Qin Ming stepped into the dense woods beside the road, dug a deep hole with his mutton-fat jade iron saber, and buried the palm-sized scrap of cloth inside.
"Afraid of stirring up trouble?" Old Man Liu asked.
Qin Ming nodded, tossing a hunted wild hare into the pit as well.
The young man into which the black mist had formed was sinister and bone-chillingly cold, leaving him with a deeply unsettling impression. Faced with the only item the man had carried on his person, it was best to proceed with caution.
The two of them enjoyed a steaming-hot breakfast in Silver Vine Town, strolled about the streets for another hour, and only then made their way toward the household they had arranged to visit.
The Wu family residence was not small, yet it clearly showed signs of ruin. The red lacquer on the main gate was peeling, and the bronze door knockers had lost their luster.
"Old Wu, open up!" Old Man Liu clattered the door rings.
"Coming." An elderly man appeared and invited the two inside.
The courtyard was vast, but its former grandeur was gone. Some of the bluestone paving had cracked, a large flower bed had long since been converted into a vegetable patch, and withered gourd vines clung all over the rockery.
The Wu family's ancestors had been wealthy, but their fortunes had waned. There were four successive courtyards here, yet the buildings had fallen into disrepair over the years, appearing antiquated and even desolate.
If not for this, they likely would never have agreed to show their ancestral secret manual to outsiders.
Old Wu had undergone Newborn transformation only once. Long stripped of any highborn pretensions, he seemed little different from an ordinary old man.
The Wu family had no servants; a youth of the household brought out coarse tea.
"Old Wu, let's not beat around the bush. You know why we're here. Name your price," Old Man Liu cut straight to the chase, not wanting to waste time.
"To tell the truth, my feelings are complicated. In those days, our Wu family was so prominent. Four generations ago, we even had a formidable expert of the fifth Newborn who looked down across this entire region, not to speak of our earlier ancestors. Now, does this make me... an unworthy son selling his father's fields? Sigh, when I dwell on it, guilt gnaws at my heart," Old Wu sighed.
He glanced at the spacious reception hall. Its beams and pillars had once been carved and painted; now the corner of the table was broken, and the gold and silver thread inlays on the thick pillars were gone.
Old Man Liu took a sip of tea and said, "Old Wu, a man's got to take a broader view. Which family name hasn't had its glorious days? Looking back, my Liu family was imperial royalty, and have I, an imperial scion, ever bragged about it?"
Old Wu said, "What era's old rubbish are you digging up? Besides, is it even the same 'Liu'? Sigh, I haven't even been able to sleep peacefully these past few days."
"Uncle Wu, we're only borrowing it to read. We guarantee we won't share it with anyone else." Qin Ming was straightforward. He took out five pieces of day gold and set them on the damaged tabletop.
This was already a display of great sincerity, for in this remote place, a single piece of day gold could provide food and warmth for a family of three for an entire year.
"Not enough," Old Wu shook his head.
Old Man Liu said, "Old Wu, don't push it too far. We're only borrowing it to read here for a single day, and we've promised not to share it. Do you really take it for some divine scripture?"
Old Wu sighed, "In my youth, when I ascended Bright Moon Tower in Chixia City, I spent two pieces of day gold in a single night."
Old Man Liu laughed at once. "Still bringing up the good old days? Watch out, or your wife will overhear!"
Qin Ming finally understood why the Wu family had declined so rapidly. In his youth, Old Wu had apparently been quite the spendthrift, parting with money without a second thought.
Without a word, he placed two more pieces of day gold on the table.
Old Man Liu sighed, "Old Wu, young Qin and I recently risked life and limb to kill some mutated creatures and scavenged a few damaged weapons from the Grand Rift Valley. All our proceeds from selling them are right here. Don't fleece us too hard."
Old Wu remained silent, calmly sipping his tea.
Only when Qin Ming raised the amount to fifteen pieces of day gold did Old Wu sigh: "An unfilial descendant, worn down by life, forced to show the secret manual to outsiders."
From inside his robes he produced an animal-hide book that showed great age. Setting it on the table, he walked out with a melancholy, weary air.
Qin Ming took the animal-hide book in hand with utmost focus, immersing his mind in it. This was a sensitive and precarious period, and he wanted to raise his strength as quickly as possible.
Old Wu had not deceived them; this ancestral secret manual was indeed the culmination of the Wu family predecessors' lifeblood, imbued with a powerful emotional resonance.
Qin Ming studied it earnestly. The sections regarding Newborn methods could not compare with the silk book and served only as a modest reference.
Much later, he handed the animal-hide book to Old Man Liu, then closed his eyes to digest what he had gained.
Old Man Liu was not modest either. Taking it, he read through page by page, comparing and corroborating it against what he had learned from the old mountain patroller.
Suddenly, sensing something, he looked up across the table and was instantly shaken.
Qin Ming sat there with his eyes closed, strands of heavenly light emerging at his fingertips, sharp and menacing.
Old Man Liu considered himself a quick learner endowed with remarkable talent, yet he nearly lost his composure. What was he seeing? Qin Ming had barely touched the book, and already he had cultivated the heavenly light force recorded within it!
"Take your time reading, old sir. Since we paid for it anyway, make the most of it. I'm heading home to comprehend it further." Qin Ming stood up.
Old Man Liu was entirely dazed. Comparison truly was the thief of joy. Back in the day, he had nearly been accepted as an apprentice in Chixia City, so how could his talent suddenly seem so inadequate?
"Young man, you're leaving already?" Old Wu asked in surprise from the courtyard, not expecting Qin Ming to emerge so quickly to bid him farewell.
Qin Ming nodded. "Yes. The book's contents are obscure and difficult, and its path isn't suitable for me."
Old Wu's dejected expression brightened considerably. A smile appeared as he walked over and patted Qin Ming on the shoulder. "That's quite normal. The secret manual left by my ancestors is extraordinarily profound. Never mind reading it for such a short while—I've studied it for half my life and still haven't fully grasped it."
"Indeed, a remarkable book!" Qin Ming nodded and stepped out through the Wu family's gate.
*Clatter!*
A noise came from the hall. Old Wu hurried inside to find Old Man Liu in such a state of disbelief that he had accidentally knocked his teacup to the floor.
When Qin Ming returned to the village, he happened to see Yang Yongqing, who lived at the village entrance, gently patting his tall black goat and murmuring, "Yonghei, in four more days we're heading to Golden Rooster Ridge..."
Qin Ming returned to his courtyard and began practicing the brand-new heavenly light force.
Awn force—as recorded in the animal-hide manual, once mastered, it could easily shatter armor with bare hands, indestructible and unstoppable. It was a heavenly light force of exceptional penetrative power.
Without question, it shared significant commonalities with nail force. Practicing both together would likely allow them to complement each other and fuse efficiently.
The Wu family ancestor had been known in this region as peerless with spear and bow, excelling at archery and wielding a great spear, all grounded in the mastery of awn force. Once heavenly light force could be projected outward, the arrows he shot and the thrusts of his great spear were terrifying beyond measure.
Furthermore, notes and shared experiences in the animal-hide book expanded Qin Ming's horizons, such as mentions of the medicinal efficacy of three-colored flowers.
According to the book, three-colored flowers produced in spirit mountains were top-grade; their medicinal properties were gentle, capable of nourishing and augmenting the heavenly light within the human body to enhance heavenly light force.
In the end, the foundation of everything remained heavenly light. Under normal circumstances, the heavenly light born within the human body was calm and mild, capable of nourishing the self. Yet once projected outward and applied through different methods of exertion, its fierce and violent side was drawn out.
The animal-hide book warned that when fusing different kinds of heavenly light forces, one had to be prudent and exceedingly cautious. If they were incompatible, it could trigger a catastrophic explosion of heavenly light within the body, leading to a gruesome end.
Awn force was also a heavenly light force fused from three ordinary force techniques; the Wu ancestor had dared not attempt to combine any more than that.
Qin Ming fell into thought. He had never encountered such a problem; he felt his own heavenly light force possessed extraordinary inclusiveness.
The book mentioned that where heavenly light pierced the night curtain, the three-colored flowers nourished by the ground where it fell were supreme-grade, far more precious than even the top-grade ones from spirit mountains.
However, because such three-colored flowers contained external heavenly light, their medicinal potency was excessively fierce and highly corrosive. The human body could not withstand it, requiring items rich in vitality to be consumed alongside it to ensure safety.
Of course, an exceptional few with extraordinary constitutions were exceptions; they might withstand the erosion of a supreme-grade three-colored flower's violent medicinal properties without fear.
Qin Ming surmised that the so-called corrosion likely related to the spiritual essence left in the three-colored flower by the heavenly light that had pierced the night curtain.
Back in the underground karst cave, Huang Jingde had been all smiles, seemingly answering every question, yet he had omitted all this—habitually holding back part of the truth after all.
Qin Ming pondered. His body had already resisted the corrosion of heavenly light without dying, so he ought to be able to endure the medicinal properties of a supreme-grade three-colored flower without needing to search for vitality-rich items.
...
In the mountains, near the Grand Rift Valley, two bandit chiefs from Golden Rooster Ridge guarded the area in person with their men.
"He's not targeting able-bodied young people again, is he? We've warned him several times. Consecutive deaths will lead to disaster. If it catches the attention of Chixia City's higher-ups, there'll be huge trouble."
"Is he truly someone beyond the mundane world? He's sinister and frigid, not at all like those godlike, transcendent figures."
"If he doesn't manifest on his own initiative, neither you nor I can even see him. That is definitely the method of someone beyond the mundane world. But judging by his methods, he probably doesn't walk an orthodox path."
The two bandit chiefs discussed in secret, unaware that the young man formed of black mist was already dead.
Earlier, that youth had arrived bearing a token from the Golden Bandits, requesting the Golden Rooster Ridge chiefs' aid in guarding this place and keeping everyone away.
"He already guaranteed he would only target the elderly so it would look like natural deaths and avoid causing a fuss. But deep night ended long ago. Why hasn't he returned?"
"Let's wait and see a bit longer."
"Back then, an old beast wept before the graves in the mountains, each bow bringing a strange vision as it mutated rapidly and advanced in rank one after another, creating a massive stir. Afterward, Chixia City's higher-ups suppressed all subsequent news of the matter. Now this person beyond the mundane world is meddling around the same spot. Do you think he's trying to imitate that old beast? If so and word leaks out, dying a hundred times wouldn't be enough for you and me."
"He's someone beyond the mundane world. Surely he wouldn't walk the path of a mutated beast?"
The two bandit chiefs wore solemn expressions, thoroughly reluctant to deal with that eerie, sinister youth.
"Could it be that some powerful figure beyond the mundane world wants to use him to probe Black-White Mountain?"
"Hardly. I think he's about to leave soon. From his hurried demeanor, he was probably just passing through and handling a few things along the way."
...
Qin Ming sat in quiet contemplation. He had cultivated silk-reeling force, intercepting force, nail force, and awn force. Together with his own peculiar heavenly light force, he felt ready to consume the three-colored flower and thoroughly fuse them all. His strength was bound to see a marked improvement!
"This scene feels so familiar..." He stared at the three-colored flower in the jade box, somewhat entranced.
The layered petals—resembling willow leaves and yet evoking sabers and swords—steamed with copious colored mist. A spiritual luminescence flowed, washing over him.
Ever since his third Newborn transformation, Qin Ming had not only recalled certain childhood events, but other vague and fragmented memories had begun surfacing in his mind as well.
"Abandoned," he murmured, uttering the word as he dipped his finger in tea and traced it upon the table.
At this moment, gazing at the three-colored flower, it felt as though he were witnessing a similar scene from his past.
"Cui Chonghe." Next, he wrote those three characters on the tabletop. Staring intently at them, he said, "'Interacting qi generates harmony'—a line from texts of those beyond the mundane world that scattered into the mortal realm. With the surname Cui... Cui Chonghe, is that my true name? And yet right now, I loathe those people beyond the mundane world."
Chapter 54