Under the night, Kunling City was ablaze with lights.

In Shanhai Academy, Qin Ming's Magic Conch kept ringing from time to time, and he was also using lightning sparrows to send messages outside, extremely frequently.

"Uncle Meng, don't worry, I'm fine, and you came back safely too, that's really great, take care of your health."

"Many thanks for your great kindness, old senior, I've just returned safely."

"My injuries are already healed, I'm dragon-spirited and tiger-fierce, feels like I could kill a Six Tusked White Elephant with a single punch right now."

"Ah, a Dao partner? I'm still young, let me slow down a little on that."

...

Qin Ming was indeed swamped with "business". Ever since he set foot on the soil of Ye State, many people had been contacting him. Some were incomparably anxious and truly concerned, like Meng Xinghai and also Ning Siqi and the others. There were even some Grandmasters from the Newborn Road who had abandoned their Bodies and gone out in Divine Travel from the Flying Land to save him; now they were still uneasy about his safety.

In addition, there were people in the heavens as well; some of them were watching to see whether he had made it back alive.

In this external war, although Qin Ming could not be compared with One Sword or the Sect Realm, he still performed extremely brilliantly. When sparring with the Totem Civilization, he had once single-handedly punched through a group of opponents.

In many people's eyes, it was just that his realm hadn't caught up with the first echelon; otherwise, he would probably also be a Saint Level figure.

Especially after many people learned that he had started cultivating relatively late, only setting foot on the Newborn Road at sixteen, they were full of expectations for him.

So long as the rebirth system didn't jam his path of advancement and only let him become a Grandmaster when his temples had gone gray, his future should be very bright.

"Many thanks for your concern, senior. I can feel it, the barrier of the Heart Lamp is loosening. I'll push a bit harder and strive to step into the Fourth Great Realm as soon as possible."

Qin Ming appeared full of fighting spirit, brimming with drive, even exuding a faintly high-spirited aura. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

In truth, he was already being "humble" enough. His current target was the Fifth Realm—True Form, which was the Grandmaster Domain. In Cultivation Civilization terms, the Fifth Realm was called Nascent Soul.

Right now, Qin Ming was not yet twenty-two years old.

"The Huang Family is selecting a son-in-law, and they want me to go try too. Is the person involved a legitimate daughter or a concubine-born daughter? Uh, I'm still young, this is exactly when I should be brave and forging ahead; let me struggle a bit more."

After the Lu Family, where Heavenly Venerate Lu Heng sat, up Above the Nine Heavens there was finally another old-established power eyeing him, and it seemed to be even stronger.

"The Huang Family might still have a living Heavenly God slumbering in Yujing? That… truly is a terrifying heritage!" Qin Ming exclaimed.

However, in his heart he was thinking: it's not like it's the Heavenly God picking a husband; what's it got to do with me.

"Don't refuse outright, should I give the Heavenly God family proper respect? Okay, I understand. If I go Above the Nine Heavens again, I'll play it by ear."

Qin Ming discovered that once you became slightly famous, interpersonal dealings and all kinds of complicated relationships came crashing down on you all at once; all sorts of situations, all sorts of matters came knocking on his door.

In the heavens, the old monsters of the Seventh Realm all let out a slight breath of relief.

The enormous fluctuations at the Heavenly Chasm had already echoed back—that was the fragments of the Tao List, the Golden List, and the New List setting out on their return journey.

At first, many people's hearts went cold.

Fortunately, definite news came not long after: although the three lists had been severely wounded and were on their way back, Yujing was still over there and currently held the advantage.

Thus, the originally taut atmosphere in the heavens eased, and all the great houses had already started considering postwar matters.

After Qin Ming finished talking with all sides and contacting people, he learned the situation of some acquaintances. There was joy and sorrow: the leading figure of Esoteric Buddhism, Zhao Qingcheng, had fallen in battle.

Thinking back to those years, she had once been very close with Li Qingyue and Yao Ruoxian, walking side by side.

In addition, Zhuo Qingming of the Immortal Road, Luo Jingxiao, and others had also died in battle. On the Newborn Road, some supreme mutants and Young Sect Leaders had likewise stayed forever at the edge of the Blood Forest.

These were people of his own generation that Qin Ming knew. As for other experts and Celebrities he wasn't very familiar with or didn't know much about, there were even more.

How could a great war not claim lives? Blood-soaked and extremely cruel—that is reality.

Viewed from a bystander's angle, all this was very normal.

But once it involved familiar old faces, there was only endless sighing in his heart, and all he could do was let out a long, heavy breath.

If every external war and every act of pioneering cost a batch of old friends their lives, then the longer one lived and the stronger one became, the more one's life would gradually grow lonely in the end.

In truth, this time's losses were still acceptable, mainly because at the beginning everyone had been in the Mountain and Sea Territory of the Golden List, fighting externally as a whole.

Otherwise, if they had really gone down separately in chaotic slaughter, it would have been even more tragic; in all likelihood, more than eighty percent of them would have died in battle.

After all, this time it involved a Supreme Blood Battle.

Even the Old Mountain forces in the heavens had lost quite a few formidable figures. For example, even Heavenly God Ridge, which was ranked alongside Star Mountain and Thunder Marsh Palace, lost its core high-level members; its very Lord Master actually died in battle.

This was also why the Huang Family, the Lu Family, and others wanted to recruit sons-in-law as soon as they returned—to replenish with fresh blood whose potential was boundless, while other major powers were actively recruiting disciples and such.

In this external campaign, among the young and strong, One Sword, Yun Jianyue, Li Wanfa, Wei Shouzhen, and others had glorious battle records, while Qian Cheng, Li Shian, Yin Tian, and the like rose up as dark horses, going from obscure nobodies to being known across the world overnight.

These people naturally drew attention and were being thought about by all sides.

"Brother Ming, Elder Yu has woken up." Bai Meng came running over to report the situation.

Outside the Blood Forest, the Supreme-level battle had not yet come to an end. The returning old monsters were all gathered in the heavens, a sort of huddling together for warmth.

Tang Yushang and Bai Meng had followed along to Ye State as well, likewise not daring to be alone, in case something unexpected happened.

On the way to visit Yu Gen Sheng, Bai Meng asked in surprise, "Brother Ming, your body is fine now? Why do I feel like you're even more oppressive than before?"