Though Kunpeng Sea was counted among the Ten Great Deadly Lands of the Yingfutu Realm, in truth, when it came to peril, it was unquestionably the first among them all.
The reason was simple:
an ancient Kunpeng, unimaginably old and powerful, had long made this sea its home, never leaving, never disturbed.
Among the four Second-Rank cultivators who still resided in the Yingfutu Realm,
this Kunpeng's strength ranked near the very top.
Over countless years, whenever a Pure Yang Child appeared in the world and roamed the realms,
they would inevitably challenge this legendary beast.
But as Old White Ox once said, none had ever gained the upper hand against the Kunpeng.
Jing Qian was well aware of its might.
Yet the tremendous leap in his own strength filled him with absolute confidence.
The greatest prodigy in the history of Pure Yang Heaven had to live up to that title and prove himself the strongest in all of history as well.
If his talent surpassed that of his predecessors,
then against the Kunpeng that defeated them, he would succeed where they had failed.
Standing tall beneath his Law-Manifestation Armament, sword in hand,
Jing Qian truly looked like a saint descended into the mortal world.
Only at the Sub-Spirit Realm, after awakening the Armament, did the true might of the Saint Manifestation reveal itself, a gulf so vast that it made lower-grade manifestations seem laughable.
Now, empowered by the Saint Manifestation, his mana doubled instantly,
and his defensive might grew so great that even he couldn't see the limit.
More importantly, with the Saint Manifestation as his conduit, he could draw out the full power of his many Spirit Constructs no longer constrained by realm suppression.
This raised his offensive ceiling to a terrifying new height, the combined might of three sub–First–Rank Immortal Sword Embryos.
Within the Fate-Stele space, he could slaughter Third-Rank masters like Blood Robe as if butchering pigs.
In this cultivation world, only those who held Dao-lineage inheritance from the great sects, noble clans, imperial courts, and holy orders could produce true elites.
Among them, disciples were sharply divided by birth and fortune:
ordinary disciples, Spirit Children, and Titled Spirit Children,
each step apart as heaven from earth.
Those like Sheng Ji, Blood Robe, Blood Cang, and Luo Tian,
who possessed personal titles,
were the strongest heirs of any top-tier Dao lineage.
Yet even they remained far from the true Dao-lineage, the direct successors of the Dao Ancestors themselves.
At equal rank, say, all at Fifth-Rank Earth Fiend Realm
Shang Xi could cut down Sheng Ji like slicing tofu.
Even Blood Robe, already at the Third Rank, couldn't withstand one of his full-force sword strikes.
After advancing to Star-Seizing, Shang Xi could single-handedly challenge the entire Flower Spirit Sea,
a testament to his terrifying battle strength.
And above the Dao Heirs stood a class even rarer than the few who, like Jing Qian, had condensed the Saint Manifestation.
Such beings were practically mythical;
In tens of thousands of years, one might never meet even a single cultivator of this level.
Few could truly comprehend the extent of their power.
Cultivators of different levels used entirely different growth templates even in the same realm; their power values could differ by tens of thousands of times.
To put it plainly:
An ordinary disciple followed the mob template. Each realm brought only slight gains.
In the end, they were little more than a docile Nagrand Sheep with 3,000 HP.
A Spirit Child followed the elite template after long cultivation,
and they became a Hellfire Gatekeeper with 20,000 HP.
A Dao-Heir carried the boss template, steamrolling through realms,
reaching the level of Gruul the Dragonkiller, boasting 4,000,000 HP.
But cultivators like Jing Qian, who condensed the Saint Manifestation,
followed the patch-child, endgame template.
At full potential, they could become Illidan Stormrage with 55,000,000 HP
or even Kil'jaeden, exceeding hundreds of millions!
Among all Dao-Heir–level beings, Jing Qian had encountered
No-Eyes, True Corn, Shang Xi, Zhenmiao, Gu Lin, and Ao Bao, not a single one had successfully condensed the Saint Manifestation.
That alone showed just how rare and unfathomable it was.
Even though Jing Qian was only at Sub-Spirit,
with the Saint Manifestation, three Immortal Sword Embryos, and three powerful epithets, he faced the charging Kunpeng without the slightest fear.
His Yin-Extreme Immortal Sword Embryo, perfectly controlled,
unleashed a torrent of sword light that slashed toward the beast.
"How dare you, junior!"
The old Kunpeng, disturbed in its lair, was incensed.
When it emerged to confront the intruder and saw Jing Qian still attacking, its fury exploded.
Jing Qian's sword stroke roared like a dragon, its light carried the intensity of a sub–First-Rank sword aura.
He didn't retreat an inch.
Facing the surging Immortal Spirit Qi of the Kunpeng head-on,
his blade tore through yin and yang, and before the edge even reached, the surrounding sea boiled on its own.
When the sword light and Immortal Qi collided, it was like cleaving chaos itself, like stirring the wheel of reincarnation, a clash of absolute equals.
The two forces met like needlepoint and wheat spike, neither yielding an inch.
"Heh… tougher than Blood Robe, at least,"
Jing Qian muttered with a faint smirk.
Jing Qian chuckled softly, and in that instant, the halo behind his Saint Manifestation suddenly expanded to ten times its size.
A heartbeat later, his figure vanished into the Sumeru Dimension, and over the battlefield, countless rifts in space tore open at once.
From every rift burst forth razor-sharp streams of invisible sword-qi.
Those fissures linked together, forming a vast Grand Sumeru Sword Formation, sealing the ancient Kunpeng within its deadly web.
This was one of the highest forms of spatial divine arts, a power Jing Qian could only wield after activating his Law-Manifestation Armament.
It combined the might of many of his Heavenly Fates into a single apocalyptic calamity of the void.
After his ascension, his entire combat system had transformed.
Using the sword formation to trap enemies,
and weaving the invisible sword-qi of the Immortal Sword Embryos into it,
was a vicious, insidious style of warfare.
He no longer needed to wield the sword by hand,
nor close the distance to strike his foe directly.
Now, within the sword formation, the old Kunpeng's spiritual power was shredded and suppressed from every direction.
Sensing the danger, the ancient creature dared not delay.
It immediately unleashed its deepest reserves.
In an instant, that one-zhang-long white whale soared into the sky, its hyper-compressed flesh releasing all restraint, its body swelling larger and larger until, within seconds, it spanned over a hundred li.
For a brief moment, Jing Qian was stunned by its vastness,
and a line from an ancient text surfaced in his mind:
"In the northern seas, there is a fish, its name is Kun.
The Kun is so great, one knows how many thousand li it spans.
It transforms into a bird; its name is Peng.
The back of the Peng is also vast beyond measure.
When it rises in wrath, its wings spread like clouds draping the heavens."
The Kunpeng rose skyward, its titanic flesh and endless life-force deflecting Jing Qian's attacks.
Even though the Yin-Extreme Immortal Sword Embryo carved wounds deep enough to expose bone,
The creature's vitality was so immense that its life was never truly endangered.
Jing Qian's Grand Sumeru Sword Formation stretched only three li across the very limit of his current power.
Against a monster more than a hundred li long and still growing, his cuts were but scratches upon an iron wall.
The Kunpeng bore four Heavenly Fates, each devoted to strengthening its physical body.
They allowed it to sustain its world-sized form with ease and made it nearly impossible to kill.
Unless one possessed sword-qi like Ren Chong's, capable of slaying even immortal monuments on the mountain itself, no wound would ever last.
Its endless life-force simply healed everything back to perfection.
Throughout history, every Pure Yang Child who challenged this beast had ended up exhausted, their backs nearly broken, never able to deal the finishing blow.
Now Jing Qian found himself locked in the same battle of attrition.
Sword-qi filled the heavens, each slash piercing through the Kunpeng's Immortal Spirit Aura.
Though he saw no immediate hope of killing it, he held his ground with unshakable composure.
A Sixth-Rank cultivator standing toe-to-toe with a Second-Rank Kunpeng, this impossible scene stunned the entire Yingfutu Realm.
The true meaning of the title Pure Yang Child was sinking deep into every heart.
And that was precisely Jing Qian's intention.
After his breakthrough, he needed such a battle, a storm to announce to the world his arrival.
Facing the beast's hide of iron and flesh like steel,
Jing Qian's Three-Life Eye blazed fully open,
deducing countless methods to bring down his foe.
At the same time, he was probing the deepest limits of his Law-Manifestation Armament.
The Saint Manifestation's Armament, also called the Saint True Body, was a named, living ultimate weapon, the foundation of all cultivation in the middle three realms.
With his profound roots, Jing Qian's Sumeru True Body grew stronger by the moment,
And his confidence only deepened as he faced the Kunpeng's resistance.
Within the unbroken Grand Sumeru Sword Formation that clung to the beast's flesh, something subtle began to stir, tiny roots creeping out from the sword-light itself.
A delicate sprout of Good Corn had somehow hidden within the formation, quietly extending its roots into the Kunpeng's body.
During Jing Qian's ascension, Good Corn had absorbed the Dragon Mother's Immortal Qi and benefited no less than its master.
After toiling for over a year within the Mountain of Immortal Qi, it had broken through to the 112th layer bearing four strands of Golden Immortal Qi, its mana essence surpassing even that of the Kunpeng before them.
Channeling this vast energy, Good Corn drove its roots deep into the wounds carved open by Jing Qian's sword-qi.
Both Jing Qian's sword and Good Corn's roots were the only things capable of piercing the Kunpeng's defenses.
Though the roots' damage seemed minor compared to the sword, they stabbed into the Kunpeng's very soul a burning needle that made the ancient beast convulse.
A thunderous whale-cry split the heavens as the Kunpeng howled,
its immense body writhing madly,
desperately trying to shake the stubborn little sprout from its back.
But the tiny corn plant was buried deep,
like a patch of unyielding dogskin plaster,
and with the sword formation protecting it,
It simply refused to be dislodged.
The Kunpeng roared, its voice like a collapsing sea:
"Fish feed!"
"How dare you reveal yourself in the Northern Heavens!"
"Now that your trace is shown, No-Eyes will never escape the Empress's pursuit!"
"I swear, once I report this to the Wuji Celestial Court, the ministers there will hunt you two criminals to the ends of creation!"
On its massive back, Good Corn puckered its little mouth and snapped back,
"Oh, shut your blowhole!"
"I am the Supreme Guardian Deity of Yanfu Dao,
the proud hound of the Yanfu Dao Ancestor himself!
Even in the Wuji Celestial Court, I have face to spare!"
"And you, your bones are sturdy, your hide thick
I see great potential in you!
Serve me as ox or steed, and I'll guarantee your name carved upon the Mountain of Immortal Qi itself!
You won't have to skulk in your cave anymore like a coward afraid to step outside!"
The Kunpeng was absolutely furious.
It was only when Good Corn's roots had burrowed into its flesh that the old beast finally recognized what this little sprout really was, and in that instant, countless unpleasant memories flooded its mind, nearly breaking its composure entirely.
While the two great monsters wrestled and cursed, neither noticed that the one who had started this battle, Jing Qian, had already vanished from the heart of the battlefield.
The Yin-Extreme Immortal Sword Embryo that kept appearing and slashing at the Kunpeng?
Those were all strikes launched from afar.
Jing Qian's true body had long since slipped away, following the Sumeru dimension's currents toward the depths of Kunpeng Sea.
This so-called sea, the Kunpeng's lair, was, in truth, a vast and fully developed cave-heaven, its interior saturated with condensed water-elemental qi, and inhabited by uncountable aquatic creatures.
Jing Qian had no intention of killing the Kunpeng.
A Second-Rank being had long ago imprinted its essence upon the Mountain of Immortal Qi, leaving an immortal mark of authority there.
Even if its mortal body were destroyed, it could still be resurrected again and again.
Unless Jing Qian used Ren Chong's sword to erase the Kunpeng's divine mark from the Mountain itself,
slaying its body here in the material world was meaningless, a waste of energy.
So from the very beginning, Jing Qian's goal had not been to kill,
but to profit.
He'd pondered many options, but by far the most valuable prize was this Kunpeng Sea itself.
If he could uproot the entire domain and absorb it into the Sumeru Dimension,
his own spatial powers, divine sense, and cultivation would all receive a tremendous boost.
Thus, without hesitation, while Good Corn and the Kunpeng tangled violently overhead
Jing Qian struck.
A massive spatial rift opened wide,
and countless blades of light infused with the divine essence of Void Severance swept downward,
cleaving directly at the Kunpeng Sea.
That Heavenly Fate, symbolizing the power to carve through space itself,
was now unleashed at full strength.
Guided by his Three-Life Eye, Jing Qian traced the spatial vein connecting Kunpeng Sea and the Yingfutu Realm,
Then cut straight through it.
Under the sword-light of Void Severance, the Kunpeng Sea looked like a peeled lychee, its rough outer shell split apart to reveal tender, glistening flesh within.
With a final twist of will, Jing Qian manipulated the spatial fissure to swallow the entire sea whole.
"Thief!"
"You damned little thief!"
The Kunpeng's lair had been looted, its composure shattered.
In a fit of rage, it detonated the flesh across its own back,
blasting Good Corn right off into the distance.
Then, in the very next moment, the Kunpeng's body transformed into a whale form, dissolving into a colossal gold-winged roc,
which immediately took flight, tearing through the heavens and escaping out of the Yingfutu Realm altogether.
This ancient monster, alive for countless ages,
had long since lost any obsession with winning or losing.
What mattered now was the faint trace of No-Eyes' aura clinging to Jing Qian.
Rather than waste time brawling with this terrifying junior,
it fled the realm altogether to deliver a far more crucial message.
The Lord No-Eyes has returned to the Northern Empress's Wuji Heaven!
For the great cultivators of that court, old debts and grudges alike, the time for vengeance had come.
Jing Qian, of course, remained completely unaware.
He didn't realize that his rapid rise in cultivation had already entangled him in No-Eyes' karmic web,
nor what consequences that might bring.
The only one who understood anything, Good Corn, had a worldview so warped
that it simply thought, "We're awesome, who cares?"
In its mind, nothing in creation could threaten them.
So Jing Qian, utterly untroubled, settled quietly within the Sumeru Dimension,
focused entirely on digesting the newly absorbed Kunpeng Sea.
Good Corn, muttering about the rude beast's lack of manners for rejecting its "offer of servitude," spat once and vanished as well.
And thus ended the Pure Yang Child's first battle since his re-emergence into the world, a confrontation so shocking that the oldest entrenched powerhouse of the Yingfutu Realm was driven from his own domain, his cave-heaven seized outright.
The victory was so outrageous that it shook the entire realm to its core.
Meanwhile, along the membrane of the realm itself, the Heavensteel Tower shuddered violently, sending out urgent calls for aid to Human Emperor Ying Kun.
Heaven-Yan and several other grand cultivators feared that Jing Qian's next target would be the many cave-heavens embedded within the realm's shell that he might start abducting them one by one.
After all, in mere days, he had already devoured three of them.
As guardians of those domains, they would be the first to face his dreadful sword if he continued.
And no one wanted that.
Their only hope was to petition the Human Emperor
to fortify the realm's defenses before the Pure Yang Child came knocking.
Elsewhere, in the Heavenly Kitchen, chaos reigned as usual, pots clanged, flames roared, spirits shouted.
But at the Life-Toad Nourishment Furnace, a gathering of kitchen spirits whispered anxiously:
"That new Pure Yang Child is terrifying. If he storms in here, we can't stop him."
"To protect our Kitchen, I propose we take out something truly valuable by buying him off before trouble starts."
Another spirit chimed in:
"That Dao-child's kitchen spirit is one of our old friends.
Let's send some gifts first, maybe Xi-Li the Tanuki can think of a plan!"
The powers behind the countless cave-heavens of Yingfutu
were thrown into panic by Jing Qian's actions, some even bordering on hysteria.
But Jing Qian himself couldn't care less.
Having flattened Kunpeng Sea, he quietly emerged from the ocean's depths, then flickered away, reappearing on a remote, desolate island.
He had come to honor a promise, one that was now a year and a half overdue.
Before him, a great black-jade cauldron burned with steady brilliance,
waves of vigorous qi rolling out from within.
A massive dining table lay beside it, laden with seventeen exquisite dishes, each crafted from the flesh of Star-Seizing fiends.
A peculiar barrier shimmered over the table,
freezing time itself within it,
preserving every meal at the exact moment it had left the stove.
Jing Qian walked forward with an apologetic smile.
"My apologies, friend. I've come far too late; you've had to guard this feast all this time on my behalf."
"Tell me, Luo Dao-you… why have you grown so thin?"
At his words, the cross-legged man by the table stirred awake.
Luo Tian opened his eyes wearily, then exclaimed:
"At last! You finally came!"
"Do you have any idea what I've been through this past year?"
"Ah, forget it, what's done is done.
Let's eat first! Try this feast of shrimp and crab I've prepared for you!"
Before Jing Qian sat Luo Tian, a core disciple of the Kitchen King Hall, who had nearly burned himself out over the past year, draining his mana reserves and, in the process, almost melting away all the fat he had spent years cultivating.
Now Luo Tian was several sizes thinner, his cheeks sunken, his complexion pale, a man who looked less like a master chef and more like a decadent rake.
Gone was the plump, jovial look that once suited him so well.
Still, for a disciple of the Kitchen King Hall, as long as there was good food, both mana and fat could be replenished in no time.
And Luo Tian's effort to preserve an entire banquet for Jing Qian, at the cost of his own strength, was proof enough of his sincerity and loyalty, something that genuinely impressed Jing Qian.
To him, this grand feast was the perfect celebration of his recent ascension to the Sub-Spirit Realm.
Jing Qian pulled Luo Tian to sit and filled a bowl of Turtle Yang Soup, saying with a smile:
"Brother Luo, you've worked hard. Eat more!
I happen to have several fresh dragon corpses, rare specimens, still warm.
When you have time, I'll trouble you to handle their preparation."
"That's easily done!"
Luo Tian replied between bites of crab legs, his eyes already gleaming with anticipation at the thought of such high-end ingredients.
With ingredients like these, his culinary cultivation would surely soar to new heights.
As the two men enjoyed their meal, a magnificent dragon chariot descended from the heavens,
its arrival perfumed with the scent of clouds and spirit wine.
From it stepped Human Emperor Ying Kun and his nephew Ying Hao,
descending gracefully onto the island.
Their sudden appearance startled both Jing Qian and Luo Tian.
The two immediately set down their chopsticks and rose to greet the guests.
Jing Qian smiled politely and said:
"It has been some time since we last met at the Dragon Palace of the Boundless Sea.
Both Your Majesty and the Crown Prince seem to have advanced your cultivation greatly."
"But what brings you to this remote island of mine?"
"If you don't mind the humble setting, please, sit, let's eat and talk."
Ying Kun raised a hand and took out a small white jade wine flask, saying warmly:
"You are too kind, Dao Child.
Our visit is somewhat abrupt, but we have a matter to discuss."
"Still, it would be an honor to sample the handiwork of a Kitchen King disciple."
"And as a token, I've brought a flask of Flower Essence Wine, a rare spirit from beyond the heavens, brewed in the Flower Spirit Sea.
Its taste and effects are both extraordinary. Let us share it."
Ying Kun and Ying Hao took their seats, and so began a most unusual banquet upon a desolate island, four people, none of ordinary standing, all of formidable cultivation.
Cups were raised, dishes passed, and conversation flowed as smoothly as the wine.
But as the feast went on, it was clear that the Human Emperor's refined bearing and deep presence gradually took control of the table's rhythm.
Sensing the time was right, Jing Qian set down his cup and asked directly:
"May I ask what business brings Your Majesty to me?"
"Please, speak freely."
Ying Kun nodded and said:
"Dao Child, as the direct heir of both Pure Yang and Yanfu,
You are a peerless prodigy within our Yingfutu Realm."
"Perhaps you are unaware, but for generations, my Ying Divine Dynasty, due to the Empress's charge, has maintained a rather… special relationship with both the Yanfu Path and Pure Yang Heaven."
"For the most part, our ties have been harmonious."
"And throughout these long years, one tradition has remained constant: a tacit pact between our dynasty and the two great Dao lineages."
"If any member of my Ying clan possesses sufficient talent and will,
They are permitted to apprentice under the Dao Children of these two lineages and receive the Dao Ancestors' teachings."
"In the past hundred thousand years, my family has produced two Yanfu Disciples and one Pure Yang Disciple.
Outwardly, they bore the name of the Ying clan, but that was merely to silence the officials of the Wuji Celestial Court."
"Those who know the truth know well the bond our three families share."
"And today, I come for this very reason."
"My nephew Ying Hao here is quite gifted.
Though only at the Longevity Realm, he already carries four Heavenly Fates."
"I hope to have him apprentice under the Yanfu Path, to glimpse the Dao Ancestor's legacy, and I ask for your support."
The emperor spoke with warmth and grace.
His words flowed like spring wind.
Of course, much of that courtesy stemmed from Jing Qian's newfound strength.
Jing Qian listened in silence, then glanced at Ying Hao, who was still busily devouring food, and replied politely:
"Your Majesty is too courteous."
"However, Ying Hao and I are of the same generation,
and there are no other senior masters of the Yanfu Path presently in this realm."
"Accepting him as a disciple may require some consideration."
The emperor shook his head with a smile.
"Titles and formalities are for outsiders.
If you are willing, you may take Ying Hao as your disciple directly."
"And rest assured, this matter is of great importance to my dynasty; we would never let you go unrewarded."
"As a token of our sincerity, we offer this as a gift of apprenticeship compensation for the time your cultivation may lose."
He gestured, and Ying Hao presented a jade slip before Jing Qian.
Jing Qian accepted it, still unsure of its meaning,
until the emperor continued:
"This is the gate contract for a unique cave-heaven within the Wuji Celestial Court,
known as Book Mountain."
"Whoever holds this contract may access Book Mountain from anywhere in the Northern Heavens
and read its stored knowledge freely."
"This cave-heaven was built by the Empress herself.
Its library spans everything from the classics and histories to secret biographies and cultivation manuals, a trove vast beyond measure."
"For a cultivator, this is a priceless treasure, a source of endless insight and growth.
I hope Dao Child will not disdain such a gift."
Jing Qian turned the jade slip in his hand,
his expression calm, though his heart stirred.
He had heard tales of Book Mountain, a fabled repository of all knowledge, a place any true scholar or cultivator would dream of accessing.
Now, given the chance to enter it himself, he could hardly refuse.
He looked once more at Ying Hao, his face full of eager hope, tinged with awkwardness, and smiled faintly.
"Your Majesty is too generous.
In that case, I accept."
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