Night without Borders

Chapter 22 Blood Bamboo Forest
In the dim night, the mountains stand tall, with larch, hazel, birch and other trees growing in clusters. Although the tree species are different, most of them have lost their leaves, leaving only bare branches bearing the white snow.

Qin Ming walked on the snow and after crossing many mountains he approached the blood bamboo forest.

He had never set foot in this area before, so it was no longer considered the outer area of ​​the mountain.

There were a lot of mountain beasts roaming along the way, and the cries of strange birds could be heard constantly, but when we got here, except for the whistling of the cold wind, all other sounds disappeared.

Qin Ming was aware of the danger of the Blood Bamboo Forest. All creatures in the mountains avoided this place and rarely appeared here.

This is still a cold winter with snow all over. If the fire spring becomes active, everything revives, and the blood snakes begin to come out to prey, the area will probably become even quieter.

"The scenery is very beautiful." Qin Ming stood outside a valley and looked inside.

The blood bamboo forest is in the valley. Although the sky is dark, you can still see the bamboo forests standing tall in the wind and snow. They are a fiery red color and covered with white snow, which is beautiful beyond words.

The valley is full of blood bamboo, which is very beautiful. This plant is red from the bamboo pole to the leaves, just like red coral growing into a dense forest in the snow.

"This is really a great place." Qin Ming exclaimed.

Normally, no one dared to come here to enjoy the scenery. The blood snake was notorious and made the mountain patrollers extremely afraid of it.

There was no sign of fire rising from the valley, as if it had really gone out.

However, Qin Ming did not step into the valley. He believed that there should still be "embers" under the frozen soil, and the fire spring here might not have completely extinguished.

He walked around here, observed the nearby terrain, climbed up the slope, and looked down from a height. Sure enough, there was an extremely faint "red glow" in the center of the valley.

Qin Ming thought about it, turned around and left this quiet place, came to an area with many strange birds and mountain beasts, and caught a rabbit in the snow.

"I'm sorry." He carried the fat snow rabbit and returned to the blood bamboo forest. Standing on the high slope, he threw the snow rabbit with great force, throwing it into the "red glow" area in the center of the valley.

With a bang, the big rabbit was smashed into the thick snow, splashing large flakes of snow, not far from the embers of the fire spring.

Almost at the same time, a red line shot out, swept across the snow, rushed towards the rabbit at an astonishing speed, and pierced into its body in an instant.

Qin Ming's mind was highly concentrated, and golden ripples appeared on his body surface. His eyes were fixed on the center of the valley not too far away.

There was no doubt that it was a blood snake, only three feet long. As the rumors said, its body was as hard as iron. It could fly up for a short time and pierce the target like an iron arrow.

"It is indeed a dangerous creature. This is a relatively small snake. If a big snake several meters long appears, it will be difficult to deal with." Qin Ming frowned.

The most important thing is that in such a cold season, blood snakes are still active and can briefly enter the ice and snow to move, which is very tricky.

Then he saw several red lines appearing from the "red glow", each only a few feet long. This time they did not shoot over like iron arrows, but crawled along the snow, came close to the snow rabbit, and the hard snake head pierced into the snow rabbit's body.

This spiritual snake cannot be judged by common sense. It is not as afraid of ice and snow as imagined, and cannot be frozen to death in a short period of time.

"Am I giving you a winter tonic, an unexpected snack?" Qin Ming looked at the blood bamboo forest. Those blood snakes were obviously sucking the warm blood of the snow rabbits.

This snake species is named after blood, which is related to the way they eat. They do not swallow their prey whole like ordinary snakes.

They ate very quickly, perhaps because they didn't want to stay in the snow for long, and soon swam towards the fire spring that was almost extinguished.

"Huh?" Qin Ming discovered that two of them did not return to their nests immediately, but instead crawled quickly in the blood bamboo forest, as if they were looking for something.

At the same time, he noticed that a larger snake head appeared in the "red glow", constantly spitting out bright red tongue, as if sensing something.

"It's a bit difficult." Qin Ming saw that this deadly spiritual creature was very powerful and very alert, and was much more difficult to deal with than other mutant creatures.

He wondered if he could fight poison with poison by feeding them some poisonous blood, but seeing that the big snake didn't seem to be eating at all, and the small snake was trying to eat first, he felt that this method was not feasible.

Qin Ming noticed that the two three or four foot long snakes slowed down significantly after swimming quickly in a circle in the blood bamboo forest. They ended their patrol of the territory and disappeared into the "red glow" of their habitat.

"The cold weather still has a great impact on them, which is good news." He walked down the hillside and walked back along the original path.

He planned to transport various weapons over. Once they went deep into the blood bamboo forest, the patrol team would have to put on three or four layers of armor. He didn't want to be attacked by the blood snake. Once the iron-like snake head pierced the skin, even a newborn would surely die.

It didn't take long for him to dig out the iron spears, armor, etc., transport them here, and hide them near the blood bamboo forest.

"To deal with blood snakes, Fu Entao's sharp long sword is actually more useful than the long-handled black gold hammer."

When using heavy weapons to attack larger alien creatures, the lethality is indeed very strong and can blow their heads off with one hammer, but it is not as effective as a long sword when used to smash slender snakes.

Qin Ming was wondering when the fire spring in the blood bamboo forest would be completely extinguished. The longer the time was, the weaker the blood snake would become. However, he did not have much time left, because the final negotiations between the top leaders and the top aliens in the mountains would be completed within the next few days.

"We've alerted them today. We'll come back tomorrow." Qin Ming retreated. Although time was a bit tight, one day wouldn't make any difference.

"I should be able to deal with this nest of blood snakes, right?" he thought on the way. Feng Yian, Shao Chengfeng and others wanted to take over the blood bamboo forest, but he wiped out this group of people.

He felt that he couldn't be careless and had to be cautious.

On his way back, he found three large birds of prey running in the forest at an extremely fast speed, carrying people on their backs, and crossing the dense forest in front of him.

"People from Jinjiling?" Qin Ming hid behind a big tree. After seeing this scene, he guessed their identities.

They were three mutated free-range chickens, each more than one meter tall and very strong. They could carry people and run quickly in the mountains and forests. They could only be bred in Jinjiling in this area.

Qin Ming had heard of Jinji Ridge, where a fire spring of nearly level two surged. In the early days, there was a large group of bandits there, but they were eventually recruited.

Because the mutant free-range chickens they bred are very practical, mountain rangers sometimes need to ask their golden rooster knights to explore the situation in the mountains.

"Jinji Ridge is far away from here. How did the people there get here?" He looked at the three free-range chickens flying away. One of them was wearing fine armor and did not look like a local. His attire was completely different from that of the other two people from Jinji Ridge.

"From Chixia City?" Qin Ming noticed that the man's black armor style was different from those of the Cao, Wei, and Mu families, so he should be from another big family.

Qin Ming saw that they were not heading towards the Blood Bamboo Forest, so he continued on his way back. Just as he was about to leave the mountain with his prey, he saw four more abnormal newcomers.

Although two of them were not wearing armor, they were obviously dressed in extraordinary attire, with black robes woven with metal threads covering their entire bodies and hiding their faces.

Qin Ming was surprised. The mountain-clearing operation had not even started yet, but the mountain was already bustling with activity. Who were these people?
The other two new students were probably locals, both in their early thirties. One of them smiled and greeted them, "Little brother, do you know of a crack in the ground with silver light nearby?"

Qin Ming realized that the other party was looking for a special node. It seemed that the two men in black robes were most likely from Chixia City.

"Go over there and walk straight for three miles and you will arrive!" Qin Ming pointed them in the direction. That place was not a secret place and many people already knew about it.

"Little brother, please lead us to the right path. I'll give you a night silver later." The man who asked for directions said with a smile.

Qin Ming took two steps back and said, "I'm afraid of that place. The cracks in the ground are very dangerous. Besides, I have to go back in a hurry. I haven't hunted any prey in many days. My mother is starving."

"Let's go." A man in a black robe spoke, and his voice sounded very young.

After hearing this, Qin Ming also wanted to leave.

However, the next words from the black-robed man made him freeze.

"Get rid of him. We shouldn't let too many people know that we are here." The black-robed man's light words directly determined the fate of a "young hunter".

Qin Ming was stunned. Where did this monster come from? He could decide life and death with just one word. He was too indifferent to the lives of ordinary people.

He had met Cao Long, Wei Zhirou, Mu Qing and others, all from Chixia City. Those people were very peaceful. Regardless of whether they maintained the courtesy and politeness that aristocrats should have, they seemed to be acceptable on the surface and not offensive.

At the moment, the man in black robe was too "decisive and ruthless" and had no emotional fluctuations, so he let the two local freshmen who led the way for them kill people.

"Brothers, we are all locals, we can't do this." Qin Ming said.

One of them smiled and said, "I'm sorry, brother. We have been ordered to accompany the two distinguished guests into the mountains. We must obey all their orders."

"You are..." Qin Ming asked.

"We are from the Three-Eyed Cult." The two local men moved forward together.

The next moment, Qin Ming was like an agile cheetah. He left a trail of afterimage and rushed over at high speed. The dagger in his left hand instantly cut the throats of the two men.

The two men from the Three-Eyed Sect were stunned, horrified and in disbelief. They thought they had met an ordinary hunter because Qin Ming's prey was not big, just a mountain goat. However, they were inexplicably cut in the throat because the opponent was too fast.

When the two men in black robes saw Qin Ming rushing over and discovered that the long-handled black gold hammer he took out from behind was unusually heavy, their expressions suddenly changed.

Qin Ming smashed the black gold hammer in his right hand towards the head of one of them, and stabbed the other man in black robe with the dagger in his left hand.

Since the other party has made up his mind to kill him and ensure his whereabouts are unknown, there is no point in him saying anything more and he can only try his best to fight back.

In an instant, the sound of metal weapons colliding broke out between the three people, which was extremely harsh.

After a brief contact, Qin Ming knew their strengths and weaknesses. One of them was a second-time rebirth, while the other one was not a concern as his body had only been reborn once.

He attacked the second freshman with all his might, and only this man posed a threat.

If it were before, he might have to fight fiercely with the opponent for a while, but after reading the sword manual today, it really helped him a lot. It can't be said to be an epiphany, but it also greatly improved his fighting skills.

"when!"

After several collisions, the long sword in the hand of the powerful man in black robe was bounced high by the black gold hammer, and his arm became numb.

At the same time, his pupils contracted, because the long-handled black gold hammer was like a flash of lightning, swung by the opponent with ease, and hit his chest at a speed that he could hardly match.

It was too late for him to dodge. His chest was smashed and collapsed, and he vomited blood. It was obvious that he was dying.

"Want to fight me with swords?" Qin Ming was holding a long-handled black gold hammer, using sword style. Without even looking at him, he turned around and pressed towards the other man in black robe.

The other person was shocked. He had just been knocked back and his companion died not long after. It was too fast. How could a young man who looked like a hunter be so terrifying?
He knew he was no match for his opponent, so he turned around and rushed into the dense forest, trying to escape.

"Throwing knife style!" Qin Ming spit out these words, and with a bang, the long-handled black gold hammer flew out, and the head of the black-robed man not far away was shattered like a rotten watermelon.

Qin Ming did not hesitate at all. He quickly cleaned up the battlefield, used snow to clean the blood stains on the long-handled black gold hammer, and then dragged the prey on his way home.

But he was a little worried. There were so many people entering the mountain now, using all kinds of methods. He couldn't leave the Blood Bamboo Forest for too long.

After dinner, he quietly returned to the mountains.

"With every passing day, the fire spring will become much dimmer, which is good for me. But I also have to be careful of outsiders who come to snatch the spiritual objects." Qin Ming said to himself. For now, he can only stay here and guard it.

He did not leave until late at night, because no one would choose to take action at this time. The dark night had little effect on snakes, but it would limit newborns.

The next day, he went into the mountain early in the morning and found that the "red glow" in the center of the valley had indeed dimmed a lot.

With this discovery, he decided to wait a little longer and take action before the end of early night tonight at the latest.

An hour later, the whole mountain area suddenly became brilliant, endless "earth light" was steaming, light rain appeared in the sky, and the nearby area was bright.

The light from the ground rushed up and the rays of light flowed. This wonderful sight made Qin Ming fascinated. It was indeed very beautiful.

Especially here, the contrast between the fiery red bamboo forest and the white snow is really fresh and stunning, forming a magnificent beauty that is very different from the ordinary.

"Huh?" It was at this moment that Qin Ming discovered that a group of people were approaching from a distance.

He was not impatient, but calmly retreated into the darkness. This was also good. If this group of people came for the spiritual creatures in the Blood Bamboo Forest, he would let them explore the way first.

(End of this chapter)