On this freezing winter night, cold sweat broke out even on the traveling merchant Xu Sheng. Having a deep understanding of the desert, he naturally held even greater awe of it.
He realized that something major had definitely gone wrong today!
Panic seized many in the caravan. Terrified of the unknown, had they understood or known the truth, they might not have been so afraid.
Above all, the pitch-black surroundings only deepened their dread—holding a hand right before one's eyes yielded nothing but absolute darkness.
Blind in the dark, many felt their lives and futures slip completely beyond their control, left entirely to the mercy of fate.
Qin Ming fared somewhat better, able to vaguely make out what was immediately in front of him. He kept calm, gripping his mutton-fat jade iron saber, ready to strike at a moment's notice!
Suddenly, a woman's muffled weeping rose from the rear, making many hearts drop.
"I'm sorry..." the woman sobbed.
"Then let go of me. My neck is bleeding heavily... My head feels like it's about to fall off," a man spoke in a hoarse, feeble voice.
...
Not far from the caravan led by the traveling merchant, Cui Hong was drenched in sweat. After luring away the Old Elephant, he had quietly slipped back.
Having struck an agreement with the Old Elephant and confirmed that Cui Chongyi's life was not in danger, he had come after Cui Chonghe, who was close at hand.
Cui Hong knew something of the desert's perils, but at his level, so long as he didn't seek his own death, passing along its border posed no problem.
He made his way along the cliff face, only to find himself circling in place several times. Hurriedly chanting the Heart-Clearing Incantation and circulating a powerful secret technique, he was finally able to press forward again.
Yet when Cui Hong inadvertently looked back, his scalp prickled with tension—something was tailing him from behind.
Amid the thick, boundless night mist hung a pair of gigantic eyes. Aloof and pitiless, their frigid gleam pierced the heavy shroud.
The two eyeballs, as large as houses, were drawing nearer!
Though the unknown creature's outline was obscured, its stature had to be colossal.
Cui Hong felt a chill creep down his spine. Formidable as he was, had he not happened to glance back, he wouldn't even have sensed its approach in advance.
In front of the creature hung a blood-red lantern. Relatively speaking, it was modest—about the size of one hung outside a wealthy family's gates—yet it sliced through the night mist. It appeared as though someone were carrying it, guiding the way for the behemoth.
Daring not tarry, Cui Hong quickened his pace. He had never encountered such a sight before; if this thing had emerged from the desert, even he lacked the confidence to face it.
The night mist grew thicker and thicker until even Cui Hong's five senses were nearly stripped away. Even his keen spiritual perception threatened to be clouded, causing him to inadvertently slip from the rugged mountain trail down into the desert.
Something felt wrong. Beneath his feet, the ground was damp and sticky. Wet patches marked the sand, venting wisps of steam, and he had stepped right on them.
Cui Hong leapt up quickly, returning to the mountain trail with a foul expression. He caught a strong stench of urine wafting from the soles of his shoes. Who in the world had done that?
By now, the desert had turned even more bizarre. The heavy fog billowed and surged like rolling ocean waves.
When Cui Hong looked back again, he realized those immense eyes were alarmingly close!
Moreover, illuminated by the crimson lantern, he could faintly make out that it was an enormous white-furred creature.
"It's far faster than me, exceedingly dangerous, and can... catch up to me!" Cui Hong realized things were grim.
However, as strange omens manifested across the desert, the white-furred creature narrowed its eyes, suddenly wheeled around, and fled. The blood-red lantern receded with it, quickly fading away.
...
"Not good. The desert seems to have been offended," Xu Sheng murmured, filled with uncertainty and alarm. Such an occurrence was exceedingly rare—who would dare act recklessly in a place like this?
In the boundless desert, dense fog surged violently, crashing against the cliffs on one side like ocean waves.
Yet it was precisely because of this that Xu Sheng was able to reorient himself.
"What should we do?"
"Don't panic! This has nothing to do with us!" Xu Sheng called out to reassure everyone.
By now, even the woman's weeping had ceased, and the torch-bearing procession ahead had grown dim, on the verge of fading away completely.
Suddenly, someone's voice quavered: "Brother Xu, something is touching my ankle! It's covered in stiff bristles—it pierced right through my clothes!"
He was not the only one; several people felt it in succession.
Qin Ming vaguely glimpsed a small creature and was just about to swing his mutton-fat jade iron saber.
"Nobody act rashly!" Xu Sheng warned. Then he fell silent—because this time, it was his turn to be brushed against, rubbed several times by a creature as if he were a tree stump.
"Head up the mountain!" he called out. He knew that before shallow night ended, they had no hope of clearing this border region of the desert.
The group scrambled upward along a gentler slope, reaching the lowest cliff in the vicinity, which was still nearly a thousand meters high.
Xu Sheng said, "We rest here today and set out again tomorrow once the heavy fog clears."
"Let's travel through the mountains instead," someone suggested, thoroughly terrified by the desert.
Xu Sheng shook his head. "The peaks ahead are several thousand meters high, and every territory harbors dangerous mutants. We traveling merchants never attempt to scale these mountains."
Contrary to everyone's expectations, the man who had weakly cried earlier that his neck was about to break hadn't died; he had merely lost quite a bit of blood.
Having climbed onto the cliff, he backed away from the grey-robed woman as if looking at a ghost.
"I'm sorry. This is my first time traveling far from home, and I was just too nervous. I accidentally scratched you."
"It's... fine!" The man shrank back.
Meanwhile, the youth looked pale. He quietly glanced down at a few long black hairs in his hand. When the cold wind howled past, he had caught sight of fur beneath the woman's grey robe.
The night here was not quite as murky. The youth could not be certain whether his eyes had deceived him, but he dared not look any further.
"As long as everyone is unharmed," Xu Sheng remarked with a sigh of relief. As a traveling merchant who frequently led parties on long journeys, it was nothing out of the ordinary for a few mutants to appear among their ranks now and then.
Earlier, when resupplying at the small town, Xu Sheng had warned them that they might have to camp in the wild for two or three days.
Though everyone felt the merchant was deliberately drumming up extra profit, they had still paid exorbitant prices for tents in that town.
During deep night, Qin Ming was jolted awake by the sound of snoring. He swiftly drew his mutton-fat jade iron saber, on high alert.
This was utterly absurd. How could there be another person in his tent? Whence had this snoring come?
Tracking the source of the noise, Qin Ming promptly discovered what it was.
It was actually a pig!
Qin Ming struck a fire striker. In the light, he could clearly see it: a tiny pig, barely longer than a palm.
At that moment, the pig woke up as well, staring wide-eyed back at Qin Ming.
Small though this wild boar was, it was deeply unnatural. A pair of snow-white tusks had already grown outside its mouth—hardly something a piglet should possess.
The little wild boar, barely larger than a hand, bared its teeth in an actual grin. Startled, Qin Ming nearly slashed it with his blade, but he held back. This was simply too bizarre.
In truth, he felt that nothing that had happened near the desert today was remotely normal.
Staring closely at it, he noticed several black scales on its face, looking vaguely familiar.
Then he remembered: back when he had just recovered from his grave illness and hunted the saber-horned deer and the donkey-headed wolf in the mountains, he had encountered a wild boar far larger than its kind, weighing fifteen to sixteen hundred jin. It had rampaged as if mad and even chased him for a stretch.
That day, when the Moon Insect appeared, the giant wild boar had shivered in terror, retreated quietly, and buried itself under the snow.
That giant boar also had black scales on its face, very similar to this little one.
However, while that giant beast was a mutated creature, it was driven purely by feral instinct, far from civilized and lacking any spiritual intelligence.
Though this little pig bore a striking resemblance to that massive beast, its eyes were not frenzied; devoid of feral savagery, they were remarkably profound.
Though tiny to the eye, Qin Ming couldn't shake the feeling that it resembled an old mountain boar.
Qin Ming refrained from making any rash moves. After staring at the piglet for a moment, he sheathed his mutton-fat jade iron saber and voluntarily backed off to the edge of the tent.
Before long, thunderous snores echoed through the tent once more.
The next day, the fog was indeed not as dense. Xu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief when taking headcount, as no one had gone missing so far—humans and mutants alike had all survived.
Qin Ming noticed that several people were looking at him with resentment, even some indignance.
A middle-aged man looked at him and said, "Young brother, you look so refined and gentle, so why do you make such a racket when you sleep? In the middle of the night, I thought thunder had struck and specifically came out to look, only to find you snoring away in your tent!"
Qin Ming parted his lips, but nothing came out. He felt thoroughly wronged—could he really tell them a wild mountain boar had been snoring in his tent?
"Indeed, young lad, you really have something there! I thought winter thunder had erupted in the dead of night too!" an old man chimed in.
Sporting dark circles under his eyes, Wu Zheng wore a gloomy look. He had camped next to an acquaintance hoping they could look out for one another, but who could have guessed that Brother Qin's 'aura' in his sleep was so overwhelming!
"Don't waste time! Boil some water, eat some dry rations, and we hit the road at once," Xu Sheng urged.
Barely two hours after setting off again, the group's expressions changed. Through the night mist, a figure was rapidly closing in on them.
"It's fine, it's a human," Wu Zheng said softly.
The others remained silent. Out in the wilds, running into a human was hardly any different from encountering a monster—after all, their own caravan even contained mutants.
Soon, Xu Sheng's expression hardened. He recognized the man as the expert who had battled the Old Elephant the day before—arms hanging past his knees, sharply chiseled features, and eyes flashing like lightning.
Qin Ming knew the long-armed man had likely come for him, so he stepped forward of his own accord.
"You may leave," Cui Hong waved dismissively to the caravan members.
Xu Sheng hesitated slightly, but in the end he sighed. Regardless of whether the man harbored ill intent, there was nothing he could do. The gap in strength was too vast, and Xu Sheng was responsible for the rest of his charges.
"Take care of yourself, young brother!" Xu Sheng called out as he led the party away.
Wu Zheng looked back repeatedly before finally turning to follow the caravan.
"Young Master!" Cui Hong greeted him with a bow.
Qin Ming sidestepped the bow. "I cannot accept such a courtesy. You were the one who saved me two years ago; it is I who should bow to you."
"It was only my duty," Cui Hong said.
The desert lay engulfed in darkness, dead quiet.
Turmoil raged in Qin Ming's mind. He had countless questions, but having caught the conflicted expression on the man's face yesterday, he realized this reunion was very likely nothing like what he had previously envisioned.
"Young Master, have you already achieved Newborn?" Cui Hong asked, his gaze razor-sharp.
Qin Ming replied, "Call me by my name. 'Young Master' makes me uncomfortable."
"Then... very well. Chonghe, have you achieved Newborn?"
Qin Ming wanted badly to correct the name, but on second thought, since those who recognized him addressed him as Cui Chonghe, he might as well play along for now.
"Yes!" Qin Ming answered. He knew whatever he said, the other man could verify; since someone from the Cui family had arrived, they would inevitably investigate Silver Vine Town and Twin Trees Village thoroughly.
"Alas!" Hearing his confirmation, Cui Hong actually sighed. Torn, troubled, and reluctant, his face once again took on a deeply conflicted look.
"Is there something wrong?" Qin Ming grew vigilant.
"Young Master—ahem, Chonghe—do you wish to leave this remote region and go to a distant city?" Cui Hong asked.
Qin Ming remained silent. He was already on the road; did that even require an answer?
"Chonghe, I am sorry, but I cannot disobey orders. You may not leave this land. You must live as an ordinary person—wealthy and safe, that is all. Someone will arrange everything for you," Cui Hong said, full of apology.
"What do you mean by that? Do you intend to cripple me?" Qin Ming backed away into the desert sands. Sure enough, his ominous premonitions had come true. The long-armed man's arrival had brought no joyful reunion, but had rolled in like stormy waves crashing into his fractured memories.
Qin Ming stumbled, seized by a severe throbbing pain in his head.
He demanded loudly, "Who ordered you to do this?!"
Cui Hong hesitated for a moment before finally revealing, "Your father."
"And my mother?!" Qin Ming yelled, retreating further back.
"Before I came here, your mother gave the same instruction," Cui Hong said.
Qin Ming felt as if his head were splitting apart. His body swayed violently amidst the desert sands. No wonder his life felt pieced together and hollow; certain convictions in his heart had shattered in the past.
How could parents do such a thing?
He had once been clad in rags, covered in blood and chilblains, begging for survival in the freezing snow. After being brought to Twin Trees Village, he had seen with his own eyes how Lu Ze and his wife would rather starve and freeze themselves than let Wenrui and Wenhui suffer the slightest hardship. He had believed all parents ought to be like that, for given his own nature and character, he would have done the exact same.
"Why?!" Qin Ming endured the agonizing pain in his head, struggling to remember, desperate to recall what had truly happened back then.
Chapter 65