The desert was "offended" once again. The entire realm shifted color as flying sand and rolling stones surged alongside billowing night mist, crashing like turbulent waves against the towering mountains bordering the rugged path.
Qin Ming was left dumbfounded. What was this mountain lord doing? With skill so formidable, why couldn't it take a normal approach? That puddle of piss reeked far too pungent and provoked too violent a reaction!
At this moment, Meng Xinghai transmitted a secret voice to him: "In a few days, you can come find me in Chixia City to learn more about the situation. A thousand-year-old clan still cares about saving face. If the Cui clan changes its mind and decides not to crush you to death in this remote land, then the problem won't be that serious."
Through the sandstorm, Qin Ming looked back and expressed his gratitude to this new city lord.
Meng Xinghai, Li Qingyue, and Cui Hong swiftly rushed out of the desert; the conditions in this area were simply too harsh.
Farther along the rugged path, Xu Sheng wore a grim expression. How had trouble broken out again today? It was even worse than yesterday!
He sorely wanted to drop his load and quit. As an itinerant merchant, even he felt it was far too dangerous. There was no future in this line of work. Forget the convoy under his charge—even he was terrified enough to shout at the top of his lungs.
"Everyone, don't panic! This has nothing to do with us. We've always revered the desert—" Before Xu Sheng could finish, he felt a woman clinging to his back, whimpering as razor-sharp fingernails scraped relentlessly against his neck.
On the pitch-black trail, nothing could be seen. The woman's weeping was blood-curdling: "Sob... I see so many dark shadows... I'm so scared..."
Xu Sheng lost his composure. *Aren't you an anomaly? What are you afraid of?!* he thought. Now he was genuinely terrified. Long fingernails like iron hooks protruded from those furry "delicate hands," and he couldn't shake her off at all.
He made up his mind: if he could reach Chixia City safely this time, he would switch trades immediately and never work as an itinerant merchant again.
"If you keep provoking the desert with all your might like this, won't it hold a grudge against you?" The moment Qin Ming spoke, his mouth filled with sand. Bracing against the howling wind and swirling sand, he quickly pulled out a gray robe to cover his head and face.
"No matter. I'm a member of an esoteric sect and carry a ritual vessel used for desert ceremonies. I can pass without issue." The mountain boar flicked its little tail, stepping lightly across the yellow sand. Qin Ming froze. *It's even a member of an esoteric sect?*
"Did we really need to go to such extremes?" he couldn't help asking.
The old mountain boar replied, "It's to guard against that white wolf trailing us in secret. When traveling through the desert, whoever performed a blood sacrifice ritual before will be terrified. If it dares to come, this will scare it out of its wits."
Qin Ming grasped the situation. The white wolf was the new mountain lord; it had once conducted a mysterious ceremony in the mountains to worship the mound of the Beast God, vastly increasing its cultivation as a result.
"The Beast God... is dead?" Qin Ming showed a strange expression.
The miniature wild boar replied, "It was just a powerful creature. Who knows whether it's dead or alive? That place might just be a mound for its shed fur and skin that the white-furred old wolf stumbled upon. Otherwise, with that ungrateful cur's past cultivation, it could only eat my dust! But now look at me—it's my turn to run for my life. Sigh, fortunes truly wax and wane. My luck over the past two years has been terrible."
"There's something around us!" Qin Ming said, raising his mutton-fat jade iron saber horizontally before him.
Across the wilderness, yellow sand surged, thick mist roiled, and shadowy silhouettes loomed. More than a dozen processions holding dark-green torches illuminated the near distance in sickly green, ghastly light as they drew closer to them.
The mountain boar remained utterly calm. "Don't worry. Ignore the uncanny, and its terror collapses on its own. I have a ritual vessel for desert rites on me; they won't harm us."
Ghastly green torches danced as gigantic beasts tens of meters tall strode past them again and again, carrying a putrid stench of decay and even the nauseating odor of burning corpses.
Qin Ming stayed on guard, gradually growing accustomed to it. Though those ominous phenomena lurked nearby, they never attacked them; it was better simply not to look.
"Since you hail from an esoteric sect, shouldn't members of such sects revere the desert, believing it to be a domain tied to gods?"
The old mountain boar said, "There isn't just one kind of esoteric sect. Some sects revere gods, worshipping them and visualizing them in their minds to borrow their power for their own use. Other esoteric sects have far greater ambitions—they seek to conquer those 'phenomena' or 'realms,' bending them to their will to attain godhood themselves."
Qin Ming was astonished, gaining a new understanding of esoteric sects and the desert.
The old mountain boar had surely joined an esoteric sect with grander ambitions; otherwise, it would not have held such an attitude.
"I'm not walking anymore; my mouth is full of sand. Pitch your tent. I'll take a nap here. By the way, have you really met that one-armed grandmaster of the saber?"
Qin Ming replied, "I have. Through the thick mist, he imparted a saber technique to me. It was like a spiritual resonance, yet also like a dream."
The old mountain boar took on a solemn expression and said, "Could he have shifted toward the path of people beyond the mundane world?"
"You've met my master too?" Qin Ming asked.
"My father saw him. He once witnessed with his own eyes how the man cut down the mountain lord of that era with a single slash. The saber light tore through the night sky and severed the torrential downpour. Terrifying beyond belief!"
Soon after, Qin Ming asked, "You mentioned repaying a debt of gratitude to settle a karmic tie from the mountains, but how come I never knew when I saved you?"
The old mountain boar ground its teeth. "That white wolf is truly vicious and insidious. After severely wounding me, it didn't kill me right away. Instead, it scattered my spirituality, reducing a proud mountain lord like me back into an ordinary beast ruled by animal instincts. It wanted me to become food for other beasts in the mountains and die a miserable death. Back then, I lost myself. I was lucid for only brief moments each day; most of the time, I was just a regular mountain beast. It was truly a case of a boar in the plains bullied by dogs! I remember you brat even tried to shoot me with a bow and arrow back then."
Qin Ming was certain now: it truly was that giant wild boar of fifteen or sixteen hundred jin that had once chased him relentlessly.
"Fortunately, this old boar had a backup plan. As they say, a cunning boar keeps three burrows. I had stashed a very rare spiritual substance in advance inside my second burrow—right beneath that blood snake den. After you cleared out that nest of blood snakes, I happened to be nearby in my feral state. Regaining a sliver of lucidity, I charged straight inside, used it to restore most of my vitality, and escaped the mountains. Although you didn't save me intentionally, it still brought me a turning point. Since we met by chance, let's settle this karmic tie."
Qin Ming had never imagined that the blood snake den didn't hold the triply mutated blood snake Old Man Liu suspected might be there; instead, there was a boar's lair further underneath!
Soon, earth-shaking snores echoed from the tent half-buried in yellow sand. It might look like a boar small enough to fit on a palm, but the racket it made was immense. Even the large swaths of dark shadows nearby seemed unable to bear it and retreated into the distance.
Of course, it was also very likely that the terrifying blood-qi circulating through the old mountain boar's body as it slept was too overwhelmingly masculine and vigorous, blurring away those ominous phenomena.
This nap lasted straight until the next day.
Now, the desert had returned to calm. The ominous phenomena and heavy fog had dissipated entirely, leaving behind only absolute darkness.
"Let's move!"
It led the way, but Qin Ming was reluctant to leave immediately, worried that Cui Hong would be waiting outside to corner him.
"We'll travel along the desert's edge. I don't want to go out either," the old mountain boar said, worried the white wolf hadn't given up and might intercept it outside.
Occasionally, it would step onto the rugged mountain path and imitate a peculiar birdsong. Soon, Qin Ming saw several speech sparrows fly over from the adjacent mountains to report to it. Seeing this filled Qin Ming with envy. He consulted the old mountain boar, asking if it could do him a favor by sending a speech sparrow to Chixia City to visit the city lord's estate.
Cui Hong searched the entire road without finding Qin Ming, and then hurried off without pause to look for Cui Chongyi. He was truly exhausted in spirit.
"Ghost fire!" At the edge of the desert, Qin Ming murmured, noticing a hazy patch within the vast sands.
"Oh? What a fine place. That's a Fire Spring. It's usually kept hidden, but now it's accidentally exposed. It's mainly because we're close; from just a bit farther away, the darkness of the desert would drown out everything, leaving nothing to be seen."
The old mountain boar was pleasantly surprised. This desert oasis was an ideal hiding place; at this stage, it did not want to leave the desert yet.
"Meng Xinghai comes from a thousand-year-old clan, so he's definitely more overbearing than Ling Xu. Since he wiped out Golden Rooster Ridge, this stronghold probably isn't safe either. Let's not stay behind to guard it—better withdraw early."
As soon as Qin Ming approached, he heard the conversation of a group of men. This was another occasional resting place for the Golden Bandits, usually manned by only a few ordinary bandits.
"We'll head over toward Maple Leaf City. That man surnamed Meng is too hard to cross; even the Golden Bandit masters above don't want to clash with him."
"Get ready to move. Over the past two days, sinister winds have been howling non-stop and ghostly shadows have been everywhere. Even though we're used to it, it's still creepy."
"Count heads. One, two, three... ten?!"
The bandit leader instantly panicked. This place was truly just a temporary outpost, unlike Golden Rooster Ridge where a large force gathered. Only nine men were supposed to be stationed here—how was there an extra person now?
"One, two... ten!" Refusing to believe it, he counted again, and his hair stood on end.
The other bandits panicked as well, looking back and forth at one another, sensing something was wrong with everyone. They had just covered the Fire Spring with stone slabs, leaving almost no light.
"Run!"
They scattered in a chaotic frenzy on the spot.
Five days later, a speech sparrow flew back from Chixia City, bringing a letter. Meng Xinghai, the new city lord of Chixia City, informed Qin Ming that the Cui clan's attitude had softened.
"For the next few years, I cannot go to Qinghe City where the Cui clan resides, nor should I head to Thousand Stars City. Furthermore, I cannot use the name Cui Chonghe, nor can I claim to be a disciple of the Cui clan for the time being. After a few years, I might be able to return to the Cui clan."
Qin Ming looked at the letter. These words were not the Cui clan's verbatim statement, but Meng Xinghai's interpretation offered as a tactful reminder.
*What kind of place is Thousand Stars City?* he pondered. Soon, the hazy figure of a young girl surfaced in his mind—she seemed to smile often, and she was connected to Thousand Stars City.
He rubbed his aching temples and stopped overthinking. As long as he achieved his fourth Newborn rebirth as soon as possible and fully recovered his memories, everything would become clear.
Qin Ming had originally intended to forgo Chixia City and travel farther away. But after discovering Meng Xinghai's goodwill, he felt it might actually be safer there.
Qin Ming knew that Meng Xinghai's willingness to lend a hand was likely not out of any appreciation for talent. After all, they had only just met, and there was no need for him to meddle in the internal affairs of the Cui clan.
"Thank you, Li Qingyue," Qin Ming murmured, standing by the Fire Spring in the desert as he gazed into the distant, pitch-black night.
Meanwhile, inside the city lord's estate in Chixia City, Li Qingyue was speaking with Meng Xinghai about Qin Ming.
"Given his current situation, those of us familiar with him should not get too close to him. Otherwise, his circumstances might worsen. But now that he has left the Cui clan, those who knew him—those so-called 'friends'—will probably avoid him like the plague, severing all ties completely to become total strangers."
Qin Ming stayed in this desert oasis for eleven days before preparing to set out for Chixia City.
Cui Hong had indeed wandered outside the desert with Cui Chongyi for several days, hoping to see Qin Ming once more, but in the end failed to cross paths with him.
"Take care. May you reclaim the position of mountain lord of Black-White Mountain in the future," Qin Ming said, bidding farewell to the old mountain boar.
"Forget it. I've seen through it all. Without world-shaking ability, one can't hold down a place like Black-White Mountain. After all, it once suffocated all sides under its weight. Even though it collapsed, it's not a place ordinary creatures can rule over. Past mountain lords hardly ever met a good end."
The old mountain boar shook its head with an enlightened air. "This place isn't bad either. A bright boar casting its lot with darkness—lurking here in the pitch-black desert, no one can touch me. For a gentleman, waiting a hundred years for revenge is not too late."
Qin Ming took to the road. Two days later, he drew close to Chixia City. Gazing into the distance, he saw a brilliant expanse of light, indicating that the Fire Springs in the city were of no low grade, able to keep it bright as day during shallow night.
As he drew nearer to the city, Qin Ming felt emotions churning within him. Though he was arriving here for the first time, he felt not the slightest sense of unfamiliarity.
Many hazy scenes surfaced in his mind—impressions from his past experiences in the great city of Qinghe.
After lying low for two years in this gloomy, remote land, he had returned once more to a city blessed with "daylight."
Qin Ming's thoughts surged. Lately, the fragmented memories in his mind had been piecing themselves together continuously; people and events were gradually coming back to him.
Back when he was still Cui Chonghe, he had many old acquaintances in Qinghe City, knew prominent members of numerous powerful clans, had even befriended people beyond the mundane world, and shared ties with direct descendants of several thousand-year-old clans. A great host of companions had once gathered around him—everywhere he looked, there were friends.
With a soft sigh, he realized that now returning to a world of "daylight" under the identity of Qin Ming, if he ran into former acquaintances, how many old ties would truly remain, and how many would still be willing to greet him? Most likely, even if they crossed paths, they would act as though they had never met.
Chapter 68