In the distance, the Thunder King Bird beat its wings to stir up great gusts of wind and let out a long, piercing cry.
The suspicious figure was startled. In the blink of an eye, he bolted, vanishing into the dense night mist.
Qin Ming had no desire to fight inside Twin Trees Village, but now that they were far from it, he could unleash his power without restraint. Riding the astral wind over ten meters above the ground, he swooped down at high speed.
"What?" Ahead, the middle-aged man in black whipped his head around. The astral wind surged with thunderous intensity, churning violently and sending a shock of alarm through him.
He was an adept of the Fourth Realm. Under the current overarching climate, even though something was wrong with his body, he was not stricken with severe illness, making him an extraordinary figure in his own right.
Yet now, the person riding the wind behind him brought forth an airflow so terrifying that he could not even stand steady; he was nearly tossed off his feet.
"Black astral wind!" He sucked in a breath of cold air. Wind like this could scatter a person’s essence, qi, and spirit. Practiced to an advanced level, it was none other than the legendary wind calamity.
He struck back immediately, and it was precisely at that moment that he saw the figure suspended in the night sky, stepping upon the astral wind—Qin Ming. In an instant, his pupils constricted.
He clearly recognized Qin Ming.
"I don't care where you came from. If you reach your hand out too far, it gets chopped off!" Qin Ming said in a low, heavy voice. He sensed the other man's panic; the stranger was blatantly up to no good.
The small silver banner the man in black cast out unfurled against the wind, expanding rapidly as it surged into the night sky, radiating layered ripples of force.
Qin Ming stood motionless as an unyielding boulder. As the gale howled, its ferocity multiplied in an instant. Over ten meters in the air, the glowing, precious silver banner was torn to shreds by the astral wind with a sharp tearing sound.
Then the tempest surged. Sand and pebbles flew across the ground like one slash of blade light after another, gouging the barren earth until cracks over a foot wide splintered everywhere.
The man let out a bloodcurdling scream as an arm was severed, falling to the ground before he was blasted through the air, only to crash violently into the dirt a moment later with a resounding boom.
He could not believe it. A dignified Fourth Realm adept like himself was so utterly fragile before this youth, whom intelligence reports claimed was only in the Third Realm.
This upended his entire understanding. With hands clasped behind his back in midair, without even extending a fist or kicking a leg, and without ever using the rumored Hunyuan force, the youth had crushed him flat.
He had considered himself a formidable figure, yet he had failed to withstand even a single move. Already suppressed by the black astral wind, he lay prone on the ground, completely unable to move, blood gushing unstoppably from his severed arm.
"Please stop! I mean no harm! I came with open, honest intentions—I have something to say!" the middle-aged man cried out in agony.
"Just because I haven't shown myself for a long time, did you really think I was gone?" Qin Ming asked coldly as he descended from the sky. He had sensed the man's hostility.
Confronted with someone who spoke with two tongues, Qin Ming could not be bothered with idle chatter. The astral wind surged, causing the man's essence, qi, and spirit to dim, blowing them right out of his physical body to continuously disperse.
"Speak. Where do you come from, and what was your purpose in coming to Twin Trees Village?" Qin Ming interrogated.
"Ah!" The man's spiritual light of consciousness was on the verge of exploding into pieces. His mental field flickered like a candle in the wind, about to go out, filling him with boundless terror.
In a flash, waves of intense emotions surged forward, all effortlessly and clearly resonated by Qin Ming.
The man in black had come to Twin Trees Village for a single purpose: to probe whether Qin Ming had returned.
Certain factions were intensely focused on Qin Ming, determined to track his movements.
Over the past two years, Qin Ming had either been in seclusion deep in the mountains or journeying far into foreign domains, vanishing from the sight of those watchful eyes. Yet those interested parties had never stopped dwelling on him.
"I originally wanted to keep a low profile, but you all seem eager for an echo. That makes things difficult," Qin Ming muttered in a low voice.
He had heard that some time ago, an Earth Immortal had taken action; his injured body could not bear the cost at all, and in the end, he had actually died.
This showed that the overarching environment was undergoing drastic upheavals, forcing many high adepts into dormancy.
"If I waited another half year to act, it might have been safer," Qin Ming murmured to himself.
He looked down at the man. The storm raged, and terrified cries immediately rose from the ground: "Don't, Brother Qin! Don't kill me! We can talk this out!"
"You have no value left," Qin Ming responded calmly.
The black astral wind surged like black-gold flying swords sweeping past. The man's physical body was swiftly torn apart, and his spiritual light of consciousness extinguished with it.
With a broad wave of Qin Ming's sleeve, the cracks in the ground were smoothed over by the violent wind, restoring the place to its original state.
Yuque's gem-like eyes went wide, its bird face filled with astonishment. "Not having seen you for a while, Mountain Lord, you've grown even more unfathomable! From beginning to end, you never even made physical contact with your opponent, yet you pressed him to the ground to die in utter humiliation!"
The Thunder King Bird was dumbstruck as well. This truly was a case of masts and oars turning to ash amid calm conversation. From start to finish, Qin Ming had stood with his hands behind his back. Though he had slain an enemy, he had remained utterly transcendent.
"Big Daddy Qin!" After a string of events, the red squirrel no longer dared act stubborn. Thoroughly cowed long ago, all six eyes on its three heads glowed with reverence.
Qin Ming asked, "You should have some connections with the higher-order abnormal beings deep within Black-White Mountain, right?"
He knew that over the past two years, these three mutated creatures had been cultivating diligently in Black-White Mountain.
"Mountain Lord, whatever you need, just say the word!" Yuque held its three heads high, patting its chest with a wing.
Qin Ming said, "Have someone pass a message to that dog in the perilous zone... ahem, to that Sword Immortal. Say that certain people intend harm against Twin Trees Village and might endanger Granny Liu, and that they have even abducted one of the God Child's playmates."
Regarding that dog, he genuinely felt some wariness and had no wish to interact with it directly.
He had looked into the matter thoroughly and already knew the Dog Sword Immortal's true origin: a former Beast God of an era, practically an unmatched, ferocious demon, and not particularly broad-minded either.
Even Liu Mo had hesitated right up until his departure over whether or not to finish it off.
Qin Ming had seen the hound at its most pathetic, having personally stroked its dog head. Now that the Beast God had recovered to become a supreme powerhouse, if it was unwilling to recall that ignominious past, meeting it might prove exceedingly dangerous.
Yuque said, "Rest assured, Mountain Lord. My partner this year holds a bit of status in Black-White Mountain as the chieftain of the messenger flocks. I guarantee the message will be delivered. Besides, Master Dog is an old acquaintance of ours; he will certainly value past ties."
The red squirrel and the Thunder King Bird nodded in agreement; they were also well-acquainted with the abnormal beings of Black-White Mountain.
"You shameless bird." Qin Ming knew that Yuque was reliable in every way except for the influence of its species' instincts, which drove it to switch mates every year.
Afterward, he reminded them that the Dog Sword Immortal's status was different now. When delivering the letter, they had to be careful with their wording, use honorifics, and not act presumptuous.
"Understood!"
"I hope he is still there," Qin Ming murmured to himself. He had naturally heard that the Earth Immortals and seven-day stackers could no longer endure, with ninety percent of them having already ascended to heaven.
Meanwhile, the powerhouses from the old mountain strongholds in the heavens had not engaged in bloody conflicts with the experts on the ground.
They tolerated, compromised, and accepted one another—a helpless choice, because under the present conditions, whoever struck first might very well drop dead first.
***
Qin Ming set out alone toward the Lingxu Mountain Range, a well-renowned blessed land.
Generally speaking, famous mountains and legendary blessed lands throughout the realm were mostly occupied by top-tier orthodoxies.
The Lingxu Mountain Range was one of the few exceptions. A large number of rogue cultivators lived in seclusion here, alongside several declining sects.
The man in black had hailed from this very place, prompting Qin Ming to investigate in person. Through the man's fluctuating emotions, Qin Ming had even caught the resonant silhouette of Xiao Wenrui.
Entering the mountains, Qin Ming glided silently through the night mist, making his way straight to Changqing Temple.
It was built on a peak of modest height. Fairly large in scale, it was thoroughly decrepit; cracks ran across the courtyard walls, and the roof tiles were blanketed in green moss.
No matter how one looked at it, Changqing Temple was a fallen household.
When Qin Ming caught sight of Wenrui, his heart sank at once.
That was not the physique a child just over nine years old ought to possess. He stood an inch or so taller than an adult man and had a rather robust, burly frame.
After embarking on the Newborn path, Qin Ming had practiced the rare and precious silk book method. Even though his body had undergone repeated transformations, it had always maintained golden proportions and never lost control; he was only about a head taller than ordinary men.
Standing in the night mist, he silently observed the figure in Changqing Temple.
Wenrui still had a childish, youthful face, yet that height and level of development were entirely out of balance.
"Is he practicing the lowest grade of Newborn methods?" His eyes turned profound as killing intent rose in his heart. Did these so-called transcendent masters intend to ruin people by offering such a crude art?
He had thought they would teach an immortal path method.
After all, even within aristocratic clans and great organizations where high adepts watched over and shielded disciples, Newborn path methods could only be cultivated around age thirteen or fourteen, while ordinary folk could only begin at fifteen or sixteen.
Qin Ming stepped into Changqing Temple, closing the distance to Xiao Wenrui.
"A specialized offshoot of the Newborn path... Could it actually be the path of the Giant Spirit God?" Standing not far away, Qin Ming grasped the whole truth.
His brows furrowed even tighter. The path of the Giant Spirit God could almost stand as its own independent system, detached from the scope of the ordinary Newborn path.
Not just anyone could walk this path. Back when Qin Ming first came into contact with cultivation, he had learned that many who pursued the path of the Giant Spirit God died young.
"This is not nurturing him with care at all..." The killing intent in Qin Ming's heart nearly burst forth from his body.
He observed and scrutinized in silence, judging that if he intervened, he should still be able to correct it, having Wenrui switch methods and break off from the path of the Giant Spirit God.
He did not step forward to reveal himself right away. Instead, he drifted through Changqing Temple like a specter to investigate the neighboring peaks.
Changqing Temple had long fallen into decline, home to only one Third Realm elderly man and a dozen or so disciples.
With a slight touch of Qin Ming's techniques, the elder fell into a trance. Without the man noticing, Qin Ming invaded his mind and resonated out the necessary information.
The old man treated Wenrui reasonably well, teaching him earnestly as a true disciple, but the art he imparted was truly beyond words.
Wenrui had not been brought to Changqing Temple by the elder. Rather, people from the Lingxu Mountain Range's Thunder Marsh Palace had brought the boy, dumped him on the elder along with a Giant Spirit God manual and some medicinal broths, and ordered him to teach the child.
Thunder Marsh Palace, Star Mountain, and Purple Firmament Cave were all old mountain strongholds from the heavens. Over the past two years, connections between the celestial realm and the ground had grown ever tighter, and Thunder Marsh Palace possessed a foothold here.
Qin Ming had already learned part of these circumstances from the man in black.
Qin Ming sighed. A blessing in disguise was that Wenrui had not suffered in Changqing Temple; the elder treated him fairly well. It was only that the art was utterly terrible and completely unsuitable for him.
Evidently, the old man had been left with no choice, threatened by Thunder Marsh Palace into teaching only the Giant Spirit God method. He personally believed that without all manner of precious medicines, no one was suited to tread this path.
Departing the temple, Qin Ming rode the wind through the mountain range. Before long, he found the location of Thunder Marsh Palace.
One glance told that this was a wonderful land, occupying the center of the blessed grounds coveted by numerous rogue cultivators and fallen orthodoxies. A brand-new palace complex had been erected there, towering and magnificent.
Like a god or demon crossing the sea of night mist, Qin Ming descended silently onto the mountain from midair.
The strongest person here was at most in the late Fourth Realm, with no grandmaster at all. This made sense; people with true backgrounds and genuinely ferocious strength would never be banished down to the ground.
Soon, Qin Ming uncovered part of the truth.
"They suspect I am Taiyi and want to find me to confirm it?"
Those from above had continuously searched for the former top ranker, not merely out of lingering obsession, but seemingly because strict orders had been passed down from above.
This was the information Qin Ming resonated from a young disciple.
His brows locked tight. Something was amiss.
Shortly after, he made a move against a middle-aged man in the Fourth Realm, probing his mental field.
"Some even speculate that Taiyi, Realm Faction, and One Sword are all the same person? And I am one of the suspects, which is why they want to track my movements to investigate thoroughly."
Qin Ming's expression turned grave. This was hardly good news.
What unsettled him most was that this order had been issued jointly by all the supreme Earth Immortals, vaguely involving... great figures in Yujing.
Qin Ming's eyes narrowed slightly. He thought back to that battle beyond the heavens, where he had inexplicably encountered a young man who possessed an innate golden body and was the temporary owner of a cloth made of exotic metal.
"Could it be that guy used some means to transmit messages to the various old mountain strongholds, demanding they track down a suspicious, mysterious opponent?"
If that was the case, the problem would be extraordinarily severe, completely disastrous. How could he afford to provoke a being from Yujing right now?
Suddenly, Qin Ming smiled and said, "Well, no matter. Yujing has vanished."
"Who goes there?"
It had to be said that this Thunder Marsh Palace stronghold was quite remarkable; it had actually laid down an extraordinary array. With the slightest lapse in Qin Ming's attention, he triggered it, alerting the people within.
"Since I've been discovered, I might as well step back into the martial world to settle our grievances," Qin Ming murmured.
Having invited the Dog Sword Immortal out, his intention had naturally been to make an example for all to see by dealing with the truly prominent figures.
As for this place, why use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken? He could wipe it clean himself, and it was necessary to look into things personally and conduct a sweep.
"It's actually you..." The late Fourth Realm elder was alerted and recognized Qin Ming at once.
"Come here!" Qin Ming barked, thrusting a large hand forward directly to seize him.
"You've actually broken through to the Fourth Realm?! Could One Sword truly be you?!" The elder was horrified. In the intelligence they had gathered and repeatedly confirmed, Qin Ming had still been in the mid-to-late Third Realm.
Therefore, in the eyes of many above, One Sword, Taiyi, and the others could not possibly be the same person. One Sword's slaughtering might in the Third Realm had been peerless; to support such a mythical combat record, one had to be at the Great Perfection of the Third Realm at the very least.
Under normal circumstances, one needed an even higher realm before turning back to compensate for deficiencies in lower realms.
Yet what was he seeing right now?
Black astral wind churned as a massive hand composed of the storm engulfed him, sweeping him directly before Qin Ming.
The old man was strong and resisted with all his might.
Yet Qin Ming's Samadhi True Fire materialized into a long blade. Dazzling and magnificent, three-colored flames danced upon it as it slashed diagonally through his shoulder, defeating him utterly in a single blow.
"Could you truly be Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword?!" The elder convulsed in agony, unable to believe his eyes. They had investigated this youth: it had only been four years. How could he possibly have advanced to the Fourth Realm? This was a mythical speed!
His half-severed torso was soaked in blood. He knew full well that had the youth not intended to extract a confession, that single slash would have killed him on the spot.
"How can you be this strong?" the elder groaned in pain.
Qin Ming said placidly, "What is there to be surprised about? Is this so hard to accept? You are merely at the seventh heaven of the Fourth Realm. Before me, what difference is there between you and clay chickens or pottery dogs?"
Hearing the commotion, a crowd from Thunder Marsh Palace came charging in, surrounding Qin Ming. Some attacked, while others turned pale, not daring to advance. The gory sight before them made it clear that this individual was far too dangerous to provoke.
Especially after hearing the elder suspect that he was a composite of Taiyi, Realm Faction, and One Sword, their hairs stood on end, chills running down their spines.
A person's fame preceded them like a tree's shadow. The three top rankers united in one—who could afford to cross him? Unless bedridden old predecessors dragged their wounded bodies out of seclusion, there was no answering him.
Some loyal disciples charged forward.
Qin Ming swept his gaze over them, brimming with killing intent. Ever since seeing the kind of path Wenrui had been forced onto, he had wanted to unleash a slaughter.
Inside his body, a mind lamp emerged, instantly turning unimaginably brilliant. Empowered by three divine fires and entwined with nine types of sacred baleful aura, it erupted with a hiss, shooting divine rays outward, each one dreadfully terrifying.
"Ah!" In an instant, everyone in the great hall toppled over backward. Most had their glabella pierced, perishing completely.
Those of higher status had their chests pierced instead, their lives spared temporarily to await interrogation.
Qin Ming wasted no words. After subduing everyone, he extracted confessions where needed and invaded mental domains where appropriate, combining this with resonance to swiftly acquire everything he sought.
"So, while those in the heavens had suspicions, ninety percent of them did not believe One Sword and Taiyi were the same person, mainly because the realms didn't match."
Qin Ming let out a soft sigh. Keeping a low profile had allowed him to avoid a massive storm. Had it been confirmed back then that the three top rankers were one person, the trouble would have been immense.
"As for the identity of Taiyi, I was merely one of the suspects. Someone was fanning the flames from behind the scenes."
Soon, he dug deeper: someone had stirred up clamor, asserting that Qin Ming was Taiyi and suggesting that if he failed to show himself for a long time, they could start with the people close to him.
"Wenrui was implicated because of this, brought here by those so-called transcendent masters."
In fact, after Wenrui was brought here, the people of Thunder Marsh Palace had reported upward, claiming they could definitely track Qin Ming's movements through this method.
"Thunder Marsh Palace, Star Mountain..."
Killing intent flared in Qin Ming's eyes. Someone of higher standing had inspected this place and remarked coldly that teaching Wenrui was fine, but he should be arranged as a drudge.
Thus, young Wenrui had been taught the Giant Spirit God method.
"Fine then. Thunder Marsh Palace, Star Mountain... a bunch of invalids. Sooner or later, I will settle scores with you!" Qin Ming muttered.
After searching more carefully, fury surfaced on his face once again.
The instigator had not even belonged to this outpost.
"The one who claimed I was Taiyi and suggested targeting those around me was actually a renowned rogue cultivator in these mountains! To harbor such venomous malice and harm me and those close to me—courting death!"
Qin Ming's expression turned frigid. A mere rogue cultivator of the Lingxu Mountain Range had dared wrong him like this and feed such an idea to Thunder Marsh Palace.
"Old Huang, now that you've feasted on blood, it's time to pull your weight. Erase all traces of my presence here so they can't trace my shadow with exotic treasures," Qin Ming instructed the yellow imperial parasol before departing.
Shortly after, he hurried toward the western part of the mountain range.
He had already resonated the identity of that famous rogue cultivator: Old Man Yunfeng, a prominent figure in the mid-Fourth Realm. However, his lifespan had run out several months ago, and he had sat in death within the mountains.
"On the brink of death, and you were still harming people?" Qin Ming frowned, finding it abominable. Unable to swallow his anger, he intended to investigate in person.
In a rather dilapidated building, only a few disciples and grand-disciples of Old Man Yunfeng remained.
Ultimately, Qin Ming found his grave and unceremoniously opened the coffin. The corpse had long decomposed beyond recognition.
"Such intense resentment..." Qin Ming stared at the jade pendant on the old man's body. Dense emotions lingered upon it, and he resonated with them on the spot.
"You... why did you do this? We were friends, after all! I did you a small favor, yet you turn around and kill me?!" Old Man Yunfeng seemed filled with overwhelming grief and indignation.
Someone had asked him to make that suggestion to Thunder Marsh Palace, and not long after, that very person had disposed of him.
Even the faint emotional ripples of the other two had been left behind, completely relaxed and cheerful, vaguely reconstructing the scene of that day.
"Is it really necessary to go that far?" a young man had asked with a chuckle.
Another, older man had replied, "What if he accidentally leaks our identities? Better to kill him."
The youth had remarked, "Actually, having him suggest that Qin Ming is Taiyi and to start with those around him... I don't think it'll accomplish much."
The older man had smiled faintly. "It was just a casual move played in passing. We lose nothing. If the people in heaven really act on it and get into a severe conflict with Qin Ming, that would be an unexpected delight."
The two of them had conversed right in front of Old Man Yunfeng as if no one else were there. Thus, the old man had died carrying endless resentment, his sorrow and rage impossible to dispel.
Qin Ming's expression turned icy cold. "You truly court death. I haven't even sought you out for reckoning, yet you dare provoke me on your own initiative. A casual move? Fine. Just wait. I will play a game of death with you!"
Chapter 487