Night shrouded the mountains. Golden Rooster Ridge was capped in pure white snow, while a brilliant, crimson Fire Spring bubbled and surged.
The old man had hair as white as snow and a clean-shaven, pale face. At first glance, he looked like a schoolmaster, devoid of any of the ferocious, bloody malice typical of vicious bandits. But the instant he glared with fury, his aura transformed entirely.
A layer of heavenly light surfaced across his body, tainted with a faint tint of blood. It was the sanguinary fiendish energy accumulated from countless slaughters—something even the heavenly light force he had cultivated for a lifetime could not cleanse away.
Beneath the night sky, beside the Fire Spring, Qin Ming was dressed in plain green robes. Handsome and ethereal, he resembled someone beyond the mundane world, an aura of transcendent clarity clinging to him from head to toe.
With a booming crash, the snow beneath the old man's feet erupted. Like a gray goshawk, he traversed ten meters in a single stride, hurtling through the air to close the distance in an instant.
At the same time, a pitch-black ferule slid from his wide sleeve. He swung it fiercely, slashing toward the youth before him like a streak of black lightning.
When the long-handled dark-gold hammer in Qin Ming's right hand swung into motion with savage might, the entire mountain summit seemed to tremble slightly. The strike detonated straight into a sonic boom.
The old man came fast, but he was repelled even faster. The moment the ponderous hammer struck his ferule, his entire body flew backward horizontally. With a crash, he slammed through a dilapidated wooden shack, blasting it apart and scattering splintered timber in every direction.
The old man was horrified. He was one of the Golden Bandits and had fought countless bloody battles throughout his life, yet he had never encountered such a ferocious boy. The youth looked like a banished immortal with his fluttering green robes, only to swing a massive hammer that hurled a veteran expert like him over a dozen meters away with sheer brute force.
Was this still a flesh-and-blood teenager? The old man even began to suspect he had run into a mountain spirit.
Qin Ming's gaze was limpid. His robes fluttered in the night wind, and under the glow of the Fire Spring, his handsome face and dark hair seemed to radiate light, lending him a truly transcendent grace.
He remained utterly calm. He had already formed an assessment of the old man: the man had not noticed him in the ruined shack beforehand and had only sensed him once they drew quite close. That meant he could not have attained a higher realm.
"A Golden Bandit who has undergone Newborn renewal seven times is nothing more than this!" Qin Ming stepped forward. His footsteps sounded lightly on the snow, crisp and featherlight.
Looking upon a youth of such extraordinary bearing, the old man felt as though he were watching a colossal beast pacing through the dark, closing in step by step.
The oppressive dread suffocated him. He had merely come to pay his respects and mourn, yet he was now facing a life-and-death crisis.
He cast a glance downward. The dark ferule forged from refined gold had… bent. What sort of monstrous strength was this? No wonder it had sent him flying.
Suddenly, Qin Ming took the offensive. Carrying the great hammer, he moved like a wisp of breeze across the snow, leaving not a single track in the night as he arrived in the blink of an eye.
With a boom, a blast of white air exploded out. Centered on him as the great hammer swept around, the surrounding snow was blasted into the air, and the dilapidated shacks were blown apart.
The old man tried to dodge, only to find he was not fast enough. He had no choice but to brace himself and meet the blow head-on.
With a resounding clang, the black ferule in his hand was bent into a deep arc. Even with his heavenly light protecting him, the webbing between his right thumb and forefinger tore open, blood streaming down.
This time, he flew backward sixteen meters, smashing an intact wooden cabin to pieces.
Beside the Fire Spring, Qin Ming remarked, "You're about the same as Ge Qianxun. Are all Golden Bandits only at this level? Just a little over four thousand jin of strength. I take it your seventh Newborn renewal was also driven by forbidden medicine?"
The old man's pupils contracted. Word had arrived earlier that Ge Qianxun had met with misfortune. Had he actually fallen to the youth before him?
Casting aside the ruined ferule, he stared at his opponent. The boy possessed the grace of a banished immortal, yet swung such a colossal hammer. The contradiction felt jarring, as though tearing apart reality.
Then, the youthful banished immortal swung the great hammer again. Taking a single stride, he leaped across more than a dozen meters and closed in on him in a flash. With a thunderous boom, the snow in the area erupted, and all the wooden shacks collapsed.
The old man spat a mouthful of blood. His outer garments were shredded to ribbons, the inner armor he wore ringing loudly under the impact. Blood seeped from all seven facial orifices, leaving him a ghastly sight.
His hands trembled violently. Only by executing the strongest strike of his entire life had he barely managed to block that great hammer with both palms.
"A little interesting," Qin Ming said, casting a downward glance at the faint palm prints left on the dark-gold hammer.
Then, he tossed the hammer aside and walked forward. He was already fully capable of bludgeoning this man to death, but he wanted to test what he had recently learned.
"Do you know how the bandits of Golden Rooster Ridge met their end? I sent them on their way with my own hands," Qin Ming said, instantly stoking the man's fighting spirit.
The old man, who had been drooping and dispirited, flared with rage. His eyes turned blood-red, his blood boiled, and his heavenly light force surged wildly.
"Ahhh!" he roared like an injured beast, his tone freezing cold. "My nephew and my grandson both died here! You deserve to die!"
With a swish, he leaped down the mountain. His fighting spirit burned fiercely—not to fight, but to survive at all costs so he could exact bloody vengeance on this youth in the future.
As the saying went: for an old man seeking revenge, thirty years was not too long to wait!
Qin Ming was taken aback. This was completely different from what he had anticipated. Coming here to mourn suggested the man had sentimental attachments, yet when the moment came, he bolted faster than a hare.
Even though the old man's blood surged and his heavenly light force billowed, he still could not escape.
Having mastered the movement technique Skimming Across Grass, Qin Ming moved as though riding the wind, overtaking him in an instant.
"I'll stake it all!" The old man was forced to fight desperately. His reaction speed seemed to increase dramatically—an ability acquired during his sixth Newborn renewal. By burning his vital essence and spirit, he could double his perception and senses, though the process consumed his very life force.
Qin Ming lightly deflected the man's palm with a pull. Silk-reeling force took hold, sending the old man tumbling to the ground in an instant.
Feeling thoroughly humiliated, the old man planted his left hand on the ground and swung his torso, his right leg sweeping through the air like an iron whip aimed at the youth's head.
Without moving his feet, Qin Ming thrust out his right hand. With a hiss, nail force manifested. The armor on the old man's calf tore like paper before his fingers, leaving several puncture holes through his flesh.
"Ah!" the old man cried out in agony. It felt as if iron nails had been driven straight through his calf, and he retreated frantically.
He sprang up, his footing unsteady as his pierced leg failed to support his weight. With bloodshot eyes, he lunged forward once more.
Qin Ming tested his hammer force. With a boom, the old man was sent flying, his left hand reduced to a mangled mess of flesh and shattered fingers.
"Again!"
The old man realized that without swinging the hammer, the boy was even more terrifying. He was using him to test techniques! Every single strike was enough to severely wound a seven-time Newborn. Just how old was this boy, and how could he have mastered so many varieties of heavenly light force?
A moment later, he experienced an even more frightening variation—burst force, a technique Qin Ming had obtained from the Thunder-Fire Gold-Forging Palace.
When the old man attempted to counter it, his entire arm blew apart.
Qin Ming felt that using him as a sparring dummy was no longer meaningful. Finally, he struck out with the Yellow Clay Palm, a faint yellow mist rising over his right hand.
The sight left the old man horrified. He blurted out, "The Yellow Clay Palm! How could someone your age have mastered it?!"
The secret manual on Golden Rooster Ridge had been left behind by this very old man years ago. He had only reached minor mastery before finding it impossible to advance further, rendering the manual useless to him.
He could deduce that the youth must have obtained that ancient text when he wiped out Golden Rooster Ridge over a month ago.
The old man could not believe it. In such a short time, there was no way he could have reached this degree of refinement.
With a dull thud, the old man failed to evade in time. Struck squarely by the Yellow Clay Palm, he was enveloped by the earthy yellow mist. Cracks spread across his body before he collapsed with wet splatters into a heap of muddy gore and bone fragments.
Even in his final moments, he muttered, "Impossible…"
Everything he knew had been shattered. Wasn't an Outer Sage required to even begin drawing in the essence of the earth?
Qin Ming shielded his body with heavenly light force, allowing a small amount to permeate outside. The old man's splattering blood was held at bay, without a single drop touching his person.
A night wind swept past, lifting his black hair and rustling his green robes. If not for the great hammer at his feet and the mound of bloody gore nearby, he would truly have appeared ethereal and transcendent.
From the moment the old man appeared to his swift demise, the entire encounter had lasted less than ten breaths.
"Time to go. The matter of Golden Rooster Ridge should be completely settled now." Qin Ming summoned the crimson eagle. Standing atop the raptor's back, he soared into the sky and sped toward Twin Trees Village.
"Trouble! The Golden Bandits have shown up in Silver Vine Town!" Far across the night sky, Qin Ming heard the speech sparrow's frantic cries.
"Ah, Mountain Lord Qin, you're here! Four ruthless killers appeared over there! The two men sent by Chixia City couldn't hold them off at all and fled the town!"
Qin Ming's heart sank. More than one or two Golden Bandits had appeared in the Black-White Mountain region; the situation was turning grim.
"Let's go have a look!" He was not rushing recklessly to his death, for he knew that the two experts stationed in Silver Vine Town had not yet reached the level of projecting heavenly light outward.
Chixia City oversaw a vast domain, of which Black-White Mountain was merely one area. It was impossible to station an Outer Sage in every single town.
"If those two were able to escape Silver Vine Town, it means the four Golden Bandits haven't broken through to a higher realm either," Qin Ming deduced.
The wind howled and the night mist churned as the crimson eagle carried him across more than fifty li. The speech sparrow chattered away, reporting the details.
Qin Ming's expression turned grim. Silver Vine Town was only a dozen or so li from Twin Trees Village, making the threat perilously close.
Soon, the crimson eagle drew near, and he could see flames rising from Silver Vine Town from afar.
At the town entrance, several houses were already ablaze, accompanied by booming laughter and weeping.
"Golden Bandits, get over here and face your deaths!" Qin Ming roared.
The eagle landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Qin Ming leaped down and charged into Silver Vine Town with broad strides.
All four Golden Bandits were drenched in blood, dragging the corpses of two elderly men.
Evidently, the two aged experts from Chixia City had fled outside the town, only to be slain by the four bandits after all. Now, their bodies were tossed into the burning houses as the four bandits grinned savagely.
Many townsfolk fled toward the town interior in panic, women and children weeping as they ran.
The four men looked up and saw the youth rushing into the town. Sneers crept across their faces, and one jeered, "Little brat, do you want to die too?"
The youngest of the four Golden Bandits was at least sixty years old, while the oldest had passed eighty. One of them had his grizzled beard spattered with his opponents' blood, making him look exceptionally feral.
"Uncle Hong, did you hear that loud shout from midair just now? Why did it sound familiar, a bit like Chonghe? It doesn't sound as boyish as it used to." A young man dressed in brocade robes wore a puzzled expression under the night sky. It was Cui Chongyi, who had previously been captured by the white owl under the command of the purple lightning beast.
He had originally set out to train and meet his "cousin." Having missed the chance to meet Qin Ming, he had ultimately chosen to travel through the Black-White Mountain region.
"It seems… it is him." Cui Hong's expression was conflicted.
They were less than a li from Silver Vine Town. Sprinting at full speed, they quickly drew close and saw the youth bathed in firelight, standing alone against the four Golden Bandits.
"Chonghe, I'm here to help you!" Cui Chongyi shouted from afar.
Then, he saw Qin Ming erupt with his full might, wielding the exaggeratedly large hammer in one hand while heavenly light force burst from the other.
Puff!
One Golden Bandit was smashed to pieces by the great hammer!
"Ah!" Another Golden Bandit traded a palm strike with Qin Ming. His arm shattered to pieces, and then a palm struck his torso, causing his entire body to disintegrate.
"You…" The remaining two older Golden Bandits felt their hair stand on end. This youth was simply too horrifying. Although they had been jarred and injured earlier, they had not been so utterly defenseless. Yet when his helper arrived, it only seemed to make him erupt even more violently. What kind of logic was this?!
Within Silver Vine Town, the youth's speed increased once more. Another Golden Bandit was struck, collapsing into crushed bone and bloody mush.
Then, the youth swung his great hammer, smashing the last man to pieces.
Without looking back, he charged deeper into Silver Vine Town and let out a whistle. A crimson eagle swooped down from high above, and he vaulted onto its back, soaring straight into the night sky.
Having just reached the town entrance, Cui Chongyi cried out, "Cousin, it's me! Don't go!"
Cui Hong, the long-armed middle-aged man, sighed. "He no longer trusts me. Go after him yourself."
"Chong—Qin Ming, wait for me!" Cui Chongyi shouted, projecting his voice into the night sky. "Some acquaintances are all over this area! Even that damned Li Qingxu has come to seek a great medicine in Black-White Mountain! Be careful around here!"
Chapter 89