Honor and Disgrace Scatter with the Wind

Without another word, Qin Ming took out ten pieces of day gold and swiftly tucked the ancient volume into his robes. The mountain monster covered in black fur was quite particular and not short-sighted at all. Instead of merely staring at the purple lightning beast, it struck up a conversation with Qin Ming. "Honored guest, you're buying this book straight away without even examining it closely?" Stroking the bushy beard on his plump face, Qin Ming replied, "I buy ancient books purely to cultivate an aura of refinement. I like to display vintage relics on my bookshelves. I don't read much normally, so I'm just making up for what I lack, putting them in my study for show to make it look like I have some depth of learning." The mountain monster stallholder chuckled along. "You are far too modest, sir. Anyone who loves books is a gentleman of refined taste." Qin Ming bantered back, but inwardly he felt like needles were pricking his back. Lingering in a place like this, under the constant prying gazes of various creatures, things could blow up in his face at any second. He wanted to pull away and leave immediately, but what did he just spot? On a stall somewhat farther away, an enormous pile of books was actually laid out! As a lover of books, he truly could not tear his eyes away, nor could he move his feet. His heart was in absolute torment, struggling immensely. *Screw it!* Qin Ming thought. Since he was already here and had stumbled across them, seeing a whole pile of vintage secret tomes without going over to take a look would surely leave him with years of regret. Besides, what difference would another quarter of an hour make? In the end, this place was full of nothing more than mutated creatures. If an accident really happened, he could bathe in beast blood and slaughter his way out. While Qin Ming was somewhat nervous, some of the non-human creatures felt pressured as well. Could the status of someone accompanied personally by a noble lady from a blessed land possibly be simple? Especially with the purple lightning beast walking so close to him and looking so dead-serious—one look was all it took to realize that this human man had an extraordinary background. Many creatures noticed that even the purple lightning beast's two henchmen were perched on the human man's shoulders, giggling foolishly non-stop. It was as if latching onto this man had set them on a path straight to heaven; they didn't even care about their own master anymore, grinning so hard they hardly looked like birds! In truth, both birds were suffering bitterly inside. Who the bird-hell wanted to laugh? Weren't they being forced into this? Glued to his shoulders, they couldn't run away even if they tried, and if they dared disobey, they would be pounded into meat patties! Before coming in, they had been ordered to wash all the blood off their wings; now that their wings were folded, nothing looked amiss anyway. Qin Ming looked at the book volumes across the ground that all seemed weathered by time. He touched them one by one, casually flipping through a few pages. He grew suspicious. Why was there no mental resonance? Very quickly, he realized: this was large-scale forgery! Qin Ming looked up at the creature, which was smiling with apparent honesty and simplemindedness, and marveled inwardly: *Is competition in the deep mountains this cutthroat?* This bear-like mountain monster was no good sort; it was clearly trying to scam humans. "My father left all these behind. I don't really know what they are either; I can't read these characters," the creature grinned, its cavernous maw reeking foully as it preemptively shirked all responsibility. Qin Ming didn't want to waste breath on it. Time was tight. At any moment he could get dragged into a bloody battle against a multitude of mutated creatures, so he had to make haste and scour the place. He was solely focused on seeking vintage relics, hoping to obtain rare and precious legacies. Qin Ming felt no guilt whatsoever. The relationship between humans and non-human creatures was complicated. While there were times of peaceful coexistence, they also frequently scammed and killed one another; when they crossed paths in the deep mountains, they would hunt each other whenever an opportunity arose. That some books could end up here certainly meant there were bloody stories behind them. Finally, Qin Ming made another discovery—it was actually a secret manual on leg techniques. This delighted him considerably, as it was his first time acquiring an art of this category. Serving as a mere backdrop, the purple lightning beast accompanied him the entire time. This damned fat bastard was clearly borrowing someone else's prestige, relying on it to fleece everyone shamelessly right and left. Despicable! "Caw, caw..." After Qin Ming made his new discovery, the speech sparrow and the myna giggled even more vigorously. They felt their master wasn't managing its expressions well enough—it was far too stern. The two of them were terrified of dying now, worried a flaw might show, so they tried to cover the gaps for the purple lightning beast. They didn't want trouble to erupt right away, fearing this fat man would butcher them to silence witnesses in a fight to the death. At first, Qin Ming was so tense his palms were nearly sweating. After all, more and more mountain monsters were casting fervent gazes over in his direction. But as time went on, he caught onto what was happening: these creatures had taken the misunderstanding to a whole new level! For he discovered that the way this crowd of mountain monsters looked at him was anything but ordinary. "This lord is our master's bosom friend!" the speech sparrow declared firmly between silly chuckles. Some creatures sneered in contempt, thinking this thieving bird had surely switched allegiances to follow that human man. Qin Ming quickened his pace. This feeling of fleecing others was quite wonderful; continuing to fleece them brought endless satisfaction. "Boss, I saw a book here from quite a distance earlier. Why is it gone?" Qin Ming asked, coming to a halt before a peculiar stall. This was no ordinary ground stall, but a large beast-hide tent flowing with silver light. One glance was enough to tell that this mountain monster possessed substantial wealth and sold extraordinary goods. This was a prominent third-generation beast scion who had come out of the deep mountains to relax, occasionally trading special items with humans according to its fancy. "Did you deliberately hide it when you saw us coming?" Qin Ming called it out directly. After all, if any trouble arose, all the karmic consequences would fall on the purple lightning beast anyway. This humanoid creature had long, disheveled silver hair, and two jade horns lined up along the centerline of its head, one in front and one behind, one long and one short. No matter how one looked at them, they resembled rhinoceros horns. The purple lightning beast cast a sidelong glance, somewhat displeased. Had this fellow started hiding things the moment it saw it approaching? Was it guarding against thieves? It recognized this white rhinoceros; he was the grandson of the Psychic Jade Rhino from the deepest reaches of the mountains. Did he harbor prejudices against it? Seeing that look, Bai Xi broke into a sweat on his forehead. Although he hailed from one of the most powerful local lineages and was the descendant of the formidable old rhino that dominated the region, he still could not compare to this one who came from a blessed land. "It's right here! I noticed it was covered in dust just now, so I took it back to wipe it down," Bai Xi smiled, retrieving a book bound in golden beast hide from inside the silver tent. Qin Ming accepted it with a touch of aloof restraint, projecting an imposing presence that made the surrounding mountain monsters view him with wariness, for this man even dared put on airs before Bai Xi. Qin Ming had fully immersed himself in the role. He was the bosom friend of the illustrious purple lightning beast, so he had to display appropriate "bearing." He merely focused his mind and flipped through two pages to know this book was extraordinary. No wonder the rhino monster had hidden it immediately; an ancient manual like this was certainly not something anyone would want to give away for free. "How many pieces of day gold?" Qin Ming asked nonchalantly. "Talking about day gold is vulgar! I, Bai Xi, am eager to befriend a brother like you—it's a gift!" Bai Xi declared magnanimously. In truth, he wouldn't be able to fetch a high price facing this person anyway, so he might as well forge a good connection. Qin Ming said, "I am Zheng Maorong. When I have leisure, I will certainly visit Brother Bai in the deep mountains." Only then did the purple lightning beast realize that its single displeased glance had served as an indirect assist, doing this damned fat bastard a massive favor! Deep down, Qin Ming truly felt the pressure. Having encountered this situation and pushed things this far, it was already too late to turn back, so he could only brace himself and fleece them one more time. At this moment, he arrived before another stall with a tent, but unfortunately, there were indeed no secret manuals here. "Boss, do you have any spiritual substances?" Qin Ming asked casually. Reclining on a chaise inside the tent was a woman with a figure supple as a willow branch, dressed in a black gown, her snow-white, oval face exceedingly delicate. Hearing this, her expression stiffened slightly. Was he coming to fleece her now? She had thought that lacking secret manuals would spare her any trouble. Only then did Qin Ming notice that her lower body consisted not of human legs, but of a black serpentine tail. "Do you have the kind of spiritual substance that can help someone achieve a sixth or seventh newborn transformation?" Qin Ming figured she must also be a third-generation beast scion from deep within the mountains. Hearing this, Wu Yiyi felt an urge to whip him with her tail. This was an exorbitant demand! Crucially, you aren't actually looking to buy; you want to take it by force! She shook her head calmly. "I don't. I only had one portion of fifth-grade spiritual substance, but a friend reserved it last month and collected it this morning." Qin Ming was deeply disappointed. "Forget fifth-grade then; the caliber is inadequate," he said placidly. Even though he hadn't gotten it, his standard could not slip; after all, he was currently the purple lightning beast's good friend. "Then there's nothing I can do. I only have second-grade spiritual substance left," Wu Yiyi said with a smile. Qin Ming remained nonchalant. "Bring out the second-grade substance for me to see. Come to think of it, I need to enlighten a few birds recently, so it will come in handy after all." Wu Yiyi's face froze. Isn't this greed a bit too disgraceful? *Where did your lofty standards from just now go?* Even the purple lightning beast felt humiliated. Being forced to stand by his side was an utter loss of face! Qin Ming contentedly purchased a jar of spiritual substance at cost. Even the tiniest bit of meat was still meat. What did standards and face have to do with him? Let all honor and disgrace scatter with the wind! If wind and rain came, let them beat down upon Zheng Maorong and the purple lightning beast! He knew he had thoroughly offended the purple lightning beast today, so he might as well let it expend its remaining usefulness before making a swift escape! *Something's wrong!* Qin Ming was exceedingly alert. He realized that some mountain monsters were quite sharp, such as the snake-woman Wu Yiyi, whose eyes held a strange glint. "Boss, give me a stack of waterproof oilpaper." Before leaving, Qin Ming wasn't trying to fleece anyone; this paper was genuinely useful to him. That mountain monster was dumbfounded. The purple lightning beast thought he had gone mad from poverty—he was even mooching things like that now! "Let's go. How utterly dull—there are no real treasures here!" Qin Ming curbed his inner desires. He could not afford to keep browsing. He decisively headed outward, compelling the purple lightning beast and the two birds along with him as he exited the black market in the night mist. "My lord, it's over so soon?" the speech sparrow asked. "Haven't you heard the ancient proverb? 'He who knows contentment suffers no disgrace; he who knows when to stop meets no peril; thus he can endure long.'" Having spoken, Qin Ming swung himself onto the purple lightning beast's back and urged, "Move fast, give me a ride!" The purple lightning beast was about to explode on the spot. It was turned into a mount again! "Hurry!" Qin Ming urged, sensing that disaster might strike. Sure enough, riding on the purple lightning beast's back, they had dashed only a single li when thick fog inexplicably rose throughout the mountain forest, pitch-black and eerily freezing. Qin Ming drew a sharp breath of the early spring air, infused with the fragrance of tender young shoots. What kind of monster had he run into? Why did this resemble the methods of people beyond the mundane world? A white owl stood on a large tree, deeply anxious. Its kind preferred to sleep by day and prowl by night; it had merely slipped away for a quick nap while its master was soaking in the hot spring, and then this disaster happened! If that guardian, the "Four-Tusked Old Elephant," returned from drinking in the mountain depths and found out about this, he would definitely pin all the blame on it. Divine radiance swirled in the owl's eyes as it opened its beak to spew a dense fog, squeezing toward that patch of mountain forest to quickly subdue the audacious human. Qin Ming felt as if massive mountains were bearing down from all sides, suffocating him. He knew he had encountered someone beyond the mundane world. The two birds rolled their eyes back and fainted dead away. Qin Ming didn't make things difficult for them either; releasing their restraints, he tossed them onto the ground to let them go. He glanced down. The purple lightning beast was entirely unaffected; the black fog was surging frenziedly toward his physical body alone. *Smack!* He slapped the purple lightning beast on the back. "Stop right now, or I'll kill it!" Qin Ming threatened, decisively drawing his saber. The person beyond the mundane world in the shadows seemed unfazed by the threat, continuing to drive the black fog, which morphed into a dark mountain range pressing down upon his flesh and blood. Qin Ming's bones creaked and popped as he bore tremendous pressure. Heavenly light erupted from his entire body, its dazzling brilliance tearing through the night. He had originally intended to swing his mutton-fat jade iron saber, but now he realized that his fused, unified heavenly light force could actually shake and disperse the black fog. He struck out with a palm strike using all his might! A crack like thunder detonated across the area! The black fog was struck by his palm until it churned like terrifying waves, surging violently and snapping numerous trees in its wake. Seeing that it was effective, Qin Ming struck out with consecutive palms, shattering one black mountain form after another around him! Back when he encountered the young man who could turn into mist, his heavenly light force had possessed zero lethality against it; he had only escaped that ordeal by relying on a surprise ambush with mutton-fat jade iron. Now that he had fused multiple force methods, his fully unleashed heavenly light force could actually counter some of the methods used by people beyond the mundane world! As the black fog dispersed, the figure of the white owl was revealed atop the ancient tree opposite him. Surprised, it remarked, "Whose school of heavenly light force is this? To think it's so overbearing." "Let me leave!" Qin Ming held his saber against the purple lightning beast's neck. "Fine, as long as you don't harm it!" The white owl was straightforward; having failed to capture him immediately, it dared not take any more risks. Moments later, Qin Ming appeared at the Red Mist Cave, merely two li away. Days ago, when he came here with Xu Sheng and Sister Fenfang to fish for spiritual eels, they had been mobbed by an overwhelming swarm of fire bats. Standing here, he patted the purple lightning beast and said, "As the old saying goes, 'Though you escort a friend a thousand li, part you must at last.' Go on back." The purple lightning beast ground its teeth, so stifled with indignation that flames practically shot from its eyes. Qin Ming remarked suspiciously, "Why do you look rather familiar to me? This snarling, glaring expression of yours is identical to the last purple lightning beast. Don't tell me you're the very same beast? Could you have trailed me all the way from Black-White Mountain to here?" "Get lost!" The purple lightning beast exploded. Utterly pushed beyond endurance, it actually spoke in human tongue! "You can actually speak human speech!" Qin Ming was greatly shocked. He slapped it out of the Red Mist Cave, then swiftly triggered a commotion here, stirring up a sky-blotting swarm of fire bats. Spinning on his heels, he ran toward the cold pool, wrapping the ancient books in the waterproof oilpaper along the way, then plunged headfirst into the icy water. More than twenty li away, Qin Ming surfaced in a lake. By now, he had already torn off the bushy beard, stripped off the oversized clothes, and shed his plump frame, returning to his slender build. He was still wearing a loose set of clothes underneath. Now, using heavenly light to evaporate the moisture, his wide sleeves billowed in the air, restoring him to an elegant, handsome youth. Qin Ming was in no rush to return. He hunted in the mountains until the time was about right, and seeing people gradually emerging from the forest, he set out on his return journey as well. "Hey, big fat guy with the beard, get over here!" "You, hairless fatty, you stop too! Did you shave off your beard just now?" At the vital intersection leading toward Chixia City, any plump-bodied person suffered egregious verbal abuse, repeatedly called "fatty" by a flock of birds and terrifying mountain monsters, and stopped for questioning. Qin Ming's robes billowed, his raven hair lifting in the spring breeze. On his delicate, refined face, his eyes were clear and devoid of any worldly taint as he entered the city with effortless elegance.