Chapter 39 The whole world is different

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, yet in this incredibly quiet environment, Qin Ming inexplicably heard whispers right next to him.

He grabbed the long-handled black gold hammer, his body tensing like a cheetah. It wasn’t an illusion; he had even seen a blurry shadow just now.

Outside the window, the night was deep, and the sunstone in the room gradually dimmed. Suddenly, it flashed and went out completely, plunging the room into a deathly silence.

Fortunately, the murmurs in Qin Ming’s ear had also disappeared.

A moment later, he touched the leather-bound sword manual again, its pages worn and tattered. Nothing happened; all was quiet.

He picked up the sword manual, but the room was too dark to see the words on the page. Nothing unusual happened after that. Could it have just been an illusion?

Qin Ming immediately went out, went to the fire spring at the entrance of the village, scooped up a few shiny stones, and quickly returned home.

He held a large hammer in one hand and flipped through an old sword manual with the other, remaining calm and without any muttering.

“Did you just hallucinate?”

Soon, Qin Ming stopped being distracted and focused his attention again on the antique leather pages, carefully studying the fruits of the labor of his predecessors.

“well……”

At that moment, Qin Ming felt a chill run down his spine. Not only did he hear whispers in the extreme silence, but he also heard clear sighs echoing in his ears.

And then, an old man with white hair appeared in the dimly lit room, his tattered clothes stained with blood, and swayed in front of Qin Ming.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, and the newly brought-back sunstone seemed to dim as well.

Qin Ming reacted quickly and delivered a hammer blow to him.

The sighs ceased, and the old man in tattered clothes and stained with blood also disappeared.

What’s going on? This world is different in Qin Ming’s eyes. His expression is solemn. He was just studying a sword manual, and yet it has become so bizarre.

He gripped the long-handled black gold hammer and carefully examined the room. The sunstone was still very bright, and the temperature did not seem to have dropped. Everything had returned to normal.

“Is this a demon book?” Qin Ming stared at the sword manual. It was bound in animal hide and must have been quite old, as every page was worn.

“Or is it that I absorbed that liquid, causing me to be too energetic, resulting in abnormalities in everything I see and hear?” He pondered carefully.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and decided to take a wait-and-see approach, deciding not to act prematurely and to see what kind of monster it was.

Qin Ming held a hammer in one hand and flipped through a sword manual with the other. Apart from the sound of turning the leather pages, there was no other noise in the room until he was completely immersed in studying various combat techniques. Then the whispering voice appeared again, and a disheveled old man stained with blood stood not far in front of him.

“Time is running out. I’ll leave behind a sword manual. Alas, it’s a pity. My swordsmanship is too complex to fully describe, and some parts are destined to be lost. It’s a waste of half my life’s work.” The old man sighed.

Then, Qin Ming saw him writing at his desk, followed by flashes of light, as if to tear through the night.

Each time the old man finished writing a sword technique, images of his years of practicing swordsmanship would appear before him, along with his various emotions, insights, and understanding of the sword technique.

Qin Ming immediately realized how much this matter affected him and how important it was. After absorbing the liquid from the “scraps,” the world he saw was completely different.

When he was highly focused, he felt the author’s emotions through this ancient book, resonated with it, and gained a deeper understanding of swordsmanship than what was recorded in the book.

Qin Ming considered himself to be highly perceptive and quick to learn anything. When he was reading the sword manual in the mountains, he did not find it difficult to practice and quickly grasped its essence.

But in the current situation, it’s no longer a matter of comprehension; rather, it’s that he can witness how the sword manual was created and resonate with the spirit of the old man practicing swordsmanship. That involves experience, understanding, and the most essential comprehension of this sword technique.

“This sword manual embodies half a lifetime’s worth of an old man’s efforts. I resonate with it, and it recreates many of the real scenes from those years…”

Qin Ming was briefly distracted, then withdrew from that realistic scene.

Afterward, he put down the black gold hammer, sat in front of the copper basin containing the sunstone, and began to carefully study the sword manual from the beginning, immersing himself completely in it.

Sure enough, the more focused he became, the clearer the sounds, images, emotions, and spiritual resonance became.

In an instant, he saw the old man look up at the night sky, ponder his swordsmanship, and then pierce through the night with a bright, gleaming blade.

The scene then shifts again, with lightning flashing and thunder roaring, and torrential rain pouring down. The old man has a new insight. Holding a wooden sword, he stands in the rain and makes a breathtaking slash, as if he intends to cut through the sky. The light bursting from the wooden sword seems to overwhelm the lightning in the night sky, cleaving through the darkness.

Qin Ming was so excited that his heart trembled. This move was not found in the sword manual at all. This wonderful move, which could only be understood intuitively and could not be explained in words, was a move that could only be revealed through the sublimation of the soul.

This mysterious and elusive feeling is difficult to put into words, which is why the old man sighed that part of his swordsmanship was destined to be lost.

But now, Qin Ming witnessed it firsthand, and through emotional and spiritual resonance, he completely grasped the essence of that strike.

In the ensuing swordplay, the old man, having diligently practiced in the deep mountains, slew giant beasts.

He then walked alone in the wind and snow, fought against many powerful enemies, lost an arm, and fled far away after being severely injured. In his old age, he buried a broken sword.

After that, he lived alone to recover from his injuries, rarely venturing out. After five years of quiet contemplation, he dug out the broken sword. When he drew it again, the dazzling sword light that seemed to cut through the sky in the rainy night was even more domineering, as if mountains could be cleaved and seas could be leveled.

As he grew older, his spirit became more vigorous. Instead of pursuing a return to simplicity and nature in his swordplay, he continued to soar upwards until the terrifying sword light threatened to burn away his withered body, until he could no longer bear it.

After the old man traveled far away again, he swept away all his opponents with his broken sword. Finally, he returned to the place where he had been sitting in meditation for five years. He buried the sword, left a letter, and reached the last moment of his life.

“Unfortunately, I am trapped in a remote place and do not have the secret method to efficiently improve the essence of life. Although I have a deep understanding of the way of the sword and am confident that my comprehension is no less than anyone else’s, I am held back by my body and cannot see the higher-level scriptures. I can only stop here in my life.”

The old man was running out of time, so he wrote quickly, each stroke of his pen seeming to flash like the light of a knife. However, when he touched upon the daylight, the scene became blurry, and the later pages were completely illegible.

Qin Ming knew that it was probably because he hadn’t yet cultivated the Heavenly Light, and therefore couldn’t resonate with it emotionally and spiritually, so he couldn’t see it for the time being.

He closed the sword manual, shut his eyes, and all the scenes he had seen and heard floated into his mind—those experiences, insights, and new understandings of swordsmanship, as if they were his own.

He picked up the long-handled black gold hammer and went into the courtyard, where he unleashed a sword technique not recorded in the sword manual. For a moment, it seemed as if lightning appeared under the night sky.

Qin Ming’s hammer continued to slash across the night sky, its head gleaming with a dark gold luster. It moved faster and faster, leaving behind various terrifying trails that intertwined and gradually became entangled in the courtyard, as if bursting forth with a dense array of terrifying blade light.

He put down his hammer and stood there, deeply moved, for the sword techniques had been recreated.

Qin Ming was confident that if given the complete sword technique, he would definitely be able to master it after spending some time.

But right now, through spiritual resonance, he mastered these sword techniques that transcended the sword manual itself in just one night, as if he had practiced for decades.

Qin Ming quickly calmed down. This was only limited to skills, experience, and understanding of swordsmanship. As for improving his own life essence, he still needed to cultivate.

But this is shocking enough!

He pondered what the liquid in the stone was that allowed his spirit to resonate with the mysterious emotions conveyed in the book.

Qin Ming realized that the mysterious products in the “scraps” were not necessarily inferior to what was born from the fusion of the ten beams of light and the five-colored smoke. If this got out, it would probably cause an immeasurable storm.

He even suspected that this “scraps” might have an even more significant origin.

Qin Ming’s thoughts were in turmoil, and he thought of many things.

On the night the fire engulfed the entire village, the boy in feathered robes appeared ethereal and otherworldly, holding a purple bamboo staff. He seemed to have a very important background, and his strength must be unfathomable. The family behind him was probably even more terrifying.

Now, Qin Ming is more composed and confident, and he can walk towards Falling Moon City in the future to face the bloody past.

Meanwhile, the two women who appeared at the village entrance were walking on a path that was clearly different from his, as if they could look down on those who were walking the path of the New Life Method.

Qin Ming now believes that his own path is no weaker than others. As long as he advances fast enough, he can conquer any path.

After calming down, he began to assess his own strength.

He now has a combined strength of over two thousand jin in his arms, even approaching two thousand two hundred jin. In addition, he has mastered the essence of swordsmanship that is not recorded in the manual, making his combat ability quite terrifying.

“Can I even consider those old guys who have mastered the Heavenly Light Force?” Qin Ming pondered.

He silently estimated that even if those old guys could lift a cauldron of 600 jin when they were first reborn, based on that, then after three rebirths they would weigh about 1,800 jin, which is still less than him.

This is the fundamental reason why everyone attaches great importance to their first year of school and wants to build a solid foundation, because subsequent new students are built upon this foundation.

Qin Ming believed that the most terrifying thing about people who had been reborn three times was that they had mastered the Heavenly Light Force. If he were to get close to them, he would surely die.

This special force can penetrate and tear even the scales of giant beasts, making it extremely powerful and terrifying. This is the fundamental reason why humans, despite their smaller size, can fight against other species.

However, in the emerging realm, the Heavenly Light Force can only be distributed on the body surface and spread slightly beyond the fists and feet; it cannot yet be extended to weapons.

Qin Ming muttered to himself, “In that case, as long as I don’t let the old guy who’s a three-time newbie get close and keep a suitable distance, I can still put up a fight.”

The premise is that he has a suitable weapon. Swords and blades are definitely not suitable, as they can most likely be torn apart and broken by the Heavenly Light Force. However, the long-handled black gold hammer is more or less suitable. He doesn’t believe he can’t kill his opponent with pure strength.

Sure enough, I couldn’t sleep again that night.

Qin Ming was helpless. He was still full of energy and only managed to take a short nap late into the night. He estimated that he wouldn’t need to sleep for the next few days.

In the latter half of the night, he studied swordsmanship, thoroughly breaking down the old man’s experience, insights, and understanding, and applying them in his own way, adding his own flashes of inspiration and insights.

The next day, Cao Long, Mu Qing, and Wei Zhirou told Qin Ming and the others that if they didn’t make any special discoveries or gains in a few days, they would be going back.

On this day, they took out a book of intermediate-level Qigong and gave it to Qin Ming, Old Man Liu, and a few others as payment, and allowed them to pass it on to those around them.

The people from Shuangshu Village were naturally extremely grateful, as this was the first time they had ever encountered a new method of this level.

The main thing is that they really helped the three teams a lot. For example, the Fire Bat Cave was very beneficial to Mu Qing, Cao Long and others.

That night, Qin Ming studied this intermediate-level Qigong manual and felt it was inferior to the methods he practiced on the silk scroll. Moreover, this manual was a hastily copied copy and did not contain any intense emotions, making it impossible to generate spiritual resonance.

“It seems that only the hard work and dedication of our predecessors can make this work.” He had a new realization.

That evening, when Qin Ming delivered the intermediate-level Qigong to Old Man Liu, he asked, “Grandpa, you wouldn’t be telling the three teams in Chixia City about all the places with spiritual substances just to repay a debt of gratitude, would you?”

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Once I’ve recovered from my injuries and you’ve had your second rebirth, and once the mountains are completely peaceful, we’ll go into the mountains together to find the spiritual substance that can give us a third rebirth. I’ve reserved the best places for you!” Old Liu said, patting his chest.

Then, Qin Ming asked, “Grandpa, are there any families in this area that have a distinguished history but have completely declined?”

“Why are you asking this? What do you want to do?” Old Liu asked suspiciously.

Qin Ming said, “I want to borrow books from them. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely give them a night’s silver that they can’t refuse!”