"Mountain Lord truly possesses the bearing of a god! I'll go scout out the enemy situation for you!" The speech sparrow was brimming with drive, overflowing with passion.
In its eyes, even someone beyond the mundane world had been dealt with, so what did a mere gold-armored guard matter?
In the night sky, the black-robed woman's mount panicked. Its master had actually been killed by her opponent in such a short time, frightening it into wanting to flee immediately.
Qin Ming drew his bow like a full moon. With a twang, an iron arrow shot from the string. With a squelch, it pierced the bird of prey in the night mist, trailing a spray of blood and heavily injuring it.
"If you don't want to die, land on the ground at once." Astride the crimson eagle, Qin Ming's clothes fluttered in the wind as he forced the extraordinary bird to descend.
"Mountain Lord, things look a bit bad. That gold-armored guard's mount is actually a bat bird," the speech sparrow reported hurriedly upon returning.
"Is a bat bird special?" Qin Ming asked.
"A bat bird's sense of smell ranks near the very top in the great mountains. They're rare, and commonly used to track enemies," the speech sparrow explained rapidly.
It asked anxiously, "Could someone have tampered with you? That gold-armored guard seems very composed, as if he's certain he can track you down."
Qin Ming sniffed himself, but detected no strange odor.
"The variety of scents a bat bird can smell goes far beyond the range of other creatures." The speech sparrow was deeply wary of such an unusual beast.
"If that's the case, was I tagged? The human heart truly is unfathomable." Qin Ming frowned. When meeting acquaintances in Silver Vine Town, someone had definitely done something to him.
The culprit wasn't necessarily Zheng Maoze, as physical contact wasn't required to pull off something like that.
"Has he arrived?" Qin Ming asked.
"He landed at the edge of the desert and didn't enter right away," the speech sparrow reported.
"He's keeping his distance from the black-robed woman, afraid of causing a misunderstanding." Qin Ming had already guessed that the man was not a follower of the woman.
Otherwise, how could a gold-armored guard dawdle behind and watch someone beyond the mundane world take action personally? He should have been the first to charge in.
"Since there's a bat bird trailing us and we can't shake it off, then we'll fight to the end. Hurry, let's set things up!" Qin Ming had no intention of running away.
On the black-robed woman's body, aside from the scorched small shield and the chopstick-length black spear, there was only some day gold and no other high-value items.
"Flap your wings and erase some traces of the battle here. Be quick!" Qin Ming instructed the crimson eagle.
He then looked at the speech sparrow and said, "Clutch the woman's shoes, follow behind me, and leave some footprints in the sand."
"Mountain Lord, you're making things difficult for a bird," the speech sparrow fluttered its wings and squawked.
"You're a mutated creature—isn't doing this a breeze for you? Move fast. Even though he's keeping his distance from the black-robed woman, he won't wait long," Qin Ming urged.
Carrying the woman's corpse, Qin Ming rushed swiftly into the pitch-black night mist.
Killing the black-robed woman hadn't triggered any danger or horrifying phenomena in the desert. He suspected it might have aligned with certain rituals of the esoteric sects, essentially serving as an indirect offering.
According to rumors, if blood sacrifices had been offered to other gods, trouble was likely to occur in the desert.
"Wait for me over there!" Qin Ming ordered the black-robed woman's injured mount not to move around recklessly.
He took off his outer coat, buried it in the yellow sand, and disguised the scene.
Using a piece of the black-robed woman's sleeve, Qin Ming wiped his neck, hands, and other exposed skin vigorously, unsure whether it would remove any scent.
Then, he scrubbed himself with yellow sand.
"Why hasn't he come in yet?" He waited for a while, but the gold-armored guard still had not entered.
After slaying the black-robed woman, Qin Ming's fighting spirit soared.
In the past, many people had told him how formidable those beyond the mundane world were and that they should not be provoked lightly, which had indeed put a certain amount of pressure on him.
Furthermore, the young man who could turn into mist last time had also made him extremely wary; had the mutton-fat jade iron saber not countered the other's "mist body" back then, he truly would have been in grave danger.
Yet today, the so-called divide between immortals and mortals seemed exaggerated to him. After repeatedly merging heavenly light force, he was already capable of fatally injuring people of that caliber.
Of course, Qin Ming did not dare underestimate the outer realm, for it truly was terrifying. After all, their very first realm already allowed one to wield the power of consciousness.
"Heart Fasting: discarding distracting thoughts to make the mind serene and unified, thereby drawing near to the Dao, awakening the light of the mind, and giving birth to the power of consciousness. A truly lofty concept," Qin Ming couldn't help sighing in admiration.
This didn't mean those beyond the mundane world neglected the physical body. In subsequent stages of cultivation, they would temper and nourish their flesh with extraordinary power, leaving no obvious weaknesses.
What was most terrifying was that their path was exceptionally mature, allowing them to advance triumphantly all the way.
In contrast, the Newborn path advanced rapidly only in its first realm; once reaching the domain of the Outer Sage, progress became arduous.
Heart Fasting corresponded to Newborn. Under normal circumstances, repeatedly awakening the light of the mind in the Heart Fasting realm could suppress the vast majority of heavenly light forces.
Sometimes, cultivators who had undergone multiple Newborn transformations felt despair. Their heavenly light force was clearly immense and robust, yet they couldn't even break the defenses of outer realm cultivators who had repeatedly awakened the power of consciousness in Heart Fasting, as if inherently countered.
In the end, it was widely believed that Newborn was no match for Heart Fasting.
It had almost become universal consensus!
"Sky-Upholding force and Tathagata force should be able to shake experts from the outer realm, but legendary heavenly light forces like those are likely exceedingly hard to cultivate and aren't circulated outside."
Having recovered his memories, Qin Ming knew a great deal now.
The so-called "feasting on morning clouds and rinsing with evening mist" did not mean literally consuming the morning glow, but rare substances found in top-tier Fire Springs; nor did drinking mist mean nighttime moisture and dew, but the mysterious "celestial essence" from the depths of the night sky.
Those who could accomplish feasting on clouds and rinsing with mist were already truly formidable figures in the outer realm.
People in the Heart Fasting realm like the black-robed woman still consumed ordinary grains.
The Newborn path was more widely spread primarily because of its low threshold; for ordinary people seeking to advance, mutating their bodies was the only way.
Qin Ming stopped dwelling on the outer realm's path and stood ready, waiting in strict formation.
"Mountain Lord, I've sacrificed too much for you this time. You can't mess this up!" the speech sparrow muttered to itself, its voice trembling.
"After all this time, has she still not dealt with him?" The gold-armored guard couldn't wait any longer and urged the bat bird forward.
It flapped its fleshy wings, slowly entering the desert.
Scattered footprints marked the yellow sand, with traces of blood pointing toward the depths of the night mist.
The bat bird had fleshy bat-like wings, an avian body, the head of a tiger or leopard, and a thick, long snout like a pig's. Its sense of smell was extraordinarily sharp.
Tracking the scent along the way, it flew at low altitude, silently closing in on its target.
"Hm? Could she have already succeeded, buried him beneath the earth after killing him?" The gold-armored guard frowned.
For the bat bird signaled to him that a strong scent of the target lay beneath the yellow sand ahead.
"How could she bother burying someone after killing them? It seems something went wrong!" The gold-armored man held a gleaming greatsword, his expression turning cold.
The bat bird signaled that there was another strong scent ahead.
"Sigh, burying my clothes under the yellow sand was indeed useless," Qin Ming's voice drifted out from the distant night mist.
"You are quite remarkable. Newborn against Heart Fasting, yet you managed to kill someone beyond the mundane world." The man atop the bat bird was clad in dazzling golden armor, his eyes sharp as lightning.
Through the drifting night mist ahead, he could vaguely see the crimson eagle lying across the ground, seemingly heavily injured.
"She didn't die... she escaped," came Qin Ming's heavy panting from behind the several-meter-long crimson eagle, sounding severely wounded.
"You don't need to disguise it. She must be dead!" the gold-armored guard said coldly. Carrying him, the bat bird slowly pressed forward.
Right at that moment, he suddenly felt something was amiss. It was as if immense danger was descending. Heavenly light instantly erupted across his entire body, bursting forth from his skin.
"Ah—" he roared, finally realizing where the danger was coming from. It wasn't ahead where his attention had been focused, but from the night sky above—meteoric iron was raining down from the heavens!
Who could endure such a thing? The heavy object plummeting at high speed made his hair stand on end!
With such an abrupt turn of events, dodging was nearly impossible; who could have anticipated such an unexpected situation in advance?
One had to admit his instincts were extraordinary. Anyone else would have surely been crushed into meat paste by the falling meteoric iron, but at the critical juncture, he shifted away from his vitals.
With a squelch, his heavenly light was pierced through. One arm was reduced to mangled flesh, and his greatsword crashed to the ground.
At the same time, his bat bird was smashed right through by the falling meteoric iron. Lacking such a resilient constitution, it died instantly, plunging headfirst from low altitude into the desert.
The gold-armored guard got a clear look at that piece of meteoric iron—it was hammer-shaped!
To be precise, it was a massive warhammer dropped from high in the sky.
He was infuriated to the extreme—he had actually been schemed against.
"Stupid bird, hurry and run! I told you to play dead, not actually fall into a dead sleep!" came the speech sparrow's loud screech from ahead.
Flapping its wings rapidly, it fled at once. Not long ago, Qin Ming had entrusted it to mimic his voice, deceiving the gold-armored guard.
The crimson eagle shook its body as well and shot up into the night sky with a whoosh.
Under the night sky, Qin Ming stood atop the injured bird of prey that had belonged to the black-robed woman, his eyes bright as stars.
His archery was peerless, not merely empty talk, which naturally led to high mastery in throwing as well. When he swung and hurled the warhammer just now, he had felt a gut conviction that it would hit its mark.
The gold-armored guard was beside himself with rage. Before the battle had even truly begun, one of his arms was ruined, smashed to a pulp. The agonizing pain combined with the stinging humiliation made his hair stand on end in fury; heavenly light surged violently, illuminating his entire body with blinding brilliance.
Qin Ming ordered the black bird of prey to descend slightly, firing arrow after arrow downward!
His pupils constricted. The iron arrows were blocked by the man's heavenly light and failed to pierce his body.
This was an expert whose heavenly light could preliminarily be projected outward. The dazzling light extended about half a foot from his body, deflecting the iron arrows and even snapping some shafts.
Qin Ming was taken aback. To deal with him, they had actually mobilized an expert who had taken his first steps into the realm of an Outer Sage!
Still, it was no big deal. He had eliminated the opponent's flying mount, so the initiative was now in his hands.
Qin Ming kept drawing his bow and releasing arrows, wearing down the opponent's potent heavenly light. Perhaps by the end, he could finish off an Outer Sage!
The gold-armored guard had never felt so utterly stifled. This fight was miserable. Out of nowhere, meteoric iron had plummeted from the heavens to grievously injure him, and now he was being used as a living target!
Qin Ming soon exhausted the contents of four quivers. Only one quiver remained, but right then, he suddenly rocked violently.
"Descend, quickly!"
His initial countermeasure had been flawless, but an unexpected hitch had arisen—man proposes, heaven disposes. This black bird of prey had been shot through by him and was heavily injured to begin with. On top of that, when he hurled the warhammer, the immense recoil force of his feet stamping against its back had nearly "sent it to the grave."
Now it struggled to stay aloft, wobbling and veering toward the ground.
"Crimson Eagle!" Qin Ming shouted.
However, the crimson eagle and the speech sparrow had fled as far as they could earlier; distant water could not quench a nearby fire.
"Haha..." Feeling deeply humiliated and stifled, the gold-armored man burst into laughter. Picking up the greatsword from the ground with his left hand, he gauged where the bird of prey was about to crash and charged forward with massive strides.
"Is this... throwing the warhammer wasn't thrilling enough, so he hurled himself down too?" The speech sparrow drew near, utterly dumbfounded.
The crimson eagle rushed back as well, but it was already too late.
Qin Ming's earlier calm and faint smile vanished. He wouldn't necessarily fall to his death—the black bird beneath his feet was descending, but not in freefall; it was gliding down. What was far more dangerous, however, was that he was about to face off against an Outer Sage!
Chapter 94