The great canyon was dark and heavily shrouded in mist. Occasionally, ferocious behemoths flapped fleshy wings as they swept across the sky above.
Qin Ming sat quietly, quite at ease.
He seemed to have become an outsider, quietly waiting for the other three to refine the medicine.
Above, the night was ink-black, yet the canyon floor was not completely pitch-dark.
Fire-metal brambles, every clump flickering with faint firelight and exuding a cold, rigid metallic texture, grew sparsely rooted among the scattered boulders.
From afar, the trumpeting of mammoth beasts and roars of flood dragons drifted into the canyon, setting off echoing vibrations that sounded exceptionally chilling in the night.
Colossal monsters even passed by on occasion, revealing blood-moon eyes that reflected through the night mist, adding an aura of primeval terror to the place.
Qin Ming remained completely unperturbed, unfazed by it all.
With four formidable experts seated cross-legged in the canyon, it was those monsters who should detour around them, not him. The "grand momentum" was right here.
Qin Ming had even laid out a tea set and leisurely brewed a cup of Heart-Calming Tea.
The order for refining the medicine was already set, starting with Realm Faction, who naturally carried a wicked air whenever he grinned.
It had to be said that first impressions truly mattered. Ever since their first encounter, this physical body hailing from the Strange Insect Alliance had never struck Qin Ming as any kind of righteous figure.
Consequently, all the dirty, exhausting work began with him.
Without question, the first step required purging the greatest amount of medicinal dregs.
Realm Faction sat as steady as a bronze bell. Thunder and fire surged within his five viscera, booming with thunderous reverberations, so much so that electric arcs coiled around the outside of his body. A crisp, sweet fragrance diffused outward.
"Little Bug, good work," Qin Ming said to the body as he sipped his tea.
The ancient saying that appearance is born from the heart held some truth.
Even though Realm Faction had changed his features to be extraordinarily handsome, that buggy, insectoid demeanor still bled through his demeanor.
Qin Ming felt that making him do all the heavy lifting while still harboring a slight bias was a bit unreasonable, so he warmly addressed him as Little Bug.
"This strange herb is indeed extraordinary. No wonder the Huang family people turned green with envy upon seeing it. It's truly out of the ordinary."
A globule of medicinal liquid was initially extracted, encircled by five-colored divine glow, coloring Realm Faction's internal organs in vibrant hues and infusing even the lightning with a sacred aura.
Possessing all five elements in balance, such a precious medicine was exceedingly rare.
What kind of scripture did Wei Shouzhen intend to cultivate that required a five-element treasure medicine as an adjunct?
Still, that man could dream all he wanted. Even with the terrifying Huang family intervening, Qin Ming would never hand it over—this was his catalyst to become a grandmaster.
"Taiyi, your turn," Qin Ming resonated as he steeped his tea.
That body hailing from the Rebirth Marionette organization was handsome and looked quite righteous. Taking up the relay to refine the medicine, thunder interwoven in his five viscera—somewhat fierce, yet properly controlled—enveloped the ball of medicinal liquid.
Qin Ming did not favor one over the other and gave him a nickname as well—Marionette Two.
Quite pleased, sipping his tea yet feeling slightly tipsy as if drinking fine wine, he said, "Very good. Using the five viscera to refine five-element medicine is the most fitting."
Soon, it was the silver-haired woman's turn. Her lustrous white skin was reflected in the five-colored medicinal liquid, radiating a sacred brilliance as ripples pulsed outward and a fragrant medicinal aroma assaulted the nose.
She hailed from the Godkin Society. Externally, she was One Sword, but internally, she needed a form of address as well.
Qin Ming pondered what to call her that would best suit her identity.
"Never mind. In view of your hard work and great contributions lately—going out as One Sword to dispel rumors and serving as my main fighter—I'll just call you the President."
Qin Ming could tell that during her lifetime, the silver-haired woman had most likely delved deeply into lightning-path arts. Now, as she refined the medicine with her five viscera, even though the thunder and fire were fierce, her body adapted in an instant. It was even autonomously absorbing the lightning to nourish itself, while the thunder and fire washing over the medicinal liquid did not harm its medicinal properties in the slightest.
"The President is well-suited for refining medicine. The first quenching step is successfully finished; that should do it."
Afterward, the medicinal liquid steaming with divine glow returned to the wicked-looking Little Bug. This time, he would use his mind lamp to refine the medicine in the second step.
Within that lamp, there was Six Ding Divine Fire specifically meant for concocting medicine, World-Purifying Fire capable of refining true gold a hundred times over, solar true fire that could incinerate mountain demons and evil sprites, and more.
There was also the nine-colored sword baleful aura hanging high above, capable of slaying all manner of monsters and fiends.
Soon, Marionette Two took over, and the President brought it to a close, completing the second stage of refining.
Qin Ming took it over and inspected it closely. The liquid hovered before him, multicolored and gentle in medicinal nature, containing a dense spirituality. It hardly seemed like a mere strange herb anymore; it felt linked to the Dao rhythms of the five elements, inherently carrying the true meaning of the five elements.
"Splendid."
Qin Ming felt there was no need to exhaust every single refining method. Finishing the final step would make it ready for consumption; doing more would only cause loss of efficacy.
"Conjoin dragon and tiger to compound the medicine; forge the golden core within."
Beginning once again with Little Bug, the five-colored medicinal liquid was decocted within his body. Magnificent divine glow shone brilliantly, growing ever more blazing as it condensed repeatedly, ultimately forming a golden core.
Next, Marionette Two followed up and the President nurtured it, refining the five-element precious medicine into a dazzling golden core that condensed the Dao rhythms of the five elements, wafting a rich medicinal aroma.
"Purified nine times across the three of them—it can be considered complete at the count of nine. Combined with refining it again as I ingest it, mm, nothing can go wrong."
Qin Ming was thoroughly satisfied and felt everything was set.
He looked at the three bodies and said, "Speaking of which, residual medicinal dregs and properties remain in the bodies of you three. Setting aside the anomalies of the Savage Immortal Realm, for you all, this is also a form of nourishment."
He retrieved the honeycomb-like waxy substance, from which Scarlet God nectar seeped out, interwoven with golden mist and releasing a refreshing, soul-gladdening fragrance.
"Mm, trouble you a bit more—quench and refine this as well."
This time, Qin Ming drew on methods from the immortal grave.
He had obtained the Vajra Scripture at the immortal grave and learned some secret techniques. To practice this art, immortal-path figures of the past would ingest various great medicines with the aid of 'medicine servants,' who pre-purified diverse strange medicines for them using blood-refinement methods.
Guided by Qin Ming's soul resonance, everything proceeded smoothly, swiftly completed in relay by the three physical bodies.
Qin Ming furrowed his brow; the blood-refinement filtration method depleted rather too much of the medicinal potency.
"Next time, I'll stick to refining medicine via the five viscera and blending dragon and tiger. Consider this your compensation for now—a chance to nourish your bodies."
Without further hesitation, Qin Ming swallowed the five-element precious medicine first.
Instantly, five-colored divine glow surged within him, dense vapors billowing as the medicinal properties expanded. His entire person was enveloped in a sacred light mist, surrounded by a crisp, sweet fragrance.
Qin Ming did not absorb it immediately. Instead, he refined it internally, exhaling copious amounts of medicinal vapor that submerged him. Only after quenching it a hundred times over and confirming there was no issue did he begin compounding the medicine.
In an instant, divine glow blazed. Internally, dragon and tiger united; externally, his flesh, blood, and internal organs were tempered. His essence, qi, and spirit melded into harmony as heavenly light, consciousness, divine wisdom, and all else converged into one.
Every single method Qin Ming had cultivated met together, creating a truly terrifying scene.
Multicolored light flowed through his body, too bright to gaze upon directly. His whole being was dazzling to the extreme, as though a miniature sun had taken human form and merged with him.
The fifth realm was the True Form realm, where myriad methods converged. Behind Qin Ming, various wondrous phenomena emerged.
These were the various cultivation methods he had mastered, now manifesting into tangible visions. For example, the silk book appeared like a scroll painting, deducing and unfolding all things.
It gave birth to yin and yang, two streams of qi flowing as a Taiji diagram spun, eventually settling onto the ground and taking root to form the Black-White Tree.
Next, within the silk book's scroll, five-element concepts emerged, turning into soil, water marshes, and more.
A clear breeze blew, a brilliant sun hung high, and the lunar orb tilted in the sky. All things cycled between flourishing and withering. A thousand cicadas chirped in unison, butterflies danced, dragons soared, and a lazy silkworm lay upon black-and-white leaves.
The Script of the Primal Myriad Thunderbolts intertwined, its lightning bridging the nine heavens above and connecting to the abyss below.
Then, amidst the generation and destruction of yin and yang, the Beginning of the Primal Unity, three producing all things, myriad methods arose together, myriad scenes reflecting...
The extraordinary arts, secret tomes, and true scriptures Qin Ming had cultivated all shone forth, manifesting before and behind him, attempting to fuse together into a True Form.
At this moment, his expression was gravely serious. Though he had deduced this before, when the critical juncture arrived, a palpitation still gripped his heart. He had fused too many arts. Attempting to forge a singular True Form was arduous in the extreme, bearing a frightening intensity that sent chills down his spine.
He cautioned himself, murmuring, "This cannot be accomplished in one stroke. When the founding patriarchs forged their True Forms, the process spanned the entire fifth major realm. I must not force it."
Before Qin Ming, the various anomalies revolved, merging into one another in sheer chaos!
Only fragments remained of each wondrous scene, linked together and continually reorganizing in a brand-new metamorphosis, already impossible to distinguish.
Qin Ming looked solemn. In this process, as all the methods revealed themselves and absorbed one another, he bore immense pressure, and bloody cracks began appearing across his body.
"This is merely my rudimentary True Form, yet it truly lives up to its name—the Chaos force, fusing all scriptural tenets to manifest the Chaos True Form, turning everything into a chaotic mess."
Had his foundation not been exceptionally profound, he would have blown apart at the threshold of the fifth realm.
In the past, the patriarchs who founded these arts had been overly ambitious, seeking to surpass all existing paths and pursuing extreme offensive power—the more scriptures fused, the greater the might.
Yet no path could ever be flawless. To pursue such heights demanded an equivalent price. Why had the major ancestral courts abandoned the Newborn path's Chaos force? Primarily because no one could bear the cost.
Even as formidable as Qin Ming was, he remained exceedingly solemn. He knew the fifth realm required meticulous untangling. Right now, his True Form was shifting wildly without a fixed pattern.
When he thought about how he would have to fuse the Qingtian force, Rulai force, Yuqing force, and others in the future, a headache came over him. Was his ambition so excessive that he might actually blow apart one day?
He knew well that whether it was the Qingtian force or the Rulai force, each was a mature path that had already fused extraordinary true scriptures and secret tomes.
If he forcibly absorbed them, what he fused would not be a mere force, but myriad cultivation arts.
Qin Ming reminded himself, "Discard the dregs and retain the essence, using worldly fires to temper the true scriptures. When the time comes, I must proceed with utmost caution!"
With a soft pop, the center of Qin Ming's brow split open, a wisp of fresh blood trickling down. Next, his chest burst open in a bloody mess, followed by blood seeping from all seven facial orifices.
And this was after months of preparation and settling his foundation; in the end, breaching the realm still left him injured, mottled cracks webbing across his body.
The sole solace was that the grimmest scenario from his deductions had not materialized—he had not blown apart completely.
Within Qin Ming's body, the Adhesion force exerted its power, harmonizing myriad methods and locking his physical form and spirit to prevent them from detonating.
In truth, during the evolution of his Chaos True Form, a horrifying force had indeed sought to crush him, yearning to rip his flesh apart and tear through his spiritual field.
In past eras, the founding patriarchs had all experienced this, and the scenes had been bloody.
At this crucial moment of breakthrough, Qin Ming abruptly opened his eyes. Wiping away the blood from the corners of his eyes, nose, and mouth, he remarked, "As expected. Though this five-element treasure medicine is rare, its medicinal potency is still insufficient; its age wasn't as great as imagined."
Without hesitation, he consumed the Scarlet God nectar to replenish what was lacking.
He refined the great medicine internally. Eventually, myriad methods surged alongside it, intertwining within his body to form a Hunyuan Golden Core before shattering to take shape as an infant, incomparably brilliant.
Placed within the cultivation civilization system, he would have advanced into the Nascent Soul realm.
With a boom, the humanoid form inside Qin Ming dissolved into countless streams of flowing light that rushed into every limb and bone. From then on, form and spirit became one, and his entire body felt profoundly wondrous.
In breaching the realm, he circulated the most domineering Chaos force, forcefully blasting through the barrier to stand firmly within the fifth realm. His body turned scalding hot as metamorphosis began.
Without question, this was a rebirth of extraordinary significance.
From physical body to spirit, he underwent nirvanic rebirth. The sound of his blood flowing was like a surging great river, like flashing lightning and roaring thunder. Immortal light steamed across his entire body, and colorful misty vapors erupted violently.
Behind him, the Chaos True Form was intricate, disordered, and ever-shifting.
Qin Ming's body split apart multiple times, only to continually reassemble; his spirit did the same.
Many spots across his body were dripping with blood.
Yet he paid it little heed, watching his True Form intently.
"Perhaps there is no need to force it. My True Form should follow nature. Taking on a thousand forms and shifting constantly is simply part of its natural evolution."
Qin Ming's mindset grew peaceful. He realized there was no need for anxiety right now. The more one tried to grasp something and force chaotic shifts into order, the easier it was for things to go wrong.
Doing so might even dissolve the spirituality born from the fusion of myriad methods.
Qin Ming relaxed, his heart gradually settling into tranquility.
Then, during this process of rebirth, golden threads intertwined across his body as jade light shone. Though cracks continually opened and bloody light surfaced, they were mended again and again, returning him to pristine wholeness.
Gradually, it was as if Qin Ming were draped in Golden Thread Jade Clothes, strands of longevity properties rippling through his body.
At last, his body achieved a certain equilibrium. Cracks ceased to appear. Or rather, the terrifying tearing forces generated during the breakthrough and metamorphosis could no longer harm his form and spirit.
The Golden Thread Jade Clothes applied medicine to him as vibrant vitality spread, and he stood securely in the domain of the fifth realm.
Qin Ming had successfully breached the realm. He was now a grandmaster, his Chaos True Form currently fickle and ever-changing.
His rebirth was still ongoing. Such nirvana was a process—his body remained scalding hot, his form and spirit continuing to undergo subtle transformations.
Qin Ming breathed a sigh of relief. From this point onward, he needed to do nothing more. Everything was transforming on its own, and even if foreign enemies attacked, he had no need to worry.
"My physical constitution is still slowly improving. All I need to do is wait quietly for it to conclude." A bright smile crossed his face.
Far away, the Huang family summoned experts, causing an uproar.
The various major organizations were shocked. Who dared to offend this clan so lightly?
"The Huang family was searching for a rare five-element strange herb for Wei Shouzhen, but the grandmaster they dispatched to scout the way was killed!"
"Who did it?"
"Unknown."
The Huang family traded on their prestige, inviting others to bolster their ranks, their clout formidable.
...
Qin Ming was surprised. Earlier, when leaving the insect nest, he had used the Hunyuan Light Escape to speed away and reach this great canyon, already establishing what should have been a safe distance. Yet he had still been found.
It was a swarm of Scarlet God insects, resembling a fiery sunset cloud, accompanied by a horrifying buzzing of wings that sounded deeply unsettling.
"After guarding against everything, they still tracked us down." Qin Ming mused that it was probably because Little Bug, Marionette Two, and the President had slaughtered too many Scarlet God insects, becoming tainted with the insects' mysterious pheromones.
The swarm had come seeking vengeance, arriving right at his doorstep.
"Is there only one swarm?"
Having just breached the realm, Qin Ming was entirely fearless. On the contrary, a faint smile appeared on his face as he wondered whether these strange insects were edible.
Boldly taking action, he struck proactively. Reaching across the void, he snatched several Scarlet God insects, skewered them on sword baleful aura, and roasted them on the spot with blazing flames of light.
"They aren't metal bugs, are they? There's an alluring aroma of meat." Qin Ming felt he must truly be hungry; otherwise, why would he think of roasting such creatures?
"It must be because I just breached the realm and my body is undergoing metamorphosis, needing an infusion of energy and nutrients." As Qin Ming roasted the insects, he brought out a jar of fine wine and slapped open the mud seal. Facing the terrifying insect swarm, his expression remained tranquil, as leisurely and composed as ever.
Chapter 580