Under the cover of night, an enormous crimson bird circled down to land, whipping up gusts of astral wind that blasted away great drifts of snow from the ground.
"Many thanks for the escort, Senior Red Peng!" After leaping to the ground, Cui Hong treated the giant bird—which glowed ruby red all over—with great courtesy, bowing to it as an elder.
The young man clad in brocade and fine robes was named Cui Chongyi. He also bowed, watching the red peng depart into the distance.
"Uncle Hong, is this where Chonghe stays? It is far too desolate. The Fire Spring in that town ahead is of very low grade, hardly capable of producing any spiritual items. Why didn't they arrange a better place for him?"
"Young Master, please do not call me Uncle Hong; I cannot bear such an honor," Cui Hong hurriedly stopped him. He appeared to be in his thirties, his arms unusually long from practicing the Tongtian Art.
His face was chiseled sharp as a blade, and his gaze was piercingly keen. He first scanned the surroundings warily before letting out a sigh. "I am merely following orders."
Cui Chongyi nodded upon hearing this, realizing it was inappropriate to press the matter further.
Under twenty years of age, he had a teardrop mole beneath his left eye, yet he did not seem like a sentimental person. Rather, he was quite talkative. "Uncle Hong, when we are away from home, what is the point of minding so many formalities? I am going to temper myself outside for a while, and I will need you to look after me going forward. Let us not stand on ceremony."
Cui Hong did not insist otherwise, leading him toward Silver Vine Town.
"Why is no one living in this house?" Standing at the entrance of the town, Cui Hong's expression changed abruptly. A sizable courtyard house was completely deserted.
He inquired with the nearby residents and finally breathed a sigh of relief. The family had not left Silver Vine Town; they had simply relocated to a larger house in the town center.
The two followed directions and finally found their way there.
"Suspicious target spotted." In Silver Vine Town, a speech sparrow flapped its wings and flew off.
Shortly after, Cui Hong's furious roar rang out from the grand residence in the town center: "I gave you a considerable sum of day gold back then, and this is how you handle things? If so, don't expect to live any longer!"
Cui Chongyi also rose abruptly to his feet and shattered a tea table with a single slap of his palm, his face dark with rage.
"It wasn't my fault! When he woke up back then, he suddenly clutched his head, growled like a madman, and ran out on his own! I didn't dare... get close! By the time I went looking for him, he was already gone," a man in his early forties replied, his face pale as paper.
Cui Hong's gaze turned terrifying, like two golden lanterns blazing to life and casting beams of near-tangible light. A powerful, long arm shot out, hoisting the man up by the collar in an instant.
Blood completely drained from the middle-aged man's face, and he stammered out in a panic, "He should be fine! I... I saw him on the street just a few days ago! He looked full of vigor!"
"Hm?" This took both Cui Hong and Cui Chongyi by surprise. Their hearts had already sunk, assuming the worst had happened, never expecting another turn of events.
The middle-aged man hurried to add, "I saw with my own eyes that he and a scruffy old man went to visit the Wu family! He looked high-spirited—his illness must be completely cured!"
"What is this Wu family's background?" Cui Chongyi asked.
"Their ancestors were formidable, hailed as peerless in spear and archery, undefeated across our entire region in their prime. They have fallen into decline now, though. I'd guess the lad might have gone to the Wu family to learn a newborn art."
Cui Hong released his grip, his expression shifting repeatedly. He muttered to himself, "Did he undergo newborn rebirth in this remote place? I... sigh!"
His brow was tightly furrowed. The authoritative middle-aged man of the Cui Clan had instructed that Cui Chonghe be allowed to live out his life here as an ordinary person.
"Let's find Chonghe first," Cui Chongyi said.
Cui Hong paid a visit to the Wu family to inquire about the situation.
Cui Chongyi did not go inside. He stood on the street of Silver Vine Town, wanting to get a feel for the local customs and atmosphere of this remote frontier.
He did not wander far, stepping into a shop less than a hundred meters from the Wu family's main gate to inquire about the prices of local specialties.
"Are birds in this backwater so bold? It nearly crashed into me." Cui Chongyi tilted his head quickly as a small black bird grazed past the crown of his head.
Not far away, atop a tall locust tree, a white owl narrowed its eyes as it peered down, muttering to itself, "Not only does he carry the accent of those aristocratic mega-cities, but judging by his reflexes, his strength might also fit the bill quite well. Sorry, young man. Even if I grab the wrong person, it's not my fault. I will use you to help quell the fury first, to prove that I am giving my all."
***
Outside Twin Trees Village, Old Man Liu showed little reluctance to part. At his ripe age, he had lived through everything; he had simply come to see Qin Ming off.
"If you can't make it out there, come back early to keep me company in my old age."
"You really don't know how to speak pleasant words, old man. I haven't even begun my journey yet—couldn't you say something nice?" Qin Ming replied, glancing back at Twin Trees Village. Under the night sky, illuminated by the Fire Spring, the twin black and white trees looked quite extraordinary.
Old Man Liu said, "Don't underestimate Black-White Mountain. Back then, this was a perilous death ground that weighed so heavily on every faction they could hardly breathe. Sooner or later, tempests will stir here once again!"
Looking toward the great mountain, Qin Ming did feel some reluctance to leave after all; he had lived here for two years, after all.
"I am off. Do you have any parting words of wisdom?"
Old Man Liu said, "In the end, there are still more good people in this world, but you must always remain on guard. Still, you strike me as quite mature for your age, so I don't need to lecture you on that. You can watch out for the folk in the cities yourself. I will just tell you about two types of people commonly seen outside the cities whom you must be wary of."
Qin Ming had only mentioned it casually, not expecting the old man to actually have advice to give.
"First are elderly traveling merchants. No matter their apparent strength, never underestimate them. To dare to roam the lands shrouded in eternal night, one cannot travel far and wide for decades on end without special skills. With some of those itinerant peddlers, you have no idea what their true identities are—whether they are conducting business or searching for something."
Qin Ming nodded solemnly at this, taking the lesson to heart. Today, he was setting off with a traveling merchant's caravan.
"There are mountain patrollers in every region. Any patroller who has safely lived past a hundred and still frequently travels in and out of the pitch-black mountains is not someone to provoke lightly, because you never know what kind of entity they truly are."
Qin Ming nodded seriously and bade farewell to Old Man Liu.
"The caravan led by that merchant you picked for me departs from Emei Town. When I pass by, should I pop into the mountains and wipe out that nest of monkeys for you, venting the grievance you suffered in your youth?" Qin Ming brought up the sore spot deliberately.
"Get lost already!"
"Haha..." Amid his hearty laughter, Qin Ming walked away, disappearing into the vast expanse of snow.
***
In Emei Town, Qin Ming joined the traveling merchant's caravan and unexpectedly discovered an acquaintance. When he had visited the Wu family to read the secret manuals, this very youth had served tea to him and Old Man Liu.
"You're... Qin Ming?" Wu Zheng was surprised, then beamed with joy, feeling that traveling with someone familiar was a piece of good fortune.
"You're heading to Chixia City too?" Qin Ming asked him.
The seventeen-year-old youth Wu Zheng nodded. "Yeah, I want to see the world. Anyone of achievement in my Wu family has gone to Chixia City to broaden their horizons."
Qin Ming sorely wanted to point out that Old Wu had also gone there, where dazzling temptations had clouded his eyes; he had dared to squander two pieces of day gold in a single night, and after staying for a while, had brought the Wu family to complete ruin.
"Hold fast to your original intent and remember what you are going there for."
"I am going to become the new generation's master of spear and archery!" At seventeen, the youth had already undergone newborn rebirth. Harboring dreams and full of yearning for the future, he wanted to strive in distant lands.
The traveling merchant leading the caravan was in his early thirties, not the elderly sort Old Man Liu had mentioned, which put Qin Ming's mind somewhat at ease.
Furthermore, this merchant named Xu Sheng enjoyed quite a good reputation locally. He frequently traveled between Chixia City and this remote region; aside from transporting goods for trade, he also guided caravans for a fee, escorting people back and forth between the two territories.
"Listen to me, all of you. Ahead lies a desert stretching across the earth, shrouded in absolute darkness without a single speck of light. Once trapped within, you are doomed to die, never to emerge again. None of you are permitted to wander off. You must follow me closely, staying right along the road at the base of the mountains. Remember this well: do not utter reckless words along the desert's edge, or trouble will easily find you!"
On the second day after departure, Xu Sheng was exceedingly serious, giving countless warnings as they approached the desert.
There were no Fire Springs in the desert, only dead silence. Even renowned experts trapped inside would face almost certain death; unable to see a thing, they would quickly become entirely lost.
At this moment, they were traversing an open plain. Between heaven and earth, nothing remained except night and white snow. Because they were nearing the desert, vegetation was already hard to find.
Though it was still shallow night, this plain already resembled deep night, as if a colossal abyss ahead were swallowing everything.
"What is in the desert that we can't even speak freely?" someone asked.
Xu Sheng said, "Even high-order mutant birds dare not fly across the desert, or they will perish. Don't you understand its danger level yet? What's more, any Newborn who shows disrespect to the desert will surely meet with catastrophe. This is no joke—the deserts across various regions are all like this."
"What exactly is going on with it?" someone pressed on, unwilling to let it drop.
"You still want to probe into this? There are dozens of explanations, and any one of them is enough to silence your curiosity. According to certain esoteric sects, deserts are tied to the vital rituals of certain deities. If you dare act insolently nearby, you will naturally receive a slight punishment."
Instantly, the caravan fell dead silent. If a "slight punishment" cost a person their life, what would a severe punishment look like?
"Aren't deities just certain powerful creatures?"
"To you, they are gods! Shut your mouth right now, or get the hell out of my caravan!"
***
Meanwhile, Cui Hong was sitting in a mountain forest, confronting a pure-white old elephant and listening to its endless babble.
Yesterday, Cui Chongyi had been snatched away by a large bird, sending Cui Hong into a frantic panic. Chasing frantically all the way deep into the mountains, he finally picked up the trail and learned that Cui Chongyi had been taken by a purple lightning beast of considerable background, which had mistaken him for a suspect. For the moment, the young man's life was not in danger.
Cui Hong had tracked them here, only to encounter an unfathomable old elephant. The beast sat cross-legged in the forest with the bearing of an enlightened master, and most importantly, it possessed four snow-white tusks.
Cui Hong had felt a headache coming on, thoroughly intimidated.
Only when the old elephant sitting cross-legged in the woods grew careless and accidentally knocked off a massive tusk did Cui Hong realize two of them were fakes, hastily glued on.
He flew into a rage. Having wasted so much time for nothing, he had genuinely believed he was dealing with an offspring of the six-tusked white elephant.
Boom!
A fierce battle erupted in the mountain forest.
***
On the third day of the journey, Qin Ming witnessed the darkness of the desert. An ordinary Newborn venturing into it would indeed become lost instantly; it was so dark one could not see one's own fingers held before one's face.
Even with his sharp ears, keen vision, and extraordinary perception, looking at it gave him chills.
Fortunately, they hugged the great mountains along the desert's edge, using the mountain terrain as a landmark. As long as they did not wander off, they could pass smoothly.
As for traversing directly through the mountains, that was far too arduous. It was filled with the territories of diverse mutant beasts, and the peaks were extraordinarily towering and rugged, treacherous to navigate.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a massive crash erupted ahead. From the mountains flanking the road came an immense commotion as enormous boulders tumbled down, nearly crushing several people at the head of the caravan.
"Fall back, quickly!" Xu Sheng, the traveling merchant, shouted.
Then, everyone saw a glowing, snow-white old elephant standing upright, engaged in a fierce battle against a human. Sweeping its trunk, it unleashed dazzling streaks of blade-light.
Moreover, beyond the two tusks in its mouth, its upper limbs were as dexterous as human arms. Glued onto them were two jade-white tusks, which it wielded like twin blades, repeatedly slashing toward its opponent.
Qin Ming's pupils constricted. Even in such dark surroundings, he clearly made out the appearance of the person battling the old elephant.
The white elephant was glowing, illuminating the man vividly.
*A man with unusually long arms, in his early thirties, with chiseled features—he looks remarkably like the man among the two people I've been gradually recalling lately!*
He was somewhat astonished to encounter one of the two people who had saved him back then in a place like this.
An expert like Cui Hong was exceptionally keen. Feeling a prolonged gaze upon him, an instinct stirred within. He glanced toward the caravan, and his heart gave a violent jolt. To his utter shock, right then and there, he had found the very person he had been searching for.
Chapter 63