During shallow night, though the sky was gloomy and dark, things in the surroundings were still visible.
Inside the room, Qin Ming inhaled deeply and exhaled stale air, severing distracting thoughts and brushing away the restless dust in his heart.
The sunstone in the bronze basin had just been retrieved and was at its brightest, coating the tips of Qin Ming's hair and the contours of his face in brilliant light.
Reflected in the fiery glow, even the windows and walls seemed gilded in gold. Qin Ming sat motionless, resembling a scene from the Old World recorded in books: under the lingering rays of the setting sun, inside a temple where roof tiles were stained with pale-gold luster, an idol bathed in the evening glow, serene and tranquil.
Shortly after, he poured a portion of the pale-gold liquid from the porcelain jar into a white bowl. Rich and fragrant, it was originally the essence extracted from honey mead; even before taking a drink, it already left one slightly tipsy.
Itinerant merchants who had traveled far and wide once said that not even a single piece of day gold could purchase a drop of essence from the ant nest.
In the white bowl, the pale-gold spiritual substance seemed to condense the sunlight of the Old World, shimmering brightly and steaming with wisps of mist wrapped in gold.
Qin Ming sealed the porcelain jar and drank the half bowl of spiritual substance in one gulp.
His mouth filled with sweet fragrance, suffused with a faint aroma of wine, leaving an endless aftertaste. It tasted thousands of times better than the bitter gall of a blood snake, making one yearn for another bowl.
In an instant, Qin Ming experienced its marvelous efficacy. His body swiftly grew burning hot with immediate effect; he seemed to transform into a furnace.
He walked into the courtyard. When the freezing wind blew across him, it felt delightfully warm against his skin, and the falling snowflakes felt like a shower of spring rain, making him feel as though he had arrived in early spring.
Qin Ming's entire body glowed. The vitality of his flesh and blood continually surged, repelling the bitter chill of the harsh winter and steaming up voluminous white vapors.
Sweat poured down him, soaking him completely. A layer of silver light emerged across the surface of his body, then seemed to turn into silver clay, after which "golden needles" burst out from inside him one after another.
Then, the golden needles threaded through and swam within the silver clay. This time, even before he had fallen sound asleep, the "golden-thread jade suit" began to form, manifesting while he was wide awake.
"It's different from the past." Qin Ming sensed it carefully. The abnormal omen that had accompanied his first Newborn transformation was now undergoing a qualitative transformation.
Qin Ming was certain: this was transforming toward heavenly light.
He began to move in the courtyard, performing the Newborn method recorded in the silk book. Body movements, respiratory coordination, and the tempering of the mind were all included.
Qin Ming practiced tirelessly, repeating the method without feeling fatigued. Fresh breath surged through him, and rich vitality spread and expanded through his flesh and blood, until even the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were glowing.
He knew that the third Newborn transformation had officially begun; heavenly light was being born within him, bringing wondrous changes.
'The predecessors truly had good reason to call this realm Newborn. Every massive enhancement in physical constitution is just like undergoing a postnatal rebirth from a womb.'
The birth of human heavenly light was by no means caused by external omens like broken-gold ripples on the surface of the body; its source lay in the deepest depths of the body, and the outward signs were merely superficial manifestations.
At this moment, as if a thunderbolt had struck within Qin Ming's heart with a rumbling boom, a dazzling ray of heavenly light shone forth from the sea of his heart, plunging straight into his flesh and blood.
Next, the same happened to all his internal organs, each reviving in turn. Some parts seemed illuminated by the morning glow, resplendent with gold light and carrying a vigorous, primordial aura; other places resembled a river of stars entering a dream, parting the mist as countless stars shone...
Qin Ming glowed from head to toe. Even his pitch-black strands of hair seemed to be burning with blazing light and flames, as an exceptionally dense force of the Newborn covered his entire body.
At this moment, even his eyes beamed with mysterious heavenly light. This was the third Newborn—if thorough enough, it would be like this from head to foot, with heavenly light born everywhere, ubiquitous.
As the heavenly light gradually drew inward, Qin Ming became increasingly tranquil, blending into his surroundings. In every gesture and step, he moved with effortless natural grace, devoid of the slightest trace of artificiality.
The silk book did not dwell much on specific descriptions of heavenly light, striving instead to explain the elevation of life's tier in concise strokes.
'My guess was right. As long as I keep practicing what's recorded in the silk book, heavenly light will naturally be born, strengthening essence, qi, and spirit.'
Qin Ming reached a new realization. Though the silk book had not spoken much of heavenly light, it was destined to appear and be cultivated.
Yet what about heavenly light force? He frowned. That force had to be trained; it required a concrete method.
He could only hope that after falling asleep tonight, the memories from his childhood would surface again, turning to the third page of the silk book to find answers and clear up his doubts.
Afterward, Qin Ming began practicing his combat methods. After a moment of thought, he set aside the long-handled purple-gold hammer and took hold of the woodchopping cleaver.
Cold light glinted in an instant. Qin Ming felt as though light was about to erupt from within his flesh and blood.
'Hmm, could heavenly light force be about to emerge?'
He observed the feeling with care. Alongside blade drills, he executed strikes and kicks—all highly efficient killing forms, some derived directly from blade arts, raising sounds of wind and thunder across the courtyard.
He did not know how much time had passed, but as shallow night neared its end, Qin Ming finally felt a touch of fatigue and halted.
After dinner, Old Man Liu knocked on the courtyard gate.
Although Qin Ming's body was no longer glowing like a furnace, vigorous vitality still flowed within him, with a fresh aura reminiscent of all things bursting into spring.
Old Man Liu was dazed. Just looking at him gave the illusion of watching ice and snow thaw, or plants sprouting fresh buds—a scene brimming with flourishing life.
"You didn't make any preparations at all and just went straight into becoming a third Newborn?" he asked in a low voice.
Qin Ming nodded. After their venture into the mountains, he and Old Man Liu knew each other's circumstances well, so there was no need to hide anything.
Old Man Liu was filled with envy.
"Old master, with spiritual substance in hand, if you don't calm your mind, concentrate your spirit, and adjust your condition, how long do you plan to wait?" Qin Ming asked.
"Do you think anyone can just charge headlong forward like you and become a Newborn?" Old Man Liu said.
Right now, he truly lacked confidence. Even with the essence from the ant nest in hand, he could not guarantee he would become a third Newborn.
Because how far each person could go was truly impossible to predict.
At the very least, the threshold of the first Newborn transformation stopped ninety percent of people.
Predecessors had estimated that even if given spiritual substance, sixty to seventy percent of people would still be shut out, unable to achieve even a single transformation.
Without doubt, completing the first Newborn transformation did not mean one was on a wide, open road; even with spiritual substance in hand, sixty to seventy percent would still be barred at the next steps.
The same held true for the third Newborn. Old Man Liu was already so old—how could he possibly feel confident?
Qin Ming consoled him and helped bolster his confidence, saying, "You need conviction—believe that you can definitely push through the entire Newborn domain."
Old Man Liu sighed, remarking that he had always dropped the ball at critical moments throughout his life. Back then, he could have undergone his Newborn transformation during his golden window, but he was injured in the mountains, fell gravely ill, and was delayed for half a year.
In his youth, he had traveled to Chixia City and was on the verge of apprenticing under a renowned master, only for that elder to head out on urgent business and meet an untimely death on the edge of the absolute dark desert.
After returning, Old Man Liu had grown close to a group of veterans in the mountain patrol team. Once, they intended to join forces to procure a kind of mysterious substance, but the moment they entered the mountains, a famed beast went mad. That anomaly had merely been passing through without deliberately targeting them, yet it nearly wiped them out entirely. His vitality was severely damaged, and surviving at all had been a miracle.
Listening to Old Man Liu ramble on, Qin Ming wondered why the old man really seemed down on his luck.
"This trip into the mountains with you is about the only thing that's gone smoothly. Everything else has been an ordeal, full of twists and turns," Old Man Liu sighed.
"You call that smooth? We fought an ant nest for four days, and winged ants we'd never even seen before had evolved," Qin Ming said, giving him a strange look.
"How are the people around you? They weren't affected, were they?" Naturally, Qin Ming wasn't superstitious and didn't believe in such nonsense at all; he was only asking casually.
"Not too bad, I suppose," Old Man Liu said hesitantly.
"What do you mean, 'not too bad'?" Qin Ming asked suspiciously.
"Like you, I didn't originally belong to this village. I was taken in by my grandfather here when I was six. Maybe I was too young, but I have no memory of my biological parents. I reckon their lives couldn't have been good back then, or they might have been gone long before; otherwise, I wouldn't have been left wandering in the freezing snow. Oddly enough, I had severe frostbite all over, yet it actually healed in the end, and I survived."
Qin Ming didn't know how to console him either, so he said, "Don't overthink it. I think you should head back, calm your mind, and drink the spiritual substance right away. Don't hesitate at all—press forward in one breath and become a third Newborn!"
"That's what I was thinking too—got to be decisive!" Having said that, Old Man Liu fished a porcelain jar from his breast, uncapped it, and gulped it down.
Qin Ming stared blankly. "You came all the way to my place just to drink it? Why didn't you go home to quiet your mind first?"
Old Man Liu said, "I figured things have been going pretty smoothly being around you lately, so I came over to borrow some of your good fortune."
Immediately afterward, he grew excited. The sensation had already set in—his body grew scalding hot as if ablaze, and radiant mist began to steam up inside him.
"This is... this old man really succeeded!" He wanted to laugh heartily, but had to keep his voice down.
Qin Ming said, "Don't be so superstitious. You always had the potential. You just set up obstacles in your own mind, which made you hesitate and fear taking that step forward."
"You can't say that. There are some things you simply have to believe. I feel like all my bad luck had to do with that bloodstained kite I saw when I was young and foolish." Old Man Liu pointed up toward the night sky.
Qin Ming turned solemn at once and asked, "Where was it, exactly?"
"Back then, I was standing by the Fire Spring at the village entrance. The kite seemed to float directly above the center of Twin Trees Village..."
Before the heavenly light could manifest, Old Man Liu wrapped his beast-hide coat tightly around himself and sprinted all the way back to his own home.
In deep night, the "golden-thread jade suit" seemed to manifest tangibly upon Qin Ming.
He wondered: when ancient emperors were buried in pearl tunics and jade shrouds bound with golden thread, yearning for immortality, had they heard of something like this?
Qin Ming fell into a deep sleep. In the latter half of the night, he once again entered that previous state; half-asleep and half-awake, he saw his younger self.
He was still wearing tattered little clothes, and when he looked down, two toes peeked out from holes in his small shoes.
And this time, he finally caught a clear look at the man speaking, though it was merely a fleeting glimpse when the man leaned close while turning the silk book's pages.
Qin Ming realized this must be a blood relative of his; the man shared some resemblance with him.
In his early fifties, with graying hair at the temples, calluses on his hands, and old, patched clothes.
'Is he my grandfather?' Qin Ming guessed.
Amid his anticipation, the third page of the silk book opened, revealing dense small characters and humanoid diagrams to him.
There was truly no mention of heavenly light force!
Following the Newborn method of the second page, it soon moved on to discuss the five senses, instinctual intuition, and the like. He conjectured that the fourth Newborn transformation ought to be related to perception.
'But what about heavenly light force?!' Anxious, Qin Ming nearly fell out of this state, almost jolting awake from his dream.
Fortunately, he held steady and kept reading, committing the third page of the silk book to memory. Or rather, it wasn't so much memorizing as reliving his childhood experience, remembered anew with his third Newborn transformation.
Then, he made a new discovery: at the very bottom corner of the page, there was a line of notes mentioning heavenly light force!
Qin Ming read it with a deadpan expression. Why did it feel like it was scolding him?
The gist of the first half of the note was: heavenly light has already been born, yet you still can't cultivate your own heavenly light force?
Afterward, it mentioned what to do next in a single word: Fuse!
The second half was pure mockery, stating that practicing the method on the silk book required a master to usher one through the door; if someone who had already been taught hand-in-hand was still this dense, they might as well give up on the silk book.
"Scold all you want. I cultivated it on my own; no one ever guided me through the door." Qin Ming awoke.
The heavy gloom of the night had receded, and a new day had arrived. Having eaten breakfast, he immediately went into the courtyard to practice the Newborn method from the silk book.
"Seek within yourself!" That was a key phrase he had seen on the third page of the silk book.
As he performed the Newborn method from the silk book, the heavenly light within him grew restless again, just as it had yesterday. At last, feeling as though it would not flow smoothly without bursting forth, a mysterious ripple appeared at his fingertips and across his skin, vibrating outward as heavenly light force!
With a swish, the moment his fingertips touched the hilt, the woodchopping cleaver adhered right into his hand.
Then he tested it slightly: exerting a touch of force with his fingers, the heavenly light force burst forth, and a sizable chunk chipped out of the cleaver.
"Remarkable. I've finally cultivated my own heavenly light force." He sensed it attentively and tested it repeatedly, then naturally recalled that blade manual, which also recorded heavenly light force.
During the third Newborn transformation, many struggled to cultivate even a single heavenly light force. Qin Ming felt his ceiling would not stop at just one, especially with the three-colored flower in hand.
Moreover, the silk book's annotation mentioned the word "Fuse," clearly reminding later practitioners to cultivate multiple heavenly light forces.
Qin Ming heard commotion at the village entrance. The people from Golden Rooster Ridge had indeed arrived, seeking to recruit Newborns into their ranks.
"Everything is ready—all that's missing is a fine blade!" Qin Ming took out that piece of mutton-fat jade iron. This mysterious mineral required no thousands of hammerings and temperings; simply melting and casting it into a weapon would suffice. That made things far simpler and could be finished in no time.
Chapter 50