Liu Bai could hear the rush of blood flowing through his veins. His heart was pounding far too fast, filled with apprehension.
After all, that was an old monster capable of overturning the Black-White Divine Land.
Once the old ancestor had confirmed who it was, he had quietly stepped back and pushed Liu Bai out to handle things. Naturally, Liu Bai felt completely out of his depth.
In truth, Old Man Liu was somewhat panicked himself. Having grown up outside Black-White Mountain, how could he not have heard the legends surrounding this place?
Yet his expression remained calm. Even young Qin could carry himself with neither servility nor arrogance, gracefully declining the Peril and handling everything with propriety. At his age, how could he lose his composure? He had to show even greater steadiness.
Not only that, Old Man Liu gave a faint grin.
"Fuck me..." Liu Bai trembled inside. When an ancient god smiled, the consequences were unpredictable.
To his eyes, that faint smile was no different from a gaping, bloody maw emerging from the pitch-black abyss, drooling over the entire divine land.
Such a scene was truly more than he could bear.
His hands were about to shake. To cover it up, he swung out with a sharp smack and gave his nephew another slap across the face.
Second Young Master Liu was indignant. There were plenty of guests here—wasn't this leaving him far too little face? His cheek was already swollen.
If this weren't his own uncle, he would have fought to the death!
The white-furred old beast also took another slap. This time, its skull cracked, and it felt as if its brains were about to spill out. The pain was excruciating, its belly burning with fury and humiliation, yet it dared not vent a single word.
"Today is an auspicious day. Please forgive any shortcomings in our hospitality to our distinguished guests," Liu Bai offered polite pleasantries and raised his wine cup.
Many in the crowd looked baffled. Most here were juniors; did the prominent figures of the Black-White Divine Land really value them this much?
Even rulers of outside dynasties had to stand up and toast the people of the Peril when visiting here.
Deep inside the Black-White Divine Land, the old ancestor's brow furrowed tightly as he murmured, "Can even five hundred years not wear down an old monster who was decrepit, heavily wounded, and dying?"
That man had severed his own divine status and then fought through a cataclysmic battle, yet he was actually still alive!
In that battle, the Beast God was mortally wounded and vanished thereafter.
"It would be best if he remains utterly lost. Above all, he must never awaken," the old ancestor of the Black-White Divine Land muttered to himself.
On the outskirts of Black-White Town, Liu Bai seamlessly circulated with a smile, exchanging brief words with some people and offering words of encouragement to the younger generation.
The white-furred old beast felt choked with resentment; it actually had to pour wine and apologize.
In the outside world, it was a renowned mountain lord, a supreme being reigning over its own domain.
Old Man Liu pondered. Wasn't this big figure of the Black-White Divine Land being a bit too genial?
The night mist world was virtually ruled by the law of the jungle; everything was brutally pragmatic.
Liu Bai kept lingering in this area, seemingly deliberately or casually—was he truly so approachable?
Some assumed Qin Ming had displayed jade plaques from the ancestral courts of three sects, forcing the people of Black-White Mountain to take him seriously.
After all, the outside trailblazers were a pack of lunatics who dared to pierce through Perils and even slay gods, currently representing the orthodox powers of the night mist world.
Old Man Liu did not think so. Certain thoughts crossed his mind. While eating at the banquet, he had overheard some guests talking: five hundred years ago, even the illustrious Beast God had been beaten out of existence.
Then he recalled the things Qin Ming had told him, as well as the bloodstained ancient kite flying from afar. He could not help but drift into thought.
He caught on—could it be that the Black-White Divine Land was afraid?
Old Man Liu murmured to himself, "Seemingly familiar, the swallows return."
Liu Bai nearly threw the wine cup in his hand! Such words were terrifying!
A sudden remark like that out of nowhere—did it mean he was beginning to awaken?
He felt things could not continue like this. If this old man stayed here much longer, it would most likely trigger some horrifying memories.
Old Man Liu looked at him, then toward the outskirts of Black-White Town, his brows furrowing imperceptibly.
Immediately, he sensed the other party's unease.
Having deduced many things, Old Man Liu was bold enough to look right at this prominent figure.
Liu Bai, on the other hand, was deeply apprehensive and dared not scrutinize him.
"Set up another table," Liu Bai instructed, ordering the white-furred old beast to apologize once more.
In truth, his main concern was preventing the distinguished guests in Black-White Town from noticing anything unusual out here.
The white-furred old beast's inner ferocity surged wildly, yet at this moment it was completely helpless, forced to bow its head.
Qin Ming naturally guessed that this shift in attitude was likely related to Old Man Liu.
The red squirrel looked completely bewildered. The white-furred mountain lord had toasted them twice in a row? And they were even moved into a spacious room with carved beams and painted rafters.
"Looking at all this, yesterday feels as though it were right before my eyes. So familiar," Old Man Liu remarked.
He felt a faint trace of peculiar sensation, but it was far from any sort of revival or recollection.
Yet deep within the Black-White Divine Land, that old ancestor went entirely rigid.
What was to be done? Was "he" truly about to return?!
The key figures of the Black-White Divine Land stopped showing themselves altogether, playing dead for fear that more words would lead to more mistakes, stirring up further "memories" in the fierce god.
Old Man Liu had a clear sense of things now. Moreover, within this Black-White Divine Land, he genuinely felt increasingly at ease—peaceful of mind, with a calmness that welled from the soul.
He asked, "Young Qin, you're searching for sha, aren't you?"
"Yes," Qin Ming nodded.
Old Man Liu said, "I seem to remember there was a legendary-grade treasure sha here. I wonder if it's still around."
Deep in the Black-White Divine Land, tension ran high. The important figures felt a suffocating pressure, unable to fathom his condition.
Was he demanding a treasure sha?
"Do we still have any in the divine land? Why don't we... send it over to him!"
"There's still one kind."
A moment later, Second Young Master Liu and Young Master Lu were dispatched over. With complex expressions, the two carried a jade case and arrived in person to deliver a gift.
"Earlier, our attitude was out of line. Please forgive us." Even now, they made no mention whatsoever of the cataclysm five hundred years ago, using the recent incident as their pretext for apologizing.
Qin Ming did not stand on ceremony and accepted it quite naturally.
Moreover, he opened it on the spot to see what the gift was.
Inside the jade case was a large tortoise, exceptionally imposing. Wisps of sha energy seeped from it, making Qin Ming feel as if an iron awl were piercing his skin.
He hurriedly isolated the sha energy to keep Old Man Liu and the red squirrel from being overwhelmed and giving themselves away.
Looking closely, dense markings bearing Daoist resonance covered the old tortoise, and wound around its rear was a snake. This... was clearly a Xuanwu-form treasure sha.
Without question, this was a legendary heterogeneous substance of priceless worth!
Sealing runes lined the jade case, compressing its form; otherwise, it would certainly have been far larger than its current size.
For Qin Ming, this was a tangible benefit that could enhance his cultivation and help him break through bottlenecks.
In the end, Qin Ming, Old Man Liu, and the red squirrel were all slightly tipsy as the old panda escorted them through the mist-shrouded zone and out of the Black-White Divine Land.
"He shouldn't have awakened yet, but... he is terrifying indeed. This old man's heart is unsettled," murmured the old ancestor in the depths of the divine land, wiping away cold sweat.
Above all, the memory of his master's bloody, mutilated body from back then still made him shudder to this day.
He spoke up, "Confer among yourselves. Shall we relocate, or continue sealing the mountain?"
"The Beast God Patriarch's life and death remain a mystery. Where did he ultimately go?" Yue Mo asked.
"I don't know either!" The old ancestor shook his head.
***
The old panda in the straw hat was exceedingly courteous and diligent, seeing the two people and one beast all the way out of the mountains, almost to the entrance of their village.
When the villagers saw such a black-and-white bear—an exotic beast clearly far beyond anything ordinary—arriving near the village entrance, they were all alarmed.
"Elder, my ancestors lived in the mountains back during the era of the Black-White Dao Arena," the old panda said before departing.
Hearing this, Old Man Liu merely waved a hand.
"Woof, woof..." In the courtyard, the old yellow dog rushed out with wagging tail, barking a few times at the departing black-and-white bear.
Without a word, Old Man Liu delivered two solid kicks with a thud, thud, booting the old yellow dog right back into its kennel.
In the distance, the old ancestor of the Black-White Divine Land had followed them out in person. Standing atop a great mountain and gazing into the distance, he felt a bone-deep chill sweep over his body.
In a daze, he saw before the Black-White Twin Trees that the old man grinned toward the mountains.
***
"Uncle Liu, will you leave with me?" Qin Ming asked privately.
Old Man Liu shook his head. "My roots are here. At my age, where else could I go? If I die, my bones will rest in Black-White Mountain."
Qin Ming hesitated, wanting to speak.
Old Man Liu said, "I know what you want to say. Don't worry, I'm doing fine right now. They're the ones who should be terrified."
In truth, Qin Ming felt that considering the bloodstained kite hovering above the village and the peculiarity that had left even Cao Qianqiu humbled, nothing catastrophic would happen here.
He also wondered: throughout the past five hundred years, what state had Old Man Liu been in for most of that time?
After all, Liu Mo's known life began as an amnesiac youth.
In the night, Qin Ming departed, setting out alone.
The red squirrel hopped onto Old Man Liu's shoulder, waving its tiny paws toward Qin Ming. In light of the old man passing down a marvelous skill and taking it to see the Black-White Divine Land, it no longer held a grudge over its destroyed home.
"Who am I? Liu Mo. Whoever dares cause trouble in the territory of Black-White Mountain shall die," Old Man Liu said toward the mountains, his face shadowed and indistinct in the dark.
At that moment, the ambitious squirrel felt the old man was exceptionally formidable.
Yet the instant they returned to the courtyard, it immediately noticed the old man's demeanor went completely limp again.
"Little Squirrel, did my acting look convincing just now?" Liu Mo chuckled.
Qin Ming traveled alone, deeply appreciating how difficult it was for ordinary people to survive in this pitch-black world. His perception was extraordinarily sharp now, and several times he sensed intangible, unseen things trailing him right nearby.
Fortunately, no danger arose this time.
Only when he passed the desert he had once crossed did a ghastly pale figure suddenly appear at his side, giving him a fright.
He activated the Eye of the Newborn; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to see anything at all.
He did not provoke it, continuing on his way as usual without venturing into the desert to look for the Palm-Sized Pig. Before long, the pale figure vanished on its own.
"In the various layers of the night mist world that we cannot see, are there beings hard to discover yet truly present, such as yin spirits and liang?"
Qin Ming suspected that those veteran peddlers who traveled by night year in and year out might have long ceased to be their original selves.
That day, he arrived safely in Chixia City. Having lived here for quite some time, he was thoroughly familiar with everything.
In the City Lord's Manor, inside the familiar parlor, the spirit-calming incense in a bronze burner was slowly burning, quelling restlessness and wiping away the dust of the mind.
"Uncle Meng!" Qin Ming called warmly.
Meng Xinghai said, "You rascal, you vanish every now and then. Where have you run off to these past few days? People looking for you have sent letters all the way to me."
Qin Ming smiled and said, "Attending a banquet in a Peril."
Meng Xinghai replied, "Don't talk nonsense. The waters in the Perils run deep; none dare trespass unless they are supreme patriarchs."
Qin Ming nodded. He now possessed some understanding of Perils—in fact, certain Perils were home to trailblazing patriarchs whose bodies had undergone mutation.
He kept nothing from Meng Xinghai and recounted his experience.
Even old Meng, hailing from a thousand-year-old clan, was dazed by the tale. A god escaped from Yujing had seemingly settled down in a remote land.
Qin Ming said, "Uncle Meng, this stays between you and me. Don't spread it."
Meng Xinghai nodded solemnly. He felt that some other day he really ought to go and pay homage to the god—to think such a legendary being existed within his jurisdiction!
"You really went into a Peril for a banquet. Even many forebears never had the chance to experience such a thing," he marveled, then handed two letters to Qin Ming.
One of the letters was from Xiao Wu, wanting to confirm whether he had safely arrived in Chixia City.
Wu Yaozu and Xiang Yiwu were traveling together and getting along like fish in water in the Dayu imperial capital. They lingered on the pleasure boats along the Shuyu River, wandered the Sleepless Streets, and had even spent a fortune to ascend to the moon.
Everyone knew there was a moon above the Dayu imperial capital, but ascending to it cost an astounding sum.
"Brother Ming, that diplomatic delegation seems like bad news. The sun elven race is actually cultivating immortality!" Xiao Wu had not forgotten to mention serious business amidst his leisurely life.
"This time, that delegation wants to invite people from the outer realm to collaborate on excavating divine graves and immortal tombs!" Reading this, Qin Ming fell somewhat into a daze.
Was this how the sun elven race had embarked on the immortal path? They were actually taking the initiative to invite people from the outer realm to excavate, which was precisely what those on the immortal path coveted.
Qin Ming opened the second letter, and his face instantly changed. He sprang to his feet—he rarely ever lost his composure like this.
Because the signature at the end of the letter was from his grandfather—and alongside it were the parents of whom he had no memory at all.
Such a letter arriving without warning threw his thoughts into turmoil.
Chapter 272