Chixia City stood grand and imposing, bright as day.
Bathed in the warm early spring breeze, Qin Ming returned safely. He happened to catch sight of a troop of experts riding out of the city, their armor gleaming brightly like a surging torrent of steel pouring into the distance.
There was no mountain lord ruling this domain, making the City Lord's Manor the supreme authority. With the sudden appearance of high-level variants in the distance, the troops in the city had been mobilized at once.
Although supreme variants like the Psychic Jade Rhino and the black flood dragon dwelt in the deepest reaches of the mountain range, they had never dared challenge Chixia City's standing. Normally, the two sides lived in mutual peace and would not lightly permit their top combat forces to cross borders.
Before long, the small cluster of Newborns who had been intercepted by variants along the road returned safely as well.
Wu Zheng happened to see Qin Ming returning to the inn and greeted him. "Brother Qin, you're back from venturing into the mountains alone? I was just heading out—let me bring dinner back for you."
"How did you get hurt?" Qin Ming noticed bandages wrapped around his neck and hands, with faint traces of blood seeping through.
Dejected, Wu Zheng lowered his head and sighed. "I've been going into the mountains these past few days too, and four of my companions died. Thanks to my decent archery and spear skills, I managed to escape with my life. Sigh, trying to obtain spiritual substance in the mountains is just too hard."
Such was reality: many Newborns who wanted to advance their strength again had no choice but to stake their lives on it.
After returning to his room, Qin Ming threw away the White Jade Powder as a precaution. It was a powder made specifically for men to mask heavy body odor.
He had no foul smell himself; it had only been an intentional disguise when he changed his identity to enter the mountains. Afterward, he took a hot bath and changed into clean, dry clothes.
"Brother Qin, I brought back some beef pies and a few home-style dishes. I hope they suit your taste." Wu Zheng knocked and came in.
The seventeen-year-old youth had been full of high spirits and bright hopes for the future when leaving Black-White Mountain, but after suffering successive setbacks and injuries, he now looked listless and dispirited.
His eyes were slightly red; clearly, he had wept.
"Do you want to eat a bit more?" Qin Ming asked.
"No, I already ate my fill outside," Wu Zheng said, shaking his head.
"Then take this back to your room and ingest it." Qin Ming took out the jar of spiritual substance he had bought at cost from the snake-woman Wu Yiyi.
Puzzled, Wu Zheng took it. Upon opening it and seeing the shimmering liquid flowing with spiritual radiance, he was dumbfounded, instantly realizing what it was.
"Brother Qin, this... this is far too precious. I can't accept this!" He hastily sealed the jar, worried that its spiritual essence might leak away.
"If I give it to you, just take it. Build up your physique first, and everything else will be easy to solve," Qin Ming said, pressing it into his hands.
Wu Zheng was a year older than him and always called him Brother Qin with genuine warmth. Moreover, Qin Ming had learned the Wu family's supreme arts of spear and archery. Since he could effortlessly resolve the youth's predicament, he was more than willing to lend a helping hand.
"Brother Qin!" Tears welled up in the seventeen-year-old's eyes. Nodding heavily, he took the spiritual substance and departed.
After finishing dinner, Qin Ming began taking inventory of his gains. Looking at the three bloodstained ancient books, he could easily picture the life-and-death struggles behind them.
Once one stepped into the mountains, each was both hunter and prey. Even if someone had an extraordinary backstory, once they died in the mountains, it was all over.
Today's experience had been rather bizarre. He had never expected the purple lightning beast to possess such a prestigious background, so much so that the mountain variants had showered him with lavish gifts just to curry favor with it.
To think he had run into it twice in a row. Qin Ming could not help but chuckle, guessing that the purple lightning beast was probably furious enough to explode on the spot.
"Better hope you don't run into me next time." In any case, he had no desire to cross paths with it again. If it recognized him, a violent storm would surely follow.
Qin Ming felt no guilt. When he first encountered the purple lightning beast, it had leaped through the air to crush his skull; any other Newborn would likely have died right then.
Regardless of its noble bloodline or towering origins, it remained a dangerous creature of the wild. Most of the time, they were prey to each other, locked in deadly clashes. Qin Ming found it difficult to empathize with a variant creature.
"Skimming Across Grass." Qin Ming first picked up the secret manual on leg techniques, looking at the three characters on the cover with eager anticipation.
He studied it intently. Moments later, resonating with the lingering emotions left by the author and combining them with his own comprehension, he thoroughly grasped the secret art.
The entire manual centered primarily on escape. By channeling a unique "wind force," one could run like the wind with an exceptionally light and nimble body. In short, it was a life-preserving art.
There were offensive strikes within the leg technique as well, but they were limited in scope and not its core focus.
Qin Ming found Skimming Across Grass quite fascinating; he happened to lack such an escape art.
He picked up the second manual, *Body Forging*. It was a technique designed to enhance physical toughness, training a kind of "forging force" aimed at tempering the flesh until it was as hard as refined gold.
Concentrating deeply, Qin Ming resonated with the lingering emotions. Coupled with his far-above-average comprehension, he quickly grasped the true essence of the technique.
The third book, bound in golden beast hide, was titled *Golden Light Shroud*. As the name suggested, it was a defensive art that mobilized heavenly light to form a layer of golden brilliance over the body for protection.
When trained to an advanced realm, the golden light would shine resplendently and expand outward, far beyond merely coating the skin.
Qin Ming's heart shook as he glimpsed the founder's formidable power. When that female cultivator reached the pinnacle of Golden Light Shroud, the dense golden radiance she manifested was thicker than a city wall!
"Incredible!" he marveled aloud. No wonder Bai Xi of the Psychic Jade Rhino clan had initially hidden it away; he had surely intended to sell it for an astronomical price later on.
The Golden Light Shroud could do more than merely defend. It could also shoot terrifying rays of heavenly light from within the dense golden brilliance, shredding surrounding enemies.
Qin Ming deemed this manual extraordinarily valuable. The "golden light force" within was undoubtedly a potent composite force.
"I wonder if this *Golden Light Shroud* can be merged with *Vajra Armor*. If they can eventually be fused together, the power will surely skyrocket." He looked forward to the possibility.
Qin Ming had brought back more than just these three books; there were also several beast-hide scrolls that could not resonate with his spirit. Trusting his comprehension, he had planned to train in a few more on his own.
Soon, however, he frowned. Secret manuals bought from outside really could not be practiced carelessly. They were riddled with traps. The first ten pages were fine, but cultivating further caused his blood and qi to roil violently in extreme discomfort.
He hurriedly used the method from the silk book to regulate himself. Slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air, he tossed those scrolls aside.
For a single trip into the mountains, acquiring three techniques—Skimming Across Grass, Body Forging, and Golden Light Shroud—was more than enough. Adding Ge Qianxun's *Vajra Armor* and the invaluable *Departing Fire Classic* Ning Siqi had gifted him, he had plenty to study and cultivate in the short term.
If he could digest all of these secret manuals, his strength would surely leap forward by leaps and bounds!
Next, Qin Ming held the yellowish-brown stone in his palm and examined it closely. It was only the size of a palm, etched with mysterious markings.
At the mere touch, his heavenly light grew restless. When he executed the Yellow Clay Palm, the attributes of his heavenly light shifted accordingly—not into gentle force, nor into the hard force born of softness taken to its extreme, but into a heavy, vast yellowish-brown heavenly light force.
This was the marvel of the silk book's method: it could merge various types of heavenly light force, transform toward a single force, or trace the path of an extraordinary art to cultivate the most suitable heavenly light force.
"The condensed essence of underground earth veins formed into stone!" Qin Ming understood what it was. While the manual for the Yellow Clay Palm did not record this, the elderly creator had muttered about such a wondrous stone during their emotional resonance.
Excitement surged through him. Achieving an advanced mastery of the Yellow Clay Palm was exceedingly difficult; one had to at least reach the stage of projecting heavenly light before improving it, as only then could one harvest external spiritual substances like the aura of the earth.
Now that Qin Ming had obtained a wondrous stone formed from the essence of earth veins, he could accelerate that process.
He knew very well how terrifying the Yellow Clay Palm was at its highest realm: shattering mountain-sized beasts as easily as clay pots, converting gentle force into hard force, and drawing upon earth essence to sweep away all resistance.
Although this single stone could not bring him to that ultimate level, it would definitely advance him by a large stride, granting him a palm strike of extraordinary lethality.
Over the next few days, Qin Ming practiced diligently. Aside from the *Departing Fire Classic*, which was the most difficult extraordinary art and remained unstudied, he made steady progress in all the rest, successfully developing an initial wisp of heavenly light force for each.
The Yellow Clay Palm advanced most remarkably. After thoroughly absorbing the essence of the wondrous stone, a faint yellow mist drifted around his fingers whenever he channeled the technique.
When he went to test it, a massive ornamental boulder in the courtyard instantly crumbled into fine powder, and the rockery beside it collapsed as well.
The innkeeper was outraged, grabbing him to demand compensation. Not wanting to cause a commotion, Qin Ming hurriedly handed over day gold and claimed that it had been done by the black-robed man from the City Lord's Manor who often visited him, telling him not to speak of it carelessly.
"In that case, I don't need compensation!"
"No, please take it. It must be paid; this is only right."
...
Two days later, Meng Xinghai sent someone to fetch Qin Ming.
Inside the reception hall of the City Lord's Manor, soothing incense curled upward from a burner.
With a solemn expression, Meng Xinghai handed him four sheets of paper and told him to study and comprehend them on the spot.
Puzzled, Qin Ming took them nonetheless. Before long, he put the papers down and stepped into the courtyard to run through the forms.
"How does it feel?" Meng Xinghai came out shortly after to ask.
"I feel like I'm about to produce my first wisp of heavenly light force," Qin Ming reported.
"So fast?!" Meng Xinghai was astonished once again. This youth seemed capable of surprising him every single time, possessing a comprehension so formidable that it broke through the city lord's composure.
"I've always learned things fast. Many people in the Cui clan knew that," Qin Ming replied.
Meng Xinghai composed himself, restoring the steady demeanor befitting an elder and city lord. He nodded and said, "Indeed. This is an introductory primer to a scattered heritage. Only by mastering it quickly can one practice the main text of that rare, extraordinary art. Since your affinities align so well with its path, I shall swallow my pride and call upon two good friends to pool our efforts and see if we can secure the full technique for you."
Qin Ming said, "Uncle Meng, you're only in your early thirties, in the full bloom of youth and the prime of your life for forging ahead. How can you talk about swallowing your pride? A youth like me is still at an ignorant age and requires much guidance and care from you."
Meng Xinghai laughed. "You rascal, pouring sweet flattery down my throat! How about... I just adopt you as my godson?"
"Uncle, you're not that much older than me, are you?" Qin Ming noticed that Meng Xinghai appeared exceedingly busy; in this brief span, several people had already arrived seeking him.
Soon, he learned what had happened.
Following a thorough investigation and intelligence obtained from Ge Qianxun, Meng Xinghai had discovered that the Golden Bandits maintained numerous secret businesses within Chixia City.
Evidently, the Golden Bandits had caught wind of trouble and were preparing to pull out swiftly, seeking to make off with all their wealth.
Meng Xinghai knew he could wait no longer. He had to strike now and prevent them from fleeing with their spoils.
He was well aware that doing so would provoke fierce retaliation from the Golden Bandits. While they would not dare challenge him or Chixia City directly, they were very likely to wreak havoc in the surrounding regions.
"Uncle Meng, I need to make a temporary return to Black-White Mountain!" Qin Ming stood up abruptly. He knew full well that if the Golden Bandits sought revenge for Meng Xinghai's moves, Black-White Mountain would surely be caught in the crosshairs.
Above all, he had personally wiped out Golden Rooster Ridge; the bandits might well hold a special grudge over that.
Ever since embarking on the Newborn path, Qin Ming had broken through hurdle after hurdle with relative smoothness. He felt it was time to test himself in a major battle—to fight with all his might and shield the remote land he had once called home from the onslaught of the Golden Bandits!
Chapter 87