The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

A hundred miles away is the southern coast of Atlantis.

The water of Issyk-Kul Lake glows with a faint blue light under the starlight, clear and almost transparent, like a huge piece of glass inlaid between the Gobi Desert and the snow-capped mountains. The lake reflects the Milky Way, and the starlight blends with the waves. It is hard to tell whether the stars in the sky have fallen into the lake, or the gems at the bottom of the lake have floated into the night sky.

The cliffs on the south bank are as steep as a knife, with broken rock layers exposed, showing a texture of dark red and iron gray, indicating the drastic geological changes that this land has experienced.

Occasionally, the night wind would blow by, blowing up fine sand and making a rustling sound.

Zhao Qingjing stood by the lake, her sleeves fluttering in the wind, her palms empty, a ray of silvery white moonlight flowing through her fingertips, as if she had picked it from the sky. She fixed her eyes slightly, looking towards the depths of the desert in the southwest direction - there, some kind of ancient power was awakening.

“A ghost town…is actually taking shape at this moment?”

She whispered to herself, and the moonlight in her palm suddenly shattered, turning into starlight that scattered into the wind.

The next moment, Zhao Qing's figure disappeared from the spot.

A hundred feet in front of her, the air twisted like water waves, and the outline of an ancient city slowly emerged.

At first, it was desolate and silent, with dark yellow earth walls covered with crimson mosses that dried up like rust. The entire city was built of large dark-colored boulders, and you could feel fine dust when you touched them with your fingers, as if the square streets and walls were so old that they would collapse if pushed.

However, the next moment——

The sense of dilapidation and decay quickly faded away, and the whole city seemed to have returned to its splendor a thousand years ago!

The streets were crowded with people, cars and people, and brightly lit. The flags of the shops fluttered gently in the night breeze, and the noisy sounds of clinking glasses came from the taverns. Children ran through the alleys laughing and playing, and the sound of horses' hooves on the bluestone slabs made a crisp sound.

The city seemed to have awakened from the dust of history in an instant and regained its vitality.

Its overall layout is orderly, secretly in line with the degrees of the celestial body, alternating between squares and circles, and its geometric structure is as precise as the operation of the laws of nature. It is like a microcosm of the world, containing the laws of birth and death of the universe and time, and revealing the essence of "impermanence, illusion, non-attachment, and emptiness."

It is solemn and grand, profound and pure, without any trace of evil.

Anyone who gazes at it and integrates into it can gain an inner peace that transcends the world.

Zhao Qing's eyes flickered, and after a slight inference, he recognized that this was the Mandala Pure Land method from the You Dynasty era.

This city is not a physical entity, but a "pure land" built by a practitioner with his own true essence and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Every brick and tile, every figure in the city is an extension of the practitioner's thoughts, like his clone, using this as a medium to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Projecting a dynamic city image that seems real is something she can easily do with her current level of cultivation. For the vast majority of practitioners in this world, the extremely fine control of spirit, multitasking, and huge computing power, these difficulties they face are nothing in Zhao Qing's hands.

However, in her perception, the aura emanating from this area seemed to be vaguely connected with another piece of pure land far away, as if there was a resonance of qi between the two, which could borrow and unload each other's force. The principle was almost the same as "Star Attraction", except that the "star consciousness" was replaced by an ancient city that had sunk into the years.

"Using the city as a furnace and refining the heart as the elixir... Anyone who can perform this technique has undoubtedly touched the barrier of the Eight Realms of Enlightenment."

She was slightly startled, and immediately realized: those travelers who disappeared into the city were actually dragged into a spiritual experience. If they could withstand the baptism of the illusion, they could temper their souls and even obtain inheritance; if their minds were scattered, they would become the nourishment of the altar.

Zhao Qing looked up at the high platform in the center of the city, and there seemed to be a pair of eyes looking at her from a distance.

The other party was inviting her into the city.

As the God of Courage, she was an example of a person who was skilled and courageous. She waved her hand and condensed a black crystal sword, and was about to step into it, saying, "I want to see who is setting up this trap."

"Oh no! A trap?!" As soon as she entered the city gate, Zhao Qing's heart was alarmed, and she was startled and retreated abruptly! This was because she had discovered that this ancient city was quietly imprisoning and locking her absorption of the vitality of heaven and earth, evolving a trend of suppression.

The atmosphere of the entire mandala suddenly changed!
The ghost city suddenly expanded violently, the city walls rolled outward like a living thing, the sky was obscured by the distorted city walls, the streets shrank, and countless lights and shadows turned into chains and entangled towards her.

"laugh!"

Zhao Qing waved his sleeves, and the sword light suddenly surged. A bright spark fell from the sky, like the Milky Way pouring down, tearing the approaching city wall apart. The cold flames collided with the ancient city, and a deafening roar broke out. The city gate trembled violently, and was forced back three feet by this sword!

Countless buildings collapsed like towers of sand.

In the firelight, she asked coldly, "Since you have made a move, why do you have to hide your head and show your tail?"

The night shattered like dust, and a figure walked slowly out of the city.

The man was wearing a gray linen robe, his face was blurred as if covered by mist, but he held a strange short staff in his right hand, which was eerie and dazzling.

Eclipse Staff.

The staff was like a withered arm, with purple-black flesh clinging to the bones like a brand, and the five fingers were curled up, tightly holding a pale green gem the size of a goose egg. The surface of the gem glowed, and sharp crystal dust splashed between the five fingers. The two seemed to be devouring each other, and the friction sound was like thousands of fine needles scraping across glass.

When the man poured his true energy into the staff, the gem suddenly spun violently, and the purple-black flames and the pale green fluorescence intertwined, emitting thick black smoke, which actually turned into a dim yellow pupil in the darkness, staring at Zhao Qing indifferently.

"The magic weapon of the Four Patrol Kings of the You Dynasty..." Zhao Qing's eyes darkened, "Who are you? The Dingling King, Heba Xuangao?"

The gray-robed man did not answer, but raised the Eclipse Staff.

In an instant, the pure land of the altar changed again - pedestrians on the street stopped and turned to look at Zhao Qing. Thousands of faces were exactly the same, all of them were the gray-robed man. The aura of the entire city was completely connected to him, as if he was the city and the city was him.

"Those who enter my pure land must abandon their skin and cut off their obsessions."

The gray-robed man's voice was hollow, as if it came from the underworld. "This city is not built to kill you, but... to test you."

"Test me? The pure land of the altar is the step to transcendence." Zhao Qing said coldly, "You used it to ambush and harm others, plundering their spirits. Don't you think you are insulting this magical power?"

Heba Xuan Gao shook his head: "Harming people? Those traveling merchants are nothing but ants in the mortal world. Those who enter my pure land will be blessed; those who fail to find the door will have their souls return to the netherworld. Everything goes according to the law of nature, so how can there be any talk of harming people?" Before he finished speaking, he suddenly swung his stick!
"boom--!"

The gem on the top of the Eclipse Staff spun violently, and the pale green fluorescence surged, causing the entire mandala to tremble.

Streets, buildings, pedestrians...all the scenes were shattered like glass, transformed into billions of light points, and finally condensed into a vast star map.

The vital energy that was surging like a tide suddenly shrank and transformed into a black seal.

It was only the size of an ordinary seal, but it seemed to compress the vitality of the entire ancient city. As soon as it was formed, Heba Xuangao grabbed it between the five fingers of his left hand, absorbed five golden fingerprints, and then was suspended in the air, fiercely bombarding Zhao Qing! Silver light fragments flew towards him, expanding and exploding in the middle, and the colorful glare mixed with the biting cold light, as if spreading into a blurred and illusory void and galaxy, flowing with the yin and yang sword aura of ten or a hundred feet, spreading the determination to cut through everything and cut through the dome.

There was a shrill sound as if a balloon was punctured!
The air jumped like flames, and the edges of the waves even emitted clusters of metallic luster.

Then, crystal light splashed and exploded all over the sky, and the fragments of the illusory projection of the ancient city fell like star rain. When Zhao Qing flew back, the violent turbulence of vital energy surged like a tsunami, and the sand and gravel within a hundred feet radius evaporated instantly, and the ground was plowed into gullies several feet deep.

Heba Xuangao's body swayed slightly, and his gray linen robe was torn by the sword energy, revealing the dark golden armor underneath.

"Relying on external forces is not worth mentioning." The man's voice sounded like a smile, as if he saw through the connection between her and her original body, and pointed out the long-range support granted by the Spark Sword.

……

A hundred miles away, on the banks of the Suiye River.

Han Chendi suddenly looked up, the gravel under his feet silently turned into powder, and his deep eyes looked towards the direction of Rehai.

The night sky there should have been bright with stars, but now it was covered with a strange mist. What made him even more alert was the two auras that were faintly visible in the mist - one was like a star falling into the sea, flickering; the other was like the underworld awakening, decaying with a monstrous murderous intent.

"Hmm? This chaotic vital energy shock wave?" Sensing the fighting atmosphere in the distance that was definitely at the grandmaster level, his mind raced and he immediately soared into the sky. The scarlet vital energy gushed out, shining like rainbow light and clouds, shocking the nearby caravan camp into panic, burning incense and praying.

……

"The combat power of the Eclipse Staff and the Black Gold Armor has increased by at least 30%. How dare you talk about 'external forces'?"

Zhao Qing spoke calmly, and the surrounding black ice swords quickly condensed into suspension, an ethereal aura filled the air, and countless sword lights crisscrossed and fluttered, drawing an eternal circle around a changing point. It seemed that the defense had reached its peak, but he was slightly worried in his heart.

After all, it is just a body god, and its combat power is far from comparable to that of the original body. Although her cultivation has progressed rapidly recently and her overall level has increased several times, her body god that has not returned from outside has not had time to catch up. If the combat power of a standard seventh-level lower-grade master is rated as 1 points, the body god of courage is only about 3.

On the other hand, although the opponent may not be considered to be at the half-step eighth realm, his equipment and skills are far beyond the current world. He is at least a powerful existence starting at 15, and may even be able to reach the level of 20 combat power.

In fact, taking this into consideration, Zhao Qing did not intend to come into direct conflict with the descendants of the You Dynasty on the Dingling side this time. He originally came only to gather intelligence in this area to prevent the enemy from getting help. At the same time, he contacted his "ally" Han Chendi who was relatively close to him to exchange alchemy skills.

Before they even met up, the other party set up an ambush and killed her as if they had foreseen it, which was undoubtedly beyond her expectations.

Did he get some promise from Yuan Wu and Zheng Xiu? Or simply... kill people to rob treasures? Could it be that the descendants of the You Dynasty aroused a common hatred of the enemy, and felt that they had captured the descendants of a deadly god and wanted to take revenge? It was not a wise move to offend the Great Chu Dynasty.

Also, how could his whereabouts on the road be easily tracked? Originally, he was living in the body of Zheng Liren, maintaining his seventh realm cultivation to carry out spy work. Since there was no one monitoring him here, he temporarily froze this person in a Tianshan cave and restored his true appearance.

In this case, would the other party really come to target me in advance?

"Why did you attack?" Zhao Qing thought of thousands of possibilities in an instant. He looked at the enemy's expression from a distance and chose to ask directly: "There must be some reason, right?"

"The reason? It's very simple—" Heba Xuangao let go of the short staff with his right hand, letting it float and spin several feet behind him, and once again condensed a black seal between his fingers, "You control the power of the netherworld, the void, the stars, and the dragon at the same time. This is an anomaly that has not been seen in a thousand years!"

"Jiang Yan, the witch ancestor of the Jin Dynasty in the past, only integrated the first three... Since Emperor You, you are the first one."

His voice gradually turned cold: "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being too special. Such an existence should not exist in this world."

"So, you're scared?"

Zhao Qing sneered on the surface, but was thoughtful in her heart. The classics of various dynasties did not record the name of the founder of the Yin Gui technique. This name Jiang Yan was the first time she heard it. It can be seen that although the descendants of the You Dynasty lived in a bitter and cold border area, they still had an extraordinary intelligence network.

"No, it's out of awe." Heba Xuan Gao shook his head, "It is precisely because of awe that we have to get rid of him."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly clenched his left hand and the black seal exploded!

"Boom!"

The entire altar city reappeared, but it was distorted and deformed at the moment of the explosion, turning into a black cloud that covered the sky. Lightning flashed in the cloud, and each lightning flash was purple and black. Wherever it passed, the grass and trees withered, the sand and stones turned into powder, and even the starlight was corroded and melted!

"Erosion Staff, Devour Souls and Turn into Death!"

Heba Xuan shouted loudly, and dark clouds rolled up and turned into black rain that poured down from the sky.

Raindrops are not liquid, but black crystal needles as thin as cow hairs. Each needle contains the bone-corroding and soul-stirring death energy of the underworld. They can not only destroy the true essence that protects the body of practitioners, but also cut off the perception of spiritual thoughts and consume the vitality.

This power was very special, and the cost of activating it was beyond imagination. It caused his body to age rapidly and shortened his lifespan.

This was definitely not an ability he possessed by himself, but rather came from the divine runes of the Great Dao engraved in the Erosion Heaven Staff, an activated incomplete Great Dao law domain, a chapter on the magical powers mastered by the Eastern Patrol King in the past, involving the mysteries of the laws that could be considered powerful in the Eight Realms of Awakening!
Therefore, the Spark Sword, which could have played a supporting role, coincidentally destroyed the resonance between the vital energies and was unable to descend.

Zhao Qing tapped his toes lightly, and retreated like lightning. At the same time, his sword gesture changed: "The clouds parted and the autumn moon moved across the sky. The sword left and the meteor fell to the ground!"

Thousands of flying black ice swords suddenly merged into one, and the sword bodies ignited with silver-white cold flames, and the cold flames were mixed with deep blue starlight, like a galaxy pouring down. With one sword strike, the sky above the hot sea seemed to be torn open, and the black clouds collided with the sword light, erupting with a deafening roar!

"laugh!"

The black rain was evaporated by the sparks, but the sword light was also corroded by the dark death energy and gradually dimmed.

Zhao Qing groaned and took three steps back. His face was covered with a layer of grey, evil aura and his mind was not functioning smoothly.

Heba Xuan Gao, however, stood still in the same place. There were no violent fluctuations of vital energy around him, and not even any dust was flying. Everything was like a quiet and frozen lake in winter, absolutely still and without any change.

Only a pure breath came down from the void.

All the forces, including the impact on his body and true energy, did not seem to be truly transmitted to his surroundings, as if they were absorbed by this extremely distant world at infinity.

This was obviously an extremely powerful defensive technique, which determined the outcome of the battle in a blink of an eye, and the situation became serious.

...(End of chapter)