Chapter 53 Beyond the Realm

Before nightfall, everything was shrouded in thick darkness. The dense trees on both sides of the road stretched out haphazardly in the howling cold wind, like swathes of ghostly shadows swaying.

In the deep darkness of the night, Qin Ming decisively swung his sword, as if a bolt of lightning had pierced the gloom, instantly breaking the oppressive atmosphere from before.

Just then, the black mist rushed in, carrying a heavy sense of malice, trying to engulf the two of them and swallow them up in the vast shadows.

In this starless and moonless environment, others naturally couldn’t discover anything, but Qin Ming could see clearly and feel the chill of the black mist, with a biting coldness as he approached.

With a soft “plop,” like a hot knife cutting through butter, the dagger, coated in mineral paint, plunged into the black mist, causing the icy air to boil.

“What’s going on?!” Old Liu shouted, his reaction incredibly fast. With a whoosh, he drew his thick-backed broadsword at the same time and followed Qin Ming in slashing towards the void.

However, the broadsword in his hand disappeared into the black mist, as if it had missed its mark and had not struck anything.

“Get back quickly!” Qin Ming shouted.

At the same time, he heard a scream, extremely shrill, and the black mist began to rapidly condense, eventually transforming into a human shape.

Old Liu listened to the advice very well, immediately sheathed his knife, and decisively ran away.

Because he couldn’t see or hear anything, and didn’t know what was happening, but based on his instincts, he realized that the situation was serious and very wrong.

A man appeared from the black mist. His human form was somewhat blurry, but Qin Ming could make it out with his sharp eyes that he was a young man with a face full of pain and cold eyes looking at him.

Qin Ming’s short sword pierced his body, and the humanoid creature formed from the black mist was bleeding profusely, splattering blood onto the ground.

This scene changed Qin Ming’s expression.

As the young man opened his mouth, he exhaled a cloud of black mist, which transformed into an inky black arrow that shot towards Qin Ming’s brow. It was cold, eerie, and carried a chilling aura.

Qin Ming turned his head to avoid the arrow formed from black mist, while simultaneously violently shaking the mutton-fat jade iron knife, causing all the mineral coating attached to it to crumble off.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The black mist attacked silently, and Qin Ming slashed back with his knife. The man who had inexplicably transformed counterattacked in an instant, trying to kill him. There was no hesitation in the process, and they both reacted immediately.

Qin Ming sensed an immense crisis; he might very well die. This unknown thing brought a strange sense of oppression, making him truly feel the breath of death.

However, as he brandished his sword, a rapid change occurred; the chilling, gloomy mist rushing towards him, with its extremely cold aura, began to weaken rapidly.

In the darkness, a gleaming blade shot up, like a raging fire, illuminating the woodland.

The mutton-fat jade iron knife in Qin Ming’s hand, after the paint was shaken off, was completely different after encountering this creature.

During this process, the young man who had materialized from the black mist was naturally retreating, trying to get rid of the blade. However, when the blade light burned like flames, his figure twisted and trembled incessantly.

“Stop…” he screamed shrilly, struggling desperately to re-condense into mist and rise into the air, but he failed.

How could Qin Ming possibly stop? He discovered that the blood the young man had spilled on the ground vanished with the wind, turning to ashes, and was not real human blood.

What exactly is this thing?

The young man could hardly believe that in such a remote place, he could encounter a random young hunter who could produce a mutton-fat jade iron knife.

Unable to vaporize, he retreated with all his might, moving with a human body, trying to break free of the restraints and get away from the brilliant blade.

Qin Ming had never used this knife before forging it, and had no idea of ​​its properties. Now, after striking the mysterious creature, he discovered its wonderful uses.

His Heavenly Light Force was able to smoothly enter the blade; this would have been impossible with any other weapon at this level.

Of course, his Heavenly Light Force was far less lethal to the young man than the mutton fat jade iron knife, but it allowed him to use many techniques, such as the sticky nature of his own Heavenly Light Force.

Qin Ming wielded the mutton-fat jade iron knife, and amidst the rising white light, it bound the young man who was trying to break free, as if burning a ghost.

“No, stop!” the young man cried out in terror, struggling violently.

But how could Qin Ming dare to stop? He didn’t even know what kind of monster it was, and if it escaped, he himself would be in grave danger.

The young man raised his hand and opened his mouth several times, trying to unleash black mist to attack Qin Ming, but all of it was burned away by the blade light.

His entire body was ablaze with flames; it was no longer like a hot knife cutting butter, but more like a red-hot blade falling into dry grass and setting it ablaze.

Qin Ming unleashed his intercepting force, causing the mutton-fat jade iron to crisscross within the young man’s body, setting off fires everywhere. Whenever the black mist surged and the young man desperately tried to break free, Qin Ming would transform it into a binding and sticky force, firmly locking him in place.

Clearly, the sunlight pierced through the night and descended upon the spiritually imbued mountains, nurturing mysterious resources that contained an inexplicable power.

At this moment, Qin Ming deeply understood and comprehended what Cao Long, Mu Qing, and others had said back then.

The mutton-fat jade iron glowed, completely suppressing the man who had materialized from the black mist.

In the distance, Old Liu’s hair stood on end. He saw nothing but Qin Ming’s snow-white dagger glowing, which then seemed to transform into a torch.

“I was completely in the dark and couldn’t find anything.”

Upon hearing his words, Qin Ming immediately realized that the young man who had materialized from the black mist was even more terrifying than he had imagined. Ordinary people would not even be aware of him, so how could they possibly fight against him?

The young man was in despair because his whole body was burning and he couldn’t break free.

“In an era without the sun, I should have been safe traveling after reaching this level. How could I have been robbed here…” He was in immense pain and naturally did not want to die like this. After weighing the options, he had no choice but to make some sacrifices.

“Are you the kind of mysterious creature whose form cannot be seen, yet which many powerful clans fear?” Qin Ming demanded.

“I’m not that kind of thing, I’m a human being, stop and listen to me!” the young man shouted.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming swung his sword even more fiercely, unleashing his sword techniques within the body, crisscrossing and slashing horizontally and vertically, and even employing the sword intent from the sword manual!

The man, who had materialized from black mist, wanted to curse loudly. Why was he being targeted even more severely because he was human?

“People like you are scarier than ghosts!” Qin Ming said.

“I am a wandering monk…” the young man cried out urgently.

He was terrified, but before he could speak, his body was about to be completely engulfed by the firelight emanating from the jade knife.

Qin Ming found it outrageous. He slashed the man’s head several times with his knife, but the man was unharmed. In the end, he was only able to be burned to death by the flames.

Bang!

At the last moment, the man self-destructed, abandoning his body shrouded in thick, dark mist. A piece of cloth wrapped around a fragment of his essence, which he broke free of and tried to fly into the night sky.

But he was too weak, and when he activated the strange shredded cloth, his speed was much slower than usual.

Qin Ming reacted with lightning speed, cleaving it down with a single strike.

“Hmm?” He noticed that the palm-sized piece of cloth was undamaged. Although it had fallen, it was still enveloped in a cloud of black mist and seemed to be trying to rise again.

Qin Ming used the sticky force from the sunlight to pull it back, and then activated the nail force, piercing through the gap in the loosely wrapped cloth with the blade.

“Ah, stop! I am Fangwai…” the young man shouted, but it was no use; the last bit of yin mist was burned away.

A palm-sized piece of cloth drifted to the ground, and the young man who had materialized from mist seemed to have never appeared at all.

Qin Ming gripped the mutton-fat jade iron knife, his face serious. He guessed the young man’s background and figured he was probably a so-called hermit.

This was different from what he had imagined. The other party was not some invisible, inexplicable “thing,” but a real human being, though its state was quite peculiar.

“Are those outside the secular world really that difficult to deal with?” Qin Ming thought to himself, his heart heavy.

This person can actually fly, and ordinary people can’t see him. How can we fight against him?

Old Liu once struck this man with his thick-backed cleaver, but it was as if he had cut through the air, having no effect whatsoever.

Qin Ming stood still, his expression more solemn than ever before, because one of his opponents was also a person from outside the secular world.

If the ethereal and otherworldly young man in feathered robes who led the burning of the entire village that night also followed this path, then he would certainly possess these same abilities in the future, perhaps even surpassing the young man who died.

Earlier, Qin Ming was delighted by his rapid growth in strength, feeling that he had achieved remarkable success in a short period of time. But now, as the cold wind, carrying snowflakes, lashed his face, he sobered up. He could not be complacent and needed to become even stronger.

Because the powerful force he would be facing in the future was truly mysterious and unpredictable.

Qin Ming realized that the silk manuscript appeared because several elders felt that their own path had many shortcomings, so they joined forces to develop new methods, hoping to rival the most brilliant paths.

“The methods of those outside the secular world are truly mysterious and terrifying!” Qin Ming muttered to himself. He knew his journey was still long and he needed to take one step at a time to reach greater heights.

“Is it resolved? What kind of monster was that? This old man was completely blind; I didn’t even see a shadow of it.” Old Liu walked over, carrying a large machete.

“A person from beyond the mundane world,” Qin Ming informed him.

“This person…is really something!” Old Liu’s expression turned serious; he had actually offended someone like this.

Qin Ming used his mutton-fat jade iron knife to pick up the piece of cloth, and activated his Heavenly Light Force. The knife shone brightly, but the cloth did not react.

Old Liu was filled with turmoil. He felt that the young Qin in front of him was somewhat unfamiliar. He had actually forged such a strange knife and killed an unseen person from beyond the world.

However, he was old and had been guarding Black and White Mountain for so many years, having heard too many strange events, so his mind quickly returned to calm.

Qin Ming carefully examined the scraps of cloth on the blade. They were clearly not simple; there were metal threads woven into them, embroidered with cloud patterns, and there should be other patterns as well. However, the scraps of cloth were too small to discern the main subject.

“Shall we go back to the village first?” Old Liu asked.

Qin Ming shook his head and said, “Let’s go to Yinteng Town first, have breakfast, and then go to the house we agreed to meet.”

Old Liu said, “Don’t you need to go back and calm down? Are you that careless?”

Qin Ming shook his head and said, “There’s no need to slow down. The reason why those unknowns and mysteries are not understood now is because my strength is still insufficient. Borrowing secret books now is to improve myself and truly embark on the path.”

I’m asking all my fellow readers for a guaranteed monthly vote. Thank you!