Chapter 120: A Heavenly Chance
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Standing on the slope where Celestial Light was thick and radiant, Qin Ming gazed at the edge of the massive pit above. With a sigh, he said, “As an old friend, I’ve truly done my best. Whether you can seize this heavenly chance or not is now up to you.”
Zheng Mao Ze had never felt such torment. Before him lay the Eight-Trigram Furnace, an ancient artifact from a thousand years ago, once the pride of the Beyond. This was the object of his dreams, his path to near-immortality!
But to reach for it would paint a target on his back. The mysterious furnace shimmered with divine inscriptions, emanating brilliant light that bathed his face. From its open top wafted ethereal mist, carrying the faint aroma of rare medicinal herbs. The scent alone made his heart race uncontrollably.
The most unbearable part? The furnace was right there—just a hand’s breadth away.
This was no ordinary artifact. As a near-immortal object, it absorbed Celestial Dew from beyond the night sky daily. Consuming such a gift could purify one’s body, transform their innate foundation, and elevate their conscious light.
Zheng Mao Ze burned with desire, but the fear of becoming everyone’s target held him back. He was already wounded, and even if he grabbed the furnace, he couldn’t escape quickly enough to avoid the inevitable pursuit.
In a fleeting moment that stretched unbearably long, he broke into a sweat. His body trembled as though the weight of a decade of struggle bore down on him. This might be the greatest chance he’d ever encounter.
Reaching out, Zheng Mao Ze’s fingers brushed the furnace’s divine surface, its inscriptions glowing with otherworldly brilliance. Satisfaction surged within him—at least he had touched it.
Thwack! Blood sprayed from his back, and the sound of breaking bones rang out. Two ribs snapped under the sudden blow.
“I don’t want to fight for it—I just wanted to touch it!” Zheng Mao Ze yelled, summoning all his willpower to suppress the fire of greed threatening to consume him. He let go of his ambitions in an act of desperation. All he wanted now was the memory of having held the Eight-Trigram Furnace, even if only briefly.
But his attempt at restraint didn’t save him. In the blink of an eye, figures emerged from every shadowy crevice—behind boulders, within cracks in the ground—each one ready to deliver the killing blow.
“Zeng Yuan, take this heavenly chance!” Zheng Mao Ze coughed out a mouthful of blood, his voice trembling with both rage and sarcasm. Summoning his last strength, he hurled the furnace towards Zeng Yuan, a friend and ally—or so he had thought.
Why Zeng Yuan? Because among those attacking him, Zeng Yuan had drawn his spirit blade, crafted from sacred thunderstruck wood, but had hesitated to strike.
The furnace spun through the air, radiant with celestial mist, and landed in Zeng Yuan’s arms. His face froze in shock. The artifact of legends, brimming with divine power, was now in his hands. For a moment, it felt like the impossible had come true.
Staring at the furnace, Zeng Yuan’s lips trembled. Then, instinctively, he turned and ran.
Zheng Mao Ze let out a heavy breath and collapsed, his body drenched in sweat. Relief mingled with resentment. It had been a miracle to escape alive. Had he held onto the furnace a moment longer, those lurking in the shadows would have torn him apart.
“Zeng Yuan’s betrayal,” he muttered bitterly, his mind churning with hate. “Not a shred of camaraderie left among us.”
Yet regret gnawed at him. If not for his shattered ribs, he could’ve fled with the furnace. He might have made it.
Looking downward, Zheng Mao Ze spotted a figure waving at him. His heart sank. Wasn’t that the Six Imperial Sutra disciple who had broken half his bones earlier? That smug nod and wave confirmed his suspicions.
“I’ll…” Zheng Mao Ze shook with fury, nearly collapsing. “That bastard knew exactly how bad my condition was and still threw this ‘gift’ at me!”
Qin Ming, still standing atop the slope, smirked and sighed. “Don’t say I never did you any favors, Zheng Da Zhuang. You just didn’t know how to hold onto your fortune.”
Meanwhile, Zeng Yuan, now drenched in his own blood, fared no better. Holding the furnace had drawn twice as much attention, and the attacks came with twice the ferocity.
He lacked the strength or speed to keep the near-immortal artifact from slipping out of his grasp.
Desperate and limping, Zeng Yuan spotted a familiar figure waving him over—Wang Cai Wei. She led a small group sprinting towards him, calling his name urgently.
But reality struck hard. Just as Zeng Yuan glimpsed Li Qing Xiao’s silhouette approaching, his resolve wavered. Gritting his teeth, he flung the Eight-Trigram Furnace into the depths of the pit. Better it end up in the hands of a core disciple than someone like himself.
For a moment, Wang Cai Wei’s usually sweet smile vanished, replaced by an eerie, emotionless expression. Her conscious light flared, rippling out in waves.
Am I hallucinating? Zeng Yuan wondered, dazed from his injuries. He could have sworn he heard Wang Cai Wei’s fist break the sound barrier in frustration.
As the furnace landed in the pit, a violent clash erupted. The core disciples—Tang Xu Mi, Jiang Sheng Yu, Hu Ting Wen, Su Jing Shu, and Li Qing Xiao—had finally crossed paths. Each radiated overwhelming power, their fighting fierce and unrelenting.
Watching from afar, the other disciples dared not intervene. The gap between them and the core disciples was far too wide.
With every strike, the pit’s rocky edges cracked and crumbled, boulders tumbling like an avalanche. The battlefield seemed to erupt in chaos, yet the cores fought with surgical precision.
Meanwhile, Qin Ming observed from his position on the slope. He frowned as he remembered the earlier clash with Li Qing Xiao. His Blue Jade Iron Arrow, forged from a material as rare as his White Jade Alloy Blade, had been infused with all the force of his unified Celestial Light.
And yet, it had only pierced flesh, leaving Li Qing Xiao’s bones unscathed.
“Core disciples are monsters,” Qin Ming murmured. “Their paths have no weaknesses. They temper their conscious light first, then refine their bodies with extraordinary power. No wonder they boast of the divide between immortals and mortals.”
The core disciples continued their battle below, their radiant forms locked in a desperate struggle for dominance over the Eight-Trigram Furnace, the final prize of this deadly game.
Qin Ming didn’t feel defeated. His current cultivation level was still low—only at the stage of Six-Time Awakening. He knew that once he stepped into the Outer Saint Realm, then he could truly compare himself with the core disciples of the Beyond. Only then would it be clear who was stronger and who was weaker.
As he climbed back up the slope, he reached the shattered ground where the five core disciples had battled. There, he found his blue crystalline Jade-Iron Arrow lying among the rubble.
After being wounded by the arrow, Li Qing Xiao had quickly engaged the other core disciples in combat, leaving no time to retrieve it. The arrow, still stained with his blood, had been abandoned.
In the past two years, Qin Ming had endured hunger and cold while surviving in Black and White Mountain, which had taught him to value resources. Such a precious arrow was not something he could leave behind.
From afar, Li Qing Xiao, still locked in battle, suddenly felt something. His sharp, lightning-like gaze darted over to Qin Ming, icy and calculating, as though memorizing his face.
Around the edge of the pit, many disciples from the Beyond stared in astonishment. They couldn’t believe this Outer Saint-level individual had dared to attempt to kill Li Qing Xiao—and had actually succeeded in injuring him.
Within the chaotic clash, Jiang Sheng Yu was beginning to falter. Previously injured during the assault on Li Qing Yue, he was no longer able to withstand the relentless attacks. Blood spilled from his mouth as his conscious light dimmed. He was on the verge of becoming the first of the five core disciples to be eliminated.
Realizing his limits, Jiang Sheng Yu fled the battlefield. If he didn’t escape now, he would almost certainly die. At this point, any pretense of friendship or camaraderie had long since vanished. Brothers in arms had turned into bloodthirsty rivals, all vying for the Eight-Trigram Furnace. Daily consumption of Celestial Dew promised the purification of body and conscious light, paving the way to becoming near-immortal.
Meanwhile, Li Qing Xiao, despite his injuries, stood his ground. After spitting a mouthful of blood, he chose to withdraw from the main fight. Blocking the similarly wounded Su Jing Shu, he declared, “Hu Ting Wen, you owe me a favor. This time, I’ll hold one back for you.”
His voice was calm but carried weight. Though clearly incapable of continuing the battle himself, he was more than capable of keeping Su Jing Shu at bay.
“Thank you, Brother Li!” Hu Ting Wen nodded, focusing all his energy on facing Tang Xu Mi. The final confrontation would be between them.
Tang Xu Mi’s expression twitched. He had once joined forces with Li Qing Yue to hunt down Li Qing Xiao but failed to drive him away completely, and now he was paying for it.
Despite his injuries, Li Qing Xiao still retained enough strength for another fight. However, his real concern lay in Li Qing Yue, who had yet to reveal herself. He desperately wanted her to engage Tang Xu Mi and Hu Ting Wen, but her true form remained elusive.
Li Qing Xiao had no intention of warning anyone. He feared that provoking Li Qing Yue would only make her focus her attacks entirely on him. Instead, he chose to wait—if he could seize the Eight-Trigram Furnace first, even Li Qing Yue wouldn’t be able to stop him in time.
He still had one trump card: a mystical escape technique taught by his master. It would cost him a significant amount of his essence, but it could outrun even someone at the Outer Saint Realm. However, it was a one-way ticket—usable only for fleeing, not fighting.
With this in mind, he seethed internally. Twice he had come close to claiming the furnace. The first time, Qin Ming’s arrow had injured his hand, and the second time, Tang Xu Mi had intercepted it when Zeng Yuan tossed it his way.
Currently, the furnace rested in Tang Xu Mi’s possession.
After driving Su Jing Shu away, Li Qing Xiao kept his distance, opting for a temporary truce.
“Tang Xu Mi, I have faith in you. You should be able to defeat Hu Ting Wen,” he muttered between deep breaths, secretly hoping for Hu Ting Wen’s downfall.
At the same time, tension coursed through him. He feared Li Qing Yue might finally lose patience and reveal herself.
Moments later, the edge of the pit crumbled in a massive collapse. The battle between Tang Xu Mi and Hu Ting Wen raged on, their conscious light clashing like celestial blades. The divine radiance of Huang Ting surged, distorting space itself. Giant boulders tumbled from the pit walls like a torrential landslide.
Hu Ting Wen staggered backward, coughing blood. He had lost to Tang Xu Mi. His expression turned bitter as he glanced at the Eight-Trigram Furnace, now within reach. Just one more step—one more victory—and it could have been his.
He had strategically timed his entrance into the Luo Fu Mountain ruins to avoid competitors, only to fall short at this critical juncture.
“Will anyone else challenge me?” Tang Xu Mi demanded, downing a flask of golden liquid. The spiritual medicine quickly rejuvenated his tired body.
Surrounded by loyal disciples and his Golden Armor Protectors, Tang Xu Mi stood tall. The protectors faced outward, guarding him from the others.
“If there are no more challengers, then let this be the end!” Tang Xu Mi declared, preparing to leave with the furnace in hand.
Suddenly, one of his Golden Armor Protectors turned on him. With a powerful palm strike, the protector sent Tang Xu Mi sprawling, blood spurting from his mouth.
The rogue protector unleashed an astonishing display of power: black radiance surged from his left hand while brilliant white celestial light flared from his right. The combined force not only wounded Tang Xu Mi but also swept up the Eight-Trigram Furnace, hurling it away.
Tang Xu Mi’s face darkened. “It’s the famed Yin-Yang Black and White Force! You’re from the Yin-Yang Pavilion! I never imagined one of you would be hiding among my men!”
The revelation shocked everyone. The strength and skill of this Yin-Yang Pavilion disciple far surpassed expectations. With a single, seamless motion, he had launched the furnace toward Li Qing Xiao.
Li Qing Xiao’s expression lit up with joy. He immediately began burning his essence to activate his escape technique. Reaching out, he prepared to grasp the descending furnace.
Clang! Clang!
Two sharp metallic sounds echoed through the air. A Jade-Iron Arrow struck the furnace, sparks flying, while a massive stone slammed into it with enough force to pulverize the rock into dust.
The twin impacts sent the furnace spiraling off course.
Li Qing Xiao roared in frustration. He had been so close—just a hair’s breadth from victory. Now, the furnace veered away, landing in the hands of an elite disciple, who promptly hurled it toward Tang Xu Mi.
Qin Ming lowered his bow, watching the battlefield with keen focus. He had been monitoring every move of Li Qing Xiao, Tang Xu Mi, and the others. His arrow, part of his mastery of the Five Absolute Techniques—blade, spear, hammer, arrow, and sculpting—had intervened at just the right moment.
The stone, meanwhile, had come from a graceful Golden Armor Protector. No longer hiding her true form, Li Qing Yue emerged from the shadows, striding toward the center of the chaos.