Outside the window, a rainstorm struck without warning, clattering against the roof tiles in a chaotic din—much like Qin Ming's state of mind, which was thrown into turmoil.
Meng Xinghai's immediate reaction upon seeing the letter was that someone was dangling bait!
The probability was quite high. Qin Ming had risen too quickly; perhaps someone could no longer sit still.
The night was ink-black. Raindrops beat densely against the window sill, sending up misty wisps of vapor.
Perturbed by concern, Qin Ming had long worried that his grandfather's lifespan was running short, terrified that he might never see him again.
On the smooth letter paper, the handwriting was very familiar.
During his Newborn stage, Qin Ming had entered dreams many times to recall his childhood experiences. What lay before his eyes was indeed his grandfather's handwriting.
He took a deep breath, quickly steadying his emotions. Only by keeping a cool head could he handle whatever lay ahead.
Meng Xinghai set down his teacup. "Don't panic when things happen. If someone is truly fishing for you, it only shows that they can no longer hold their temper."
Qin Ming nodded, concentrating intensely as he attempted to resonate with the letter paper.
In an instant, he confirmed that this letter was genuine. It was brimming with his grandfather's intense emotions—reluctance to part and deep worry for him.
"Child, your grandfather has fallen ill and can no longer take care of you." This was a letter from over a decade ago. The old man had been wearing ragged, patched clothes, his physical condition poor.
Qin Ming's heartstrings trembled as he observed the "past scene" from back then.
Beneath a dim oil lamp, the old man coughed and slowly wrote: "Grandfather told you before that I probably had about ten years left to live. But looking at it now, I might not make it that long. If I had any choice, I would never entrust you to someone else to raise.
"You are still so young. You are the one your grandfather worries about most. Someone has taken a liking to you; I hope they will treat you well. Grandfather must leave to search for your parents. I hope they are still alive, so that in the future they can come pick you up."
The old man's body swayed, coughing up blood.
"Child, live well. Grow up healthy and stay safe, that is all that matters. Though your grandfather longs to see you marry and have children, I dare not hope to live until that day."
The old man's hand was emaciated, his grip on the brush unsteady, trembling with every cough as ink splattered onto the paper several times.
"You are still so small. Your grandfather cannot bear to leave you..."
Evidently, the old man had taken this letter with him rather than leaving it behind. At the time, Qin Ming had been far too young to understand it anyway.
There were names of several towns on the letter, all very distant places, which was likely the direction his parents had gone.
Qin Ming quietly held this ink-splattered sheet of paper, reading it again and again.
Only then did he turn to the letter from his parents. No emotional ripples lingered upon it; there was no way to resonate with it.
The letter contained place names and a route, extremely distant, roughly reaching the outer regions of the reclamation territory.
According to the message, his parents had gone pursuing the traces of a silk book method patriarch. Having temporarily resolved their own troubles, they had returned to the ancestral home and found the previous letter, but never saw the old man.
It was written further down that a patriarch of the silk book method might still be alive. They had uncovered an extremely vital clue and intended to track it down, unable to return for the time being.
His parents' letter also listed many place names, all far away, already reaching deep into the night mist world.
Meng Xinghai shook his head. "Not credible!"
Qin Ming fell silent. His grandfather's letter was genuine, while his parents' letter was questionable. The former held intense emotion and profound familial affection, whereas the latter offered no resonance.
Fearing he might act rashly, Meng Xinghai said, "Later, I'll send people to investigate. It may take a long time. You must not be hasty. Even if it is true, going there now won't change anything."
Qin Ming felt empty inside. Finally, he nodded and solemnly put the letters away.
Was there really an "ancestral home"? He pondered silently. Where had his grandfather gone? Could he truly have held out until now? Whenever his thoughts turned to this, a heavy weight pressed upon his chest.
His greatest worry, naturally, was whether this letter had truly fallen into his parents' hands. If not, he hardly dared to imagine what that meant.
"Did the Cui clan intercept this letter back then?" Qin Ming sat in silence, clenching his fists.
All of this was because he lacked the strength to march up to the Cui clan's doorstep and force them to tell him the truth.
The old ancestor of the Cui clan was the person with the deepest comprehension of the World-Abiding Scripture. He had lived an exceptionally long time, already exceeding five hundred years.
Certain signs indicated that this person had likely stepped into the sixth realm.
Outside the window, torrential rain poured down. The night was black as an abyss. When lightning flashed, a continuous sheet of water could be seen stretching between heaven and earth.
Qin Ming stood up, wanting to calm his mind.
In an instant, he vanished into the dark, rainy night.
Worried, Meng Xinghai followed. Before long, he had to speed up and rush forward to stop him.
Because he discovered that Qin Ming had actually broken into the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, preparing to endure the bombardment of thunder-fire heavenly light!
"This is what you call calming your mind?" Meng Xinghai was naturally concerned. This was the most violent thunder-fire of late summer, capable of ruining a person's foundational cultivation at the slightest slip.
"Uncle Meng, I'm fine. I already experienced this in Kunling," Qin Ming said.
Then, before Meng Xinghai's stunned gaze, Qin Ming calmed his mind inside the golden palace. Allowing sheets of heavenly light to engulf him, he sat cross-legged, unmoving as a mountain.
After a night of listening to thunder and tempering his body, Qin Ming's mood improved considerably.
He took advice well. He did not set out himself, but followed Meng Xinghai's suggestion to commission people to investigate and seek out the truth from multiple angles.
That day, he stayed behind closed doors to adjust himself, studying extraordinary skill scriptures.
Not until the next day did he step out of his room and arrange a gathering with familiar acquaintances.
In a private dining room at a restaurant, Wu Zheng's face was full of adoration. Even in this remote place, he had heard some rumors from Kunling.
"Brother Ming, you're the goal I'll chase my entire life!" He felt that Qin Ming was already more formidable than his ancestor, who had been supreme in both spear and arrow.
"Empty fame. Living comfortably is what matters," Qin Ming said.
"How could that be empty fame? That's a true demonstration of strength, a record of battle carved out on the plateaus of Kunling!" Xu Sheng said.
He could never have imagined that the youth he had brought out from remote Black-White Mountain back when he was an itinerant merchant would be so monstrously gifted, capable of suppressing even certain immortal seeds!
"Xiao Qin, when I heard the news, I was truly shocked," Sister Fenfang, Zhou Lin, said.
Thinking back to the past, she, Qin Ming, and Xu Sheng had hunted together in the mountains outside Chixia City, gathering spiritual substances. How much time had passed, and Xiao Qin had already made a name for himself across Kunling!
"Congratulations to Brother Xu and Sis... Sister Zhou on tying the knot," Qin Ming raised his cup and smiled.
The two of them ending up together wasn't all that surprising.
Afterward, he asked Xu Sheng about itinerant merchants.
"Xiao Qin, if you have a choice, walk the night roads as little as possible. Generations of itinerant merchants know this best. Two months ago, my master bade his final farewell to me and vanished!"
Xu Sheng's simple words made Qin Ming put down his cup, and Wu Zheng shuddered involuntarily.
"My master said he was over a hundred years old. Calculating the time, it was time for him to return to the depths of the night mist. He told me not to be an itinerant merchant, or in the end I would meet the same fate as him."
"This..." Qin Ming was lost in thought, asking for details and reasons.
Xu Sheng said, "My master didn't say much. He only briefly mentioned a few things, cautioning me that ordinary people only see a superficial layer of the night mist world. In truth... the reality is terrifying. There are far too many unknowns and horrors. Having walked the night roads for so many years, he was almost no longer himself. He had to leave and stay where he ought to be."
...
The night grew deep, and they left the restaurant.
As they parted, Wu Zheng asked, "Brother Ming, will you still come back in the future? It's not like we'll never see each other again, right?"
Sister Fenfang said, "Even if we can't meet, I believe you will often hear news of Xiao Qin in the future. He will eventually make a name for himself across the entire night mist world!"
In the latter half of the night, Qin Ming felt a loud rumble, his body shaking violently. To his astonishment, he found that his heavenly light, blazing like a scorching sun, was wrapping around his consciousness and had separated from his physical body!
It was as though a mysterious force—like sky-filling astral winds sweeping past, or a great river surging across—had traversed the skies above Chixia City, jolting his consciousness rooted in heavenly light right out of his physical apertures.
He hurriedly shielded himself with the rag, then went to the window and looked out into the night sky.
In fact, it wasn't just him. Meng Xinghai, radiating divine wisdom light, had also left his flesh body, standing on the roof with a grave expression as he gazed into the distance.
"This little beast had absolutely no intention of disrespect! I merely came here to comprehend for a month or so, with no desire to seize territory!" In the night sky, an immense silver pangolin bowed repeatedly toward the direction of Black-White Mountain, then fled in disgrace.
Meng Xinghai was certain that was a powerful spiritual body, at least at the fifth realm perfection. It had actually been lurking beneath the city, but had now been frightened away.
Qin Ming was dumbfounded. Was Chixia City inherently cursed to attract demons and monsters? Last time, a blue giant centipede had rushed over to become a god.
Now, another terrifying pangolin had fled from here.
At the edge of the sky, a bloodstained kite was gliding. It looked flimsy, yet it had terrified away the pure yang consciousness body of a giant demon.
That night, the most devout high-ranking members of the Three-Eyed Cult, which had a considerable following in this territory, received a divine oracle: completely withdraw from the area encompassed by Black-White Mountain, including Chixia City, Maple Leaf City, and the like.
The high-ranking members of the Three-Eyed Cult in this region were profoundly shaken. A god giving way, abandoning an entire territory's believers? To them, this was utterly terrifying!
"Xiao Qin, that pangolin was bowing toward the direction of Black-White Mountain just now, right?" Meng Xinghai landed after seeing Qin Ming.
"That's right!" Qin Ming nodded solemnly.
"It seems I must go pay respects to the god as soon as possible," Meng Xinghai said.
One mountain could not harbor two tigers, and one territory could not harbor two gods. Something unusual was clearly happening in the direction of Black-White Mountain.
"Is Chixia City so special? A giant centipede died, and now a pangolin came," Qin Ming asked.
Meng Xinghai said, "It is somewhat special. During the Great Reclamation period, dao arenas of godlike entities were unearthed here—at least two. That's why certain creatures have set their sights on this place, wishing to attain godhood in this 'treasured land.'"
This was also why he had come here to serve as city lord. Walking the divine path himself, coming early to observe the special terrain naturally brought immense benefits.
Meng Xinghai only wanted to experience it; he would not refine this city.
Moreover, with the perfection of the esoteric sect system, the process of attaining godhood was no longer necessarily restricted to a single place.
Meng Xinghai revealed, "On today's divine path, it is said that peerless powerhouses have broken through the cages of a territory, able to roam across different domains with transformative attainments—not to become gods, but solely to blaze new paths."
Hearing this, Qin Ming grew solemn. Those who reached the forefront of each path were definitely terrifying to the extreme.
Two days later, Xiao Wu sent a letter informing Qin Ming that the outer realm would most likely invite people, because second-realm immortal seeds might not be able to suppress the sun elves.
After all, disciples of the immortal path only truly began their pure yang transformation from the third realm onwards, undergoing "tribulation" or using "immortal fire" to cleanse their consciousness.
In the second realm, immortal path disciples would be scorched by heavenly fire, blazing suns, and the like, still unable to withstand them.
The delegation from afar was said to be elves bathed in solar fire, naturally countering the conscious spiritual light of the immortal path in the second realm.
"Brother Ming, the people here are bad, but they have plenty of money. Get ready." This was Xiao Wu's concise summary.
Deep within the night mist world lay a tract of divine and immortal graves. The sun elven race frankly admitted they could not handle it alone, so they had sent an envoy to this territory to negotiate with the outer realm, with whom they had had prior contact, to see if cooperation was possible.
During this period, high-level figures from both sides would sit and discuss the dao, while middle- and low-level figures would duel and spar, which tied directly into the final distribution of interests.
Sure enough, the outer realm's letter soon arrived as well, inviting Qin Ming to the Dayu imperial capital to participate in a grand gathering to exchange with an otherworldly civilization.
Qin Ming sneered. If they wanted help in a fight, why not say so directly? Did they want him to act as free muscle?
In the Dayu imperial capital, someone from the outer realm found Wu Yaozu, only to immediately receive rolled eyes from him.
"You people broke your word last time, dragging your feet on the Vermilion Bird baleful substance you owe Brother Ming! You've forced him to go deep into the mountains and great marshes now, searching all over for heterogeneous substances. He probably doesn't have time to attend any gathering."
"That's easy to discuss..."
Xiao Wu immediately retorted, "It's really not easy to discuss! Brother Ming has no time. He has to gather four or five legendary-grade baleful substances before he can step out of the mountains!"
"Isn't he right in Chixia City?"
"Brother Ming is temporarily staying there, but every day he has to toil in the mountains looking for sha!"
Hearing this, the outer realm representative badly wanted to spit in his face. What bloody baleful substance was there near Chixia City? None was recorded in the Register of Renowned Sha!
Xiao Wu said, "If you want Brother Ming to come out, just resolve his worries for him. You know full well that breaking through on the Newborn path is extraordinarily difficult. He cannot afford to waste time!"
Afterward, the people from the outer realm bypassed this extortionist and sent a letter directly to Chixia City via lightning bird.
Meng Xinghai unfolded the letter, read it, and nodded. "The winds and clouds of the world are gathering in the Dayu imperial capital. That much is true. A grand exchange between different civilizations is about to begin; it is indeed worth going to see."
Then he asked, "What baleful substance are you still lacking? Could it be the rare Four Holy baleful substances? If so, those are too difficult to find. Let me try negotiating with them."
Qin Ming shook his head and said, "I already have the yin-yang diagram, and I can use it to evolve the Four Symbols."
What he actually sought were baleful substances in the domain of the Five Elements, wanting them to correspond to the Five Elements extraordinary skills he had mastered.
In truth, with the yin-yang diagram in hand, he had no need to force the Five Elements baleful substances, but he wouldn't turn down an additional complete cyclical treasure sha system.
After all, most arts across various paths fell within the Five Elements. If Qin Ming unleashed a five-colored light wheel, it would be quite intimidating.
Meng Xinghai said, "The more you want something, the more they will try to leverage it. We must plan how to deal with them."
Qin Ming said, "I already have Xuanwu and White Tiger of the Four Holy baleful substances, which correspond to Water and Metal. In addition, I have a wisp of Starfire Essence."
Meng Xinghai was startled. Such heterogeneous substances were extraordinarily rare, yet this kid had quietly gathered three of them!
Sure enough, the outer realm liaison engaged in back-and-forth wrangling via correspondence with Meng Xinghai. They were wary of Qin Ming fusing top-tier baleful substances, afraid that if he became a patriarch in the future, he would be difficult to keep in check.
Meng Xinghai was in no hurry, haggling with them at a leisurely pace.
Inside the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace, Qin Ming sat cross-legged, comprehending the yin-yang diagram.
The Two Modes could generate the Four Symbols, transforming into Greater Yin, Greater Yang, Lesser Yin, and Lesser Yang, which could also correspond to the four baleful substances like Vermilion Bird and White Tiger.
The so-called Great Dao seeks simplicity. He had already obtained the black and white fish and officially dotted their eyes, activating the perfect yin-yang diagram. That was enough.
And once he evolved the yin-yang dao diagram to a certain level, it could naturally become more intricate, giving rise to the Four Symbols and Eight Trigrams.
For now, he could barely manifest the Four Symbols diagram.
With a swoosh, the yin-yang diagram shifted. Greater Yin, Greater Yang, Lesser Yin, and Lesser Yang began to take shape, becoming hazy forms of Xuanwu, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon.
Seeing this miraculous sight, Meng Xinghai's expression turned exceedingly grave. He nodded inwardly. Using the Four Symbols to conceal yin and yang was the best course, preventing certain people on the immortal path from noticing and casting their gazes his way too early.
He spoke, "Your evolution is still quite strenuous right now, but that is even better. At this stage, the Four Symbols remain hazy and indistinct, which will make them think the four baleful substances you found haven't reached the legendary grade."
"It needs to become a bit more realistic—gathering and dispersing at will," Qin Ming said, constantly meditating and shifting the Four Symbols diagram.
In the end, the yin-yang fish vanished completely. Distinct Four Holy baleful substances revolved around him—Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu, Azure Dragon, and White Tiger resonating together, guarding the four quarters in an imposing display.
Unless necessary, he wouldn't even reveal such Four Holy baleful substances.
That day, Old Meng finalized the agreement with the outer realm.
The next day, Qin Ming and Meng Xinghai sat upon the back of a high-grade exotic bird, heading toward Great Yu, bound for a place where winds and clouds surged.
Chapter 273