As night fell, everything was wrapped in thick darkness. The trees on both sides of the road grew dense, their branches swaying in the cold wind like ghostly shadows.
In this deep night, Qin Ming decisively swung his knife, a flash of light cutting through the gloom, breaking the oppressive feeling that had settled earlier.
At that moment, a black mist surged forward, filled with malice, trying to engulf the two men in its shadows.
In this starless and moonless environment, others couldn’t see a thing, but Qin Ming could see clearly and felt the coldness of the mist. As it approached, a bone-chilling chill swept over him.
With a soft thud, it was like a hot knife slicing through butter. The short knife, covered in mineral paint, plunged into the black mist, causing a cold mist to boil around it.
"What’s going on?!" Old Liu shouted, reacting quickly. He drew his heavy machete and followed Qin Ming, swinging it at the void.
However, his big knife disappeared into the black mist, as if it had struck nothing at all.
"Get back!" Qin Ming yelled.
At the same time, he heard a piercing scream, sharp and chilling, as the black mist began to condense rapidly, taking on a human shape.
Old Liu was quick to listen, retracting his knife and retreating decisively.
He couldn’t see or hear anything, unaware of what was happening, but his instincts told him that the situation was serious and very wrong.
A man appeared in the black mist, his outline blurry, but with Qin Ming's keen eyesight, he could make out that this was a young man, his face twisted in pain, with cold, dark eyes staring at him.
Qin Ming's short knife struck into the man’s body, and to his shock, the black mist that had taken on a human form began to bleed profusely, splattering onto the ground.
This scene changed Qin Ming's expression.
The young man opened his mouth and exhaled a cloud of black mist, which transformed into a dark arrow, shooting straight at Qin Ming's forehead, cold and eerie, carrying a bone-chilling aura.
Qin Ming tilted his head to dodge the arrow made of black mist while shaking his jade iron knife violently, causing all the mineral paint on it to flake off.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The black mist attacked silently, and Qin Ming countered with a swift slash. The man who had suddenly appeared retaliated without hesitation, both reacting instantly.
Qin Ming sensed a great danger; he could very well die. This unknown entity brought a sense of oppression that made him feel the breath of death.
However, as he swung his knife, things began to change rapidly. The cold mist that rushed towards him started to weaken significantly.
In the darkness, the bright blade of his knife surged up like a blazing fire, illuminating the forest.
The jade iron knife in Qin Ming's hand changed completely after shaking off the paint and encountering this creature.
During this process, the young man in the black mist began to retreat, trying to escape the knife. But as the blade blazed like a flame, his figure twisted and trembled.
"Stop..." he screamed in despair, struggling to turn back into mist and rise into the air, but he failed.
Qin Ming had no intention of stopping. He noticed that the blood from the young man on the ground was being extinguished by the wind, turning to ash, not real human blood.
What on earth is this thing?
The young man couldn’t believe it. In such a remote place, running into a young hunter who wielded a jade iron knife was unexpected.
He could no longer turn into mist and desperately retreated, moving with human-like motions, trying to break free from the dazzling knife.
After forging this knife, Qin Ming had never used it before and didn’t know its properties. Now, after striking this mysterious creature, he discovered its incredible uses.
His heavenly light energy could flow smoothly into this knife, which would be impossible with any other weapon at his level.
Of course, his heavenly light energy wasn’t as lethal to the young man as the jade iron knife, but it allowed him to use many techniques, like the sticky properties of his heavenly light energy.
Qin Ming swung the jade iron knife, and as the white light surged, it wrapped around the young man who was trying to escape, as if burning a ghostly being.
"No, stop!" The young man cried out in terror, struggling violently.
But how could Qin Ming stop? He didn’t know what this monster was. If it escaped, he would be in grave danger.
The young man raised his hands and opened his mouth several times, trying to unleash black mist to attack Qin Ming, but all were burned away by the knife's light.
His entire body was engulfed in flames. It was no longer like a hot knife cutting through butter; it was more like a red-hot blade dropped into dry grass, igniting it.
Qin Ming used his intercepting energy, the jade iron knife moving through the young man's body, setting fire everywhere. Whenever the black mist churned and the young man desperately tried to escape, it turned into binding and sticky energy, firmly locking him in place.
It was clear that the heavenly light had pierced the night, falling upon the spiritually rich mountains, nurturing mysterious resources filled with inexplicable power.
At this moment, Qin Ming deeply understood and grasped what Cao Long, Mu Qing, and others had once said.
The jade iron knife’s brilliance surged, completely restraining the young man formed from black mist.
In the distance, Old Liu’s hair stood on end. He hadn’t seen anything; he only saw Qin Ming's white short knife glowing, then seemingly turning into a torch.
"Why can’t I see anything? It’s all black before my eyes."
Hearing his words, Qin Ming immediately realized that the young man in the black mist was even scarier than he had imagined. Ordinary people couldn’t sense him at all. How could they fight back?
The young man was filled with despair as his entire body burned. He couldn’t break free.
"In an age without the sun, I should be safe traveling at this level. How could I be ambushed here..." He was in immense pain and didn’t want to die this way. Weighing his options, he had to give something up.
"Are you one of those unseen beings that many great clans fear?" Qin Ming asked sharply.
"I’m not that kind of thing; I’m a human! Please stop and listen to me!" the young man shouted.
Upon hearing this, Qin Ming swung his knife even harder, executing his techniques within the young man's body, slashing horizontally and vertically, even using the knife techniques from his manual!
The young man formed from black mist wanted to curse, wondering why being human meant he was targeted even more fiercely.
"People like you are scarier than ghosts!" Qin Ming declared.
"I am from beyond the ordinary..." the young man shouted anxiously.
He was terrified, but there was no time to speak, as his body was about to be consumed by the flames emitted from the jade iron knife.
Qin Ming found it absurd. His knife had struck the young man's head multiple times, and the young man seemed unharmed. In the end, it was the flames that would burn him to death.
Boom!
At the last moment, the young man self-destructed, abandoning his heavy misty body. A piece of tattered cloth wrapped around a fragment of his essence broke free, trying to fly into the night sky.
But he was too weak. When he tried to activate the strange cloth, his speed was much slower than usual.
Qin Ming reacted quickly, slicing down and hitting it.
"Hmm?" He noticed that the palm-sized piece of cloth was unharmed. Although it had fallen, it still wrapped around a cloud of black mist and tried to rise again.
Qin Ming used his sticky energy from the heavenly light to pull it back, then activated his piercing energy, driving the knife through the gaps in the cloth that weren’t tightly wrapped.
"Ah, stop! I am from beyond the ordinary..." the young man screamed, but it was too late. The last remnants of the black mist were burned away.
The palm-sized piece of cloth fell to the ground, and the young man formed from mist seemed to have never existed.
Qin Ming held the jade iron knife, his expression serious. He guessed the young man's nature; he was likely one of those from beyond the ordinary.
This was different from what he had imagined. The young man wasn’t an unseen entity but a real human, albeit in a very special state.
"Are people from beyond the ordinary really this hard to deal with?" Qin Ming thought heavily.
This person could fly, and ordinary people couldn’t see him. How could they fight back?
Old Liu had struck this person with his heavy machete, but it felt like cutting through air, having no effect at all.
Qin Ming stood still, his expression more serious than ever, because one of his opponents was also from beyond the ordinary.
That night, the young man in feathered clothing who burned down an entire village, if he followed the same path, would surely possess these abilities, perhaps even stronger, far surpassing the young man who had just died.
Earlier, Qin Ming had been delighted by his rapid growth, feeling he had achieved remarkable things in a short time. But now, as the cold wind and snowflakes hit his face, he became clear-headed. He couldn’t be complacent; he needed to grow stronger.
Because the great power he would face in the future was truly mysterious and unpredictable.
Qin Ming thought about why the silk book had appeared. It was because several elders felt that their paths were lacking, so they collaborated to devise new methods, wanting to rival the most brilliant paths.
"The methods of those from beyond the ordinary are indeed mysterious and terrifying!" Qin Ming murmured to himself, realizing his path was still long and needed to be taken step by step toward greater heights.
"Is it resolved? What kind of monster was that? I, an old man, didn’t see a thing, not even a shadow." Old Liu walked over with his machete.
"Someone from beyond the ordinary," Qin Ming informed him.
"The origins... are quite significant!" Old Liu's expression turned serious, realizing he had provoked such a person.
Qin Ming picked up the piece of tattered cloth with his jade iron knife, activating his heavenly light energy. The knife glowed brilliantly, but the cloth showed no reaction.
Old Liu felt a wave of emotions, sensing that the young Qin before him was somewhat unfamiliar, having forged such a strange knife and killed an unseen being from beyond the ordinary.
However, he was old and had been guarding the Black and White Mountain for many years. He had heard of too many unusual events, and his emotions quickly settled.
Qin Ming carefully examined the piece of cloth on the knife. It was clearly not simple, woven with metal threads and embroidered with cloud patterns. There should be other designs, but the piece was too small to see its main features.
"Shall we head back to the village?" Old Liu asked.
Qin Ming shook his head and said, "Let’s go to Yinteng Town first. We can have breakfast and then visit the family we agreed to meet."
Old Liu said, "Don’t you need to rest a bit? Aren't you being too bold?"
Qin Ming shook his head, "There’s no need to rest. The unknown and mysterious things that are not understood are all due to my insufficient strength. Going to read the secret texts is about improving myself, taking real steps forward."
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