With a low, lethal cry, Qin Ming and Tang Yushang cut across the vast night sky, bathed in a rain of light like two plunging comets hurtling down toward the group of saints.
They had few opportunities, and they had to seize this one.
Otherwise, once their special weapons were completely overwhelmed by the Scourge of the Lost, the nine saints would inevitably capture them, and their fate would be horrific.
One of the saints spoke up, "We failed to weed them out completely. Two stray weeds drenched in feathering immortal rain think they can stir up storms?"
The man who was the Moon Bug stood with hands clasped behind his back, his form immovable. Behind him, a pristine, bright moon ascended, spilling silver radiance like a bolt of silk straight toward the pair in the night sky to freeze them in their tracks.
Zhou Wenchan, the white-robed saint of the Godkin Society, stood with hands behind his back, his face frosty. "To think someone dares trespass in a place like this."
As the testing ground of the three supreme factions involving the secrets of longevity, this place had always permitted entry but never departure. Calling it a forbidden zone was by no means an exaggeration.
A three-eyed saint from the Godkin Society gave a faint chuckle. "This is no different from two mongrels barging into a pack of fierce predators, barking at us beyond their depth."
Suddenly, astonishment flashed across his face, and he corrected himself, "My mistake. One mongrel, and one exquisite canary. Fair of face and strikingly lovely, she looks like someone groomed by a great clan—fit to serve as a concubine or a maidservant."
While they were speaking, Qin Ming and Tang Yushang abruptly tore through the formation source's patterns. The two sides were already close, and within a blink, the intruders shot forward.
"Watch out, they're wearing Heavenly Immortal remnants!" shouted the Rebirth Figurines saint controlling the formation source, the jade tablet in his hand glowing brilliantly.
Only then did the liquid armor enveloping Qin Ming and Tang Yushang erupt in dazzling divine haze, flowing like trickling streams across their bodies as it revealed itself.
With a clang, Qin Ming swung the Five-Colored Heavenly Saber, slashing all of the incoming moonlight to pieces.
A wheel of light materialized in Tang Yushang's right hand. Resembling a precious mirror and a miniature sun at once, it cast an incomparably blazing divine radiance across the clearing.
Qin Ming circulated his Chaos force, pushing it to its utmost peak. The long saber turned the night sky incandescent, dazzling and magnificent.
He lunged straight at the Rebirth Figurines saint who held the Longevity Jade Tablet. The terrifying might of this single strike caused the previously calm saints to shift their expressions slightly.
Tang Yushang provided support, seeking to intercept the other saints and buy time for Qin Ming.
Clearly, that saint of the Rebirth Figurines organization held an extremely high status; otherwise, he would not have been entrusted with unlocking this longevity testing ground.
He drove the jade tablet, weaving the dao patterns in the night sky into an even tighter mesh.
However, the two sides were too close. If he triggered a catastrophic storm, they themselves would be caught in the disaster.
Above all, he had never imagined anyone could trail so closely behind them without being discovered.
Qin Ming put everything into this strike. Now that the special weapon had revived, its brilliance was at its zenith, carving directly through the formation patterns and illuminating the night sky like the descent of heavenly majesty.
Breaking through the expanding power of the formation source exacted a heavy toll, but Qin Ming still tore his way right in front of the Rebirth Figurines saint.
*Clang!*
A ringing blade chime shook the vast heavens. From the flank, a pitch-black long saber swept in, ferociously violent and steeped in an icy chill that seemed drawn from the Nine Nether Underworld.
This was another special weapon, wielded by Zhou Wenchan, the white-robed saint of the Godkin Society. At the critical juncture, his saber crossed the void, severing Qin Ming's momentum.
It was the renowned Death Saber, also known as the Nether Saber.
Zhou Wenchan had an immense background, already confirmed as the future Nether God.
Qin Ming's hairs stood on end. In haste, he deflected the arc of his five-colored saber and brought it before him, clashing head-on against the pitch-black Nether Saber.
The terrifying metallic resonance threatened to rupture eardrums and pierce the soul. Both the feathering light rain and the high night mist were scattered by the shockwave.
His momentum arrested, Qin Ming was forced to confront this formidable adversary.
He was inwardly startled, his pupils contracting. That strike had been terrifying, actually posing a real threat to him. This white-robed saint of the Godkin Society was absurdly powerful.
Zhou Wenchan was even more shocked. Who was he? One of the future principal gods of the Godkin Society. While others were still vying for such qualifications, his position had long been secured.
Among the Godkin Society, the Nether God ranked among the strongest principal gods, possessing a terrifyingly elevated standing.
In his eyes, that single slash should have blasted the man into a mist of blood, yet it had been stopped.
Powerful figures almost always shared a common trait: consummate confidence. Aside from themselves, all others were mediocrities beneath notice.
Of course, it was precisely this unyielding conviction and character that propelled them to glory, continually ascending to ever greater heights.
Tang Yushang's offensive was hindered as well. Serving as support, she had drawn the brunt of the formation source's suppression, inundated by dense layers of formation patterns.
Her movements were shackled, sealed off by an intersecting web of dao patterns.
The liquid armor formed by the jade mirror glowed, brutally tearing through layer after layer of patterns. Weathering the Scourge of the Lost, she charged into the midst of the saints, where there were more opponents but sparser formation patterns.
With a sharp clang, Qin Ming's Five-Colored Heavenly Saber rang once more.
This time, it was not Zhou Wenchan swinging a blade, but the Rebirth Figurines saint holding the jade tablet. Reaching out with his left hand, he met the special weapon bare-handed.
Qin Ming was startled. This Rebirth Figurines saint was unusual: aside from donning the Golden Thread Jade Clothes, he also wore finger guards, which were broken remnants of a special weapon.
Out of the nine saints in this team, two possessed Heavenly Immortal remnants, and Qin Ming had run into both of them.
Like a streak of lightning, the Rebirth Figurines saint moved with alarming speed. After his hand grazed the saber's edge, he closed the distance and drove a punch straight at Qin Ming's chest.
Qin Ming ducked and shifted sideways, his five-colored armor glowing as his right fist detonated with dazzling radiance to meet the blow.
At the same time, Zhou Wenchan swung the Nether Saber with savage force. The void itself seemed frozen by the bone-chilling cold, as if plunging them straight into the underworld.
Qin Ming felt a chill in his heart. The situation was heavily stacked against them. Their target possessed a special weapon, and failing to take him down immediately created massive trouble.
Moreover, the two saints possessed frighteningly deep cultivations and astonishing combat instincts.
Qin Ming dove into the crowd to strike at the other saints, throwing their ranks into disarray.
If he mingled among them, the array's influence on him would diminish.
Reuniting with Tang Yushang, they attacked the other saints together.
Instantly, someone's body fractured, half-soaked in blood.
Had the special weapons not been suppressed here, saints would have been blasted to pieces on the spot.
Even though they were merely ancient fragments, Heavenly Immortal remnants remained terrifying.
Qin Ming and Tang Yushang felt it was truly a pity. In any other place, relying on these immortal armors, they would have already achieved glorious results.
Suddenly, the ground burst apart. Amid terrifying fluctuations, six golden figures surged up from below, lunging at Qin Ming and Tang Yushang.
All were humanoid, nothing more than skin and bones, appearing utterly ferocious. Yet their skin shone with a brilliant golden hue; they seemed to be six golden corpses.
At that moment, a Rebirth Figurines saint played a tune on a bone flute, awakening the six golden bodies, which carried fragments of law and order.
Qin Ming's heart grew heavy. Back when he had battled Dao Seed No. 3 of the parasitic civilization, a crimson monster carrying rule fragments had joined the fray.
Now he was facing six at once. Without the protection of special weapons, he and Tang Yushang would certainly be killed.
Furthermore, these monsters bearing rule remnants seemed even stronger. Crashing into them head-on, they knocked Qin Ming and Tang Yushang flying backward.
Blood trickled from the corners of Qin Ming's mouth. He had blocked four of the golden monsters, while Tang Yushang's blood and qi surged violently, blood dripping from her delicate nose as she stumbled.
"Old Five, you're not cutting it!" Qin Ming communicated with the five-colored treasure fragment.
The supreme treasure fragment replied, "I'm trapped in the Scourge of the Lost! For the likes of us, this place... is calamitous ground!"
Nearby, Zhou Wenchan, holding the Nether Saber, stood alongside the Rebirth Figurines saint. Using the power of the Longevity Tablet, the two could isolate themselves from the mysterious formation source's erosion.
Qin Ming snapped, "Even if you can't unleash your peak power, self-preservation should be fine, right? Can't you even withstand these golden bodies? I've never lost against opponents of the same tier, but your performance is practically letting others fight above their realm!"
The five-colored treasure fragment replied, "I'm completely fine! Those golden monsters can hit me all they want; they can't pierce the five-colored armor! Right now, I'm only worried about getting lost—"
Qin Ming spat blood and cursed, "Damn it, *I'm* hurt! The shockwaves have blood leaking from all seven apertures! Can you boost your defense a bit more?!"
***
Outside, six grandmasters stood suspended in midair, gazing down at the Ninth Experimental Ground of Longevity Ridge. Those who had cultivated divine eyes could vaguely perceive what was unfolding.
"To think saints from other factions actually barged in. Fortunately, those two are already trapped in a desperate corner. The dao forms and divine fetuses nurtured for five hundred years must not come to harm."
An elderly grandmaster spoke in a low voice, terrifying beams of light shooting from his eyes as he fixed his gaze ahead.
In his eyes, those physical vessels stripped of all deathly qi were of paramount importance.
Of course, among the six grandmasters, only two or three knew the full truth. Even as direct descendants of the old president or the Insect Emperor, they could only be introduced to such secrets step by step.
"Grandfather, are those physical vessels that important?" a newcomer asked.
Both grandfather and grandson were grandmasters—a remarkable achievement. Even among descendants of the Godkin Society's old president, not everyone was a dragon among men; after dozens of generations, many faded into mediocrity.
Naturally, the standout individuals among them were terrifying, including peak experts of the Seventh Realm.
In this era, such figures had already reached the pinnacle, looking down upon all races from the absolute apex of the pyramid, capable of confronting powerhouses of any cultivation system.
The elderly grandmaster nodded. "Some of those vessels are extremely important. They belong to famous figures from the histories of the Godkin Society, the Rebirth Figurines organization, and the Strange Insect Alliance. They cannot be lost."
His grandson showed astonishment. "They are already dead. Can they truly... return to life?"
The elderly grandmaster nodded solemnly. "The old president is living proof. Perhaps he has forged an initial path to longevity."
The two conversed secretly through divine transmissions, touching upon this taboo subject.
In this world, there were ten-colored icebergs and undying tree sap, both capable of allowing ancient figures to slumber, maintaining their original state without dying for a period of time.
Yet that was not longevity. Stated nicely, it was a prolonged slumber; stated plainly, it was merely clinging to life.
"Becoming a living corpse unable to intervene in the mortal world, only to perish when the time comes—such survival is meaningless. What the old president pursues is preserving great power in the present realm, walking among mortals at one's peak. That alone is longevity."
Yet all things had a lifespan. Both physical form and spiritual soul would eventually decay; even Heavenly Immortals and Heavenly Gods could only live for a little over two thousand years.
The newly advanced grandmaster said, "Once the spirit decays, a person is considered entirely perished. How could they ever reappear?"
His grandfather shook his head. "The mysteries of life cannot be easily explained. One can only grope forward through trial and error. The old president has now proven that the physical body may well be more important than the spirit."
"This..." The younger grandmaster showed doubt.
The elder grew solemn. "The research on physical bodies I am speaking of is perhaps the only viable path to longevity at present, and someone has successfully walked it once. It can be regarded as the ultimate secret."
"What?" The younger grandmaster's mind was shaken.
The elder asked, "You know of body seizure, right?"
Naturally, there was no need to ask; cultivators at their level could all perform it.
The elder continued, "Tell me, if I seize a body that perfectly matches me and subsequently sire offspring, whose descendants are they?"
The younger grandmaster had never considered this, blurting out instinctively, "Yours, of course."
The elder shook his head. "Wrong. Every sign indicates that those offspring remain the descendants of the original host, inheriting all of the host's traits."
"This..."
The elder said, "The life imprint is rooted in the deepest depths of flesh and blood. For instance, if a man dies and is confirmed completely perished, but his previously frozen reproductive vitality is retrieved years later, it can still produce offspring."
He cited a factual event: long ago, a certain principal god of the Godkin Society battled an opponent. His physical body collapsed, but he succeeded in obliterating the opponent's consciousness.
In the end, he felt the opponent's damaged body was suited for his enduring spirit, and so he seized it.
Decades later, that principal god discovered to his dismay that his newborn offspring resembled that fallen opponent in every conceivable way.
One child in particular was practically that opponent reborn, bearing not only a resemblance in appearance, but also in disposition.
He wanted to swat the child to death, but having raised the boy with affection, he was torn in profound agony.
The younger grandmaster asked, "If one educates and carefully intervenes later on, would they not resemble oneself more on a spiritual level?"
The elder shook his head. "You know of the cuckoo bird, don't you? It lays its eggs in other birds' nests, never raising or contacting them. Yet when the chick hatches, having never been taught, it already knows to shove the eggs or chicks of its foster parents out of the nest so it alone can feast on the food they bring. That is an imprint engraved into flesh and blood. The physical vessel holds the ultimate mysteries of life. The spirit is merely duckweed, its roots anchored in flesh. As long as the physical body exists, consciousness can naturally be born from it."
Using a common bird as an analogy illustrated the principle clearly.
The elder then discussed deeper research into body seizure, asserting that the physical vessel could influence the spirit.
He gave another example: someone had once achieved a flawless body seizure, but decades or a century later, that person discovered with horror that their temperament and habits were shifting toward those of the original host.
The younger grandmaster was stunned. "Such a thing can happen?"
The elder nodded. "Indeed. Particularly when the weak occupies the body of the strong, the influence is far greater."
According to the personal research of the old president, whose cultivation bordered on creation itself, as long as a physical body remained alive, the life-origin imprint within it would continually spark spiritual embers, blending into the consciousness of the intruder.
Of course, it was virtually imperceptible, a gradual fusion stretched across decades or centuries—silent and pervasive.
The younger grandmaster listened in a daze, falling silent for a long time.
The elder said, "This 'forgotten corner' was tied to an ancient war of Heavenly Immortals, home to countless diverse lineages. To facilitate his experiments and acquire living consumables, the old president once had his disciples and grand-disciples seize the bodies of patriarchs from great clans. Centuries later, a few of them nearly ended up living out the original patriarchs' intended lives, walking the original paths."
Large-scale body seizure had served as an experiment, providing priceless experience for the old president's subsequent rebirth.
The elder continued, "The old president had originally reached the end of his lifespan. Through his dedicated study of physical vessel theories, he nurtured his aged body within the supreme longevity ground."
The younger grandmaster was mesmerized. The old president had weathered a fatal tribulation, slumbering for five hundred years like a dream before returning from the dead?
"What era did this happen in?"
The elder said, "Unknown, but it is an undeniable fact."
Back then, the Godkin Society's old president had his most trusted Seventh Realm direct descendant bury him in the supreme longevity ground. His spirit had indeed dissipated, but after five hundred years, his physical body severed all deathly qi and underwent another nirvanic rebirth.
The younger grandmaster asked, "If his body didn't die but his spirit completely dissipated, how could he revive?"
He had heard whispers, but knew nothing of the deeper secrets.
The elder explained, "First, he consumed countless precious medicines related to soul-recalling. He firmly believed that if the physical body revived one day, spiritual sparks would inevitably reignite, strand by strand. Furthermore, he did not hesitate to lend out his body, permitting exceptional geniuses of later generations to inhabit it—just as you see now with Zhou Wenchan and the other saints preparing to enter those dao forms and divine fetuses."
The younger grandmaster could not comprehend. "Introducing an external soul? Why? Why surrender his own body for others to use...?"
The elder replied, "Though the body revived, it had been dormant for ages, like a rusted machine that required someone to set it in motion. The higher a saint's talent, the better they matched the revived vessel, and the smoother the machine ran. Once everything was back on track, the original body generating spiritual embers would follow as a matter of course."
A chill ran down the younger grandmaster's spine. No wonder his grandfather had been so indifferent earlier, stating that the ultimate winner had yet to be determined. Some saints were sent in merely as kindling to accelerate the revival of those illustrious bodies.
The elder said, "Dying once might look like severing the past, but so long as the soil and roots remain, no wildfire can burn them all away—spring breezes will bring them back to life."
Of course, for a proper match, the physical vessel and spiritual realm had to correspond.
The elder added, "That group of historical figures once possessed immense realms. Unfortunately, after nirvanic revival and shedding their deathly qi, their bodies are currently only at the grandmaster level. Thus, they are perfectly suited for this contemporary batch of saints to drive, kindling the old machinery to turn once more."
The younger grandmaster asked, "Back then, what caliber of person did the old president require as kindling?"
The elder transmitted secretly, "A powerhouse of the Seventh Realm!"
The younger grandmaster was shaken. "Just how terrifying was the old ancestor's original cultivation in his first life?"
The elder stared down at Longevity Ridge. Among those dao forms and divine fetuses, some were the bodies of former adversaries, harvested for experimentation purely because of their extraordinary latent talent; others, however, were their own people, whom the old president had explicitly commanded must not come to harm.
The elder surmised that person was of immense importance. Otherwise, with the old ancestor's status, he would never bother overseeing such matters personally.
The younger grandmaster asked, "Aside from the old president, has anyone else successfully walked this path?"
The elder sighed, eventually shaking his head.
The younger grandmaster was stunned. "Then... it cannot be replicated? If the old president walks it again, can he still succeed?"
The elder said, "If the old president attempts it again, he has at most a sixty percent chance of success—far from guaranteed. That is why the three supreme factions joined hands to conduct various longevity experiments, not pinning their hopes on a single path."
The younger grandmaster remarked, "Look, those two haven't been subdued yet. Their special weapons are somewhat beyond normal limits; they've held out quite long."
Worried, he asked whether they should intervene with force.
The elder shook his head. "Senior guardians dwell within Longevity Ridge; they have likely been disturbed and awakened by now. Our duty is merely to guard the perimeter."
***
Amid the fighting, Qin Ming resonated with complex emotions and realized that those unconscious vessels of flesh and blood were dao forms and divine fetuses of vital importance to the three supreme factions.
The saints present had received orders from above forbidding any damage to these living corpses; they had to protect them as if they were their own true bodies.
Moreover, certain saints knew the full truth, acting as special envoys dispatched by high command to supervise the others.
*A massive secret! Even if saints are sacrificed, they cannot harm a certain woman among them, nor a certain strange insect?* Qin Ming's heart trembled, and his interest was immediately piqued.
He transmitted his voice, "Tang Miao, I have an idea! Let's snatch those physical bodies—they'll be extremely useful!"
Following a terrifying surge of revival from both the five-colored treasure fragment and the jade mirror, they temporarily shook off the Scourge of the Lost, tearing through and repelling the six golden monsters.
Qin Ming successfully snatched a flawless female body. She seemed almost alive, with the faint sound of a heartbeat audible.
He threatened, "None of you make a move!"
Several saints moved to attack, but the Rebirth Figurines saint holding the Longevity Tablet stopped them. Knowing the truth, he understood deeply that certain divine fetuses here were more precious than the lives of saints.
"Toss the Longevity Tablet over!" Qin Ming barked.
"Take it." The Rebirth Figurines saint did not care; handing it over meant nothing, as the outsider would not know how to use it, rendering it a useless slab.
At the same time, he activated the site's warning array to summon the slumbering old monster.
Qin Ming intimidated him, "Tell me how to deactivate all the arrays, or I'll snap her neck!"
Frowning, the Rebirth Figurines saint calmly explained how to operate the jade tablet to shut down the arrays.
"Something has gone wrong!" Deep beneath Longevity Ridge, a monster awoke. Terrifying vapor billowed as a beam of light burst through the surface, tearing through the night sky.
Among the grandmasters outside, someone's expression changed. "Damn it! He was siphoning the origin of Longevity Ridge to nourish himself instead of guarding his assigned post!"
"No matter. Now that he has awakened, everything is under control."
"Move!" Qin Ming urged the five-colored treasure fragment into full revival. Even if the Scourge of the Lost loomed, they had to erupt with power to make their escape.
"Who dares cause havoc in this place!" The old monster underground finally cleared his wits and burst forth. He thrust out a massive hand, swatting toward the two figures already streaking into the horizon.
Without Heavenly Immortal remnants shielding them, Qin Ming and Tang Yushang would certainly have collapsed under that pressure.
"Here, catch!" Qin Ming hurled a dao form straight out, infusing it with force so that blood leaked from its seven apertures. If the old monster ignored it, the body would undoubtedly explode.
"You—!" The newly awakened powerhouse shivered. Under strict orders not to damage those vessels, he naturally dared not strike down with his palm.
He swiftly converted his strike into the gentlest force, deftly reeling the body in.
Anxious, Qin Ming pressed, "Old Five, can you do this or not? Didn't you claim to be one of the top Heavenly Immortal weapons in the past? Is this all you've got? You can't even fly faster than a dying old monster!"
The five-colored treasure fragment grumbled, "That depends on who's driving me! You don't have enough power to support me!"
Tang Yushang asked, "Jade Mirror, do you have a way?"
The jade mirror responded, "Feed me feathering light rain, and I'll lose him."
"Done! I have plenty in reserve!" Qin Ming immediately supplied it without reserve. In the space within the mysterious rag, the feathering light rain had pooled into a veritable river.
Even so, during the mirror's initial burst, the old monster still closed the distance.
Qin Ming threw out the dao forms and divine fetuses one after another, pounding each with Chaos force so they teetered on the verge of exploding.
This forced the pursuing old monster to hold back, afraid to act recklessly.
Finally, the jade mirror achieved full revival. Carrying the five-colored treasure fragment along, it executed a technique akin to a mirror displacement, vanishing into thin air. When it reappeared, it was already fifteen hundred li away.
Flashing across space several more times, it finally shook off the pursuer.
***
Several days later, Qin Ming and Tang Yushang, disguised as the Bull Demon Couple, finally approached the ancient Mist Gate leading back to Night Province. Both breathed a long sigh of relief.
At Black-White Mountain, in Twin Trees Village, Yuque was beside herself with anxiety. "Why has the mountain master vanished? He's been gone for over half a month without a word! Where did he go? I need to tell him something huge has happened—Cui Chongxiao conceived a baby!"
In truth, Bai Meng had also been deeply worried throughout this period. His elder sister had gone out to meet Qin Ming at dusk, yet neither had returned. Just where had that date taken them?
Before the ancient Mist Gate, Tang Yushang's delicate brows knit slightly. "You still have three bodies in hand. Why didn't you throw them away?"
Qin Ming said, "They might have immense backgrounds."
Tang Yushang said, "Really? And why did you keep the prettiest woman's body? What are you thinking?"
One of the women was indeed breathtakingly beautiful, possessing exceptional elegance.
Qin Ming replied, "What are *you* thinking? I'm keeping them for cultivation. How about you pick one too?"
Tang Yushang teased, "A cultivation technique for two?"
Qin Ming said, "I'm about to step into the grandmaster realm and face the True Form Tribulation. Powerful dao forms and divine fetuses like these are perfect for testing the waters beforehand, letting me see just how terrifying that tribulation truly is."
The two returned safely to Night Province without further incident.
"We're finally back, meow!" Tang Yushang relaxed completely.
Qin Ming gave her an odd look. He felt that if Tang Miao kept acting like this, she could face social death at any moment—a prospect he actually found himself looking forward to.
Chapter 573