"Thump, thump..." Qiu Kun, the innkeeper, felt his heart hammering like a war drum. Distinct and audible, it set his eardrums vibrating; the blood throughout his body surged like a torrent threatening to burst its banks. He was already prostrate on the ground, his ears ringing, heart fluttering, and vision darkening. He was on the verge of fainting.
This was the very real experience of ordinary people across Night Province: slumped limp on the floor, their faces pale as if hands were clamped around their throats, on the brink of suffocation.
Deep night was like an abyss. It was not merely the sky that was black; countless souls felt as though they were plummeting straight into hell.
"How could this be? That is supreme Yujing—how could it plunge toward destruction!" Earth Immortals trembled, unable to believe what their eyes beheld.
High above the nine heavens, a colossal entity was breaking apart. As terrifying law chains snapped, blast after blast of thunder struck, tearing the firmament wide open!
Specks of scarlet light drifted down from beyond the world. Accompanied by the weeping of ghosts and wailing of gods, the clamor echoed through the nine heavens, as if the entire world were reaching its end.
Whether monsters from Perils, experts from blessed lands, or Earth Immortals in the earthen city, all were terrified down to the marrow, more frightened than they had ever been.
Numerous masters gazed into the distance, desperate to glimpse a clearer truth.
Yet they knew that what met their eyes was still only an inverted reflection from beyond the heavens; that horrific cataclysm had not yet slammed into the earth.
Even amidst their terror, many powerhouses secretly felt fortunate. Yujing was perishing beyond the heavens; had it fallen here, all of them would have been buried with it instantly.
"Is that the so-called Colossus?" Earth Immortal Mu Qinghe manifested a Divine Mirror and suspended it high above the clouds, attempting to illuminate the scene beyond the heavens.
Powerhouses from every faction employed their own methods to pry into Yujing.
An inverted city bearing the ancient, mottled marks of ages was already dismembering, entwined by an enormous, horrifying silhouette.
That dark figure glowed like red-hot metal. Blinding liquid steamed off it as it enveloped the fracturing Yujing, warping space and ripping apart mountain-like gate towers, blowing them into further fragments.
"Is that a monster, or some terrifying phenomenon?"
People could not see clearly. Heavy black fog surged, shrouding most of the truth like an opened abyss parting a bloody maw to swallow Yujing whole.
*Rumble!*
It sounded as though tens of thousands of majestic waterfalls were cascading down, echoing across all of Night Province. Deafening detonations knocked countless people completely unconscious.
"Yujing is utterly ended. Tonight marks its permanent curtain call." The voice of a cultivator from Sky City trembled, laden with dread and unease.
For so many years, they had awaited Yujing's return, only to witness such a spectacle: the supreme sanctum disintegrating, an apocalypse descending!
Beyond the heavens, fragments of the exploded Yujing pierced the nine heavens at an unnaturally sluggish speed, slowly descending toward the earth.
Suddenly, Yujing burst into raging flames.
Immediately afterward, the cries and roars of countless gods and fiends seemed to fill heaven and earth, joined by shrill shrieks like vengeful ghosts ringing above the nine heavens.
"That Colossus... is breaking apart too!"
Several Earth Immortals could already see that the Colossus wrapped around Yujing was extinguishing and dimming. It no longer shone like glowing, molten metal, and it was rapidly fracturing.
Mutual destruction? Both appeared doomed to perish.
That night, streaming fire fell from the sky along with flecks of scarlet anomalous blood. Yujing blew apart into hundreds and thousands of pieces, scattering in all directions. The lamentations of immortals and gods lingered for a moment before abruptly ceasing.
The Colossus disintegrated, crashing through the nine heavens and plummeting toward the pitch-black earth.
Massive earthquakes shook many parts of Night Province. Some cities were obliterated—pierced, shattered, vanished from where they stood.
Ninety percent of the vast land lay in absolute darkness, devoid of Fire Springs and uninhabited by people; otherwise, the devastation would have been far worse.
Qin Ming gazed upward into the heavens. Was that a real sight? Yujing blown apart, the Colossus shattered, both destroyed together.
A deep shock rippled through him, his body frozen rigid in the snow.
That night, the freezing wind felt like a bone-scraping blade, howling ceaselessly. Ice and snow coalesced like the chill of hell itself, threatening to freeze the human soul.
Many masters sensed it: heaven and earth seemed altered. An inexplicable feeling welled up within their hearts, and they could hardly tell whether it boded good or ill.
...
Outside Night Province, numerous monsters and humanoid creatures roamed. Seeing the final outcome, an outburst of long howls rose into the air.
In the dark night, countless pairs of eyes lit up like burning fireballs. Monsters roared with laughter, humanoid beings stared with cold detachment, and humans softly sighed.
"Enter Night Province!"
Across neighboring domains, many top orthodoxies—boasting seven-sun stackers as well as Earth Immortals at the great perfection stage—had sensed in advance that disaster would befall Yujing.
When Yujing stood, the Eastern Lands, the West Sea, the northern barbaric wilderness, and other realms feared it deeply, dreading it from the bottom of their hearts. Even Earth Immortals would never lightly approach Night Province.
Like wayward sons, they had kept their distance.
Yet the moment Yujing was gone, they all surged forth to fight over its "inheritance," eager to claim themselves as the orthodox lineage.
Some domains fabricated histories, claiming their land had once been the Heaven-chosen land, the "legitimate son" of Yujing.
Others were even more radical, declaring themselves a brother realm to Yujing.
The leaders from beyond the domain were ancient and experienced, mostly cautious and steady. Though ambition burned within their hearts, they remained seated behind the scenes rather than personally taking the field.
Prepared well in advance, they offered hefty bounties to recruit so-called "braves" to scout the path.
Of course, a few radicals set out in person.
With Yujing fallen, countless beings beyond the domain looked on—from young talents to Earth Immortals, all of their eyes burned with greed!
They deployed their finest airships and released their swiftest high-grade exotic birds. Many impassioned youths cried out, "March into Night Province! We are the orthodox lineage of Yujing!"
...
In the deep night of Night Province, heaven and earth seemed steeped in black ink. When someone stepped outside, they could see nothing at all, and their faces stung with pain, forcing them to quickly retreat indoors.
"Something is wrong. The night is terrifyingly dark!"
"Palm-sized snowflakes slam into my face—feels like the heavens themselves are slapping me."
When shallow night arrived, people discovered that the darkness remained exceedingly thick. The celestial omens were bizarrely abnormal!
The super blizzard had stopped, yet the gale blew even more violently, churning snowdrifts taller than a man straight into the air and whipping them across the sky like another storm of goose-feather snow.
Qin Ming decided to wait a little longer. Such atrocious weather was rarely seen in a century; even high-grade exotic birds refused to fly against the wind.
He stared outside the inn. Amidst the gale carrying icy pellets, he caught a fleeting glimpse of scarlet flashing past, and even heard faint weeping.
What was going on? Qin Ming felt that Yujing's fall would have vast repercussions that would gradually manifest one after another.
For two full days, the ferocious wind howled. Flimsy buildings had their roofs torn off, and many areas suffered damage.
Even in these dreadful conditions, news still spread: some cities had been wiped out, erased permanently from the face of the earth, including a number of great metropolises.
"Time to go, Old Wu!" The flying mount Qin Ming had rented was a mutated giant crow, classified as a high-grade exotic bird.
However, it went on strike.
"Though I'd like to say 'Night Province Bird Rentals serves you with wholehearted devotion,' right now Yujing has fallen, and my heart is filled with sorrow..." The giant crow ran off. Despite its high-sounding words, it simply refused to serve.
Qin Ming considered trekking on foot. With his cultivation, journeying through head-deep snow would pose no problem at all.
Before departing, he overheard various news in this small city.
"Something big has happened! The whole world seems changed, with all sorts of bizarre incidents cropping up one after another!"
Everyone had been cooped up for two days; the moment travel became possible, rumors and news flew everywhere.
The fall of Yujing was an epoch-making event, and what proved even more terrifying were the mysterious, unpredictable changes it brought in its wake.
First, people had to accept a harsh fact: the darkness had deepened. Even when shallow night arrived, the sky remained cloaked under a jet-black shroud.
In the wilderness especially, areas without Fire Springs were virtually indistinguishable from deep night; for ordinary people, one could hardly see one's fingers held before one's face.
"How can anyone hunt or travel far like this?" Even those who had undergone one or two Newbirths felt deeply unsettled.
"What? Stones are actually blooming with radiant flowers?" The master of the City Lord's Manor received numerous letters, all containing rumors from afar.
"Overnight, an ordinary pine forest turned golden, glowing in the freezing snow. Someone picked the pine nuts and ate them, ascending in a burst of rosy mist? Wait—they burned to ashes midair! Hiss!"
The city lord of this small town was stunned. What was happening to the world? Only two days had passed, yet bizarre wonders and anomalies were springing up everywhere.
As for renowned cities being pulverized by falling chunks of Yujing, that was hardly surprising; such disaster was only to be expected.
"An old man buried for seven days opened his coffin and sat atop his grave in the dark night, smoking a dry pipe. When his descendants went to pay respects on the seventh day after his death, their eyes turned cloudy and every last one went mad?"
News from the City Lord's Manor leaked out, and in this modest city, an uproar erupted instantly.
Hearing this, Qin Ming was dazed for a moment. Were these the initial aftermaths of Yujing and the Colossus destroying each other?
"Madness! Beside the renowned Mingyu River, the bronze lion that stood for twelve hundred years came to life! With a roar, it sprinted into the night!"
Yet these were merely bizarre rumors; far more terrifying events were taking place.
Songhe City, a bustling metropolis with a population of over a million, had been obliterated by fragments of Yujing falling from beyond the nine heavens.
"The day before yesterday, a grandmaster braved the snowstorm to inspect the ruins. On the fringes of the Songhe City site, a black house inexplicably appeared. He cautiously approached... and met with disaster."
Companions watching from far behind saw that after the grandmaster stepped inside the black house, blood splashed out from beneath the door, and he never emerged again.
"In the renowned Zhaoye Lake, a reflection of the moon appeared in the water, remarkably vivid in the pitch darkness. Yet there was no true divine moon in the sky! Two masters went to investigate; mist rose from the water, and both vanished without a trace, while the reflected moon remained."
During shallow night, having lost his mount, Qin Ming learned of all these distant happenings over the course of a single breakfast, leaving him in a daze.
Unexpectedly, the giant crow returned. Flustered and panicked, it flapped its wings and touched down in the inn's courtyard, kicking up plumes of snow.
Qin Ming asked, "What, changed your mind? Ready to carry me on the journey?"
"Help! Something evil is loose out there! Over a dozen human-skin kites are soaring through the night sky—it's utterly terrifying for a bird!" The giant crow's face was stricken with horror.
Hearing this, Qin Ming's expression stiffened. Bloodstained human-skin kites? Things associated with Earth Immortals were notoriously difficult to deal with if they harbored malice. He immediately pressed for details.
"The skins aren't bleeding! They look lifelike, with loose, flowing hair and hollow eye sockets, muttering something under their breath! They'll be here any minute!"
Qin Ming opened the Eye of the Newborn and stepped into the courtyard, gazing up into the night sky. His scalp prickled. There were thirteen human-skin kites—men, women, young and old. Raven tresses and white hair fluttered in a deeply eerie manner, looking as though they were gazing down upon the mortal world.
However, when they passed the city, they actually detoured around it rather than sweeping directly overhead.
Could they be wary of the teeming human vitality filling the city?
Qin Ming felt that the world was spiraling toward unpredictability. The fall of Yujing, a monumental event capable of shattering historical records, carried repercussions far beyond anything imagined!
"Let's go. We're setting off," Qin Ming said.
The giant crow protested at once: "There's a pack of human-skin kites in the sky! Let's not go courting death!"
Qin Ming consoled it, "It's fine. We're not heading in their direction. Besides, you might not know who I really am..."
The giant crow was stunned. "You're the figurehead of the Newborn path... Qin Ming? All right, I'll go with you!"
They set off into the night, bound toward Chixia City and Black-White Mountain.
Yet having flown barely two hundred li, Qin Ming sensed something amiss. Above their heads, something was flying not far away.
It was an old man in white robes, his face pallid. When Qin Ming looked up, the old man even offered a friendly smile.
He was flying with his physical body, not with pure yang consciousness. Qin Ming stared with wide eyes.
"Mother of mercy, is that a man or a ghost?" The giant crow couldn't help shivering.
"Alas, why must you speak and disturb the peace? What year is it tonight?" the old man asked with a sigh.
"Two days after the fall of Yujing," Qin Ming replied, sensing something was wrong.
"Would that I could roam far in the void... Ah!" He let out a heavy sigh. Then, a bolt of thunder flashed across, and he blew apart on the spot, reduced to flying ash.
The white-robed elder had vanished just like that? Qin Ming was taken aback. He had never expected such an end. Everything was so abnormal, so unpredictable.
The giant crow trembled all over, awkward even in flapping its wings. In this manner, they crossed another several dozen li.
Suddenly, the back of Qin Ming's neck turned icy cold, while the exotic metal small sword hanging against his chest burned scorching hot.
"M-Master... did you put your hands on my back too?" The giant crow was shaking like a leaf, feeling an extra pair of feet on its back.
*Chh!*
The exotic metal small sword Qin Ming unleashed stabbed toward his back. If even a mutton-fat jade iron saber could suppress unseen, intangible bizarre entities, a weapon of exotic metal was far superior.
Simultaneously, Qin Ming used his consciousness to drive the rag, blocking behind him.
He felt a bone-piercing chill; something wet and sticky seemed plastered right against his back.
However, the moment it touched the rag, a shrill shriek erupted, and the exotic metal small sword impaled the unknown entity.
Qin Ming turned his head. A bizarre mass of freezing energy had mostly dispersed and was fleeing at extreme speed. This was not the white-robed elder from earlier, but a creature he knew well—a specter!
"The upheaval of heaven and earth is drawing out all manner of inscrutable things." His gaze turned profound. Vaguely, he saw the retreating mass plunge straight into the clouds.
With a heavy heart, Qin Ming said, "In the past, incomprehensible phenomena and unknown beings only roamed the pitch-black earth where there were no Fire Springs. Now, they have appeared even in the sky."
The giant crow stammered in panic, "M-Master, look up quickly! In the clouds ahead of us, there's... a furry monster! Pure white all over, and it vanished in a flash!"
Qin Ming had naturally spotted the creature covered in thick white fur poking its head out from the clouds. He replied, "Yes, I see it. Descend. We're heading down to the ground. We aren't far from a major city anyway; to be safe, we'll travel on foot across the snow."
The giant crow immediately spiraled downward. Involuntarily glancing up, its dark face nearly blanched white, and it dove straight toward the ground as though eager to crash into it.
For in the night sky, a red sedan chair had appeared, borne by creatures clad in hemp mourning garments.
Shivering uncontrollably, the giant crow wailed, "Mother of mercy, is this still the Night Province I know? Why has everything turned so alien and terrifying? Will there even be room for birds like us to survive? The world is no longer free for me to fly!"
In the snow, Qin Ming cleared the path, running in the lead.
The giant crow pumped its legs and sprinted frantically behind him, its rear sticking out. Glancing up from time to time, it saw that the red sedan chair had not dived down, but hung doggedly on their trail high in the air.
Suddenly, it let out a horrified shriek: "Who's grabbing my butt?!"
It shouted this, of course, to summon Qin Ming's help and to bolster its own cowardly courage.
Qin Ming had already noticed something and turned around to wait for it.
Behind them emerged six old men, their faces mapped with wrinkles. There was no telling how ancient they were, their hair completely gone, yet their aged eyes were far from cloudy—each pair dark and bottomless like abysses.
"Itinerant merchants!" Recognizing their attire, Qin Ming identified them at once.
Such men walked the darkness year after year. Rumor had it that when they grew old, even if they still haunted cities and remained among the living, they were likely no longer their original selves.
Once an itinerant merchant lived past a century, he would soon disappear.
Now, Qin Ming was looking at six of them, every one definitely over a hundred years old.
He came to a halt. In truth, he wished to make contact with such people, for his grandfather had ultimately walked away with an old itinerant merchant, vanishing completely.
"Gentlemen, care to talk?" Qin Ming said.
The giant crow thought he had lost his mind. Could anyone have a conversation with monsters that had long lost all humanity?
"Let us talk," a similar voice echoed from the approaching red sedan chair in the clouds. Then, a petite red shoe stepped out onto the night sky.
"Who goes there?" Qin Ming demanded instantly.
"Beholding a Heavenly Immortal, why do you not bow?!" the sedan carrier barked.
Chapter 416