Qin Mingcheng.
He was the Sect Master of the Eight Void Gate from the Horn Constellation Realm—an awe-inspiring, god-level formation master whose reputation shook the entire realm.
His mastery over formations had already reached the peak of the Yin God level, nearly stepping into the Yang God realm.
A man of his caliber held an exalted position even in the Horn Constellation Realm, standing shoulder to shoulder with many Yin God powerhouses.
In most other worlds, beings of the Wasteland Realm wouldn't even have the qualification to meet someone like Qin Mingcheng.
No one expected that such an existence would personally agree to duel Yang Cheng.
And even more astonishing—Yang Cheng actually had the nerve to accept.
Over the next two days, not only the people of the Great Zhao Empire but countless experts across the Wasteland Realm began pouring toward Jinbian Lake.
Clearly, none of them wanted to miss this battle.
Inside the manor, Yang Cheng sat in deep calm.
Ning Yao, however, couldn't stay still. She sat, stood, and paced back and forth, restless like a cat on hot coals.
"Yang Cheng, Qin Mingcheng is a top-tier Yin God-level formation master," she said, frowning. "Why did you agree to this duel?"
Yang Cheng didn't answer.
If this had been before, he never would've accepted.
A frontal duel with Qin Mingcheng was too disadvantageous.
Under normal circumstances, ambushing Qin Mingcheng would have been the wiser move.
After all, Qin Mingcheng's strength lay only in his mastery of formations—his personal combat power wasn't all that impressive.
But after killing Wu Huai, Yang Cheng's own formation mastery had already reached the level of a One-Star Array Domain.
And now that there was a system mission tied to it, he naturally had to take the challenge.
Time flew quickly.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
As dawn broke, Yang Cheng opened his eyes.
After days of anxiety, Ning Yao had finally fallen asleep the previous night. Now she blinked awake in a daze. The moment she saw Yang Cheng rising, a jolt of nerves shot through her, and sleep vanished entirely.
Yang Cheng didn't look at her. He simply stepped outside.
Ning Yao wisely followed on her own.
Outside, many Great Zhao soldiers stood watching, yet not a single one dared to approach.
At Jinbian Lake, crowds had already gathered—waves of people stretching as far as the eye could see.
The scene looked like a great tide of humanity had flooded the lakeshore.
Among the crowd were Xu Letian, Yan Qingzhi, and several others.
Jinbian Lake was one of the Great Zhao Empire's well-known scenic spots, and they had come merely to sightsee.
"Why are there so many people?"
Seeing the dense crowd packed along the shore, everyone was dumbfounded.
Jinbian Lake might be famous, but it was never this crowded.
They had come early in the morning hoping for peace and quiet—only to stumble into chaos instead.
Clearly, they had no idea about the upcoming duel between Yang Cheng and Qin Mingcheng.
The past few days, they had been traveling in remote places, away from the flow of news. Since they weren't natives of the Wasteland Realm, no one had gone out of their way to inform them either.
"What's going on here?"
"And look, a whole army of Great Zhao soldiers has surrounded the lake. Visitors can only stay on the outer edge."
"Must be some big figure arriving soon."
Everyone was confused.
"I wonder where Master Yang disappeared to these past few days," Xu Letian said.
"That's something to ask Lu Lingyi," Yan Qingzhi teased. "She's been living in the same building as him."
Lu Lingyi rolled her eyes. "We only happen to stay in the same building. We barely see each other. I've no idea where he's been."
While they spoke, they noticed a young man and a woman appear by the lake.
The woman stopped at the shore, while the young man walked straight toward the water.
None of the Great Zhao soldiers dared block his path.
"Isn't that Master Yang?" Ma Ruoruo's eyes widened.
Dongfang Sheng muttered in shock, "Could it be that Master Yang is the big figure everyone's waiting for?"
Yang Cheng saw Xu Letian and the others too, but he didn't greet them.
When it came to battle, he never let himself get distracted.
Even when confident of victory, his strategy was to look down on the enemy—but never underestimate them in action.
He walked across the lake as if it were solid ground, each step rippling faintly as he moved toward the center.
From every direction, powerful beings who had been secretly observing Jinbian Lake released waves of divine consciousness.
"It's Yang Cheng."
"He really came."
"The number one man of the Wasteland Realm… going up against the god-level formation master of the Horn Constellation Realm."
The thoughts of these great beings burned with intensity—every one of them was watching this duel with eager anticipation.
Among them were the Sect Master of the Bian'an Divine Sect, the Emperor of the Great Zhao Empire, and envoys from various major powers of the Horn Constellation Realm.
At last, under the gaze of countless minds, Yang Cheng reached the middle of Jinbian Lake.
There sat an old man with silver hair, cross-legged atop the water's surface.
The old man wore a dark-black crane robe. His three thousand silver strands of hair were unbound by any crown—just loosely tied back with a bronze band inscribed with formation patterns.
The cuffs and hems of his robe were embroidered with silver-threaded trigrams. Under the shimmer of the water, those silver lines flickered faintly. Looking closer, one could see they were made of living silver centipedes, each clutching a grain-sized formation talisman in its tiny jaws.
On the ring finger of his left hand, he wore an ancient-looking thumb ring, black as ink, with a small circular hole the size of a dragon's eye. Inside that hollow, a miniature star map slowly rotated—the handle of the Big Dipper shifted ever so slightly with each breath he took.
When he lifted his gaze, his pupils reflected two overlapping formation disks—one spinning clockwise, deducing paths of life, the other turning counterclockwise, calculating paths of death.
With every flicker of his gaze, fine ripples of runic symbols spread across the entire lake.
This old man was none other than Qin Mingcheng.
From him came no killing intent, no visible malice. His eyes were calm as he looked at Yang Cheng. "A hero indeed emerges young. Crown Prince Yang, you are a true dragon among men. Your future has no limits. Why throw it away in a moment of pride?"
Even though his tone was mild, an overwhelming pressure still radiated from him—so immense that an ordinary person wouldn't even have the courage to speak in his presence.
"You're already so old," Yang Cheng replied evenly, "yet you still choose to be someone else's shield."
"As expected of youth—so fiery, so proud."
Qin Mingcheng smiled faintly, not at all angered. "I once met a young genius very much like you. He too was arrogant, saw no one in his eyes. But later, he suffered a heavy loss. After that, he learned humility."
"I'm the opposite," Yang Cheng said calmly. "At first, I was humble. Then I realized too many people mistook humility for weakness—and they didn't understand simple words."
"So I learned to speak with my fists instead. Once I did that, they all suddenly became very good listeners."
Qin Mingcheng froze for a brief second, then sighed. "So be it. Different ages bring different perspectives. Without experience, no amount of advice will make you understand."
He spoke in a seemingly kind tone, but his real intent was to erode Yang Cheng's killing will.
For a cultivator, killing intent wasn't just emotion—it was a form of strength. If Yang Cheng's resolve wavered, his battle power could drop by half.
In truth, Qin Mingcheng's words were far from benevolent. His psychological tactics were simply more refined.
Unfortunately for him, they had no effect on Yang Cheng.
Because in terms of mental age, Qin Mingcheng—at just over three hundred years old—was still far younger than Yang Cheng, who had lived for more than five hundred years before reincarnation.
Thus, Yang Cheng's expression didn't even flicker.
"Qin Mingcheng," he said coolly, "if you turn back now, you might still have a path to live. But once this duel begins, the only road left to you will be death."
"Instead of wasting time trying to talk me down, you should start thinking about how to save your own life."