally, he could choose only one opportunity from this set. Now, there was no need to choose; the New Board gifted them all to him, which far exceeded a mere doubling.
Furthermore, the rare scriptures involved had originally been offered only in partial form. Now, with the rewards of all three realms stacked together, he was granted the complete versions.
"The *Extreme Dao Golden Body* is divided into an upper and lower volume, and now both are given to me!" Qin Ming was overjoyed. He already knew that this was the immortal scripture cultivated by Tianzun, carrying an illustrious origin and leading directly to the Heavenly Immortal realm.
Qin Ming already possessed the *Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao*. When limited to a single choice, he had given up on the true scripture Tianzun practiced, yet now he was met with this pleasant surprise.
"Old New, you're truly generous!" he could not help but praise.
Immediately after, his pupils contracted, stunned once more.
"Hiss... The four damaged jade pages from the outer pure land are regarded as one of the three most difficult true scriptures to cultivate on the immortal path, and now I have received the complete text."
Earlier, when he considered choosing this, the New Board had offered only three pages. Now, everything was no longer an issue. Of course, with such profound scripture meanings, he could only comprehend the first two or three pages at present.
"The wishing well is on the list too? Where is it?" Qin Ming's spirits instantly lifted, and he said, "I want to make a wish right now: grant me ten more wishing wells!"
"Are you out of your @#!*ing mind!" The New Board could endure it no longer, displaying crude text.
Qin Ming let it pass and chose not to argue with it; after all, it had given him far too much.
"Empowerment from the crown?" Seeing this reward, he felt tempted, but also deeply wary. Much like the option of having "Dao chains" encircle the body, it likely carried severe risks.
Qin Ming mused, "If I can't enjoy it myself, I'll give it to the Myriad Gods Banner—no, the yellow imperial parasol—and let it test the waters for errors."
Many had already completed their exchanges, all beaming with satisfaction and smiles.
The New Board transported them back to the divine city in the Night Mist Sea, departing from the sprawling jade pavilions of Yujing's outer garden.
"Ancestor, disaster has struck!"
"Sect Master, something terrible has happened!"
...
The crowd was stunned. The moment they returned, numerous figures rushed over, secretly reporting news to several elderly seniors.
"What happened?" an Earth Immortal old monster asked.
"Our home has been ransacked!"
"What the #!" The old monster's face instantly twisted in fury.
"What's the situation? Does this mean there were great opportunities even without coming up to the Nine Heavens?" The Big Red Dragon craned its neck, poking its massive head out to eavesdrop.
One after another, it caught keywords like great medicines and fortuities, all relating to Earth Immortals. Its eyes immediately turned red, and it muttered to itself, "If I had known, why on earth did I bother coming to the heavens!"
It extended a dragon claw and slapped its own thick leg until it turned blue.
In an instant, countless murderous gazes fell squarely upon it!
Chapter 450