In the room, you could hear a pin drop, but in this eerie silence, Qin Ming suddenly heard whispers close to his ear.
He quickly grabbed the long-handled black gold hammer, his body tense like a cheetah. This wasn’t just his imagination; he had even seen a blurry shadow moments ago.
Outside, the night was deep, and the sunstone in the room began to dim. Suddenly, it flickered and went completely dark, plunging everything into a thick silence.
Fortunately, the whispering in his ear had also disappeared.
After a moment, he reached out to touch the worn leather knife manual, which had pages that were curling and frayed. It was quiet; nothing happened.
He picked up the manual, but the room was too dark to see the words on the pages. Since nothing unusual was happening now, could it have just been a trick of the mind?
Qin Ming immediately stepped outside, went to the hot spring at the village entrance, and gathered a few glowing stones before quickly returning home.
With one hand holding the big hammer and the other flipping through the old knife manual, he remained calm, and there were still no whispers.
“Was that just an auditory illusion?”
Soon, Qin Ming focused again, directing his attention to the ancient leather pages, earnestly studying the hard work of those who came before him.
“Ah…”
At that moment, Qin Ming’s hair stood on end. Not only did he hear whispers in the stillness, but also a clear sigh echoed in his ears.
Then, an old man with white hair appeared in the dim room, his tattered clothes stained with blood, swaying in front of Qin Ming.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, and the newly brought sunstones appeared to dim along with it.
Qin Ming reacted quickly and struck him with the hammer.
The sigh vanished, and the bloodied old man disappeared as well.
What was going on? The world seemed different to Qin Ming. He looked serious; he was just studying a knife manual, yet things had turned so strange.
He tightened his grip on the long-handled black gold hammer and carefully examined the room. The sunstone still shone brightly, and the temperature seemed unchanged; everything had returned to normal.
“Is this a cursed book?” Qin Ming stared at the knife manual, which was bound in animal skin and seemed quite old, with each page worn down.
“Or did I absorb that liquid, causing my mind to be too alert, leading to these strange sights and sounds?” he pondered.
Finally, he gritted his teeth, deciding to stay still for now and see what kind of monster or spirit might appear.
Holding the hammer in one hand and flipping through the knife manual with the other, the only sound in the room was the rustling of the leather pages until he was completely immersed in studying various combat techniques. Then the whispering returned, and a bloodied old man with disheveled hair stood not far in front of him.
“Time is short; leave this knife manual behind. Alas, it’s a pity that my understanding of the knife path cannot be fully described and will inevitably be lost. What a waste of my half a lifetime of effort,” the old man sighed.
Then, Qin Ming saw him bent over, writing, and with each stroke, flashes of knife light appeared as if trying to tear through the night.
Every time the old man completed a knife technique, scenes of his training would emerge, along with his emotions, insights, and understanding of the knife forms.
Qin Ming immediately realized how significant this was for him, how important it was. After absorbing the liquid from the “scraps,” the world he saw was completely different.
When he focused his mind, he could feel the author’s emotions through this ancient book, resonating with him, and his understanding of the knife techniques surpassed what was written.
Qin Ming considered himself very perceptive and learned quickly. Earlier, when he was flipping through the knife manual in the mountains, he didn’t find it difficult and quickly grasped its essence.
But now, this wasn’t just about perception; it was about witnessing how the manual was created, resonating with the old man’s spirit during his training. This involved experience, comprehension, and the most fundamental understanding of the knife techniques.
“This knife manual carries the essence of an old man’s half a lifetime of effort. I resonate with it and recreate the real scenes from back then…”
Qin Ming briefly lost focus and stepped back from that vivid scene.
Then he dropped the black gold hammer and sat in front of the copper basin holding the sunstone, starting over to seriously study the knife manual, pouring all his attention into it.
Indeed, the more focused he became, the clearer those sounds, images, and emotional resonances grew.
For a moment, he saw the old man gazing at the night sky, contemplating the knife techniques, piercing the darkness with a brilliant knife light.
Then the scene changed to thunder and lightning, with heavy rain pouring down. The old man gained new insights, wielding a wooden knife in the rain, executing a breathtaking strike that seemed to cut through the heavens, the light from the wooden knife shining brighter than the lightning in the night sky, breaking through the darkness.
Qin Ming was so excited that his spirit trembled. This move wasn’t in the manual; it was a technique that could only be understood through spiritual elevation.
This profound feeling was hard to put into words, which is why the old man sighed, knowing his knife techniques would inevitably lose some of their essence.
But now, Qin Ming had witnessed it and resonated emotionally and spiritually, fully grasping the essence of that strike.
In the subsequent knife techniques, the old man practiced hard in the deep mountains, slaying giant beasts.
Then he walked alone through wind and snow, battling many strong enemies, losing an arm. After being severely injured, he retreated, burying a broken knife in his old age.
After that, he lived in seclusion to recover, staying quiet for five years. When he dug up that broken knife again and struck with it, the dazzling knife light in the rainy night became even more overwhelming, like a mountain splitting another mountain, or the sea calming the ocean.
He grew fiercer with age, not returning to simplicity or nature in his knife intent, but singing loudly as he advanced, until the terrifying knife light threatened to burn away his frail body, unable to bear it any longer.
After another long journey, he swept away all opponents with the broken knife, finally returning to the place where he had sat for five years. He buried the knife, left a note, and faced the end of his life.
“What a pity, I was trapped in a remote place without effective methods to elevate my life’s essence. Though I understood the knife path deeply and was confident in my perception, my body held me back, and I couldn’t see higher-level texts. My life can only stop here.”
The old man had little time left and wrote quickly, each stroke flashing with knife light. However, when it came to heavenly light, the scenes became blurry, and the later pages were completely unreadable.
Qin Ming understood that he probably hadn’t cultivated heavenly light yet, so he couldn’t resonate emotionally and spiritually, hence he couldn’t see those parts.
He closed the knife manual and shut his eyes, all the sights and sounds, every scene, floated in his mind, along with experiences, insights, and a new understanding of the knife techniques, as if they were his own experiences.
He picked up the long-handled black gold hammer and went into the yard, demonstrating the knife techniques that weren’t recorded in the manual. For a moment, it seemed like lightning appeared in the night sky.
The big hammer in Qin Ming’s hand swept through the night, its head shining with black gold, moving faster and faster, leaving behind terrifying trails that intertwined in the yard, gradually entangling together, like an explosion of dense, terrifying knife light.
He stopped swinging the hammer, feeling quite shaken inside because he had recreated those knife techniques.
Qin Ming felt confident that given the complete knife techniques, after spending some time, he could definitely master them.
But right now, through spiritual resonance, he had grasped these techniques that surpassed what was in the manual in just one night, as if he had trained for decades.
Soon, Qin Ming calmed down. This was limited to skills, experience, and understanding of the knife techniques; as for enhancing his life’s essence, he still needed to cultivate.
But that was already astonishing enough!
He pondered what that liquid in the stones was, which allowed his spirit to resonate with the mysterious emotions contained in this book.
Qin Ming realized that the mysterious substance in the “scraps” might not be inferior to what was born from the fusion of ten beams of light and five-colored mist. If this got out, it would likely cause an unimaginable storm.
He even suspected that the origins of this “scrap” might be even greater.
Qin Ming’s thoughts surged as he recalled many things.
On the night when the great fire consumed the entire village, the feather-clad youth appeared ethereal, holding a purple shimmering bamboo stick, clearly from a powerful background, and his strength was undoubtedly profound, with an even more terrifying force behind him.
Now, Qin Ming felt more composed and confident, ready to head toward the Moonfall City and face the bloody past.
At the same time, the two women who appeared at the village entrance seemed to be on a different path from him, looking down on those who walked the path of new life.
Qin Ming now believed that his own path might not be weaker than others, as long as he advanced quickly enough, he could break through any path.
After calming his mind, he began to assess his strength.
He now had over two thousand pounds of strength in his arms, even approaching two thousand two hundred pounds. Coupled with mastering the essence of techniques not recorded in the manual, his combat ability seemed quite terrifying.
“Can I measure up to those old folks who have mastered heavenly light techniques?” Qin Ming wondered.
He silently calculated that even if those old folks could initially lift six hundred pounds when they were reborn, that would mean three rebirths would give them around one thousand eight hundred pounds, which was still less than him.
This is why everyone places such great importance on the first rebirth, wanting to establish a solid foundation because all subsequent rebirths build on that.
Qin Ming thought the scariest part of someone who had undergone three rebirths was that they had mastered heavenly light techniques. If they got close and tangled with him, he would surely die.
Because this special force could penetrate and tear apart even the scales of giant beasts, its killing power was extremely strong and terrifying. This is the fundamental reason why humans, despite their smaller size, can still fight against otherworldly beings.
However, in the realm of rebirth, heavenly light techniques could only be applied to the surface of the body, spreading slightly to fists and feet, and couldn’t extend to weapons.
Qin Ming spoke to himself: “In that case, as long as I don’t let those three-rebirth old folks get close, maintaining a proper distance, I can still fight.”
The premise was that he needed a suitable weapon. A knife or sword would definitely not work, as they could likely be torn apart by heavenly light techniques. But the long-handled black gold hammer would be fine; relying purely on strength, he was confident he could smash his opponent.
“Indeed, another sleepless night.”
Qin Ming sighed. His spirits were still high, and he only took a short nap in the early hours of the morning. He figured he wouldn’t need to sleep for the next few days.
In the later part of the night, he studied the knife techniques, breaking down the old man’s experiences, insights, and understandings, applying them in his own way, adding in his own flashes of inspiration and insights.
The next day, Cao Long, Mu Qing, and Wei Zhirou told Qin Ming that if there were no special discoveries in the next few days, they would be heading back.
On that day, they presented a mid-level Qi technique to Qin Ming and the old man Liu as a reward, allowing them to pass it on to others.
The people from Shuangshu Village were naturally very grateful; this was their first encounter with this level of rebirth technique.
Mainly, they had indeed been of great help to the three teams, such as the Fire Bat Cave, where Mu Qing, Cao Long, and others had gained a lot.
That night, Qin Ming studied the mid-level Qi technique and felt it was inferior to what he had practiced from the silk book. Moreover, this was a temporary transcription, lacking the strong emotions needed for spiritual resonance.
“It seems only the crystallization of the hard work left by predecessors will do,” he gained a new understanding.
In the evening, when Qin Ming brought the mid-level Qi technique to Liu the old man, he asked, “Old man, you wouldn’t be planning to tell the three teams in Chixia City about all the places with spiritual materials to repay your kindness, would you?”
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Once I heal, and after your second rebirth, when the mountains are completely quiet, we’ll go into the mountains together to find the spiritual materials that can help us achieve our third rebirth. I’ll keep the best places for us!” Liu the old man patted his chest and said.
Then Qin Ming asked, “Old man, are there any fallen sects in our area with some history?”
“Why do you ask that? What do you want to do?” Liu the old man looked suspicious.
Qin Ming replied, “I want to borrow books to read. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely offer them something they can’t refuse, like some night silver!”