Qin Ming had been continuously channeling Harmonize with Light and Dust, keeping his body's aura close to that of an ordinary person. Yet even a glance like his had been detected by the other party, showing just how formidable the youth's perception was.
The night deepened, making the Fire Spring exceptionally bright.
A light breeze blew past, stirring Cui Chonghe's luminous hair. Handsome as carved jade, with a faint shower of light swirling around him, he seemed to stand upon the immortal path, severed from every trace of the mortal world.
Qin Ming stood on the dim slope, nodding slightly in that direction.
By the Fire Spring, beneath the Black-White Twin Trees, Cui Chonghe's feathered robes fluttered amid wisps of white mist. His face was like sculpted, flawless jade, warm and delicate, and his deep eyes met the direction of the slope as he nodded in return.
Qin Ming realized that Cui Chonghe did not recognize him.
He could understand why. He had looked into Cui Chonghe before: the youth possessed noble status and had been valued since childhood by senior figures famous across the night-mist world. Precocious from birth and possessing peerless talent, everything had gone his way along his path, leaving him boundlessly confident.
How could such a person ever pay attention to a false Cui Chonghe?
When Qin Ming had recovered his memories previously and looked back on the past, he had already realized that Cui Chonghe had completely disregarded him.
Cui Chonghe had lost his temper only once—blaming his family for being careless about appearances, believing that the false Cui Chonghe had overstepped his bounds and made a mockery of things.
Meng Xinghai had once warned Qin Ming about how Cui Chonghe truly viewed him.
Adopting the mindset of a direct heir from a millennium-old clan, Qin Ming was merely a servant to die in his stead, a thrall raised by the Cui clan to be used and discarded at any moment.
Back then, Qin Ming had been furious.
Today, his mind was tranquil.
On the slope, Qin Ming even gave a faint smile. This was just as well; passing each other by like strangers spared them needless trouble. If the other knew who he was, it might stir up unnecessary turmoil.
Cui Chonghe returned the smile. His entire person seemed to glow, otherworldly and radiant. Then he turned his gaze to the Black-White Twin Trees and said, "A pity. Lacking the trial of crossing the heavenly light life-and-death tribulation, remnant species of such few years are useless."
Qin Ming turned, leaped onto the crimson eagle's back, and as it spread its wings, it instantly scattered the night mist, soaring off into the distance.
Perched on his shoulder, the speech sparrow spoke with lingering dread: "That youth is terrifying. When his gaze swept past so indifferently, it felt as though I was plunged from early spring straight back into the dead of winter, where all life withers and blizzards rage at their fiercest."
"You actually felt that?" Qin Ming asked in surprise; he had not sensed anything like that.
The speech sparrow nodded, still unnerved. "Yes. It was probably because I secretly probed him with my newly formed divine perception and suffered a backlash."
Qin Ming realized that Cui Chonghe was even more formidable than he had imagined; his cultivation of consciousness was extraordinarily deep.
"My mind stirred just now, struck by a fleeting premonition. It feels as though some person or matter is connected to me," beneath the Black-White Twin Trees, Cui Chonghe, enveloped in swirling white mist and drifting light rain, suddenly spoke.
He was accompanied by nearly ten people: young disciples from beyond the mundane world, gold-armored guards, jade-armored guards, and unfathomably powerful senior masters from his sect.
These people immediately scanned the wilderness with vigilance before looking toward the nearby village.
"That youth flew away on a crimson eagle. Could it be related to him?" someone suggested.
One of the outer realm disciples remarked, "Judging by the black gold hammer he carried, his physical strength is only a little over four thousand jin. In the eyes of ordinary people, that is indeed remarkable, but he doesn't even qualify to become a gold-armored guard."
"To be safe, should we look into it carefully?"
Whether in the millennium-old clan or in the outer realm, Cui Chonghe was held in extraordinarily high regard.
***
Qin Ming stood in the wilderness, waiting for news. Once the experts from Chixia City arrived, he planned to depart; this was no place to linger.
As the shallow night ended, the mountains were gradually swallowed by darkness. Various wild beasts roared incessantly, and the cries of strange birds rose and fell across the forest.
"Mountain Lord Qin, the experts from Chixia City have arrived. They want to learn the details from you," the speech sparrow said, flying back from Silver Vine Town.
Qin Ming nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing should go wrong now. He did not wish to see the leader of the Golden Bandits pass through here, or else his subordinates might stir up a storm of blood and slaughter in this remote region.
He faintly suspected that the Golden Bandits' ability to endure for so many years might be because they served as a wealth-gathering tool for some supreme organization.
Regrettably, though he had killed multiple Golden Bandits within a single day, he hadn't found any valuable items. Could it all have been entrusted to their leader?
Outside Silver Vine Town, Qin Ming met two top-tier experts.
Ling Xu, the former city lord of Chixia City, was dressed in white robes and appeared to be in his early forties. He was handsome and remarkably refined.
He smiled and said, "Young Qin, isn't it? Good lad."
Seeing him smile like that, Qin Ming's heart gave a sudden thump.
He knew well that this former city lord possessed extraordinary methods. Reportedly, he had once conspired with higher-order mutated entities in the mountains to stage an act, luring hidden lurkers to swarm a special nexus radiating five-colored sunset glow, leaving those victims suffering losses they couldn't even complain about.
Though some were furious afterward and managed to unseat him as city lord, he merely relocated, heading off to serve as the lord of an even larger city.
"Greetings, Senior Ling," Qin Ming bowed in greeting.
City Lord Ling said with a warm smile, "Meng Xinghai and I are good friends. You're his nephew, so there's no need to stand on ceremony with me."
"We hold quite an obsession regarding the Golden Bandits and wish to eliminate them with our own paws, so we rushed here as soon as we received word." In the woods, a three-foot-tall tabby cat, bearing a crimson sword on its back, strolled over with graceful feline steps, its scabbard nearly dragging on the ground.
Qin Ming greeted this great expert as well, then quickly briefed the two on the intelligence the speech sparrow's avian brethren had gathered from the major towns.
Ling Xu frowned. "Every sign indicates they truly intend to break through via Black-White Mountain. It seems the great net cast elsewhere has been reduced to mere decoration?"
"Brother Ling, after parting back then, who would have thought we'd meet again here?" A hearty laugh came from afar.
A group of people emerged from the deep darkness of the night, drawing near Silver Vine Town.
"Brother Zhao, instead of quietly meditating in your otherworldly seclusion, why have you run all the way out to a remote place like Black-White Mountain?" Ling Xu greeted a middle-aged man with a chuckle.
"For the sake of my junior brother, I came specially to seek a yin-yang great medicine. Who could have guessed that mountain lord would be so formidable, possessing no ordinary background? Still, the trip wasn't wasted in the end," the middle-aged man surnamed Zhao said as he walked over.
Following closely behind him was a youth—tall and slightly stocky, not quite looking like someone from beyond the mundane world. His name was Zheng Maoze.
Qin Ming recognized him. This was a direct descendant of the Zheng family, and also the elder brother of Zheng Maorong—the very person Qin Ming had impersonated in the black market in the night mist.
"Brother Ling, I heard that you too once obtained a yin-yang great medicine in Black-White Mountain. I wonder if you might bestow a portion or two?" the middle-aged man surnamed Zhao asked.
Ling Xu shook his head. "Rumors! You didn't actually believe that, did you? All of the black-white great medicine was snatched away by that old white-furred beast. If you're asking me for it, I can't help wondering whether you intend to recruit me as one of your divine-armored guards."
The middle-aged man surnamed Zhao shook his head and said, "How would I dare? Others might not know, but could I be ignorant? You're an expert of the esoteric sect, and you certainly keep your secrets well."
Qin Ming was astonished. The former city lord was actually someone with a foot in two different paths. It seemed none of these renowned experts were simple figures.
At the same time, he sighed inwardly. The path relying on physical mutations had truly been reduced to nothing more than a backdrop, commonly used by masters of other paths to conceal their true foundations.
As the crowd drew closer, it was clear they did not hail from a single lineage. Those beyond the mundane world were divided into many different traditions, with rivalries between them.
Qin Ming spotted several familiar faces: Lu Zhenyi, Zeng Yuan, Chen Bingyan. Some were direct descendants of prominent clans, while others were of unknown background, but they had all stayed for a time in Qinghe City waiting for masters beyond the mundane world to accept disciples. They all knew one another, and some were quite well acquainted.
Behind them were other outer realm disciples whom Qin Ming did not recognize.
"Cui Chonghe—ah, forgive me, I really didn't mean to, I was just used to calling you that in the past. To think we'd meet here! It's been over two years since we parted; how have you been?" The tall, burly Zheng Maoze was the first to walk over.
Walking at the very front, he had naturally been the first to spot this "old friend."
"I never expected to run into Young Master Zheng here," Qin Ming said.
Though Zheng Maoze was broad and muscular, his speech was far from reckless. He shook his head, pointing a finger at Qin Ming with a laugh: "Now you're being distant. We're old friends—is it appropriate to call me 'Young Master'? What would others think? They'd assume our statuses have diverged, and that I'm slighting you or looking down on you."
"All right then, Big Zheng, you haven't changed a bit!" Qin Ming laughed.
Zheng Maoze's expression stiffened slightly. Because he was broad-framed and tall, some people called him "Zheng Dazhuang" behind his back.
In the past, Cui Chonghe had warmly called him "Big Zheng."
There wasn't really any derogatory meaning in it, as he truly was exceptionally tall. His family had once considered having him walk the path of the Giant Spirit God, though fortunately he had proven more destined for the immortal path.
Yet even today, the other party dared to call him "Big Zheng" again—he certainly had some guts.
How could Qin Ming not understand him? Despite appearing candid just now, this person possessed a delicate mind beneath a rough exterior and was by no means someone easy to deal with.
Judging by how sinister his younger brother Zheng Maorong was, he certainly was no gentle soul either.
Ning Siqi had already warned Qin Ming to watch out for Zheng Maorong, as it was his subtle hints that had prompted people to move against Qin Ming recently.
If the younger brother was like that, what about the elder?
"You really haven't changed your temper at all. Being familiar like this is indeed better—it proves our friendship can withstand the test of time," Zheng Maoze chuckled, sounding thoroughly affable, before asking, "So what is your name now? How should I address you?"
Qin Ming realized that while "Zheng Dazhuang" smiled at him, he was also pointedly reminding him that their statuses were no longer the same.
Qin Ming didn't believe for a second that Zheng Maoze didn't know his current name. Ning Siqi had told him that Zheng Maorong corresponded regularly with his elder brother.
Qin Ming smiled. "I feel the same—you're just as warm as ever. Call me Qin Ming. It's only been two years, yet looking at you now, you're brimming with immortal presence, your bearing completely transformed. I imagine you already look down on our entire generation, just as you always wished!"
"Chonghe—no, Qin Ming! Don't talk nonsense in front of so many people! You're praising me to death and tossing me straight into boiling water!" Zheng Maoze hastily cut him off with a serious face.
He understood all too well that the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind, and that even commoners knew the rafter that sticks out rots first. Glancing around immediately, he said, "I am still just an ordinary disciple, utterly insignificant and light as a feather before so many senior brothers and sisters."
Qin Ming said, "Big Zheng, you're being modest!"
Not wanting to tangle with him any further, Zheng Maoze quickly changed the subject. "Haven't you seen Wang Caiwei?"
"No," Qin Ming replied with a single word.
"She should be arriving shortly," Zheng Maoze smiled.
"Qin Ming."
"How have you been?"
"Are you doing well?"
Lu Zhenyi, Zeng Yuan, and Chen Bingyan came over. All three could be considered old acquaintances, and they greeted him here.
Soon, several more old friends came over from the distance. Whatever their private thoughts might be, now that others had stepped forward to speak, none of them wanted to appear petty, so they all smiled and asked after his recent situation.
Naturally, they had long since noticed the bloodstained great hammer in Qin Ming's hand. They understood his current situation: his ties to the immortal path had been severed, and he was no longer walking the same road as they were.
"In just a little while, Li Qingxu, Wang Caiwei, and Cui Chonghe might arrive as well," someone whispered—uncertain whether it was meant to warn Qin Ming or simply offered to the others as gossip destined to stir up waves.
Chapter 91