The fishing line in Qin Ming's hands stretched taut, extending straight into the pitch-black sky.
Deep within the night mist, part of the prey's outline became visible—slender and tall, with strands of hair drifting in the air.
Qin Ming felt a strong urge to copy the red squirrel and blurt out: *Holy mother of crap!*
He glanced at Old Man Liu. Could the old man really have hit the mark?
Gritting his teeth, Qin Ming gave the line a hard yank, continuing to reel in the prey from the night sky.
Amid the black mist, the slender figure drifted in and out of view, its hair disheveled as its physical form gradually emerged.
Then, high in the ink-black expanse, a graceful woman looked down at the ground below. No matter how one looked at her, there was an air of uncanny wickedness about her.
"Turtle!" Terrified, the red squirrel began speaking human tongue again.
"What are you screaming about? She came from the sky—that's a Heavenly Fairy," Old Man Liu corrected with a forced straight face, telling it not to talk nonsense.
Still, he thought to himself, that woman in the sky... she was truly fair!
As Qin Ming exerted force, she gradually surfaced from the "water." Her silver hair cascaded like a waterfall, her pure white, slender hands grasped the fishing line, and her long, shapely legs strolled through the air.
In the black mist, she was alabaster-white and luminous from head to toe. Though her full appearance was not yet completely clear, it was certain that she was a woman.
Yet in the eyes of the red squirrel, pure white and blood-red made no difference at all—both were fierce ghosts abruptly appearing in the night sky.
The glowing white woman, her long hair fluttering, suddenly accelerated her descent. Trailing brilliant light, even her pupils flared with lightning-bright radiance.
"Fall back, quickly!" Qin Ming warned.
"Right on it!" Old Man Liu spun on his heels and bolted.
As for the ambitious squirrel, it had already sprinted several hundred paces away.
The sensation was truly unbearable: its fur bristled all over, and its body felt as though pierced by bamboo skewers, an agonizing pain. It thought to itself, *And that's NOT a ghost?!*
"Is this Heavenly Fairy Baleful Energy? Why does it feel so ghostly?" Qin Ming was puzzled as well.
In the night sky, the Heavenly Fairy swooped down, her long hair parting the heavy night mist. Her shapely body dove forward, her features picturesque, illuminating the surroundings with brilliant clarity.
Qin Ming flicked his finger. Though seemingly casual, the strike contained a trump card from the Outer Sage realm.
A golden cicada, accompanied by a vast shower of light, surged into the night sky. Its wings were like swords, unleashing dazzling sword radiance, while sheets of gaseous beams poured down in an unbroken torrent like rain and waterfalls.
With a tremendous boom, the woman flowing with white light was halted, engulfed by hundreds of sword beams. Her silver hair severed and her robes shredded as numerous swords struck her body.
Yet in the blink of an eye, her baleful energy surged violently. Blinding white light flared from the corners of her eyes and brows. Allowing the sword beams to pierce through her slender frame, she continued to pounce downward.
The golden cicada shifted once more. Dense rains of swords blazed as it radiated an even more intense brilliance, illuminating all ten directions. The cicada's drone rumbled like thunder, resonant with boundless Zen cadence.
Instantly, the Golden Cicada Thunder-sound burst forth, unfurling a magnificent, wondrous spectacle.
Illuminated by that golden glow, the woman twisted and distorted, on the verge of being beaten back into the primordial form of heterogeneous substance.
Qin Ming set about subduing this materialized baleful energy.
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, and he looked up toward the sky.
There in the night sky appeared a massive, furry head as large as a small hill. With a wide maw and fangs, it too was glowing brilliant white all over.
A baleful beast stood like a mountain, its fur snowy white and translucent. Laden with boundless baleful energy, it plummeted downward, accompanied by the clanking of iron chains.
"Cat!" the ambitious squirrel shrieked in the distance.
It felt as if its skin were being flayed off. Leaping up, it fled as baleful energy surged from the night sky like crashing, turbulent waves, causing it immense torment.
"A white tiger dwelling in the sky!" Old Man Liu likewise ran for his life, realizing that staying behind would only cause trouble.
The mighty white tiger, condensed from baleful energy, was lifelike in every detail. Its dense white fur was crystalline strand by strand, and faint stripes were clearly visible across its form.
Even Qin Ming was inwardly shaken. Were there two kinds of materialized baleful energy here? No—he quickly realized what was actually going on.
This White Tiger Baleful Energy was truly extraordinary. Beyond taking form itself, it had even condensed a "chang"—a thrall—yet unlike ordinary spirits, what it gathered was a beauty fiend.
Such baleful energy possessed ample spirituality.
Before long, Qin Ming noticed a severed iron chain around its neck. It was the tiger that had been bound, and he could sense its relatively primitive, chaotic emotions.
Just now, it had actually exerted force together with Qin Ming to snap its bonds.
*Is this baleful tiger a creature that belonged to someone?* Qin Ming's pupils dilated.
The chain was dull and seemingly decayed, which was the fundamental reason it could be torn apart.
*Hmm?* Qin Ming keenly detected an anomaly. The chain was composed of heavenly light and divine wisdom, resembling the material of his fishing tackle; it was not a physical object.
Furthermore, eroded by the passage of time and left unnourished, it had already been on the verge of being broken by the white tiger.
"This was left behind by an ancient mortal or deity. Taking it now shouldn't be an issue." Qin Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
After leaping down from the night mist high above, the materialized white tiger continuously shrank, primarily compressing itself until it was only about a zhang long.
Yet it became even more dangerous, gleaming like tiger-shaped lightning. Its baleful energy rolled violently, as if ready to detonate at any moment and level the surrounding hills.
Along the way, it swallowed the "Heavenly Fairy" in a single gulp, making its fur even more crystalline and dazzling.
Qin Ming struck out with his right palm, but failed to harm the White Tiger Baleful Energy. Instead, it closed the distance, lunging to bite, causing the nearby heavy fog to collapse under terrifying waves of white light.
Around them, the quagmire dried up, massive trees shattered, and boulders crumbled into dust. The baleful energy was intangible, yet frighteningly potent.
Even Qin Ming felt unbearable pain throughout his body, and bright red blood seeped from his right palm.
Recently, his cultivation had steadily risen and his Dao attainment had advanced without pause. Looking back on his journey, it had been a triumphant progress, yet now he was wounded by this baleful energy, in danger of losing his life.
Around his body, the Yin-Yang black-and-white diagram emerged and slowly rotated, sealing shut the white tiger's gaping maw.
It reached out with a massive paw, but as the black-and-white diagram turned, a metallic clash rang out like colliding divine metal, sending sparks flying.
It growled low, its baleful energy boiling over like muffled thunder detonating across the area. Instantly, the surrounding vegetation and rocks disintegrated entirely; the destructive power of this rampaging baleful energy was astonishing.
Qin Ming tugged the fishing line, using the hook to pin it down.
At the same time, the Yin-Yang diagram he activated fully enveloped the white tiger.
The lifelike white tiger whined mournfully as the black-and-white light whittled it down, erasing the dense baleful energy until its head nearly burst apart.
In the end, the White Tiger Baleful Energy was subdued by Qin Ming, lying prone on the ground.
*Could this be another rare, treasured baleful energy left by an immortal sect of ancient times for its disciples?*
For young disciples, subduing such a formidable baleful energy would be exceedingly difficult; a single slip would lead to lethal backlash.
Qin Ming reckoned that if he had not first refined the black-and-white fish to reach the middle stage of the Second Realm, his previous self certainly would not have been able to withstand this White Tiger Baleful Energy.
"Metal-attribute baleful energy?" He had originally thought that any baleful energy found in Black-White Mountain would likely relate to Yin-Yang, but now it seemed this region was far more complex than he had imagined.
Earlier, he had even discovered nascent thunder baleful energy; all varieties seemed to exist here.
Still, upon reflection, he could understand why.
Black-White Mountain was anything but ordinary. Whether two years ago or two hundred years ago, it had undergone baptisms of outer heavenly light; any kind of baleful energy could potentially appear here.
What was more, it had shaken the world five hundred years ago, and a millennium ago, a Beast God had roamed these grounds. It was truly profound and unfathomable.
Qin Ming was certain this was a legendary-grade baleful energy, likely prepared by an ancient Dao sanctuary for its most core disciples to temper their conscious spiritual light like the cleaving of axes and the slashing of swords.
He tried sitting on the tiger's back, only to feel as though sharp blades were piercing his skin.
Shielding himself with black-and-white light, Qin Ming was finally able to sit steadily. The big cat, formed of heavenly light, carried him as it stepped forward with steady strides.
He noticed that its consciousness, originally in an embryonic stage, was increasingly reverting to a primordial state; at this rate, it would vanish completely.
"It needs to be refined anyway. Having a chaotic consciousness would only be a hindrance; it doesn't hurt if it disperses."
Qin Ming rode atop the white tiger, leaving the distant red squirrel with its mouth agape and its eyes wide and round.
Afterward, Qin Ming used the iron chain from the white tiger to bind it securely, effectively sealing it and shrinking its body further until it was roughly the size of a dog. Finally, he stuffed it into the internal space of the rag.
"This mountain has changed," Old Man Liu said solemnly upon returning. Having lived in this region for decades, he clearly sensed something unusual.
Qin Ming nodded. He felt as though the entire Black-White Mountain had come alive and was reviving.
Perhaps that was precisely why he had been able to fish up the White Tiger Baleful Energy from the night sky.
Qin Ming circulated the *Black-White Classic* here and found it aligned remarkably well with this land.
In an instant, he felt as if the entire Black-White Mountain was breathing in unison with him. All the towering peaks took on a different quality, seemingly enveloped in billowing immortal mist.
His mind clear and empty, Qin Ming immediately sat cross-legged. It was as if this were a grand Dao sanctuary, naturally suited for cultivating the *Black-White Classic*.
Unfortunately, he had only obtained the first twelve pages of this scripture and lacked the subsequent parts for now; whatever could be comprehended, he had already grasped completely.
*Wait... these mountains and rivers seem inscribed with scriptures!* He was astounded.
Qin Ming suddenly realized: could Black-White Mountain be the very source of this classic?
At present, the *Black-White Classic* was of great importance to him, and he cared deeply about its teachings.
An epiphany struck Qin Ming. The Yin-Yang twin fish rotated, enveloping him as he stepped forward, following an unseen intuition to walk through the mountains.
Old Man Liu and the red squirrel followed behind at an unhurried pace.
Sure enough, the feeling was not mistaken. Once Qin Ming circulated the *Black-White Classic*, he found that the mountains and rivers seemed to whisper, as if sacred scriptures were flowing through them.
Fractured peaks and collapsed cliffs made him pause. He came before ruin after ruin, listening to the "murmurs" of the land.
In a state of enlightenment, Qin Ming moved through various places. Amid the broken mountains and fractured cliffs, he saw line after line of text; sacred scriptures hung suspended across the ruined Black-White Mountain.
In this state, he pieced together nine more pages of true scripture, bringing his mastery to twenty-one pages in total.
Qin Ming sighed inwardly. The ruins of Black-White Mountain were simply too heavily damaged; for now, he could only resonate this much, as the scriptures hanging on those broken cliffs were broken along with them.
In this peculiar state, he saw many unusual things, such as a layer of dense mist within the mountains.
"Little Qin, you're leading us off track. Something's not right!" Old Man Liu warned. This was not a territory he was familiar with, nor was it the dwelling of the old demons, but an entirely unfamiliar environment.
Ahead, the heavy fog grew thicker and thicker!
Having finished resonating with the scriptures in the mountain, Qin Ming was still proceeding on instinct. He realized something was amiss as well, yet he could not resist exploring further.
To his perception, the fog ahead of this ground was like a dense curtain that he had already touched, on the verge of being pulled aside.
Qin Ming walked forward for another stretch until he seemed to part the clouds and dispel the obstruction, and the scene before him opened up dramatically.
He was completely dumbfounded!
Old Man Liu and the red squirrel caught up, and upon witnessing the scene ahead, they turned to stone on the spot.
Before their eyes stretched neat, orderly ridges of farmland with vast expanses of golden crops, their brilliant golden glow piercing through the night.
Two humans and one squirrel stood like clay sculptures and wooden carvings, staring blankly ahead.
A wonder like the one before them shouldn't have been concealed by the night mist, yet in all their travels in and out of the mountains, they had never once seen it.
From stalks and leaves to ears of grain, every crop gleamed brightly like an ornament cast in gold, cloaked in an air of mystery.
This was an expansive field, and the Fire Spring irrigating it was golden—utterly unique.
Qin Ming had never seen such a sight before, but both he and Old Man Liu had heard of it.
Many years ago, a mountain patroller had experienced something like this. Utterly shocked and filled with dread, he had rushed back to report it, only for the place to be impossible to find again afterward.
Once the red squirrel recovered, stars filled its eyes. Out of pure instinct, it wanted to go "plunder grain" to hoard for the winter.
"Golden... mother!" it stammered excitedly in human speech once more.
"That's pronounced grain!" Old Man Liu corrected, as if compelled by an obsessive urge.
"Golden... wolf!" The ambitious squirrel rubbed its little paws incessantly, staring with longing eyes, itching to act right away.
However, knowing who held the real authority here, it looked toward Qin Ming and Old Man Liu.
Whose rations were these? Qin Ming stared ahead. This was too bizarre; Black-White Mountain held far too many secrets unknown to him.
From the distance came the neighing of horses interwoven with lightning, luminous steeds galloping far away.
Even further out, people seemed to be harvesting crops, and the faint, drifting strains of a "farmer's song" could be heard.
*Where is this place, and who lives here?* the red squirrel carved in midair.
"Under the vast heavens, none but the king's land; to the ends of the earth, none but the king's subjects. How much more so this place..." A clear voice rang in the ears of the two humans and one squirrel. A living being had discovered them.
Chapter 269