The battle had reached a deadlock. The Chain-Linked Construct and Tamamo-no-Mae were locked in a desperate struggle, neither able to gain the upper hand.
Off to the side, Jing Qian kept striking, harvesting lifespan with every cut.
But after watching these three fight, his expectations for the rest of his journey inside the Zhuoling Cave-Heaven dropped sharply.
He finally understood this Yingfutu Realm was just another world of "who's your daddy," background, and family wealth. For grassroots cultivators like him, clawing one's way upward was brutally hard.
Since his entry into cultivation, his path had been like sparks flying from a flint, unceasing, relentless. Every step he had taken was firm, his foundation laid solidly. He thought he had already pushed himself to the extreme.
With the ability to fight above his rank, he had prepared in every way he could, intending to come into this cave-heaven and test himself against the so-called true prodigies.
Yet now, upon arrival, he saw the truth: every one of these people carried some external spiritual construct, each vastly stronger than their actual rank. By relying on these machines, their combat power leapt to an entirely different level.
So in the end, it was just a nest of second-generation elites.
And what was he, a nobody from the frontier army continent, supposed to use to compete with that?
His plans shifted. He no longer hoped to seize great opportunities here. All he wanted now was to survive the chaos inside the cave-heaven and broaden his horizons.
Afterwards, he would continue training diligently, raise his power higher, and only then cross blades with these "second gens" again.
Goals gave birth to motivation. Jing Qian's fighting spirit surged once more, his desire for cultivation burning hotter than ever.
Of the twelve great lineages, five had already appeared. One beacon-bearer had already been eliminated.
The Chongxuan Palace and the Jingyun Shrine were locked in a fierce duel.
Elsewhere, with the Chain-Linked Construct no longer blocking the way, two more beacon-bearers entered.
Jing Qian turned his gaze.
One was a sultry woman with a golden centipede coiled around her waist.
Her skin was delicate, pale, and beautiful, her clothes sparse, as if she had just walked out of a tropical rainforest.
That golden centipede was no ordinary ornament but a formidable construct:
Spiritual Construct: Centipede of Prayers
Type: external moon / Self-Seeking Root
Grade: Fifth Rank
Suppression Requirement: Manifestation of Insects and Vermin
Lifespan Burden: Nine double-hours per day
The moment she arrived, she immediately assessed the situation. With a twist of her power, her body burst like a bubble and vanished.
But through Jing Qian's Worldly Insight eyes, he saw her true form scatter into countless minuscule gu-worms, invisible to the naked eye, drifting through the air.
She had to be from the Zhoushan Sect of Bamboo Continent, a sect that cultivated with poison and insects, walking the path of vermin-Manifestation Dao. Strange and sinister, extremely hard to deal with.
Yet even she didn't surprise him as much as the other newcomer.
A bird-headed man descended from a human body, avian head, wings spreading wide. Around his neck coiled a violet serpent. He was without doubt a disciple of Feathering Gate of Cloud Continent.
And Jing Qian knew him all too well.
The Divine Roc avatar, the Suppressed Spirit construct, and that sixth-rank dragon-serpent, this was none other than his old commander, Ling Mingji.
But wait, hadn't this man already advanced into the Spirit-Suppressing Realm?
Wasn't the Zhuoling Cave-Heaven supposed to allow only cultivators below the Longevity stage?
How had he managed to sneak in?
Jing Qian didn't expose him, only watched in silence.
At that moment, the Chongxuan Palace construct-disciple spoke again:
"Fox, you and I won't settle this quickly. No need to waste more time and power.
A few more are yet to arrive. Step aside and let me keep clearing the field.
Fellow Daoists, don't just stand idle; help me drive them out.
The fewer rivals in here, the greater the chance at seizing fortune."
Hearing this, the Tamamo avatar broke off, reverting into human form and standing aside.
Before leaving, he cast a long, meaningful glance up toward the clouds where Jing Qian was hidden, but said nothing.
Jing Qian pulled back his power as well, ceasing his secret lifespan harvesting, pretending nothing had happened.
For a time, the six cultivators within the cave-heaven all fixed their gazes on the entrance, waiting for the next arrivals.
This practice of the earlier arrivals bullying the latecomers was already an old tradition inside the Zhuoling Cave Heaven.
Although the activation of the signal markers happened at the same time, who could be the first to descend into the cave depended on cultivation level, strength of mana, and comprehension of spatial principles.
In this regard, although Ji Qing's cultivation was the weakest, he happened to have a natural advantage.
Fortunately, he had arrived early and only had to face a single ruffian. If he'd entered later, he might very well have been driven out immediately.
The eighth signal bearer then arrived. The ones who were already present didn't show the slightest mercy; they struck together, unleashed a blast of power, and heavily injured him, expelling him from the cave.
Even Ji Qing joined the crowd, slipping in two quiet sword strikes to leech a bit of lifespan essence.
This unlucky fellow was a monk clad in saffron robes, bald and browless, clearly a high monk of the Wuchang Temple. His visit to Zhuoling Cave Heaven lasted as long as a single breath of fresh air before he was sent back to reflect on his Buddhist teachings.
The ninth signal bearer received the same treatment, beaten to a pulp and forced out of the cave.
Judging by the spray of blood he left behind, bright, fresh, and copious, he was most likely a promising disciple of the Blood River Sect.
Now, among the twelve great orthodoxies, the only ones yet to appear were the Ying Clan, Xingdou Kuishan, Cihang Nunnery, and Lingluo Palace.
The first middle-aged cultivator who'd been knocked out earlier had probably belonged to one of these, but Ji Qing hadn't been able to identify him.
Then the tenth signal bearer descended. As usual, six of them ganged up together, hammer, frying pan, fox tails, flying gu in a chaotic brawl.
Yet this cultivator actually held his ground!
A star flared and shattered, scattering into boundless starlight that absorbed all the attacks.
The radiance gathered and dispersed, and a young man in a purple robe stepped free of the siege, grinning as he emerged unscathed.
"Haha! Such a ferocious welcome gift, fellow Daoists! I am Shan Yi of Xingdou Kuishan. Care to make some room for me?"
With that, he waved his hand, sending a streak of starlight toward the entrance, his attitude saying plainly: I know exactly how this works, no need for more words.
The others, having failed to stop him, said no more. They simply waited for the last two to arrive.
Soon after, a shadow of bamboo appeared, shielding the eleventh signal bearer.
This one was a palace-robed beauty, exquisitely made up, her age impossible to guess.
Ji Qing's eyes sharpened. He recognized that the bamboo aura was none other than the Second Fruit of the Cloud Bamboo!
Compared to the Fifth Fruit he had seen growing on Qiyue Island, this Second Fruit was innately stronger, already at the fifth rank, the Earth Fiend Realm.
What's more, when it had sprouted on the island, it had drawn in a thread of fourth-rank Star-Seizer Realm power from the Cloud Bamboo's main body.
Now, it could briefly unleash Star-Seizer–level might, blocking all the combined attacks of the others.
Ji Qing tested it with two sword threads only to find that not only could he not break through, he couldn't even siphon off lifespan essence. So he withdrew his power.
He had seen enough to realize that none of these so-called lower-three-rank cultivators were playing fair.
Each of them was a jinchūriki of sorts, hosting high-grade External Dao Spirit Constructs far beyond their cultivation. Their own presence seemed almost secondary.
He thought of his own scruffy tanuki-spirit cat. Though technically also an External Dao Moon, if he brought it out in this company, its only chance would be to make the enemy laugh to death.
With Cihang Nunnery's beauty now present, only Lingluo Palace and the Ying Clan had yet to show.
The first handsome middle-aged cultivator who'd been smashed out earlier was most likely a Lingluo Palace adept.
Thus, Lingluo Palace, Blood River Sect, and Wuchang Temple became the first three unfortunates to be eliminated.
Unable to intervene, Ji Qing crouched in the clouds, quietly observing the chaos.
Counting himself, eight Spirit Construct Disciples were besieging the Cloud Bamboo Fruit, yet even so, they fought to a standstill. That surprised him.
"Hm? Eight?"
He counted again. Yes, eight indeed.
Pushing his Insight into the Mortal Realm to its limit, he pierced through layers of obstruction and suddenly, another figure appeared in his vision.
A child, no more than seven or eight years old!
The boy wore a black-and-gold dragon-patterned robe, and perched on his shoulder was a palm-sized crimson imp. Somehow, without anyone noticing, he had already entered Zhuoling Cave Heaven.
A unique aura cloaked him. Even Ji Qing's Insight, when unalert, had ignored him entirely.
And merely glimpsing him caused a stabbing pain in Ji Qing's eyes; the two ghosts dwelling in his pupils writhed as if pricked by needles.
He'd traveled far and seen much, but never before had he met someone like this. This child's strength was the greatest of all!
Alarm bells rang in Ji Qing's heart. He instantly activated the concealment function of his Sumeru Ghostskin and slipped upward into the heights of the sky.
Only after he had ascended a hundred li and touched the barrier of clouds above, unable to go further, did he finally stop.
From this vantage, the combatants below were as small as sesame seeds. Only with Insight could he perceive the whole field.
The Cloud Bamboo Fruit fought one against many, but even with the borrowed Star-Seizer power, its aura was fading.
The palace beauty of Cihang Nunnery was simply unlucky; entering late meant enduring the strongest siege. Even if she survived, her trump-card Star-Seizer power would already be spent.
At that moment, the strange child finally made his move.
It seemed the boy didn't care in the slightest about the raging waves of power still clashing across the battlefield. He strolled along at an easy, unhurried pace until at last he lifted his hand in a casual wave.
With that single gesture, all the raging powers in the field were swept clean away. Only then did everyone present suddenly realize his existence.
And in the next instant, the battlefield's momentum, its initiative, everything was wholly in the hands of this child.
A tide of immense power surged forth, suppressing every person present so thoroughly that they couldn't move a muscle.
Cloud Bamboo… Jade Fox… the insect maiden… the bird-man… the pot-wielding chef… even the mecha-smith…
Even Ji Qing himself, who had fled all the way up to the cloud tops, found himself pinned flat against the cloud bank, unable to so much as twitch.
All those proud, arrogant heirs of great sects, each a Spirit Construct Disciple who had swaggered about moments earlier, were frozen in place like insects in amber.
The boy walked calmly to the side of the Cloud Bamboo Fruit, studied it for a moment, then casually reached out his right hand and snapped off a great chunk.
Crack!
This grand Fifth-Rank Spirit Construct, this divine bamboo fruit of the Fourth Realm, was broken off just like that! The Cloud Bamboo's aura plummeted instantly. The palace-robed beauty coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the side, pale and powerless.
The boy strolled on. His next stop was beside Ling Mingji. After a moment's examination, he simply reached out and yanked downward, tearing the great left wing clean off the roc's back.
Ling Mingji's avian head trembled violently, as though he wanted to cry out, but the boy's suppression left him mute.
Next, the child walked to the side of the girl from Zhushan Sect. His hand darted out to clamp around the golden centipede at her waist, and with a single wrench, he tore off half its body.
He flung the twitching insect husk aside without a second glance, ignoring the way the young woman fell back frothing at the mouth.
Then he came to Jade Fox. With one hand, he seized the man's face, dug his fingers into the socket, and ripped out his left eye.
That strike was vicious. Jade Fox's Spirit Construct was crippled, and his aura collapsed in an instant.
Still not stopping, the child walked on to the overturned bronze cauldron. Bending down, he flipped it up with a single hand.
The fat little cook hiding beneath the pot gave him an awkward smile, scratched his head, and ventured cautiously:
"Dare I ask… are you the Ying Clan's crown prince? Truly, your bearing is unmatched!"
"I wonder… what orders does the prince have for me?"
At last, someone dared to speak.
Ji Qing, too, finally had his confirmation that the boy of overwhelming might was none other than a Son of Ying.
The Ying heir glanced at the little cook, then casually tossed the items he had just taken: the bamboo fruit, the severed wing, the insect husk, and the fox's eye down in front of him.
"I'm hungry. Cook these for me."
The cook's eyes lit up. He clapped his hands and said, "That I can do! This is my specialty!"
He hefted his wok and was about to get started, then paused, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"But… Your Highness, there's no stove or fire here. I'm afraid I can't cook these fine ingredients properly."
The Ying heir rolled his eyes, turned, and strolled to the Spirit Construct Disciple of the Chongxuan Palace. With a single kick, he toppled the chain-mecha giant to the ground.
Then, with a heavy punch, he drove a deep crater into its chest.
He patted the little imp on his shoulder. The imp opened its mouth wide and spat out a stream of blazing flame, filling the hollowed chest cavity.
In that moment, the mecha became a metal stove.
The imp's fire was no common flame; it burned so hot that the mecha's metal shell quickly glowed red.
The disciple inside could endure it no longer. In less than a minute, he popped open the crystal dome at the head and scrambled out, coughing.
Had he delayed a moment longer, he'd have been roasted alive.
The slim young smith stood there, face dark as iron, watching his precious Spirit Construct being used as a cookstove.
Meanwhile, the fat little chef waddled up, plopped his pot on top of the glowing cavity, and started stirring.
The smith's face grew even darker.
But the Ying heir didn't care at all. He had already humiliated nearly every Spirit Construct Disciple present.
Only two remained untouched: one boy scattering starlight in the sky, and one swordsman hidden at the cloud tops who fancied himself unseen.
The child spared neither. His tiny hands stretched wide, and two crimson demonic claws shot upward, one left and one right, dragging both the starlight youth and Ji Qing down before him.
For a moment, Ji Qing nearly triggered his Sumeru retreat to escape!
But he saw the others endure their humiliations without fleeing, and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay.
The child placed the two before him, and with his crimson claws crushed the starlight youth to pieces.
The boy's body shattered into fragments of starlight only to instantly recondense again.
The Ying heir shook his head and said coldly:
"To come here with nothing more than a starlight clone, did you truly think no one could deal with you?"
He patted the imp again, intending to unleash its flames.
The starlight youth immediately bowed and said:
"Your Highness, please don't be angry. I truly cannot withstand your divine fire. I had no choice but to send a clone."
"Yesterday, while making final preparations, I exerted myself too far and triggered my advancement to the Suppressing Spirit Realm."
"With time too short to substitute another disciple from my sect, I could only send this avatar as a stopgap."
"If Your Highness disapproves, I will leave this realm at once. Do come to Xingdou Kuishan for tea when you have the time."
The starlight youth finished speaking, then fully dissolved into a wisp of starlight and vanished.
With that, another disciple of a great lineage had been expelled, leaving only eight people on the field.
As one of the eight, Ji Qing naturally couldn't escape the Ying heir's attention.
The boy's crimson claws tore straight through Ji Qing's Sumeru Ghost-Skin, ripping it in half.
He glanced at the tattered hide in his hand, tossed it aside with a look of disgust, and sneered:
"What filthy trash is this?"
Then he looked Ji Qing over directly and said:
"This is better, at least you look human. Why bother piling on all those odd little tricks? So petty, so small-minded.
"You're supposed to be the Spirit Construct Disciple of the Pure Sun Ruins, yet you're so flimsy, without a shred of edge. Instead of honing your sword, you waste your time dabbling in the Yanfu Path's crooked little arts. What good are those?
"Go back, train a few more years, then come back and talk!"
With that, the Ying heir slammed Ji Qing into the ground and raised a massive bare foot, stomping down hard.
Damn it!
Ji Qing had been inside the Zhuoling Cavern-Heaven for less than half a day, and this was the second time his body had been pulverized.
The Ying heir treated him like a cockroach, stomping him flat. Ji Qing's body nearly burst apart completely!
But at the last instant, one of the fleshy sprouts rooted in his heart dissolved, releasing a torrent of vital force that dragged his dying body back from the brink.
"Hm?"
The Ying heir seemed genuinely surprised. That stomp should have sent Ji Qing straight out of the realm.
So he raised his foot and stomped again.
Splurch!
Ji Qing burst into pulp once more, only to be dragged back again by another sprout.
He still had twenty-seven sprouts left, the stockpile he had painstakingly cultivated by devouring thousands of Yin Bones.
As long as he had sprouts, he was maddeningly difficult to kill.
And with the Zhuoling Cavern-Heaven itself keeping everyone alive as a bottom line, Ji Qing wasn't in danger of true death.
So he decided to endure a bit more, to see how far this Ying heir would push things.
If it truly became hopeless, he could always fall back on Sumeru and slip away.
Meanwhile, by enduring the boy's power firsthand, Ji Qing's Worldly Insight finally unraveled the truth behind him:
Spirit Construct: Flame Demon Raksha
Type: external moon
Rank: Third Grade
Destiny: Flame Demon
Suppression Requirement: Harmonized Destiny
Lifespan Burden: One month per day
Utterly outrageous!
This child's cultivation was the same as Ji Qing's Dragon-Elephant, just barely formed, not yet at the stage of manifesting a Dharma Body.
In other words, his very foundation was forged through Spirit Construct Baptism, with a Third-Grade Spirit Construct as his core!
Such a foundation was monstrous, unreasonable, and explained perfectly why he could crush every other disciple present with casual ease.
The Ying heir lifted his foot for a third stomp
, but just then, the Zhuoling Cavern-Heaven shifted, interrupting him and drawing everyone's attention.
Out from the mists shuffled a hunched old man.
He wore a simple robe and a straw hat, his sallow face lined with wind and frost. In his left hand, he carried a bamboo fishing rod, in his right a folding stool, and on his back a small wooden tackle box. Dusty and weary, he walked straight to the edge of the central lake, set down his stool, and sat.
He glanced at the chaotic battlefield, then ignored it entirely and busied himself.
He opened his box, pinched out a worm, and baited his hook.
Then, with a smooth flick, he cast his line not into the lake, but upward, straight into the clouds. The line extended endlessly; no one could see where it went.
Ji Qing saw clearly: that "worm" was no mere bait, but the body of a genuine Fifth-Grade True Dragon.
This old man's strength was unfathomable. Whatever he was fishing for was beyond imagining.
The angler's arrival made the Ying heir stop trampling Ji Qing. He stepped forward without ceremony and asked:
"Fisherman. Everyone is here. When do we begin?"
The old man turned his head, coughed lightly, and said slowly:
"I've long heard that the Ying Clan's ancestral temple has birthed another true dragon. Truly, your roots are deep, your future boundless.
"But your temper? It's even fouler than your uncle's and far worse than your great-grandfather's."
"Wait a little longer. Someone from the Divine Court's Heavenly Firmament Tower must arrive to witness. When he comes, we'll begin."
"Ah, looks like something's biting. You juniors, come watch."
At his words, the six battered and bruised Spirit Construct Disciples shuffled closer to watch.
Only the mecha-smith was still scrambling to douse the flames in his makeshift stove, desperate to save his "cooking range."
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