Yu Gensheng, Li Qingyun, and Meng Xinghai could not calm themselves for a long time. Having watched the Black-White Mountain youth rise from the beginning, they found it unbelievable that he had already reached such heights.
Li Qingyun was petrified. Having witnessed those peerless arts, he had confirmed one thing—Qin Ming was none other than the legendary "One Sword" spoken of in the outside world.
Because he had spent years in closed-door cultivation, Li Qingyun had missed the sword contest in the sky and had not been present in person. Afterward, however, he had heard far too many rumors.
Right now, he was rooted to the spot like a clay figurine or a wooden carving. Only after a good while did he swallow hard and gaze at Qin Ming in shock. "Slaying Through the Thirty-Six Heavens with a Single Sword?"
"You get used to it," Yu Gensheng said, patting him on the shoulder.
Understanding his feelings, Meng Xinghai said, "Uncle Li, stay calm. I haven't even told you yet that he's also Taiyi and Realm Faction."
How could anyone stay calm? Li Qingyun felt his throat go dry, his mind thrown into utter disarray by this string of revelations.
Emotions churning within him, he said, "Qingyue didn't mention a word to me either. You lot... your lips are sealed far too tight."
Ashes filled the sky, accompanied by the sound of shattering.
Hearing the commotion, Meng Zhiyan and Xie Zhaoming immediately rushed inside.
The three-eyed elder's divine kingdom was sinking into perpetual silence, descending into absolute darkness.
Meng Zhiyan said, "Although he was a deity, he altered his life form. In orthodox terms, he went down an errant path and was considered a weak god. Once he died, this domain existing outside of reality could hardly endure."
With mixed emotions, he gazed at Qin Ming's impossibly young face. How old was this youth? Yet he had already reached this level!
He felt that Xinghai's judgment had been extraordinarily sharp. Thinking back to those years, Qin Ming had still been a boy struggling just to survive when Meng Xinghai recognized his potential early on and sheltered him time and again.
Meng Xinghai had not even hesitated to sour relations with the Cui clan over him, drawing complaints from certain members of the Meng family at the time.
Meng Zhiyan smiled faintly. He was exceptionally close to Meng Xinghai, and his own foresight was not lacking either—he had personally stood up for Qin Ming back then, negotiating ransoms with figures from foreign domains to intimidate them.
Li Qingyun spoke up: "We should head back quickly and investigate whether there's a traitor among us."
Who on earth had spread that rumor? It had nearly brought fatal disaster upon Meng Xinghai!
***
In the shallow night, the Fire Spring in Chixia City was no longer concealed. Rising like the morning glow, it bathed the city as life stirred awake. Pedestrians gradually filled the streets, and breakfast stalls were crowded with people.
"I'm certain no leak came from my end," Meng Xinghai said with a furrowed brow inside the City Lord's Manor. Even his wife had not known that he had discovered the purple divine soil.
Qin Ming strolled throughout the manor, probing with his resonance techniques, but turned up nothing.
Meng Xinghai pondered for a moment. "A few years ago, someone did bring it up offhandedly during a banquet. They joked that my decision to oversee Black-White Mountain was because I was looking for some lost purple ashram..."
Clearly, that had merely been lighthearted banter, a joke that no one took seriously.
Meng Zhiyan's brows knitted tightly. "Someone's casual lie nearly cost Xinghai his life. Despicable, truly detestable."
He had already dispatched men to conduct an in-depth investigation into the uninvited guests who had recently surfaced in the city.
Qin Ming said, "Uncle Meng, let me handle that divine root for you, just in case it ever revives."
Li Qingyun nodded in agreement. "That old tree root is comparable to a divine ginseng with deep cultivation—it's a supreme tonic!"
Most importantly, the three-eyed elder had truly manifested into root tendrils, leaving root-shaped marks inside Meng Xinghai's divine wisdom. If it could not nourish him in return, Meng Xinghai's vitality would suffer severe damage.
Fortunately, there were ingenious methods recorded in the esoteric sect's true scriptures to address this.
Qin Ming secretly consulted the Yellow Silk Canopy, "sliced" the old ginseng, and refined it with the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts, thoroughly stripping away the dross to leave behind a pile of "ginseng slices" brimming with vital force.
Meng Xinghai was speechless. The three-eyed elder had truly been turned into divine ginseng.
A sharp crack split the night sky as an arc of lightning flashed past.
Seeing this, Qin Ming immediately rose, bade farewell to the others, and turned to leave.
"Where is he going?"
"To cultivate."
The rainy season had nearly come to an end, making weather like this rare. Qin Ming sprinted toward the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace; to him, heaven-sent "thunder medicine" was not something to miss.
He made little effort to conceal his tracks, deliberately attempting to bait experts from the Demon organization, Pure World Convent, and Blood Immortal. He did not know whether they had already retreated.
At the City Lord's Manor, a bird of flowing light descended, delivering a letter to Xie Zhaoming. After reading it, he smiled, rose, and took his leave. "Since Xinghai is safe, it's time I head back as well."
"Brother Xie, thank you for your trouble," Meng Zhiyan said gratefully. Though the two shared a bond forged through life and death, his old friend had not hesitated to rush through the night to provide aid—even when grandmasters would suffer injury and cough up blood if they took action. This moved Meng Zhiyan deeply.
Moreover, he knew that Xie Zhaoming's favorite grandson was about to take a wife.
"Senior Xie..." Leading his wife and children, Meng Xinghai bowed deeply in gratitude, escorting him all the way outside the manor gates.
Xie Zhaoming waved his hand and departed into the rain.
***
Inside the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, Qin Ming used his Hunyuan heavenly light to condense a wine cup, drawing down the thunder and fire. It was like cups of rich, fragrant celestial nectar, which he drank down one after another.
When Yu Gensheng, Li Qingyun, Meng Xinghai, and Meng Zhiyan arrived, all of them were dazed. How was Little Qin's cultivation growing more outrageous by the day?
At the same time, they saw several figures lying half-dead across the courtyard in the sheets of rain, disheveled and scorched black.
*Rumble!*
Several thick lightning bolts struck the golden palace, rendering the tiles nearly translucent. Qin Ming sat quietly inside, channeling even more thunderous might.
Even from a distance, they could see what looked like a dazzling golden core inside his abdomen, intertwining with thunder and fire, undergoing thousands of tempers and strikes.
They watched in silence, taking care not to disturb him.
The thunderstorm lasted for half an hour before gradually dispersing. Qin Ming sighed softly. It seemed he had to hurry to the world beyond the ancient mist portal; this was likely his last time consuming thunder medicine in Night Province this year.
He walked out of the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace. By now, the people on the ground had already drawn their final breaths. He had resonated with their thoughts earlier.
Qin Ming said, "People from the Demon organization, Pure World Convent, Blood Immortal, and Hall of Longevity all came to Chixia City. Signs indicate that Uncle Meng was likely implicated because of me."
He could not be entirely certain; these people had merely been tasked with carrying out missions and had nothing to do with the rumors. It was all his own deduction.
Meng Zhiyan said, "The truly detestable ones are those who spread the rumor. Unfortunately, we cannot unearth them immediately."
"No matter. Then we'll just sweep through them all!" Qin Ming said, murderous intent churning inside him with nowhere to vent. He intended to set out and strike them hard, one by one.
Did they really take him for someone with a gentle temper? They had crossed his bottom line again and again.
When Qin Ming learned that Grandmaster Xie had left in a hurry because his grandson was getting married, his mind drifted. He stood in the drizzling rain, staring into the distance, falling silent.
He thought of his grandfather. After succeeding in his cultivation, he had unlocked the memories of his early childhood, when grandfather and grandson had relied on each other through bitter hardship.
Back then, his grandfather was already ill. He had worried whether the young Qin Ming would survive to adulthood, often sighing that his greatest wish was for Qin Ming to live safely, free of calamity, and grow up to take a wife and have children.
Now, he was grown and had the ability to take care of his grandfather, yet he could never see him again.
Amid the mist and rain, tears slipped down Qin Ming's cheeks, a painful ache swelling in his chest.
Even with all his glorious achievements today, he could not mend that regret.
"Will I never see him again?" Qin Ming murmured softly. Had his grandfather and that old itinerant merchant truly turned into ash? He found it truly hard to accept.
"Don't grieve. If fate permits, perhaps..." Meng Xinghai knew his past, but at this point, he could not bring himself to finish the sentence.
That had only been an ordinary old man; under normal circumstances, he could not have endured.
Qin Ming felt a heavy sorrow. When they parted in his childhood, his coughing grandfather had said he could hold on for ten years at most. Eighteen years had already passed.
***
Inside a certain estate, a middle-aged man held a teacup, his demeanor leisurely and elegant. He blew gently on the surface, causing silver radiance to ripple across the liquid, and took a light sip of Epiphany Tea. Carelessly, he said, "The deity of the Three-Eyed Cult truly hadn't completely extinguished his divine fire. To think he revived from the ashes—how interesting."
"Meng Xinghai is unharmed," a gray-clad man reported inside the hall.
The middle-aged man remarked, "His life is tough indeed. For the decaying deity of the Three-Eyed Cult to return empty-handed without even taking out his despair on Meng Xinghai... could it be that the three-eyed god still had a few years left to live, and thus dared not go to extremes?"
The gray-clad man said, "It is said that the Meng family's grandmaster left their ancestral grounds and rushed to Chixia City. Qin Ming also showed himself, but a grandmaster was likely guarding him; the people from Blood Immortal and Pure World Convent failed to capture him."
The middle-aged man hummed an acknowledgment. "Let us not intervene any further. A single rumor achieved this much; that is already quite good."
"They won't trace it back to us, will they?"
Setting down his cup, the middle-aged man replied lazily, "Trace what? It was others spreading the rumor all along."
He then rose, as if struck by artistic inspiration, and began splashing ink to paint. "Only the barbaric and crude become entangled in petty strife. Resorting directly to spells and combat is merely a display of incompetence. None of this has anything to do with us."
***
Qin Ming quickly brought his emotions under control. Leaving the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, he deliberated with Meng Xinghai, Li Qingyun, and the others for a long time.
Yu Gensheng faintly exuded the oppressive aura of a great grandmaster, his face lined with anger. "Could this have been aimed at Little Qin? We must drag out whoever pulled the strings!"
They felt that dragging Meng Xinghai into danger just to target Qin Ming was thoroughly venomous.
Even grandmasters felt their tempers flare.
Qin Ming spoke: "There's no need to gather evidence against people like that. We just hit them one family after another—I guarantee we won't hit the wrong ones."
Besides, if they really wanted evidence, Qin Ming's resonance techniques would likely piece it together after smashing through a few factions.
Meng Zhiyan was more traditional, fearing they might kill innocents or involve too many outsiders.
After a brief contemplation, Qin Ming said, "Alright, to avoid killing the innocent, I'll start with Blood Immortal, Pure World Convent, and the Hall of Longevity. Otherwise, they'll just keep coming after me. Unless they're beaten into terror, these organizations won't learn that some business shouldn't be touched, and some people shouldn't be provoked."
"Little Qin, what do you mean? Are you planning to go alone?"
Qin Ming nodded. "Yes. I can handle it myself. Under the current climate, it isn't suitable for you seniors to take part in battle."
"How can we allow that!" several of them protested.
In the end, not only did Yu Gensheng, Meng Zhiyan, and Li Qingyun insist on going along, but Meng Xinghai joined as well.
***
Luoyue City was a grand, sprawling city. Inside a magnificent estate, rare flowers bloomed in profusion, silver bamboos grew in groves, and a spirit lake mirrored a stone arch bridge, presenting a pleasant scene.
This was an important stronghold of the Hall of Longevity, hidden in plain sight within the bustling city.
A woman who appeared to be in her early thirties with striking beauty was strolling through the garden, teasing a spirit mastiff pup by her side.
She was an expert of the Hall of Longevity, with one foot already stepping into the fifth realm. Had she not feared suffering injury from the backlash of dao rhymes, she would have already become a grandmaster.
Barring any accidents, she would naturally step into the grandmaster domain within half a year, completely free of risk.
Furthermore, her grandfather was a veteran grandmaster. In this peculiar era, the status of this grandfather-granddaughter pair was remarkably elevated.
The woman spoke calmly, "Failed? If the target wasn't eliminated, then drop it for now. Do not act rashly again."
Her subordinate reported, "Rumor has it that the Meng family was dragged into this, and a deity even revived from the ashes. The disturbance this time was considerable; could it affect the Hall of Longevity? Furthermore, though we accept contracts, we have always practiced 'refined assassination,' executing only those who deserve death. This time, crossing paths with notorious organizations like Blood Immortal to hunt the same target... wasn't that going too far?"
The woman dismissed it with a languid tone. "Rules are meant to change. Take someone's money, eliminate someone's disaster. What humanity, benevolence, or refined assassination? What does any of that have to do with us? Attaining godhood requires casting aside humanity to preserve divinity..."
*Boom!*
A terrifying clap of thunder exploded by her ears. Looking down, she saw a gaping, translucent hole through her chest and abdomen, pierced clean through by a bolt of lightning.
She let out a muffled groan, filled with disbelief. This was a major stronghold of the Hall of Longevity; how could she have been grievously wounded here?
Then, she saw a young man bathed in lightning runes appear. Treading through the void, he left one glowing footprint after another behind him as he approached.
Qin Ming had arrived. Looking at the woman before him, he said, "Hearing you speak with such complete nonchalance, I thought you were at least a great grandmaster. Turns out, that's all you are? With such meager attainment, where did you get the nerve to act so conceited?"
Before coming here, he had already razed multiple strongholds of the Hall of Longevity. Tracking the leads, he had fought his way all the way to this place, slaying many along the way.
Today, the Hall of Longevity had suffered catastrophic losses.
In fact, even earlier, he had already uprooted several strongholds of the Demon organization, slaughtering numerous experts.
Along the way, he had also disposed of three roaming luminaries from the Cui clan.
Qin Ming was fulfilling his promise. When he said he would strike down every last one, he had no intention of sparing a single soul.
"It's you... the target?" The woman stumbled backward, her hair disheveled, entirely stripped of her former elegance and poise. Thick smoke rose from her chest and abdomen, the flesh nearly scorched through.
With a screech, she feinted an attack, then spun around to flee.
Her expression froze instantly. Standing behind her was an elderly grandmaster, looking down at her with cold detachment.
From Qin Ming's hand, a chain of lightning whipped out at blinding speed, binding her fast and shattering her bones and tendons with an explosive shock, violently yanking her back with a dull thud.
The woman resisted frantically, exhausting every trick in her arsenal, only to find herself utterly suppressed, unable to mount the slightest resistance.
Qin Ming interrogated her, resonating with her mind. Half a quarter of an hour later, a streak of lightning fell, blasting the woman into a cloud of bloody mist, leaving behind neither corpse nor bone.
The entire estate was already dead silent; the others had long been purged by Meng Xinghai, Li Qingyun, and the rest.
Qin Ming said, "The Blood Immortal organization has an important stronghold in the adjacent city. We might as well clean them up together."
Shortly after, on the outskirts of the adjacent great city, Qin Ming, Meng Xinghai, Yu Gensheng, and the others appeared before an estate and barged straight in.
"Hm? A miniature blessed land protected by an isolation array... are rare, precious medicines being cultivated here?"
"*Hiss*... It's actually a longevity-extending treasure—the Blood Grape Vine!" Even Yu Gensheng, who could become a great grandmaster at any moment, was taken aback.
Deep within the array stood a grape vine translucent like red agate, bearing a cluster of fruit that sparkled like blood diamonds, shrouded in immortal mist and absorbing dao rhymes.
"What an extraordinary place!" Li Qingyun marveled.
"Who goes there?" From within the array, an elder looked out with a solemn expression—he was actually a grandmaster.
"Excellent. We've finally hooked a bigger fish." Qin Ming trod through the void, leaving a trail of golden footprints behind him, and tore open the array to charge inside.
Chapter 508