Chapter 119: A Bountiful Harvest

At the edge of the pit, a small group of disciples from outside the sect entered, imbued with pure Yang blood essence, bursting forth with sacred radiance, like shooting stars falling one after another, piercing through the dense colorful mist formed by the skylight.

If they had pure yang substances protecting them, it wouldn’t be that they couldn’t enter the arena. They just didn’t want to take the risk themselves. Otherwise, why would they bring in an outer saint?

Qin Ming, carrying the near-immortal artifact, looked at the ashes on the ground and said, “The curtain has been drawn. This is the stage that belongs to the disciples of the secluded sect. What are you doing meddling? You’ll only get yourself killed if you don’t do stupid things.”

After killing He Tai, he turned to look at Chen Xingyuan and Li Tianhe.

The two stood on the slope, quite detached, and did not enter to help He Tai.

However, they all looked serious at the moment. Qin Ming’s clean and efficient elimination of the disciples of the Great Ape King lineage put them under pressure.

“Although He Tai is not an extraordinary person, he is still somewhat famous. His death here will surely cause a stir.”

“Due to the nature of their internal energy techniques, some members of the Great Ape King lineage are quite fierce, short-tempered, and vengeful,” Li Tianhe and Chen Xingyuan said in turn.

Qin Ming nodded and said, “The disciples from the secluded sect will be here soon.”

Their words seemed unrelated, but they both clearly understood each other’s intentions.

Chen Xingyuan said, “We will tell you the truth when the disciples from outside the temple appear. He Tai went to meet you, but unfortunately he was burned to death by the light on the way.”

Qin Ming lightly tapped the Bagua Furnace, which immediately emitted a crisp metallic vibrating sound, like the gentle ringing of a Dao bell, as if it could sweep away the dust in people’s hearts.

He began, “Without hands-on experience, it’s difficult to understand the wonders of something akin to a celestial being.” “To be frank, we do indeed want to study it,” Li Tianhe said. Qin Ming said, “Besides ‘telling the truth,’ I also want some Heavenly Light Force Techniques.” “You have quite the appetite.”

“With our status, once we help you cover up the truth, you’ll never be able to change your story. Isn’t that enough?” The two spoke one after the other, both with slight frowns.

Qin Ming said calmly, “You are too stingy. You want to study near-immortal artifacts without paying anything in return? Is there such a cheap deal? You don’t have much time left.”

The three were originally supposed to fight to the death, but instead they made a “deal” at the last minute, and in the end, only He Tai may be the one who gets hurt.

Qin Ming actually wanted to beat the two of them up, but the time and place were not right. If he beat one of them up, it would cause a huge uproar.

“Alright, I have a Heavenly Light Force technique here.” Chen Xingyuan nodded. Li Tianhe followed suit, willing to offer a technique as well.

The two men valued things that were close to immortality, suggesting that their lineage contained relevant records.

Qin Ming approached them and began to “negotiate.” He wasn’t afraid of the two of them attacking him together, as they both knew that neither of them had the strength to instantly kill the other.

“I have a special skill called Iron Leg Kung Fu…” Chen Xingyuan said.

Qin Ming immediately wanted to kick him. What kind of lousy technique was this? He interrupted him directly, saying, “Your Five Elements Palace is a large and powerful family with many extraordinary techniques, right? Just give me any one of the five elements attributes. I don’t need anything higher level.”

Chen Xingyuan’s face froze. The other party’s demands were outrageous. He himself was in the stage of practicing extraordinary skills, how could he possibly trade such a technique to an outsider?

If he dares to leak this, the elders of the Five Elements Palace will skin him alive. “Then let’s go with the Yin Earth Fist!” Chen Xingyuan said, looking like he was about to suffer a major loss.

“I have Wuji, why would I look down on your kind of boxing? The Five Elements Palace is nothing special.” Qin Ming shook his head.

Chen Xingyuan frowned deeply as he watched the approaching disciples from the outer sect. Finally, he sighed and said, “Then let’s go with the Wind and Fire Force.” “How exactly?” Qin Ming asked.

Chen Xingyuan said, “The wind fuels the fire, and the fire carries the power of the wind. This is not only an offensive technique called ‘Heavenly Light Force,’ but also a very powerful movement technique.”

Qin Ming immediately nodded and said, “You practice diligently and recite it aloud, and I will follow along.” Li Tianhe was very conscientious and retreated to a sufficiently far place.

After a moment, Chen Xingyuan’s expression was complicated. He had only practiced it once, and the other party had already nodded. Was this someone who pretended to know what they didn’t, or someone with extraordinary talent?

He cleared his mind of all distractions, held the near-divine object in his hand, and stood aside, trying to sense it with his heart. However, apart from clearing his mind when he struck the furnace, he found nothing.

On the other side, Qin Ming and Li Tianhe also finished their transaction, and Qin Ming learned the Jade Flower Force from him.

Mastering this Heavenly Light Force can nourish the body and heal injuries. If one uses the Jade Flower Force when exhausted, it can accelerate recovery.

According to Li Tianhe, circulating the Jade Flower Energy once a day is like consuming jade elixir, equivalent to drinking a bowl of tonic, which is quite beneficial to the physical body.

This statement is certainly an exaggeration, but long-term practice does have its benefits.

“Sigh, if you were alive, I reckon I could have obtained the Heavenly Light Force technique.” Qin Ming said with regret, looking at the ashes left behind by He Tai.

The disciples from outside the mortal realm had arrived, but they did not approach. Even though they possessed pure Yang blood essence, they were still wary of the area at the bottom of the giant pit where the heavenly light was most concentrated.

They had already seen Chen Xingyuan and Li Tianhe studying the Eight Trigrams Furnace, which was normal; no one would be uninterested in such an object. The disciples of the secluded sect did not stop them, after all, they were the ones who had risked their lives to bring it out.

Tang Xumi, Jiang Shengyu, and others did not come in person; instead, they sent their most trusted confidants, as well as some of the disciples from outside the sect with whom they had some ideas. “Everyone, we paid a heavy price to finally retrieve the near-immortal artifact. It’s a pity that Senior Brother He Tai was burned to ashes by the heavenly light. Heaven is jealous of talent,” Chen Xing said, fulfilling his promise. Even when discussing such a “tragic” matter, he maintained a calm demeanor.

Qin Ming could tell that this young man, perhaps influenced by someone, always seemed to maintain a detached, indifferent state. Li Tianhe, sensing his thoughts, said, “He’s practicing the *Withering and Flourishing Sutra*, currently in the ‘Withering’ stage.”

“What terrible news! Senior Brother He Tai, a man of extraordinary talent, has passed away here. What a pity, the future has lost a grandmaster.”

One by one, the disciples from outside the sect spoke, uttering some polite words, but… they were far too perfunctory. Their eyes never left the near-immortal object, and some even couldn’t hide the excitement on their faces and smiles on their lips when “remembering” He Tai.

After Chen Xingyuan and Li Tianhe finished studying the Bagua Furnace, they did not stir up trouble. They truthfully told the story of He Tai’s death and returned the furnace to Qin Ming.

“Fellow disciples, He Tai ascended to immortality while trying to obtain the near-immortal item, and I was also severely injured…” Qin Ming began. “Junior brother, I have some spiritual herbs here, take them…” Immediately, a disciple from the outer sect enthusiastically tossed over a jade jar.

Qin Ming sighed, “The friend who asked me to help him was seriously injured and left early. Now I don’t know who to give the near-immortal item to.”

“Junior brother, give it to me. It’s a hot potato. Keeping it with you will only bring trouble.”

“Senior brother, what do you need? Junior sister will help you solve your problems. The items close to immortality are useless to you. Once you leave the area with the dense heavenly light, you will easily be targeted.”

In an instant, all the disciples of the outer sect used secret techniques to secretly transmit their voices to Qin Ming.

He replied, “Dear senior brothers and sisters, this is a treasure of the sect from beyond the secular world. It has nothing to do with me, so I should naturally return it with both hands.”

He paused slightly and said, “A senior brother said that I was seriously injured because of something that was close to immortality, and he wanted to give me a secret manual as compensation. Well… I thank you.”

Who said that? The disciples from outside the sect looked at each other.

“Junior brother, I unexpectedly obtained a cultivation technique on the path to becoming a new student, called’Severing Gold Finger,’ and I’m giving it to you.” Someone spoke up first. Regardless of whether anyone had said that before, since no one else had spoken up yet, he would give it to him.

Chen Xingyuan and Li Tianhe looked at Qin Ming, not expecting that the fake successor of the Six Imperial Lineage, “Suo Gong,” was actually quite skilled!

“Senior brother, I have a copy of the *Golden Crow Illuminating the Night Scripture* here, which may be even rarer than this extraordinary skill.” A female disciple from outside the sect said.

“If you have this scripture, I’ll give you this near-immortal item.” Qin Ming immediately responded enthusiastically, no longer hiding his intentions, and prepared to make the transaction on the spot.

The girl, who looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old, with her long black hair reaching her waist, walked gracefully towards them, her smile gentle, and said, “Senior Brother.”

When she saw Qin Ming leave the bottom of the giant pit and be more than ten meters away from her, she suddenly made her move. Divine light burst forth from her Yellow Court and swept towards the figure in front of her.

Qin Ming knew she was lying all along, but he still came out, mainly to find the disciples outside the sect to verify whether they could activate the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

He swept across like lightning, quickly dodging the attack, urging the wind to stir up the sky, and with a boom, he charged forward.

The girl was surrounded by a rain of light, which swirled around her like countless flying knives that shot towards the boy in front of her.

Qin Ming had practiced various defensive techniques, such as the Golden Silkworm Technique, the Golden Light Shield, and the Golden Armor Technique, and operated them in a unified form.

Furthermore, the powerful defensive techniques in the Li Huo Jing and Wu Ji Jing were also activated by him using the unified Heavenly Light Force. In an instant, his body was covered with golden patterns, steaming with the essence of the earth, and faintly glowing with firelight.

The light rain from the disciples of the secluded sect fell like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun, and with a hissing sound, it turned into streams of light and vanished completely.

Qin Ming had already rushed to her side. After his fist flashed, the girl screamed in fright. She had personally witnessed Zheng Maoze being forced close to her in a miserable state.

With a bang, she was grabbed and pulled up.

Qin Ming didn’t hit her, but instead grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the edge of the giant pit.

“Senior brother, you’ve misunderstood. I meant no harm; I was just too impatient.” The woman’s voice trembled as the celestial energy flowing from the other’s palm was like divine flames in a furnace, scorching her and making her pale.

She dared not release her spiritual light, fearing it would be ignited and burned through by the Heavenly Light Force emanating from him. What a terrifying young man! The Heavenly Light Force he practiced was frightening.

“Can you activate something that’s close to immortality?” Qin Ming asked in a deep voice, then shouted, “Speak quickly!”

The girl was intimidated and frightened. She stammered, “How can we control such a powerful weapon? Unless we nurture it for many years, restore its spirituality, and gain its approval.”

Qin Ming sensed her emotional fluctuations, quickly resonated with her, and confirmed that what she said was true!

That way he could rest assured, even if he threw it away, he wouldn’t make the mistake of aiding the enemy.

Qin Ming didn’t make things difficult for her. He released her snow-white neck and said, “Go and fetch the ‘Golden Crow Illuminating the Night Scripture,’ and the near-immortal item will be yours.”

The girl ran away immediately, like a frightened little rabbit, cursing inwardly. If she had the Golden Crow Illuminating the Night Scripture, would she have needed to deceive something that was close to the immortals?

“I kindly helped you retrieve the powerful weapon, sustaining serious injuries in the process, only to be deceived and attacked. It truly chills my heart,” Qin Ming sighed. With a clang, he threw the Eight Trigrams Furnace into the bottom of the giant pit, where the sunlight was dense.

“Brother, no!”

“Junior brother, no, we’re not lying to you.”

A group of disciples from outside the sect shouted, some of them getting agitated.

Chen Xingyuan and Li Tianhe looked at each other, wanting to pick it up and study it further, but when they saw Qin Ming’s gaze, they both gave up.

The two knew that cutting off their source of income was like killing their parents, and would create a deadly feud.

“Junior brother, wait a moment!” Finally, several disciples from outside the sect rushed to the surface, communicated briefly, and brought back three secret manuals.

They couldn’t possibly carry it with them; it was a reward some outside saints received, which was borrowed by several people.

Qin Ming flipped through the book and found that it actually contained “Intercepting Gold Finger” and “Dragon Claw Force”. In addition, there was a book called “Three Mountains Seal”, which required hand seals to be used and seemed to be extremely powerful!

He was very satisfied; these were all unexpected gains.

Without hesitation, Qin Ming picked up the near-immortal item and tossed it from the bottom of the pit, where the sunlight was abundant, onto the slope.

Clearly, these disciples from beyond the mortal realm had already negotiated and agreed not to fight. They planned to return to the ground to “discuss” their ownership later, as they were all uncertain about their future in this place where the sunlight was abundant.

Furthermore, this small group of people are almost all representatives of the core disciples, so there is no need for them to fight to the death here.

“Oh right, Tang Xumi and Jiang Shengyu promised me that they would give me a top-tier cultivation technique after we get out. Tell them not to forget,” Qin Ming called out from behind.

At this moment, who cared about him? With the near-immortal item in hand, these disciples from outside the mortal realm rushed upwards.

Unexpectedly, a figure in flowing robes appeared, holding a gleaming bamboo stick, blocking their path on the slope. It was Li Qingxu, who had personally intervened.

“Senior Brother Tang…” “Senior Brother Hu Tingwen!”

The disciples outside the sect immediately shouted, calling for help.

Li Qingxu was as fast as lightning. The purple bamboo stick he held had received the light from beyond the world without being completely destroyed. It was refined into a treasure by his master and could briefly break through the light.

With a bang, Li Qingxu brought his staff down, sending a disciple of the Outer Sect flying more than ten meters away, unable to stop him at all. “Hand it over!” he said coldly, transforming into a bolt of lightning as he rushed forward, ready to intercept the near-immortal item.

Below the slope, Qin Ming took off his large bow, nocked the special arrows made of blue jade iron onto the bowstring, infused them with a large amount of heavenly light, and then shot them out.

puff!

Li Qingxu’s palm was stained with blood, the blue arrow feathers had torn his flesh, leaving a deep gash. His movements froze, and his eyes shot out two cold beams of light.

Qin Ming thought to himself that Li Qingxu, as a core disciple, was indeed excessively strong, far surpassing the strength of the other disciples. The special arrows did not hit his body or pierce his palm.

“Junior brother, you keep it safe for now!” The disciple, who was holding the near-immortal artifact, threw it back with a thud, landing it near Qin Ming.

Enraged, Li Qingxu rushed over and struck the man with his staff, sending him flying more than twenty meters away, breaking his bones and causing severe injuries.

“Li Qingxu, you’re still not giving up even after being injured, and you haven’t left!” Tang Xumi, Jiang Shengyu, Hu Tingwen, and others appeared and entered the sinkhole together.

At this moment, all the disciples appeared at the edge of the giant pit, knowing that the ownership of the near-immortal artifact was about to be decided.

Qin Ming saw some familiar faces, and a thought struck him. He suddenly exerted his strength and threw the Bagua Furnace at Zheng Maoze.

A sacred object, radiating auspicious light and emanating celestial radiance, crashed down before him with a thud. Zheng Maoze’s pupils contracted. Was this a blessing or a curse?

“Senior brother, I have the ‘Dragon Claw Strength’ here. Once mastered, your five fingers will be indestructible!” another person exclaimed. Then, more people announced the names of their martial arts techniques.