"Sharp enough!" Qin Ming rose from beside the whetstone. The rust had been stripped from the wood-chopping knife in his hand, leaving it mirror-bright, like a pool of autumn water.
"People like Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng deserve death without pity, but if there are good men among them who get caught up in this, that would be a true shame." He wanted to find out for sure.
That evening, Old Man Liu was keeping Xu Yueping company over drinks. Each had only a single cup, taking tiny sips to savor the liquor; that was all that remained, as the jar of pungent aged liquor in Xu Yueping's house had already run dry.
"A river deer in exchange for a human life—utterly devoid of humanity!" Old Man Liu cursed between sips, his chest tight with grievance. None of these words could be spoken before the Qian family.
What Xu Yueping feared most was that men like Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng might genuinely achieve a second Newborn transition; that would make things even worse.
"Isn't there a single decent person in the mountain patrol team?" Qin Ming asked as he arrived.
Old Man Liu sighed. "If more than half a basket of pears has gone rotten, the rest won't last long if left alone. A full patrol team can have twelve members, but now there are only nine. Anyone who didn't fit in was either squeezed out or met with an 'accident' in the mountains."
"Can no one check them, or take them on?" Qin Ming asked casually.
Xu Yueping shook the wine jar vigorously to pour out a meager trickle for him, pulling him down to drink with them.
Old Man Liu pondered for a moment and said, "Some of the other mountain patrol squads don't get along with them—either out of disgust for their ways or from competing over spiritual items in the mountains. Blood has been shed between them."
Xu Yueping added, "Then there's neighboring Qingsang Village. They weren't forced to plant the Black Moon. Seems Erbingzi's relative is quite capable."
At that, he looked toward Qin Ming. "Little Qin, you have a solid golden foundation. You should start making plans. When early spring arrives, go out and see the world; don't stay trapped here."
Knowing the temperaments of Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng, he feared Qin Ming would come to harm at the hands of those jackal-like patrollers.
Qin Ming pondered. "Plans? I really want to know where I fled from as a famine refugee all those years ago."
"Ah, if you hadn't brought it up, I'd have almost forgotten. I've always thought of you as one of our own." Xu Yueping did not know how to console him, so he steered the conversation away.
He spoke of the splendor of Chixia City, immensely prosperous and full of extraordinary talents, where one might find opportunities to acquire advanced meditation methods, Yiqi Arts, and the like.
Old Man Liu chimed in, "I support you going out as well, Little Qin. A youth should possess sharp vigor and lofty dreams. Otherwise, by the time you reach my age, your legs will be soft, you won't be able to go anywhere, and all that's left will be regrets and weary sighs."
Xu Yueping smiled. "Uncle Liu, I heard you had lofty ambitions back in your day."
Having his past brought up didn't embarrass Old Man Liu at all. "Who hasn't been young once?"
"What was your ambition back then?" Qin Ming asked with keen interest.
Old Man Liu reminisced, "Back then, in the wild arrogance of youth, it was normal to dare to dream and act. For instance, I wanted to rise up, tame one of the famed beasts in the mountains, and marry the prettiest girl around."
"And what happened?"
"Once, while assisting a mountain patrol team on a mission, we ran into that famed beast by accident. It just charged straight through, almost wiping us out simply by passing by. That drained my vitality, completely shutting me out from the threshold of a second Newborn transition. My hopes were dashed, and that girl was swept up in marriage by one of my rivals."
Qin Ming raised his cup in salute to him; "tragic" didn't begin to cover it.
Old Man Liu chuckled. "Later on, I just couldn't stomach the grudge, so I married that rival's elder sister and made him call me brother-in-law for the rest of his life."
"Only you could pull that off!"
Though the three men had only half a cup of wine each, they sat drinking for the entire night.
Upon returning home, Qin Ming wiped down the iron-backed bow engraved with beast motifs. Unfortunately, to him now, it was no longer a stiff bow; if he pulled too hard, it would snap.
"It will have to do."
Then, he filled his hide-wrapped quiver with iron arrows and packed spare clothing into a bundle.
"Tomorrow is the middle of the month." He gazed into the profound night sky.
He went to sleep very early that night to bring his spirit, energy, and mind into prime condition.
He awoke in the latter half of the night, having gotten enough sleep. Though it was still far from shallow night, he silently pushed open the courtyard gate.
Deep night. All was silent. The darkness was profound and eerie; ordinary people could see virtually nothing.
After his Newborn transition, Qin Ming's physical faculties had improved across the board, including his vision. Even in such extreme conditions, he could make out hazy contours, which did not impede his travel.
He did not pass by the Fire Spring, choosing instead to take the most secluded path around.
Snow had been drifting down for days, threatening to grow heavier.
His shoulder-length black hair whipped in the night wind. His tall, slender frame was anything but frail, packed with robust strength, and his steps were utterly resolute as he walked toward the great mountains.
The faces of the injured villagers surfaced one by one before his eyes, and the image of Feng Yi'an offering a river deer during Uncle Qian's funeral lingered in his chest. His forbearance had reached its end. Today, he was going to take down the men of the mountain patrol team!
Qin Ming entered the mountains with calm and steady poise. With his resolve long settled, he felt neither nervousness nor unease, as if treading the path home.
In the dense forest, the howls of diverse creatures rose and fell, and black shadows streaked across the midair. In the abyssal darkness of the woods, many pairs of malicious eyes appeared—some crimson as blood, some glowing pale green like ghost fires, others icy silver-white, all glaring fixedly at him. One could even hear the panting of mutated beasts and the air-ripping screeches of birds of prey, all extremely close. The great mountains in deep night were extraordinarily perilous.
Qin Ming suddenly accelerated. Driven by physical faculties surpassing a golden foundation, he charged instantly toward a large mutated beast. The wood-chopping knife swept like a streak of white silk through the air. With a squelch, an enormous head was severed, blood gushing forth as the headless corpse of over six hundred jin collapsed heavily to the ground.
In an instant, the surroundings fell silent. Those green glints and crimson eyes in the darkness vanished completely.
Qin Ming continued on his way, his objective clear, advancing unwaveringly toward the outpost.
A moment later, the headless mountain beast was torn apart and devoured by a pack of carnivorous creatures, the sounds of snarling and food-guarding echoing from behind.
Drawing near his destination, Qin Ming stood on an adjacent mountain peak, observing the outpost opposite him with the Fire Spring.
There was still some time before shallow night, yet people were already moving about over there. A man with curly black hair, nearly two meters tall, was feeding bloody chunks of meat to that ferocious golden mastiff.
"Fu Entao!" Qin Ming recognized him. He had heard descriptions of his appearance: naturally curly hair. To think this strongest team leader was already at the outpost.
Next, he saw four more men, including Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng, emerge one after another from the wooden cabin.
"They arrived early." Qin Ming frowned, guessing they had likely reached the outpost the day before.
Without haste, he descended the mountain and took up watch along the indispensable route leading to the outpost. Four men had yet to arrive; he decided to eliminate them first.
Snowflakes dusted his black hair white. He stood motionless. Shallow night had arrived; the mountain mist gradually thinned, and the sky grew less dark.
For a Newborn, one's field of vision broadened considerably. Qin Ming saw a man appear, walking in from the direction outside the mountains wrapped in a beast-hide cloak.
His face was familiar; when Feng Yi'an had humiliated Xu Yueping in Silver Vine Town, this man had been standing by his side.
Qin Ming, who had been standing like an ice sculpture behind a large tree, moved. Erupting like a thunderclap, he was upon the man in an instant, slamming into him with a dull thud.
Many bones in the man's body shattered on the spot, his eyes bulging. In agonizing pain, he tried to scream, but could not make a sound—his throat was the first target, seized in a vice-like grip by a slender yet powerful hand.
With a crisp crack, the patroller's neck was snapped. Because Qin Ming exerted too much force, after crushing the cervical vertebra, he nearly ripped the head clean off.
The man's head slumped limply to one side, seemingly hanging by only a layer of skin, his dead face frozen in terror and despair.
Carrying the man into the depths of the dense forest, Qin Ming caught the scent of liquor on him, along with a cloying stench of rouge and powder. No wonder the man's reactions had been so sluggish; hungover after a night of debauchery, his death was well-deserved.
After searching him, Qin Ming cast the body aside and took a deep breath. His emotions were fluctuating noticeably—after all, this was his first time killing a person.
Though he had prepared himself mentally long in advance, a trace of discomfort still lingered.
However, he quickly regained his composure. Having hunted frequently in the mountains and fought life-and-death battles against perilous creatures, he had seen blood long ago, and his psychological fortitude was exceptionally tough.
"To plant the Black Moon in the Fire Spring, you killed villagers one after another. You are more dangerous than the vicious beasts and raptors of the mountains! Killing every last one of you today is ridding the world of an evil—the fulfillment of what my heart desires!"
Qin Ming calmed down. In his mind, he regarded the patrollers of this team as ravenous beasts and vicious monsters. His steady composure and determination returned.
After a long wait, a second man approached through the wind and snow. In the shallow night, his tall figure gave off an imposing, oppressive air. He wore armor similar to what Shao Chengfeng wore.
Blanketed in snowflakes, Qin Ming slowly drew his wood-chopping knife, intending to test its edge.
As the man drew near, a streak of dazzling blade-light burst through the darkness. Qin Ming kicked off the snowy ground, moving swift as lightning, crossing ten meters in an instant.
This patroller's reflexes were far sharper than the previous man's. Sensing the fatal threat from his flank, his hairs stood on end. He shifted violently to the side and dove toward the ground, trying to evade the crisis.
As a Newborn whose physical faculties had been enhanced across the board, his acuity and adaptability were fully adequate. Had he faced an ordinary opponent of the same level, he might well have dodged the strike.
Yet Qin Ming was faster than him from the start, charging like rolling thunder with his move anticipated beforehand. The keen wood-chopping knife swept past. With a squelch, the man's head flew through the air, severed in a single stroke!
Blood sprayed far across the ground in an instant, staining the snow scarlet. The headless body plunged forward into a snowdrift, momentum carrying it along.
Qin Ming sheathed his blade, maintaining his composure this time, his mind rippled by far fewer waves.
Feathery flakes no longer drifted down, but seemed to slam against the earth, growing heavier and heavier. Whipped against his face by the freezing gale, the impact was surprisingly forceful. Qin Ming tilted his head toward the sky. "Good snow!"
Heavy wind, heavy snow—all the better to brush away every trace he left behind.
He stood amidst the snowstorm like a motionless statue holding a blade, waiting out the third and fourth patrollers. Without the slightest mishap, both were struck down by his thunderous strikes in the dim mountain woods.
He felt no discomfort now. He could smile gently at little Wenrui, and he could also raise a blade in the great mountains to slaughter a pack of patrollers whose menace was fiercer than tigers.
His steps strong, neither rushed nor sluggish, Qin Ming walked alone and steady toward the mountain patrol team's outpost.
Chapter 14