Truly unheard of and never before seen. Qin Ming wondered whether Yujing's trials were always this peculiar. Not uttering a single word, yet giving away a saint-grade Dao companion?
The Butterfly Maiden stared as Her Highness's fair forehead flushed and swelled into a large bump. Struck dumb, she thought, *Could her skull be cracked?*
Outside the annex, the array spirit asked, "Is that really what you had in mind? The younger generation sure has nimble minds—daring to dream and daring to fight, even offering a saint as a reward. But isn't that a rather steep price?"
The New Board was thoroughly displeased and retorted, "What does this have to do with me? Wasn't this God-Battling Platform arranged by you?"
The woman in white was a saint it valued beyond measure, one who had already received Yujing's legacy. How could she possibly be bartered away? No one had the right to decide her life.
Inside the annex, the floor-sweeping old man, Li Cang, was petrified. Looking at Xiao Ba covered in blood—with blood still bubbling from his chest and his peach-blossom eyes beaten until they swelled like steamed buns—the elder froze completely in place.
"You mean to say... he changed routes and took yours?"
"Yes!" Li Heng nodded, tottering forward before flopping onto the ground on his rear.
Li Cang was lost in thought. That fellow had taken his descendant's path and fought all the way to the end. If he ran into Her Highness, what would happen? Hopefully, all remained peaceful.
Li Heng said, "Old Ancestor, don't do anything rash. That guy might have an immense background. Furthermore, he cleared the hardest trial solely on his own. I suspect his future achievements won't fall short of Her Highness's."
"Mm. Did you take the initiative to get acquainted with him?" Li Cang asked.
"No discord, no concord." Li Heng felt like crying. The gaping hole in his chest had only just healed, costing him an extremely precious, high-grade elixir.
Li Cang's brows knitted tightly. "The crucial part is that he took your path. Hopefully no misunderstandings arose between him and Her Highness."
He felt for his snow-white conch, pondering how to explain the situation. His earlier intelligence had been terribly flawed—he had even misreported which path the new challenger had taken.
Perhaps he ought to rush over in person!
*Has Yujing fallen upon hard times and grown desperate to recruit exceptional talent, or is this another deception?* Qin Ming harbored doubts.
After all, the New Board was capable of anything. It had clearly promised rewards, yet ended up duping him into clearing trials.
*Old Huang!* Qin Ming secretly communicated with the dust-laden supreme treasure.
At first, the yellow imperial parasol did not even realize he was calling it, finding the nickname far too casual.
It was only when Qin Ming switched to a different form of address, saying, "Old Wan, I'm calling you."
"Hm?" The Myriad Gods Banner gave an utterly indifferent, standoffish response.
Qin Ming said, "In your weakened state, can you suppress this white-robed woman? If you pull it off, I'll credit you with great merit and let you stay outside."
The moment it heard it could leave the space within the rag, the Myriad Gods Banner instantly perked up. Far more enthusiastic than before, it gave two vigorous shakes to indicate it was no problem.
"Lock her down for me!" Qin Ming directed, telling it to pin down the white-robed woman.
In truth, the Myriad Gods Banner was currently in terrible shape, and even it lacked confidence. Yet it went all out anyway. In an instant, black mist billowed skyward and dark light surged forth, stopping just short of carving the words 'demonic treasure' across its face.
Sensing something amiss, the Butterfly Maiden rushed onto the God-Battling Platform, glaring at him with intense vigilance.
To facilitate its strike, the Myriad Gods Banner manifested in its strongest, original form. Its pitch-black fabric expanded dramatically, sweeping forward like a coil of black rope.
The woman in white had just suffered a heavy blow to the head. Her mental field was shaking violently, stars danced before her eyes, and she was teetering on the verge of fainting. Consequently, caught entirely off guard, she was instantly restrained.
The banner fabric bound her firmly in place like a black cord woven of runes.
As for the Mind Ape and Intent Horse, both were negative, ferocious auras Qin Ming had unleashed in a short burst. Possessing terrifying momentum, they were difficult to sustain and were promptly absorbed and dispelled by him.
"What are you doing? Let Her Highness go!" The Butterfly Maiden panicked. No matter how she looked at it, this resembled a demonic incursion. That strange treasure, surging with dark radiance and towering black mist, had actually bound Her Highness.
Qin Ming said, "It is time for you to fulfill your promise."
The Butterfly Maiden was struck dumb. Was this fellow so utterly uncouth? So impatient—truly terrifying!
"Old Wan, no need to strangle her so tightly!" Even Qin Ming found it somewhat unbearable to watch.
Heavenly God gradually regained her senses. Even though she was usually steady and aloof, she could no longer maintain her calm. She was actually bound by a black runic cord, unable to break free.
"You... can't mess around!" The Butterfly Maiden's voice trembled.
Upon hearing the Butterfly Maiden's words, Heavenly God, the Yujing saint, also turned pale. Her already battered white garments were now in even greater disarray, filling her heart with intense unease.
"I knew it. You lot don't keep your word and want to renege on your promise," Qin Ming said discontentedly. Shoving the Butterfly Maiden aside, he grabbed the white-robed woman and dashed toward the exit of the God-Battling Platform.
Wielding his Chaos sword baleful aura, he moved at extreme speed toward the branch as thick as a mountain range deep in the annex, drawing near the colossal divine flower.
Qin Ming tossed the white-robed woman aside and stepped onto the flower—which was wreathed in immortal mist and rippling with sacred light like water—preparing to pluck it.
Whether deception was involved or not, he would simply follow his heart.
"Your goal is that?" Even though the Butterfly Maiden possessed translucent wings and could truly fly, she was still two beats slower in pursuing Qin Ming.
"What else did you think?" Qin Ming replied.
The Butterfly Maiden went slack-jawed, completely frozen in shock.
The white-robed woman looked displeased. She had actually been tossed beside the flower without a second thought, cast aside like an old shoe.
To think that as a distinguished disciple of Yujing, revered as Her Highness, who among her peers dared to underestimate her? Yet this fellow had casually tossed her away. If word of such treatment got out, no one would believe it.
Yet she was experiencing it firsthand, and he could not have cared less.
In fact, every look and word from him practically shouted that she and the Butterfly Maiden resembled swindlers, hardly trustworthy, and were thus treated with caution and disdain.
Naturally, Qin Ming had to take precautions. Once outside the God-Battling Platform, he might not be a match for the white-robed woman, whose cultivation realm was definitely higher than his.
That was why he had consulted Old Huang to ask whether it could suppress her.
Snapping out of her daze, the Butterfly Maiden asked, "You went so far as to cast Her Highness aside just to obtain this flower?"
She had naturally realized that there was some misunderstanding at play. Had they been talking past each other from the very beginning?
The woman in white was displeased. The matter was already abundantly clear; why was her handmaid still harping on this instead of noticing that she was still lying on the ground?
The Butterfly Maiden hurriedly rushed over and helped her up.
Bound tightly, her slender figure constricted, the white-robed woman felt thoroughly unpresentable. For a core disciple of Yujing to be captured like this was an unprecedented embarrassment in her life.
In fact, from the moment the battle began, she had known the person before her was definitely not a Li family scion. His cultivated arts did not match, and he was far too formidable. If Li Heng possessed such strength, the Li family would never have acted so humbly in the past.
This colossal divine flower possessed thirty-six petals, all as radiant as morning clouds and bursting with fragrance. Though they appeared tender, when Qin Ming tried to pluck them, he could not budge them in the slightest.
In fact, he was jolted back off the flower.
The white-robed woman spoke, "This is a divine flower borne by Yujing's Great Dao Tree. Your efforts are futile."
Qin Ming glanced at her sideways and said, "You claim to be... my wife? Then help me pluck it."
"Who claimed that!" Heavenly God's face grew unnatural.
"Didn't you say so yourselves? Is the so-called 'willing to accept defeat' just empty talk?" Qin Ming asked.
"There is a misunderstanding here! We mistook your identity!" the Butterfly Maiden hastily explained.
Qin Ming nodded. "Oh, so another childhood sweetheart was supposed to come? Don't tell me it was that Li Heng. If so, your taste isn't particularly high."
The Butterfly Maiden said, "That's not it at all! It was purely a misunderstanding, which is why Her Highness dueled with you."
Qin Ming looked at the white-robed woman. "Be that as it may, what is done is done, and we fought as agreed. How about this: to keep your Dao heart intact, once you help me harvest this medicine, our wager will be wiped clean and laid to rest."
With her dark hair fluttering, slender waist, and long legs, the white-robed woman looked as though she were sculpted from moonlight even in captivity, her entire being glowing. She said, "Until the designated moment arrives, this divine flower cannot be harvested to brew medicine. Presently, it is solely for disciples to cultivate in seclusion."
Qin Ming said, "Could it be you don't wish to turn the page, and that's why you refuse to harvest the medicine?"
The woman in white felt her chest tighten in frustration, wishing she could punch him ten times. His words made it sound as though she were desperate to cling to him. As Yujing's most core inheritor, how desperate would she have to be to throw herself at someone like this?
After much agonizing, Li Cang finally led Xiao Ba along a detour to the depths of the annex. The moment the elder and youth showed their faces, they were greeted by a scene that made them question their very reality.
Li Cang's withered, yellow hair drifted without wind. At his advanced age, his old heart trembled. *Her Highness was actually tied up by someone?!*
Li Heng stood stiff as a clay sculpture or wooden carving, his jaw hanging open, utterly unable to believe his eyes. *Could this be a hallucination?*
He rubbed his swollen peach-blossom eyes and confirmed he wasn't mistaken. Her Highness was indeed a prisoner, bound by black cord biting into her jade-white arms, her slender waist looking on the verge of snapping.
He could not help but stare at Qin Ming in utter disbelief. Though he had once called this man brother and sought to befriend him, the scene before him was simply too much of a shock.
In Li Heng's eyes, Her Highness was peerlessly beautiful, uniquely gifted, and supremely aloof. How could she possibly lose? And to be profaned in such a manner...
Her Highness had never met him, but long ago, Li Heng had caught a distant glimpse of her peerless grace from within a crowd. Unforgettable from that first look, she had held his deep admiration ever since.
Many knew that this Highness had been designated as one of the most core disciples from early on, effectively reserving a position as one of the 'strongest' in the future Yujing system.
Hence, Li Heng felt that the sky had fallen!
Even though he had called Qin Ming brother, he found it hard to accept right now. The man stood atop the divine flower reserved exclusively for Her Highness—a place no outsider could step foot upon—usurping the master's place.
The floor-sweeping elder, Li Cang, was pondering whether to intervene, but then realized that this new challenger had also become a saint. Possessing such power, he would naturally become one of the few core figures; before long, he too would likely be addressed as His Highness.
"Your Highnesses, could there be some misunderstanding between you two?" Ultimately, Li Cang spoke up like this, his perspective having completely shifted.
Li Heng seemed to hear the sound of his own heart shattering. His family's old ancestor was so practical, compromising on the spot and actively bowing his head to that new Highness.
He rubbed his eyes, which were swollen like steamed buns, feeling hot tears on the verge of flowing.
With a flash of light, the blurry silhouette of the array spirit emerged. "You have successfully cleared the trial. However, I must emphasize: our path does not hand out Dao companions."
Deep in the Night Mist Sea, a tree branch as massive as a coiling celestial dragon stretched through the Ninth Heaven for countless leagues.
At its furthest tip also blossomed a divine flower, wreathed in white mist, radiating sacred light like a blazing sun. Amidst its unfolding layers of petals sat a young man in meditation.
He abruptly opened his eyes. Wherever his gaze fell, the Night Mist Sea parted, and heaven and earth suddenly brightened.
Just then, someone reported the recent news to him.
"The New Board..."
"The Black Pagoda civilization..."
"There is one more matter. Just now, someone challenged the other Highness..."
Hearing this, the man who resembled a blazing sun stood up. "The outcome is decided, yet you failed to discover the result?"
"Yes. Does Your Highness need me to follow up on this?"
"I shall make the trip in person. Perhaps the third Flower of the Great Dao is about to find its master."
"Didn't you say you couldn't enter this place?" Qin Ming noticed that the New Board had also arrived.
"I took a detour. Now that the trial has concluded, I can draw near." The New Board hovered in the night sky, its surface displaying text.
By this time, Qin Ming had already put away the Myriad Gods Banner and released the white-robed woman.
This Highness who called herself Heavenly God possessed decent sportsmanship and showed no intention of turning hostile. Instead, she was secretly communicating with the New Board to understand the details.
A moment later, the New Board glowed, communicating with Qin Ming: "The divine flower truly cannot be given to you. It is not part of the reward, and it cannot be disturbed right now."
"Doesn't that mean I lost the bride and broke the flower?" Qin Ming felt the duel had been an utter waste.
Beside them, the white-robed woman revealed her peerlessly captivating face. She had originally intended to say something, but upon intercepting this transmission through a wondrous technique, her expression instantly froze.
The New Board replied: "This path does not hand out Dao companions. However, how things develop between you is entirely up to yourselves; we will not interfere."
Qin Ming said, "Are there no other divine medicines up in the heavens? Give me one, and this matter will be settled."
The New Board suddenly said: "Oops, this girl can intercept our conversation."
Qin Ming: "?"
The white-robed woman: "!"
In the end, Qin Ming was escorted away from the annex by the New Board, watched by Li Cang, Li Heng, and the Butterfly Maiden as he left.
"Do you see that? That is the Great Dao Tree. At present, it has only blossomed three flowers, the first two of which already have masters. If you join Yujing and become a core saint, that mysterious third flower can be yours to use."
Deep in the Night Mist Sea, the New Board gave Qin Ming a tour of an ancient, unimaginably colossal tree—though in truth, he only saw a portion of its branches.
Even those branches resembled mountain ranges, utterly magnificent. The ancient bark upon them was cracked, resembling the splayed scales of a colossal dragon.
"I will consider it seriously!" Qin Ming said. If not for the entanglement of the Dao chains, he would naturally be willing, but Liu Heavenly God's cautionary tale filled him with worry for the future.
The New Board gave a positive response: "I know what you are wary of. Consider it first; I will go find a way. A disciple of the utmost core truly needs to be free of lingering concerns."
Qin Ming had not expected it to value him so highly.
Afterward, he asked the New Board several questions, such as why the Golden Board and Dao Board had been established, as it seemed no one had been able to ascend those two boards this time.
"The Golden Board involves bloody confrontations with civilizations on par with Yujing; those capable of leaving their names in history are recorded upon it. As for the Dao Board, it will likely never be used. From ancient times to the present, it has remained completely empty."
"Hm?" Suddenly, the New Board blazed with light, piercing the Night Mist Sea and dispelling the boundless darkness. It soared high into the sky, gazing toward the path ahead.
Extremely displeased, it transmitted intense emotional fluctuations: "The third flower actually has a master now! To be claimed at such a time... Is this a deliberate attempt to contest it? This is going too far!"
Although three divine flowers were not the limit of the Great Dao Tree—following the principle that three gives birth to all things, new buds might sprout in the future—it would likely take a very long time.
This was because when Yujing shattered, the Great Dao Tree had also broken apart alongside it, and it was presently in an extremely weakened state.
Qin Ming immediately realized that the waters above were exceptionally deep. The factions within the Yujing system were rampant with internal divisions. For now, it was best not to get involved; otherwise, one might end up doomed beyond redemption.
"That is a core disciple chosen by a bunch of old relics and their scions!" the New Board said. It felt that the other party had intercepted its prize, knowing that things were about to be finalized on its end, which prompted that group to swiftly settle on their own favored candidate.
It continued, "To be precise, it's a portion of those 'scions'—greenhorns merely a few centuries old. A pity that this era cannot temporarily give birth to Heavenly Gods or Heavenly Immortals. If any of Yujing's great figures had survived without rotting away, it wouldn't be like this."
The New Board displayed obvious emotion, no longer as placid and unruffled as before.
In fact, it seemed somewhat disheartened, looking worn out and bleak.
Suddenly, from deep within the Night Mist Sea came the clear, resonant toll of a bell. The entire pitch-black firmament boiled as dazzling white light detonated the night mist. In the distance, in a certain direction, a jade bell could even be seen expanding, looming over the Ninth Heaven and vibrating with immense force.
The New Board trembled violently, seemingly stunned beyond belief.
Yet that was not all. In other directions, separate jade bells began to glow, turning into colossal behemoths and sounding their tolls throughout the Night Mist Sea.
One after another, eight jade bells boomed, illuminating the firmament.
"How dare they?!" the New Board said in a trembling voice, actually speaking aloud.
Qin Ming was completely bewildered, having no idea what was happening.
The New Board sighed, "Only the bell within the supreme, embryonic Yujing has yet to ring. Yet with eight bells already tolling, the outcome is sealed."
Qin Ming was filled with questions. However, the New Board offered no further explanation and sent him away.
Before long, a small wooden boat steaming with azure qi carried Qin Ming across the Night Mist Sea. Flashing through the heavens, it vanished completely.
"The heavens are likely to be sealed. Await news in the mortal world for now. In the coming days, various upheavals are bound to occur. I... respect your choice and will not force you." This was the final voice transmitted by the New Board.
Chapter 456