Immortal Refiner

The moon bathed the mountain ridge in its silvery light.

Li Qing, holding a soul lamp in his hand, stepped onto the seemingly ordinary ridge.

A gentle breeze rustled through the dense foliage, causing the leaves to whisper.

”Roar!”

Fan Tong let out a low growl, sensing the lingering aura of a cultivator in the area.

The flame in the soul lamp had grown faint, like a solitary star struggling to shine against the brilliance of the moon—dim and barely visible.

This indicated that Ye Feng was in extreme danger, his life hanging by a thread.

”Footprints here... It seems the entrance to the Hidden Realm really is here.”

Li Qing moved forward, his gaze drifting to the muddy ground where Ye Feng had deliberately left a footprint.

Lurk! Wait!

Bathed in moonlight, Li Qing said nothing more. He retrieved two Mid-Grade Aura Concealment Talismans from his robes, using one on himself and the other on Fan Tong.

As the Talisman Papers dissolved, Li Qing’s aura completely vanished. Even cultivators a realm higher than him would struggle to detect his presence.

With these preparations complete, Li Qing and Fan Tong took up ambush positions on opposite sides of the ridge, silently awaiting the opening of the secret realm’s gate.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, broken only by the occasional chirping of insects.

Li Qing’s heart remained uneasy. The soul lamp had dimmed to a mere spark, its flickering light extinguished completely, like the embers of a burnt-out fire.

Is he dead? Li Qing frowned, recalling Ye Feng’s words:

”Brother Li, remember this: as long as the soul lamp retains even the faintest glimmer, no matter how weak, it means I can still be saved!”

Confirming that the soul lamp remained steady, its faint ember-like glow unchanging, Li Qing shifted his gaze to the mountain ridge above.

As dawn approached, the lingering moonlight coalesced, forming a Moon Gate in the sky.

Li Qing’s heart tightened as he watched the ethereal portal.

A gaunt figure emerged from the Moon Gate, clad in tattered robes. His aura was weak, and his descent was unsteady, yet a look of satisfaction graced his face.

”Hah!”

”Now, to return and heal my injuries. If I can secure a Foundation Establishment Pill at the Ascension Conference, my path to the Great Dao will be assured.”

Gu Ming’s plan was simple: seize Ye Feng’s fortune, claim all his talismanic artifacts, and use these resources to stand out at the Ascension Conference.

Once he achieved Foundation Establishment, the remaining Restrictions and array patterns in the secret realm would no longer pose a threat.

He could freely harvest vast quantities of millennia-old spiritual herbs and claim the inheritance of the Ancient Soul Nurturing Temple.

With these resources, his cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Realm would progress smoothly, and he might even glimpse the Core Formation Realm in this lifetime!

”Heh, what a stroke of fortune!”

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Ming’s pupils constricted, and he jerked his head upward.

A massive, crystalline, azure net was descending upon him, sealing off half the sky. There was no escape!

The net was peculiar. At its center lay a dark cyan crystal, its surface covered in intricate spirit patterns.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the Water Entangling Net wrapped tightly around Gu Ming’s entire body, constricting further to bind his limbs.

”Who’s there?!” Gu Ming shouted in terror.

He quickly realized that each crystalline strand of the net radiated a yin-aligned water attribute Secret Power, relentlessly invading his body.

Just as Gu Ming was about to expel the insidious water attribute spiritual energy from his body using his own spiritual energy, he discovered to his horror that circulating his internal spiritual energy had become an excruciatingly difficult task.

The spiritual energy surging from his dantian qi sea flowed sluggishly through his meridians, as if frozen solid.

”Spirit-Stabilizing Stone!”

Boom!

A violent gust of wind erupted in the sky, revealing a towering, muscular figure leaping down with a massive hammer held high. He swung the hammer with the force of Mount Tai crashing down, aiming a devastating blow directly at Gu Ming.

Gu Ming’s heart jolted, but he reacted swiftly. He couldn’t withstand this strike head-on; certain death awaited him if he did.

Instantly, he threw himself sideways, narrowly evading the hammer’s crushing descent.

Bang!

The Peerless Hammer slammed into the mountain ridge, its terrifying Internal Strength shattering the entire ridge into a web of cracks.

The fissures spread rapidly across the ridge. Sensing imminent danger, Gu Ming didn’t pause after his evasive maneuver. Instead, he used the sloping terrain to roll downhill, hoping to break free from the Water Entangling Net’s restraints.

But a thunderous roar shattered the air:

”Aowu!”

From the slope beneath the hill, a massive, long-dormant, mottled tiger burst forth with unstoppable momentum.

Fan Tong opened his blood-drenched maw and lunged viciously at Gu Ming’s head.

But Gu Ming was no easy prey. His eyes flashed with an eerie, otherworldly light.

Divine sense attack!

Before Fan Tong’s jaws could close, the majestic tiger shuddered violently, feeling as if countless silver needles were piercing his skull.

The searing pain forced Fan Tong to retreat.

Li Qing, whose mind was partially linked to Fan Tong’s, was startled. He hadn’t expected someone in the Qi Refining Realm to possess such a secret technique—a divine sense attack.

It seems he’s been consuming the Heavenly Star Grass he obtained from the Hidden Realm regularly, Li Qing thought. Otherwise, his divine soul couldn’t have been nourished to such an extent.

Instantly, Li Qing’s hand flashed to his storage pouch, retrieving a Thunder Flash Talisman.

Swish!

A bolt of violet lightning streaked through the air, striking Gu Ming’s body with pinpoint accuracy.

Yet the attack proved ineffective. Gu Ming wore a lightning-resistant artifact that absorbed the strike without causing harm, instead converting the energy into faint electrical currents that flowed into his body.

Clearly, Gu Ming had come well-prepared to face Ye Feng, the Talisman Master. He had thoroughly investigated Ye Feng’s most powerful talisman and discovered it was the Thunder Flash Talisman.

As the electrical currents surged into Gu Ming’s body, his spiritual energy rapidly recovered.

”You’re asking for death!”

His hair disheveled, Gu Ming’s eyes glowed crimson, and his aura suddenly intensified.

Damn it!

Li Qing inwardly cursed, but he remained calm. With lightning-fast movements, he retrieved another lotus-shaped mechanism.

This golden device was small and exquisitely crafted. The moment he held it, Li Qing pressed the activation switch with one hand, channeling a massive surge of spiritual energy into the mechanism.

The surrounding lotus petals began to spin rapidly, and the central cylindrical chamber, loaded with deadly Bone Nails, pulsed up and down.

Gu Ming, who was on the verge of breaking free from the Water Entangling Net, felt a chilling premonition. He sensed a lethal threat emanating from the intricate device in Li Qing’s hand.

In the next instant, Li Qing released his grip, and the iron lotus bloomed open.

But instead of lotus seeds, the cylindrical chamber fired a volley of meticulously crafted Bone Nails.

In the blink of an eye, twenty-two Bone Nails, each carrying a deadly aura, erupted from the mechanism.

Storm Pear Blossom Nails!

Gu Ming didn’t even see what had been fired from the device before waves of excruciating pain surged through his body.

Boom!

Destructive spiritual energy tore through Gu Ming’s flesh. As a non-body cultivator, such a grievous wound sealed his fate.

Massive amounts of blood gushed from his body, and his recently strengthened aura rapidly withered.

As the blood continued to flow, Gu Ming’s internal organs immediately began to fail, and his heart swiftly ceased beating.

Without hesitation, Li Qing drew a small dagger from his waist and hurled it at Gu Ming’s head.

Swish!

The Wandering Dragon Dagger sliced through Gu Ming’s neck as easily as cutting through tofu.

Awooo!

Fan Tong, having recovered his senses, immediately pounced on Gu Ming’s corpse, tearing into it with savage ferocity.

After a long while, when Gu Ming’s body had been reduced to a mangled mess, Li Qing finally exhaled in relief.

”He should be dead for good now.”

As dawn broke, Li Qing swiftly cleared the battlefield, gathering all the items into his storage pouch. He also retrieved Gu Ming’s two storage pouches and hung them on his own belt.

”Time to move. First, I’ll teleport to the World of Eternal Night to inventory the loot. Then, I’ll find that Ancient Jade that unlocks the secret realm. Tonight, I’ll check on Ye Feng and see what’s up with that kid.”

With that, Li Qing mounted Fan Tong and charged into the forest. In moments, the pair vanished completely from the clearing.

In the World of Eternal Night, Li Qing collapsed onto the ground, letting out a long sigh.

”If I hadn’t caught him off guard while he was weakened, this battle could have gone either way.”

Wiping sweat from his brow, Li Qing felt a lingering sense of dread.

The opponent’s lightning-resistant artifact and his bizarre spiritual attacks had been terrifyingly unpredictable. In a fair one-on-one fight, Li Qing doubted he could have won so easily.

”Thank goodness the Storm Pear Blossom Nails were so potent and effective!”

Leaning against Fan Tong’s massive tiger body, Li Qing pulled out his storage pouches one by one.

He now possessed five storage pouches, prompting a wry smile.

”Ah, I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the moon only shines on the vast river!”

Only one of the pouches was his own purchase; the other four were spoils of war.

The first had been seized from Cultivator Xiang of Giant Rock City.

The second was Liu Tianbao’s, which Li Qing had been forced to kill him for and then seized.

The remaining two: one belonged to Gu Ming himself, and the other, if his guess was correct, should be Ye Feng’s.

With this in mind, Li Qing took out the soul lamp and glanced at it again. The ember-like spark of fire still lingered, refusing to extinguish.

”Could this guy really still be alive? He’s got a hell of a life force—how did he survive this?!”

Unsure of Ye Feng’s current state, Li Qing had no choice but to set the thought aside for now.

Even if he wanted to rescue Ye Feng, it was impossible at the moment. Activating the Moon Gate to enter the secret realm required waiting until nightfall. With daylight already breaking outside, even the Ancient Jade couldn’t gather moonlight.

Afterward, Li Qing began cataloging Gu Ming’s belongings.

(End of the Chapter)

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