Trinity

High above in the heavens, within a jade palace shrouded in ethereal immortal mist, an old monster nodded and said, "There should be an outcome soon. The patrol team went down, and they will surely follow up." An old woman remarked, "Let us hope those down below have some sense. Nowadays, even grandmasters walking the ground worsen their afflictions. Inviting those people up to the heavens is their blessing." They remained calm and spoke no further on the matter. "This tea is rather bitter," an Earth Immortal said. Looking at the tea liquor lingering with Dao rhymes in his cup, he furrowed his brow, finding the flavor unsatisfactory. An old monster took a sip and said, "Make do with it. After the Great Dao Tree disintegrated, its vitality suffered tremendous harm. We should not excessively harvest its fresh buds anytime soon." *** By the sea in the Night Ruins, blue fire springs tinted the surging waves, rendering even the night sky an eerie, indescribable shade of deep blue. The yellow imperial parasol rotated slowly. Cloud patterns spread out from the tassels hanging along its rim, accompanied by the gentle cry and slow unfurling wings of a soaring phoenix, dragon silhouettes spiraling around its perimeter, and starlight rustling down from its canopy. Qin Ming stood tall beneath the parasol. His eyes were deep, serene, and unruffled. A single man had overawed the entire field, forcing the two squads to fall back as though facing a deadly foe. Many turned pale and fell silent; only the muffled thunder of crashing waves against the reefs rumbled nearby from time to time. Jiang Yan was quite renowned above the heavens. He had nurtured his blade and gathered momentum for years. Just moments ago, he had unleashed his mightiest slash, churning the ocean and raising towering waves, only for it to be casually dismantled by a single sword strike that blasted him and his weapon apart. Only now did the dozens of massive waves swept up by that blade plunge from the night sky, engulfing the entire beach like tens of thousands of stampeding horses with a deafening roar. Beneath the yellow imperial parasol, the youth stood like an unshakeable rock. Before the immense waves could even draw near, they parted and scattered on their own, allowing seawater to pour down from the sky as he steadily strode forward, pressing toward the crowd. Shen Wei's gaze was cold as she gripped her halberd tightly. Her armor hummed and shone brightly. Her partner was dead; in truth, had nothing gone awry, Jiang Yan would have become her Dao companion in the future. Qin Ming said, "You harbor deep hatred toward me? Then enter the yellow imperial parasol as well to become imperial kin. Lovers ought to be paired together; whether living or dead, you must ultimately be reunited." "You are nothing but a demon from the abyss!" Shen Wei pointed her halberd at the figure ahead, yet she dared not step outside the bounds of the array. "Vicious beyond measure!" Yu Botao's silver hair whipped about like a great silver lion. His face was grim, and his pure yang consciousness surged from his body, silver light undulating turbulently. In the eyes of these two squads, he was a monstrous villain stepping over the bones of their companions, advancing step by step. Qin Ming surveyed the crowd and said, "Do you truly believe that because you hail from beyond the nine heavens, you are born to look down upon those on the ground? The moment anyone dares resist you, they are deemed utterly vile and wicked. After beautifying yourselves for so long, have you even fooled yourselves into believing it? You lock people's paths with dharma chains while wearing gentle smiles and enslave local prodigies—and that displays friendliness? You believe everything you do represents orthodoxy and exemplifies righteousness? Deceiving those ignorant of the truth is one thing, but have you truly come to believe it yourselves and immersed yourselves in the illusion?" Evidently, neither squad could look down on the youth before them with any sort of gentleness or goodwill now. To them, the figure beneath the yellow imperial parasol was exceptionally dangerous. "Merge the two arrays! Find a way to suppress him for a moment and send someone to deliver a message!" The crowd communicated in secret. They could not afford to drag this out, or they would be in grave danger. Most critically, the Night Ruins was diluting the Dao marker on Taiyi. If this continued, it would soon fade completely. The yellow imperial parasol had already informed Qin Ming that as he fought and his spiritual substance circulated to exchange with the Dao rhymes of the Night Ruins, the mark upon him was growing dimmer. *Clang!* A sword traversed the sky like a comet streaking across the night curtain. Qin Ming's nine-colored sword baleful aura coalesced into one, magnificently radiant, and slashed violently into the enemy array. In an instant, array flags shattered, and agonized screams rang out as bodies were cleaved in two. Then, amid squelching sounds, heads flew one after another. The Chaotic Primordial sword baleful aura was peerlessly sharp and invincible; finding a gap in the array, it plunged in and slew enemies in rapid succession. "Use the dharma chains to form the array!" someone shouted. They still had two dharma chains and one Dao chain. They no longer dared to bind Qin Ming with them so casually; the youth possessed a dust-covered supreme treasure to resist them, leaving them no choice but to deploy the chains for self-defense. The array stabilized. As the two kinds of array flags merged, they unleashed an even more dazzling brilliance, their talismans glowing like a sea of twinkling stars in the night sky. "Charge!" Taking the initiative, they drove the array forward. Inside, it sounded as if ten thousand swords were humming in unison as the weapons of everyone present resonated, empowered by the array's runes. "A motley crew!" Qin Ming met them head-on. His nine-colored sword baleful aura soared into the sky and then swooped down from the depths of the night mist like a meteor slamming into the earth, terrifyingly devastating once it gathered momentum. By now, many had begun to draw connections. When Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword had dominated the third realm, he had only fused eight kinds of sword baleful auras. The person before them had attained the "perfection of nine"! He was practically the reincarnation of a peerless divine figure in the realm of sword cultivation—a living myth! Evidently, many had already realized that he was very likely that other top ranker, One Sword. Taiyi, Realm Faction, and One Sword were actually the very same person! If word got out, it would undoubtedly shake the world and alarm those beyond the heavens as well. This was far too astonishing. Three top rankers, each dominating a different realm, were all one individual. It felt utterly surreal to many. That was precisely why they had fallen dead silent a moment ago—they were thoroughly stunned by this deduced truth. Yet none of them voiced it aloud. Even knowing that all three shared the same origin and were one person was meaningless right now; surviving this ordeal was their only priority. With a *whoosh*, several figures fled into the distance, scattering in different directions in an attempt to escape the Night Ruins and deliver the message. "Run, hurry!" Their expressions twisted in agony. Once outside the protection of the array, they could hardly withstand the buffeting of the alien Dao rhymes within the Night Ruins. Qin Ming's Hunyuan sword baleful aura blazed with nine-colored radiance, incomparably sacred and magnificent. In an instant, it shot forward, carrying a vast shower of light like an ascending immortal, and tore through those attempting to flee. "Now is the time! Suppress him at once!" Shen Wei, Yu Botao, and the others shouted together. They could all see that the Hunyuan sword baleful aura was condensed from heavenly light and sacred baleful auras, carrying away the boy's gathered essence. This was the prime moment to slay him. With bloodshot eyes, the crowd drove the glowing array to envelop Qin Ming. Blades and swords sang out as everyone struck with all their might, desperate to execute him on the spot. The yellow imperial parasol rotated slowly, guarding against the encroachment of the dharma chains and Dao chain. A faint smile played on Qin Ming's lips, his glossy black hair fluttering. He met the enemy with bare hands. Then, the crowd was left thoroughly shaken—how could Taiyi's physical body remain so terrifying without thick heavenly light? Even an immortal-path body refiner needed heavenly light and sacred baleful aura to protect their form. Qin Ming clamped Shen Wei's incoming halberd with both hands and gave it a violent twist. With a sharp snap, the blade sheared off instantly. He surged forward like a phantom. With a resounding boom, he threw a punch that shattered Shen Wei's protective immortal light and detonated the pure yang energy shooting from between her brows. Qin Ming pressed forward with a second punch, obliterating her right arm. The wound spread across her shoulder and tore open her chest, sending blood spraying in all directions. Shen Wei shrieked, drenched in blood as she flew backward. The crowd was horrified. What kind of overbearingly peerless body refiner was this? Attacking barehanded, Qin Ming had demolished half of Shen Wei's body. She stumbled, bones snapping continuously within her flesh. "How is he doing this?" Even some of the older cultivators could not fathom it. How could his physical strength achieve this without relying on heavenly light or sacred baleful aura? Qin Ming had comprehended the Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao to an exceptionally profound level, far from inferior to his state when channeling heavenly light. If cultivated to its apex, that true scripture could allow one to slay gods with the mortal body! Moreover, he had also studied the Extreme Dao Golden Body and benefited immensely from it. Even fighting purely with his physical form, he was like a tiger descending the mountain or a true dragon swooping down from the clouds. As Shen Wei retreated with her battered body, Qin Ming drifted forward like a divine fiend crossing a grand abyss, leaving behind afterimages that rendered the attacks of those nearby entirely useless. "You..." Shen Wei's red lips parted to say something, but it was already too late. *Boom!* Qin Ming's fist slammed into her. This woman, renowned beyond the nine heavens for both talent and beauty, instantly blew apart. "I already told you, you are merely crushed bones beneath my fist. What sense of superiority is there to flaunt?" Qin Ming said coldly as he struck repeatedly, shattering the nearby cultivators one after another. He held nothing back, fighting with complete abandon. He was even more terrifying here than on the sword-dueling platforms in the heavens, like a young god-fiend walking the earth to sweep away all foes. Within the array, the crowd collapsed in despair. Moments ago, they had believed they caught an opening to execute this menace, never imagining it would only invite a bloody catastrophe. The yellow imperial parasol gathered the drifting spiritual bodies with immense satisfaction. Certain pure yang conscious spiritual lights would normally require Qin Ming to detonate them multiple times to completely wear them down—just as Cao Qianqiu had repeatedly detonated his body before sixty percent of his power was finally ground away. Now, however, with the yellow imperial parasol assisting him, Qin Ming only needed to destroy their physical bodies and knock out their conscious spiritual lights; Old Huang would handle the rest. Man and parasol complemented each other seamlessly with remarkable chemistry. The yellow imperial parasol was in great spirits, and to show its sincerity, it drew crimson blood qi from the exploded corpses and merged it with the blue haze drawn from the fire springs in the sea, immediately turning it purple. "Purple Qi Coming from the East—is it not sacred?" it asked. "The stench of blood stings my nose!" Qin Ming disagreed. Framed by this purple mist, he looked like a great demon running amok; there was nothing sacred about it. With a rumble, the yellow imperial parasol lowered its own purple fog, erupting with light. Though the deep purple mist bordered on black, it was indeed far more radiant and auspicious than before. "You defy the orthodoxy of Yujing! You cannot escape reckoning by those above the heavens!" Yu Botao shouted coldly, burning with uncontrollable fury. In ancient times, people like them were equivalent to heavenly soldiers and generals descending to the mortal world. Yet now, they were being slaughtered by a demon of the ground, brought to the brink of total annihilation. Qin Ming slapped across with his palm, obliterating half the elder's body in a spray of blood mist and bone fragments. The silver-maned old man roared, burning through his essence, qi, and spirit as his pure yang consciousness left his body, transforming into an immortal sword that slashed toward Qin Ming's physical form. Unafraid, Qin Ming caught it with his bare hand. No matter how brightly the five-colored divine sword flashed with dazzling runes, it could not break free and was ultimately crushed to pieces in his grip. Yu Botao fell into despair. What kind of terrifying monster was this? Even during Yujing's golden age, such a youth would have likely been one of its innermost core disciples. *Bang!* Qin Ming shattered his physical body with a single kick. At the same time, the nine-colored sword baleful aura flew back, having hunted down and slain the distant fleeing cultivators in merely a single breath. At this moment, Qin Ming was like a tiger among sheep, unstoppable and valiant. Wherever his sword light swept, heads tumbled to the ground. As his spirit field expanded and rippled outward, it ripped apart anyone standing in its path. It was a battle without suspense. The two squads, totaling more than fifty people, were completely wiped out. The Dao chain from the array and the two dharma chains, sacrificed by the desperate cultivators, had now become fresh tattoos on the yellow imperial parasol. After clearing the battlefield, Qin Ming carefully examined his own condition. Old Huang told him that the Dao marker had faded considerably. Following this battle, having witnessed Qin Ming temper nine kinds of sacred baleful auras and glimpsed his true foundations, the yellow imperial parasol's attitude underwent a noticeable shift. It was no longer as dismissive as before, and its tone became far more agreeable during their exchanges. Chiefly, it was deeply shaken. An immortal-path body refiner who defied common logic, a sword cultivator who had achieved the perfection of nine, and on top of that, Qin Ming had once manifested a Divine Pure Land—in every domain, he possessed the foundation to look down upon his peers. The Myriad Gods Banner mused that even within the vast cultivation civilization it had once known, this youth would be like a blazing sun rising through the dark mist. Looking across the cultivation system it hailed from, even during its most glorious epochs, this boy's natural endowments could likely stand shoulder to shoulder with those legendary Dao Seeds. "Huang'er..." Qin Ming communicated with it. The yellow imperial parasol snapped back to attention and barked, "What did you just call this seat?!" Had it not been weakened to the absolute extreme, it would have fired back indignantly: *This old lady is done serving you; I'll banish you into the divine banner!* It was a renowned demonic treasure. What did geniuses and anomalies have to do with it? If they could cooperate, they cooperated; if not, they would part ways and fight to the death! Qin Ming advanced toward the deeper reaches of the Night Ruins, though he dared not venture too far. He did not know enough about this world and feared encountering unforeseen dangers. In fact, even the yellow imperial parasol had remarked several times that the Night Ruins was inscrutable, seemingly harboring immense terrors, and should by no means be considered a safe haven. *** Beyond the nine heavens, within the mist-shrouded jade palace, an old monster set down his teacup and said, "It has been quite a while. Why haven't those people returned?" Beside him, an Earth Immortal remarked, "Taiyi and Realm Faction should be simple enough. The truly troublesome ones are the old fellows on the ground—feigning compliance while acting contrary, appearing amicable on the surface but proving exceptionally stubborn underneath." The greatest issue at present was that those of higher cultivation were suffering from severe bodily afflictions. Now, even grandmasters were keeping low profiles in seclusion, not daring to act lightly. Above the nine heavens, when the Earth Immortals descended with avatars to meet the higher-ups of various paths, only two or three days had passed before their seventh-realm pure yang consciousnesses were corroded, sustaining heavy injuries. The broader environment was undergoing drastic upheavals, the Dao rhymes had shifted, and with the Night Ruins drawing near, the true world was being unveiled. The stronger one was, the more severe their troubles became. That was precisely why the "old factions" were in such a hurry to seal the heavens. They needed to carve out a pure land, nourish their bodies with various materials of fortune, and slowly adapt to the transformations of the greater world until they could forcefully "open the heavens" following a grand nirvana. "We might not necessarily be able to 'invite' the top rankers of the fifth and sixth realms up here," an elder said. Crucially, those top rankers seemed to possess means to conceal themselves. The information the Earth Immortals could extract from the New Board was limited, and investigations were still ongoing. "For now, Taiyi and Realm Faction are completely confirmed to be genuine youths." That was why the old monsters valued these two top rankers so highly; there could be no better outcome. Once such youthful top rankers were bestowed with Dao chains and raised from an early stage, they would be safe and reliable, readily usable in the future. That was why they had brought them up repeatedly over tea, eager to see them soon. An old monster remarked, "Even the New Board acknowledges Taiyi and Realm Faction; they must be on par with core saints. Let us wait quietly for them to ascend to the heavens. From then on, two more true dragons will be kept within our Dragon Transformation Pool." "The top rankers are all absent? Not a single one has arrived yet?" A young man bathed in immortal radiance walked in, a golden rune imprinted between his brows. He addressed one of the Earth Immortals as his grandmaster, clearly beloved by the old monsters and granted free entry to such an important place. "Perhaps I should go have a look at Taiyi's side," the young man said with a smile. He looked as though he stood within the morning glow, his hair shimmering and his handsome face bathed in brilliant light. *** Meanwhile, in the Night Ruins, Qin Ming went through yet another battle. An unexpected patrol team of over a dozen people had caught up, only to be completely annihilated by him. "Soon. The Dao marker is about to be washed away!" He estimated the time. Once the mark vanished, he would completely shake off his identity as the top ranker. He suspected the New Board might have helped him. Otherwise, it would not have separated his identities as Taiyi and Realm Faction, keeping them distinct from the identity of Qin Ming, each acting as though independent. *** Above in the jade palace, the young man with the golden rune between his brows—Qi Daozhen—wished to descend to the ground to observe the local customs below the nine heavens and, while at it, check why Taiyi had not yet been brought up. An elder spoke with earnest gravity: "Daozhen, the broader environment has changed. The Night Ruins draws near, and the true world is lifting its veil beyond our control. As a Blazing Sun of the heavens, you should remain steady and endure this dark period before stepping out into the world." Qi Daozhen quickly bowed and said, "Disciple does not intend to spar with Taiyi. I merely wish to contribute my effort and patrol the ground." The elder nodded. "Mm. In the future, those of you with hopes of becoming a Blazing Sun will need to maintain harmonious relations with figures like Taiyi and Realm Faction. You are destined to spend a long time together." Beside him, an old monster smiled as well. "You shall advance side by side in the future." Qi Daozhen smiled in agreement. To put it politely, Taiyi, Realm Faction, and their kind required his courteous regard. To put it bluntly, the prodigies of the ground were merely the left and right hands of Blazing Suns like them. Put even more starkly, all those of exceptional talent on the ground would be harnessed for their use—nothing more than recruited retainers and subordinates. Once bestowed with Dao chains, how would they dare disobey? Shortly after, Qi Daozhen departed the jade palace. "Even with the heavens sealed, competition among our generation remains fierce," Qi Daozhen murmured to himself. He was not the only one harboring ambitions of becoming a Blazing Sun. With the various old factions under Yujing's jurisdiction reviving, which sect lacked a young vanguard? Ultimately, he stepped aboard a golden wooden boat, quietly sailing into the distance to descend upon the mortal realm. *** By the shore of the Night Ruins, Qin Ming felt a faint heat rising within his body. When he had re-cultivated the silk book method, his body had broken apart twice. After recovering, he had sensed a burgeoning vitality brewing inside him, accumulating the power of rebirth. Now, after successive battles and enduring the buffeting of alien Dao rhymes in this unfamiliar domain, that sign of rebirth grew increasingly distinct. He felt as though he were about to undergo a nirvana, poised to advance in realm. Different worlds held different Dao rhymes, which caused harm to rash intruders; in severe cases, one's body could wither and their cultivation sharply decline. Qin Ming had long adapted to the Night Ruins. The last time he secluded himself here, he had comprehended the Sea-Overturning Classic and slain the Jade Emperor and Yun Shuyao, the sea race's commandery princess. *This place is far enough from that ocean region; it shouldn't disturb that mysterious Heavenly Maiden, should it?* According to the speculations of the local sea race in the Night Ruins, the Heavenly Maiden likely hailed from above the thirtieth heaven. During the ancient war, she had plummeted into the Eastern Sea on the brink of death, remaining frozen in ice until awakening in this era. "Are there thirty-six heavens in the Night Ruins as well?" Qin Ming looked up toward the sky. Finding a tranquil stretch of beach, he sat cross-legged and began circulating the silk book method. Hunyuan force surged through his frame, and the light of nine-colored sacred baleful aura flowed around him, exceedingly divine. As his body grew hotter and hotter, he waited for a momentous rebirth!