Dao Lord Zisu's hands under her wide sleeves tightened and then loosened. If not for the Sect's reputation, she would have wished to smack this disappointing disciple into the mountain rock on the spot.
At this moment, everyone's gaze was focused on the depths of the light barrier. Qing Feng, surrounded by ancient inscriptions, was forcibly breaking into the Mystic Realm with a long-lost realm-breaking technique.
If he could rescue the trapped Qin Yue, the Sect might usher in a magnificent era of two prodigies flourishing together.
Upon entering the Land of Inheritance, Qing Feng immediately fell into a chaotic killing array. Blood mist obscured the sky, and the sounds of clashing weapons and warhorses, intertwined with dragon roars, pierced his eardrums.
Before he could think, a bone spear, tearing through the air, had already reached his face. It was a demonic general two stories tall, with gnarled muscles shimmering with dark gold luster, clearly a Golden Core Realm body-refining expert!
Sword light, like a waterfall, cut open the demonic body, but Qing Feng's pupils suddenly constricted.
At the edge of the horizon, thousands of demonic soldiers of the same rank formed a battle array and pressed forward, their crimson killing intent solidifying into a ferocious beast's phantom.
This was vastly different from the inheritance trials he was familiar with. It was supposed to be a trial of the Dao Heart, so how did it become a Shura battlefield?
His divine sense suddenly caught a familiar aura flowing from the depths of the demonic tide, and cold stars exploded in Qing Feng's eyes.
The Sword Intent of Forgetfulness soared into the sky, and profound Dao patterns intertwined in the void to form the shadow of a Northern 冥鯤. The spiritual power storm stirred by the massive Dharma idol instantly cleared a hundred-zhang demonic domain.
Suddenly, a sky-遮蔽 ing golden wing unfolded between the clouds. Qing Feng's spiritual power surged like a tsunami, causing spatial ripples to shatter layer by layer wherever he passed. Several Golden Core cultivators a hundred zhang away had not yet clearly seen his afterimage when their protective true qi disintegrated like glass.
The crimson flame giant beast roared, its mane flickering with Nine Netherworld netherflame that scorched the void.
This flame, capable of incinerating all things, pursued the core of the battlefield. Along the way, all vegetation turned to dust, yet only Qing Feng's plain white Daoist robe remained unstained amidst the heatwave.
Three-colored spiritual butterflies danced gracefully. When their seemingly delicate wings swept across the enemy formation, hundreds of barbarian warriors suddenly froze in place. The last thing reflected in their pupils was the bizarre sight of their bodies crumbling like sandcastles.
Qing Feng, who had just achieved Nascent Soul, had never fully exerted his strength. When he was ambushed by Mo Tong in the Mystic Realm, he merely used thirty percent of his cultivation technique to suppress him with ease.
Cultivation was originally for proving the Dao and achieving longevity. If Qin Yue's life wasn't hanging by a thread at this moment, he would rather continue brewing tea and listening to the rain in his cave dwelling.
"Break!"
The clear sword cry pierced through the battlefield's clamor, and blood mist evaporated where the sharp blade passed.
Those ferocious-looking barbarian warriors had not yet let out a roar before they transformed into countless crimson ice crystals, falling rustlingly.
The usually gentle young cultivator now had a murderous glint in his eyes, his killing intent even more profound than that of a demonic cultivator.
Profound footwork suddenly appeared in the void, and Qing Feng moved swiftly, treading along the trajectories of stars.
Each step left a cracked spiritual power vortex on the ground. Those who blocked his path were either shredded by sword qi or had their souls captured by dream butterflies.
When he finally broke through the last line of defense, in the immortal light descending from the sky, the sleeping Qin Yue was being held aloft by the Dharma idol of the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden. The facial features of that divine statue were exactly the same as those of a certain ancient temple's deity he had seen in the mortal world.
A ethereal echo suddenly resounded from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness: "How strange! To actually encounter a Great Luo Dao Seed physique in the Age of Dharma Decline."
Qing Feng looked up in alarm, and the flowing light on the bronze divine statue transformed into the phantom of an Immortal Maiden in palace attire.
According to common sense, this type of inherited Dharma idol shouldn't possess independent consciousness, should it?
What puzzled him even more was the "Great Luo Seed" mentioned by the other party, which seemed to involve some ancient secret.
With a gentle wave of her jade hand, the Star-glowing Immortal Maiden suddenly frowned: "Since you, young friend, possess an extraordinary inheritance, why do you trespass upon another's destined opportunity?"
"Senior, please understand!" Qing Feng hastily formed a hand seal to protect his Senior Sister, who was meditating with her eyes closed behind him:
"Now, the laws of the Three Realms have undergone abnormal changes. Those who have not undergone tempering through a killing tribulation cannot break through their shackles. Senior Sister Qin Yue has reached Foundation Establishment Completion but has not yet initiated a killing spree. Rashly accepting an empowerment might lead to the danger of exploding meridians."
Upon hearing this, the Profound Maiden's phantom began to calculate with her fingers, the Nine Heavens cloud patterns around her body flickering. After about half a cup of tea, the auspicious glow surrounding the divine statue suddenly surged: "The laws of heaven and earth have twisted to such an extent. So be it..."
Vast spiritual power poured into Qing Feng's spiritual platform like a celestial river reversing its flow. He instantly felt a golden lotus blooming in his Mud-Pill Palace, and his divine soul became as stable as a thousand-year-old profound jade.
"Half of the spiritual power here has been converted into Profound Yin True Marrow. When that girl forms her Golden Core, you must help her reshape her Nine Heavens Profound Veins." The Immortal Maiden's phantom gradually became transparent, her tone filled with expectation:
"This realm ultimately cannot contain a Great Luo Dao Seed. If you comprehend the profound mysteries of destiny someday, you may bring your Senior Sister to the Thirty-Three Heavens beyond to find me."
Just as Qing Feng was about to ask further, he suddenly saw the divine statue erupt with ten thousand rays of brilliant light. The myriad stars in the sky arranged themselves into a Nine Palace trigram, and a vast Daoist sound resounded through the clouds:
"The struggle for supremacy establishes the heavens, the Nine Heavens Profound Firmament commands the military.""I am the Xuanyuan Emperor's Master, and the immortals call me the Nine Heavens Profound Maiden!"
Gazing at the gradually dissipating immortal spiritual energy, Qing Feng's heart was filled with an unshakeable tremor.
This ancient war god, who once assisted the Yellow Emperor in slaying Chiyou and establishing the Nine Provinces, even a mere fraction of her inheritance would be enough for his Senior Sister to walk sideways in the cultivation world.
However, the title "Great Luo Dao Seed" seemed to imply that an even more astonishing secret was hidden within him.
Qing Feng looked at the spiritual pattern imprint gradually disappearing from his palm, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved upwards. When he turned to look at the stone platform, his breath suddenly caught. Qin Yue, who was usually as cool as frost, was now surrounded by a faint golden glow, and the silver hairpin in her hair reflected fragmented starlight, as if an Immortal Maiden from the Moon Palace had mistakenly descended into the mortal world.
"How did you get in?" The girl, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them, her slender eyelashes casting butterfly-wing-like shadows on her eyelids. When she saw who it was, her voice suddenly became joyful: "This is the inheritance barrier of the ancient Sword Pavilion!"
Qing Feng shook the jade pendant at his waist, which glowed with a green light: "The Azure Luan Pendant can break all formations, you know that." His fingertip subtly brushed over the lingering spiritual pressure on her hair, and a hint of relief flashed in his eyes. That fatal killing intent just now had, after all, been blocked by his innate true essence.
Qin Yue was about to speak when she suddenly felt a warm sensation on her wrist.
She lowered her gaze and glimpsed the youth's distinctively jointed hand, and her ear tips instantly turned crimson.
"How can your spiritual power be so depleted?" Qin Yue suddenly grabbed his pulse point with her backhand, her brows slightly furrowed.
The lingering sword intent of the inheritance barrier was still trembling. She clearly sensed traces of a crisis that had been forcibly erased.
Qing Feng smiled and withdrew his hand, his dark wide sleeve billowing to cover the unhealed burn on his palm: "Stealing your newly acquired 'Tai Xu Sword Canon' always comes at a price."
These words were half-true and half-false, but they made the girl instantly forget to ask further. She had never seen this usually lazy fellow show even a hint of enthusiasm for cultivation.
Deep within the stone forest, Dao Lord Zisu gently stroked the humming Shadow-Mirroring Sword at her waist. The mysterious sword qi that erupted within the barrier just now had made even her, a Nascent Soul Great Perfection cultivator, feel a sense of dread.
What concerned her even more was that the spiritual power trajectory surrounding Qing Feng at this moment astonishingly matched the "Guixu Dao Body" recorded in the Ancestor's hand scrolls.
Qin Yue did not notice her Master's abnormality and was focused on engraving the sword technique onto a Ice Soul Jade Slip.
When she turned around, the last few dark patterns on Qing Feng's robe just happened to disappear into the void—these were the residual traces of the ancient forbidden art "Stealing Heaven and Exchanging Sun."
The youth's left hand, hidden in his sleeve, was still bleeding. What he had blocked for her just now was more than just the killing move of the inheritance trial.