Li Qingyue was dazed. The commotion was simply too colossal! Lightning shattered the night sky, and even her long dark hair was pulled upward by the flying electric arcs.
"What happened?" she asked.
The pitch-black night exploded with a roar. Bolts of lightning as thick as water buckets warped the void and pierced the heavens, densely interwoven one after another.
The deafening rumble sounded like a tsunami, like ten thousand stampeding steeds. It threatened to bring down the severed cliff, and the frozen sea creaked and cracked as if about to burst apart. The night sky was torn asunder, turning into a sea of thunder.
"Let's go!" Qin Ming sent a voice transmission, sensing that things had gone terribly wrong.
His voice was tight, and he muttered an ambiguous follow-up: "This place is exceptionally dangerous. The 'blood droplet' recognition failed... The situation is extremely dire right now."
He swore he had never intended to perform such a "ritual."
After all, even Li Qingyue and Jiang Ran—two women as elegant, dignified, and pure as banished immortals—were secretly covering their mouths with their sleeves.
Demonic flowers and longevity medicines were two mythical things in the mortal realm, impossible even for Earth Immortals and gods to resist; that fragrance seeped straight into the soul.
Far behind them, a crowd of people was gulping down saliva frantically, completely unable to help themselves.
"Let's go," Qin Ming signaled to Li Qingyue and Jiang Ran. They really could not stay here any longer—this place had an owner.
Most critically, the moment he came face to face with the person in the coffin, he had offended her to death.
That translucent droplet of light had splashed onto her flawless, pristine face. Her lustrous white skin and eyelashes had trembled slightly, showing unmistakable signs of reviving; she was no corpse.
The only stroke of luck was that the mysterious woman lay faceup in the crystal coffin, and the dense waterfall of lightning wove together only in the night sky directly above her.
Jiang Ran's fine hair was also nearly standing on end. She said, "A land of extreme yin transforming toward extreme yang, reversing life and death—did no longevity medicine grow below?"
"There is a flower of extreme yang, but it is accompanied by a terrifying coffin," Qin Ming informed her with a solemn look.
"You dripped blood... onto an ancient coffin?" Jiang Ran looked at the traces of blood at the corner of his mouth from when he was injured earlier.
She strongly suspected that Qin Ming's "dripping blood to claim ownership" was somewhat questionable.
Li Qingyue smiled and said, "You didn't drool on it, did you?"
As she spoke, she raised her fair, slender hand. Mist-like light rain drifted up as she wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth from a distance.
Between the two women's light smiles, they had nearly reconstructed the truth.
Even as they talked, their feet never stopped.
Out of their trust in Qin Ming, Li Qingyue and Jiang Ran did not hesitate at all. Swift as wind and lightning, they followed him, leaving the severed cliff immediately.
Qin Ming looked back and let out a slight breath of relief.
If that woman were to fully awaken, heaven only knew what would happen!
By then, the pursuers reached the vicinity of the cliff. Seeing lightning interlacing ahead to form a chasm of thunder, their scalps tingled with dread.
"Such an intense medicinal fragrance! I can hardly stop myself from jumping down!"
In their eyes, this was a place that birthed life from death; it was definitely no demonic flower, so there had to be a longevity medicine below.
However, having seen the three ahead frightened away, they naturally grew cautious as well. They brought out strange treasures and used spirit mirrors to observe the scene beneath the cliff.
Instantly, many cried out in shock.
"A medicinal herb flowing with solar true fire without being incinerated—what grade of longevity flower is this?"
"There is actually a crystal coffin, with an incomparably graceful woman lying inside! Who is she?"
At once, numerous speculations crossed their minds. How could a being who could set up such arrangements and leave behind such preparations in ancient times be an ordinary person?
"She is either a renowned figure from history or the scion of a peerless Heavenly Immortal. Borrowing the Solar Secret Aperture to reverse the divide between yin and yang, her background must be unimaginably grand."
Some felt immense dread deep down and could not help backing away.
Yet others were swallowing their saliva, such as the decayed god who had fallen to the grandmaster level. There was more than one or two like him, and the divine radiance in their eyes surged without a trace of awe.
Beings of their kind had degenerated severely and were nearing the end of their lifespans. As long as there was even a sliver of hope to regain their youth and rise once more, they would dare strike even if a supreme Heavenly Immortal slept here.
They were going to die anyway, so what was there left to fear?
"Fellow Daoist, whatever you do, do not act rashly!" Even the yellow-haired old monster holding a black spear and exuding monstrous ferocity felt a chill run down his spine, for he saw the withered, black-robed man beside him was about to make a move.
The black-robed man shook slightly, shedding several black feathers that turned to ash. He grinned and said, "I am not greedy. Hooking a single immortal petal will be enough."
A black radiance appeared in his hand, turning into a thread that extended down toward the chasm beneath the cliff.
"Fellow Daoist, reconsider! You must not be reckless!"
The black-robed man was indifferent to life and death: "There isn't enough time. When a man is about to die, why care if after him comes the deluge? I will risk my life on a gamble!"
A demon cultivator tried to stop him: "Wait, Fellow Daoist, let us think of a plan together! There is bound to be a clever stratagem!"
"Then help me," the decayed god said with a faint smile.
Many felt a tightening in their chests. This old bastard was on the verge of fading away, yet he was threatening them with his suicidal recklessness—truly detestable.
The most cautious among the group wiped their mouths and retreated, unwilling to join dying lunatics in their madness. Even if they were to harvest the medicine, it had to be a surefire venture.
...
Qin Ming and the two women traversed the night mist, arriving at the entrance of the frozen sea in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, they stopped, sensing something amiss in the tunnel filled with "cobwebs."
"Someone is blocking that way—it's quite dangerous!"
All three had keen divine senses and noticed the situation immediately, quietly stepping back and keeping clear of the area.
Exploration teams from other top civilizations were guarding this place, and apparently more than one, preparing to join forces to rob those who passed through.
"Despicable. Some large organizations are unwilling to venture into dangerous grounds themselves, yet they always love reaping where they have not sown."
Qin Ming, Li Qingyue, and Jiang Ran looked grave. They carried special weapons, and their weapon spirits warned them that forcing their way through would likely lead to a life-and-death bloodbath.
"Wait for an opportunity. We will rest in secret and adjust ourselves to peak condition," Jiang Ran said. She had rich experience in group battles and breaking through encirclements.
Years ago during the great battle at Black-White Mountain, she had snatched food from a tiger's jaws, seizing the greatest fortune from a group of old demons and city lord-level figures.
Li Qingyue nodded as well. Back then at the ruins of Mount Luofu's immortal mountain, she had been besieged by all her competitors, yet she was the one who laughed last.
Now that her Innate Fire Physique was fully accomplished, she was on an entirely different level.
"I'll seize the time to enter seclusion!" Qin Ming hoped to refine the solar true fire as soon as possible and advance the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic to the realm of perfection.
In a flash, they melted into the night, hiding deep within the frozen sea's ice layer.
Li Qingyue said, "If you are tempering true fire, why not enter the Eight Trigrams Furnace to meditate?"
"Hm? That's right!" Qin Ming beamed. In the domain of true fire, with such a ready-made treasure ground augmenting him, he could naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort, helping him swiftly break through.
With a metallic clatter, Li Qingyue removed her armor. The damaged furnace body hovered in midair, plain and unassuming, exuding an ancient, weathered aura and covered in intricate, mysterious patterns.
Dressed in white, Li Qingyue stood before the legendary immortal furnace with an ethereal air detached from the mortal world—pure, elegant, and serene, like a Heavenly Immortal descending to earth.
The battle robe formed from the furnace lid also slipped off Qin Ming's body. He handed the yellow imperial parasol and the rotting fan to Li Qingyue for her to use temporarily for self-defense.
When the two women learned the origins of the rotting fan, their hearts trembled with shock. Was this truly an ancient relic from the legendary Doushuai Palace?
Jiang Ran joked, "If we fan the flames with this, stirring the fire for you, perhaps we can help you forge a golden body."
"Or are you trying to refine me into a cauldron of grand medicine to eat?"
"Speaking of which, we harvested most of the charred lotus seeds of the Fire Golden Lotus. Those are wonderful items, precious medicine for body refinement. It's the perfect chance to consume and absorb them here to see their effects."
The two women shared some of the blackened, crumbly seeds with Qin Ming; when they had gathered them earlier, their coordination had been seamless.
Qin Ming took out the lustrous green tree heart and invited them to examine it with him. They confirmed it was not any rare medicine, but a precious artifact-crafting material engraved with mysterious Dao patterns.
"If one cultivates wood-attribute techniques like the World-Abiding Scripture, holding this might help with comprehension of the Dao."
Qin Ming lent the item to them to study, while he stepped into the furnace.
Immediately, beneath the frozen sea and deep within the ice, the furnace fire flared. Qin Ming shed his clothes and sat quietly within the enlarged treasure furnace, formally commencing his secluded cultivation.
Before long, the phantom of a Golden Crow projected from within the furnace amid brilliant golden clouds as the divine bird soared, before evolving further into a blazing sun.
When Qin Ming inhaled, morning radiance clung to his body, brimming with fresh and vigorous vitality; when he exhaled, evening glow reflected outward, radiating like a blood-red setting sun.
Eventually, he was "like the sun at high noon," cross-legged within an intensely resplendent solar disk, resembling a heavenly god awakening from stillness, drawing near to the present world from ancient times.
The Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic was quite mysterious, for cultivators of any path could practice it.
Practitioners of the Immortal path studying it could transform their consciousness into pure yang, making it increasingly potent and continuously sublimating it.
However, this scripture was exceedingly difficult to cultivate; very few could see it through to completion.
For the Newborn path, the scripture held even greater significance: it could make one's heavenly light as blazing as the sun, an ultimate aspiration for many, and the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic could magnify that transformation.
It could purify heavenly light, intensifying it to the point of qualitative change.
If mastered in its entirety, it could make heavenly light, pure yang consciousness, and divine wisdom vastly more domineering. Who would not covet such extraordinary augmentation?
Thus, the practitioners of the Immortal path had once kept it deeply hidden, never passing it to outsiders.
Back then on the Western Border battlefield, Qin Ming had fought bloody battles against demons and achieved great merits, finally exchanging them for the only surviving half-volume of the damaged scripture, before using resonance to recover the complete work.
As he cultivated, two golden imprints flew out of the furnace and sank into the foreheads of the two women; Qin Ming had transmitted the entire text to them.
With the passage of time, the solar true fire was refined, giving birth to a rich spirituality and becoming an inextinguishable source fire that harmonized flawlessly with the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic.
Inside Qin Ming's body, streams of golden magma seemed to surge, pioneering new frontiers and dispelling the dark mist within the inner world of his form.
His flesh and blood resembled a furnace rippling with immortal light, in which a true spirit resided.
Clearly, Qin Ming had succeeded in his cultivation. He had thoroughly mastered the scriptures of the Fourth Realm, and there was no need to touch the doctrines of higher realms for now.
His heavenly light grew even more intense, and various lethal techniques from the scripture manifested. Within the Eight Trigrams Furnace, nine Golden Crows took flight, transforming into blinding blade light, followed by a manifest golden blade shining upon all creation.
For a time, the blazing sun, Golden Crows, and blade light crisscrossed within the furnace, enveloping the seated Qin Ming and making him appear ever more sacred and transcendent.
Qin Ming manifested his own "Samadhi True Fire," blending solar true fire, Six Ding Divine Fire, and Nanming Li Fire. Instantly, three-colored flames danced, creating a terrifying spectacle.
Evidently, this was far more fearsome than ordinary Samadhi True Fire.
He inspected himself closely within, channeling the three-colored flames into his mind lamp to feed its fire. Instantly, the mind lamp shone with brilliant splendor, illuminating his entire body—both a baptism and an incineration.
Even Qin Ming's physical body ached from the agonizing heat.
Six Ding Divine Fire was a gentle flame capable of refining the spirit and nourishing the body, but solar true fire was anything but gentle—it was fiercely domineering. How could ordinary people endure it?
Qin Ming could withstand it since he had mastered the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic, yet the burning pain remained; flames vented from his pores, leaving his skin slightly scorched and parched.
"A fine opportunity to temper my body here as well," he thought. Rubbing off the blackened hulls of the lotus seeds to reveal their red-gold interiors, he popped them into his mouth like sweets.
These seeds of the Fire Golden Lotus were precious medicine for body refinement; had over eighty percent of their spiritual essence not been burned away, they would have been far more precious than they were now.
Even so, they possessed miraculous efficacy.
Qin Ming's flesh and blood shimmered with precious luster. His skin ceased to wither, and the vitality of his flesh surged rapidly. His Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao circulated on its own, followed by the activation of the Extreme Dao Golden Body.
Finally, he returned once more to the Golden Crow Illuminates the Night Classic.
At this moment, Qin Ming's blended heavenly light, pure yang consciousness, and physical body were all elevated.
"More wind!"
Wind fed fire. Paired with divine fire, the Wind Scripture could also nurture the self within. A halo radiated from Qin Ming's entire form, creating a hazy light as body and spirit resonated together.
Not only had he mastered the technique, but he was also breaking through realm barriers, his flesh and spirit undergoing renewal.
This transformation was fierce and swift. He went from the second heaven of the Mind Lamp realm to the third heaven, and then broke through directly into the fourth heaven—a significant leap that brought him straight into the mid-stage of the Mind Lamp realm.
Qin Ming felt joyful within. At this stage, even if he encountered saints from top civilizations, he would dare charge forward with blade in hand to cut them down, without the slightest hesitation.
His realm had finally caught up. Even if his opponents were in the late stage of the Fourth Realm, he could duel them without needing to flee in disarray.
Thinking of those who had besieged and hunted him, he muttered, "Quite a few of you will have to turn tail and run now!"
With a slight shake, Qin Ming was left spotless, treasure radiance flowing over his slender, well-proportioned physique. He donned his clothes and formally stepped out of seclusion.
"You finished?"
"Mm!"
Li Qingyue and Jiang Ran had consumed the Fire Golden Lotus seeds as well, achieving success in refining their bodies.
Over the preceding six months in the remnants of Feixian Mountain, they had gained immensely and broken through barriers, possessing profound cultivation today.
"Time to strike back!"
"Wait for the hunting hour!"
Grudges had to be settled. The three had previously been hunted by the seven major organizations; now, having rested and honed their strength, they sharpened their blades, eager to act.
...
Whether demonic flowers or longevity medicine, both possessed irresistible temptation.
In the end, after careful study, the crowd finally acted. Retreating to a safe distance, they cautiously controlled puppets and indirectly activated strange treasures, seeking to harvest the immortal herb of extreme yang.
Rumble!
Beneath the chasm, flames surged to the heavens.
The puppets and strange treasures shattered on the spot.
Below was a scene of terror: divine chains of order intertwined, solar true fire surged skyward, and thunder bridged heaven and earth.
A grandmaster was beside himself with fury, shouting angrily, "Who was controlling that puppet? Do you want to die?! You didn't hook the longevity medicine just now—you touched the coffin!"
The decayed god spoke: "It was not a blunder. The woman may have awakened, using her hazy consciousness to intervene and prevent us from plucking the immortal flower."
"So that means she cannot leave. She is likely at the critical juncture of reversing yin, yang, life, and death. Do we... still have a chance?" another degenerated deity remarked.
"Don't do anything rash. If you push her too far, we'll all be wiped out!" Oleg of the Black Tower Civilization spoke up. He was still young with his best years ahead, unwilling to accompany a pack of decayed beings in their madness.
"Quick, leave!" Moon God and Blood God whispered as well, signaling their organizations to withdraw immediately, refusing to take further risks with old relics who had only a few years left to live.
"Let me see!" The decayed god refused to give up, offering up a treasure mirror near the abyss to reflect the scenery below.
Inside the crystal coffin, the woman lay quietly amid curling white mist. The divine herb of extreme yang continually threw up rains of light that showered over her. Her eyelids trembled slightly, ready to open at any moment.
Her consciousness had begun to awaken, and she felt the anomaly on the side of her cheek—the scent of a man, causing true fire to almost erupt throughout her entire body.
Evidently, a storm raged within her; she was far from peaceful. She was birthing life from death, and at this most pivotal juncture, an outsider barging in was exceedingly ill-omened.
Yet she could protect herself now!
Though she could not leave, intimidating others and striking appropriately were no issue.
In an instant, deep within the land of extreme yin beneath the abyss, an aura of extreme yang reversed outward. Terrifying solar true fire surged up and cascaded toward the crowd. Moreover, the source of the fire had gained spirituality, breeding shadowy creatures from within.
"Not good! Run!"
On the frozen sea, everyone's expressions changed drastically as an overwhelming horde of shadowy figures burst forth, all cloaked in solar true fire, launching a massive hunt against them.
Furthermore, thunder ripped across the night sky, blasting toward their location.
Many were terrified; had they not retreated far enough, they would have been blasted to pieces by the thunder alone.
Evidently, the woman could not leave the abyss and could not unleash her full power, unable to become a source of absolute destruction.
Only a sliver of her consciousness had awakened to intervene here, granting spirituality to the shadowy creatures and moderately elevating their cultivation.
"Some of the phantoms are grandmasters!"
Someone muttered, "The strength of these shadowy creatures depends entirely on that woman. She considers grandmasters sufficient to deal with us. If she spared no effort or vitality, she might even create experts of the Sixth Realm or beyond, but I doubt she would pay such a heavy price."
The crowd fled in terror, dreading that the woman might retaliate regardless of cost.
Flames surged over the frozen sea, spreading outward.
Along the way, several young cultivators died tragically, pounced upon by the shadowy beings and burned to ash.
Finally, a group reached the exit, only to be ambushed in the tunnel by mysterious factions.
"Are you insane?! Disaster is upon us, and you still want to loot here?!"
Within the tunnel, chaos erupted into a free-for-all, the stench of blood pungent and thick.
"Let's move. In this chaos, it's time we fought our way out and took our revenge along the way." Beside the tunnel, Qin Ming and the two women appeared, ready to embark on the journey back.
At the far end of the frozen sea, the woman in the crystal coffin had a hazy will materialize into a tangible figure, hovering in the night sky above the abyss and gazing into the distance.
"She actually came out!" Qin Ming's heart shook. He suspected she might be a Heavenly Immortal who had reversed life and death, which sent a cold shiver down his spine.
"That dripping blood to claim ownership you mentioned... did your blood accidentally drip onto her?" Jiang Ran turned her head and asked.
"Don't talk nonsense," Qin Ming hastily hushed her.
"She is looking at you," Li Qingyue sent a voice transmission.
Beneath the night sky, though in a phantom state, the woman was peerlessly graceful. The partially revived will was still somewhat bewildered and indistinct, yet she had already sensed something, looking toward the young man in the distance and catching the scent of the one who had disturbed her tranquil slumber.
At that moment, her hazy, jade-like face nearly darkened entirely.
Qin Ming charged into the crowd; if he didn't run now, it might soon be too late.
Facing the experts of the seven major organizations, Qin Ming, Li Qingyue, and Jiang Ran naturally showed no mercy. A single charge kicked up vast plumes of blood mist.
"It's you?!" Someone recognized them. With enmity between them, words were unnecessary; they clashed in bloody combat on sight.
"You..." Blood God was shocked. Meeting Qin Ming again, he had an arm severed the instant they crossed blades, forcing him to execute a blood escape.
They had separated not long ago—how had he suddenly become so strong?
"Ah..." Moon God was set ablaze by Li Qingyue and struck by Jiang Ran's finger attack. Covered in blood and fire, she stumbled and fled.
With a squelch, she was struck by a dazzling blade light.
Beside Qin Ming, nine Golden Crows soared. This was a lethal technique—the Golden Crow Blade-Lifting Stance—slashing Moon God diagonally across the shoulder.
It had to be said that this woman was formidable; having suffered a fatal strike, she could still use a secret technique to reconstruct her body.
However, the residual vibrations of Qin Ming's blade intent tore her body open once more.
Moon God cried out in terror. Decisively abandoning her physical body, her consciousness left her form and fled toward Blood God.
With a bang, her exquisite physique exploded, obliterated by the blade intent.
Above all, the area was too cramped. Though the seven major organizations had numbers on their side, it was difficult to encircle the three inside the tunnel, preventing them from utilizing their advantage and causing them to suffer severe losses right away.
"Not good! Is that a supreme Heavenly Immortal?! The consciousness of the woman beneath the abyss is taking shape! Lightning and thunder flash in the night—she really seems enraged, displaying even greater divine might than before!"
Those behind who had yet to squeeze into the tunnel panicked, urging those ahead to hurry and flee, lest a terrible catastrophe befall them.
Even Qin Ming and his companions dared not delay any longer, fighting forward with all their might for fear of being trapped.
Soon after, they encountered an expert from the Strange Insect Alliance—the Silver-Spotted Ladybug. Five months ago, this strange insect had broken through to the late Fourth Realm in the remnants of Feixian Mountain.
Its strength was extremely formidable. But now, in the collision with its opponent, cracks appeared on its divine-metal-like body.
Qin Ming slashed his blade repeatedly. With a thunderous boom, terrifying blade intent and brilliant golden clouds enveloped what lay ahead, blasting the Silver-Spotted Ladybug to pieces.
"We can't delay for a single moment!" Qin Ming felt the fallout of the "blood droplet ownership" had arrived—the woman had barely begun to awaken, yet her wrath was already this terrifying.
Up ahead, the organizations blocking the tunnel to loot also realized something had gone wrong. No longer daring to hunt, they turned and fled. Just like that, the dense throng collapsed into total rout.
Qin Ming and the two women struck out from time to time, blasting apart any opponents foolish enough to approach.
The organizations that had besieged him earlier were thoroughly shaken, deeply unsettled to find his strength had skyrocketed.
"Elena, Oleg, I've come to settle scores with you!" Qin Ming spotted the members of the Black Tower Civilization.
"Stop fighting! Great grandmaster-level shadowy beings are charging up from behind riding waves of flame!"
Many panicked. Rushing out of the Solar Secret Aperture, they fled in a mad frenzy.
Soon, the entire mountain range fell into total chaos.
Chapter 482