ă€ŠTainted willă€‹


 Chapter 1 BEGINNING OF THE PURSUIT

    ?Xuan mountain

    It waste in the night, a gentle breeze was blowing with light rain. Yet the Xuan mountain was not covered in darkness, dozen of lights shone like a sea of fireflies.

    These lights shone from elevated buildings, there were at least a few thousand lights shining in the darkness of the night. The sight was breathtaking.

    On the southern side of the Ye vige stood an old two-story building made of green bamboo and wood.

    Bai Ming stood quietly by the window, letting the rain from the wind hit his young body.

    His gaze was cloudy as he looked at the vige. His heart full ofplex feelings.

    After a long time, the rain stopped and Bai Ming''s eyes became focused again as he returned to reality.

    He moved towards his bed as hey down looking at the ceiling. The room was somewhat dim as the moonlight shone on Bai Ming''s pale face.

    "It''s been 14 years since I arrived in this world," Bai Ming thought in his heart as he sighed softly.

    Bai Ming was originally from earth, a mortal ne. Due to unknown reasons, he was mystically reborn in this cultivation world fourteen years ago. Back on earth, he lived in the slums with his elder sister. His gentle elder sister had raised him for the longest time, but then things happened.

    One day Bai Ming suffered a heart attack and died. Luckily he was given another chance at life as he was reborn into the world of Cultivators where he could surpass the limits of the mortal body.

    In this life he had gotten loving parents and a caring grandfather, everything he didn''t have in his previous life was gifted to him. The feeling of not being one of them slowly vanished as he gradually learned to ept his new identity over the past fourteen years.

    He was genuinely happy to have been reborn in a world where one could achieve something far greater than life itself.

    But Fate was impartial to Bai Ming...

    After he turned seven, his mother suffered a fatal injury when she was fighting against the beast tide. His father, to heal his mother did everything he could but his efforts were futile. But the heavens didn''tpletely forsake him, it left him a way out.

    As long he was able to get a 3rd tier high-grade healing pill her life could have been saved. His father Bai Feng requested and begged everyone in hiswork but still failed.

    But he didn''t give up, he then requested the upper echelons of the Ye n. The n elders politely refused him but seeing his persistence they gave him a seemingly impossible mission, informing him that as long as he couldplete the task he would receive the 3rd-tier high-grade healing pill as a reward.

    Receiving the mission Bai Feng knew that his chance of aplishing the task was very very slim.

    But he still didn''t let go of this opportunity. He resolved himself toplete the mission, But without sufficient power, he failed. He lost his life while trying toplete his task.

    Shortly after his death, Bai Ming''s mother who was gravely injured also passed away. Now his grandfather was the one taking care of him.

    "Hmm, tomorrow is the annual awakening ceremony. Sigh, it would be nice if I can awaken a high-grade spirit root, Medium grade is just average."

    "But there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it. At the very least I have some assurance that I''ll awaken a spirit root due to my considerably better bloodline, unlike few others in the vige."

    "Be it earth or here, strength is always supreme and I greatly desire this strength, I refuse to be a weakling like my parents, I refuse to be the one who is toyed by the heavens." As these thoughts surfaced in Bai Ming''s heart, his crimson eyes revealed a trace of resolution and firmness.

    The thirst for unparalleled strength existed within Bai Ming for a long long time. The mindset of the weak always being wrong and the strong always in the right was deeply etched on his heart with a cold dagger. These words may sound harsh to some but the bitter truth always hurts.

    If one wanted to live a long life in this dog-eat-dog world, the first and most important quality one needed to possess was extreme selfishness. If you don''t have the heart to be a selfish individual then simply remember that there are millions if not billions of individuals out there who would make your life a living hell just for the fun of it.

    All humans are born selfish, selfishness is the origin of all human emotions, don''t believe it? So you believe helping others is an act of selflessness? Absolutely not!

    Helping others openly or secretly isn''t actually selfnesses, people help others because it was their selfish desire to relish the moral bliss which he/she gains from this so-called act of selflessness. Everything humans ever do, be it righteous or unrighteous is solely to please the little devil hiding within our souls.

    "I should rest now, After all I have to get up early for the ceremony, If I amte that old man will lecture me again, But it''s definitely going to be a long night."

    ....

    Xuan mountain, Ye vige

    The following day, The sun had yet to rise.

    Bai Ming opened his eyelids, He only slept 4 hours from the nervousness and excitement. After all, today was the day that was going to determine his future journey.

    He slowly got up and opened the window as a mix of the fragrance of trees and flowers greeted him. He took a deep breath washing away the sleepiness.

    Looking around in his vision they were a sea of houses made up of green bamboo matching the lush vegetation of Xuan mountain.

    Bai Ming then went to get a basin of water to wash his face and rinse his mouth. He then used some salt to clean his teeth. He then began to dress up for the asion.

    "Brat are you ready" at some point in time he heard an aged voice calling out to him.

    "Yes grandfather, I aming down" Bai Ming replied in a loud voice. As he spoke he began moving down the steps.

    He directly went to the hall, there he saw a skinny old man gulping down a mouthful of wine. The old man looked unrestrained, but he was emanating the aura of an expert.

    The old man saw Bai Ming and ced his cup down before he stood up. He moved towards Bai Ming and spoke in a mild tone "Come, Let''s go."

    Bai Ming nodded his head in reply, as he followed after his grandfather with a cold expression.

    After walking for over 20 minutes they arrived at the center of the vige.

    The n pavilion was in the middle of the vige, reaching 7 stories. It was a grand pavilion and was heavily guarded. Every generation of n heads had lived in this pavilion. With every major ceremony or incident, the upper echelons of the n would gather and discuss it here. All the important decisions of the n were made here.

    Over seventy-plus 14-year-old youths were gathered in front of the n pavilion. There were still youths joining this line.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Go, Don''t be so nervous. Being nervous isn''t going to help you and Remember grandfather will always support you no matter what." Bai Ming''s grandfather patted Bai Ming''s shoulder as he encouraged him.

    Hearing his grandfather''s warm words, Bai Ming bowed towards his grandfather before he joined the group of youths.

    After a short while.

    "Good, everyone is on time. Today is the awakening ceremony, It is the biggest turning point of your life. I won''t speak much I am sure you already know the importance of this auspicious day, Juste with me." The one responsible for the awakening ceremony was an elderly man, His beard and hair were white. He was in high spirits as he led the young teenager''s toward the site of the awakening.

    Bai Ming had an expressionless face on the outside as he quietly followed after the elder, But deep within his heart thousands of thoughts popped up like bubbles.

    ''The pursuit has begun and will only end when I reach the end, this is my only unbreakable rule.'' Bai Ming etched these words deep in his heart.

    ...

    Bai Ming was dazed as he looked at the underground cave. The underground cave was gorgeous, stgmites and stctites were sparkling with blue-colored lights. The lights shone on the youths'' faces showing their amazed looks.

    This was the underground cave that produced spirit stones. One could say that this was the foundation of Ye vige.

    They continued to walk several hundred steps. After taking lefts and rights they finally arrived at their destination, and a 300-meter-wide underground pond greeted them. By now the colorful lights of crystals had disappearedpletely, yet in the darkness, the pond emitted a faint blue light. It gave a feeling of spirituality.

    The teenagers gasped in amazement. Each of their eyes shone with brilliance with excited and anxious feelings.

    "Everyone listen, Those who are called must start walking across the river. The more poles you pass by the better your talent is." The elder in charge spoke.

    "Yes sir!" the youths replied in loud voice. Actually, they had already heard their family members or seniors talk about it. All the youths were pretty clear about the awakening procedure.

    The elder leading the youths then gave a sign of confirmation to the 4 elders who were each standing on the east, west, north, and south sides of the pond respectively.

    The elders then began setting up a basic tier-1 qi gathering formation. An invisible barrier was set up which covered the entire pond, isting the pond. Dense spiritual energy visible to the naked eye began to gather inside the formation.

    The elder in charge of the ceremony saw that the formation was set up. He then began calling out the names in the name list

    "Wang Hao" The elder called out the first name.

    Wang hao''s face was solemn as he stepped into the formation. The formation didn''t obstruct him from entering, he stood on the edge of the pond. The pond was wide not deep, it covered up to the youth''s kneecaps. The moment he entered the pond he felt an invisible pressure making it difficult for him to move.

    He walked a couple of steps forward the pressure began to intensify. Before he felt that pressure was like a piece of wood on his shoulder but now it felt like a huge boulder was ced on his shoulders. He took one more step before reaching his limit, at this time dense spiritual energy in formation began to enter his body slowly through the pores of his body. For a moment wang hao felt the pressure drop, and the boulder on his shoulders transformed back into a piece of wood.

    Wang hao gritted his teeth as he began moving forward, soon he crossed a 5meter long wooden pole that was vertically ced on the pond. He didn''t stop as he continued to move forward, after walking for dozen steps he was still 10-15 steps away from the next wooden pole. The pressure he felt intensified again, He shortly reached his limit. He couldn''t take another step forward.

    As he watched this the elder spoke in a in voice while recording what happened in the book "Wang hao, Low-grade spirit root, Qualified for cultivation. Next, Wu kai."

    Wang hao''s face was full of disappointment as he walked back to the group. He was not content with the results, His spirit root was of the lowest grade. His future achievements were limited.

    He gazed at the person who was about to cross the pond, But it was a pity that this youth couldn''t even cross the first wooden pole.

    "Wu kai, no spirit root, not qualified for cultivation" the elder''s face became a shade darker as he announced the results.

    Wu Kai looked deathly pale, his eyes were nk. His future was bleak, he could only live as a normal human. Having the lowest status in the n, living a pitiful life.

    Observing Wu kai, Wang hao''s sour mood turned for the better. At least he could cultivate.

    Not everyone in this world had the natural talent to be a cultivator. Generally speaking, it is not bad if Four out of ten people have talent(spirit root). In the Ye n, this ratio is higher, reaching seven people. This is because the Ye n''s ancestors, The first-generation n elders had high talent and cultivation. The Ye n bloodline carried their ancestor''s powerful genes, thus the average quality of talent in the Ye n was naturally higher. This applies to most of the ns, tribes, and families.

    Half an hour passed, 30% of the youths had finished their awakening. There were many low-grade talents and middle-grade talents among them, while some were unqualified. There was not one person with a high-grade spirit root yet.

    The elders watching in the dark had gloomy faces, they were conversing among themselves. Even the n head was present, but he was frowning slightly.

    "Su Ming" The elder in charge called out.

    "Y-yes sir," a timid-looking young man stepped forward, he had a small and short build, and his face was covered in sweat. He was very nervous, he noticed everyone''s gaze was fixed on him making his nervousness reach a profound level.

    Suddenly in this ghostly quiet cave, an angry growling sound was heard.

    "Gurrrrrr"

    Even though the beastly growl wasn''t particrly deafening but in this tense and quiet atmosphere, this evil roar was clearly heard by all.

    Instantly the cave was filled with madughter.

    "Ahh, shit!!" Su Ming cursed internally. The loud rumbling of thunder came from his abdomen. This was incredibly embarrassing for him. His head which was originally bent down lowered even more now. His heart was increasingly flustered and the bitter sounds of mocking and coldughter filled his ears.

    He started walking towards the middle of the pond without raising his head as he kept on cursing internally. Soon without his knowledge, he passed the first wooden pole, and theughter stopped. But Su Ming was oblivious to this, he continued to move forward, and soon he crossed the second pole. The youths who wereughing at him previously were looking on with serious expressions. But to their amazement, Su Ming didn''t stop as he quickly crossed the third wooden pole and then the fourth pole before finallying to a stop.

    After barely crossing the fourth pole Su Ming began feeling the elevated pressure that made him snap out of his stupor, a wave of heavenly bliss immediately assaulted his heart. And after dozens of breaths, he continued to stride forward and halted when arrived at the center of the spirit pond.

    "Superior grade!! he has a superior grade spirit root, Oh my god!" The elder in charge kept mumbling in an incredulous tone. The quiet cave suddenly turned boisterous.

    "It''s been almost five years, an superior grade talented genius has finally appeared in our Ye n, hahaha.." The n elders along with the n head who were observing from the dark had lost theirposer, they were almost screaming in joy.

    "Superior grade spirit root...hmph!" Bai Ming''s hands were tightly clenched into fists inside his long sleeves as he coldly stared at Su Ming, greed was deeply concealed within his crimson pupils.

 Chapter 2 Bai Ming

    ?The so-called special talent can be measured by four grades ¨C superior grade to low grade. A low-grade talent youth would be able to be a peak bone-forging realm cultivator at most in his lifetime.

    As for medium-grade talent youth after 2-3 years of cultivation will usually be able to be a peak elemental stage expert, bing the n''s backbone. An individual with high-grade talent must be nurtured properly. They often be a future n elder, and with 6-7 years of cultivation, they will be core formation realm experts.

    And when ites to superior grade, this individual would bring great prosperity to the entire n. Great care must be given, with this talent in about 8-9 years they can be a spirit realm martial Master. At that moment they would be able topete for the position of the head of the n!

    In other words, Su Ming as long as he is given enough time to cultivate and grow. He would be one of the main candidates for the position of n head. Having full control over the vige and bing its most stable pir.

    One hourter, almost 90% of the youths had already walked through the mystical pond. There were arge number of low-grade and mid-grade talents among them, while 12-13 of those youths had no talent, and 3 high-grade talents also emerged among them.

    The elders in the dark were conversing happily, their originally dull expressions were reced by bright smiles and satisfied looks.

    "Bai Ming." The academy elder spoke loudly, he thought secretly, ''Bai ming.. isn''t he Bai li''s grandson, it is best if has inherited his grandfather''s talents unlike his father, who was only a medium-grade cultivation talent.''

    Bai Ming who was waiting for his turn suddenly heard the elder call out his name.

    He took a deep breath before stepping forward, at that instant countless eyes were on him. Bai Ming was expressionless, he ignored the crowd''s gazes as he entered the formation.

    The instant he entered the formation, Bai Ming could feel a slightyer of pressure on him. This pressure came from the dense spiritual qi in the air. This spirit spring produced spiritual qialong with the 1st tier formation which absorbed the surrounding qi into the area of the formation, because theqiwas too rich in here, it caused this crushing pressure.

    But as Bai Ming continued to move forward under the pressure of dense spiritual qi, the pores in his body gradually opened up as pure spiritual qi infiltrated his body and spread throughout his body like flowing water.

    "So this is spiritual qi, it''s warm and feels reallyfortable. The pressure from earlier vanishedpletely. This is truly divine!" Thoughts ran wild inside him for a moment before he forcefully calmed himself.

    "Just 4 steps away from the first pole.." Bai Ming muttered softly as he continued to keep walking.

    Stopping before the 1st pole means that there is no cultivation talent. Crossing the 1st pole means Low-grade talent. Crossing the 2nd pole would be Mid grade talent, walking past the 3rd pole means one has High-grade talent. And passing the 4th pole implies that a person has superior-grade talent.

    The deeper one went, the denser the spiritual qi was. And the denser the spiritual qi was greater the pressure. The reason why a person with higher talent was able to go forward was simple Because a person with higher talent would be able to absorb more spiritual qi than a person with lower-grade talent. Absorbing more spiritual qi would provide them with more strength to endure the pressure and move forward.

    Right now Bai Ming had already crossed the 1st pole. He was just a dozen steps away from passing the 2nd pole.

    "The pressure increased again. After every step I take the pressure keeps on stacking up. The pressure now is at least 20 times greater than when I first stepped foot inside this formation. But I can keep going forward." Bai Ming withstood the pressure as he kept waking.

    After a minute had passed, Bai Ming crossed the 2nd pole.

    Middle-grade talent!

    Bai Ming first let out a sigh of relief. He then gritted his teeth and continued to move forward. Step by step slowly he pushed forward, like this he had walked over another 14-15 steps. He was still quite a distance from 3rd pole.

    Bai Ming was reaching his limits by now. He slowly took eight more steps beforeing to a stop.

    "Come on just a few more steps and I will cross the 3rd pole. I can''t stop here, Medium grade can not satisfy me. without High-grade talent at least how will I truly be strong!?" Bai Ming clenched his teeth as he kept on encouraging himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The cruel memories of his past life on earth shed before his eyes; those days of starvation, all times he had to suffer mental, physical, and sexual abuse in the slums from those stronger than him, the weakness and helplessness he felt when he was forcefully made to watch his innocent sister get raped again and again. The crystal clear memory of his childhood best friend getting chased and bitten to death by rabid dogs just for dirtying a person''s clothes. These incidents had already turned him into a cold individual, who had an insane thirst for power.

    In this life, the image of his sweet mother lying on her death bed, waiting for death helplessly. The image of his father begging others to find a way to heal his mother, these acts of weakness were firmly imprinted in his soul.

    He questioned the heavens for being so cruel. He felt hatred towards the n for being so heartless. His mother was injured fighting against the beast tide in order to protect the vige, Yet they wouldn''t even spare a lowly pill. Giving his father a suicidal task knowing full well that he was not capable enough to finish the task, In the process making his father lose his life. All these events made his will firmer and his cold heart had only grown colder, fuelling the mes of ambitions in his heart.

    "Ahhhh!" Bai Ming roared loudly as hot blood boiled. He used his entire body''s strength to painstakingly take a small step forward.

    And miraculously he managed to take a step forward. But the moment he took that single step the pressure intensified furthermore.

    Bai Ming was incapable of handling such intense pressure. He directly fell forward, his face facing the spirit water. He waspletely drenched in the mystical spirit water. He was like a dog, using all four of his limbs to endure the pressure. He looked pathetic and miserable, some youths were smiling at this scene, while some gave looks of disdain and contempt but none felt an ounce of sympathy for him.

    The Elder in charge saw Bai Ming''s miserable state, He knew that Bai Ming had reached his limits and was just going to announce the result, but he suddenly stopped. His eyebrows slightly rose as he looked on.

    Bai Ming who was motionless just a moment ago ever so slowly began to crawl forward. His face was extremely twisted as he continued to crawl ahead. Blood began to flow from his nosending on his image which was reflected by spirit water.

    He was just thirteen dog steps away from the 3rd pole. He slowly crawled forward, The pressure increased again. But Bai Ming still persevered like he always did, stubborn till the very end.

    "Persevere! persevere!! " He kept on roaring in his heart.

    13 steps, 12 steps, 11 steps..... 7 steps.

    Ssh!

    When just seven steps were remaining Bai Ming copsed and directly lost consciousness.

    He couldn''t cross the 3rd pole, Bai Ming failed..

    The Elder quickly moved, Bringing Bai Ming out of the pond. He nced deeply at Bai Ming. Before handing him over to the medical personnel.

    Bai Ming was still bleeding from his ears, nose, and mouth. He lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss.

    Sometimes in life merely having a firm will isn''t enough to seed, you need both luck and talent.

    After all, Fate is heartless, reality is harsh and the truth was always bitter.

    Even if Bai Ming were to pass the 3rd pole because of his perseverance, what benefit was there? It won''t make a damn difference, if Bai Ming had passed the 3rd pole while harming his own body in the process, his sess would not be due to his spirit root but solely because of his perseverance and his spirit root will not change just because of it.

    And somewhere deep in his heart, he knew that his efforts were futile and even foolish, but at the end of the day, he was also a human with genuine emotions. These fragile emotions which were bottled up from so many years of suffering and misery were unleashed all that once which caused it to erupt like a violent volcano.

    The unrestrained emotions made him go against his logic. He chose to side with his heart instead of his mind, and he got what he deserved. It waspletely fair!

 Chapter 3 Turning Point

    ?Xuan mountain, Ye vige.

    Bai Ming slowly opened his eyes. His eyelids felt heavy. He tried to get up but his body didn''t have any strength, his entire body was very weak after losing so much blood.

    "I didn''t make it, mid-grade talent.." Bai Ming had a mocking expression on his pale face as his gaze shifted like clouds.

    After a long time.

    "Sigh, it''s not too bad I guess. I''ll just have to double my efforts and find different ways to get more resources. I don''t believe talent is everything, if there is a will there definitely will be a way." Bai Ming slowly epted reality.

    He was undoubtedly disappointed but his will didn''t waver, setbacks could only make him stronger. The more he was suppressed and restricted, the greater was his desire to move unhindered.

    "I have firmly stepped into the road of cultivation, now I am one step closer in my pursuit of strength." Thinking of this his crimson eyes shone with a cold brilliance.

    "Brat you have woken up. Making this old man worried, What were you thinking." Bai Ming''s grandfather had just walked in, he spoke in a reprimanding tone but his tired eyes couldn''t conceal his deep concern.

    "Sorry grandpa, I should have known my limits. Even though I knew passing the 3rd pole was not possible, I just couldn''t keep my emotions in check. I have not yet conquered my mind." Bai Ming med himself in a weak voice.

    Bai Li sighed deeply, He knew how Bai Ming felt. He understood his feelings deeply. Who wouldn''t want a high-grade talent, especially someone like Bai Ming who knew how this world worked. The weak are humiliated while the strong are respected. In a world where life was cheap as grass, one had to get stronger to protect themselves and their loved ones.

    "Stupid brat, talent isn''t everything. What''s the use of this talent if you are dead. You should focus on the present, Don''t let this tiny setback cloud your heart. As long as you don''t give up and cultivate diligently you will surely find sess in life." Old Li began to lecture his grandson again.

    "You have been asleep for the past nine hours, You fainted because of blood loss. Don''t forget now you''re a genuine Bone forging realm tier 1 cultivator. Your body Constitution has had a quality improvement from before, Even if you simply rest without even eating any medicinal pills in a few days you will be good to go, This is the difference between mortals and us cultivators."

    Bai Ming nodded slightly, staying silent seemingly in deep thought.

    "Before you let your thoughts wander, hear what I have to say first." Old Li paused for a moment before continuing "Remember after two days sses starts for you in n academy, Don''t bezy, attend all the sses. Even though I have taught you many things over the years, The n academy will y an important role in your cultivation journey take it seriously. And one more thing I have kept a medicinal pill in that box near you take it before you go to sleep. I''ll be taking my leave now, rest well." Old Li directly left after finishing his words.

    "Good night grandpa" Bai Ming spoke in a weak voice, he was without a doubt tired.

    Bai Mingy in bed as he began considering his future, after a long time he slightly shook his head. He then tried to move his hand to grab the medicinal pill, After some effort, he managed to get his left hand on the box, He opened it and saw a bright red pill.

    He had just held it in his palm when suddenly out of nowhere, a white gleam of stary blue light shed in front of his eyes.

    A light disy appeared in his vision.

    _____

    [?????????????????????? ??????????????????! ]

    [???????????????? ???????????????????????? ]

    _____

    Bai Ming''s eyes widened, almost to the point of popping out. He looked extremely stunned. After a few breaths of time, he continuously blinked. He thought he was hallucinating due to his weak state.

    Bai Ming was tongue-tied, as he spoke internally

    "wha-what the hell is this!?!"

    Next, he saw that the panel refresh, as a new set of words were disyed.

    _____

    [???????????????????????? ??????????????????! ]

    [???????????????????????? ?????????? ?????????? ]

    _____

    Suddenly a small amount of information was directly transferred into his brain.

    Bai Ming''s eyes went nk for a moment before gaining a new found rity. His lips curled up forming a cold smirk, his eyes shone with iparable joy. He understood that this was his life-changing moment.

    After a breaths time, he spoke mentally "status"

    The screen in front of him changed again.

    _____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????? ?????????? +]

    [?????????????????????????? : 3 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 200/2000]

    _____

    "Great, this means the information I got previously was true." Bai Ming''s grin became even wider.

    "Then now I should try this." Bai Ming''s excited gazended on the red pill on his palm.

    He spoke in a weak voice "Absorb"

    [???????????????? ????????????:5 ??????????]

    [????????????:??????/????]

    "Yes," Bai Ming confirmed. As he gave the order, the pill started to vanish into nothingness. In a breaths time, itpletely disappeared from existence.

    [?????????????????? ????????????.... ???????????????????? ??????????????????]

    [?????????? ????????????: 205]

    "Sess!" Bai Ming slowly closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep. He was really exhausted.

    ------------

    The dark colors in the sky were slowly fading away, the sun rose from the east. The early dawn mountain air was fresh.

    Time slowly slipped away.

    The morning light squeezed through the narrow crack in the window and shone into the room.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming had just woken up, he was sitting upright on the bed looking at the glowing panel with a deep gaze.

    [?????????????? 100 ?????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ???????????? ????????? ]

    [ ??????/???? ]

    "Yes," Bai Ming decided to upgrade, his heart beating increasingly faster, his hands clenching the bed sheets. His eyes were filled with hope and eagerness.

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????? ?????????? +]

    [?????????????????????????? : 3 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 105/2000]

    ____

    The instant the panel refreshed, Bai Ming''s entire body was suddenly enveloped in a bright blinding golden light. Mystical changes were happening in his body, and Bai Ming''s mind was turnedpletely nk at the moment. After a few breaths of time, the light slowly faded.

    Bai Ming snapped out of his absentmindedness as he first began inspecting his body. After inspecting it twice, he found nothing strange.

    He nced at the panel floating in front of him. Noticing the change in the panel his heart was filled with iparable joy as he beganughing loudly.

    After a long time, he calmed himself. He greedily looked at the ''+'' on the spirit root section. The panel changed again.

    [?????????????? 300 ?????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ???????????? ????????? ]

    [ ??????/???? ]

    Bai Ming smiled bitterly at this.

    "300 skill points, I still need 195 points to upgrade my spirit root to a superior grade. I previously got 5 points from absorbing spirit medicine, In the guide, it was mentioned that I can convert spirit pills and spirit herbs and other spirit treasures which have qi into skill points, the medicinal pill was a tier 1 healing pill and absorbing it I got 5 points. Hmmm, if I just have to absorb items that have essence then I should be able to absorb spirit stones, let''s find out. "

    Bai Ming moved to grab a pouch, even though he had not recoveredpletely, he could manage to walk now. The pouch was crammed with spirit stones to the brim.

    Bai Ming directly sat down on the floor with his legs crossed. Then he emptied the entire pouch which was filled with spirit stones on the floor. He then began to count them. These spirit stones were the fruits of his many years of savings.

    Spirit stones were the currency used in this world. At the same time, it was also a condensed matter of the world''s essence, usable on oneself, and has an important role in one''s cultivation.It has mary value as well as usable properties.

    "54,55,56...84,85" Bai Ming slightly frowned at this,

    "Absorb"

    [???????????????????? ????????????: 85 ??????????]

    [????????????: ??????/????]

    "Yes"

    [?????????????????? ????????????...???????????????????? ??????????????????]

    [?????????? ????????????:190]

    "Good, this Martial panel is going to be a huge help. Now I possess a high-grade spirit root, the advantage of this panel is evident. Now what I need to do is gather more points and upgrade my spirit root andprehension, But the problem is how am I going to do it?"

    "Wait, wasn''t there something about a gift?" Bai Ming quickly scanned the guide that he had received from the panel. The guide which we speak of was directly imprinted in his mind. He just needed a mental thought to go through it.

    Once hepleted reading it fully. He inwardly spoke "Open gift pack"

    ____

    [?????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????????????! ?????? ???????? ????????????????

    1ˇÁ ?????????? ?????????????? ?????? , ?????????????????????? ???????????????????????? , 1ˇÁ ?????????? ???????? , 200 ?????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????????? ]

    [????????????:??????/????]

    ____

    "Storage bag! 200 spirit stones, wonderful! Hahaha.." Bai Mingughed heartily.

    "Yes," The moment he confirmed the space in front of him had a small change, a golden ball of light the size of an infant manifested before fading away. In its ce was a grey pouch and bag of spirit stones. As for the encyclopedia, its contents were directly transferred to Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming inspected these items before shifting his focus to the panel again. He willed "Open lucky spin,"

    _____

    [?????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? 1]

    [????????: ??????/????]

    _____

    "Yes!"

    [????????????????????.. ??????????????????????????????!! ?????? ???????? ???????????????? ?? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????????????????? ???????????? ''???????????? ?????????? ??????'']

    [????????????:??????/????]

    "Yes" Bai Ming suddenly received arge amount of information, the contents of the rotten blood art were directly transferred to him. He could go through it whenever he wanted.

    Bai Ming roughly went through it.

    "The rotten blood arts is a top-ss body cultivation manual, but to cultivate it i need the corpses of other human cultivators. Its a bit troublesome, but doable." Bai Ming frowned deeply but his brows soon rxed.

    He immediately absorbed all the spirit stones making his skill points reach 390. Then without any hesitation he directly used 300 skill points to upgrade his High-grade spirit root to a Superior grade, it was that easy. Life was truly unpredictable.

    "Superior grade" Bai Ming clenched his fists and a crazed smile was stered on his cold face.

 Chapter 4 Academy

    ?"All of you have sessfully opened your Dantian in the Awakening Ceremony 3 days ago. With the coagtion of the world''s essence, right now you are all tier one Bone forging realm cultivators."

    In the vige academy, the academy elder talked with great confidence andposure. In front of him were 83 students, seated and listening attentively.

    The strength and mystery of cultivators had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the youths a long time ago. Thus everything that the elder taught, the students were very interested in.

    The academy teacher proceeded with his teaching "The number ofmonly known cultivation levels to us cultivators are the following 5 realms, from bottom to the top ¨C Bone forging realm, Elemental stage, Core formation, Spirit realm, Yin-Yang void realm. Every big realm is further divided into 9 small realms."

    "If you all work hard in your cultivation, your cultivation base will naturally advance. Of course, the higher your talent the bigger your chance of breaking through to higher realms."

    "For individuals with mid-grade talent, their speed to absorb qi is twice that of individuals with low grade. Their progress usually stops at the elemental stage, but with luck, a very small percentage of people can advance to the core formation realm. For High-grade talent, they can progress 5 times faster than people with low-grade talents, and they can cultivate to core formation realm, even as far as the spirit realm with great effort. As for superior grade talent, This kind of talent in a person is naturally the most gifted and the most suitable for cultivation, being able to attain the legendary Yin-Yang void realm."

    "As for cultivation levels above the Yin-Yang void realm, they are all myths. I am not clear about them either. In the Ye n, there has never been the appearance of a cultivator above the Yin-Yang void realm, but Yin-Yang void realm experts we have had before."

    The teenagers'' eyes were shining brightly as they listened. Their curiosity was fully piqued. Many of them took a nce at Su Ming who was sitting in the front row. He was a superior-grade talent, He was bound to attract feelings of envy and jealousy from others.

    Su Ming''s personality had aplete change from before, he was once a timid youth but now he had an aura of confidence oozing from him. He sat straight like a spear his eyes sharp as a dagger. If he was a tiny fish before now he was an almighty shark.

    At the same time, a pair of scarlet-colored eyes from one of the corners of the ss nced at him with indifference.

    Unlike the rest of the youths, Bai Ming showed no curiosity or excitement on his tender face.

    Bai Ming even felt a bit of pity towards the academy elder "Reading the cultivation encyclopedia has broadened my horizons I probably know more about the outside world than anyone in this tiny vige. The goals which I had set before seem so small now. My prior goals feel like tiny steps on the unending road of cultivation. The information which the academy elder is giving us I already know them, even though he is a core formation realm expert his knowledge is limited. People like him who are bound to this tiny ce by the subconscious restrictions ced on them by the n are truly pitiful, it''s truly sad...When will this old man teach us to how to cultivate."

    After two hours, The academy elder finally informed, "This week beginning from now I will teach you all how to check your dantian, and how to meditate and move qi inside your body. Now all of youe forward and collect a book each, this book is our Ye n''s signature cultivation mantra, ''Primeval star mantra'', this was created by our Ye n''s 1st generation n head himself."

    "The primeval star mantra has a total of fiveyers.  For now, you will only receive the 1styer, It is enough for you to cultivate till the peak of bone forging realm."

    "Now I will share my understanding of this cultivation mantra, how much and how fast you canprehend it depends on your ability. At the same time, this is your first assessment. Whoever can 1st breakthrough to the 2nd tier of the bone forging realm will be rewarded a sum of 20 spirit stones."

    Hearing this some of the youths began discussing among themselves, But the majority of the youths showed a helpless expression at this. The majority of them shared the same thought; ?????? ?????? ???? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ???? ???????? ????????????????????, ???? ??????''?? ???????? ?? ???????????????? ?????????? ???????????? ????????.

    The academy elder didn''t even need to look at their faces to know what they were thinking, He had been teaching in this academy for a long time he was an experienced and capable individual.

    "I know what you young ones are thinking, But you have gotten it wrong. You have only considered one aspect which is the speed of spiritual essence absorption, But have you forgotten that you first need toprehend the mantra to be able to begin cultivation and your ability toprehend is not rted to the spirit root. So all of you have a decent chance to get the first prize." The academy elder spoke in a way that moved these youths, the youths suddenly felt a fire of ambition burning in their hearts.

    Bai Ming heard this and sneered inwardly thinking

    "What a load of bullcrap, even though what he spoke makes a bit of sense, but in reality, it only applies to people with at least high-grade talent. From what I have read I know this much, Comprehension does indeed y a huge role in cultivation but that is not particrly true for this case."

    "Because the mantra for low-level realms is not that difficult toprehend only when one tries to learn a high-level art or mantra doesprehension show its might. Even if anyone of these low-grade or mid-grade talents canprehend the primeval star mantra right away and have a decent amount of spirit stones to support them in their cultivation they would still lose if they were given 7-8 days of headstart against a person with superior grade talent, but if they had some treasure to support them it will be a different matter."

    "But this 20 spirit stones, Heh I want it." Bai Ming''s gaze was firm as this thought rose inside of him.

    .....

    The sky was aze with the fire of the setting sun. With themajestic sunsetcame a chilled breeze.

    The Bai family home.

    Bai Li was sitting in front of his desk, he leisurely drank his favorite wine and spoke "So how was the academy?"

    Bai Ming who was standing near the window gazing outside as he answered "It was alright. The elder spoke about some basic things and the history of our n. He also instructed everyone on the primeval star mantra. After that, there was hand-to-hand and swordbat training."

    Bai Li followed up with another question "That means you have already started toprehend the primeval mantra. When do you think you will be able toprehend it"

    Bai Ming answered inly "I should be able toprehend it within three days."

    Bai Li heard this and slightly nodded saying "Not too shabby, even I needed a total of 4 days toprehend it, But do you know something your father was able toprehend it in just two days."

    Bai Ming heard this and a slight smile formed on his young face, He was still gazing at the setting sun as he replied "It seems father had highprehension capabilities."

    "Indeed, even though he didn''t inherit my talent and was only a mid-grade talent he had highprehension capabilities." Bai Li had a reminiscing look as he spoke with a sigh.

    Bai Ming was silent.

    Bai Ming''s silence made Bai Li sigh internally once again. He said "Boy, here take these spirit stones. Now that you have begun cultivating you will require them. Once every two months, I will give you a batch of spirit stones, Remember use them wisely." As he said that he threw a pouch at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming caught it with one of his hands, His gaze slightly flickered as he looked at the small pouch filled with spirit stones. He then looked his grandfather in the eyes as he spoke "Thank you"

    Old Li sheepishly looked at Bai Ming as hezily spoke "The road of cultivation is an arduous journey. As a person''s realm increases, the resources they require also increase. So spend your time as much as possible on cultivating and making good use of all your opportunities."

    Bai Ming calmly heard everything his grandfather had to say. After conversing with his grandfather for while, he excused himself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming went up the stairs, once he returned to his room, he lit themp and closed the room door and got up to his bed.

    He then fixed his gaze on the spirit stones in his hands. He counted them, there were a total of 30 spirit stones.

    He then converted 10 spirit stones into skill points, making his skill points reach a total of 100.

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [?????????????????????????? : 3 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 100/2000]

    ____

    Bai Mingmanded internally "Upgradeprehension."

    ____

    [?????????????? 100 ?????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ??????????????????????????? ]

    [??????/????]

    ____

    "Yes," Bai Ming confirmed.

    [?????????????????? ??????????????????????????.... ?????????????? ????????????????????]

    The panel refreshed;

    _____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/2000]

    _____

    Bai Ming felt that a mystical change took ce inside his head, even though he couldn''t urately point out what it exactly was.

    Next, he began to read the primeval star mantra. As he was reading he made sounds like ''oh'' ''ha'', his understanding of the chant was rapidly growing.

    "This is an immense improvement, Many of the parts which were hard to grasp before, I understand them now. It would have at the very least taken 7-8 hours for me toprehend this much if it was before. I am confident that before tomorrow night I will be able toprehend itpletely."

    "Now my chances of getting those spirit stones are high, Once I finishprehending it I can start cultivating. The probability of someoneprehending the primeval mantra before me is low, even if anyone except Su Ming manages toprehend it before it doesn''t matter I will still win. So now it all depends on his performance."

    "I have 20 spirit stones remaining now. Turning them into skill points is unwise, I have a superior grade talent and a high level ofprehensive capabilities which is more than enough for now. What I should focus on now is improving my realm and gaining strength. These 20 spirit stones should suffice to reach the 3rd level bone forging realm quickly and then if I get the first ce in the assessment I will get another 20 spirit stones which should be more than enough for me to reach the 4th level." Bai Ming was analyzing his situation as a grin formed on his face.

    "But if I a mid-grade talent am the first person to reach the 2nd tier of bone forging realm won''t the elder find it odd? I could also not take the first ce and avoid making the elders take notice of me. But those 20 spirit stones will be a great help in saving a lot of time."

    "Using spirit stones to cultivate will give twice the results with half the effort. Sigh..our family''s financial situation is miserable, otherwise, I would have just given up. Hmm, I''ll have to think of a way to get these spirit stones and avoid making them feel too suspicious."

    "sigh, life is truly unpredictable." As he said that he started toprehend the primeval star mantra. He was determined toprehend it as early as possible.

 Chapter 5 The Glory Of The Past.

    ?The night sky was beautiful and the stars flickered like delicate pearls. The Moonlight was gentle like water.

    A week had passed since the beginning of the academy.

    Under arge tree, two people stood facing each other.

    Ye Qing Han used a gentle gaze and looked at Su Ming "Su Ming I heard you hadprehended the primeval star mantra in just 3 days, you have goodprehensive ability. When do you suspect that you will break through."

    Su Ming stood straight, Saying with a look of admiration "Reporting to sir n head, If everything progresses well, I am sure to breakthrough tomorrow."

    Ye Qing Han nodded and spoke "Not bad, a superior grade spirit root is not wasted on you. keep on working hard, remember you are the hope of our Ye n."

    Su Ming''s eyes shed with resolution as he spoke in a serious tone "I will, I absolutely will not disappoint sir n head. This, I promise."

    Ye Qing Han patted Su Ming''s shoulder as he spoke in a tone filled with pride "I believe you, you can go now. Ah, and one more thing after your 3rd assessment is over I will be personally teaching you."

    Su Ming was stunned before feeling intense joy, He immediately gave Ye Qing Han a deep bow and expressed his gratitude. Looking at Su Ming''s attitude Ye Qing Han felt even more pleased.

    _______

    At the same time in the n academy.

    The academy elder was peacefully meditating, But this tranquility didn''tst long. He heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. He opened his eyes, the elder looked rather displeased as he spoke "What is it? don''t you know not to interrupt me while I am cultivating"

    Immediately the person outside replied in a respectful manner "Respected Elder, it is a student from this year''s batch. He says he has already broken through. Sir Elder had previously instructed us subordinates to inform you at the earliest if such a situation happens."

    When the academy elder heard this his displeasure vanished instantly "Okay, lead him to the courtyard."

    "Yes sir," the person outside replied. He then did as he was told.

    "Worthy of superior grade! that Su Ming had onlyprehended the primeval star mantra 4 days ago and in three days he has already broken through. All those high-grade talents would still need two or three more days with the help of primeval stones to reach the 2ndyer. Talent is indeed crucial in the path of cultivation." Has the elder thought of this, he got up and moved to the courtyard.

    The academy elder stood in the middle of the courtyard with his hands behind his back. He heard the approaching footsteps. His gaze was serene as he stared at the entrance. But when he saw the person who entered the courtyard, he was immediately dumbfounded.

    The youth who entered was dressed in deep green robes, he had pale white skin, and his long shiny ck hair extended to his waist. His body was slightly thin with no excess flesh. But the most attractive features were his eyes which resembled the crimson moon.

    Noticing the youth''s gaze, the Academy elder quickly regained hisposure. He quickly revealed a kind smile on the outside. But internally he was growing suspicious, his thoughts running wild.

    The youth walked towards the elder, when he was just four feet away he gave a slight bow while his hands were cupped in greetings; "Bai Ming greets sir academy elder"

    "This kid Bai Ming isn''t he a mid-grade talent, how the hell did he break through so fast? surpassing even a superior-grade talent! What kind of situation is this!? did he purposefully hide his talent, No! that''s not it, he was a bloody mess at the awakening ceremony and there is no use in hiding his talent. Then how did he do it?" The academy elder thought all this in just a breaths time, But on the surface, he spoke "Bai Ming, your aura indeed shows that you have broken through. Good, cultivate diligently. You''re a talented individual."

    "Elder is surely joking, I am but a mere mid-grade talent. The truly talented ones are those with high grade and superior grade spirit root, I was just lucky." Bai Ming was expressionless. He casually scratched his right leg while he spoke.

    "Oh, Then how do you exin yourself for obtaining first ce in the assessment." The academy elder still had a gentle smile, but his eyes were slightly narrowed.

    "What!? I am the first one to break through?" Bai Ming''s eyes widened, and his mouth was slightly open.

    He looked at the elder in disbelief.

    The academy elder nodded slightly, but inwardly he sneered ''Kid whom do you think your fooling, hmph!''

    It took Bai Ming a while to calm down, then he looked at the elder with eyes filled with joy as he asked "Sir elder since I have won first ce then when will I get my prize."

    The elder lightlyughed before speaking "don''t worry kid, I will give it to you now."

    As he said that he signaled one of his subordinates. The mortal ve understood what his master meant as he quickly went to get the prize.

    The academy elder didn''t let go of Bai Ming as he continued to ask in a casual manner "You still haven''t told me how you were able to get the first ce"

    "Doesn''t elder remember, I was the first one toprehend the primeval star mantra. Just like you said on the first day of the ss, I had gotten a headstart that''s all." Bai Ming spoke like it was general knowledge.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Bullshit!'' The academy elder''s lips were twitching, and his gentle smile became a little stiff. He was inwardly cursing Bai Ming for being a little fox, He wanted nothing more than to give Bai Ming two tight ps.

    At this moment the mortal ve returned with a small bag in his hands, He respectfully handed over the bag to the elder. The elder directly gave it to Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming received it with both his hands, he then said: "Thank you elder, if there is nothing else I will be taking my leave now, my grandfather is waiting for me at home."

    "Leave, don''t make your grandfather wait" The elder waved his hand as he spoke. Even though the academy elder wanted to pursue it, he could not do so forcefully.

    He could only investigate secretly. If he were to do it forcefully he would lose his reputation, wasn''t the academy for nurturing talents what reason did he have to be forceful with such a talented junior?

    Bai Ming once again cupped his fists before leaving.

    Once Bai Ming left, the academy elder''s smile vanished instantly. His eyelids slightly drooped as he pondered "This brat Bai Ming how did he do it...wait! his grandfather! ah, how could I not have thought of him. No wonder, It makes so much sense now."

    ....

    In a somewhat dim room, Bai Ming was sitting with his legs crossed. He had a pondering gaze while caressing the spirit stone.

    "Hmm, with me deliberately mentioning my grandfather the elder should have already formed a conclusion by now, my grandfather''s previous status can act as a cover for some time."

    "I took a risk this time. It can''t be helped, without taking risks how can I truly grow? Spirit stones are a necessity, Using spirit stones can save a lot of time. If my family''s financial situation was better I wouldn''t need to take these small risks."

    Bai Ming''s grandfather was not just some ordinary old man, He was once a genius of his era. Having high-grade spirit root, He cultivated steadily reaching the illustrious core formation realm and bing a part of the upper echelons of the Ye n.

    He was a person with high standards, he was not satisfied with just the core formation realm and desired to step into the mighty spirit realm. But at the time he was given an important mission by the n to assassinate the hope of the Song vige, Bai Li became the leader of a six-man squad, that infiltrated the song vige toplete their mission.

    After going through great difficulties they managed toplete their mission but the price they had to pay was really high. Out of the six-man squad, only Bai Li survived, Even though he kept his life he became a cripple.

    His Dantian had suffered a serious injury making his cultivation drop from the core formation realm to the elemental realm, but the most crucial thing was he was never able to cultivate again. Never improving staying stagnant, All his grand dreams were stepped on like grass.

    And now he could only live a pitiful life, his wife and son were dead. His only remaining wish was to see his grandchild grow up and lead a happy life which he didn''t have.

    In the Bai family old Li didn''t take on missions anymore, He didn''t want to take the risk of dying before his grandchild, at least till he had some strength. The only source of ie after Bai Ming''s father died was their wine tavern in the vige which would roughly earn them 50-60 spirit stones a month. Of which half of the spirit stones every month were spent on Old Li''s medicine to treat his injury and a very small amount was given to the mortal ves who worked there.

    And then they had to spend a small number of spirit stones on their living expenses. So after considering all this they probably only had about 15 pieces of spirit stones remaining every month. For a family of cultivators, this amount of profit was pocket change.

    Even though Bai Li was no longer a n elder, the people would not dare take him lightly. Bai Ming''s intentions were simple, the elder would definitely think that Old Li had something to do with Bai Ming''s rapid progress.

    "And since I don''t have any method of concealing my aura, I might as well make use of all the opportunities presented before me, Hehe."

    "Now I have already broken through to the 2nd level of the bone forging realm, this is good progress. I had 11 spirit stones remaining and now adding these 20 spirit stones the total has increased to 31. These are enough for me to reach the 4thyer within two weeks."

    "Tomorrow morning the news will spread that I was the first person to break through. It will be quite shocking when they hear that a superior grade lost to a mid-grade. People will start making their own assumptions, The youths with low talents will be motivated while those geniuses will feel humiliated from being defeated by a lowly person like me. Is there some way I can make use of this to my advantage?"

    "In the future, if there is a situation that permits me to benefit from it I should grab it. But for now, I should focus on cultivation, thinking of the future is good but what''s the use if one is going to neglect the present. Without the present, there is no such thing as a future."

    Once he finished analyzing his situation, he began to cultivate. His eyes were closed while he began to absorb essence within the spirit stones into his Dantian.

    The qi in his Dantian made a full circle before spreading throughout his body through various spirit chains nourishing all the bones in his body. In the bone forging realm one could store a very tiny amount of qi in their dantian, The bone forging realm was all about making your bones stronger and building a sturdy foundation.

    An individual with superior-grade talent can usually absorb a single piece of spirit stone in 3 hours. But a cultivator with low-grade talent will take about 21 hours just to absorb a single piece.

    But when a cultivator advances by a major realm his ability to absorb qi also increases, of course, the higher your talent is, the greater your efficiency. For example, Now Bai ming canpletely absorb a spirit stone in 3 hours but when he steps into the elemental realm he would be able to absorb the same amount in a single hour.

    After three hours Bai Ming finished his cultivation session, He slowly opened his eyes. It was already midnight. He directly went to sleep.

    He needed to sleep, his low cultivation could not rece sleep. Even an elemental realm expert needed to sleep at least once every six days.

 Chapter 6 Profiting

    ?The sky was blue and clear, white clouds drifted like cotton. The warm rays of the Sun fell on the Xuan mountains.

    It had been five days since Bai Ming had managed to acquire the number one ce in the assessment.

    "Ahh!" Bei ju yelled loudly, swinging his fist at Bai Ming, sweeping fiercely through the air.

    Bai Ming lowered his body and dodged, then he lifted his leg and swiftly kicked at theboy''s kidney.

    Bam!

    Bei ju groaned in pain as his body crashed down with a loud sound, his entire body was covered in dirt. But his heart was indignant, he tried to raise his head to fiercely re at Bai Ming.

    But the moment he lifted his head his pupils shrunk to pin size, two dagger-like fingers were aiming at his eyes and were just inches away from piercing his two eyeballs.

    Bei Ju felt a cold chill in his heart, his mouth was dry. He froze in fear. But to his relief the daggers didn''t move forward, they were stationary.

    After a few short breaths, Bei Ju spoke with much difficulty, "I surrender."

    Instantly the surrounding youths who were spectating had various expressions. Some cheered loudly, while some gasped in amazement, some had pondering gazes and some were making unsightly expressions, while two of the youths were solemn.

    Bai Ming coldly stared down at the miserable Bei Ju as he spoke arrogantly "How weak! with this little strength, you want to challenge me, ridiculous!"

    Bei Ju heard this and gritted his teeth even more ferociously. He spoke with extreme anger "Don''t be too proud, I will definitely make you beg for mercy one day. Just you wait!"

    As he said that he took out a small bag from his robes. He directly threw it at Bai Ming''s face.

    Bai Ming caught it in a swift manner. "Hehe, at least you can keep your word" As he spoke, he threw onest nce at Bei Ju before leaving the training grounds.

    Bei Ju was one of the high-grade talents of this year''s batch, After it was known that the first one to break through was Bai Ming, he felt extremely humiliated by the fact that he had lost to a person with only mid-grade talent.

    It was not just him the remaining high-grade talents also felt the same way. It was only natural for these kids to feel that way. If they had lost to Su Ming it was fine, they would not have felt such humiliation but losing to Bai Ming, a mid-grade trash they absolutely couldn''t ept it.

    In the past few days, during the physicalbat training sessions,  Bai Ming noticed how he was treated differently by his ssmates than before. Earlier he was not treated poorly or anything, he was just treated like any other student.

    But after winning first ce in the assessment it was different, the gazes of his ssmates had a subtle change from before.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The majority of low-grade and mid-grade talents would take the Initiative to strike up conversations with him, Bai Ming would just politely nod at them and stay silent.

    As for high-grade talents, there were only 4 of them, among them one was friendly, while the other two were indifferent as for thest one Bei Ju, he would reveal his unconcealed disdain for Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming noticed this but didn''t take it to heart. Why would he care about others'' opinions? At the end of the day, they were just empty words.

    Next, he carefully collected information on all of his ssmates'' family backgrounds, After he did that he felt very pleased with this kid, Bei Ju.

    Because Bei Ju was just like him, he didn''t have any core formation realm experts in his family.

    Then Bai Ming began to plot. He would purposefully act arrogantly in front of Bei Ju, making Bei Ju who was already very displeased with Bai Ming even more annoyed.

    Sometimes Bai Ming wouldugh or evenment words like ''trash'' and ''filth'' directly on Bei Ju''s face.

    After enduring Bai Ming''s arrogance for a couple of days, Bei Ju couldn''t take it anymore. He openly challenged Bai Ming to spar, this made the other students excited. After all, who doesn''t like a fight.

    At the time Bai Ming secretly felt happy, But on the surface, he had spoken with much disdain and disgust "Bei Ju, you''re just some lowly trash, You really think I would ept a challenge from you? Isn''t that just bullying the weak? But if you''re really that determined, tomorrow evening in the academy training grounds we can fight, But since you are the one initiating this challenge, I have a condition to add, when I win you will have to give me 30 spirit stones. If you''re incapable of even arranging this measly sum then do us all a favor and get lost."

    Bei Ju''s face was twisted as he tried to control his burning rage, his eyes were ring at Bai Ming as he spoke word for word, "Then what will I receive if you lose?"

    "What did you just say? what happens if I lose? Hahaha, trash like you should know your ce, there is no way I will lose to someone like you. Now scram, we will meet tomorrow." Bai Mingughed coldly and spat a ward of saliva inches away from Bei Ju, before turning around and leaving.

    When Bai Ming conversed with Bei Ju he had made sure of three things. First, he made Bei Ju himself challenge him. This shows that he was helpless, As he did not want to bully his ssmates. He had to fight to protect his reputation and the people of ye vige valued their reputation highly.

    Secondly, he made it so that he was the one setting both the time and ce. Bai Ming had just broken through on the day before the fight, advancing to the 3rdyer of the bone-forging realm and facing Bei Ju who was only a 2nd-level bone-forging realm martial artist.

    Thirdly, He made Bei Ju put 30 spirit stones as the bet prize if Bai Ming won, whereas Bai Ming himself never promised anything.

    One could say that the entire situation was firmly within Bai Ming''s gasp. Even if he lost the fight he wouldn''t really lose anything.

    Reputation? Hehe, it can kiss his ass.

    "Adding 19 spirit stones fromst time. I have 49 spirit stones now, hehehe this should be enough for me to reach 6thyer of the bone-forging realm. Bei Ju, you are such a nice person." Bai Ming had an innocent smile as he walked back home.

 Chapter 7 Sixth Level Of Bone Forging Realm

    ?A Monthter.

    Bai Ming was sitting peacefully on the roof of his house, enjoying the sunrise while sipping on tea.

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 6 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/2000]

    ____

    After enjoying his tea, he got down and went into his room. He closed the windows.

    There were still two hours for the ss to start. He wanted to use this time to cultivate.

    Bai Ming sat crosse legged on his bed. He took out a grey pouch from his robes. This wasn''t an ordinary pouch to speak of, it was a storage bag. He had obtained it from the panel when he had opened the gift pack. A storage pouch was basically a magical treasure used to store inanimate objects, it had a separate space of itself. Of course, the space inside wasn''t endless.

    Bai Ming willed and another pouch flew out of the storage pouch, this bag contained spirit stones. The amount was quite a lot. There were hundred spirit stones.

    Bai Ming slightly nced at the spirit stones and let out a sigh.

    He had gotten them from his grandfather, Originally Old Li told Bai Ming that he would give him a small number of spirit stones every two months. But it was different now, he was extremely surprised at Bai Ming''s rapid growth in cultivation.

    Old Li directly asked Bai Ming about his doubts a couple of times but Bai Ming would spout utter nonsense every single time, saying; An immortal goddess came in his dreams iming him as her future husband and she had given him some power as dowry Or a Legendary evil dragon which can destroy the nine heavens had acknowledged him as it''s master and whatnot.

    Of course, Bai Ming had his own thoughts when spouting such nonsense. Old Li probed him a couple of times but after hearing his grandson''s enlightening words which would change whenever asked the same question, he stopped trying.

    He understood that his grandchild had his own secrets now. He was not angry that Bai Ming was talking nonsense, instead, he was actually a bit happy. In his view, Bai Ming had circumstances that prevented him from disclosing his secret to him, But Bai Ming didn''t really try at all in hiding it from him.

    If Bai Ming really wanted to keep it a secret from him, Bai Ming could have at least said something realistic and stuck with it, but Bai Ming would purposefully spout unbelievable shit every time. It showed that Bai Ming was forced to hide it from his grandfather, he didn''t have a choice in the matter. This thought made Bai Li pleased.

    On Bai Ming''s tremendous cultivation speed he was extremely happy, But at the same time, he felt a little loss that Bai Ming was no longer a brat that he had to take care of every single time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Hence he reconsidered on how he should support his genius grandson. He directly took one-fourth of his remaining life savings and without batting an eye he gave it to Bai Ming.

    The injury he had suffered was at least 24 years ago, but at the time at least he had decent finance. But as time went on his finances started to dwindle, and he also spent a very huge sum of amount to save Bai Ming''s mother. Now he probably had only around 4-5 hundred spirit stones out of which he had given Bai Ming a hundred spirit stones.

    "With the help of these spirit stones breaking through the peak of bone forging realm will be much smoother now. Right now I have hundred spirit stones and today we will get the academy''s monthly subsidiary of 10 spirit stones. I should be able to break through the 9thyer within one and a half months."

    "But today is an exciting day, hehe I will get to enter the academy''s martial arts scripture hall. I have highprehension capabilities I should be able to learn these techniques quickly." thoughts shed in his mind, and he then began to cultivate.

    _____

    n Academy

    On the stage above, The academy elder was reading out names one by one, distributing their monthly allowance. This is small financial aid for these young teens. After all, not all of the youths had good backers, also many of the youths are orphans who had a lot of financial pressure.

    "Su Ming" The elder called out loud.

    Su Ming walked up the stage, receiving two money bags. In one bag were ten spirit stones, it was the n''s monthly allowance. The other bag held the reward for the second assessment.

    "Good job, work diligently." The elder said. He gave Su Ming a look of approval. The second assessment was given a month back. Its content was, The person with the highest cultivation during the day of allowance distribution would be rewarded with 30 spirit stones.

    Su Ming took the bag and nodded his head. His eyes were filled with pride when he went back to his previous position.

    Many of the youths were looking at Su Ming with jealousy and admiration. In this world strength was respected, Actually, respect was just a nice way to put it. What these weaklings truthfully felt was fear.

    Bei Ju fixed his gaze at Bai Ming, his heart rather pleased, even though he didn''t say anything. His eyes revealed everything "You are the real trash here, acting so arrogant all the time. what happened now, why aren''t you the one getting the reward? Hahaha, the first time you were lucky that''s all. You are just a lowly mid-grade talent, you will only be cannon fodder for people like me. Hahaha.."

    Bai Ming felt Bei Ju''s gaze, he turned to look at him and saw Bei Ju''s disdainful look but Bai Ming didn''t mind it. He instead winked at him making Bei Ju a bit confused at this kind of reaction.

    Then Bai Ming continued assessing his ssmates. The majority of the youths were in the 3rd level of the bone forging realm, then there were almost 30 youths in the 4th level. As for those few youths with high-grade talent except for Bei Ju were in the 6th level. As for Su Ming, he was at the 7thyer.

    Bai Ming was not the least bit disappointed that he didn''t get the first ce or surprised at the quick advancement of those high-grade talents and Su Ming. He had already formed a conclusion in his mind about it. Even though he doesn''t have any prior experience in politics or being a person in power. He had some brains, he calcted every possible way and came to conclusion.

    His thoughts were somewhere along these lines

    "Su Ming has broken through to the 7thyer and those three have already caught up to me. Is it because they had more spirit stones supply than me? No, that''s not it. I had ample supply, even if those high-grade talents had more spirit stones it wouldn''t matter. Hmm, it should be their elders. Those three have core formation realm experts in their families, as for Su Ming even though he doesn''t have a core formation realm senior in his family he is the hope of the n. The higher-ups of the n will definitely help him in the shadows. Then why didn''t they help these geniuses before?"

    "Hmm, if it was me in their ce what would I have to consider... Only one thinges to my mind right now, If these higher-ups had shown their full support since the start then their children would have had tremendous growth but this would cause the morale of the less talented youths to hit rock bottom. Even though in the beginning these low-level talents would not win against these geniuses, the difference between them would not be much. They would still have some hope, but if the difference is too big it could have a negative impact on their psyche."

    "Yes, this should be it, even though these less talented youths will not achieve much in their life but they are still an integral part of the vige, the higher-ups must have to consider this. Otherwise, why would the academy keep these assignments, it is to motivate these children. But now it''s different because of me, A mid-grade talent defeating high and superior-grade talent is abnormal. If this continues, it would create a shadow in the hearts of these geniuses which is uneptable to the n. Especially when the n has finally produced a superior grade talent, how could they watch silently? Sigh.. "

 Chapter 8 Primeval Sword Art

    ?"Bai Ming" The academy elder read aloud from the name list.

    Bai Ming went up the stage and collected his allowance. The academy elder praised him loudly

    "Well done, you have already broken through the sixthyer." Next he ced his attention towards the youths below, he spoke "All of you should learn from Bai Ming. He is only a mid grade talent yet look at his cultivation progress. If you work hard like him you will also have great sess."

    The youths gasped in astonishment.

    "what!? he has already broken through the sixthyer!?" one of youths expressed his shock

    "Is he really a mid grade talent??" someone else spoke. Actually many of them were secretly doubtfully.

    "Damn it! How can it be like this!? How did he surpass me again! shit!!." Bei ju''s face was extremely unsightly, his palms were tightly clenched. In his heart he subconsciously felt a burst of pressureing from Bai Ming.

    Su Ming gave Bai Ming a deep look, he had already seen through Bai Ming''s cultivation base. After interacting with the n head a couple of times his mentality started to change, he was growing both physically and mentally. He was no longer the weak minded youth from before.

    These youths were not able to determine Bai Ming''s cultivation because they had lower cultivation base than Bai Ming. Only if he purposely disyed his aura would they be able determine his cultivation. But if he restrained his aura only those who have same level or higher cultivation base would be able to make out.

    The allowance distributionsted for another 10 minutes beforeing to an end.

    At this time the elder spoke "You all have been in the academy for an amount of time, and your all familiar on how to circte qi within your body now and have been engaging inbat training daily. The next step in your cultivation journey is to learn marital techniques. As you all know martial techniques have various aspects such as movement, attack, support and so on. I have already divided you into four groups randomly, each group will get the chance to enter the academy''s martial arts scripture hall for six hours once every four days alternatively. Use this opportunity wisely. You must all remember, Cultivation is the road and techniques are the tools which show us the direction on this vast road. One more thing whoeverprehends and executes any martial technique first will be rewarded with 30 spirit stones, do you understand?"

    "Yes" the youths replied loudly. They couldn''t help themselves from being excited when they heard about the reward.

    But just a few breathster one of the students raised his hand while speaking in an inquiring tone

    "Sir elder, won''t it be unfair for the group which enters the martial scripture hallter. They will have less timepared to the first group."

    The elder heard this andughed lightly before he answered with a question of his own "Child do you think life is fair? "

    The youth heard this and showed an expression of hesitation. The elder gazed at the youths in front and spoke "Life isn''t fair, we just have to make the best out of what we are given. Haven''t you already experienced this by now."

    When these words entered their ears the group youths below feel into deep thought. They felt these words were very true, resonating deep in their hearts. During the very beginning of their journey they had already experienced this.

    Bai Ming who had an expressionless face silently thought " just have to make the best out of what we are given.. hehe, if life isn''t fair we just have to make it fair By taking everything from it. Making life growl at our feet." if someone heard his words they would just scoff at him for his arrogance and stupidity.

    20 minutester.

    "Luckily the elder ced me in the first group." Bai Ming thought as he entered the martial scripture hall.

    The martial scripture hall was guarded by two peak elemental realm veterans outside. The scripture hall was 120meter square in size.

    There weren''t many things expect for a four meter long stone tablet which was located in the middle of the hall. On the huge stone tablet there were many drawings and words carved. On both sides of the stone tablet were small wooden shelves. On each of the shelves nearly 12-13 books were ced.

    "There are only low grade martial techniques here. I have already decided to study the ns signature sword art first, The primeval sword art it was created by the first generation n head. It has a total of fiveyers, the first twoyers fall in the low grade section while the third and fourthyers are mid grade as for the finalyer it is the only high grade martial technique in our n. Our ns logo also stems from this sword art. The Ye nsmen mostly cultivate the sword path. I should also do the same, for now I should focus onprehending first two sections of the sword art." thoughts shed in Bai Ming''s mind, he nced at the huge stone tablet. The primeval sword art was most popr technique in the n so most of the nsmen would choose this art. Unlike the other the techniques this technique was carved on the huge stone tablet. Of couse only the first twoyers were present here. Most of youths were already sitting in front of the stone tablet and were trying toprehend it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "But before that i will just roughly go through these techniques." Bai Ming then browsed through all these books quickly turning the pages and then putting them back into the shelf.

    "Hurricane de, Transform the air itself into a weapon andunch multiple wind des, but it''s power is quitecking."

    "Rampaging steps, it has good bust of speed but it is very rigid, there is no flexibility."

    "Drifting steps, this has decent speed but it''s Flexibility is remarkable."

    After few minutes Bai Ming had already gone through all the books.

    "Okay it''s decided, once I finishprehending primeval sword art I shall put my focus on drifting steps and tyrant fist." Once Bai Ming made his decision he took a seat near the huge stone tablet and beganprehending it.

    The process of learning a martial technique had two steps, one is to understand it and the second was to execute it. It must be known that martial techniques be more and more difficult to train in if grade is higher.

    Time flew by quickly, Soon there was only two minutes left for six hours time limit to finish.

    Bai Ming opened his eyes slowly, a glint of light shed past his eyes. He was dazed for a second but he quickly recovered.

    " I actually managed toprehend the firstyer of the primeval sword art." Bai Ming thoughts continued to collide.

    "It is a little wierd, even if it is only a low grade art  and I have goodprehension capabilities, I should have taken a bit more time. Maybe I have affinity for the sword path? thats probably it." he thought.

    Bai Ming suddenly heard a loud voiceing from the outside "Time is up, everyonee out now" hearing this the youths began to leave the scripture hall. Bai Ming also started to move out, he took onest ce at stone tablet he felt a bit of reluctance.

    After leaving the hall Bai Ming didn''t loiter around, he quickly ran home and began to practice the sword art. He was determined to get the first prize this time.

    ....

    Five hourster in Bai family house courtyard.

    Swoosh! swoosh! swoosh!

    Bai Ming had been uninterruptedly practicing the sword skill over and over again. Uninterrupted practice was the only way to increase his strength. Persistently repeating the movements required a tenacious will and determination.

    "Done, Now it''s time to see it''s power" as he spoke he moved toward a stone pir. He was just a few steps away from it, Next Bai Ming held the sword tightly with both of his arms at his waist level pointing at the pir. Wrapped around his sword was a faint green light shining in the darkness of the night.

    With a swoosh sound the sword moved like a ferocious snake. It was extremely fast like lightning as it directly pierced the stone. Bai Ming withdrew his sword back, he then carefully observed the stone. There was 30 inch narrow hole in the stone pir. On his face was a resplendent smile.

    " I havepletely masterd the firstyer, using the firstyer of primeval sword art I am able disy 7500jin strength."

    Bone forging realm is separated into nineyers. With every increase of oneyer, the strength is increased by a thousand jin. Right now, Bai Ming is in the sixthyer and possesses the strength of 6000jin. And if he uses the martial technique "Primeval sword art" which he has trained till mastery, he would be able to send out a force of 7500jin.

    "Now I should go and collect my reward."

 Chapter 9 Gentleness

    ?The bright morning sun shone on Xuan mountain.

    Eight days had gone by since Bai Ming had acquired the first ce in the assessment.

    Right now Bai Ming was on his way towards the academy  "Today will be my third time entering the martial scripture hall, I have alreadypletely mastered both theyers of the primeval sword art. Now I can begin to learn the drifting steps movement art. Learning movement arts can increase my ability to survive."

    "Learning tyrant fist is just a precaution, if I am in a situation without a sword I would have to depend on my bare hands, But learning drifting steps is my priority." Bai Ming continued to walk toward the academy as he was evaluating his options. A few minutester he was already at the entrance gate of the academy.

    But when he had just entered he noticed that a group of youths were surrounding the academy notice board. These youths had all kinds of expressions some had looks of worry painted across their faces and some looked bloodthirsty and excited. This naturally caught his eye.

    He walked towards the notice board, but because of the crowd, he couldn''t see it properly. His aura which waspletely concealed suddenly bust out like a volcano. The youths who were boisterous suddenly felt great pressure and turned deathly quiet, when they turned their heads to look at the source of this pressure they instinctively made way for him.

    Bai Ming was deadpan as he moved forward, only when he was right in front of the notice board did he restrain his aura. He ignored the gazes of the crowd which contained envy, jealousy, displeasure, and fear as he began to read the notice.

    "Ten dayster the mid-year examination will be held, All students must attend. The objective of the exam is to hunt tier-1 demon beast hell wolf. Those who collect more cores of demon beast will get a better ranking. At the end of the exam, these cores can be exchanged for spirit stones; tier-1 low-grade cores can be exchanged for 4 spirit stones, tier-1 mid-grade cores can be exchanged for 8 spirit stones, As for tier-1 high-grade cores can be exchanged for 15 spirit stones. Furthermore, there is no restriction about hunting in groups and the test will begin in the morning and end at sunset." Bai Ming finished reading the notice as he fell into contemtion.

    "Mid-term exam...Every tier 1 high-grade core for 15  spirit stones, this price is very highpared to the market price. This should be the academy encouraging us. Should I buy some cores from the market and take them out during the exam? No, how can it be that easy? There probably will be experts watching us from the dark. If I do something that stupid I will definitely get caught, it''s not worth the risk."

    "Right now I am in the 6thyer of the bone forging realm and have mastered primeval sword art which allows me to just barely contest and avoid dying quickly against a high-grade tier 1 demon beast. There still are 10 days left for the exam, I will break through within two days reaching the 7thyer and I have confidence in learning the drifting steps till initial mastery before the exam. But just this much won''t allow me to have absolute victory, But with some effort, there is a decent chance of winning, because demon beastsck human intelligence, at the end of the day they are just stupid animals."

    Tier-1 demon beast in strength are simr to bone forging realm cultivators, low-grade teir 1 beast has strength ranging from 1st to 3rdyer of bone forging realm, and mid-grade tier 1 beast simrly has strength ranging from 4th and 6thyer, the same applies to the high-grade tier 1 demon beast having the strength betweenst threeyers.

    "But why do I suddenly have this feeling of unease?" Bai Ming slightly shook his head as he continued to walk towards the scripture hall. His heart felt a bit of unrest.

    10 minutester in the scripture hall.

    Bai Ming began to check for the drifting steps art, he first checked at the ce where he had ced itst time. But seeing that it wasn''t there he began to search the other shelf, but it wasn''t there either. He then ced his attention on the youths, After carefully inspecting he saw that a beautiful young girl had taken it. She was reading the book with a serious look which made her appear even more enchanting.

    Bai Ming''s gaze turned slightly cold, he moved towards her with steady steps. He stopped when he was right in front of her, he spoke inly  "ssmate would you mind letting me borrow this book, I already had an eye on it long ago."

    Lin Lan was startled, she never expected the aloof Bai Ming to talk to her. She always thought that Bai Ming was very mysterious but that''s all, she replied in a timid and loveable voice " ssmate Bai I am at a crucial moment inprehending this art, how about this I will give it to you in the next visit.."

    Before she could even finish her words, a demonic hand ced itself on her snow-white neck, at the same time slowly pressing it with force. Lin Lan''s expression changed, her pupils shrunk to pin size, and her voice was full of panic "ssmate Bai what are you doing?!"

    Bai Ming''s eyes were cold and ruthless as he stared her in the eye, his face showing a sickening smile as if he was taking immense pleasure in this. His hold on her neck grew stronger.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Can''t breathe, someone help! please help! " Linn already had difficulty breathing. Her tender hands gasped at Bai Ming''s hand, trying to get free. But Bai Ming''s hand was strong like steel, they were unmoving.

    The surrounding youths were iparably stunned watching the scene before them but when they heard Lin Lan crying for help, anger flooded their veins.

    But before they could even take a step they froze, their anger was reced by deep fear when they saw Bai Ming''s demonic crimson irises which shone with cruelty and desire for blood staring back at them. They subconsciously lowered their heads not daring to look at him directly.

    Bai Ming''s grip was getting stronger, Lin Lan''s eyes were full of tears. She wanted to scream but was incapable. She then started to resist fiercely, for she was really suffocating!

    Just when Bai Ming was about to loosen his iron grip, there was one courageous youth who couldn''t take it anymore, He ran towards Bai Ming shouting loudly, and swung his fist at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming snorted coldly, he threw Lin Lan against the shelf like a piece of rotten meat. Then he caught the boy''s arriving fist with ease. His right palm furiously cut forward. His movements were quick and precise as they hit the brave youth''s neck in a chopping motion. Instantly the youth''s vision darkened as he directly fainted on the spot.

    Bai Ming didn''t waste much time as he walked toward the pitiful Lin Lan. She was violently coughing nonstop, her breathing irregr. But when Bai Ming''s shadow cast on her she forgot to breathe. She slowly raised her head looking at Bai Ming with pure terror on her face.

    Bai Ming looked at her gently as he ced one of his hands forward.

    When she saw Bai Ming''s gentleness her body and soul started to tremble. For a second her entire life shed before her eyes, the regret in her heart growing deeper.

    But she noticed that Bai Ming''s hand was stationary, she quickly understood his meaning. She tried her best to lift the book with both of her trembling hands and ced it on Bai Ming''s palm.

    After receiving the book, Bai Ming turned around and walked away. He chose a vacant corner to sit down. From here he could observe everyone in the hall.

    It wasn''t that Bai Ming desired to act like a cold and heartless person, but if need be he would dly be a cruel individual. He wanted to learn the fist technique quickly before the exams, how could he waste time by letting her practice?

    Bai Ming unquestionably didn''t want incur public rage but he had to do it for his safety, he didn''t dare underestimate the dangers lurking in the mountains after all the death of his mother had a lot do with demon beasts.

    As for being afraid of the academy elder punishing him for his barbaric act, Bai Ming couldn''t care much about it. Of course, he did consider a few things before acting so unrestrained. He had already collected information about the family members of his ssmates long ago and since that girl had no core formation realm experts in her family, Bai Ming wasn''t really restricted. And he also didn''t really injure Lin Lan physically, as for the boy he only knocked him unconscious. Since it was only a littel scruffle between ssmates, the academy elder wouldn''t really be heavy-handed when dealing with Bai Ming. At most Bai Ming would get suffer a littel beating or would just be scolded and made to apologize publicly.

    After sitting down, he stared in direction of the youths calmly. He saw that Lin Lan''s face was pale as paper, her body still trembling. But she tremblingly neared the fallen youth, then with her quivering arms, she tried to help the youth.

    Bai Ming retracted his gaze, he spoke mentally

    "Such a caring girl, how cute." he then began toprehend drifting steps.

 Chapter 10 Mid Term Exam

    ?"I haveprehended 80% of the drifting step movement art. After my next visit to the scripture hall, I will haveprehended this movement artpletely. Hmm, status."

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 6 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/2000]

    ____

    "This!? Sword path aptitude!" Bai Ming was slightly startled, his eyes narrowed. He quickly went through the panel guide in his mind. But to his surprise, there was nothing mentioned about it.

    "This sword aptitude should be the reason why I was able to learn Primeval sword art so quickly and its figure is quite high. Hehe, quite the surprise. Let''s see how many points I need to upgrade it."

    [?????????????? 2500 ?????????? ???????????? ???? ?????????????? ?????????? ???????? ????????????????? ]

    [ ??????/???? ]

    "I expected it to be at least that much. Upgrading a superior grade spirit root to extreme grade also requires 1500 spirit stones. Simrly, upgradingprehension also requires 1500 points. For the time being, I am helpless in this matter, I should just focus on cultivation."

    The sky was getting gloomy, dark clouds began to cover the sliver moon. Seemingly signifying theing storm.

    Bai Ming just reached home. His stomach was growling in hunger, he decided to eat something. But before that, he went to look for his grandfather in the hall.

    Bai Ming slowly opened the door, But there was no one there. He quickly scanned the room when his crimson pupils caught something. Bai Ming unhurriedly strode across the room.

    He sat down, slightly bent over the desk as he began to read the letter on the desk.

    Once he began reading it, Bai Ming''s heart immediately shook and a wave of anguish surged through his heart.

    He tried his best to calm down, but he was unable to do so.

    After a long time, the anxiousness and pain in his heart turned into a cruel loneliness.

    His eyes gazed at the letter aimlessly. The hole in his heart was expanding rapidly. Time continued to pass, Bai Ming was still lifeless.

    Pitter-patter.

    Heavy rain started pouring down, and snake-like lighting danced in the sky randomly. Sounds of thunder rumbling could be heard constantly.

    Time quietly slipped by. Soon, midnight had arrived. The heavy rain slowly turned milder.

    Bai Ming''s vacant eyes gradually became life-like. He unhurriedly grabbed the Broadsword which was ced on the desk.

    This wasn''t an ordinary sword, it was a low-grade spirit treasure. The number of people who owned spirit treasure in the Ye n was probably lower than fifteen.

    The hilt was blood red with ancient golden patterns written on it, The double-edged de was sharp and shone with a cold light. This was a weapon of ughter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming ced the sword in his storage bag, then he stood up and went to the storeroom. After getting what he wanted, he went to the kitchen and grabbed a wine jar. He opened the wine jar and drank a mouthful of wine and spilled some over himself.

    ''There is no need for these anymore, hah'' Bai Ming stared at the wine jar and broke out inughter, but his crazedughter didn''t contain a hint of joy. Only bitterness could be felt from it.

    Instead of staying home at thiste hour, he held a jar of wine and walked towards the outskirts of the vige.

    The dark clouds obscured the starlight, the mountain breeze blew from time to time. The streets were vacant. The houses along the road showed a dim light.

    The further he walked out of the vige, the lesser the houses beside the road. In front of him, it was even darker now.

    Bai Ming''s pace did not slow down as he walked out of the huge vige entrance and out into the vast darkness.

    ...

    Days passed. It was already the day of the mid-term hunting exam.

    The dense woods lightly unfold their dense green leaves and branches in the free wind. The Xuan mountain''s foliage was dense, filled with grass, trees, thistles, and thorns. Its trees were very thick and dense which allowed for adequate ces to hide. It was also a small heaven for ferocious wild beasts.

    Bai Ming stepped onto the green grass, quietly approaching a pack of hell wolves.

    Hell wolves had deep red fur all over their body except their abdomen which had yellow fur. These wolves had two tails and their ws shone with a ck metallic luster. They were bloodthirsty and aggressive in nature.

    Right now in Bai Ming''s vision, there were three wolves with their head buried in the corpse of a boar, having a feast. While the fourth hell wolf was vigntly observing its surroundings. The moment it found something suspicious it would alert the other wolves.

    Bai Ming wasn''t worried there were only mid-grade tier 1 wolves in this pack. But if he could kill without any risks he would definitely do so. If one wants to survive in this dangerous world one had to be cautious. Only individuals with great patience, tenacity, and a cautious nature might hope to achieve something.

    Bai Ming crept slowly from behind the wolves, killing intent surging in his heart. But when he was nearly 20 steps away from it, the guarding hell wolf''s sharp upright ears quickly trembled a few times. It immediately tried to turn around and growl. Bai Ming was not surprised by this. A wild animal was not like a domestic one, they were all very alert. They had an acute sense of smell. Even if this hell wolf did not hear any noises, when Bai Ming neared around 20 steps from it, it would be able to smell his body odor and will still be able to sense Bai Ming''s presence.

    "D?????????????? ??????????" he spoke mentally, Bai Ming dashed forward almost instantly. Even without any movement techniques, he was just slightly slower than mid-grade wolves but when he used drifting steps he could contest equally with a high-grade tier 1 beast in speed. Even though he had already broken through the 7thyer, demon beasts had better raw physical capabilities than human cultivators.

    The instant the Hell wolf turned its body, Bai Ming was already standing behind it, his sword made a whistling sound as it broke the air and directly pierced the Hell Wolf''s throat mercilessly, Killing it.

    Next, he swiftly withdrew his sword and used the 2ndyer of the primeval sword art. An eerie green spiritual energy covered the sword.

    Shua!

    Sword light shed, as he shed vertically at one of the wolves. The green sword light flew out, the pale sword light was only a meter long, The hell wolf which he targeted pounced at the sword light trying to resist it with its steel-like ws. Unfortunately, it was only able to make the sword light slow down a little before the hell wolf was sliced from top to bottom into two halves. A breathter its lifeless body fell with a ''plop''.

    The remaining two wolves saw their partner getting killed instantly, making them lose any will to fight. The hell wolves immediately began to escape.

    Bai Ming snorted coldly before giving chase. After a dozen breaths both the hell wolves were killed by him.

    Bai Ming then dug out their cores, he couldn''t store them in his storage bag. He highly doubted that people were watching from the shadows, he didn''t dare expose his treasure. The longsword he used was also a normal sword. The treasure sword was ced in the storage bag.

    His doubts indeed turned out to be true. These outdoorbats to most students, it was really their first time. Thus, there was danger and the n naturally has ns. Of course, their main priorities were Su Ming and other high-grade talents. Dozens of peak elemental realm Masters were concealed in the forests, controlling the safety of this entire examination. At the same time, some n elders (core formation realm experts) were staying here to anticipate sudden idents.

    After collecting their cores he moved to a certain sport, once he arrived he first nced around before digging into the ground to retrieve a bag, inside was arge number of demon beast cores. These were his spoils of victory. Carrying the bag around while fighting was restricting his movements hence he hid it there. As for why he didn''t collect the wolf corpses; first of all burying corpses would waste much of his time. Secondly, he could not exchange wolf corpses for spirit stones in the exam, he could only sell them at the market price which was quite low, it was not worth it. He would rather hunt for cores and earn more.

    "I have killed 18 low-grade, eleven mid-grade, and two high-grade demon beasts. There are still two hours for the exam to finish. I have only suffered minor injuries while fighting high-grade demon beasts. Life and death fights are indeed the best way to getfortable with a sword."

    "The 1styer of primeval sword art focuses on piercing attacks whereas the 2ndyer of primeval sword art is a long-distance attacking method. It has decent speed but excels in strength. It allows me an extra output of 2500jin of strength."

    "And I have initial mastery over drifting steps, once I achieveplete mastery over it there will be at least another 40% increase in speed." Bai Ming thought as he began searching for hell Wolves. He didn''t dare go much deeper into the forest, the deeper one went the more dangerous the environment.

    After wandering around for nearly twenty minutes, he heard the sounds of fighting. From the sounds, one could make out it was arge group of people fighting. A cold light shed across Bai Ming''s eyes as he moved toward the source of the sound with wind-like steps. He clearly wanted to benefit at someone else''s cost.

 Chapter 11 Hunt

    ?Xuan mountain

    An intense battle was taking ce, nine youths were fighting with a pack of Hell wolves.

    Howl!

    A hell wolf roared and suddenly threw itself toward Su Ming. Its sharp ws refracted tiny rays of light.

    The sword which shone in faint green light and the cold sharp ws of the hell wolf collided emitting a thunderous sharp metallic sound.

    Both Su Ming and the hell wolf were thrown a couple of steps backward. A meter-wide crater appeared where they shed.

    Su Ming had already broken through to the 9thyer, Along with his outstanding talent and some assistance from the n head his cultivation advanced rapidly.

    At that very instant another hell wolf already jumped at him not allowing Su Ming a chance to rx. It moved fast as lightning.

    Right now he was facing off against two high-grade tier 1 hell wolves at the same time. Hispanions were not idling around either, there were simrly fighting against mid-tier beasts. They were all 4thyer bone forging realm cultivators.

    Even though the group of youths seemed pretty pathetic at the moment, The situation was not desperate, they could still hold on for some time. Su Ming who was fighting ferociously had a hidden trump card up his sleeve and there were also cultivators hidden in the shadows looking at their actions carefully.

    As for Su Ming, he was waiting for the situation to get a bit more desperate so that once he uses his trump card it would leave a deeper impact on his followers'' hearts. Now that he was someone destined to be the future n head, he needed to have a group of capable individuals under him. These individuals will y an important role in his future. He needed to create a feeling of trust and dependence along with inferiority in their hearts.

    "Try harder" not far away, Bai Ming appeared at a high point on a tall tree, staring downwards, his heart smirking.

    "There are still too many wolves left, it''s going to take at least ten more minutes. At that time the risks will be minimal. I will directly enter the battlefield to help them, I can''t give them a chance to speak or they might reject my help." Bai Ming stood with his arms crossed, coldly ring at the ongoing fighting. Patiently biding his time.

    His n to was enter the battlefield when the wolves would have suffered heavily. He would enter the battlefield hurriedly and fight courageously showing his heartfelt concern and once he does that, these youths would have to share their loot with him, that was only natural.

    Others might choose not to repay him but Su Ming could not do that, what would happen when it is known that the hope of the n is an ungrateful bastard. His reputation would go down the drain, And many would feel insecure about having him as their future n head. There was much to lose for him, these were the restrictions ced by the righteous path.

    As for Bai Ming he had no qualms about it, he couldn''t care less. In his eyes, Reputation was merely a tool to be used as he pleased. If one day he feels like throwing it away he would do so without any regrets. The only thing that mattered was himself, as for others they could f*ck their mothers.

    As it neared nightfall, the sun on edge of the horizon resembled blood melting into the earth.

    "It''s time, drifting steps" Bai Ming used his agility technique and dashed forward like a ferocious wild beast. He swiftly avoided all the trees in his direction. Within a few breaths of time, he was just a couple of meters away from entering the battlefield. He had an extremely worried look on his face.

    Su Ming noticed the approaching Bai Ming, he was surprised for a second before having a sudden sh of inspiration when he saw the worried look on Bai Ming''s face. He was just about to say something.

    But Bai Ming was quicker than him as he shouted loudly "Brother Su, fear not I am here to help you." Bai Ming didn''t give them any chance to speak as he almost entered the battlefield.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Su Ming was boiling in rage at Bai Ming''s words, He cursed inwardly "bastard! what the actual fuck are you talking about!? merely four wolves are remaining. If you wanted to help, why didn''t youe sooner? son of a bitch wants to take advantage of me! Hmph."

    Bai Ming was coldlyughing in his heart, but on the surface he had a genuinely worried expression. If one didn''t know any better they would praise his kind heart.

    Bai Ming was just a few steps away from shing down one of the wolves when he suddenly felt a tremendous force pressing him from the side.

    Bam!

    At the next second, he was sent flying for dozens of meters as he heavily crashed against a tree.

    Due to the sheer force of the crash, the tree snapped in half, but Bai Ming was still rolling on the ground due to the momentum of the force. After rolling for another dozen meters he eventually came to a stop.

    Puke.

    Bai Ming tried to get up, but he could not help but vomit mouthfuls of fresh blood. An intense pain assaulted him, he had broken ribs and his entire body was aching in pain.

    He was shocked to the core. He never expected such a thing to transpire, But he forcefully calmed down as he tried to make out what had just urred.

    But when he took a nce at the battlefield it just took him a second, hepletely understood his dangerous situation.

    The entire situation on the battlefield had changed in just a few seconds. There were individuals who werepletely wrapped from head to toe in ck clothing fighting with people who were dressed in the Ye n''s official battle attire. The youths in the middle were frozen in fear. As for the wolves, they escaped the moment these bloodthirsty fiends appeared.

    "They are fucking assassins! Their target must be Su Ming. But which vige do these assassins belong to? whatever, what does it have to do with me anyway. From the way they are fighting these people are undoubtedly determined to kill or be killed. I just happened to stand in their way that''s all. Escape, I must escape from this ce!" Bai Ming quickly analyzed and made up his mind.

    He was not angry about the fact he was almost killed, he was instead thankful that he didn''t die and there was even a hint of excitement flickering in his cold gaze.

    These assassins only cared about Su Ming they totally ignored the other children, they were fighting like no tomorrow, as for the Ye n members they were fully determined to protect Su Ming no matter the cost.

    Both sides had two core formation realm experts and dozens of elemental realm experts, engaging in a fierce life-and-death battle. These assassins were quite the experts to not be found until the moment they struck.

    Bai Ming was already dozens of meters away from the battlefield. Even though he was injured he gritted his teeth and began escaping.

    But after just a minute had passed his steps slowed down and a cruel look appeared on his face "This is my opportunity."

    Before taking out the low-grade spirit weapon from his storage pouch. Bai Ming smiled coldly, as his eyes shone with joy. He spoke in a low voice "He-he-he, let the actual huntmence."

 Chapter 12 Tragic

    ?Huff! Huff! Huff!

    In the dense forest, a young girl carrying an unconscious young man on her back was running hurriedly.

    "Faster! I have to reach the vige quickly. Brother sun has lost too much blood, if I don''t reach the vige quickly he will surely die from blood loss, I can''t let that happen, I absolutely won''t let that happen." poor Lin Lan was running non-stop. Even though she was injured remembering how her brother Sun fought with everything he had to save her life, an unprecedented resolve formed in her heart.

    Since the incident with Bai Ming, Sun fan and Lin Lan had gotten a lot closer. Lin Lan still clearly remembered how sun fan hade to her aid when no one else did, even though he was not able to do anything at the time, she was still deeply touched seeing hime to her help when she was filled with despair. At that time her delicate heart was already trapped by him.

    They had decided to form a team and fight side by side in the mid-term hunting exam. They had good teamwork and understood each other even more deeply. During the exam, they were very careful and only fought against low-grade beasts even though they were already in the 4thyer of bone forging realm.

    But cmity struck, because of the assassination the hidden experts had to move. The academy elder infused his voice with spiritual energy and ordered all students who were in the different parts of the forest to retreat to the vige. Even though they were unaware of the assassination, this young couple didn''t dare to disobey the order as they quickly headed in the direction of the vige.

    But unfortunately, they met with a small group of mid-tier hell wolves, formerly because of the skillful maniption of the experts they were much safer but now they could only rely on themselves. After a life-and-death battle, they managed to escape. One of Sun fan''s legs was bitten off by the hell wolf and he also had a terrifying injury on his shoulder making him lose a huge amount of blood, due to the heavy loss of blood he fell unconscious.

    As she was running she suddenly remembered how this was not the first time he had fallen unconscious and had to be carried by her. As she thought of that a delicate little smile blossomed on her tender face.

    But little did she know, that it was going to be thest time she ever smiled.

    A pale green sword light shed, and the sliver de mercilessly pierced her eyes before moving towards her brain all the way beforeing out of the youth''s back after that it returned to its owner. Blood gushed out dying the grass deep red. Then her lifeless body fell down.

    Bai Ming nced at the corpses with a cold gaze, he didn''t feel an ounce of pity or regret towards his actions just now. Bai Ming has already passed that phase in his previous life, he has experienced far too many things to feel guilty over merely killing someone. If it was even slightly beneficial to him, Bai Ming would butcher the whole world in cold blood without so much as blinking an eye.

    Be it men, women, or even infants, Bai Ming would show no mercy if they stand on his path to greatness.

    Bai Ming skillfully sheathed his sword. Next, he casually crouched and used his index finger like a knife to prate into Sun fan''s skull,pletely eliminating any signs of life in him.

    Then he quickly stored both the corpses in his storage bag. The storage bag could only stone inanimate objects.

    Bai Ming waspletely bathed in blood. There was even some brain matter on his body, but he did not mind it. He was very rxed, his heart calm as water.

    "27,28" he spoke in a faint voice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Can''t stay here any longer, the fight on the battlefield should be almost reaching its end. I should also head for the vige now. But before that I have to clean up, if someone sees me like this it will be trouble." Bai Ming clearly understood his situation and immediately took out a water container from his storage pouch and poured it all over his young body washing away the blood. Then he began to move towards the vige using drifting steps.

    ....

    A solemn and serious atmosphere filled the conference hall.

    A group of elders silently sat on their seats; their faces were either indifferent, gloomy, or serious.

    n head Ye Qing Han was sitting on the main seat, His gaze filled with worry "Academy elder, make sure you inform all of the rtives of the students who died today toe to the n pavilion tomorrow, I will personally have a word with them. This is a tragic day in our Ye n, those young one''s had just started their journey but because of our negligence, sigh.."

    At this time the academy elder suddenly knelt down and spoke with much agony and guilt "n head, it''s all my fault. It was because of me such a thing happened, I was too careless and didn''t handle the situation properly. I failed as a teacher. I beg you to punish me."

    "Stand up, it''s not your fault. If you hadn''t acted the way you did our n would have suffered even more. You are not at fault here. If someone is to me then we can only me those heartless Song and Luo viges." Ye Qing Han spoke in a consoling tone.

    The other elders looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, but no one spoke. They were well aware of the charade happening in front of them. During the assassination academy elder only focused on protecting Su Ming. Hepletely ignored other students, he had to make a cover-up now even though Su Ming was the hope of the n they could not openly ignore other children.

    Forget about those mid-grade and low-grade students, the academy elder didn''t even allow one elemental realm expert to protect the high-grade students, even though not one high-grade student died. But three out of the four high-grade students had core formation realm experts in their families, these experts were of course present here.

    Even though they didn''t show anything on the surface they were quite displeased on the inside. Now he was just putting up a facade along with the n head, the academy elder showing his guilt and how helpless he was to have been unable to protect the other students.

    "But not even a single body was found of those missing students, if these students were really killed by assassins why would they not even leave a corpse? If they were not killed by those assassins, then why did they disappear? Wolves, no the test location wasn''t too deep into the forest how could there be such arge number of wolves, moreover they were heading back towards the vige. I would like to ask the elders if you have any thoughts regarding this? " Ye Qing han spoke in a calm voice.

    After a short silence, one of the elders spoke "Perhaps, it''s the doing of a demonic cultivator."

    The hall fell into silence again. Most of them already had this thought. Demonic cultivators were unlike the righteous path cultivators, they did as they pleased without morality restraining them, for their own desires they wouldn''t mind ughtering people like cabbages. But this doesn''t mean the righteous path was pure, hehe they were even viler than these so-called demons. They were only high and mighty on the surface but their core was just as rotten as the demonic path if not more.

    At this time Ye Qing Han spoke in a meaningful way " Yes, you are probably right. I believe everyone here also thinks the same. But for now, we can only investigate. Listen to my orders, tighten the security of the vige. Elders, I hope you would also take some necessary actions."

    To which all the elders solemnly nodded their heads.

 Chapter 13 Rotten Blood

    ?Bai family house.

    Bai Ming''s hands were covered in blood. Before him was a two meter wide wooden tub, ced in it was fourteen year old youths naked corpse. On Bai Ming''s right side there was a small pile of human bones and skin, on his left were thirteen buckets filled with human blood mixed with crushed organs. The sweet fragrance of blood filled the atmosphere.

    Bai Ming was softly humming as his bloody hand held a sharp dagger, he then pointed the dagger at youths neck and softly sliced it.

    Swish!

    Bai Ming moved the dagger from the neck down to the youths abdomen. Blood instantly gushed out .

    After that, Bai Ming ced the dagger down, then he stretched his arms and ripped the skin off the boys chest. Next he expressionlessly pulled out the rib cage from his chest.

    Then, Bai Ming repeated the process, peeling the skin of the youths arms, legs and every inch of his body and pulling out the bonespletely.

    In the wooden tub there was only the boys blood and organs present, it was a bloody mess. Next, he used his hands to squish the organs present in the tub, turning them into meat paste.

    After that, he poured the contents in the tub into a empty bucket. Then he took out another corpse from the storage pouch and repeated the process until all the corpses in his storage bag were heartlessly defiled.

    This continued on till midnight, then he moved his tired body to bed and slept soundly. After an intense day of fighting his body was naturally tired and he had also suffered a injury, he needed to rest urgently.

    ....<novelnext></novelnext>

    The next day, morning.

    Bai Ming sat cross legged, in his hand there was piece of finger sized spirit stone. He circted primeval star mantra as the essence stored in the spirit stone entered his body, the spiritual qi first moved towards the Dantian, before making a full circle on his Dantian. Next the spiritual qi moved through various spirit chains in his body nourishing and strengthening his blood and bones. Once this cycle finished, he repeated the same thing again and again until the entire spirit stone was reduced to blue powder.

    Bai Ming let out a breath of turbid air, he slowly opened his eyes. A cold brilliance shed past his red eyes.

    "Cultivation is truly unfathomable... I still need around two weeks to reach the 8thyer. Once I reach the 8thyer I will have 8000jin of raw strength, right now I only have 7000jin of raw strength, along with the help of marital techniques I have already mastered, at max I am able disy 9500jin of strength. My movement technique is still at the initial mastery level, I have to quickly reach mastery in it. Other than that my main focus is to quickly cultivate the rotten blood arts, I have already collected an amount of materials. It should probably be enough to form aplete crescent."

    Rotten blood arts a mystic grade art, Bai Ming had gotten it long ago from the panel. But at the time hecked materials to cultivate it. Rotten blood art was a body cultivation method which needs human blood as a catalyst. It has a total of 9yers, at thepletion of eachyer aplete crescent symbol will appear on the users body. The rotten blood arts is a demonic art created by three headed demon saint a demonic overload at the peak of his time, in order to cultivate it he had massacred millions of people. The materials required will increase as the number of crescents increase. cultivating rotten blood arts will not only exponentially increase ones raw strength, the individuals defense and ability to heal will also reach profound level. Normally Cultivators have high vitality, But without their spiritual energy acting as a shield their bare skin isn''t any different than that of a mortal.

    "Once Ipletely form the first crescent I will gain 9000jin of raw strength, but that''s not all my body without any protection from spiritual energy will be able take a hit from peak bone forging realm expert. Of course if he uses a martial technique or he also cultivates external arts like myself it will be a different story. But ording to my knowledge not one person in the Xuan mountain has cultivated external arts till today. It''s not that they are unwilling but theyck the means to do it. But for now.."

    After finishing his train of thoughts, he then lightly taped at his storage pouch. Dozens of bags flew out, these were loot he had gotten after killing those weaklings.

    "Tsk, broke bastards. Only a total of 217 spirit stones, truly disappointing. But now I have a total of 84 low grade beast cores, 51 mid grade beast cores and two high grade tier 1 beast cores. Even though the exam was cancelled, they informed that they would still exchange at previous agreed upon price. But even though I have a lot more cores now,  exchanging all of them will probably get me killed. At most I can only add 5-6 mid grade cores to my original amount." Bai Ming consider.

    Even though he had lot of extra cores now, he didn''t dare exchange them. He was worried that, those hidden experts had recorded the number of hell Wolf''s he had killed. And if he suddenly brought out a huge number of cores wouldn''t they be suspicious of him. That was in stupid in his view. But what Bai Ming was unaware of was even though his guess was correct, but during the battle   the destruction was on a level he couldn''t imagine. After all, core formation realm expert''s had also taken part in this battle. Hence most of the record''s were already turned to ashes.

    "But I can also sell these cores in the market, even though the difference in price is huge, I can only do this. I can''t let my greed get the better of me. But even that has to happen after a month or so. It''s better to be cautious." Bai Ming then headed for the academy.

 Chapter 14 Loyalty

    ?"Take it, Once again you have managed to surprise me. You have proven yourself time and time again, I am truly impressed by your performance. You have inherited your grandfather''s talent." The academy elder spoke in a tone filled with admiration.

    "It is all due to the elder''s teachings and the vige''s nurturing, without these two factors I would be an insignificant character." Bai Ming expressed his heartfelt gratitude as he received the heavy bag of spirit stones.

    "Sigh...I clearly understand how you feel. Both of your parents died while protecting the vige when you were young, But you must remember you are also a part of the vige, they didn''t die just because of their wish to protect the vige, they sacrificed their lives because you were also a part of the vige. Their parents also did the same thing, It''s all for the next generation. I know you are angry at the vige, but don''t forget your parents were alive because someone else sacrificed their lives to protect them. Always remember this, our Ye vige is one big family, A family that will always be there for you." The elder spoke slowly.

    Bai Ming was silent, he slowly lowered his head and gazed at his toes absentmindedly. The elder also watched him quietly with his eagle eye. After a period of silence, Bai Ming slowly raised his head and looked at the elder.

    "I guess you are probably right after all" Bai Ming looked slightly sad, but his lips revealed a relieved smile, as if all the pain, suffering, and hate in his heart had vanished like thin smoke. It looked like he had finally understood something very deep, something very profound.

    The academy elder noticed this change and was delighted. Even though he knew Bai Ming was a little fox, But if someone told him that Bai Ming was putting on an act now he would definitely not believe it, he refused to believe that this 14-year-old youth in front of him can act so wlessly.

    "I am d you understand, And don''t worry about your grandfather. I know he was sent out on a mission. Be positive, he will definitely return, like he always did. Now go home, I also have something to do." Academy elder spoke as he slowly walked away.

    Bai Ming gave a deep bow before departing. He still had a warm smile on his face, But internally he felt disgusted. Even he didn''t know why, but for some reason when he heard the academy elder''s words earlier, it made him extremely disgusted.

    He clearly understood the academy elder''s concern, the n requires loyal people. Loyalty is the value that is most sought after in a n. What is the first thing a man needs from a woman he loves, it was loyalty. What is the foundation of a friendship, loyalty. Why is the dog a man''s best friend, loyalty and loyalty only.

    What is the use of nurturing an ingrate, what use would there be for the n? Individuals like that were just a bad influence on others, nothing more than a gue.

    And what made the academy elder think of Bai Ming as such a person? there were a couple of things. Firstly, his actions at the scripture hall where he unrighteously made someone else suffer,  he didn''t care about his reputation. This showed that he didn''t care what others thought of him, this might seem like an insignificant thing. But it isn''t, these actions show that he is slowly getting out of the n''s grasp, would other students do something like this, definitely not.

    That is because their minds have been engraved with these mortal binds like reputation, loyalty, friendship, and whatnot since a very small age. Hence, when Bai Ming disyed his vicious side those children who had never seen such a thing felt it was extremely wrong, why was it Wrong? because they were told it was wrong. But when asked those same children, Going out of our way to kill animals isn''t that wrong? they would respond by saying, it''s the survival of the fittest.

    And as for why Bai Ming was not punished for his barbaric actions in the scripture hall, it was because Academy Elder understood that Bai Ming had secretly held anger towards the n, he didn''t want to forcefully suppress Bai Ming as it would only have a negative impact on his psyche, instead, the Academy Elder from time to time would converse with Bai Ming and use subtle psychological maniption tricks to create a change in his personality. And after conversing with Bai Ming today his efforts seemed to have paid off, at least that''s what the Academy elder thought.

    Secondly, it was because Bai Ming was too anti-social. He was always cold and indifferent. In the academy, there were already five major factions. One was the future n head Su Ming and gang, the other four fractions belonged to the high-grade talents.

    But Bai Ming was aloof, he was always alone. When the hunting exam was held, even though many people approached him to form a group he ruthlessly rejected them all. And during the hunting exam, he even wanted to take advantage of his own ssmates. Nothing was hidden from the academy elder''s experienced eyes.

    Bai Ming''s actions made him look like a person with no attachment. Once a person like that appears they had to be suppressed, why? because the stronger they get, the more they would be out of the n''s grasp and the more of a danger factor they be.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Looks like my actions have caused some trouble, it''s not too bad right now. To cultivate as fast as possible, I would have to borrow resources from the n. But the academy elder is wrong about one thing, I don''t hate the vige, I used to hate it but not anymore."

    "The vige is not deserving of my hate, but the heavens are deserving."

    "Why did it create us if it wanted us to suffer? why did it create us if it wanted us to die in the end?"

    "I truly don''t understand why it created us to be failures. Is it because it wished for us to be perfect by ourselves or are we merely ythings for its sick pleasure?" Bai Ming thought silently.

    Bai Ming was headed toward the Ji pharmacy, In the entire Ye vige this was only one ce that sold pills.

    He walked quickly, and after only ten minutes, Bai Ming reached his destination.

    Bai Ming entered the pavilion and approached a counter. Behind it sat a beautiful young girl. Seeing Bai Ming walk over, she immediately stood up with a smile, and said, "Hello, junior my name is Xiao Tao. I''m honored to be of service."

    Bai Ming quietly assessed her, he was not able to see through her cultivation base. But he guessed her to be at the peak of the bone formation realm.

    Bai Ming nodded, saying "give me 3 tier 1 high-grade healing pills, and what are the prices of 2nd-tier healing pills"

    "Very cheap, low-grade tier 2 pill costs 70 spirit stones, as for a mid-grade pill costs 230 spirit stones and a high-grade pill costs 570 spirit stones. Would you like to buy one? " Xiao Tao spoke rapidly.

    "No need, just 3 high-grade tier one pills." Bai Ming spoke in a in voice.

    After paying a total of 60 spirit stones he headed home.

    "Even though just a single high-grade pill is enough to heal my injury. But who knows when I might encounter some unknown danger. After adding up all of my spirit stones I had 486 but now it has reduced to 426, Sigh. It is more than enough to reach the elemental realm, but the problem is that this vige is too poor."

    "Grany Yin is the only alchemist in this vige but she is only proficient in refining medicinal pills, she doesn''t know any other pills to refine except for healing pills, her alchemy inheritance is quitecking. I have no power or ability to travel back and forth across the dangerous mountains. If I can reach the cultivation of the peak of core formation realm, I''d have the means to protect myself and leave this poor mountain. This really goes to show how one''s environment ys a huge role in one''s cultivation."

    In Bai Ming''s eyes the Xuan mountain was just a tiny step, the true behemoths were waiting in the outside world. He had to increase the level of his foundation as fast as possible because the aspirations in his heart were too big.

 Chapter 15 1st Layer Of Rotten Blood Art

    ?The dark clouds in the sky were getting heavier, and the night was getting darker. The mountain breeze blew, growing stronger gradually.

    Bai Ming walked in the bamboo forest as he got out of the huge entrance of the vige. After walking for another hundred meters, he began to run with all his might.

    Bai Ming arrived at the location after a long time. The scenery was quite beautiful and the sound of running water was soothing. It was a ce that could sooth the heart. But he had no time to appreciate the beauty.

    After inspecting his surroundings, he moved towards the huge boulder, the huge grey boulder leaned against the vertical mountain wall. He carefully inspected it, after finding nothing wrong with it.

    Next he stood on the left of the boulder, he took a step forward with his right leg, his left leg at the back, forming a bow step. His arms touched the surface of the rock and pushed with much of his strength.Therge boulder moved under the pressure of both his arms.

    A small cave entrance was revealed once the boulder was moved, this was all because of Bai Ming''s handy work, before the mid term exams he had already built this ce. The opening of the cave was just half a meter wide, Bai Ming entered the cave like a slippery snake, but as he moved deeper the space within started to increase, after walking hundreds of steps he was greeted with the sight of an approximately 140 meter square wide enclosure.

    The entire space waspletely pitch dark, But with Bai Ming''s eyesight he could clearly see in the dark. There was a five meter wide pit, but it was only half a meter deep.

    Next he took out 28 buckets filled with blood from his storage pouch and he also took out anotherrge containerpletely filled with fingernail sized fragments of bones and emptied them into the pit, Then he removed his clothing and entered the bloody pit and sat in meditative posture.

    Rotten blood art is a secret demonic art that treated the human body as a medium in refining it, just like a spiritual treasure.The results were outstanding of course, invincible and tough as steel. But the process was excruciating.

    To imagine, this process involved cutting one''s body painfully inch by inch. It was so dreadful that one would find death a blessing.

    But for Bai Ming this was also the only way he could improve his strength in a short time.

    With his heart at peace, his eyes filled with resolve, Bai Ming began circting the rotten blood art.

    In an instant the blood in the pit flowed towards him, forming a small vortex in the center and entered inside the cross-legged body of Bai Ming.

    The tiny pieces of bone pierced into Bai Ming''s body. The bone pieces acted like minute needles piercing his muscles and drawing blood.

    All bone specks that touched him pierced his body, with no exception. One or two specks, he could bear, but dozens, a hundredˇ­ they were beginning to take its toll on him and all this while he could only gnash his teeth.

    When the number reached thousands, the blood in his body began to mix with the blood in the pit and this blood all came from pin sized holes left behind by the bone specks.

    Looking closely, the bone specks had ruined his muscles, turning them to mush and this was only the beginning, yet the pain was so excruciating, worse than any torture.

    However, Bai Ming still bore through it with clenched teeth, unwilling to utter even a grunt. His eyes were bloodshot, testament to the pain. His entire body shivering, insanity was etched on his face.

    "AHHHHHH!"

    Then, Bai Ming''s eyes narrowed as he cried out, unable to endure another thousand specks piercing his skin and muscles.

    He yelled and howled from the pain, but knew he had to stop and soon closed his mouth shut.

    It was indeed a good decision that he hade here, If he had tried to cultivate the rotten blood art in his house the results would have been catastrophic for him.

    In his heart he knew, this body cultivation method would remake his entire body, from the inside out. So much so he would be an unbreakable diamond.

    But before that, he would have to endure this inhumane pain.

    Yet this was just the beginning it would be soon followed by his inner organs.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming could only grit his teeth and follow through. If not for his unquenchable desire for strength, he would never have gone through this kind of cruel torture.

    Too cruel!

    After three long hours, his muscles were broken down to thest fragment, then the bone fragments continued on to pierce his bones. The blood in his body was constantly mixing with the outside blood trying to condense.

    "Ughˇ­"

    Bai Ming shook from the pain and a grunt escaped his clenched teeth.

    Yelling would only amplify his suffering until he could take it no more. To avoid his demise, he forced his mouth shut, while his eyes bulged.

    The moment the specks entered his bones, Bai Ming spasmed. He couldn''t even speak, so he could only curse the creator of this demonic art, he didn''t even spare his nine generations of ancestors.

    Suddenly Bai Ming''s body seized up one second andid limp the next. His skeleton was repeatedly undergoing both destruction and reconstruction.

    But such cruelty made him even more determined, it was like someone had challenged his will and he was unwilling to lose.

    ?????? ????''?? ?????? ???????? ????????ˇ­

    Bai Ming sucked in a deep breath through his gritted teeth.

    With his skeleton nothing more than a bone meal, the bone fragments burrowed deep into his organs. It didn''t wait to stick to them like before but pierced right through them.

    Bai Ming''s organs were shredded and he was violently spewing blood mixed with flesh again and again into the pit.

    "AHHHH!"

    The bone fragments finished with his organs and went for his brain. Be it a mortal or cultivator, the brain was the weakest for both, as it was the ce that housed one''s soul.

    Ruthless! iparably Ruthless!!

    He felt as if thousands of centipedes were crawling on his brain, a pain down to the bottom of his core. It was thousands of times crueler than the first step. But unlike before, when his mind was clear, the pain was now eating away at his consciousness. Dangerous, this was truly dangerous. If he were to lose consciousness his brain would shatter, it would be his demise.

    His soul was being spent slowly, very slowly. little by little his consciousness was disappearing.

    But Bai Ming''s heart didn''t waver, not even once. The rotten blood art may be Unthinkably cruel but Bai Ming was even crueler.

    When Bai Ming was just inch away from death, the pain suddenly stopped. His consciousness which was being eaten away, strengthened.

    The blood in his body turned extremely hot and melted the bone fragments before fusing it with Bai Ming''s blood. Flowing throughout his body the blood began to cool down.

    Blood soothed Bai Ming''scerated body, breathing life into his muscles, bones, and organs.

    Bai Ming''s eyes were closed. He only felt his life renewing and growing with every passing moment. A tiny red crescent slowly formed on his waist, At this moment he had finally reached the 1styer of rotten blood art.

    Bai Ming finally opened his eyes, he managed to look at his newly formed crescent. At the next second he copsed. His mental energy was almost entirely exhausted, hence he directly fell asleep the moment he finished cultivating.

 Chapter 16 A Body Of Steel

    ?A naked man walked out of a pit, his every step left deep prints in the earth, and even the rock crumbled to dust.

    Taking a moment to adapt, his face gradually returned to that of cold indifference. At a closer look, it was clear this man was Bai Ming.

    Just that his every line and features were as if sculpted, exuding sharp power. Bai Ming got a feel of his body and touched the crescent mark on his waist, he revealed a satisfied grin.

    He was greatly pleased with his body, which was nowpletely refined with the rotten blood art and was as tough as a semi-low-grade spiritual weapon. Bai Ming repeatedly praised the three-headed Demon saint, to have the ability to create such a terrifying art this demonic cultivator must definitely be a terrifying individual.

    The refining process was hellish, excruciating, and deadly, but the result was astounding. It was like, he was reborn with a treasure body. Right now he was only a 7thyer bone forging realm expert but just his raw strength was 16000jin. His healing capabilities also stepped up a notch.

    Thinking of this made him burst out inughter.

    But he calmed down quickly, he thought for a moment and came to a conclusion. He quickly got dressed and began practicing drifting steps, he was determined to reach mastery in it.

    Two dayster, hepletely mastered the footwork. His strength rose again.

    Bai Ming left the cave and headed toward the vige. He used drifting steps movement art as he moved unhindered in the forest.

    But just after a few minutes, he came to a stop. He quickly went up a tree.

    "Hehe, I was just itching to check out this body''s limits. What good timing." Bai Ming mentally spoke as he fixed his gaze on a nearby Hell wolf.

    The wild was dangerous all over, but at the same time it had great treasures.

    He quickly moved and appeared before the hell wolf and stood at a five-meter distance from it. His eyes burning with battle intent. The Hell Wolf continuously released deep growls.

    This Hell wolf was about the size of a water buffalo and had three tails. This particr Hell wolf was a tier 2 low-level demon beast it''s strength wasparable to 3rdyer of elemental realm cultivator.

    The Hell Wolf''s ferocious nature was immediately roused. The ws of its front paws dug into the ground and its jaws opened, revealing two rows of sharp dagger-like teeth, exuding a cold air. It immediately pounced at Bai Ming using its sharp ws.

    Swoosh! He drew his Broadsword out of the sheath, instantly producing a sword shadow. He swiped at the Hell Wolf as his Spiritual Power came bursting forth and pushed his strength to its peak.

    ng!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming''s sword collided with the Hell Wolf''s sharp ws, emitting a thunderous sharp metallic sound.

    Due to the force, Bai Ming was sent flying for a dozen meters and crashed into a tree. The tree was extremely fragile unable to endure such fierce impact, it snapped in half.

    Bai Ming quickly stood up and Inspected his body, seeing that there was not even a scratch. Heughed loudly and directly charged at the hell Wolf, he was sent flying again. He stood up again and attacked again and was sent flying again.

    Bai Ming repeated the same thing over and over, but still, there was not even a single injury.

    "Wonderful, cultivating rotten blood art was indeed the right choice. It is even better than I hoped it to be." Bai Ming thought in his heart.

    Bai Ming had just stood up when the Hell wolf already pounced at him, but this time he just used his fist to attack.

    Bam!

    Bai Ming was sent flying again, but this time his knuckles were a bit bloody and his entire right arm was feeling numb "Looks like this the limit, I can probably endure 3-4 more direct hits, but any more, the injury will be serious."

    "Drifting steps" Bai Ming immediately began to retreat, he never hoped to be able to kill this Hell wolf in the first ce, his only intention was to determine the limits of his body. Having achieved that, he immediately began to retreat.

    But the Hell wolf was quicker than him, it would catch up to him again and again. Every time he had to use his sword to block the attacks and was sent flying constantly. This continued, and finally the frustrated Hell wolf understood that it couldn''t kill him, after nearly half an hour of pursuit it unwillingly gave up.

    Bai Ming breathed out a sigh of relief, even though he was uninjured, he was not particrly fond of being thrown like a football.

    After entering the vige, Bai Ming directly headed towards the vige market. He was going to sell a few of the beast cores he had.

    Hell Wolfs are beasts which specially reside in the Xuan mountain, The cores of these beasts are used as materials in alchemy. Hence, when the merchant caravanes once every four years, there would be high demand for it, and these Hell Wolf''s body parts would be sold to them.

    But the main objective of selling these beast cores was not spirit stones, it was to have a cover. By constantly going outside of the vige he may incur people''s suspicion, by selling these beast cores not only can he get rid of these suspicions but also quickly sell off those beast cores. It was killing two birds with one stone.

    "The next step of my n will need me to go out regrly, having this cover will definitely be of help. Now I have to quickly raise my realm, once I reach the 9thyer I will begin collecting materials for the secondyer of rotten blood art."

 Chapter 17 Foolish Old Man

    ?A month had passed since Bai Ming had achieved the 1styer of rotten blood art. For the past month, he was in seclusion most of the time, he only went out a couple of times for the scripture library.

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 9 ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/2000]

    ____

    "I have finally reached the peak of the bone forging realm and possess 18000jin of raw strength. Now I need to inform the elder and get the secondyer of the primeval star mantra."

    "Before that let''s see how many spirit stones I have left... 344 spirit stones, hmm then adding this month''s ie from the wine tavern it should just reach around 400 spirit stones. Since my grandfather is probably dead, all these spirit stones belong to me, and there are his life savings of another 400 spirit stones. It''s a pity that grandfather was too afraid to pass the n martial techniques, Now that he is not returning I will get nearly 50-60 spirit stones from the tavern every month, plus once he is really dead the n would give me anotherpensation of 300 spirit stones, But if I want to upgrade my stats, this is still far from enough and if I spend all of my spirit stones to upgrade my stats there will be nothing left for cultivation. Sigh.. how troublesome." Bai Ming was pondering deeply, but he suddenly heard a voice calling him from outside of his house.

    Bai Ming frowned slightly, but his face quickly became tranquil. He went down and opened the door only to see a middle-aged man.

    The middle-aged man looked deeply at Bai Ming before handing him a letter and a bag filled with spirit stones. He said in a deep voice "Take it"

    Bai Ming immediately understood, but on the surface, he spoke in a tone filled with confusion "This... uncle, what is this about?"

    The middle-aged man took a deep breath before speaking "it''s about your grandfather, we just received a report saying that he failed in his mission..."

    Hearing this Bai Ming''s entire body shook, his face paled immediately, he dropped the bag of spirit stones in his hands, and tears rolled down his face as he shakily pointed one of his fingers at the middle-aged man as he spoke in a choked tone "You, You, wha-what are you speaking about!? I don''t believe you! I don''t believe you! Ahhh!" Bai Ming''s voice was weak at the beginning butter on, he cried out at the top of his lungs.

    The middle-aged man looked at Bai Ming and felt much pity, he sighed saying "Senior Li''s sacrifice will not be forgotten, he will always live within our hearts. Child, you need to ept reality and stay strong, I will take my leave now. Sigh."

    "No, no, no,..!" Bai Ming had absolutely lost it. He plopped down and began crying and hitting the ground with both of his hands nonstop.

    The middle-aged man took onest look at Bai Ming before turning around and leaving.

    But once the middle-aged man left, Bai Ming who seemed to have gone crazy a second ago, regained hisposure right away. His face swiftly turned indifferent.

    He grabbed the bag of spirit stones and the letter and went straight to his room, he spoke internally "Grandfather.....you were courting death! "

    Old Li had previously written a letter to Bai Ming regarding the mission the day he left, after reading the letter Bai Ming clearly understood that his grandfather had no hopes of returning back, It was just in suicide. Of course, he was ordered by the higher-ups toplete this mission and there was no way he could reject it.

    Bai Ming sat in his room as he looked at the bag of spirit stones coldly and sneered. Then he ced his attention on the letter, it was the ownership transfer certificate of the wine tavern and his house to Bai Ming''s name.

    "Those who don''t value their lives deserve death. Loyalty to the n, what a load of bullshit. Hahaha, no matter, it''s good that you died, hahaha. it''s just a pity that you weren''t as useful as I hoped you to be, foolish old man." Bai Ming coldly mocked his own grandfather, but there was a hint of grief deeply concealed within his eyes which was quickly cast away.

    "I was going to get the 2ndyer of primeval star mantra from the elder but it looks like I''ll have to postpone it for a few days. Since that is the case I will begin collecting materials today." Bai Ming was decisive with his decision.

    ...<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was nearing midnight, The night sky was picturesque. The moon was ethereal. Millions of stars were shining behind it, a fewrge ones but mostly a multitude of little white pinpricks.

    The tree roots prate into the mountain soil, Thick and solid tree trunks faced each other, looking simr through the distances. The exuberant branches and leaves intertwined in mid-air.

    Under the surroundings of these trees were old wooden houses.

    Inside one of the houses, there was a family of three sleeping soundly, they were unaware of the masked demon in their house.

    Bai Ming moved towards the bed and ced his hand on the man''s head, injecting his spiritual energy into the man.

    Feeling the unbearable pressure the man woke up from his sleep but he wasn''t able to open his eyes, he tried to open his eyes but under the spiritual pressure he was frozen stiff, he couldn''t make a sound.

    "No spirit root" Bai Ming spoke mentally. Next, he directly broke the man''s neck, killing him before storing his corpse in the storage bag.

    This method of opening the spirit root was mentioned in the cultivation encyclopedia.

    Next, he ced his hand on the woman''s head and channeled his spiritual energy.

    "Nice, she has a spirit root" Bai Ming was a little pleased, next he broke the woman''s neck before storing her corpse.

    Once a person has opened their spirit root they are tier 1 bone forging realm cultivators.

    Then Bai Ming went to another corner of the room, a nine-year-old child was sleeping soundly. He ced his hand on the boy''s head.

    "Fantastic, high-grade spirit root" Bai Ming knocked the child unconscious, he didn''t kill him.

    "This thest house in this mortal vige, let me first bring these children to the cave. there are still three more mortal viges left after this."

    Bai Ming carried the boy to another nearby house, once he entered the house he saw four children lying on the floor unconscious. He ced the kids on his shoulder and headed towards the hidden cave.

    "Counting all the eight mortal viges so far I have a total of five high-grade children now, but I should also capture one mortal child, I''ll have to set an example for these high-grade children after all." Bai Ming rapidly moved, after running for an hour he reached the cave, he quickly locked these children in the cave and moved towards another mortal vige.

    Xuan Mountain has three mountain viges. Ye vige, Song family vige, and Luo family vige. The Luo family vige was on the fore mountain, the Ye mountain vige was at the mountain waist, and Song family vige was at the back mountain.

    Other than the three viges, there were also dozens of tiny viges in the mountain, all being inhabited by mortals. Nearly hundreds of mortals resided in each of these mortal viges.

    The three mountain viges each had a number of small viges, being the ones controlling them behind the scenes. Once theycked family servants, they would pick from these small viges. But they would not choose cultivators from them.  Even if they knew that among these mortals were people with talent, although rare, they would still not use them.

    The reason being that the ns prioritized bloodline, the n was unlike those martial sects which would wee everyone. The n held strong beliefs towards bloodline.

    Next, Bai Ming appeared in another mortal vige,  he began scouting the ce, and he searched for the guard station.

    In order to control mortals, Cultivation forces would send one or two bone-forging realm cultivators to look after the respective viges in turns.

    Bai Ming finally caught sight of the station guard''s residence. It was a small wooden house, inside the house was an old man sleeping, in the silence of the night his snoring could be heard clearly.

    Bai Ming saw that this old man was a peak bone forging realm cultivator, most of the station guards had simr cultivation.

    After making sure that he was really asleep, Bai Ming quickly moved toward the mortal vige to begin collecting materials.

    "The moon sure is pretty" Bai Mingmented as he began another killing spree.

 Chapter 18 Gamble

    ?"Trash" Bai Ming coldly stared at the corpse of the pregnant woman, before storing her lifeless body.

    Bai Ming then moved to another house, he saw that there were three young children which made him inwardly pleased.

    He strode forward, but just as he was about to ce his hand on one of the children, his eyes shed.

    A shadow suddenly appeared behind him, shing ruthlessly at him, Bai Ming didn''t bother turning around or pressing forward, he quickly used both of his arms coated in spiritual energy to shield his skull.

    ng!

    The sound of the sword shing with his semi-treasure skin produced a metallic sound. A surprised exmation echoed from the attacker. He expected to directly slice through Bai Ming but shockingly found that he couldn''t. There was just a light flesh wound on Bai Ming''s arms. If Bai Ming had not refined his body, he would have been split in half.

    Killing intent surged in Bai Ming''s heart. He took a step forward and swiftly turned his body, seeing the appearance of his attacker, he recognized this person it was the snoring old guard.

    The old man was relentless in his attack, pale green sword light shed, and a meter-wide green spiritual ray dashed towards Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming used his footwork as he sidestepped the spiritual ray. He quickly unsheathed his sword as he charged at the old man head-on.

    The old man quickly pulled some distance, rushing out of the house, at the same time he swung his sword expelling another spiritual ray.

    Bai Ming replied with a sword strike of his own, canceling out the sword ray. The next second Bsi Ming''s eyes narrowed as he witnessed that the old man had used a fire signal to inform the n.

    Bai Ming''s heart sank, using the drifting steps movement technique he immediately began retreating crazily.

    The old man noticed Bai Ming''s intentions, as he instantly moved to thwart Bai Ming''s retreat.

    "This old man is not an ordinary bone-forging realm cultivator, I was unable to sense him at all. But that''s not all his footwork, it''s definitely a mid-grade technique. The signal has been already sent, nsmen will be here any moment. I can''t shake off this old man, I have to kill him, no other way." Bai Ming''s eyes turned colder, his heart surging with sinister killing intent.

    Bai Ming swiped his sword, and an eerie green sword light violently gilded toward the old man, at the same time Bai Ming kicked off the ground explosively and sped forward like a bullet.

    Even though the old man was using a mid-grade movement technique, he was only slightly quicker than Bai Ming. After everything was said and done, Bai Ming was also a body cultivator, his explosive strength was on a level that this old man couldn''t contest.

    The old man quickly moved aside narrowly dogging the sword ray, but his heart shrank as he couldn''t escape from Bai Ming.

    "Tyrant fist"  Bai Ming roared internally as he intently swung his fist at the old man, the old man used his sword to block the iing attack but was sent flying from the overwhelming impact. He heavily crashed into the wooden house. Due to the tremendous impact, the old wooden house copsed killing the children inside.

    The old man continuously vomited blood, there were even fragments of organs mixed in it. Bai Ming quickly pressed forward picking up the heavily injured old man, Bai Ming had 18000jin of raw strength and along with the use of a martial technique, it further heightened his destructive capabilities.

    This old man was only a peak bone forging realm cultivator, even though he was adept at moment arts but that''s all. In a contest of physical strength, he definitely wasn''t Bai Ming''s match.

    Bai Ming was just about to deliver the finishing blow, But at this time Bai Ming suddenly heard a loud shouting from the forest "Hold on, we are almost there!"

    Bai Ming''s heart jumped.

    "Damn it," Bai Ming''s face turned unsightly, the old man who was on the verge of death showed a victor''s smile.

    Bai Ming snorted and mercilessly snapped the old man''s neck, killing him instantly and storing his corpse.

    Bai Ming''s mind churned rapidly as he began thinking of a way out of this precarious situation, retreat? if it was possible, Bai Ming would definitely not be standing here. The pursuers were almost here, there was no use in escaping.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming''s gaze concentrated, a few secondster he suddenly had an inspiration, Bai Ming only hesitated for a second before he decided to gamble.

    Bai Ming gritted his teeth as he used the treasure sword to cut himself from his left shoulder down to his waist. Blood surged out wildly, the wound was very deep. But Bai Ming was not done just yet, he used the tyrant fist technique again but this time to smash his own right leg.

    Next, he quickly stored the mask on his face. After that, he started to crawl in a certain direction with much difficulty, screaming in a rough voice "EVIL DEMON!! COME BACK! DON''T RUN YOU, COWARD, I WILL KILL YOU!!"

    At this time two figures suddenly rushed out of the dark forest, one was a middle-aged man with gentle features another was a young man who had an icy look on his face.

    But seeing the scene in front of them, Both of them were stunned for a second.

    Bai Ming was crawling ahead leaving a trail of blood, his entire body covered in dust and blood, but he was still strenuously crawling forward and screaming in irrepressible rage. The crimson blood and dirt sticking on his face made him look  ferocious and demonic.

    The two figures quickly nced at each other, before they hurriedly neared Bai Ming.

    "kid stop moving, what happened here?" The gentle middle-aged man spoke.

    "EVIL SCUM! I WANT TO KILL YOU!" Bai Ming continued to screampletely ignoring the middle-aged man''s words, his face extremely bloodthirsty.

    "Calm down, calm down. Tell me what happened here." The middle-aged man spoke once again.

    "That way, he went that way. quickly go kill him! don''t let him escape. Go quickly!" Bai Ming pointed out the direction with his bloodshot eyes.

    The middle-aged man sighed, he instructed the youth "Wushang, you stay with him and get him to safety, he has lost too much blood. I will go look for that person."

    The cold youth showed a hesitant expression but he still nodded "OK uncle, but please be careful."

    The middle-aged man nodded and he took onest look at Bai Ming before he disappeared quickly, his speed was extremely fast.

    The cold youth stared at Bai Ming and spoke "Stop moving or you might just die from blood loss."

    "Forget about me, you should go after him quickly." Bai Ming spoke anxiously, but he was coldlyughing on the inside.

    "You!.. sigh, don''t worry. The person that went just now was a peak elemental realm expert. Since you  were able to survive, the intruder should probably be a peak bone forging realm expert or an initial elemental realm expert." The youth spoke.

    "Hahaha good, very good. Demon you will definitely die, hahaha.....Oh my god!!  I have lost so much blood!" Bai Ming suddenly seemed to have regained his senses, as perfectly showcased a terrified expression.

    An amused grin formed on the youth''s face as he spoke with a chuckle, "Then what do you think I was telling you from that time? "

    "Ahh! save me, there is a tier 1 medicinal pill in my pocket quickly grab it." Bai Ming spoke rapidly, his face extremely pale.

    "You have lost too much blood, tier 1 pills won''t be of much help." As the youth spoke he took out a pill from his robe. "Take it,"

    Bai Ming didn''t stand on ceremony, he quickly ate the tier 2 pill. For he really was on death''s door, but for Bai Ming even a high-grade tier 1 pill would be enough, after all the rotten blood arts had also enhanced his healing abilities.

    Bai Ming sat cross-legged and began absorbing the medicinal properties of the pill. After taking the pill, life essence slowly spread throughout his body before moving towards the injury, slowly starting to heal it. The bleedingpletely stopped.

    "Hehehe, that was dangerous but this is my perfect victory." Bai Ming coldlyughed in his heart.

 Chapter 19 Death

    ?The next day.

    "Looks like I have finally gotten rid of all their doubts, really tiring." Bai Ming thought as he left internal affairs hall.

    For the past hour he was continuously interrogated, But Bai Ming had every thing figured out.

    He fabricated the events, saying how he was hunting wolves and saw the help signal, he rushed to help and saw a masked man fighting the old gaurd, Bai Ming also stopped hiding his treasure sword, this showed how he was able to survive longer than the old man and he also said that masked man also used the primeval sword art, the interrogating elders ced much importance to this. Then Bai Ming also spoke of how the masked man made the old gaurd''s corpse disappear, the interrogating elders at this time thought of academy exam. The elders quickly connected the dots and came to a conclusion, but they never doubted Bai Ming. But they still continued to ask him questions, sometimes even repeating the same question. But Bai Ming was prepared, he gave short and precise answers.

    "Sigh, collecting materials has to stop for now.  I should get the secondyer mantra from the academy elder. As for those children, they are already tier 1 bone forging realm cultivators now, even if they don''t eat or drink for few weeks it''s fine they won''t die. But i should not stop going out of the vige, but visiting the cave has to wait. Even if those children die, it''s not a big deal."

    .....

    2 weekster.

    "Two more weeks and i will be a elemental realm expert, but this progress is still a bit slow." Bai Ming thought as he finished his cultivation session

    "It''s already been two weeks since the incident, I should go to the cave now. I also have to get a few things before that."

    Few hourster, the hidden cave.

    Bai Ming walked through the darkness, reaching the underground space. It was still very dark here, but Bai Ming could see clearly.

    In his vision there were five children, they were either leaning against the wall or lying down on the  ground, the cave waspletely silent. These children were kept here for the past two weeks without any food or water. Even though they were no longer mortals but still their cultivation base was too low.

    Bai Ming quietly moved towards the group of children, none of the children noticed him. Even if they did, they didn''t have any energy to make a sound.

    Bai Ming observed that all the children were alive, this made him pleased.

    He first took out a wooden torch and lit it, even though Bai Ming had no need for it, but these children had yet to reach 4thyer for them it was pitch dark in here.

    At once these inocent creatures felt a ray of hope forming in their hearts, but they still didn''t move or make sound, it''s more like they couldn''t.

    Bai Ming strode forward and helped each of children sit up, next he took out a small containers filled with water, he helped them to drink it.

    Next Bai Ming took out a corpse of a hell wolf from his storage pouch and ced it in front of the the youths, Bai Ming used his sword to cut open the Wolf''s belly, and spoke "EAT"

    After drinkingrge amounts of water, they felt a bit revitalized. But there were still far from their optimum condition, they saw that a Wolf''s corpse had appeared before them out of nowhere. Magic, but they couldn''t care less. Hunger had already taken over thier logic, they crawled forward with much difficulty and began to devour the Wolf. Mind it the wolf was not cooked, Bai Ming was toozy to do it.

    Bai Ming looked with much interest, he had never seen such a scene before. He chuckled as he watched these children eating like wild beasts. But Bai Ming quickly lost interest in it.

    At an appropriate time he moved towards the children, he spoke in a cold tone "Stop eating."

    Three of the children were already full from eating, hearing Bai Ming''s words they quickly stopped eating as they looked at Bai Ming, these children had varying looks as they looked at Bai Ming. one looked at him with gratefulness, another with curiosity but the third one looked at him with caution.

    Bai Ming nced at these three once before shifting his emotionless eyes at the remaining two children who were still eating. One was a 11 year old short boy another was 13 year old boy, he was the oldest among the group.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A devious smile formed on his face, he directly kicked the short boy''s abdomen sending him flying, of course Bai Ming controlled his strength.

    The other boy who was eating stopped his actions instantly, he turned to look at Bai Ming.

    Bam!

    He was also sent flying as he crashed against the wall. The earlier three children were stunned, if they had felt a bit of hope before, it waspletely shattered now.

    "Lowly ants do you not understand my words" Bai Ming spoke coldly before sneering.

    The two of the boys who were sent flying were gasping for breath.

    "All of you listen carefully, from today onwards all of you are my ves. Starting from now your lives no longer belong to you, they belong to me. If I tell you live, you live. If I tell you to die, you die. And if you want me to let you live, you will need to prove yourself. I strongly dislike weaklings, I will give you an opportunity to live, but it will be up to you if you want to live." Bai Ming spoke in a unhurried manner as he red at all of the children.

    "Heartless bastard, I will never be your ve. I would rather die than be your ve." the oldest boy  fearlessly shouted.

    Bai Ming heard this andughed maniacally, but at the next moment his killing intent was released fully. He moved towards the boy, slowly.

    Feeling the killing intent, the youth felt suffocated. Seeing Bai Minging closer to him, an enormous fear began spreading through his heart.

    But to his suprise, Bai Ming stopped when he was just a few steps away from him.

    Bai Ming looked at youth with a slight grin on his face, he said in carefree tone "hehe, since you want to die.." Bai Ming grabbed the sword on his waist as threw the sword in front of the boy, saying "Go ahead, kill yourself."

    Bai Ming watched with his hands behind his back, his face disying his amusement.

    The boy waspletely stunned by Bai Ming''s actions, he was at a loss. But next he heard Bai Ming speak again "Go ahead kill yourself or do you want me to do it for you?"

    Bai Ming''s words were like ruthless daggers, which pierced right through the boys heart.

    The boy gritted his teeth as he red at Bai Ming, his eyes showing deep hatred, but Bai Ming still looked at boy with a disdainful smile.

    The boy bent forward and picked up the sword, his palms tightly clenched the sword. He next ced the sword near his neck, his eyes were full of unwillingness as he looked at the sword, he shifted his gaze at Bai Ming, he saw Bai Ming''s eyes which were filled with amusement, curiosity, excitement and sadistic pleasure.

    His heart wavered, his tight grip on the sword loosened. A sick feeling of helplessness assaulted him, from the very core of his being he felt extremely pathetic. He said that he would die rather than submit, but when given the chance, he just couldn''t bring himself to do it. Why? because he was scared. Scared to disappear, afraid that he would never wake up from this nightmare called death. At the end of the day, Death was truly a terrifying thing.

    He dropped the sword, The boy''s willpletely crumbled.

    Bai Ming watched this and perfectly showcased a disappointed look, but he was coldlyughing inwardly. He thought "Even if you wanted to really die, do you really think I would have allowed it? hahaha."

    But at this moment, the next words that came out of the eldest boy''s mouth shook all of the children''s hearts.

 Chapter 20 Cruelty Of The Heart

    ?"Tell me what about my family? where are they? Did you do something to them? Are they captured somewhere, just like me? starving for weeks? tell me." the eldest boy spoke in a low voice, but in this ghostly silent ce it was like raging thunder.

    All of the children''s hearts shook, they ced their innocent eyes filled with pain, suffering, and hope as they stared at Bai Ming.

    A cold light flickered past Bai Ming''s crimson irises, he knew that if he didn''t handle this situation properly it would be a bit troublesome as it would not only be this child, but it would affect the other children as well.

    Bai Ming wanted to raise these children as sacrifices or he might need useful pawns in the future when he leaves the Xuan mountain he might need some ves, after all, they were high-grade talents. But even though he had some desire to raise them, but he wasn''t willing to waste much time on them. After all, one can only rely on oneself. This was nothing more than a side mission in his view.

    "Your parents, what about them? Do you think I have time to care about those lowly mortals. I didn''t even spare them a nce. But.. weren''t you going to kill yourself, what happened? scared? " Bai Ming spoke wlessly, his tone casual and carefree.

    The previously pathetic boy raised his head and looked at the Bai Ming, his eyes firm as he spoke "Do you really expect me to trust you, first of all you kidnapped us, then you made us starve for who knows how long. Driving us almost into insanity from hunger, then out of nowhere youe here and say that we are your ves, just what do you take us for! are we even humans in your eyes!? Now tell me after all that you have done, why would I trust a single word thates out of your filthy mouth! take me to my parents, once I see them with my own eyes I will do as you say."

    "Hahaha, you fool do you think I give a damn, whether you trust me or not. But let me tell you something If you want to meet your family your only option is to trust me. If you trust me and do your job as a ve properly I will let you meet your family. But if you''re unable to do that then, hehe you can take a trip to the underworld and wait for your parents there" Bai Ming spoke with much disdain, But inwardly he noticed the change in the boy in front of him, he felt a little displeased.

    Silence.

    "Since that is the case.... then I, Zi Feng will take a trip to the underworld!!"  Zi Feng''s eyes were firm and determined, he picked up the sword and ced it at his neck, he looked at Bai Ming once again, but this time his eyes were filled with contempt.

    Bai Ming watched this expressionlessly, he carefully observed Zi Feng''s expression. Bai Ming could only sigh, he knew that this kid unlike before was really going to kill himself. His face turned a shade darker, but Bai Ming was determined to make him his ve.

    Bai Ming moved and grabbed the sword and took it back, next he gave the boy a tight p.

    "Foolish boy, you can only me yourself. Hmph!" Bai Ming''s voice was bone-chillingly cold, he grabbed the boy by his neck.

    Next Bai Ming gazed at the surrounding children, he noticed a minute change in a few of them, his grip on the boy tightened.

    "This kid, since this kid doesn''t have any will to live. I will just have to give him a purpose, by making him hate me to the core. I have to create a desire for revenge inside him. But How do I go about it, torture..let''s see if it works." Bai Ming''s thoughts ran wild.

    Bai Ming threw Zi Feng into the pit, Bai Ming ordered the remaining children to follow him as he entered the pit.

    Bai Ming stood before Zi Feng, thetter was trying his hardest to get up after being thrown away like a piece of rotten meat, Bai Ming crouched down and gently patted Zi Feng''s head, little Zi red at Bai Ming with an icy look.

    Bai Ming''s expression didn''t change, he slowly moved his hand and held little Zi''s ear, with a tearing sound his ear waspletely ripped off.

    "AHHHH!!!" Little Zi let out an ear-piercing scream, blood spurted out crazily. His entire body rolled around in unbearable pain, screaming nonstop.

    "Hehehehe...Hahahaha.." Bai Ming let out a maniacalugh, his expression sinister.

    Few of the children screamed in horror, one was watching with a terror-stricken face, and another directly closed his eyes. Bai Ming observed their reaction, he ordered the boys to watch carefully, if they didn''t he would gouge their eyes out. Fear, they felt uncontroble fear.

    Bai Ming held little Zi''s hand as he ced the severed ear in his hands. He spoke in a yful manner "Poor little Zi, how about it now? Do you acknowledge me as your master?"

    "Spit, I... I will never submit to you, you won''t kill me, take me to my parents otherwise I will definitely kill myself." Zi Feng stared at Bai Ming with endless hate.

    "He stillcks some hate, I will continue torturing him for a while. but, if even that is not enough, hehehe" Bai Ming began to brutally torture again, he first broke some of his fingers, then plucked out his nails and teeth, after that he held the boy''s right foot and peeled off the skin, then he even ced the burning torch at little Zi''s back.

    Bai Ming was truly ruthless in his ways, he didn''t show even an ounce of pity. Instead, he had a sadistic smile stered on his face the entire time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But no matter what Bai Ming did Zi Feng was unwilling to acknowledge him, and he continuously threatened to kill himself.

    "What strong will he has, it''s like aplete transformation from before." Bai Ming secretly praised the boy.

    "He thoroughly hates me now, he wants me to die a brutal death. But... he doesn''t believe he can achieve it with his own power. In his view, he can only kill himself, so that it would be a loss for me. But he doesn''t see himself killing me in the future, hmm, looks like I''ll have to do it. But this method will either make his heart burn in vengeance or it willpletely burn him." Bai Ming thought to himself, his eyes were eerie. He was going to do something very very evil.

    "You''re going to regret this" Bai Ming spoke before he knocked out little Zi.

    After nearly 45 minutes had passed.

    Zi Feng had just regained consciousness when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

    "Wake up" shortly, he heard a ruthless voice.

    Towards this voice, Zi Feng had the deepest impression of it. It was precisely the owner of this voice, who made his life a living hell.

    Zi Feng''s eyes slowly gained rity as he expressionlessly stared at Bai Ming. Zi Feng was in a pretty rough state, one of his ears was missing, most of his teeth and nails were removed, more than half of his fingers were broken, the skin under his right foot waspletely pealed off, and the skin on his back was burnt. His entire being had changedpletely, both physically and mentally.

    But at this time Bai Ming did something strange.

    "Weren''t you hungry before, eat this." Bai Ming spoke with a gentle smile, he held arge bowl in his hand, as he offered little Zi some food.

    Little Zi stared at him coldly "Fuck off"

    "Hehe, little Zi why are you acting like this? I am worried about your body that''s all, now quickly eat it before it gets cold." Bai Ming''s smile was getting even wider.

    "Didn''t you hear me, FUCK OFF" little Zi spoke fearlessly.

    "Sigh, little Zi don''t be like that. Do you see those children, hehe if you don''t eat it, I will break their bones." Bai Ming spoke unhurriedly as he pointed at the younger children in the cave.

    ? Zi Feng''s expression froze, he looked at these pitiful children. But none of them dared to look him in the eye.

    "This, why are they avoiding my gaze. Did something happen when I was unconscious?" Little Zi looked at the Bai Ming subconsciously. "This devil must have done something, but no matter I can''t make these kids suffer because of me, they are all much younger than me, as a man, I cannot let these children suffer because of me. But this devil hmph! He must have mixed some kinda shitty poison in it probably, but it doesn''t matter I have already gone through hell, nothing can affect me anymore." Zi Feng concluded.

    "Give it to me, I am also a little hungry." Little Zi spoke as he directly grabbed the bowl from Bai Ming''s hand.

    Bai Ming continued to watch silently.

    "Tasty, very tasty" Zi Feng praised loudly, of course, he was mocking Bai Ming, showing that he doesn''t care even if this food contained some poison. But In reality, he found the taste to be a little weird.

    When Zi Feng was halfway done eating, Bai Ming crouched down and gently caressed the boy''s head and spoke lovingly;

    "DOES YOUR MOTHER TASTE GOOD?"

 Chapter 21 Year End Exam

    ?Three dayster.

    swish! sword light shed, severing the hell Wolf''s head from its healthy body. The sweet smell of blood permeated the atmosphere.

    "These tier 1 hell Wolf''s are no match for me, I can escape from a low grade tier 2 beast, as for above that i don''t have much confidence in surviving." Bai Ming sheathed his sword, in front himy dozens of wolf corpses were scattered.

    "I have already absorbed the materials which I had collectedst time, but I was only able to form 1/4 of the second crescent. It''s reasonable, those people were either mortals or level 1 bone forging realm cultivators, except for that old man who was a 9thyer expert. if I possessed few elemental realm corpses I can easilyplete the 2nd crescent, But right now Ick the strength to collect materials. I have to reach the elemental realm quickly."

    "Then there is that academy end exampetition this month end... Su Ming has already advanced to elemental realm a week back. As for those high grade talents their progress should be simr to mine. The prize this time is really alluring. Especially the prize for the 1st ce, but my chances of wining are a little low."

    Each year in the academy there are two examinations. The first is the mid-term exam, with different contents each year. The second is the year end exam, and the contents never change, being arena fights. And after the arena fight Bai Ming would no longer be a academy student, he could officially take missions from the vige.

    But this year''s academy exam is a bit different, because it''s been three years since thest inter npetition, and once every three years there would be an inter npetition. Only those below 15years of age can participate in thispetition, basically this year''s batch of cultivators. But by no means is thispetition insignificant.

    As for prizes of thepetition, the top 5 will get to spend 10 days in the ns martial scripture hall,    unlike the academy''s scripture hall, it contains mid grade techniques. Normally if a person wants to enter the ns scripture hall they would either need to exchangerge amounts of spirit stones or contribution points. Most elemental realm experts would probably only enter the scripture hall a 6-7 times in their life, so most of the elemental realm experts would probably only know one mid grade technique, but duringrge scale beast tides it is much easier to earn points and they would have a better chance of entering the scripture hall, this was merely an act of encouragement for the n members to fight with everything they had.

    But most of the bone forging realm experts would never step foot in the ns scripture hall, they didn''t have the abilities to earn such huge numbers of spirit stones or contribution points, that old man who had previously fought Bai Ming was originally a elemental realm expert but during a beast tide he suffered injury making his cultivation drop, otherwise the possibility of him learning a mid grade technique was slim to none.

    As for the person who gets 1st ce, they would not only get to spend 15 days inside the scripture hall, they will even be allowed to stay twelve days in the ns spirit pool. Spirit pool was the ce where the awakening ceremony was held, the spiritual energy in the pool was very thick. Cultivating in a ce like that, a person''s cultivation base can skyrocket. But, the elders of the n had their own considerations when they set these prizes.

    If Bai Ming can cultivate in a ce like that, with his talent it would greatly benefit him, And with Bai Ming''s personality he definitely would not give up such a golden opportunity. The greed in his heart was aze.

    After collecting the loot, Bai Ming moved towards the hidden cave. For the past couple of days he would daily spend about an hour in the cave teaching the primeval star mantra, Only when these childrenprehend it, would they be able to begin cultivating.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The situation in the cave waspletely in Bai Ming''s control. When Bai Ming tortured little Zi he had considered many things, firstly he had to make  little Zi to have an obsession for revenge. Which he seeded, little Zi was unlike before he held an absurd amount of hatred towards Bai Ming, and after Bai Ming''s carefull maniption Zi Feng understood that, for him to get his revenge he needed to get stronger, but to get stronger he could only yield to Bai Ming. Of course he knew that following Bai Ming''s methods he could only get so far and not defeat Bai Ming, but he didn''t have any other choice to begin with, he could only endure. One had to say, this Zi Feng was truly a fierce character. Even after suffering so much, he maintained his psyche that in itself is a praise worthy.

    As for how Bai Ming made the other children submit was because of his acting skills, after Bai Ming had knocked out little Zi, he didn''t immediately bring out his mothers corpse from his storage bag, instead he first questioned those children asking them about litte Zi''s parents whereabouts, but these children were all from different viges how could they know, next he moved towards Zi feng and grabbed his head with one of his hands and acted as if he was undergoing excruciating pain, after that he left the cave and when he returned he was holding zi feng''s dead mother and in front of all the children he began to cook her.

    ? Bai Ming''s actions carried deep meaning, whether it was him asking the children zi feng''s parents whereabouts or acting to undergo suffering showed that he wasn''t lying about not killing little Zi''s parents. But what did this mean for the other children, their parents where also alive, this was huge relief for them, And secondly Bai Ming never made any of the children suffer without reason, he only tortured zi feng because he was disobedient. This made the children think that if they were to listen to Bai Ming they would not get tortured, as for why they would not kill themselves in the absence of Bai Ming was because firstly, they were afraid of dying, secondly if they die there is a high chance that Bai Ming would also kill their parents. Of course Bai Ming had his own reasons as to why he didn''t take the rough route with them.

    Bai Ming entered the cave silently, he carefully observed the children. All of the children were facing the wall and busy studying. Bai Ming had written the primeval star mantra on the wall.

    "All of youe here" Bai Ming spoke, his tone cold.

    All of the children heard this and came running toward Bai Ming, few of the children looked at Bai Ming in fear, two of them just looked at their own toes unable to see Bai Ming in the eye, As for our little Zi, his eyes we''re dull, his face expressionless as he started at Bai Ming in the eye.

    "Sit down, I will check each of your progress. If your progress is not up to my standard, hmph. You will not get any food for atleast 4-5 days" Bai Ming nced at the children coldly, most of the children avoided his gaze. Only Zi feng stared back at him emotionlessly.

    After checking their progress, he was satisfied but he still made the person with least progress suffer.

    "These children are progressing smoothly,  especially this brat Zi, he haspletelyprehend the art in three days. Now that zi feng can help others, I will onlye to check on them once or twice a week until the final exam, it''s too much of a waste of my precious time toe here daily." Bai Ming thought quietly.

    As for giving these children spirit stones to cultivate faster that would be the height of idiocy when he himselfcked resources.

 Chapter 22 Year End Exam - Part 2

    ?Time flies, autumn leaves and winteres

    On the arena in the academy, fifty-six students stood straight on the arena. Each of their noses were bright red from the weather, and every breath they took had steaming out of their noses.

    The academy elder spoke loudly, "In a sh your time in the academy has alreadye to it''s end. During this period of time you were trained in the academy and have started to grasp the qualities of a cultivator. Tomorrow, you will have the year end examination to test the fruits of your hard work! Not only will the n leader and n elderse personally to watch, your family elders and seniors will alsoe to observe your performance."

    "Your performances tomorrow, to arge extent will affect your future, if your performance is good you might be able to join the team of your liking, but of course you can also form a team among yourselves, but i wouldn''t rmend that. Now, let''s start the final cultivation check in your academic life!"

    Saying so, the academy elder began calling out the names from the name list, "Bei Ju"

    "Here" as he spoke he released his aura.

    "Bei ju, 9thyer bone forging realm, next yue peng." the academy elder dered.

    One after another, youngsters showcased their cultivation level.

    Their expressions varied, some were happy while others were upset.The worst result was naturally 5thyer of bone forging realm, all being the low grade talents. Arge number of the students were 6-7yer bone forging realm, they were mostly mid grade, few low grade talents with good spirit stone supply. There was a very small number of mid grade talents with help of some treasures, who have reached the 8thyer. As for high grade talents they had all reached the 9thyer of bone forging realm.

    "Bai Ming" the elder called out.

    "Here" as he spoke, he disyed his aura.

    "Bai Ming, 9thyer bone forging realm, next Su Ming." The academy elder announced.

    Hearing this the youngsters showed no reaction, They had already gotten used to this, in their hearts Bai Ming was just a mid grade talent in name, he wasn''t any less than a high grade talent. And after his battle with the demonic cultivator he was very famous in the n, from that day he was very well received by the members of the n.

    "Sir elder, here" Su Ming released his aura, his eyes shining with a kind of brilliance. The students nearby immediately felt immense pressure.

    "Su Ming, 1st tier elemental realm." The elder dered while stroking his white beard.

    The youngsters had all kind of reaction as they looked at Su Ming. They already knew that he was going to win thispetition there was no doubt about that.

    "Su Ming...sigh, this is going to be difficult." Bai Ming was calm on the outside, but he could only sigh on the inside.

    "Unfortunately, thepetition is tomorrow if it was only a dayter, I would have already broken through to the elemental realm. By then my chances of winning would definitely be almost certain." Bai Ming thought secretly.

    "Now that he is a elemental realm expert, not only does he have higher storage of spiritual energy, the spiritual energy itself has gone through a qualitative change. And not to mention martial techniques, even though teaching others martial techniques is strictly forbidden and even the n head is bound by this rule somewhat, but that does not apply to martial techniques which do not belong to the n, now that Su Ming is being supported by the n head. He might have already passed him a technique secretly."

    ...

    Early in the morning, the Ye n appeared especially lively. This was due to the year end exam that was urring today and many were heading towards the academy training field. Throughout the journey, everyone in the Ye n was whispering non-stop.

    As time passed, more and more cultivators entered the academy doors, and stood in the arena.These were male and female cultivators. There were young faces, middle-aged, and old people as well.

    students after graduating woulde out and form small teams toplete the n missions. Most of the cultivators that came to the arena were all the representatives of their groups, to assess the performances of the students and absorb them into their own teams.

    To the newly joined members, under the guidance and teaching of the older members, they can swiftly adapt to the new environment and more effectivelyplete the n missions and result in lesser deaths. So most of the students would join these already established groups, instead of forming their own.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The sun gradually rose, as the students entered the fray.

    "So many people today." The youngsters proimed.

    "Quickly see, that is shun long. He is our Ye n''s number one expert among the elemental realm cultivators, and he may not look the part but his strength surely doesn''t lie." A person pointed at the purple haired male individual with a slim physique and spoke.

    "Senior wushang is here too, it''s just like the rumours say he looks so cold." A young girl spoke with shining eyes.

    "That is miss Chen sisi, from the chen family"

    Shun long, Ji wushang, Chen sisi were the rising stars, known by all students.

    "Sigh, their teams are too hard to get in. I am only a low grade talent, I am meant to be a support staff or to be logistics person." A youngster sighed.

    "Even a mid grade talent doesn''t have much chance to join their groups. Only those talented high grades or someone like Bai Ming have the ability to join their teams." Another spoke.

    After a period of time all the students had entered the arena.

    The academy elder, n leader and a few other n elders were sitting beside the stage,  there was huge tform specialy constructed for them.

    After a speach from the n head, thepetition officially began.

    All of the students with 5thyer cultivation arrived on the stage, the first round of thispetition was a battle royal, the person to win this round would qualify to join the 6thyer cultivators battle Royal, the same would apply till the 9thyer. The person who can qualify from the 9thyer gets to directly challenge Su Ming for the number 1 ranking. This was the advantage of having higher cultivation.

    As for how they would decide the ranking, whenever a student would surrender via verbal deration or would be kicked off the tform, their name would be recorded down. The earliest your name is written down, the lower the ranking you receive, and theter your name is written, the greater is your ranking.

    There was an important rule these children had to remember, killing was strictly forbidden. If they either intentionally or unintentionally killed their opponent they would be disqualified from thepetition on the spot.

    The n was protective of their seedlings, especially this year. They had already lost arge number of youngsters during the mid term exam.

    "Begin!" The announcer shouted with much enthusiasm.

    The world went from tense to chaotic as shouting noises, sounds of weapons shing as well as the discussions of the people below the stages fused into a loud banter.

    "This year''s students have high physical fighting skills." Chen sisimented, she had short ck hair and clear light blue eyes along with jade like countenance was magnificent,  While she wasn''t a top-tier beauty. She was a good-looking woman in her own right.

    "It isn''t strange, after all these students had gone through a dangerous situation, it must have motivated them to train harder." Ye shun long spoke inly.

    Ji wushang however was only watching and not speaking, his expression cold.

    The exam continued. By noon, the 4th round of thepetition hade to an end. The small groups quickly recruited newbies, and the students also chose the groups they wanted to join. Of course many of the students didn''t get to join their desired groups, they could only settle for the less popr ones.

    "Finally it is time for the 5th round of thepetition" Chen sisi spoke, shrugging off her sleepiness.

    "All 9thyer students quickly enter the arena" At this moment the announcer shouted loudly.

 Chapter 23 Year End Exam - Part 3

    ?Bai Ming got up the stage, he quickly nced at his opponents. Including Bai Ming, there were a total of 6 members on the stage right now.

    The crowd looked on with much anticipation, but most of them ced their hopes on Bai Ming. A medium-grade talent who can stand equally with a high-grade talent how incredibly rare.

    Even these high-grade talents felt much pressure from Bai Ming.

    "Begin" the announcer shouted.

    "Bai Ming! I will be the one fighting you!" The instant the battle began Bei Ju yelled loudly and dashed towards Bai Ming, it seemed like he wanted to engage in a closebat battle with Bai Ming. He was determined to wash away the previous humiliation, and once and for all destroy Bai Ming''s shadow in his heart.

    Bai Ming''s expression was like cold steel, he didn''t take a step forward, he stood there like an unmoving mountain.

    In a breaths time, Bei Ju had already appeared in front of Bai Ming, with a swish he shed his sword vertically at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming who was like a sculpture the entire time suddenly moved, he easily dogged the iing sword with minimal effort. Next, he quickly took a step forward, his right hand formed a fist as he effortlessly struck Bei JU''s abdomen.

    Crash!

    Bei Ju was sent flying, he crashed heavily on the ground, but he wasn''t injured heavily.

    Silence.

    Everyone below the stage were stunned, and everyone on the stage were also stunned.

    "Peng, peng, peng, peng!"

    Bai Ming didn''t give them time to recover from their stupor. He charged forward, effortlessly dogging their attacks and sending every single person who stood in his way off the stage with a single punch from him.

    One has to understand that although his cultivation level was only at the 9thyer of the bone forging realm, he was also a body cultivator his speed, strength, endurance, vitality, and defense were on apletely different levelpared to these children.

    There was absolute silence. Wasn''t this guy too powerful? Since when has there been such a bone-forging realm monster in the Ye n, never!

    The n head and the elders who were watching thepetition all had serious expressions, their eyes asionally glimmered. The moment Bai Ming disyed his prowess they used their divine sense to scan him, but they got nothing out of it, he was really just a bone-forging realm expert.

    Many of the students stared with their mouths wide open, they were awestruck.

    How did he do it? numerous people had this huge question mark on their heads.

    Bai Ming sheepishly gazed around, the result of this fight was only natural in his eyes. There were only two things that Bai Ming was worried about in today''s fight, one was Su Ming and secondly, he was worried that somebody might have secretly broken through the elemental realm yesterday, but fortunately, it didn''t happen.

    "The winner of the 5th round, Bai Ming" The announcer dered loudly.

    "You have 30 minutes to rest before the final round." the announcer informed. Bai Ming nodded in response.

    Bai Ming began to meditate, even though he wasn''t tired, he was also not in a hurry.

    Half an hour quickly passed.

    The final battle, Su Ming vs Bai Ming!

    The final match finally started. The two geniuses stood in the same arena, staring at each other.

    Su Ming stood ten meters away from Bai Ming, his gaze tranquil. His entire being emitted the aura of absolute confidence.

    Whereas Bai Ming''s gaze was cold, his expression tough like the monolith.

    "Brother Bai, you have gotten this far it''smendable. But...you are not my match, I am an elemental realm expert while you are only a bone forging realm expert. Even with the help of your treasure sword you are not able to contest with me. It is better for you to admit defeat!" Su Ming stared calmly at Bai Ming, speaking unhurriedly. Even though on the surface he spoke such words, but deep within him, he really wanted to beat this hateful Bai Ming, he clearly remembered how Bai Ming wanted to take advantage of him during the hunting exam.

    Bai Ming''s lips curled up forming an arrogant smile his gaze showing utter contempt, he spoke with his hands behind his back "If it wasn''t for those precious rewards I would have withdrawn from the fight, otherwise how could I stoop so low to fight a filthy scum like you, spit."

    Arrogance!!

    Such Arrogance!!!

    For a moment, the stomachs of the spectators churned, as all kinds of thoughts surged in their minds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Su Ming''s face turned dark, his tone unavoidably had be colder from anger "Hmph, I was polite and respectful to you asking you to take a step back, It was because I had no intention of bullying a weak person, but it seems you''re not worthy of my kindness."

    Bai Ming heard this and sneered openly, he spoke with much disgust "Enough, stop your act of hypocrisy. You were showing me you''re kind intentions? then why don''t you admit defeat, that will really be an act of kindness. Tell me can you do it?"

    Su Ming stared at him coldly "Hmph, so much nonsense! why should I do what you want,e fight me if you have guts!"

    "You have finally shown your true colors, I had already seen through you long ago." Bai Ming paused for a moment before he shouted loudly with much emotion "Today I will not only be fighting for myself, but I will also represent the will of our dead ssmates who died unjustly because of you, If it wasn''t because of you they would still be here with all of uspeting side by side. Listen carefully, You are responsible for their deaths, you are the reason that they are dead!! you are the person who killed them!! Now tell me, where are your morals!? where is it!?"

    Once these words were spoken absolute silence enveloped the surrounding.

    These icy words directly pierced through the deepest part of Su Ming''s fragile heart, these words directly whipped at his soul. Su Ming''s face had turnedpletely pale as paper. He wanted to rebuke him, but there were no words he could say, his fists were tightly clenched, soundlessly expressing the regret and self-me that he was feeling deep in his heart. He had once felt the same way, but because of the n head''s efforts he was able to get past it and buried these useless thoughts deep within him, but now because of Bai Ming these painful thoughts resurfaced again.

    The n head''s face turned iparably dark, a feeling of loathing towards Bai Ming formed in him, even the elders had cold lights flickering in their eyes.

    "It''s time" Bai Ming''s spiritual energy erupted as he suddenly dashed towards Su Ming with his top speed, he ferociously swung his treasure sword.

    Primeval sword art - 2ndyer, Bai Ming repeatedly used the sword art, sending pale green sword rays toward Su Ming. In an instant six sword rays rushed toward Su Ming.

    But Su Ming stood there like a lifeless corpse, Bai Ming saw this and was ted as he continued to use his sword art. But just when the furthest sword ray was just in front of him, Su Ming suddenly moved.

    He Unsheathed his sword and shed forward, an extremely terrifying sword light was released. It easily destroyed Bai Ming''s attacks as the sword ray continued to move toward Bai Ming.

    Having been slowed down by his earlier attack, Bai Ming was able to dodge it with some effort.

    Bai Ming quickly nced at the n head from the corner of his eye, But he quickly shifted his focus toward Su Ming. He sighed internally seeing that his little plot failed, but he wasn''t too disappointed.

    "You traitor, do you feel proud about yourself? Remember you''re a scum, a scum who was the reason for the death of his ssmates." Bai Ming continued to shout relentlessly.

    "Ahhhhhhh!" Su Ming yelled loudly, his eyes were zing in fury, his expression malevolent.

    "Mountain-shing sword art!!" Su Ming shouted as he used his strongest attack. This was a mid-grade sword art, The n head had personally taught him this sword art.

    If this attack were tond on Bai Ming, he would definitely be sent flying out and have a few of his bones broken. This was considering that he manages to block it with his treasure sword, if not he would definitely die.

    Everyone looked on intently, they were expecting Bai Ming to dodge this fearsome attack.

    But Bai Ming''s following actions made the spectator''s eyes wide open, they looked on with dumbfounded looks.

    Even the n head and the n elders showed shocked expressions.

    Bai Ming had a slight smile as he looked at the iing sword ray, his arms were stretched open as if he wanted to embrace the sword ray.

    He was simply courting death.

    Su Ming witnessed Bai Ming''s actions, and his heart immediately sank. If this sword ray came in contact with Bai Ming, Bai Ming would definitely be sliced in half, he would die. And if Bai Ming were to die, Su Ming would be immediately disqualified from thepetition ording to the rules.

    Now, Su Ming began to panic. His heart was extremely flustered. The sword ray was almost about to reach Bai Ming, what to do??  his mind went into utter chaos.

    But what he didn''t know was that Bai Ming wasn''t an ordinary bone-forging realm cultivator, his body after cultivating the rotten blood art was as durable as a semi-low-grade treasure. But even with his tough body if he were to take this attack directly, he would suffer a serious injury but that''s all.

    In front of Su Ming, there was only one option now, he had to cancel his attack. But Cancelling an attack isn''t that simple, if he were to cancel it now Su Ming would immediately face a huge bacsh, but he didn''t have any other choice Unless he wanted to be disqualified.

    Su Ming ferociously clenched his teeth, with great regret he forcefully canceled his attack, the horrifying sword ray quickly vanished into nothingness.

    Puke

    Su Ming began to crazily vomit blood and bleed from his seven orifices. In an instant he waspletely drenched in blood, his entire body felt extremely weak.

    In the very next second, he suddenly felt a an enormous pressure hitting the back of his neck. His vision started to darken, and he directly lost consciousness as he fell down.

    Bai Ming stood behind Su Ming and indifferently stared at the unconscious body of Su Ming.

    "It seems I have won.."

 Chapter 24 Elemental Realm

    ?On the stage, Su Ming fainted on the ground with no more movements from him.

    Bai Ming however, continued with his cold expression, standing in the middle of the stage.

    "This year''s final exam, the first ce goes to Bai Ming!" The announcer dered loudly, but his thoughts were shing wildly "The script wasn''t supposed to be like this!"

    After a momentary silence, the crowd erupted.

    "He''s too shameless!"

    "Completely unfair! there was nothing else junior Su could have done, this is so unfair!"

    "I really can''t bear to look at that guy, Did you see his wicked expression at having his viinous scheme seeding!"

    The spectators were going crazy, but some had solemn gazes as they contemted Bai Ming''s reckless fighting style.

    "I''ll go take a look." The academy elder could no longer stand it, and after saying so, he jumped onto the stage.

    He squatted down and observed the fainted Su Ming, sighing in relief as he found that Su Ming was not in a life and death condition, but he was still heavily injured, the elder quickly took out a healing pill from his robes and fed it to him before handing Su Ming to the medical personnel.

    "Unbelievable, Bai Ming this brat is truly daring and reckless, and scheming too, he was even smiling when the sword ray neared him, such absolute confidence in a situation as deadly as that, is he really a fourteen year old boy."  The academy elder was shocked internally, raising his head and looking at Bai Ming, his eyes shining with a sharp light.

    Bai Ming walked down the stage, his ears picking up the people''s discussions as he smirked coldly inside his heart.

    The Ye n leader kept on standing and frowning deeply. This matter had developed out of his control.

    Normally Bai Ming getting first ce, he wouldn''t care much. But he was worried about Su Ming.

    Undeniably, today''s impact was too great on Su Ming''s psyche.

    Not only did he lose to a person who was major realm below him, that said individual didn''t only defeat him, he also made Su Ming question his morals, those thoughts of guilt which buried deep inside where mercilessly dug out again. Such a psychological trauma might negatively impact his growth.

    "Under my guidance and arrangement, Su Ming was the first to advance to the peak of bone forging realm and then to elemental realm, continuously gaining sess and confidence. But after this battle his confidence is probably gone by now, how troublesome. Sigh, my hard work has all gone up like smoke." Ye Qing han sighed deeply, he naturally gained a sense of disgust and loathing towards Bai Ming.

    If Bai Ming had lost to Su Ming, everything would have been perfect. But he actually won, that is really infuriating.

    "The rewards of thispetition are wasted on him, even if he is a every cunning and daring individual. But with his lowly mid grade talent, how far can he go. At most he can reach the core formation realm in his lifetime,pared to Su Ming a superior grade talent he isn''t worth much, and this year we also have the inter npetition, sigh."

    Not only the n leader, but the other n elders had solemn andplex gazes.

    Bai Ming had just gotten down the stage when he was immediately surrounded by these martial artists, a moment ago many of them were showcasing their displeasure, but now these people wanted to recruit him into joining their group.

    Bai Ming sighed lightly, he didn''t want associate himself with others but he had no choice. There simply wasn''t any benifit for him in joining these groups.

    Why do people take on these n missions, one was to earn spirit stones and another was to earn contribution points.

    Let''s start with contribution points, contribution points had only one use. It was to allow the said individual to enter the ns scripture hall for a certain period of time, this was an incredibly important in the eyes of the nsman. But this was basically useless for Bai Ming, why? because he will be allowed to spend 15 days in the ns scripture hall, with Bai Ming''sprehensive abilities this amount of time was more than enough for Bai Ming to learn everything he needed.

    As for spirit stones, Bai Ming had enough confidence earn it by himself. Once heprehends few mid grade techniques and cultivates in the spiritual pond, along with his diamond like body his strength would reach new heights. By then his need for teammate''s wouldn''t be much.

    And there was one more problem, he wouldn''t be able move freely, much of his activities would be restricted. If he could move alone it would be so much better for him.

    But there was nothing he could do, the n rules forced him to either join a existing team or create a team among his ssmates.

    Bai Ming quickly scanned his surroundings, his gazending on a certain individual. He had already decided to join a particr team.

    ....

    Nightfall arrived.

    Bai family house.

    Bai Ming''s door was shut tight. In the darkness, he was not asleep, but sitting on his bed. In front of him was small pile of spirit stone.

    "I am just a step away from elemental realm, I might as well not sleep tonight, I''ll rush straight for the elemental realm!" Bai Ming''s eyes shone with determination.

    Soon after, he shut his eyes, he held a spirit stone in both of his hands. He began to circte the primeval star mantra, absorbing the essence from the spirit stone and storing it in his body, once the spirit stone in his hand turned into powder he would grab another one.

    Usually, when a martial artist began the process of breaking through, even if they had the support of spirit stones or medicinal effects, they had to batter against the barrier repeatedly until it had somewhat loosened to be able to breach it. However, Bai Ming had absolute confidence that as long as he had stored up enough energy, he''d be able to sessfully break through this barrier on his first attempt. His confidence stemmed from the fact that he was a superior grade talent, if he was only a mid grade talent this barrier would be like an iron wall, but for the current him it was only thin sheet of paper.<novelnext></novelnext>

    seven hours passed, his body was brimming with spiritual energy, and he felt as if his whole body was inted.

    This was of course but a misconception. It was just that he had stored too much energy within his body, causing him to have this kind of an "inted" sensation. But should he still not break through or unleash this energy somehow, his body really might explode because of this umtion of energy.

    It was like a water pouch that had already been filled to the brim. If the pouch was not punctured to make a hole to release some water, or if the water wasn''t transferred to a bigger pouch, then the only result would be that the pouch would explode.

    "Its enough" Bai Ming thought. "Now all that''s left is to guide this enormous amount of energy towards the Dantian and batter against the barrier."

    In the Body forging realm one could only store a very tiny amount of spiritual qi in the Dantian, the rest was of the essence was stored in every bit of blood and flesh, and so it was actually very limited in quantity. As for Elemental realm, it meant to open up one''s Dantianpletely, and Expanding the mystical space within one''s body.

    Everyone possessed this kind of a small universe, or a small world, in their bodies. In terms of cultivation, this kind of small world was thought to exist within one''s Dantian. For bone forging realm cultivators this space was only the size of a fist but once a martial artist reaches the elemental realm, it would expand by 100 times.

    "Bang!"

    Under the fierce barrage of energy, a pin sized hole appeared in his Dantian. For those less talented Individuals to break through, they would have to depend on a continuous, repeated barrage to endlessly widen and erge this hole or slit. However, Bai Ming was different. The energy he had umted was more than enough for him to immediately begin breaking through.

    He mentallymanded the spiritual qi to push forward, the spiritual qi with much ease tore through the thin barrier entering the newly formed space.

    Expanding the Dantian was only the first step. The next step was the most important one.

    That was, to solidify the spiritual qi into a high-speed revolving nucleus.

    This was something like installing a motor in one''s Dantian. With a mentalmand, the spiritual nucleus revolving at high speeds would generate energy that would erupt with a horrifying attack.

    How was it that the Elemental realm experts could easily crush the Body forging realm martial artists? That was because once the spiritual nucleus was formed, energy would gush out like a raging flood from it. Even if two fighters had umted equal amounts of qi, the one who had actually formed the origin nucleus would have faster, stronger attacks, possessing an overwhelming advantage over his opponent and there was also the fact that the spiritual qi would have a qualitative change.

    Bai Ming''s expanding his Dantian could only be considered as being halfway to Elemental realm. He had only raised the upper limit of his internal storage of spiritual qi, the power upgrade depended on whether he could form the origin nucleus or not.

    Martial artists of the Elemental realm form a total of nine spiritual nuclei. Once they had seeded in forming the ninth, they''d be able to start the process of forming the core and breakthrough to the core formation realm.

    Bai Ming started to form the nucleus. The powerful spiritual qi stirred wildly like raging tsunami, then it intertwined like myriad slik threads and slowly Interfused together. This was a very delicate process, he had to be very careful or it could lead to disaster, Bai Ming made a few tiny mistakes but he quickly resolved them, every time that happened his heart would skip a beat. It was understandable, after all this was the first time he was going through such a process. After spending an hour he finally managed to solidify the spiritual energy within his body into a nucleus form, as tiny as a finger nail.

    "I advanced to elemental realm!" Bai Mingughed heartily, opening his eyes.

    The bright sunlight creeped in through the opening between the curtains.

    Unknowingly, the night had passed, and it was already morning.

    "Taking advantage of the fact that the spiritual qi within me has not beenpletely exhausted, I''ll cultivate for a while longer."

    Bai Ming guided the remnants of the spiritual qi to expand and strengthen his spiritual nuclei.

    The cultivation process of Elemental realm was to strengthen and expand the spiritual nucleus as much as possible.Therger the spiritual nucleus and the faster its rotation, the stronger the power that could instantly erupt from it would be. Thus, even if two martial artists possessed the same cultivation levels, there would still appear a gap between their individual battle prowess depending on their nuclei.

    After half an hour of cultivation, Bai Ming slowly opened his eyes, which flickered with a stary light.

    He spoke with a slight smile "Status"

    _____

    [????????????]

    [???????? : ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ??????????????????  ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/5000]

    _____

    "The maximum capacity of skill points has indeed increased,  but that isn''t the main thing." Bai Ming paused for a moment beforemanding "Open lucky spin!"

 Chapter 25 Attainment

    ?From the basic guide that he had gotten from the panel, Bai Ming knew that every time he would breakthrough a major realm, he would get two opportunities to spin the wheel.

    _____

    [?????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? 2]

    [????????: ??????/????]

    _____

    "Yes!" Bai Ming confirmed with much anticipation in his heart,st time he had gotten the rotten blood art form the lucky spin, hence he naturally held huge expectations this time.

    [????????????????????.. ??????????????????????????????!! ?????? ???????? ???????????????? 1) ?????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ?? ?????????? ?????????????????????? ??????????????????  2)?????????????????? ???????? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????]

    [????????????: ??????/????]

    MADNESS!! MOTHER FUCKING MADNESS!!!

    Bai Ming''s eyes were wider than full moons, his heart trembling in pure excitement. The spiritual qi in his body was at unrest, Bai Ming took a few calming breaths and forcefully managed to calm himself down, But his eyes shone with a tint of  insanity.

    He once again read the description beforeughing in a crazed manner.

    "Huhuhu...Hehehe..Hahahaha marvelous, truly marvelous, hahahaha..." Unprecedented joy filled Bai Ming''s heart.

    The immense joy he felt did not ovee his mind, he quickly calmed downhis face returning to his usual cold indifference, "ept"

    An enormous amount of information was directly transferred into him mystically, his previously sharp gaze turnedpletely void, he was in this state of nkness for nearly four hours. Only then did his eyes regain their rity, but unlike before his eyes exhibited boundless depth and heavenly wisdom shone in his eyes, they resembled the eyes of a great sage who had meditated for thousands of years.

    "How refreshing." Bai Ming stood up as he stretched out both of his hands, taking in a deep breath "Who would have thought I would be a formation path grandmaster in a blink of an eye."

    Attainment represented the an individuals understanding of Great Dao! one''s formation path realm was that said individuals understanding of the Dao of formation. Attainment was generally divided into ordinary, master, great master, Supreme master, grandmaster, great grandmaster, supreme grandmaster, origin saint, Truth seeker, All knowing.

    Most cultivators would only have ordinary attainment in their whole lives. Masters were geniuses or old, experienced individuals.

    Masters were iparably rare! For instance, in the Ye n currently only the Ye n head was a sword path master.

    Every advancement of a Attainment meant an astonishing upgrade in one''s battle strength!

    It was because higher attainment meant deeper understanding of the fragments andws of heavenly dao. It allowed martial artists to create techniques and disy greater dominance of their paths.

    Let''s take an example, imagine there are two swordsmen, they both have the same cultivation level and have studied the same technique, but one of the swordsman has ordinary attainment and the other has master attainment in the sword path, now when both of thempete using the same technique Or even normal sword strikes, the person with master attainment will be able to disy twice amount of strength than the person with ordinary attainment. Of course higher one''s attainment, higher the increase in one''s strength.

    "Even if I had gotten a formation path inheritance from a great grandmaster I wouldn''t have been this happy, The value of an inheritance pales inparison to attainment. As for the sword path insights from a great grandmaster it will allow me to improve my understanding of the sword path, along with my sword path talent raising my sword path attainment will be much smoother."

    "I have achieved another qualitative change in my overall strength, Hmm..oh shit, I have to get to the ns scripture hall"

    Bai Ming rushed to the ns scripture hall which was located in the ns central pavilion, he was nearly an hourte.

    He quickly reached the entrance of the hall, there he saw an bald and muscr old man digging his nose, this was the elder who was responsible for guarding the scripture hall, he nced at Bai Ming indifferently, then the elder very slowly moved his body as he led Bai Ming into the hall.

    There were already four other students here they didn''t notice Bai Ming''s arrival they were too focused onprehending their respective martial techniques, Bai Ming quickly moved towards the huge stone tablet in the center. The 3rd and 4thyer of the the primeval sword art was recorded in it. Bai Ming spent a total of four days onprehending it, but to execute these techniques he would have to physically train in them, but now that he hadprehend them he could practice themter, next he simrly choose a mid grade movement technique. He spent nearly 3 daysprehending it, Bai Ming still had eight days of time remaining to spend inside the scripture hall, but he had no interest in learning any other techniques for the time being, he wanted to go through the sword path insights he had gotten, the contents were already stored in his mind he began to go through them,pletely immersing himself. For the next eight days he waspletely oblivious to the outside. His mind waspletely absorbed in the way of the sword.

    Only when the elder incharge ordered the students to leave did Bai Ming finally woke up from his trance.

    "Boundless indeed... but I am still far from reaching the master realm. But my gains were tremendous this time. These insights have broaden my horizons, but I have only managed to scratch the surface of the meaning of that great expert''s words. But if there is one thing that I have understood; one should not be blindly dependent on the techniques created by others, instead I should walk my own path, create my own technique. Even if I have great understanding of someone else''s technique against the creator of that technique I will be a step behind. But creating my own technique is the right way, the created technique will evolve as my understanding of the sword increases, but creation is a very lengthy process, if I can raise my sword path attainment to atleast master realm, I can consider developing my own sword technique. But as of now Ick the foundation to create my own technique. There is no need to rush I should take my time in this aspect. Having guidance from a great expert is indeed the best way for one to improve ones strength." Bai Ming evaluated his gains and quickly came to a conclusion.

    "All of you quickly get lost" the bald old man spoke before he pointed towards Bai Ming " You stay here, an elder wille and take you to the spirit pool" As the elder finished speaking he resumed the excavation of his nose.

    The children heard this and cast their gazes on Bai Ming has they left, they looked at him with envy and jealousy, But one child stared at Bai Ming with much hatred, who else could it be but Su Ming. After theirpetition his hatred towards Bai Ming was immense.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming didn''t even spare them a nce, he treated them like air. He was busy consolidating his gains.

    After waiting for a few more minutes, an middle aged woman came and led Bai Ming towards the spirit pool.

    "Remember, I wille again after twelve days."  she spoke before taking her leave.

    "Thank you for the help elder"

    The middle aged woman made a grunt of approval before she turned around and left, leaving Bai Ming alone in the spirit pool.

    Bai Ming calmly watched her leave, after that he didn''t immediately enter the pond. He walked circles around the pond as he observed the area carefully, making a few deductions in his brain.

    "Done, I have already created a 2nd grade qi gathering array, But i can also create a 3rd grade array. Hmm.. But i only have elemental realm cultivation, using my formation path grandmaster attainment as a foundation i can at max create a 4th grade array but my soul force is only at elemental realm at most I can only ce a 2nd grade array, but if I can create a 3rd grade array which doesn''t require me topletely set it up instantly, I will be able to set it up by taking a break and after recovering my soul force I can still continue setting up the array. But wait, I don''t have the required items to set up the 3rd grade formation, sigh. With the spirit stones and beast cores I have currently, it is already a great achievement that I have the ability to set up a 2nd grade formation. My formation path attainment is at grandmaster level allowing me to create arrays up to 3rd grade with much ease and 4th grade with some effort, now the only thing holding me back is my low cultivation realm or precisely my weak soul force."

    A soul, rtive to the human body, was one of the most fundamental parts of a human''s life. The soul was basically a type of energy. It was the very core of one''s being, without it a person would be no different than a empty shell.

    When one''s soul was powerful, there were all sorts of benefits. For instance, one''s divine sense, alchemical ability, refining ability, formation ability¨C all of this was rted to one''s soul.

    Soul force or mental energy was the basis of all martial intents, A martial artist''s soul force was directly rted to theirdivine sense.

    Divine Sense or Spiritual sense refers to a manifestation of one''s consciousness and spirit that''s used by martial artists to scan their surroundings, far beyond the limits of their ordinaryfive senses. The divine sense could be used to probe a distance of a few meters, a dozen meters until one could probe the entirety of a city. At higher levels of cultivation, one''s divine sense could be used to overlook an entire continent, the entire world, stars and the vast space itself.

    Formations - Generally divided into arrays and restrictions. Arrays type formations are generally used for attack, defense, battlefield killer moves or continuous area effect purpose etc. Whereas restrictions are spells which form a barrier around a location or act to seal/suppress a person or object.

    The formations are generally grade from 1st tier to the 9th grade. The higher the grade, better the effect of the formation, of course the higher grade formations have more requirementspared to a low tier formations.

    A person with a master attainment in formations path will be able create 1st grade formations, a great master can create 2nd grade and below. As for Bai Ming who is a grandmaster realm attainment he can create 4th grade formations and below.

    But even though he can create them, butying down the formation requires equal amount of soul force. With his elemental realm soul strength he can only set up 2nd grade formations, if Bai Ming wants to set up higher grade formations he should either increase his soul force or make the formation such that it wouldn''t require toplete the entire process in one go.

    "I only have 12 days of time, I should begin now." Bai Ming thought to himself.

    Bai Ming took out nearly two hundred spirit stones  from his storage bag and a dozen tier 1 beast cores. Next he began to ce them at different corners of the pond, then he began to circte the spiritual energy in his body guiding them through particr channels, then he constantly tapped various parts of his body using his fingers, slowly his hands moved faster.

    Spots of light appeared all over his body before they flew towards the air, Bai Ming constantly made hand signs and sent beams of spiritual energy towards every individual light specks, Next he used his mental energy to fuse certain specks of light.

    Giant beads of sweat appeared on Bai Ming''s body, His whole body waspletely soaked in sweat. The consumption of his soul force was huge.

    Next he gritted his teeth, as he slowly but steadily moved the specks of light to enter either the spirit stones or beast cores.

    After managing to fuse all of the speck of lights, he let out a breath of relief. He quickly undressed as he jumped to the middle of the spirit pond. Next he sat cross legged and made one final hand sign with his left hand before pointing towards the beast core in his right hand.

    Once he did that, a light yellow hemispherical barrier enveloped the entire pond, dense spiritual qi began to gather inside the formation. The spiritual energy in the pond was already five times that of the outside world, But after setting up the the 2nd grade formation the density increased to nearly 14 times.

    "Such dense spiritual energy, this is reallyfortable. Hehe, twelve days, in twelve days i can reach the fithyer of elemental realm or even the sixthyer." Bai Ming assessed, the next second he closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

    Days continued to pass, four dayster.

    In a secluded ce in the Xuan mountain. There were two Cultivators standing in front of a small cave. One was beautiful and sweet looking young woman, her skin as fair as the moon. She seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen, but already possessed an cultivation of false core formation realm. There was also an icy aura around her which was a sharp contrast to her cute looking face.

    The other was a middle aged man, this person looked very ordinary. His face was very yellow and hisplexion made him look weak, like he could die at any moment,but people wouldn''t dare to take this person lightly with is peak spirit realm cultivation.

    "Teacher congrattions, your four years of hard work has finally paid off. I am really happy for you." Li wei spoke in soft voice as a loving smile blossomed on her cute face.

    "Don''t be impatient, we still haven''t subdued it." Li jun spoke in hoarse voice, ?????????????? ?? ???????? ?????????? ????, ?????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????. ???? ??????''?? ???? ???????? ???????????? ?? ???????????????????????? ?????? ??????-???????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???????? ???? ???????? ???????????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????? ???? ???????????????? ????????????.

    "Let''s begin now" Li jun spoke as he stepped into the cave, the young woman quickly followed after him, disappearing in the darkness.

 Chapter 26 Beast Tide

    ?The underground cave, yet in the darkness of the cave, the spirit pond emitted a faint blue light. This was the Ye ns spirit pool.

    "Break" Bai Ming spoke softly, both of his palms were ced together.

    "Crack crack crack" the sounds of ss cracking could be heard as the entire formation slowly broke apart.

    "There is still 3 hour''s time for the twelve day time limit to end, I have already broken through the 6thyer of elemental realm." Bai Ming clenched his fist as he felt the immense power contained within them.

    He tapped his bag of holding (storage pouch), nearly 30-40 wooden buckets flew out. Bai Ming next began to fill these buckets with the spirit water. After filling all of them he stored them in the  storage pouch.

    "Now the water in the spirit pool has decreased by nearly 30% but if I take anymore, the consequences won''t be pleasant, plundering anymore than this would be crossing their bottom line. But the amount I have is enough for me to breakthrough to the core formation realm." Bai Ming thought as he looked at the spirit pool.

    "If had the necessary materials, I would have constructed a teleportation array here, then if I could set up another in the outside I would be able to enter whenever I want. But unfortunately Ick the necessary materials."

    "But there is one more thing that I have understood, Although I can convert the world''s essence into skill points, but they need to be condensed form of essence like spirit stones, pills, spirit herbs etc. Unfortunately I cannot converte this spirit liquid into skill points."

    "Now I need to quickly consolidated my cultivation base, after repeatedly breaking through the stability of my base is bit unstable." Bai Ming evaluated as he began to get dressed.

    Consolidating the base was an important aspect of cultivation, one needed to have an steady foundation otherwise in the future when tackling higher realms problems were sure to arrise. Consolidating the base wasn''t a difficult process, the best way of consolidating one''s base was to either train rigorously or engage in battles.

    "I''ll practice the 3rdyer of the primeval sword art" Bai Ming then began to practice the sword art. Even though he hadpletelyprehend it, but if wanted to use it inbat he would have practice the sword art at least till he reaches initial mastery over it.

    Mastering a technique as three stages, 1) initial mastery - A martial artist has to reach the initial mastery in order to correctly execute the said technique.

    2) Mastery - when an martial artist reaches the mastery in a technique, he can fully disy the power of the technique. The power will be 30-40% stronger than the initial mastery realm.

    3) Transcendence - this is a special realm, not everyone can achieve this. Usually only the person who created that particr art can reach the realm of transcendence. Compared to the initial mastery realm there is 100% increase in strength.

    Three hours quickly passed.

    A middle aged woman quietly stood and watched Bai Ming train, she was the same woman who had previously led Bai Ming into the spirit pool. Her experienced gaze revealed her shock "He was only at the 1styer of elemental realm but in a matter of days he has achieved the 6thyer?! How fearsome! he must definitely have some spiritual treasure. His future...even though he is only a mid grade talent, he might reach the core formation realm, My daughter is only a mid grade talent, andcks the fortitude needed to be an expert, If i side with him early, and form a close rtionship between my daughter and him, her future would be much secure." Her mind cycled through various scenarios, as she slowly revealed herself.

    Bai Ming finally noticed her presence, he stopped training, he moved towards her. He cupped both of his hands in form of greeting, he spoke respectfully "Elder Xu, you havee."

    ? She gave Bai Ming a smile and an approving nod "Junior Bai, congrattions on your breakthrough to the 6thyer, You have exceeded my expectations. You are surely Elder Li''s grandson, you have inherited your grandfathers talent and passion for cultivation."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming noticed the change in her attitude, he still spoke respectfully "Elder Xu is surely joking, I was just lucky, I wouldn''t darepare myself to grandfather, I still far from reaching his level."

    "No no, don''t humble yourself. Even though your only a mid grade talent, But speaking from my experiences I know that your someone ment for greatness." The elder xu continued to praise Bai Ming.

    To this Bai Mingughed but did not say anything.

    "Come let''s leave, during the period of time you were in seclusion many major things have happened." the elder xu spoke in slightly serious tone.

    "What happened?" Bai Ming became alert.

    Elder Xu immediately spoke with a slight frown, "There''s been a small scale beast tide that formed near the vige. If we let it be, it will slowly be a big scale beast tide. But that''s not all, a few days ago a strange phenomena urred, for an instant a huge golden ray of light shot out from a part of the mountain piercing the sky, some of the n elders have gone to investigate it, But there hasn''t been much progress in it."

    "Oh, so it''s like this?" Bai Ming''s gaze shed.

    In this world of cultivators, it was hard for both humans and beasts to survive. Every few years a beast tide would happen. Humans need resources and living space, simrly wild beasts also needed such things!

    To exin the beast tide as a war between wild beasts and humanity.

    Taking Xuan mountain for example, every few  years there would be arge scale wolf tide that attacks each of the big mountain viges.

    "But this is only an small scale beast tide, but If this problem is not controlled in time, the tide would only get bigger. Although it is still unable to endanger the existence of the Ye vige, if we leave it alone, the vige''s power would be greatly reduced. But that isn''t the main part here, golden ray of light? is it the birth of some natural treasure or is it something else, Hmm...interesting."

    "Wait! If this is the caseˇ­ Heh heh heh heh." There was a sudden sh in his eyes, but Bai Ming promptly cast his gaze down, hiding away the change in his eyes.

    Elder Xu continued to speak. "At the present both the internal and external affairs hall have given orders to mobilize, this is an urgent mission. Almost every small group in the vige have set off, Your team has just returned yesterday, they are waiting for you to set off together now."

    As she spoke, they were almost reaching the surface. Elder Xu took out a Jade bottle "Junior bai, Danger lurks everywhere during a beast wave. All kinds of wild beasts roam about, you have to be careful. Take this bottle of high grade 2nd tier medicinal pills."

    Bai Ming wasn''t courteous at all, he thanked her once before keeping the small bottle in his robes. To this Elder Xu just smiled kindly at him.

    Both of them had just exited the underground space, when Bai Ming''s gazended on the person standing in front.

    Bai Ming raised his eyes and looked at this person. It was no other than his new teammate, Ji wushang.

 Chapter 27 Wolf King

    ?It was already winter.

    The entire Xuan mountain was covered by ayer of snow coat, and many of the trees had naked branches, without a single leaf.

    A group of six people ran in the snow. Running on the snow, the chilly winter winds were even more intense.

    Ji wushang took the lead. Besides him and the gentle middle-aged man from thest time, there were also two men and one female, their facial expressions solemn. They were all peak elemental realm experts.

    As they ran, Ji wushang''s group started to disy the graceful bearing of being one of the three strongest groups.

    Bai Ming had chosen to join this group, not only because he knew Ji wushang and the gentle middle-aged man from the mortal vige incident, but because Ji wushang was a member of the Ji family, the only alchemist family in the Ye n, even though they only specialized in concocting medicinal pills. Since Bai Ming had to join a team he decided this was his best choice.

    Bai Ming''s face was originally very white, and now that the snow shone on it, it appeared even paler.

    What was different than before was that Bai Ming had changed his clothes. This was a light green-colored battle attire. The attire had long sleeves and long pants and bamboo shoes adorned his feet. On his chest was a sword pattern, This battle attire when worn by Bai Ming with his cold expression, showed the atmosphere of a calm and collected individual.

    This was a Ye ns formal battle attire, showing Bai Ming''s status. The youngsters had to stay in the academy and graduate before they were allowed to wear this attire.

    When the group of six reached the mountain foot, with one hand gesture from Ji wushang, the group swiftly stopped in their tracks.

    "We will be nearing the beast tide down there. Bai Minge towards the middle of the team." Ji wushang looked at the mountain forest before him as he spoke.

    Bai Ming shed him a slight smile, even though this Ji wushang looked cold and emotionless, he was a nice person. The middle of a group is often the safest spot.

    Even though Bai Ming did not spend much time with them, he had some understanding towards these individuals.

    Even though Ji wushang was the leader of this group, but after interacting with them Bai Ming was able to tell that Ji wushang was the leader only in name, but the true cornerstone of this team was the middle-aged man, unsurprisingly the middle-aged man was also a member of the Ji n, his name was Ji yang. He gave Bai Ming some advice for the iing battles and made sure Bai Ming wasn''t feeling out of ce.

    The sky had already bepletely dark, and the ck clouds were inyers, causing the umted snow to also be dark and gloomy.

    Ji wushang''s group had already changed their group formation. Their speed dropped greatly as they ran slowly through theplicated terrain of the mountain forest.

    Ji wushang was still in the lead, Bai Ming was in the middle of the group, on his right was Ji yang, while on the left was a in-looking young man. Behind them were a green-haired young man and a beautiful tanned woman.

    As they entered deeper into the mountain forest, their surroundings started to show wild beasts violently running about wildly.

    Suddenly wushang opened his mouth and spoke, "Before us, thirteen 2nd tier high grade and four mid-grade beasts have appeared. Shall we engage?"

    "Let''s engage," Ji Yang said.

    Hearing this the remaining members also nodded their heads, Bai Ming was silent.

    "Fine, let''s engage. Bai Ming, you handle the four mid-tier beasts." Ji wushang spoke in his usual cold tone.

    "Okay"

    Everyone moved through the jungle in the darkness, heading towards a low-lyingnd.

    A pack of wolves appeared in their vision.

    "Charge" Ji wushang spoke calmly.

    Except for Bai Ming all the other members engaged with the high-grade tier 2 wolves, Bai Ming also unsheathed his sword as he attracted the mid-grad beasts it''s attention.

    Kill!

    Bai Ming shouted inwardly, he took the initiative to attack, his foot pushed the ground as he pounced towards a hell wolf on his right side.

    This hell wolf immediately shrunk back a step, but then its vicious personality was stimted, it made a powerful jump and attacked Bai Ming.

    It opened its mouth in the air, revealing the many of its sharp wolf teeths that filled its mouth.

    Bai Ming''s spiritual energy erupted as heughed loudly, he didn''t evade but just swung the treasure sword with iparable might.

    2ndyer of primeval sword art.

    Whoosh!

    An eerie green sword ray flew horizontally through the air and struck the hell wolf''s open mouth.

    There was only a ripping noise, this unfortunate hell wolf was instantly cut apart into two ¨C from its mouth to tail ¨C by this heartless sword ray.

    Boiling blood spurted out and poured like a rain of blood.

    Bai Ming''s whole body was coated in pale green spiritual energy as he charged through the blood rain and brutally fought these Hell Wolf.

    The hell wolves reacted, they attacked him from three sides. They opened their mouths and tore at him but Bai Ming nimbly dogged them using his low-grade movement art.

    Their ws were also of no use, as he used his low-grade sword to block them off.

    Bai Ming then punched using the tyrant fist technique, and the hell wolves were sent flying under his enormous strength. Two of the hell wolves had their skulls directly smashed and died on the spot. Bai Ming grasped the upper hand in this battle, next he used the 1styer of primeval sword art to pierce thest hell wolf''s brain, killing it swiftly.

    Hoooowl!

    Bai Ming cast his gaze at hisrades, most of the high-grade wolves were killed. The beauty ruthlessly shed her sword as she beheaded thest hell wolf, as fresh blood sshed on her face. She looked extremely indifferent about it.

    Bai Ming paid attention to their battle the entire time, he was assessing them.

    Ji wushang was the strongest among these five, followed by Ji yang, the in-looking youth, then the green-haired youth, and finally the dark-skinned beauty.

    "Good job! You truly are this year''s champion." Ji Yang looked at Bai Ming, smiling and praising before instructing "Now let''s quickly take the spoils of the battle!"

    Bai Ming surrounded the hell wolf''s corpse and quickly began to dissect the corpse, taking the valuables.

    Ten minutester.

    Hoooooowl!!

    The group of six were running through the forest when they heard the blood-curdling screeching of a wolf.

    "That way" Ji wushang spoke as he quickly changed their direction of travel.

    After a dozen breathster, Ji Yang spoke with a slight frown "I can sense a 2nd tier beast, it is probably a 2nd tier wolf king, there are also two cultivators who are fighting it, but their aura is getting weaker."

    Everyone''s expression changed.

    "Doesn''t matter with our group''s strength as long as we are careful, we can save them." Ji wushang spoke calmly.

    "Yeah, let''s save them" the in-looking youth spoke with resolve.

    The ye nsman had great unity among themselves, if they could save one of their nsman they would definitely do it.

    "Wolf king.." Bai Ming''s heart stirred, his gaze shone with an eerie light, ''this is my shot''

    just secondster they entered the battlefield.

    There were two gravely injured elemental realm experts surrounding the wolf king, engaging in a desperate battle. Barely managing to keep their lives.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the center, the wolf king which was twice the size of a normal tier 2 hell wolf stood ring with its bloodthirsty eyes, it held a severed human head between its sharp teeth.

    The two cultivators sensed Bai Ming and gang''s presence, one of them turned around and saw Ji wushang, he was overjoyed at once "It''s Lord wushang! we are saved. Lord, please help us!"

    Ji wushang and gang expect for the beauty and Bai Ming quickly surrounded the wolf king, the beauty was assigned to help the injured martial artists, before joining the fight.

    As for Bai Ming, he was only a 6thyer elemental realm martial artist, Ji wushang instructed him to keep a distance and wait for his orders. Bai Ming dly agreed to this.

    "The wolf king is still in good shape, there are only slight injuries on it. There are a total of eight cultivators here, one is dead, and two of them are fatally injured they don''t have much threat, as for the remaining...I should let them fight with the wolf king, even though the wolf king is strong but against one of the three strongest small teams, death is inevitable." Bai Ming scanned his surroundings, as he began circling around the battlefield.

    "Primeval sword art - 3rdyer" Ji wushang spoke loudly.

    Swoosh!

    Three solid sword Phantoms made of spiritual energy flew through the air at frightening speed aiming at the wolf king''s face.

    At the same time, the rest of the members shed forward, each sending out a ray of sword light toward the wolf king.

    The wolf king felt threatened by the three sword phantoms, it first ced its attention on it. It opened its mouth revealing its razor-sharp teeth, as it howled at the sword phantom.

    Hoooowl!!

    A terrifying sound wave was released from its mouth, the destructive sound wave and the fierce sword phantoms collided.

    Bam bam bam!

    The three sword phantoms under the force of the mighty sound wave exploded, producing an intense explosion. A huge pit appeared on the spot of the explosion.

    After the collision, the strength of the sound waves also diminished, Ji wushang quickly sidestepped it.

    But the wolf king wasn''t able topletely defend against the sword rays, it blocked few with its demonic ws. While two of themnded on its tough body, creating two more wounds on its body, although the injuries weren''t too serious but after a period of umtion, it could lead to its demise.

    The battle continued for a few more minutes, There were even more injuries on the Wolf''s body now, the boiling wolf blood had dyed the snow red.

    "Ye kai, take out the metallic web now!" Ji yang instructed quickly, "everyone, strike now!"

    Except for the green-haired youth and the beauty, everyone else sent a sword ray at the wolf king, the wolf king had already gone berserk from the fear of death. It tried its best but was still slightly injured again.

    At this time both the beauty and Ye kai appeared behind the wolf king while dragging the shining web and threw it at the wolf king.

    The wolf king was covered by the special web, It had predicted that its death was impending, and struggled even more fiercely.

    Both the beauty and ye kai breathed out in relief at this.

    Even though this wasn''t an ordinary item, it could only make the wolf king stay down for a second or two.

    But in a battle every single second was extremely important, it could be the deciding factor of the battle.

    swish! swish! swish!

    Ji wushang, Ji yang, and the in-looking youth quickly dashed forward at their top speed, they all used the 1styer of primeval sword art, as they tried to pierce the skull of the wolf king.

    They were just inches away from victory!

    "Let me help you guys!" At this time, Bai Ming shouted.

    Swish!!

    An eerie sword ray swept forward, but instead of being aimed at the wolf king. It flew towards the in-looking youth who was just in front of the wolf king. Everyone''s eyes bulged in surprise, especially the in-looking youth''s, he had never expected a sword ray toe flying at him out of nowhere.

    But he managed to dodge it somehow. But at that instant, the wolf king escaped from the. It quickly attacked the youth, the youth''s heart sank. He could only pray to the Gods.

    But thankfully, Ji yang managed to block the wolf with his sword. The impact sent him flying backwards, but Ji wushang managed to support him in mid-air.

    At once the battlefield went silent.

    But Bai Ming quickly broke the silence, speaking sincerely "Oh No, it seems...I have made a mistake."

    Anger surged in his veins, as the in-looking youth yelled "Have you gone crazy!? Who the fuck told you to interfere!!"

    "I am s-sorry, I just wanted to help" Bai Ming replied softly with a guilty expression.

    "Fuck you, Motherfucker! I would have been a corpse because of your generosity, fucking bastard!" the youth screamed furiously, he really wanted to beat the shit out of Bai Ming.

    "Sorry.." Bai Ming''s voice got even weaker, his head bent even lower, But he wasughing coldly in his heart, ???????? ?? ?????? ????????.

    "Zhou hai, calm down! Now isn''t the time to bicker among ourselves. Bai Ming, don''t interfere. Stay back for now, we will talkter." Ji yang shouted, even though the pressure increased, he was able to keep his cool.

    Zhou hai finally cooled down a little, but his heart was still burning in rage.

    "Wushang, use your Trump card. We will protect you." Ji yang spoke again.

    Ji wushang nodded slightly, next he raised the sword above his head, pointing towards the heavens. All the remaining spiritual qi in his Dantian was disappearing rapidly as a tall sword phantom was being formed behind him.

    "Oh, the 4thyer is it" Bai Ming watched silently as he thought.

    The fourthyer of the primeval sword art had much requirement on spiritual energy consumption, of course, if it was a core formation realm expert using this sword art, he could instantly disy this sword art, it wasn''t only because core formation realm experts had more spiritual energy, but because they could release energy quickly.

    The wolf king felt immense danger from this sword phantom, madness had taken over it. It tried to escape but would this group of martial artists allow that, they quickly restrained it. Seeing that it could not escape it aggressively charged toward Wushang.

    Ji wushang wasn''t able to move during the activation of the technique, but his teammates quickly came to his help, blocking the wolf king. The wolf king tried again and again but it was unable to get close to Ji wushang.

    After a dozen seconds, Ji wushang had finished preparing. Behind him was a ten-meter-long sword phantom, a sword essence Wave that swept over the surroundings rapidly, Making the people around it feel a chill in their hearts.

    A sharp light shed in Ji wushang''s eyes as he nonchntly pointed his sword at the wolf king, following his gesture the mighty sword phantom flew towards the wolf king, a swoosh sound was heard as it cut through the air.

    Boom!!

    An intense explosion sounded out as the sword phantom crashed against the wolf king, the mighty wolf king was smashed apart, blood sttered like water.

    "Huff, Huff, Huff" Ji wushang breathed roughly as he stared at the mutted corpse of the wolf king "I don''t have a drop of spiritual essence in my body right now."

    "brother Wushang, amazing as always." the beauty praised.

    "Bai Ming, quickly collect the beast core." Ji yang spoke.

    "Yes, but I feel like someone is watching us" Bai Ming spoke nervously.

    hearing this, Ji yang and the rest quickly spread out their divine sense to scan the surroundings.

    "There is no one here, it''s just your imagination. Stop wasting time and quickly collect the beast core, if we stay too long another wolf pack may arrive." Ji yang spoke inly, he wanted to have a long chat with Bai Ming, but now wasn''t the time.

    Bai Ming heard this and let out a breath of relief, he spoke unhurriedly "Ohh, since that is the case... all of you can die now."

 Chapter 28 Betrayal

    ?All of you can die..

    These words resounded in their minds, even though they understood the meaning of these words, they looked Perplexed.

    "What are you talking about?" The beauty spoke, while slightly tilting her head sideways.

    "Do you have balls for brains? don''t fu.." but before ye kai could finish his words, a change urred.

    With a sh of azure light, the group of cultivators were instantly enveloped within a pentagonal prism barrier, which appeared out of thin air, restricting them.

    At this time, the group of cultivators had a great change in their expressions.

    Ji yang looked at the barrier cautiously and quickly surrounded his body with spiritual essence. But upon seeing Bai Ming''s wicked grin, realization dawned upon him, now he clearly understood Bai Ming''s vile intentions. ji Yang''s usually kind expression turned ice cold, his eyes zing with boundless fury.

    It was not just him, the others also quickly understood their situation, they were not stupid. The reason they never doubted Bai Ming, was because of the ns systems, and there was really no reason to doubt him. Morality was ingrained in every cell of their body, the instances of traitors like Bai Ming appearing in the n were one in a million.

    Bai Ming stood like a bystander, watching with a cold smirk on his face.

    "Bai Ming, we can talk about this. Don''t do something that you might regretter! if you stop now, I promise that we won''t pursue this matter!" Ji yang shouted loudly. But his thoughts were, ???????? ???? ?? ??????????????????, ?????????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ???????? ?????????????????? ????????!? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????????????? ???????????????? ?????? ?????? ???????????? ?????? ???????? ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????????, ?????? ?????? ?????????????????????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?? ?????????? ???? ?????? ????????. ????! ????????''?? ?????? ??????, ???????? ?????? ?????????????????????? ?? ??????, ?????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ??????????????. ?????? ???????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????????? ???????????? ?????? ?????? ???????????? ?????????? ???? ???????????????????? ???? ?? ???????????????? ?????????? ????????????. ?????????? ???????? ???? ???????? ???????????? ???????????? ??????, ?????????? ???? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????????? ????????????????! ???????? ?????? ???????? ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ??????????????! ?? ???????? ?????????????? ?????? ???? ???????????? ?????? ??????????, ???????? ???????????? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ?????????????????? ?????????? ???????????? ??????, ?????? ?????????????????????? ?????? ???????????????? ???????????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ?????????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ????????????.

    Bai Ming was still smiling coldly, as he made a hand sign.

    Immediately, the snow inside the barrier began to transforming into ice, which further began transforming into ice monsters. In just few breaths of time more than thirty ice monsters were formed, each ice monster was about 7 feet tall, their eyes were hollow, on its icy body were many icicles pointing outwards. They looked at the group of cultivators with hostility, their hollow eye sockets suddenly glowed with a bloody light.

    "Bai Ming, listen to me don''t be foolish. We can still talk it through, but if you want do this the hard way, it won''t be in your favour, You underestimate the strength of my group too much and there are also many team''s nearby, from themotion of the fight it''s just a matter of time, before other''s find us. At that time even I won''t be able to save you, this is your only opportunity, quickly dispel the formation!" Ji yang yelled, showing his good will, but at the same time it was threat.

    "Yes! Bai Ming let''s talk this over" the other experts also tried to convince Bai Ming.

    But no matter what they said, nothing seemed to effect Bai Ming, seeing this they could only grit their teeth and fight against the horde of ice monsters.

    It was not that Bai Ming was ignoring their words, but that he had set up such a barrier that isted the sound within the barrier from the outside world.

    From the beginning of their battle against the wolf king, Bai Ming was busy setting up this formation. During the fierce battle no one was paying attention to him, he was able to set up this 2nd grade formation quite easily. His grandmaster attainment was nothing to scoff at.

    He already had the desire to kill them the moment he heard from elder xu about the beast tide, beast tide was an ideal time for Bai Ming to collect refinement materials. And now that his strength had improved greatly his obsession for strength was growing even more intensely. Every time his strength increased, his greed for strength also increased. It was an never ending hunger.

    Formations have many uses, some can be used to attack, defend, restrain or even put someone under illusions or transfer arrays or maybe speed up time etc. Of course formations weren''t omnipotent, they also had many limitations.

    "If it was before the fight against the wolf king, I would have had my doubts whether this 2nd grade formation was enough to kill them, but now that everyone here is running dry on spiritual energy, my victory is guaranteed."

    "This formation can take a wolf kings full power attack eleven or twelve times before copsing. And now that ji wushang has already run dry on spiritual energy, there is only that Ji yang who can use the 4thyer of the primeval sword art, but it doesn''t matter. First of all, after battling for so long his spiritual energy storage is low and secondly the 4th move requires much preparation, if he is foolish enough to even try that move he will be the first to get killed." Bai Ming thought as he watched the ongoing battle.

    Inside the formation, the group of ice monsters formed a circle as they surrounded these pitiful cultivators. Three of the ice monsters had already been destroyed, but their death wasn''t in vain as they took one of the heavily injured cultivators life. Each of the ice monsters had strength equivalent to a high grade tier 2 beasts.

    "There are still 27 more monsters, if we were at our peaks this would only be slightly troublesome but now we are all running low on spiritual energy and also suffered minor injuries. Surviving this group of ice monsters is very difficult, but it isn''t hopeless, but after surviving this we also have to face that bastard, by that time we will be truly helpless without spiritual energy. Sigh, we can only count on our nsman saving us." ji yang assessed his situation, his heart feeling very low.

    Bai Ming''s gaze shone as he watched the battlefield, "There isn''t much time" Saying that he made another hand sign.

    The three ice monsters which were killed before began to return to life again, but there was a difference, the three ice monstersbined into one forming a tri-headed ice ape, the ice ape was more than thrice the size of the normal ice monsters, it had four arms and three long tails.

    Ji yang and gang previously had held onto a tiny hope of survival, but now it was crushed like an insignificant ant.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The ice ape began to crazily fight against the band of cultivators, even though it had a huge size it was extremely quick on its feet, it''s strength was almostparable to the wolf king.

    With the appearance of the ice ape, the entire flow of the battle changed. The cultivators were quickly getting killed one by one. Most of them died from having their body ripped apart alive.

    until only a single person remained, It was none other than Ji yang. He watched all of hisrades  dying painfully one by one, the hatred in his eyes turned into helplessness, it was one that of utter despair.

    Eventually, he ran out of strength as an ice monster  grabbed his head and squashed it like a watermelon, brain matter, blood, his skull, and teeth were all mixed together in a pile. Bloody, the scene was inside the battle field waspletely bloody.

    Bai Ming watched the entire scene indifferently, he didn''t feel even an ounce of pity or regret towards killing hisrades, After Ji yang had been killed Bai Ming stepped inside the formation. He made the monsters inside collect the loot for him, he stored all the corpses including the wolf king. After that he quickly destroyed the formation, and left towards the cave.

    He was going to breakthrough the 2ndyer of rotten blood arts, the materials on hand were more than enough to achieve it.

    "Should I thank them because they sacrificed their lives to help me get stronger. Hmm, no need. We arerades after all, it''s their duty." Bai Ming chuckled as he thought of this.

    ....

    Somewhere in Xuan mountain.

    On a battlefield, there were four people.

    "please spare me!!" Bei ju was on his knees pathetically begging, he looked dishevelled at the moment, his right palm was attached to the ground using a cold spear.

    On his surroundings there nearly four corpsesying on the ground, all of them had a gapping hole on their chests, it was clear that all of them were killed by the same weapon.

    A handsome youth around 16-17 wearing a white robe stood in front of him, he had short brown hair, with sharp eyebrows. He stood straight like an unbending spear, he was staring down at Bei ju with his golden pupils.

    He spoke with much disappointment, "Sigh, and here I was hoping on having some fun, but you just had to ruin it by acting so cowardly."

    "Please spare me! i don''t want to die, spare me! I beg of you, please!" Bei ju''s mucus and tears were mixed together, flowing down his face. Along with his tattered clothes, covered in snow and blood made him look very pitiful.

    "If you were even a little bit like yourrades, brave and courageous I, Luo sheng would have killed you, but you don''t deserve this opportunity... sigh, such a disappointment." Luo sheng''s expression was that of disappointment.

    "Yes, yes, I am undeserving, truly undeserving. Thank you Lord for sparing my life, Thank you!!" Being ju hurriedly expressed his gratitude, a dim fire lit in his heart, this fire was hope.

    But..

    Luo sheng looked at Bei ju as if he was looking at fool, he spoke with disdain "You are truly a stupidddddd ye nsman. Little shi, kill him."

    Woosh!

    ? At the next second a spear ruthlessly pierced Bei ju''s brain, killing him on the spot.

    "Yes, young master" Litte shi acknowledged, But this little shi was 7 feet tall giant with bulging muscles.

    Luo sheng didn''t even ce at Bei ju''s corpse, as he mumbled to himself "I hope, there will be something fun, something interesting,Pfft"

    "Hey,e on, let''s go kill some more people." Luo sheng ordered as he dashed into the forest.

    The two guards looked at each other before sighing together, before following after their young master.

 Chapter 29 Bone Heart Flame

    ?Five dayster, Bai Ming''s hidden cave.

    "Huff, Huff, Huff" Bai Ming was breathing heavily, as he staggeringly took a few steps.

    "Break" He said as he made a hand sign.

    The formation surrounding the blood pit broke apart.

    "Hehe, Secondyer of the rotten blood art." Bai Ming smiled as he touched the newly formed red cresent on his abdomen.

    Bai Ming quickly dressed up, before he took out the treasure sword from his storage pouch. He pressed the low grade treasure sword against his left arm. But the sword couldn''t cut through, he continued to increase his strength, but the result was the same, It couldn''t even leave a scratch.

    Next, he covered the sword with his 6thyer aura and shed it at his arm.

    ng!

    The sound of metal colliding rung out, Bai Ming saw that there was tiny cut on his arm. He was very pleased with this result.

    "My body in itself is a low grade weapon, and now that i have already mastered all those mid grade techniques, I have enough strength to fight against a wolf king equally, I could probably kill it even without using my formation path methods." Bai Ming sheathed his sword as he assessed his strength.

    These past days Bai Ming spent training mid grade sword techniques and movement technique, he had reached mastery in them and now that he also reached the 2ndyer of rotten blood arts his strength surged again, reaching new heights.

    "My cultivation base is still a little unstable, I should go and fight some wolves, going to the vige now will be a bit troublesome, I will have to improve my reputation, But it''s a small thing."

    Bai Ming''s entire team had died except for him, this was a problem. Now when Bai Ming would return to the vige he would definitely be questioned, And one more thing to be noted is that, it wasn''t an ordinary team, it was one of the three strongest teams in the vige. But it wasn''t too troubling for Bai Ming, after all during beast tides it wasmon for people to die, Bai Ming would just have to make some reasonable lie. But now that Bai Ming had to stabilize his cultivation base, he was going to fight. He may as well use this chance to improve his reputation by helping his nsman in the battlefield, this would definitely help him when he returns to the vige.

    It was not that Bai Ming had attachment towards the vige, but he needed the 3rdyer of the primeval star mantra to breakthrough the core formation realm.

    Bai Ming did a few stretches, before he nced at the children. All of the children here had reached the 5thyer of bone forging realm, their cultivation  progress wasn''t anything crazy, but if one considers the fact they didn''t even use a single spirit stone to cultivate, their speed was pretty impressive. Bai Ming''s original n was to raise their cultivation and use them as materials, but now his interest towards these children was almost non existent. But he still decided on keeping them alive for the time being, they might have a use in the future. Their life and death waspletely dependent on Bai Ming''s mood.

    Bai Ming exited the cave, he had already put up a few restriction and a 2nd grade illusion formation here, Preventing the children from escaping and even outsiders wouldn''t be able to make out anything. Unless a core formation realm expert interferes in it.

    .....

    Six Hell wolves leaped in the air with blurred silhouettes. They continued to leap and attacked Bai Ming aggressively.

    If it was like before, Bai Ming would dogge without a doubt. But now, he stood on the spot with a cold expression, still like a sculpture.

    The hell wolves mmed, scratched and bit Bai Ming''s body, but a crisp ''ding ding'' sound could be heard, as if they were not attacking a person, but a sturdy jade pir.

    "When I was only a 1styer body cultivator, just a 2nd tier low grade hell Wolf could injure my raw body, but now even a high grade beast cannot put a scratch on me, And I have still yet use spiritual essence." Bai Ming pondered, while the hell wolves attacked him.

    Bai Ming noticed that one of the Hell Wolf''s targeted his little brother, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart. But he gritted his teeth and resolved himself to take it head on.

    The hell wolf opened its mouth, revealing it''s diamond like teeths as it ferociously bit at Bai Ming''s manhood.

    Ding!

    Bai Ming let out a breath of relief seeing his demonic ward was safe and sound, it could have been disastrous. But all''s well that ends well.

    Bai Ming''s spiritual energy bust out, as he swung his right fist from above directly at the Wolf''s head. The moment the fierce fistnded, the entire wolf head burst open. Its Blood, eyeballs, brain matter sshed on Bai Ming''s body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Next, Punches and kicks kicked up a sandstorm. His strikes were simple, yet brutal and effective with an imposing aura. All of the Wolf''s were killed one by one, without mercy.

    after a dozen breaths the entire scene was filled with mangled wolf corpses and blood everywhere. Bai Ming quickly collected all the cores and vanished, he wasn''t done yet.

    After 10 minutes of wandering he came across a battle, there were 4 Ye nsman fighting against nearly 15 hell wolves, Bai Ming used his divine sense to scan them, he concluded that two of them were 6thyer just like him, as for the remaining members he couldn''t see through their cultivation. But, he could make out that they were in a serious disadvantage.

    The moment Bai Ming used his divine sense, the two cultivators with higher cultivation simultaneously noticed Bai Ming who was bathed in blood from head to toe, but they noticed that he was only an 6thyer elemental realm expert, they were slightly disappointed. But they still wanted to ask him for help.

    But Bai Ming was a step quicker, he unsheathed his sword and directly entered the battlefield, in less than half a minute he ughtered every single hell wolf effortlessly.

    The group of cultivators looked on with immense shock, they even forgot to breath.

    Bai Ming looked at them calmly, "I have just saved your life, I think these beast cores belong to me."

    The group of cultivators finally came to their senses, their leader quickly took a step forward and gave a deep bow, "Brother, you have saved our lives. I shall never forget your kindness, as for the these beast cores they rightfully belong to you, but to express our gratitude let us offer you all the cores we have collected so far, Please ept it."

    Bai Ming gave a slight smile, but he quickly waved his hand "No need, I will only take what belongs to me. But if you want to express your gratitude you can help me collect these cores."

    Bai Ming was tactful with his words, these people have gone through life and death battles to get some cores, and now even though they willingly wanted to gift him, but that would sure make them feel bit of a loss, Bai Ming quickly rejected them but he also gave them a way out by helping him collect the loot. This would make his image in their hearts bigger and brighter. Next, whenever someone would bring Bai Ming''s name up, these people would most likely say good things about him, words about his good deeds will quickly spread.

    After collecting the loot Bai Ming was just about to leave, when the leader of the group asked his name. Hearing Bai Ming''s name, the group of cultivators made weird faces but they quicklyposed themselves, putting aside those worthless thoughts.

    Bai Ming didn''t stay there any longer. As he moved like the air, unhindered. Looking for more damsels in distress.

    .....

    At the same time,

    "Break!!" Li jun spoke in deep voice, following his words the huge purple barrier in front of them broke apart.

    Beside him  Li wei was covered in an ice armor, both of her hands held long icicles, she stood in a defensive position, as she watched the barrier break apart slowly.

    The very instant the barrier broke, the icicle in Li wei''s hands started to melt slowly.

    It was so hot that she could feel it even through she was covered in an ice armor. A zing cave such as this had to contain an extreme yang treasure!

    Li jun squinted his eyes as he gazed deeper inside the cave, his eyes instantly lit up. His entire body trembled for a moment before calming down.

    Deep within the cave, one could see a purple me burning peacefully on the surface of a basin sized skull, the skull was half purple, half green. There were many veins on it connected to the ground below, These veins were throbbing every now and then. But that''s not all, right behind themy an sculpture of an old man in intricate robes. he seemed in his sixties, his eyes were closed and both of his palms were ced against each other.

    "Teacher, we have found it! Finally, we have found the bone heart me!! Now we can finally save moth- Aunty Su." Li wei was ecstatic, as she looked at the Purple me.

    "Yes, ast we can. Sigh" Li jun closed his eyes, opening them after a long time.

    He stood up and walked towards the bone heart me, But after a dozen steps he stopped frowning as he looked at the surroundings.

    Li wei who was following closely behind him spoke "Is it another restriction?"

    Li jun nodded his head slightly, he thought silently "Another restriction, this feels more like a test now...Breaking this restriction will take me another two weeks and then the process of refining this bone heart me is also filled with dangers. Even though there are plenty of traps behind, but these local cultivation forces might be able to get here by then, And then it will be very very difficult for me to take this bone heart me, after all these me is connected to the earth vein, once I refine this me the entire mountain will copse.Sigh...But no matter the price I will refine these me."

 Chapter 30 Luo Sheng

    ?A round and bright moon was hanging in the sky as stars twinkled around it. The sky was a unique, limped dark blue. It gave one a clear and lofty feeling as they gazed at the wonders of nature.

    Under the luminescent curtain of night, high up on the cliff, Luo sheng stood on a cold rock. His right hand held a cold spear, his golden pupils were shining with iparable excitement at this moment, as he stared at a certain part in the mountain. The air around his spear rippled as Luo sheng''s face revealed a savage expression.

    "Yes! this is it, this is what I was looking for! Hahaha, little shi, little An. Let''s go, Let''s embrace the grandness of madness!" Luo shengughed heartily as he leaped down and drifted away like a falling petal.

    Both little shi and little An chased behind him, like loyal puppies. They were already ustomed to their battle crazed young master''s personality by now.

    Luo sheng, was the only son of Luo n head, Luo Feng. He was genius among geniuses. With his superior grade talent, as long as he is given enough time to grow, he was destined to lead the Luo vige and break through the Majestic Yin-Yang void realm. But Luo sheng wasn''t just an superior grade talent, but he was person who had formed spear qi!!

    Since ancient times, qi was a rare form of mystical energy that was birthed from one''s intent, unlike world''s essence. As it was birthed from intent it was an arcane concept, To cultivate or gather it normally was unheard of. It would only form from the natural environment or from consistent exposure of certain events, such as from battles, life and death experiences, or from one''s thoughts and beliefs or due to enlightenment.

    There were many types of qi, but most cultivators strive for is Weapon Qi, such as sword qi, saber qi, and spear qi. Or elemental qi, such as fire qi, yin qi and so on. There are vast number of qi''s in this world, but ways to achieve them were extremely rare.

    One more thing to remember is that, forming any mystical intent, like sword qi, sword heart, qi of killing, etc wasn''t dependent on their attainment of the particr path.

    For example, Luo sheng had formed spear qi, but his attainment of the spear path was only slightly above ordinary, but because of his battle hungry nature and certain experiences he was able to birth spear qi.

    The same goes for Bai Ming, even though he had grandmaster attainment in formation path but he does not have an heart of formation. But With just Bai Ming''s grandmaster realm attainment, he could create 4th grade formations and below, which will have 4 times the power than when a person with ordinary realm of attainment set''s it up.

    So what are the benefits of having these intents, their benefits usually differ. Let''s say, what would be the difference between sword qi and sword heart. The sword qi could make your normal sword strikes and sword path martial techniques 3 times stronger than before. As for sword heart, if your opponentcks a heart of intent, it could make their spirit crumble, in simple words your opponents wouldn''t have any will left to fight. But forming an heart of intent only a rare few could achieve this task.

    Xuan mountain, at this very instant.

    "Junior brother Bai, This time the casualties are really high. Fortunately this is only a small scale beast tide, if it wasn''t for the appearance of that mystical pir of light, things could have been much easier." Xin de spoke with an heavy expression.

    This Xin de was the captain of an 5 person squad, their squad was having a tough time. Fortunately for them Bai Ming appeared like a gost and was able turn the situation around. Bai Ming was constantly helping and saving people left and right. After an entire day of constant battle he was just steps away from consolidating his cultivation base, he had also fought against a tier 2 wolf king, after an intense battle he was able to kill it.

    "Yes, that''s true. But fortunately we have almost cleared this beast tide, many lives were sacrificed but many more were saved, sigh" Bai Ming spoke emotionally, but his heart was serene.

    Xin de heard this and sighed, he was just about speak but he suddenly turned his head back.

    Bai Ming became alert, he was constantly scanning his surroundings using his divine sense but he didn''t notice anything, but seeing Xin de who was a peak elemental realm expert bing alert, he instinctively became more alert. Even though his fighting strength had an overall boost but his divine sense was only at 6thyer of elemental realm.

    "What happened?" Bai Ming questioned.

    "I can sense three peak elemental realm experts heading our way, they are almost here." Xie de replied casually.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Oh" Bai Ming also slightly rxed hearing this, but the spiritual energy in his body was slowly circting.

    Woosh!

    Three figures suddenly appeared, all three of them held spears in their hands.

    Bai Ming was startled momentarily before his gaze turned cold, he quickly surrounded his body with spiritual energy, but he didn''t strike yet, he thought "Spear! they are Luo nsman, are there more of them?"

    "Luo nsman, how dare you trespass my Ye ns territory. Looks like your Luo n doesn''t know it''s lowly ce, would you like me help you find it." Xie de spoke, his voice filled with killing intent. He continued to scan his surroundings but he couldn''t find anyone else.

    All of the Ye nsman exchanged nces, all showcasing their killing intent. Their stand was crystal clear, one wrong move and there would be blood flowing.

    "Hahaha, kill them quickly. Except for that crimson eyed boy, He''s my prey." Luo shengmanded arrogantly as he strode forward, Battle intent burning in his eyes.

    "As you wish young master." Both Shi and An replied immediately.

    "Young master" Hearing this Bai Ming''s pupils shrunk, his heart sank. He immediately understood the severity of the situation.

    "Young master?" The group of cultivators were stunned, but before they couldpose themselves, the two burly gaurds charged and attacked them. A fierce battle immediately issued.

    "You, I saw how you killed all those hell wolves wlessly, ahhh..I was so touched. Come on! let''s dance in gates of hell, hah hah hah" Luo shengughed savagely as he dashed towards Bai Ming.

    Bai Mingpletely ignored him, his face had turned dark, extremely dark. He suddenly opened his mouth and yelled at top of his lungs, his spiritual energy enhancing the sound "Enemy attack, Luo n is attacking."

    Saying that Bai Ming looked at the nearby tree leaves carefully, after observing them for a second, his faced turned extremely cold.

    "Retreat" Bai Ming used his mid grade movement technique, as he escaped at full speed immediately. Not daring to stay a second longer.

    "Ahhhh, Don''t you run from me! You can''t do this to me!!" The savage smile on Luo sheng''s face froze, he shouted in a pain filled voice and continued to run after him, engaging Bai Ming in a relentless chase.

    Bai Ming saw that Luo sheng was following him like a monkeys tail, his heart turning colder every passing second, "This lunatic, fuck! I can''t out run him, there''s no way he is going to let me escape."

    "No! Don''t run from me, please!!"

    Luo sheng''s anguished voice entered Bai Ming''s ears, he coldly snorted as he spoke mentally, "Why the hell would I run from you!? I am running from that core formation realm expert!!"

 Chapter 31 Danger Lurking In The Shadows

    ?Swish!

    The trees before Bai Ming looked like they were crashing into him, and he quickly avoided them nimbly, pushing off with his legs.

    "There is atleast one core formation realm expert hiding in the dark, fighting head on against a core formation realm expert I stand no chance at all. Currently those two guards are upied with Xin De''s team, their battle willst for more than half an hour. I need to encounter another squad quickly, otherwise my losses will be too great." Bai Ming''s thoughts ran amuk, but his expression cold as steel.

    The instant he heard those guards refering Luo sheng as young master, Bai Ming already understood the danger he was in. Luo sheng''s reputation had spread throughout the entire Xuan mountain even his battle crazy nature was know, Bai Ming was also aware of it. Bai Ming''s thoughts were simple, Would the Luo n be stupid enough to send their greatest genius into enemy territory, of course not! They must have capable individuals protecting him in the dark, But Bai Ming still wanted to confirm it, but there was no way he could sense a core formation realm expert, that is unless the said individuals purposely allows it.

    Hence, Bai Ming had infused his voice with spiritual energy and screamed for help, but asking for help was only one of the objectives, cross checking the existence of the core formation realm expert was his true objective. With Bai Ming''s cultivation level when he would shout with the help of spiritual energy, there would be sound wave created in the air, even though it wasn''t too strong. It was enough to shake the tree leaves which was dozens of meters away from him. But when Bai Ming observed that not a single leaf had moved, he immediately understood that the core formation realm expert had restricted his voice to small area, confirming his suspicious. If that wasn''t the case, Bai Ming would have directly fought with Luo sheng and killed him, Bai Ming had much confidence in killing Luo sheng.

    "But escaping is also out of the question, they will definitely not let me off, that core formation expert has to be close by, even if I escape this lunatic. The core formation realm expert will find me and kill me himself, he definitely won''t let me inform others. My only option is to kill him! As for hoping that someone else might save me, if it happens that''s great, but i will never truly put my life in someone else''s hands, i can only depend on myself." Bai Ming continued to sprint rapidly.

    "How can you be so cruel!? can''t you just fulfill my one small wish!?" Luo sheng was screaming non stop. Bai Ming coldly snorted at Luo sheng''s words.

    Bai Ming''s eyes suddenly lit up. He turned to his left and continued to run in that direction.

    Luo sheng continued to chase him relentlessly, both Bai and Luo traversed through mountain closely.

    But there was one more person quietly following them in the shadows, this person was a skinny old man, the moonlight reflected on his bald head. He was casually keeping up with the youths despite his old age. This person was non other than Luo Cai a core formation realm expert of the Luo n, he was given the duty of keeping Luo sheng safe, even if he had to die while protecting him.

    "This young man is quite impressive, being only a 6thyer elemental realm martial artist he is able to maintain his distance against young master Luo. But it doesn''t matter, it won''t let him keep his life. Ohh, he wants to gang up on young master, hehe. Then I shall lend young master a hand." Luo Cai''s speed increased, leaving after images as he drifted forward.

    A dozen breathstter.

    Bai Ming''s expression suddenly changed, he slightly frowned "I can''t sense them anymore, Hmph! I thought that bastard would only interfere when Luo sheng''s life was in danger. But since this is the case nothing can be done, I''ll just have to do what I need to do."

    Bai Ming didn''t stop running until he reached a corpse fillednd, there were nearly seven headless corpses lying on ground, the air reeked of blood. Bai Ming had Previously sensed few people here, to think that they would be among the dead within seconds.

    Bai Ming stood near the corpses he took out the storage pouch from inside his dress and ced it around his waist, then he took out certain items cing them inside the corpses swiftly. Next,Bai Ming quickly kicked those seven corpses into seven different ces.

    Luo sheng quickly arrived after, his fiery gaze fixed on Bai Ming, seeing that Bai Ming had no more intentions on running away he shouted in excitement, "Hahaha,e on!"

    Saying that heughed and dashed forward, but hisughter came to an abrupt stop.

    Bai Ming ced his treasure sword in his storage pouch and curled both of his palms into fists, it was clear that he was going to fight against Luo sheng using just his fists.

    Luo sheng had previously observed Bai Ming fight with his sword, he saw how Bai Ming was able swiftly kill those hell wolves.This created a soaring desire inside Luo sheng to fight against Bai Ming.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But now watching Bai Ming discard his sword against him, Luo sheng felt immense rage boiling inside him, he found Bai Ming''s act extremely repulsive. He felt disrespected! He, Luo sheng was treated as a weakling! such Impudence!! How! How dare him!!?

    "Bastard!" Luo sheng spoke through gritted teeth, both spiritual essence and killing intent burst forth from him like an ancient volcano.

    Bai Ming observed Luo sheng''s expression and smiled coldly,  Next the ground under Bai Ming''s feet cracked under the power of his step. His spiritual energy burst out madly, and plunged towards Luo sheng like a savage Flood Dragon.

    Luo sheng coldly snorted before he also rushed forward, thinking in his mind "Hmph! how foolish of you to engage me without using your weapon, wanting to fight against my treasure spear with just your hands and legs, such idiocy. I had high expectations, but such disappointment."

    Not even a second had passed but both of them were right in front of each other.

    Luo sheng thrusted his spear which was covered in spiritual energy and a mystical qi at Bai Ming''s heart, this mystical qi was spear qi.

    Bai Ming was fearless has he swung his right fist at the iing spear. He spoke mentally "Tyrant fist"

    Bang!

    The demonic fist met the Domineering spear, As the two powerful forces collided, the ground underneath the two of them began to produce thin cracks that spread out like a spider''s web. Luo sheng was sent flying backwards like a broken kite, and he vomited a mouthful of fresh blood. Even his spear was sent flying off in another direction.

    Bam!

    Luo sheng crashed on the ground, as he rolled back few meters before finallying to a stop. Blood tickled down from the corner of his mouth.

    "How!? how can this be?"Luo sheng stared with his eyes wide open. But Luo sheng was smart person and had a firm will, he quickly came to a conclusion "He is only an 6thyer elemental realm expert, even if he used a martial technique but against my 9thyer and spear qi how can he have the upper hand? has he alsoprehended some some sort of intent or does he have high attainment in the fist path? Wait! that isn''t the main  problem here, why couldn''t my treasure spear cut through his hand.. Don''t tell me he is a body cultivator?!?"

    "This brat is body cultivator! where did he learn this method from? Till this date there has never been a body cultivator in any of the three Big viges, I have to capture him alive and interrogate him, if we could learn the body cultivation method my Luo n can rule the Xuan mountain. And i will also be rewarded for my contributions, hehehe. What a fortune! Hahaha" Luo Caiughed in his heart wildly, his eyes shone with intense greed as he looked at Bai Ming.

    "But i should not rush, this is a good opportunity for young master to grow. Even though young master was beaten badly, it was because he didn''t use any martial technique. As for that brat, he is a body cultivator along with the help of spiritual essence of 6thyer cultivation and that martial technique he was able to gain the absolute advantage in their previous exchange, but considering young masters personality he should be even more pumped up now, he will also go all out now. But he probably won''t win this fight, no matter it will still be good learning process. I shall step in when things get too heated." Luo Cai was staring at Bai Ming fixedly, but he suddenly squinted his eyes as he thought "What is he doing?"

    Bai Ming was moving around the battlefield, at times taking out spirit stones and beast cores from his storage pouch and burying them in the ground. His left hand making hand signs while his right hand busy cing items at certain ces in the ground.

    Bai Ming nced at Luo sheng, he saw thetter running to pick up his weapon but Bai Ming didn''t immediately attack him, his goal was not to kill Luo sheng, it was to buy enough time to set up a formation.

    "I have ced 50% of the formation cing the remaining will be difficult, I was able to take advantage of the fact Luo sheng had underestimated me. But that will not be the case anymore, killing is not a difficult but I have to set up this formation while also engaging Luo sheng, using the sword will make it difficult for me to ce the formation and it will also cause Luo sheng to be in a more dangerous situation which that expert will not allow now that he has witnessed my strength, but just using my low grade tyrant fist and gaining the upper hand is going to be difficult. And there is also the fact that expert might juste and attack me right now, but even if hees and attacks me i have some confidence that he won''t kill me, after all he must be interested in my secret after all,Sigh..how troublesome." Bai Ming sighed as he moved towards Luo sheng whoing towards him.

 Chapter 32 Life And Death

    ?"Prating rainbow!" Luo sheng yelled as he thrusted his spear forward with surging momentum, the frightening spiritual essence erupted from his body before condensing at tip of his spear.

    Cha!

    It was as if space itself was torn asunder. A peerless spear wind shot forwards like a dark rainbow, piercing towards Bai Ming''s chest.

    "Tyrant fist"

    Bai Ming had a stren expression, He faced Luo sheng''s attack head on. The true essence gathered in his right fist was vibrating, before it erupted outwards like a raging tide.

    Bang!

    The powerful impact formed a shockwave that was visible to the naked eye, all the snow in a radius of a hundred meters was swept clean. The savage spiritual essence continued to flood outwards.

    But surprisingly, Bai Ming was the one who had to take few steps back to stabilize himself.

    "My tyrant fist is only a low grade technique, it cannot match the strength of his prating rainbow." Bai Ming quickly assessed from this round of collision.

    Peng peng peng peng peng peng!

    After Luo sheng made his move, he no longer stopped; following up with a series of attacks. The treasure spear carried an epic majesty as a thick worldly essence congealed into each spear strike. Every strike contained an immense potential, as if a Tsunami crashing down!

    Bai Ming unhurriedly and calmly revolved the primeval star mantra to the limit. He steadily blocked each strike, slowly retreating backwards. But no matter how calm his expression was, every time he took a blow the ground behind him would crack, perfectly disying Luo sheng''s fierce strength.

    Bai Ming took a step back after every strike, but at time his left hand was making hand signs and taking out spirit stones or beast cores from his storage pouch and throwing them randomly. Bai Ming was crystal clear on what his objective was, even though he looked like he was having a difficult time. But for now things were actually proceeding smoothly.

    "What is he doing?" Luo sheng''s eyes were like golden daggers, coldly observing Bai Ming''s suspicious actions.

    "He must be up to something, I should stop him." Luo sheng continued to attack Bai Ming, while he shout out a ray of spiritual essence at the newly ced spirit stone, destroying it.

    Bai Ming snorted coldly, he was already prepared for this. He grabbed another piece of spirit stone from his storage pouch and crushed it, turning it into powder. Next, he quickly smeared the powder into Luo sheng''s eyes.

    "Cheap!" Luo sheng quickly tried to get the dust off his eyes, while retreating.

    "Tyrant fist!"

    But Bai Ming grabbed this opportunity, he quickly rushed forward and delivered a ferocious attack aiming at Luo sheng''s face, but fortunately at the crucial moment Luo sheng was able to evade by a hair''s breath by tilting his head sideways.

    But at the next second Luo sheng cursed internally, Bai Ming quickly opened his fist which was super close to Luo sheng''s face and smeared some more powder into Luo sheng''s eyes. Next, Bai Ming swiftly kicked using his right leg at Luo sheng''s temple. Instantly Luo sheng was sent spinning like a cartwheel.

    But Bai Ming didn''t use this opportunity to follow up, instead he quickly began arranging the formation.

    "80% done, almost there" Bai Ming stopped cing the formation, as he once again prepared to face off Luo sheng.

    "Bastard! is that all you''ve got!? cheap tricks!" Luo sheng''s face was even more savage now, his fighting spirit soaring to the heavens.

    "Chaos phantom spear!!" Wielding his spear with both hands, Luo sheng emanated an immortal majesty. The air around him began to ripple, myriad number of sliver specks spun around the treasure spear, before rapidly transforming into two milky white snakes which twisted around the spear.

    Luo sheng gave a loud shout and threw his spear like an javelin, leaving behind streak of sliver light. The two dreamy phantom snakes grew in size as they approached Bai Ming, previously they were about the size of the spear but now they were three timesrger.

    Bai Ming fiendishly sneered, he retrieved his treasure sword from his storage pouch.

    "Primeval sword art-2ndyer!"

    "Primeval sword art-3rdyer!"

    Bai Ming was forced to resort to use his sword path martial skill. His sword was filled with a vibrant energy, he first sent out two, meter wide rays of pale green sword light, next three solid sword phantoms levitated behind him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Puff! Puff!

    The mighty spear collided against the two pale green sword lights, the sword rays were easily cut apart. The spear continued to move forward, Bai Ming pointed with his sword at the spear as the three sword phantoms shed against the vicious spear, resulting in loud bang!

    Luo sheng quickly called back his beloved spear, while Bai Ming conjured three more sword phantoms behind him, he made them fly towards  Luo sheng as he quickly began setting up the formation again.

    Luo sheng focused at the three sword phantoms, his treasure spear drew a wide crescent moon and the spiritual essence formed a massive arc.

    Bam! Bam!

    Two of the sword phantoms were destroyed in this attack, while Luo sheng had to dogge the third one, he once again swung his spear at the sword phantom. This timepletely destroying it.

    Next, he once again dashed at Bai Ming with iparable speed.

    Bai Ming stopped his work as he also dashed towards Luo sheng.

    "Tyrant fist!"

    "Neon pration!"

    Bang!

    Bai Ming took dozen of steps back, has he once again used the 3rdyer of primeval sword art.

    "I have already used this move three times now, I can only use it three more times before I run out of spiritual essence." Bai Ming contemted.

    Bai Ming momentarily nced at Luo sheng, his heart filled with killing intent. Then once again busying himself with the formation.

    After another round of collision.

    "99% done, now for the final piece." Bai Ming''s eyes shone with ruthlessness, his face forming a devious smile.

    Woosh!

    Bai Ming was like a ck bolt of lightning that shot toward Luo sheng with a spirit stone in his hand.

    "Neon pration! Die!!" Luo sheng shouted frenziedly as he thrusted his spear with iparable might at Bai Ming''s abdomen. But his mind was still rational, "Is he going to use that cheap trick again? no, why would he make it so clear. What is he really ning?"

    But something insane happened next, Luo sheng''s eyes widened like full moons, his mouth slightly open, Bai Ming didn''t didn''t fight back neither did he dogge.

    The cold spear pierced Bai Ming''s abdomen, but it couldn''t fully pierce into him because of his sturdy physique, but for some unknown reason Bai Ming had gone crazy as he didn''t stop moving forward, he continued to move forward as the spear fully pierced him and its sharp head came out from his back.

    Bai Mingughed in a demonic way, he and Luo sheng were just inches away from each other, Bai Ming used his right hand to tightly grab Luo sheng''s arms which were holding onto the spear and using his full strength he directly stuffed the spirit stone in Luo sheng''s mouth, pushing it down his throat using his left hand.

    "STOP!!" Suddenly a furious shout came from one of the nearby trees, Luo cai quickly rushed out. In an instant he was just a step away from Bai Ming.

    "Hahaha, Fuck You!" Bai Ming instantly made a hand sign, as heughed arrogantly.

    Bam!

    Bai Ming was sent flying from Luo Cai''s palm. But he was stillughing wildly.

    ?????????????? ???? ????????!

 Chapter 33 Killing A Core Formation Realm Expert

    ?Crash!

    Bai Ming crashed hard on the ground, creating a two meter wide pit. He coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood, there was a gapping hole in his abdomen, fresh blood was rushed out from it.

    But Bai Mingpletely ignored it, he lifted his head staring intensely at the 7 sided purple prism barrier. The two Luo n members were trapped inside it like animals in a cage, watching this Bai Ming smiled. He then took out a 2nd tier high grade medical pill which had gotten from elder Xu and swallowed it, instantly the medicinal properties of the pill began to show its effects, the bleeding stopped and wound even began to heal slowly. Of course this wasn''t just due to the healing pill but also due to Bai Ming''s special physique.

    "AHHHHHHHHH!!" A ear piercing screech could be hearding from the formation. The pitiful scream was so shrill that it could pierce eardrums.

    "Young master, what happened!?" Luo Cai was terror stricken as he grabbed Luo sheng''s shoulders, his aged voice filled with fear and anxiousness as he tried understand Luo sheng''s state.

    But Luo sheng was in no state of answering him, his expression twisting from the pain, he was in so much pain that he was shivering from head to toe, luo sheng was about to lose his sense of reasoning due to the pain, this was an inhuman pain.

    Luo Cai felt wave of helplessness and despair rising in his heart, he used his divine sense to scan Luo sheng again and again but he still didn''t have the slightest clue.

    Subconsciously, he turned towards Bai Ming, his face ferocious like a bloodthirsty killer, deep killing intent surged violently from him. He spoke slowly in a deep voice, "What have you done, tell me what have you done to my young master?"

    "Noisy" Bai Ming sneered and made another hand sign.

    Luo Cai was even more enraged now, he vanished from his sport and appeared in front of the purple barrier. He used is spear to pierce at barrier, but there wasn''t even a scratch on it.

    Luo Cai revealed an expression of surprise, as he thought "This formation is able block my attack! how can this be!?"

    "Hmph! let''s see how long it canst, I don''t believe I can''t even destroy a formation set up by some worthless elemental realm junior!" Luo cai sneered.

    "Prating rainbow" the spear in Luo cai''s hand shot out dark rainbow essence, as it majestically mmed against the purple barrier.

    Bam!

    There was a momentary ripple in the barrier, but it quickly subsided. Tranquility returned to the barrier once again.

    Bai Ming indifferently watched Luo cai, as he continued to make hand signs.

    "Attack" Bai Ming coldlymanded.

    Woosh! woosh! woosh!

    Hundreds of icy chains shot out from the ground, they viciously targeted Luo cai like poisonous snakes!

    Luo cai didn''t dare be careless, he used his abilities to his max as he fought against these icy chains, once he destroyed one of the chains another woulde in it''s ce, the cycle was never ending. Most importantly each icy chain carried the strength of peak core formation realm expert, he felt like he was surrounded by gang of core formation realm experts who wanted nothing more than to kill him.

    But unknown to him, his pitiful young master who was previously screaming his lungs out, stopped his waling as his lifeless body quietly floated towards the edge of the formation before being thrown outside, Bai Ming quickly stored Luo Sheng''s body, his body had a high value for Bai Ming. At a high point inside the seven sided barrier, the corpses of seven Ye nsman hovered together.

    They quickly formed a ball of corpse, few of the icy chains rushed towards them making tens of holes in their bodies, next the bodies slowly started to merge together, forming a blood red human infant.

    Next all of the icy chains in the formation quickly moved towards the Bloody baby, Luo cai was startled slightly but he was even more shocked at not finding his almighty young master, previously the icy chains had only targeted him and obstructed much of his view, even if they had targeted Luo sheng this old man didn''t have enough strength to save him.

    Now seeing that his young master was nowhere to be found, his heart hit rock bottom. His face was darker than the night sky.

    "AHHHHHHH!!" Previously it was Luo sheng who was screaming, but now it was Bai Ming''s turn. He wanted to shut his mouth tight, but the pain was so inhumane that he let another ear piercing scream. His entire body was covered in cold sweat and was trembling from the cruel pain. But he still had to continue making hand signs, he had to persevere. Pain wasn''t something new to Bai Ming, everytime he had to go through body refining he would experience unbearable pain, but the pain this time was even more cruel, even more inhuman. It was only because he had will of steel that he was able to maintain his reasoning and continue with operating this formation.

    But the reason for this inhumane pain was due to the fact he was burning his own soul!<novelnext></novelnext>

    There was nothing else he could, if he wanted to survive he had to do this. The pain of burning one''s soul was 100 time''s more excruciating than any kind of brutal physical torture.

    Bai Ming was only an elemental realm expert, his divine sense wascking to set up 3rd grade array, hence he could only make adjustments with his high attainment, but even that had it''s limitations.

    Bai Ming''s initial n was to find some fodders, he wanted to integrate them into the formation. Making them take most of brunt, which in this case was to make them burn up their souls and transform that energy into soul force, which is generally used to set and operate formations.

    But unfortunately for Bai Ming, Luo cai had dealt with those fodders. Which made Bai Ming helpless, he could have looked for other people but that was useless, luo cai would have killed them also. So he could only grit his teeth and do it himself, it wasn''t that Bai Ming was unwilling to do it because of the inhumane pain, it was because damaging one''s soul had so much to lose, firstly if the soul waspletely burnt he would be nothing more than a empty shell, secondly damaging the soul will make your soul rted abilities weak, for example a person''s divine sense strength will be severely weakened and there is also the fact that a person will feel much mental unrest and his cognitive abilities will also weaken.

    As for healing of the soul it depends on the damage of the soul, if it is slightly damaged it may recover within a week but if the damage is serious, then it can take atleast 3-4 months to recover on its own. But if one had certain means they could even recover it within seconds. Unfortunately Bai Mingcked such means, the main reason was that the vige was too secluded from the outside world, the true ce where martial arts belong and flourish was the outside world.

    But even though Bai Ming was forced into a corner he still wanted to cut short his losses, then he decided to use Luo Sheng, but using luo Sheng had it''s difficulties. He had to make Luo Sheng hold the key spirit stone for atleast ten seconds, but how would he aplish it. If the core formation realm elder wasn''t present he would have directly chopped off luo Sheng''s limbs, shattered his Dantian and ce a spirit stone on him, But when fighting Luo Sheng in the presence of the expert, he had to be cautious as to not make the expert alert. So his only option was to take that strike head on, which made both of the Luo''s startled and before they could evenprehend Bai Ming''s actions he had struck, making the most of his opportunities. But if his actions had alerted Luo cai a bit earlier he definitely wouldn''t be having a good time.  One could say Bai Ming was an opportunist at heart, a person who loved taking risks as long the rewards where worth it.

    "Fuse" With a final ditch effort Bai Ming made another hand sign.

    The icy chains which had either entered the blood baby through its mouth, nose, ears, eyes and butthole began to melt and spreading through its body, once it melted it transformed into sliver mercury like liquid. The blood baby waspletely covered in sliver coating, there were even two pair of sliver bat wings on it''s back.

    "Kill" Bai Mingmanded as he pondered "The damage my soul has taken is terrible, now my soul is strengthparable to a 9thyer bone forging realm martial artist, but fortunately i have finished doing all necessary things. I don''t have to use my soul force to control the infant, just using the mental connection is enough to control it now."

    The sliver baby pped it''s wings as it dashed towards Luo Cai leaving behind a streak of dazzling sliver light, like a crashing meteor. A bone chilling coldness spread from it, making one feel a chill deep in their hearts and bones.

    Luo Cai watched the sliver light approaching him rapidly, his eyes spitting mes of hatred and rage, his hands grabbing the spear tightly, an earth shattering aura erupted from him, the ground below him cracked just from the pressure. He waited for the sliver streak of light to approach him, then he thrusted his spear with boundless might.

    Bang!!!

    The intense collision resulted in Luo cai crashing against the barrier, the sliver infant had the clear upper hand in this round of collision.

    The sliver infant immediately followed up with another devastating attack, it opened its tiny mouth shooting out a thick beam of majestic sliver light.

    Woosh!

    "Crescent Moon!" Luo Cai swung his spear in a wide arc, a four meter wide golden crescent shot out from his spear.

    The golden crescent and the sliver beam collided, the sliver beam made a hole in the crescent as it continued to move towards Luo cai.

    Luo Cai narrowed his eyes and tried to evade the beam of light. But unfortunately for him, the ground below him instantly caved in making him lose bnce and simultaneously dozens of sliver chains restricted his moment and before he knew it, the sliver beam of light pierced through his skull, killing him instantly.

    Plop

    Luo cai''s lifeless body fell down, motionless. A grand core formation realm expert died just like that.

    "Phew" Bai Ming exhaustedly looked at the oue. But he still didn''t enter the formation.

    Swish! The infant pierced the Luo cai''s heart. Then it took out a dim yellow core from Luo cai''s abdomen with both of its baby palms.

    Only then did Bai Ming enter the formation, he then held the yellow core in his hand with some delight, then he moved towards the corpse and coldly stared at it before storing it.

    "Break" Bai Ming made a hand sign, destroying the the 3rd tier formation. The sturdy formation broke apart like fragile ss, the sliver infant and icy chains turned into dust.

    "I have suffered much this time around, but I was able to keep my life that''s all that matters. But there also gains to be earned from this misfortune." Bai Ming didn''t waste more time here as he vanished in darkness of the night.

 Chapter 34 Fortune Within Misfortune.

    ?Ye Vige, main entrance gate.

    The sky was not yet bright, and the sun had yet to rise, two guards guarding the entrance gate were chatting with each other.

    "Ahh, finally the beast tide is ending." one of the guards yawned as he spoke sheepishly.

    "Yeah, but this time the losses were tremendous and it was just a small-scale beast tide, if it wasn''t for that abnormal phenomenon we would have elders helping out those teams."

    "Hmm, that''s true. But have you heard that Lord Ji wushang''s entire team has been killed except for Brother Bai."

    "Of course I know, what do you take me for? But it is really hard to believe that one of the three strongest teams in our vige is no more, sigh.."

    "Humans will eventually die, But we have also gained a new uprising star, Fierce sword Bai Ming!"

    "Hmph! what uprising star, this person''s morals arecking. Don''t you know about his underhanded victory against Su Ming? If you ask me, he must have run away like a coward while his teammates were fighting for their lives."

    "Your really stupid aren''t you, judging people so easily. Hmph! let me tell you that brother Bai is a person worthy of respect and admiration. He single-handedly has saved more than 15 teams by himself, teams not individuals. My little brother was able to keep his life because of brother Bai and I shall never forget his life-saving grace till the moment of my death. As for him using underhanded methods, it is yourck of understanding towards thepetition that''s all, tell me can you have defeated a person in the elemental realm with just bone forging realm cultivation, of course not because you are not brother Bai Ming."

    "Chill dude, I was not aware he had saved junior Jiang''s life, it was my mistake okay." he secretly thought ''This Bai Ming must have changed after witnessing his teammate''s death, he sure is lucky to have survived.''

    Suddenly both of the guards became alert, they unsheathed their swords as they looked at the shadow slowly approaching them from the forest.

    The shadow gradually got closer, the guards could make out it was a person, once they got a closer look at him, they could see the sword hanging on his waist, but what caught their eyes was the severed head in this man''s right hand.

    Once the person got closer, they could clearly see him now, but his entire being was covered in blood, and the stench of ughter emanated from him.

    "Halt, show me your identity badge" One of the guards spoke loudly.

    The bloodied youth continued to walk and took out a jade emblem from his robe, and threw it toward the guards.

    The guard Swiftly caught it, his eye narrowed as he read out "Bai Ming"

    Bai Ming was right in front of the vige entrance. He breathed in deeply and bellowed thunderously  "I, Ye Bai Ming killed Luo n''s young master, Luo Sheng, and brought his head as a memorial to mourn the sacrifices of my Ye n''s heroicrades."

    Boom!

    His words were like erupting volcanoes, everyone asleep in the Ye n was jolted awake.

    Bai Ming repeated his words two more times, his words were imbued with spiritual energy, making it travel through the entire vige.

    The two guards were stunned as they looked at Bai Ming with their mouths wide open, wide enough to hold an egg.

    Next Bai Ming climbed the huge gate and stuck Luo Sheng''s severed head on one of the sharp metallic poles.

    Afterpleting his work Bai Ming rushed home, after he woke up the entire vige he wanted nothing more than to get a good sleep. He was exhausted both mentally and physically after having to fight the entire day, after the intense battle with Luo cai ended, Bai Ming had to constantly fight against the wild beast while returning to the vige, his divine sense waspletely spent hence he could not use it to scan his surroundings.

    He wanted to sleep and recover his stamina and also get rid of the irritation his soul was feeling. Sleeping was a natural way to recover one''s mental energy.

    But when Bai Ming was sleeping soundly, the entire vige was in shock, next the shock transformed into immense joy.

    Many people who previously had a bad impression of Bai Ming, were now singing his praises like some divine chant.

    Ye Qing Han was even on the verge of dancing from joy, his impression of Bai Ming rose by several steps. He continuously praised Bai Ming and even dered Bai Ming as the vige hero.

    Only the Medicinal hall elder''s face wasplicated, She did not think well of Bai Ming. Not too long ago, she was determined to interrogate Bai Ming and even punish him heavily, after all Ji wushang was someone from her ji family and was a high-grade talent seeing that Bai Ming was the only one to survive she felt hatred for him, but now that Bai Ming had killed Luo Sheng, the hope of the Luo vige, their future vige head, With Bai Ming''s grand deed how could she pursue Bai Ming''s crimes, if she did that would just be pping her own face and asking for public rage.

    After all, every time the vige would have to sacrifice many of their n''s precious elders so that they can sessfully assassinate the superior grade talent of the other vige and many times they would even fail utterly, one could see from the instance when Su Ming was under the assassination attempt. But now Bai Ming alone had aplished it, how big of a contribution was that?

    Forget about questioning Bai Ming, he would have to be rewarded generously for his glorious achievement.

    It started snowing, and Bai Mingy on a soft bed, staring outside nkly. He had woken up after ten hour-long sleep.

    His physical injuries had already healed, but the damage his soul has suffered wasn''t that easy to heal.

    When he woke up from his slumber, he suddenly felt a sense of loneliness.

    Hey on his bed peacefully, his eyes remained open for over an entire hour. Even after a long sleep, Bai Ming felt some unrest in his mind, he thought of cultivating but decided to wait, because he couldn''t concentrate. And without a stable mind cultivating might lead to dangerous problems or bacsh. He would ratherpletely eliminate the mental unrest first.

    "This feeling of loneliness is indeed blissful" Bai Ming spoke softly.

    He fell in deep thought, "By now the entire vige should be upside down, it''s a good thing that I had ced a sign outside saying not to disturb."

    "My current soul strength is simr to a 9thyer bone forging realm expert. If I leave it to recover by itself, it will probably take 3-4 months, but if I can raise my cultivation I can increase the speed of recovery. But before anything else, I should use that core formation realm expert''s body to create the 3rd crescent, but the material in hand is only enough toplete 20-30% of the 3rd crescent. Doesn''t matter even 20%pletion means physical strength of 1styer of core formation realm."

    ? "As for cultivation, I have the spirit liquid with me. Which is more than enough to reach the core formation realm, but the issue is I can only set up a 1st-grade qi gathering formation now, first of all after setting up the third-grade formation I only have 30-40 spirit stones left, secondly my soul force iscking, Sigh"

    "Hmm, my thinking speed has been reduced" Bai Ming was slightly gloomy.

    "I have also made an error, I am not sure what happened to Xin de''s group." Bai Ming''s face turned even more gloomy.

    "But Xin de''s group should have been killed, after all their group was injured and were running dry on spiritual essence, and seeing that those guards were with Luo Sheng they should have decent prowess. I''ll have to check for Xin de''s team just in case, as for those guards there is nothing I can do now and they don''t have much worth either."

    Humans make mistakes, butter in life, these same mistakese and haunt us. Bai Ming made a mistake and now he could only be prepared for what mighte from it. But this happened mainly because Bai Ming had reached his limits after the battle with Luo cai, his mental state was extremely chaotic at that moment, his only thought was to return to the vige, there was nothing else he could think of at that moment. Even when he was facing the hell wolves on his way back instead of being swift and precise with his strikes, he was more brutal and violent this also reflected his mental state.

    Bai Ming''s main concern was Xin de''s group being alive. As for those Luo guards, he didn''t ce too much attention on them, mainly because their threat was almost nonexistent, the news of Bai Ming killing Luo sheng will spread throughout Xuan mountain within a day or two. Bai Ming was also going to push the me for his team''s death on the Luo n, but he didn''t care if they refuted it because his n would rather believe him than outsiders, but for that, he had to make sure Xin de''s group was dead, if they weren''t he would have to kill them himself.

    "If I could get some herbs or pills to strengthen my soul.. sigh, it''s just wishful thinking. Maybe, when I reach the core formation realm I might get a soul-based treasure from the panel, but chances of that happening are slim, but my chances of getting a soul-based pill in this forsaken ce are even slimmer, damn it. Talent is just secondary in the world of cultivation, while resourcese first. Even if a person has the lowest grade of talent but with enough resources, he can surpass a person with superior talent, and what Ick are these resources, these heavenly treasures, I can only be called a top-tier genius in this shitty ce but once I travel outside I am average at best." Bai Ming got more frustrated, but he took a few deep breaths and calmed down. He understood that his mental state wasn''t at its peak right now, he should avoid thinking unnecessary things.

    "But this misfortune has brought some small benefits, I have done a great contribution towards the vige so I would only be questioned lightly and I might even get rewarded, the other benefit is that I have gotten one core formation realm refinement material, but most importantly I have gotten that old man''s spiritual core, and this core has nine leaf patterns."

    When elemental realm expert breaks through to the core formation realm they would form this yellow core, in this core resides the individual''s spiritual energy. The nine leaves represent that Luo cai was a peak core formation realm expert.

    "Okay, I will cultivate the rotten blood art first." Bai Ming decided.

    Four hours passed, Bai Ming got out of the tub. This time he had cultivated the rotten blood art in his house, he mainly cultivated the rotten blood art in the cave because he would need arge area to practice the art, but this time it was just a single corpse and he was also confident of not making a sound during the entire process, his pain tolerance had leaped by leaps and bounds now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Twenty percent, my raw strength is nowparable to an initial stage core formation realm expert. Hmm, I should probably take a look outside now." Bai Ming dressed up quickly and strode out.

    .....

    "No, calling me the hero of the Ye vige is wrong. How could I have done it by myself, it was all only because myrades were prepared to give up on their dreams and die, only then did we seed, I don''t deserve these heavy titles, everything belongs to them, not me! even in death they died with a smile on their faces.. I just hope wherever they are, let them just be proud, let them just be happy. Even though I haven''t known them for long, I feel like they were truly loving a family." Bai Ming spoke emotionally as looked at the beautiful moon.

    Bai Ming had alreadypleted his investigation on Xin de''s group and the results were in his favor, hence he pushed the me for his teammate''s death on the Luo n members.

    "I am sure they are proud, I am sure they are happy. They were brave men and kind souls, their sacrifices were not wasted and that''s thanks to you, don''t forget that. They are not dead, it''s just that they live within our hearts now." Ye Qing Han looked at Bai Ming with a kind expression and spoke in a consoling way.

    "Live within our hearts.." Bai Ming mumbled these words a few times, before looking at Qing han with a sad smile, but his eyes showed eptance and resolution "I guess so, thank you Lord n head. I feel like I have understood something."

    "Haha, that''s good. I always knew you were a talented child, both your parents and brother li are definitely blessed to have a sessor like you." Qing Han patted Bai Ming''s shoulder.

    "I hope that''s true, but I am truly blessed to have had them as my family." Bai Ming''s heartfelt words could even melt a heartless stone.

    But Ye Qing Han wasn''t a stone, he was hundreds of times tougher and stronger than it.

    "Good child, still you have to ept these rewards, you truly deserve them." Qing Han encouraged.

    "But.." Bai Ming still showed slight hesitation.

    "This is an order, tell are you still not going to ept them." Qing Han pretend to be slightly angry.

    "I don''t dare, then I shall thank the n head for your generosity." Bai Ming gave him a deep bow not getting up until Ye Qing Han himself had helped him get up.

    After exchanging words for a few more minutes, Bai Ming departed with arge bag on his back.

    ....

    Bai Ming sat at the edge of his bed as he stroked his chin lightly, in front of himy a small mountain of spirit stones. These 6000 spirit stones were the reward he had gotten from the n head along with the chance to learn the fifthyer of the primeval sword art.

    "Absorb"

    [???????????????????? ????????????: 5000 ?????????? ???? ????????????]

    [????????????: ??????/????]

    "Yes"

    [?????????????????? ????????????...???????????????????? ??????????????????]

    [?????????? ????????????:5000]

    "Nice, show status"

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 6 ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ???????????????? ?????????? +]

    [??????????????????????????: 4 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 5000/5000]

    ____

    Next, Bai Ming fully spent his skill points upgrading his attributes. He spent 1500 skill points each on upgrading spirit root andprehension, next Bai Ming once again absorbed another 500 spirit stones to upgrade the sword path aptitude which needed 2500 skill points.

    For a second Bai Ming''s entire body shone with a blinding sliver light before it vanished.

    Bai Ming calmly inspected his body, he looked slightly surprised.

    "My soul strength increased, it isparable to 1styer elemental realm. Hehehe, good, very good." Bai Mingughed lightly, next he began to think of the reason "If my guess is right, it should have something to do with increasing either myprehension or sword path aptitude or it could be because I upgraded both of them...Status"

    ____

    [????????????]

    [????????: ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 6 ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [??????????????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 6 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/5000]

    ____

    "Now I can begin cultivating, my divine sense is enough to set up a simple 2nd tier qi gathering array, and along with my talent and the help of spirit liquid I can reach the peak of the elemental realm within 3-4 days. Then I''ll have to ask the n for the 3rdyer of the primeval star mantra. As forprehending the sword art, I will do it once I reach the core formation realm. It will probably only take a week for me to reach the core formation realm, is this perhaps fortune within misfortune."

 Chapter 35 Core Formation

    ?Seven dayster, In a room, Bai Ming was sitting inside the tub with his legs crossed and eyes shut.

    The tub was filled with spirit liquid, there was small formation enveloping Bai Ming, the essence mist inside the formation was really dense, it could even rival some low tier sects cultivation rooms.

    Currently Bai Ming''s consciousness was inside his dantian.

    There were nine finger sized spiritual nucleus slowly rotating inside his dantian, Bai Ming circted the primeval star mantra to the limits, a terrific suction burst out from his body, and then the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy from all directions poured into Bai Ming''s body at an frightening speed, the spirit liquid slowly entered through the pores in his body. This speed was the benifit of having the highest grade talent, the extremity spirit root.

    The spiritual essence went through the spiritual nucleus before taking shape of a pole.

    "Break" Bai Mingmanded.

    The spiritual pole moved with terrifying force, Bang! There was a muted thud, as the pole with just a single strike punctured a thumb sized hole in the barrier.

    ? "The bottleneck has been broken through. The next task is the construction of the golden core." Bai Ming thought.

    Bai Ming willed and the spiritual essence crazily surged before gushing into the newly formed space and began expanding it to the limits, next the nine spiritual nucleus moved inside and began to melt very slowly.

    After an entire hour, the nine nucleus hadpletely melted, now each nuclei had transformed into fine threads. Next these treads began to intertwine with each other finally forming a fist sized dim yellow core after another three hours, there was single leaf pattern on it.

    Bai Ming suddenly opened his eyes. There was a beam of sliver light that brushed over his deep crimson pupils.

    "The core formation realm I have now achieved it." Bai Ming spoke to himself.

    He twisted his neck a few times, apanied by the clear sound of bones cracking. He slightly clenched his palms and suddenly he could feel a strong power, which made him smile.

    The next minute, Bai Ming exerted the strength in his palms toward the void in the front of him.

    "Bang!"

    Suddenly, a burst of a crisp sound filled the whole void.

    "This strength is simr to my raw strength, But if Ibine both of my strength I should be able fight against 2ndyer core formation realm martial artists. Of course once I master the fifthyer of the sword arts and along with my treasure body I should be able to deal with 4thyer core formation realm martial artists. As for my divine sense" Bai Ming began to inspect his soul "Not too shabby, it isparable to the 9thyer of elemental realm."

    "Status"

    ____

    [????????????]

    [???????? : ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [??????????????????????????: 5 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 6 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 0/10000]

    ____

    Bai Ming nced at it casually, "Open lucky spin"

    _____

    [?????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? 2]

    [????????: ??????/????]

    _____

    "Yes!" Bai Ming confirmed with much anticipation in his heart.

    [????????????????????.. ??????????????????????????????!! ?????? ???????? ???????????????? 1)???????????? ????  2)??????-???????? ???????????????? ??????????]

    [????????????: ??????/????]

    "ept" Bai Ming had no idea about the yin-yang reversal pear, but he had vague idea on the benifit of the battle qi he had gotten.

    The next second, Bai Ming''s eyes lost their luster for a couple of breaths before regaining them. Now he was extremely clear on what these rewards were.

    The void before him cracked and a tiny pearl which was half ck and half white appeared in front of him.

    Bai Ming gazed at the pearl with gentleness, he lightly caressed it before using his divine sense to refine it. Next, he lifted the pearl and pressed it against his forehead, the pearl entered his forehead before entering deep into his soul without any obstruction.

    "Even though its a one time use treasure, it''s value for me is immeasurable. Hehe, even if my entire body were to be destroyed as long as my soul exists I can resurrect again, but it only works for people with cultivation level of Yin-Yang void realm or below."

    "Sword qi only strengthens sword path attacks by three times, whereas battle qi strengthens attacks of all paths like sword path, spear path, fist path, movement path, elemental path attacks and so on by three times. It even strengthens soul path attacks by three times."

    "After considering my rise in strength again, I should be able to defeat a 5thyer martial artist, can I fight against a 6thyer core formation realm martial artist? I''m not sure."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Now I can finally be considered an elite in this ce, with core formation realm cultivation I can move around more freely. But for now I should learn the 5thyer of primeval sword art, after that I will begin searching for that treasure."

    ....

    Xuan mountain.

    Deep underground, It was dark and in this darkness the only source of light was dim yet extremely hot. The purple me was burning peacefully on the surface of a basin sized skull, the skull was half purple, half green. There were many veins on it connected to the ground below, These veins were throbbing every now and then, right behind ity an sculpture of an old man in intricate robes. he seemed in his sixties, his eyes were closed and both of his palms were ced against each other.

    "Just another two days and I can break this restriction, then I can begin the process of refining the bone heart me, Li wei has also brokethrough the core formation realm two days ago, things are going smoothly for now but it will get chaotic ones these local Martial artists get here." Li jun contemted as he was trying to destroy the restriction.

    "Master, I have finally achieved sess in the fourthyer of azure frost transformation art" Li wei spoke excitedly.

    Li jun heard this and a wide smile formed on his face, "Good, little wei you are really my disciple. Hahaha"

    Li wei also smiled lightly, a bit of pride could be seen in her pearl like eyes.

    "This is good, now with li wei''s strength she should be able to fight against most of the core formation realm martial artists in this ce, I can focus on just refining the bone heart me, but if Spirit realm martial artistse it will be really troublesome." Li jun pondered.

    At another ce in the underground.

    There were nearly 20-30 people gathered here, all them had core formation realm cultivation. The strange thing was that these core formation realm experts were not from a single vige but all the three big viges.

    "How troublesome, these restrictions are never ending."

    "Does you luo n people not know of the term patience. if my guess is right this should be thest restriction, the treasure must be behind this restriction."

    "You have said the same thing for thest two times, your Song n only knows to bullshit."

    "Enough, stop your nonsense and focus on the task ahead, if only we could go back and inform our respective n heads, it would have been much quicker to breakthrough these formations."

    previously when the golden pir of light was formed, each of the viges had sent a group of elders to inspect the cause. From the golden pir of light the destination was found out quickly.

    But of course all three of the viges wanted to keep the treasures for themselves, hence the elders engaged in intense battles, but after a few rounds ofbat they decided to form a temporary alliance and find the treasure together, as for who gets to keep it that could be decidedter.

    ...

    Ye n pavilion, Ye Qing han''s personal chamber.

    "There is still no news about them, its almost been a month now since they have left, in thest message it was informed that three viges formed a alliance and there was a restriction blocking them. Hmm, did other viges betray us or is this whole thing just some sort of evil plot, but its unlikely to be a scheme. I''ll wait for few more days, if there is still nothing we can only cooperate and try to rescue them, sigh." Ye Qing han worriedly stared at the letters on his table.

    Knock! Knock!

    "Come in" a knock was heard on the door, Qing han  sat down as he gave approval.

    "Reporting to n head, this subordinate has something to report." At this time, a white haired elemental realm martial artist walked in.

    "Is it news regarding the elders?" Ye Qing han''s eyes shone, asking quickly.

    "It''s about Bai Ming, he has recently advanced to core formation realm" The white haired man quickly reported.

    Ye Qing han''s eyes dimmed, waving his hands "No information on elders? Wait...What? what did you say, Bai Ming! that brat Bai Ming advanced to core formation realm!?" Halfway through, he reacted and his expression one of shock.

    This was too sudden, with zero premonition.

    "It is indeed him sir n head" the white haired man quickly replied respectfully.

    Ye Qing han had a wierd expression, asking immediately, "Did hee here to inform me? where is he?"

    "Reporting to Lord n head, Bai Ming did not inform himself, I was ordered by Lord Tian to inform you, he said that he discovered it when Bai Ming came to the ns inner treasury to learn the fifthyer of primeval sword art." The white haired man replied.

    "This Bai Ming was able to advance to core formation realm! He is merely of mid grade talent, but could actually have such aplishments in this short time. This is really a surprise! he definitely has secrets on him. Although he had help from elder li and even entered the spirit pond and has gotten the reward of 6000 spirit stones, he couldn''t have had advanced to core formation so fast, this is something even a superior grade talent cannot do. Hmm, he also had killed Luo sheng, did he get something from him? its a possibility." The n head had thousands of thoughts on his mind now, he thought about the mid term exam how Bai Ming was able to win thepetition with just is lowly bone forging realm cultivation, his cunningness, reckless, ruthlessness had left a profound impression on him. From that day, he saw Bai Ming in new light, but didn''t expect much from him due to his talent, but that changed again when he brought Luo sheng''s severed head.

    Now, this Bai Ming actually had another great aplishment!

    ording to the vige system, all martial artists who advanced to core formation were new elders. A new elder was bound to have a huge impact on the old political structure, but the current situation in the upper echelons was messy, it was unsure whether those ten core formation elders are alive or dead.

    "But i suppose this is a good thing" Ye Qing han had a slightly unsure expression, his heart had some uncertainty.

    "Since Bai Ming''s cultivation has reached core formation realm, thus ording to the n rules, he shall also assume the role of n elder. Send out the news, and let the entire vige rejoice." Qing han gave hismand, the white haired man respectfully bowed and left.

    Two dayster.

    "Finally, I haveprehended this high grade sword art." Bai Ming slowly stood up as he nced at the stone pir onest time before turning around and leaving.

    But he suddenly stopped, "Now the elders should know about me breaking through core formation realm, should I master the sword art here and then leave, then I can go and directly look for that treasure and its also much safer to practice here." Bai Ming made up his mind, if he were to leave now there would be many things to deal with and his training might get dyed, hence he would rather train here.

    Without wasting time Bai Ming immediately began to train in the fifthyer of primeval sword art.

    But at the next second...

 Chapter 36 Benefits Thicker Than Blood

    ?Xuan mountain.

    It was cold afternoon with dark cloudy sky thaty overhead. Thendscape was pillows of snow, there was serenity amidst the cold winds. It was calm and quiet.

    Ye n pavilion.

    "Lord n head, I think we should not wait any longer." A middle aged man with broad shoulders spoke, his tone filled with urgency.

    "Yes I know, I have already exchanged letters with the other vige heads, we are going to wait for three more days if there is still no news we will immediately take action." Qing han responded calmly.

    Rumble!

    At this time, there was a huge earthquake, it was as if there was a huge python rolling around in the ground. it was a terrifying earthquake that seemed to devour everything, the world was shaking like the apocalypse was here.

    "What is going on?"

    "Why is there an earthquake all of a sudden?"

    "This not an ordinary earthquake, this is something far worse?"

    Woosh!

    Ye Qing han directly flew out, he was a spirit realm Cultivator. All spirit realm martial artists have the ability to fly, just like how core formation realm martial artists have the ability tomunicate with each other using their divine senses.

    Ye Qing han levitated high in the air, his expression was grim, his eagle like sharp eyes observed the entire situation.

    "The entirety of Xuan Mountain is shaking, even the nearby mountains are affected somewhat. Earthquake, no this must have something to do with the earth vein. Is this perhaps rted to the that phenomenon.." Ye Qing han had a deep gaze the more he thought about this, more it seemed to be the case.

    Within a few seconds he made his decision.

    .....

    "Why is there a earthquake" Bai Ming frowned deeply, the earthquake had juststed for minute before calm returned.

    "Strange, this the first time something like this happened in my 15years of life in this ce. I have also not heard anyone mention about a earthquake  happening in the vige before. I have a feeling it''s not that simple."

    "Should I head out.. no, I should quickly master this art." Bai Ming once again continued to train the fifthyer of primeval sword art.

    But only few minutes had passed when he heard hurried footsteps approaching him.

    Bai Ming stopped practicing, he turned towards the source of the sound.

    A bald old man with a muscr body quickly came into Bai Ming''s vision.

    "Elder Tian is something the matter, I still have seven days time limit to learn the sword art." Bai Ming stared at the old man calmly and spoke in a in tone.

    "First of all let me congratte you on being promoted to the position of a n elder, congrattions." Elder Tian congratted.

    He was a peak core formation realm expert and the person incharge of protecting the ns treasury, but in this room the only treasure was the high grade sword art, as for the ns spirit stone storage it was in a different room.

    Bai Ming just nodded his head in acknowledgement, if it was before when his strength was meager, he would put on pretense but now there was no need for it, he was already a core formation realm expert, an elite. Even though he wasn''t the strongest person in the n, he had much capability and the n will also start showing more attention towards him now.

    ''Arrogant, but considering his achievements at such a young age. If he doesn''t have the right to be arrogant, who has! He is the youngest elder in the ns illustrious history, mid grade talent what bullshit. He probably will even breakthrough to the spirit realm, at that time he can contest for the n head''s position.'' Elder Tian thought highly of Bai Ming, but he knew the urgency of the situation, he quickly spoke. "Elder Bai Ming we don''t have time,e follow me. The n head is waiting for us. As for your training it has to wait."

    Bai Ming''s eyes flickered, he had a vague idea of this sudden change. He quickly followed after Elder Tian to the n conference hall.

    .....

    The atmosphere in the n hall was solemn.

    The n head Ye Qing hai was sitting on the highest seat, there were dozen empty seats in rows by his left and right. Except for the n head only Six other elders were present in the hall, including Bai Ming.

    Most of the elders attention was more or less on Bai Ming, they had differing thoughts as they looked at him. But everyone shared the mutual feeling of astonishment.

    Bai Ming sat upright, his hands resting on the sides of the chair, while his eyes were opened in two slits.

    "Since everyone is here listen carefully, I think everyone should already know as to why I have called you here." Saying this the n head paused and observed everyone, the elders quickly nodded their heads. Next he continued, "Never in the 600 years of our ns long history has there ever been a earthquake, and i believe it is the same this time. If my guess is Correct it has something to do with the golden light pir, it is most likely that pir of light has something to do with the mountains earth vein."

    Upon hearing n head''s words, many n elders started frowning.

    The hall fell into temporary silence.

    "Earth vein.." Bai Ming''s eye''s shone, as he kept on muttering this word in his heart.

    After letting the group of elders digest his words, Qing han continued "But of course i could be totally wrong. This is an extremely important issue, if it truly involves the earth vein then we have to do everything we can. Otherwise if it were to be damaged, the entire mountain will copse, the loss of life will be unimaginable. And we would have to move to another mountain and that is not as easy as it sounds."

    "I agree with the n head ever since the appearance of that pir of light, I have been feeling much unrest." A middle aged man spoke.

    The other elders also agreed to this.

    "We have already waited for so long, it''s time to act now. Elder Xu, Elder Tian and Elder Bai Ming will remain in the vige and protect it, the remaining members follow me, we will join with the Luo and Song n leaders and head to the ce of the abnormality." Qing han spoke in an unquestionable tone, his mighty aura fully disyed.

    Bai Ming heard this and showed no reaction, but deep within his eyes cruelty was perfectly concealed.

    Saying that the group elders and the n head quickly moved out, the situation was urgent. The survival of the n was on line now, no matter the hatred between three big viges, in such situations they had toe together.

    Bai Ming and the two elders watched the group leaving the vige.

    The group of three elders, one old, one middle aged and one young looked at each other and sighed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Elder Xu, Elder Bai Ming I will as usual be guarding the treasuries, if something happens please look for me." Elder Tian informed and turned around left.

    Now only Bai Ming and elder Xu were remaining.

    Elder Xu was the middle aged woman with peak core formation realm cultivation, who wanted her daughter to develop a good rtionship with Bai Ming, she had even gifted him 2nd tier high grade healing pills.

    "Elder Xu, since there are only three elders in the vige now and elder Tian is gaurding the treasury we should not stay in the pavilion. How about it, I will be secretly guarding the inner part of the n while you maintain the security on the vige walls." Bai Ming suggested in a humble tone.

    Elder Xu throught about it for second before agreeing to it, she conversed with Bai Ming for bit more time and left. Bai Ming was polite when talking to her.

    But once she left, his gentle face returned to it''s usual coldness and indifference. His eyes flickered with a cold light a he thought, "This is a golden opportunity, if I let go of this opportunity, I should just rot and die somewhere. But both of them are peak core formation realm martial artists, my soul force is only at the peak elemental realm and setting up a 3rd grade formation to kill them i will have to burn my soul again. As for fighting head on against them, even with my current strength i can''t defeat them, but just because I cannot defeat them does not mean I can''t kill them."

    "But I should first put a istion barrier around this pavilion." Bai Ming began to secretly set up a restriction around the pavilion.

    An hourter.

    "That senior brother told me she should be here, where is mother" A clumsy looking young girl was walking around the walls of the ye vige, she had white skin and thick eyebrows which gave her a fresh aura.

    "Oh isn''t this Little mei, what are doing here?" A middle aged woman dressed in yellow clothing enquired.

    "I am looking for mother, aunty have you see her. I have been looking around but I can''t find her." Xu mei asked with some expectation.

    "Elder Xu was right there a moment ago, but she looked busy so I didn''t talk with her. Okay I will be going now it''s almost time for lunch." the middle aged women waved her hand and left.

    "Bye aunty" Xu mei quickly went towards location pointed by the women.

    after walking for few more minutes, in her vision appeared a familiar person.

    "Mother! mother!" Xu mei shouted as she ran towards her mother.

    Elder Xu was standing on a watch tower giving a few instructions to the guards, but when she heard the extremely familiar voice she instinctively turned around.

    Elder Xu saw her daughter running towards her, she quickly jumped off the tower andnded few steps away from Xu mei.

    "What are doing here? why aren''t you at home now? Have you had lunch yet?" In a single breath elder Xu asked barrage of questions to her daughter.

    "Hehe, you will never guess who sent me here" Xu mei replied yfully as she held out the small package in here hand.

    "Oh, what is this?" Elder Xu smiled and asked as she got closer to her daughter.

    Xu mei smiled at her mother as she handed her mother the package, "Open it, I also don''t know. It was elder Bai.."

    Elder Xu had just held the package, at the next moment, an intense explosion urred.

    BOOM!!!!

    A world shattering explosion urred, everything within hundred meters of the explosion was caught on fire, the ming gaurd station was sent flying, arge portion of the vige wall was burnt to ashes, the people nearby be it cultivators or mortals had died a terrible death, most of them were turned into dust with not even their bones remaining.

    A huge pit appeared in the ce of the explosion, the ground waspletely burnt.

    Even the grand core formation expert Lady Xu was burnt till not even her ashes remained.

    The sound of the explosion had spread throughout the entire vige, the entire vige immediately fell into utter chaos.

    All the Cultivators in the vige where rushing towards ce of explosion.

    Far away from the explosion, on top of a three story bamboo house Bai Ming stood with his hands behind his back as he calmly spectated.

    "One has to be vignt at all times or else they would just end up like this poor woman." Bai Ming thought as he watched the entire incident.

    This whole incident was obviously Bai Ming''s doing, after setting up the restriction on the n Pavillion which istes itself from the outside world, he quickly searched for Elder Xu''s daughter and asked her to do him a favor, considering Bai Ming''s status and Xu mei willing obeyed.

    Bai Ming had given her Luo Cai''s spiritual core, he had already ced his will in it. A spiritual core contained the person''s entire cultivation, if it were to explode even spirit realm martial artists had to be careful, it was far more terrifying than martial attacks. Not to mention, elder Xu was only a core formation realm expert and the sudden explosion was really sudden for her, before she could even react, everything was over.

    Woosh!

    Bai Ming moved like lightning as he appeared on the site of the explosion, he directly moved towards the center of the ming pit.

    The people in the surroundings wanted to stop him, but these people quickly recognised him and didn''t dare interfere, a barrage of questions was mmed at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming treated these people like air, once he got to the center of the explosion he began to search the ground, he quickly found a brunt yellow core. He quickly stored it in his storage pouch.

    "A pity I couldn''t get her body, it looks like I just have to settle for these worms." Bai Ming''s eyes were staring at the ground below as he spoke in a soft voice, but due to the chaos others couldn''t hear him, but there were always exceptions. Some people were closely observing Bai Ming''s every single action, hearing his words their expression changed greatly as they took a step back in fear.

    Bai Ming raised his head as he gazed at his surroundings with his demonic crimson eyes, his deep green robes fluttered lightly, his ck hair danced in the wind, he revealed a devilish smile as his lips curled.

    "Come on! Let''s paint world red!" Bai Mingughed loudly, as three solid sword Phantoms formed behind him.

    Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

    The three fierce sword Phantoms dashed forward beheading three of the nearest martial artists.

    Thud sounds were heard as three severed headsnded on the ground.

    Soon after, Bai Ming continued his ughter fest.

 Chapter 37 Murdering Ones Kin

    ?"Quickly stop, what are you doing!?"

    "Bai Ming, have you gone mad!!"

    "Stop now, otherwiseˇ­ urgh!"

    Everyone was shocked to the core. Bai Ming was ruthless, killing another nsman.

    "Hahaha, die for me!" Bai Mingughed loudly, as his sharp de mercilessly pierced an ugly old woman''s throat.

    Everyone here was stunned, retreating steps away, not expecting Bai Ming to be so insane.

    "Bai Ming has lost it!"

    "He''s lost his goddamn mind, attack together!"

    "Attack, otherwise we are all going to be ughtered by him and I will go look for the other elders."

    It was like Bai Ming stepped on an ant colony, causing everyone to stir, but no one dared to attack; most of them only shouted and encouraged others to fight.

    Bai Ming was going all out, every second he took more than a dozen lives, By now he had already killed more than a hundred people, be it men, women, children, or the old, none were spared under the ruthlessness of his bloodthirsty sword.

    He was already a core formation realm expert and his body cultivation was also at 1styer of the core formation realm, plus with the help of battle qi which could amplify his attack strength by 3times, killing these people was as easy as stepping on grass.

    "Faster, faster I will not waste even single material." Bai Ming roared.

    Before long he was done killing everyone here, hundreds and hundreds of corpsesy on the ground, and thend was fully painted crimson.

    Not even a single person was able to escape, be it a mortal or a cultivator.

    Bai Ming breathed in deeply taking in the sweet smell of blood, as he looked at the sea of blood before him, His deep red eyes and ck hair together with his blood-bathed body, made him look like a demon straight out from the depths of hell.

    Bai Ming was in trance, he began humming and spread both his arms out as if he was embracing the world as he danced his way toward one of the barriers, he was living in the moment.

    This feeling of being unrestrained, how it filled his heart with much joy.

    Currently, within the Ye vige, Bai Ming had set up four restrictions.

    One was ced on the n Pavillion, it was to iste it from the outside world. The people inside it werepletely unaware of the situation outside. This was mainly set up to prevent elder Tian from noticing Bai Ming''s actions, Of course, it was only a 2nd tier restriction and if Elder Tian were to use his divine sense he would immediately find out something is odd, but Bai Ming wasn''t too worried about it, elder Tian would usually nevere out of the Pavillion, he was always protecting the treasuries and there really was no reason for him to simply use his divine sense. As for the other three restrictions, it was to restrict people. After all the vige was huge even if Bai Ming was a core formation realm expert he didn''t have the ability to kill everyone in an instant, they would definitely take this chance to escape.

    If it wasn''t for the presence of elder Xu he would have set up a formation here also.

    Bai Ming arrived at the nearest barrier, the people trapped inside had grim expressions, many had gone berserk as they wildly attacked the scarlet barrier. However, the scarlet shield was still unshakeable and was as stable as a mountain.

    Bai Ming entered the restriction, he faced zero obstruction. The surrounding people inside the barrier upon seeing him were all startled and some children cried out in fear.

    Bai Ming chuckled as he nced around again and then another massacre Unfolded. Miserable shouts, screams, and cries of despair continuously rang on the battlefield like a medley.

    This was arge ughterhouse.

    "Bai Ming, you evil fiend!" Su Ming rushed up.

    Bai Mingughed coldly, his left w immediately pierced through Su Ming, when he took back his palm, there was a pulsing heart on it.

    At this moment Bai Ming''s killing intent had reached an unfathomable level, and the chaotic battlefield fell deathly silent, the silence was spine-chilling.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The surrounding people felt his overwhelming killing intent, fear was blooming rapidly in their hearts.

    Bai Ming coldly red at his nsman, he brought the pulsating heart near his mouth.

    Taking a harsh bite, he chewed loudly without care.

    Bai Ming devilishly smiled, a strand of blood flowing down his lips.

    "Still not attacking?"

    Bai Ming threw the half-eaten heart in his hand aside and dashed forward, the killing spree continued.

    Bai Ming''s gaze reflected the cascade of blood, horrific screams filled with pain and agony, and the pure despair in the air. It was truly...breathtaking.

    Half an hourter, Bai Ming had massacred the entire Ye n. He stood in the middle of the ughter field, his expression tranquil.

    "Still not enough, this is enough to achieve 70%pletion which is equal to the 6thyer of the core formation realm. But once I finish absorbing this I should be able to deal with Elder Tian easily. Hmm, processing this much material is going to take time, I should set up a formation it will be much more time efficient. Ah, there are also those few mortal viges remaining. But their value is pretty low, I should make them process the materials for me and it''s also time for those brats to show their worth."

    Bai Ming quickly began to set up a huge formation, with Bai Ming''s grandmaster attainment in formation path his ability to create 4th-grade and below formations and restrictions was astonishing and the formations set up by him would also have 4times the power, but if he had set up an attack type formation and also used his battle qi the power would be amplified by 7 times, one could see the might of both attainment and battle qi.

    Buzz

    A soft cry resounded, and a red-orange light bloomed, suddenly expanding and turning into a spherical shield within moments.

    The formation was set up. Hundreds of humanoid-shaped creatures made of mud formed within seconds, next Bai Ming instructed them to pick up swords from the nearby corpses and he showed them how to process the material, after that he made a 3 feet deep and 200-meter-wide pit in the ground and order the mud monsters to fill it with the processed goods.

    Next, he quickly moved towards the three remaining mortal viges, Bai Ming used his aura to intimidate them and not a single mortal dared to disobey him, but when these mortals entered the vige theirplexion changed further, he order them to imitate the mud monsters, of course, if they were to do something stupid the mud monsters weren''t for show.

    After that, Bai Ming sprinted towards his hidden cave, before when he was a bone forging realm martial artist he would have to spend more than an hour to reach this ce but now only ten minutes had gone by before he reached his destination.

    Bai Ming quickly entered the cave, the children noticed his arrival, they looked at him with fear and cautiousness, only Zi Feng stared at Bai Ming fearlessly, but inwardly he was extremely alert.

    Bai Ming used his divine sense to scan them, all of the children had reached the 6thyer except for zi Feng who had reached the 7thyer. Do not look down on them, Bai Ming had never spared them even a single piece of spirit stone.

    "My original n is no longer useful, who would have thought my strength would reach such heights in such a short period of time, but everything was only possible because of the risks I have taken and the effort I put, sigh." Bai Ming sighed emotionally.

    He quickly moved and knocked out these kids unconscious and carried them back to the vige, after entering the vige he kicked them awake and made them work on processing the bodies, Bai Ming was notzing around he was also working.

    ''How long will it take for me to kill this son of a bitch?? but, no matter how long it takes I will get my revenge!'' Zi Feng nced at Bai Ming from the corner of his eye, his heart filled with endless hatred and raging killing intent patiently bidding for its time, and if that time were toe, the explosion would surely be world-shattering.

    Bai Ming felt Zi Feng''s gaze on him, but he didn''t care.

    Thirty minutester, the processing was done. The huge pit was almost filled. Bai Ming inwardly nodded at this, next he moved towards the children and killed them quickly.

    Only Zi Feng was alive, Bai Ming stood before him and meaningfully stated at him, Zi Feng understood his fate but he was calm, extremely calm.

    "You are really something." Bai Ming genuinely praised Zi Feng, but he still broke his neck and killed him. Zi Feng kept on shing his sword at Bai Ming the entire time but it was futile, the disparity in strength was heaven and earth.

    Next, hemanded the mud monsters to kill off the mortals and process them, Bai Ming quickly stripped as he jumped into the pool of blood and began cultivating the rotten blood art.

    After a whole eight hours, Bai Ming staggered out. The third crimson on his abdomen was 70%plete, his raw physical strength had reached the Sixthyer of core formation realm.

    "Now it''s time to kill that senile old man" Bai Ming spoke as he got dressed and left.

 Chapter 38 Plunder

    ?The most vital ce of the ye n was it''s spirit pool, this was the ce that birthed spirit stones for the n.

    The remaining three ces were the ns spirit storage ground, ns inner treasury and ns scripture hall.

    The ns scripture hall held all the mid grade techniques in the n. As for the ns inner treasury, it held the only high grade (fifthyer of the primeval sword art) technique in the n.

    As for the spirit storage ground, which was located right next to the ns inner treasury contained a massive amount of spirit stones and also held the first, second, third, fourth and the finalyer of the primeval star mantra.

    Always core formation realm experts who gaurd these ces, but due to the abnormality it was different, only elder Tian was guarding these important spots at now.

    Elder Tian shook his head, he said with an unmoved expression: "No, now is not the time for this. The younger generation are really daring as always. what if we wait a few more days? There is no rush, we can decide then."

    Bai Ming retorted with heaven defying confidence "We can''t afford to waste a single second, if we drag this out, there might never be such a golden opportunity. Now is the perfect time to attack the other viges, the risks are at the lowest now."

    Both Bai Ming and Tian hai were already engaged in a conversation for few minutes now. Bai Ming wanted them to attack the other two viges, how could it be that easy Tian hai definitely had much considerations.

    "Elder Bai, Don''t worry" Elder Tian smiled, analyzing "Right now all the three viges are under an unknown danger and we don''t know how dangerous it really is, it is best if we have others to shield us. And we are also not sure on the number of elders they have stationed at their respective viges, as for our side we currently only have three core formation experts, two peak stage but your only at the initial stage. If we were to fight them, the first one to die won''t be me or elder Xu.."

    Bai Ming showed a difficult expression, before it became resolute, he held the treasure sword in his right hand, his Spiritual energy surging like tidal waves "Then so be it! As long as I can be useful for the n, what does my life matter. Hahaha, I am even prepared to die a hundred times!" The resolution and determination in Bai Ming''s eyes were unmatched.

    Elder Tian looked at Bai Ming''s eyes deeply, and fell silent for a long time before heaving a deep sigh "Do you have a n?"

    "It is almost time, the time will be ripe soon" Bai Ming thought inwardly, but on the surface he was shocked and pleased, he joyfully answered: "Of course, but before that shall we sit down."

    Bai Ming definitely wouldn''t allow Tian hai to stand, when standing one''s muscles were more tensed and active, hence they could move quickly.  But when we one is seated, the body is rxed and light, even their mental state would be somewhat affected.

    Bai Ming wanted to kill Tian hai swiftly, he had to make ample preparations.

    Elder Tian nodded and began walking toward a corner.

    "Elder one minute." saying that Bai Ming took out two seats from his storage pouch and ced both seats closely and directed Elder Tian to sit down.

    Elder Tian sat down, he had many thoughts in his mind. His gaze subconsciouslynded on the storage pouch on Bai Ming''s left hand, which was inching closer to him.

    Right away, without any warning!

    primeval sword art - 1styer!!

    A whistling sound was heard as the demonic sword broke the air and thrusted towards Tian hai''s forehead.

    Tian hai was staring in horror, the bloody sword mark left on his forehead erged as blood started to spurt out from the front and back of his head.

    He was dead!

    Tian hai died with his eyes wide open, his face was frozen with extreme shock and terror, Bai Ming had attacked like lighting, terrifyingly quick.

    Bai Ming coldly smirked looking at the dead body, before keeping it inside the storage bag.

    This surely wasn''t just because Bai Ming was able to catch Tian hai with a surprise, Of course the suprise factor did contribute. But it was mainly due to the fact Bai Ming had greatest advantage in closebat. Bai Ming dose indeed possess 6thyer core formation realm body cultivation, but body cultivation dose not strengthen spiritual energy, it can only amplify closebat attacks and Bai Ming''s only closebat attacks were either the 1styer of primeval sword art and tyrant fist. 1styer of primeval sword art was a piercing attack, which needed direct contact. This allowed Bai Ming to perfectly disy both his body cultivation and spiritual cultivation at the same time, plus there was also his battle qi which amplified his every attack by three times. Hence, this sneak attack was actually his current strongest attacking method, which could make use of both his body and spiritual cultivation.

    "Now, all the obstacles have been cleared. It''s time to collect the prize, hehehe." Bai Ming''s expression was cold, with his hands behind his back he walked towards the ns spirit storage grounds.<novelnext></novelnext>

    An ancient ck door engraved with sword scars greeted him in the dark tunnel, Bai Ming kicked open the door and entered it.

    Before him was a mountain of spirit stones lying on the ground, Bai Ming was happily smiling at this sight.

    "Absorb"

    Bai Ming absorbed as much as he could before upgrading his stats.

    ____

    [????????????]

    [???????? : ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 1 ???????? ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [??????????????????????????: 8 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 8 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 10,000/10,000]

    ____

    "I have reached the limit, upgrading bothprehension and sword path aptitude requires 25,000 skill points each. But my skill point storage can only store 10,000 points now it looks like I can only upgrade it after breaking through Yin-Yang void realm." Bai Ming pondered.

    There were still around 40-50 thousand spirit stones left, Bai Ming quickly stored them in his storage pouch.

    Next he moved toward the center, where arge stone tablet stood, this was the stone tablet which contained the all theyers of the primeval star mantra, Bai Ming shed at the stone tablet and stored the piece which recorded the 4th & 5thyer of primeval star mamta and destroyed the other part.

    Next Bai Ming went to the ce of the spirit pool and stored all of the spirit liquid, the amount of spirit liquid was enough for him to reach the peak of spirit realm.

    After looting the vige dry his storage pouch was almostpletely filled. Next, his target was the ns scripture hall, which had all the mid grade techniques. Later Bai Ming went towards the only pill hall in the vige and plundered all the healing pills there were, there were a huge amount of 1st tier pills, some 2nd tier pills and not one 3rd tier healing pills, Bai Ming wasn''t satisfied he went to Ji family estate and began rampaging in their estate, after nearly an hour he was able to get small bottle filled with tier 3 healing pills, he Continued to search for another twenty minutes and finally found what he wanted, these were the recipes of all healing pills from low grade tier 1 to high grade tier 3 healing pills.

    Next Bai Ming set up a small formation around him and used Tian hai''s body to cultivate the rotten blood art. Of course he had safely stored Tian hai''s  spiritual core.

    After an hour had passed, Bai Ming got up and inspected the crescent on his abdomen, it was 90%plete, which meant his body cultivation was at 8thyer of core formation realm. Bai Ming had killed more than thousands of people to to get his third crescent to 70%pletion, but just one core formation realm martial artist body allowed him 20%pletion.

    "Now is the time to make the decision, should I go towards the ce of the abnormality to try my luck or do I go to the other viges and wreak havoc, or do I just cultivate... Cultivating is not the right choice, first of all my cultivation base is not yet consolidated, as for attacking the other viges it is not bad option but who knows how long this mountain is going to stand and by the time i go looking for the possible treasure it might already be snatched by others." Bai Ming fell into deep thought.

    This was really a difficult decision for Bai Ming, considering his risk taking personality he very much wanted to go find the ''treasure''.

    After a full minute had gone by, only then did Bai Ming finally came to an conclusion.

    "If I were to attack the other viges now, I don''t know much of their strength, and if there are three or more elders present it will be troublesome and my divine sense has still notpletely recovered searching for them will be troublesome, as for going towards the abnormality is also not wise, at the moment I should focus on achieving master attainment in sword path, then my sword path attacks will be twice as strong as before. Considering my sword path aptitude and using that great grandmasters sword path insights I should be able to attain master attainment within day. After that I will head to the ce of the abnormality, the n head did mention there was restriction there, if that treasure has something to do with a great formation path cultivator it will definitely prove to be of great help for me."

    Bai Ming then began to study the way of the sword, previously Bai Ming had no time to study these insights, but whenever he did have some time he would go through it, trying his best toprehend it, but he was still a distance away from reaching the master attainment, But now with his freakish talent reaching master attainment didn''t seem difficult for him.

 Chapter 39 Formation

    ?Two dayster.

    "Ha!"

    Bai Ming roared, he straightened his waist and abdomen and sent out a meteor like punch onto the massive stone boulder, creating a loud thunderous sound. The boulder instantly exploded into piles of dusts and scattered onto the ground. Moreover, the air pressure continued on even after shattering the stone boulder. The air pressure produced several loud sounds and caused the air to move forward like waves. This air pressure made the tens of trees and boulders in the hundred meters radius surrounding him shatter into minute Fragments.

    "This punch should be enough to put down a 3rd tier wolf king permanently, this move can perfectly integrate both my body and spiritual cultivation along with the battle qi killing regr peak core formation experts isn''t that difficult anymore." Bai Ming said with some satisfaction.

    "I have already attained master attainment in sword path two days ago, then I spent around 6 hours reaching mastery in the fifthyer of primeval sword art, I have alsopletely mastered ''meteor waves'', a mid grade fist technique. Now i can probably attack other viges ande out victorious, but for the current me, the importance of the treasure is higher. killing them and using their bodies for cultivation will take much of my time and finding materials won''t be difficult for me now, But that treasure is different, it might have already been taken by others, but i have to see it for myself. The preparations are done, now it''s time to look for the treasure." Bai Ming stopped training and left in search of the treasure.

    ...

    In a spacious underground cave.

    Li jun was sitting down with his legs crossed, his entire body was drenched in beads of sweat. Both of his ms were facing the bone heart me, there were spiritual threads extending from every finger in hands which were slowly refining the purple me.

    Li jun was a lone cultivator with mediocre talent, after decades of bitter struggles and fortuitous encounters he was able to reach the peak of spirit realm. But he wasn''t always a lone cultivator, he was someone who had walked the path of a demon for quite a period of time in his life, without any attachment or morals. But at the lowest point of his life he met a certain someone who showed him the beauty of love, and slowly he became trapped in this emotion called love and converted from a demonic path cultivator to a lone cultivator. But even if he wanted to forget the past and start a new beginning it wasn''t so simple, the actions of his past definitely had many consequences.

    The only person he ever loved was ploted against and poisoned by one of his old enemies, and now she was struggling between life and death. Li jun tried every possible method he could, but he was only able to prolong her imminent doom. But one day, due to a lucky encounter he manged to get the  clues of the bone heart me residing in this ce.

    The only way he knew of saving hery in this bone heart me, and he also needed this me to refine a certain pill which could help him in breaking through to the Yin-Yang void realm. The value of this me was even above his own life for him.

    Of course he knew the consequences of refining this me, the entire mountain would copse and loss of life would number in thousands at the very least, but he didn''t give a damn as long as he could get what he wanted. He might not be a demonic path cultivator now, but that just means he had to do such things secretly.

    "I am still far from refining itpletely, but thankfully the resistance is much surprisingly less than I expected. If everything goes ordingly, I should be able to refine it within the next 7-8 hours." Li jun evaluated his progress, then he slightly nced behind him.

    Six hundred meters away from him a intense battle was taking ce.

    "How can just one person be so powerful?"

    "unbelievable!"

    The group of nearly thirty core formation realm experts surrounding Li wei found it extremely difficult to ept that she alone could match their collective might. But the facts were right in front of them, they had no choice but to ept it.

    Li wei d in an ice armor, with two extra pair of icy arms which held icy tridents gave the impression of an awe inspiring divine goddess of ice, cold and ruthless. The ground below her feet had long turned into ice.

    The band of core formation realm peak stage experts ganging up and fighting against one young girl, who was only in the initial stage of core formation realm. Just what kind of monster was she. She was even able to injure many of the experts surrounding her without suffering much injuries.

    "Hmph! bunch of foolish vigers. How could they ever equally fight against Li wei. There is reason I have taken in her has a disciple, The amount of trouble I had to go through to get such a fine cauldron only I know it. For the time being I can continue to peacefully refine this bone heart me." Li jun disdainfully looked at the bunch of insects fighting, before once again cing his attention on the refinement.

    ...

    "Another one, and this time it''s strength is at initial spirit realm." Ye Qing han looked gloomy as he stared at the restriction in front of him.

    "Let''s not waste time and begin studying this restriction, breaking the restriction forcefully we have already seen the consequences." The voice came from the middle-aged man standing next to ye qing han. This person with a strong body and disposition looked somewhat simr to Luo sheng, He was none other than the head of the luo n, Luo Feng a peak spirit realm expert.

    Restrictions are a branch of the formation path, much like arrays. Arrays use very specific methods to create a very specific effect. Theponents used in a array are veryplex. If one tries to study it by force, they will only gain an elementary understanding.

    Restrictions are considered a type of formation, only they are much more versatile. They can change based on the will of the user. Restrictions are much like divine sense in a way.

    Powerful cultivators can ce down restrictions with just their divine sense. Even after thousands of years, as long as the divine sense isn''t destroyed, then those restrictions will still be active.

    Sometimes even if the user is dead, the divine sense in a restriction will form its own consciousness and continue to maintain the restriction.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Restrictions are ever changing. Almost no one but the caster canpletely see through them. There are two ways to get through a restriction. The first is to break through by force, but that is not something ordinary people can do.

    The second method is to research it and once you understand the principles and rules behind the restriction to a certain degree, you will naturally be able to open the restriction. The process of studying restrictionspared to arrays is 10 times easier and the requirements are also fewer.

    "I disagree, even if breaking the restrictions with just brute force increases the strength of the next restriction, it should have a limit. breaking the formation by brute force is indeed not the best idea, but we are currently running short on time. We have to take risks at this crucial time." A old man wearing ck clothing spoke, he had grey triangr pupils. There was huge sliver axe on his back emitting a dangerous aura, he was head of the Song n, Song li.

    "It does make sense and we have still not seen anyone yet, we need to hurry. Who knows, this might actually be thest restriction." An luo n core formation realm elder spoke, expressing his view.

    Soon they came to a conclusion and acted on it, they began to forcefully break apart the restriction.

    With three peak spirit realm cultivators, breaking down the restriction was easy.

    Luo Feng attacked the restriction with a simple spear strike, smashing it apart.

    Next, another restriction appeared before them and this had the strength of peak stage of spirit realm.

    The group spent nearly 10 minutes to break through this restriction, but what greeted them was  another restriction which had strength corresponding to the Yin-Yang void realm, now they had no choice but to study the restriction. If they wanted to break this restriction, they had to spend at least Six or seven days to understand itpletely.

    The restrictions behind them were already begining to repair and close by itself.

    --------------

    "This is not exactly what I expected." Bai Ming squinted his eyes as he looked at the restriction before him. The location of the abnormality wasn''t a secret, everyone knew about it. He was able to get here within half an hour.

    "This work is ameture at best." Bai Ming slightly shook his head, "This is just a low level formation, even though nothing is wrong with it. But just few changes and it''s power can be multiplied by at least four times, it looks like the person who had set up these formations has only ordinary level attainment in the formation path, but since the elders were still not able toe out, there must be at least a 4th grade restriction or array set up, the caster of these formations must have gotten some great formation path expert''s inheritance. if the inheritance contains fifth grade formations, I must obtain it." With Bai Ming''s grandmaster realm attainment he could make out many things which ordinary people could not, it was clear from one look that this restriction which were set up here were passed down to the caster, likely a formation path inheritance. Formation path inheritances generally contain methods on constructing certain formations or pass on a treasures rting to the formation path or insights on formation path, etc. If Bai Ming were to set up a restriction here, he would definitely consider the natural environment, the density of heaven and earth essence and few other factors which influence the restriction and set up the most suitable formation. Of course if someone else with higher attainment than Bai Ming were do it themselves it would have even greater effect. But when Bai Ming observed the restriction which was set up, he could make out that caster had very low understanding towards the formation path, he only did what was probably recorded in his inheritance.

    Bai Ming gazed at the restriction for a second more, before scanning his surroundings. He carefully checked the surface of the cave again and again with his divine sense.

    Next he moved towards the restriction once again and and destroyed it with brute force, next he went deeper inside and checked his surroundings again, before inspecting the new formation. After that Bai Ming carefully watched the restriction behind him reconstruct, once the restriction was reconstructed again Bai Ming smiled lightly as he broke it again and left the cave. Once he was outside, he began to inspect his surroundings, he spread his divine sense throughout the ce hoping to find a certain thing, but Bai Ming''s efforts were fruitless.

    Without any change in his expression, he began setting up a muchplex formation outside, formations wereplex to begin with but this one was particrlyplex. After setting it up, Bai Ming rested for few minutes, next he moved inside the cave again and began to disperse the restrictions inside, but this time he didn''t use brute force but used his formation path abilities, one after another formations were broken by him, with Bai Ming''s high attainment breaking these low level restrictions was a piece of cake for him.

    After nearly breaking eleven restrictions, Bai Ming finally encountered a restriction with core formation realm strength.

    "My divine sense iscking." Bai Ming turned around, but what was different this time was none of the formations which were broken by him were reconstructing.

    "But this should probably be enough." Bai Ming walked back outside, the formation which he had set up outside was glowing with azure lights, if one inspected with their divine sense they could see that hundreds of rays of blue light heading from the cave to the formation outside.

    "This particr formation allows me to fight against the original divine sense in the restrictions in the cave, and gain control over it. But every thing will depend on the strength of the divine sense and its remaining will, the person who has set up this formations is probably dead long ago, now this divine sense has probably formed it''s own consciousness or it can even be due to certain treasure. This battle will determine how far I can go."

    Bai Ming meditated for an hour, reaching his peak mental state. Only then did he enter the formation, once Bai Ming stepped inside he made dozens of hand signs and constantly tapped his forehead, when he was finally done the blue lights moved towards Bai Ming and enter his forehead and began to sh against his divine sense, Bai Ming persisted as he tried to defend against the invasion of divine sense before he fiercely started to counter attack. Much to his delight, after the fierce invasion the strength of invading divine sense suddenly feel, Bai Ming effortlessly used his divine sense to refine and mark the invading divine sense, but after reaching a certain point it was like the invading divine sense which was a mud wall turned into an unshakable iron wall, it had regained it''s fierceness. Bai Ming tried his best to refine it, but it was futile, hence he quickly destroyed the formation.

    "I have control over 90% of restrictions inside, this situation is strange, really strange. When the divine sense invaded it was like a rampaging tsunami, but it suddenly lost its fierceness and then I was able to refine it, no it was more like I was allowed to refine it and when the refining reached the 80% rate, I couldn''t even make it budge and it didn''t show any signs of retaliating, something is definitely not right here, is the person in control of this formation still alive and wants to lure me inside, but if it was really a person couldn''t he be less obvious by putting on act of struggle, this more likely seems to be the work of a dumb formation spirit with some shady ulterior motives, its best if its thetter, dealing with humans who have high wisdom is more difficult than dealing with dumb formation spirits or consciousness." Bai Ming''s gaze was deep as he fixedly stared at the cave, his thoughts rampaging wildly.

    Bai Ming paced around for a while, before he entered the cave, he was still determined to venture. Venturing the cave had risks for sure, so what should he do turn around and go back. Maybe if did that he would live through today or he could even die, maybe there is an opportunity inside that could make him take the next step to reach his grand yet foolish goal, No one knows what will happen in the next second, one might live or die it is totally unpredictable, just think of those pitiful mortals who lived in their viges peacefully, without caring about the outside world just living an ordinary quite life, but what did their life amount too, nothing more than bing cheap materials for Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming was an opportunist at heart, he might always act with caution, but when it was time to face death head on, he shall not cower. He will face death fearlessly with overbearing arrogance in his demonic heart.

    But of course Bai Ming isn''t stupid, he will not take risks without ample preparations or risks which guarantee his end.

    Bai Ming quickly reached the core formation level restriction, this time Bai Ming covered his entire body with his divine sense and just walked towards the barrier and passed through it without any obstruction.

 Chapter 40 Li Weis Strength!

    ?''Have to kill them quickly, my initialyer spiritual essence storage is quite lowpared to theirs peak stage core formation realm essence.'' Li wei thought in her mind, there were thirty core formation realm expert''s surrounding her, but she didn''t panic in the least. This calmness originated from her strength!

    She lifted six of her arms, pouring yin spiritual essence into the six icy tridents in her hands, strange patterns began to appear on the tridents surface, with a Swoosh sound all six tridents were thrown in different directions.

    Bang!

    With an explosive sound, all six of tridents suddenly self-detonated.

    Steam and mist arose, and an intense chill started to crazily pervade the surroundings.

    Great amounts of frost rushed towards them like the raging tides.

    "Quick, retreat." the gang of core formation realm experts hurriedly retreated.

    It would be very troublesome if they actually got frozen.

    But few unlucky one''s were caught up and frozen solid in the ice, like an insect in amber.

    Originally the temperature in the cave was extremely hot due to the bone heart me, but now that it was being refined by Li jun, it''s effect on the surroundings was minimal. This allowed Li wei to fight without any disadvantages, once the tridents exploded it had be a world of ice. In the 400 meter radius of li wei, nts were all frozen and there was a thickyer of ice on the ground.

    Li wie dashed towards the closest person who was frozen. Two meter long ice des formed in her hands, with greater frost energy.

    The person inside tried his best to use his spiritual essence to create a spiritual me and burn the ice covering him, but his efforts showed pitiful results.

    The other core formation experts hurriedly tried to save him, they shot out all kinds of attack at li Wei.

    Their attacks were about to hit her, at thest moment two elephant sized ice palms materialized out of dense frost energy and shielded her from the barrage of fierce attacks.

    nk!

    The voley of attacks and the icy palms collided, the spiritual attacks vanished and the icy palms broke into small fragments of ice.

    By now Li wei was already in front of her target, she thrusted the sharp de filled with frost energy into the person''s heart, killing him instantly.

    "Brother shu!" Seeing this seen, one of the elders grieved with sorrowful eyes.

    "Damn it, we are losing people. We have to go all out now." someone spoke.

    Li wei didn''t stop, she targeted another person closest to her left.

    The elders continued to send out long range attacks, but li wei waspletely unharmed.

    She continued with her attacks and killed another three people, only then did she stop.

    The other elders had jointly used their spiritual me to melt off the ice from the remaining two people who were frozen.

    Li wei coldly snorted before swiftly making a hand sign, a three meter long crystal door popped up from the frozen ground. She made another hand sign and sent out a thick ray of yin essence to the blue door.

    Once the spiritual energy was inserted, the door opened. Inside it wasplete pitch ck. Only endless darkness could be seen.

    "Come" Li wei muttered as nearly hundred blue colored sparrows flew out from it, they hovered behind li wei in a uniformly order.

    The elders looked on with vignce in their eyes, one of the elders quickly sent a golden spear phantom at the door, breaking the door into pieces.

    Li wei pointed her index finger to her front, the sparrows opened their mouths and repeatedly shot out pencil sized icicles, within few seconds thousands of icicles were shot out, the group of elders were able defend against it easily, but as time went on frost gradually started to cover their bodies. Their expression became even more solemn now.

    "Brothers protect me i will use our Ye ns ultimate attack!" A old man with green eyebrows informed using his divine sense.

    The old man quickly moved to the back of the group, and began preparing for his attack, for this attack he needed to focus for dozen of seconds, he would be vulnerable that this period of time.

    Li wei continued to make hand signs, the frost energy surrounding her was getting colder every passing second.

    At this moment the old man on the back, pointed his sword at the sky, he spoke loudly "Primeval sword art 5thyer!"

    Darkness surrounded the surroundings, Hundred and eight firefly-like spots of light appeared in the sky, before forming into hundred and eight solid sword phantoms, each a meter long.

    Pale green sword light burst out, it was a brilliant and dazzling sight!

    The old man directed his sword at the sparrows, the sword phantoms moved like ghosts.

    ''Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!''

    The sword phantoms and the sparrows collided, resulting in multitude of explosions, it looked like hundreds of firecrackers were bursting at the same time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    While the explosions were happening, Li weipleted setting up her strongest move.

    "Maidens tears" Li wei spoke softly, as two drops of tears fell from her eyes, she quickly jumped back and made another hand sign, two hands made of ice appeared and dug at the ground making a deep pit, she quickly jumped inside it and ordered the two hands to gaurd her teacher, while she was moving deeper into the ground and she made created another ice palm to shield herpletely.

    The tears fell on the ground and mixed together and entered the frozen ground, a sprout emerged from the ground and within few breaths of time it grew to the size of a tree, the tree had no leaves only a purple fruit, the purple fruit slowly began to take the shape of fist sized women.

    The purple women snapped her jaws open and roared!

    A ear piercing sound wave that shook the whole world came from the women''s tiny mouth, even a demon beasts roar would pale inparison. It was unimaginable how astonishing its power was.

    The elders turned deathly pale, they were overwhelmed with shock and terror.

    They had never dreamt that li wei would use a sound martial art, they tried their best to cover their ears with spiritual essence and their hands.

    Unfortunately for them this attack was wasn''t just formed from spiritual essence, it was also a soul attack. Even if their spiritual essence was able to protect them to a certain degree, but if their soul wascking even a bit, it would directly shatter.

    Most of the elders had already copsed, they were bleeding dark blood from their seven orifices. All of them were dead. Only four managed to continue standing because of their shear will power.

    But their hearts immediately sank, the purple women suddenly cried out again before disappearing.

    The elders couldn''t endure this, their mind wentpletely nk devoid of any thoughts as their bodies plopped to the ground, stiffly.

    The battle was over, Li wei was the victor.

    Li wei slowly emerged back on the ground, she carefully inspected the bodies lying on the floor, confirming all of them were truly dead.

    "Finally over, sigh..i only have 10% of spiritual essence remaining now, I should quickly restore my strength. There maybe more enemies heading here, the martial arts standard here is very lowpared to the maind." Li wei slightly shook her delicate head and sat cross legged.

    A change happened at this very instant, azure blue light suddenly shone on the surface of the ceiling of the cave, along with a 8 feet long blue pir of light.

    The dazzling light onlysted for a second before it disappeared revealing a figure of youth d in deep green clothing, the figure fell down from the ceiling, he twisted and turned in mid air and barely managed tond on his feet.

    The youth dressed in green quicklyposed himself, he had long ck hair, he looked around 15 years old, there was a sword on his waist. He looked  at his surroundings with his blood red irises. This youth was none other than Bai Ming.

    Li wei immediately turned vignt, she immediately scanned Bai Ming using her divine sense.

    "1styer of core formation realm, sigh" Li wei let out breath of relief, then she focused her gaze on the formation above. Both her and Li jun were unaware of this formation.

    "Who are you?" Li wei questioned, her delicate body emanating terrifying frosty aura.

    Bai Ming was silent, but his heart was really tense and vignt. His crimson pupils scanned his surroundings, Bai Ming''s face quickly turned a shade darker.

    Twenty minutes ago in the dark underground tunnel.

    Bai Ming stood before a damaged formation, his eyes flickering with lights asionally.

    "Done, This is a 4th grade formation, precisely it''s a transfer array, it''s damaged pretty badly and cannot be used. Fixing it is not an issue, but my divine sense is really weak to operate this formation and even if I could, I am not sure where it will lead me and if the transfer array connected to this transfer array is not intact, the array will not work."

    Transfer arrays have the ability to transfer people or goods from one transfer array to another transfer array. The individuals that arrived before Bai Ming had also noticed this transfer array, but theycked the knowledge Bai Ming had, hence they pretty much ignored it.

    "But.." Bai Ming took out spirit stones and beast cores from his storage bag and quickly began repairing the transfer array. Even though he could not use it currently, but it might prove to be useful for himter.

    Bai Ming spent nearly twenty minutes reconstructing the transfer array, he was currently standing in the middle of the array as he cross checked it again, when suddenly the formation lit up.

    Bai Ming''s irises shrunk to pin sizes, his heart beating rapidly. He immediately tried to escape the formation, but he was toote. Not even a second had passed, Bai Ming hadpletely vanished without a trace.

    Back to the present.

    Bai Ming used his divine sense the moment hended here, but with his peak elemental stage divine sense he was unable see through both Li wei and Li Jun''s cultivation base, but the instant Bai Ming''s gazended on the dozens of bodies lying on the floor his heart sank.

    "I recognise many of them, they are all core formation realm elders of our n. Then the remaining should be from the other two viges and all of them are dead too, I don''t see the n head." Bai Ming''s sharp gazended on the Li wei "This women is emanating such cold yin energy, looking at the battlefield she must be the one responsible for their deaths, but from the aura she is releasing she is only a Initial stage core formation realm martial artist like me, yet she was able to defeat all of them, looks like I still have underestimated the cultivators from the maind."

    Bai Ming''s gazended on the pill in Li wei''s hand, he felt some joy internally, "It looks like the battle had just ended now, she must be running low on spiritual essence and was probably just about to recover, that means I still have a chance."

    Next, Bai Ming nced at Li jun carefully "This man, he is trying to refine that purple me. It looks like that purple me is an essence me as for its age I am not sure, but that me is connected to the earth vein, once he finishes refining it the entire mountain will copse. Looking at the formation bellow him, it looks like in just three-four hours he willpletely finish absorbing it, but refining elemental essence is a hard process, depending on the age of the elemental essence difficulty of the task increases, if my guess is right he cannot move during the period of refining, but of course this just an assumption."

    "Still if I kill her, I might be able leave this ce alive with some profit." Bai Ming once again shifted his attention on Li wei, his killing intent reaching the heavens.

    Feeling Bai Ming''s overwhelming killing intent, Li wei was slightly startled, she thought inwardly "His killing intent is really intense, even mine isckingpared to his, still its quite far from teachers level but his killing intent unlike others is overwhelmingly evil."

 Chapter 41 Bai Ming Vs Li Wei

    ?Bai Ming circted the spiritual energy in his body crazily before turning it into a spiritual me, his entire body was enveloped by ayer of red-hot mes.

    All cultivators could convert their spiritual essence into elemental energies, this was but a basic ability.

    "Hmph!" A thin icy armor covered Li Wei''s body, along with a pair of icy arms which held two long ice des.

    Bai Ming unsheathed his sword swiftly, as three sword phantoms emerged behind him, hovering silently. He secretly took out something from his storage pouch and ced it inside his robes.

    "I have only about 10 percent of spiritual essence remaining in me. This formation is trouble, it''s better to destroy it." Li Wei thought as she swallowed a brown-colored pill. The spiritual essence in her body began to recover at a very slow pace.

    Li Wei pointed her index finger towards the formation, sending a human-sized icicle.

    Bai Ming immediately intercepted it with a pale green sword light of his own.

    nk!

    The icicle and sword light collided, The sword light disappeared, and the icicle broke into tiny fragments of ice.

    "She took some kind of pill, but if there are no injuries on her body, then it should probably be a qi-restoring pill. This is bad, I have to finish this battle quickly, or as time passes her spiritual essence will recover." Bai Ming used his movement technique and dashed forward like a shooting arrow.

    Li Wei quickly made a hand sign and a bizarre blue door emerged from the ground, from which countless sparrows wereing out every second.

    Bai Ming quickly sent two sword phantoms to attack the door, while he aimed the other one at Li Jun.

    Li Wei ignored the sword phantoms attacking the door, while she maneuvered the sparrows to send out a rain of icicles at Bai Ming, while also creating a protective ice barrier around Li jun.

    Bam! the sword phantoms quickly destroyed the door, only then did the sparrows stoping out. But nearly a hundred sparrows were floating in the air behind Li Wei.

    All the sparrows opened their tiny mouths, Hundred pencil-sized icicles immediately materialized, before shooting toward Bai Ming.

    After that, hundred more were created...

    Like this, over several times, it turned into a boundless icicle rain.

    Swoosh...

    The icicles tore through the air, emitting a sound that shocked one''s heart.

    Bai Ming dodged while constantly shing his sword with both hands, dancing like a shadow.

    After achieving master attainment in the sword path, his understanding of the sword had grown by leaps and bounds. For him, the sword was just an extension of his body, not only Bai Ming''s sword attacks were twice as strong as before and along with his battle qi, he was four times stronger than a regr swordsman.

    But there were just too many icicles; Bai Ming was bound to miss some, and his left shoulder was hit by an icicle. But with his low-grade treasure body and some resistance from theyer of spiritual me, he was able to remain uninjured.

    "Meteor waves!"

    Bai Ming majestically punched at the void before him, and from his fist, a strong vibration spread throughout the atmosphere. The vibrations began tobine into a colossal shock wave that violently surged toward Li Wei.

    Puff! Puff! Puff!

    A series of explosions were heard as more than half of the sparrows exploded into fine ice particles.

    ''Hong, Hong, Hongˇ­.''

    Bai Ming wasn''t finished, he repeatedly punched out. His punches were asionally tough yet asionally gentle.

    Li Wei''s eyes showed shock as she quickly conjured three ice walls to protect her.

    The sparrows touched by the shockwaves hadpletely exploded without exception.

    ''Crack, crack, crack!''

    Spider web-like cracks formed on the ice walls, and after Bai Ming sent another wave, the ice walls entirely copsed.

    Li Wei looked at her body, she could see tiny cracks appearing in her body armor.

    "This guy, he is unlike the people from before. Setting up the ''door of freedom'' has dropped my spiritual essence to just 6%" Li Wei''s gaze flickered as she coldly red at Bai Ming, "I am not able to absorb the essence within the qi returning pill while focusing on the battle, I can only let it naturally dissolve."

    Li Wei lightly tapped on her bag of holding and drew out a rumpled piece of yellow paper.

    "Talisman!" Bai Ming''s eyes squinted, he had a vague idea what it was but it was difficult for him to anticipate its uses. Caution arose in his heart as he became extremely focused. Seeing this seemingly ordinary piece of yellow paper, Bai Ming was sure that there were bound to be enigmatic mysteries behind it.

    The piece of paper was notrge, about the size of a palm and yellowish with a hint of mold, giving the appearance that this talisman had been created many years ago.

    The most noticeable thing was that the piece of paper was shining with a silvery light, materializing silvery wisps of lines in the air. The lines slowly formed into many strange symbols in the air. Bai Ming had absolutely no knowledge of these foreign symbols.

    Bai Ming stopped his movements, as he hurriedly retreated a dozen of meters back, hundred and eight spots of light slowly formed in the void above him, within dozen breaths of time hundred and eight sword Phantoms emanating a dangerous aura formed. Bai Ming didn''t waste any time as he pointed his sword toward the talisman.

    The symbols in the air were shining even more brightly now, they twisted here and curved there, zigzagging around the air, yet there seemed to be something miraculous hidden within the strangely shaped symbols. Li Wei opened her mouth and spat out dense blue essence at the talisman, immediately after she looked extremely exhausted.

    Once the dense yin essence entered the talisman, it momentarily let out a dazzling light as the talisman condensed into a ball of silver light, once the brilliant light disappeared a small azure worm was revealed, but at the next second, it grew into thirty feet giant azure snake, with icy scales all over its body acting as an icy armor. There were even a pair of giant bat wings on its back.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Under Li Wei''s skilled maneuvering the azure snake collided with the rain of sword lights, Series of explosions resounded throughout the battlefield, but unfortunately for Bai Ming, the sword rain could only put scratches all over the serpent''s body.

    Even though the fifthyer primeval sword art was a high-grade technique, but currently Bai Ming only had 1styer core formation cultivation, his spiritual energy output and spiritual essence quality were quitecking, even with the boost of battle qi and sword path mastery its power was not the azure snakes match.

    The azure snake flew towards Bai Ming at an iparable speed, it opened its massive mouth revealing its icy snake teeth and ferociously bit at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''s pupils shrunk, and he instinctively used his mid-grade movement martial skill to evade disaster by a hair''s breadth, but what greeted him was a demonic tail that mmed at him with mighty force.

    Bam!! Bai Ming was sent flying like an insect, making a huge arc in the air before ruthlessly falling down on the hard ice surface.

    Rumble!

    Ice fragments scattered crazily, the force sent Bai Ming flying like an artillery shell, he pierced through the iceyer and traveled for an enormous distance before finally stopping.

    Bai Mingy amidst the broken ice, seriously injured. Even with a low-grade treasure body, he was heavily injured. His whole body was like a torn sack, crimson blood flowing out from the innumerable wounds. His nose and rib cage was broken, and the bones in his left arm were almost fractured.

    A long ice channel was created just now, cut open by Bai Ming using his own body.

    "Cough coughˇ­"

    Bai Ming coughed a few mouthfuls of blood mixed with tiny bits of organs and stared with an incredulous gaze at the azure snake.

    "What the hell is this?"

    Bai Ming tried to keep his calm, he swallowed a bunch of healing pills. His eyes were still fixed on the fearsome azure snake.

    The fearsome snake didn''t pursue Bai Ming, it moved towards the formation on the ceiling. It used its body to destroy the formationpletely.

    Li Wei saw Bai Ming''s expression had turned extremely unsightly, she smiled lightly.

    Bai Ming''s face was still ugly, but he inwardly felt no loss at the destruction of the formation.

    In Li Wei''s view, Bai Ming had the ability toe here using the formation, hence he could also leave this ce through it. But what she was unaware of was Bai Ming didn''t have the ability to operate the formation, it was due to foreign reasons he was able toe here. But the main reason she destroyed it was because she didn''t want any more guestsing.

    "I have still underestimated the strength and ways of the cultivators from the maind. The formation is already destroyed, but it doesn''t matter. My escape route was never the formation to begin with." Bai Ming''s gazended on the purple barrier on one of the corners of the underground space.

    "I intended to kill this woman who seemed almost out of spiritual energy, after that I was going to kill that guy refining the essence me, I originally thought that man was defenseless but after witnessing just this little girl''s strength I don''t dare judge his capabilities with my shallow knowledge. I have to escape quickly!" Bai Ming thought rapidly. He once again checked his body, and he noticed that flesh wounds had already healed, and his organs and bones were also slowly healing. This speed of recovery was mainly due to the tier 3 medicinal pills and rotten blood arts, which made his healing capabilities insane.

    Bai Ming stood up on the ice surface with some difficulty, he put on the most charming smile he could and sped his hands. He respectfully said "Greetings senior, this junior is called Zi Feng, I apologize for offending senior, but believe me it was not my intention to offend you, actually I had identally arrived in this ce when I was moving in the mountains. Senior, I hope you can find it in your kind heart to ignore my foolish actions."

    Li Wei looked at Bai Ming and smiled mockingly, she gave the most straightforward answer. The azure snake pped its giant bat wings, as it ferociously pounced at Bai Ming.

    "Looks like I have still not disyed that I am enough of a threat to her." Bai Ming coldly snorted, he stood on his spot like a sculpture, and a ten-meter-tall sword phantom materialized behind him. The giant snake quickly closed up on him.

    The azure snake tried to swallow him again, but Bai Ming barely managed to dogged it. Like the previous time, the heaven-sweeping tail swung at him, but this time Bai Ming was fully prepared.

    Bam! Bam!

    Bai Ming swung both of his fists, The atmosphere filled with an oppressive aura as the terrifying waves surged out from Bai Ming''s fists. The destructive shockwaves concentrated and fiercely shed against the humongous azure tail.

    Bai Ming was sent flying dozens of meters away, but he got back up and shook his aching and numb arms. He might look pitiful but was not the least bit harmed, except for his fists. On the contrary, there were tiny cracks on the surface of the giant snake''s tail caused by Bai Ming''s fierce attack.

    Bai Mingughed loudly as he dashed towards the azure snake, when he was just inches away from it Bai Ming sent the huge sword phantom towards Li Wei, while he barbarically fought against the azure snake.

    Li Wei looked at the iing sword phantom, she quickly made a hand sign as a seven-meter-long icicle flew out and destroyed the sword phantom.

    "Back to square one, my hard-earned spiritual essence is gone just like that." Li Wei sighed inwardly, suddenly another sword phantom charged toward her.

    Li Wei gritted her teeth, she threw the two icy des in her hand at the iing attack and managed to save herself.

    ....

    Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!

    After a few dozen rounds of collisions, Bai Ming was still sent flying but the azure snake was umting more and more injuries every time they collided, Bai Ming was gradually taking back the initiative. Bai Ming also made sure to send attacks toward li wei constantly, making sure her spiritual essence storage was dry.

    Li Wei was breathing roughly, there were numerous cuts all over her body from which scarlet blood seeped out, but the wound on her right shoulder was particrly deep.

    "Damn it! this can''t go on any longer, every time I recover some spiritual essence there is a swording for my head. The vengeance serpent cannot hold on much longer, it is going to break apart soon. What should I do?" Li Wei''s expression was dim like water, her heart feeling heavy from the formless pressure Bai Ming excluded.

    BANG!!

    A thunderous sound was heard as the entire azure snake was smashed apart, chunks of ice scattered everywhere.

    Bai Ming stood still on the battlefield, his fists were bloody, to the point his bloody finger bones could be seen. Drops of scarlet blood fell and dripped on the frozen ground.

    Bai Ming intently red at Li Wei and dered in a cold voice, "I am leaving, do you have a problem?"

 Chapter 42 Crisis

    ?"I am leaving, do you have a problem?" Bai Ming coldly nced at Li wei.

    Li wei''s face became more pale and the bitter feeling in her heart increased. Her eyes were full of uncertainty as she nced at her teacher''s back.

    Bai Ming didn''t wait for her reply and quickly moved storing all the core formation corpses lying on the floor, then without taking a look back he dashed towards the purple barrier. Bai Ming was confident that they would not pursue him.

    Even though Bai Ming had defeated li wei, he didn''t kill her mainly because he was wary against the Li jun. Right now both sides didn''t have much enmity, but if Bai Ming were to kill Li wei, Bai Ming had no doubt that Li jun woulde for Bai Ming''s life. Bai Ming felt much apprehension towards Li jun, from his understanding if a young girl like Li wei had such frightening capabilities then how terrifyingly strong would that middle aged man be, he didn''t dare gamble this time. Bai Ming''s assumption was correct, Currently even through Li jun was focused on refining the bone heart me and couldn''t move from his ce, he naturally had a trump card to protect himself, But li jun wasn''t quite willing to use it on low level expert''s like Bai Ming, it was mainly to fight against spirit realm experts. But if Bai Ming were to prove to be a threat, Li jun would use it without hesitation. Right now Bai Ming had disyed his prowess by defeating Li wei, but he showed no intentions on fighting a death match, this showed that he was different from one''s that had attacked them before who were resolved to fight till their deaths.

    Bai Ming had already suffered by underestimating his opponent once, he didn''t want tomit the same mistake again. Even though he had much desire towards the bone heart me, but his life was more precious. He knew that he currently didn''t possess the ability to snatch it under their noses. Bai Ming was a daring individual but he knew when to take a step back.

    "I don''t have the ability to steal it, but I will not let you guys have a easy time either, wait for me to cross this barrier then I will destroy all the restrictions in this ce, by then the n elders and the n heads from the three viges should arrive here." Bai Ming smiled coldly in his heart.

    Don''t forget Bai Ming already had 80% control over all the restrictions. He could enter and exit through any of the barriers, he could also let others pass through it or he could destroy it with just a simple thought.

    Bai Ming''s divine sense spread rapidly and enveloped his body, he was only a few meters away from crossing the purple barrier.

    Suddenly, there was a sharp noise near his ears, approaching rapidly.

    The hair all over Bai Ming''s body stood on their end, an intense sense of danger was rising in his heart, he promptly turned around and looked, his pupils shrinking rapidly.

    A massive ming fist had gotten close to Bai Ming without him noticing anything, it mmed down at lightning speed, like a poisonous snake''s assault.

    Bai Ming could not dodge it in time, he was hit directly by the huge fist!

    Bam!!

    Bai Ming was sent flying like a piece of rotten flesh. Copsing on the hard ground like a crashing meteor, creating a deep pit.

    Bai Ming patheticallyy on the pit, fatally injured. He could not budge a bit. Warm blood rushed out from the countless wounds all over his body, the skin on his chest and abdomen werepletely burnt, bones were fractured with some piercing into skin and flesh while some jutted out of the body.

    Bai Ming violently coughed out mouthfuls of blood, his ears were buzzing as strong dizziness assaulted him, he tried to move his body; the treasure body shuddered but stilly down on the ground, its strength failing.

    Bai Ming momentarily stared at the ceiling absentmindedly, before his heart turned heavy like a mountain rock was weighing on it.

    "Why? Why did this happen? why would he attack me, he should be in crucial period of refining! Why would he focus his attention on an insignificant character like me!? this doesn''t make sense! If he really wanted to get rid of me, why didn''t he do it before when i was fighting against that serpent, he could have preserved it by acting on time, something is wrong!" Bai Ming was extremely surprised, but no matter how much he racked his brains he couldn''te to a conclusion.

    At this time, Li jun''s calm voice could be heard saying "Wei''er, quicke here and pay respects to senior."

    Li wei was startled, her pearl like eyes showed confusion as they quickly scanned her surroundings but except for Bai Ming and her teacher there was no one else here, but she still followed her teachers words.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Li wei moved towards her teacher and noticed his gaze pointing to his front, Li Wei quickly followed Li jun''s line of sight and immediately realised he was referring to the statue of the old man!

    Li wei''s eyebrows slightly rose, she became alert and respectfully said "Junior Li wei greets senior."

    A divine sense was transmitted as Li wei heard a cold and detached voice in her head, "Oh, your name is li wei. Not bad, you ice elemental essence is around 200 years old, plus you have good grasp over your techniques. Even in the maind your battle strength belongs to the middle tier of core formation martial artists."

    Li wei hurriedly expressed her thanks, before she sent a voice transmission to Li jun wanting to clear her doubts.

    But she was quickly intercepted by the voice again, "Hehe, don''t disturb him. Let him refine the elemental me essence peacefully, I will clear your doubts. It''s been almost 300 years since I have had some humanpany. Now listen, my name is Huang Long, Divine astral sect''s outer court elder."

    "300 Years ago I had finally managed to kill the scumbag who had killed my little brother, when that scoundrel begged for mercy, I had got to know that there was 600 year old me essence here, it was a part of some alchemists inheritance. After hearing the news I was delighted, you should be aware of how incredibly rare elemental essence are, that too a 600 year old me essence! one couldn''t imagine the joy I felt at that time. But only if I had know that it was trap all along, sigh.."

    "Anyway, I began refining the me essence everything waspletely fine, but when I hadpletely refined it the hidden trap set inside me by that scum was activated, the me essence went wild and began burning both my body and soul, it was devious and vile move but it was effective."

    "Left with no choice, I had to turn into a living dead to preserve my life. But everything was worth it, now finally after 300 years of solitude I have a chance at resurrection. Listen girl, I have already discussed everything with your teacher. You see I was the one who brought that brat here, I need that brat to stay alive. He is going to be my new vessel."

    "Currently, I am helping your teacher refine the me essence, originally he would have needed 2 more hours topletely refine it but with my cooperation another 10 minutes is more than enough."

    "Once your teacher refines this mepletely, I can leave this body and upy that boy''s body. And once that''s done I will take both of you to the divine astral sect. Your teacher will enjoy a special status along with the benefits thate with it and you as his disciple will also be able to gain plenty of resources, This is my guarantee."

    Li wei expressed great joy at hearing this but her heart was unfazed, "This old man talks a lot, but if what he says about him helping master refine this bone heart me within ten minutes is true then its good, because master has already used his trump card, the ''vtile asura'' but this move can onlyst for twenty minutes and it needs another 2 hours before it could be used again, if a spirit realm expertes during that period it will be the end of us." Li wei nced at the twelve meter long ming human figure with eight giant arms, which stood peacefully near Bai Ming.

    "As for him taking us to his sect and what not, does he think I am that stupid or has he gone senile from these years of loneliness. I really want to know why would he think that we would not kill him the moment master finishes refining the bone heart me." Li wei thought silently as her eyes nced at the formation below her teacher, she slightly nodded her head seeing her teachers progression.

    "Senior, who is this senior they are referring to?" Bai Ming managed to sit in a meditative posture as he madly absorbed the nutrients of the medicinal pills, the flesh wounds were visibly healing but the internal injuries were still terrible, right now Bai Ming could only disy about 3-4% of his strength. He only managed to hear the talk between li jun and li wei, but the discussion between li wei and Huang Long was done using their divine sense, hence he was totally unaware.

    "So there isn''t just two of them here, but the term greet senior indicates that even this girl was unaware of this ''seniors'' presence and why is this creature not finishing me off, do they think it''s unnecessary or do they have some other ns.." Bai Ming tried his best to get a clear look on Li wei and her master, he was currently in a deep pit so he had to arduously crawl out.

    Once he got out of the pit, he cautiously looked at his surroundings. The asura was peacefully standing calmly observing Bai Ming, Bai Ming knew that if it wanted, it could crush him like a insignificant bug.

    Next, Bai Ming''s tough gazended on the pair of teacher and student, his pupils immediately shrunk to pin sizes.

    "The formation..he is suddenly so close to refining the me essence, it has to be that seniors work, he must be hiding somewhere." Bai Ming''s heart became colder every passing second, he was in critical danger. His life and death depended on someone else''s hands, this was something Bai Ming definitely could not tolerate.

    "Looks like I can only gamble!" Bai Ming''s eyes were aze with fighting spirit. The greater the danger was, the tougher was Bai Ming''s spirit. Even in such a deadly situation he had not given up, instead deep within his heart he felt truly alive.

 Chapter 43 Chaos

    ?In the cave Bai Ming sat with his legs crossed, he took out some more healing pills and scattered them around him. Next, he moved his finger and tapped multiple spots on his chest. Every time his finger touched his chest, there was a ripple of spiritual energy on his finger.

    Slowly, as his hand began to move faster and faster, spots of light suddenly appeared on Bai Ming''s chest. These spots of light came from inside Bai Ming''s body.

    The spots rapidly increased and formed the shape of a crimson leaf. Bai Ming ced his hands on each side of his chest, and swiftly pushed them out.

    Those light points swiftly moved out of his body. The lights intertwined into the shape of a crimson leaf and looked as if they were rapidly leaving his body. Until the lights were floating three inches outside of his body.

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up. He quickly pped the ground below, the red leaf trembled violently before shing a few times, the restriction quickly sunk into the ground and disappeared

    A soft cry resounded, a blood sphere with numerous leaf patterns appeared, the blood color sphere was only two meters wide, and Bai Ming was the only person inside it.

    "Good, the 2nd tier spiritual healing formation has been set up, In about five minutes I should be able to recover 50-60% of my strength back. Now there are only eight minutes left for the me refinement to bepleted...Okay, but for some reason, they still haven''t made a move against me." Bai Ming took a deep breath, as he cycled his spiritual energy through his body and through his core to repair the injuries on his body. He felt the rich amount of medicinal essence nourishing his injuries and breathing life into them, it was a wonderful feeling.

    Cold light filled Bai Ming''s eyes, and he quickly sent out a dozen strands of his divine senses outside, towards the direction of the purple barrier.

    The purple barrier soundlessly vanished upon the contact with Bai Ming''s divine sense, before the rest of his divine sense continued to move along the dark tunnel.

    "Careful three peak spirit realm martial artists along with thirteen core formation realm bugs are heading this way." Huang Long''s cold voice suddenly resounded in both Li Wei and Li jun''s minds.

    "Let theme, we will crush them like the ants they are. Wei''er don''t let your guard down, I am in a crucial period of refining. The asura will follow your mentalmands, I cannot divert any more of my thoughts." Li jun spoke in a deep voice.

    "Teacher, you focus on the refinement process, as for those intruders leave it to me." Li Wei spoke, her tone filled with seriousness and unwavering confidence.

    Woosh! Woosh!

    At this moment several figures flew out of the underground passage and entered the inheritance ground, but once they entered the barriers behind them automatically reconstructed. Various divine senses quickly scanned the 1600-meter enclosure.

    "It''s the earth vein! I knew it, no wonder the entirety of Xuan mountain was affected."

    "We have to put a stop to this madness, kill them and prevent disaster."

    "Where are the other elders? have these demonic scoundrels already killed them!"

    Few of the elders had grim expressions, while others were burning in rage. This was a matter that concerned their viges and their homes there was no way in hell they would let others put a scratch on it, much less annihte it. It was just uneptable!

    But right now, there were exactly four people who had something else on their mind, they were none other than Ye Qing Han and three ye n elders.

    They stared at the red barrier at one of the ends of the underground cave, thinking in their minds ''What is he doing here??''

    Bai Ming instantly received four divine sense transmissions, their words were filled with doubts and suspension. The n head was even slightly angered, his voice was cold and strict when he questioned Bai Ming. But Bai Ming was silent, his head down looking at the ground below.

    But their expressions changed once again when they saw Bai Ming staring back at them with endless tears rolling down his bloodshot eyes while tightly clenching his teeth, he wlessly disyed pain, sadness, shame, and guilt before it turned into that of utter despair and helplessness. Along with the numerous wounds on his young body, his pathetic image was directly imprinted in their minds.

    Ye Qing Han''s expression turned a shade darker, an exceedingly bad feeling birthed in his heart. He anxiously questioned Bai Ming again, but this time he didn''t use his divine sense, instead, he shouted loudly.

    Bai Ming sobbed uncontrobly, every time he wanted to say something his words were stuck in his mouth. Qing Han lost his patience and rapidly flew toward Bai Ming.

    Li Wei gave a cold snort beforemanding the eight-armed asura to attack the invaders. As she sat cross-legged recovering her spiritual essence, previously there was only 1% spiritual essence in her but within dozen seconds her spiritual essence storage had reached 5% already, this was because she wasn''t just a regr cultivator, she was born with an ancient false yin physique. This is somewhat a rare physique, females born with it do not have the ability to cultivate the ice path from their awakening, but are 10 times more suited to tread on the path of ice than regr martial artists. Both their cultivation speed and recovery speed is ten times faster than regr people. But of course, there were also some limitations that came inherently with this physique, their affinity with other elements would be 10 times worse than regr cultivators.

    Boom!

    A sonic boom was heard as the demonic asura dashed toward Ye Qing han with astonishing speed.

    The ye n head was extremely shocked by the asura''s disy of agility, he quickly unsheathed his sword as he sent a horrific sword ray.

    The asura punched out with two of its hands, and with a loud explosion, the sword ray was easily destroyed, while the asura was unscathed it continued to charge toward him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ye Qing Han''s eyes shone with coldness, he swiftly retreated toward the group. The asura closely followed behind him, its hands were just inches away from capturing Qing Han.

    The group of vigers quickly gained a surface-level understanding of the asura''s strength, they hurriedly sent a volley of attacks toward the asura. Using this chance the Qing Han was able to safely regroup with his allies.

    The group of cultivators had solemn expressions, the asura''s strength was much more horrific than what they expected, then there were also two more cultivators who had yet to interfere.

    Whole two minutes of intense battle had passed, and two of the core formation realm martial artists had already died. Qing Han and the group''s situation was turning even more desperate now, they had intentions of secretly attacking Li Wei and li jun but now that thought was blown up in smoke.

    Like this, another two minutes passed, and five more core formation experts had died now, but to be precise they were burnt alive.

    ''Only four more minutes before hepletely refines the essence me, the time is about to be ripe, let them be more desperate.'' Bai Ming secretly thought, he once again nced at the battlefield, just a dozen meters away from him Li Wei was sitting cross-legged, her divine sense was firmly locked on Bai Ming, the moment he makes a move she will be able to react quickly. Li Wei had already recovered 80% of her spiritual essence.

    Bai Ming had discarded the possibility of him escaping right under Li Wei''s watch, currently he had only recovered 40% of his strength back, and with his measly strength, he knew he could not run away from Li Wei.

    During this period of time, he secretly made a few arrangements, he also had an assumption about who that senior was, he noticed Li Wei''s gaze would asionally shift from the battlefield to her teacher and then toward the statue of the old man, and this made him increasingly suspicious. Then when Bai Ming considered the fact they had kept him alive, his mind wandered thinking of the different possibilities. He hade to a few conclusions, maybe they wanted to use his body for some kind of refinement, or they wanted to take him as a ve, or maybe that senior is trapped inside that statue and now needs a new body. He had a few other assumptions, but he couldn''t confirm them.

    Another long minute passed, the group of cultivators looked extremely pathetic at the moment. All the core formation realm experts were dead, and the spirit realm cultivators looked like they would join them soon.

    Boom!!

    A thunderous explosion was heard, as for the first time since the beginning of the battle, asura had taken a dozen steps back.

    "Huff, huff, huff!"

    The Ye, Song, and Luo n heads were breathing roughly.

    "We just used our strongest moves together, but were only able to make it take a few steps back." The Luo n head spoke in a low tone.

    "Damn it! we can''t even defeat this creature, how are we going to kill those two!" The song n head felt both anger and helplessness at the same time.

    "We cannot win.." Qing Han paused before continuing "There is no point in continuing this, let''s retreat."

    "Retreat? where are we going to retreat to? Huh, who knows when this mountain is going to copse.." The song n head immediately spoke, staring daggers at Qing Han.

    "Then what do you want us to do, fight to the death? Will that help, if we retreat now we can probably evacuate our nsman before the mountain copses, but if we fight to the death do you really think even one person from your vige is going to survive!" Qing Han spoke with much anger, he was also unwilling, but he didn''t have a choice. The enemy was too powerful.

    The three of them fell silent, and after hardening their hearts, they finally decided to retreat. But little did they know that the entire mountain would copse in just about three minutes and their action of retreating would amount to nothing.

    But just when they were about to retreat, they heard Bai Ming screaming his lungs out "What is the use of retreating? are you thinking of saving the people in the vige, it is futile. The refinement of the me will be over in about a minute and the entire mountain will copse before you could even break the barrier and go back, there is no use in going to the vige now, and even if you stop the refinement what''s the use? There is not a single soul left in the vige, everyone was brought here using the formation and sacrificed to nourish that purple me. Hahaha, everyone was killed! everyone! men, women, and even children were not spared! All of them were burnt alive and I couldn''t even die alongside them! if you are going to fucking run away, then at least kill me! I beg of you please! Ahhhhhh!! I want to kill them!! I! Want! to! Fucking! Kill! them!!!" Bai Ming was barking like a mad dog, he was even standing on four of his limbs resembling a dog. Savagery and insanity had taken over him.

    The three n heads suddenly turned into sculptures, they stood motionless like corpses. Bai Ming''s heartless lies made their soul burn, their eyes even lost their luster for a moment. But they quickly began to refuse Bai Ming''s words, why should they believe his words? But when they stared at Bai Ming, a 14-year-old young kid who had gone insane. They knew deep inside, it was true.

    The three n heads stood silently, forget about them even the people who knew the truth were bbergasted by Bai Ming''s antics.

    Li Wei even had suspicions that Bai Ming had cultivated some forbidden emotion path arts.

    The three n heads were still standing aimlessly, there werepletely defenseless. All kinds of negative emotions assaulted them. They might be the great n heads of their respective viges, but in the end, they were humans with emotions after all.

    Li Wei quickly recovered from her stupor, this was a golden opportunity for her to kill them.

    But would Bai Ming let her have this opportunity, definitely not!

    Bai Ming spoke once again, but this time using his divine sense. Bai Ming''s sinister voice resounded in their minds "Don''t you desire revenge...then self-detonate!!"

 Chapter 44 BOOM!!!

    ?Bam!!

    The fiery red fist barely missed Qing Han as it furiously mmed against the ground creating a gigantic spider web-like crack on the ground.

    The n heads sent another barrage of attacks before creating some distance between them and the asura.

    "Why are you wasting time? Once that man finishes refining the me essence it''s over, you will all die. This is our only chance to take revenge! without spilling their blood how can the anguished souls of our nsmen rest in peace. Speak are you really that unwilling? are you truly worthy of the position and power you are in! Since you don''t have the balls to do it, destroy this formation that is trapping me and restrict those two, I will quickly kill that man. I will be salvation for the dead! Look at the formation below him it''s on the verge of breaking, there is just a single minute left! Hurry up!" Bai Ming''s voice once again resounded in their minds, making them grit their teeths. Their hearts were filled with uncertainty.

    ''Fucking morons, we are running out of time!'' Bai Ming cursed inwardly, ''If they could just restrict that ming creature and the bitch for at least 20 seconds, I could dash towards the barrier and leave this ce. My legs have still not recovered, otherwise, just three seconds would have been enough. But this is the best possible oue, once I leave this ce even if the middle-aged man personally moves he would probably need to spend a good amount of time-solving the restrictions. Even if he had solved it once before to enter here, restrictions are ever-changing he will still need to spend much time studying it before breaking it. Needless to say, there are still ws in this n, firstly it''s that mysterious senior, who I suspect is trapped in the stone statue, he is a dangerous variable. Secondly, if by chance the middle-aged man is either a formation path expert or a Yin-Yang void realm martial artist he will be able to catch up to me in no time, But considering the fact when I was suddenly teleported here through that transfer array, the girl had just finished battling and as for the middle-aged man, he was busy refining the me, it is highly likely that the person who brought me here is that mysterious expert and if I assume that the expert was trapped in this statue, it makes much more sense to me. If my guess is right, that expert should be probably trapped in that statue and is in need of a new body, and that''s where Ie into y, in order to gain control over the restrictions inside I had previously allowed foreign divine sense to invade my body, even though I was able to defend against it and gain control over the formation, the divine sense had observed my entire foundation from the inside, so this divine sense is probably aware that I possess an extremity grade spirit root, plus I also have an extremely tough body. So this divine sense which belongs to that mysterious expert was able to learn this, which created the desire of upying my body as a vessel in that expert''s mind. But if Ipletely ignore these problems, can these morons really restrict those two for twenty seconds, they are just barely able survive till this moment, betting on the fact they are able to restrict that creature and the bitch is useless, but my words will atleast incite them.''

    ''The second best possible oue would be if they self detonate, even when just a single core formation expert self-detonates it is more than enough to threaten a spirit realm master, if the three n heads were to detonate now everyone here would probably die including me, but that''s fine. As long as everyone here dies when I resurrect using the Yin-Yang pearl, I can leave this ce safely. But for the self-detonation to work it has to happen now when the middle-aged man is refining the me. Once he finishes refining the me, who knows he might be somehow able to protect himself, and if he sees me returning from the dead who knows what might happen to me.''

    The three n heads nced at each other, ruthlessness and resolution shone in their eyes. They sighed deeply as death closed upon them, their fighting spirit continued to grow steeply like a water fountain. There was no hope for their survival anyway, but there was hope for vengeance.

    "To think that in this path of destruction, your Ye and Luo vige is not my enemy but an ally. Life is too mystical." Song li spoke with mixed emotions.

    "After hundreds of years of enmity, in the end, we ended up as allies just what the first generations had wished for." Ye Qing han said emotionally.

    "Don''t talk too much, let''s end this once and for all as allies!" Luo Feng chuckled as he flew toward Li jun disregarding his safety.

    "Hey, wait for us!" Qing Han and Song Liughed loudly as they followed him.

    Bai Ming coldly smirked as he watched this, his bloody hand held a fat pouch.

    "Courting death, asura kill them." Li Wei was swift in her actions, the moment she saw them dashing toward her teacher she wlessly maneuvered the asura.

    But at the next moment both her and Li jun''s expressions froze in mad terror, in their mind they heard Huang long screaming "Explode, they are going to blow up."

    Even though Huang long had turned into living dead long ago, he was once an almighty peak stage Yin-Yang void realm expert. He had unfathomable methods, using just his divine sense he was able to find out the intentions of the three n heads.

    The three n heads were right in front of the asura, they were still two hundred meters away from Li jun. They knew that they could not sidestep the asura, it was now or never.

    Their bodies suddenly inted like overstretched balloons, It expanded in a split second, and their lips, muscles, and fat looked swollen to their limits. Beneath their skin was a violent flow of spiritual energy, like turbulent rivers being born. It was as if they could explode at any moment.

    Li Jun''s eyes were bloodshot, his expression was extremely twisted making him look even more malevolent, "I still need thirteen more seconds, Shit! I have to do it!"

    "For Vengeance!!!"  Qing Han, Luo Feng, and Song li roared in a distorted voice, as qi started to surge with even more intensity and in the twinkling of an eye...

    BOOM!!!

    The deafening explosion sent massive waves of intense qi flowing out in a violent manner. They had self-destructed and turned themselves into a literal bomb. The majority of their spiritual qi had been explosively sent in Li jun''s direction in an insane suicidal attack.

    The Eight armed asura was engulfed in the devastating explosion, its entire being was immediately turned into nothingness.

    Li jun ordered mentally, "Detonate!"

    Right away, Li Wei''s eyes turned vacant like a soulless puppet.

    Crackleˇ­..

    Large amounts of ice started spreading from under her feet, then the cier rose like the birth of a mountain!

    The surging majestic ice was like andslide, like a raging tsunami, like an evil flood dragon rolling on the waves, as it waged a world-shattering war against the mighty qi eruption.

    The qi explosion and raging cier collided, trying to gain supremacy over each other, In the end, the violent qi outburst was still suppressed by the cier, confined and engulfed.

    Li jun let out a breath of relief, he spoke inwardly ''This is the true strength of the ancient false yin physique, so what if you''re a spirit realm cultivator. Hahaha, Li Wei was not only an ancient false yin physique but I had also given her a two-hundred-year-old ice essence, along with her superior foundation how could these mountain folks be her match. My decision of cing that puppet mind seal was indeed the best thing I ever did. But it''s a pity, I originally wanted to use her as a cauldron after reaching the Yin-Yang void realm. No matter, getting this me essence is of the utmost importance, another nine seconds and I will havepleted refining this me essence.''

    "Kill, kill, kill!" Bai Ming''s eyes were bloodshot, he sprinted on the battlefield with his heavily injured legs without any regard, there were only nine seconds left before Li jun wouldpletely refine the bone heart me, if Bai Ming wanted to survive he had two options right now, One was to escape through the barrier and other was to kill Li jun.

    If Bai Ming wanted to escape through the barrier, he would at least need twenty seconds with his messed up legs to do it, but he only had nine seconds. Hence, this option waspletely discarded by Bai Ming.

    Now his only option was to kill Li jun, but that had to be done within nine seconds. Fortunately, Bai Ming was much closer to Li Jun.

    But there was one problem, a part of the cier was moving towards him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming''s eyes were colder than the cier, his will stronger than steel. His expression was unchanging as he saw the cier rapidly approaching him, Bai Ming swiftly took out spiritual cores from his bag, which he had collected from the corpses of those elders killed by Li Wei, and began throwing them at the raging cier, trying to break the ice.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    But the iceyer was way too thick, and the coldness was oozing. Everyyer of ice he shaved off, twoyers would grow.

    He wanted to throw the cores toward Li Jun, but unfortunately, the cier was at such an angle that prevented Bai Ming from doing so.

    Bai Ming gritted his teeth, he threw ten spiritual cores at once. Now, he only had two more spiritual cores remaining.

    Boom!!!

    With a loud explosion,rge amounts of ice were turned into tiny fragments.

    In Bai Ming''s vision, he could see Li jun, but not even a second had passed before the ice condensed once again, raging towards him and this time its speed was even more terrifying.

    Bai Ming didn''t have the ability to react in time, he was quickly sealed in the ice. Bai Ming was trapped in a desperate situation,Only four seconds were remaining now!

    If Bai Ming was in his peak state, he might have had a minute chance of breaking through this confinement, but now he didn''t have 50% of his strength, there was no way he could escape now.

    Bai Ming steeled his demonic heart, suddenly there was a faint glow in both of his palms, and his arms were spread wide open inside the ice.

    If one observed carefully, Bai Ming''s hands each held a spiritual core.

    Boom!!

    Yellow light rushed toward the sky as Bai Ming broke the ice and was sent flying into the sky.

    Bai Ming was missing both of his arms and legs, Blood gushed out madly from his wounds. If it wasn''t for the ice and his treasure body he would have definitely died on the spot, with not even his ashes remaining.

    Three more seconds!!

    Bai Ming was still flying upward in the air because of the explosion, but the resolve in his eyes was unwavering.

    He quickly summoned three sword Phantoms behind him and sent them toward Li jun.

    Li jun couldn''t turn his head to see the scene behind him, but with his divine sense and Huang long there to guide him, he waspletely aware of the situation.

    Li jun quickly covered his body with his spiritual essence, it was the only thing he could do now.

    Swoosh!!

    The three sword phantoms swiftly shed against Lin jun, aiming for his heart, brain, and neck. But, it was only able to make shallow wounds on his body.

    Two seconds!!

    Bai Ming''s heart sank. But in his desperation, barely before another second could pass he had a sh of inspiration.

    Another three sword Phantoms quickly materialized behind him, but unlike before they moved in a vertical line piercing into Bai Ming''s back as they rapidly carried him towards Li Jun.

    One Second!!

    ''Thest second is going to pass, just a little closer, should I do it now? No! wait till thest moment! Have to maximize the effect!!'' Bai Ming''s face had turned demonic, his heart beating like a war drum.

    Soon thest second passed...

    But just before it had passed, there was a world-shattering explosion!

    BOOM!!!

    Bai Ming had self-detonated!

 Chapter 45 Death Has Its Benefits

    ?BOOM!!

    The horrific explosion sent massive qi waves, engulfing everything within hundred meters from the center of the st, the explosion onlysted for a few seconds before it subsided.

    After the sudden eruption had ended, the cave fell into an odd silence.

    A speck of light suddenly appeared in the underground cave and floated within it. If one looked closely, they could see a Yin-Yang seal glowing faintly beneath it. Next, the Yin-Yang seal slowly started to encase the speck of light like a cocoon.

    Inside the cocoon.

    Bai Ming lost his vision, he felt that he was inside a darkness that was unfathomably deep.

    This darkness was not cold, it had a kind of warmth. It was like he had gone back into his mother''s womb.

    Time slowly passed by, during this period of time, Bai Ming felt his divine soul gradually bing powerful. The previous wounds on his soul were slowly healed, not only that his soul had gotten stronger to a degree.

    Bai Ming didn''t know exactly know how much time had passed. He only knew that he had to be patient and embrace the loneliness.

    Bai Ming had been here for too long. Long enough for him to search through his own memories multiple times. He began to analyze everything that he had done till now.

    After analyzing, he immediately recalled the contents of the sword path inheritance from the sword path great grandmaster level expert and began to wholeheartedly immerse in them. Time continued to pass slowly,  Bai Ming had fully lost himself in the sword path in these numerous years of solitariness. His sword path attainment was growing by leaps and bounds, he had long stopped reading the sword path insights, as they were of no use to him anymore. But without the help of insights, his speed of advancement was reduced by more than three times.

    And outside, barely five minutes had passed.

    The cocoon began to shine brightly.

    First, there was white light, from pale transparent light to pure white light, and finally to thick milky white light.

    Next, there was a hint of ck inside the white light. The ck quickly spread, turning the white light into light gray, before it turned dark gray, and finally, pitch ck like the void.

    Inside the ck-colored light, Cocoon twitched continuously, from the size of a human ear, it expanded to the size of a basin.

    Inside this dark ball, a fetus was birthed. Shining brightly with green light, it could vaguely be seen.

    Life force was continuously gathering, it was rapidly growing and bing stronger.

    Light blue fog started to gently surround it.

    The temperature of the surroundings fell rapidly, and fog turned into frost, covering the surface of the ball.

    Next, a chain of red lightning shot out, surrounding the ball, forming aplex web of lightning. Lightning crackled as sparks were created. The sparks fell on the frost and started burning the frost.

    The frost turned into a mystical qi that surrounded the ball.

    Iprehensible golden patterns slowly appeared on the surface of the ball, from which countless brown vines grew out before turning into milky white bones. Scarlett flowers bloomed at the ends of these sharp bones before decaying.

    Numerous changes urred, they were unimaginable. On the surface, they looked totally random and abrupt, but if cultivators with a deep understanding of the heavenly Dao observed them carefully, they could see the boundless profundities of heaven and earth.

    As the changes continued to ur, the fetus inside the ball gradually grewrger.

    Eventually, after a total of hundred and one mystical changes, the ball turned into green paste, as the fetus inside was at itsrgest, a baby was formed, stretching his four tiny limbs!

    At once, the green ball that surrounded him broke apart, the baby was born!

    This baby had a cautious expression, his eyes were glowing like stars, he had pale and fair white skin, his limbs were chubby, his face was cute and tender, core formation aura was oozing from him.

    A transcendent qi had wrapped itself around his entire body, it was selflessly nourishing him.

    The baby was about tond on the ground, during this process, he grew rapidly. From the time of his birth to when he was two years old physically, only a second had passed.

    Three, four, five, six, seven years oldˇ­ when his legsnded on the ground, he had already be a fifteen-year-old youngster!

    He had snow-white skin. His long ck hair extended to his waist. His body was muscr and well-toned. But the most attractive features were his devilish eyes, a blood-red shade was emanating from both his pupils, granting him a fearsome visage.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This youth was naturally Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''s first impression was that this body was iparably suited for his soul, even more so than his original body.

    This body created by the Yin-Yang reversal pearl was after all built on the foundation of his soul, the entire process of rebirth had onlysted for about fifteen minutes, but Bai Ming had mentally spent nearly five hundred years inside!

    Regarding its traits, Bai Ming had to inspect himself.

    His powerful divine sense immediately spread throughout the battlefield.

    Once hepleted inspecting, he showed a look of joy. He had made the right gamble!

    Be it Li jun or Huang Long they no longer existed.

    "The gains this time are definitely worth it, the strength of my divine senses isparable to a peak core formation martial artist. But most importantly my biggest gain is the increase in my sword path attainment. Hehehe, I am now a supreme grandmaster in the sword path! Without considering anything else, only with sword path attainment, my swordsmanship will be ten times stronger than ordinary cultivators." Thinking of this Bai Ming''s lips curled into an arrogant smile.

    Bai Ming''s eyes flickered as his gazended on the purple me, heughed heartily.

    But he didn''t immediately begin refining it, he still hadn''t inspected his body carefully. After carefully inspecting his body seven times, he frowned slightly before quickly turning indifferent.

    "My internal cultivation was retained, but my body cultivation was fully destroyed. This is just an insignificant issuepared to my gains. But since this is the case I''ll just re-cultivate from scratch that''s all." Bai Ming didn''t think much of this problem, because he already had a solution.

    Bai Ming first inspected the area he was standing in, but there was nothing here. He had held some hope that he might be able to obtain Li jun''s storage pouch. Since Li Wei had one, he thought it was only natural for Li jun to also have one. But it waspletely destroyed during the qi st. As for Li Wei''s bag of holding he didn''t bother with it, he had full confidence it was destroyed by her self-detonation.

    Next, Bai Ming carefully moved toward the ce where he had previously set up the healing barrier.

    Since he knew that he would have to self-detonate, with his personality why would he not consider a couple of things?

    He already had nearly thirty core formation realm cultivators'' bodies stored in his storage pouch, he carefully ced his storage pouch there to avoid getting it destroyed during the detonation.

    Bai Ming didn''t waste time. After setting up a 3rd-grade formation to defend him, he quickly began to process the materials and cultivate the rotten blood art.

    After a whole eight hours had gone by, Bai Ming hadpleted forming three crescents. His body cultivation reached the peak of core formation realm, his body was nowparable to a semi-mid-grade treasure and his regenerative capabilities had also improved.

    "Now it''s much better, I''ll have to quickly kill off all the vigers and use them as materials before refining the me essence. If I refine the me first, the majority of these cheap materials will be wasted. But their effectiveness is still very low." Bai Ming thought while taking out a green robe from his bag of holding.

    After getting dressed, he left the underground cave through the purple barrier.

    The wind blew wildly past him, Bai Ming traveled through the forest, even without using spiritual energy, his speed was very fast.

    Within five minutes he had reached the outskirts of the Luo Vige, and he began setting up a 3rd tier formation surrounding the entire vige.

    After activating it, he moved towards the Song vige he did the same thing there.

    Within four hours everyone inside the formation was ruthlessly killed and processed by the formation creatures.

    Then outside the vige, he set up a separate 3rd-grade qi gathering formation and also used the spirit liquid he had plundered from the Ye vige to cultivate.

    After three days of cultivation he had achieved the 2ndyer of the core formation realm, Bai Ming then entered the Song vige and began another session of body cultivation, after that he plunder all of their martial skills.

    Next, the same thing happened in Luo vige. But his body cultivation didn''t have much improvement, only five percent of the fourth crescent had formed.

    As for spirit stones and spirit liquid, he didn''t have enough space inside his storage pouch to store them, hence Bai Ming had moved all the spirit stones and the spirit liquid into a single ce and put a restriction around it.

    Bai Ming wasn''t disappointed, he quickly moved to the underground cave and began refining the me essence, there were many methods to refine elemental essence but Bai Ming was only aware of the mostmonly known method, even this particr method he had learnt from the cultivation encyclopedia he had gotten from the panel.

    Elemental essence were condensed forms of heaven and earth energies. They were great resources of cultivation as they contained dense elemental energies that can increase the strength of the elements.

    If Bai Ming can refine this nine-hundred-year-old me essence, his fire elemental essence will be nine times stronger.

    "Refining the me essence will take atleast ten days. With the help of all the resources I have umted so far, I can reach the Yin-Yang void realm within five months!" Bai Ming emotionally sighed, at this moment Bai Ming felt that all the risks he had taken and hardships he went through during this year were truly worth it.

 Chapter 46 The Journey Never Ends...

    ?The clouds in the horizon began to brighten, and the stuffed wild animals returned to the depths of the forest.

    In a nameless mountain near the Xuan mountain. There was a cave near the top of this mountain devoid of humans societies, but currently the entrance of the cave was blocked by a huge boulder. Inside the cave there was a pool of underground water and lot of animal droppings in the cave. It seemed wild animals visited this area a lot. After carefully checking the cave, one could see they were quite a few restrictions and arrays ced all over this ce.

    Time flies, in a sh two months quickly passed. By now Bai Ming had already refined the 900 year old me essence and caused the destruction of the Xuan mountain, he also reached the peak of core formation realm in these two months with help of his extremity grade spirit root, spirit liquid and the 3rd grade qi gathering array.

    Hong!

    Inside Bai Ming''s body, an earthshaking change happened.

    His muscles, bones, and veins were bing stronger, reaching the limits of quasi-medium grade treasure body. This wasn''t the rotten blood art''s contribution, but a breakthrough acquired from him pushing his own body through internal cultivation.

    Such a great change didn''t ur on his body alone, but also in his dantian.

    Bai Ming had long ago broken the bottleneck and had just fused nine leafs and turned them into a spring''s eye ˇŞ it was the most important step in breaking through to the Spirit realm. His spring''s eye was huge, as if a greatke, and now it was the spring''s eye that was expanding at the rate of a tsunami.

    Forming an majestic river!

    After whole two hours, the spiritual rivers expansion finally stopped. Bai Ming was now a genuine Spirit realm martial arts expert.

    Bai Ming slowly opened his eyes and released a long breath.

    Next he inspected his cultivation.

    Bai Ming nodded in satisfaction. He casually threw a punch, sensing the power within he smiled slightly.

    "It won''t be long before I achieve the Yin-Yang void realm. He-he-heˇ­" Bai Ming snickered.

    Next Bai Ming heard a mechanical voice in his head.

    _____

    [?????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? 2]

    [????????: ??????/????]

    _____

    "Yes!" Bai Ming chuckled before giving the confirmation.

    [????????????????????.. ??????????????????????????????!! ?????? ???????? ???????????????? 1)???????????? ???? ?????????? ?????????????? ????????????   2)?????????? ?????????? ???????????????????????????? ?????? ]

    [????????????: ??????/????]

    "ept" Bai Ming''s eyes became blurry, a whole minute had gone by. Only then did his eyes regain their rity.

    Bai Ming immediately feel into deep thought, after pondering for a good amount of time, Bai Ming made a decision, he walked towards the healing formation near him. With his heart at peace, his eyes filled with resolve, without the slightest bit of regret or pity he ruthlessly destroyed his internal cultivation bing a tier 1 bone forging realm cultivator!

    "Cough, Cough..."

    Coughing blood violently, Bai Ming crazily bleed from his seven orifices, his face had turned deathly pale from the extreme blood loss, his entire body was trembling crazily, he felt an intense sense of dizziness assault him. If wasn''t because of his treasure body he might have suffered even more.

    A moment ago he was like a heaven soaring Phoenix but now both of wings were cut off as he fell deeper and deeper into abyss without any resistance.

    Bai Ming quickly activated the formation with his divine sense, even though his internal cultivation had drastically dropped to lowest possible level, he had still retained his body cultivation and initial stage spirit realm divine sense.

    Bai Ming spent the entire day recovering, only then did his body fully stabilize.

    Then Bai Ming entered the 3rd grade qi gathering array he had previously set up.

    After that, Bai Ming beganprehending the Avatar of Seven deities mantra.

    The seven deities mantra was a cultivation mantra like the primeval heart mantra, but the primeval heart mantra couldn''t hold a candle to the seven deities mantra. The difference between them was wide as the ocean of knowledge.

    The Seven deities mantra had Tenyers corresponding to the Ten respectiveyers of cultivation. The cultivation realms in ascending order are; Bone forging realm, elemental realm, core formation realm, spirit realm, Yin-Yang void realm, Supreme mortal realm, Divine astral realm, Ancient qi realm, False God realm, Fate grasping realm.

    But what was so special about the seven deities mantra that made Bai Ming destroy his hard earned cultivation base, because the cultivation method had mantras for allyers? maybe. But most importantly it was due to the fact that it could allow him to store seven times the spiritual essence as before!

    To have Seven times more spiritual energy storage than regr cultivators how astonishing was that!

    Ofcourse Bai Ming could have just cultivated the seven deities mantra from the fourthyer onwards, But chose not to. Because he knew this power could build a never before seen foundation. Such a stable foundation would not only guarantee an easier and smoother path of cultivation, it''ll also give him higher strength when he advances to  higher realms.

    Let''s not mention seven times, even if it was only able store twice the amount as before, Bai Ming would still do it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even with Bai Ming''s greatprehension abilities and understanding towards heaven and earth, he had to spend total of nine hours toprehend the 1styer of the seven deities mantra.

    "I still have good amount of resources remaining, even if I would need to spend seven times the resources and require more time to cultivate each realm, the benefits are just too good. With the amount of resources I currently have, I should be able to reach the peak of core formation realm or maybe even achieve the spirit realm within a year." Bai Ming mumbled while smiling, his eyes asionally flickering with a illusionary light.

    Taking a deep breath, Bai Ming began his cultivation session.

    The dense heaven and earth essence unceasingly entered his body and roamed around his body like a flood. Bai Ming sank into concentration as he operated the cultivation method to make the energy flow through his meridians and widening them little by little.

    The intense flow of spiritual essence force was on the verge of bursting his meridians as his forehead broke out in cold sweat.

    But he had to push through.

    After roaming his body for hundreds of times, the  spiritual essence entered his tiny bone forging realm Dantian, but unlike his prior experiences there were few extra things present this time around.

    Six Bai Ming''s were sitting cross legged on his Dantian, the world''s essence first entered his Dantian before equal amount of spiritual essence was also absorbed by the six of his avatars.

    ''The amount of spiritual energy needed to break through is simply too great. Hehehe, but this good. Higher the requirements, better the effects right.'' Bai Ming secretly thought, like this he began his second closed door training.

    Time passed one second at a time, after Bai Ming started his closed door training, time slowly flew by 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months...12 months. Without him realizing it, an entire year had peacefully passed by.

    During this period of cultivation, within the first three months of cultivation he had broken through to the initial stage of elemental realm. Then he spent 4 months to reach the initial stage of core formation realm. Then after another five months of solitary cultivation he finally achieved the peak of core formation realm.

    The only pity Bai Ming felt was the fact he hadn''t received a single reward for breaking through major cultivation realms again.

    The entrance of the cave was now covered with nts, making the cave impossible to detect from the outside.

    The cliff covered with vegetation started to shake until all of the vegetation fell off, revealing a dark cave.

    A devilish young male with hair all the way to his waist slowly walked out. His face was white and his eyes shone with a demonic glee. The moment he walked out of the cave, all of the wild beasts nearby started to whine. Their eyes begged for mercy.

    The long haired youth was about 16-17 years old. His gaze was cold as he casually looked at all of the beasts.

    He was Bai Ming, who had been in closed door cultivation for an entire year.

    "Status.."

    ____

    [????????????]

    [???????? : ?????? ????????]

    [??????????????????????: ???????? 9 ???????? ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [???????????? ????????: ?????????????????? ?????????? ]

    [??????????????????????????: 8 +]

    [?????????? ???????? ????????????????: 8 +]

    [?????????? ????????????: 10,000/20,000]

    ____

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up. He muttered to himself, "A year has gone by and i have regained my cultivation of Peak core formation realm. I have ten thousand spirit stones remaining, but to reach the spirit realm with just these resources will take me another six or seven years. Its time to leave home."

    Bai Ming turned silent as he looked toward the previous mighty Xuan Mountain, old memories surfaced in his heart.

    These years of experience showed him that strength was the only means to protect oneself.

    The dreams and desires he had from long ago intensified infinitely at this moment.

    Bai Ming looked into the distance. His eyes were filled with a fantastic light.

    "One step closer towards invincibility!"

    "One more step closer towards immortality!"

    "Another step closer towards bing Heaven!"

 Chapter 47 Wandering.

    ?The sun hung high in the azure blue sky, numerous clouds were floating aimlessly.

    The huge mountains were evergreen. The fragrance of flowers filled the air, weeds grew wildly everywhere, and unknown varieties of wildflowers dotted the grass thicket. As the light breeze blew, the wild grass moved to and fro.

    The of Azure is mainly divided into five regions, the northern azure continent, the southern azure continent, the eastern azure continent, the Western azure continent, and the central azure continent. Their name denotes their general direction on the Azure with the Northern azure continent being in the north, the Southern azure continent being in the south, and so forth. The northern azure continent alone has an area of roughly three to four times the size of the earth. Each region possesses a regional wall that separates the region from the other adjacent regions. The walls seem to extend all the way up to the limitless heavens, as well as far beneath the earth and have a certain range that extends quite some way.

    Xuan mountain was just a tiny mountain in the numerous mountains in the secluded part of the northern continent. Only mountains with spirit springs would generally have human viges living in them. Not all mountains would have spirit springs, maybe one out of every hundred or so mountains would generally have spirit springs.

    In between the mountains, the forests were deep and ominous, the cliffs steep and full of dangerous falling rocks. Additionally, in theplex surroundings of the forest dwelled arge number of demonic beasts and peculiar terrain, forbidden grounds.

    Mortals could not pass through at all. It was difficult to get past these obstacles, one had to at least be a peak core formation realm cultivator if they wanted to travel through these mountains and reach the maind.

    Somewhere near a nameless mountainside.

    There was a wolf group with nearly three hundred poison sheep wolves gathered here. The strength of these beasts ranged anywhere from 1st tier low grade to 3rd tier high-grade beasts, they were all led by a single tier 4 low-grade poison sheep wolf.

    These poison sheep wolves have purple and sliver bodies, and the fur on its body was especially thick. Their bodies were notrge, around the same size as a 1st tier hell wolf.

    These wolves did not know that, high up on the cliff, a ck haired young man wearing a deep green robe was staring at this scene.

    "It''s been two weeks since I left Xuan mountain. I have probably traveled 10-12 thousand miles but I have still yet to see any humans. From what they have taught us in the n''s academy, the maind is approximately ny thousand miles to the north of the Xuan mountain. This piece of knowledge is most likely known because of the first-generation Ye n head." Bai Ming was pondering.

    "If I continue going at this pace it''ll probably take me at least another four to five months to get to the maind." Bai Ming''s gaze flickered.

    5thyer of Primeval sword art!

    Without notice hundred dazzling sword Phantoms appeared behind Bai Ming, before crashing toward the group of poison sheep wolves.

    The group of wolves were startled, the group of poison sheep wolves tried to dodge, and fight back using their metallic ws or with their poison spits but it was worthless, each sword phantom stole a life before disappearing.

    With just a single sword attack from Bai Ming hundred or so wolves were easily killed.

    After that he once again used the 5thyer of primeval sword art, killing another hundred and eight wolves. Before cultivating the seven deities mantra, he could only use the 5thyer three times with his peak core formation cultivation but now he could use it twenty-one times without the need for prior preparation.

    The 4th tier poison wolf saw the situation turn bad and immediately led the wolf group to retreat.

    However, at this time, Bai Ming used his medium-grade movement technique and tried to close the distance between him and the leader of the wolves.

    Primeval sword art-2ndyer!

    Swoosh!

    A horrific sword ray rapidly swept toward the leader of the wolves, the poison wolf turned around and opened its mouth wide revealing its razor-sharp teeths. A poisonous ball of purple liquid quickly condensed in its mouth before it shot toward the sword ray.

    The fearsome sword ray was unaffected by the poisonous purple ball. After a light tearing noise, the tier 4 beast was split into two halves.

    With a plop, itnded on the ground, dyeing the grass blood red.

    It waspletely dead.

    Seeing this the remaining wolves didn''t hesitate anymore as they hurriedly scattered, Bai Ming ignored them.

    "Hmm, this is a poison path beast. This tier 4 poison beast core is a good material for setting up poison-based formations, there are also a dozen tier 3 poison-type beast cores. This much is more than enough." Bai Ming rapidly began collecting the beast cores, as for their corpses he only kept the 4th-tier beast''s body, after cing them in his bag of holding he left.

    Beast cores were different from dantian, when demon beasts absorbed heaven and earth essence they would naturally nourish the beast''s bones, blood, skin, organs, and other body parts increasing their durability and strength. The natural essence would also strengthen their innate abilities that is if they had any, like how the poison wolf had the ability to spit poison.

    But beast cores have their own uses, generally they are used in the refining process of pills or refining treasures.

    In these past two weeks Bai Ming would constantly face wild beasts, most of the time he would just Ignore them, but if something catches his eye he would take it forcefully. He had collected nearly a hundred 4th-grade beast cores already from different species of demon beasts, but he has yet to encounter any high-grade tier 4 beasts.

    Beast cores aren''t the only things he collected during this period of time. In the past, Bai Ming had below-standard experience and knowledge regarding spirit herbs, but after memorizing everything mentioned in those few books regarding spirit herbs, which he had gotten after looting the three viges his knowledge had grown. Using this newfound knowledge, Bai Ming had already benefited.

    He would asionally find some spirit herbs which were mentioned in those books, he would store them using the method mentioned in those books. There were also times when he would find spirit herbs that were not mentioned in those books. He would also ce them in his bag of holding, but a few of these unknown herbs would be destroyed during the process of either storing them or digging them out.

    Just these two weeks of wandering have improved his knowledge and understanding of nature and its wonders.<novelnext></novelnext>

    .....

    The sun had alreadypletely disappeared into the horizon and the night fell.

    Numerous stars could be vaguely seen in the sky.

    Bai Ming climbed the cliff, a dense jungle weed him.

    The jungle seemed to continue on and on, touching the shadows of the faraway mountains. Furthermore, the depths of the jungle were covered in deep darkness, concealing unknown dangers and beasts.

    Chichihouhouˇ­

    A series of odd noises sounding like the cries of birds or the howling of the apes resounded in his ears.

    The trees in this jungle were at least six meters tall. The air was filled with moisture and the soil was much softer than normal soil.

    Under moist atmosphere, moss grew wildly, spreading over the ground, rocks, and tree trunks.

    Bai Ming continued to move forward while chewing on a piece of beast meat. Dangers lurked everywhere in the jungle. More so during the night time, when there was scarce light; the jungle became more dangerous than during daytime.

    The darkness deepened and the chillness increased the deeper he went into the jungle.

    Shortly after, he fought with a huge sliver-backed Bear.

    Its force was extremely dreadful and one of the absolutely formidable demon Beast in the 4th tier.

    But Bai Ming showed not even a trace of fear when facing this high-grade tier 4 beast, instead there was a bit of excitement. Just as water naturally runs downhill, he aspired to fight against stronger beasts.

    "Kill!"

    After releasing a low howl, with his eyes zing like torches, Bai Ming waved his treasure sword. Sword light shed out across the air for several meters before finally striking the huge body of the Sliver-backed Bear directly.

    The sword light was so fleeting that the Sliver-backed Bear didn''t even realize its body had been injured at first. Instantly, a flood of fresh blood poured out from the sword scar on its body.

    Though the sword scar was nothing to its huge body and strong defense, it was definitely enough to enrage the Sliver-backed Bear.

    "Howl!"

    The howl from the sliver-backed Bear''s mouth echoed in the surroundings. Its two giant feet stamped on the ground as it made great strides toward Bai Ming. Every step forward produced a minor tremor.

    The dark sliver eyes of the sliver-backed Bear were a bloody color and its desire to kill Bai Ming increased dramatically.

    "He-he,e here little one." Bai Ming chuckled while moving his sword to fight against it.

    After a while, Primeval sword art - 1styer!

    A cold and dazzling sword light directly prated its defense and plunged into its throat.

    "This beast has formidable strength and good defense, but its speed is very slow. Now that I have supreme grandmaster attainment and battle qi my sword path attacks are thirteen times stronger, but if I also consider closebat fights it''ll be even stronger because of my body cultivation. Now considering my strength I should be able to fight against spirit realm martial artists, but of course only against spirit realm cultivators from these mountain viges and not from the maind. But killing a spirit realm martial artist even from these secluded ces is a difficult challenge, after all they can just fly away. But if I were to use tier-4 formations the oue would certainly be in my favor." Bai Ming thought secretly while collecting his loot.

    Four weeks unknowingly crept by.

    During this period he progressed forwardas he battled one formidable Demon Beast after another.

    Such as Jade Crystal-Winged Lions, Phantom bug Foxes, white spike Wolverines, Nine Poisons Pythons, and so on.

    The formidable demon Beasts in the 4th tier and below became the enemies of Bai Ming and were slowly killed by him.

    With his hands crossed, in the darkness of the forest, Bai Ming greedily stared at the child-sized Golden bee hive. But then his eyes turned colder as his gaze shifted to the Huge boulder-like ape guarding it.

    "A Tier-5 demon beast, He-He-He challenging indeed" Bai Ming coldlyughed in his heart.

 Chapter 48 Golden-Moon Devil Ape.

    ?Demon Beasts at the 4th tier in this forest were everywhere, but those in the 5th tier were rare. During thest month, He only met demon beasts at the spirit realm (tier 4) and below.

    But now Bai Ming had finally met a low grade tier 5 demon beast, Golden-Moon devil ape.

    The threat of a tier 5 was multiple times higher than a tier 4.

    Bai Ming intensely stared at the 53 feet high golden moon devil ape, whose whole body seemed to have been bathed in dazzling golden drip.

    In all honesty Bai Ming had no interest in engaging against this beast, even though he was able to fight head on against tier 4 beasts and even y them, but against a tier 5 demon beast he would just walk the other way.

    Usually that would be the case, but not today.

    It was mainly due to that dark yellow beehive. It wasn''t just some ordinary beehive, It was a rare material which could birth the element of gold in one''s spirit base or make the gold elemental essence much more pure and smoother.

    Generally speaking, once a person awakens his spirit root he would be blessed with the five most basic elements in their spirit base Fire, water, wind, wood and earth. Every cultivator would be able to manifest these elements and cultivate elemental arts regarding these five particr elements. But if one wanted to awaken other unique elements like thunder, ice, metal etc. They would either have to be born with a special physique or use precious treasures which can mystically birth these Unique elements in their spirit base.

    Bai Ming watched the beehive like a rogue watching a beauty. A treasure this precious was naturally something Bai Ming desired, but these desires were not so easy to fullfill.

    But making the impossible possible was something Bai Ming excelled at.

    Bai Ming took out few beast cores from his bag of holding and ced them in his robes. All the beast cores he owned already contained his divine sense mark within them, he could destroy them whenever he wanted. But the explosions of these beast cores wouldn''t send out qi waves, but had a different effect.

    Primeval sword art - 3rdyer!

    Three sword Phantoms materialized behind him, Bai Ming skillfully maneuvered them to be hidden in three different sides of the devil ape.

    The firstyer of the primeval sword art was a piercing type attack, which could utilize both his internal and body cultivation.

    The secondyer was also a low grade, mid range sword ray attack.

    The thirdyer was a medium grade technique, with the ability to create three sword Phantoms with half-meter length each. This technique had the most flexibility, but its power wasckingpared to the fourthyer, which could send out a ten meter long sword Phantom. But what this techniquecked was flexibility, it could only move in a straight line unlike the 3rdyer.

    As for the finalyer, it was a high grade technique. This particr technique excelled in bothrge scale attacks and had greater strength, but this technique alsocked flexibility, it was simply too rigid.

    Woosh!  Woosh! Woosh!

    Bai Ming was still hiding in the shadows, as a dazzling rain of sword shadows suddenly darted towards the devil ape with heaven piercing might.

    The devil ape screeched loudly, before standing right in front of the beehive with a defensive stance while facing the dazzling sword shower.

    The devil ape inhaled a deep before letting out a terrifying shock wave.

    The shockwave and the sword rain shed, the sword Phantoms immediately turned into gold as their fearsome momentum came to a stop.

    Bai Ming looked on with a cold expression.

    "This berserk beehive is also quite attractive for this ape, fortunately its mobility is currently restricted while gaurding the beehive."

    Bai Ming quickly ced a qi gathering formation and began recovering his spiritual essence, while he sent another terrifying sword shower towards the ape, the previous situation repeated once again as the sword Phantoms turned into gold again.

    Bai Ming didn''t stop, he persistently continued to send attacks after every single wave.

    The 3rd wave, 4th wave, 6th wave, 11th wave.... it continued till the 27th wave.

    Normally Bai Ming would run out of spiritual essence after the 21st wave, but because of the formation he was able to recover his spiritual essence rapidly.

    After the 26th wave the devil ape didn''t send out shockwave any longer, it had reached its limits. Anymore and it would injure itself from the side effects.

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit, as he watched the sword Phantoms hitting the devil ape''s tough body. But there were only able to put slight scratches on its golden body.

    After sending out seven more waves, the devil ape had numerous light wounds all over its bodies as ape blood seeped out from them.

    The devil ape was after all a wild beast, after falling into a tough situation it began to panic.

    It looked towards the beehive, there was slight amount of hesitation within its monkey eyes.

    A dim light flickered within Bai Ming''s eyes, He performed the 4thyer of the sword art, as a ten meter giant sword shadow imposingly plunged towards the devil ape.

    "Its having thoughts of eating the beehive right away, it wanted to wait till the hive was more nutritious but now because of my strategic method of fighting it fell into difficulty, It is definitely unwilling to give up on the hive, I''ll have to enter now."

    The devil ape turned grim on the sight of the ferocious sword shadow, it fiercely struck out with its sharp ws.

    Bam!

    Blood tickled down from its w as the ape shrieked from the pain, then it turned towards the beehive ready to devour it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming quicklyughed loudly capturing the ape''s attention as he quickly entered the battlefield with an extremely evil killing intent.

    The ape showed joy at Bai Ming''s arrival as it stopped its actions, now that enemy was visible it could fight with much less restrictions. But after feeling Bai Ming''s killing intent it became more serious.

    Bai Ming''s kill count may be low, but the killing intent he oozed made others feel the overwhelmingly evil aura within it.

    In a split second, Bai Ming''s pupils constricted. Without thinking twice, he directly used the the 1styer of the sword art. Despite Bai Ming having a calm character, he couldn''t help breaking out in cold sweat at this moment.

    In the next instant, the Devil ape ¨C who was atleast ten times bigger than him ¨C suddenly appeared in front of Bai Ming and fiercely struck out with its sharp ws at Bai Ming''s treasure head.

    Bang.

    The ape''s attack was blocked by the sword art but Bai Ming spat blood as he was still sent flying, fortunately he was able to act quickly or else he might have really died.

    Bai Ming crashed against myriad number of trees before finallying to a stop forcefully, Both of his hands werepletely mangled.

    Bai Ming ignored the pain, he took onest look at the devil ape which was about to reach him. At the next instant Bai Ming crouched into a half-squat and leapt high into the air.

    The devil ape followed soon after, jumping at him.

    But due to being upied with Bai Ming the devil ape didn''t notice the three sword Phantoms which were previously hidden in the forest were rapidly moving the beehive away.

    Woosh!

    Hundred and eight sword Phantoms once again rained at the ape, but the devil ape seemed to have regained its lost ability as it sent a shockwave turning the swords into shining yellow gold.

    But this small window of time was all that Bai Ming needed, as a ten meter long sword Phantom manifested itself. Bai Ming promptly grabbed it and took off in a straight line while quickly grabbing the beehive and disappearing.

    The Devil ape couldn''t maneuver itself in mid air, only when itnded on the ground did it turn back and take look at Bai Ming who had already flown quite far away, it looked a bit dissatisfied as it could not eat that annoying little fly. But then it''s gazended on the previous location of the beehive.

    Soon an extremely enraged cries continuously resounded throughout the dense forest.

    Bai Ming had gotten on top of the sword Phantom, as he sat cross legged healing his wounds while inspecting the beehive. The beehive fragments were dark yellow in color, this beehive didn''t have any honey but the hive it self was a treasure, Bai Ming smiled as he quickly stored it.

    Moving on the air was much quicker and the obstacles which one would constantly face in forest could be ignored. His current speed could actually even slightly surpass his top movement speed.

    Bai Ming from time to time would use this method to fly. But because he wanted some battle experience and also natural treasures he would travel by foot.

    After flying for another twenty minutes, Bai Ming encountered a humongous tree in front of him, he had no choice but to get down as he could only make the sword move in single direction.

    Bai Ming quickly jumped down, while the sword Phantom crashed against the tree destroying both itself and the tree.

    "I am already quite far away, this distance should be more than enough. I''ll find a safe ce and quickly recoverpletely from the injuries before using the treasure to birth the gold element." Bai Ming thought as he began to carefully move around in the forest.

    Buzzbuzzbuzzˇ­ The sound of bees buzzing and flying suddenly entered his attentive ears.

    Bai Ming looked at his back immediately, only to see a thick cloud formed by numerous berserk needle bees, attacking towards him.

    Needle bee group''s house was destroyed while they were out, and because they had low intelligence, they started attacking the devil ape, but after not finding it''s hive it stopped, but with help of its extremely strong smelling sense it chased after Bai Ming madly.

    Berserk needle bee''s needle were tough as steel, extremely sturdy. Together with their high speed flying, it was no inferior to a needle rain attack.

    Even though they only possessed tier 3 individual strength butrge numbers cause a qualitative change. With enough numbers they could even take down tier-5 beasts.

    Bai Ming took one nce before turning indifferent, berserk needle bee''s had piercing ability, so even Bai Ming''s treasure body would eventually fail him against it.

    At once, numerous berserk needle bees pped their wings and furiously pounced at Bai Ming!

    Bai Ming turned around, just when the closest bee was about to pierce him an extremely horrific me covered Bai Ming''s entire body.

    This was Bai Ming''s nine hundred years old me essence!

    The first wave of nearly hundred berserk needle bee''s were turned into ashes without any form of resistance.

    Swish swish swish!

    Berserk needle bees were hell bent on getting their revenge along with theirck of intelligence, the remaining three thousand bee''s immediately swooped towards Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming sneered, the me zed with even more intensity. Within a minute every single bee had be a member of the dead.

    Bai Ming shook his head as he continued his search.

 Chapter 49 Gold Elemental Essence.

    ?Inside a defensive restriction.

    Bai Ming sat in a lotus position,pletely drenched in sweat. Both of his palms were facing the golden liquid hovering before his chest, constantly changing its shape.

    Wisps of golden strands of pure core elemental gold energies crept out and entered Bai Ming''s palms as he continued to draw in more energy. The strands were thick, visible, and twisted around like serpents.

    It entered his meridians and were filtered until it became refined gold energy which entered his dantian.

    With a thought, the heaven and earth essence within him acted like iron hands that gripped the refined gold energies and dragged them into his spirit root. All of it was turned into a small vortex and was slowly bing a part of his spirit root.

    Soon, a delicate yet explosive bnce was reached. After several hours of persistence, Bai Ming''s palms had a thinyer of gold covering them.

    He scrutinized his spirit base, unlike the past there was a new addition. Along with the five basic elements fire, water, earth, wind, wood, Bai Ming finally had a unique element, the element of gold.

    Now Bai Ming possessed the right to cultivate any gold path martial techniques, mantra etc.

    "Obtaining my first unique element was much easier than i expected it to be, my future options have increased. But currently I have two priorities, one is to get a fire path martial technique so that i can have much more versatility. Secondly, If I could presumably get a pair of wings from a bird type tier 3 or tier 4 demon beast with the use of Beast wings transformation art I can imnt it into my body." Bai Ming pondered silently.

    A momentter Bai Ming''s expression suddenly changed. His eyes squinted, gazing at the dense forest ahead through the transperent formation.

    Not longter, he heard fighting noises.

    Bai Ming stood up, his face turned serious. His initial stage spirit realm divine sense quickly scanned a thousand meters of his surrounding radius.

    After a while, his expression slightly loosened up, as there was no one ambushing in the vicinity.

    ''A three man squad is engaging against a wild demon beast. The demon beast has low grade tier 4 battle strength, but the group only has a single peak stage core formation realm and remaining are elemental realm cultivators, they are in quite a tough spot. This line up, it is unlikely to be demonic cultivators or lone cultivators, as they usually move alone from my understanding. This is more likely a group belonging to the righteous force, to be urate it should be a force belonging to a nearby mountain Vige. After a month of travelling this is the fist human encounter i have had.''

    ''I should capture them and get more information on their vige. As long as they don''t have a Yin-Yang void realm expert, I don''t mind wiping out their entire vige.'' Bai Ming thought in his heart.

    Even though Bai Ming had such thoughts, if a spirit realm expert wanted to escape from him, there was only so much he could do. After all even though he had some means to fly, but against a genuine spirit realm martial artist his air movement methods fell short.

    But if they were to fight to death, even though he would have some difficulty facing off against peak spirit realm experts. He was confident that he would have thestugh. This confidence stemmed from the fact that he had the support of battle qi, sword path supreme grandmaster attainment, peak stage core formation realm body and internal cultivation, nine hundred year old me essence.

    But now that Bai Ming had spirit realm divine sense, he could set up 4th grade formations this was his biggest back up.

    Bai Ming quickly moved through the dense forest with higher vignce, his movement speed gradually slowed down the closer he got.

    Gradually the battlefield came to his vision, as he hid himself in the shadows.

    On the battlefield.

    Three injured martial artists who had already experienced an intense battle were facing against a blood fiend monkey that had just arrived.

    The aura of death was impending.

    "Damn it, its toying with us. We had just faced against a bunch of tier 3 and tier 2 demon beasts and now out of nowhere a tier 4 demon beast and it had to be this ursed blood fiend monkey!" A seventeen year old male Yue Peng stared at the Demon beast with much hatred and fear, the monkey was actually yfully dancing around. Seeing this he coughed out mouthful of blood from extreme anger.

    Within the group of demon beasts, the blood fiend monkey was one of the cruelest beasts. It likes to eat people slowly one bite after the other without immediately killing them which makes individuals death a long and excruciating one.

    Currently it was just having some fun before eating dinner.

    ''Only if I had payed a bit of attention on the surroundings instead of only paying attention to the battle we could have escaped this scenario.'' Old man jun sighed inwardly.

    "Grandfather, what can we do? can we only wait for reinforcements from the n." A cute, short young girl cried out, as she raced towards the old man''s side in the field. Her expression was panicked and filled with urgency.

    "Rather than waiting for reinforcements who are nowhere to be found, you children can rely on me. Quickly escape, I will hold on this vile monkey for sometime. Take this opportunity to escape, Yue Peng do this old man a favor and take my granddaughter back to the n safely!"

    Yue Peng heard this and almost jumped in joy, but he was able to forcefully calm himself. He shot one look at the girl, she looked like she was on the verge of breakdown this made his heart feel unbearable pain.

    "No, no, no I am not leaving without you! I will also stay with you, Brother Peng you should quickly return to the vige and ask for reinforcements." The young girl spoke hurriedly, as she moved even more closer towards Old man jun.

    Yue Peng''s expression turned ugly, he didn''t want to die but abandoning the love of his life was also not possible to him, he gritted his teeth, "Meng''er, I will stay with elder Jun. You should leave quickly and request for back up."

    Old man jun heard this and a gentle smile formed on his face momentarily before turning cold, he yelled loudly "Damn brats, didn''t you hear me! Go! otherwise I will just use you as baits and escape. Meng''er don''t worry I will be alright, so just leave. Yue Peng this is an order quickly take Meng''er and run."

    Yue Peng nced at the old man, then without any hesitation he dashed towards the fragile young girl.

    Bai Ming who was spectating from the shadows with his hands crossed, clearly understood the situation now.

    ''So they are the only ones here at the moment, that''s good. This old man probably ns to self detonate and save the children''s lives once they are far away, and they have disyed water path and earth path skills as of now, they might have other elemental path martial skills.'' Bai Ming''s expression was peacefully, only his eye''s had turned colder.

    Three sword Phantoms immediately manifested behind him, Bai Ming purposely made these sword Phantoms in sizes of daggers.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Next, Bai Ming removed his footwear cing a dagger each inside. As for the third one he ced it in his sleeve.

    .....

    Veins popped up on old Jun''s forehead as his expression turned ferocious, his eyes spewing mes of wrath as he watched the blood fiend monkey slowly chewing at his severed arm.

    "Grandpa, quickly eat this healing pill!" Jian Meng''er handed a pill to her grandfather with tears rolling down her eyes, she looked like a pitiful creature.

    "Damn it!" Old jun nced at his granddaughter, the feeling of guilt and weakness slowly rose in his heart.

    ''Fucking hell, why did I have to end up like this. I always pray three times a day, then why? I don''t want to fucking die like this!'' Yue Peng was sweating buckets, he was on verge of vomiting blood again.

    They all wanted to escape, but didn''t even have the ability to do so.

    Squeakkkkk!

    The blood fiend monkey suddenly pounced towards Old man Jun once again, aiming for his only remaining arm.

    Old Jun''s expression changed dramatically, before he could even react the blood fiend monkey was just inches away from him. He could only grit his teeth at this.

    At the next instance, Swish!

    Suddenly, a dreadful sword light glided through the air. Blood sttered, With a thud sound the blood fiend monkey''s head rolled on the ground.

    The gentle wind blew.

    "Wh-What the fuck happened?" Yue Peng''s eyes bulged in extreme shock as he started at the headless monkey corpse. With his low cultivation he couldn''t even see the blood fiend monkey approach the old man much less the terrifying sword light.

    Old jun''s back was drenched in cold sweat, he looked at extremely deep sword mark on the ground, he felt both joy and terror at the same time.

    But with age came experience. Old man jun quickly  calmed down and bowed deeply, he spoke in a loud voice "Respected senior I thank you for your life saving grace, I Jiang jun of the Jiang vige will be eternally grateful towards the kindness senior has showed today."

    Both Jiang meng''er and Yue Peng quickly bowed deeply expressing their thanks.

    "How boring, get up quickly." A voice was suddenly heard before a young figure drifted though the air and levitated dozen meters before them.

    "Eh? How young!" The three of them were immediately stunned.

    ''I cannot see through his cultivation at all and he is able to fly, he must be a spirit realm cultivator atleast. But, he looks so young, how can he have such high cultivation. Maybe, he is an old monster but uses some peculiar art to maintain his youthful appearance.'' Thoughts ran wild in his mind, but on the surface he respectfully spoke, "Senior, thank you once again for saving our lives, if there is anything I can do to repay you please tell me."

    Bai Ming blinked and said, "You know me?"

    Jiang jun was stunned and quickly said, "Senior, iˇ­"

    "So you don''t know me, then why do you call me senior? Do I look that old? look at yourself in minor you are the ancient one here, even your nose hair is older than me and you call me senior. How  shameless, trying to hid your insecurities. Are you a little girl..." Bai Ming spoke, he went on endlessly, causing three of them to bepletely stunned and unable to utter a word.

    ''He is definitely an old monster, with his weird personality there is no doubt he is an old monster. His cultivation level might not just be at the spirit realm, he Might even be a Yin-Yang void realm expert. I have to be extremely careful!" Jiang jun thought while obediently listening to Bai Ming speak.

    After a long time, the Bai Ming finally stopped talking. His mouth twitched and muttered, "If I knew I was going to talk so much today, I would have brought some wine, too bad."

    Jiang jun''s eyes lit up, "Then, Sen.. Savior why don''t youe to our Jiang vige, we have lot of good wine and food back at home. I am sure it will be to your liking, its just few miles away from here."

    Bai Ming squinted his eyes as he floated near Jiang jun, taking circles around him before speaking, "You want me, the great Child Lord Zi toe to your tiny vige, won''t it damage my majestic reputation. Tell me does your vige have any Yin-Yang void realm cultivators, if not then your vige truly doesn''t deserve my attention."

    Jiang jun showed a ashamed expression and awkwardlyughed, "Child Lord zi, Our Jiang vige as had nearly seven Yin-Yang void realm martial artists till date, but currently we only have three spirit realm martial artists taking the Leadership..."

    Before he could finish speaking, a spiritual dagger flew out from bai Ming''s robes as it first pierced through Jiang jun''s skull before killing off the remaining two.

    And three bodiesy on the ground motionless.

    So fast, it all happened suddenly and ended just as quickly.

    Bai Ming nced at corpse indifferently, he quickly  stored the old man''s corpsepletely ignoring the other two.

    Then Bai Ming turned towards his right, during the groups previous battle with the demon beast, Bai Ming had already noticed their direction of retreat, from that it was easy to find out the viges location.

    The only reason Bai Ming had put such a act was because he was warry of the Yin-Yang void realm warrior, he was not willing to make a enemy out of such a expert for these small amount of benefits. It was just not worth it.

    Bai Ming jumped high, before a huge sword phantom appeared below him as it carried him away.

    "Oh, I forgot to ask him whether they have any fire path martial techniques. Whatever, I am going to find out anyway."

 Chapter 50 The Path Of A Demon

    ?Dusk.

    Thest few rays of the sun were like blood, and crows screeched as they flew back to their nests.

    Inside a dark cave.

    "Does your n have Yin-Yang void realm battle strength or any other special methods that could threaten such experts?" Bai Ming spoke in a low voice, calmly staring at the man within the 2nd-grade illusion formation.

    "There..is no...one like that, we..only have three.....spirit realm masters protecting.....the vige currently...But..it is said...that our n''s great elders....have a technique which can increase...a person''s strength...immensely..for a period of time...but I have never..seen it personally..It is believed to be...a rumor." The middle-aged man spoke, his eyes looked extremely misty without any sense of rity in them. He was like a mindless zombie.

    Bai Ming continued his session of questioning for another half an hour.

    Originally Bai Ming was going to directly attack the Jiang vige, he wanted to face three spirit realm martial artists together, he wanted to purposefully put himself in a tough spot because he had a theory in mind, he wanted to go all out fighting and experiment whether he could awaken sword qi by pushing himself to the very limit while facing such a difficult situation. But then, Bai Ming gave up on it thinking of the unforeseeable future.

    In the end, Bai Ming decided to ughter them with the use of his formations, it was the safest and quickest way to be the victor.

    Bai Ming had secretly kidnapped an elemental realm middle-aged man and put him under a 2nd-grade illusion array, getting even more information on his enemies, now he hadplete information on the Jiang vige.

    After killing the middle-aged man Bai Ming quietly walked out of the cave, staring at a nearby mountain, Situated on the mountain was Jiang Vige, giving the vast lonely mountain a rich touch of human civilization.

    Unlike the Xuan mountain which housed three viges, Jiang vige was the only vige in the entire Jiang mountain.

    "It''s almost time..."

    Woosh!

    Bai Ming channeled his spiritual essence and used his mid-grade movement technique and silently moved through the dense forest.

    After a minute Bai Ming reached the foot of Jiang mountain and began studying the mountain''s surroundings.

    Next, Bai Ming spent entire two days setting up a 4th-grade offensive formation around the entire mountain.

    Even though Bai Ming had grandmaster attainment in formation path he needed to spend some time if he wanted to create a 4th-grade formation.

    And the formation he set up had a huge quantity of beast cores ranging from tier 1 to tier 4 and his spirit stone storage had also run dry while setting up this formation.

    But as long as he seeds, they will be surely worth it.

    "It''spleted, now then let''s begin." Bai Ming''s hands started to form multiple seals and sending out multiple beams of light, before cing his palms against each other.

    Waves of ripples appeared on the mountainside and started to spread.

    Bai Ming pondered a little. His divine sense was fully immersed, after staring at the ripple for a while, he formed four illusionary circles and sent them toward the ripple.

    The moment the circlended, the ripple started to shake. Bumps appeared on the mountain. These bumps sometimes erged and sometimes shrunk. They were very strange.

    Bai Ming didn''t even bat an eye. His hand suddenly sped up and sent out dozens of illusionary shapes.

    Buzzz....

    A soft cry resounded, and a pitch-ck light bloomed, suddenly expanding and turning into a spherical shield within moments.

    Within a few breaths of time the entire Jiang mountain was sealed inside a gloomy barrier like an animal trapped inside a cage, while Bai Ming calmly stood outside watching like a spectator.

    Inside the barrier.

    The originally peaceful vige suddenly turned extremely chaotic, It was like bai Ming had stabbed a beehive, causing everyone to stir.

    Everyone looked at the jet-ck light barrier with grim expressions, their hearts filled with anxiousness, uncertainty, and fear.

    The mortals were especially panicking and running away, the flourishing streets had gone into chaos.

    A loud siren rang in Jiang vige.

    "Heavens, what''s that?"

    "What kind of trick is this?"

    "I don''t have a good feeling about this, a cmity is definitely approaching."

    Suddenly, the barrier shone momentarily as hundreds of elephant-sized purple skulls grew out from the formation and hovered hundreds of meters from the ground. The huge skulls had green jade-like eyes, and a thinyer of purple mist floated below them.

    Noticing this change the situation inside the barrier became even more chaotic, even low-level cultivators began to lose their cool.

    A core formation realm expert with a muscr build saw the situation getting worse, he immediately shouted loudly "Everyone, calm down and attack together. The great elders are.."

    Bam!

    Before the elder finished his words, a huge skull immediately crashed at him with lightning speed.

    The core formation realm expert could not react, he was blown to bits, his corpse scattered everywhere. Everything within the hundred-meter radius of the explosion was turned into smithereens.

    "Huh?!"

    "Lord elder!"

    The other martial artists screamed shrilly after a moment of shock.

    At this moment, unparalleled fear filled their hearts. The high and mighty lord elder did not even have a chance to react before he was killed in one hit.

    This attack was too sudden, Elemental realm experts could not even clearly see what actually had taken ce, they only knew there was a sudden explosion that killed their esteemed elder.

    "Lord elder is dead, he was killed in an instant!"

    "Quickly retreat, this is not something we can deal with!"

    "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Everyone madly rushed towards the vige headquarters where the three spirit realm masters resided.

    Bai Ming was currently seated on top of the formation, looking down from above imposingly watching the massacre unfold.

    With a cold snort, Bai Ming sent a chain of skulls crashing down.

    Bam Bam Bam....

    With consecutive explosions, these core formation realm and below cultivators were turned into pieces of flesh without exception. The houses, taverns, shops everything was blown away.

    "Their lives are so cheap, their peace was ruined just because of my selfish desires, it is truly unfair. But that is life for you, unfair. For this sole reason, I strive to be the strongest, so that I don''t face the unfairness of life. But if I do face it one day, I shall not feel any resentment or regret, for I am a demon!"

    "A demon who is free from the restraints of life and death!"

    "A supreme existence that looks down on life and death itself."

    Thinking of this Bai Ming couldn''t help butugh out loud. After bing a cultivator Bai Ming killed thousands and thousands of people, every time he took a life he felt his resolve growing stronger, every time he faced a life and death situation the desires in his heart grew stronger, his heart had already turned indifferent towards everything else, only the desires of his inner heart mattered to him now.

    And to aplish that he was ready to walk on a path of no return and make the world his enemy.

    And that was a path to bing a demon!

    At this instant, Bai Ming saw three shadows moving like lightning toward this area. In just a few breaths, the shadows with overwhelming auras emanating from their bodies had already closed in.

    These figures had not concealed their auras, hence Bai Ming could easily make out their cultivation.

    "Peak of spirit realm. Hehehe, you havee." Bai Ming spoke internally.

    The three aged spirit realm experts; two male and one female looked on with grim expressions. Their aged hearts bleed from the heavy loss of life, but their eyes turned Increasingly colder with soaring killing intent.

    Jiang hai expressionlessly red at Bai Ming who was smiling back at him from above, looking at that arrogant smile, Jiang hal felt his blood boiling and a horrific killing intent suddenly surged out from him.

    It was not just him, both Jiang Shang and Jiang Xuan were excluding bone-chilling killing intent.

    Without saying a word the three attacked at once.

    Jiang Hai made a hand sign sending out a thirty-meter-long spiritual dragon, made up of pure earthen essence.

    "Evil demon, die for me" Jiang Xuan shouted with much passion, as she sent out hundreds of azure-colored Fist Phantoms toward Bai Ming.

    "Die" Jiang Shang spoke in a low voice, as a massive fiery red palm was sent out at astonishing speed.

    Boom!

    The dragon, azure fists and fiery red palm mixed erupting in a spectacr fashion on contact with the ck veil, even the sky seemed to copse from the horrific explosion.

    But even then there was only a slight ripple in the formation, within seconds the formation returned to calm.

    "What!?" the three felt deeply shocked.

    Immediately an odd silence was momentarily formed before it was broken by Bai Ming''s evilughter.

    "Ha-Ha-Ha...Now, die!" Bai Ming nced at them arrogantly, making a hand sign. He was delighted at the fact that all of their techniques and treasures were going to be his soon.

    Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh....

    Hundreds of skulls emerged out of the formation and beganbining while dozens of skulls dashed toward spirit realm experts with evil intentions.

    The three elders were constantlymunicating among themselves using their divine senses.

    The great elders sent powerful attacks toward the iing skulls, resulting in a stalemate.

    Before rapidly shifting their attention toward the fusion process.

    "Meteor rain!"

    "Cold Water spear!"

    "Falling Phoenix!"

    Hundreds of carriage-sized rocks materialized around Jiang hai and swept forward, like a meteor shower.

    An incredibly long spear made of astonishing amount of water essence condensed above Jiang Xuan before shooting forward like a venomous serpent.

    With a loud noise, from behind Jiang Shang, a towering me rose 20 meters high. And with a bird cry, it took the shape of a phoenix. It spread its wings andunched itself.

    Bai Ming''s gaze flickered as he made another seal, the moment he finished doing that hand sign hundreds of skulls that were in the process of fusion exploded.

    BOOM!!

    Raging mes surged out crazily and the barrage of attacks from the great elders was immediately engulfed in the explosion, it wasn''t long before even the elders were thrown hundreds of meters back with burnt marks all over their bodies.

    "Cough, Cough.."

    The elders coughed a few times, but before they could even recover, dozens of demonic skulls came flying at them.

    Their expressions immediately turned grim, their eyes shone with severity.

    At this time they understood that they had underestimated Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''s cold gaze looked on with much interest at the ongoing battle as he continued to make hand seals, but suddenly Bai Ming''s eyes widened in horror, his heart tightened feeling an immense sensation of danger.

    He suddenly heard a voice filled with endless killing intent behind him, making his skin crawl.

    "Die!!!"

 Chapter 51 Uninvited

    ?Woosh!

    Before Bai Ming could get a sense of his attacker, A lighting quick sliver light shed behind him.

    Bai Ming had no time to turn back and counter it, he immediately willed in his mind and a wormhole appeared on the surface of the barrier as Bai Ming fiercely charged through it before the hole immediately closed.

    Puff!

    Bai Ming was able to keep his life but blood flooded out from the deep wound on his back, even his milky white treasure bones could be clearly seen.

    Bai Ming almost immediately made a seal, three purple skulls swiftly came flying towards him. Bai Mingnded on the top of a skull, he quickly shot a nce at the three spirit realm cultivators before fiercely ring at sky above with his piercing crimson eyes.

    Standing on top of the formation was a woman in intricate robes. She seemed to be in her forties, She had white hair, but the ck and blue on her entire body pointed out that she was poisoned, and from the looks of her frail body, the poison had to be consuming most of her body. Her 2ndyer spirit realm aura was disyed, but at times her spiritual presence fluctuated appearing a bit chaotic.

    "Who are you?" Bai Ming questioned in a deep voice, his gaze ice cold. Bai Ming hadn''t foreseen this variable.

    Ji wumeng stared at Bai Ming without a shred of emotion in her eyes, but the heaven devouring killing intent erupting from her body was enough to make even Bai Ming feel a chill in his heart.

    "The person who is going to kill you." Ji wumeng''s  words were spoken with endless hatred and hostility.

    "Hmph!" Bai Ming unsheathed his treasure sword, his peak core formation spiritual essence erupting.

    Ji wumeng took flight as she hovered ten meters above the ck veil.

    The blood red sword in ji wumeng''s hands burst forth with unforseen power.

    "Sword of severing!"

    Shua!

    The instant a hundred meter wide blood-red sword light directlyshed out, the heaven and earth seemed to be split in two.

    Bai Ming watched with a solemn expressions, his left hand making seals.

    Bang!!

    The blood-red sword light ferociously crashed against the ck barrier, the huge blood-red sword light seemed to be hampered as it suddenly stopped and then shatteredpletely, resulting in a earth shattering explosion.

    Spider web like cracks spread throughout the formation.

    The formation was on the verge of breaking apart.

    But Bai Ming quickly sent dozens of illusionary circles towards the barrier, strengthening it.

    Within a breaths time the formation was good as new.

    ''This is bad, the formation can only take few more attacks like that before breaking apart. I have to kill off these bugs first before dealing with her'' Bai Ming''s eyes flickered with a decisive light.

    "Bastard, die for me!" Jiang hai shot through the air leaving behind a yellow trail of light.

    Bai Ming willed and sent a giant sword Phantom along with a dozens of skulls flying.

    Jiang hai''s face turned grim from Bai Ming''s fierce retaliation, he quickly made a hand sign as a towering yellow dragon pounced forward, he took this chance to regroup with his allies.

    The demonic skulls collided with the dragon resulting in their mutual destruction.

    But the majestic sword phantom continued its charge.

    The three great elders immediately sent a volley of attacks and managed to destroy it.

    They had just destroyed the sword phantom, when dozens of massive skulls surrounded them.

    Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam...

    A series of explosion was heard before three pathetic figures were sent flying crashing against the hard ground with sickening thuds.

    "Cough, Cough..He is too strong, we cannot defeat him without using the blood destruction art." Jiang    xuan said using her divine sense.

    "That demonic technique, the price we have to pay is tremendous but we don''t have any other choice." Jiang shang also approved, although a bit reluctant.

    "Not necessarily, we have an helper right. Whoever she maybe, I think we can coporate. She is burning in hatred towards that vile scum, These two must be a cultivators from the maind. Her earlier attack was almost able to destroy the formation, we just have to hold on until she breaks the formation, then we don''t even have do anything." Jiang hai''s cold voice resounded in the other two elders minds.

    "That is true, but can we survive until then. we are already badly injured, few more of those explosions and we will be dead meat." Jiang shang immediately rebuked.

    Outside the formation.

    Puke.

    Ji wumeng nced at the ck blood on her hand, her eyes indifferent, but her mind was extremely anxious, ''Damn it, I don''t have much time left. By attacking earlier the poisons effect has gotten even stronger, I can only attack five more times before I fall. But i will definitely kill him before that and get my revenge!''

    Ji wumeng observed the battlefield as a message was sent to her through a divine sense, she sneered inwardly before responding, ''''Oh, you want to depend on me. No problem, but I need atleast ten minutes before I am able to break this annoying formation. You have to hold on till then."

    The hearts of the three Jiang n great elders immediately sank, how were they going to hold on for ten more minutes when they could die in the next second itself.

    They gritted their teeths and made a difficult decision.

    Bai Ming finished his preparation, suddenly a towering purple giant manifested within the formation. It had ck bull head with two horns growing out of it, it also had four bony purple arms. Around it''s neck was ne consisting of huge skulls, The evil creature stood at a majestic hight of fifty meters.

    Bai Ming sat in a lotus position, he surrounded himself with dozen skulls before manipting the giant creature. He quickly began to heal himself, while cing much of his attention towards Ji wumeng and the ongoing battle.

    Watching the giant skeleton demon, the three elders felt the aura of death approaching them. But in their hearts there was not even an inkling of fear.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The three great elders nced at each other before letting out a bitterugh.

    Without skipping a beat, they positioned themselves in a triangr formation. Without any hesitation they stabbed their chests and grabbed their hearts while sending an absurd amount of spiritual essence into it.

    "Blood destruction art!"

    A scarlet beam of light suddenly shot out from their hearts and fused with each other, before their body began melting and fusing with each other.

    The giant suddenly arrived before them and mmed at them with all four of his hands.

    Buzz..

    But it''s attacks were fully obstructed by the red sphere of light enveloping them.

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up, he once again maneuvered the giant.

    In the void between the giants bull horns, a dark blue energy slowly condensed before shooting towards the red sphere of light.

    Boom!!

    The explosion this time was deafening, the remaining cultivators in the Jiang n all bleed from their ears and some of them even fell unconscious from ear piercing pain.

    But when the dust cleared the red sphere of light was still kicking, even though it had turned a whole lot dimmer.

    Bai Ming ordered the monster to continue its assault, but results were not much pleasing to him.

    Crack, crack..

    Suddenly the red barrier cracked, before breaking apart.

    From within the barrier appeared a eight feet tall creature, it had three heads each belonging to the spirit realm cultivators. It had dark blue skin with two extra pair of hands.

    "Kill!" The human like creature spoke in a hoarse voice and plunged towards purple giant leaving behind a blood red trail of light.

    Bam!

    The purple giant was immediately made to take dozens of steps back, just when it had just stabilized. The humanoid creature punched out with all six of its arms.

    Crash!

    The purple giant was immediately sent flying before fiercely crashing down, making the earth tremble.

    Bai Ming''s eyebrows rose, he quickly stood up and and sent out dozens of skulls crashing down aiming at the remaining Jiang nsman.

    "Noooooo!!" With an anguished roar the humanoid creature dashed towards the skulls, quickly destroying them.

    But it was bound to miss a few.

    Waves of miserable screams were heard once again.

    The humanoid creature hovered quietly while trembling from head to toe, blood tickled down from its six eyes.

    Bai Ming smiled coldly, the purple giant had recovered as it maniacally charged towards the humanoid creature.

    Bai Ming sent another wave of skulls at the humanoid creature, while sending a single skull towards the Jiang nsman.

    Bai Ming once again gained the upper hand.

    Ji wumeng coldly smirked, thinking ''Good, they fell for it.''

    Previously Ji wumeng had said that she needed ten minutes of time to break the formation, this was a lie, she only needed a minute at most. This lie had a certain intention behind it, one was to make them feel desperate, which would result them in fighting with everything they had. The other was to give them some hope. Hope that even if they die while fighting, they still had her to kill Bai Ming. If they could just hold on for ten minutes their victory would be Guaranteed.

    Ji wumeng held a bronze mirror and formed a seal with her right hand. The bronze mirror immediately floated into the air and started to give out a golden light.

    She frowned slightly, before she spat out some spirit blood and drew an ancient symbol using her blood before sending it towards the bronze mirror.

    This bronze mirror, it grew to thousand times its original size. The mirror was crystal clear and with ripples on the surface.

    An extremely terrifying aura was slowly spreading out from the mirror surface.

    Inside the formation, the fight came to a sudden stop.

    All the cultivators felt the horrific spiritual pressure even the blood-red sword light from earlier paled inparison, this instilled intense fear in all of them.

    Bai Ming''s face became dark as he gazed at the sky, he suddenly felt a sense of horror overtaking him.

    ''Too fast, the formation definitely cannot handel this level of attack. There is no more use in increasing the defensive strength of the formation, I''ll fully exert the strength of the formation on killing this creature, then I would not have face them together.'' Bai Ming immediately analyzed and came to a decision and immediately retreated to a far corner of the vige.

    The humanoid creature was excitedly gazing at the huge mirror, but it''s smile immediately froze, it''s heart grew cold.

    Woosh! Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!

    Hundreds of ghastly skulls materialized and surrounded the humanoid creature from all directions, forming a huge skull cocoon. And that wasn''t the end, inside the cocoon was a terrifying purple giant shining with dazzling purple light.

    Bai Ming stood at a far corner of the vige, speaking in a low voice.

    "Die"

 Chapter 52 Fight!

    ?As Bai Ming''s cold voice fell, the hundreds of ghostly skulls started to glow with an eerie light, the essence inside them went haywire. While the purple giant trembled slightly before moving closer towards the humanoid creature.

    The humanoid creature had extreme fear and panic stered on it''s three faces, the aura of death was overwhelming.

    In the very next second.

    Boom!

    Suddenly a violent explosion that shook the entire Jiang n urred and even the heavens seemed to copse at this moment. Even tier 5 demon beasts residing in the forest were startled.

    The explosion was sickening, thousands of meters ofnd around the st had changed drastically.

    Not a single Jiang nsman had survived the massive qi outburst. As for the freakish humanoid creature it''s existence hadpletely vanished with not even a single trace remaining.

    ''This is the true strength of a 4th grade formation, but of course it''s effect was further magnified by my formation path grandmaster attainment and battle qi.'' Bai Ming slowly moved back to the ce of the explosion, gazing at the massive bronze mirror.

    ''This is troublesome.'' Bai Ming deeply gazed at Ji wumeng, Bai Ming''s eyes suddenly lit up, at this very instant Bai Ming had an outrageous inspiration.

    ''There isn''t much time, I''ll have to do everything I can to ensure my survival, no matter how small of a chance I have.'' thinking of this Bai Ming immediately vanished from his ce.

    Outside the formation.

    Ji wumeng grunted coldly, before retracting her gaze from the battlefield and staring back at the bronze mirror.

    ''Shit, the poisons effect is growing stronger than expected. But it doesn''t matter, my life is alreadying to an end. Once I kill this worthless piece of shit, I can die with somefort. Perhaps then I could be together with husband and wei''er on the other side.'' Heartfelt emotions welled up inside Ji wumeng''s heart, two extremely familiar images appeared in her mind.

    Ji wumeng was none other than Li jun''s wife. Long time ago she was poisoned by one of Li jun''s old enemies, inorder topletely remove the poison from her body Li jun had greatly desired to refine the bone heart me.

    But fate had something else in store for them, Li wei ended up exploding. As for Li jun he waspletely taken out by Bai Ming''s self-detonation when he was just a hair''s breath away from refining the nine hundred year me essence.

    When Li jun had died, his life tablet which was with Ji wumeng shattered. The impact of her husbands death was just too much, making her feel guilty of the fact that her husband had died because he wanted to save her life, pain was all she felt at the time. Next came the intense desire for revenge, it was at this time she had awakened hostility qi.

    Ji wumeng already had a four hundred year sword soul, now with the edition of hostility qi she was at her deadliest.

    Sword soul, spear soul, de soul and other weapon souls were simr to elemental essence like Bai Ming''s bone heart me.

    A four hundred year old sword soul could increase one''s sword path strength by four times.

    The types of qi''s were numerous, hostility qi was just one of them. It had two benefits, one was to make a person''s killing intent contain insane amount of hostility, enough to intimidate others. The second benefit was to increase the power of the attacks filled with killing intent three times stronger.

    After paying an extremely heavy price did she finally find out how her husband had died and also found the location of his killer. After that she didn''t care about anything else not even her own life. The only thing she wanted was getting her revenge.

    This instant the frightening aura of the bronze mirror reached its peak.

    Roar!!

    A series of nine roars were heard before nine golden dragons roamed the skies as their fearsome roars continued to echo everywhere.

    Bai Ming watched with an extremely seriously look, the seven deities mantra was channeling the spiritual essence in his body to its limits. This battle was by far the most horrifying one in his life.

    Nine golden dragons charged Imposingly. An ear-piercing sound came when it charged at lighting speed.

    The 4th grade formation came face to face with the awe-inspiring power of the nine golden dragons.

    Crack!

    The entire formation trembled before cracks surfaced everywhere in the formation.

    Bai Ming made hand signs nonstop to strengthen the formation, he was aware that he could not sustain the formation from this attack but he could atleast weaken the enemies attack.

    The formation onlysted for dozens of breaths before copsing.

    But with this he was able to reduce the charging dragons strength upto sixty percent.

    Even before Bai Ming could take a breather, the golden dragons resumed their charge.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Without batting an eye, Bai Ming sent out hundreds of sword Phantoms, followed by a tall sword phantom, multitude of pale green sword rays along with a spiritual core.

    The sky was lit with variety of explosive fireworks.

    Seven out of the nine golden dragons were destroyed.

    Woosh! Woosh!

    The final two dragons were only dozens of meters away from him.

    "Activate." Bai Ming made a hand sign.

    Buzz...

    Dozens ofyers of 3rd grade protection barriers suddenly enveloped Bai Ming.

    Bam!

    All the barriers were destroyed without exception.

    "Primeval sword art-1styer!"

    Bang!!

    Both the dragon and man collided, immediately the rocks were blown away, the earth trembled. Bai Ming was smashed dozens of meters deep into the ground.

    Bai Mingy with innumerable broken bones all over his body, violently coughing blood.

    The battle had just begun but Bai Ming was already on deaths door.

    A breeze passed, followed by Ji wumengnding on edge of the pit. Staring down at Bai Ming with eyes filled with killing intent.

    "Hahaha...looks like I will be able die with fewer regrets now." Ji wumengughed hysterically before pointing her index finger at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming was still struggling to get up, he looked up at ji wumeng with his tranquil eyes, "Since I am going to die, shouldn''t you atleast tell me why your so desperate to kill me."

    Ji wumeng smiled lightly and spoke in a cold and detached tone, "Do you remember the bone heart me?"

    Bai Ming''s eyes suddenly lit up, a light of understanding immediately shed past his crimson eyes, "Then how did you know it was me?"

    "Is there any need for me to answer." Ji wumengughed coldly, a sliver light condensed on the tip of her index finger.

    It was over Bai Ming could barely move, there was no way he had enough strength to fight back against a spirit realm cultivator.

    Bai Ming struggled to pick up his sword while letting out a emotional sigh.

    Ji wumeng heard Bai Ming''s defeated sigh and felt much bliss, a joyful smile bloomed on her exhausted face.

    "Hehehe, go to hell." Ji wumengughed as the sliver light stopped condensing and was about to shoot.

    Buzzz.....

    But a strange sound was heard, a sliver light barrier immediately trapped both Bai Ming and Ji wumeng.

    Ji wumeng nced at the formation with disdain, before arrogantly looking down at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''s face was twisted, as an extremely evil killing intent surged out from Bai Ming. He screamed internally, "Fusion of paths-self sword formation!!"

    A fleeting light of sliver shed!

    The next second, Ji wumeng was still arrogantly looking down. But her gaze wasn''t on Bai Ming, but instead it was on her own headless bodyying in the ground motionless.

 Chapter 53 Path Fusion

    ?The battle had ended in a sh.

    With a sword in his right and a head in his left, Bai Ming stood dozens of meters away from ji wumeng''s corpse.

    "It surely paid off, way better than what I imagined it to be. Hehe, battles are truly a path of cultivation. Fusing both formation path and sword path to make the best out of my abilities, truly wonderful. I had doubts it would not have worked. But, god was i terribly wrong, surely the fact that she was already poisoned also contributed in killing her. Battle qi, me essence these are just buffs in the path of cultivation, but ones attainment is irreceable."

    Fusing different paths isn''t totally oundish, there are so many sword or de or other techniques which have aplished this.

    Bai Ming had also set up formations in the past, which have mainly utilized elemental path.

    But Bai Ming had never thought of incorporating sword path into a formation, even though Bai Ming had grandmaster level formation path attainment he didn''t have a formation path inheritance or a teacher to guide him, he could only let his imagination lead him forward. Attainment after all in simple terms was an ability of creation. As long as Bai Ming had enough inspirations or some reference material, he could advance forward.

    Earlier in the battle he had an sudden idea of creating a sword path formation. Once Bai Ming had this inspiration, along with his very high attainment in sword and formation path it was extremely easy for Bai Ming to set up a sword path formation.

    As for how effective it was, one could only imagine   the power achieved from stacking up sword path supreme grandmaster attainment, formation path grandmaster attainment, battle qi. If calcted it would be a total of 17ˇÁ increase in strength. There was also the fact that this formation used Bai Ming himself as the weapon.

    This was more than enough to kill Ji wumeng who already had a foot in the grave.

    "Fusion of paths-self sword formation, it''s a worthy name, haha." Bai Ming was thrilled to have survived this cmity, even though Bai Ming has already physically died twice and didn''t fear death any longer. But he certainly didn''t want to die, fearing death and not wanting to die werepletely different things.

    If Bai Ming had ever feared death, he would certainly not have taken all those deadly risks to get stronger.

    Only after a whole minute had passed did Bai Ming finally approach the fallen corpse.

    Bai Ming was warry of the fact that there might be slim chance of Ji wumeng self-detonating even after he chopped off her head.

    Bai Ming stood infront of the corpse examining it with much focus, next he also examined the severed head.

    Bai Ming frowned slightly, thinking to himself ''Such a vicious poison. Sigh, such a waste of material. Even if I remove the poison there is zero benifit for me, the moment I killed her the spiritual essence restricting the poison in her disappeared and within just a second everything inside has rotten.''

    Bai Ming picked up Ji wumeng''s mid grade treasure sword and her storage bag before using his me essence to turn the corpse into dust.

    Bai Ming then sat in a meditative posture and began healing himself with the help of a 3rd grade healing formation.

    After making a full recovery, Bai Ming began searching the vige for treasures.

    The Jiang vige had be deste, but Bai Ming had previously gotten lot of information about the vige, but he still had to spend nearly three hours topletely plunder the Jiang viges underground treasury.

    "Two hundred thousand spirit stones, 20,000 thousand litres of spirit liquid. With these resources and with the help of a 4th grade formation I should be able to reach the peak of spirit realm within eight or nine months of time. But it''s better to breakthrough spirit realm and travel to the maind, there I should be able to get my hands on precious pills which can make my cultivation speed even faster and also remove the consolidation period after every breakthroughs." Bai Ming pondered as he held Ji wumeng''s storage pouch in his hand.

    "Hehe, I have also gotten few high tier techniques belonging to the water, earth and fire path. Now I can finally begin the creation process of my second sword technique. But there was no record of that transformation technique anywhere, but it doesn''t matter." Once Bai Mingpleted his thought process, he began refining ji wumeng''s bag of holding. Removing her divine sense and refining it with his own.

    The reason why Bai Ming desired a fire path technique was because he wanted to create a sword path martial skill which could also incorporate fire path essence.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With Bai Ming''s sword path attainment, the highest grade of technique he could create was a peak mystic grade skill. But Bai Ming currentlycked inspirations to create a technique of this level, hence Bai Ming chose the second best path for him. And that was to create a sword path technique with fire element incorporated in it.

    During his time in the forest, Bai Ming''s true objective was to get inspirations while fighting against demon beasts and help him create a sword path martial skill before heading to the maind. After this period of time Bai Ming had already 90%pleted it. As long he was given bit more time Bai Ming had confidence that he could create his first sword path technique quickly and its tier would probably be at peak of extremity grade.

    Martial techniques are ranked low to high as follows starting from low grade, mid grade, high grade, superior grade, extremity grade, mystic grade and heaven grade. Martial skills ranging from superior grade to heaven grade, have three subdivisions mainly; lower, upper and peak tier.

    Ji wumeng''s bag of holding trembled and immediately started to release strands of white gas.

    Bai Ming bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood filled with spiritual power. Then, he moved his hands and a strange symbol appeared in the air.

    The moment the symbol appeared, the blood started to enter the symbol. Soon, all of the blood was absorbed and all that remained was a blood colored symbol. Bai Ming waved his hand and the symbolnded on the bag of holding.

    The white gas coiled around the pouch before it  gradually began destroying Ji wumeng''s divine sense in it.

    Bai Ming sent another blood red symbol, but this time his divine sense had also began eating away at Ji wumeng''s divine sense.

    After spending nearly twenty minutes, Bai Ming hadpletely refined the bag of holding. Now he could ess everything inside it.

    Bai Ming immediately sent his divine sense inside the newly acquired storage bag.

    The first thing Bai Ming noticed was the space inside, it was three times spacious than the one he owned.

    Next, Bai Ming expectantly scanned the items inside. But the expectant light his gaze dimed out.

    It was to be expected, ji wumeng had already spent a fortune to find out the killer of her husband. She also had to constantly get high level pills to keep her poison in check, she had absolutely no desire to die before killing Bai Ming.

    "Disappointing, just ten to fifteen thousand spirit stones. Hmm, there are bunch of 4th grade and even few 5th grade poison control pills, there also few thousand lighting arrow inscriptions. Oh, there is even a movement path technique here and it''s even a peak superior grade one at that. There isn''t any other martial skills here, it would have been great if I could study that earlier sword art. And this cultivation mantra is not useful for me, I already possess a top notch cultivation mantra." Bai Ming''s mood turned for the better after getting some gains.

    Bai Ming''s expression suddenly changed, his eyes shed with seriousness. In some corner of the storage space there was ordinary looking sword quietly hovering, Bai Ming''s eyes immediately showed delight.

    Bai Ming retrieved the flying sword and examined it carefully.

    Bai Ming tried to unsheathe the sword but was stopped from an unknown force, the moment his hand got close to the sword there was an ripple in air surrounding it, which pushed back Bai Ming''s hand.

    Bai Ming''s gaze flickered, a smirk appeared in his indifferent face.

    "This flying sword is really strange. But the fact there is 6th tier restriction ced around it shows the value of this treasure. I''ll first breakthrough to the spirit realm, before studying this restriction and slowly start breaking it step by step."

    "Three weeks should be enough to reach spirit realm once again, then I would probably have to spend another fifteen or so days to break thisplicated restriction. Then i have to invest another week beforepletely developing my first sword technique. After all these things are aplished I will directly head towards the mainds."

 Chapter 54 Teng City.

    ?The Teng Family was a famous cultivation family in the Tiannan Province of the Northern azure continent. The family head, Teng Zhe, reached the peak of supreme mortal realm in thest twenty years.

    Because the Teng family had an ancestor like him, not many dared to mess with them.

    Even though they weren''t a big sect, The Teng family city was also under the Red Lotus sect''s rule, a first rate righteous sect. And Teng zhe was even an inner elder of the sect. So their position was very high in the Tiannan province.

    The Teng Family''s exchange fair provided a tform for the cultivators to trade in. At the beginning of each month, Teng Family City was very busy.

    Where there are lot of people, there will naturally be a lot of conflicts. Sometimes, people would fight the moment they met. Because of that, the Teng family ancestor, Teng zhe, set a no fighting rule in the city.

    Everyone in the city was prohibited from fighting.

    The moment the order came out, everyone in the city obeyed, especially after Teng Zhe personally came out and killed few Yin-Yang void cultivators.

    On this day, a purple light flew across the sky toward the Teng Family city.

    It was none other than Bai Ming.

    Its been nearly two months since Bai Ming had broken through to the spirit realm, during this period of time he had gotten ustomed to flying after much training.

    Not only that Bai Ming had alsopletely developed his first peak extremity grade sword path martial skill, he also seed in breaking through the restriction on the flying sword after spending a good amount of time.

    Bai Ming''s gaze swept the Teng Family City before him. This city was veryrge, and at first nce, he couldn''t even see where it ended.

    Outside the city stood four Teng Family disciples greeting travelers with smiles and handing out tokens.

    Bai Ming expanded his divine sense and immediately found out that four of them were at the core formation realm.

    Looking at the long line of people going into the city, Bai Ming wasn''t in any rush. He checked everyone in the line and found that everyone was a cultivator, but the strongest was only at the 7thyer core formation realm.

    Just when Bai Ming was about to join the line, ray of light arched across the sky over to the city entrance. An figure wearing a rainbow-colored robe released a very strong aura. Bai Ming sent out his divine sense and was slightly suprised. This person wasn''t old at all, only about 20 years old, but had already reached the peak of spirit realm.

    The figure casually waved his hand and created a wind that blew everyone away. The people with lower cultivation were sent flying, while many were rolling on the ground.

    Bai Ming was unfazed, he expressionlessly looked at the figure. The thought of killing him for body refinement material crossed through Bai Ming''s mind, but he quickly put it in the back of his mind.

    This was new ce with new rules, he couldn''t do as he pleased, atleast till he had a good understanding of how this ce works. Of course if Bai Ming had unparalleled strength he wouldn''t have given a damn about these so called rules of the world.

    The figure coldly nced at Bai Ming, but once he scanned Bai Ming his expression turned milder as he slightly nodded at Bai Ming, to which Bai Ming also returned the gesture, then the figure walked to the gate. He threw out a token and the four guards became very respectful. One of them even followed the person into the city.

    Those low level cultivators all revealed looks of envy and jealousy, but none dared to showe their displeasure. They didn''tck any self awareness.

    Bai Ming watching this scene thought secretly, ''Strength is always supreme, no matter if it is in the vige, maind or even earth for that matter. In this world an individual can reign supreme above all else with his own strength, but in earth only those that have money, status, political influence or have military power are the top dogs.''

    Bai Ming continued to move towards the city gate ignoring the gazes of those cultivators.

    These people wanted to gang up and beat Bai Ming for not waiting for his turn. But seeing that they could not see through his cultivation base and looking at how young he was, they immediately thought of him having worthy background.

    Bai Ming paid thousand spirit stones to enter the city. The higher one''s cultivation base was the greater was one''s entry fee, this was a rule set by current Teng city head, Teng zhe.

    Of course, if a individual with Supreme mortal realm cultivation base or higher came, they could enter freely.

    ''If I want to stay here for more than a month, I have to pay three thousand spirit stones every month. Hehe, quite greedy aren''t they.'' Bai Ming thought as he began searching for an ce of residence.

    There were people moving to and fro on the street. Large tall trees were nted on both sides of the street and under its shade were all kinds of stalls; some sold food like soft bean curd, meat and vegetable dishes; while others sold jewellery and all kinds of other stuff.

    Bai Ming walked past the stalls, then he saw buildings; tall and luxurious buildings, spirit houses and white-grey tiled houses.

    Shops, hotels, inns, smithies and so on appeared one after another.

    Bai Ming quickly found an inn. He payed five hundred spirit stones and got an room for himself for the month.

    ''Now, I should begin gathering information. Information is also an kind of strength, I should also get an map.'' Bai Ming thought as his gazended on one of the workers in inn.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Next he gave the waiter of the inn some spirit stones and collected information on the Teng city, about the major powers in the city and also understanding the rules of the city, while also learning more about the trade event.

    From what Bai Ming had learnt, there were total of 108 provinces in the Northern continent. Each province was made up of nearly hundred cities.

    The strongest powers in the Tiannan Province where the three first rate righteous sects and one first rate demonic path valley.

    The Teng family city was under the influence of one of the three righteous path sects, the red lotus sect.

    The requirements for a sect to be a first rate sect was that they needed to simply have a Divine astral realm cultivator.

    Bai Ming quickly walked through the streets heading toward the Lotus Treasure Pavilion in the east of the city.

    The Lotus Treasure Pavilion had four floors. The items in each floor were several time more expensive than the ones in thest. Currently, there were about seven or eight cultivators bargaining with the workers inside.

    Before Bai Ming entered, he took out a ck cloak to cover his head. After entering, he looked around the first floor and found that it mostly contained treasure swords, flying swords, tier 2 and below pills, treasure armour and some other stuff. All of the flying swords were high quality, sealed in boxes with talismans on each end to prevent the sword essence from escaping.

    In addition to all of these swords, there was a blue crystal pir in the center of the room with three flying swords floating in the middle with the tips of the swords pointing down.

    The three flying swords dimmed and brightened. Sometimes they would even shine brightly.

    Flying swords were different from the treasure swords, Flying swords had the innate ability to fly. Most core formation cultivators and bellow would usually own one flying sword, of course they could also be used to fight in battles.

    As Bai Ming looked at the three swords in the center, a worker walked up. He was about 19 years old and looked very bright. He carefully examined Bai Ming. It was pretty normal for customers to hide their faces because many cultivators didn''t want to be recognized. As for Bai Ming''s cultivation level, he had the lotus Treasure Pavilion''s own special treasure to check. The more he checked, the more excited he became, because Bai Ming''s cultivation level kept changing between 1st and 2ndyer of spirit realm.

    Although this worker was surprised, he didn''t show it on his face. He respectfully asked, "Does senior have his eyes on these flying swords?"

    Bai Ming withdrew his gaze and looked at the worker. He was instantly able to see that the worker was at 3rdyer of elemental realm and calmly asked, "Does this treasure Pavilion sell tier 5 beast wings, formation gs preferably higher quality one''s, spirit realm cultivation pills?"

    The worker nodded and brightly smiled. "Senior, I''m afraid that you will only find these quality items in our Lotus Treasure Pavilion, as they are not things normal people can buy. If senior is interested, please follow me to the third floor."

    Bai Ming calmly walked toward the stairs. The worker quickly followed to lead the way Just before he stepped on thedder, he turned and looked at a cultivator that was currently bargaining with a worker. He eyes grew colder as he pondered for a moment before stepping onto the stairs.

    After arriving at the second floor, the worker quickly went to talk to a middle-aged man in a room before quickly returning downstairs.

    The muscr middle-aged man approached Bai Ming, sped his hands and gave a slight bow, and said, "Senior let me apany you to the third floor."

    He quickly led Bai Ming to the third floor, before he had a quick exchange of words with a old man before returning downstairs.

    Bai Ming took a look at the old man and found that he couldn''t see through him. He was surprised by this. The first floor had a elemental realm cultivator and the second floor had a core formation cultivator. Going from this pattern now the third floor probably had a spirit realm cultivator. Does this mean that there is a Yin-Yang void realm cultivator in charge of the fourth floor?

    The old man only had few stands of green hair and his eyes asionally shone. He got up, sped his hands, and said, "Esteemed guest, we have many Yin-Yang void realm formation gs. Lucky we also have a 5th tier high grade bird beasts corpse, but we can only sell it has a whole. As for spirit realm pills there are few of them in stock. Which one would you like look at first."

    Bai Ming expression was calm and cool as he asked, "How much for a single tier 4 and tier 5 formation g?"

    "Just thousand for a single tier 4 formation g and ten thousand spirit stones for tier 5." The old man replied with a smile.

    Bai Ming nodded, his heart felt heavy from the absurd price. He thought for a second, "Let me see that demon beast corpse."

    The old manughed and pointed at the golden chair to the side. "Fellow cultivator, please sit and I''ll go grab them for you." With that, he poured a cup of tea before walking next to a wall and hitting it. Ripples appeared on the wall, then it turned more and more illusionary.

    After twenty whole minutes.

    ''The beast corpse will cost me 50,000 spirit stones, but i can just take it''s wings and resell the corpse and the beast core, it should fetch around 30,000 spirit stones. I currently only have 160,000 spirit stones, if add the cost of purchasing beast wings, I will have 140,000 remaining. If I purchase another hundred formation gs, I will have 40,000 spirit stones remaining. Then to buy the most detailed map of the northern continent I could get costs around two thousand spirit stones, but it is needed. Then I need another three hundred high quality papers for the trade event, that will cost me  another thirty thousand spirit stones. Spirit realm qi gathering pill costs a fucking fortune, but the effects are also astonishing.'' Bai Ming frowned secretly, he just finished going through all the materials and was already tight on funds thinking of the costs.

    After a careful thinking session, Bai Ming bought hundred tier 4 formation gs, Tier 5 beast wings and sold back it''s body for thirty-three thousand spirit stones after some verbal battles. Then Bai Ming also brought an extremely detailed map of the northern ins, 300 high quality writing paper and also brought books on the history and power system in the northern continent.

    Now Bai Ming had only had 6000 spirit stones remaining.

    As for selling all low grade treasures, beast cores and martial skills he had umted till now, Bai Ming wanted to wait a bit.

 Chapter 55 Beast Wings Transformation Art

    ?Bai Ming also bought a tie-4 formation base for six thousand spirit stones now he was left with zero spirit stones, he didn''t immediately leave afterpleting his purchases, he began looking at the prices of various treasures, pills, beast core, medicinal herbs, martial skills and so on. This will be helpful to price the items he will sell in the future.

    Suddenly Bai Ming''s gazended on a particr piece of paper.

    ''Soul binding vow, tier 3 is for 5,000 spirit stones, tier 4 needs 12,000 spirit stones, as for tier 5 it costs around 20,000 spirit stones...'' Bai Ming rubbed his chin as he pondered for a moment.

    Bai Ming suddenly moved towards a counter and began selling his belongings, he immediately sold all the beast cores he collected so far, he had nearly fifty-plus tier 4 beast cores, nearly a hundred tier 3 beast cores and only dozens of tier 2 beast cores. Originally Bai Ming had a lot more but after cing so many formations during hisst fight his beast cores stock had gone down.

    After selling all the beast cores, Bai Ming made a whooping 86,000 spirit stones.

    Bai Ming quickly brought off four tier 5 soul-binding vows, his spirit stone storage fell to six thousand spirit stones once again.

    Bai Ming then left the lotus treasure Pavilion and coldly looked across the street. When he went upstairs, he had already noticed someone spying on him, so he left a trace of his divine sense on that person. When he came out, he noticed that that person was in the inn across the street.

    There were quite a few people in the inn, including three Spirit realm cultivators next to the person Bai Ming had left a trace of his divine sense in.

    Bai Ming hadn''t caused any trouble recently, but that doesn''t mean others wouldn''t cause trouble for him. Everyone had their own desires and aspirations. If Bai Ming can kill others can also kill him, it was simple as that.

    Bai Ming pondered a bit and decided to not confront them immediately, he quickly walked back to his inn. Bai Ming was aware that they would not attack him in the city. Unless they could instantly kill him without making amotion, this was due to Teng zhe a supreme mortal realm cultivator''s sole existence.

    Bai Ming avoided moving in the air, as there was a no-flying rule in Teng city.

    He only walked for a bit before a ck-clothed cultivator arrived at the spot where Bai Ming stood previously. He looked in the direction Bai Ming moved in and licked his lips. His eyes were filled with greed. This cultivator was one of the people that was bargaining on the first floor when Bai Ming entered.

    This person was named Wu hai. He was one of the disciples of the Evil Dao valley a first-rate valley of the demonic path in the Tiannan province, who hade to buy stuff in Teng city. When he saw Bai Ming being escorted to the third floor, he was tempted and casually took a few nces before watching from the inn across the street. He even sent a message out through his voice transmission jade to his fellow Evil Dao valley disciples who were also in town buying stuff. After a long time, he saw Bai Ming leave and calcted that Bai Ming must have gotten some treasures. Wu hai couldn''t help but get some evil ideas.

    But he couldn''t see through Bai Ming''s cultivation base, and this made him want to back down, but when his fellow inner disciples arrived with some outer court elders, he was very happy and exined everything in detail.

    Besides him, more than Twelve people appeared, Four of them were at the core formation realm stage, another three were at the initial spirit realm stage just like him and two at the thirdyer of the spirit realm. But thest three of them were covered in ck fog.

    These five cultivators with higher cultivation were the ones that Bai Ming had failed to notice.

    Wu hai turned around and respectfully said, "Elders, I can''t believe that you three are in Teng city as well. I''m sure that person must have some good treasure on him."

    A husky voice filled with anger said, "Wu hai, you exaggerated too much. I thought it was really a peak spirit realm cultivator. Hmph, how could a mere newly advanced spirit realm cultivator have any treasure? What a waste of time."

    Another person covered in ck fog said, "You, damn it!" his hand reached out to p Wu hai.

    Wu Hai''s face immediately became pale and he knelt on the ground. He chattered, "Discipleˇ­everything disciple said is true. Aside from me guessing his cultivation level wrongly, discipleˇ­" The fear caused his words to be incoherent.

    None of the other Evil Dao valley disciples revealed any expressions. Some even felt joy watching his misery. Seeing this made Wu hai''s heart be even colder. He saw the hande closer, then suddenly had an idea and shouted, "Iˇ­ I remember now. He asked the worker at the lotus Treasure Pavilion if there is any tier-5 formation gs, magical treasures, and pills!"

    In truth, Wu hai didn''t hear those words clearly, but in this stressful situation, he began to make stuff up. As he spoke, even he himself began to believe that maybe that person really was there to buy these tier-5 treasures.

    The hand suddenly stopped. A husky voice said, "Pills and even formation gs? Wu hai, do you know the consequences of lying to me?"

    Wu hai tightly clenched his teeth and said, "Disciple is willing to bet his life on it." He couldn''t help but bitterly smile in his heart. If he didn''t promise now, then he would die the moment they left the city, so he might as well risk it. He was going to die anyway, but if he was right, then he would get to keep his life.

    The third outer elder who still hadn''t said a word finally said, "It doesn''t matter if he is telling the truth or not. Let us just go and see for ourselves."

    The moment those words came out, the three of them no longer hesitated and quietly followed after Bai Ming. The other disciples quickly followed them. Wu hai wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and secretly cursed but still followed them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The three outer elders of the Evil Dao valley came to Teng city to have a very secret meeting with a powerful Yin-Yang void cultivator, Now that the meeting was over, they were free to move.

    As for Bai Ming, he quickly returned to his room and sat in a lotus position, cing certain defensive restrictions in the room. He lightly tapped his bag of holding, a pair of majestic purple beast wings flew out.

    Bai Ming once again carefully inspected this pair of wings, this pair of wings belonged to Purple Crown beast, a tier-5 bird-type demon beast. Even among the Tier-5 demon beasts the purple crown beast was a top-tier beast in the speed department. This was exactly what Bai Ming had desired.

    Bai Ming quickly undressed and began turning the purple wings into a liquid using the method mentioned in the Beast wings transformation art.

    After spending four hours, he finally managed to convert it into liquid form.

    Bai Ming then opened his mouth and spat out a ray of green light. The green light turned into a flying sword and moved behind him shing at his back.

    It was an extremely ancient sword. An evil aura was being released by the sword. That made it so that one couldn''t help but stare at it.

    This was the flying sword he had gotten from Ji wumeng''s storage pouch, after breaking the tier 6 restriction ced on it, Bai Ming was finally able to touch it.

    It turned out that this flying sword was a superior-grade treasure. Not only that this sword''s special ability is teleportation. The distance varies depending on the spiritual power of the user, but, when used unexpectedly, it is an excellent ace.

    Bai Ming''s expression was indifferent. His breathing was rxed as ever, red hot blood gushed out from the deep cut on his back.

    He once again opened his mouth as the flying sword turned into a green ball of light before entering inside.

    Bai Ming next directed the purple liquid to enter through the wound on his back and began to mix with his spirit realm blood. In a blink, an image of a pair of purple wings appeared on his back, It began to alternate between fading in and out of reality, and ultimately turned into a pair of solid purple beast wings.

    Bai Ming got a feel of his beast wings and revealed a satisfied smile. He was immensely pleased with his pair of wings.

    These wings belonged to the purple crown, a creature whose speed could rival a peak Yin-Yang void realm expert.

    With them, he became a freak, a true monster!

    ''This feeling of getting stronger is really addictive, hehehe. I should deal with those worms now, I have only been here for a day and trouble has alreadye. I have to make money quickly, but these worms popped out of nowhere, are these people with that figure who entered the city before me? Hmmm, there''s no way to tell. I''ll just have to find out myself, but, before that..'' Bai Ming retracted his beast wings and took out the tier-4 formation gs and the tier-4 formation base from his bag of holding.

    Ever since the Jiang vige incident, Bai Ming had be even more careful. Even though he had obtained tier-5 flying speed and was eager to kill off those people who had evil intentions towards him, he forcefully stopped himself from engaging inbat just yet, this was the lesson he had learnt from thest incident. He would rather prepare for battle with everything he had and kill his opponent in a single move if at all possible.

    And since these people had still yet to attack him, it showed that they were not capable of insta killing him, hence as long as Bai Ming didn''t move out of the city he would be fine. But Bai Ming was not fine with this result, he would rather eliminate the problems in roots than leave them to the unknown future.

    Bai Ming enveloped the formation gs with his divine sense and refined them. Marking them with his divine sense and began setting up the self-sword formation on the formation base.

    The formation gs when used to set up formations do not need to be reced regrly like other materials such as spirit stones, beast cores, etc. They also are much more time efficient and disy greater effects.

    Tier-4 formation gs can be used to set up tier-4 formations (spirit realm) and lower, as for setting up a tier-5 formation using it is not possible.

    As for the formation base, this is a true treasure for Bai Ming. With the help of this he could set up formations prior and use it whenever he desired, there was no more need to bitterly set up formations during a battle every single time.

    One more thing formation gs were a must if one wanted to use a formation base to set up formations.

    "Time to kill." Bai Ming spoke before walking out of his room.

 Chapter 56 The Flying Sword

    ?After Bai Ming left Teng city, he flew dozens of miles away from the city in a steady pace while his divine sense was constantly scanning his surroundings, but surprisingly he couldn''t senses anyone following him.

    ''Have they given up, no it should probably be the work of a high level cultivator using his divine sense to conceal their traces or they may have used some kind of concealment treasure.'' Bai Ming thought as he suddenly picked up his speed, he was only using his inate spirit realm flying ability and not his beast wings skill.

    Suddenly, the ground shone as a ray of golden light shot out from it. The ray of light pointed at the sky where Bai Ming went and quickly went forward.

    Below the ground, the three pseudo Yin-Yang realm elders sneered and dashed towards Bai Ming.

    The disciples of the Evil dao valley were very excited. Hunting prey with the elders made them very excited.

    Bai Ming let out a snort as he shed at the ray of light with his mid grade treasure sword.

    The horrific sword ray swept forward and immediately destroyed the golden light before continuing it''s fearsome charge.

    The evil dao valley members hurriedly dogged the sword ray, but soon a rain of sword Phantoms followed.

    The disciples of the Evil dao valley all stopped, not daring to continue chasing as they began defending. Only the three pseudo Yin-Yang void cultivators didn''t care. They continued chase after Bai Ming

    The three elders quickly closed upon Bai Ming. While Bai Ming calmly waited for the elders toe closer, the instant they were only in hundred meter range from him, Bai Ming smiled coldly in his heart.

    One of the cultivators waved his hand and a giant, ck Mountain appeared. It circled him once, then he let out a cold smile and waved his hand. The ck mountain smashed down at Bai Ming.

    The elder with the ck mountain shouted "Hand over the treasures you got at the lotus Treasure Pavilion, or die!"

    As he spoke the mountain already smashed down, Bai Mingpletely ignored his words while quickly retrieving the self sword formation from his robe and instantly activated it.

    The elders expressions abruptly changed. With lighting speed, the tier-4 formation base immediately expanded in mid air. The three elders were undoubtedly trapped inside the formation.

    The range of this formation was only three hundred meters, but if Bai Ming was able to use high tier formation gs and formation base while setting up the formation, the formation area could be drastically increased.

    The ck mountain was just inches away from Bai Ming, when he turned into sliver ball of light with formations help and charged out of the formation in a sh.

    The three elders looked at each other before staring coldly at Bai Ming. The pseudo Yin-Yang void cultivator''s smile became even colder as he controlled the mountain and repeatedly smashed into the barrier.

    The other two elders also took out their respective treasures from their bag of holding, before bombarding the formation with ferocious attacks.

    Bai Ming took one look at them before shifting his gaze filled with dense killing intent on the group of cultivators outside.

    ''Three minutes before the formation gets broken.'' Bai Ming thought as he opened his mouth and spat out a ray of green light.

    "Treasure! See i told you he has many high quality treasures." Wu hai immediately shouted with all his might, feeling relived in his heart.

    Just as he said those words, a green light appeared before his eyes as a flying sword stabbed toward him. Wu hai was frozen in fear, he couldn''t even react. When he felt pain as the flying sword went through his chest and pierced his heart and came out the other side. Then his despairing eyes lost their luster and his lifeless body fell down.

    A spirit realm cultivator died just like that. This was the usefulness of a superior grade treasure. Particrly when the treasure had inate ability such as teleportation skill, it was just an blessing for cultivators who owned them, while also a headache as it would incur other people''s greed.

    After killing him the flying sword immediately shed and disappeared without a trace.

    Cold sweat appeared on the foreheads of demonic path cultivators. What just happened was simply too dangerous. Even with Wu hai''s initial stage cultivation, he was effortlessly killed. Also, the light that that sword released showed that it wasn''t a simple treasure. The demonic path cultivators instantly came to a conclusion that if they were hit by it, they would have also died on the spot.

    The two 3rdyer and three 1styer spirit realm cultivators right away took out several defensive treasures from their storage bags, creating a strong defense around them.

    While the core formation cultivators crazily began retreating, getting far away as possible.

    As for the pseudo Yin-Yang void cultivators inside the formation felt greed taking over their hearts as they looked at the flying sword with burning gazes. The urge to kill Bai Ming for that treasure became even stronger.

    Their attacking speed immediately went up a notch, they even began using strange techniques to form a hole in the formation.

    An extremely evil killing intent suddenly surged out from Bai Ming like a catastrophic tsunami, making even these demonic path cultivators surprised.

    The sword light shed four more times in the battlefield, taking the lowly lives of the four core formation realm cultivators with minimum effort.

    The spirit realm cultivators outside the formation didn''t even nce at thier dead Junior''s, their terror filled eyes were glued at Bai Ming.

    ''Only a minute before the formation copses, I''ll have to finish this quickly.'' Bai Ming looked down from high above as the flying sword appeared behind him.

    Primeval sword art-5thyer.

    Primeval sword art-4thyer.

    Hundred and eight sword Phantoms manifested behind Bai Ming before raining down at the spirit realm cultivators, along with a ten meter wide sword Phantom which moved forward with unwavering might.

    The cultivators immediately counter attacked using all kinds of techniques and throwing out various treasures, but even with their numbers and advantage in cultivation level, Bai Ming still had the upper hand by arge margin.

    It was only natural, Bai Ming not only had supreme grandmaster attainment and battle qi, he also cultivated the seven deities cultivation mantra. Even though he only had 1styer spirit realm cultivation, his spiritual essence storage wasparable to a regr seventhyer spirit realm cultivator.

    Green light shed once again and appeared ten meters before a 3rdyer spirit realm cultivator.

    The evil dao valley disciple hurriedly pointed at the green light and dozens of lightning balls appeared that shot toward the green light.

    The moment the lightning balls touched the green light, it exploded.

    The green light continued toward him and hit the glittering azure armor, with much difficulty the green light was stopped by the armor, it immediately shed and disappeared.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''It''s a good thing I quickly used this protective high quality treasure or else I would have already died. But it can only take few strikes like that before it gets destroyed, should I retreat.'' This thought immediately surfaced in that person''s mind as he saw the deep sword mark in his armor.

    Bai Ming secretly sighed, as the green sword appeared beside him. He felt it was a pity that he could not kill them with just his flying sword.

    Just at this moment, Bai Ming grabbed the flying sword and pointed it towards the band of cultivators. His gaze became even colder and his hair flowed wildly in the wind.

    The ancient flying sword suddenly released an extremely fiery aura around it.

    Soon, a mass of purple mes appeared and embraced the flying sword. The moment the fire appeared, the air surrounding the area immediately became hotter. This purple me was Bai Ming''s other ace besides his flying sword. Since he had already used the flying sword, he didn''t want to use this purple me essence and disy all of his cards, who knows how it can incite people''s greed and bring more trouble to him. It was best to only use this purple me when absolutely necessary. If that wasn''t the case, with Bai Ming''s personality, he would have used it at the start and killed the enemies before letting it get to this stage. However, since the killing them would require considerable amount of time and by that time the pseudo Yin-Yang void cultivators would already break the formation making him loose much of his advantage, he had no choice but to use it.

    The moment the purple me appeared, the five spirit realm cultivators faces turned deathly pale. Before they could do anything, the flying sword disappeared once again.

    The ming sword immediately appeared and murderously collided against the defensive armor of that 3rdyer spirit realm cultivator.

    The armor didn''t evenst a second before breaking down. In the blink of an eye, his body was  immediately drowned by the purple me essence and disappeared. He didn''t even have time to scream.

    The rest of them didn''t hesitate to split up and retreat. However, the flying swords speed was just too terrifying, within just ten seconds all the spirit realm cultivators outside the formation were mercilessly burnt alive.

    Bai Ming didn''t feel much joy, without wasting a second he dashed at the formation, But he was still a tad bit slower.

    Crack, crack, crack...

    The three pseudo Yin-Yang void realm cultivators just made a huge hole in the self sword formation before drifting out.

    "He is no ordinary spirit realm cultivator. He must be someone from a 1st grade sect outside the Tiannan province, if he was from our province we would have definitely heard about him from the higher ups in the valley. And that evil killing intent, it looks like he is also from a demonic path sect and cultivates an extremely evil technique."

    "If we kill him now we can get that superior grade flying sword and all treasures he has and but if we can somehow capture him then we will also be able to extract that terrifying me essence, but.."

    "But capturing this person is not possible, even with the three of us working together it will be just too much. Let''s kill him quickly, we can''t let a person like this grow. He might hold a grudge against us in the future if we let him escape."

    The three elders secretly conversed, thier resolution to kill Bai Ming had only gotten stronger.

    At this instant, Bai Ming was expressionless as he swiftly sheathed his mid grade treasure sword and tightly held the ancient flying sword.

    The aura surrounding Bai Ming instantly underwent a subtle change, Bai Ming slowly raised his sword into the air as if he was going to fight the heavens.

    An extremely dangerous aura began spreading from the sword. Streams of immense Spiritual Power gathered on his body, which was also packed with frightening muscr strength.

    Bai Ming arrogantly nced at the three pseudo Yin-Yang void realm cultivators, he spoke in an arrogant tone, "Be honoured."

    "Self Sword technique-wrath!"

    An absolutely terrifying Sword ray surged forth like a streak of thunderbolt, the massive sword ray was atleast five hundred meters wide.

    The moment it appeared, Heaven and Earth seemed to move for it.

    Through Bai Ming''s all-out exertion, the power of the technique all the more reached an unbelievable level.

    The three elders instantly paled in fright, thier hearts sank to rock bottom. The scent of death filled their body and soul making them turn even more ferocious in desperation.

    They also began to disy their strongest Killing Moves while madly throwing out all kinds of treasures.

    All the defensive treasures were cut apart like butter, their efforts were pitifully futile.

    One of them brandished a sledgehammer which struck ferociously like a giant mountain toward the sword ray, before getting disintegrated.

    The other person held a scarlet longsword. He raised both arms and shed forth with an earth-splitting vigor, but it was far from enough.

    "Forgive me" Suddenly the elder with the ck mountain spoke as he hurriedly destroyed a teleportation jade tablet without any hesitation, immediately his body vanished without a trace to be seen.

    "Fuck!" The two elders immediately cursed, intense hatred rose in their hearts.

    In a twinkling, the iparably powerful sword ray reached them and engulfed them, before crashing down on the ground.

    Boom!

    A harsh explosion was clearly heard. Waves of residual energy swept in all directions from the spot where the spiritual ray crashed, a five hundred meter long rift was immediately created on the ground.

    "Huff, huff, huff..." Bai Ming''s breathing was irregr, he took dozens of breaths to justpose himself. The earlier attack had drained himpletely of his spiritual essence, there wasn''t even a drop of it remaining.

    Bai Ming''s face was dull, even though he was satisfied about destructive strength of his newly created peak extremity grade sword technique. A person had gotten away, this certainly didn''t go well with Bai Ming. After all Bai Ming was a alluring treasure trove in that elders eyes. Even if he couldn''t get it, he might inform others either to take revenge or gain some benefits.

    Using his divine sense to locate the enemy was useless, he couldn''t locate them before how could he do it now.

    As for chasing him was also a bad idea, firstly Bai Ming was unaware of direction he needed to search. As for searching every single direction even while using his beast wings was not wise, even with the help of beast wings his chances of encountering the elder was extremely slim. And even if Bai Ming miraculously met the elder after a long search, he might have backup. Most importantly Bai Ming was out of spiritual essence. After ounting all this Bai Ming gave up on chasing after him.

    Bai Ming shook his head and retrieved his formation back, more than half of the formation gs were destroyed, this was another expenditure for Bai Ming.

    Next, he quickly collected his loot, four core formation bodies and one initial stage spirit realm body along with their storage bags, as for the others both their bodies and storage bag''s were turned to dust under Bai Ming''s purple me essence and Self-Sword technique.

    Bai Ming quickly absorbed hundreds of spirit stones and swiftly flew back to the Teng city. After all, he had some work to do.

 Chapter 57 Puppet

    ?In an ordinary room, Bai Ming stood near the window gazing outside lost in thought.

    ''From those storage bags I have gotten nearly Eighty thousand spirit stones along with a few high-grade techniques, these spirit stones should be enough toy the foundation for the business. Maybe I should also sell all the techniques I have gotten from the viges, hmm.''

    ''I have to find the right puppet before the trade event begins in two days, if things go as nned I should have the financial ability to buy dozens of tier-4 essence gathering pills and consolidation pills after this trade event ends. Just a single tier-4 essence gathering pill costs around two hundred thousand spirit stones, plus those base consolidation pills will cost around 50,000 spirit stones each. But if I can get my hands on them, I can reach the peak of the spirit realm in just two months'' time.''

    -------------

    "Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your reputation for me, will you do it?" A sweet female voice questioned, while a manly voice answered with unyielding resolve and firmness,

    "I will!"

    ...

    "Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your future for me, will you do it?"

    "I will!"

    ˇ­

    "Chen hu, if I ask you to sacrifice your life for me, will you do it?"

    "I will!"

    ˇ­

    "It seems, for the first time in my life I was right. Having you in my life is the best thing I could have ever hoped for. No matter what happens from now on, we shall always be together. Promise?"

    "I promise..."

    ...

    In the darkness, Chen hu opened his eyes.

    "Huffˇ­" He breathed out slowly, sitting up from his bed, muttering: "I dreamed again."

    This dream was not fake but originated from the deepest part of his memory.

    This was a conversation he had with his beloved wife when she was alive.

    "Wife forgive me, for I am an Ipetent husband. I cannot join you just yet, wait for me to eradicate that vile scum, then hopefully we can be together for all eternity." Chen hu thought deep in his heart, as he gently caressed the pendant he was wearing.

    Thinking of his wife, Chen hu felt extremely guilty.

    He loved his wife deeply, she was so kind, so strong-willed.

    For a few years they lived a happy life, but one day the fairytale ended and then the dreadful nightmare began.

    The seeds for this disaster were sowed almost four years ago when Chen hu killed a certain man while fighting for resources in the wild. But because he failed topletely hide his actions, he suffered dearly.

    A yearter, when both Chen hu and his wife were traveling back to teng city, they were ambushed by the victim''s brother, Yangi.

    Yangi was able to cripple Chen hu''s wife andpletely destroy Chen hu''s spirit root, making Chen hu''s cultivation base of 2ndyer of the core formation realm stagnate for the rest of his life.

    But he didn''t kill him immediately, instead, he first restricted Chen hu and brought them in front of the Teng city, before he heartlessly raped Chen hu''s wife in the open, for everyone to see and then he burnt her alive.

    Even after that, he didn''t kill Chen hu, and neither did he destroy Chen hu''s cultivation base. It was because Yangi wanted Chen hu to live a life filled with pain and misery, while also bing mad with vengeance in his very soul, but only to fail when he would act and at that time Chen hu would have his hopes ruthlessly crushed and would be brutally killed by yangi.

    "But can I ever have this distant vengeance, it''s been the hardest three years of my life and I have only made this tiny bit of progress, what if my lifees to an end before the day of vengeance everes, no it cannot go on like this.."

    Before he could even finish his words, a demonic hand suddenly gripped his neck, squeezing tightly with immense strength.

    Chen hu''s eyes immediately widened like full moons. With immense shock and fear in his heart, he fiercely punched and kicked trying to struggle free. But unfortunately, his efforts were wasted.

    Forget getting free, he couldn''t even lift his head to look at the attacker''s face.

    The next second, Chen hu surprisingly stopped struggling. No, he wasn''t dead, he was just too stunned by the attacker''s words.

    "I can help you kill Yangi."

    These words were booming thunder in Chen hu''s ears, he was so engrossed in those words he even forgot that his life was literally in someone else''s hands right now.

    He tried to speak but because of the tight grip on his neck, he was unable to utter a word.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Fool, use your divine sense to speak." Bai Ming spoke in a mocking tone.

    Begin called a fool seemed to have helped Chen hu regain some of his sense. He hurriedly transmitted using his divine sense, "Are you speaking the truth!? Can you really help me kill him!? Wait, who are you? what do you have to gain from this? speak! If this is one of his schem..."

    A burst of evilughter resounded in the room, then Bai Ming coldly spoke again, "You are really demanding, have you truly forgotten I can easily break your neck. Sending you to meet your wife, hehe but you probably won''t be even able to look her in the eye."

    Now, Chen hu was extremely clear on his situation, he was about to say something but he was once again cut off by Bai Ming.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t kill you. I have absolutely nothing to gain from your death. But you staying alive is actually beneficial for me."

    "Nonsense, what bull crap are you spouting." Chen hu immediately retorted, he clearly didn''t buy these illogical words.

    "Listen carefully, I am going to help you kill Yangi. But this isn''t charity work, this is a fair deal. You should know with just your 3rdyer core formation cultivation base, you stand no chance against Yangi with a 9thyer core formation cultivation. But you should also know just because your cultivation base is lower than his, it isn''t totally impossible to kill him. Now, this is where I am going to help you, but whether you want to take this opportunity or not dependspletely on you." Bai Ming spoke unhurriedly, giving Chen hu enough time to absorb them.

    Chen hu immediately fell into deep thought, his mind extremely chaotic. After a long time, he spoke "I will consider it, first tell me how are you going to help me and why are you doing this."

    "Huhuhu, looks like you have already made up your mind. Listen closely, I am a formation path master. I will generously give you a third-tier offensive formation to battle against Yangi, with the help of this formation you can surely kill Yangi. As I said this isn''t charity work, but don''t worry I only have a small request. First I want you to challenge him to a battle two days from now, in the death battlegrounds in the teng city, next during the battle when you''re in a desperate situation I want you to use my formation to kill him. With you disying the strength of the formation, the spectators are bound to get interested in the formation. What I want you to do is to advertise my formation. You see I am going to put up a stall during this month''s trade and want to earn spirit stones that''s all. I assume you have understood both my actions and words till this moment. Now answer, will you do it?"

    Fighting was restricted in Teng city, but the death battlegrounds were an exception. This is the ce one would usually settle their conflicts in teng city.

    Chen hu''s eyes shone, and his entire body shook. But the light in his eyes immediately dimmed. Seeing this change Bai Ming slightly loosened his grip, but if wanted he could still kill him instantly.

    Chen hu spoke in a low voice, "This 3rd tier formation can it really kill him, you underestimate him too much. And why would he even ept my challenge in the first ce."

    Bai Ming chuckled, "Don''t worry he doesn''t have a choice and I am not the one underestimating him, You are the one who''s underestimating the abilities of my formations."

    Chen hu immediately wanted to rebuke him, but his expression immediately changed. He felt his vision starting to turn blurry, he could no longer see Bai Ming nor could he feel Bai Ming''s grip on his neck.

    Actually, it was not his vision turning blurry.

    It was the whole space surrounding him turning blurry.

    ''Crack, Crack...''

    Before long he could hear sounds of ss cracking, immediately a dim light screen filled with cracks could be seen trapping Chen hu.

    At the next second, the barrierpletely broke apart.

    Chen hu was covered in cold sweat, as he intensely stared at his surroundings. To his relief, he was still in his house.

    The only exception was the masked individual seated a few meters before him, it was none other than Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming spoke in a cold tone, "So do you still doubt my formations, from the beginning of this charade you have been undoubtedly trapped inside my illusion formation, now are you willing?"

    Chen hu looked at Bai Ming with an unfathomable gaze as tears rolled down his eyes, he immediately kneeled down towards Bai Ming, choking on his words, "I.. I am willing."

    Bai Ming nodded with satisfaction, he conversed with Chen hu for nearly ten more minutes, properly instructing him on his duties.

    "Okay, before that go and sell these martial techniques in lotus treasure Pavillion. You should be able to earn roughly about 50-60 thousand spirit stones, exchange 70 percent of the spirit stones to buy 3rd tier formation gs and with the remaining 30% buy 3rd tier formation base. Go, quickly I will wait for you here." Bai Ming handed Chen hu all the high-grade and below techniques he had gotten from the viges he had plundered, but restrained himself from selling primeval sword art and the techniques he had gotten from Ji wumeng and those demonic path cultivators.

    "Senior, I''ll do as you say." Chen hu bowed deeply before heading out toplete his task, after all the events which transpired today Chen hu had tremendous respect for Bai Ming, even though Bai Ming constantly spoke of the term business, deal, etc. It didn''t affect him in the least, as long as he could get his revenge nothing else really mattered.

    Bai Ming watched Chen hu leave until he waspletely out of his divine sense range.

    Bai Ming turned to a certain corner of the room, he waved his hand as a golden barrier suddenly showed itself. Inside the barrier was a 30-year-old male, he directly walked through the concealment barrier.

    He looked at Bai Ming with a wariness hidden in his eyes, he spoke in a humble tone "Senior, please instruct."

    Bai Ming retrieved the formation before ncing at him slightly, he spoke in his usual cold tone, "Yangi, if you want to get rid of that soul-binding vow you have to ept his challenge and kill him using the formation I gave you and advertise my stall. Otherwise, the soul-binding vow will immediately destroy your soul, Be careful."

    Yangi immediately agreed, but his eyes showed slight confusion.

    Bai Ming noticed this and chuckled, "Are thinking why I also gave him a formation."

    Yangi silently nodded.

    Bai Ming smiled as he spoke, "Don''t you think when people watch your battle and see Chen hu''s formation''s terrifying might, wouldn''t their hearts be moved. But then, when your formationpletely outshines his mighty formation, how do reckon the spectating cultivators will feel?"

    Yangi''s expression changed as he right away understood Bai Ming''s intentions, he could only lower his head at this.

    This life-and-death battle was just a promotional event in Bai Ming''s eyes.

 Chapter 58 Training

    ?"I''ll make him challenge you openly today. Once he initiates the challenge, you will blow things out of proportion. You will use your connections as well as hire some cultivators to spread the news far and wide, I want this news not only to spread throughout the Teng city, but also to the nearby cities. Make it the hottest topic possible, got it." Bai Ming domineeringly order while coldly ring at Yangi.

    Yangi heard this and put on a simple and honest expression as he said, "Forgive my Impudence senior, but I have a slight suggestion."

    Yangi was a capable individual for knowing when to take a step, he hated Bai Ming dearly, but on the surface acted like a respectful junior. Even trying to get on Bai Ming''s good side, but unfortunately for him Bai Ming was just too much of an unprincipled and unscrupulous individual.

    Bai Ming kept his silence and coldly nced at him.

    Yangi felt like his simple and honest expression was seen through at a nce by Bai Ming, he felt even more terrified at this instant.

    Yangi''s heart trembled and his expression became even more respectful, "Senior, I have a projection jade. I had once used this projection jade to record myself defiling Chen hu''s wife before killing her three years ago in order to torment him in the future, it would be better to just project this recording for the next two days in the teng city, we can also use it in the nearby cities from time to time in these two days to make the people more interested in this battle."

    Bai Ming put his right hand on Yangi''s shoulder, his voice was cold and void of any emotion.

    "Good, do just that and don''t worry I will remove the soul binding vow once you keep your end of the bargain, after all I have my principles."

    Yangi nodded his head with a grateful expression, but he didn''t believe Bai Ming one bit in his heart.

    But Bai Ming''s next sentence shook his very core and he almost vomited blood from intense anger.

    Bai Ming patted yangi''s shoulder as he indifferently spoke, "It seems your quite rich, Hurry up and hand over everything you own. Your storage bag, spirit stones, treasures, techniques and even your property, I want every single thing you possess."

    Yangi''s body was trembling with raging fury. His eyes were blowing like wild fire, having a strong urge to strangle this bastard Bai Ming on the spot.

    He was going to go crazy from Bai Ming''s antics. But he could only endure, unless he wanted his soul to be blown into smithereens.

    The more Bai Ming acted like this, the more Yangi panicked in his heart. He had heard and seen many kinds of demonic individuals. Although his cultivation level wasn''t high, but he was an individual with both experience and knowledge. He knew powerful demonic cultivators were cold and ruthless, and although he had seen many demonic cultivators with a pair of demonic eyes, most were only an imitation. But this person before him seemed to be cold and ruthless from the soul, especially that pair of eyes that caused even his heart to feel cold.

    .....

    Three hourster.

    Bai Mingfortably sat in his new home, checking out his gains from looting Yangi.

    "Twenty six thousand spirit stones, there are also quite a few tier-3 pills and treasures but they are absolutely useless for me. I should be able to get another 70,000 spirit stones for these."

    "One superior grade and four high grade techniques, they are also not that useful for me, as usual I''ll just memorise thier contents and sell them off."

    Next, Bai Ming made Chen hu exchange these items for nearly hundred tier-4 formation gs and one tier-6 formation base, after this exchange Bai Ming''s finances copsed once again.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming then constructed the self sword formation using the tier-6 base and those tier-4 formation gs. With the help of the tier-6 formation base the self sword formations range had expanded and reached the 800 meter mark.

    Next, Bai Ming started processing the corpses he had gotten after thest battle.

    Previously Bai Ming''s fourth crescent was already at five percent. After this session of cultivation Bai Ming''s body cultivation reached the firstyer spirit realm.

    After cultivating his body, Bai Ming quickly exited the teng city and flew thirty miles from the city beforending on the ground, this was furthest distance he was willing to go from the city as he was warry of people from the evil dao valley. But if he was to close to city, the people in city would find out of his life saving ace.

    With but a thought, a pair of wings with beastly aura over their surface, burst from his back tearing through his clothes and lifted him ten meters in the air.

    Bai Ming inspected the tier-5 beast wings on his back.

    The processed beast wings, if spread fully, were twice of Bai Ming''s body size. The wings were purple in color, they seemed very much majestic.

    But Bai Ming did not care about appearance, he only looked at its value and usefulness.

    As the winds blew intensely behind him, Bai Ming gently pped with his wings and flew up into the sky.

    After flying to a high altitude in midair, Bai Ming closed his eyes and felt the sensation of the air currents blowing on the beast wings silently.

    When Bai Ming transnted the bat wings, he spent a lot of effort in order to retain the sense of pain and touch that the beast wings had. Only by doing this could he have a clearer and realistic feeling of the air when he ps his wings, to feel the strength of the air currents, and to sense the state of the wings. In intense battles, when he needed to rely on the wings, sensitive nerves would allow him to react and adapt more easily, instead of being rough and careless.

    Bai Ming then spent nearly the entire day getting familiar with his beast wings, training rigorously. With his highprehensive capabilities and natural talent, it was enough for him achieve initial mastery over his beast wings.

    "With a boost in movement strength, I will be able to advance or retreat at will.This beast wings transformation art is truly an excellent technique." Bai Ming repeatedly praised in his heart.

    "While flying using the beast wings is fabulous, i must constantly make use of all my energy and concentration in controlling my body."

    "If I were to get distracted while flying, who knows whether I would crash into peaks or the ground at the next moment."

    "This speed is too fast, one moment I am still in the air, and the next moment I am already a mile away!"

    Bai Ming thought in his mind as he drifted back to the Teng city.

    He was extremely busy, he had to begin preparing for tomorrow''s trade event. He had began making lot of formations to earn spirit stones.

    Once he returned to his residence, Bai Ming began to immerse himself in the creation of formations.

 Chapter 59 Recruiting

    ?The clear night sky was studded with the bright stars.

    In a spacious room, a lonely figure sat cross legged.

    "26, 27...39, even after selling all those low grade weapons, I was only able to set 39 tier-3 formations. But fortunately the trade eventsts for an entire three days time, during this period the exchange ofmodities will be at its peak, I can buy more materials from the profits I earn and invest them again, creating a chain of earnings." Bai Ming thought as he stored all the formations in his bag of holding.

    "The death battle is the talk of the city now and this is absolutely the best oue possible. Tomorrow morning the battle will take ce, I should find a good spot to open up the stall, I can make yangi handel business after his battle, while I create more formations and also use that time to train with my beast wings."

    The night passed quietly.

    The next day, at the crack of dawn when the sun had just risen, the whole city was awake.

    The entire Teng Family City was covered in flowers as thousands of cultivators walked through the streets. Bai Ming had left early in the morning and was wandering around in the city.

    Bai Ming slowly walked through the city while checking out all of the stalls. Some of the stuff interested him, but currently he didn''t have single spirit stone.

    While he was walking, he suddenly stopped. Before him was the stall of a core formation cultivator who had various flying swords, pieces of jade and worn out books.

    ''This ce seems nice, there''s much activity here.'' Bai Ming upied the empty area besides the stall of the core formation realm cultivator and set up his tiny stall, the name of his stall was ''Unrivalled''.

    "There is still about ten minutes for the battle to begin, in about thirty minutes I should have a cultivators jumping around like monkeys here." Bai Ming began arranging his formations for disy.

    For the next thirty minutes, Bai Ming peacefully cultivated while also cing some of his attention on his surroundings.

    Like he had expected there were many people passing by, but most of thempletely ignored Bai Ming''s stall. Some of them even sneered secretly when their gazes fell on Bai Ming''s stall, the name itself was a turn off. But due to Bai Ming''s spirit realm aura they kept their unfriendly thoughts to themselves.

    It was to be expected, formation path was not difficult to get started, but it requires lot of time to get proficient in it. Therefore most of the formation masters are not only old monsters, but they are also extremely few in number.

    Formation materials are rare and expensive, those formation masters who are proficient in the formation path will be often recruited by major sects or big forces. Where they enjoy generous support, so that they can concentrate on formation path and not worry about money. Only few people are willing to open a shop.

    Most of the time cultivators who know mere four or five formations would set up shops, and their products would also be low end formations. Only few people would have intrest in these products in the mainds when most of them could simply buy high level treasures from highly reputed shops or their particr sects.

    Buzzz...

    Suddenly the jade tablet inside Bai Ming''s robe vibrated. Bai Ming then ced the voice transmission jade against his forehead, he immediately heard Yangi''s voice y in his mind.

    "Lord, I have aplished your task. There are nearly six to seven hundred people here and many of them seem interested in your formations, does Lord want me lead them to your stall."

    Bai Ming approved, "Lead them to the eastern side of the city, behind the melody love pavilion."

    Few minutester, Bai Ming could see a huge crowd hurriedly moving behind Yangi.

    Yangi saw Bai Ming and immediately rushed towards him and respectfully greeted him.

    "Are you the seller, quickly give me an 3rd tier offensive formation."

    "Wait, I was here first. Sell me a defensive formation."

    "Senior, don''t listen that person''s crap. I was the first person toe to your shop, I should get the first priority."

    Bai Ming''s eyes quickly scanned the crowd, there were nearly three hundred people causing a ruckus here and the majority of them were core formation realm cultivators.

    "Quiet down everyone, I only have twenty tier-3 offensive and neen defensive formations..." Bai Ming had just spoken, when crowd became even more riled up. There were so many buyers, but themodities werecking.

    Bai Ming indifferently watched them, after dozen breaths he spoke calmly, "One tier-3 formation for 60,000 spirit stones, firste first serve."

    On hearing this price, the crowd was first tongue-tied. Then they immediately showed their displeasure, even though tier-3 formations were rare, but if their value were to be determined using spirit stones it would be around 50,000 spirit stones.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming smiled coldly, his tone impatient "Finding it expensive? then scram. But as far as I know, there should be many of you who are stuck at core formation realm forever because you cannot afford a realm breaking pill and many of you have enemies to worry about, There will surely be a time when you need my formations, which are atleast three times stronger than normal formations. But by then the prices will soar again, I might not even sell at that moment, what do you think?"

    Murmurs could be heard within the crowd, many of them were carefully evaluating the value of this tier-3 formation.

    Soon, a single cultivator moved forward, seeing him many people in the crowd soon followed after. Within fifteen minutes, everything was sold out.

    ''2,340,000 spirit stones'' Bai Ming smiled as he spoke, "Everyone I have good news for you, tomorrow at the same time I will sell another batch of formations, along with offensive and defensive formations there will be illusion formations."

    ....

    Three hourster.

    ''By now they should have already found out that I am the seller.'' Bai Ming thought as he neared the lotus treasure pavilion, but unlike before he didn''t try to conceal his identity.

    Bai Ming had just entered the lotus treasure pavilion, when a voice suddenly entered his ears, but Bai Ming wasn''t the least bit surprised, "Young master Yi Yun, pleasee to the fourth floor. Our lord Lu Yunjie would like to have a chat with you."

    Thest time Bai Ming was here, he was only allowed to enter the third floor. Bai Ming had previously suspected there to be a Yin-Yang void realm expert here. As for the name yi yun, this was alias he used while registering into the teng city.

    He walked along the stairs and came to the fourth floor.

    Inside, an old man was handling some ounts, his hand writing away speedily.

    He raised his head when he heard Bai Ming''s footsteps, revealing the scar on his face. He gave a gentle smile, "We finally meet, little brother yi yun."

    "Respects to Lord Lu Yunjie." Bai Ming sped his hands and saluted.

    "Come, sit here." Lu Yunjie pointed at a nearest desk.

    After Bai Ming sat, Lu Yunjie''s left hand pushed a token on the desk toward Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming took a nce and immediately recognized that this was a official token from Red Lotus sect.

    Bai Ming was inwardly happy, it had gone ording to his expectations. But on the surface, he wore a doubtful expression as he asked, "I am not sure what Lord wants form me?"

    Lu Yunjie''s smile slightly decreased, his eyes shing as he looked at Bai Ming, "I will be honest, we already know the person selling those high quality formations in the city is you. Not only do you have superb cultivation talent for reaching the spirit realm at such an young age, but even have such high achievements in the formation path and not to mention your business talent, what a nice scheme of showcasing the might of your formations. I''ll be straight forward with you brother, do you have any interest in joining my red lotus sect." Lu Yunjie tried to recruit Bai Ming.

    ''Here ites!'' Bai Mingughed inwardly and just like he wished, Lu Yunjie was interested in the value Bai Ming showed and took the initiative to recruit him, but there was also another factor as to why he wanted to recruit Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming had already decided to join the red lotus sect, be it the resources he would be able to enjoy there or the fact that he had already made enemies with the Evil dao valley, there was much benifit for Bai Ming in joining the red lotus sect.

    But there were a few things Bai Ming had to do before joining the sect, one was to find out how much he was worth to them and secondly he wanted squeeze out all the benefits he could get.

    "Thisˇ­." Bai Ming hesitated, then shook his head, "I am greatly honoured to receive Lord lu''s kindness, but I am a person who likes to be free, I am sorry."

    Lu Yunjie was slight surprised, he didn''t expect Bai Ming to reject him after all his Red lotus sect was a first tier sect in the province of Tiannan. Cultivators would never be foolish enough to turn down such an opportunity.

    But on the surface he maintained hisposure, "Oh, so it''s like that. But brother is missing out on this rare opportunity, if you were to join the sect not only will you be able enjoy many benefits, but you will also have the backing of Teng city''s Lord, Teng Zhe."

    "You might not know, but Elder Teng zhe himself is a inner elder in our red lotus sect and is very much interested in you. With the backing of an inner elder, your stay in the sect will be smooth as flowing water."

    ''Good, even a supreme mortal realm cultivator is interested in me. There should definitely be some form of benifit for him from the sect if he wants me to join the sect, otherwise why would a supreme mortal realm cultivator care about an insignificant character like me.'' Bai Ming was increasingly happy inside, but on the surface he showed a surprised expression, before his expression turned to one of struggle, after a long time Bai Ming took a deep breath calming down, he stood up and bowed towards Lu Yunjie.

    Lu Yunjie seeing this was very pleased, but hearing Bai Ming''s next sentence his expression immediately changed.

    "Please forgive me, but I cannot join the red lotus sect."

 Chapter 60 Ones Worth

    ?Lu Yunjie started at Bai Ming as a cold light flickered past his aged eyes, his voice naturally turned a bit colder after getting rejected twice, "Oh, I didn''t expect brother to really look down on my red lotus sect and not even give elder Teng some face."

    Bai Ming showed a apologetic look and wanted to speak otherwise, but Lu Yunjie waved his hand and spoke indifferently, "It doesn''t matter, since your not interested there is nothing we can do. Brother Yi Yun please share the reason for your visit."

    Bai Ming''s face was very bitter, he forced a smile and said, "Please don''t take offense from this juniors words. As for the purpose of my visit, it is to buy a batch of tier-4 essence gathering pills and some tier-3 formation gs and formation base."

    "Sigh, brother unfortunately for you currently we havepletely run dry of tier-4 pills, even the other branches have no stock, it''s probably going to take an extremely long time before we can supply you with some tier-4 essence gathering pills, but our red lotus sect has plenty of tier-4 pills along with a huge number of realm breaking pills and tier-5 pills, but too bad the sect rarely sells those pills to outsiders." Lu Yunjie had a helpless expression as he spoke, but his eyes were clearly mocking Bai Ming. His words were both a threat and apromise at the same time.

    ''Want to force me. Hehehe, but this is good. The more forceful you are the higher my value, if I am going to join a sect it is better to get an understanding of what my value is to the sect, am I easily receable or am I highly valued or am I just an average genius. Once I am clear on that, not only will i know how unrestrained i can be in the sect, I should also get bountiful benefits from the Teng city Lord.'' As Bai Ming thought to himself, he put on a gloomy expression and his tone became low, "It''s really unfortunate, I was here few days ago. At the time there was still arge amount of pills avable, whatever nothing can be done now. Please inform me when the next batch arrives."

    Lu Yunjie snorted inwardly, but on the surface his face was calm as he nodded slightly.

    "Then what about the formation gs and bases, they should be avable right?" Bai Ming still looked gloomy.

    Lu Yunjie''s expression was about to turn bitter, but his eyes momentarily shone. This minute change was clearly caught by Bai Ming''s astute gaze.

    Lu Yunjieughed lightly, his expression had turned into a gentle one, "Brother Yi Yun, worry not our Lotus treasure pavilion is after all a part of the Red lotus sect, tell me the amount of materials you require."

    Bai Ming pondered for few breaths, before he spoke, "Tier-3 gs worth 600,000 and Tier-3 bases worth 250,000 spirit stones, that''s all for now."

    "Does brother need anything else." Lu Yunjie smiled lightly, as he spoke. Bai Ming soundlessly shook his head sideways in response.

    After waiting for a minute, Bai Ming got the things he wanted and left quietly.

    The instant Bai Ming left the pavilion, in the fourth floor of the lotus treasure pavilion, Lu Yunjie a grand Yin-Yang void cultivator kneeled on the floor as he faced a middle aged man''s image in a bronze mirror.

    The middle aged man had a square face and thick brows. His brown eyes were big as bells, his hands were behind his back and his head was held up high. He was wearing bright red clothes with golden threads embroidered on them, his cold eyes stared at the Lu Yunjie.

    "Elder Tian, please forgive this junior for failing to live up to your expectations." Lu Yunjie spoke with utmost respect, he was still kneeling as he spoke.

    The middle aged man was none other than Teng city''s Lord, Teng zhe.

    Teng zhe coldlyughed, his voice was as cold as ice, "Such an amusing brat, Lu Yunjie worry not it is not your fault. I have already seen everything that has transpired, speak do you know what to do next."

    "First we need to make a yin-yang void cultivator to keep an eye on the brat and to attack him if he leaves the city, but as a safety measure I will also inform all the branches of our lotus treasure pavilion to add him to the cklist just in case. With this he will never be able to get outside of the city while also being unable to get pills for his cultivation, he will have no other choice but to join our sect if he wants his cultivation speed to not slow down, him joining the sect is but a matter of time." Lu Yunjie respectfully replied.

    "Its amon tactic, but still a effective move. But are you forgetting that i am also in a bit of rush. This n of yours is not enough to immediately subdue him, I have a better method." Next Tian Zhe unhurriedly exined his n, in his eyes a devious but excited light shone.

    ''With this not only will he have to join the sect, but he might feel a tiny amount of gratitude towards me and readily be my disciple. It will then be easier for me to get that item, Normally I would have just used some kind of curse or binding on him to obey me but once he enters the sect, the other elders will be surely interested in him or worse even the sect leader might take a intrest in him, but the chances are low Considering that sect leader already has such a monstrously genius disciple. But the other inner elders would just remove my binding and try to rope him. With my current method, atleast he would give me much priority over the other once he joins the sect.''

    .....<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming quietly walked back home, his expression cold.

    ''Why did he suddenly change, from his earlier expression he was definitely going to make some excuse of there being a shortage of materials, but then why did he sell me these formation materials. There definitely is some motive behind this act, from my understanding they should have someone keeping an eye on me, most likely an yin-yang void cultivator.''

    ''They must think that i would quietly leave the Teng city once I make some money, they might also expect me to visit other cities to buy pills. But the thirty six cities surrounding the Teng city are under the control of the Red lotus sect. Surely I won''t be able buy anything in those cities and I also have to worry about those Evil dao valley members and the person tailing me, is the city Lord also aware of my enmity with that evil dao valley. There certainly is a possibility, but it doesn''t matter since I do not n on moving outside the city anyway.''

    ''My current actions are only to determine my value, if the city Lord hatches some kind of plot against me it''ll just show that my value is not only higher to the sect, but also to the city Lord himself. With this knowledge before I enter the sect I can get more benefits from him in the name of alliance, but if they do not act soon I can just approach them and volunteer to join the sect.''

    ''I''ll wait for another ten days and then disy my formation skills to the greatest extent, of course they could already know that I can set up tier-4 formations. If even that method fall''s short there is no need to wait any longer as it will only slow down my cultivation speed.''

    Bai Ming wanted to join the red lotus sect to gain more cultivation resources, but he was also aware of the fact thatpetition inside the sect was extremely fierce and deadly. He had to be prepared before hand, if wanted to be lone cultivator it was going to be extremely difficult to progress rapidly.

    Even with his grandmaster realm attainment in the formation path, he could only sell tier-4 formations at max. With that he could earn huge sums of money, but with just spirit stones how could he gain precious resources, when there''s no seller. And joining a sect had variety of benefits be it higher cultivation speed, gaining martial skills, treasures, insights from expert''s, etc.

    Bai Ming arrived in his residence, he then quickly began setting up formations. With the amount of materials he had, he could set up nearly 160 tier-3 formations which would let him earn nearly 9,600,000 spirit stones.

    Every single formation he made until now had few restrictions secretly ced on it which would slowly destroy the formation after dozens of use and one restriction would even prevent a person from learning the intricacies of the formation. Learning the workings of a formation was already extremely difficult to begin with. And with the restrictions he ced on them, it would make it almost impossible for others to study it, unless they had higher attainment than Bai Ming.

    After creating nearly hundred formations Bai Ming''s soul force was getting weaker, after three hours of meditation his soul returned to its peak state, as he once again began setting up formations. Like this Bai Ming spent the entire day immersed in the creation of formations.

    The day quickly passed by.

    It was early in the morning, but the streets of the Teng city was already packed with cultivators.

    Swish! Swish!

    In a backyard, Bai Ming was diligently practicing with his sword.

    ''It''s still a bit misty, if I could get my hands on few superior grade fire techniques it won''t be long before I create the second form of the self sword technique. Once I join the sect, I should be able get my hands on such skills, if my fire path attainment was high I could probably integrate the fire element into the self sword formation.'' Bai Ming''s mind wandered as crimson eyes looked at his reflection on the de.

    "Hmm" Bai Ming was suddenly broken from his train of thoughts as he felt the voice transmission jade in his robes vibrating.

    Bai Ming swiftly ced the jade against his forehead, immediately hearing Yangi''s anxious voice.

    Bai Ming patiently heard what he had to say, before saying, "Manage it, I''ll be there in a moment."

    "Causing trouble already. Hehe, how impatient." Bai Ming coldlyughed in his heart, before suddenly vanishing from the backyard.

 Chapter 61 For The Sake Of Justice!

    ?Bai Ming stood on top of a two story house, staring coldly at the scene unfolding at his stall.

    Bam!

    Arge crowd of cultivators were gathered around a stall in the eastern part of the Teng city, a smashing sound came from the tiny stall.

    Thereafter, a coarse and arrogant voice resounded, "Hmph, what sort of formation is this? This is but a third rate formation, you dare sell this to me at this absurd price?"

    "Hmph!" Bai Ming''s gaze shone with coldness as he moved closer to the scene.

    He had just received a message from Yangi saying someone hade to find trouble at his stall.

    Bai Ming immediately understood this problem was not so simple, he right away connected this issue with red lotus sect and thinking of how Lu Yunjie had readily sold him the formation gs, he was certain this was the city Lord''s doing. People who do business hate these kinds of problems, but Bai Ming on the contrary was happy.

    And more importantly the person who hade wasn''t someone half-assed cultivator, he was an prestigious Yin-Yang void ream master.

    How terrifying were yin-yang void cultivators, even if hundreds of regr spirit realm cultivators ganged up on just one yin-yang cultivator, the grand expert could annihte them without breaking a sweat. It was not just the fact that Yin-yang void cultivators had spiritual essence reserves hundreds of time bigger than spirit realm cultivators, but their every attack contained the strengthening of the formless Yin and yang spirit essence, making their strikes truly dreadful and menacing.

    Even in the Teng city there were only five Yin-Yang realm cultivators. Excluding Lu Yunjie the others where all part of the Teng bloodline and were pretty well-known figures.

    Yangi''s face was pale, as if his one foot were in the grave already. His eyes were darting around searching for Bai Ming, without a shred of doubt he wanted nothing to do with this madness.

    Suddenly his eyes lit up and an ugly smile formed on his unsightly face, within the crowd he saw a youngster silently moving forward. Without any other thoughts Yangi shouted, as he ran towards Bai Ming like an excited dog, "Senior Yun, I have done nothing wrong and have followed your instructions with unwavering sincerity and honesty. But the current situation is totally out of my hands." saying this Yangi immediately gave a deep bow.

    Immediately countless gazes filled with mockery, disdain and pity fell on Bai Ming.

    Under these piercing gazes Bai Ming still had an indifferent expression, as if he couldn''t care less.

    Bai Ming ced his hand on Yangi''s shoulder, "Why haven''t the city guardse yet?"

    "The city gaurds had actually arrived some time ago, but seeing that the person making trouble was a Yin-yang void cultivator they quickly ran away to call for reinforcements." Yangi spoke in a single breath, not daring to waste Bai Ming''s single second. After all it would only take a throught for Bai Ming to shatter his soul.

    Bai Ming retracted his hand and began to slowly walk forward while unsheathing his sword.

    Yangi saw through Bai Ming''s intentions and immediately felt a surge happiness assault his heart, he screamed inwardly ''Die, you evil motherfucker!!''

    Bai Ming took dozens of strides, walking forward and stood tens of meters away from the Yin-yang void cultivator.

    He saw that an old man dressed in ck attire had his right foot stepping on a que which had the words ''Unrivalled'' written on it.

    His body was slightly short, but his arms and waist were thick. He had tiny grey eyes and a thick white beard, extending downwards from his cheeks to meet at his chin, his body emitted a strong aura of ferociousness.

    The ground near him had broken wooden fragments, and many of the Bai Ming''s portable formations for sale also had been destroyed. Only forty or fifty formations were intact.

    "It seems this customer has some issues with my formations." Bai Ming spoke in a calm voice while secretly thinking, ''This guy''s image doesn''t match to any of those four yin-yang cultivators of this city, did he purposely put on a different appearance. But more importantly there is also something strange about his aura, unlike that Lu Yunjie there''s a fundamental difference in their aura, if any thing it''s somewhat simr to those evil dao valley members, is he a member of that force or a puppet of the city Lord or both.''

    "You are that Yi Yun right. Junior, your stall is cheating my money with your degraded formations. I don''t want this formation, your formations are all trash. Why did you even open up this shop. Compensation, I must bepensated! My good mood was ruined by you guys, you have topensate me at least five million spirit stones!" Yan Shi demanded a ridiculous amount.

    "Hahaha, looks like the owner has finally gotten a taste of his own medicine. He made us buy formations at such an outrageous price, he got what he deserved."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Shut up! you idiot if the owner gets looted we will also suffer, don''t you think that he will just raise the price of the formations to make up for his losses."

    "More importantly isn''t that senior afraid that city Lord would arrive any moment and chop off his head."

    "They still haven''t fought, have they."

    "That''s right, even if city Lord is taking care of the peace in the city, times have changed. The  resources in this world are limited. Everyone can only get a small piece of the pie. How can he, enjoy such fortune at his young age? Preposterous!"

    "Is this senior trying to anger the owner into a duel? If they had a fight in the death arena, he might be able to get a piece of the pie."

    Someone nodded, "Could be true. The Teng city''s policies are there, haven''t you guys understood from all these years? To a degree, they allow us topete, the strong should get more resources, isn''t that right? If the weak cannot protect their assets, they would have to give it up and why would the city lord take sides with a spirit realm cultivator, just because he owns a huge collection of tier-3 formations? no chance in hell."

    "Mm, makes sense. Let''s see first. There''s something fishy going on here." someone suppressed his voice and said.

    The surrounding Cultivators conversed among themselves, very few cultivators walked away not wanting to get involved in this. But majority of them spectated from a good distance, enjoying the show.

    "Purely here to find trouble!" Bai Ming upon seeing this scene, his face was emotionless, but his eyes glinted with cold light.

    Yan shi continued to stare at Bai Ming, "However, since you are a newbie, I''ll give you a chance to repent and apologise in public. If not others will say that I, Yan Shi is bullying a junior with my status. Hahaha!"

    Yan Shiughed loudly, "As long as you get down on your knees and apologise, andpensate me with just two million spirit stones this matter will be over. I walk my talk, I will do as I promised!"

    He patted his chest in thunderous volume, showing an air of magnanimity, but his intention could not lie to the surrounding cultivators.

    "What a bastard move."

    "That''s right, If Bai Ming apologised, he would no longer be able to raise his head, and anyone woulde over and step on him and bully his weakness. But if he does not apologise, the consequences are going to be just too much."

    Bai Ming coldly red at Yan Shi before turning towards the crowd, he asked in loud voice, "Everyone, I hope you will be witness to this man''s bullying. Later when the Teng city elderse, please back me up to get justice and punish this evildoer. This the duty of us righteous path members."

    Yan Shi heard this and immediately revealed a look of disdain, he coldly spat out two words, "How naive."

    As for the crowd, some just scoffed at Bai Ming. While some avoided his gaze, others secretly cursed at him and some individuals with a bit kindness in their hearts felt shame inwardly. But not a single one of them agreed to help Bai Ming and the little bit of pity which they felt for Bai Ming disappeared like thin smoke and was reced by pure disdain and mockery.

    These cultivators were neither fools nor idiots to simply offended a yin-yang void cultivator for someone else sake, they might not even stand up for their own family members in such situations much less for outsiders.

    Suddenly a person from the crowd yelled, "We haven''t witnessed shit, we have all gone blind. And fuck you and you''re dog shit justice!"

    Many in the crowd started to viciously scold Bai Ming, not worrying of offending Bai Ming a spirit realm cultivator any more, they were instead trying to please the yin-yang void cultivator.

    ''Hehehe, such bliss! Ah, I could just orgasm from this..'' Yangi''s breathing was rough, his pupils almost rolling back from the sick pleasure.

    Bai Ming stood like a sculpture, indifferent to the mockery and curses thrown at him. Only his divine sense was constantly scanning the area.

    Only after a whole minute had passed, did he finally speak.

    With a pained look on his face and a cruel smile in his heart. Bai Ming uttered, "Since that is the case. Then for the sake of justice, I shall endure this unbearable pain and exterminate every single one of you!"

 Chapter 62 Salvation

    ?Every single time Bai Ming said he was going to kill, people have died!

    And this time was no exception!

    Self-Sword formation!

    In a sh, eight hundred meters ofnd around Bai Ming was covered in a dazzling sliver light barrier.

    There were atleast three hundred dumbfounded cultivators inside the formation, forcing their minds to keep up to the sudden change.

    But before they could regain theirposure, with a wickedugh from Bai Ming the blood bathmenced.

    Bai Ming''s gaze grew sharper, spiritual essence in his body circted wildly, his body was shone with a dazzling sliver light.

    The ground beneath his feet was suddenly crushed explosively!

    Bai Ming arrived like a ghost before a core formation cultivator who was the one to incite the crowd. Bai Ming''s right hand already held the man''s throat and, using a bit of strength, the man''s neck broke and he died. The man''s left hand grasped onto Bai Ming''s hand while his right hand vainly reached out as if here were trying to take hold of something. His face was colored with disbelief, a reality that he couldn''t reconcile or resign himself to. He didn''t think that one day, he would actually die at the hands of such a young boy. Who knew this young boy was a demon!

    Bai Ming''s left hand suddenly entered the man''s abdomen and pulled out a spiritual core, before instantly refining it.

    There was absolute silence for five seconds, as Bai Ming calmly stored the spiritual core in his bag of holding.

    "Bastard what the hell are doing!?" A core formation cultivator roared breaking the creeping silence.

    At this point, they finally realized what was happening.

    The cultivators immediately went berserk, instinctively they retrieved their weapons and treasures, they didn''t care about the no-fighting rule of the teng city. How could they, these people would just end up as corpses if they did.

    "Kill him!"

    A resolute individual screamed, and over 30 cultivators took out their weapons and bust out with violent spiritual energy, rushing over to bring down Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming nced over them indifferently, then coldly said, "Come, let me give you salvation!"

    Whoosh!

    In the blink of an eye, Bai Ming swiftly arrived in front of them.

    Chu! Ice-cold sword light shed at once.

    "Be careful!"

    "Get out of the way!"

    The individuals who had reacted in the back shouted at them.

    But it was already toote.

    Cold sword light shed and swept past their throats, regardless of whether they were initial stage core formation martial artists or peak stage core formation cultivators.

    Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! ˇ­

    In a split second, those thirty cultivators were gracefully killed. All of their eyes were filled with terror, then they all fell at the same time.

    "God dammit! he has fucking lost it."

    "Ah, Senior An ying, thank god your here, please save us."

    "It''s Shark Lord An ying, we are saved."

    "Haha, senior An ying is a peak spirit realm cultivator. He is one of the strongest, if not the strongest lone cultivator in the Teng city. Even the Teng city lord elders have acknowledged his strength."

    The cultivators inside the barrier were panicking and scared, they subconsciously looked towards An ying and begged for help.

    An ying was the only person with spirit realm battle strength here, he was their shepherd. It was not that everyone acknowledged An ying as the leader, but in times of difficulty, the strong would handle the greater dangers.

    An ying was their ''strong'' person, by moving alongside an expert, they would have a greater chance of surviving.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Of course Yan shi was their first pir of hope, but hepletely ignored them. Treating them as air, hence they could only settle for the next best thing.

    At a far corner in the barrier, stood a brawny and muscr figure, his skin was bluish in color, blue lightning was coiling around his body. His lips curled up, he showed a mild smile as if he was inplete control of the situation. He was a certified spirit realm expert among the lone cultivators, he was none other than shark lord An ying.

    His body suddenly moved, like a sh of lighting he arrived fifty meters away from Bai Ming.

    The instant he arrived, a green light shed before his eyes as a flying sword stabbed toward him. He felt terrified and the smile on his face immediately froze, he furiously forced his body to move left a bit. He felt pain as the flying sword went through his chest and came out the other side. He couldn''t help but cough out a mouthful of blood.

    "What kind of flying sword is this?" His face was pale and filled with lingering fear. If he hadn''t reacted fast enough there, he would have died.

    An ying quickly retreated while taking out several defensive treasures. Then he took out pills to help himself heal. Finally, he crushed some of the pills and smeared them on the wound. But he didn''t dare to rx one bit.

    Bai Ming coldly snorted and waved his hand, the flying sword reappeared in his hand.

    The other Core Formation cultivators looked shocked, while their hearts trembled with fear. They quickly took out a all of their defensive treasures before finally staring at Bai Ming.

    The battle immediately took ce, all the cultivators ganged up against Bai Ming and ferociously attacked, without any restraints holding them back they were going all out. After all, their survival depended on this battle.

    But even then, the scene inside the barrier could hardly be described as a battle. It was more suited to call it an massacre!

    Total massacre!

    Core formation Cultivators were being mercilessly cut down left and right by Bai Ming''s sword. While the shark Lord An ying was stubbornly hanging onto dear life, barely managing to defend against the flying sword which was now zing with horrifying purple mes.

    While the massacre was taking ce, Bai Ming naturally made yangi collect the loot for him. One more thing, Bai Ming had made sure not to attack certain individuals inside the formation, urately they were members of the Teng family bloodline.

    Even before the massacre had began, Bai Ming had already repeatedly scanned the crowd for teng family members, it was easy to recognize them as the members of teng family had special ring''s which contained the teng family emblem which showed their status as the part of the teng bloodline. Not only that, to be on the safe side Bai Ming even secretly transmitted his divine sense and asked them to point out other teng family members if they were present in the crowd.

    Bai Ming had his reasons for this brutal massacre, firstly to acquire body refining materials and their possessions. Secondly, it was to showcase his ability to stay calm under pressure, and also to disy the decisiveness and ruthlessness a cultivator should have.

    Presenting a powerful image of true cultivator, while also disying the ability to grasp the rules of the righteous path, by making a good enough cover to wreck havoc. He was sure in his heart, that the city Lord was watching him carefully at this moment right now.

    ''Such a vicious brat, so young yet so ruthless. If he could have joined my Evil dao valley his rise would be almost certain, but i really want to kill this runt. If weren''t for him and those sinful junior''s of mine, causing such a disturbing scene for just some momentary greed, that even rmed the higher ups of the teng city. Which resulted in them investigating things deeply, otherwise my cover would not have been blown. Not only has my two years of hard work gone down the drain, my very life also lies in that bastard teng zhe''s hands now and i can only continue to do his bidding to keep my life.'' Yan shi thought in his heart, his face was dim as water.

    His eyes asionally flickered with a cold light, his thoughts drifting far away, "Should I interfere, there''s no need right. After all, I was only ordered to make a scene and extort thisd, this has nothing to do with me. And since I haven''t received an order from the city Lord, he must have approved of this brats actions. From my understanding Teng zhe probably has some ns for this kid. If he really was displeased by the boy, he would have just killed him off. It''s more like he wants to rope him in, considering the fact that he has no disciples and the entric ancestor''snd opening is quickly approaching, this should be it. He wanted me to put Yi Yun in a difficult situation and see how this brat would handle the situation, but this scene must bepletely out of his expectations. But what will the boy do next, will he take a loss and hand over those spirit stones or will he be foolish enough to fight me or will he try to retreat.''

    ...

    The majestic sword light was blinding, it''s radiance was enough to even rival the sun. While its strength was enough to make the heavens tremble.

    BOOM!

    The explosive sound of the collision was deafening. The sound wave spread to all directions, resounding through the sky and earth.

    A dull sound echoed, half of An ying''s body was smashed into meat paste with bones fracturing into pieces and internal organs of half his body bursting apart.

    His eyes were wide open as he fell down from the sky.

    A generations lone cultivator, An ying a spirit realm expert had perished.

    A ghastly silence overtook the atmosphere in the barrier.

    Plop, plop, plop...

    Bai Ming stood proudly in the air while looking at the battlefield, as droplets of crimson blood fell down endlessly from his sword.

    Bai Ming''s calm gaze then shifted toward Yan shi, a jade like smile blossomed on Bai Ming''s face as he inched closer to Yan shi.

    Outside the formation.

    A figure d in bright red clothing was hiding in the void, his cold and ruthless eyes stared at Bai Ming. At this time his lips were slightly curled up forming a cold smile, he muttered in a low voice "This brat...he knows."

    Thinking of this, he couldn''t help butugh in his heart.

    "He will definitely make for a good disciple." Saying this Teng zhe''s brown eyes shone with intense greed.

 Chapter 63 Joining The Sect?

    ?Inside the self-sword formation.

    Bai Ming hovered dozens of meters above Yan shi, his eyes were slightly drooping as he looked down at him.

    "Brat, hand over all the spirit stones and the storage bag''s you have collected. Otherwise don''t me me for being ruthless." Yan shi raised his head and stared back at Bai Ming with coldness evident in his gaze. ''Even though I am not allowed to kill you, I still want see you to suffer unimaginable pain. I want see you cry and wail, while Iugh at your misery.''

    "Evil fiend not only did you turn these cultivators into evil hearted beings just like you, leaving me no other choice than to purge them for the greater good. You even want to rob me of my possession.. how demonic!" Bai Ming coldly spoke, he sounded like an extremely delusional and hypocritical individual. But that''s just how it was ment to be, majority of the expert''s in the righteous path were hypocrites.

    Even if they didn''t give a damn about good or evil in thier hearts but on the surface they had to always put on act of righteousness. Because if they didn''t have a cover whilemitting unrighteous acts, it would be easier for their enemies outside or backstabbing individuals in their particr organization''s to brand them as a demonic path individuals.

    And once they would be branded as a demon, the entire righteous force would consider them as anmon enemy. There would even be righteous cultivatorsing after the so called demons to either kill them for their possessions or to grow in fame.

    Of course being a demonic path cultivator had it''s perks. The demonic cultivators could be as unrestrained as they wanted and werepletely free from the rules and regtions which bound the righteous path cultivators to a certain degree.

    As for Bai Ming, deep within his heart he had long ago considered himself as a true demonic cultivator.

    But for the sake of his ambitions Bai Ming was willing to do whatever was necessary. If following these so called rules would benifit him more, he shall dly stick to it. If disregarding these very rules will benefit him he will do so without a shred of hesitation.

    Bai Ming was an opportunist, he''ll be a righteous saint if it benefited him more and a demonic overload if it brings him more benefits.

    As of now, Bai Ming was aware of the fact that Teng zhe was observing him. Since that supreme mortal realm expert wanted to rope him, Bai Ming had to disy his formidable skills. He had already showcased his formation skills, now he was also disying his situation grasping skills to show teng zhe that he was not just a formation fanatic but also an capable individual with brains.

    The only thing remaining to showcase was Bai Ming''s strength. The earlier disy of strength was just an starter course, the main dish was yet to be served.

    As Bai Ming looked down at yan shi, sighing inwardly, ''A grand Yin-Yang void expert, but in the end is just an puppet in someone else''s hands. There truly is a mountain above a mountain, a man standing above another man. The pursuit of self is really never ending...'' thinking of this a cold and callous smile couldn''t help but tug at his lips. The glint in his eyes were dark and cruel.

    Bai Ming''s body suddenly erupted with spiritual essence and a dense killing intent gushed out crazily from him.

    Yangi and the teng family members inside the formation were feeling suffocated just from Bai Ming''s evil killing intent.

    ''Truly a young devil'' Even the demonic expert Yan shi was mildly shocked, previously Bai Ming had killed those cultivators without even showing an ounce of killing intent. But the moment his killing intent spread, it was like wild fire and it was even showing signs of materializing.

    Bai Ming held the flying sword with both of his hands, he was going to use his strongest move and pull the curtains down on this act. Even if it was not enough to seriously injure Yan shi, it was enough to disy his immense value and terrifying potential.

    Even if Bai Ming was only able to force Yan shi to use thirty percent of his strength, Bai Ming would have proven himself.

    A firstyer spirit realm cultivator forcing a Yin-Yang void cultivator to use thirty percent of his strength was just an pipe dream.

    Even if Bai Ming were to run out of spiritual energy after performing the sword technique, he still had his tier-5 beast wings which operated on his stamina. With that he could even rival a peak Yin-Yang void expert in movement speed. But, if at all possible Bai Ming would rather not reveal this life saving ace to outsiders.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But Bai Ming had doubts that Yeng Zhe might already be aware of this ace of his, even though Bai Ming had not used his beast wings during the battle against evil dao valley members, but there was a chance that he might have been spied on during his beast wings training session which took ce thirty miles away from Teng city.

    Bai Ming was just about toplete his preparation when a change urred..

    "Causing trouble in my Teng city, really daring!" A voice full of murderous intent suddenly sounded behind Bai Ming.

    Even when it came to Bai Ming although he was not surprised, he could still feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing, his scalp went numb.

    Bai Ming wasn''t surprised because he had already expected this turn of events. Even though he could not turn back look nor had he ever heard that murderous voice in his life before, he was still able to figure out the who the owner of this voice was just from the aura and pressure being radiated from the behind him that was soundlessly crushing Bai Ming from all sides.

    It was none other than Teng city''s lord and the supreme mortal realm expert, Teng Zhe!

    Bai Ming couldn''t even move his fingers under the overwhelming aura that was being released from Teng Zhe''s body. It was as if the heavens were crashing down on him.

    Teng Zhe stretched out his left hand towards Yan shi, a terrifying force immediately pressed down upon Yan shi making him fall on his knees and prostrate himself.

    Yan shi''s face was pale as paper, but he didn''t dare show any signs of resistance, he was aware any resistance that he could muster up was Inefficient and futile. He clearly knew that with just his strength, he certainly wasn''t able to escape from teng Zhe''s grasp. Hence, inorder to not displease the city lord, Yan shi would rather act obediently like an well trained dog.

    The other Teng family members inside the formation also quickly kneeled down on their own ord, paying respects to the legendary figure before them.

    Bai Ming''s expression remained cold, but suddenly he felt Teng Zhe''s hand slightly pressing down on his head.

    Blood started to pour out from Bai Ming''s orifices as he fell down like a puppet with its strings cut. Bai Ming fiercely smashed into the ground.

    Large amounts of earthen mud was sent flying, the huge impact created arge circr crater, it was a hundreds of steps wide and about fifty meters deep.

    Bai Ming''s mouth was oozing with scarlet blood, his hands slowly moved retrieving bunch of tier-4 healing pills from his bag of holding and directly swallowed them, while trying his best to shake off the dizziness.

    Bai Ming cursed inwardly as he stood up with much difficulty, before he strenuously raised his head and peered at the lone figure levitating high above.

    Teng Zhe looked down at Bai Ming with arrogance and coldness in his eyes, like an immortal looking down on mortals.

    ''Ah, he acted too quickly. It seems he figured out that i was aware of him and his little scheme, there''s no use in prolonging this any longer and i am already heavily injured, such a pity.'' Without wasting a second, Bai Ming knew the situation had to slightly changed hence his actions had to change and he immediately shouted, "Lord, I am willing to join the red lotus sect."

    "Good boy, it seems you have finally learnt how vast the world is." Teng Zhe eyes stared at Bai Ming as he said, word for word, "Boy, i am going to ask you this: Do you want to be my disciple?" There was killing intent hidden in his eyes.

    Hearing this Bai Ming had a wide grin. He bowed slightly and replied in the most polite tone he could use verbally, "I refuse."

 Chapter 64 Compromise Between The Strong And Weak.

    ?Teng Zhe''s eyes narrowed, without a word, he pointed his index finger towards Bai Ming and a 10-centimeter-long green snake coiled around his finger.

    The green snake stuck out its tongue as its ck eyes viciously stared at Bai Ming.

    Teng Zhe coldly snorted as he threw the snake toward Bai Ming, The moment the green snakended on the ground, it curled up before jumping toward Bai Ming with its mouth open.

    As Bai Ming backed up, the flying sword in his hand disappeared. The sword smoothly cut the snake in half and moved like lightning to stab at Teng Zhe''s brow.

    However, rings of white light came out from Teng Zhe, preventing the flying sword from getting any closer. Bai Ming waved his right hand to call back the flying sword before quickly backing away.

    Teng Zhe looked at the severed pythonying on the ground and snapped his fingers.

    From the snake''s corpse, a terrifying shock wave spread, causing the dirt on the surface to kick up.

    If one were look from above ground, they would see a small circle expand as the earth was kicked up. It was as if there was an flood dragon moving on the ground and wreaking havoc.

    Bai Ming was hit by the shock wave and instantly coughed out mouthfuls of blood, He suddenly felt very dizzy, but he forced himself to remain standing.

    Looking at Bai Ming''s miserable state, Teng zhe''s anger lessened as he thought to himself, ''He has also refined his body, if that wasn''t the case his injury would have been much worse from the shock wave. But it shouldn''t be a body cultivation manual that grants him such a solid physique, most body cultivation manuals only strengthen the body''s raw power and a rare few make the body''s natural defense stronger. Even most of the extremity grade manuals don''t have such capabilities. There''s no way he would have a higher grade body cultivation manual than a extremity tier right, he must have had some lucky encounter in the past to obtain such a terrifying physique. This kid just keeps on pulling out surprises for me. The more of a freak he is, the greater my chances of obtaining that treasure.'' Thinking about this, his body disappeared from the spot.

    Generally speaking, body manuals whenpared to inner essence cultivation manuals where highly rare and sought after. To be more precise, body manuals starting from superior grade and above were terrifyingly hard toe by even in the mainds, even most of the first grade sects would only posses one or two extremity grade body cultivation manuals. But as for spiritual cultivation manuals, they would have atleast a dozen extremity grade manuals.

    Even a super force like the Red lotus sect didn''t own a body cultivation manual that could refine one''s body to such a degree, where would this spirit realm brat have one from - this was Teng Zhe''s line of thought.

    Bai Ming felt pain coursing though his entire body as he quickly took out some more pills to heal his wounds. Suddenly, he sensed fluctuations of spiritual energy before him, Without any hesitation, he turned around and began to fly the other way.

    At this moment, Teng Zhe walked out from where the spiritual energy fluctuation was.

    "Little friend, this old man doesn''t want to hurt you. How about you listen to me first?"

    As the Teng Zhe said this, he waved his hand and golden lightning came from all directions. Soon, there was cage of golden lightning trapping Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming looked exhausted, but there was an eerie light concealed deep inside his gaze. He stopped moving, turned to the supreme mortal realm expert and coldly asked, "What does lord want?"

    "I am sure your already aware of what i want and i assume that your not really against it." Saying this Teng Zhe stared at Bai Ming.

    Hearing this Bai Ming was silent, seeing this Teng Zhe snorted in displeasure and said, "I want to borrow your strength."

    Bai Ming pondered as he looked at the surrounding lightning cage. The sounds of crackling from the lightning came in from all around him.

    "I want to know why."

    Teng Zhe pondered for a bit before shaking his head. "It is not yet time to talk about this matter, but don''t worry; i won''t ask youplete a task for nothing. If youe with me to the Red lotus sect and be my personal disciple, you''ll enjoy all the benifits that a core disciple gets and i will also gift you hefty amount of sect points. If your unaware these sect points are something even core disciples greedily fight over."

    Bai Ming''s expression remained calm, but he was very tempted. Bai Ming knew what sect points represented, every sect has its own form of currency. Like any other sect, the red lotus sect''smon currency was also sect points instead of spirit stones, with these sect points one could get ess to all kinds of martial skills or secret skills, rare treasures and materials, divine pills, special training grounds or cultivation rooms and sometimes even get forbidden knowledge.

    Bai Ming pondered for a bit before raising his head to look at Teng Zhe, but he didn''t say a word. From the very beginning when he first rejected Lu Yuanjie, Bai Ming always had one doubt in his heart.

    With Teng Zhe''s cultivation base, he could easily take Bai Ming''s spirit blood to threaten him, or even just refine Bai Ming into a puppet that would listen to his everymand, but he had not done it.

    Bai Ming wasn''t fully aware of the reason, but he knew this much; Teng Zhe not using such certified and assured methods wasn''t because he was a kind hearted person who was against the idea of very, it was mostly because he couldn''t or maybe there was a problem he would face when using them, which would then hinder his progress of achieving his objective.

    This belief was further solidified when Teng Zhe talked with Bai Ming in a bargaining tone, When there didn''t really seem any need for it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming had myriad number of thoughts on his mind, However, he didn''t reveal anything abnormal on the surface. He put on pondering look for a bit before staring back at the Teng Zhe and shaking his head, "Not enough."

    Teng Zhe calmly said, "You''re looking for death." He closed his right hand and the lightning cage that was surrounding Bai Ming began to shrink.

    Bai Ming coldly stared at Teng Zhe, revealing a mocking smile.

    The golden lightning cage got closer and closer until it was almost touching him. The edges of his hair and clothes touched the cage and turned to dust.

    As the cage was about toe into contact with Bai Ming, the Teng Zhe stopped and looked at Bai Ming. "Your mental strength ismendable, but you don''t know your ce. Do you really think that I won''t kill you?"

    The mocking expression on Bai Ming''s face intensified as he spoke in a tone filled arrogance, "How refreshing, go ahead and kill me if you can, you fucking cunt."

    Teng Zhe stared daggers at Bai Ming as anger flooded his veins. He secretly cursed Bai Ming, If it wasn''t for the fact that other inner elders might juste forward and help Bai Ming toe out from his control and even frame Teng Zhe for using vicious methods to control his own disciple, and if he were to refine Bai Ming into a puppet, Bai Ming would need to be constantly given instructions, this method was not feasible for Teng Zhe. Otherwise he would have already ced an seal or something on Bai Ming''s soul and avoided all this trouble.

    Teng Zhe''s face turned dark, he continued to stare at Bai Ming as the coldness in his eyes deepened by anotheryer. The lighting cage once again inched closer touching Bai Ming''s skin and bit by bit began cutting it''s way in. Bai Ming was still smiling, Indifferent to the pain and danger this violent lighting brought with it.

    Teng Zhe saw Bai Ming''s stance and could only bitterly sigh in his heart, he rxed a bit as he waved his hand and the lightning cage loosened.

    Bai Ming didn''t even blink nor look at the lightning cage. He only gazed at the supreme figure in front of him.

    Teng Zhe firmly said, "What do you want? Just speak your mind."

    "I want to know how dangerous the task is that i have to perform," Bai Ming said, with a calm but firm voice.

    Teng Zheughed lightly. "I won''t lie to you about how dangerous the task or that ce is. Initial spirit realm cultivators have a 99% chance of dying in there. As for peak stage spirit realm cultivators, with luck, they can survive. Only individuals with Yin-Yang void realm strength can safely move around there, but if they aren''t careful, they will still die. But more importantly only individuals cultivation base below Yin-Yang void realm can enter that ce."

    "However, although that ce is dangerous, the harvest is also great. Magic treasures, pills, cultivation methodsˇ­ it can be said that anything you want is there. There is also the rumoured supreme transcendence pill. With just one pill, there is a chance for you to be a Supreme mortal realm cultivator."

    "As for the dangers, you don''t have to worry too much. Your strength is nothing to scoff at and once you enter the sect, you''ll only get stronger. At the least until you reach the core area, you won''t encounter life threating dangers. After that, as long as you aren''t too greedy and wait, then once the time has passed, you will naturally be teleported outside."

    Bai Ming patiently heard this and began to ponder. After hearing Teng Zhe''s words, he only believed 30% of it.

    But even so, Bai Ming was a bit tempted by the mysterious ce the Teng Zhe was talking about. He didn''t really think about obtaining the Supreme Transcendence pill, because Bai Ming believed this to be made up by Teng Zhe to create greed inside him. Bai Ming actually hoped to find some rare pills, magical treasures or lost cultivation techniques or knowledge. As for Teng Zhe, he only desired Bai Ming to bring back a certain herb for him, since he himself couldn''t enter that ce.

    And if Bai Ming continued to reject the deal, Teng Zhe might just kill him in a fit of anger. There was only one path before him right now.

    Bai Ming nodded and calmly said, "Okay, I agree.."

    Teng Zhe smiled lightly, before he suddenly frowned hearing Bai Ming continue speaking.

    "But i have two conditions." Bai Ming stared at the Teng Zhe and didn''t say a word. The two of them just looked at each other for a while.

    Teng Zhe withdrew his gaze andzily asked Bai Ming, "What is it now?"

    Bai Ming spoke leisurely, "First of all, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to aplish your task. I can only do my best, but If i am sure that I don''t even have 5% chance to get it or my life is in extreme danger I will just give up on it."

    Teng Zhe''s gaze flickered, but his expression was calm andposed, he nodded slightly. Even without Bai Ming telling him, he had already expected this. Because it was only natural, for what reason would Teng Zhe believe that Bai Ming would just go and die for him.

    Seeing Teng Zhe''s approving nod, Bai Ming smiled slightly and spoke politely, "My second condition is that, I want atleast four well maintained Yin-Yang void expert''s corpses. Of course excluding Yan Shi''s, which would make it five."

 Chapter 65 A Trial Passed.

    ?Teng Zhe''s gaze flickered, he didn''t immediately give an answer to Bai Ming''s request. Instead he unhurriedly turned towards Yan Shi who was still kneeling on the hard ground, unable to move a muscle under Teng Zhe''s spirit suppression.

    Hearing the conversation between Bai Ming and Teng Zhe just now, Yan Shi''s face turned pale and his eyes showed intense fear. A panic that had never urred before appeared inhis heart.

    "A waste of a good ve." Teng Zhe muttered to himself, then his divine will suddenly sunk into his consciousness and destroyed a certain drop of golden blood essence.

    Suddenly Yan Shi let out a miserable scream, his eyes blurred as his soul shattered and his body copsed lifelessly on the ground. To keep Yan Shi under his grasp, Teng Zhe had taken Yan Shi''s spirit blood essence. With the spirit blood essence, he only needed an thought to eliminate him.

    Seeing this a sh of happiness appeared on Bai Ming''s cold face.

    Teng Zhe waved his hand as Yan Shi''s corpse floated towards Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming swiftly stored the corpse, while also taking Yan Shi''s storage pouch for himself. Bai Ming then faced Teng Zhe and shed a look of appreciation.

    Teng Zhe nodded in turn and spoke calmly, "Within next two days I''ll hand over another four Yin-Yang void corpses. Then we will immediately set off to the red lotus sect."

    "Fine." Bai Ming had no reason to refuse, he then turned towards Yangi.

    Yangi immediately understood, he came running to Bai Ming''s side like a loyal dog and immediately handed over all the storage bags and spiritual cores to Bai Ming, as for the corpses Bai Ming only stored An ying''s corpse, using the core formation realm corpses did not bring much benifit to his body cultivation anyway.

    Yangi looked at Bai Ming with an extremely respectful expression, but his forehead was covered in cold sweat and he didn''t dare to wipe it off. He thought in his heart, ''I don''t know whether to curse or praise my dog shit luck, he even dared to call the city Lord a cunt and was still able keep his life. Just what kinda of godly luck does he posses. Sigh, I don''t think I''ll ever be able to get out of his control, much less eliminate him. But in the near future this person is definitely going to be a influential figure in the Northern azure continent. If I follow him with unwavering loyalty, I might have a better chance to rise in the future.''

    Thinking of this the bitterness yangi had towards Bai Ming vanished like thin smoke, now he was determined to be Bai Ming''s right hand man. He was a smart man, he knew that he could not escape Bai Ming''s grasp and following Bai Ming was the only way to live. Hence, he immediately made a decision to show his value and be Bai Ming''s closest aid. If he wished to keep following Bai Ming, this had to be done.

    His gaze toward Bai Ming had a subtle change, the respectful expression on his face turned much more natural now and his back bent forward even more.

    Bai Ming noticed this change, but was absolutely indifferent. With a single thought from him, the soul binding vow on Yangi''s soul immediately tightened and crushed his soul.

    Immediately, Yangi let out a miserable scream as blood came out of his mouth and nose. Blood also gushed out from his eyes and ears as he abruptly died along with all of his unfulfilled dreams.

    He didn''t even have the ability show some form of resistance and could only unwillingly submit to his pitiful fate.

    Bai Ming got a hold of Yangi''s corpse, his right hand callously dug out his spiritual core.

    Bai Ming had no need for such a lousy subordinate, atleast not for the time being. He was an individual ment to roam the world alone, without any need forpanionship.

    Humans were born alone and shall die alone. As for family and friends they were just passers-by in this short journey, was there really a need to care about them.

    These lines were firmly ingrained in Bai Ming''s heart and soul.

    "Good, you are indeed suited for the path of cultivation." Teng Zheughed lightly and waved his hand. With three bangs, the heads of his Teng family members inside the formation exploded. Blood sprayed everywhere.

    Three clouds of green gas floated up from the bodies. Teng Zhe took out a g and collected the three clouds of gas.

    Shortly after, three faces filled with pain appeared on the g. It was the soul of the teng family members who had just died.

    Next, Teng Zhe once again waved the g as even more souls flew into the g from the multitude of corpses littered on the battlefield.

    Seeing this Bai Ming''s impression of Teng Zhe immediately went up a notch, digging out the roots and burning them was always necessary.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lot of people were killed today, and that to inside a city which was under the rule of a inner elder of an righteous path first tier sect. How could they let people rted to this incident just leave, Teng Zhe was a righteous path cultivator and Bai Ming also needed to keep appearances for now. Letting these people go would only cause future trouble.

    Previously, Bai Ming had not killed these teng family members for the fear of touching Teng Zhe''s bottom line, since Bai Ming previouslycked understanding of Teng Zhe''s personality. He wanted to be on the safe side, but now looking at Teng Zhe''s resolute nature Bai Ming held both admiration and wariness toward him.

    ''How foolish of me, how can a person who has reached the supreme mortal realmck resolve.'' Bai Ming silently mocked himself for underestimating a grand expert like Teng Zhe.

    Bai Ming was an arrogant individual, but the type of arrogance he had was one which looked down on life and death itself, but at the same time he was humble. He was someone willing to take hundreds of steps back just for the sake of learning and improving himself.

    Teng Zhe once again shifted his sharp gaze at Bai Ming, He coldly said, "Two dayster we will enter the sect and you will act as my disciple, act ordingly from now on. If you attempt to escape along the way or do something funny, then you won''t get another chance. I''ll simply refine you."

    Then Teng Zhe quickly drew a symbol in the air that flew into Bai Ming''s body.

    "This is a divine sense marker. It will do you no harm as it is only used to track your location. Once you have aplished my task, I''ll release it for you."

    Bai Ming was already prepared for this as he would have done the something simr if it was him. Also, if Teng Zhe wanted to ce any harmful substances, there was no need to wait until now.

    Bai Ming didn''t trust Teng Zhe, but he had fairly high confidence in his own judgement.

    Bai Ming then began looting all the stalls inside the formation which were not destroyed during the battle, With Teng Zhe''s help he managed to pull it off within a minute.

    Bai Ming opened both of his palms, as an eerie purple me manifested itself. Without any hesitation, he immediately used his me essence to engulf everything inside the self-sword formation.

    "Let''s go." Saying that, thick white smoke crept out of Teng Zhe''s body and engulfed both of them. And carried both of them outside the formation at lighting speed, easily passing through the self sword formation without even causing so much as a ripple in the formation.

    Teng Zhe''s speed was very quick. In a short period of time, he had already brought Bai Ming to his estate. He opened the courtyard''s gate and inside the courtyard was a small herb garden. Bai Ming''s eyes lit up has he quickly scanned this area with his diving sense.

    "I''lle here two days from now, If you need something just contact me through this piece of jade." Saying that Teng Zhe handed Bai Ming a jade slip.

    Bai Ming scanned the jade slip before epting it, he looked at Teng Zhe and said, "I want a batch of tier-5 healing pills and five thousand tier-4 formation gs, also get me three highest grade formation base avable and fifteen tier-4 formation base. It would be nice if I could also get a book regarding the sect''s rules and regtions."

    Teng Zhe pondered for a second before agreeing, "Fine, within half an hour a person wille and give everything you need. But, there''s no such thing as free lunch." His eyes slightly narrowed and stared at Bai Ming intently, Bai Ming nodded his head in reply.

    Seeing Bai Ming agree so easily, his gaze softened and handed Bai Ming a scroll containing all the sect rules.

    Bai Ming dly epted it, after a minute of conversation Teng Zhe excused himself, Bai Ming watched Teng Zhe leave before entering his room. The first thing Bai Ming did was heal himself, then he took a bath, getting rid off all that blood and dirt all over him.

    Half an hour quickly passed by, a peak spirit realm cultivator dropped by and delivered all the goods. Bai Ming had to pay a grand total of 7.8 million spirit stones. The ten tier-5 medicinal pills alone cost around 7 million spirit stones. Another five hundred thousand spirit stones for the five thousand tier-4 formation gs and 300,000 spirit stones for three tier-7 formation base and fifteen tier-4 formation base. But Bai Ming was able to afford the expense now without much heartache, he had nearly 9 million spirit stones still remaining along with various high grade and below magical treasures and weapons.

    But what disappointed Bai Ming was the fact that Yan Shi''s storage pouch waspletely dry, there wasn''t even single spirit stone. Bai Ming immediately cursed at Teng Zhe for being greedy, Bai Ming understood that Yan Shi wasn''t a member of the teng n and was previously under Teng Zhe''s control.

    ''I already have a Yin-Yang void body material, but i am under observation for sure. I cannot expose my body cultivation method, so refining my body has to wait until I reach the sect and even then I need to find a secretive ce to cultivate my body. After all, my body cultivation method is a demonic path method.'' Bai Ming continued muse silently, ''Hmm, after entering the sect I also need to look for a pair of tier-6 beast wing. But even if get one and refine it, my other senses will not be able to keep up with its terrifying speed. My current beast wings are much more suitable for me, but I should prepare one just in case for future troubles.''

    Then Bai Ming immersed himself in making formations. The formations he was making were teleportation arrays, with the help of these formation he could travel between any of those fifteen formations by just setting them up. But there was a catch, these formations being tier-4 could only let spirit realm experts and below to teleport through them. Once Bai Ming reaches the Yin-Yang realm these formations would just be useless for him, that is unless he has a way to seal off his cultivation base or just destroy his cultivation base.

    Soon two days passed by.

    Bai Ming sheepishly got up and stretched out his limbs, letting out a yawn he said "It''s time to depart."

 Chapter 66 Red Lotus Sect

    ?Teng family courtyard,

    Bai Ming was seated down in a lotus position with a contemting expression on his face.

    ''I''ll have to wait till I reach the Yin-Yang void realm before getting rid of this restriction. If I try to expel it now it''ll not only require 4 days'' worth of time but will also alert Teng Zhe in the meanwhile. Hmm, even if it was possible to remove this divine sense marker instantly it''s not quite beneficial for me.'' Bai Ming''s gaze shone as he carefully assessed the situation, leaving no room for mistakes.

    Bai Ming''s inner thoughts quickly settled down.

    "Are you ready?"

    A cold voice was heard as a lofty shadow appeared in front of Bai Ming.

    It came from a middle-aged man who had a long red robe and a cold expression. His eyebrows were able to disy majesty without losing his temperament. While holding his hands behind his back, he gazed down at Bai Ming.

    It was none other than Teng city''s lord, Teng Zhe.

    "Let''s depart" Bai Ming nodded and said immediately, without any hesitation. Teng Zhe had already given him the remaining Yin-Yang void realm cultivators'' corpses, hence he had no reason to reject him.

    "Grasp my hand," Teng Zhe inly said.

    After grasping Teng Zhe''s hand Bai Ming felt a special power gathering beneath Teng Zhe''s feet. Subsequently, the figure of Teng Zhe was floating and then Bai Ming also began floating.

    Thenˇ­ Boom!

    They left at an incredible speed.

    Every step he took left a ripple in the air.

    "Is this Void Walk?" Bai Ming secretly thought to himself and became even more eager to reach the Yin-Yang Void Realm.

    The void walk was a natural ability gained when a cultivator achieves the void phase in the Yin-Yang void realm, like how martial artists gain the ability to fly when they reach the spirit realm or the ability tomunicate using their divine sense after reaching the core formation realm.

    The Key difference between flying and void walking wasn''t just the speed boost naturally obtained from it. No, it was mainly the ability to use movement techniques in the air.

    Normally, the distance between Teng city and the Red lotus sect was nearly a four-day journey for most spirit realm cultivators, but now it would only take an hour to rush to the red lotus sect under Teng Zhe''s lead.

    After just a little while void walking, the wind caused Bai Ming''s eyes to turn red and tear up. Even with his treasure body and spirit realm cultivation, he could hardly see anything.

    If it wasn''t for Bai Ming''s mid-grade treasure body the wind hitting him would have surely caused him pain.

    Flying quickly through the sky. The Teng city had already turned into a little ck dot as they quickly flew forward.

    An hourter, two figures quietly hovered high above the red lotus sect.

    Bai Ming was floating in the air, overlooking the boundless ground in astonishment. Below him, he saw two giant mountains covered in clouds, which hid their true appearance. Echoes of beasts'' cries could be heard. The area between the two mountains was full ofmagnificent pces and pavilions that towered above the ground.

    In the center, a statue of a gigantic scarlet lotus was radiating a faint scarlet glow. This glow emanated a profound aura that caused all those who dared to nce to suffer the palpitation of the heart.

    It was a paradise-like scene, with mountains, flowers, and ponds. It was a truly idyllic scene.

    With these natural beauties, this was truly worthy of being the location of the Red lotus Sect. The Red Lotus Sect was one of the few first-tier righteous sects in Tiannan province. With nearly nine thousand years of history, it was one of the oldest and strongest first-tier sects in the entire cultivation world of azure.

    The Red lotus Sect was worthy of its name. It even contained Scarlet elemental Qi, birthed from the Scarlet Spirit Vine that ran through the mountain. This qi defined the Red lotus sect and was used in many of its cultivation methods to bolster one''s cultivated qi, but mainly to allow the red lotus sect''s disciples to cultivate their sect''s fundamental heavenly lotus cultivation mantra which depended on absorbing scarlet qi instead of heaven and earth spiritual essence.

    "Let''s go down."

    Teng Zhe dived down along with Bai Ming. Upon reaching the ground, many figures could be seen moving here and there.

    Many cultivators could be seen flying with their swords in the sky. There were even various kinds of ferocious birds.

    ''Along with the Scarlet qi, this ce had a denser level of Heaven and Earth essencepared to Teng city. It is much more suitable for cultivation.'' Bai Ming thought inwardly while casually looking around.

    "We have to get you registered," Teng Zhe said as he led the way. Following him, Bai Ming saw many outer sect disciples meditating along the way.

    The outer sect did not allocate special cultivation grounds and cave abodes for the outer sect disciples. Everyone just randomly found a ce to practice their cultivation mantra and were not to cause trouble.

    After another ten minutes, Bai Mingpleted his registration as a true disciple. He received a Sect identification token, a sect merit token with thousand sect points, a high-tier storage bag, a rule book, and a Red lotus Sect Daoist robe.

    A few minutester, Both Bai Ming and Teng zhe arrived at the entrance of bai Ming''s new courtyard which was assigned to him.

    Generally, the inner disciples would only be allocated cultivation caves, as for outer sect elders, personal disciples, and core disciples would be allotted personal abodes.

    "Here, this jade slip contains a map and all the information you will need about the sect, I assume you have already gone through the sect rules." Teng Zhe handed Bai Ming a jade slip.

    Bai Ming scanned it with his divine sense before epting it, he then continued to calmly stare at his new teacher.

    Teng Zhe knew what Bai Ming wanted, he coldly smirked before taking out his sect merit token, "Give me your merit token."

    Bai Ming quietly handed over his merit token to Teng Zhe. Next, Teng Zhe ced his merit token above Bai Ming''s and transferred a huge sum of sect points to Bai Ming.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming received his sect merit token and inspected it using his divine sense. He was internally startled seeing 1,000,000 sect points.

    In terms of spirit stones, 100 spirit stones equal one merit point. That means 1 million sect points equal 100 million spirit stones.

    "Remember, these sect points are very precious. Use them wisely, Get as strong as possible before the next five months, and I''ll arrange a subordinate for you to look after your needs while you''re in the sect." Saying this Teng Zhe paused before continuing, "My residence is just a few thousand meters from here, but unless it is urgent don''te and disturb me. You also have a voice transmission jade with you right, you canmunicate with me using that instead."

    Bai Ming heard this and coldly snorted internally but on the surface, he expressionlessly nodded in acknowledgment.

    "Then I''ll take my leave now." Saying that Teng Zhe turned around and slowly left. But just when Bai Ming assumed Teng Zhe had left, he heard a voice in his head telling him, "Yi Yun, be careful, the word of me epting a disciple has already spread. There will be peopleing looking for trouble with you sooner orter, even inside the sect you need to always be on guard. I have left a charm in your right pocket, it can block a few dozen attacks from peak Yin-Yang void realm cultivators. But you still need to keep vignce. I am staying in the sect to ensure your safety."

    Bai Ming paused his footsteps for a brief second before continuing to head inside his dwelling.

    As he arrived, he was met with a well-maintained, nearly too clean, room with a single king-sized bed and a table with few antique chairs.

    The moment Bai Ming entered his divine sense had already scanned the room, after finding no abnormalities Bai Ming began setting up all kinds of defensive restrictions and took out a bunch of formations, he had prepared these arrays in advance.

    Within a few minutes, Bai Mingpleted setting up hundreds of restrictions along with dozens of both defensive and offensive formations. Bai Ming also ced down a teleportation formation here, but unfortunately, he was only able to ce three coordinates in Teng city, and that too with much difficulty as for the remaining coordinates he was unable to ce them down in different ces without Teng Zhe noticing.

    ''With this teleportation array here, I can almost instantly teleport to my house in Teng city. I can only thank my formation path attainment for it, even though the divine sense marker( Divine sense marker is a type of restriction) lets Teng Zhe know my location, hehe with my methods I can also somewhat make out his location, maybe not as urate as him but it''s doable. Taking advantage of the fact he had to hunt down a few Yin-Yang void realm experts for me, I was able to move more freely within the Teng city. But, I am not sure whether the Yin-Yang void cultivators in Teng city were observing me at that time, it''s a problem but there''s nothing that can be done about it. Unless there''s no other choice I will avoid this risky method of teleportation.'' As Bai Ming contemted, he strode out of his room and began setting up restrictions outside as well.

    By the time he finished setting up formations, he felt the aura of a peak core formation realm martial artist approaching his courtyard.

    A sweet voice suddenly entered his ears, "Senior brother Yi Yun, Elder Tian has sent me here."

    Bai Ming didn''t reply instead he entered his room and changed his dress and put on the red lotus sect''s Daoist robes.

    The red lotus sect robe was Red with Golden stripes. After Bai Ming wore it, his charm waspletely unleashed. He was an average-looking youth, but the way he held himself would make others take another look at him. And those piercing crimson eyes of his were enough to leave a mark on someone else''s heart.

    ''She has some patience,'' Bai Ming thought as he once again headed to the Courtyard, he stood there with his hands behind his back and coldly spoke, "Enter,"

    Bai Ming saw a 20-year-old girl with long ck hair like a waterfall, bright red lips, and beautiful eyes that could move anyone''s heart enter the courtyard. Even in the entire inner sect, her beauty was among the top five.

    Dong Mei was nervous inside, she walked toward Bai Ming and elegantly curtsied before him.

    "What is your name?" Bai Ming asked coldly, indifferent to the beauty standing before him.

    "Senior brother, it''s Dong mei" She replied softly, Seeing Bai Ming, For some reason, her heart tightened, and became even more nervous.

    "Hmm, tell me are you willing to be my helper." Bai Ming calmly spoke.

    Hearing the word ''helper'' instead of ''subordinate'' made the nervousness in her heart vanish and her opinion of bai ming improved by a level, she nodded lightly and spoke in a soft tone, "Senior brother Yi Yun is a true disciple if I can follow you it will be my honor and fortune." while speaking, she moved a few strands of her hair behind her ear, revealing her feminine charm.

    Unfortunately, this act didn''t attract Bai Ming at all. After she noticed that Bai Ming''s gaze had turned even colder, she felt a bit disappointed.

    "No need for ttery, if you want to follow me there is just a single condition." Bai Ming raised his index finger as he spoke.

    Dong Mei''s heart wavered, she prepared herself for the worst, and spoke in a low tone, "Please tell me, senior brother, as long as it is within my ability I will do it."

    Bai Ming released a bit of his spirit realm aura and coldly red at her, his tone apathetic, "Nothing much, you just have to agree to let me put this soul-binding vow on your soul, and then you can be my helper. If you are unwilling you can leave, don''t waste my time. I am neither interested in your strength nor your flesh, I only want someone to run errands for me. As long as you can do that, stay, otherwise just scram."

    Dong Mei''s face became pale, and her body instantly shivered. She raised her head and forced herself to calm down. She forced a smile, but she couldn''t stop her voice from trembling, "Se...Senior brother is there a need for this?"

    Bai Ming didn''t say a word and only calmly looked at her.

    She immediately saw the coldness in Bai Ming''s eyes. She suddenly became very nervous. This youth in front of her seemed to be a very ruthless person. He wouldn''t show her any mercy because she was a woman.

    Bai Ming gave a cold snort, before turning around and walking away. In actuality, he didn''t care much about getting a servant, gaining a servant was only to make things easier for him. He wouldn''t have to personally visit stores to buy treasures or pills. He would also have someone other than Teng Zhe to gather some bits of information for him, to constantly keep him updated about the Sects news. There were some benefits in keeping her, but he couldn''t be bothered to go out of his way to convince her.

    But he also understood Teng Zhe''s little plot, sending a beauty such as her to get close to Bai Ming. There were two objectives behind this move, one was to keep tabs on him constantly. Secondly, Teng Zhe didn''t have much of a hold over Bai Ming''s weaknesses, so he wanted to create one. How would he achieve that?

    Dong Mei was an extremely alluring girl, it was only normal for boys of Bai Ming''s age group to be attracted to her and even fall in love with her. It was as simple as that, he wanted both of them to form an emotional bond. And once that happens Teng Zhe would naturally gain an advantage over Bai Ming.

    Teng Zhe had also wisely chosen Dong Mei for this task, why? It wasn''t just because she was a drop-dead gorgeous girl. It was because she was desperate.

    What is themon problem for cultivators, it''s theck of cultivation resources.

    What is themon problem for beautiful women, it''s those lusty werewolves who are hiding in human skin.

    Female cultivators face both of these problems simultaneously, without a strong pir to lean on they can only go so far. Either their progress stops or they get devoured or sometimes both happen.

    Dong Mei a newly promoted inner-sect disciple of the Red lotus sect, came from humble origins. She was able to progress thus far because of her talents, sharp intellect, and lucky encounters. Along with some perseverance, tolerance, and hard work.

    But without an elder to protect her, she was targeted once again by a different person after entering the inner sect. And the person targeting her this time was not only a top-tier inner disciple but one who held a nasty reputation among the inner disciples. If she didn''t want to be his ything, she had to look for someone stronger or at least on the same level as her predator.

    ''Fu*k, what should I do? If I agree to his condition, I''ll just be his puppet. But if I don''t not only will that scum Chene for me, but I will also have offended Elder Teng. Once that happens I am doomed, sigh. I have no choice but to be Yi Yun''s puppet, but it might not be as bad as I think. He seemspletely uninterested in me, but as long as I stick with him it might even benefit me in the future. At the very least, I will not have to worry about that dog Chen and elder Teng. That trash Chen wouldn''t dare offend me once I have the backing of a true disciple. After all true disciples have lofty statuses simr to core disciples.'' Dong Mei bit her lower lip. Her face showed a decisive expression as she immediately spoke in a loud voice, "Senior brother, I am willing to be your puppet."

    Bai Ming paused his steps, and with a cold smirk on his face he turned his head back slightly, he spoke in an insincere tone, "Junior sister Mei, don''t worry I''ll treat you like my little sister."

 Chapter 67 Soaring Cultivation

    ?After cing the soul-binding vow on Dong Mei, Bai Ming also ced several restrictions on her soul, along with a divine sense marker to keep track of her location. Bai Ming was vignt to the core, he always considered the many possible oues before he did anything.

    Sitting cross-legged in theroom, Bai Ming held a piece of jade in his palm. This piece of jade was gifted to him by Teng Zhe, it held all the information about the sect''s facilities that a disciple needed to know.

    The red lotus sect was well-known for its three treasure troves:Seven Divine Temples of earth, water, fire, wind, wood, lighting, and Scarlet. Secretnd of Heaven and Earth, And the Mystic scarlet pond.

    There are five Temple masters in each of the seven divine temples. They are some of the top-tier experts within the Red lotus sect with high levels of elemental path attainment. Temple Masters usually give lessons in the temples, sharing their understanding while also demonstrating some Martial Arts Techniques and giving disciples some advice. Disciples usually go there to improve their understanding of their respective elemental paths or to find answers to their problems inprehending the great Dao of heavenly elements. After receiving guidance, disciples might get enlightened.

    Although a top expert would try his best to teach someone, he was alone and studied only one aspect. If he encountered unfamiliar fields, he would not know how to instruct them.

    In the red lotus sect, Seven Temples covered seven different kinds of Essence Realms of Heaven and Earth. Each temple had five powerful Temple Masters who had vast knowledge of their paths. Therefore, the disciples did not worry that they would encounter an unsolvable problem.

    The temples each had five levels ording to the attainment realms, starting from the master attainment realm to the great grandmaster attainment realm. And the cost for entering each level varied.

    As for the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth; it is a special and helpful ce forprehending the Essence Realms of Heaven and Earth, if one wants to enter the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth, one needs to pay 10,000 points to get ess to the pce, and then they can only stay inside for four hours each time.

    As for the Mystic Scarlet pond, it was a pond filled with dense Scarlet qi energies. It was Heaven for cultivators who cultivate the Scarlet essence, especially for disciples of the red lotus sect where a huge number of cultivators cultivated with the help of the scarlet elemental essence.

    Bai Ming was mulling over deeply, he had just finished going through arge portion of information in the jade slip and started nning out the best route for him.

    "Senior, I havepleted the task." Shortly after a feminine voice could be hearding from outside the courtyard.

    Bai Ming willed and all the formations stopped blocking Dong Mei''s path, few breathster she entered the room. Bai Ming had previously set up formations all around his residence, even top-tier spirit realm experts would need to spend an adequate amount of time to forcibly break in.

    "Senior brother Yun, this Junior has brought you the treasure index from the lotus treasure pavilion. The names and prices of all the spirit pills, marital techniques, pill recipes, and both magical and natural treasures are recorded in it." Dong Mei smiled gently as she handed over the jade slip to Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming soundlessly epted the jade slip before scanning it with his divine sense. He carefully read all the Contents recorded within it, While Dong Mei quietly stood there fixedly staring at Bai Ming.

    After nearly twenty minutes had flown by Bai Ming retracted his divine sense from the jade slip.

    Bai Ming took a deep breath. His piercing gaze thennded on Dong Mei, he spoke in a calm voice, "40 grand spirit pills, tier-6 soul g, tier-6 Demon beast Azure Phoenix corpse. Dozen Tier-6 healing and poison-resistance pills. Scarlet and lighting elemental birthing stones. Concealed Soul dagger technique, Wisdom soul wall technique, and soul search technique. Tier-4 Realm consolidation pills..." Dong mei''s eyes revealed a serious look. But Bai Ming showed no signs of stopping, he went on and on for nearly two whole minutes, making Dong Mei''s chest rise up and down as she took deep breaths.

    "...And Base elements skill book. Hmm, that should be about it. Have you correctly remembered all the Items that I have named so far?" Bai Ming asked.

    Dong Mei was dumbfounded. It took her a while to regain her senses, just listening to Bai Ming made her forehead sweat profusely. She looked at Bai Ming with a wry smile, "Senior, I have memorized them all."

    "Good, give me your merit token." Bai Ming casually praised her before transferring almost all of his sect points into her merit token, after the transfer was carried out only 50,000 sect points were remaining in it. Bai Ming took out a stuffed pouch from his robes and passed it to Dong Mei and said, "Take this pouch, it contains nine million spirit stones and an enormous sum of treasures, convert them into the sect points. This should be enough to cover the payment"

    Dong Mei obediently nodded, her eyelids were slightly trembling when she gazed at the huge sum of sect points in her merit token, greed involuntarily welled up in her heart but that was it, she had no other useless thoughts.

    Bai Ming''s astute gaze caught every minute change in her, he pondered for a second and lent her a tier-4 formation and his true disciple sect identification token. Even though no one would have any thoughts of acting openly in the sect, Bai Ming didn''t want to take any chances.

    Bai Ming waved his hand, gesturing for her to leave.

    ''Five months, I have five months. Within these five months, I have to develop in all aspects. With this set of grand spirit pills and realm consolidation pills, I can reach the peak of the spirit realm in one and a half months. Trying to break through into the Yin-Yang realm is a no-go since entering the entric ancestor''snd has a maximum cultivation base limit of half-step Yin-Yang void. Hmm, but I can use this time to learn all kinds of skills andplete the second form of self-sword technique and also incorporate the fire element into the self-sword formation.'' Bai Ming thought secretly.

    ''It should take her a few hours to acquire all those treasures. In the meantime, I''ll cultivate my body art.'' Bai Ming thenmenced processing the corpses he had previously acquired.

    Bai Ming first cut open the corpses, then he pulled out all the bones from them before grinding them into tiny fragments. Next, he drained all the blood from the corpses before mashing all the organs with his bloody hands. Then Bai Ming dumped them separately into a huge tub and started to absorb them using the rotten blood arts.

    His body was constantly demolished before being rebuilt, this cycle went on for two hours. After enduring two hours of inhumane pain, he ceased channeling the rotten blood art.

    Bai Ming staggeringly stepped out, his every step left deep prints on the cold floor, crushing the white tiles.

    Bai Ming''s features were as if he was sculpted from a divine metal, exuding sharp power. Bai Ming got a feel of his body and slightly rubbed the fifth crescent mark on his waist, he revealed a satisfied grin.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was greatly pleased with his body, which was nowpletely refined with the rotten blood art and was as tough as a semi-high-grade treasure weapon.

    "8thyer of Yin-Yang void realm, He-He-He..." Taking a moment to adapt, Bai Ming''s face gradually returned to that of cold indifference.

    ''Fortunately, body cultivation is not a problem for entering the entric Ancestors Land.'' Bai Ming thought as he quickly got dressed.

    Half an hourter, Dong Mei returned to drop off all the treasures Bai Ming had ordered. After getting what he wanted Bai Ming immediately made her leave. It was time for him to enter seclusion.

    Bai Ming sat crossed-legged in the room and before him were more than 6 bottles of pills. Some of the bottles were sealed with wax.

    These pills were the best of the pills made particrly for spirit realm experts. All of these pills were very suitable for Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming had ced the bottles in order of what he needed to take from right to left. He picked up a bottle and opened the wax seal. A strong aroma of medicine floated out of the bottle. Inside it was 10 lychee nut-sized pills.

    This pill was called the grand spirit pill. It was a Tier-4 high-grade spirit pill. Using a lot of rare ingredients, not only did it provide arge amount of spiritual energy, but also helped widen the channels in one''s body.

    In the cultivation world, it was a very rare pill and a grade above the Qi Gathering Pill.

    The thing that made this pill so rare was its effect to widen the channels. Even within the Red lotus Sect, there weren''t many pills that widened the channels, and all of those pills were for lower-tier cultivators and didn''t have much effect on Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming picked up a pill and put it into his mouth. Then, he immediately began to cultivate. Spiritual energy flooded into his body and he immediately noticed the difference between it and the Qi Gathering Pill. The grand spirit pill had more than double the spiritual energy of the Qi Gathering Pill.

    The boundless spiritual energy slowly calmed down as it was swallowed by the Seven Deities Avatar mantra. After two days, Bai Ming swallowed another pill.

    Weng, instantly, inexhaustible spiritual essence wrapped around him and continuous streams of qi poured into his body, as if kneading.

    The Grand spirit Pills medicinal effect was fully exhibited. Bai Ming used his body as a furnace to fuse the medicinal effects, and cooperating with the spiritual essence provided by the tier-4 Qi Gathering formation, his cultivation immediately began to skyrocket.

    The spiritual oceans, one each in his six avatars began spinning in the opposite direction of the one in his dantian, the spiritual oceans began to expand under the stacked effects of medicinal energy and spiritual essence.

    It would be fast if ced on anyone else, but Bai Ming had seven spiritual oceans which were far more humongous than that of standard Spirit realm cultivators, so the revolution and expansion seemed exceptionally slow.

    Even if it was slow, he was still faster than normal people by ten times. After all, he was an extremity-grade talent and also had a sufficient amount of pills to aid his cultivation.

    After another day and night, Bai Mingpletely refined and absorbed the medicinal power of the spirit pill, and his cultivation reached the secondyer of the Spirit realm, one step closer to the ninthyer.

    Bai Ming didn''t directly start cultivating again, instead, he took out a realm consolidation pill from the second bottle and looked at it for a bit, and put it in his mouth. Then, he began absorbing sharp and concentrated energies within it.

    If too many pills are consumed in a short period of time, or if cultivation is raised too quickly in a short period of time, then even if there is no harm to the body, it will have deadly effects on future cultivation. urately speaking when too many pills get absorbed at once, not only will it not help, but it will increase the chances of a devil entering the cultivator.

    The fastest way to eradicate this problem was to intake realm consolidation Pills, which will not only save a huge amount of time, but it will also prevent the Devil from entering one''s heart.

    Within half an hour, Bai Ming hadpletely consolidated his cultivation base of the secondyer of the spirit realm. If he were to do it normally it would have taken him at least two days'' worth of time.

    Time slowly passed and in the blink of an eye, it was already the 47th day since Bai Ming had begun his seclusion.

    Hong, a huge surge of majestic spiritual energy suddenly red out from Bai Ming.

    At the same time, Bai Ming opened his eyes. An Illusionary light shined brightly in his eyes as he crossed the threshold betweenthe 8thyer and the 9thyer of the spirit realm.

    A rare smile appeared on Bai Ming''s face, he slightly tapped at his bag of holding and took out two elemental birthing stones, he muttered to himself, "It''s time to birth scarlet and lighting essence in my spirit base."

 Chapter 68 Soul Path Skills

    ?With the lightning qi stone in one hand and the scarlet qi stone in the other, Bai Ming started to draw in both of their energies.

    The birthing of an element was a delicate practice and required a certain level ofprehensive ability, it also contained a high-level requirement for innate talent too.

    Bai Ming then drummed up his own innate elemental energies to direct both energies to sh. With their battle, his body felt like it was going to detonate, but the energies had guidance and thus were less destructive. He was pitting two mammoths together instead of handling one.

    With each smashing sh, bits of lightning energy and scarlet qi defected from the primary source. He drew in the enclosing spiritual energy, refined it, mixed it in with the three forms of energy, and sent them to his spirit base to be crushed and absorbed.

    After several days, a delicate yet explosive equilibrium was reached. Soon, Bai Ming felt the scarlet elemental essence in his spirit base starting to strengthen the water, earth, fire, wood, and wind energies with miraculous means.

    Bai Ming took a deep breath and exhaled. The surrounding energy rippled and the strands of scarlet energy beneath his feet wiggled wildly. He opened his eyes to reveal myriad images shing within. Each image was illusory but possessed a potent source of vitality.

    "Scarlet elemental essence is truly a blessing!" Bai Ming then stretched out his palms. In his right palm, slivers of lightning and golden mist flowed endlessly. They danced likepanions of the night in perfect harmony.

    In his left palm were the five natural elements of the world: fire, water, earth, wood, and wind. A thinyer of Scarlet essence was warped around them. These elements existed in an even greater bnce and flow as of now.

    ''Now, I have birthed three unique elements in my spirit base; Gold, Scarlet, and thunder essence. I knew birthing Scarlet essence was a good idea, but it turned out even better. The five base elements have each undergone natural modification due to the addition of Scarlet essence and have be two times more powerful than before.'' Bai Ming evaluated as he scrutinized his spirit base.

    ''I have already reached the pinnacle of the spirit realm and my body cultivation has also reached the 8thyer of the Yin-Yang void realm, currently, I have even birthed two more unique elements. And I have aplished all of this merely within two months. He-He-He, I have to thank Teng Zhe for this opportunity.'' Bai Ming snickered internally, living off of someone else''s expenses gave him great satisfaction.

    ''The next step should be to learn the soul path skills and techniques that I have brought earlier. But before that, I should contact that woman.'' Bai Ming retrieved a piece of transmission jade slip from his storage bag. Next, he sent a message using it instructing Dong Mei to immediately meet him.

    During these two months of seclusion, Bai Ming never left his room. But he had met Dong Mei once twenty days ago to gather new bits and pieces of information regarding the Red Lotus sect. And he also wanted her to buy a set of formation gs, he was going to start umting sect points by trading tier-4 formations.

    After instructing her, Bai Ming didn''t waste time. He took out the three soul path techniques he had purchased from the Lotus treasure pavilion. The jade on top had the words ''Concealed Soul dagger'' written on it, this was an offensive soul path technique.

    Uponprehending this mid-grade soul path technique, one could transform their soul force into a soul dagger, which could directly assault an opponent''s soul and destroy it. Without a defensive soul technique or treasures, the individual under attack would have their soul shattered.

    Don''t look down on this technique because it''s only a mid-grade technique, even in the whole of the Red lotus sect the number of soul path skills doesn''t exceed fifteen including a single high-grade soul path technique, which Bai Ming didn''t have the right to learn as of now ording to the sect rules.

    Soul path techniques were just that rare and precious.

    Even with this mid-grade soul technique, Bai Ming could instantly kill a person in the same realm as long as that said individual hasn''t learnt any soul path offensive or defensive skills.

    Next was the mid-grade technique Wisdom soul wall, which was a soul path defensive technique that creates an exceptionally formidable soul wall around one''s soul safeguarding the soul from external attacks.

    Finally, we have the soul search technique. It is an extremely popr technique in the whole of Azure. It was not wrong to say that all the great experts in this world knew this technique. As the name suggests, afterprehending this skill one could dig through the memories stored in a soul, be it a human soul or a demon beast soul.

    ''Even with myprehensive capabilities, I''ll need around four days toprehend them. After all, the soul is the most mysterious part of the human body and my understanding iscking in that aspect.'' Bai Ming contemted for a moment before he carefully began reading the Concealed soul dagger technique, with his forceful nature it was only natural for him to initiate learning from an offensive technique.

    Ten minutester, Bai Ming retracted his gaze from the jade and nced at the wooden door, the restrictions which he had ced outside had just alerted him. Bai Ming closed his eyes and sensed the divine sense imprint he had ced on Dong Mei, with its help Bai Ming was able to confirm that the person outside was none other than her.

    The divine sense marker which he had ced on her was enough to know her location as long as she was within Bai Ming''s thirty-mile radius.

    Bai Ming then used his peak spirit realm divine sense to scan the area around his residence, only then did Bai Ming feel a slight sense of security.

    With a wave of his hand, the obstructing restrictions and arrays immediately made way for her. As Bai Ming coldly red at the door awaiting Dong Mei''s entry.

    Light footsteps could be heard at the door followed by a Soft knocking that resounded from outside, "Senior brother, it''s Dong Mei. I havee just as you had instructed."

    Bai Ming willed and all the restrictions behind Dong Mei closed immediately, he spoke in a cold and detached voice, "Enter"

    Creek.

    The door was slowly opened, exposing a gap as sunlight infiltrated from the gap.

    The gap gradually erged.

    Bai Ming didn''t know why, but he felt a feeling of unease growing in his heart.

    His sharp gaze fixedly stared at the entrance, at the same time his grasp on the sword subconsciously tightened.

    What he saw first was a hand on the door.

    A female''s smooth and slender arm came into his vision first as the door opened fully.

    Then her entire body quickly followed after.

    Catching sight of this Bai Ming took a deep breath as he finally rxed momentarily.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The instant he loosened up the walls enclosing him explosively shattered into fragments.

    Before Bai Ming could even get a good sense of his assants, two shadows appeared behind him like the looming dread of death.

    Time seemed to have paused for Bai Ming, Despite him having a calm character Bai Ming couldn''t help breaking out in cold sweat at this moment.

    Bai Ming''s eyes shed with a fleeting light, he didn''t have the time to turn around or press forward. His right-hand swiftly entered his pocket and quickly broke the defensive jade given to him by Teng Zhe.

    Bai Ming''s entire body was instantaneously enveloped in bright green light like he was wearing jade armor.

    The shadows held sharp and sinister weapons, obviously capable of immense cutting power, they attempted to slice through the Jade armor, but shockingly found that they couldn''t.

    But the terrifying impact from the attack was enough to send Bai Ming flying like a ragged doll.

    Had his reaction been just a bitte, Bai Ming would have ended up dead.

    Bai Ming was about to crash against the wall, but a third shadow appeared before him, the shadow raised a saber high above its head, intending to hack down Bai Ming into two halves.

    A chill suffused in Bai Ming''s eyes, using the momentum from the previous attack Bai Ming forcefully twisted his body in mid-air and ferociously punched out using a fist technique.

    The saber and fist shed majestically resulting in a deafening bang, the impact caused the surrounding air to ripple violently. Dong Mei who was standing absentmindedly at the entrance was immediately sent flying from the resulting airwave.

    "Ah!" The third shadow shrieked in pain, as he took a couple of steps back topose himself.

    "What!?" A voice sounded below Bai Ming in shock, Bai Ming''s eyes immediately darted downwards but what greeted him was a golden palm on his chest.

    Bam!

    The shockwave from the strike spread inside jade armor into Bai Ming''s body, making him spew out mouthfuls of fresh blood as he was directly sent soaring upwards, the roof exploded under the fierce impact of the collision.

    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

    Hundreds of swords materialized behind Bai Ming before repeatedly bombarding downwards resembling a breathtaking meteor shower.

    Bai Ming openly reached out to Teng Zhe using the jade slip while lightly tapping on his storage bag and brought out a jar crammed with hundreds of spiritual cores and tossed it below.

    "Wooden Star Gate!" A shadow made a hand sign and a towering wooden wall with golden markings immediately rose from the ground and closely protected them from the iing attacks.

    "Hmph, the information which the elder provided was inurate. His battle strength has already surpassed the Spirit realm and is on par with a Yin-Yang void realm martial artist. That punch earlier was enough to make my arm go numb."

    "He has already contacted Elder Teng, we need to retreat now!"

    The shadows conversed and immediately agreed on retreating. Their initial goal was to swiftly kill Bai Ming off without causing amotion, but since things didn''t proceed ordingly they immediately gave up on killing Bai Ming and settled on retreating.

    It was a wise move, if they were going to persist in dragging this on, it would undoubtedly end in their demise once Teng Zhe arrives.

    Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

    The shadows instantly took flight and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

    Bai Ming soundlessly hovered in the air while coldly staring at the fleeing figures, Bai Ming didn''t give chase. The jade armor wasn''t invincible and would break apart sooner orter. Secondly, he clearlycked the strength to kill them off. Thirdly, he absolutely didn''t dare take Yin-Yang void realm experts lightly.

    "Sending four Yin-Yang experts just to deal with an insignificant Spirit Realm cultivator, how admirable." Bai Ming wiped the blood off his lips, his cold gaze thennded on the half-dead figure slowly crawling below.

    "They must have invaded while I opened the formations for her, humans are nothing but trouble." Bai Ming sneered, then with just a mentalmand from him, Dong Mei''s soul was instantly shattered.

    Dong Mei let out a miserable cry before her eyes dimmed and her body became motionless.

    One of the top five beauties of the inner sect, Dong Mei was dead just like that.

    Bai Ming didn''t even spare her corpse, with a wave of his hand a purple me burnt both her body and belongings.

    Even though Bai Ming had ced a set of restrictions on her, it was only able to destroy her soul and sense her location, it couldn''t control her thoughts or actions, and this was an important shoring for Bai Ming. Making him determined enough to kill her.

    As for obliterating her storage bag, it was because he didn''t want to leave future problems if someone wanted to frame him, those very treasures would be a piece of evidence.

 Chapter 69 Mystic Realm, The Tier-8 Violet Stellar Grass.

    ?The dark clouds dispersed in the sky, as pirs of light shone through the clouds,nding on the wet earth.

    The sky was vast and huge, a truly grand sight.

    Two individuals were hovering in the sky, the atmosphere was slightly tense.

    "Yi Yun, still thinking about that assassination? Hahahaha, what is there to worry about? You are alive, aren''t you? Don''t fret too much, with me here they can''t do anything." Teng Zhe urged with his rough voice.

    Bai Ming snorted, looking atTeng Zhe coldly, "What have you achieved? how many more assassinations do you want? Letting someone sneak in here and leave as they wish, aren''t you as a supreme mortal realm expert ashamed at all?"

    Teng Zhe tried to alleviate the atmosphere: "Sigh, don''t be angry Yi Yun..."

    But before he finished, Bai Ming interrupted him, "Sigh, If this goes on I don''t think I''ll be able to cultivate peacefully. Maybe this isn''t a good idea after all." Saying this Bai Ming showed a troubled expression.

    Teng Zhe was about to speak, but Bai Ming continued his chatter, "My sect points havepletely run dry, and earning sect points by epting missions is just suicidal. I was going to earn sect points by making a few formations, even though it was time-consuming it was a feasible method. But now I know even that isn''t the right way, the process of creating formations requires me topletely invest both my concentration and divine sense into it, and during that period I will be vulnerable to assassination. Looks like I will be unable to live up to your expectations lord, I am deeply pained by this thought."

    Bai Ming''s expressions and tone perfectly showcased his top-notch acting skills, if Teng Zhe didn''t know Bai Ming any better, he might have truly believed him, but now his words sounded like bitter mockery and sarcasm to his ears.

    Teng Zhe''s eyes shed, he didn''t immediately reply but thought deeply, ''Yi Yun, oh Yi Yun. You want to eat the pie at my expense, but this is to be expected from you. You are aware of the fact that I know your thoughts but I don''t have a choice in this matter, I need you to get powerful enough to secure that tier-8 spirit herb ''violet ster grass''. And what you said previously was also true, creating formations will just consume too much time. It doesn''t matter, I''ll help you once again. But once everything is over I''ll be sure to refine you into a mindless puppet, then you can repay me by serving my Teng City for the rest of eternity.''

    Using the opportunity of the assassination, Bai Ming indirectly demanded some ''trauma recovery fees'',

    Although he despised this, Teng Zhe couldn''t help but admire this brat as well.

    Teng Zhe believed that Bai Ming''s actions were correct. If it was him in that position, he would have done the same thing.

    Teng Zhe quickly fulfilled Bai Ming''s request by transferring another 800,000 sect points and he also handed him a few life-saving treasures, just in case.

    Teng Zhe stared Bai Ming in the eye and gloomily said, "Little guy, this is the second time I have helped you. No matter what misunderstanding we have had in the past, this should be more than enough to make up for it. I hope that when you enter the entric Ancestor''snd, you won''t try any unnecessary scheming!"

    Teng Zhe had some understanding of Bai Ming after many encounters with him. This Yi Yun was a good seed for demonic cultivation, this was his initial take on Bai Ming.

    In the Teng city, the brat dared toopenly massacre while knowing full well that the City lord was closely watching him. It could be said that this person was very bold and ruthless.

    If those were the only things, then he wouldn''t really be much, but this personeven dared to stand his ground against a supreme mortal realm expert without even batting an eye. He didn''t show a hint of panic. This showed just how calm and determined he was.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Not to mention he somehow even managed to squeeze out benefits from him, he was able to firmly grasp the situation and benefit from it, This person was a true schemer.

    This person was ruthless, bold, and decisive. He was also very fearless, cunning, determined, and exceptionally crafty.

    In the end, the only words the Teng Zhe had that could describe Bai Ming were "as sly as a fox and bold as a tiger."

    Bai Ming''s expression didn''t change even after receiving a huge sum of sect points, he straightforwardly asked, "Who is this person targeting us? And what exactly is this entric Ancestors Land? And why is this spirit herb of such importance to you?"

    Teng Zhe pondered for a moment before he deeply looked at Bai Ming, He slowly said, "Forget it. Since we have already reached this stage, it''s fine to tell you. Mystic realms are miniature spaces or specifically separate worlds of their own. Because human footmarks were scarce and essence energy was abundant in these separate spaces, it tends to give birth to many natural treasures. Within the azure''s boundaries they are all kinds of mystic realms, and these mystic realms are all controlled by the various great sects. At times there would be new mystic realms discovered, and at that time the sects would either engage in bloody wars or settle it throughpetitions to gain ownership over these unknown mystic realms. Extremely few humans ever existed in mystic realms. But there were many demonic beasts as well as naturally formed dangers. Exploring mystic realms was an extremely perilous task! And this Mystic realm was previously owned by that mad researcher, Tian Ji. And is said to have his true inheritance."

    Tian Ji, just like his title entric Ancestor was entric both in body and soul. His thirst for knowledge knew no bounds, it was rumored that during the beginning of his cultivation journey to just gain aplete understanding of a tier-4 pill he had painstakingly kneeled outside a tier-6 alchemist''s house for twenty-eight months straight without any meals or a drop of water. Later, the same alchemist not only did he teach Tian Ji about that tier-4 spirit pill but moved by Tian Ji''s perseverance he also took him as a personal disciple.

    In his middle years, he had already turned into a devil and butchered millions of people, both mortals and cultivators alike in the Northern Azure to learn the profundities of the killing path.

    But the reason he was known as the entric ancestor was because he was able to get past the normal limitations of life span. Typically, a cultivator''s lifespan before reaching the supreme mortal realm was approximately around hundred-twenty years. After one achieves the supreme mortal realm, they could at most live up to 220 years of age. Only when one reaches the Fate Grasping realm could one live up to 500 years of age. But It was rumored that the entric Ancestor who had only attained False God Realm cultivation base in his lifetime had already lived for  400 years. It was due to this he had the term ''ancestor'' incorporated into his moniker.

    "Fine, you can continue," Bai Ming absorbed all the information before he said inly.

    "As for the person targeting us, he is one of the fifteen elders of the inner sect, Elder Zhou Yi. A lighting path great grandmaster. You don''t have to worry too much about him, you just need to be careful of his disciples Su Yang and Su Yin, the blessed twins of heaven, and I have recently gotten news regarding him secretly training another brat. These are the things you need to focus on."

    "Don''t worry I will also arrange helpers for you, once you enter the mystic realm use them as fit, discard them if they are worthless. It''s totally up to you, about the spirit herb...there is no need for you to know anything, I''ll tell you its location and the procedure of storing it, remember not to spread the word about its existence or I''ll be the one to see you off from this world." In the end, Teng Zhe''s voice was filled with bone-chilling killing intent. His words were said in an unquestionable tone and had to be followed rightfully.

    "Yes, I understand." Bai Ming didn''t dare pursue it anymore, he was perfectly aware of when to advance or retreat. And now he needed to take a step back, if he didn''t the consequences would be detrimental.

    Teng Zhe''s gaze was piercing, trying to see through Bai Ming.

    The Violet ster grass was just too important for him. His chances of advancing to the divine astral realm in this lifetime hinged on this spirit herb and the only other person who was aware of the existence of this spirit herb in the mystic realm was Zhou Yi.

    Side by side, both Teng Zhe and Zhou Yi had once ventured into the mystic realm hundred years ago during the previous opening of the mystic realm. Due to a lucky encounter, both of them had obtained a pill recipe that provided them a 50% chance of breaking through to the divine astral realm. To refine the ''seeking astral pill'' the material requirements were vast, but with their status and terrifying strength, it was achievable. The only obstacle standing in their path to sess was the Violet ster grass which was considered an extinct spirit herb, but fortunately, both of them had already made arrangements for it during theirst visit to the mystic realm.

    At that time both of them had found this spirit herb after following the instructions written in the pill recipe, but at the time the spirit herb had still not matured and so they could only protect the spirit herb till the end of their time in the mystic realm and leave behind innumerous treasures to protect this spirit herb till the next opening of the mystic realm.

 Chapter 70 Sword Qi

    ?Swoosh!

    Bai Ming watched Teng Zhe leave, then his gaze fell on his dwelling which was in ruins due to the prior battle.

    "Hmm, now that I have replenished my sect points I''ll pay a visit to the Secretnd of Heaven and Earth." Bai Ming straight away flew toward the location of the secretnd.

    A few minutester, Bai Ming hovered outside an exquisite pce made up of snow-white marble. This pce was the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth, one of the Red lotus sect''s highly reputed treasures.

    Secret Land of Heaven and Earth is special and beneficial forprehending the myriad essence of Heaven and Earth, if one wishes to enter the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth, they need to pay 10,000 sect points to ess the pce, and they can only stay inside for four hours each time.

    ''So this the secretnd, let''s see what''s so great about it.'' Bai Ming thought as he stepped towards the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth.

    The two Golden-armored warriors walked forward to stop Bai Ming, they only let Bai Ming enter after he paid the entry fees. Bai Ming directly paid fifty thousand sect points in exchange for 20 hours time slot.

    "What on earth is stored in the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth?"

    Bai Ming strode into the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth with a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

    As soon as he entered, Bai Ming immediately felt besieged by vast darkness. There was only a glimmer of enchanting light ahead in the endless darkness.

    Bai Ming could not help but look at the captivating light.

    He was totally immersed in it. The glimmer of light unexpectedly transformed into a sword, which contained intangible sword energy, Sword Qi!

    Bai Ming was stunned, he knew that everyone could acquire high attainment levels as long one had enough time and diligence, but developing Qi''s and hearts were unfathomable, although he had supreme grandmaster attainment in the sword Dao, Bai Ming had yet to attain sword Qi.

    Since ancient times, qi was a rare form of mystical energy that was birthed from one''s intent, unlike the world''s essence. As it was birthed from intent it was an arcane concept, to cultivate or gather it normally was unheard of.

    It would only form from the natural environment or consistent exposure to certain events, such as from battles, life and death experiences, or one''s thoughts and beliefs or during the enlightenment phases, etc.

    "Hehe, I wanted to use this ce to finish learning soul path skills quickly. But, that can wait for the time being."

    Bai Ming drew out the high-grade treasure sword on his waist, the sword light started to driftˇ­

    One after another, the ethereal sword lights moved flexibly.

    Bai Ming then started to perform sportsmanship ording to his instincts.

    He performed one move after another. His sword moved naturally and wlessly like the unrestrained dance of a butterfly.

    Swish!

    The sword light shed and then disappeared with the wind.

    As Bai Ming proceeded to wield his treasure Sword, the sword light became grander and more massive.

    Every beam of the sword light contained an otherworldly essence, there wasn''t an ounce of spiritual energy in his sword but it was the birthing of transcendent essence.

    In other words, Bai Ming hadmenced the forming of Sword Qi.

    One strike after another, the ethereal essence only got firmer and more realistic.

    Bai Ming waspletely absorbed in his sword, his crimson eyes shone with myriad illusions as swung his sword in a trance.

    Suddenly, the momentum of Bai Ming''s sword became surprisingly fast, so much so that one could only see the flickering sword light.

    But, at this moment he suddenly became motionlessˇ­

    After a short while, the air around Bai Ming started to slightly ripple and his sword began to vibrate.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming very clearly sensed the power of the surroundings, as well as the attraction of the swordˇ­ Gradually, a trace of enlightenment grew in his heart as the speed of his sword rose once again.

    "The sword is the mind and the mind bes the sword."

    "The sword is the heart and the heart bes the sword"

    "The sword is the heaven and the earth its sheath!"

    Bai Ming muttered and the double-edged sword in his hand began to sweep upwards.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

    The transcendent energy wrapping the sword suddenly became incredibly condensed.

    Bai Ming raised the sword above his shoulders and shed it downwards.

    A fleeting sword light quicker than lighting itself followed behind the gliding sword and a gust of wind roared along with it. A satisfied smile spread across Bai Ming''s cold face.

    "I have atst formed Sword Qi! Too good, this secretnd is truly deserving of its glorious reputation." Bai Ming was full of praises and having formed sword qi was a great boost to his swordsmanship. It instantly granted him another 3ˇÁ power overall boost to his swordsmanship, if one were to add it together with his attainment and battle qi, Bai Ming had a total of 16ˇÁ power increase with a sword. And if he could acquire an ancient sword soul then his strength with a sword will be further amplified depending on the sword soul''s age.

    He had merely spent an hour inside the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth but already yielded remarkable benefits on the path of the sword.

    ''Good, now I know exactly what to do next. First, I''ll quicklyprehend the soul path skills with the help of this magical ce and then I''ll pay a visit to the fire temple and take lessons from the temple masters present there to improve my fire path attainment. After I achieve that I''ll return to this ce andbine my nine-hundred-year-old me essence into the self-sword formation and also enhance the firstyer of self-sword art and try to create the 2ndyer.'' Bai Ming pondered, and after a few dozen breaths he initiated his soul path training.

    .....

    At a mountaintop, a middle-aged man in crimson robes stood up with a dark expression. Purple lighting flickered in his eyes as he muttered to himself, "It seems you have also found a worthy disciple, he was not only able to survive the assassination of four yang realm cultivators but also managed to injure one of them."

    The man''s menacing gaze thennded on the ck-clothed figures kneeling before him.

    These four figures were the same assassins who had previously tried to kill Bai Ming, but now they were kneeling on the ground with fear evident in their eyes.

    Under Elder Zhou Yi''s terrifying gaze, their hearts throbbed wildly and beads of cold sweat dropped from their foreheads.

    But fortunately for them, Zhou Yi''s gaze quickly shifted from them, it seemed like he had already expected this oue.

    Zhou Yi slightly closed his eyes and spoke slowly, "You have failed to aplish the first objective, which isughable. But I shall forgive you considering that our target this time was Teng Zhe''s disciple, but now answer me have you at least aplished the second objective."

    "Esteemed elder, during the fight I had managed to get close to that hateful brat and deliver a palm strike at his chest which made him cough out blood, I swiftly collected it without wasting a single drop." One of the assassins quickly replied in a respectful tone, while quickly taking out a hand-sized jade bottle and respectfully handing it over to the elder.

    Zhou Yi expressionlessly received the jade bottle, he took one look at it before storing it in his storage ring.

    ''This should be enough..'' Zhou Yi thought internally, but his gaze once again turned stern as red back at the yang realm cultivators kneeling before him.

    His tone apathetic, "A bunch of trash, how can you be this ipetent? After all the efforts I have put into nurturing you morons, you''re still this useless. Unbelievable!"

    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

    "Elder, please be magnanimous and forgive our ipetence, we will surely prove our worth from henceforth. Only this time we ask for your forgiveness there won''t be a second time in the future, this we promise on our lives." The four cultivators repeatedly mmed their heads against the hard floor and started desperately apologizing till their foreheads bleed crimson blood.

    Zhou Yi smiled internally, but on the surface, his face showed a helpless expression. With a deep sigh, he spoke; "Stop dirtying the floor, I''ll overlook your ipetence once again.."

    The assassins immediately felt a huge weight lift off their chests, they were about to thank Zhou Yi but stopped abruptly.

    "But, you still have to fulfill a small task." Zhou Yi smiled as he saw their alert gazes and spoke nonchntly, "The task is simple, even a three-year-old could do it. Three days before the opening of the Ancestorsnd you merely have to collect 200 Yin-Yang corpses and at least two thousand spirit realm cultivators alive. If you fail, I will not only kill you but also refine all of your family members into mindless puppets."

 Chapter 71 The Blessed Twins Of Heaven.

    ?''Two...Two hundred Yin-Yang corpses within merely three months, oh god!'' The hearts of the four Yang realm experts immediately sank, their expressions unsure.

    Zhou Yi coldly nced at them and gave a cold snort, but his eyes suddenly lit up as an idea sprang up in his mind and he dispatched an inkling of his divine sense into a jade slip.

    One of the yang realm cultivators clenched his teeth and replied with a heavy heart, "Respected Elder, with all due respect this order of collecting 200 Yin-Yang corpses within just three months is...." the yang realm cultivator didn''t dare finish his words. His eyes warily looked at Zhou Yi, noticing the elder''s mild expression the cultivator garnered courage.

    "Gulp," the man gulped the saliva in his mouth before he spoke once again "..extremely difficult, even in the entirety of Tiannan province there are roughly 80-90 solitary Yin-Yang cultivators but since the elder needs 200 corpses we will have to kill people from other sects both righteous and demonic which is going to iparably difficult for us, but we will try our level best to aplish it."

    The remaining three Yang realm cultivators quickly nodded their heads in agreement, but their hearts felt heavier than a boulder. The possibility of them executing this mission without a single one of them getting killed was less than two percent and even that was exaggerated.

    "I know it is going to be a difficult assignment but this is your punishment for failing to kill that brat, but seeing that you have served me for many years I''ll give you an opportunity. As long as you can defeat Su Yang and Su Yin in a duel, you can reject the task I just gave you." Zhou Yi said with a slight smile on his face.

    At this moment, the soft pattering of footsteps sounded out from the distance. A set ofbored breathing was heard astwo figures, a twenty-year-old male and a female entered the chamber.

    They smelled of sex, the youth''s belt of his robes wasn''t tightened properly. It was clearly done in a rushed manner.

    The exceptionally good-looking youth with brown skin and light brown eyes quickly walked past the group of Yang realm cultivators without even sparing them a nce.

    As for the girl, she quietly trailed behind the youth, her cold face had a faint blush of red which gave her a vor of cuteness. Her clothes were slightly drenched in sweat making them tightly hug her voluptuous body.

    Both of them stopped when they were just two meters in front of Zhou Yi, sping their palms and they respectfully said "Teacher, you called."

    "It seems like you''re practicing diligently, good" Zhou Yi praised in a gentle tone as he examined his two disciples.

    "Thank you, teacher. After these months of dual cultivation with my cute sister, both of us have undergone transformations in our spiritual energy. My spiritual essence has be much more primitive and violent, and all of my me arts have undergone tremendous improvements. As for this little girl over here, her yin attributes have reached a fearsome ss of their own. And after incorporating ice bones into her body she is even able to exchange a dozen moves with the head disciple, without any need for assistance." Su Yang straightened his back as he informed and Su Yin bobbed her head in agreement.

    Zhou Yi patiently listened to Su Yang, then he showed a rather pleased smile and spoke in a mild tone, "It''s good that both of you''re training diligently, but do you know why I have called you today?"

    The twins exchanged nces, and Su Yin responded in her usual cold tone, "Teacher, please enlighten us."

    Zhou Yi smiled and told them the reason behind their summoning.

    ''So teacher wants to check on our progress, but we can''t kill them. This is no fun, sigh..'' Su Yang thought with a nd look, he felt some disappointment.

    "Teacher, has any of them attained the void phase." Su Yin asked coldly, to which Zhou Yi shook his head sideways.

    "Then this is going to be awfully dull, they haven''t even achieved the void phase how can they take on both of usbined." Su Yang eximed, he then slightly turned his head back and nced at the group who were still kneeling and coldly said,

    "Dickless clowns, you should stop wasting your time and just begin hunting down other Yin-Yang realm cultivators."

    ''Dickless clowns''

    The faces of the Yang realm cultivators twitched madly and the spiritual energy in their bodies churned violently.

    They had to kneel down and quietly endure harsh scoldings previously but that was fine because the one scolding them was a supreme mortal realm expert, but now an spirit realm ant dared to call them dickless.., it was unforgivable!

    ''Calm down, Calm down, he is the elder''s direct disciple I can''t be rash, have to calm down.'' The Yang realm cultivators quickly reminded themselves, they had to restrain themselves after all the boy in front of them was no ordinary ant, he was a king among the ants who had connections with a lion.

    "Huh? What are you looking at, do you want me to pluck out eyes and rece them with you''re chicken balls." Su Yang wickedly smiled as he fiercely stared back the group.

    ''Vulgar as ever'' Zhou Yi shook his head and his eerie gaze thennded on Su Yin making her feel a chill in her spine, who was formerly lost in thought as if she was imagining something.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Twitch, twitch''

    Veins emerged on cultivators'' foreheads as their bodies trembled with fury. However with the help of their unprecedented willpower, they barely managed to put on fake smiles and let out a few words, "Young master Su, please allow us to spar with both of you just this once."

    "Hmph!" Su Yang ced his right arm over Su Yin''s shoulders and beckoned with his left hand as he arrogantly spoke, "A bunch of fucking retards, bring it"

    Twitch!

    .....

    Inside one of the chambers in the Secretnd of Heaven and Earth, a lone figure could be seen dancing around.

    ''Third move of the ethereal swordsmanship!''

    Whoosh!

    A sword shadow immediately stabbed out. It seemed very slow, but the real speed was astonishingly fast.

    A beam of invisible yet frightening pressure instantly shot out from the tip of the sword.

    Suddenly, the glimmer of light disappeared within the enclosure vanished. Bai Ming was slightly stunned and nkly stared into space.

    ''I have run out of time?'' Bai Ming looked into the darkness, sighing. Wiping the sweat off his face, he sheathed his treasured sword and then turned to leave.

    Bai Ming walked out of the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth and saw dozens of inner sect disciples outside, he scanned his surroundings and directly sat on the ground, with eyes closed.

    After a short while, Bai Ming deeply exhaled and immediately stood up.

    ''How could individual''s resourcespare to the rich heritage of these behemoths, sigh. Joining the Red lotus sect was indeed a wise move, just those twenty hours inside the secretnd were equivalent to five months of hard work or more''

    ''Not only did Iprehend all the soul path skills, but I also had more than enough time to raise the grade of my Self Sword technique-Wrath from the peak of extremity grade to lower mystic grade. And that''s not all I was even able to create a closebat sword art, Ethereal swordsmanship which is just perfect for my body cultivation. How wonderful is that!''

    Next, without a moment''s break, he flew towards the location of the Seven Divine Temples of earth, water, fire, wind, wood, lighting, and Scarlet. He directly headed to the fire temple.

    There are five Temple masters in each of the seven temples. Temple Masters usually give lessons in the temples, sharing their understanding while also demonstrating some Martial Arts Techniques and giving disciples some advice. Disciples usually go there to improve their understanding of their respective elemental paths or to find answers to their problems inprehending the great Dao of heavenly elements. After receiving guidance, disciples might get enlightened.

    The temples each had five levels ording to the attainment realms, starting from the master attainment realm to the great grandmaster attainment realm. And the cost for entering each level varied.

    Bai Ming paid 60,000 sect points to take private lessons from a fire path great Grandmaster for sessive three hours.

    Bai Ming walked into the room, seeing the instructor had yet to arrive he sat down and closed his eyes to cultivate.

    It was not long before a master appeared. Bai Ming opened his eyes and turned to him.

    He was a middle-aged man wearing a Scarlet robe, with golden dragon patterns. He looked quite kind. He seemed to be an ordinary person without excessive tyranny, but when Bai Ming first looked at this middle-aged man, he found himself deeply attracted by the master, as if the man had something magical.

    ''A Supreme Expert'' these were the only words that came Bai Ming''s mind at the moment.

 Chapter 72 Combination Skills

    ?The middle-aged man sat on the ground and faced Bai Ming with a smile on his face.

    "Greetings Elder," Bai Ming stood up and greeted respectfully.

    The elder nodded and gestured Bai Ming to sit down as he spoke in a mild tone, "If I am not mistaken, you''re Elder Teng''s personal disciple right?"

    "Yes, Lord Teng Zhe is my teacher." Bai Ming replied politely.

    "Oh, is that so.." the elder''s eyes shone momentarily, "Okay, let us not waste time and jump straight right into it."

    The elder then started giving lessons.

    Since Bai Ming was a nk canvas in the fire path area, The elder had to begin teaching him from the rudimentary and gradually make his way up. What he taught were some concepts and experiences. He asionally performed a few movements with the me essence.

    Bai Ming listened intently, he asionally asked questions. Most of the time, heprehended the concepts due to his ridiculously highprehension talent and the elder''s superb teaching style.

    Soon, Bai Ming''s brain was crammed with myriad new thoughts and hypotheses about the lessons. He fell into deep reflection.

    After three educational hours, the man stopped teaching and signaled Bai Ming to leave.

    Bai Ming rose to walk out of the pce slowly. He was in deep contemtion.

    But suddenly his footsteps paused as heard the elder call out to him.

    The elder gulped a mouthful of wine and said, "Child, a word of advice from this old man. Would you like to hear it?"

    "Elder, I wouldn''t dare refuse please show this junior the way." Bai Ming replied politely.

    The elder smiled lightly and said, "I suppose this won''t be yourst visit to the fire temple."

    "No,"

    "Then, when youe for lessons in the future remember to only book the ss for a single-hour time slot."

    To this Bai Ming showed a puzzled look.

    The elder took one look at Bai Ming''s face and patiently said, "Even though you have an extremely highprehension affinity for the fire path, you were only able toprehend practically everything because the ss is in its elementary stage, the next time you visit here the things I''ll teach you will be a tier higher."

    "Even considering you''re top-ssprehension skills, If you were to book longer sses from now you will miss many of the finer details but that''s not all. It''ll also affect your attainment progress because of your inability to keep up. Which will not only burden your mind but is also a waste of you''re sect points."

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up, he politely thanked the elder before taking his leave.

    Bai Ming once again headed towards the Secretnd of Heaven and Earth, paying ten thousand sect points he booked a chamber for the following four hours.

    ''I have already gained immense understanding of the fire element, but I have numerous theories running a muck in my brain I need topletely absorb this newfound knowledge and capsulize them. I also need to develop my own viewpoint regarding that old man''s theories, otherwise myprehension will just be a second copy product of his, which isn''t the right path to tread on and this is the best ce to do just that.'' Bai Ming thought as hemenced his fire path cultivation.

    .....

    A massive boom echoed, followed by the sky splitting in half. One side was filled with a raging inferno to burn the world asunder, while the other was a fierce blizzard capable of freezing everything.

    Four miserable figures were sent flying hundreds of meters coughing out blood and ice fragments as they fiercely smashed into the ground like a meteor, picking up a cloud of dust.

    ? The four naked Yang realm cultivators painstakingly stood up, burnt marks and deep cuts spanned all over their bodies, the spiritual essence in their bodies was nearly frozen solid.

    "Are we done ying?"

    An arrogant voice resounded throughout the battlefield, the Yang realm cultivators secretly clenched their teeth and raised their heads to look at the blessed twins of heaven.

    High above the ground a gigantic pair of contrasting yet domineering dragons coiled around each other, one radiated scorching hot mes while the other emitted a profound yin arua.

    Su Yang and Su Yin were seated on top of the humongous dragon heads staring down coldly.

    "I said, are we done ying?" Su Yang snickered coldly.

    The Yang realm cultivators exchanged nces, and the next second their Yang realm aura suddenly erupted like wildfire.

    "We are not done!" With crazed looks on their faces the four of them moved in sync and formed a square formation, they curled up their fists before mming them against their chests and spitting out golden blood essence. Using the golden blood essence they swiftly drew an intricate symbol on the ground and madly poured their spiritual essence into it.

    "It''s the four crimson moonbination" Su Yin uttered softly, her eyes shined brilliantly.

    The Four crimson moonbination was a famousbination move of the second-tier Moon Light sect, which was exterminated by the red lotus sect nearly a hundred years ago. It could allow four cultivators who cultivate the same cultivation mantra to fuse their Spiritual essence into one temporarily, going into a state where all four work as one, regardless of defending or attacking.

    "Hmph! They have been leaching to teacher all this time, it is only natural for them to have a few tricks up their sleeve. But...is that it?" Su Yang''s gaze was cold, but his heart was rxed.

    "Don''t look down on it, we also need to go all out toe out victorious from this." Su Yin chided.

    Su Yang let out a grunt of acknowledgment, he was arrogant but not stupid. He quickly glided toward Su Yin and stood behind her, cing both of his palms on her plump ass.

    "Ahh!" Su Yin was startled, she wanted to reprimand Su Yang, But he quickly began transferring his essence into her body.

    "Quickly, they are almost done preparing. Let''s end this y with a grand spectacle." Su Yang devilishly whispered in her ears as his hold on her smooth buns tightened, Su Yin groaned softly but she quickly began focusing on the task ahead.

    Eight thousand meters away, two figures quietly hovered in the sky casually watching the ongoing battle.

    "So, what do you think of you''re senior brother and sister?" Zhou Yi asked inly as he observed the battle.

    "Weak," An cold and emotionless voice answered.

    Hearing this Zhou Yiughed heartily before he slightly tilted his head to nce at his youngest disciple.

    Dressed in white robes, whose face was covered with a red fabric. Even his hair had been wrapped inside. He did not show his eyes, nose, or mouth at all, appearing extremely bizarre.

    Moreover, his white robes were exceptionally spacious, so there was no way to discern whether he was a man or woman from the figure alone. Only from his boyish voice could one make out his gender.

    "That is because Zhi Yan, you are special." Zhou Yi stated with a slight smile on his face.

    ''Special, huh'' Zhi Yan sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he said in a tone filled with arrogance and hidden meaning, "Of course, I am extremely special. I am one in a million after all, one in a million."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Zhou Yi stared at Zhi Yan expressionlessly, he said word for word; "Zhi Yan, you do understand that I am the one who granted you strength right. You have only me to thank for your achievements, why don''t you thank me?" Saying this Zhou Yi paused. Zhi Yan was silent, a eerie silence engulfed the surroundings only to be broken by Zhou Yi''s muffledughter.

    "Hehe, I am just kidding. Now, go and make a good impression on your fellow apprentices. You''ll need them to obey you when you enter the mystic realm." Zhou Yi instructed, his gaze once again shifted toward the battlefield.

    Zhi Yan soundlessly vanished from his spot and speedily approached the battlefield.

    On the battlefield,

    "Huff, Done! The preparations are finallyplete."

    "Let''s see if these brats can be still so haughty!"

    "Hahaha..." The four Yang realm expertsughed, having unwavering confidence in theirbination move.

    At this moment.

    Hum~~

    Su Yin had both of her palms spread out, in the void above her soft palms an azure petal soundlessly floated in a circr motion. Thick white mes writhed out from the azure petal. The transcendent me burned the air until it became slightly distorted and illusionary.

    The group''s wildughter abruptly came to an end and beads of sweat immediately formed on their foreheads, they began shouting profanities in their hearts.

    "Idiots, did you actually assume you were the only people with abination technique." Su Yang mocked, but his eyes showed exhaustion. Thisbination move was the duo''s ultimate move, the expenditure on spiritual essence was tremendous and along with a high rate of consumption of mental energy tobine foreign spiritual essences.

    The Yang realm cultivators could feel the horrifying essence leaking out from the petal, it was enough to make their blood run cold.

    "Attack!" The Yang realm cultivators roared frantically, as they made a seal.

    Whooshˇ­

    A stream of Scarlet essence rose into the air from the golden symbols and spiraled wildly.

    Following, the second stream, third stream, fourth streamˇ­

    In a blink of an eye,rge numbers of blood-red streams were created one after another and converged in the air, creating a wild gale.

    These finger-sized scarlet streams pressed at each other and formed a deep red speck of light, the deep speck of light gradually inted, forming a head-sized bloody sphere. The Scarlet sphere seemed to have immeasurable depth in it as if the ocean was condensed into it, even the light around it was terrifying.

    One of the Yang realm cultivator held the scarlet sphere his hands, a mad killing intent radiated from his body when he looked at this bloody sphere.

    "Uneducated brats! Take this!!" The Yang realm cultivator''s eyes were bloodshot, he suddenly shouted and disappeared from his ce.

    The next moment, he appeared four hundred meters above the enemy.

    "Go and die!" The man let out a burst of crazedughter and flipped over his wrist; as if he was holding a thousand pounds of weight, he exerted all his strength to slowly push the scarlet sphere towards Su Yang and Su Yin.

    Following his movement, that small red sphere madly expanded and in several breaths of time, it had expanded to the size of a small hill.

    The twins looked at the pressing giant sphere and felt heaviness as if lead was poured into their bodies

    However, the corners of Su Yang and Su Yin''s lips curled up forming a smirk.

    Su Yin looked towards the sky, the sphere growing bigger and bigger in her sight, but her expression was a scene of calmness: "Sure enough like I expected, the four crimson moonbination is indeed is worthy of its fame. But it''s still not enough.."

    Su Yin unhurriedly pointed her index finger at the  crashing sphere, the ming petal stopped radiating energy and sucked in huge amounts of heaven and earth essence as it suddenly dashed toward the red sphere in a seemingly slow speed but was actually very fast.

    "Let me teach you, this is thebination move I and sister have spent two years of our life to perfect, it was specially made to fight against cultivators of higher realms. Today let us spirit realm juniors show you Yang realm seniors you''re true ce." Su Yang proimed his victory as he and Su Yin retreated back.

    The four Yang realm cultivators had bloodshot eyes and anxiousness etched on their faces. If they were to lose this confrontation, they would have to hunt 200 Yin-Yang cultivators the difficulty of achieving this task was extraordinarily high, and failure inpleting this task meant certain death for themselves and their family members.

    The horrifying blood-red sphere and the mystical ming petal were just inches away from colliding,  six pairs of eyes intently stared and braced themselves for the uing spiritual outburst.

    But the expected explosion never came, instead a figure dressed in white robes stood between the ming petal and the crimson sphere. This change made the participants open their eyes wide open till the point of their eyeballs popping out.

    Zhi Yan slightly raised his right foot and lightly pressed on the white cloud below his feet.

    The originally tranquil cloud crazily surged as clouds and mists burst out in blink of an eye like boiling water, and formed into a humongous vortex.

    The vortex immediately rose up like a giant opened mouth and swallowed the dark sphere whole.

    "This is?!" The Yang realm cultivators were shocked before turning furious. The blessed twins of heaven were equally shocked.

    Zhi Yan soundlessly made a grabbing action at the the petal as an eerie green light swept out from his hand and turned into a monstrous w as it tried to forcefully grasp the petal and crush it.

    The domineering w tightly held the petal for a few breaths before it started to tremble, the snow white mes on the petal engulfed the demonic w and right away froze it into a massive chuck of ice.

    Crack, crack..

    Spider web-like cracks formed on the w before it quickly shattered apart, the petal continued to make its way toward Zhi Yan.

    Zhi Yan''s expression couldn''t be made out due to the red fabric covering his entire face, but he was still soundless as he made a hand sign.

    Following his hand sign otherworldly green mes erupted from his entire body, and actually warped the void. He then waved both arms in attack, green wings suddenly grew out, these wings were covered with closely woven patterns that shone with glorious light and looked to be extremely terrifying in might. The dreadful green mes made their way into the wings and soon the wings were also wrapped in ayer of mes.

    A pair of hundred feet long zing wings detached themselves from Zhi Yan''s body and freely charged at the petal, the scorching petal was greedily captured by the pair of ming wings.

    Three breaths of time passed, a muffled bang was heard from inside the cocoon formed by the wings. The wings slowly deteriorated and the battlefield fell into an odd silence.

    Su Yang and Su Yin stared with extreme shock in their gazes and their mouths were slightly open.

    Zhi Yan waved his hands as the mes coating his body vanished, he faced the twins who were nkly staring at him.

    "Uhhh, nice to meet you I guess."

 Chapter 73 Zhi Yan...

    ?"Leave and remember three days before the opening of the Ancestorsnd you must amass two hundred Yin-Yang corpses and two thousand or more spirit realm cultivators alive. Failure will not be tolerated, I will personally kill you and refine all of your rtives into senseless puppets if you were to fail." Zhou Yi reminded as he coldly nced at the four battered and bruised Yang realm cultivators.

    The Yang realm experts had dull gazes, they barely managed to utter the word ''Yes'' and took their leave.

    Zhou Yi then turned his attention to his three disciples, he chuckled as his gazended on three spirit realm cultivators.

    Su Yin and Su Yang were seated in a lotus position recovering their spiritual essence, for the entire time their gazes never shifted from Zhi Yan who soundlesslyy on the grass as he faced the vast azure blue sky.

    "Teacher, is he actually our junior apprentice-brother? But why didn''t we ever learn of his existence before and why is he so...strong?" Su Yin immediately questioned, both Su yin and her brother had been under Zhou Yi''s wing for practically eleven years now and had been nurtured carefully by him, and in these years they had never once heard of this so-called junior brother. This whole ordeal was quite a shock to them.

    Zhou Yi saw the twin''s expressions, he awkwardly smiled and said with a sincere look in his eyes, "Both of you, it was not my intention to hide him from you. You are aware of how crucial this trip to the entric Ancestor''snd is for me. I needed to have a hidden ace and that ace is your junior brother Zhi Yan. As for why he is so strong, that is because he cultivates the ancient forbidden art ''Erosion qi mantra''."

    A silence unlike ever before was birthed. It was eerie and only the sounds of rapid heartbeats could be heard.

    "What!?" Su Yin''s eyes were wider than a full moon and her body slightly shivered. As for Su Yang, he had an incredulous look on his face.

    Zhi Yan slightly turned his head to nce at the trio before continuing to eye the white clouds drifting in the blue sky.

    Zhou Yi nodded his head speaking unhurriedly, "You heard me he cultivates the Erosion Qi mantra."

    Both Su Yang and Su Yin gulped.

    The Erosion Qi was known as a cultivation mantra from the ancient cultivation world that was exceptionally difficult to master. However, once mastered that person could be considered a king among other cultivators in the same realm.

    This mantra was considered to be one of the most cruelest and dehumanizing cultivation mantras even among those ruthless demonic cultivators. It requires one to fuse three types of energy. The first is a type of Yin essence, which particrlyes from absorbing the life essence of virgin female cultivators. The second energy is demonic qi, which is obtained by absorbing energy from the remains of the dead or extreme human emotions such as hatred and fear using certain harvesting methods. Although this is somewhat simr to Yin energy, demonic qi is actually quite different as it is much more violent and unstable. Those disciples in the demonic sects usually cultivate with the aid of Demonic Qi. The third energy is Heaven and earth''s spiritual essence, which is naturally present everywhere.

    Merging the three energies pushes the person to have to survive a trial to continue cultivating this technique. However, every morning the user suffers unimaginable pain, and every time they sleep they would constantly encounter hellish nightmares, even if they tell themselves that it was just a dream, it was of no use, as their mental stability would be forcefully altered by the dreadful erosion qi. They have to survive this heartless trial for a total of eight years.

    Only after having gone through this cycle of inhuman torture countless times can one barely control the erosion qi inside them and begin their cultivation journey. if one wishes to continue cultivating it, the chance of death is even higher at every breakthrough. ording to some calctions, the chance ofpletely mastering the Erosion Qi mantra, which is achieving the peak of the Yin-Yang void ream is less than one percent.

    Although this cultivation mantra is very powerful, it is simply too vicious. Only a few demonic cultivators were willing to try to learn it, and that too was mostly out of desperation. There are two main reasons for this, first of all, the chances of sess were extremely low, and secondly, the cultivator''s progress stops after reaching the Yin-Yang Void realm.

    From ancient times there hasn''t been a single person able to get past that point, at least there weren''t any public oral or written records proving otherwise.

    Both Su Yang and Su Yin maintained their silence for quite some time, numerous thoughts shed in their minds.

    "Why?" Su Yin said in a low voice.

    "Hmm," Zhou Yi''s eyes slightly squinted as he stared at Su Yin.

    "Why would he go to such lengths to cultivate?" Su Yin''s voice was low, but her gaze was filled with puzzlement, admiration, and even a hint of pity.

    ''Why? Foolish little sister, do you truly believe any sane person would practice such a vile mantra?'' Su Yang''s gaze shone eerily as he thought of this, from the corner of his eye he nced at Zhou Yi who was expressionless.

    Zhi Yan saw the cloud gradually sail away before raising his hand and gently stretching out his fingers. The warm sunlight slithered between his fingers and lovingly kissed his face, but Zhi Yan didn''t feel an ounce of warmth.

    Zhi Yan soundlessly sat up and faced Su Yin and looked at her staring back at him, he smiled in his heart and emotionally said, "Why? It''s because... I am Zhi Yan, a survivor!"

    .....

    One second, then one minute, after that one hour, and just like that time continued to pass by. Soon, there were only three days remaining for the opening of the entric ancestor''snd.

    In an enormous empty underground area, around ten to fifteen figures were present.

    "These are the ones who are going to apany you on this visit to the entric ancestor''snd." Teng Zhe said pointing to a group of peak spirit realm experts.

    Bai Ming coldly nced at them before ignoring thempletely, he faced Teng Zhe "Have you arranged it?"

    "Of course, but I have a condition." Teng Zhe replied as he raised his index finger.

    "Spit it," Bai Ming said with his hands behind his back.

    "If you want this Yang realm expert''s corpse, you need to kill him yourself. Otherwise, you can forget it." Teng Zhe said casually, as he beckoned the old man with white hair standing behind him toe forward.

    Bai Mingughed coldly at this, he didn''t say a word but a mad killing intent surged out of him as he unsheathed his sword.

    The other Spirit realm cultivators suddenly felt a chill in their hearts and unconsciously took a step back, Bai ming noticed this and secretly scoffed in disdain. They couldn''t even keep their ground against his sinister killing intent, how much aid could they really be in the mystic realm? At least Bai Ming didn''t have much hope, at most they could be used as low-quality meat shields.

    Teng Zhe nced at the old man and said cooly, "Kai Feng, if you want me to save your granddaughter you must go all out. Don''t show a shred of mercy and kill him the very instant you can. Don''t worry, I won''t me you if he dies. He may be my disciple, but if can''t even beat you then he deserves to die."

    Everything Teng zhe said he genuinely meant, if Bai Ming were to die in this battle he would not interfere. Why? Because if couldn''t even handle one Yang realm expert. How in gods name would he be able to actually face the famed blessed twins of heaven?

    Bai Ming heard this andughed soundlessly before his murderous gaze shifted to his opponent, this Kai Feng was an old man in his seventies, he had white hair and deep wrinkles and held a ck saber in his hand.

    "Are you ready..?" Bai Ming asked Kai Feng making sure he was fully prepared.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Yes," Kai Feng slightly nodded his head as he began speedily circting his Scarlet spiritual essence, the other spirit realm cultivators spectating were mildly surprised at Bai Ming''s words. They didn''t expect Bai Ming to be a person of honor, sensing his evil killing intent earlier they had already branded him as a bloodthirsty devil in their inner hearts.

    Teng Zhe immediately raised his eyebrows, he knew Bai Ming''s personality very well. There was no way in hell that Bai Ming would care about making sure his opponent was fully prepared, it just wasn''t his personality. But the confusion quickly vanished from Teng Zhe''s eyes and a light of understanding shone. And things happened just like expected...

    "Tsk, you didn''t let me finish." Bai Ming shook his head. His gaze was aze with insane fighting spirit, he raised his sword and pointed it at Kai Feng, and spoke indifferently, "I said are you prepared to Die?"

    "Hiss!"

    Hearing Bai Ming''s haughty words, the spirit realm cultivators sucked in a breath of cold air. A few of them secretly sneered at Bai Ming for his arrogance.

    ''He''s confident, this kid probably wants to test the limits of his powers and at the same time, he also aims to imprint an unforgettable mark on the hearts of these spirit realm juniors, very good! '' Teng Zhe smiled with much satisfaction in his heart, after many interesting interactions with Bai Ming, Bai Ming''s image in Teng Zhe''s heart was particrly high.

    Kai Feng stared nkly, it took him a second to regain his focus. The sudden personality change had left him baffled, but he quickly smiled and said, "Elder Teng had said you were really devious and a cunning individual, but seems like you''re just an arrogant brat who is wet behind the ear."

    Bai Ming smiled coldly and swiftly retrieved a formation from his robes before settling it up, with a buzzing sound the entire underground cave which was nearly 1800 meters wide was epassed by the newly improved tri-elemental self-sword formation.

    ''Self-sword technique-Inner me'' Bai Ming called out internally.

    Scorching hot purple mes erupted from Bai Ming and began crazily surging toward the heavens before jetting into his sword, the towering mes quickly got absorbed by the sword until the sword turned charred and started giving off pitch-ck smoke.

    Watching this Kai Feng coldly snorted as a thinyer of scarlet essence nketed his body, he raised his saber pointing at the heavens.

    ''Scarlet drizzle!''

    Thousands of fist-sized scarlet sabers manifested in the void above Kai Feng and began slowly spiraling.

    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

    With Kai Feng''s skilled maniption the sea of scarlet sabers surged toward Bai Ming resembling the heavenly tides of the blood sea.

    Bai Ming''s gaze was dull as he nced at the arriving saber rain before his eyes moved toward Kai Feng who was at the opposite end of the formation.

    ''Using long-range attacks will utterly destroy his corpse, have to opt for close-range attacks.'' Bai Ming mused.

    "You know old man this isn''t exactly arrogance...." Bai Ming''s gaze was dull as he said in a faint voice, his entire body was suddenly embraced by a thickyer of brilliant silver light.

    "Oh, tell me about it...huh?" Kai Feng had a victor''s smile as he amicably conversed, but halfway in his words got stuck in his aged throat as he witnessed Bai Ming suddenly disappear from his ce.

    Before even a second had passed, Kai Feng''s pupils had shrunk to needle-sized, as he looked with extreme fright at the charred ck sword hairsbreadth away from piercing his neck.

    He only had one thought in his mind-

    ''Impossible! My Scarlet saber fragments'' flying trajectories are incredibly profound and how could he see through it?!''

    This was Kai Feng''s final thought in life.

    The sword effortlessly made its way into Kai Feng''s neck before smoothly leaving from the back.

    Blood seeped out from Kai Feng''s mouth and throat, the warm liquid dripped down the charred sword and crashed against the hilt, Kai Feng''s gaze gradually turned blurry.

    Bai Ming''s expression was ice cold, his indifferent gaze stared at the corpse and said in an emotionless tone;

    "It wasn''t arrogance but confidence which stemmed from knowing the extent of my powers."

    Swish!

    Bai Ming pulled out his sword and waved it once getting rid of the loose blood and leaving the treasure sword clean.

    Plop.

    Losing the sword''s support Kai Feng''s body fell onto the ground,pletely dead.

    Bai Ming looked at the corpse before storing it in his bag of holding, he then retrieved the formation before flying toward the Teng Zhe.

    Just at that moment, Bai Ming''s forehead started to shine and a Crimson lotus appeared on it.

    Bai Ming felt a burning sensation on his forehead. He raised his hand to touch his forehead and his expression suddenly changed.

    Woosh!

    Teng Zhe suddenly appeared right before Bai Ming like the wind, he intently stared at the crimson lotus, and shortly after he said with a deep sigh, "Yi Yun, you have been cursed."

    Bai Ming''s heart sank to rock bottom.

 Chapter 74 The Curse Of Stubbornness.

    ?An hour before,

    In a spacious underground cave, the air was mixed with the odor of blood.

    In this dark ce, a thousand-meter-wide rune consisting of innumerable lotus symbols shone with a dim red light.

    Above the rune, there were two thousand plus cultivators both dead and alive. All the corpses were piled up forming a miniature hill, and for those who were still breathing, cold cknces were inserted all over their bodies preventing them from utilizing their spiritual essence.

    These people were very anxious, but they did not dare to ask anything. They stood on their spots without even daring to move a little, just like tiny whelps.

    The whole cave was deathly quiet out of fear; even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.

    ''Hmm, there are roughly around twenty-one hundred spirit realm cultivators and 106 Yin-Yang corpses. They performed better than I had envisioned.'' Zhou Yi mused as he eyed the human resources, he had already ced thest surviving member of his four-yang realm subordinates into the rune.

    ''Once the ritual is executed, that brat Yi Yun will not only be cursed with bad luck but we will also be able to pinpoint his location until he gets rid of the curse. Even though I am extremely confident in my three cute disciples but this way it is even more assuring."

    "Let''s begin the ritual" Zhou Yi muttered to himself before sending strands of his divine sense and spiritual essence into the rune.

    This process of pouring the divine sense and spiritual essence was quite specific; one moment, he had to choose a symbol in the southeast, and the very next moment, it would be northwest, and suddenly, it would be the symbol in the center.

    Soon, the rune started to give out unmatched crimson brilliance and then rays of red light shot upwards and gradually linked together and soon formed a blood-red lighthouse that covered the entire rune, including all the captives within.

    "Corrupt" Zhou Yi made a hand sign.

    At the very next second, those bodies trapped inside the rune were already beginning to show changes.

    "Whaˇ­ what is happening to me?!" All the cultivators inside were shouting in fright as they saw their skin and bones starting to melt ever so slowly.

    "Ahhh, it is painful, so painful!"

    "I can''t endure this, just kill me!"

    Soon, they fell to the ground one after another; some madly grabbed their skin and tore off their clothes, while others bent their body like shrimps as blood rushed out of their mouth, nose, and ears.

    Zhou Yi didn''t even spare them a nce as he busied himself with making hand seals. Su Yang''s gaze was cold like steel as watched the scene, Su Yin''s eyes were shut and her heart held an inking of pity for these cultivators.

    As for Zhi Yan, he peacefullyy on the puff of white smoke slowly orbiting the rune. One could only wonder what was transpiring within his unfathomable mind.

    Fifty minutes quickly passed as the miserable screams quickly came to an end.

    "Go," Zhou Yi finished his hand sign and drew aplex symbol in the air with his right hand. Next, he took out a jade bottle that held Bai Ming''s blood and emptied it by pouring the blood on the symbol before pushing the symbol toward the void above the blood-red lighthouse. After absorbing Bai Ming''s blood the symbol glowed with a demonic light as it floated above the blood-red lighthouse.

    The cultivators trapped inside the rune by now were refined into droplets of condensed life essence. These golden droplets shined like fireflies as they charged into the demonic symbol.

    ''Curse, Complete!'' Zhou Yi nodded inwardly before taking out an extremity-grade de from his storage bag, he stretched his forearm and shed, blood started flowing rapidly and he threw his own flesh into the massive symbol. A sizzling sound was heard and flesh was fully incorporated into the symbol.

    "Your turn, remember the greater the portion of your flesh you use the greater you''re sensing capacity. For example, once we finish this ritual I should be able to pinpoint that brat''s location as long as he is within a thousand miles radius." Zhou Yi said as he threw the de toward his disciples.

    Su Yang and Su Yin repeated the process and sliced a chunk of flesh closely resembling that of Zhou Yi''s cut.

    "Here," Su Yang passed the de to Zhi Yan.

    Zhi Yan held the de but didn''t immediately use it, he began to ponder.

    "We don''t have time to waste, quickly get it over with already." Zhou Yi inly expressed.

    "Fine," Zhi Yan replied in a detached voice and tightened his hold on the de.

    Not a secondter, both Su Yin and Su Yang stared at Zhi Yan with wide-open gazes, their hearts shocked at the scene.

    Zhi Yan steadily held the de against his waist and began grinding it against his flesh like a handsaw, dark green blood leaked out from the horrendous opening. The sharp de entered the meat as if it was cutting butter and made its way to the intestines and then the spine.

    In the quiet surroundings, the soft sound of a de cutting flesh could be heard. The entire time Zhi Yan didn''t let out so much as a grunt, and he seemed to be quite skilled at it. It was as if he was not cutting himself, but a wooden block.

    "What the fuck are you doing!? You fucking lunatic, there is no need to go that far! The ancestor''snd is opening in just three days, how are you going to recover from this before the opening of the mystic realm, you''ll only be a liability, think carefully!" Su Yin partially screamed at the top of her lungs breaking her usual cold fairy demeanor.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even Su Yang was having a hard time watching Zhi Yan, only Zhou Yi had his lips slightly curled up as he watched the scene.

    Zhi Yan who was still cutting himself slightly tilted his head to nce at Su Yin and said in a low tone,

    "Bitch shut up, I know what I am doing." Then he continued to shred his lower half.

    ?...?

    Back to the present, in another underground cave.

    Bai Ming''s face was darker than the night sky, he paced around for a while before taking a deep breath.

    Bai Ming faced Teng Zhe and asked, "Aren''t you a supreme mortal realm expert, is there really nothing you can do about this curse, at the very least can''t you find out its effects?"

    Teng Zhe showed a helpless look as he spread out his arms, "Little brother Yi Yun, do you truly think that Supreme mortal realm experts are omnipotent gods? We have our limitations be it physical strength, life span, and knowledge."

    Bai Ming''s gaze was still unsympathetic. Teng Zhe could only sigh internally, "Even though I am not well-versed in curses but generally speaking, curses are used to decrease the target''s luck. But we can''t be sure that it will be the case for you too, it could be a different type of curse for instance at specific times you may lose control over your spiritual essence or you might lose a few years of your life or something else."

    ''Bad luck, unmanageable spiritual essence..'' Bai Ming''s eyelids drooped as numerous thoughts whirled in his mind. The more he discovered about the uses of these curses, the deeper Bai Ming''s heart sank.

    ''Old Zhou, you hid deeply. Who would have thought that you had even delved into these obscure curses, can''t you..let your best friend seed just one time?... Damn you!'' Teng Zhe''s gaze flickered with a murderous light.

    "Okay, you are clueless about curses but there should definitely be others in the sect or cultivators in the Tiannan province who are knowledgeable about curses." Bai Ming said in a deep voice as he stared at Teng Zhe with narrowed eyes.

    "Are you doubting my sincerity? Hmph, you should already know how much this herb means to me." Teng Zhe momentarily stared back at the Bai Ming before continuing to talk, "Listen, young man don''t you think that I would have considered something like that already, there is a reason I said we can''t do anything about the curse."

    "Continue," Bai Ming replied with a deadpan expression.

    "The concept of curses is very obscure, there aren''t many individuals who are knowledgeable about it in this time of age. From my understanding, as of now except for Zhou Yi, there aren''t any cultivators within our Red lotus sect that are particrly versed in the art of curses." Teng Zhe replied in a single breath.

    "Okay, then what about outsiders?" without missing a beat Bai Ming pressed with a question.

    Teng Zhe sighed and spoke in a deep voice, "Of course, and I am also acquainted with a few of them. But that doesn''t necessarily solve our issue. To begin with, we only have three days before the mystic realm opens, and the likelihood of getting a hold of any one of these specialists within just three days is exceedingly low."

    "And even if we seed in getting hold of one such expert with incredible luck, we can''t travel outside at the moment. Every time the mystic realm is opened, famed lone cultivators, demonic cultivators, and even cultivators from the other first-tier sects would be lurking around the borders of our sect like hungry sharks. I am not just talking about spirit realm cultivators here, but Supreme Mortal realm experts who are escorting their juniors or disciples. Every time the mystic realm opens chaos erupts in the sect and not to mention we also have to look out for that old bastard, Zhou Yi."

    "Sigh, If it was just me traveling outside I could barely manage but having to travel while protecting you is going to be incredibly dangerous. It''s not worth it."

    Bai Ming frowned deeply, he paced around as innumerable thoughts churned in his mind,

    ''This is bad..wait! I can''t leave the sect but others can enter the sect right? Hmm, no if we aren''t willing to leave the sect because of the dangers, then why would some stranger take such life-threatening risks without adequate benefits.''

    ''Ah! I can use my teleportation formation to leave the sect, but.. this has more disadvantages. First of all, I would bepletely exposing the secret of my teleportation formations to Teng Zhe, he would definitely feel unrest with me possessing something like that. Secondly, it''s only a tier-4 formation hence cultivators above the spirit realm are unable to use it. The worst case would be that I teleport outside the sect alone and the curse nted on me is a tracker type, Zhou Yi can then easily use this chance to target me. And that is me ignoring the threat posed by the expert that is supposed to rid me of the curse. The risks are just too high, sigh.'' Bai Ming''s gaze was dim like water.

    No matter how much he mulled over he simply couldn''t think of a quick and doable solution. In the end, Bai Ming could only ept his helplessness in this matter and leave the issue for the future.

    ''No use in pondering about it, things don''t always have to go ording to one''s wishes. I am strong but I am not omnipotent, I''ll just appreciate this bitter charm of unpredictability until I be the supreme being among all the righteous gods and demonic overlords.'' Bai Ming''s heart finally returned to peace. However, the stubbornness in his soul roared soundlessly.

    Teng Zhe who was closely watching Bai Ming the entire time suddenly felt his balls sweat, a bad feeling welled up in his heart as he noticed the subtle smile on Bai Ming''s face.

    Teng Zhe valued this feeling as much as he valued his very life, he didn''t doubt it for a fraction of a second. He impatiently dered, "Yi Yun, you have already acquired what you desired. Since there is nothing more to discuss, I shall take my leave."

    Saying that Teng Zhe immediately turned around to leave, But....before he could even move an inch.

    "Hehehe, My dearest teacher what''s the hurry? Can''t you spend some time with your beloved disciple.."

    Bai Ming''s sweet and yful words slithered into the pitiful Teng Zhe''s ears making his heart shudder.

    Teng Zhe immediately rolled his eyes, the premonition in his heart instantly pierced the nine heavens, and he immediately felt a headacheing toward him;

    ''Ah shit, not this again!''

 Chapter 75 The Heart Of A Cultivator.

    ?In a dimly lit room, two figures were seated facing each other.

    The air in the room was heavy.

    Bai Ming''s eyeszily nced at the cup of tea in his hand.

    Teng Zhe intently stared at Bai Ming with a gaze like that of an eagle''s.

    ? Bai Ming sipped on the tea and nonchntly said, "Old man, I have been cursed and you can''t do shit about it. Quickly hand over the top soul art of the Red lotus sect."

    Bang.

    Teng Zhe fiercely mmed the table; he lowered his voice and roared, "Yi Yun! Don''t even think that you can keep on extorting me again and again just by knowing my one weakness. I am old and don''t have long to live, so at worst I will just give up on this opportunity and ept fate! Hmph, I can ept cooperating, but I will definitely not receive any threats!"

    "I won''t allow what happened that day to happen again! The first time I gave you one million sect points but you were not satisfied and came begging for more, you were already stepping out of you''re bounds then and now you are repeating the same mistake, you will surely regret it! You really think I can''t do anything to you, heh, don''t be so naive."

    "Young people these days don''t know the immensity of heaven and earth.."

    Bai Ming didn''t reply, his gaze was eerie as he let Teng Zhe continue to berate him.

    When Teng Zhe had mmed the table, his aura was astonishing like that of a dragon, but as Teng zhe continued to speak his aura gradually started to get weaker and weaker and in the end, he appeared to be in a deficiency of energy showingck of confidence.

    Only when he no longer spoke did Bai Ming leisurely smile and say, "Old man, don''t get so mad. I am indeed in need of that soul art, remember it was you who had informed me that there is a chance that the curse nted on me might affect my spiritual essence."

    "What will I do when my spiritual essence runs wild as I fight against those twins to seize the spirit herb and not to mention all the difficulties I have to face in the mystic realm, my hands are also tied in this matter. I''m a hundred percent certain that you are more aware of the dangers in the mystic realm than I am, Now tell me is my demand really unreasonable?"

    Teng Zhe snorted, and he spoke slowly, "You don''tck soul arts, I am aware of the fact that you had previously brought three soul skills. And even if your spiritual essence turns chaotic, you can depend on your superb formations and high body cultivation, am I wrong?"

    "But even if it is so, I still want to learn the devil hand soul art. You should know that if I can have learnt those mid-grade soul skills those twins can also learn them, but the devil hand soul skill is the only high-grade soul skill in the Red lotus sect and only those with the status of inner elders and above can learn it. I understand that you''re worried about the fact that if the news of you teaching me that art gets leaked you will have to pay a heavy price." Bai Ming said in an understanding tone.

    "Yes, since you understand that. Let''s not..." Teng Zhe''s words were immediately cut off by Bai Ming, getting cut off by a spirit realm brat made him cuss at Bai Ming secretly.

    "Old man, let me just ask you one thing." Bai Ming stared Teng Zhe deeply in the eyes, making Teng Zhe subconsciously straighten his posture. Bai Ming paused momentarily before continuing to speak slowly while maintaining deep eye contact, "Since when have you be so weak?"

    Teng Zhe was immediately taken aback, not understanding Bai Ming''s deeper meaning.

    ''Weak? Who me? I''m a supreme realm martial expert and he called me weak?...what kind of nonsense is that!?'' Teng Zhe scoffed in his heart.

    Bai Ming saw Teng Zhe keeping silent, his eyes shifting around. And Bai Ming instantly knew he seeded in catching Teng Zhe''s attention and making his mind wander.

    The next moment, Bai Ming''s voice rang in his mind:"Are youughing at my idiocy for calling you, a supreme realm grand expert a weakling? Laugh to your heart''s content but the fact that you are weakling won''t change!"

    Teng Zhe''s gaze shifted from the floor to Bai Ming once again, but his gaze wasn''t as menacing as it usually would be, itcked a sliver of rity.

    Teng Zhe saw the faint smile hanging on Bai Ming''s mouth.

    This smile made Teng Zhe''s heart chill.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Anger rushed through his mind, "This kid acts so calm, does he think he has me trapped within his palm?!"

    Bai Ming took another sip of the tea before crossing his legs and staring at Teng zhe with unconcealed contempt, he spoke in a tone filled with overwhelming arrogance;

    "Old man, how weak you have be. You have be so weak that you need to argue with a lowly spirit realm cultivator like me over merely a high-grade soul art, it''s saddening. These years, you have lived an easy life and have be ustomed to the righteous lifestyle, and it has corrupted your cultivator''s heart."

    "Just take a look at you''re rival Zhou Yi, what has he not done to achieve his goal. First, he sent assassins to kill me, that too within the vicinity of the sect. Then, he also went as far as cing a curse on me. He is training his two disciples, possibly three disciples with everything thing he has to offer."

    "But what have you done to seed, have you sent assassins after his disciples? No, you haven''t. Have you ced a curse on them? No, you haven''t. You haven''t done shit. I''ll tell you what have been doing. No, you were not being cautious but instead, you were busy being a coward. You''re so scared of losing your rich lifestyle that you have ustomed to, that you''ve be afraid of taking risks."

    "Strength is an incredible thing, but sometimes power corrupts people. Old man, you must have worked extremely hard to reach such a stage in your life but this very strength has corrupted your true self, you have befortable. Your desire to run after your aspirations and ambitions have grown weaker. With such a weak mentality, how could you ever seed?...you have lost already."

    The color on Teng Zhe''s face faded as it turned ashen, immense anger surging through his mind.

    Teng Zhe was really old, the youthful heart of his has been suppressed for far too long. Riches and danger went together. No matter which world, if you desired to obtain something, you need to pay its price. If it was a few decades earlier, Teng Zhe would have not minded but now he had his reservations.

    Did Teng zhe not want to reach the divine astral realm and once had for all surpass his lifetime bestfriend less rival? Of course, he wanted. But was he willing to stake it all or nothing for this goal? No, he wasn''t. With time he had gone soft.

    "Yi Yun, how dare you!!" Teng Zhe spoke through gritted teeth, his breathing was rough as he fiercely stared at Bai Ming with indignation in his aged heart.

    Those cruel yet factual words of Bai Ming had struck a sensitive cord in Teng Zhe''s heart.

    He couldn''t persevere to walk his original path, so he went on another path. This right here is one of the main distinctions between victors and losers.

    Bai Ming was emotionless; he did not say anything. The two pairs eyes of gazed at each other.

    Teng Zhe''s eyes were filled with anger, frustration, and helpless indignation. And Bai Ming''s two orbs were like crimson moons. These cold and uncaring eyes could not help but make Teng Zhe feel a strange oppression.

    Not long after Teng Zhe subconsciously turned away his gaze and looked somewhere else as he clenched his teeth.

    Anger kept on surging in his heart, but he didn''t know where or at whom to direct this endless anger on. He was at aplete loss.

    Soon...

    The pent-up anger in his mind had turned into deep frustration for his soul.

    Bai Ming leaned back on the chair and stared at Teng zhe indifferently thinking internally, ''Human nature is so fragile, even us cultivators cannot escape it. Hmm, if one can conquer his mind then the mind will be his greatest ally otherwise it can be his greatest enemy.''

    ''The y is over, it''s time to close the curtains.'' Bai Ming ced the empty teacup down on the floor, he nced at Teng Zhe, and spoke calmly, "Teng Zhe, reflect on what I have said before and ask the cultivator inside you what is it that you, Teng zhe really seek. And thank you for the tea, I''ll be taking my leave now."

    Saying that Bai Ming didn''t wait for Teng Zhe''s response, he quietly walked toward the exit.

    Taking a few steps Bai Ming stood in front of the door, he twisted the knob and opened it. But just before exiting, he said onest thing;

    "Ah, Ipletely forgot about it. Please get me an extremity-grade sword as well." Bai Ming gently trapped his forehead, but the wide grin on his face was evident for everyone to see.

 Chapter 76 The Mystic Realm Descends.

    ?The following day, Inside a private chamber in the Secretnd of heaven and earth.

    ''It''s done, I have mastered the Devil hand soul art, its attacking power and range are twice that of the concealed soul dagger technique. This is the qualitative distinction between the skills of lower and higher grades.'' Bai Ming thought as he swiftly stored the skill scroll in his storage bag.

    Just like Bai Ming had foreseen, Teng Zhe had personallye to his living quarters and ''gifted'' him the devil hand soul skill along with a lower-tier extremity-grade treasure sword out of his own free will.

    But that was not all that had transpired yesterday, Teng Zhe even went as far as lowering his proud head and humbly thanked Bai Ming for reminding him of the true essence of a cultivator.

    Bai Ming did not anticipate Teng Zhe to react like that, but at the time he quickly brushed it off.

    But after solely reflecting on Teng Zhe''s actions for a short while Bai Ming understood Teng zhe''s hidden intentions.

    Teng zhe''s actions were to give Bai Ming a form of assurance, Teng Zhe wanted to show that his opinion and intentions regarding Bai Ming had changed for the better after this incident.

    Toward Teng Zhe''s subtle maniption skills, Bai Ming was clear as a zing fire.

    Bai Ming knew in his heart that after he has fulfilled his use for Teng Zhe, he was certainly going to get killed. On this truth Bai Ming was clear as day, there was no other way.

    Why was Bai Ming so convinced that he would be killed by Teng zhe after returning from the mystic realm regardless of failure or sess, there are two selective motives for this.

    First of all, Bai Ming had continually targeted and exploited Teng Zhe''s weakness, he was certain that Teng Zhe loathed him to the core.

    But that wasn''t even the main issue, the primary issue came after Bai Ming returns from his mission. After serving his purpose as a foot soldier, Bai Ming would hold unnecessary information about the spirit herb, which he could divulge to other inner elders to reap benefits.

    As of now, only two sides are secretlypeting for the tier-8 violet ster grass, Zhou Yi and Teng Zhe. But if Bai Ming were to leak the news about the spirit herb to outsiders, both Zhou Yi and Teng Zhe will have to face greater pressure andpetition. They absolutely cannot afford to make such a foolish mistake.

    As for why Bai Ming hadn''t spread the news already, it was because Teng Zhe had yet to pass on the exact details of the spirit herb to him, hence Bai Ming''s hands were firmly tied.

    ''The day after tomorrow is the opening of the mystic realm and that old dog has yet to give me the exact details of the Spirit herb and its harvesting methods, he is probably going to inform me just minutes before the small world opens. But it doesn''t make a difference, since I never nned on obtaining the spirit herb anyway. What''s the use even if I acquire it, the oue won''t change, I am going to die either way.'' Bai Ming thought in his heart with a slight smile.

    It was the absolute truth, Bai Ming never once intended to help Teng Zhe in his pursuit. Bai Ming had deeply contemted his current scenario and concluded that it was best for him to stay far away from the spirit herb.

    As for leaving the mystic realm safely, Bai Ming had already devised a fairly decent way but after getting cursed by Zhou Yi the sess rate of his n dropped from 60% to 30%.

    But Bai Ming was willing to take this necessary risk, failure or sess he was prepared to confront it head-on.

    ''I aim to enter the core area of the mystic realm, where there is supposedly the true inheritance of the entric ancestor. If I can get my hands on this true inheritance, ah I can only imagine how smooth my path to the pinnacle will be.'' Bai Ming''s eyes shone with intense greed as he thought of getting his hands on the true inheritance.

    At this moment, the otherworldly light within the secret chamber dimmed out.

    ''I''ve run out of time, this is likely to be myst visit to this ce. It has been a blessing thus far, not only did I form my sword qi in this ce but after these three months of taking sses in the fire temple and repeated visits to the secretnd, my fire path attainment has also risen to the grandmaster realm. It''s a pity that I won''t be able toe here again, truly a pity.'' Bai Ming sighed in his heart before he strode out of the secretnd.

    The past three months have been nothing but a blessing for Bai Ming, he would daily visit the fire temple and take sses under a fire path great grandmaster before heading towards the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth to process the newly gained information and expand his awareness towards it. It was only due to these aspects that Bai Ming''s fire path attainment had ascended so quickly.

    And after achieving grandmaster attainment in the fire path Bai Ming modified his self-sword formation by fusing the me elements into it further improving its destructive prowess.

    That''s not all he had done in the past three months, he had also developed the second form of the self-sword technique. If it wasn''t for these two elements, Bai Ming couldn''t have killed that peak Yang realm cultivator so effortlessly andter use his body as cultivation material to reach the peak of the Yin-Yang void realm in body cultivation. After forming five crescents, Bai Ming''s natural physique was as formidable as a semi-high-grade magical treasure.

    Walking out of the Secretnd Bai Ming didn''t head to his residence. Instead, he headed in the direction of the Red lotus sects library. He had decided to gather information regarding the various demon beasts and spirit herbs. He also wanted to learn the history of the Azure cultivation.

    ????

    Time quietly slipped by, Today was the day of the opening of the mystery realm.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Morning, a bell rang throughout the sect. It rang eighteen times, signifying the mystic realm''s descent into the real world.

    Inside a secluded cultivation abode, Bai Ming held a piece of jade in his hand.

    "You can go through itter, the bell has already rung which means the mystery realm has already appeared in our realm space. Let''s depart immediately, the situation in the sect is going to turn chaotic quickly." Teng Zhe said in a slightly urgent tone.

    Bai Ming raised his brow and silently stored the jade in his storage bag. Teng zhe had made him wait till the very end before handing him the contents of the spirit herb and even now he didn''t let Bai Ming take a glimpse at it.

    Without a word, Teng Zhe stretched out his hand and grabbed Bai Ming and stepped into the void, and faded away.

    At top speed, they arrived in front of the mystic realm.

    ''So this is a mystic realm, but..it''s a bit too dark.'' Bai Ming intently watched the hundred-meter-wide crescent gap in the void. However, Bai Ming couldn''t see what existed beyond the passage.

    Then his cold gaze swept toward the dozen supreme realm masters positioned at the entrance of the mystic realm to guard the formations supporting the opening.

    The entrances to mystic realms were mostly not very stable. They had to be reinforced through array formations, or else it would be very easy to be swept away into turbulent spatial currents.

    Bai Ming noticed that majority of the spirit realm disciples had already entered the mystic realm, they were only around a hundred or so people remaining.

    Dozens of dreadful gazes suddenly gathered on Bai Ming, making breathing difficult for him.

    An ordinary middle-aged person about 40 years old, wearing a blood-red gown, his unfathomable eyes which held boundless might scrutinized Bai Ming as he questioned, "Elder Teng, is this your disciple?"

    Teng Zhe quickly put up a smiling face and said in a respectful tone, "Sect head, this is my disciple, Yi Yun. He entered the sectte, so he doesn''t know the meaning behind the bell ringing 18 times."

    This middle-aged man was none other than the red lotus sect''s renowned sect head, Yan Tian Zhao. He was a divine astral realm cultivator, a supreme powerhouse within the Tiannan province. The only cultivators that could rival his fame and strength within the Tiannan province were the three sect leaders of the other three first-tier sects.

    Yan Tian Zhao''s gaze made Bai Ming feel a chill in his heart. He quickly lowered his head and respectfully greeted the sect head before doing the same for the other experts present here. He quickly etched their faces in his heart.

    "Congrattions Elder Teng for finding such a good disciple. Child remember to follow your master''s teachings carefully and sess will soon follow in your footsteps." Yan Tian Zhao talked with a kind and encouraging gaze as he gently patted Bai Ming''s shoulder a few times.

    Bai Ming wanted to instinctively take a step back but forcefully stopped himself from doing just that, he couldn''t and didn''t want to act rude towards a grand divine astral realm expert.

    "Hmph, This disciple is really like his master. He''s kinda dumb, just like you were back then." A middle-aged man sneered, he was none other than Elder Zhou Yi.

    "Noisy!" Teng Zhe''s face changed slightly for a while. But then he ignored Zhou Yi and faced Bai Ming with a stern look, who was silent as a statue.

    Teng Zhe transmitted his voice to Bai Ming using his divine sense; "Yi Yun, I hope you will give your all for the task. Don''t worry once you return from the mystic realm I will be sure to remove the divine sense marker and thank you properly. Now, leave quickly."

    "Go, go, your teammates are waiting for you." Teng Zhe patted Bai Ming as spoke with an encouraging smile on his face.

    Bai Ming quietly nodded and took one nce at the experts before taking flight toward the mystic realm.

    "Senior brother Yun, you have finallye." A Group of spirit realm cultivators suddenly approached Bai Ming. These spirit realm cultivators were the subordinates given to Bai Ming by Teng Zhe.

    "Senior brother, we have already fallen behind. Let''s not waste time anymore and get going already." A youth spoke in a slightly hurried tone. The other spirit realm cultivators with him also agreed with this thought and stared at Bai Ming, awaiting his response.

    "About that, I have a better idea.." Bai Ming said calmly as an illusionary light flickered past his crimson eyes.

 Chapter 77 Entering The Mystic Realm

    ?Bai Ming took out six storage bags from within his Scarlet robe and tossed them at the band of spirit realm cultivators hovering before him.

    "The twelve of you form six pairs and enter the mystic realm. I''ll be going in alone, the storage bags I have allotted you contain a few life-saving treasures. But more importantly, they possess your future responsibilities, perform your duties to the very end." Bai Ming informed in an authoritative voice, he gave the group a stern look before darting towards the crescent crack in the void.

    Weng, a sh of brilliance wrapped around Bai Ming as his figure immediately vanished.

    The group of spirit realm cultivators stared at his fading figure with a nk expressions, before they began spewing vulgarities.

    ''What is he ying at? Why would he venture independently? hmm, I genuinely can''t grasp him sometimes.'' Teng Zhe sighed internally as he closely observed Bai Ming''s body disappear into the darkness of the void.

    The group of twelve spirit realm cultivators right away engaged in a heated discussion, their original n was to enter the mystic realm jointly and confront the dangers inside collectively.

    But Bai Ming''s actions had fully thwarted their n, now even if they wanted to chase after Bai Ming it was almost impossible to achieve it. Since people were randomly teleported to different ces after entering the mystic realm, the chances of them encountering Bai Ming were one in a thousand or even less.

    Just when their argument had reached the boiling point, Overwhelming auras erupted within the far corners of the Red lotus sect. The hungry wolves lurking within the sect finally began to bare their ws at this moment.

    "Holy shit, we need to leave immediately!"

    "Let''s just fucking do as he said. Whatever happens, happens!"

    "I agree, quickly pair up and enter the mystic realm while maintaining some physical contact with your partner, or else you''ll be alone when you reach the other side."

    "We know that, now get your legs moving already."

    In the end, the gang of spirit realm cultivators agreed to heed Bai Ming''s instructions. They formed six pairs and quickly entered the mystic realm while clutching their respective partner''s hands.

    A minuteter,

    Within the entric ancestor''s mystic realm was a 3-foot-long rift. Waves of ck energy were being emitted from it.

    The rift was rapidly expanding. In the blink of an eye, it was already more than 9 feet wide. The rift formed an arc, like the mount of a demon beast.

    At the same time, the rift suddenly started to grow. Waves of ck light came out of it, along with many strange energies. Soon, a young man wearing a scarlet robe calmly walked out.

    The youth nced back at the rift and thatrge rift behind him quickly started to close. In almost the blink of an eye, the rift disappearedpletely, leaving only the cold-faced youth.

    The cold-looking youth was none other than yours truly, Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming surveyed his surroundings, he was in an unfamiliar ce. It was a barrennd with spherical rocks everywhere, a field of grey.

    "This is a mystic realm, a small world?" Bai Ming looked afar, there was not a single soul within his field of vision.

    "The Spiritual essence here is quite abundant, even the great Red lotus sect can''t hold a candle to this ce in terms of purity and density of heaven and earth qi. But it''s also understandable since this ce is usually closed for a 100 years from the outside world, but what''s crazy is the difference between the time ratio of the true world and the small world."

    "A day in the outside world isparable to ten days within the mystic realm, it''s truly fascinating. The wonders of this world are truly above me, it''s times like these that make me feel insignificant but also d about the fact that I was reborn in this cruel yet beautiful world of cultivators where the wonders are endless and ordinary humans like me can walk on their own path and strive for immortality." Bai Ming''s gaze turned dreamy as he suddenly remembered his past life on Earth, he could only sigh. Those days of living as an ordinary mortal were far gone.

    Taking a minute to let his emotions quiet down, the focus in his eyes soon re-awakened.

    ''This ce seems quite safe, I''ll nt one coordinate here.'' As this thought appeared in his mind, his gaze flickered as he felt a change in the nearby void.

    Nearly a hundred meters away, another rift manifested, before just as quickly disappearing.

    From the rift a very fine beauty walked out, her skin was smooth like jade. She had long slender legs. Her bosom was ample and extremely captivating.

    She was obviously somewhat at a loss in the start, but very soon collected herself. And at the same time, she discovered Bai Ming and revealed a vignt expression.

    Fighting over treasures in the mystic realms, everyone was a hidden enemy. So what if you were from the same sect, so what if you were friends, so what if had the same teacher? Here, the most important thing was to protect oneself and reap benefits. There was no need to care about face and whatnot, here one could act as unrestrained as they desired!

    Of course, they needed to be prepared to face the consequences of their actions as well. Otherwise, they would be simply digging their graves.

    "Hm?"

    Bai Ming suddenly felt a shred of crisis and immediately unsheathed his extremity-grade sword in hand.

    The girl in the distance thought Bai Ming harbored killing intent towards her, immediately turning around to escape.

    BAM!

    A bizarre scene yed out; a grey rock "stood" up, smashing its fist ahead, and the girl instantly turned into meat paste.

    This was a grey-colored golem. It had shrunk its body earlier to conceal itself, as if it was an inanimate stone. But now it suddenly rioted, smashing a delicate flower-like beauty into a mush; the scene was somewhat tragic.

    The golem wasn''t huge, only two meters or so tall. Its head and limbs wormed out of its jagged body, which was also made of umted pieces of rocks.

    "Earthen rock golem," Bai Ming spoke to himself, as his eyebrows rose slightly.

    Heaven and earth had spiritual power that could birth all kinds of living creatures, several of which weren''tpletely made of flesh and blood.

    For example; Nightmare fiends, a creature that was birthed within the nightmares of demonic qi cultivators. Then there was the ''Manji'' race that was formed after nts possessed wisdom and many more.

    The one he faced now was an earthen rock spirit.

    The living spirits of the elemental paths had some things inmon; they felt no pain like normal living creatures and were very hard to kill. The special trait of an earthen rock spirit was its scary defensive power.

    After smashing the girl, the earthen spirit turned to face Bai Ming. Despite having no facial features, it still gave Bai Ming a feeling of being stared at.

    ''This ce may be a sacrednd for cultivation, but it''s also a dangerous ce. However, if I can subdue a few earthen rocks spirits, then I could use them to safeguard the formation coordinate.'' Bai Ming''s crimson pupils shone with a bright light.

    In the time Bai Ming was lost in thought, the golem charged over and fired a monstrous punch, breaking through the speed of sound. A visible ripple instantly formed behind the fist, with a chaotic burst of sonic boom.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Mingughed heartily, also greeting with a terrifying punch, and dered, "Haha, bring it on. Let''s see whose fist is harder!"

    Peng!

    The two fists shed as a shock wave instantly burst forth. The golem was sent flying, its right arm devastated.

    Bai Ming was slightly surprised. He didn''t hold back in this punch as he punched out with his peak Yin-Yang void real physical prowess, simply not using arts or battle qi. But it only shattered one of the golem''s arms yet not made the golem explodepletely. It could be seen how powerful the golem was and how tough its physique was.

    Against the golem, there was no need to hold back.

    Becauseˇ­

    The golem''s shattered arm turned into a multitude of tiny rocks that fell on the ground but immediately began rumbling as if it had its own life. When the rocks gathered underneath the golem''s feet, the rocks fluttered and attached to the severed arm.

    In an instant, the golem''s arm returned to how it was. The golem not only had a tough physique, but on top of that, it possessed a terrifying recovery ability.

    "Yaaang!"  A gap was revealed on the grey golem''s head as if cracking open arge mouth. Unleashing a furious roar; it had never suffered such a great loss, having its arm entirely shattered by someone else it was beyond furious.

    Teng, teng, teng, it sprinted at Bai Ming inrge strides, and with each step, the ground trembled slightly and deep imprints were left on the hard ground, showing its terrifying mass.

    It fired another punch.

    "Hungry for more,e here little one." Bai Ming chuckled and also fired a punch.Peng, the golem''s right arm was shattered again, and this time, Bai Ming didn''t wait for it to recover, pressing forward and firing a flurry of punches and kicks.

    The golem''s body was very hard, simr to the rare metals of upper superior grade. But the Earthen rock spirit was still somewhatcking in defense whenpared with a peak superior-grade treasure, which was simply a notch above it.

    After receiving a dozen hard-hitting moves from Bai Ming, the earthen rock golem waspletely shattered into bits and pieces, which were scattered all over the ground.

    However, these small pieces of rock immediately began rolling and rbining. Bai Ming didn''t stop it, but intently watched the process. When it was about to finish reconstructing, he fired a punch and shattered it into bits and pieces again.

    But it wasn''t long before the Earthen rock spirit began to rebuild itself.

    ''Oh, I get it now. It doesn''t have a true physical body that I can permanently harm, but...'' Bai Ming''s w immediately pierced through the rock golem''s head. When he took back his palm, there was a shuddering earthen core on it.

    ''Maybe if I refine this core I can make it submit, or is it better to ce a soul suppression seal on it?'' Bai Ming began to contemte, he was a bit worried that refining the core would lead to the golem''s death. And he didn''t want to waste his soul suppression seals needlessly, as they were limited in number.

    "Ang!" Without any prior warning, a deafening roar escaped from the golem''s core. Instantly, thepieces of rocks thaty on the deste field all "stood" up.

    They were all golems!

    "Fucking hell, it''s more than I expected." Bai Ming wasn''t surprised in the least, he predicted there to be more of them hiding. Since he wasn''t able to sense the golem earlier, how could he not consider the fact there were more of them lurking around?

    But what made him wonder was the fact that hended in a den of golems -was his luck exceptionally awful or exceedingly good?

    "Haang!" All the golems roared towards the sky, echoing one another.

    "Hmph!" Bai Ming grunted, with these many golems, he could organize a powerful brigade to protect the coordinates. Dreadful spiritual qi surged out from his body, he quickly pulled out a piece of glittering paper and firmly stuck it on the earthen core in hand.

    The earthen core trembled violently, a fierce battle erupted between the core soul and the soul suppression seal. Bai Ming sensed the earthen rock spirit''s futile struggle and immediately poured his divine sense into the seal future strengthening it. Almost immediately Bai Ming formed a close connection with the Earthen rock spirit.

    "Now let''s see," Bai Ming tossed the core aside and the golem once again recovered its physical body pretty quickly. But after rebuilding its body this time, it didn''t disy an ounce of hostility toward Bai Ming, instead, it appeared much more docile as it quietly stood behind Bai Ming like an obedient dog.

    ''The life force and healing ability of these spirits are truly a bit overbearing.'' Bai Ming thought as he ced his attention on the mob of earthen rock monsters.

    Peng, peng, peng, there were at least a few hundreds of massive golems charging toward Bai Ming.

    Bai Mingughed heartily and greeted them by firing punches wildly at these golems. His battle prowess was too terrifying, sending a golem flying with each punch, but these golems were only slightly injured each time, immediately charging right back.

    ''Just the right time to polish my fist techniques.'' Bai Ming thought as battle qi shrouded his entire being, during his stay in the Red lotus sect Bai Ming had umted and learnt various skills and techniques, fist techniques were also included in this list.

    Bai Mingunched the Golden garuda fist technique and nine shes of golden light shot out, evolving into nine humongous golden fist phantoms that rammed into those golems. He pulled no punches as his battle prowess immediately skyrocketed and dominated the battlefield, mercilessly crushing any golem that was touched into tiny rock fragments.

    However, this only suppressed the golems and couldn''t destroy the golems'' strong recovery power. They still reconstructed, entering the fray again and again.

    Bai Ming suddenly shed ahead like a bolt of lightning and used his hands to ruthlessly smash apart the head of a golem before plucking out its earthen core.

    Bai Ming swiftly poured his divine sense into the core and began refining it, while also sending out waves of golden fist phantoms toward the golem army.

    Bam, bam, bam, under the fierce barrage of gigantic fist phantoms the golems unsurprisingly were sent flying once again.

    "Failure.." Bai Ming hadpleted refining the core but unfortunately for him, after refining the core, the spirit inside the core hadpletely disappeared. Hence, the core now was nothing but an earth path resource.

    ''I don''t have many soul suppression seals on me, Hmm, perhaps if I can instill fear into them and then with the help that golem I subdued earlier, I might be able to make them work for me, I''ll give this theory an attempt.'' Bai Ming right away came to a decision and unsheathed his treasure sword.

    But at this time!

    The entire battlefield started to tremble violently, and the mob of golems cried out in dismay.

    ''What''s going on?'' Bai Ming was puzzled for a second before his heart jumped.

    Bam!

    The ground under Bai Ming''s feet suddenly grew and turned into a lump, Bai Ming was quick in his movements, he immediately shot up to the sky, narrowly avoiding the horrifying explosion below his feet.

    Bai Ming had not flown far away, he slightly turned around and looked, his pupils shrunk rapidly.

    Dozens of enormous beastly ws had gotten close to Bai Ming without him noticing anything. Bai Ming could not dodge it in time, he was firmly caught and the monumental w snatched him down at lightning speed into the ground, like a poisonous snake''s assault!

 Chapter 78 Fighting The Golden Yang Crab.

    ?Woosh!

    Bai Ming was caught off guard and forcefully dragged deeper into the earth''s surface by a humongous w.

    Bai Ming cursed before his eyes turned ruthless, he roared and mmed the beastly w with both of his arms.

    Bam!

    Spider web-like cracks formed on the gigantic beast''s w as its grip on Bai Ming loosened, Bai Ming didn''t let go of this golden opportunity and immediately charged toward the sky as a pair of majestic purple wings unfurled from his back.

    But before he could even umte a tiny bit of momentum, three more beastly ws neared him. And Bai Ming was once again caught struggling to break free from the beast''s firm grasp.

    Ding!

    Bai Ming opened his mouth and spat out his flying sword, he skillfully maneuvered it to strike at the beastly w but unfortunately, the flying sword could only create inconsequential scrapes on the w''s surface.

    The flying sword vanished from its position and materialized in Bai Ming''s hand, he raised the flying sword above his shoulder, the Spiritual qi in his body churned rapidly and an insane amount of spiritual essence assimted in the flying sword.

    "Haa!" Bai Ming''s face turned ferocious as he fiercely swung his sword, and just then the other two beastly ws that were looming around him swooped in and easily grabbed his arms, and mercilessly crushed the bones in his arms before turning them into a pile of bloody mush.

    Bai Ming''s expression didn''t change, but he felt his heart go cold as he lost every little feeling in his arms. His crimson pupils abruptly turned blurry for a moment, as he was ruthlessly tossed into the abyss.

    Inside the hole, it looked endless and was covered by correspondingly endless darkness. But the unfeeling darkness couldn''t obstruct Bai Ming''s hawk-like vision.

    In the endless void below him, two brightmps suddenly lit up. These twomps were several feet wide. Bai Ming spread out his divine sense and found that they weren''tmps at all but a pair of eyes.

    As Bai Ming neared the ground, he could see the creature below extremely clearly, but the scene made him suck in a breath of cold air.

    The creature below was a veryrge, crab-like creature. Its size was almost impossible to gauge. With just what he saw, it was at least 10000 feet long and 1000 feet wide.

    It had a golden-yellow exoskeleton glowing with a golden luster. There was a thickyer of bronze spikes on its imprable shell armor, it had a monumental pair of cheliped, like two golden yellow poles, stretched out from the shell. Next, there were at least a thousand pairs of chelipeds stretched out from the two sides.

    Its first pair of chelipeds was more fearsome than steel poles, a pair of pincers that could break mountains or cut a flood dragon in half!

    It''s remaining thousand chelipeds, although thinner than the first pair, they were still seven or eight times thicker and longer than ancient trees.

    "Golden Yang Crab!" Seeing this, Bai Ming spoke immediately, recognizing the true identity of this fearsome demonic beast.

    ''Golden Yang crabs are at the very least a 5th-grade king-tier demon beast or higher, how troublesome!''  Bai Ming''s expression was gloomy, as he crazily pped his tier 5 beast wings. With much effort and skill, he managed to avoid getting mmed against the hard ground.

    Without a second thought, Bai Ming dashed towards the exit, he didn''t have a trace of desire to sh against this monstrous Yang crab, at least not for now.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

    The Golden Yang crab coldly stared at Bai Ming and let out a low growl, before moving hundreds of its monstrous ws fiercely at him, intending to capture him.

    Bai Ming snorted and charged at them unhesitatingly, he was about to collide with one of its ws, when Bai Ming kept his wings and he descended quickly, narrowly avoiding one of the demonic Crab''s ws.

    Next, Bai Ming stretched out his wings and pped hard, flying up and darting for the exit.

    But before he could get any closer to the exit more ws came plunging at him, Bai Ming sighed internally before narrowly evading these unmerciful ws.

    Swoosh!

    But the second Bai Ming dodged it another w came right at him, Bai Ming couldn''t evade it in time, he focused all the strength he could muster in his right leg and viciously kicked out.

    Bam!

    Bai Ming was forced to retreat hundreds of meters back from the impact, while the beastly w was almost shattered beyond repair.

    ''This is bad, more of that, and my leg will give outpletely. This can''t continue any longer, I have to escape quickly.'' Bai Ming thought as his gaze drifted toward his right leg which was already swollen.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Spreading his beast wings, Bai Ming twisted and turned, circled, dived, and rose into the sky under the neverending attacks of Golden Yang Crab. Finding impossible opportunities, after a grueling fifteen minutes of nonstop evasion he finally managed to find a way out of the rain of attacks and near the exit.

    But when Bai Ming''s gaze finallynded on the exit his heart immediately sank, merely avoiding getting hit by the barrage of those vile ws required Bai Ming''s full concentration and focus. He never noticed that the only exit in this ce was already sealed off by an extremely thickyer of beastly ws, making all of his efforts go to waste.

    Bai Ming tightly clenched his teeth, but the coldness in his eyes only intensified and he fearlessly continued to forge ahead.

    Massive purple fireballs suddenly appeared in the air behind Bai Ming, He willed in his mind and dozens of fireballs carrying zing fire essence came crashing at the horde of beastly ws barricading the exit.

    This wasn''t merely an ordinary fireball attack, but it was an enhanced fireball attack that made full use of his nine hundred-year-old me essence, grandmaster realm fire path attainment, and also his battle qi. Even peak yinyang realm experts need to be wary when facing these lethal fireballs, if not they might just get reduced to ashes.

    A series of loud explosions rang out within the darkness of the underground, these explosions resembled the beautiful disy of fireworks.

    But before Bai Ming could even learn the results of the explosion, the Golden Yang crab let out an enraged roar. The pain from the fireballs made it go berserk, and it increased its attack speed by another fold and struck even more fiercely.

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up and without a moment''s rest, he continued to concoct more fireballs and fire them at the exit while also using his soul path attacks to very slowly chip away the beast''s soul, the soul attacks would temporarily stun the Yang crab as he continued to glide ahead.

    At this crucial juncture, the Golden Yang Crab which had be frenzied suddenly moved one of its enormous front pincers which wereparable to a mountain, and viciously thrust it at the tiny Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''splexion turned iparably dark as he watched the mountain of a pincer inch closer to him. He was incredibly close to the exit but at the same time he wasn''t exactly far from the Yang Crab either, there was no way Bai Ming could face the mountain of a pincer head-on but if he wanted to dodge the attack he must retreat far back which would once again widen the gap between him and the exit.

    Bai Ming had already suffered heavy injuries while approaching the exit once. However, there was no way he could afford it another time.

    But there was not much he could do now, if he were to confront the attack directly he would without a doubt be reduced to a pile of mush.

    Bai Ming hesitated momentarily before his expression turned unfeeling and he pped his wings and quickly retreated to a far corner.

    Bai Ming was silently standing with a cold expression, Scarlet blood fell in drops from both of his mashed arms as he watched the Demonic beast hurriedly rushing for him.

    ''Strength, I need more strength!'' He let out an indignant scream in his mind.

    Why was it that despite growing so much, he was still so powerless when facing the creations of heaven and earth, when facing fate?

    ''Then I''ll continue to grow, continue to be stronger, and stronger, and finally, I''ll be the strongest of them all!''

    As he roared silently, the Yang crab was quickly getting closer.

    "But for now, all I can do is gamble my insignificant little life, Hahaha..." Bai Mingughed maniacally as his divine sense entered his storage bag.

    Woosh!

    An eerie green light shot out from his storage bag, the green brilliance faded away revealing a portable formation.

    "Construct," Bai Ming uttered coldly, the ordinary-looking formationnded on the ground before the formation base began expanding rapidly.

    Soon, the palm-sized formation base expanded into a three-meter-wide circr te. Bai Ming dispatched potent threads of divine sense into the formation base, and with a buzzing sound the formation lit up with enchanting blue lights.

    "Sess!" Bai Ming almost shouted in joy at this scene.

    Bai Ming quickly stepped into the formation and after fully entering the formation he turned to face the Golden Yang crab and smiled nonchntly, "It''s been fun, but don''t worry it won''t be long before I kill you. For now, take care of your Yang core for me, ha-ha-ha.."

    The next second, the formation shed even more dazzlingly, the lights were almost blinding. However, the glittering lights quickly dimmed out revealing an empty formation.

    There wasn''t even a trace of Bai Ming left, he hadpletely disappeared...

    Boom!

    The Golden Crab''s mighty pincers mmed at the formation and instantly reduced the formation into a pile of forgotten scrap.

    The humongous crab diligently searched for Bai Ming but after a short while, it let out a few beastly howls and angrily scurried away.

 Chapter 79 Recovery

    ?Inside the fog was a marsh that took up most of the area, and under the marsh was a giant cave. There were numerous tunnels connecting the giant cave to smaller caves and tunnels from those caves to others. The entire underground area was covered with big and small caves connected to each other.

    Inside thergest cave, there were two youths dressed in the Red lotus sect''s official disciple robes, both of them were peacefully meditating.

    Buzzz...

    "What is this?"The youths stopped meditating as they stood up and swiftly retreated hundreds of meters from the formation, they intently stared at the formation with piercing gazes.

    The formation on the ground lit up with bright lights and sent a ripple through the air. Slowly, a ck-haired youth came out and, the moment he appeared, he released a burst of overwhelming killing intent causing the youths to involuntarily take a few steps back.

    Bai Ming revealed a vignt expression as he quickly surveyed his surroundings, his gaze filled with killing intent immediatelynded on the youths causing them to feel a wicked chill in their spine, but they quickly recognized Bai Ming, and a sense of relief sprouted in their vignt hearts.

    ''I don''t sense any threat here,'' Bai Ming coldly stared at the two youths who didn''t dare move a muscle under his overbearing killing intent, Bai Ming scanned his surroundings repeatedly before finally retrieving his killing intent.

    Once Bai Ming retrieved his sinister killing intent, the color on the faces of the youths returned. They slightly bowed and sped their hands in greetings to Bai Ming.

    These two youths were the few subordinates Teng Zhe had provided Bai Ming with. Initially, Bai Ming had ced zero importance on them, he had just seen them as meat shields to be used as fit. And to a certain degree, he even considered them to be a hindrance.

    But after pondering a bit, it all changed when he came up with an adequate use for them. Bai Ming was wise enough to hand them transfer arrays before entering the mystic realm. Doing this gave him anotheryer of security, but there were limitations to this brilliant method too.

    For starters, the transfer array only had a range of 100 thousand miles. Fortunately, when Bai Ming activated the transfer array on his side there was another transfer coordinate within the transferable range. The mystic realm''s nature is to randomly teleport people when entering, which was a great help to Bai Ming in a certain aspect.

    As for worrying about the fact that other cultivators might also utilize these transfer arrays was rather low, With Bai Ming''s calctive nature he had made subtle adjustments to these teleportation formations.

    Normally, Operating formations required one to infuse their divine sense into the formation to get it started. However, with these particr transfer arrays, things were a bit different as they only worked on Bai Ming''s divine sense. Of course, these wonders were all thanks to his grandmaster realm attainment in the formation path.

    "Both of you, good work. I''ll be sure to reward you handsomely for your hard work after returning to the sect, but for now, stay guard and don''t disturb me." Bai Ming praised the youths with a smile, before consuming a tier 5 healing pill and silently began recuperating.

    The two youths quickly thanked Bai Ming with satisfied smiles on their faces, they wanted to discuss a few things with Bai Ming but remembering his words, they didn''t dare to bother him. And after exchanging words internally with each other, they swiftly stood guard with even more vigor than before.

    Bai Ming secretly monitored their actions, seeing that they didn''t have any unwanted thoughts he rxed slightly. Of course, he naturally ced a dozen defensive formations around him, just in case. Even in his current miserable state killing them wouldn''t be all that difficult for him.

    Two hours quickly passed, and Bai Ming stood up retrieving all the defensive restrictions he had previously ced. With Bai Ming''s terrifying recovery speed aided by the astounding medicinal effects of the tier-5 healing pill, returning to his peak state within two hours wasn''t all that difficult.

    Bai Ming next spent some time digging for information from the two youths, but there wasn''t anything particrly interesting.

    ''Hmm, there hasn''t been any disturbance in this ce. Either this ce is pretty isted or there is an extremely powerful Demonic beast residing nearby, or it could be something else. But for the time being this transfer coordinate is somewhat safe.'' Bai Ming mused as he lightly tapped his storage bag.

    Bai Ming then read the contents of the spirit herb that Teng Zhe had given him before entering the sect, Bai Ming discovered that it was an extinct tier-8 spirit herb in the outside world, and he also learned that it was an extremely rare spirit herb.

    However, Bai Ming wasn''t familiar with the exact use of this spirit herb. But it wasn''t difficult for him to discern the tremendous value of this spirit herb.<novelnext></novelnext>

    An urge to harvest this spirit herb immediately sprouted in his heart. But Bai Ming quickly cast it away, he was already a target of Teng Zhe. Bai Ming didn''t yearn to be targeted by Zhou Yi as well when leaving the mystic realm.

    Bai Ming intended to silently leave the Mystic realm while creating chaos and shifting all the focus of those supreme realm cultivators on Zhou Yi''s disciples.

    After creating a great disturbance in the sect, Bai Ming would then utilize those newly bought tier-6 beast wings to escape far away from the Red lotus sect''s reach.

    For Bai Ming, it was best if Zhou Yi''s disciples could quickly get a hold of the tier-8 spirit herb, once that happens it won''t be Bai Ming running away from them. Instead, it would be the opposite. Zhou Yi''s three disciples would make an effort to stay far away from Bai Ming.

    To keep the spirit herb safe with them they would surely try their best to avoid confrontation with him like any smart person would. At least this was what Bai Ming believed to be the case.

    He then took out a blood-red scroll, he opened the scroll only to see an illusionary golden arrow slowly moving in a circr direction.

    Bai Ming bit his finger and dripped a drop of his blood on the golden arrow, the second his blood was absorbed by the arrow, it shook violently before the golden arrow melted into the scroll.

    Bai Ming patiently observed the scroll, and a pair of ck lips suddenly rose from the scroll. It wasn''t muchter, the pair of lips spread out and made way for a pink tongue with a snake insignia on it to slither out.

    Bai Ming''s eyes lit up, he quickly grabbed the pink tongue and ripped it off, then he casually tossed it in his mouth before he continued to munch on it.

    After swallowing the tongue, Bai Ming closed his eyes for a brief second before reopening them just as quickly.

    ''So, right now I am in the inner area of the mystic realm. The Violet ster grass is roughly 400,000 miles away from this ce. Hmm...'' Bai Ming stared at the ground as he thought secretly, this blood-red scroll was a treasure gifted to him by his so-called teacher to help him locate the spirit herb.

    ''Sigh, for now, I''ll just concentrate on removing the divine sense marker ced on me by that Old fart.'' Bai Ming made up his mind and took out another formation from his storage bag.

    Bai Ming had already made tons of preparation beforehand, he was a person who always nned dozens of steps ahead while ying the dangerous game called life.

    Even though Bai Ming was a hardcore opportunist at heart, at the same time he was a cautious individual who preferred to have things firmly in his control, and wouldn''t let his emotions get the better of him or his cold heated decisions.

    In this game of life and death, Bai Ming was determined to seed!

    Bai Ming spent the following few days inside the divine sense-eradicating formation, After the fourth day, the formation lights dimmed out as Bai Ming finally walked out with a slight smile on his cold face.

    ''Atst, I am free from Teng Zhe''s grasp. Hehehe, it feels good to be unrestricted. But it would have been better if I could somehow get rid of this problematic curse mark, maybe there is a method of getting rid of this curse in the core area of the mystic realm.''

    ''From my understanding, The entric Ancestor was a martial frantic whose thirst for knowledge knew no bounds, for his goals he even made life and death enmity with the five great powers of the Azure Cultivation world. Fearless and admirable, he was quite a character but it''s a pity that he still died in the end...''

    Bai Ming''s mind wandered for a second but he shook his head and quickly returned to reality. Then, he directly walked into the transfer array and vanished once again.

    He was going to y a crab.

 Chapter 80 Leaving The Cave.

    ?The formation shone with brilliant azure-blue lights, but the enchanting glow was only short-lived as the starry blue lights quickly withered away and darkness soon followed.

    Bai Ming slowly stepped out of the formation with a baffled look on his face, stepping out of the transfer array he quickly twisted his body and began examining the transfer array.

    Making sure there was nothing wrong with the transfer array, Bai Ming once again injected his spirit realm divine sense into the formation as he closely eyed the formation.

    However, the transfer array this time exhibited absolutely no reaction to the injection of Bai Ming''s divine sense.

    ''Did those teleportation coordinates actually get destroyed while I was activating the transfer array, it''s such an absurd coincidence; the formation did illuminate at the beginning, which implied that this coordinate had a connection with the other two coordinates that I had secretly ced in that giant Crab''s dwelling.'' Bai Ming had a disappointed look on his face as he observed the transfer array.

    ''Tsk, it''s such a loss, if I could have gotten the yang core of that rotten Crab, it would have surely been a tremendous aid while cultivating the Yang phase of the Yin-Yang void realm, what a waste..'' Bai Ming''s heart ached thinking about the loss he just suffered.

    The Yin-Yang void inner cultivation realm had three phases, namely Yin, Yang, and the void phase. The method of cultivating this specific realm was a tad bit different from the other realms which only needed one to umte heaven and earth essence to break through into higher realms.

    The Yang phase required one to absorb the yang essence and likewise, the Yin phase required one to absorb huge quantities of Yin essence. The Yin and Yang phases have four subyers respectively.

    Only after fully cultivating these two phases could a cultivator could fuse them and enter the Void phase. Only then would the said individual have reached the peak of the Yin-Yang Void realm and gain the ability to void walk.

    If Bai Ming could have gotten the Yang core from the Golden Yang Crab, even without refining it into a top-tier pill Bai Ming could have progressed to the secondyer of the Yang phase rapidly.

    But If the same Yang core was used by other male cultivators they would undoubtedly reach the peak of the Yang phase, this was because of Bai Ming''s heaven-defying cultivation mantra which demanded seven times the resources of normal cultivators. Of course, the payoff was just as terrific.

    "Tsk, tsk, no use in dwelling on the past, what''s done is done. Let''s just Forget the past and embrace the future." Bai Ming''s mindset turned for the better rather quickly, as then began pondering on his next move.

    ....

    Somewhere in the inner area of the entric Ancestor''s mystic realm.

    Three figures stood Inside arge hall that spanned over seventy meters. The hall''s roof was embedded with fist-sized luminescent pearls causing the hall to shine with milky-white light. As the walls were sparkling with bits of light, this exceptionally beautiful sight appeared to be caused by magic techniques.

    Su Yang and Su Yin stood motionlessly at the center of the hall. They were all staring in the same direction and spoke to each other with dark expressions.

    "The violet ster grass is not here, we were toote." Su Yang uttered in a low voice, his expression was grim.

    "But this doesn''t make sense, the teacher was really confident in the curse he ced on Yi Yun, shouldn''t Yi Yun be suffering from the effects of the curse? Then how did he manage to harvest the spirit herb before us?" Su Yin had troubled look as she questioned her brother.

    Su Yang nced at Su Yin and spread out both of his hands, he was just as confused as her.

    ''Why did this happen? Did they get rid of the curse nted on him? It''s unlikely, Zhou Yi was extremely confident about the fact that Teng Zhe couldn''t help Yi Yun in removing the Curse. Then why did this happen? Even though luck is not always omnipotent, but even if Yi Yun didn''t get killed due to his bad luck, he should have at least been teleported far away from this ce.'' Su Yang pondered silently, but the more he thought the more frustrated he grew.

    At this moment, Zhi Yan who was meditating on a pile of human bones suddenly spoke, "What if the person who stole this spirit herb is someone else?"

    The already quiet hall became even more ghastly, but Su Yang quickly broke the silence, dering; "The chances of something like that happening are extremely slim, the existence of this tier-8 spirit herb was kept deeply hidden by two people. And secondly, even if others knew the existence of this spirit herb, those defensive mechanisms ced here were not broken with brute force instead they were unlocked with proper methods, only a person who had precise predetermined knowledge about these defensive mechanisms would have been able to open them, not just anyone can do it."

    Hearing this Zhi Yan chuckled coldly and said in a disdainful tone, "Senior brother if this said person can find out about the spirit herb what''s stopping him from finding out about the defensive mechanisms?"

    Hearing this Su Yang''s gaze shone but he remained quiet, numerous thoughts rapidly churning in his mind.

    ''Wait! What if Elder Teng has another disciple..'' A cold light flickered past Su Yang''s gaze as this wild thought immediately took root in his heart.

    "Junior brother Zhi Yan, what you said does indeed make sense but what we need to do now is not waste time by bickering among ourselves. We need to first find Yi Yun and kill him, then we can search his soul to find out whether the disappearance of this spirit herb is rted to him or not." Su Yang spoke out, viciousness was deeply concealed in his eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ....

    A dayter,

    After finally Walking out of the underground cave, Bai Ming appeared before a thick forest that was verdant and lush, the foot of the mountain was tranquil and fog filled the ce.

    Bai Ming had already activated a defensive treasure to protect him tightly. He used all his concentration to quickly scan his surroundings and discovered that he had appeared on the waist of a mountain.

    Surrounding him were tall ancient trees, and his body could not reach one-tenth of these giant trees.

    Lifting his head, he calmly gazed at the sky through the opening between the lush green leaves.

    The sky was a tranquil greenish in color. There was a giant orb of red mes burning in the distant sky.

    Bai Ming took in this view, he did not know the exact location of the core area but knew that as long as he walked in the direction of the artificial sun he would soon reach his designation.

    While moving forward, he used his divine sense to scan around himself all the time, he even scanned the ground below and the sky above, not leaving any blind spots. The incident with the Yang Crab had made him realize his mistake, if it wasn''t for him being caught off guard Bai Ming could have actually in that demonic beast.

    After advancing to the spirit realm, Bai Ming''s range of inspection was future heightened to a whole new level. Not only did his vision and hearing had gotten enhanced, but he could also sense the slight tremors when he walked, and could also smell any odd odors when he breathed.

    Time flowed little by little, but this forest did not seem to have an end.

    ''Twenty minutes have already gone by, there seems to be something wrong'' Bai Ming stopped and reflected on his current scenario carefully.

    ''I have already been in the forest for a long time and have not encountered a single demonic beast. There are only giant trees or thick fog. Regardless of the distance I continue to move forward or move in any direction, things all look the same.''

    He then carefully flew up.

    The green sky waspletely empty; if he flew high up, Bai Ming would be very conspicuous and it would be extremely easy for him to be discovered by beast groups and get surrounded.

    Thus for safety purposes, Bai Ming had chosen to move along the ground. Right now, he took the risk to attempt flying, but the result was sadly disappointing.

    The higher up he flew, the denser the fog became. Finally, the fog became so thick that he could not even see his own fingers. There was no need to talk about the sun, once he flew up to the green sky the sun hadpletely vanished from his sight.

    Bai Ming''s divine sense was greatly restricted in this fog.

    Bai Ming continued flying for a while before he chose to be cautious and swiftly descended to the ground.

    Bai Ming continued to walk with a pondering gaze, as started to leave deep sword marks on the ground while continuing to pursue the sun.

    After another Ten minutes,

    ''The situation here, it seems like I am trapped in an illusion, that is quietly disturbing my sense of direction and obstructing my true senses. Unfortunately, I don''t have any investigative treasures to break free from this illusion.'' Bai Ming thought as he frowned slightly.

    "Hmm, What is it that I am overlooking?" Bai Ming questioned himself as he rested against a tree.

    But at the very next second, Bai Ming''s heart jumped as he suddenly heard a giggle right beside his ear.

 Chapter 81 Bewilderment Fog.

    ?Bai Ming''s eyes turned sharp, shing a murderously dreadful light.

    Slink!

    A silver brilliance slid across the air as Bai Ming instinctively swung his sword in a swift fashion, but the only thing the sword cut was the moist air beside him.

    "Who is it!?" Bai Ming questioned as callous killing intent red out, he quickly examined his surroundings, his eyes were like fine daggers looking for the slightest of irregrities.

    After waiting for a long time, Bai Ming still didn''t see any anomalies. But he didn''t let his guard down, if anything he hastily took out a few more defensive treasures and ced them on his body.

    ''Was it just my imagination...? I don''t believe so, it should be the illusion that is affecting my senses, not only is this illusion influencing my sense of direction but it also has this kind of ability, and not to overlook the bizarre fog which can obstruct my divine sense, such a strange ce.'' Bai Ming pondered while ncing at his reflection on the crystal clear de.

    This was the first time Bai Ming had ever been trapped in an illusion, Bai Ming had plenty of experience in dealing with all sorts of people and situations, be it in this lifetime or during his stay in the mortal world, Bai Ming had gone through a lot, he was someone who had seen both the ugliness and warmth of living. But what hecked were authentic supernatural experiences, and this trip to the mystic realm was all about surviving these supernatural trials.

    ''However, what''s really odd is that even with my grandmaster realm formation path attainment I cannot locate the root of this illusion.'' Bai Ming reflected deeply, searching for answers from his limited knowledge but most of his attention was still ced on the forest around him.

    After thinking real hard, Bai Ming still failed to figure out a solution. But he didn''t give up, Bai Ming began experimenting with a few theories that were aimlessly spinning in his mind.

    Nheless, none of them yielded the expected results, making Bai Ming a tad bit frustrated in beginning.

    But these so-called failures had their distinctive worth...

    As time went on the frustration in his heart only grew stronger, and his crimson eyes were soon drowned in a sea of tiredness.

    "I''ll rest for just a bit before continuing any further.." Bai Ming sat down on the patch of grass, as he let his mind rx. He was oddly exhausted.

    "Hehe.."

    Bai Ming''s eyes shed as he suddenly heard a faint giggle, but unlike before the sound came from a distant tree.

    Bai Ming stood up with a little effort, he gazed in a certain direction with a dull look on his exhausted face.

    A strong wind blew at this moment and the tree branches shook violently as thousands of beautifully shaped leaves rained down.

    As the leaves drifted down, a young girl unknowingly stepped out from within the thin nket of leaves. Her body was devoid of clothing, showcasing her bountiful breasts and a perfectly round and perky ass, it was truly eye-catching. Her body exuded an irresistible sensual charm, But as opposed to her alluring body, her pair of transparent pupils disyed the countenance of a fallen immortal fairy.

    Her pair of soul-catching eyes stared at Bai Ming''s tired eyes, making his heart beat quicker. Bai Ming''s expression changed greatly, the glint in his eyes was dark andscivious. Licking his lips, he took a step forward.

    The young maiden''s cheeks turned rosy, she shyly raised her arm and beckoned Bai Ming toe closer while she took a small step back.

    "Wait!" Bai Ming stretched out his right arm as he desperately ran toward the young maiden.

    "Huff, huff, huff..." Bai Ming breathed heavily as he relentlessly chased after her, when he saw the girl getting further away he let out an anguished cry.

    "l am here," a gentle and melodious voice suddenly wafted into Bai Ming''s ears.

    "Haa," Bai Ming hastily twisted his body only to see the naked girl shyly stealing nces at him while leaning against a nearby tree.

    "Please wait for me!" Bai Ming pleaded with a pained look on his face as he hurriedly ran toward her.

    When Bai Ming was just dozens of steps away from her, sheughed yfully as the lower half of her body slowly entered the tall tree behind her.

    "No!" Bai Ming roared with much heartache as he chased after her. When he was just a breath away from reaching her, Bai Ming tripped over a rock and fell down. But due to the momentum of the fall, he rolled ahead and harshly hit his head against the tree.

    "Uhhh" Bai Ming ced both of his arms against the ground as he tried to lift his tired body while facing the earth, the maiden''s gaze darted downwards to Bai Ming who was just an arm''s length from her.

    "Are you hurt?" The Young maiden asked in a delicate voice while bending the upper half of her body and extending out her delicate arm to help Bai Ming up.

    "Ughh" Bai Ming could only groan in pain.

    "Come with me and everything will be fine." The maiden whispered lovingly as an ominous glint flickered past her eyes. Her face turned demonic as she fiercely tried to snatch Bai Ming away.

    Slink!

    A ray of sharp silver brilliance made an exquisite arc in the air and met the Young maiden before the de smoothly glid across her neck, the maiden''s expression froze in terror as her head slid off her shoulders, and with a heavy thud, itnded on the grass before turning into a chunk of rotten wood.

    "Tsk tsk, so you were the culprit behind this ordeal.  Did you have you''re fun, huhuhu.." Bai Ming''s sinister voice resounded as he leaped backward to pull away from the Ancient Tree.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A cold and callous smile tugged on Bai Ming''s lips as he nonchntly brushed off the dirt on his robes.

    Everything that happened before was obviously an act meant to track down the source of the issue. The only authentic part was Bai Ming''s exhaustion, the tiredness he felt was real, but it wasn''t physical fatigue instead it was mental exhaustion.

    Bai Ming had felt it to be slightly strange when he previously began showing signs of exhaustion, with his spirit realm internal cultivation and peak Yin-Yang void body cultivation his endurance and stamina were beyond the norm.

    How could he start feeling fatigued after just an hour of wandering, that is when various doubts and wild theories started bubbling up in Bai Ming''s crooked mind.

    Bai Ming knew for a fact that he couldn''t possibly be tired, physically at least. Regardless, the presence of illusion and fog also yed a vital role in this scenario, as it really dulled his senses and ever so slightly altered his perception.

    Then hemenced testing out his various theories, one such theory was to figure out the actual cause of the sudden exhaustion.

    What Bai Ming did was, he first ced a formation on the ground, before he slowly began injecting his divine sense/soul force into the formation, after a dozen breaths Bai Ming''s experiments had yielded results.

    Bai Ming noticed that no matter how much divine sense he poured into the formation, the formation only lit up with dim lights but it refused to operate fully. What did this mean? It meant that either this ce prevented the use of formations or the divine sense being injected into the formation was being stealthily absorbed by an unknown force. Bai Ming immediately chose to believe the second half.

    Because greater consumption of divine sense which stems from the cultivator''s soul often leads to mental weariness, for example; one might be irritated quite quickly when their soul strength is low, they may even be frustrated and stressed easily, and in some extreme cases; cultivators might even have heightened murderous tendencies.

    And since this weird ce wanted him to exhaust his divine sense and be fully entrapped by the illusion, Bai Ming just decided to go with the flow to draw the snake out of its hole.

    "It was a fun game but now it''s time to move on, to higher andrger stages!" Bai Mingughed heartily as he raised his sword.

    Bai Ming''sughter came to an abrupt end as he noticed that all the thick and sturdy ancient trees began shaking intensely before the soil around them sttered to reveal numerous tree roots that seemed like gigantic human feet, quickly uprooted themselves and charged at Bai Ming with vigor.

    Bai Ming was unfazed as he faced them head-on, sending a shower of massive fireballs. But deep inside he felt slightly bitter as he had already an impulse of destroying the entire forest to get rid of the illusion in the very beginning, but he was worried doing such a thing would lead to unknown troubles. Hence, he decided to be cautious and go through the long route which inevitably led to his initial thought process.

    The huge trees moved their huge branches. Their branches were very peculiar, they were like soft and thick octopus tentacles.

    With a loud thud, a tentacle-like branch destroyed a fireball.

    With another whipping noise, a branch swung over, causing Bai Ming who was behind the fireball to retreat in a sorry manner.

    "Good, your strength ismendable. But not enough!" Bai Ming disyed unrivaled fearlessness as he again raised a fist.

    The giant fist Phantom ruthlessly smashed at an ancient tree on the side. The thick and sturdy ancient tree immediately snapped into two.

    Boom boom boomˇ­

    Bai Ming punched and kicked, the heavy punches and kicks shook the earth, stones flew, trees shattered into minute fragments, and the fog slowly started to disperse.

    Bai Ming was relentless in his attacks, he conjured hundreds of giant fireballs, terrifying fist phantoms, and also shed out with numerous dreadful sword rays that wreaked havoc like none other.

    An intense battle raged on.

    All sorts of attacksnded on the ancient trees''rge bodies, like a beautiful disy of fireworks.

    Nearly half an hourter,

    Bai Ming victoriously flew into the sky, his sight was now crystal clear.

    He saw this forest only had a range of a hundred li, he had been moving in a circle the entire time.

    Outside of this forest, he saw a scene abundant in nature and life; the wild beasts roaming around, the cries of birds and insects, the gurgling of streams, and wildflowers swaying with the wind.

    ''It seems this forest itself was special, it should be an extinct tree species. After the trees became sparse, this forest no longer has the bewilderment effect'' Bai Ming thought silently while storing a few of the ancient trees in his storage bag.

    When Bai Ming had just taken four to five trees, a dog-shaped demonic beast charged down from the top of the small mountain.

    Watching this Bai Ming smiled wryly, the bewilderment fog was taken care of, and now this ce was vulnerable to outside invaders.

    This meant that the formation ced in the underground cave wasn''t as secure as before, as outside threats such as beasts can now travel to this side of the forest. But if Bai Ming wanted to continue forward in his journey, this was inevitable.

    To gain something precious, one must first possess the heart to sacrifice something of equivalent value.

 Chapter 82 The Pitiful Desolate Azure Hound

    ?Bai Ming looked at the source of the growl and saw the dog-shaped demonic beast. Its body was asrge as a small hill, and snow-white fur covered it. Whether it was its head, stomach, back, tail, or its limbs, they were all covered with stripes that were emitting a faint blue radiance.

    Bai Ming scrutinized the beast and immediately recognized it, ''This is a Deste azure hound, it should be one of the mountain''s overlords. Let''s see how powerful the beasts in these mountains are. If it is weak, I''ll kill it, but it is best if I capture it alive and make it submit to me, then I can instruct it to keep guard at the formation site!''

    The Deste azure hound fiercely charged down from above and pounced at Bai Ming with malicious intentions.

    Bai Ming was not to be outdone and immediately punched and kicked, aggressively chasing the demonic beast.

    Their fight quickly escted throughout the forest and the Deste azure hound''s huge body steamrolled the lush forest, as the trees were toppled, protruding boulders were smashed and beasts and birds who had no time to escape were crushed into paste.

    Bai Ming willed mentally and eight lumps of massive purple me essence condensed in the void above them, but they did not crash down yet.

    Bai Ming and the deste azure hound were still engaging in a close-quarter brawl. The fight was fierce but the situation was not yet decided, the attacks moved so quickly that Bai Ming was not able to find the perfect opportunity to utilize the fireballs without injuring himself.

    Rumble...

    Dust flew up, Bai Ming and the demonic beast rolled down to the foot of the mountain before pausing for a brief second.

    The Deste azure hound immediately tried to lunge at Bai Ming. It raised its head and opened its mouth, revealing the snow-white canines that were as sharp as swords and long as halberds, and bit down.

    Due to the fall Bai Ming had managed to barely pull some distance from the demonic beast and create a chance for himself, hemanded mentally and the eight lumps of me essence that had umted enough energy mmed down ruthlessly.

    Bam bam bamˇ­

    A series of explosions resounded, the Deste azure hound furiously barked, its attack was interrupted.

    Its giant hound head shook in every direction, desperately flinging off the fireballs.

    However, Bai Ming obtained a critical opportunity due to this, letting out a vicious attack.

    Bai Ming pped his wings as a gust of wind blew and he swooped below the demonic beast''s abdomen before fiercely crashing headfirst into a crucial part between the Deste azure hound''s rear legs.

    HowlˇŞˇŞ!

    The Deste azure hound immediately let out an exceptionally painful cry, its giant body fiercely jumped like it had been electrocuted and hopped around in the lush forest.

    Bai Ming pped his wings, not giving the beast any time to recover. Moving nimbly like a fly as he threw down lumps of condensed me essence right at the giant hound''s vital areas like eyes, mouth, and anus.

    The demonic beast miserably bounced around everywhere but it was gradually not able to hide from Bai Ming''s crafty attacks and started to whine in pain.

    Demonic Beasts usually had extremely tough bodies and this particr Deste azure hound even had an innate defensive skill, making it a certified punching bag.

    But facing Bai Ming''s enhanced fireballs, its superior defense was not enough as injuries began umting all over his giant body.

    ''Hmm, just the soul suppression seal I possess won''t be enough to make it fully obedient. Since the ones I own are specially made to suppress human souls, for taming beasts one would need the beast-sealing stamps which are specially made to tame demonic beasts. Nheless, I can still beat it into submission and then ce the soul suppression seal on it to maximize the effect, but these methods still cannot match over control attained from employing the beast-sealing stamp.'' Bai Ming supposed as he made a quick hand sign.

    As Bai Ming performed the hand sign, the wind began to gather as tworge hands that emitted white light appeared. Swirls of light appeared around the hands and all of the clouds surrounding them scattered.

    The two giant hands rushed forward and grabbed the two rear legs of the Deste azure hound before dragging it down.

    The pitiful Deste azure hound had just jumped into the air but was dragged down before it could reach Bai Ming.

    Boom!

    The Deste azure hound mmed hard at the ground and roared in anger and struggled to get up, to pounce at Bai Ming again but the next moment, it saw a dreadful giant hand inching closer.

    The giant hand was powerful, and before it even reached the hound, thetter felt difficulty breathing as its heart quivered.

    The Deste azure hound wanted to dodge, but its rear legs were firmly grasped by two giant hands. It twisted and turned its body but still could not evade, the giant hand fiercely mmed at its face.

    The Deste azure hound howled miserably, its head was mmed to the ground so forcefully that it formed an extensive crater.

    Only after a dozen or so breaths passed, it was able to barely raise its head from the crater.

    However, the attack had caused its sight to be blurry, It shook its head, still not giving up on resisting, but the second giant hand forcefully mmed it at this moment.

    The Deste azure hound howled miserably again as anotherrge crater formed on the ground. It felt extreme grief and indignation, the enemy was powerful and also shameless, not giving it any time to react.

    Bai Ming coldly snorted as he noticed the beast''s firm resistance, but this only further intensified his desire to tame it. Bai Ming was aware that his luck was bit down after entering the mystic realm, which made him immediately contribute his current struggles to the curse mark stuck on his forehead.

    Strengthening the security of the formation was an extremely crucial affair, as Bai Ming''s very life could depend on it. Bai Ming simply couldn''t afford to bezy or overconfident in his abilities, failure in the mystic realm meant certain death.

    At the same time, at a mountain top two thousand meters away, two middle-aged figures sat on top of a thick tree branch silently spectating the ongoing with amazement evident in their eyes as they saw how Bai Ming was mauling the deste azure hound.

    The atmosphere was somewhat serious.

    "So young, but such overwhelming strength, he must be a disciple of some big shot." One of the figures spoke in a rough voice.

    "For sure, ...even with the three of usbined we can only kill that beast with some effort but capturing it will be incredibly difficult, but looking at him it seems like he is going to make it submit any moment." The other middle-aged man replied with a solemn look on his face.

    "Then, I assume we won''t be targeting him?" The man paused for a second slightly ncing at his partner, thetter simply let out a grunt of approval.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The former smiled wryly, and spoke in a regretful tone; "Such a pity, not only can he single-handedly suppress that demonic beast. That brat somehow even managed to get rid of the strange fog enclosing that ce, if you ask me he must definitely possess some kind of divine treasure at the very least, but it''s truly a pity, sigh."

    "You are right, it is such a pity." Thetter replied with an eerie light shining in his gaze as he intently watched the raging battle.

    "Aaahhh!" Suddenly, a very loud exmation sounded below the tree and the heavy breathing in the background subsided. It seemed that someone had an orgasm.

    "Motherfucker, break her vocal cords! Or do you want to alter the nearby beasts?" One of the middle-aged men coldly rebuked, as his eyes darted towards the ground only to see another middle-aged man humping a petite maiden, like a rabid dog.

    The young maiden''s crazed eyes were filled with lust, saliva flowed out of her tiny mouth, her body was devoid of clothing. But if one looked closely, they could notice that her fingernails had blood traces and they were even quite a few bruises present on her delicate body, it was clear that she was being vited while under the influence of an aphrodisiac or some kind of twisted spell.

    "Huff, fine I''ll keep her mouth shut." The middle-aged man spoke before he locked his lips with the maidens and continued with their passionate lovemaking.

    "Hmph," The two figures watching this snorted before shifting their attention back to Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming coldly sneered, deciding to increase the pressure.

    With a shift of his mind, giant hands separately grabbed Deste azure hound''s front legs and hind legs, then lifted it into the air.

    The Deste azure hound had been beaten into a terrible sight, its whole body was spread out in an unsightly way, while its four limbs were frequently emitting sounds of fractures from the ruthless grasps of the four giant hands.

    The Deste azure hound howled more miserably and loudly, As it was being raised up momentarily before it was forcefully made to crash against the hard ground.

    "It''s like punishing a child with a sledgehammer." The two male figures observing thought with a chill in their hearts.

    Bai Ming''s ruthlessness and strength terrified them.

    The deste azure hound was almost mmed into a slurry. However, it still opened its eyes with difficulty, and its gaze still carried extreme stubbornness and bone-deep hatred for Bai Ming.

    "Still not submitting?" Bai Ming also felt a headache, submitting to the strong was a wild beast''s survival instinct. ording to time-honored reasoning, the deste azure hound should have already submitted in front of such an enormous difference in strength.

    Bai Ming carefully observed and made a discovery.

    "So this Hound has gone into heat, at this period no wonder it is so stubborn. Fucking hormones, tsk tsk."

    He suddenly had an entric idea.

    Under Bai Ming''s skilled maniption, the giant hand phantoms changed again.

    The five fingers of a giant hand suddenly spread out, as if it was holding a bowl.

    From afar, the two middle-aged men looked on as this giant hand slowly moved down to between the Deste azure hound''s rear legs.

    The giant hand urately squeezed the male hound''s genitals!

    "Awoooo~!" The deste azure hound shook fiercely, it had been electrocuted twice. Its eyes bulged until almost falling out, as it madly howled to the sky, its voice filled with boundless pain.

    Squish squish squish!

    "AaawoooˇŞˇŞ!" The Deste hound howled in an increasingly loud voice.

    The two figures watched this with their mouth and eyes wide open, they were instantly overwhelmed.

    "Thi..thi..thisˇ­" One of the middle-aged stammered, unable to say a word.

    They understood Bai Ming was trying to force the demonic beast to submit, but this method was simply unheard of!

    Was it a lost ancient art or a forbidden technique? No one knew that is except for Bai Ming.

    The deste azure hound''s mental defenses were finally broken, and it fully submitted.

    But Bai Ming didn''t just yet free the poor thing from its misery, he was still not satisfied with the results. He made another hand sign, and the giant hand clutching the hound''s penis suddenly started turning red hot.

    "A-woo-woo-woo!!" The deste azure hound roared to the heavens from the inhumane pain, it was as if a piece of molten iron was directly ced on its delicate crotch.

    ''It seems I went a little overboard,'' Bai Ming supposed as he quickly manipted the giant hands to loosen their grasp.

    The scandaling pain was just too much, the hound onlysted for a second before it directly lost consciousness due to the sheer pain and copsed to the ground, motionless.

    "This is a good submission skill, the road of learning is never-ending." Bai Ming chuckled as he spoke to himself.

    Next, he used the soul suppression seal on the demonic beast, and unsurprisingly, the demonic beast showed zero resistance to it and Bai Ming swiftly gained full control over the demon beast.

    The two figures exchanged nces seeing fear in each other''s eyes, both of them gulped the saliva in their mouths.

    Suddenly a voice resounded from below; "Phew, my balls are empty. Hey, I have finished, you can take the wheel now!

    The two men heard this and once again exchanged nces, they immediately remembered the vicious scene from before, and immediately felt a cold chill, especially in the dark area between their legs.

    They spoke at the same time; "No need, we will pass."

 Chapter 83 Primordial Spirit.

    ?Five hourster, Bai Ming calmly strode out of the underground cave with hands behind his back, his cold gaze piercing into the faraway mountains, surveying thend.

    In the past five hours, Bai Ming forked out his precious time recovering his soul force to optimum condition, then he also captured three more tier-5 Demonic beasts and firmly instructed them to guard the formation with their very lives.

    Furthermore, he promised the two-spirit realm cultivators guarding the formation that after leaving the mystic realm he would grant them these four-tier-5 demonic beasts, of course, these words were only meant to further augment their morale and devotion to their responsibilities.

    Bai Ming''s fearsome strength was already etched deep in their hearts but after Bai Ming embraced the mask of benevolence, it only helped further elevate his image in their inner hearts.

    The only reason anyone would enter this precarious ce, by putting their lives in jeopardy was to earn befitting benefits. Benefits were fuels for cultivators that drove them to forge ahead and brave through the dangers of the world, without enticing benefits there was no inner fuel and the absence of inner fuel inevitably leads to eternal stagnation.

    With these measures set in ce, the safety of the transfer array was enhanced by a huge margin. Only then did Bai Ming finally feel it was somewhat safe to traverse the next 100,000 miles.

    But he wasn''t done just yet, Bai Ming turned to the entrance of the cave quickly setting up a tier-4 illusion array along with a bunch of defensive and offensive restrictions, he took absolutely no chances.

    ''Now I have done everything I can to safeguard this coordinate, if this is still insufficient then I can only me my bad luck.'' Bai Ming spoke internally before he twisted his body and began speeding toward the core area of the mystic realm.

    An hour quickly passed, and outside the underground cave entrance, three middle-aged male figures abruptly emerged.

    "What should we do? That person is definitely hiding some divine treasure in this ce. Why else would he ce so many formations here? And those demonic beasts he captured earlier are more likely to safeguard the divine treasures inside." The man standing on the left immediately expressed his inner thoughts.

    The man on the right took a few steps forward as he carefully studied the formation, after a long while he spoke in a deep voice, "These formations are not so simple, they are just tier-4 formations, but their mechanics are incredibly profound. Dismembering anyone of them without triggering the other is above my abilities."

    "What, even you cannot break it down with your great master realm attainment? This is not something that urs very often, but..this only goes to show that, this person has an exceptionally lofty status and something he is safeguarding must undoubtedly be divine." The man on the left spoke again, boundless greed had conquered his heart.

    "Then what do you suppose we do next, use brute force?" The man in the center finally spoke as soaring battle intent shone in his eyes.

    "Not yet, the formations here are set up in such a way that once we use brute force to destroy any one of these formations, the thirteen offensive formations set up will still get triggered and target the attacker at the same time sending out a barrage of deadly attacks. Even though we can handle it, it will still take out a lot from us and we will also need to worry about the traps ced inside and not to mention those ferocious demonic beasts inside, by then it will be too much for us to handle." The person inspecting the formation stroked his beard and informed in a deep voice.

    "Then what do you reckon we do next? I''m telling you right now, there''s no way I am giving up on this juicy piece of meat. Eldest brother what do you think?" the man on the left spoke in an unwavering tone before turning to the man in the middle.

    "Calm down, even I don''t want to give up on it. But let''s hear what the third brother has to say, then we will decide." The man referred to as the eldest spoke while stepping closer to the formation.

    "Hmph, second brother I have told you a hundred times already, that you need to get that greed of yours under control." The man inspecting the formations rebuked in a cold tone.

    He snorted in anger before continuing, "Entering, the cave as of now is unwise. I have a better idea, let''s bring some more people with us and then invade this ce, it will be much safer. Then even if that monstrous brat appears we can use them as bait and retreat safely. And if with heaven''s blessing, everything goes perfectly and we acquire the treasure, we will use our three-man formation to kill off those so-called partners we bring and keep the treasures for ourselves."

    The other two heard this and pondered for a short while before simultaneously nodding their heads in approval.

    .....

    Time flew by rather quickly. In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

    mes raged on the battlefield, and dozens of hundred-meter-wide craters could be seen everywhere.

    Bai Ming made a quick hand sign and a mass of horrifying purple mes materialized on his sword as he fluttered his wings and proceeded toward the diamond-shelled tortoise.

    At that exact moment, sixrge hands that emitted white light appeared. Swirls of light appeared around the hands and all of the mes surrounding them scattered.

    One of the giant hands grabbed hold of the neck of the diamond-shelled tortoise. The other five hands swooped down and firmly held the beast''s enormous four limbs and the snake-like tale.

    The diamond-shelled tortoise couldn''t breathe because of the tight grip on its neck, it started to struggle fiercely but no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn''t break free.

    Its futile struggle didn''tst long, in the blink of an eye, Bai Ming appeared on top of its head. His eyes flickered with killing intent as he ruthlessly impaled his sword into the Diamond-shelled tortoise''s skull.

    The demon beast howled in misery as the sword uncaringly prated its boulder-like skull and brought a fierypatriot along with it, the mighty mes immediately began to wreak havoc inside the beast''s skull. And within a breath''s time, its lump of a brain waspletely cooked into a fine delicacy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How nice of you to sacrifice yourself," Bai Ming unsympathetically mocked before retrieving his sword, he wiped the blood off his sword and sheathed it.

    ''It''s quite durable, it could take on the bombardment of my enhanced fireballs without suffering in the least, quitemendable.'' Bai Ming praised in his heart as he slightly knocked on the demon beast''s giant silver-colored shell.

    Bai Ming ced the corpse on the ground before ordering the giant phantom hands to rip off the formidable sliver shell from the tortoise''s back. Bai Ming quickly stored it before proceeding to dig out the beast''s core, he swiftly refined it with his divine sense and then ced it in his bag of holding.

    Bai Ming then retrieved a qi-returning pill from his pouch and swallowed it, he ced a bunch of formations before starting to undergo recuperation.

    As for the demonic beast''s carcass, it didn''t hold much value in Bai Ming''s eyes. And cing them in his bag of holding would eat too much of the space inside, for the past seven days Bai Ming has already hunted nearly two hundred plus demonic beasts, all of them were in the tier-5 range but he only stored two or three beast corpses, which he nned to sooner orter dispose of.

    Only beast cores were of value to him, at times he would also encounter mutated or extinct demonic beasts like the diamond-shelled tortoise, which would carry something that interested him. And whatever interested Bai Ming in the slightest, he snatched it.

    After a few minutes of recuperation, Bai Ming got up and retrieved all the formations before taking out the teleportation formation.

    Bai Ming looked at the formation with unsure eyes, taking a deep breath he ced down the formation.

    The formation base quickly expanded to its limits and Bai Ming skilfully injected his divine sense into it, after a few short breaths the formation still showed no reaction.

    "The 43rd failure..." Bai Ming gave a shortugh but his expression remained cold, as he quickly made a hand sign.

    A gigantic hand Phantom materialized and under his maniption, it started digging a hole in the ground until a thousand-feet-deep pit was formed. Bai Ming was constantly scanning with his divine sense, without taking another look he directly tossed the transfer array inside the formation. But unlike before Bai Ming didn''t spare any extra formations or demon beasts for its protection.

    In the past seven days, Bai Ming had already traversed more than a few hundred thousand miles. And after every ten thousand miles Bai Ming ced transfer arrays, but the number of times they proved useful was absolutely zero.

    All of the transfer arrays he ced would sooner orter prove to be worthless, he even captured a few human cultivators to safeguard these formations but it still proved to be fruitless.

    Nheless, they were notpletely vain. At the very least Bai Ming was now a hundred percent sure that he had been cursed with shitty luck. The number of times he knocked on the door of death in these seven days was at least dozens of times higher than the number of times he took a piss.

    But fortunately, even then he wasn''t in apletely hopeless situation. Of course, they were extremely difficult times but still manageable to a certain degree. Still, if he was any weaker, then without a shred of doubt he would have surely fallen into the abyss of death.

    Bai Ming quickly realized that even if an individual''s luck is dogshit it isn''t always the end, as long as one possessed adequate strength, nothing can faze them and one might even be able to reap benefits from it.

    ''A futile precaution but it''s still better than doing absolutely nothing, even though it has been proven to be 43 bitter disappointments, but if there is an ounce of possibility that it may save my life, I will do it without anyints. At least then, if I were to die, I would have tried my best. I can die without regrets, only death without regrets is a death worthy of me.'' Bai Ming uttered in his heart of hearts.

    After pondering for a short while Bai Ming still ced one single defensive formation, even though Bai Ming had priorly created 6-7 hundred formations, more than half of them were already used up and the others couldn''t be used needlessly. Because he would need them in the future when entering the core region of the mystic realm.

    Next, he quickly filled the deep cavity on the ground before darting forward like a bolt of lightning.

    Not long after, Bai Ming''s feet came to an abrupt stop as he felt numerous auras from a distance. He spread out his divine sense to the very limit and noticed a group of 6-7 hundred spirit realm cultivators slowly closing in.

    The scene of hundreds of cultivators on their flying swords startled Bai Ming for a moment, but he recovered almost right away and charged toward the horde of cultivators with a hint of excitement in his heart.

    Various flying swords and magic treasures shined in the sky like fireworks that were too chaotic to keep track of. This scene was something Bai Ming will never forget. After all, this scene was something that only appeared inrge-scale battles.

    Bai Ming carefully looked at the cultivators who were fighting among themselves, their expressions were vicious and extreme greed could be perceived hidden within their bloodthirsty eyes.

    Bai Ming''s unfeeling gaze quickly shifted from the horde of ravenous cultivators and settled on the tiny figure that was desperately trying to flee from the clutches of these hungry cultivators.

    Bai Ming''s indifferent eyes immediately narrowed as he stared fixedly at the tiny figure, and a me instantly ignited in his cold heart.

    The tiny figure was about the size of a grown-up''s fist, her build was as if she was carved from smooth jade. she was wearing greenish-blue clothes wrapped around her breasts and waist, and her delicate little arms and legs were tender white. She fluttered her pair of transparent wings as strenuously tried to escape, her small cheeks puffing in anger.

    ''Primordial spirit!'' Bai Ming eximed in his heart, his cold expression turned extremely heated. He licked his dry lips as unmatched greed red in his heart and a burning desire to capture this little fairy was awakened.

 Chapter 84 Devising A Plan

    ?In nature, under the right conditions, mystical creatures known as primordial spirits woulde to being but the exact necessities to birth these primordial spirits are still unknown, even after thousands of years of diligent studies and research by cultivators there hasn''t been much progress in this field.

    The only known things about Primordial spirits are that they are condensed forms of heaven and earth essence, more urately they are awakened life forms of the essence of the world itself. These Primordial spirits can exploit the naturally urringspiritual essenceand create wondrous effects.

    Primordial spirits are extraordinarily rare specimens, and whoever owned them would surely incur the greed of cultivators all over the world. Even in the Red Lotus sect be it the great elders or even the sect head as of now, not one of them owned a primordial spirit. But would they like to have one? Absolutely.

    And right now Bai Ming had one such chance in front of him to acquire something that even the grand divine astral realm experts would go to ''war'' over, it was too much of an allure to resist.

    Bai Ming pped his wings as he hid behind the veil of dark clouds drifting high in the sky, Bai Ming coldly observed the cultivators below who were shing with each other while at the same time closely chasing after the primordial spirit.

    Bai Ming''s mind churned with myriad thoughts as he covertly followed after the primordial spirit;

    ''Four hundred plus peak spirit realm cultivators, 276 quasi Yin-Yang void cultivators. But the truly troublesome ones are the four spirit realm brats leading the pursuit, the four of them are true disciples just like me.''

    ''Even though these four brats seem to be struggling to get their hands on the primordial spirit but that isn''t actually the case. The primordial spirit seems to have speedparable to initial yin-yang realm experts. However, it is far from enough to gain an edge over these true disciples.''

    ''Firstly, the true disciples are wary of each other hence they are holding back their strength. Secondly, if they were to go all out fighting each other, the other spirit realm cultivators trailing behind them would be foolish not to take advantage of the situation. Thirdly, these true disciples are also on guard for unexpected threats covertly looming in the area like myself. If my guess is right, they are waiting for a huge disruption to transpire, and at that juncture, these true disciples would burst out fiercely.''

    ''Hmm, even if they go all out I am sure I can outss them in the speed department, but the moment I get a hold of the primordial spirit, it''s guaranteed that all of them will coborate and bombard me without holding anything back.''

    ''Even with my top-tier spirit realm battle strength, I should avoid being the center of attention, so that the crowd would not attack me together. I need to strategize, only a fool would charge head-on.''

    Bai Ming made his tactics.

    Although he had high battle strength, there were many nearly 700 spirit realm cultivators present, he could not fight them together. Of course, he was not stupid enough to attempt doing that anyway.

    Bai Ming halted his momentum, he quickly removed the Red lotus sect''s official clothing and wrapped himself in ck clothing from head to toe. Next, Bai Ming called his beast wings back into his body. Then he spat out his superior-grade flying sword, the flying sword teleported and appeared under his feet.

    Bai Ming then darted toward therge crowd, Bai Ming was quiet in his actions. He silently moved around in the crowd as he covertly ced divine sense markers on these cultivators, he made sure to not gain any unnecessary attention.

    Even when someone attacked him, he would go on the defensive and quickly change his position. After cing divine sense markers on nearly fifty-plus cultivators, Bai Ming then inconspicuously made his way out.

    Afterward, Bai Ming patiently waited for the horde of cultivators to travel a couple of miles ahead, then Bai Ming made a few hand signs and summoned a dozen giant hand phantoms and instructed them to construct a huge underground cave.

    At the same time, Bai Ming took out a formation from his storage bag and began modifying the formation. After a dozen breaths, he was done altering the formation.

    Then Bai Ming made a few more hand signs creating another set of phantom hands to help with the digging. After a whole minute had departed, there was a 3000-meter-wide empty area deep within the earth''s surface.

    Then Bai Ming ced the altered transfer array down and surrounded it with a hundred defensive and offensive formations!

    Next, he took flight and hurriedly nketed the conspicuous hole with a basic earth path technique that he hadprehended during his stay in the Red lotus sect.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The base elements skill book that he had previously bought in the sect, contained fundamental guidance and basic skills of the five base elements. Bai Ming had thoroughly done his homework, he was a firm believer in both smart work and hard work.

    After making sure nothing looked out of ce, Bai Ming pondered for a second before taking out the corpses of the few tier-5 demonic beasts that he had stored in his bag of holding.

    He quickly ced the corpses on the ground, two corpses were ced face to face while the third one was dragged and then ced a thousand meters away from them.

    The corpses of demonic beasts were ced here to deter other beasts or human cultivators from simply entering this ce, even if the corpses couldn''t prevent others from entering this ce, at the very least it can waste a bit of their time, this was simply an act done on the fly.

    Bai Ming then gave the ce a quick nce before he took flight, flying into the dark clouds Bai Ming began to head in the direction of the primordial spirit while using his soul to sense the location of the divine sense markers he ced before.

    Not muchter, Bai Ming caught up with the army of cultivators but he had no intentions of joining them this time around, he only wished to reanalyze the current situation of this hunt.

    ''It''s still too soon for things to get serious here, it''s perfect for me.'' Bai Ming thought silently, then he continued to fly straight ahead at his full speed leaving behind the crowd.

    After flying for another hundred miles Bai Ming dropped to the ground. Making a bunch of quick hand signs while carefully scanning the area, he inwardly let out a sigh of relief seeing everything was normal for the time being.

    ''It should take them slightly over two minutes to reach this ce, it''s more than enough.'' Bai Ming thought as tapped his bag of holding, hundreds of low-grade flying swords appeared before Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming used his divine sense and skillfully maneuvered the flying swords to form a vortex, he used the sword vortex to drill a massive hole in the ground.

    Then under Bai Ming''s will, the giant hand phantoms entered the hole, and just like earlier, they started to excavate a 3000-meter-wide ce under the earth''s surface.

    A minuteter Bai Ming dove into the hole before sealing the entrance, then he quickly ced down another transfer array. After Bai Ming''s modifications to the array, the formation base extend till it almost covered the entire underground pce, only leaving a tiny area for Bai Ming to hover.

    Now was the moment of truth, Bai Ming took a deep breath as he began to inject his divine sense into the formation.

    ''It has to react, I have ced too many defensive mechanisms this time around, and it''s only been like three minutes since I ced that transfer array, it possibly couldn''t be destroyed so quickly. But if does fail, it will be troublesome but I''ll just think of something else, giving up is not an option.'' Thinking of this the little unrest in Bai Ming''s heart vanished like thin smoke, his eyes were tranquil as started at the formation.

    Just a secondter, a trace of a smile appeared on Bai Ming''s face as watched the formation lit up. But Bai Ming wasn''t ovee with joy, in his mind; ''For now, the coordinates are safe but that doesn''t necessarily mean it will remain safe till that mob arrives. The preparations areplete, now I can only wait. Failure or sess, it''s bound to be fun regardless.''

    Bai Ming nned to wait for the cultivators to approach this ce, and the moment they were within the range of the transfer array he would activate the formation and teleport all of them away, and he would take this opportunity to snatch the primordial spirit and fly away from this ce. It was simple a n but also a brilliant one at the same time.

    Time continued to tick by ever so slowly as Bai Ming felt the pressure on him increase with every passing second, his eyes turning colder as he watched the transfer array with much focus.

    Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he suddenly started sensing the divine sense markers rapidly approaching him.

    "The time hase.." Bai Ming spoke with a cold and callous smirk on his face, his demonic nature intensified wildly.

 Chapter 85 Success

    ?In the inner area of the mystic realm, the pursuit of the primordial spirit intensified with every passing second.

    "Evil humans, I curse you to death! You mongrels will all die a horrible death!" The primordial spirit cursed loudly as she retreated underthe fierce pursuit of the greedy cultivators, even though her face was like jade, she had a tired expression. Her breathing was irregr and her pearl-like eyes were drooping.

    Suddenly, a burst of loudughter was heard from behind making the primordial spirit feel a shiver in her fragile heart.

    The assault became faster and faster, the band of cultivators fought even more fiercely and they continued to speed up their chase, resembling the domineering sea waves that could engulf the world itself.

    After a few breaths of time, the primordial spirit''s heart suddenly jumped as it felt a human hand slightly graze past her silky ck hair.

    "Ahhh!" The primordial spirit shrieked in horror, her face was panic-stricken but her survival instincts kicked in and forced her to muster all the strength she possibly could into her delicate little wings and desperately flutter them, and somehow she managed to prolong the inevitable.

    HowlˇŞ!

    At this moment, a dozen miles ahead five colossus wolves leading a pack of one hundred thousand elite wolves howled together.

    The explosive wolf howls resounded through the skies. Their vigor was so majestic that even the wind stopped for a moment and all the spirit realm experts were shocked.

    Following, the hundred thousand wolf group rushed forward like a majestic tide toward the opposite army.

    "Myˇ­ my god!"

    "Wolf tide, this is a wolf tideˇ­"

    The horde of spirit realm cultivators was in chaos, the enormous momentum from the wolf group shook them. Many people cried out in fear and gave up on hunting the primordial spirit as they hurriedly retread. For a moment, countless lights with all kinds of colors shone among the crowd of cultivators.

    Only the four true disciples smiled in their hearts at this sudden change, the disruption they were waiting for hade knocking, hence they immediately stopped holding back.

    "Your mine little girl, kekeke" Waves were crashing as a true disciple with a robust aura rode on the huge wave, he quickly got closer to the primordial spirit and extended his skeleton-like arms to grab it.

    "Get away from me!" The primordial spirit screamed her lungs out, overwhelming fear assaulted her.

    Other true disciples did not watch this without doing anything.

    "Nonsense, Wu qing ming with me here you can''t do shit!" Han Shui who was bathed in bloodughed out loud and raised his saber.

    Wu Qing Ming''s expression changed greatly as he immediately retracted his arm and lifted his index and middle finger upwards. Gurgle gurgle.., with four loud sounds, the water waves surged up and formed a towering water wall all around him.

    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

    At the same instant, the void around him cracked and four sword phantoms emitting a dreadful aura struck him from all four sides and crashed into the water barriers creating violent ripples.

    Han Shui smiled coldly before shifting his focus to the primordial spirit, he immediately charged at it but his eyelids drooped as he suddenly realized that his feet were being tightly held by snake-like water tentacles that extended from the ground.

    Just as the two were fighting, one figure emerged from another side, like a sh of lightning.

    This person was brawny and muscr, his skin was bronze in color, lightning was coiling around his body, and his speed was faster than the other two true disciples.

    Ye Sai saw that Wu Qing Ming and Han Shui were caught up in the heat of the battle, he found a chance and activated his lighting movement arts, gaining a huge boost in speed.

    Soon, Ye Sai surpassed everyone and quickly became the person closest to the primordial spirit.

    "Hahaha!" Ye Sai saw that he was getting closer to the primordial spirit and was overjoyed,ughing loudly.

    ''Shit, he is going capture the primordial spirit!'' Han Shui cursed in his heart as he saw Ye Sai was merely a dozen steps away from capturing the primordial spirit.

    Without thinking much Han Shui immediately tilted his head to face the fourth true disciple on the other side and shouted furiously, "Mei Mei, what are doing!? Quickly stop him!!"

    Mei Mei stood motionlessly, her body exuding a heroic and valiant aura but her eyes reflected disdain and contempt, she nced at Han Shui and smiled coldly, she exhibited absolutely no interest in deterring Ye Sai.

    Seeing this kind of reaction from her, Han Shui was dumbfounded for a second but soon his expression changed to that of pure anger at being yed as a fool.

    "It turns out that rumors regarding the both of you are indeed true, the both of you put on such a brilliant act, making us believe that you were life and death adversaries and yed us like fools!" Han Shui smiled from extreme rage as he spoke in a self-mocking tone.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Hahaha, brother Han don''t be so upset. I''ll make sure to throw you a huge party after returning to the sect." Ye Saiughed heartily, but this joyfulughter felt like bitter sarcasm to Han Shui''s ears.

    Right now Ye Sai was right behind the primordial spirit, there was no stopping him now.

    "Little girle to daddy, haha.." Ye Sai chuckled as he extended his muscr arm to abduct the primordial spirit.

    The little spirit''s heart immediately sank, her end had arrived.

    Not a secondter, a blinding azure-blue light suddenly shot out from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, the enchanting azure brilliance engulfed Ye Sai and all the other spirit realm cultivators leaving them bbergasted.

    "What?!" Cries of shock immediately resounded but these sounds of shock were fleeting.

    Even before a second had gone by the brilliant azure sh withered away without a trace, this all happened very quickly, the whole process didn''t evenst a single second.

    The only evidence of this anomaly was the humongous cavity that was currently present on the surface of the ground along with the disappearance of all the cultivators that were previously present on it.

    "Wh...Wha....what was that?" The little primordial spirit muttered incredulously, its tiny mouth opened wide as it tried to cover it with its tiny hands.

    HowlˇŞˇŞ!

    The five gigantic wolves leading the pack of one hundred thousand elite wolves howled to the heavens as the wolf pack''s pace slowed down, the wolves looked on with caution as approached the cavity at a slow pace.

    ''What is in that hole?'' The little spirit''s eyes shone with a flicker of curiosity, she slowly neared the edge of the cavity and stretched out her tiny head to take a peek inside the massive pit hole.

    "Hahahaha...." Bai Ming startedughing wildly as he rocketed out of the pitch-ck underground area, his little scheme had prevailed he was naturally delighted.

    "Oh no, it''s another one of those evil humans, ahh! I have to escape.." The little primordial spirit jumped from fear, she quickly fluttered her wings and began retreating crazily.

    But it was already toote for her, Bai Ming was looming right behind her. He saw the little spirit trying to escape, he sneered inwardly while his right hand lunged at the little spirit like a venomous serpent and immediately caught her.

    The little primordial spirit desperately attempted to break free from Bai Ming''s grasp but his hand was strong like iron, unable to budge it even a little.

    The little spirit became even more flustered but she didn''t give up hope just yet, she furiously bite at Bai Ming''s fingers in hopes of gaining freedom but this act only led to her losing a few of her teeth.

    Bai Ming scoffed and unsympathetically knocked the primordial spirit out cold before he took flight, he pped his beast wings rapidly and quickly fled from this ce. He didn''t have any desire to stay here as this ce would soon have cultivators flocking like angry pigeons.

    After traveling in the mystic realm for a long while, Bai Ming had finally found a rtively safe area.

    Staring at the ground below him, Bai Ming muttered a bit before taking a few steps back. He jumped around until he found a mountain peak. He stood on a rock that was protruding from the mountain as he took a flying sword out of his bag of holding and then pointed at the mountain. The flying sword flew toward the mountain and began carving.

    Sounds of metal scraping rock entered Bai Ming''s ears. He couldn''t help but frown as the mountain was too tough and the flying sword was very weak.

    He let out a snort and then pped his bag of holding again. This time, more than 30 flying swords came out. His spirit realm Divine Sense entered each of the flying swords and the swords rained down upon the mountain.

    This way, the progress immediately sped up, and a cave appeared on the side of the mountain. The number of flying swords one could control was dependent on a cultivator''s divine sense, Bai Ming could control a hundred flying without suffering much strain on his soul.

    Thus, a simple cultivation cave was formed. Bai Ming took all of the defensive and offensive formations from his bag of holding and set them down around the cave. In a ce as dangerous as the entric ancestor''s mystic realm, he needed a rtively safe ce to ensure nothing went wrong when he would refining the primordial spirit.

    After Bai Ming finished cing down the formations he thought for a second, ''Including the illusion formations I have ced around the mountain, there are a total of 318 formations. However, they are only tier-4 formations in the end and can only stop spirit realm cultivators with upper-ss fighting strength from entering. But if regr initial stage Yin-Yang experts want to break the formation it will still take about 10 minutes at max.''

    After entering the cave Bai Ming took out another small g. He lightly waved the g and all the formations activated, releasing a thick fog. From the distance, one couldn''t see anything at all, and even if they were to take a closer look, they would only see the mountain.

    Bai Ming sat down, by now he had almost exhausted his divine sense, after setting hundreds of formations and using his divine sense to control flying swords and also constantly using his divine sense to scan for enemies he was tired.

    Bai Ming sighed at the fact that his stock of soul-force recovery pills had run dry. Hence, he could only recover it using the mostmon method, which was by taking a nap.

    Therefore for the next eight hours, Bai Ming slept peacefully and recovered his divine sense.

    Next, Bai Ming quickly set up an illusion formation and tossed the primordial spirit inside it, a round of questioning then began.

 Chapter 86 Spirit Refining

    ?Inside a dimly lit cave, Bai Ming had a delighted expression on his face as he stared at the Primordial spirit which seemed to be in a reverie.

    Bai Ming had just wrapped up the interrogation, and after ransacking all the necessary information from the little spirit, the oue made him feel exceptionally d.

    On the cultivation of Azure, the primordial spirits hold a very special status in the hearts of all the cultivators, for most of them the primordial spirits were things of legends. Generally, it was not considered bad when out of Ten billion cultivators, only a single person owned it, this just goes to show how extremely scarce these little spirits truly are.

    These primordial spiritse in all kinds of sizes and forms, each harboring a unique ability of its own. Cultivators can refine these primordial spirits and then utilize the primordial spirits'' unique innate skills as they see fit.

    As for the primordial spirit that Bai Ming had captured, it turned out to be a spirit of healing. As its name implies this primordial spirit''s innate skill is the ability to regenerate. Bai Ming was hoping for it to be a sword-type spirit but when he found out the results he was happy regardless.

    ''With my top-tier body cultivation technique, I already had superior recovery speed but once I refine this healing spirit, I believe my recovery speed will be at least thirty times greater than before. But that''s not all, with the addition of this healing spirit, my overall fighting style will surely be affected. I already possess enormous spiritual reserves, along with outstanding physical durability, and now with the umtion of excellent regeneration capabilities, from now on even within the whole of azure I can be considered a top-ss spirit realm cultivator.'' Bai Ming imagined as the grin on his face widened even more.

    But the smile on Bai Ming''s face soon vanished and was reced with indifference as the thought of still not being the strongest emerged in his heart.

    Bai Ming quickly sat cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes while taking a few calming breaths.

    In the next moment, the vision of his spiritual essence in his Dantian appeared in his mind. The Dantian may be positioned inside his body but it was mysteriously unusual, limitlessly big, and yet infinitely small.

    In his dantian were seven magnificent seas of spiritual essence. The seawater was light blue in color, the surface of the sea clear and calm as a mirror.

    Every drop of light blue seawater was Bai Ming''s spiritual essence. Every drop of spiritual essence was precious to cultivators because it was their source of power.Cultivators usually rely on their divine sense to refine magical treasures, but they needed to rely on spiritual essence to refine and useprimordial spirits.

    As he retreated his mind from the spiritual sea, Bai Ming opened his eyes and retrieved the healing spirit from the formation.The primordial spirit suddenly broke out of its reverie and began causing a disturbance, without a second thought Bai Ming knocked it out using his treasure fingers.

    After getting knocked out cold, the little spirit quietlyy in his palm peacefully, looking particrly endearing.

    With a simple thought, the seven mighty spiritual seas in his Dantian tumbled and a jet of spiritual essence broke from the sea surface and transferred out of his body, finally rushing into the little primordial spirit.The little spirit abruptly opened her eyes and her entire bodyradiated fiercely in an eerie green light, crazily trembling in Bai Ming''s palm, resisting the influx of spiritual essence.

    Seeing this Bai Ming let out a coldugh and immediately held it in ce. Of course, he made sure not to put too much force behind it. Otherwise, he might simply end up crushing it to death.

    In truth, Primordial spiritsare the condensed essence of the world, carrying the mysteries of the thousand and one worldlyws, they are true bearers of thews of Heaven and earth. They are children born of heaven just like us humans, living creatures that live freely under the sky, each born with a will of their own.

    However, right now with Bai Ming trying to refine it, it would imply overwriting its will. Feeling the danger looming, the little spiritnaturally resisted.

    The process of refining primordial spirits is an arduous one.

    As the light blue spiritual essence poured into her little body, ancient notations soon began appearing on the soles of her little feet. Very slowly these ancient notations began to spread to her toes.

    In less than fifteen minutes, Bai Ming''s face had be pale. A huge volume of spiritual essence continuously poured into the Primordial spirit, making him feel a weakness that rapidly attacked his body.

    1%, 2%, 3%ˇ­ 8%, 9%, 10%...60%<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ten minutester, Bai Ming''s spiritual sea had used away 60% of its spiritual essence. Yet on the little spirit''s body, the ancient notations had only covered her ankles.

    The resistance of the little primordial spiritwas immensely strong. Fortunately, Bai Ming had anticipated this earlier and did not feel surprised. He persisted and poured more essence into her tiny body.

    1%, 2%, 3%ˇ­

    After another twentyminutes, the spiritual sea in Bai Ming''s body was only left with 12%. The ancient inscriptions of light blue essence on the primordial spirithad barely expanded any, the resistance only kept on increasing as the ancient texts started moving upwards.

    "Refiningis hard," Bai Ming sighed as he looked at the little girl. He broke the influx of spiritual essence, stopping the refining process.

    Up until now, he had been refining for half an hour, the spiritual sea in his dantiant was consumed by arge margin with only 12% of spiritual essence left. And the primordial spiritwas only refined by 1/12 of it.

    To make matters worse the Primordial spiritwas still emitting its eerie green glow. Even though Bai Ming had stopped refining, the Primordial spiritdid not stop resisting; it was still driving out Bai Ming''s spiritual essence.

    Bai Ming could clearly perceive that the spiritual essence that he poured into the spiritwas being pushed out, bit by bit by the little girlout of her body. On the surface, the ancient notations on her ankles were slowly shrinking.

    Based on this speed of reduction, in about forty to fifty minutes shewould be able topletely expel all of Bai Ming''s spiritual essence. At that time when he needed to refine the spiritit would make no difference from starting over again.

    ''From this point Refining spirits is just like a fight between two armies, a battle of attrition. Even though I refined 1/12 of theprimordial spirit,I wasted three-quarters of my spiritual essence. It seems I''ll have to quickly replenish my spirit sea while continuously engaging in the refinement process, to achieveplete victory. This tests both my skill in maneuvering spiritual essence and the patience of enduring a prolonged battle.''

    Bai Ming took out a qi restoring pill from his bag of holding before swallowing it, then immersed himself in absorbing all of its spiritual and medicinal contents.

    After about half an hour the spirit sea had been replenished back to its original volume, this frightening speed of recovery was only possible due to his extremity-grade spirit root that could absorb spiritual essence twenty-five times faster than cultivators with low-grade spirit roots.

    Thus from here, one can see the significance of the grade of one''s cultivation talent. The higher the talent the faster the natural recovery and absorption speed of spiritual essence will be.

    But even in Bai Ming''s case to refine aspiritand solidify his results, he would have to use external aids because the natural recovery rate of essence cannot defeat the rate of the primordial spiritexpelling it out.

    The refining process continued for days, Bai Ming had to constantly absorb essence from pills and inject it back into the spirit, it was not just physically tiring but having to continually endure such immense pressure also put great mental pressure on Bai Ming.

    But Bai Ming was relentless in his efforts, he continued to keep going, unwilling to yield.

    He had done a few experiments in the past few days, like refining the spirit under the influence of the illusion formation, or while also slowly chipping away at the spirit''s soul while using soul arts. But Bai Ming couldn''t destroy its soul as the refining process at this time required the spirit to be alive.

    But all of these experiments were proved to be useless because resistance came from the spirit''s body itself the soul had nothing to do with it, only when his spiritual essence is imprinted all over its body would the spirit refining process bepleted. Otherwise, if it was only soul suppression then Bai Ming could have aplished that long ago.

    Right now, Bai Ming coldly nced at the little spirit hovering before him, its entire body was wrapped in ancient inscriptions. The little spirit looked at Bai Ming with immense fear in its eyes as it slowly shrunk and drilled into Bai Ming''s heart.

    The spirit refinement finally ended in Bai Ming''s favor.

 Chapter 87 Yang Elemental Fruits.

    ?Bai Ming lightly tapped his bag of holding and multicolored lights quickly escaped the confines of his storage bag, the lights quickly faded away revealing seventeen spirit herbs in their ce.

    The seventeen spirit herbs that were quietly floating in the air were all of the 5th-grade spiritual herbs that Bai Ming owned. They were Bai Ming''s harvests in the mystic realm, he had picked them up while wandering around. The mystic realm had both riches and dangers apanying each other. The further one journeyed in the mystic realm, the greater the danger was but the benefits that escorted them were just as enticing.

    "Come out," Bai Ming muttered to himself and then stretched his mouth wide open.

    An eerie green glow could be noticed on Bai Ming''s heart before it progressed towards his throat and soon the primordial spirit came out of his mouth and jumped on the tier-5 spirit herbs with frantic eyes and started gnawing on it like a hungry wild beast that hadn''t eaten a proper meal for days.

    Primordial spirits have to be fed.

    Cultivators have to first refine spirits using their essence to overwrite the spirit''s true essence with their own essence imprints, then the cultivator can use the spirit''s unique abilities as they see fit. And at the same time, they need to raise them adequately.

    Refining a spiritis difficult; there is the risk of counterattack causing one''s spiritual essence to go chaotic and it tests the persistence of the cultivator. Using spiritsis easy, just sending a mentalmand to the spirit is enough.

    However, raising a spiritis more extensive and profound, because there are all kinds ofprimordial spirits and their food is exceedingly strange. Some need to drink gallons of exceedingly pure spiritual liquid, some need meat from extinct demon beasts, some require human sweat, some feed on human and demon beast souls, and the list just keeps on going.

    Just taking Bai Ming''s primordial spiritfor example, his healing spiritrequires spiritual herbs, three meals a day. In the morning, afternoon, and night one meal, every meal requires ten tier-1 spirit herbs.

    But if it could get its hands-on spirit herbs of higher grades its feeding period would be extended. But that wasn''t the biggest advantage of this practice; instead, it was because higher-grade sustenance nourished the primordial spirit with exemry life essence that in return augmented its healing power.

    To better understand, if Bai Ming''s primordial spirit consumes tier-1 spirit herbs and uses its healing ability, it can probably regrow your lost limbs within two weeks, but if it has consumed tier-5 spirit herbs then it can regrow the lost limbs within two or three minutes.

    Bai Ming expressionlessly watched the healing spirit devour his hard-earned spirit herbs.

    After a short while, the healing spirit drifted towards Bai Ming with a very satisfied smile on her cute little face. As she approached Bai Ming she automatically lowered her head, but at times she took covert nces at him before returning to his heart.

    Bai Ming shut his eyes momentarily before opening them once again, a dreamy light flickered past his crimson pupils as spoke internally;

    ''With the amount of herbal essence it has currently reserved in its body, the spirit canst for another month before it needs to be fed again. But of course, if I exploit its regenerative powers then nothing can be said, as it will then directly depend on how much I utilize it.''

    ''Now I have another task of collecting huge amounts of spirit herbs, preferably higher-tier spiritual herbs. Should I put the spirit to a little test? Hmm, let''s see how well it can perform.''

    Bai Ming''s eyes showed a tint of expectation as he ced his left palm on the ground and pulled his right hand back, spiritual essence swirled inside Bai Ming, and began converging on his right fist.

    Without a change in his expression, Bai Ming heavily punched his left palm, and the fingers in his left hand immediately deformed.

    "Once again," Bai Ming wasn''t done yet, he repeatedly smashed his hand two more times. His actions were ruthless; being cruel to others and being even crueler to oneself was the motto of the demonic path.

    Being ruthless to others was easy, but only those that held an iparably tenacious will and a bit of insanity in their hearts could truly walk on the demonic path. Why else would the world fear and despise these so-called demons? It was because of their upromising nature.

    In essence, the demonic path is nothing but a band of extremists who are willing to do whatever it takes. How they achieve their goals is of no value to them, but whether they can achieve it or not is of great importance to them.

    Bai Ming''s apathetic gazended on his left hand, his left hand was in terrible condition. Not only was the blood and skin mashed, but because of the huge impact his bones werepletely shattered.

    "Don''t disappoint me.." Bai Ming closed his eyes and transmitted a mentalmand to the healing spirit, not a secondter the eyes of the little spirit became incredibly focused.

    She sped her little palms together and began emitting otherworldly energy from her bead-like eyes, the otherworldly energy rushed to Bai Ming''s left hand at incredible speed.

    Bai Ming''s eyes immediately lit up, On the bones, the cracks started to mend, and the flesh and skin started to grow rapidly and heal.

    Within five breaths of time, the injuries on his hand had disappeared without leaving a trace as if they had never existed.

    "Good, good, good!" The result made Bai Ming very satisfied, but before the pleasure could eat his mind he noticed that the little spirit had consumed three percent of its essence reserves to achieve such a fine oue.

    ''All good thingse with a price to pay, the price to pay for this superior healing strength is to offer up spirit herbs.'' Bai Ming smiled lightly and shook his head sideways.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Then without wasting a second Bai Ming once again changed his clothes, and then got up and retrieved all his formations, only leaving behind a single transfer array. Then he immediately left this ce and headed towards a certain location.

    Bai Ming had previously gained huge amounts of information from the little spirit, unlike him, the primordial spirit had spent all its life in this mystic realm, hence it had a bit of information regarding this ce. Right now Bai Ming was heading to a certain ce ording to the little spirit''s instructions.

    Bai Ming flew for a long time in the inner area, he stopped at a certain mountain range. ording to the little spirit''s memories, this was a mountain range of volcanos.

    Currently, the green sky was clear for 10,000 kilometers. His body moved and he flew to a nearby volcano.

    Shortly after, Bai Ming arrived at the mouth of the volcano and looked inside. Below him was arge pool ofva. There were manyrge bubbles in the pool, and every time one burst, ck gas would rise.

    Scorching hot waves of heat floated up from inside the mouth of the volcano, Bai Ming''s eyes lit up and he jumped in without any hesitation. He used his wings to control his descent.

    Bai Ming had learnt from little spirit''s memories that this ce had a spirit herb that emitted extreme Yang energies. Bai Ming only thought about it for a second before immediately deciding to visit this ce, he had previously failed to obtain the Yang core of the Golden Yang Crab but he was both determined and prepared to seed this time around.

    On this day, Bai Ming wasn''t the only one who hade here. After Bai Ming entered there were a total of three figures appeared, two males and one female. The three of them held ck spears with them as they stood at a volcano opening, waiting for the right time to go in.

    The three of them conversed for a while before one of the young men named Tang Ming said impatiently, "My spiritpass is reaching its breaking point, if we miss this opportunity to grab the spirit herb we can only depend on our luck to find more spirit herbs in the future."

    "Fine, let''s go down and look." The female spoke while gripping her spear tightly. With that, they were about to jump down when suddenly an evil aura came from inside the volcano.

    Shortly after, a youth filled with coldness appeared. The three figures were dumbfounded as they watched him fly out while carrying a purple vine as thick as a person. The vine was filled with ming golden-colored fruits.

    This person was Bai Ming. After he appeared, he didn''t even look at the three as he left. He had already noticed the three a while ago, but he was having a headache figuring out how to take the fruit. Every time he pulled the fruit off the vine, it would be magically turned into dust.

    Thus, Bai Ming decided to just pull the entire root of the zing heart fruits out. However, what made him helpless was that he couldn''t put this vine into his bag of holding, so he had to carry it. If it wasn''t for the fact that he had great use for these Yang-element fruits, he wouldn''t be bothering with all of this.

    The young man named Tang Ming swallowed hard as he stared at the vine on Bai Ming''s shoulder. His expression changed many times, but soon rage boiled in his heart.

    He was already in an angry mood after getting his storage pouch destroyed earlier during a fight and saw that Bai Ming was only at the peak of the spirit realm while the three of them were at half-step Yin-Yang, yet he dared to ignore the three of them and was going to carry the root away, So Tang Ming shouted furiously, "Stop! I don''t care who the fuck you think you are, Handover that vine immediately or ept death!"

    With that, he pointed his spear at Bai Ming and stood straight. Slivers of ck gas came from his ck spear and a feeling of heaviness immediately began to spread in the atmosphere.

    The two other figures also pointed their spears at Bai Ming and angrily stared at him.

    Bai Ming slightly turned around, looked at the three, and rubbed the zing Heart Vine as he dered, "Why don''t you ask my hot-headed brothers behind you?"

    As Bai Ming''s words fell, An enraged roar came from behind the trio and the heat in the area suddenly intensified.

    Tang Ming and his twopanions immediately felt their hearts jump, they quickly turned around while vigntly pointing their spears at the neers.

    Their faces turned ashen as they saw an ocean of mes gathered and the fire formed a creature with a pair of golden triangr eyes and a pair of bat wings, it had a body of a tiger and the head of an ape. It red with unconcealed killing intent.

    Bai Ming noticed that the fire beast''s immense killing intent was mostly ced on him, his expression darkened and he immediately pped his wings with even more vigor and directly charged out of the volcano.

    But merely a few breaths had passed after Bai Ming charged out of the volcano, as the countless volcanoes in this area started emitting thick ck smoke. The smoke became even denser as it leaked spiritual energy filled with rage.

    Thousands upon thousands of enraged roars suddenly resounded within the volcanoes, causing a great disturbance. And now one of the volcanoes abruptly erupted, spewingva hundreds of feet into the air.

    At the same time,rge amounts of ck smoke filled the sky. This wasn''t much, but what caused the Bai Ming''s scalp to go numb were the ten thousand-plus fire beasts that charged out with theva.

    Bai Ming watched with a shocked gaze, then his pupils shrank as he saw those three cultivators desperately escaping but they got jumped on by fire beasts and instantly died. And at the very next second, Bai Ming started fleeing madly.

 Chapter 88 Misfortune (1/6)

    ?Bai Ming didn''t hesitate and quicklynded on the ground while cing the spirit herbs inside his robes, he lightly dabbed his bag of holding and a formation flew out.

    Bai Ming stared intently at the transfer array as he rapidly injected his divine sense, and a secondter disappointment was evident on his cold face as the formation refused to lit up.

    Sighing internally, Bai Ming pped his beast wings and charged out of this ce. As he moved, he found fire beasts everywhere. The more he traveled, the more shocked he became. The bloodthirsty eyes of these fire beasts only had one point of interest, and that was him.

    A roar came from behind Bai Ming and the heat in the area suddenly intensified. As Bai Ming ran, his face was dark, he had no intention to confront these creatures in a life-and-death battle. He abruptly paused as he saw a sea of mes gathered in thend before him before pouncing at him. The fire formed a creature with golden triangr eyes, It looked at Bai Ming with overwhelming killing intent.

    Without a word, Bai Ming used the devil hand soul technique. A transparent w made up of soul force shot out from Bai Ming''s forehead and entered the fire beast. The fire beast''s fire dimmed for a moment, but it soon recovered. It then opened its mouth and let out a roar before charging at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming''s face darkened even more. He turned around, but his pupils suddenly shrank as another fire beast appeared behind him.

    At this moment, two fire beasts were blocking both sides. Without missing a beat Bai Ming retracted his beast wings and descended quickly, narrowly avoiding the fire beasts and then he quickly unfurled his wings and pped them once again.

    But just at this moment, the two fire beasts suddenly let out ferocious roars. Bai Ming''s heart sank. The air around Bai Ming suddenly turned red and hardened until it formed a cage. Bai Ming was trapped inside.

    This cage was closing around him until it surrounded him, finally trapping Bai Ming inside.

    At this moment, waves of cracks appeared on the ground. The ground copsed inwards, forming a basin. One of the fire beasts neared the cage trapping Bai Ming before shooting the cage into the basin.

    Under the careful maniption of the fire beasts the dirt surrounding the cage suddenly turned red and engulfed the cage, cutting off Bai Ming''s vision.

    Around the cage were eight fire beasts that constantly spewed fire at the cubical cage to make it smaller. Soon, the cube grew smaller and smaller, and the beasts eventually stopped.

    One of the fire beasts grabbed the cube and started moving it underground. The other fire beasts quickly followed. They soon returned to the cave they were in before.

    The fire beast threw the cube into theva before jumping in with the other fire beasts. They all disappeared into theva. Theva let out a few more bubbles before calming down.

    The surrounding volcanoes stopped spewing ck smoke and the heat wave disappeared. Aside from the giant basin that was formed by the fire beast, there was no other evidence of what had just urred remaining.

    But at this moment azure blue lights suddenly red up within theva, which was soon apanied by the furious and indignant outcries of beasts.

    Not far away, the formation lit up with dazzling azure blue lights and from within the formation a miserable figure walked out.

    It was none other than Bai Ming, previously when he witnessed the huge number of fire beastsing out from the volcanos, he had set up this formation to check for other coordinates but Bai Ming had not retrieved the transfer array, he had purposefully left it behind.

    ''I have to vacate this ce quickly, these fire beasts are quite peculiar.'' Bai Ming shook his head and immediately took flight, flying at his top speed.

    But before he got very far, a giant divine sense swept by him. This divine sense quickly moved back and concentrated on him. Shocked, Bai Ming scanned the sky. What he saw were thirty-nine humongous fire beasts in a circle with a ring of fire in between them.

    Threads of fire from the fire ring were connected to the fire beasts'' heads.

    The powerful divine sense came from the ring of power. This was clearly a special technique the fire beasts were born with. It was something they could only use when working together.

    When they found Bai Ming, all 39 fire beasts'' eyes went cold. They all roared as they descended from the sky and charged at Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming sped up without a word and escaped. The 39 giant beasts all let out angry roars and spat out fire, causing the ground to turn red and split apart.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bai Ming already had no intention of fighting those smaller fire beasts, so why would he face these monstrosities? As the fire came out of the beasts'' mouths, Bai Ming sent out a few defensive treasures to disrupt their attack and he disappeared once again.

    The 39 giant beasts didn''t give up. The only reason they left the volcano was to find and kill the cultivator that stole their sacred fruit. This was the only thought in their minds right now.

    As Bai Ming flew more, he got faster. These fire beasts were faster inside theva, but once out here in the open, Bai Ming managed to barely keep his distance.

    However, Bai Ming didn''t feel very well. The surrounding spiritual energy was filled with a chaotic element. Every time he absorbed some, he would feel waves of pain.

    In addition to the constant roars of the 39 giant fire beasts behind him, countless fire beasts wereing to obstruct him. More and more fire beasts umted behind him, chasing after him. He spread out his divine sense and felt his heart go cold. There were so many fire beasts behind him that he couldn''t tell how many there were right away.

    If he were to pause for just a moment, the fire beasts would tear him apart, but Bai Ming was not one to be hunted. For all his life Bai Ming had bullied the weak, while also fearlessly fighting against the strong.

    At this moment, a vicious gaze shed across his eyes. Next, thirty flying swords flew out of his bag of holding and uncaringly attacked a fire beast and stabbed it.

    The sound of metal hitting each other rang out. Tiny bloody wounds appeared on the chest of the beast and it was knocked far away. It let out a roar as it got up and continued chasing.

    Bai Ming''s expression was normal, but his face darkened. Not only were the fire beasts immune to his soul path techniques, but their bodies were also this tough. These flying swords were only able to wound that beast''s body, and from the looks of it, it could only be considered a light wound.

    Bai Ming was unwilling to give up. As he flew, he continued to attack the fire beasts. However, in the end, they were only low-grade flying swords, after hundreds of rounds they werepletely melted.

    Bai Ming snorted and spat out his superior-grade flying sword and attacked the beasts viciously. Using its ability to teleport, the sword moved in a very strange way until it stabbed in between the brows of a fire beast. The sword sunk in and the fire beasts exploded, releasing waves of heat.

    Bai Ming''s hair immediately curled as the smell of burning hair reached him, but his eyes lit up. Although these fire beasts were tough, they were not without weaknesses.

    After this, Bai Ming continued to control the flying word to ambush the fire beasts. One by one, the fire beasts were beheaded by him. Based on his calctions, the normal-sized fire beasts were only at the elemental stage, but because they had mysterious souls and tough bodies, it was difficult to kill them. As for those 39 fire beasts, Bai Ming guessed them to be quasi-tier-6 beasts.

    Because Bai Ming was only one person and adding on the fact that the fire beasts knew no fear, they continued to chase after him.

    Eventually, the flying sword teleported too much and its shape began to change. There were dents on it and some parts of it hadpletely melted. If the flying sword''s original owner were to be revived, even he wouldn''t be able to recognize it anymore.

    Bai Ming realized that this was not a long-term solution as more and more fire beasts showed up, his divine sense and spiritual essence reserves definitely couldn''t keep up with the number of beasts, and a battle of attrition was simply not favorable to Bai Ming. Even though he had 70% spiritual essence in his reserves, once he runs out and can''t recover fast enough, he will undoubtedly perish.

    ''I have already spent 30% of my spiritual reserves and after controlling those flying swords for such a long time, much of my divine sense has been depleted. This is a problem, the longer this fight goes on the more disadvantages it is for me. After all these days of constant fighting, I have already used up all my qi-returning pills. Now I can only depend on the heaven and earth essence present in the air to replenish my reserves, but after the eruption took ce the natural essence is not suitable for absorption.''

    ''And these ursed beasts, I can''t kill these beasts with soul path skills. Normal flying swords cannot damage their hard bodies and killing them one by one will get me nowhere. But..what about hitting them with powerful blunt attacks? Let''s find out!''

    An ominous light flickered past Bai Ming''s eyes, in a breaths time Bai Ming had performed dozens ofplicated hand signs, following which his spiritual reserves were immediately depleted by half.

    Woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh.....!

    The wind swirled wildly causing the fire beasts to abruptly pause and looked on nkly, a few short breathster hundred giant hand phantoms radiating a majestic yet domineering aura crystallized in the air before mming toward the sea of the fire beasts.

    The heated battle immediately turned even more chaotic.

 Chapter 89 Misfortune (2/6)

    ?Self-sword formation activated!

    Swoosh.

    Bai Ming''s body was like a sword, sharp and cutting through the sky, leaving a long bloody trail behind him.

    Using the self-sword formations enhancement alone would not create this blood-red streak behind him.

    The problem was, Bai Ming''s injuries were very severe now.

    Bai Ming''s injuries were so deep that bones could be seen, and fresh blood unceasingly leaked out. His tender white skin was mostly burnt and his face disfigured; he looked extremely tragic.

    Even his beast wings were slightly burnt and filled with numerous finger-sized holes, making their effectiveness drop by 60%.

    Behind him, about ten li away, arge army of fire beasts were chasing after him.

    Even after Bai Ming had resorted to fist and sword path martial skills against the neverending legion of fire beasts, sadly against these oddities that don''t have fixed body structures, he simply couldn''t deal with them.

    ''Heal,'' Bai Ming muttered internally, the primordial spirit immediately opened its tiny eyes as mystical light shone in them.

    Otherworldly green lights illuminated the various wounds on Bai Ming''s body, nheless ten breathster the green light dimmed out, and all of his major wounds vanished without a trace.

    Bai Ming made a motion of raising his eyebrows, despite his eyebrows already being burnt off.

    Bai Ming had severe wounds on his face which made him look horrifying and ugly. If little children looked at him they would surely piss their pants right then and there.

    A second back Bai Ming had only used the spirit''s regenerative abilities to heal the major wounds on his body, he didn''t find any need to heal his face as the injuries on his face were of no hindrance to him whatsoever, instead using the spirit''s regeneration skill recklessly would only exhaust its already low essence reserves. And for Bai Ming, this injury even saves him the effort to change his appearance.

    Throughout history, all the outstanding figures were capable of biding their time and not being attached to fleshly appearances. Those who indulged in the so-called beauty were mostly shallow individuals, it would be difficult for them to achieve true greatness with such an inferior mindset.

    After all, appearances were only meant to deceive others to attain one''s goals, nothing more. No matter how beautiful or ugly one was death was impartial to all.

    And only with sufficient strength could one resist the tides of time. Jade beauties? Merely a pile of bones and rotten flesh in the end, truly insignificant.

    That which is not eternal cannot be beautiful.

    ''Damn it, using my essence me to eradicate these beasts was such a terrible move.'' Such thoughts had appeared in Bai Ming''s mind multiple times.

    As it turned out, during the fight Bai Ming had resorted to all sorts of moves in his arsenal to take down these fiery beasts. But performing one such move backfired on Bai Ming and worsened his standing.

    It all transpired when Bai Ming attacked the beasts with his nine-hundred-year-old me essence, instead of provoking fear in them, it gave birth to overwhelming greed in their fiery hearts.

    Bai Ming had immediately realized this shift in the beasts, previously they were fighting out of pure hatred and also to regain their sacred spirit herb, but now Bai Ming could easily perceive the overflowing greed in their gazes.

    After that, the battle turned even more intense and he immediately fell into a disadvantageous position and began suffering heavy injuries, every time he suffered injuries he rapidly healed them with the help of the primordial spirit. And currently, after all the constant healing, the little spirit only had 37% of the medicinal essence remaining in its reserves.

    Realizing that the odds were heavily stacked against him Bai Ming made a decision. He hardened his heart and immediately tossed the spirit herb he stole back at the beast group and retreated in the opposite direction.

    But just a secondter his heart sank, Bai Ming saw that the giant fire beasts hadpletely ignored the spirit vine, the fire beasts were unwilling to let him go, they chased after him.

    Their goal was the me essence within Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming sighed internally, since that was the case Bai Ming charged back at the herd with a furious expression and forcefully snatched the zing Heart vine back before setting up the self-sword formation and using the speed boost to pull some distance from the beasts. But cing down the formation was not an easy task during such an intense battle, Bai Ming was heavily attacked by the fire beasts while doing so.

    Only after repeating the process ten times was he able to aplish his standing right now, But by now his divine sense was at an all-time low, hence he retrieved the self-sword formation after ten uses and barely maintained a safe distance from the fire beasts.

    If he recklessly used the self-sword formation, it could increase the distance between them, but he would have to pay a huge price with regard to his divine sense.

    Most importantly, Bai Ming was not fully aware of the range in which the fire beasts would continue to chase him. If this range was extremely great, even if Bai Ming spent all of his divine sense, it might not be enough for the expenditure of activating self-sword formation that many times.

    Without the self-sword formation''s enhancement, Bai Ming could only depend on his beast wings, but they were currently in a terrible state. The primordial spirit could only heal Bai Ming''s injuries, even though the beast wings were imnted into Bai Ming''s body they couldn''t be repaired as of now.

    As a matter of fact, his speed of movement from them could notpare to the fire beasts.

    Dozens of breathster, the fire beasts were already very close to Bai Ming, less than one li away.

    Seeing that the fire beasts were near, Bai Ming had no choice but to grit his teeth and use the self-Sword formation again.

    Whoosh!

    His speed rose again, he shrugged off the beast group.

    After reaching the end of the formation he repeated the process ten times, then Bai Ming retrieved the formation with a dark look on his face. His speed once again lowered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I was so unlucky to actually encounter these clingy beasts, this luck is trulyˇ­" Bai Ming was speechless.

    ''I have to quickly enter the core area, that is my only hope to get rid of these filthy beasts.'' Bai Ming silently thought in his heart, he had not given up, there was still a glimmer of hope remaining in his heart.

    If Bai Ming could enter the core area of the mystic realm then it was practically guaranteed that these fire beasts won''t be even able to touch him, this was something that he had learnt from the primordial spirit.

    ording to the primordial spirit, the core area of the mystic realm was surrounded by a barrier that obstructed demonic beasts in the inner area from traveling to the core area. Simrly, the demonic beasts inside the barrier couldn''t travel to the outside.

    Bai Ming was not a demonic beast, he was merely a human with quite a few demonic traits. He could pass the barrier, but it won''t befortable for sure. As even Bai Ming would face some resistance from the barrier, this information was passed on to him by his beloved teacher, Teng Zhe.

    Bai Ming moved like an arrow, forming a straight line in the air, he flew straight toward the core area.

    Self-Sword formation was once again activated, gradually getting distance from the bizarre fire beasts.

    Bai Ming was having a headache with this ongoing chase, if only he knew the limits of the tracking range of these bizarre fire beasts.

    As time passed, Bai Ming instinctively felt the need to try to see if he could break free of the pursuit of these bizarre fire beasts.

    Making up his mind, Bai Ming activated Self-Sword formation unceasingly!

    Finally, he was able to throw off the fire beasts beyond his vision.

    Bai Ming retrieved the Self-Sword formation and used his beast wings to continue to fly, his divine sense running dangerously low.

    And his speed naturally slowed.

    "I have sacrificed too much of my divine sense, it would be nice if I have freed myself of them." Bai Ming was inwardly worried.

    Not seeing the fire beasts did not mean he had already gotten away from them.

    Existences that wereparable to tier-5 or even tier-6 cultivators usually did not track using just sight. It depended on what the limit of their tracking range was.

    Right as Bai Ming was worriedly gazing back, a few majestic streaks of Scarlet light suddenly flew over, and apanying it were a multitude of enchanting rainbow-colored lights.

    The scarlet lights were soaring through the horizon, and when it sensed Bai Ming''s presence, it immediately lowered its speed regrouping with the rainbow lights before rapidly approaching Bai Ming.

    ''There are seventeen of them and from their movement speed they at least possess upper-tier battle strength, they are heading in my direction, this certainly does not bode well for me.'' Bai Ming frowned deeply when he noticed the approaching danger.

    No matter what intention the other party had, Bai Ming did not want to provoke any more trouble.

    He already had enough trouble on his hands.

    He still did not know if he had thrown off that group of dreadful fire beasts behind him, and there was also the fact that he had to be on guard at all times against Zhou Yi''s disciples.

    Therefore, he immediately changed his direction and flew away from the approaching streaks of lights.

    The approaching cultivators seemed to have sensed Bai Ming''s intent, and one of the cultivators enshrouded in scarlet aura quickly shouted: "Brother please wait! We mean no harm to you, a few days back, we were lucky enough to obtain clues regarding a peerless inheritance in the center of the inner area, if you join us in clearing the obstacles there, we are willing to use the heavenly soul oath to form a pact and share the benefits of this peerless fortuitous encounter with you fairly, look there are so many of us already, we only need two more individuals!"

    ''Peerless fortuitous encounter? Eat shit!'' Bai Ming snickered inwardly, he didn''t believe them one bit.

    At this time, the cultivators rapidly closed in on Bai Ming and the other cultivators suddenly chimed in;

    Heartless words began to rain down ˇŞ

    "Haha, brother there is no need to act, everyone let''s just execute him!"

    "The extreme Yang essence leaking from his robes is definitely a top-ss tier-5 or even tier-6 spirit herb, this is definitely a godsend opportunity."

    "Anyone who dares to possess such a fine treasure before me should die without mercy!"

    "Block this mongrel for me and I''ll reward you generously."

    Bai Ming coldly snorted.

    He was not someone afraid of getting into trouble, but right now, what he had to do was hurry to the core region and recover his spiritual and mental energy.

    He changed his direction, moving away directly from theband of cultivators.

    Trouble hade knocking and Bai Ming wanted to run away, but how could it be that easy?

 Chapter 90 Misfortune (3/6)

    ?The streaks of dazzling lights were extremely fast and soon neared Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming snorted, he very much was unwilling to provoke trouble, he shouted in a stern voice: "I have important matters to deal with, do not provoke me!"

    Saying this, he rapidly activated the Self-Sword formation. The Self-Sword formation increased his speed by arge margin and helped in quickly pulling some distance.

    "Ah, what incredible speed!"

    "Who is this person?!"

    Bai Ming''s speed had suddenly erupted, the group of cultivators were astonished, their expressions changed in an instant.

    Bai Ming''s aura was only at peak spirit realm not even at quasi-Yin-Yang, before he took action, there did not seem to be anything special about him.

    Furthermore, after retreating repeatedly, the band of cultivators involuntarily started to look down on him.

    But once he took action, everyone was shaken.

    The band of cultivators froze in their tracks, they reassessed Bai Ming.

    They saw Bai Ming wearing majestic purple robes, but his face was horrifying and unsightly, giving him a sinister vibe. Right now, Bai Ming''s horrendous face looked even more ominous, like the brewing of a thunderstorm, his wicked killing intent was like a blizzard, giving people a suppressive feeling.

    There were numerous quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators present here, but they all became silent.

    Feng Jin Bo saw that other cultivators were showing looks of hesitation, he quickly took the lead and spoke heavily, "What are you all afraid of? He is just one person."

    Another person attired in Red Lotus Sect''s true disciple clothing replied just as coldly, "Hmph, such a vile killing intent! Must be a demonic path scoundrel, let''s purge him from the surface of the world and do this world a favor."

    Bai Ming had such means, the cultivators'' impressions of him had changed, and they no longer looked down on him like before.

    They looked at each other, before flying towards Bai Ming imposingly.

    Bai Ming was paying much attention to them the whole time, he was silently contemting; ''This group has three main pirs, two of them are true disciples just like me and the third one is a core disciple, the others must be their subordinates most probably inner disciples.''

    ''My luck is truly terrible, I just had to encounter these two fellow apprentice brothers, both Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu are direct disciples of Lu Qing Yu and this ursed Lu Qing Yu is quite close to Zhou Yi, if I were to reveal them my identity as Yi Yun then I cannot predict how things will transpire, I doubt it will be anything good, it''ll probably just motivate them further.''

    ''Want to snatch my spirit fruit, hmph!'' Bai Ming sneered as he continued to retreat, he covertly took out a tiny container from his bag of holding and sprinkled concealment powder on the zing Heart fruit vine in his robes, but he purposefully avoided a single fruit.

    "Demonic scoundrel, Die for me." The Core disciple, Kai Ye growled in a low voice and suddenly shot a streak of ominous light toward Bai Ming.

    "Screw off!" Bai Ming roared, with a wave of his hand, a powerful burst of sword ray destroyed the streak of crimson light.

    At the same time, the other cultivators took this opportunity to rapidly close in on Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming who was desperately fleeing abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the band of cultivators, his cold eyes menacingly stared at the group.

    The sudden change caused the expressions of the cultivators to change slightly, their speed also slowed down considerably.

    Thoughts ran wild in Feng Jin Bo''s mind as he waved his long sleeves and stepped forward. He was just about to speak, but his words were cut off before he could even begin.

    Bai Ming squinted his eyes and spoke overbearingly; "Hahaha, Feng Jin Bo, Sima Bu, and Kai Ye what guts you three have! Just because I am in a rush, you think I am afraid of you!? Trulyughable!"

    The three of them immediately frowned upon hearing this, the enemy clearly knew about their identities but on the other hand, they had no clue about him. And not just that, even after knowing their terrifying status Bai Ming didn''t look worried in the least. Instead, he disyed cold arrogance, this immediately created a formless pressure deep within their hearts, those inner sect disciples especially felt the pressure increasing.

    Bai Ming carefully studied their fluctuating expressions, he smiled internally seeing things ying out in his favor.

    Bai Ming didn''t give them much time to think and immediately acted, "All of you are quite lucky, I am extremely busy right now if it wasn''t for that I would have battled 300 rounds with you, take this and get lost."

    Bai Ming reached out to his robes and pulled out a single zing Heart fruit which was kept untouched before and showed it to the crowd, the air was immediately overflowing with pure Yang essence.

    Bai Ming snorted and tossed the zing Heart fruit at Kai Ye and charged out from this ce without turning back.

    The cultivators were left stunned as they dumbfoundedly stared at Bai Ming''s back.

    "This..." Kai Ye nkly gazed at the zing heart fruit in his palm, two breathster a wide grin formed on his face.

    One of the cultivatorsughed loudly: "Ha, he was actually bluffing! Smart guy, he knows how to judge the situation, haha, get lost quickly!"

    Someone else also called out: "Yeah, I almost believed him to be some big shot, but turns out he was merely a sheep in tiger''s skin."

    "Noisy," Feng Jin Bo coldly red at the both of them, he was a bit furious thinking of how hepletely assumed Bai Ming to be someone of equal standing but turns out he was a fraud.

    Sima Bu shook his head with a mocking smile, then he looked at the fruit in Kai Ye''s hand and spoke with an amiable smile, "Forget about him, we have obtained what we wanted. Now, let''s determine how we are going to distribute the spoil."

    "What''s there to discuss? The three of us will each take 1/3rd of the spiritual fruit and the rest of you will bepensated with sect points once we return to the sect." Feng Jin Bo spoke as if it was a matter of fact.

    Not one of the inner disciples dared to speak otherwise, with bitterness hidden in their hearts they nodded in agreement.

    Kai Ye''s wide grin vanished and he asked the crowd with some expectation in his tone; "Does anyone here have any knowledge regarding this spirit herb? The Yang essence is quite overbearing, this must be a top-tier spirit herb."

    But everyone just shook their heads, they were just as clueless as him.

    Seeing such a response Kai Ye nodded his head in understanding and was about to split the spirit fruit into three parts.

    But at this very instant the zing Heart fruit turned into dust!

    Kai Ye''s eyes immediately bulged to the point of popping out, he fiercely stared at his palm with a look of utter shock and disbelief.

    "Wha-what happened..?? What the hell happened!?!" Kai Ye cried out, his hand which previously held the spirit fruit quivered.

    He waspletely bewildered.

    "Brother Kai Ye, what''s the meaning of this?"

    Kai Ye''s train of thoughts were immediately broken when he felt two demonic hands gripping his shoulders.

    Kai Ye slowly raised his head and saw Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu smiling in front of him, but their smiles were anything but friendly.

    Kai Ye''s heart immediately sank.

    The zing Heart fruit was an extremely precious Yang fruit, but it disappeared without a trace.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The biggest suspect was naturally Ye Kai.

    After all, he was one who held the spirit fruit. But what they didn''t know was the zing Heart fruit was a special spirit herb, once the fruit was detached from the vine it would soon turn into dust.

    Of course, Bai Ming''s little scheme of sowing discord was dependent on the fact whether these people were knowledgeable about the spirit herb or not. That was why he first disyed the spirit fruit before tossing it to Kai Ye, he was waiting to gain some understanding of this spirit herb.

    "Brothers, please trust me. I am just as clueless as you are, this has nothing to do with me." Kai Ye frantically begged the two of them to believe in him while he hurriedly moved a few meters back.

    "Brother Kai Ye, what made you think we are clueless?" Feng Jin Bo smiled, but killing intent flickered in his eyes.

    "Tsk, tsk, Brother Kai Ye it seems you don''t know overeating is bad for health, I am really disappointed in you." Sima Bu also smiled but his hands slowly moved toward his blood-red de.

    Right now Kai Ye''s face was hideous beyondpare, he felt extremely wronged. The poor guy was just as confused as the others, maybe even more.

    Kai Ye suddenly remembered how Bai Ming had tossed the spirit fruit directly at him, instead of tossing it at Feng Jin Bo who was at the time closest to Bai Ming. The anxiousness in his heart quickly turned into hatred.

    ''He already knew our identities, hence it''s no surprise he also figured out that I was the weakest link in this three-man square, bastard!'' Kai Ye''s heart boiled in rage as he kept on cursing Bai Ming in his heart.

    At the same time, Kai Ye called out loudly; "Everyone, don''t forget about our agreement, what kind of person am I? Why would I possibly deceive you? It''s that evil son of a bitch who is trying to sow discord among us, everything will be cleared once we capture him! Come on, let''s not waste any more time and capture him quickly, the truth will be clear for you to see then"

    Saying that Kai Ye twisted his body and shot toward Bai Ming like a loose cannon.

    Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu quickly exchanged nces they had quite a deep understanding of each other, both of them sighed softly before they decided to put a bit of their faith in Kai Ye''s words and mostly into their previous agreement.

    They quietly followed behind Kai Ye, noticing this change the other cultivators also followed after them.

    Kai Ye sighed in relief as he sensed this change, but his gaze soon turned ice-cold as he hatefully red at Bai Ming who was dozens of miles ahead.

    Bai Ming was not using the self-sword formation his speed had naturally fallen.

    After a good while, the group of cultivators rapidly pressed in on Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming coldly nced back at them, he sneered inwardly and continued to flee.

    After dozen more breaths, the group once again caught up with him.

    "Hmph, your appetite is quiterge. I already gave you the Spirit herb and you are still not satisfied, you are courting death!" Bai Ming spoke word for word, his sinister killing intent red out once again but this time he mostly focused it on the inner disciples.

    The inner disciples felt their hearts go cold under Bai Ming''s demonic killing intent, after a short while a weak-willed person couldn''t bear it any longer and quickly exined what had happened earlier.

    Bai Ming floated in the air, sneering without speaking.

    "Friendˇ­" Sima Bu stopped his words partway, he did not want to continue his words.

    "Bother Sima, let me handle this." Kai Ye voiced out as he stepped forward with a dark expression.

    "Wait!" Feng Jin Bo stopped Kai Ye immediately, then he gestured to Sima Bu to continue.

    Kai Ye was displeased by this act, but he still decided to keep calm and continued to stare at Bai Ming viciously.

    Sima Bu had a cold expression, his gaze was sharp, he stared at Bai Ming saying: "Since you already know our identities this will be a lot easier, this matter is difficult to resolve peacefully today. But I have a method, as long as you follow it, you can prove your innocence."

    "Hahahaha!" Bai Mingughed coldly: "Prove my innocence? Why must I prove my innocence?"

    They wanted to inspect his body and storage bag, how could Bai Ming simply allow that?!

    As heughed, his battle intent surged.

    "It appears that all of you think I am afraid of battle." Bai Ming''s eyes shed, he said in a sinister tone.

    The expressions of the band of cultivators changed greatly.

    Bai Ming narrowed his eyes, "It isughable, you are being misled but you choose to remain ignorant. Kai Ye, you have already obtained the spirit herb from me, but you are attempting to frame me now, you are really scheming."

    The cultivators just kept their silence.

    But many people turned to look at the pitiful Kai Ye.

    Kai Ye red at Bai Ming with a furious expression, but he was thinking; ''Outstanding! This person has a sharp tongue, he is some no-name cultivator but has disyed his superior movement skills, and not forget he is cunning as a fox, and he genuinely appears to be unafraid of facing us, who in the world is he?''

    At the same time, he called out: "Bullshit, what kind of person am I? Everyone here clearly knows. Hmph, just so you know the three of us have formed a heavenly soul-bounding contract"

    Hearing this Bai Ming could not help but chuckle, he looked at Kai Ye disdainfully: "What soul-bounding contract? All I know is that regardless of the binding agreements you have set up priorly, they can surely be broken, there is nothing absolute in this world. As for what kind of individual you are? I only know that in the face of enormous profits, people change rather quickly and cannot be trusted. In this cruel world, No one is one''s friend, friendship or enmity is merely formed from a person''s motives of interest, anything else is a bunch of nonsense people like you spout."

    Bai Ming''s words were logical and practical, the cultivators hesitated even more.

    Kai Ye flew into a rage, pointing at Bai Ming''s nose, "If you are that confident, why don''t you let us inspect your storage pouch!"

    "The bunch of you are undeserving, and everyone here clearly saw that I had handed you the spirit herb, is there a need to continue this charade?" Bai Ming rapidly responded.

    "Hahaha." Kai Yeughed from pure anger, "There are hundreds of ways in this world to create illusions, who knows what evil methods you employed to keep the spirit herb secretly."

    Bai Ming raised his head and sighed woefully, saying in a regretful tone: "I have a mission from the eldest brother, I did not want to make trouble. But it seems inevitable, let''s fight."

    Kai Ye''s expression sank.

    Hearing the words eldest brother, many of the cultivators'' hearts shook, and they thought; So this person is not a lone cultivator, he has a fraction behind him. No wonder, he acts so arrogantly and even dares to fight head-on against these three monsters!

    At once, their wariness rose again.

    Especially the inner disciples, they operated independently and did not have an inner elder of the sect to back them up, they did not want to offend a major fraction for merely a few thousand sect points.

    Simrly, the expressions on Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu''s faces had turned iparably dark, they nced at each other from the corner of their eyes.

    At this crucial juncture, both of these fellow apprentice brothers shared the same thought;

    ''Sigh.., How troublesome!''

 Chapter 91 Misfortune (4/6)

    ?The air in the atmosphere was heavy.

    "Hold it." At this moment, Feng Jin Bo stood out; "I can guarantee on my master Dual sword immortal Liu Qing Yu''s reputation, as long as you cooperate with our investigation, if the spirit herb is not pn you, we will let you go."

    Dual sword immortal Liu Qing Yu''s fearsome strength was firmly ingrained in the hearts of the people of the entire province of Tiannan, even the neighboring provinces were aware of the chaos the Dual sword immortal had caused in the earlier chapters of his life, in the entirety of Tiannan province they were only five if not six Supreme mortal realm experts that could stand with him on equal grounds.

    "Liu Qing Yu?" Bai Mingughed coldly, his flying sword flew around him as he held the extremity-grade sword in his hand: "That''s very impressive huh? Do you think my teacher is afraid of that Liu Qing Yu? Hehe, in that case, let''s see what your master can do!"

    Before he finished speaking, Bai Ming used the flying sword, attacking the quasi-Yin-Yang realm expert Feng Jin Bo.

    "You!" Feng Jin Bo did not expect Bai Ming to strike so suddenly, he was caught off guard, quickly getting into a disadvantage under Bai Ming''s vicious attacks.

    The other cultivators decided to look on from the sidelines, and even Sima Bu stayed out of the battle as he diligently studied Bai Ming from the side.

    "This person is not afraid of Liu Qing Yu, he has a huge background."

    "Lord Liu Qing Yu might be a top-tier expert in the Tiannan province, but he also has enemies like Shen Ye Hai and Drunk Immortal Jin Bo. Is this individual the direct disciple of one of those two grand immortal experts?"

    "Since he is attacking Feng Jin Bo, that is a good thing. We can stay on the sidelines and watch their methods. If there is a future battle, we will be able to prepare."

    These spirit realm cultivators were not united, thus far they only worked together to squeeze out more benefits and to also have a certain amount of security, if things went south they would retreat without speaking a word they surely would not ce their lives on the line for others.

    Bai Ming''s factual words and actions caused doubts among them, resulting in a subtle division among these spirit realm cultivators.

    He picked his opponent due to specific reasons.

    If he chose an inner disciple, others would think he was depending on his treasures and speed advantage to bully a weaker opponent. Only by choosing the strongest opponent could there be deterrence.

    As for why he chose Feng Jin Bo and not Kai Ye, it was because Bai Ming remembered that he and Sima Bu were the only cultivators with a major powerhouse behind them. As for Kai Ye, he might be a core disciple but his backing was still a minor level weaker than these two.

    Those inner disciples did not want to offend individuals like Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu because of the behemoth standing behind them, and Feng Jin Bo also had many worries, just because he has backing from his supreme mortal realm master doesn''t necessarily mean that he could go around causing trouble. If he were to bite something his master couldn''t chew, then the first person to cut him down would be his master.

    Thus, as someone in an alliance of sorts, Feng Jin Bo spoke and acted with many concerns. After all, he was representing not just himself but his master, Liu Qing Yu as well.

    Both sides fought for a long time.

    After more than ten rounds, Feng Jin Bo was still at a disadvantage, he was breaking out in cold sweat.

    The Flying sword which was enhanced with Bai Ming''s sword path attainment and the purple me essence was a very deadlybination, while Feng Jin Bo was a scarlet elemental path cultivator with rtively insufficient defensive methods, he could not block the dreadful flying sword, he could only evade it.

    He was furious and startled.

    He was a disciple of a grand supreme mortal realm expert and Feng Jin Bo, himself was a top-tier Quasi-Yin-Yang realm expert, he was being forced to this extent by some no-name peak Spirit realm expert, his face waspletely gone.

    Feng Jin Bo had a grim expression as he thought; ''To salvage my face, I have to use my battlefield killer move to capture this scoundrel alive. In that case, my disy of weakness earlier can be deemed as a wise battle tactic.''

    In a certain perspective, Battlefield killer moves were a higher form of Martial technique that could paint unique domains in the real world and every domain would have a special effect of its own that could either strengthen the user or weaken the opponent and in some rare cases it can even perform both simultaneously. Of course, this is just surface-level knowledge about the battlefield killer moves, there are unique battlefield killer moves which hold unique abilities.

    Nheless, not just anyone can deploy these battlefield killer moves, only those who have entered the world realm phase, a special cultivation state can deploy domains in the real world.

    But this battlefield killer move Feng Jin Bo spoke of was not easy to activate, it required him to dispatch his world realm essence into all the cells in his body, then he needed to convert his spiritual essence into the five basic elemental energies before forming a perfect bnce in his body, then he had to inject his soul force into the elemental link before projecting it in the actual world, the process of setting up the domain will consume a lot of his time, especially when he is in the midst of an intense battle achieving the desired result is even more difficult.

    Feng Jin Bo had to deal with Bai Ming''s attacks while concentrating on his spiritual essence, world realm essence, and soul force, slowly forming his battlefield move.

    ''This flying sword rtively has a weak effect against the army of fire beasts, but it is really useful against human cultivators, once it pierces the head or heart, they would die. If I can find a way to improve its grade then I wouldn''t mind making it my life-bound weapon.''

    Bai Ming sighed internally, if he were to make the flying sword into his life-bound weapon, its strength can be greatly augmented but the problem is that if the flying sword were to get destroyedpletely, Bai Ming would have to pay an extremely high price, in the case of failure the best oue would be his cultivation level dropping by minor realm and at worst cases it can even drop by a major realm.

    But that''s forter, as of now the battle was in Bai Ming''s favor, even though he was in an advantageous position he had not be careless.

    Feng Jin Bo has been a true disciple for a long time, he had deep foundations but because Bai Ming attacked first, he lost the initiative. And not to forget the band cultivators who were watching from the sidelines, the situation wasn''t an ideal one for Bai Ming.

    Currently, the situation was perilous, the longer it dragged on, the harder it was for Bai Ming to escape.

    More importantly, his reserves were running extremely low, if it wasn''t for his extremity grade spirit root''s exceptional essence recovery rate and the fact that the fiery chaos essence in the air was gradually dissipating, his spiritual essence would have already run dry long ago.

    For the time being, Bai Ming had to maintain the pressure on Feng Jin Bo, Bai Ming struck first and pressured him. If he had any time to regain the initiative and use his techniques freely, the situation would be a lot different.

    Thus, Bai Ming had to use the flying sword continuously. After killing thousands of fire beasts the Flying sword wasn''t exactly in a great condition, but it greatlyplemented Bai Ming''s sword path attainment.

    Therefore, at the opportune timebining it with the Self-Sword formation, a terrifyingly quick assassination-styled attack could be unleashed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''I have less than 10 percent spiritual essence now but if I had some moreˇ­'' At this time, Bai Ming sensed something, his movements stopped as he looked behind him.

    The cluster of firey beasts was already within sight.

    Seeing the herd of fiery beasts, Bai Ming did not feel resentment, he felt joy.

    The opportunity he was waiting for hade!

    "What is going on? What are these things, they have such fiery auras."

    "Paradise me beasts, oh heavens, so many Paradise me beasts!"

    "These are paradise me beasts, what the hell are they? And why are there so many of them?!"

    The group of cultivators noticed the paradise me beasts, they were puzzled and shocked.

    ''So, these beasts are called Paradise me beasts..'' Bai Ming finally gained some knowledge about this species of beasts.

    Feng Jin Bo''s focus was on Bai Ming and Bai Ming only, seeing that Bai Ming had rxed, he was overjoyed, he immediately sped up inpleting the battlefield killer move he was preparing, it was already one-third done in this short time.

    ''Soon! Once I execute this killer move to capture you alive, I''ll deal with you personally.'' Feng Jin Bo clenched his teeth, maliciousness shone in his eyes.

    Bai Ming uttered coldly, "You monkeys, I lured these Paradise me beasts out from the very depths of the volcanos. It was to cooperate with my senior brothers and sisters to lure these vile creatures into a trap and capture them. You people obstructed us, we will make sure to deal with you one by er. Now, If you want to die, follow me!"

    Saying so, Bai Ming left Feng Jin Bo hovering in the void.

    The cultivators were shocked but relieved.

    Bai Ming''s injuries on his face were clearly caused by the Paradise me beasts.

    And the Paradise me beasts were chasing after him.

    These were all evidence of his words.

    So...what now?

    Chase, or not?

    The Red Lotus Sect''s spirit realm cultivators looked at each other.

    Their gazes were filled with hesitation, should they give chase or retreat quickly from this soon-to-be danger zone?

    The answer was unclear.

    Bai Ming noticed their hesitation and smiled coldly in his heart, sess was finally within his grasp!

    ...or so he thought.

    With cold humph, the Quasi-Yin-Yang realm cultivator Feng Jin Bo reacted.

    And how he reacted was absolutely opposite to what Bai Ming wanted.

    "Don''t think of leaving!" He moved like a streak of lightning, chasing after Bai Ming as he shouted his goddamn throat out.

    Bai Ming coldly snorted, "Don''t go overboard! Don''t think I am afraid of you, if not for my crucial task, I would cut you down right here and now."

    Feng Jin Bo surged with fury, "Bullshit!"

    His Battlefield killer move was almost ready to be used, he was about to salvage his face, but at this moment, Bai Ming ran away.

    He actually ran!

    ''How dare you?!'' Feng Jin Bo was unwilling to let him go, he chased relentlessly as the resentment in his heart rose to an unforeseen level.

    His actions caused the stunned band of cultivators to pursue him as well.

    Bai Ming slightly tilted his head and caught sight of this from the corner of his eyes, instantly his heart shank.

    As Bai Ming''s schemes continued to fail, his situation only got worse.

 Chapter 92 Misfortune (5/6)

    Bai Ming''s heart sank, but he shouted loudly, "Those who are not afraid to die cane, hahaha."

    Kai Ye scoffed before he yelled after him; "Those who are fearful of death are cowards! Chase him, the spirit Fruit is certainly with him, we cannot let him join up with the other cultivators. Only by capturing this person can we obtain the greatest of benefits."

    With such great profits in sight, the Red Lotus sect''s spirit realm cultivators pursued at an even faster pace after hearing that.

    ''Not so dumb are you,'' Bai Ming snorted in displeasure before pointing his finger, the flying sword bathed in raging mes flew out and shot at Feng Jin Bo.

    Feng Jin Bo was shocked, he tried to dodge. But because he was distracted, his Battlefield killer move was interrupted and he had to start all over again to use it.

    Feng Jin Bo''s eyes spewed mes of hatred as he spat out mouthfuls of ck blood due to the bacsh of having his killer move forcefully annulled.

    The core disciple, Kai Ye passed him and chased after Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming took a nce and once again tried to sow discord, "Kai Ye, you shameless thief! The Yang elemental spirit fruit is in your hands, but you are chasing after me. Such incredible acting!"

    Kai Ye was irate, "You scheming dog, Don''t run if you have guts!"

    "Against you people, why would I need to run, it would be soiling my teacher''s face!" Bai Ming shouted maniacally, "Continue chasing me if you have the guts, we''ll see who is the most unfortunate one in the end! Hahaha."

    Bai Ming exhibited unmatched fearlessness, he was so arrogant even though he was being pursued by so many quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators.

    In contrast, the Red Lotus sect''s cultivators became increasingly reluctant.

    For the pursuing cultivators, there was a key point in this whole situation, who had that essential Spirit fruit? What Bai Ming said earlier was highly possible.

    The seeds of distrust Bai Ming ced gradually started showing its effects.

    And to the group''s ''bad luck'', it seemed that Bai Ming had reinforcements ready to back him up. Giving it a thought, to hunt such an enormous group of Paradise me beasts, they must have set up at least a tier-5 formation or even set up a top-tier battlefield killer mover, this was quite possible!

    "If we enter a tier-5 formation, it would be problematicˇ­"

    Both Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu had a behemoth backing them, they might not be afraid, but for these inner sect disciples if they died no one would even care to bury their corpses.

    Even if anyone was willing to bury their corpses, the likelihood of their corpses remaining intact was exceedingly low.

    The cultivation world was such, it was unforgiving and ruthless to all.

    These inner disciples even though they were not top-tier talents, they were still upper-tier talents with bright futures ahead, if they weren''t such figures why would Feng Jin Bo and the other two care to recruit them, it was because they held value enough to be their foot soldiers.

    And these inner disciples only agreed to be their pawns because they sought explosive growth, after all, time was of the greatest importance to cultivators.

    As the situation got increasingly tense, changes appeared on the hunting grounds.

    First, an inner disciple fell to the back of the group before gradually separating from the pursuing group.

    Next, more and more inner disciples imitated their movements.

    The Red lotus sect may be a righteous sect, but the battle of benefits was ever present in the sect. Thriving in a ce such as that could these inner disciples afford to be stupid? Absolutely not, they would be fed to the dogs if they were.

    The inner disciples who fell behind were not willing to let Bai Ming go, but they were fearful of falling into a high-level formation or a battlefield killer move and being unable to leave. Thus, they all chose to let others take the charge and scout the path.

    ''These guysˇ­ they''re useless!'' Kai Ye who was the closest to Bai Ming caught this and internally cursed, but his movements also became hesitant.

    He was a Core disciple, but his standing was more in touch with these inner sect disciples than the true disciples, if it wasn''t for him obtaining an opportunity in the past he would also be an inner disciple at most, but now even though he was a core disciple and had various treasures and diverse methods. Against the tier-5 or above formations and unknown battlefield killer moves, he might not be able to escape.

    Even Feng Jin Bo was feeling slightly reluctant, he reserved some of his attention and energy to deal with any reinforcements of the enemy.

    Thus, a strange scenario was created.

    Bai Ming flew in front, shouting and cursing angrily, he was in a weaker position but he had a haughty attitude.

    Behind him were a bunch of Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators, even though they had the advantage in numbers, they were restrained and disyed a weaker attitude.

    Most of the time, Bai Ming was only using his damaged beast wings to fly, but the cultivators behind him had to resort to their best possible movement methods to follow him.

    Bai Ming''s thoughts were far less confident than his actions; ''So troublesome! Looking at my circumstances, I can only escape to the core area and use the advantage in that environment to break free from these pursuers.''

    ''First, get rid of those Paradise me beasts and then shrug off these frugal monkeys.'' Bai Ming revised his current thought process.

    Fights between cultivators weren''t always about strength, cultivators had to analyze both the risks and benefits involved, majority of the cultivators would only engage in fights when the benefits outweighed the risks, It would be foolish otherwise.

    Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

    With Bai Ming at the lead, a small group of cultivators flew in the sky while moving like shes of lightning, there was a hugemotion.

    Feng Jin Bo had discreetly been preparing his battlefield killer move, it could already be used.

    He held in his excitement as he sped up, quickly surpassing Kai Ye and reaching closer to Bai Ming.

    This sudden action made Bai Ming extremely vignt.

    He immediately used Self-Sword formation and enhanced his speed, flying away.

    ''Damn you!'' Feng Jin Bo cursed, his battlefield killer move was simple scarlet domain and had a greater effect when the distance was short. With his current distance from Bai Ming, there was no chance to seed in capturing him.

    Bai Ming once again activated the self-sword formation and raised his speed, the Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators in the back were internally grumbling.

    Feng Jin Bo stared at Bai Ming''s fleeing figure with viciousness, he felt the blood in his body boil.

    ''Since it hase to this, I''ll go all in!'' Feng Jin Bo''s eyes shed with resolve, he immediately transmitted a message to the other two;

    "I have a way, I can bring both of you along with me at great speed. But I need to focus and cannot be distracted, I hope you can restrain him."

    Kai Ye didn''t hesitate at all, he immediately agreed and gave a thumbs-up to Feng Jin Bo.

    As for Sima Bu, he immediately opposed Feng Jin Bo''s proposal, "Brother Feng, is it really worth it? I know that method you speak of is the life-saving treasure master gifted us, but it can only be used once before it deteriorates, we still have to spend another two months in this damned ce before we can leave, just for a tier-5 spirit fruit it''s not worth it! You have to think this through, don''t let your emotions guide you to your downfall."

    Feng Jin Bo heard this and stared at Sima Bu with his dull eyes, not saying a word.

    But Sima Bu was also unyielding, he stared back at Feng Jin Bo with a firm stance.

    The both of them didn''t speak a word, instead, they let their eyes speak for themselves.

    These two apprentice brothers had a strong bond, they had a concrete basis of trust in each other.

    Feng Jin Bo saw that his junior brother was determined, normally he would have yielded but today was different.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Feng Jin Bo felt slightly annoyed, but then he quickly made up his mind, he said: "Hmph, your so stubborn but I have a proposition."

    Sima Bu squinted: "What?"

    Feng Jin Bo sighed deeply, then he nced at Sima Bu meaningfully: "Let me use that Jade Wind Hut and I''ll introduce you to my sis.."

    "Done!" Sima Bu gave Feng Jin Bo a thumbs up. The unconcealed grin on his face was bone-chilling.

    Feng Jin Bo:  ?_?

    Feng Jin Bo was left speechless, this brother of his who would always take dozens of minutes just to decide the color of his underwear didn''t even take a second to consider, he was decisive, a little too decisive.

    Feng Jin Bo felt a hint of regret in his heart, but soon a fiendish smile appeared on his face as he eyed Bai Ming.

    ''They are plotting something sinister,'' Bai Ming was paying close attention to the three of them the entire time, but even he could not make out what was transpiring in their wicked minds. But whatever it was, there definitely wasn''t anything gooding out for him.

    He didn''t hesitate and directly used the Self-Sword formation three times in a row, swiftly pulling some distance.

    "Hurry up, he is getting away!" Kai Ye eximed anxiously.

    Feng Jin Bo didn''t think twice, he quickly tapped his bag of holding and a streak of green light shot out, the green light wilted unveiling a small Hut, the Hut was fully made up of green jade.

    ''A magical treasure?'' Bai Ming''s gaze focused.

    Feng Jin Bo quickly entered the jade hut and ced both of his palms on the floor and began transferring his spiritual essence crazily, at this moment Sima Bu gestured Kai Ye to follow him, and both of them stood at the entrance of the jade hut. The Jade hut first let out a buzzing sound before chasing after Bai Ming at incredible speed.

    At the same time, Sima Bu and Kai Ye had all the free time to start attacking.

    Bai Ming''s situation became dire.

    Earlier, in the process of chasing, the cultivators behind also attacked. But because Bai Ming was always using the flying sword to disrupt them and he also dodged their attacks, he was agile and hard to hit, the cultivators behind him could not seed.

    But now, two Quasi-Yin-Yang realm cultivators had the free time to focus on attacking, they could use more precise methods that possessed a bigger threat.

    Bai Ming''s pressure intensified, and after a while, he was injured.

    "Hahaha, Well done! this person has only so much capability, he only has that annoying sword to depend on. His other methods are all paltry tricks." Feng Jin Bo dered.

    "He was injured, to begin with, he was likely wounded by those Paradise me beasts." Kai Ye said darkly.

    "Even though he has superior flying skills and terrifying me essence, and that exceptional formation, but seeing him use those same methods repeatedly and also considering the fact that he had previously fought against those beasts, just how much spiritual essence can a peak spirit realm cultivator possess?" Sima Bu said, smiling in the process.

    As long as this progressed, they were sure to win.

    Their only concern was the mysterious force behind Bai Ming and a possible ambush.

    Thus, they were holding back and did not deal any fatal blows.

    Bai Ming''s situation was quite dangerous.

    If this continued to progress, he might die here.

    Humans were intelligent and hadplex thoughts and ideas, they were much harder to deal withpared to the simpleminded Paradise me beasts.

    If they really fought head-on, these Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators were not the match for the Paradise me beasts. But their threat towards Bai Ming was much higher than the Paradise me Beasts.

    Bai Ming had never banked on the two forces fighting each other, but it was mostly to gain some precious time and to split some of their attention from Bai Ming to someone else.

    Not all humans were smart and not all were stupid, but those who have experienced life would have naturally picked up a few things here and there.

    ''This means, I can only rely on the Core regional wall, but if everything else fails I''ll have to take a few drastic measures.'' Bai Ming''s face was colder than a ten-thousand-year-old iceberg,

    Bai Ming''s eyes suddenly lit up as he flew, he began peeling the skin off his forearms and used his treasure skin to roughly patch the numerous holes on his beast wings, it was a crude move but it gave him another 15% increase in speed, then with even more vigor he flew towards the core area.

    The Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators behind him chased relentlessly.

    Along with that group of Paradise me beasts.

    Soon, the core regional wall appeared in Bai Ming''s sight.

    The green-copper regional wall was like a fence surrounding the core area, it extend high into the sky, seemingly without an end.

    "Oh no, he is going to pass into the regional wall!" Kai Ye realized Bai Ming''s intent and shouted.

    "A good strategy. We are Quasi-Yin-Yang realm cultivators, after we enter the regional wall, we will face greater constraints than him." Sima Bu muttered.

    "Quickly attack, don''t let him seed. Kill that bastard," Feng Jin Bo roared furiously.

    The two cultivators'' attacks changed qualitatively.

    They attacked fiercely, Bai Ming could not block them all, his injuries were getting more severe, some of his bones could be seen through the deep wounds, and he was also purposely holding off on healing them, to give off an impression of weakness.

    "Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha," Bai Mingughed instead: "You dare to attack me, very good, Feng Jin Bo! If I die and master''s ns are ruined, we will not let you or your brother off."

    Feng Jin Bo''s heart skipped a beat, "Continue with your goddamn act of iming to be part of some alliance, it is just a hoax! I know both the righteous and demonic forces in the Tiannan Province like the back of my hand, why have I never heard of you?"

    Bai Mingughed again, his tone filled with maliciousness and hostility, "Feng Jin Bo, probing is useless here, I will not fall for it. This matter has to be kept confidential, I was dispatched because we were afraid of external interference. Even if you skin me alive, I will not tell you my background. I will even self-detonate my soul, you will not be able to soul search me, Hahaha."

    Bai Ming''s words made their hearts sink into a bottomless abyss.

    Unknown enemies were one of the scariest kind of enemies, if not the scariest. The enemy was hidden while you are out in the open beingpletely ignorant, you do not know who they are or where they are or what they are conspiring against you.

    This was the concern of the three Quasi-Yin-Yang realm cultivators.

    From start to finish, they did not think that Bai Ming was spouting nonsense.

    After all, Paradise me beasts were an extinct species in the outside world, why would an army of them chase after him like this? There had to be a reason.

    Since there was a motive, the perpetrators had to have sufficient confidence in their strength to take down this huge mob of Paradise me beasts.

    And just what kind of spirit realm force would be able to take down this army of Paradise me beasts? Obviously, only prominent forces!

    Bai Ming''s words made the three Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators'' attacks slow down, and he obtained some precious time to recover.

    The regional wall was right in front of him, Bai Ming could almost escape, but at this crucial juncture, Feng Jin Bo struck!

 Chapter 93 Misfortune (6/6)

    In the sky high up in the clouds.

    "Engulf." Feng Jin Bo uttered in a sinister tone.

    Not a secondter, the Jade Hut that was carrying Feng Jin Bo, Sima Bu, and Kai Ye started to tremble, then countless jade phantom waves appeared around the Jade Hut, these phantom waves raised the Jade Hut''s speed by a huge margin.

    Merely a breathter the Jade phantom waves rushed forward, engulfing Bai Ming.

    Bai Ming suddenly felt a strong sense of pressure.

    The jade waves were only phantom images, but he felt like he was confronting a catastrophic tsunami, he felt like a helpless ant that was about to be devoured by this tide!

    ''Truly an outstanding magical treasure!''

    ''True disciples are really hard to deal with.''

    In the moment of danger, these two thoughts shed across Bai Ming''s mind.

    Without the waves carrying them, the Jade Hut paused.

    "The matter is settled." Feng Jin Bo smiled coldly as immense joy radiated in his eyes.

    Kai Ye nced at Feng Jin Bo, he looked at him in a different light, raising his opinion of him.

    As it turned out, Feng Jin Bo had secretly collected information on Bai Ming and learned about his abilities, he knew what methods were suitable to deal with Bai Ming''s capabilities.

    On the surface, he was helping them to fly, but in fact, he was using them to obstruct Bai Ming while he secretly prepared the Jade Hut tounch a terrifying attack.

    And now, Feng Jin Bo struck.

    He had not taken action formerly, but once he did, it was a gigantic tsunami that even swallowed the heavens. It was even faster than the Self-Sword formation, it could not be stopped!

    Bai Ming''s superior-grade flying sword has been a lifesaver thus far, but against the phantom waves, it was ineffective, like dealing with Paradise me beasts.

    The phantom waves were already surrounding Bai Ming tightly, his room to maneuver became smaller, and the Flying Sword could not induce the desired damage right now.

    "To think that this Feng Jin Bo who appeared to be hot-headed and impulsive on the surface, who knew he had such ns. I kept on instigating him secretly, but to think that he is even fooled me!" Kai Ye felt wariness towards Feng Jin Bo.

    Sima Bu had a grim expression, as he observed the Jade Hut deteriorate at a frightening rate, even before Feng Jin Bo had used one of the Jade Hut''s unique skills, the speed of destruction was quite fast but now it was on a whole new level.

    Sima Bu let out a gloomy sigh, "This Jade Hut will bepletely destroyed within the next 15 seconds, it''s a bit unfortunate."

    But very quickly he felt hot as a young maiden''s image emerged in his mind. "I can finally have you rightfully as mine, Feng''er." then he did not take another look at the Jade Hut.

    Once Feng Jin Bo attacked, Bai Ming was like a trapped beast.

    "Haha, our victory is assured!"

    The three Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators had simr thoughts.

    But Bai Mingughed sinisterly "Huhuhu, little monkeys, why are you so foolish? You came to offer up your lives. In my opinion, those inner disciples are far smarter than you."

    The three Cultivators looked and saw that Bai Ming did not evade, his hands were behind his back as he floated in the air, calm andposed. Even a bit of amusement was perfectly exhibited in his eyes.

    The three Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators'' bodies shook, they cried out in their minds; ''Oh no! He is unfazed, is this the ce where they are ambushing us?''

    Bai Ming spoke again, "What''s this treasure? It can actually rival my speed and even seeded in giving me a hard time, butˇ­ can it break through our Heaven Sealing formation? Hehehe, I guess not."

    These Jade phantom waves had incredible power and could take his life, but Bai Ming was unmoved as if this was not a life-threatening attack, but a gentle breeze instead.

    He then dispelled the thin ward of spiritual essence protecting his body, then under the three cultivators'' horrified gazes he healed all the injuries on his body in a sh, his face was the only exception.

    ''Damn it! This move uses almost all my spiritual essence, it has a strong attack but weak defense, if the other party attacksˇ­'' Feng Jin Bo felt his heart go cold, there was no time to think further, he subconsciously withdrew the Jade phantom waves to guard the Jade Hut.

    The Jade phantom waves had already umted greatly and were a fatal attack, but with Feng Jin Bo withdrawing most of the waves, only a small portion was left to deal with Bai Ming, and a gap formed as Bai Ming made use of it.

    "Farewell, monkeys!" Bai Ming activated the self-sword formation, flying in the sky like a burst of lightning, entering the green-copper regional wall.

    The three Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators were dumbfounded before feeling intense rage.

    "This bastard is so crafty, he was putting up a front!"

    "He was at his wits'' end, but he acted in such a convincing manner. Let''s chase him!"

    The three cultivators were furious.

    "Come on, let''s go!" Kai Ye roared in anger, he looked the angriest.

    "You guys go ahead by yourselves I''ll follow behind you, the Jade Hut won''tst much longer and my spiritual essence reserves have been fully depleted," as he spoke, Feng Jin Bo''s expression turned uglier than a dead pig.

    The other two quickly nodded their heads in understanding and darted toward the regional wall.

    Feng Jin Bo''s expression turned pale, and after staring nkly momentarily, he pped himself before pursuing Bai Ming again.

    It was such a good situation earlier, but he messed it up, how could there still be another chance?

    Kai Ye and Sima Bu were just inches away from entering the core regional wall, at this moment Kai Ye transmitted a message to Sima Bu, "Brother Sima, once we enter the regional wall even though we are outnumbering him, he will still have greater movement speed than thus due to his low cultivation level. Hence, I say let the both of us..huh?"

    Before Kai Ye could finish his sentence, he saw an ominous w entirely made up of soul force dash out of the regional wall and prate Sima Bu''s skull.

    Sima Bu was caught off guard and was directly hit by Bai Ming''s devil hand soul art.

    Sima Bu immediately let out an anguished scream, his eyes momentarily blurred, blood dripped out of his seven orifices as his body fell down.

    "Sima!" Feng Jin Bo roared anxiously, he squeezed out thest of his spiritual essence and safely caught Sima Bu.

    Feng Jin Bo quickly inspected Sima Bu''s body only then did his heart calm down somewhat.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Thankfully he is not dead, but..his soul has taken quite a severe injury.'' Feng Jin Bo was relieved but soon his heart burned with hatred, at this moment the malice in his heart for Bai Ming was unbelievably scary.

    Kai Ye looked down at two of them and shouted, "Brother Feng, I''ll give chase to him first, you take Brother Sima to safety."

    Feng Jin Bo who was in deep thought, abruptly awoke when he heard this. He was about to agree but his eyes suddenly lit up and he loudly shouted;

    "Wait! I am unable to move a muscle, you have to take us inside the regional wall, the Paradise me beasts are almost upon us."

    "Fuck!" Kai Ye''s face was unsightly, the more time they wasted here the further Bai Ming would get from them, he cursed in his heart and quickly dashed down and helped the two apprentice brothers enter the regional wall.

    After they entered the regional wall, the inner disciples who were in the back quickly charged into the regional wall.

    Then came the huge army of Paradise me beasts, but the beast army could only look on as no matter how aggressive they were they just simply could not pass into the regional wall. After letting out a few frustrated roars they turned around and left.

    Bai Ming had survived narrowly, after entering the regional wall, he went deep into it.

    Kai Ye was greatly troubled. His higher cultivation level was a burden here.

    At this moment, he wished that he was just a peak spirit realm cultivator, even though the difference in resistance between the two was not much but it was still present, and not to forget Bai Ming had already gotten a head start.

    The deeper they got into the regional wall, the greater the repulsive force, and the slower their speed became.

    Soon, the cultivators were left in the dust by Bai Ming.

    "This is an unforgivable humiliation, not only was his cultivation base lower than us, but he was also outnumbered and he wasn''t even a hundred percent when we first met him, yet he managed to escape right under our noses, this is so infuriating!" The inner sect disciples felt deep shame.

    But they did not know that if Bai Ming was at his peak state when facing them, these sentiments of humiliation and shame would have been the least of their worries. They''d be dead before they even knew what hit them.

    Right now, even though Bai Ming had escaped with his life, his expression was grim.

    ''That Devil Hand soul art yed a huge role in my sess, even though I had to sacrifice a bit of my soul to scoop out the necessary soul essence it was a defining moment of this cat and mouse chase, I had to do it.''

    After using his divine sense to constantly control the flying sword and to repeatedly setting up the self-sword formation, his mental energy had naturally depleted, that Devil Hand soul art needed a certain amount of soul force to disy its might and the only way Bai Ming could achieve that was by burning his soul, even if he was in his peak state he could only use the Devil Hand soul art seven to eight times before running out soul energy, but this was a desperate time, and like the saying goes desperate times call for desperate measures. Bai Ming did what had to be done, there was no room for regrets.

    And as for how bad the injury was, Bai Ming estimated that he would require at least a month before he couldpletely recover his soul strength.

    ''Anything can be sacrificed as long as I can live another day, as long as I am alive what can I not achieve? The journey to the top will not be a smooth one, there will surely be times when sacrifices are needed and I shall not hesitate to make these sacrifices.'' Bai Ming smiled slightly as he reaffirmed his resolve.

    The group of cultivators could not catch up to Bai Ming, but they were unwilling to give up.

    "I don''t believe that he can forever keep running!"

    "He is already on hisst legs, flying here consumes a lot of spiritual essence and not to mention that he had for some reason retracted his wings. I want to see if his foundation can match my own?"

    Even though the cultivators were unwilling to see this, the reality was cruel.

    Bai Ming had left them farther and farther behind, the difference in their cultivation base was more evident the further on went in. If Bai Ming could have used his beast wings inside the regional wall things would have been even smoother, but at the end of the day, beast wings still had the word beast in it, if Bai Ming were to use his beast wings inside the formation the repulsion force would be too great for him to handle.

    After a few more minutes, the group of cultivators felt bitter, seeing Bai Ming getting farther away.

    Eventually, Bai Ming left the investigative range of the Quasi-Yin-Yang cultivators, they could only depend on their luck now.

    The cultivators chased until some people could no longer take it, they chose to give up, leaving the regional wall.

    "So unlucky! I actually encountered such a person!"

    "We know nothing about this person''s identity, it is unknown as to why the paradise mes Beasts were even chasing him in the first ce, but we can only me our bad luck for meeting such a cunning person."

    Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu conversed weakly, both of them had suffered much in this whole chase.

    Only Kai Ye was not talking, he slowly approached the two worn-out apprentice brothers.

    "Brother Kai, that man has already gone, this matter has so many issues, we should leave first and then discuss it."

    Feng Jin Bo said in an exhausted voice as he supported Sima Bu to turn around and leave the regional wall.

    "Of course," Kai Ye replied with an understanding look, but as soon as the both of them turned around an ominous light flickered in his eyes.

    Swoosh Swoosh!

    Warm blood sshed and a secondter two heads rolled in the air.

    Just like Bai Ming had said before, be it friendship or enmity both were formed on a person''s motives of interest.

    The reason for Feng Jin Bo and Sima Bu''s downfall was their excessive trust in the agreement methods they had previously set up with Kai Ye, in this world nothing was omnipotent every method technique and its own weakness.

    Thirty minutester.

    A miserable figure prated the green-copper regional wall and entered the core area.

    "I am finally in the core area." It was Bai Ming, he was filled with fatigue because the cultivators were pursuing him, Bai Ming had to travel in the regional wall.

    Thus, he took a long detour and consumed almost all of his spiritual essence, there was just about 1% of his spiritual essence remaining.

    There were no injuries on his body, but the injury to his soul was the main problem.

    But these were not important.

    The important thing is he is right now in the most dangerous area of the Mystic realm!

    And he is currently in the weakest state possible, ever since the chase began Bai Ming was having a bad feeling and now even after escaping with his life, Bai Ming''s bad feeling was only getting deeper.

    "Whatever, at least I''m safe for the time being. Now let''s quickly find a suitable ce for recuperation." Bai Ming unfurled his wings and took off.

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