Up in the sky at the grand gathering, Bai Meng looked around, craning his neck. "Where's Brother Ming?"
Pei Shuyan swirled the amber wine in his crystal goblet. "Off chasing vulgar pursuits."
Bai Meng immediately shot back, "Nonsense!"
Cheng Sheng took a gentle sip of fine wine and said, "Just a moment ago, I saw Qin Ming and your elder sister gazing into each other's eyes before vanishing into the night together. I only hope it lasts. May heaven spare them its envy—for intense passion rarely endures."
Bai Meng felt that hanging around the two of them was making him abnormal as well. One had a heart as still as water, devoid of all worldly desire, while the other was quite the opposite.
Yet both of them believed themselves completely normal.
Even now, Pei Shuyan was offering counsel to Cheng Sheng. "In this boundless world of night mist, the domain ruled by Yujing is nothing more than a single drop in an endless ocean. And you are merely a speck of dust upon that drop. What do such partings and reunions matter? One ought to attain great freedom, profound clarity, and let go entirely. We walk this mortal earth but once; there is nothing that cannot be released. Past honors and humiliations are merely dust upon dust—scarcely worth mentioning."
Bai Meng said, "Lord Pei, I admire you. I always feel you've reached great enlightenment."
Cheng Sheng sighed. "Since ancient times, true affection has been like sand slipping through fingers, or light flitting through a crevice—impossible to grasp, impossible to keep."
"Only when the heart knows no love can one draw the blade like a god!" Bai Meng interjected, feeling that if he kept playing along with their conversation, his own mind would go haywire.
High in the ninth heaven, under the veil of night, five-colored radiance flashed before Qin Ming, followed by a familiar voice: "Who dares disturb my slumber and wake me by force?"
The fragment of the special weapon had arrived, sounding thoroughly irritated, as though suffering from a bad case of morning temper.
Qin Ming cocked his head and looked at it. It was indeed that fickle weapon, an old acquaintance. The last time he obtained this treasure shard, it had spouted all kinds of sweet talk and fickle excuses, claiming his level was not high enough and that his main purpose was to provide it with emotional value to reawaken its former glory.
Thus, as man and weapon met once more, they exchanged looks of utter silence, thoroughly sick of each other's sight.
"We meet again," Qin Ming said evenly, keeping his temper in check. After all, he still needed it to do some heavy lifting.
"Mm," the five-colored treasure fragment replied aloofly.
And then it froze in bewilderment as Qin Ming shoved it directly into a pitch-black space where nothing could be seen, as if locked inside a cage forged for heavenly immortals.
It tried to burst free, but could not budge its confines in the slightest.
It was stunned on the spot, a creeping chill numbing its soul. Could this be the monster it had sensed near Qin Ming back in the Madman's Abyss—the presence it had never been able to detect?
Qin Ming felt that this was about the only use Old Cloth had left: maintaining mystery, imprisoning supreme treasures, and quietly knocking them down a peg.
Now that he possessed a special weapon of his own, he had no need to rely on the power of the jade mirror. Reconsidering his plans, Qin Ming looked across at his companion. "How about... you head back?"
Tang Yushang bristled with displeasure at once. Was he treating her and the jade mirror as mere backups, burning the bridge after crossing the river?
Qin Ming said earnestly, "The road ahead is fraught with hardship and peril. I truly cannot bear to watch you walk through fire and water with me. Therefore, I've decided to plunge into danger alone and shoulder it myself."
Tang Yushang rolled her eyes at him. "Didn't you claim we were going to pull off a massive deal? Earlier, you practically begged me to come, and now you're suddenly looking out for my welfare?"
Listening to Qin Ming's glib excuses, she felt utterly used.
She shot him a sideways glance, thoroughly determined to go no matter what.
Qin Ming explained, "I only worry that something might happen. If you get hurt, I'm afraid that fairy maiden might come settle scores with me later."
Tang Yushang glared at him. "Shut your mouth! That's my ancestral grandmother!"
Qin Ming gave in. "Fine, then. Let's hit the road together!"
Without making a sound, they plunged into the sea of night mist, descending from the ninth heaven toward the earth below.
Even with the strength of a grandmaster and the cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage, a flesh-and-blood mortal could not truly take flight in this era. However, they could briefly ride the wind.
Towering mountains pierced the clouds below, their peaks resembling isolated islands emerging from the sea of night mist. The two leaped from peak to peak, borrowing momentum at every step as though soaring through the sky.
Qin Ming remarked in surprise, "Huh, I didn't realize we were so close to Black-White Mountain. It's been a while since I left; I'd like to take a look."
He did not linger long, only stopping briefly at Chixia City and Twin Trees Village to check on recent events. On the whole, nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
Over the past several days, however, quite a few scouts had been lurking near Chixia City, hoping to learn whether Qin Ming had returned alive from the enclave.
Not all of them had come out of concern. Factions like the Cui family, the Pure World Convent, and the Blood Immortals would have liked nothing better than for him to stay forever in the outer realms and vanish from the world.
Qin Ming said nothing further, merely producing several bizarre, potent medicines and handing them to Yuque and the Thunder King Bird, who had eagerly volunteered.
"Eating this makes someone have cubs?" the Red Squirrel exclaimed in shock. Just moments ago, it had drooled over the radiant red fruit, but now it retreated in sheer dread.
Yuque puffed out its chest and declared, "Mountain Master, please rest assured! When we do things, we guarantee it will be like the gentle spring rain—quiet, subtle, and leaving no trace behind. We'll deliver it right into their territories so naturally that it falls into the hands of their core scions."
Every medicine Qin Ming produced had something fundamentally wrong with it, yet their appearance suggested supreme quality. If intentionally fed into circulation, they would almost certainly end up in the hands of a clan's greatest hopes.
Yuque promised it would stage scenes where divine medicines were discovered and fought over in the relevant regions. "Since the major organizations prying into our business include the Cui family and the Pure World Convent, we must ensure the twin dragons of the Cui family, Cui Chongxiao and Cui Chonghe, take the bait and turn into 'male holy mothers.' And we'll make sure the core leadership of the Pure World Convent and the Blood Immortals end up having children in their old age!"
In the distance, Tang Yushang stood frozen in the night breeze, her mind completely boggled. What on earth had she just heard?
What kind of demonic concoctions did Qin Ming possess? A sudden wave of wariness washed over her. Traveling together with him, she wouldn't even dare drink water he offered.
This was merely a brief interlude. Qin Ming rejoined Tang Yushang waiting in the distance, and the two swiftly moved on.
On the outskirts of Jinrui City, an ancient mist portal stood profound and fathomless, shrouded in dense vapors.
Qin Ming had returned to familiar ground, intent on pulling off a major venture in that other world.
This was one of the first two ancient mist portals opened in Yezhou. He ultimately chose this one because he was familiar with it and had reaped bountiful harvests there before.
He knew those lands held extraordinary spiritual energy and were remarkably rich.
As for the other ancient mist portal, it connected directly to a forbidden zone where Essence, Qi, and Spirit Three Treasures medicine fields once existed. The grade of that ground had been terrifyingly high, drawing even Earth Immortals into desperate, bloody battles.
Regrettably, it had turned into a veritable meat grinder, leaving the earth drenched and paved in bloody mire.
Since Qin Ming intended to pull off a massive venture, he naturally needed to go where people gathered in greatest numbers. The portal leading straight into a forbidden zone was immediately crossed off his list.
As for the various passages opened by the Yezhou patriarch to distant places, they were relatively short distances away, mostly falling within the dominion of Yujing or its surrounding regions.
Qin Ming suspected that these two ancient mist portals connected to realms overseen by other supreme systems. If so, they were the perfect places to conduct business without having to take responsibility.
Tang Yushang grew vigilant. "We're leaving the territories governed by Yujing?"
Qin Ming once again urged her to stay behind with utter sincerity. "Yes, it's very far. A stranger in a strange land has no reinforcements. If we run into formidable foes, our situation could turn extremely precarious."
Tang Yushang arched a delicate brow and lifted her fair chin. "With the jade mirror upon me now, what do I have to fear?"
In truth, she felt she could easily handle Qin Ming now. No matter how extraordinary the five-colored treasure fragment was, it could never compare to her family's ancestral artifact.
The jade mirror and Yujing shared similar sounds in their names, and its background was naturally astonishing.
Even so, every time she had proudly raised her chin and talked big in the past, she had ended up falling flat on her face. For this reason, she acted a bit more subdued today, with no intention of picking a fight.
Seeing that she was set on going, Qin Ming stopped trying to dissuade her and asked, "Do you still have the brand of the Immortal Blood Calamity on you?"
"Are you worried it will cause trouble?" Tang Yushang frowned. That mark was intertwined with the origin of her spirit. Although she had severed portions of it, remnants lingered, requiring time to dissolve.
Qin Ming nodded. "Details decide success or failure. The alien realm we're heading toward might lie in the deeper reaches of the night mist world, where even dream bugs exist!"
He had already learned that deep within the night mist world, a supreme faction had once fed living flesh to a colossal entity in an attempt to conduct longevity experiments. It was terrifying beyond measure.
He had previously slain a Holy Pilgrim, and the supreme dao arena behind that system was secretly involved in those experiments, fully aware of the golden brand tied to the Immortal Blood Calamity.
Qin Ming said, "I'll help you neutralize it."
Having mastered the Devouring trait of the Sage lineage, he had already unraveled his own Immortal Blood Calamity brand first.
The two made their way to a deserted spot and sat quietly in the dense woods.
A moment later, Tang Yushang, having briefly recovered her pride, grew considerably more subdued again. The faint golden mark clinging to her fair skin was forcibly peeled away by Qin Ming's hand.
The mark tangled in her spiritual field rapidly fractured and was plucked clean.
It was not until her flesh grew scorching hot and the brand of the Immortal Blood Calamity was thoroughly obliterated that she came to her senses. "That's enough."
Qin Ming withdrew his hand. His scalding right hand seemed to swirl with a black hole vortex, within which the pale golden fragments were torn apart, reduced to fine dust, and dispersed into the wind.
He muttered to himself, "What an overbearing technique."
Tang Yushang said, "There ought to be limits to your narcissism!"
Qin Ming replied, "You don't understand where it truly comes from. I only recently developed some proficiency with it. Originally, it was a supreme art researched over an entire lifetime by a fathomless old monster."
When they stood once more before the ancient mist portal, Qin Ming had Tang Yushang don the special liquid armor.
Preparing their defenses before even stepping across made Tang Yushang's expression turn solemn. "Is it really that dangerous?"
Qin Ming nodded. "Just a precaution."
He vividly remembered the terrifying ordeal of being tracked by that old bug, as well as the White Tiger female grandmaster, whose realm was certainly fraught with secrets—conservatively speaking, she might well be a great grandmaster.
The pair of bugs was profoundly mysterious, leaving behind a psychological shadow in his mind.
Whether through bloody combat or smooth duplicity, he had barely managed to escape back with his life. Even now, looking back on it filled him with a lingering fear.
Qin Ming extended a wisp of spirit across first and found everything normal.
"Let's go!"
With that, the two departed the lands of Yujing, heading toward the deeper reaches of the night mist world.
They traveled at extreme speed, like two streaks of drifting light, vanishing past the far horizon of that earth. Only after finding local garments and changing into them did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Throughout the journey, Qin Ming had adjusted himself to his peak state, entering a moment of clear spiritual insight. Detecting no ill premonitions, he was finally at ease.
He gazed out across the land as many vivid faces surfaced in his mind—such as Sanhua, Lihua, and the others he had met while disguised as Yuan Dingming.
There was also that Old Goat who had regressed from the seventh realm, whom he had met while adventuring when the divine grain, black wheat, matured. The two of them were the only living beings to escape alive from the underground.
Of course, what left the deepest impression on him was the Kaiyuan Grand Gathering, where he had reaped immense gains.
"Since nothing went wrong when we entered, we're in the clear."
Qin Ming's eyes sparkled, brimming with anticipation. "If our luck holds up, forget mere grandmaster resources—we might even gather everything needed to break straight through to the sixth realm!"
Tang Yushang did not believe a word of it, cutting him a sidelong glance with her lovely eyes. "Keep bragging!"
Qin Ming waved a dismissive hand and led the way forward. "Don't doubt it. Roll with your big brother, and you'll feast nine times a day."
Chapter 568