In the crimson forest, ancient trees reaching for the sky shattered in swaths, rocky mountains collapsed, and black fissures several feet wide tore open across the earth's surface.
The Yellow Silk Canopy was knocked away repeatedly, dimmed, and tottered on the verge of ruin. Yet each time it spun back, fractured dharma chains interlaced across its surface to lock onto the crimson monster.
It had once joked about losing an ox and letting a bird escape—words spoken in jest only to put Qin Ming at ease. In truth, it was engaged in a bloody battle, and the reality was severe and brutal.
Qin Ming continued to sink, reaching deep underground.
Dao Seed No. 3 descended in a dive, encircled by sacred light, his feathered robes fluttering. Though transcendent and detached from the mortal world, he emanated an invisible aura of chilling slaughter.
He had no smile, and deep in his eyes lay an icy coldness.
Deep beneath the earth, Qin Ming's body grew scalding hot. It radiated a bizarre, luminous brilliance, threatening to congeal with the surrounding matter like a divine silkworm spitting silk, spinning a cocoon for metamorphosis.
In truth, this was a normal phenomenon during the esoteric sect's Underworld Conduit process.
Resonating with the mountains and rivers, Qin Ming was temporarily drawing a line in the earth to make a prison, but in reality, he was constructing a fortress of flesh and blood.
He raised his head, watching his adversary dive toward him with dense killing intent. With a lift of his hand, he unleashed a lethal technique from the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts—Thunder Pattern Sky-Weave.
Within his body, the supreme purple golden core burned, spreading boundless lightning. Outside his body, thunder patterns crisscrossed and densely covered the void like hundreds of astral rivers of order, piercing upward.
Dao Seed No. 3 remained ethereal and untainted by dust. Ascendant rain of light steamed around him, manifesting numerous dharma manifestations of creatures he had once parasitized. Among them, a female aspect formed layers of dharma seals with both hands, blooming like an immortal lotus.
Employing an exquisite technique of exceptionally high order, he actually blocked the Thunder Pattern Sky-Weave.
This sacred immortal lotus bore densely clustered, translucent petals that formed an obstacle in the void, confronting the thunderbolts. The two forces mutually destroyed each other, bursting continuously.
The entire underground felt as if an earthquake had struck, violently shaking the surface world above.
The earlier head-shattering incident had left little lasting impact on Dao Seed No. 3. He had already restored his state of serene stillness, his cultivation and methods unfathomably deep.
"Does an autumn insect dare challenge the heavenly frost?" Dao Seed No. 3 returned to simplicity. The patterns on his right hand became distinct, and he thrust his palm downward with a violent boom.
As the saying went, the greatest Dao was the simplest. This palm strike faintly carried karmic fire. Its fluctuations were not immense, yet it harbored a boundless intent of destruction.
The initial phase of the Underworld Conduit metamorphosis was critical. Qin Ming's fissure-ridden flesh radiated beams of light, making the entire subterranean region translucent and gleaming.
At this juncture, even if he had to stake his life to the bitter end, he could not let his opponent break through.
Qin Ming circulated the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts with everything he had. The supreme purple golden core within him resonated with heaven and earth, etched with layers of Dao patterns, resplendent and eye-catching. Purple light steamed, and dense thunder sigils spread outward from the swirling mist, expanding outside his body.
Qin Ming opened his mouth, and this golden core—inscribed with the grain of heaven and earth, wrapped in intricate thunder sigils, and carrying an immense sea of purple haze—shot forward.
"Hmm?" A warning flared in Dao Seed No. 3's mind. The karmic fire on his right hand was mostly extinguished by the thunder sigils within the purple haze, and he instantly withdrew.
Yet the opponent's sheer resolution exceeded his imagination. Boundless lightning interlaced, and thunder sigils surged, detonating everywhere across the underground.
The golden core, enveloped in the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts, struck forward, pierced through his protective Dao charm, and exploded.
"Detonating the core?" Dao Seed No. 3's pupils contracted. He teleported, yet could not completely evade the blast, wracked by waves of sharp pain.
His protective Dao charm and runes were breached, his spiritual field was torn apart, and his entire body fractured into pieces as a supreme purple golden core detonated right before him.
Qin Ming felt completely hollowed out, his physical body exceptionally weak.
In a single blow, he had expended the entirety of the power nurtured by a true scripture.
Fortunately, he was not truly an adherent of the golden core cultivation system, or he would have been crippled on the spot.
In truth, the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts possessed broad adaptability. It was not exclusive to the Daoist truth-cultivation system; its origins were mysterious, and practitioners of various paths could cultivate it.
Its essence was not about forming a core. Rather, it possessed nine inner thunder sigil chapters and nine outer thunder sigil chapters as its core, gathering thunder-path substance and condensing it into a golden core.
Now, the supreme purple golden core had disassembled. The inner nine chapters and outer nine chapters all reappeared, floating as "sheets of paper" condensed from thunder sigils.
Qin Ming had been ruthless, but he had still refrained from destroying the core entirely; the core imprints remained intact.
At this moment, he swallowed a jar of golden medicinal broth and crushed a spiritual crystal, drinking the blue liquid inside. Warmth immediately surged through his hollow body.
These were grandmaster-grade miraculous medicines, extremely rare and precious, capable of immediately restoring an exhausted person to their peak.
The inner and outer nine thunder sigil chapters flew toward Qin Ming, sinking back into his flesh.
He circulated the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts. Thunder sigils interlaced inside and outside his body, rapidly drawing back the scattered thunder-path substance that had been blasted away.
With a grim expression, Dao Seed No. 3 reappeared in the distance. Even though his spiritual field had been torn and he had exploded once, it was impossible for him to die from this.
As the saying went, Pure Yang was hard to extinguish, and spirit hard to slay.
However, he was visibly dimmer. This self-destructive tactic from his opponent had inflicted serious damage upon him.
Naturally, Qin Ming was also in severe agony and deeply depleted. After all, his supreme purple golden core had come close to being completely ruined.
He drank eight different miraculous medicines in succession. His body glowed as his vitality, qi, and spirit were restored. The thunder sigils reconvened, and although the purple golden core was quite faint, it re-formed once more.
Even so, blood still seeped across the surface of his body. The opponent's Dao charm remained entangled with his flesh, and because he could not sever it all at once, his wounds could not fully close.
An icy chill could hardly be concealed deep in Dao Seed No. 3's eyes. In a low voice, he said, "Ruthless enough. To think you actually wounded me in a direct head-on clash."
Evidently, he considered this a humiliation. Unlike before, he had not hesitated to risk tearing the "flesh Dao field" apart and had gotten dead serious, only for his opponent to respond with desperate resolve, dragging him toward mutual destruction and briefly shattering his form.
Hearing those words, Qin Ming sorely wanted to slap him across the face again.
At the same time, the phrasing sounded oddly familiar to him.
The next instant, Qin Ming's expression stiffened slightly. He finally understood why this man irked him so much: he had said similar things himself in the past.
This was... very villainous!
Qin Ming's cheek twitched. Could it be that in the eyes of his former adversaries, he had looked just like this?
Indignation rose from his chest, but looking back, he found a villain in himself as well.
"Who decides good and evil anyway? I walk upright and sit straight; my words are just slightly offensive, that's all," Qin Ming muttered to himself. He had never committed atrocities like parasitic body-snatching.
Right now, his fissure-covered flesh radiated bizarre light, blending seamlessly with the surrounding ground as if he were constructing a miniature divine fortress.
Qin Ming profoundly realized the wonders of the esoteric sect system. Inexhaustible earthly qi and all kinds of divine substances were drawn into this glowing ground.
Within it, his inside and outside harmonized, seemingly nourishing him.
Of course, such a miraculous phenomenon had to do with the exceptional nature of this terrain. Anywhere else, this five-colored, brilliantly flowing spectacle would never have appeared.
Furthermore, his inner landscape ground stood wide open. The purple substance and red clouds he had previously gathered flowed into the flesh fortress, forming a cycle that nurtured him in return.
Qin Ming could hardly imagine what an astonishing spectacle this would have been had it occurred within that fallen supreme sanctuary.
Dao Seed No. 3 could not just watch him recover and improve his condition. He swooped down again, attacking forcefully. In his hand condensed an immortal sword, accompanied by the figure of a banished immortal burning within the sword light as it slashed downward.
Qin Ming sighed. Governing the land's lay and blending with his flesh, this ground was currently his foundation. He could not dodge and could only face the battle here, fighting to the death.
The spiritual substances of this realm, accompanied by the Dao charm from his inner landscape, surged like a rolling tide in an unbroken cycle, naturally incorporating the botanical essence of the crimson forest.
For a moment, Qin Ming felt a strong urge to unleash the Longevity sword intent.
The moment the thought arose, he acted. In his hand appeared a tree branch bearing tender buds that had yet to unfurl into leaves, flowing with dense longevity qi.
Resplendent sword light shone as Qin Ming unleashed seven consecutive sword strikes that fused into one, bringing forth the brilliance of an ascendant immortal accompanied by a heavy rain of light. It truly possessed the essence of the Sword Inquiring of Longevity.
Not only that, but his nine-colored sword baleful aura followed closely behind, soaring toward the sky in full eruption. The nine extreme domains of Yin, Yang, Five Elements, Wind, and Thunder merged into a brilliant spectacle, blasting through the night.
Above, the ground ruptured, and a deluge of sword light pierced the sky, shattering the mist that filled the night.
Dao Seed No. 3 was left with multiple sword wounds, some of which pierced clean through him from front to back. He was held outside that glowing ground.
This sent a chill through his heart. Having earlier had his head shattered, and then his spiritual field torn by the suicidal detonation of the golden core, his expenditure had already been substantial, and his condition had deteriorated.
Right now, the wounds on his body were distinct, hissing with sword light.
Deep underground, Qin Ming staggered back, bleeding from all seven facial orifices. In the end, he collapsed with a thud, staining the rune-covered, crystalline ground red.
The might of Dao Seed No. 3 was beyond doubt.
Sword light hissed from both Qin Ming and the ground beneath him, covered in cracks. The immortal sword swung by his opponent had severely wounded him as well.
Without a word, Dao Seed No. 3 swooped down once more, unleashing another forceful strike.
Qin Ming scrambled to his feet. He was now fused with this ground; the longer he held out, the more advantageous it was for him. He could not allow his opponent to destroy it before then.
Moreover, he realized that this parasite must have come from an extremely distant realm, for he was not sensitive to the nine-colored sword baleful aura and instead prioritized power on the spiritual plane.
This time, Dao Seed No. 3 brought with him an endless blood-baleful aura. Within it emerged numerous figures—men and women, some serene and ethereal, others ferocious, some glaring like wrathful Vajras, others ascending like immortals—all standing alongside him.
As his spiritual field emitted a terrifying aura, those figures whistled downward, seeking to thoroughly bore through and obliterate Qin Ming's flesh fortress.
Each figure was like a heavenly blade, seemingly cleaving the void as it arrived in an instant, carrying the force to twist the subterranean space.
Qin Ming countered by stacking multiple spirit fields atop one another and releasing the vast reservoir of heavenly light within his body. The two fused into an inescapable net that interlaced and surged upward to meet the falling figures.
This was a bloody battle that could truly be called Qin Ming's trial of life and death.
His feet remained rooted in the earth, drawing inexhaustible divine substances to erupt with continuous power, reinforcing the spirit fields and releasing chaotic heavenly light.
Amid hissing sounds, some figures were sliced apart by tangible ripples as the inescapable net swept across, grinding them to dust.
Yet several figures, though worn down until they were faint, still managed to pierce downward. They bored through the glowing ground, sending violent tremors through Qin Ming's flesh fortress.
Qin Ming felt the crystalline ground beneath his feet dimming as divine substances rapidly drained away. His Underworld Conduit metamorphosis was being artificially disrupted and sabotaged.
With a low roar, he resonated with the ground.
The Underworld Conduit metamorphosis was fundamentally an integration with heaven and earth: the mountains, rivers, plants, and trees were oneself, reaching everywhere without limit to nurture one's form.
At this moment, Qin Ming mobilized the power of the mountains and rivers, channeling the Underworld Conduit in all directions, as if communicating with the heart of heaven and earth.
With a tremendous rumble, the entire earth seemed to come alive, vibrating and merging with him as tens of thousands of sword lights shot up from the underground.
Borrowing the strength of the mountains and rivers, Qin Ming briefly turned this land into his own body, cutting down the figures that had bored into the ground.
Amid shrill hisses, those dimming figures were pierced through and obliterated.
Blood gushed from Qin Ming. His wounds were truly severe, refusing to heal even after consuming great medicines because the lingering Dao charm clung to them. Yet his vitality, qi, and spirit were continuing to climb.
Above, Dao Seed No. 3's gaze turned sharp. This was the first time he had encountered such a troublesome low-realm cultivator; even after so long, he had failed to take him down.
Normally, when a Dao seed like him struck, he should have crushed the opponent flat with ease.
He whispered, "His flesh merges with this ground, mutually blending and growing stronger. Such a flesh Dao field is truly suitable for cultivating my future path."
With his hair disheveled and feathered robes almost burning, his entire body shot forth beams of light. That was his spiritual field dividing, each beam resembling a true dragon.
In the void, spiritual light beams clustered densely, shooting toward Qin Ming's physical body and piercing toward the crystalline ground. He intended to supplant him and take possession of the flesh Dao field.
Qin Ming knew the critical moment of life and death had arrived. His opponent could not simply watch him grow stronger and would sever his path of advancement immediately.
He let out a long cry. A luminous lamp shone brilliantly within him, hanging high. At this moment, all the heavenly light in his body, blended with Pure Yang power and divine wisdom, poured into the mind lamp.
In an instant, the mind lamp departed his body, blazing with immortal radiance.
Whether it was the Four-Samadhi True Fire, the nine-colored sword baleful aura, or the Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts, all were blended into the Chaos force, becoming the flame of the mind lamp to illuminate all things.
Ringing clangs echoed endlessly. Centered around Qin Ming and the mind lamp, it was as if ten thousand swords were fired at once, thunder surged, and starlight poured down, rushing outward with violent fury.
The light of the mind lamp was dense as a curtain of rain, resplendent as an interwoven heavenly tribulation of ascendance. It swept across the subterranean void, slashing toward the incoming threads of spirit.
Amid resounding clashes, the spiritual light that the parasite civilization's Dao seed took such pride in was severed repeatedly and intercepted blow after blow.
Dao Seed No. 3's eyes turned sinister. Did a mere "autumn insect" dare chirp in the face of the heavenly frost?
His spiritual force merged with Dao charm and boiled over completely. Endless beams of spiritual light whistled down like dense meteorites from beyond the heavens, trailing long plumes of light as they slammed into the underground world.
When Qin Ming's mind lamp reached the peak of brilliance, it nearly burned in its entirety. The Chaos force within erupted, and flames soared into the void like a sun disintegrating—omnipresent, overwhelming, purifying the world.
Dao Seed No. 3's pupils contracted. He had already broken down most of his spiritual field to send it whistling downward, yet now a wave of dread seized him. This flesh Dao field was resorting to mutual destruction once more, and that lamp... seemed about to detonate.
What kind of status did he hold? Noble and supreme, his standing was unimaginably elevated. Why should he trade his life for a mere flesh Dao field?
In an instant, he reined in the spiritual light beams, reversing their flow. He had plenty of means at his disposal; there was no need to expend massive amounts of spiritual power in mutual destruction.
Qin Ming recalled the mind lamp in the nick of time. If there were any other choice, who would willingly burn their lamp to explode their own life?
A moment later, he suppressed the inner fire, and the lamp's light softened. He frantically drew the divine substances from the earth into his flesh to nourish himself.
Right now, his body faced grave issues. After repeated intense clashes, his opponent's Dao charm remained entangled with his wounds, keeping the fissures from closing.
Qin Ming genuinely worried that he might lose control of his Chaos force again and blow his own body apart.
With his feet sunk into the ground, he felt the wonders of the Underworld Conduit, and his aura steadily climbed.
Dao Seed No. 3's temporary retreat was not out of cowardice; he simply did not wish to pay a tragic price. At the same time, knowing his opponent's current condition, he would never grant him more time.
He resolved to deploy his civilization's ultimate killing technique: complete parasitism amid bloody battle.
Though this profound method consumed an enormous amount of power, its might was peerless, making it nearly impossible to defend against.
The sky filled with brilliance like a constellation of stars. He disintegrated into a multitude of seeds, drifting down leisurely like luminous dandelions scattered by the wind.
Instantly, Qin Ming's scalp went numb. Staking his life once more, he erupted with full force, the mind lamp illuminating all things as it cast thousands of strands of immortal light at the seeds.
Yet the dandelion-like seeds throughout the air, seemingly swaying gently, vanished from their original positions with every drift. They were teleporting.
Moreover, they were not only flying toward Qin Ming's flesh, but mostly teleporting into the glowing ground, vying for the flesh fortress.
"We are the divine tribulation. When standing before myriad gods, all must face their reckoning! You borrow a patch of earth to nourish your form and spirit, but how can that compare to us borrowing an entire supreme faction to nourish ourselves?"
Dao Seed No. 3 brimmed with pride. In the realm of parasitic rebirth, they stood unmatched, without a rival.
His Dao seed divided into countless small seeds, sinking beneath the glowing earth to absorb divine substances, halting Qin Ming's breakthrough and severing his supply of fortune-bearing substances.
The ground Qin Ming had integrated with was simply too vast to protect completely, plunging him into a passive predicament.
Back near the fallen supreme sanctuary, his body had already grown hot. By now, having constructed the flesh fortress, he had reached the threshold of a breakthrough, only to be disrupted and intercepted.
In fact, Dao Seed No. 3's method was genuinely effective.
His civilization excelled above all in parasitism. Countless seeds sank into the crystalline earth, plundering divine substances and cutting off Qin Ming's supply.
Though Dao Seed No. 3 had divided into innumerable portions, this interception allowed his own condition to rapidly improve.
As one waned and the other waxed, Qin Ming grew anxious. Even though he cast out endless light from his mind lamp, it was difficult to wipe out all the seeds.
He attempted spirit wandering, sinking into the earth.
Yet his opponent was experienced and shrewd. While cutting off the nutrients for his flesh fortress, he encircled Qin Ming from all sides, eroding toward his physical body.
At this moment, Qin Ming's situation was perilous in the extreme.
His path of advancement had been severed. His opponent was seizing the divine substances, and as countless seeds glowed, the underground seemed to twinkle with endless stars.
Qin Ming took out several types of super wondrous blood and consumed them directly to replenish what he needed.
In the past, the last time he used wondrous blood to break through a barrier, he had expended about twenty varieties. Now, though the precious medicines in his possession were stronger, his own realm was higher as well.
A few types of super wondrous blood were simply not enough; right now, Qin Ming could not fill the massive void required by the flesh fortress.
He was doing this solely to switch paths, changing his method of advancement to first ignite the fire of the Newborn path.
Clearly, the esoteric sect's Underworld Conduit metamorphosis had been broken and could hardly continue.
Qin Ming had considered this earlier, pondering backup plans even while engaged in bloody battle.
Ever since his cultivation had borne fruit, rarely had he been forced into such a desperate corner.
Dao Seed No. 3 sneered repeatedly, his voice echoing from all directions in overlapping male and female tones, continuously siphoning Qin Ming's fortune as he closed in on the center.
"The flesh Dao field is mine after all. If you do not wish to die, wander out in spirit right now and follow me from this day forth. I can still grant you a path to live."
With a boom, he surged toward Qin Ming's flesh with unstoppable momentum, carrying massive amounts of subterranean divine substances as he initiated the final invasion.
Countless seeds sank into Qin Ming's flesh.
Qin Ming's mind lamp flared violently, yet it truly could not stop him.
With a swish, his spirit wandered out, his heavenly light blended with pure yang consciousness and divine wisdom. He took only the rag, draping it over himself as a battle robe.
"Splendid! This physical body exceeds my expectations—truly wonderful!" Dao Seed No. 3 praised. Even though he had only taken preliminary possession, he could already sense its extraordinary nature.
Such a physical body simply did not belong to someone in the fourth realm.
"Hmm, the body is heavily injured and in terrible condition. But now that I have entered, I will naturally comb through the flesh Dao field and nourish it."
Dao Seed No. 3's tone remained calm, self-assured and poised. The countless seeds he had split into recombined, reconstituting his spiritual form.
At the same time, he brought a massive amount of divine substances into Qin Ming's body.
Although Dao Seed No. 3 had severed Qin Ming's Underworld Conduit path, in that final moment he had plundered nutrients with frantic greed. In a brief span, he had injected seventy percent of the divine substances this land was meant to provide directly into Qin Ming's flesh.
A parasitic civilization's looting speed was truly unmatched under heaven.
He began nourishing the flesh medicine field; it was now his possession, and there was no need to harm it further.
However, to be safe, he did not extract the Dao charm entangled in the wounds.
Dao Seed No. 3 spoke coldly: "Kneel and submit, or have both form and spirit extinguished. Choose for yourself."
Suddenly, dread seized his heart, and he violently surged outward. He actually sensed a power within this flesh that could harm him—one that intended to perish together with him!
Dao Seed No. 3 was stunned, losing his composure for the first time. How was this possible? The opponent had wandered out in spirit, carrying away his final power. He had confirmed that nothing lay dormant within.
"How much can a spiritual entity like you understand about a body of flesh and blood?" Qin Ming's wandering spirit was extremely close. Diving down, he struck with ferocious violence in a pincer attack.
"Impossible!" Dao Seed No. 3 could not believe it. He detected that the aura of power inside and outside was identical, as if two Qin Mings were erupting with full force at once.
At this moment, Qin Ming's physical body cooperated, voluntarily breaking into pieces to cast out the adversary who was fighting to escape.
Dao Seed No. 3's spirit trembled. The "Qin Ming" within the flesh clung to him, detonating with suicidal abandon. That was why he was desperately trying to flee.
Evidently, the cluster of light inside the body was not Qin Ming himself, but one of his trump cards.
During his metamorphosis in the first major realm, Qin Ming had gained three opportunities to acquire wondrous abilities, giving birth to three wondrous lights within his body.
They corresponded respectively to: heavenly light, consciousness, and divine wisdom.
If the three wondrous lights merged into one, they equaled Qin Ming's strongest strike.
He had wandered out in spirit, but the three wondrous lights had remained dormant within his flesh's hidden troves, awaiting their opportunity.
These three forces had no fear of self-destruction. Once exhausted, they would naturally regenerate after a period of rest.
To this end, Qin Ming had already prepared for his physical body to shatter.
Regardless, he had to undergo this once in every major realm anyway. Today, it was fitting to sacrifice his own flesh—shattering for peace—to slay a formidable foe.
He had not used these three wondrous lights for several years, only finding the perfect opportunity to unleash them again today after being backed into a dead end.
Dao Seed No. 3 refused to be dragged into mutual destruction and charged frantically. Qin Ming controlled the intensity with absolute precision; the wondrous light simply clung to his opponent like a hunter coursing a hare, driving him into flight.
If there were any other option, he did not want his flesh to detonate uncontrollably either.
With a tremendous roar, just as it cleared the body by some distance, Qin Ming's wondrous light dragged Dao Seed No. 3 into a self-destructive blast.
At the same time, the real Qin Ming returned from his spirit wandering. Using the rag to amplify his striking power, he unleashed frantic attacks against the scattered fragments of the Dao seed.
Furthermore, his physical body moved as well; now it required only a wisp of consciousness attached to it.
He had meticulously studied the Scripture of Harmonizing Body and Dao, and the power of his flesh was comparable to a full eruption of Hunyuan heavenly light. This was an achievement Qin Ming had diligently pursued from the very beginning.
His flesh burned with intense brilliance, as if boundless divine clouds surged from his hidden troves. The acupoints throughout his body resonated like celestial lakes, and his meridians revived like great dragons—first crackling, then roaring into the nine heavens.
Qin Ming's fully unleashed fist seals were indeed comparable to his Hunyuan heavenly light, and his physical body joined the fray.
Dragged into mutual destruction by the wondrous light, Dao Seed No. 3 had already been torn apart. In an instant, it was as if he were being battered by three Qin Mings at once.
Taking full advantage of his upper hand, Qin Ming layered multiple spirit fields and expanded them outward, sealing off the area to prevent Dao Seed No. 3's spiritual fragments from breaking free.
Dao Seed No. 3 was furious. To think he had capsized in such an unremarkable ditch and suffered severe trauma.
Blown apart multiple times in succession, his condition plummeted rapidly.
Though the cluster of wondrous light had vanished completely, Qin Ming's wandering spirit and his physical body continued their combined assault.
With a boom, Dao Seed No. 3 acted decisively, employing a terrifying technique to launch a near-suicidal counterattack that heavily wounded Qin Ming.
Qin Ming's flesh, already fissured, shattered completely into dozens of pieces. Bones snapped, tendons tore, and blood stained the subterranean earth.
This was even with the light of his wandering spirit attaching to the old rag to block at the very forefront; otherwise, the outcome would have been far more gruesome.
Relatively speaking, Qin Ming's wandering spirit, shielded behind the old rag, suffered lighter injuries and remained in decent shape.
In an instant, Qin Ming activated his adhesive force. All the flesh and blood flew back, and even the scattered droplets of blood reversed their flow.
He pieced his body back together and returned from his spirit wandering, uniting form and spirit.
"Hmm?" Qin Ming noticed that although his body had shattered once, the divine substances contained within were exceptionally rich.
Regrettably, his Underworld Conduit metamorphosis had ceased and could no longer proceed.
However, after consuming the super wondrous blood, he had already preliminarily ignited the power of the Newborn path, shifting his direction of advancement.
Sure enough, as form and spirit united, his flesh and spirit resonated. His entire body turned scalding hot, showing signs of rebirth.
Even so, his physical condition was dire in the extreme, and he did not know whether the divine substances within could sustain him through this metamorphosis.
Qin Ming retrieved several precious medicines from the space inside the rag and poured them into his mouth, replenishing his needs to nourish his vitality, qi, and spirit.
He had no certainty in his heart. Could such a battered body and exhausted spirit truly succeed in reaching the next level?
In the distance, Dao Seed No. 3 reappeared with a grim face. To have suffered such a catastrophe and been severely wounded repeatedly, his condition was far worse than before.
He stared coldly at Qin Ming, then, without a word, frantically destroyed the ground that still shimmered with light. He sought to prevent his opponent from continuing to draw power from the earth, thoroughly sealing off his path of advancement.
Qin Ming feigned fury at the right moment, acting as if he wanted to stop him.
Dao Seed No. 3 sneered repeatedly, splitting into countless seeds that burrowed into the earth to ravage it wildly.
Qin Ming sighed. Standing in place, he intervened no further, quietly waiting for his moment to arrive.
This time, though his physical condition was unpromising and could even be described as horrifyingly battered, his rebirth was entirely unaffected. On the contrary, it arrived with astonishing speed.
A miraculous sight appeared within his flesh: golden needles darted about, drawing threads to stitch and mend, helping to heal his wounded body.
Qin Ming fought to suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth, revealing no ripple of joy.
"The outer demon sets me on the proper path, and heaven corrects my course, forcing me to return to my original path and achieve rebirth. Truly..."
Qin Ming could barely keep his smile in check, for the rebirth had genuinely begun, and his strength was already rising.
Evidently, his backup plan was the superior path.
Whether it was the work of the golden needles drawing threads or not, after continuously stitching and mending him, his rebirth and metamorphosis seemed to accelerate.
"Hmm?" Dao Seed No. 3 burst from the earth. Hailing from a parasitic civilization, his spiritual perception was exceedingly sharp, and he finally sensed that something was amiss.
Qin Ming no longer cared. Rebirth had begun, and his power was rising dramatically.
His opponent, on the other hand, had detonated repeatedly and weakened significantly. With one waxing as the other waned, he felt no fear whatsoever.
In particular, he clearly sensed the barrier loosening; he was about to step onto a higher level.
At this moment, experiencing the divine charm of the golden needles drawing thread, Qin Ming gained an epiphany and could not resist testing it in combat.
Seeing Dao Seed No. 3 approach, he took the initiative to meet him.
In an instant, dense "golden needles" flew out from Qin Ming's body. In reality, they were not needles, but individual threads—a profound method hidden within the Chaos force.
In the past, that dream bug from the foreign realm had been pierced and severely wounded by needle-like beams of golden light cast by a mysterious figure.
Now, Qin Ming displayed it as well.
Golden threads poured forth like silk before Qin Ming, piercing through Dao Seed No. 3 under his shocked, incredulous gaze and pinning him in midair.
Chapter 551