Under the faint gloom of night, mountain peaks stood shoulder to shoulder. Pristine white snow blanketed the woods, bizarre birds circled low in the sky, and the calls of mountain beasts echoed nearby from time to time.
Letting the cold snowflakes settle on the tips of his hair, Qin Ming felt deeply satisfied. Though venturing into the mountains today had been fraught with danger, his gains far exceeded expectations. He now had ample nourishment for his second Newborn breakthrough, which meant his strength would see a substantial leap.
Qin Ming stood in the wind and snow, gazing at the crimson-stained woods. He hadn't wanted things to end this way, but the other party had left him no other choice.
Since they had presented him with such a generous gift, he owed it to them to give them a proper burial. May the deceased rest in peace; in death, there was no need to wear cold armor.
He stripped off the dark-gold armor, searched the body thoroughly from head to toe, and then carried the corpse deep into the dense forest, leaving the mountain beasts to conduct the funeral.
"What a fine sword!" Qin Ming stroked the long blade, which gleamed like a clear mountain spring. Drawing it gently through the night, its brilliant sword-light streaked across the dark like a bolt of radiant silk.
Yet, he could not carry it out of the mountains, which brought him considerable regret.
This sword was vastly superior to Fu Entao's long saber. After chopping at the blood snakes, that saber had been notched and ruined, whereas after the man with the greenish-black complexion used this sword to slay the giant blood snake, its edge remained pristine and razor-sharp, smooth as a mirror.
Qin Ming swiftly cleared the battlefield. What belonged in bellies went into bellies, and what needed burying went into the ground. This bunch hailed from Chixia City, so every trace had to be thoroughly wiped clean.
Both the long sword and its owner's black armor were the finest gear he had ever encountered, yet they could only remain hidden in the mountains. "I'll dig them up when I need them."
Evidently, the weapons left behind by Fu Entao, Feng Yi'an, and their crew were obsolete anyway, severely damaged during their clash with the blood snakes.
Each man carried night silver on his person, and the strongest man even had thirteen pieces of day gold.
"Truly, a man never grows rich without windfalls, just as a horse never fattens without night grazing," Qin Ming murmured with a sigh. But this day gold was stained with blood, and he had no desire to go through such ordeals often.
Unfortunately, the meditation arts and Yiqi Arts he coveted most were nowhere to be found. On second thought, it made sense; who would carry secret manuals and scriptures while venturing on a hazardous mountain expedition?
Qin Ming set out on his return journey. Along the way, he hunted a massive wild ox, gutted its internal organs, stuffed the blood snakes inside, and stitched its belly shut.
Nothing unexpected occurred on the road, and he returned home without a hitch.
"Fu Entao and Feng Yi'an have been dead for two days. How has this not blown wide open yet?" Qin Ming figured it wouldn't be long now.
After all, the mountain patrollers who had gone after the blood snakes had sent someone to scout Fu Entao's outpost and discovered that the wooden cabins had completely vanished.
In truth, the very day after Fu Entao, Feng Yi'an, and the others disappeared, someone had already sensed something was amiss. The catalytic fluid required for the Black Moon planted in the Fire Spring was ready, yet when the time came, the head of that mountain patrol team had failed to collect it.
When Fu Entao failed to appear for two consecutive days, and Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, and the others didn't go to Silver Vine Town to carouse, the parties involved realized something had likely gone wrong.
After eating lunch, Qin Ming began practicing his saber in earnest.
Standing in the courtyard, he swung the long-handled dark-gold hammer. Before long, it whipped the snow across the yard into a swirling flurry, artificially conjuring a blizzard of feather-soft flakes. As the heavy hammer tore through the air, faint rumblings of wind and thunder could be heard.
Only when his body grew scalding hot and he delivered his fiercest hammer-saber strike—shattering the snowstorm hanging in the air—did he lower the weapon. He stood drenched in sweat in the courtyard, feeling thoroughly invigorated.
Qin Ming gained fresh insights into the combat saber forms recorded in the manual. Standing motionless in place for a long time, he seized those fleeting sensations and pondered them carefully.
Afterward, he turned to studying "Harmonize with Light and Dust." Visualizing stillness and emptiness, concealing his life force, and dimming his spirit, he gained deeper mastery with every passing moment.
As shallow night drew near its end, Xu Yueping returned from outside with an exceedingly grim expression, promptly summoning all the Newborns in the village.
"Something terrible has happened!" His few simple words instantly set everyone on edge.
"What is it?" someone asked.
"Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, and the rest have likely been... wiped out in one fell swoop by mountain monsters! Pfft!" By the end of his sentence, Xu Yueping couldn't hold his straight face and let out a chuckle.
He quickly composed himself. After all, he couldn't make his joy too obvious; if word got out, it might cause trouble. Even so, the tension at the corners of his eyes and brows melted away, and even his movements while brewing black ant tea became noticeably brisk.
"For real?" Yang Yongqing shot up. This truly was a massive event.
Xu Yueping nodded. "They've been missing for two days. The chances are they're dead."
Old Man Liu, having reached a ripe old age, had no reservations whatsoever and blurted out, "Hiss, these mountains truly are terrifying. Those dogs Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng actually got killed? Those mountain monsters must be turning into mountain deities!"
"How did you find out, Uncle Xu?" Qin Ming asked. As an eyewitness, he couldn't act too calm, and he genuinely wanted to know the latest developments.
Xu Yueping replied, "Just a short while ago, a massive crowd of mountain patrollers—several dozen of them—stormed into Qingsang Village in a dense swarm, looking for Erbingzi's distant relative, Xu Kong."
"Why look for him?"
"Because Qingsang Village was the only village that didn't plant a Black Moon this time. Besides, the day before Feng Yi'an and Shao Chengfeng met with their misfortune, they visited Qingsang Village to see Xu Kong."
Hearing this, Qin Ming fell into a brief daze.
Over in Qingsang Village, Xu Kong was entirely baffled. What kind of mess was this? Out of nowhere, how had he become a prime suspect?
That day, Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, and the others had visited him with utmost politeness. Even if given double the courage, they wouldn't have dared to threaten him. There was no way a blood feud existed between them—they weren't even on the same level.
Yet now, the mountain patrol team had mobilized en masse, clad in armor, wielding sharp weapons, and nocking iron arrows.
Several top experts had arrived in person, leading sixty to seventy mountain patrollers to surround the place.
At the same time, the mountain patrol team that had previously attacked the Blood Bamboo Forest was also targeted. Their team leader, Liu Huaishan, was hemmed in by several rival team leaders of equal rank.
"Everyone, what are you trying to do? While I couldn't stand Fu Entao and his lot, I wouldn't go out and slaughter them all, courting my own doom!" Liu Huaishan said hurriedly.
Someone demanded in a heavy voice, "Then explain why your team lost several members, recently requisitioned twelve extra suits of armor, and purchased large amounts of poison! Are you still going to deny it?"
"I... I'm being utterly wronged!" Liu Huaishan broke into an anxious sweat as he explained, "We requisitioned the armor and bought the medicinal powders to hunt spiritual creatures in the Blood Bamboo Forest!"
An elderly man barked, "That fits! The Blood Bamboo Forest lies within Fu Entao's designated territory. His team had been planning to hunt the blood snakes all along. When you crossed the boundary, a bloody conflict inevitably broke out. Or worse, while they were locked in mutual destruction with the blood snakes, you ambushed them from the shadows and murdered them—am I right or wrong?!"
"I..." Liu Huaishan nearly coughed up blood. Hearing it framed that way, even he felt the pieces aligned suspiciously well, sounding terribly convincing.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself?!"
Liu Huaishan shook his head in a panic and shouted, "Elder, please don't strike! Fellow comrades, hear me out! We truly didn't commit this massacre! However, I think I know who did! We saw a man with a greenish-black complexion, wielding a long sword, single-handedly slay the blood snake. Over the past two days in that area, he was likely the only one with that kind of strength..."
Then, with a grave expression, he added, "Most importantly, we genuinely felt his intense hostility toward us mountain patrollers. He even approached us with his sword drawn, intending to kill us!"
"Take them all away and interrogate them thoroughly!" an old man ordered with a grim face.
Several senior experts of formidable strength wore dark expressions. How many years had it been since such a grave incident occurred? An entire mountain patrol team wiped out in one fell swoop! If it was indeed the work of a person, it was undeniably a major crime.
The mountain patrol teams across the region had all mobilized, fanning out in different directions.
One of the patrol teams arrived at Twin Trees Village. Not only did they summon Xu Yueping, Qin Ming, and the other Newborns for questioning, but they also cornered several of the village's idlers.
"Does anyone here harbor grudges against the mountain patrol team? For instance, did any of your village's Newborns clash with Feng Yi'an or Shao Chengfeng?"
A mountain patroller sternly questioned the idlers, who happened to include Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong—the three men who had tried to intercept Qin Ming's prey outside the village when he had just recovered from his illness.
"What are you staring at? We're asking you a question. Answer honestly!" The mountain patroller had little patience for them.
"Uncle Xu has always been kind and gentle, and Old Man Liu's legs are already shaking..." Ma Yang answered.
In the distance, hearing this, Old Man Liu was so furious his beard bristled, itching to roll up his sleeves and pummel the rascal.
"Qin Ming... Though young Brother Qin beat us up once, we can't just frame someone out of thin air. He's the least likely suspect of all. He only became a Newborn recently, and he's remarkably kind-hearted and gentle. He shares most of the game he brings back from the mountains with the villagers, and he even set aside past grievances to give us meat."
Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong chimed in one after another, insisting that the village's Newborns were all fine people who never stirred up disputes or conflicts with anyone.
The mountain patrollers turned and left without lingering; their squad was merely conducting routine inquiries and had to hurry to the next village.
That night, though Liu Huaishan and his few surviving subordinates were by no means skilled artists, they gritted their teeth and sketched away, revising their drawings again and again until they finally captured Wang Nianzhu's heroic bearing as he held his sword and severed the blood snake.
A stack of Wang Nianzhu's portraits was sent out immediately, swiftly distributed across the various towns.
That evening, Qin Ming and Xu Yueping leisurely savored a jar of aged wine that Old Man Liu had dug out from beneath his bed. The three men sipped contentedly, all in high spirits.
"Heh, last time young Qin cursed them, raising so many 'what ifs,' and it actually came true! They really were dragged off by mountain monsters!"
Xu Yueping was in a cheerful mood. Wine doesn't make a man drunk; a man intoxicates himself. After merely a few cups, he was already lightheaded.
"I told you, even Heaven couldn't stand the sight of them. Trouble was bound to find them sooner or later." Qin Ming spoke without blushing or a racing heart, using "Heaven" to refer to himself.
He was in an excellent mood, preparing for his second Newborn breakthrough. Even the aged wine suddenly tasted quite pleasant.
Old Man Liu lamented, "Ai, this is aged wine I treasured for ten years, my only jar. From now on, there isn't a single drop left in my house."
"Uncle Liu, don't fret. In the future, I'll honor you with ten jars. Let's talk about the second Newborn stage instead. Lately, I've been feeling something again, as if my body is heating up."
"What the... Are you a monster?!"
Late into deep night, Qin Ming took out the blood snakes at home.
The wounds on the second giant serpent were deep. Qin Ming deduced that, aside from the sharpness of the greenish-black-faced man's long sword, the man's strength had certainly been immense—likely exceeding his own.
Combined with the man's superior speed, had they met on a narrow path and fought to the bitter end, Qin Ming might well have ended up in mortal peril.
A slight shadow crept over Qin Ming's heart. All sorts of monsters and demons were emerging in the mountains now; it was growing increasingly dangerous.
Yet, when he remembered that the man with the greenish-black complexion had already undergone his second Newborn breakthrough, his mind regained complete peace. Currently, both his arms possessed a thousand jin of strength. Once he achieved his second Newborn stage, he would be able to hoist a two-thousand-jin cauldron, vastly surpassing the records set by the gifted geniuses of Chixia City.
At the very least, Chixia City had recorded nothing so sensational in several hundred years.
"Everything is ready. It's time for my second Newborn breakthrough..."
Chapter 24