Night without Borders

Chapter 374 An Unbelievable Otherworld

Tucheng, with its auspicious purple clouds rising from the east, has become a place of great influence in Yezhou.

Distinguished guests arrived in an endless stream, their comings and goings far beyond the ordinary. Among them were "proud suns" from beyond the realm, renowned grandmasters, direct descendants of the royal family, and prominent figures from ancient families. All were shrouded in auspicious clouds and were received by the Twelve Golden Immortals.

In contrast, those preparing to venture into another world not far away appeared rather shabby, all weary from their journey and sitting on the ground.

They could even faintly hear whispers and faint smiles coming from people in front of the earthen city, saying that those who crossed over were merely the vanguard for the king, paving the way for them.

A burly man with a thick beard, sitting cross-legged on the ground, spoke up: "Gentlemen, if you have the chance, be sure to clear out this place!"

His cultivation was quite advanced, and he vaguely heard light laughter in front of the earthen city and saw some young scions of noble families accompanying several proud foreigners into the city.

……

"Queue up, you can start your cross-border adventure now, but don't crowd." A Grandmaster personally guards this place and maintains order.

At the entrance to Zixia Cave, someone was actually selling "Illustrated Catalogue of Spiritual Objects" with a clearly marked price of ten gold coins per copy.

Qin Ming flipped through the catalog as he walked into the deep tunnel.

The purple mist surged and billowed, creating a distinct sense of weightlessness. Many young faces wore expressions of tension, for the road beneath their feet leading to a foreign land was very long.

Finally, exclamations came from the front; some people had already emerged from the tunnel and stepped onto unknown, foreign land.

As Qin Ming approached the exit with the crowd, he smelled the stench of decaying leaves and sulfur, which was quite unpleasant.

Upon arriving in this strange world, many people frowned, as they could clearly sense that the spiritual energy here was scarce.

In the black fog, several volcanoes stood like ferocious beasts, with crimson lava pouring down from the mountaintops and flowing into the marshes at the foot of the mountains, steaming up large amounts of water vapor and forming a vast white curtain.

"This place is nothing compared to Golden Light Cave," someone said, utterly disappointed. What they saw was desolate beyond measure.

"Brother, wake up! Golden Light Cave is a huge pit, not some so-called alien realm at all," someone warned.

Despite this, many people still frowned, feeling that this was a very barren world. At this moment, they were not far from an active volcano that was erupting, with thick smoke billowing out, and even taking a breath would cause a burning sensation.

Some people climbed a high extinct volcano to look out over the dense night fog and see what lay beneath.

Some people left without a word, clearly unwilling to give up and wanting to explore this area thoroughly.

"We've come all this way, it would be too disheartening to just slink back like this. Let's go look around, maybe we'll make a new discovery."

Soon, someone unexpectedly discovered creatures in a lake outside the volcanic cluster. They were almost transparent fish, growing in large groups, most of them as long as an adult's arm.

A young boy tried to catch one, but was met with fierce resistance from the strange fish.

He exclaimed in surprise, furious.

This crystal-clear fish is incredibly strong. When it swings violently, its tail slaps him across the face, as if giving him two big slaps.

“This is a…spirit fish.” Soon, the angry boy showed surprise. The strange fish’s flesh had no fishy smell, but instead had a faint fragrance.

With a whoosh, a large crowd gathered around. After careful examination, they concluded that this fish was a nourishing food.

"If someone in the first realm hasn't been reborn more than three times, consuming this fish over a long period might give them a chance for a fourth rebirth!"

This is an extraordinary medicinal diet for low-level cultivators. If they could cultivate this strange fish in large quantities and sell it to the outside world in a stable manner, it would be like striking gold.

"This area may not be as bad as we imagined, and it's worth exploring further." Some people regained their confidence and were quite looking forward to it.

The crowd dispersed and began their individual journeys.

Of course, many people also banded together for mutual support, exploring the depths of the dark, fog-shrouded land.

"Everyone, I feel that the spiritual energy seems slightly stronger in that direction." Someone stood on a boulder and pointed in a direction.

Qin Ming was surprised; this judgment was similar to his own feeling, clearly indicating that some cultivators in the crowd were indeed very perceptive.

This unknown and boundless land, even though more than 600 people had entered, gradually became sparsely populated as they ventured deeper into the desolate land.

Qin Ming's expression was serious. He was certain that this was indeed far from Yezhou. Here, he could detect faint traces of Daoist charm, which was quite profound and deep, and clearly different from Yezhou.

Soon after, he discovered a lightning-struck mountain on a high ground. The mountain was broken and covered in charred black, from which he could glean slivers of sunlight.

"Dark light." Qin Ming was surprised; this was the first time he had ever seen such a colorful skylight.

"Hmm, it's very domineering, and its corrosive effect on the physical body is terrifying." He was somewhat looking forward to it, wishing he could immediately travel into the depths of the night sky and explore the heavens.

However, he didn't dare to act rashly. He didn't know much about this unknown alien world, and if he took too much risks, something bad might happen.

Qin Ming walked slowly and cautiously, because the night was very dark and a thick fog covered the entire wilderness, and he had not found any decent fire springs.

He knew that in the darkest places, there were often creatures like the Night Walkers and Night Abyss Walkers, which were strange and terrifying creatures that were hard to describe, or perhaps some kind of extremely frightening "phenomenon".

However, the journey was very quiet, and he did not encounter any evil spirits or dangerous and absurd events.

After Qin Ming had walked 150 miles, the dense, impenetrable night suddenly thinned out, and as he continued onward, he gradually saw a thin layer of light appear on the horizon.

Soon, he became somewhat lost in thought, standing before a magnificent "cliff." Below and in front of him, the air was filled with a misty haze, teeming with life and swirling with spiritual energy.

Overall, the area he had just traversed resembled a barren plateau, and it was quite peculiar. Upon reaching the edge, there was no buffer zone; it was like a "cliff," with the terrain dropping hundreds of meters directly ahead.

Qin Ming climbed down the cliff and entered a place with abundant vegetation.

He became wary. There was a fire spring here, and it was a pale gold color, which was clearly the characteristic of a super fire spring, something that could only be seen in blessed lands.

For example, there are even more extraordinary and wondrous fire springs in the secluded Pure Land and the Black and White Mountain.

He found it a bit outrageous; just a moment ago it was desolate, but suddenly it was completely different.

As Qin Ming ventured deeper, the spiritual energy in this area became increasingly concentrated. Pale golden fire springs meandered through the woodland, nourishing this fertile forest.

"Perhaps there is an extraordinary medicinal herb here, there's hope!" He was getting more and more excited, as the rare fire spring was likely to be accompanied by an extraordinary spiritual object.

He proceeded cautiously, searching for the source of the fire spring.

The air in the woodland gradually became damp, the scents of grass, trees, and earth mingling together, filled with spiritual energy—far superior to that of the volcanic area. This was by no means a barren land. However, there was something unusual. So far, Qin Ming had not yet spotted any wild beasts or birds of prey, only hearing the sound of the wind rustling through the grass and trees.

Ahead, the fire spring was no longer pale gold, but had turned into a slightly dazzling pure gold, even the thick fog in the night sky was tinged with a sacred glow.

Soon after, Qin Ming could hardly believe his eyes. The spiritual energy in front of him was so dense that it seemed to ripple like glowing water.

The grass, trees, and vines have all disappeared. What you see is a kaleidoscope of colors, with one "tent" after another, all radiating brilliant light.

The ground was covered with large mushrooms, the smallest of which were more than a person tall, each one resembling a small house, while the largest mushrooms were over ten meters tall.

They are colorful and radiant.

Qin Ming was dumbfounded. These mushrooms were way too big!
Giant mushrooms covered the ground ahead, without a single blade of grass or vine; it was a sea of ​​mushrooms stretching as far as the eye could see.

Some of the large black mushrooms had golden spots, while others were bright red with speckled purple light. Each one was more vibrant and beautiful than the last.

"Could they all be highly poisonous?" Qin Ming wondered.

He had heard that the more "beautiful" a wild mushroom looks, the more poisonous it is.

"Wait, some of them look like 'spirit mushrooms'?" Qin Ming asked uncertainly as he took out the "Illustrated Catalogue of Spiritual Objects" and compared them page by page.

Sure enough, he discovered that some of the mushrooms were nourishing and considered spiritual, but their size didn't match up; the colorful mushrooms in this area were too "robust".

Qin Ming continued forward. Even though he discovered that it might be a spirit mushroom, he didn't dare to try it, fearing that it would kill him. There were just too many glowing mushrooms in this area, which was really absurd.

"Hiss, three-colored spirit mushrooms?" He was surprised. As he went deeper, he saw three kinds of "small mushrooms" surrounded by rosy light. They were finally not so big. Of course, this was only in relative terms. Overall, they were still about half a person's height and about the size of a small millstone.

Qin Ming couldn't help but wonder if it was a genuine three-colored spirit mushroom, which might be close to a spiritual medicine rather than just a purely nourishing food.

He traveled for dozens of miles and saw nothing but colorful mushrooms. He wondered if this was a strange world that belonged only to mushrooms.
Qin Ming was somewhat lost in thought, because having already discovered the four-colored spirit mushroom, he seriously doubted whether there were even higher quality spirit objects.
In fact, as he hoped, he saw the five-colored spirit mushroom ten miles away. This was definitely a spiritual medicine and should be effective for him.

"Gulp!" Qin Ming swallowed hard.

He suspected that if he ate some of the five-colored spirit mushrooms, he might be able to break through his cultivation barrier here!

Qin Ming walked another ten miles, but did not find any higher-grade spirit mushrooms. Finally, he could not bear it any longer and picked a five-colored spirit mushroom the size of a basin.

"It smells wonderful, so it shouldn't be poisonous, right?" He encouraged himself, trying to bolster his courage.

Of course, he wasn't going to do anything reckless; he was preparing to test a "small dose" of the poison.

The Five-Colored Spirit Mushroom has five colors in total: some are red, like dancing flames; some are green, fresh and vibrant; some are purple, surrounded by a purple aura; and some are golden, like the morning glow...

Qin Ming thought that since it was so sacred and full of spirituality, it shouldn't cause him to collapse after eating it, right?
He tore off a small piece, and instantly a five-colored glow surrounded it, and the fragrance spread and became even stronger. He never thought that a mere mushroom could make his mouth water; it was truly outrageous.

Qin Ming took a deep breath, and the light of heaven shone forth, even more colorful than the five-colored spirit mushroom. He cast a cauldron outside his body, put the torn mushroom pieces inside, and cooked them with the primordial light of heaven.

Soon after, he began to cautiously try it out.

The taste was quite delicious. As a tiny bit of the five-colored spirit mushroom went down his throat, Qin Ming immediately felt a slight warm current in his stomach.

"It really is... a spiritual medicine." Qin Ming felt no discomfort; on the contrary, he detected wisps of extraordinary substances.

He waited patiently for a long time, and nothing happened. Then he began to increase the dosage until he had tested the poison many times. He was completely at ease. With his control over his body and his keen spiritual sense, he could naturally distinguish whether the five-colored mushroom was a medicinal herb or a poison.

Finally, Qin Ming used the light of heaven to refine the five-colored spirit mushrooms and began to feast on them.

Inside his abdomen, a surge of heat rushed to his limbs and bones, which indeed had a beneficial effect on his body. Soon, his whole body was burning up, and his physical vitality increased dramatically.

"It's still a bit undercooked." Qin Ming began to increase the amount, found a second five-colored spirit mushroom, and quickly cooked it using the light of day.

He continued to pick five-colored spiritual mushrooms until he was almost full, and his mouth emitted a radiant glow as the medicinal effects accumulated.

With a loud boom, five-colored divine light emanated from every pore of Qin Ming's body as he was baptized, purified, and tempered by a scalding spiritual substance.

He knew that he would most likely be able to break through to the sixth level of the Spirit Realm.

At this moment, his entire body seemed to be engulfed by five-colored spiritual fire, even his hair was dyed with five colors, and his whole body was crystal clear and exceptionally dazzling.

Centered on Qin Ming, a small five-colored domain was formed.

"Crack!"

He vaguely heard the sound of some kind of shackles being shattered, as if the chains of his body and mind were being broken by an impact.

Qin Ming was certain that he had stepped into the sixth level of the Spirit Realm.

For him, this meant saving him a year of hard work. Normally, even if he practiced every day, it would take him until next year to reach this level.

Qin Ming bathed in the five-colored divine light and stood up. At this moment, he was full of energy and felt that he was full of vitality and powerful strength from head to toe.

"Are there any six-colored spirit mushrooms or seven-colored precious medicines?" His eyes shone brightly, and he was full of energy, wanting to continue searching to see if there were any even stronger spiritual objects.

He traveled dozens of miles in one breath, searching carefully, but unfortunately, he still couldn't find any higher-grade spirit mushrooms.

However, as he walked forward, he discovered that the Daoist aura in this area was incredibly strong.

When he arrived at a majestic mountain, he suddenly seemed to realize something and looked up sharply.

Because he felt that the Daoist aura seemed to be descending from the sky.

Sure enough, there was something in the night sky!
At that moment, Qin Ming felt his scalp tingle. A colossal object was faintly visible in the black clouds, hovering in the sky in front of him.

"No, it looks like it's hanging upside down, not sitting normally in the sky!"

Qin Ming was shocked. The enormous creature only revealed a small part of its outline, flowing with pure white jade light. How could this be so similar to the legends he had heard?

He couldn't help but walk forward, gradually approaching the area directly facing the colossal object in the night sky.

Suddenly, two divine rays shot out from his pupils.

"That is..." He found it hard to believe. In the clouds, from the highest heavens, there was a pale golden grass rope hanging down, swaying gently in the wind.

Qin Ming was lost in thought. Today's experience was so absurd. What kind of place had he come to?
(End of this chapter)