Waves stirred in Qin Ming's heart. Could the routine he had once been told was impossible to master have now harmonized and linked together?
He had returned from the wilderness with what felt like a flame burning inside him, taking the chill out of the deep winter. The surge of strength throughout his body was no illusion; with a flick of his toe, he kicked a stone roller in the courtyard clean off the ground.
He sprang into the air, hanging aloft with a profound sense of lightness, and swept a handful of snow from the eaves.
As he exhaled, a blast of white air shot forth like a spear trailing dense fog, letting out a sharp, resonant crack against the air.
Breathing from his abdomen, Qin Ming moved with violent vigor. His flickering silhouette stirred the snow from the ground into midair, sending goose-feather flakes swirling down over the courtyard once again.
Every bone followed his slightest motion. With a horizontal sweep of his arm, the fluttering snowflakes before him shattered.
The vitality in his flesh and blood surged dramatically. His entire frame burned hot, and silver patterns interwove through his pores, drawing out sheets of sweat as though purging his body.
A deep comfort washed over him, and a faint silver glow enveloped his entire person.
Even during the transformation into a Newborn, such a phenomenon was exceedingly rare.
He trained for a long time, expending immense energy, and only stopped once true fatigue set in.
Becoming a Newborn was a process. Qin Ming believed he was undergoing that change, and that in the coming days, his wish would be fulfilled.
Instead of returning inside, he sat quietly in the courtyard, letting the stirred-up snowflakes drift onto his body. Undaunted by the bitter chill, he felt warm and snug throughout.
This was entirely different from the past, when he had just begun recovering from his illness and had shivered all over even wrapped in thick cotton quilts on the heated brick bed.
Closing his eyes, Qin Ming visualized his inner self, repeating those highly difficult movements in his mind to hone his conscious focus.
The silver ripples that had just receded surfaced once more. Guided by his thoughts, his breathing shifted continually, growing remarkably intricate and defying any simple rhythm.
Thought sprang from spirit; breath moved with intent. As a result, the flowing light across his skin brightened slightly.
The courtyard fell silent, and Qin Ming was blanketed in snow.
After a long time, he ceased all thought, emptying his mind completely.
Only when the silver light on his body vanished entirely did he slowly open his eyes. Feeling the changes within himself, he was certain that a vigorous, newborn power was gestating inside him.
Qin Ming calmly lifted a millstone weighing over two hundred jin from the courtyard, then gently set it back down.
*Achieving Newborn will most likely finish within two days,* he judged with quiet confidence.
Right on cue, hunger hit him—and it was ravenous.
Qin Ming boiled a pot of mushroom soup. He treated the walnuts, almonds, and chestnuts as his main meal, while using dried jujubes and hawthorn berries as side dishes, feasting with utter satisfaction.
Once he had rested enough, he began another round of training, eager to accelerate his Newborn progress.
Qin Ming moved like a snapping bow and struck like thunder, stirring up the snow throughout the courtyard as the vitality of his flesh and blood grew ever stronger.
And so it went: when exhausted, he took short naps; when hungry, he feasted on dried fruit and nuts; and once his energy was restored, he resumed training. From shallow night to deep night, vibrant life surged through him without pause.
Before going to sleep, he washed with icy water, feeling no cold at all. His slender, lean frame was taut with smooth, well-defined muscle, and water droplets clung to his wet black hair. Beneath the fiery glow of the sunstone, his skin shone with a lustrous sheen that radiated strength.
He slept dreamlessly through the night, sinking into the deepest rest. Because his transformation was accelerating, his body remained continually filled with fresh vigor.
The next day, Qin Ming's appetite swelled even further, expanding to seven meals.
The primary reason was the enormous expenditure demanded by this postnatal womb-like metamorphosis.
Even the tastiest food grew tiresome after meal upon meal, especially when it was all dry rations that had to be washed down with hot water.
"What a pity there aren't many mushrooms left. I can't even brew some fresh soup," Qin Ming murmured regretfully.
What made him frown was that his food reserves were running low. At this rate, they would only last one more day.
"Am I a bottomless pit? More than half a hide bag of dried goods only lasts three days," Qin Ming muttered to himself.
The routine aiding his Newborn transformation could not stop. In stillness, he stood like a mountain; in motion, he struck like an eagle soaring through the sky. The silver light emanating from his pores grew steadily brighter.
He could truly feel his physical constitution strengthening—not overnight, but in steady, progressive increments.
Qin Ming walked to the side of the courtyard and attempted to lift both the upper and lower millstones together. With a sudden burst of power, he hoisted them cleanly off the ground.
Just then, Lu Ze pushed open the courtyard gate and froze, dumbfounded.
"Little Qin, you're..." Shock written across his face, Lu Ze stared at the sight. Just yesterday he had felt pity for Qin Ming, thinking the youth would miss his golden window to achieve Newborn, yet here he was today, witnessing this.
In the courtyard just beyond the wall, Liang Wanqing heard the commotion and came over as well. When she realized what had happened, she was stunned.
"Just like Erbingzi from the neighboring village—lifting over four hundred jin right upon becoming a Newborn!" Lu Ze was sincerely thrilled for Qin Ming.
"Achieving Newborn within the golden window... Little Qin really did it," Liang Wanqing murmured, adding that in all these years, he was the very first in Twin Trees Village to pull it off.
"Uncle, you're amazing!" Wenrui came running over too, his big eyes shining as he looked up at Qin Ming, his small face full of admiration.
"I feel like the Newborn transformation is still underway," Qin Ming said.
He had already realized that it would take longer than his earlier estimate, and was far from over.
Looking astonished, Liang Wanqing said, "In our region, even if someone achieves Newborn during the golden window, lifting a five-hundred-jin cauldron is the absolute limit once things stabilize. Little Qin, you aren't about to reach that, are you?"
"They say that in that brightly lit city far away, there are youths who can hoist a six-hundred-jin cauldron," Lu Ze said, eager to see what height Qin Ming would reach once his transformation concluded.
Suddenly, a clamor arose from the street.
Liang Wanqing stepped out to look and quickly returned. "Granny Zhou is fading fast."
Qin Ming had seen her on the road just yesterday. Recalling her frail frame and bloodless face, he remembered that she had indeed looked very unwell.
"What happened?" Lu Ze asked.
Liang Wanqing sighed. "They say she's eaten too little lately, and with her health already poor, her body finally gave out."
Qin Ming, Lu Ze, and the others hurried into the street to learn the details.
Granny Zhou's son had gone out a while ago to scavenge, but had brought back no food and suffered severe injuries, breaking his right arm.
Food was scarce for every household this winter. With the family's pillar incapacitated, Granny Zhou had been plagued by worry. Every day, she had quietly set aside her share of food, taking only a tiny morsel to stave off starvation.
A crowd had already gathered in the Zhou family courtyard. When Qin Ming and Lu Ze entered the house, they saw Granny Zhou lying motionless, her face sallow and her breathing gone.
Two children were in tears, kneeling beside her and crying out loudly for their grandmother.
Before passing, Granny Zhou had told them where food was hidden—some dried earth potatoes and rock-hard steamed buns tucked away in a bamboo basket beneath the snow.
As for the nuts Qin Ming had given her, she had not touched a single one.
Only today did the family realize that she had pinched and saved, sparing as much of her rations as possible. She feared that her severely injured son, Zhou Changyu, would never be able to bring back food again, and dreaded that her grandson and granddaughter would starve. She had chosen to eat less, or nothing at all.
Learning the truth broke Zhou Changyu's heart. Tears streamed down the face of the nearly thirty-year-old man as he slapped himself hard across the mouth, cursing his own uselessness and lack of filial piety for failing to notice sooner.
His wife knelt beside him, weeping uncontrollably.
Many in the courtyard sighed. In a year like this, the entire region had suffered disaster, leaving everyone short on food and clothing, enduring miserable hardship.
A heavy knot tightened in Qin Ming's chest. When he had seen the pale Granny Zhou two days earlier, she had shakily produced a few pieces of dried earth potato to press into his hands.
Now it was obvious that those had been the daily rations she had secretly hoarded.
Such a good elder, gone just like that. Qin Ming stood in silence for a long time.
After shallow night ended and the crowd gradually dispersed, Qin Ming returned. Carrying a cloth bag holding five jin of nuts, he handed it to Zhou Changyu, urging him to take care of himself in his grief.
"Brother Qin!" Zhou Changyu's eyes were red, and he moved to refuse, knowing how difficult it was to find food in the wilderness right now.
Qin Ming pressed it into his hands, told him to keep it, and turned to leave.
It was very late, yet the weeping from the Zhou home still drifted into the air.
Qin Ming sat in his pitch-black courtyard. Others had kin to weep for them; what about him? The indistinct faces in his memory were growing hazier by the day. He feared that one day he would forget them completely, leaving behind not a trace of recollection.
In this frigid winter night, he gazed up at the empty sky, lost in thought for a long time, overcome by an indescribable loneliness.
In his mind lay a hazy patch of lantern light and faint silhouettes. He longed to draw closer and see clearly, but he could never reach those long-faded memories of childhood.
Suddenly, an unsettling aura pressed down upon him, heavy and stifling, causing Qin Ming's body to snap taut. In the pitch-black sky where one could not see one's own fingers, two golden lanterns appeared—mysterious and terrifying!
Then, fierce winds swept through the quiet winter night. The snow on the ground churned violently upward, and the roofs rattled so hard they seemed on the verge of being ripped away.
Across the abyss-black sky, that pair of golden lanterns swept overhead, trailing gale-force winds and an overpowering oppression that left people nearly suffocating!
Qin Ming's pupils shrank. He guessed it was a higher-order being, unfathomably massive, beating wings that blotted out the sky like dark clouds as it passed over Twin Trees Village.
The golden lanterns were its eyes. As it receded into the distance, the sudden gale quickly weakened and dissipated.
The village stirred into a commotion as many stepped outside, murmuring in discussion.
The older villagers had experienced similar events before. Though their expressions were solemn, they told the younger generation not to panic; it had likely just been a higher-order being passing through on its way elsewhere.
Returning from the street, Qin Ming sat in the courtyard for a long time, staring out into the boundless curtain of night.
Darkness blanketed heaven and earth, severing the paths to distant lands and cloaking the world in ever-deepening mystery. Waves stirred in his heart; he yearned to venture out and see the vast lands for himself.
In the end, he rose with resolve and began practicing the sets of specific movements he remembered most clearly from his childhood.
Even with dreams in his heart, he needed the strength to back them up.
Gradually, a burgeoning newborn power welled within his body, and a faint mist of light rippled over his skin.
After a long while, an unprecedented hunger gripped him. The Newborn transformation had not ceased; if anything, it seemed to grow fiercer.
Qin Ming washed down a heap of dried goods with hot water, yet his belly remained unsatisfied.
When images of the mutated squirrel and the black goat belonging to Yang Yongqing at the village entrance floated into his mind, he could not help swallowing his saliva.
He craved meat intensely; merely thinking of it seemed to fill his nose with its rich aroma. He realized this was his body sending a signal, demanding nourishment.
Only after Qin Ming wolfed down another pile of nuts did that abnormal craving slowly recede.
"It seems once shallow night arrives, I'll have to head into the mountains again." He needed to satisfy his body's call to ensure the Newborn transformation went off without a hitch.
In truth, after giving five jin of dried goods to the Zhou family, his own supplies were no longer sufficient anyway.
After a dreamless night, Qin Ming woke early. Though his stomach was ravenous, his spirits were exceptionally vibrant. He felt that with how far his Newborn transformation had progressed, he should easily be able to hoist a cauldron weighing over five hundred jin.
*Most importantly, the transformation is still going.* Even he felt immense anticipation for what height he would ultimately reach.
He began loosening his joints and muscles.
Next, Qin Ming opened his dragon spine. First bending forward at the waist, he snapped back violently, his entire spine arching backward into an exaggerated crescent. His vertebrae popped rhythmically all the way up as his flesh and blood shook with intense vibration.
Starting from the tailbone, yang energy welled forth, climbing along the dragon spine until it reached his head.
Qin Ming's entire body tingled with numbness, as though an electric current were coursing through him. His pores opened wide, and warmth flooded him from head to toe, enveloped in yang energy.
At the same time, a layer of silver light rippled across his skin, clearer than ever before.
Without question, this had significantly hastened the Newborn process!
Before shallow night had fully set in, Qin Ming was already outside the village. The dried fruits and nuts could no longer meet his needs, leaving his appetite seemingly bottomless.
At the thought of wild bharal, night deer, and black-feathered pheasants suspended over a campfire, sizzling and dripping fat onto the charcoal, his mouth watered uncontrollably. With wind beneath his feet, he could hardly wait to plunge into the dense wild forest.
Chapter 6