Qin Ming and Old Man Liu had busied themselves with all kinds of tasks—chopping firewood, laying down trails, hunting beasts, and more. Everything was now ready.
"Silver-headed ants have an omnivorous diet and a sharp sense of smell. They're exceptionally sensitive to scents they like, and that's certainly showing now!" Qin Ming said.
He and Old Man Liu had paid a steep price for some honey, and they had also prepared an ample supply of beast blood. They dripped blood along the path, occasionally smearing honey, working their way from far to near.
Just as Qin Ming and Old Man Liu entered along the fissure in the mountain, the two scents stimulated the motionless silver-headed ants, rousing them from dormancy.
"Some of them are starting to move! Light the fires, quick!"
"Be careful not to burn yourself!"
The two hurled several buckets of fire oil forward, tossed torches after them, and immediately turned to flee.
Boom!
Flames surged upward, rousing all the silver-headed ants in the mountain's hollow. Though many were incinerated by the fire oil, their numbers were simply overwhelming. Packed densely together, they squirmed and crawled. Furthermore, the nest's complex layout meant many areas were completely out of the fire's reach.
In an instant, the silver-headed ants were provoked, surging out along the fissure like a tidal wave.
"Come at us! Better call your queen out, too!" Old Man Liu yelled, brandishing his thick-backed broadsword.
"Run, they're already charging!" Qin Ming yanked him along, and the two bolted up the mountain.
Neither was worried that the silver-headed ants wouldn't pursue them. After all, they had dripped honey and beast blood along the entire way. Moreover, these creatures were no longer ordinary ants; they possessed an extremely strong territorial sense and were savagely brutal. Anyone daring to intrude upon their nest would face immediate retaliation.
"Why can some of these silver-headed ants fly?" Before Qin Ming had even run a hundred meters, clattering sounds were already ringing against his back.
"What's going on?" Old Man Liu was dumbfounded as well. At least a hundred fist-sized flying ants were swarming toward them, far surpassing their ground-bound kin in size.
"You're asking me?" Qin Ming had a bad feeling about this. The old man was a bit unreliable—hadn't he claimed to know everything about the mountains like the back of his hand? Yet he didn't even know there were flying silver-headed ants!
Slashing at the flying ants with his thick-backed broadsword, Old Man Liu called back, "The spiritual substance in their nest must be too abundant! Some of the ants have evolved—there weren't any five years ago!"
"Your... Your intelligence is five years out of date?" Qin Ming swung his hammer, crushing one fist-sized flying ant with each strike. He could feel just how hard they were; an ordinary person certainly couldn't smash one with a single blow.
The flying ants were dark red, with brighter and more numerous silver markings on their heads. Their wings were transparent, and the sound of them buzzing over the snow was terrifying.
Their mandibles resembled blood-red pincers. When they landed on someone, their bites rang loudly against armor, showing just how lethal their attacks were.
The hundred or so that had appeared were enough to strip an ordinary person to the bone in an instant.
"Don't worry, there aren't many of them. A hundred or so isn't enough to satisfy our blades," Old Man Liu said, swinging his sword repeatedly while taking care to shield his face.
No sooner had he spoken than hundreds more flew out from the mountain fissure. The chilling drone of their vibrating wings sounded like metal sheets grinding against one another, thoroughly unnerving.
Qin Ming's expression shifted. If they kept emerging endlessly by the thousands or tens of thousands, they would be in serious trouble.
Both men possessed immense stamina and reached the summit of the low mountain in a single breath.
Around them, hundreds of flying ants lunged like madmen. The bitter, freezing environment didn't seem to hinder their speed in the slightest.
The hilltop was like a blacksmith's forge as Qin Ming struck with mechanical precision, pulverizing the vicious insects lunging at him one by one.
Old Man Liu pulled no punches either, brandishing his broadsword so swiftly that clattering crunches rang out amid flashes of snow-bright steel. A carpet of dead ants piled beneath their feet.
Looking down from the hill, a sprawling expanse of dark red made their vision blur. Massive swarms of silver-headed ants were scrambling up through the snow.
In truth, they hadn't even needed to scatter beast blood or honey; these vicious creatures were vindictive to a fault and possessed an abnormally keen sense of smell, tracking the two men purely by scent.
"Why haven't they slowed down in this extreme cold?"
"They've slowed down a bit. Not enough time has passed; we have to hold out a little longer."
The two stood their ground on the hill instead of running, battling the ferocious flying ants while watching the crawling army draw closer and closer.
"Their speed is dropping. Give it a bit more time, and they really might freeze stiff."
"Let's set a blaze to burn a batch first. We'll warm them up a little and try to draw more out of the nest."
Swinging blade and hammer, the two didn't forget to light torches. To enter the nest, they had to wipe out the ant army below first.
"Careful! Don't throw the torches in the wrong spot!" Old Man Liu warned, truly fearing that Qin Ming might be clumsy and detonate the crude explosives prematurely.
Those explosives were byproducts of medicine-refining by people beyond the mundane world, which had gradually spread to various regions and been put to use by ordinary folk.
"Don't worry!"
Soon, sections of the low hill stacked with firewood caught fire, blazing vigorously with the help of the poured fire oil.
Many silver-headed ants were incinerated, but the blaze only inflamed the swarm's savagery. Fearless of death, they surged uphill like a tidal wave.
"A second wave is pouring out of the nest!" Old Man Liu said.
The worst-case scenario had not come to pass; the flying ants were not as numerous as they had feared.
Suddenly, Old Man Liu yelled as a loud crash sent him flying. He planted headfirst into a snowdrift, instantly submerged under a swarm of diving winged ants.
Qin Ming was startled. He spotted a flying ant larger than a human head, predominantly blood-red and covered in silver markings. It was not merely mutated, but appeared to be twice-mutated.
He charged forward at once, swinging his hammer. Yet the twice-mutated flying ant was blindingly fast, dodging in a flash before diving straight toward Old Man Liu in the snowbank.
Qin Ming moved like lightning, closing the distance to strike at this exceptional insect.
Unwilling to take a blow to its rear while pouncing on Old Man Liu, the twice-mutated flying ant dodged swiftly. Enraged, it wheeled around to attack Qin Ming, weaving left and right in a relentless assault.
Cursing up a storm, Old Man Liu scrambled out of the snowdrift, swinging his blade at the fist-sized flying ants around him.
"A grown man like me getting knocked down by an ant! I've lost all my face today. Am I really getting too old and weak to swing a blade? I... Hiss! A twice-mutated super ant! Xiao Qin, can you hold out?"
Qin Ming responded swiftly with a warning: "I'm fine! Watch yourself, there might be other twice-mutated flying ants!"
Old Man Liu's expression grew solemn. "Right! Even though the queen is a thrice-mutated creature, she isn't built for combat. She's bound to focus her resources on breeding these winged war ants."
Qin Ming swung his long-handled dark-gold hammer in succession, striking the flying ant multiple times. The impacts produced crisp clangs like hammer blows on an anvil; the creature was remarkably resilient.
Even so, it ultimately couldn't withstand Qin Ming's monstrous strength. With every hit, cracks spread across its body until, with a wet pop, it was hammered to pieces.
"Damn it, three more of those super flying ants just showed up!" Old Man Liu's face turned pale.
Down at the base of the mountain, three noticeably oversized flying ants beat their wings with terrifying hums as they ascended. Behind them trailed six somewhat smaller winged ants, though still far larger than the ordinary kind.
"Three twice-mutated, six once-mutated... An insect nest really isn't easy to deal with!"
As for the ordinary silver-headed ants, some had already reached the hilltop. Though the main body behind them had grown sluggish, they continued to crawl upward upon spotting the two men within arm's reach.
"That's about enough!" Qin Ming called out, stepping up to intercept the three strongest flying ants.
Upon hearing this, Old Man Liu quickly sparked the fuse. With a thunderous boom, the crude explosives they had buried beforehand went off, triggering an avalanche. Amidst the deafening roar, vast numbers of silver-headed ants were buried beneath the snow.
They had calculated the timing: the ant army was already on the verge of freezing stiff, and once buried, most would be unable to claw their way out. Nine out of ten would freeze to death.
"You tiny little bug, you think you can knock me flat? I'm not going to suffer that humiliation again!" Old Man Liu intercepted one of the twice-mutated flying ants, hacking away in a furious battle.
"So tough! A single chop can't even sever it!" Old Man Liu was hard-pressed, as ordinary flying ants still swarmed around him.
Qin Ming went all out, faint golden ripples even appearing on his skin. Amidst heavy clangor, he smashed the two twice-mutated flying ants apart one after the other. He then spun his long-handled dark-gold hammer like a windmill, bringing dead ants raining down with continuous thuds.
"Stay back, let me finish it myself!" Old Man Liu had his pride, and he finally managed to slay the remaining twice-mutated flying ant.
Only after dispatching the remaining silver-headed ants that had reached the summit without freezing did the two let out a long breath.
"Consider this ridding the people of a future scourge ahead of time. If that queen ever underwent a fourth mutation and the colony exploded in size, nothing would survive in its path," Old Man Liu said, collapsing onto the snow.
"It's not over yet. Another swarm is coming out of the mountain fissure," Qin Ming reminded him.
Old Man Liu's face turned green. Fortunately, there were no twice-mutated flying ants this time. The ordinary silver-headed ants formed another dense wave, crawling up once more.
"Not as many as the last wave. Once we wipe these out, that should be just about it."
They couldn't trigger another avalanche now. The silver-headed ants below seemed to have received an order, retreating to their nest before freezing completely.
"Let's head down. We'll lure them out from outside the nest and kill them at close range."
Even Qin Ming was exhausted after a full day of nonstop slaughter.
Yet even as the shallow night drew near its end, large numbers of silver-headed ants were still crawling out.
As for Old Man Liu, he had long been drained of energy, barely able to lift his blade.
Fortunately, this area was extremely remote. No other creature dared nest near the silver-headed ants, so the commotion had attracted no mutated beasts to pry.
"Let's continue tomorrow!"
...
Over the past two days, some villagers had ventured into the subterranean caves of the Grand Rift Valley and brought out several fine weapons, creating a sensation that spurred even more people to head there to prospect.
Many of those weapons and suits of armor had been left behind by fallen scions of Chixia City's prominent clans, so they were naturally of premium quality.
Qin Ming and Old Man Liu had never expected that after wiping out huge numbers on the first day, they would spend three consecutive days slaying silver-headed ants without fully clearing them out.
"I think today should about do it. We could even force our way into the nest without trouble."
"You're a jinx, old master. Better keep those words to yourself!"
On the fourth day, the two were chatting as they walked. When they passed by the Grand Rift Valley, Qin Ming froze. He rubbed his eyes to confirm he wasn't seeing things: a wisp of black mist was gliding swiftly through the valley like a spiritual serpent.
"Old master, look over there in the Grand Rift Valley..." Qin Ming signaled.
"Look at what? There's nothing there." Old Man Liu looked surprised, his face full of bafflement.
Qin Ming fell silent, pretending his eyes had played tricks on him. His heart, however, was far from calm. He privately surmised that absorbing the mysterious liquid had enabled him to perceive that abnormal black mist.
"Did you have any luck contacting those fallen families that once had a notable heritage, like I asked?"
Old Man Liu said, "One family has shown signs of relenting. I think there's a good chance."
"That's wonderful!" Qin Ming was overjoyed.
"You two, get over here! What were you staring at just now?" A voice suddenly called from the distance. Two figures appeared near the exit of the Grand Rift Valley, one after the other.
Both men carried a powerful presence, instantly recognizable as perilous experts. Even Qin Ming felt his heart sink.
Noticing the emblems on their cuffs, Old Man Liu lowered his voice: "They have golden patterns on their sleeves, which means they've received preliminary recognition from the Golden Bandits. Those two must be leaders from Golden Rooster Ridge—the two strongest bandits there."
With that, he fell silent, giving Qin Ming a tug as they walked forward.
Qin Ming naturally knew of these two great bandits, having heard no shortage of rumors about them recently. They were fourth Newborns, standing among the strongest individuals in the local factions.
What were they doing at the Grand Rift Valley? Did that wisp of black mist have anything to do with them? Suspicion stirred in his mind.
"Stop dawdling, get over here!" one of the bandits barked.
"We were just passing through to hunt in the mountains," Old Man Liu said, adopting an exceedingly humble posture.
The two bandits appeared to be around forty, their gazes chillingly cold. One of them grabbed Old Man Liu by the collar and hoisted him up.
"A Newborn, but far too old to be of any use!" the bandit muttered before tossing Old Man Liu aside, leaving him stumbling and nearly falling to the ground.
He then stepped in front of Qin Ming. "A Newborn at such a young age? Not bad."
Grabbing Qin Ming by the collar, he said, "Golden Rooster Ridge will be recruiting over the next two days. Make sure you register. Hear me? I've memorized your face!"
The bandit spoke flatly, without raising his voice, yet his tone brooked no refusal.
"Understood, don't worry, sir. I'll bring him to register when the time comes," Old Man Liu hurried to say, fearing that Qin Ming's youthful hotheadedness might lead him to talk back and invite fatal disaster.
"You're so old—are we supposed to feed a freeloader?" The bandit shot him a sideways glance.
"I meant I'll bring him to register," Old Man Liu clarified.
"Hmph." The bandit nodded, releasing Qin Ming's collar.
"He just asked you a question. Are you mute? Did you hear him?" the other bandit suddenly snapped, reprimanding Qin Ming coldly.
"I was just dazed for a moment. Yes, I'll go register then," Qin Ming nodded and said.
...
"May they rot in..." Once they reached the vicinity of the ant nest, Old Man Liu let loose a torrent of colorful curses, utterly furious. He had been suffocating with indignation.
After venting, he quickly urged Qin Ming not to be reckless, telling him that he had to endure it this time and go register first.
"You're still young, yet you're already this strong. You'll only become more formidable in the future, and anything is possible. When the time comes..."
Qin Ming cut in, "When the time comes, I'll ride alone into Golden Rooster Ridge under cover of night and slaughter every last bandit there!"
Old Man Liu hurriedly hushed him. "Quiet! You shouldn't even breathe such words! Wait until you're a fourth or fifth Newborn before entertaining such thoughts!"
Their operation went smoothly afterward. Upon breaking into the nest, they found that the silver-headed ant army had indeed been largely wiped out over the past three days.
The ant queen finally revealed herself: a silver, wormlike creature. Although a thrice-mutated organism, she was truly ill-suited for combat. Her only lethal weapon was a glowing liquid she spat from her mouth, which possessed astonishing penetration and could corrode armor.
At first sight, Qin Ming and Old Man Liu had been caught off guard by a wild spray of the fluid, nearly falling victim to it. Their outer armor was pierced clean through; fortunately, both had steel plates protecting their chests.
After that, the battle held no suspense. The strongest war ants had long been eliminated, and stripped of the protection of her massive swarm, the queen was swiftly slain by the pair.
"We've struck it rich!" In the depths of the nest, Old Man Liu's eyes shone as he spotted the honey mead sealed within ant wax. Though most of it had been consumed over the winter, even the remaining fraction was of extraordinary value.
Qin Ming said, "Should we bury it for now? If we try to sell it, we won't be able to hide the fact that we've become third Newborns. Those bandits from Golden Rooster Ridge are completely unscrupulous right now; if they find out, it'll spell trouble."
Old Man Liu naturally understood this and nodded in agreement.
Shortly after, they discovered the pale-gold spiritual substance. Both men beamed with pleasant surprise and excitement—there was enough for the two of them.
...
Back home, Qin Ming looked at the pale-gold liquid in the ceramic jar, his emotions churning and his heart stirring.
So much had happened recently, leaving his mind restless. Yet as long as he grew strong enough, none of the troubles he faced would remain an obstacle.
Chapter 49