On the beach, Qin Ming stood against the night wind, his black hair fluttering. His gaze on his handsome face was as bright as the stars. His voice resonated like thunder, blasting through the night fog and churning layer upon layer of massive waves across the sea, crashing toward the high heavens with deafening roars.
"Gengyu!" shouted Yu Botao, the elder who had spoken moments ago. His shock of silver hair bristled straight up like a cluster of arrows, and his bloodshot eyes burned with uncontrollable fury.
Among the seven whose heads had been severed was his youngest grandson. The youths accompanying the expedition had originally come along to pick up easy merit; taking a long trip and descending into the mortal ground would naturally enrich their experiential record and prestige.
After all, with the revival of Yujing's "old factions," internal competition was quite fierce.
Whether it was ascending the Great Dao Tree, entering the Sky Magnetic Nest to enhance one's mental field, or receiving prioritized resource allocations, there were truly no shortage of prodigies waiting in line.
Those whose performances did not stand out would still be placed at the back of the queue, even if they sought a shortcut.
According to the information extracted from the New Board, Realm Faction was a youth who had only just reached perfection in the second realm. Although an incredible genius, he was constrained by his cultivation realm. Whether politely inviting him above the heavens or forcibly binding him to ascend into the nine heavens, there shouldn't have been any danger.
Yet right now, people were dying right away—and among them were direct descendants of prominent celestial clans!
"Form the array! Surround and eliminate him!" Yu Botao roared, eyes spitting fire, his silver hair bristling as his conscious spiritual light blazed with brilliant radiance, turning him into what looked like a burning ball of fire.
Without waiting for his orders, everyone present had already sprung into action. Celestials descending from beyond the nine heavens having seven of their number slain in an instant was no small matter.
The reason they hadn't unleashed their dharma chains right away was that they noticed runes of order entwined across the massive parasol billowing with black mist—it had actually been "tattooed" before.
Qin Ming was even more decisive than they were. His movements were swift and fierce. The moment he resolved to strike, he had no intention of stopping; slaying seven people had merely been his opening move.
That had only raised the curtain; he had no intention of holding back.
"Ah!" A young man shrieked as a bloody hole appeared between his eyebrows. The pure yang flying sword tore straight through, puncturing his skull as easily as piercing window paper.
Immediately after, a flash of flowing light streaked past, and another woman fell backward onto the sandy beach, her temples pierced clean through from side to side as blood surged outward.
This occurred even after the deaths of the first seven had put the group on guard; still, people continued to fall one after another.
*Clang!* Before the tenth person, a five-colored shield manifested. It was an exceedingly rare and precious treasure, remarkably withstanding the initial strike of the nine-colored sword baleful aura, attesting to how extraordinary the shield was.
Yet as the nine-colored sword baleful aura surged violently, sword qi swept crisscross across the air, shaking the sea so fiercely that waves soared to the sky. With a sharp crack, the five-colored shield was cleaved apart by the Hunyuan sword baleful aura.
As the sword light slashed past, the slender young woman behind the shield split open starting from between her brows, the rift tearing downward. Blood seeped out rapidly, and with a soft *splat*, her body split in two, each half collapsing to opposite sides.
"Qinghe!" An old woman leaning on a walking stick trembled slightly. Her favorite descendant had just fallen as well.
Her name was Wen Yuning. Her stooped frame instantly straightened, and the staff in her hand let out a dragon's roar as the phantom of an enormous flood dragon soared up, so colossal that it crowded the entire void.
Without uttering a word, Qin Ming had slain ten people in succession. Only now was the speed of his assault impeded, blocked by a luminous barrier formed from overlapping layers of formation light.
Across from him, youths, grown men, and elders each held great banners, swiftly laying down a murderous Immortal-Locking Array.
The night was gentle. Blue fire springs surged within the sea, blending together into a crystal-clear, translucent whole that resembled countless glistening blue gemstones melted into one.
The sea breeze carried the stench of blood. The young celestials from above had descended to the ground for the very first time, yet in the blink of an eye, ten of them lay permanently fallen along the shore.
Beside Qin Ming, the Yellow Silk Canopy expanded and hung suspended in the night sky. The departed spirit bodies of the three who had just been slain were also drawn in, sinking into the canopy's fabric.
From the canopy cover to the shaft, dragons and phoenixes were carved, inscribed with characters and accompanied by cloud motifs. Its entire body was golden-yellow and dazzlingly bright—a quintessential grand treasure of an emperor's royal procession.
It rotated slowly, accompanied by the harmonious cries of dragons and phoenixes, wrapped in celestial rivers, exuding an imposing and majestic aura.
Qin Ming stood beneath the majestic canopy. Set off by its radiance, though still young, he held an awe-inspiring presence without displaying anger, resembling a youthful sovereign touring his realm.
Here in the Night Ruins, testing his sword for the first time today had already yielded bountiful spoils. Facing the brilliant formation, he paused his advance.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked the demonic treasure spinning on its own above his head.
"Not bad, but go a bit easier next time. When your sword baleful aura sweeps past, their soul bodies nearly shatter, leaving them far weaker than before." The aura of the Yellow Silk Canopy had noticeably grown stronger, and the ripples it transmitted were clearer than in the past.
What it said was the truth. Qin Ming had deployed all his sword baleful auras, fusing nine types into one to achieve true nine-fold perfection; no matter which realm it was displayed in, it would cause a sensation.
Such Hunyuan sword baleful aura was the product of the transformation and sublimation of rare heavenly lights. When striking down opponents, it naturally inflicted heavy damage on their conscious spiritual light as well, like a blazing sun shining upon them, possessing devastating lethality against soul bodies.
Qin Ming cast a sideways glance at it and said, "You sure have high standards. Never mind me—look at yourself. Your form has already changed, so shouldn't your aura change along with it? The thick black mist drifting down from you is about to engulf me completely. What kind of imperial procession is this? It's practically a demon beast marching out from the abyss."
This was the simple truth. Although the Yellow Silk Canopy itself was golden-yellow, shimmering with the light of celestial rivers, with dragon shadows soaring and phoenixes wheeling, it was nonetheless suffused with surging black light that appeared quite eerie.
"Agreed!" It transmitted a hazy ripple as it spun, accepting his suggestion.
"Gengyu..."
"Qinghe!"
Inside the array, Yu Botao was like an old silver lion with shaggy silver hair, pointing his sword at Qin Ming while his entire body blazed with dazzling runic light.
The old woman Wen Yuning also surged with pure yang consciousness, glowing like a Golden Crow. Heartbroken, besides despising the youth before her, she was also thoroughly displeased with her companions.
Indignant to the extreme, she demanded, "Just how was this investigated? Is this Realm Faction really in the second realm?!"
"Don't take your temper out on me! My descendant died in battle too! This was information extracted directly from the New Board by the Earth Immortal Patriarch of our grotto-heaven. There must have been an oversight."
They nearly broke into an internal argument, all brimming with anger. Several of the ten fallen youths possessed extraordinary backgrounds and had only come along to "gild their resumes."
Wen Yuning yelled, "Realm Faction! Taiyi! You are far too vicious, violently lashing out to murder over a single disagreement! Your nature is truly wicked to the core!"
Yu Botao, like an enraged silver lion, spoke in an even colder voice, "After what has happened, I don't care if you're the chart-topper! Even the Earth Immortal Patriarch's orders are useless now! Today, you must be chopped into eight pieces! How could someone like you ever be allowed into the heavens? You are a walking calamity!"
In the rear, Jiang Yan and Shen Wei of the second group were nearly petrified. Watching the nine-colored sword baleful aura span the sky, and realizing that Taiyi and Realm Faction were the exact same person, their minds churned, unable to find calm.
The two realized that the pure yang consciousnesses they had split off earlier had surely met an ill fate—most likely slain by that Taiyi.
Qin Ming looked calm and said, "Do you truly think I don't know what dharma chains are? You want to place shackles on me so that even if I become a Heavenly God in the future, it would be difficult to break free from your control."
Besides, he had simply seized the initiative.
The moment he politely declined earlier, the other side would have inevitably struck decisively with thunderous force. After all, Jiang Yan and Shen Wei had already set the precedent at Black-White Mountain by doing just that—abruptly bringing out chains to bind him.
"If you want to gain, how can there be no sacrifice? The resources of the heavens aren't blown in by the wind," an elder said in a deep voice.
Qin Ming countered, "I can choose not to take them. I don't have to go to the heavens, nor do I need your resources. Why must you insist on taking me away by force?"
What was more, when he was in the heavens, according to Yujing's rules, he had been qualified to draw near the Great Dao Flower, only to be stripped of that right by those revived from the old factions.
Now, merely leaking a few crumbs of fortune through the cracks between their fingers, they sought to shackle him and put him to work for them. How tyrannical.
After reviving, those from the old factions had plundered and intercepted the fortunes left by Yujing for future geniuses, yet now treated latecomers with the attitude of "benevolent benefactors."
Wen Yuning's voice was chilly. "One must know reverence. Three feet above one's head are the deities, and beyond the nine heavens dwell true gods!"
Qin Ming did not grow angry; instead, he sneered, "Did my sword just slay divine sons and divine grandsons? Even though you come from the heavens, your necks aren't very tough. One stroke of my sword is enough to cleave them!"
Instantly, the group of old fellows opposite him whose descendants had died glared with fury.
"Why haven't you formed ranks yet? Join us and eliminate him!" Yu Botao turned his head and shouted toward the second group.
The true bodies of Jiang Yan and Shen Wei had prestigious backgrounds, and they were also relatively renowned geniuses above the nine heavens. Hearing this, they led their people over to surround him.
"You killed our avatars?" Shen Wei said, her translucent white face steeped in frost. Her graceful figure pressed forward, carrying an indelible murderous intent.
"Yes!" Qin Ming replied concisely.
*Clang!* Shen Wei hoisted a halberd. Though a woman, she wielded such a heavy weapon, her armor clanking crisply.
Jiang Yan drew a heavenly saber. The dazzling blade light cast a chilling gloom over the coast, causing tens of massive waves to surge in the sea.
Shen Wei said, "We kindly came to invite you to ascend the heavens and bestow fortune upon you, yet you murdered our avatars. To spurn such a hard-won chance to alter your fate and leap from the ground to the sky—those who act arrogantly will surely invite disaster!"
Jiang Yan said in a low voice, "We treated you with warmth and friendliness, not wishing to forcibly bind you to the heavens. Yet amid our courteousness, you exploited an opening instead. Did we give you too much face?"
Qin Ming gained a profound appreciation for the arrogance of the celestials. When their lofty persuasion bore no fruit, they suddenly pulled out dharma chains to bind someone—and that was supposed to count as warm, friendly, and courteous?
He refused to submit and fought back, and that was supposed to mean his arrogance invited disaster?
Qin Ming did not lose his temper. His expression remained utterly calm as he said, "Are those all your dying words? You are nothing more than withered bones under my sword, shattered remnants under my fists. If you have anything more to say, you had better say it quickly."
The second group closed in. The target they had originally sought was Taiyi, but now he completely overlapped with the target locked on by the first group—Realm Faction.
Jiang Yan's face darkened. "Wild and recalcitrant, showing contempt for the Yujing orthodoxy—even if you once stood atop the board, such empty fame is no longer an amulet. You have ruined your own future!"
"Severing your own path forward!" Shen Wei's words were even more blunt.
There were words left unsaid. To be safe, once Taiyi was captured, his memories should be wiped and he should be groomed as a drudge, or simply transformed into a killing tool.
"What future or path forward does he have left? Attack together and slay him!" the old woman Wen Yuning declared, harboring no intention of sparing the youth's life.
"Kill!" With their forces in position, Yu Botao, silver hair bristling, roared the command.
The two formations gleamed, interwoven with brilliant yet terrifying runes, rumbling with deafening booms as they advanced toward Qin Ming to crush him into paste.
Qin Ming showed no fear. He snatched down the Yellow Silk Canopy, snapped it shut, and wielded it like a spear, violently hurling it forward.
With a colossal rumble, the tip of the shaft acted as a spearhead, piercing right through one of the formations while ignoring the barrage of runic beams. Smelted from exotic metal, a former supreme treasure now coated in dust, it was impossible for it to suffer damage here.
Qin Ming resembled a streak of flowing light. Riding his nine-colored sword baleful aura, he surged forward alongside the grand parasol, tearing open a corner of the array and launching a ferocious assault upon them.
In an instant, the Hunyuan sword baleful aura expanded dramatically, slicing across like a bolt of white silk. Heads rolled on the spot. Going all out with no reservations, Qin Ming was terrifying beyond measure.
Even on the sword-dueling platforms above the nine heavens, he had never fought with such fierce intensity.
"Ah..." Screams erupted, throwing the array into chaos. No one had anticipated that the yellow parasol in his hand would be so terrifying, prying open a corner of the formation.
*Clang!* Left with no other choice, they directly unleashed their dharma chains.
Qin Ming remained beneath the canopy, fighting his way inside along with it. Having stayed vigilant against their trump card all along, he remained composed and said, "Little Huang, welcome the guests!"
Amid dazzling rosy clouds, two dharma chains flew forth seeking to bind Qin Ming, woven from runes and flowing with esoteric glyphs.
However, both were thwarted one after another, intercepted entirely by the Yellow Silk Canopy. They coiled around it, ultimately turning into two imprints upon the canopy's fabric.
Neither group panicked, as they had been mentally prepared, having earlier seen the tattoos on the canopy's fabric.
The first group suddenly struck again. Right behind the dharma chains, they unleashed their strongest method on this trip—the Dao chains! They refused to believe that such a lethal weapon could still be resisted.
Yet very quickly, shock took hold of them, and their faces began to pale.
The Yellow Silk Canopy shook, black mist billowing to the sky. It held on stubbornly, letting the Dao chain descend and wrap around its shaft, yet the chain simply could not suppress it.
In the end, the Dao chain also became an etched pattern upon its body.
"A former supreme treasure... even if damaged, it can still absorb Dao chains! This..." Realizing what caliber of weapon the Yellow Silk Canopy truly was, chills ran down their spines, and their confidence evaporated.
"Kill!"
Qin Ming advanced beneath the Yellow Silk Canopy, accompanied by the regal grandeur of an emperor's procession. Wherever the nine-colored sword baleful aura passed, heads tumbled instantly, or bodies were cleaved cleanly in two.
In a fleeting instant, six more people were dead!
To the onlookers, he seemed like a youthful demon god surging out of the abyss, treading forward bathed in their blood, unstoppable and invincible.
At this moment, the Yellow Silk Canopy sought to grant Qin Ming's earlier wish. No longer billowing with towering black mist, it radiated a gentle light, guiding in those soul bodies.
On the ground, the corpses ruptured one after another, rising as a steamy crimson mist that dyed the area beneath the grand canopy blood-red.
"How does this look? You could call it 'great fortune crowning your head,'" the Yellow Silk Canopy remarked, making the bloody mist shine in a brilliant red glow. It believed the scene to be sacred and peaceful, fitting the occasion as if receiving great crimson fortune.
"A gruesome, bloody mess—what do you think?" Qin Ming did not care to comment further.
The Yellow Silk Canopy was genuinely starved. Now capturing pure mental bodies, its mood had improved greatly, and it grew noticeably chattier: "Alright, in a bit I'll manifest the sacred scene of purple qi arriving from the east for you."
For everyone else, this combination was an absolute nightmare.
The two groups had arrived on two wooden boats, numbering barely over fifty people combined. How long had it been? Already sixteen had fallen. The casualties were terrifying.
Qin Ming pressed forward to kill. His spirit field radiated outward, seeming to warp the night sky. He locked onto the old woman Wen Yuning; she had been spewing curses while attacking, instantly turning herself into his prime target.
Tangible ripples expanded. Qin Ming's unrestrained release of his spirit field was truly terrifying; all obstacles along the way—flying swords and spears shooting toward him—were locked in place, then twisted until they snapped.
Qin Ming said coldly, "Old hag, since you're so eager to avenge your descendant, why not go reunite with them? Come into the Yellow Silk Canopy and be an old palace maid!"
He had already fought his way close. Many rushed forward to assist her, only to be forced back by his nine-colored sword baleful aura.
Seeing that Qin Ming was bare-handed, having cast out his nine-colored sword baleful aura to strike at others from a distance, divine light flashed in Wen Yuning's eyes. Leaping into the air, she merged with the staff in her hands, darting aggressively toward Qin Ming like an immortal descending from the heavens.
From her dragon-head staff, a great dragon flew out, slashing toward Qin Ming like a coiled giant sword.
Yet to her shock, Qin Ming simply strode forward with no intention of dodging, meeting it head-on with his physical body.
In truth, outside Qin Ming's body, the spirit field blanketed the night sky, causing everyone's perceptions to warp. Mysterious ripples expanded, surging forth a step ahead of him.
Amid reverberating dragon roars, the great dragon was caught in the spirit field and violently twisted. With a pop, its massive serpentine body shattered in midair.
The so-called great dragon transforming into a sword was completely fragile before Qin Ming's fully unfurled spirit field.
At the same time, the dragon-head staff in Wen Yuning's hands also exploded.
Qin Ming arrived right before her. He drew no sword and threw no punch; relying solely on his expanding spirit field, he advanced as if through an empty realm. The old woman was already paralyzed, suspended in midair.
Her body emitted pure yang power as she struggled frantically, but to no avail. With a wet rip, as if an invisible giant hand tore her apart, her blood splattered across the void.
Wen Yuning was ground to shreds by Qin Ming's externalized spirit field, leaving not a bone behind!
"A fourth-realm luminary... dead in battle!" the others gasped in horror.
The two formations maintained by the two groups were falling into disorder. Qin Ming seized the momentum to charge forward, locking his gaze onto Jiang Yan and Shen Wei in the second group.
*Clang!* Jiang Yan drew his heavenly saber and unleashed his mightiest slash. This was a strike he had built momentum for over years after establishing himself in the middle stage of the fourth realm; he had never unleashed such saber intent before, putting forth his full power today.
Behind him, the sea churned and towering waves soared, billowing into the night sky along with his saber intent. It was a terrifying spectacle as he drew upon the natural forces of heaven and earth.
This slash seemed to bear the weight of the entire ocean, its saber intent sublimated to the peak, radiant with dazzling brilliance.
Yet facing this slash, Qin Ming remained placid. His five fingers glowed as he recalled his nine-colored sword baleful aura, coalescing it in his palm into a multicolored longsword before casually slashing it out.
*Clink!* The heavenly saber in Jiang Yan's hands snapped, then shattered into hundreds of pieces. Immediately after, he himself fractured as sword light burst forth from inside him.
Then, he blew apart with a resounding bang, nine-colored sword light pouring out from his body.
Instantly, both groups cried out in disbelief. Jiang Yan was a relatively famous genius above the nine heavens with no small background—otherwise, he and Shen Wei would not have been qualified to lead a team on their own.
Yet in a single encounter, he had been casually blown apart by Taiyi's sword!
"Is that all? The geniuses of the heavens amount to no more than this. Come into the Yellow Silk Canopy and be imperial grandsons, all of you," Qin Ming remarked casually, maintaining an effortless posture as he stood beneath the canopy.
Beyond the nine heavens, several old monsters were sipping tea. One of them remarked nonchalantly, "Mm, I wonder how things are progressing on the ground. By now, they should be bringing back a chart-topper."
Chapter 460