Under the dim night sky, tall mountains stood side by side, covered in thick white snow. Strange birds circled low, and the sounds of mountain beasts echoed nearby.
As the cold snowflakes landed on his hair, Qin Ming felt quite satisfied. Although entering the mountains today was very dangerous, the rewards were far beyond his expectations.
His second chance at life had provided him with enough resources, meaning his strength would greatly increase.
Qin Ming stood in the wind and snow, gazing at the forest stained with deep red blood. He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he had no other choice.
Since the other party had given him such a heavy gift, he had to bury them properly. The dead should rest in peace and not wear cold armor anymore.
He stripped the black armor off and searched the body from head to toe. Then he placed the corpse deep in the forest, where the mountain beasts would take care of the burial.
“What a good sword!” Qin Ming ran his hand over the long sword, which sparkled like a clear spring. He gently waved it in the night, and the brilliant sword light shone like a ribbon in the air.
However, he couldn’t take it out of the mountains, which made him feel regretful.
This sword was much stronger than Fu Entao's long knife. After he had cut down the blood snake, Fu Entao's knife was full of chips, while the man with the black sword had killed the blood snake with this sword, and it remained sharp and smooth like a mirror.
Qin Ming quickly cleaned up the battlefield. He buried what needed to be buried and disposed of the rest. This group came from Chixia City, so everything had to be cleaned up.
Whether it was the long sword or the owner’s black armor, they were the best weapons he could access, but they had to stay in the mountains.
“I’ll dig it up when I need it later.”
Clearly, the weapons left by Fu Entao, Feng Yian, and others were no longer usable, as they had been severely damaged in the fight against the blood snake.
Each of the men had some night silver, and the strongest among them had thirteen pieces of day gold.
“Indeed, without unexpected wealth, one cannot become rich; without night grass, horses cannot grow fat,” Qin Ming sighed, but he didn’t want to deal with the blood-stained day gold.
Unfortunately, the meditation techniques and energy skills he valued most were nowhere to be found. It was understandable; who would carry scriptures and secret books when venturing into the mountains?
Qin Ming started his journey back home. On the way, he hunted a large wild bull, cleaned its organs, stuffed the blood snake inside, and sewed up its belly.
There were no surprises along the way, and he returned home safely.
“Fu Entao and Feng Yian have been dead for two days; why hasn’t the news come out yet?” Qin Ming guessed it should be soon.
After all, the group of mountain patrollers who went to deal with the blood snake had sent someone to spy on Fu Entao’s hideout and found that several wooden houses had disappeared.
In fact, the day after Fu Entao and Feng Yian vanished, someone noticed something was off because the catalyst needed for the black moon planted in the fire spring had been prepared, but the head of the patrol team hadn’t come to collect it when the time came.
When Fu Entao didn’t show up for two consecutive days, and Feng Yian and Shao Chengfeng also didn’t go to Yinteng Town to fool around, those involved realized something might have gone wrong.
After lunch, Qin Ming began to practice with his knife seriously.
He stood in the courtyard, swinging a long-handled black gold hammer, and gradually stirred up the snowflakes in the yard, causing a flurry of snow to fall. The hammer broke through the air, creating a sound like wind and thunder.
It wasn’t until he felt hot and delivered the strongest blow with the hammer that the wind and snow exploded around him that he stopped, standing in the courtyard, drenched in sweat, feeling invigorated.
Qin Ming gained new insights into the fighting techniques recorded in the knife manual. He stood still for a long time, trying to grasp those feelings and reflect on them.
Then he began to study “Harmonizing Light with Dust,” visualizing stillness, concealing vitality, and deepening his understanding as he went along.
As the night deepened, Xu Yueping returned from outside with an extremely serious expression and called all the new arrivals in the village over.
“We have a big problem!” His few simple words immediately made everyone tense up.
“What’s going on?” someone asked.
“Feng Yian, Shao Chengfeng, and the others are very likely… to have been wiped out by the mountain monsters!” Xu Yueping said, unable to hold back a laugh at the end.
He quickly composed himself; after all, he couldn’t show too much amusement about something so serious, as it could cause trouble if it got out.
But the corners of his eyes and brows relaxed, and even pouring black ant tea became lighter in his hands.
“Is that true?” Yang Yongqing jumped up. This was indeed a big event.
Xu Yueping nodded and said, “They’ve been missing for two days; it’s likely they’re in big trouble.”
Old Liu, being older, didn’t care much and directly said, “Wow, the mountains are truly terrifying! Feng Yian and Shao Chengfeng are dead? That mountain monster must be becoming a mountain god!”
“How does Xu Uncle know?” Qin Ming asked, trying to seem calm as he wanted to understand the latest situation.
Xu Yueping replied, “Not long ago, a large group of patrolmen, numbering in the dozens, rushed into Qingsang Village looking for that distant relative of Er Bingzi, Xu Kong.”
“Why are they looking for him?”
“Because only Qingsang Village didn’t plant the black moon, and Feng Yian and Shao Chengfeng had visited there the day before they went missing.”
Hearing this, Qin Ming fell into a daze.
Qingsang Village, Xu Kong was confused. What was going on? Why had he suddenly become one of the suspects?
That day, Feng Yian, Shao Chengfeng, and the others had visited politely, and even they wouldn’t dare threaten him. There couldn’t possibly be any deep-seated hatred between them, as they were not on the same level.
But now the patrol team was mobilizing, all armed and ready, with iron arrows drawn.
Several great masters had come in person, leading sixty or seventy patrolmen to surround the area.
At the same time, the patrol team that had previously attacked the Blood Bamboo Forest was also being monitored, and their leader, Liu Huaishan, was trapped by several other leaders of the same rank.
“Everyone, what are you doing? I may not like Fu Entao and the others, but I wouldn’t directly go and wipe them out, putting myself in danger,” Liu Huaishan said quickly.
Someone said coldly, “Then tell us why your group has lost several members recently and why you’ve taken twelve sets of armor and purchased a large amount of poison. Are you denying it?”
“I… I’m being wronged!” Liu Huaishan was sweating and explained, “We took the armor and bought the poison to hunt spiritual creatures in the Blood Bamboo Forest.”
An elder shouted, “That matches up! The Blood Bamboo Forest is under Fu Entao’s jurisdiction. Their group has always wanted to hunt the blood snake, and when you crossed over, you must have clashed with them. There’s an even worse possibility: while they and the blood snake were both injured, you secretly attacked and harmed them, right?”
“I…” Liu Huaishan almost spat blood. Listening to it, he felt like every point made sense, as if it was very reasonable.
“Got nothing to say?!”
Liu Huaishan hurriedly shook his head and quickly explained loudly, “Old man, don’t act rashly. Colleagues, please listen to me. We really didn’t commit any bloodshed. But I seem to know who did it. We saw a man with a dark complexion carrying a long sword, killing the blood snake. In that area, he’s probably the only one with that kind of strength…”
Then he added solemnly, “Most importantly, we genuinely felt his strong hostility towards us patrolmen. He once approached us with his sword, wanting to kill us!”
“Take them away and interrogate them carefully!” an elder ordered calmly.
Several powerful elders looked grim. It had been years since such a serious incident had occurred. A patrol team had actually been wiped out. If it was man-made, it was undoubtedly a big case.
All the patrol teams in the area were mobilized and acted separately.
One patrol team arrived at Shuangshu Village, not only calling Xu Yueping, Qin Ming, and other new arrivals for questioning but also blocking several idlers in the village.
“Is there anyone here who has had conflicts with the patrol team, such as the new arrivals in your village? Did you have any clashes with Feng Yian, Shao Chengfeng, and the others?”
A patrolman sternly questioned several idlers, including Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong, who had once tried to intercept Qin Ming’s prey when he had just recovered from illness.
“What are you looking at? We’re asking you questions, answer honestly!” The patrolman had no patience for them.
“Xu Uncle is usually kind; Old Liu’s legs have gone soft…” Ma Yang replied.
In the distance, Old Liu heard this and was so furious that his beard stood on end. He almost rolled up his sleeves to give him a beating.
“Qin Ming, although Qin Xiaoge has beaten us, I can’t falsely accuse him. He’s the least likely to do this. He just became a new arrival not long ago, is very kind and peaceful, and has shared a lot of the prey he brought back with the villagers, even giving us meat despite past grievances.”
Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong each responded, saying that the new arrivals in the village were all good people and had never had conflicts or disputes.
The patrolmen turned and left without lingering. They were just doing their routine and had to hurry to the next village.
That night, Liu Huaishan and a few surviving subordinates, even though they weren’t good at drawing, forced themselves to sketch again and again until they finally depicted Wang Nianzhuzhi holding a sword and slaying the blood snake.
A stack of Wang Nianzhuzhi’s images was quickly sent out and distributed to various towns.
...
At night, Qin Ming and Xu Yueping leisurely drank a jar of aged wine that Old Liu had dug out from under the bed. The three of them enjoyed a few drinks and were in a great mood.
“Hey, last time, little Qin was still cursing, saying so many ‘what ifs,’ and it really came true. They were actually taken away by the mountain monsters!”
Xu Yueping was in high spirits, the wine didn’t make people drunk, but it made him feel tipsy after just a few cups.
“I said it, even heaven can’t overlook them; sooner or later, something would happen,” Qin Ming said, feeling exhilarated. He was referring to himself as heaven.
He was in a great mood now because he was about to prepare for his second chance at life. Suddenly, he found that the taste of this old wine wasn’t bad at all.
Old Liu felt pained and said, “Sigh, this is the old wine I’ve cherished for ten years. There’s only this one jar left, and after this, there won’t be a drop of wine in the house.”
“Don’t feel bad, Old Liu. I’ll treat you to ten jars in the future. Let’s chat about the second chance at life. I’ve been having some feelings lately; my body seems to be heating up.”
“I’ll go… are you a monster?!”
...
Late at night, Qin Ming took out the blood snake at home.
The second large snake had deep wounds. Qin Ming judged that besides the sharpness of the long sword wielded by the man with the dark complexion, his strength must also be very strong, possibly even greater than his own.
Plus, with the other party’s faster speed, if they met in a narrow space and fought to the end, he could really be in danger.
Qin Ming felt a bit gloomy. The mountains were becoming increasingly dangerous with all sorts of monsters appearing.
But when he thought about the man with the dark complexion already having his second chance at life, his mindset became very calm. His arms now had the strength of a thousand pounds, and if he had a second chance, he could lift two thousand pounds, far exceeding the records of those gifted individuals from Chixia City.
At least in the last few hundred years, there hadn’t been such shocking records in Chixia City.
“Everything is ready; it’s time for my second chance at life…”
Wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival, good health, and all the best!