Chapter 211 Collision of the Imperial Road

Qin Ming slapped him across the face, and with a crack, Li Qingxu’s face split open.

“So hard?” he exclaimed in surprise. It was just a statue; what kind of material was it made of? It could actually withstand the force of his palm strike. He didn’t stop there. Since one slap hadn’t shattered it, he would strike again.

Moreover, this time he increased his strength, unleashing the Dragon-Snake Scripture, and immediately a crackling sound rang out as Li Qingxu’s face shattered, followed by his entire head exploding.

Qin Ming naturally disliked him. Before he even embarked on his path to rebirth, his arm had been broken by this man, and his skull had been shattered in three places, giving him a near-death experience.

He was in a coma for at least two months and almost never woke up. In any case, the feud between him and Li Qingxu could not be resolved.

In a misty, cloud-shrouded palace with golden bricks and jade tiles, Li Qingxu was meditating with his eyes closed. Purple mist flowed around the futon he sat on, enveloping him.

On the table in front of him, an incense stick had been lit, emanating a faint Taoist charm that could make one’s mind exceptionally clear.

In Li Qingxu’s mind, the secret teachings of the sect that he had memorized in the past were being cleared of the fog, and the core meaning was emerging clearly. He gradually grasped the true meaning and thoroughly understood it.

At this moment, celestial energy was rising, and dense runes appeared on his body, as if they were being branded into his flesh and blood and the light of his consciousness.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the path he was on shook violently, nearly knocking him off the special prayer mat. Li Qingxu abruptly opened his eyes, his face filled with astonishment. How could an external force have interfered at such a crucial moment?

Just now, he had focused all his energy on the single page of the true teachings, using this place of enlightenment to try to comprehend its profound meaning, but he was suddenly awakened.

This infuriated him; nothing could be worse. “What’s going on?” he demanded, jumping to his feet.

“Beings from other paths are attacking the ‘traces’ you left behind.” A mechanical and cold voice echoed in the palace. “What impact will this have on me?” Li Qingxu asked.

“When he breaks your statue in that square, he can challenge you and engage in a cross-path confrontation!”

Upon hearing this, Li Qingxu’s feathered robes fluttered, and his hair was lifted. He originally had an almost ethereal air about him, but now his gaze was icy cold.

“How do I retaliate now?” he said coldly, having never suffered such a loss before.

His senior brothers and sisters were all over a hundred years old, and they were all powerful, so he was not afraid of anyone.

If someone dares to target him like this, he must retaliate fiercely.

Most importantly, he was Cao Qianqiu’s youngest disciple, and their lineage had always been in a dominant position!

That cold voice told him, “He has only been on his way for a short time, and has only reached the plaza of the first node. He has not yet left any trace there, so it cannot be reflected back to you. Now you can only wait.”

Li Qingxu’s face was gloomy. He was actually forced to passively take a beating? He could only sit here and wait for someone to challenge him. Normally, he would have attacked directly and taken the initiative.

“Who is he?” he asked again.

The cold voice said, “He leaves his mark on the square. His name will only be left after the statue is erected. All we know for now is that he stands on the path of demons.”

Li Qingxu said coldly, “The plateau outside the Third Forbidden Land is about to be washed away by blood, and there are still young demons who dare to set out and sneak into the secret realm. They are quite bold. We will deal with them later. I don’t think they will be able to leave the secret realm.”

He waited a moment and found that the whole road was quiet and there was no more attack.

He couldn’t keep going like this. The incense stick that had already been lit was very precious, and he didn’t want to waste it, so he sat down cross-legged again.

The futon beneath him was no ordinary object either; it too aided in enlightenment. These were temporary gifts from this place after he embarked on the mysterious path to immortality.

Qin Ming was looking at the other statues and discovered Li Qingyue, the abandoned disciple of Buddha, Su Shiyun, and others, all of whom were of the immortal or divine kind. Xiao Wu was also among them.

“Hmm, of all people, I still dislike you the most. Just disappear completely!”

After Qin Ming turned around, he kicked out in mid-air, using the Tail Swinging Strike from the Dragon and Snake Scripture!

With a crack, the upper half of the entire statue exploded.

Then, he delivered a second kick, and Li Qingxu’s afterimage exploded completely.

Qin Ming was immediately in a great mood.

In the distance, Li Qingxu’s path suddenly trembled twice. Startled once again, he withdrew from his Enlightenment Realm with a frosty expression.

Suddenly, Qin Ming saw his own blurry figure appear, and a voice was asking his name. “My statue is standing here too, what’s going on?”

After a moment, he roughly understood.

“Demon Road Demon One formally challenges Immortal Road Li Qingxu!” A cold voice rang out.

“It’s finally here!” Li Qingxu stood up, his face ashen. Then, he saw a statue reflected in the palace.

He was certain he had never seen this wild and untamed demon before, and he made no attempt to hide his loathing for the challenger, wishing he could smash him to pieces with a single blow.

This time, it was Qin Ming’s turn to frown. It turned out that these statues had another “secret” function: different paths could clash because of them. Before him, the statue of Li Qingxu in the square had reappeared, perfectly intact.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a head-on fight?” Qin Ming asked.

The mechanical voice explained: “That’s not the case. Rather, it’s the collision that occurs after your ‘achievements’ on your respective paths have materialized!”

“This is boring!” Li Qingxu was somewhat dissatisfied upon hearing this. He really wanted to confront that demon head-on. As far as he knew, the demonic seed on the plateau was nothing special.

“The challenge has begun; you may now make your move.” A cold voice rang out.

In an instant, Li Qingxu discovered that the statue displayed in front of him seemed to have come to life. He immediately swung the purple bamboo stick and hurled it forward.

His body, flesh, and even his consciousness and soul were covered in runes, indicating that he had been using some kind of scripture he had just been comprehending.

In an instant, the power of his flesh and blood resonated with the spiritual light of his consciousness, making the purple bamboo stick in his hand almost transparent, carrying his terrifying power.

Qin Ming discovered that Li Qingxu in the square seemed to have truly come back to life, appearing in front of him and wielding a weapon at him.

At this moment, he did not hesitate. Facing the true near-immortal seed of the second realm, he dared not be careless in the slightest and naturally had to go all out.

In fact, he felt that he had acted rashly this time and started a war with Li Qingxu too early, after all, his own cultivation level was not high enough.

The silver-robed youth and spider-scorpions he killed in the secret realm only possessed fragments of the demonic seed, not its complete form.

boom!

Along his path, a large amount of red demonic mist was stirred up and violently surged. In an instant, the unified Heavenly Light Force resembled a blazing sun in the sky, stained with blood, and blasted forward.

“Um?”

“This is………”

Both were deeply surprised and felt they had underestimated their opponent’s strength!

Qin Ming originally thought that he might be under unimaginable pressure.

But at this moment, a look of astonishment crossed his face. Was this the near-immortal seed of the second realm? It had actually been blocked by his punch!

Well, it’s somewhat overrated!

At the very least, the opponent’s bamboo stick was deflected by his fist and had no killing power whatsoever.

“How is this possible? Why is the demon so strong?!” Li Qingxu was shocked because he saw that after the statue erupted, its fist came down like a blood-stained blazing sun standing in front of him.

At this moment, his consciousness was being burned with excruciating pain.

His right hand, which was holding the stick, was numb from the shock, and he was actually being pushed backward.

A cold voice rang out: “This is the result of your achievements on your respective paths, manifested and then colliding at the same level.”

For a moment, Li Qingxu was stunned. In a battle between people in the same domain, he was actually no match for that demon!

He didn’t know the other person’s exact level, but he guessed it was also in the second realm.

“I see, that’s interesting!” Qin Ming said, a smile spreading across his face.

“A solemn reminder: you may engage in ‘road defense’ confrontation, but you need not make contact with each other!” a mechanical voice announced, informing them that this was to protect those aspiring to pave the way.

In the secret realm, many people suddenly looked up, because two paths had inexplicably appeared in the void, running across the area, and were visible to everyone.

They actually rushed together and clashed like two mountains.

One road was shrouded in demonic energy, the other in celestial mist; both were floating and sinking there. Was this a clash between demonic and celestial seeds, a battle about to begin? Everyone was astonished.

At this moment, one road was filled with surging red demonic mist, and the roar of dragons echoed along it; the other road was brimming with immortal energy, and some pure yang consciousnesses were rising with spiritual light.

Everyone saw that the two roads collided again.

A chilling aura emanated from there, as if two mountain ranges were about to collapse.

The Demon Path clearly had the upper hand, suppressing the Immortal Path, which trembled violently, raising concerns that it might break. “Could it be…that person making a move?” Gan Jincheng’s voice trembled.

“Could it be that he… traveled as a demon to conceal his true form?” Jiang Ruoli was also somewhat lost in thought, staring blankly at the sky.

At this moment, Xiao Yaqin, Liu Hanyue, and others had similar thoughts, because they all knew that Qin Ming had obtained several fragmented demon seeds.

Xin Youdao said with utmost seriousness, “Don’t forget, we all swore an oath with forbidden techniques. No matter what, that person should not be him.”

“Yes, even if it really is… uh, it’s not him!” “That’s right, it’s definitely not him!”

Although they all said this, their eyes seemed to burn with intense fire as they stared at the two roads in the sky, their faces filled with unease.

They naturally knew the gravity of the situation and that some things couldn’t be said carelessly. Since the other party had saved their lives, even without any forbidden techniques, they wouldn’t bring it up again.

“That was Li Qingxu’s path. He was ambushed. It was truly unexpected that there would be such a demon in the secret realm, whose power was unimaginable!”

The disciples from the Pure Land beyond the mundane world were also looking up at the sky, completely stunned.

“Li Qingxu might be shot down!” someone said, bringing up the old story with a hint of excitement in their voice.

Immediately, someone retorted, “Shut up! Senior Brother Li won’t lose. He’s Senior Cao’s last disciple, with the ambition to pave the way. He could be close to immortality in the future!”

People were wary of Cao Qingqiu’s lineage and naturally didn’t want to give others a reason to criticize them, fearing that they would be caught red-handed. Therefore, many people stopped talking and just watched quietly.

(There’s more to come!)