Night without Borders

Chapter 375 Bizarre and Extraordinary

In the darkness of night, the land behind Qin Ming was a vast sea of ​​mushrooms, vibrant and dreamlike. High above, amidst swirling black clouds, the outline of a city, exuding an oppressive aura, was faintly visible, like the shadow cast by a colossal beast, seemingly about to cover the entire land.

"Could it be... Yujing?" Qin Ming's mind wavered. He found it truly absurd. He had come to this other world to explore, so how did he end up near this legendary city?
Even earth immortals held it in the highest esteem.

Many of the patriarchs throughout history stayed in the earthen city and could not enter the real Jade Capital.

The night sky was silent, and the enormous object exuded an unparalleled sense of oppression, making anyone who looked at it feel suffocated.

Qin Ming stared blankly at the straw rope swaying in the night wind. It reached straight up to the city in the clouds. Could it be used to enter the Jade Capital?

There are so many legends about Yujing that it can be considered one of the sources of mythology.

There are supreme scriptures and treasures there, and many powerful people yearn for them.

For a moment, Qin Ming wanted to leap into the night sky, follow that pale golden grass rope, and sneak up to the mythical origin in the heavens to take a look.

However, he quickly dismissed the thought and considered other things—that some high-ranking deities had been willing to pay a heavy price to escape the Jade Capital.

This makes people wary, as they have no idea what the true situation inside is.

"Could this be the escape route of some high-ranking deity back then?" Qin Ming pondered.

Yujing, isolated from the world, seems to stand in a realm inaccessible to outsiders. This straw rope, capable of piercing through the chaotic void and connecting to the world of night mist, must be an extraordinary treasure.

Qin Ming's eyes were deep as he gazed at the sky. The so-called path to heaven and the shortcut to immortality were right before his eyes, but this was clearly not what he was looking for.

"If this gets out, some old folks who are nearing the end of their lives will definitely go crazy."

He knew very well that there were celestial beings inside Jade Capital who wanted to escape, but he also didn't know how many living beings outside wanted to break in.

Qin Ming didn't even try to travel in his mind, nor did he touch the straw rope. Instead, he resolutely withdrew his gaze, knowing that there were some major karmic consequences he simply couldn't handle right now.

“Interesting. This ‘tunnel’ has actually broken through layers of misty space. I am so close to Jade Capital. Was this intentional by the ancestors, or was this special ‘Purple Cloud Cave’ accidentally unearthed?” he murmured.

Qin Ming then searched the vicinity.

Not long after, he crossed several mountains and climbed a majestic mountain that reached into the clouds, where he saw a hazy, wondrous sight.

"Could that be a blessed land related to Tucheng?" He discovered an oasis, lush and green, with faint red clouds drifting through it.

Behind him, mushrooms of all colors were everywhere, with shimmering mist rising from them, and there was nothing else in sight. But now the scene was different, and he suspected that he had arrived at a blessed land after entering Tucheng.

Qin Ming was somewhat lost in thought. This time, the path to another world opened up by the ancestors had unexpectedly led him to the lair of the first ancestors.

If we calculate it this way, is the entire mushroom field also related to Tucheng?

Although Qin Ming was slightly startled, he couldn't help himself. He took long strides, crossed the sea of ​​mushrooms, and rushed towards that lush land.

He approached cautiously, and could smell the fruit from a distance.

"Peach Garden?"

Qin Ming felt that this was too surreal. He slapped himself twice to make sure that this was not a dream. He was now fully awake and had really arrived near the orchard in Tucheng.

Outside, there is a natural fence formed by purple bamboo forest. Inside, the old trunks of the peach trees are like winding dragons, the bark is like dragon scales, the leaves are green and shiny, and the peaches are full of bright red and translucent, with a rich fruity fragrance that is refreshing.

There is a small gate near the Purple Bamboo Forest that leads to the Mushroom Sea area.

"I'll go check if the peaches are ripe." Qin Ming went inside.

Soon, his expression changed, and his gaze pierced through the peach grove, looking at the distant earthen city, where flames seemed to rise, and the sounds of battle could be faintly heard.

"Something went wrong at this Peach Banquet?" Qin Ming's expression changed. Sword light was constantly tearing through the night sky in Tu City, and fierce fighting was taking place.

"Forget it, my cultivation level is too low to participate. I'll eat a few peaches to calm my nerves and then leave this dangerous place as soon as possible."

When he went to pick peaches, he suddenly stopped and smelled blood.

A man covered in blood appeared not far away. He was stocky, with naturally curly short hair and eyes like golden lamps. He looked to be in his early thirties.

"Little Tathagata?" Qin Ming frowned, not expecting to meet this person here.

"It's you?" Little Buddha's body was half-stained with blood, and he staggered, but he still rushed towards this side, clearly indicating that he was up to no good.

Qin Ming went all out, unleashing a torrent of Primordial Heavenly Light, and took the initiative to meet the attack head-on. He knew that there was no way to avoid encountering such a person, so he might as well take the initiative.

Little Buddha sneered and said, "Let me show you what true Chaos Energy is. Even though I am seriously injured and my strength is less than 30% of what it was at its peak, I can still suppress you with a wave of my hand."

Every inch of his flesh and blood was bursting with the radiance of the blazing sun. His whole body was like a dazzling fireball, which then formed a terrifying domain. Every move he made made the void rumble, as if it was about to collapse.

In an instant, he unleashed a punch that was like the sun shattering and a hurricane sweeping through. The ancient peach trees nearby, which were thousands of years old and were originally as hard as divine iron, were now all blown apart, creating a terrifying scene.

Ripples spread around Qin Ming, night and day alternated, and the Great Thunderclap Temple appeared... He stood in the spiritual field, his appearance solemn, and he made a move to directly confront the Little Tathagata.

With a deafening roar, the entire peach orchard seemed to crumble completely, with raging sunlight everywhere. In the instant the two clashed, this blessed land seemed to crack and sink.

puff!
The young Buddha coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his body shook violently.

Qin Ming was also bleeding from his mouth and nose, and his face was pale.

Without pausing, the two attacked again, engaging in a bloody battle.

With a soft thud, Qin Ming's chest was pierced by the light of the fist, causing him excruciating pain and making him stagger.

Half of Little Buddha's body was torn off by Qin Ming's hands, and blood gushed out.

With a crack, Qin Ming endured the excruciating pain and delivered a final punch, smashing Little Buddha's head open. The headless corpse instantly collapsed to the ground.

"Who dares to kill my disciple?" In the distance, a tall figure looked back in the night sky. His body was wider than Xiang Yiwu's, and his face and neck were covered with centipede-like scars, as if his broken flesh had been stitched together by dragon tendons.

That was... the Buddha of the past.

He looked over from a great distance, and with just a flick of his finger, a terrifying ray of light swept across the entire peach orchard, striking Qin Ming with a soft thud.

Qin Ming couldn't dodge it at all; it felt like a thousand knives were piercing his body, and his consciousness was about to be frozen. Then he watched helplessly as he disintegrated, his flesh and blood exploding.

"Impossible!" He thought it was absurd. How could someone die like this?
However, the reality was that his thoughts seemed to freeze, his vision went black, and everything was about to completely disappear.

For Qin Ming, that brief moment felt like an eternity. His last remaining consciousness struggled, as if he were enduring a torment akin to purgatory.

The radiant light of the Buddha in the past surged like an immortal divine flame, obliterating and crushing all the fragments of consciousness that Qin Ming had scattered after his body exploded into dust.

After the excruciating pain subsided, Qin Ming was plunged into darkness.

"No!"

He screamed and broke free from the destroyed peach orchard. Scenes of devastation flashed before his eyes, then quickly faded. He gasped for breath, smelling the pungent stench of blood. He realized he was still alive, his flesh and blood intact, but the scene was horrific; some corpses had exploded, completely shattered from head to toe.

This is not in the Peach Garden, but still in the Mushroom Sea.

At this moment, Qin Ming was in a pitch-black pool, filled with a dark light, the kind of terrifying light that he had discovered earlier, capable of corroding his physical body.

Nearby, some people went mad, some were laughing idiots, some were wailing in pain, and some fell into the Heavenly Pool and exploded.

What I saw before me was a scene like hell.

The large, dark pit, or rather the pool, was filled with a thick, bloody hue, and was covered with bones and bits of flesh stuck together with blood.

Qin Ming shivered, feeling a chill run down his spine. His whole body tensed up, and he realized what had happened; he had been infected earlier.

There was no Jade Capital, Peach Garden, Little Tathagata, or Past Tathagata. He was still in the mushroom sea of ​​another world, and after eating the five-colored spirit mushrooms, he experienced a hallucination that felt real.

Qin Ming was horrified. The "dream" he had just experienced had left him unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, and he remained trapped in it.

It should be noted that he used his consciousness, which was a blend of heavenly light and ethereal light, to reflect on himself, and even slapped himself twice, without realizing that he had fallen into an illusion.

In the mushroom forest, in the black pool, a lifeless corpse exploded before Qin Ming's eyes after being completely corroded. Blood splattered all over his head and face, while broken bones and severed limbs landed on his shoulders.

The scene was so bloody, it was like a battlefield.

Qin Ming leaped up and rushed out of the black pool, preventing other fools and madmen from falling in.

He then quickly subdued them because some of them were actually self-harming and attempting suicide.

Finally, the mushroom forest fell silent. The place was colorful and shrouded in mist. One after another, the brightly colored "little houses" were very beautiful. If you only looked at the scenery, it was like a fairy tale world.

Yet, it is also so bloody.

Qin Ming surveyed the surrounding area and estimated that about 150 people had come to this place, with at least 130 dead.

A small number of them committed suicide in the illusion, or died tragically after fighting with those around them, while the majority jumped into the black pool of light and died one after another from their bodies exploding.

Qin Ming belonged to the latter type of "death method," but he did not die in the end because although the light of the sky could initially erode his body and spirit, he eventually withstood it.

Ultimately, this celestial light had no effect on him; it was completely absorbed and refined by him.

In the third realm, perhaps only he could gradually adapt to the erosion of this heavenly light. Since he began practicing Hunyuan Jin, he had absorbed countless kinds of domineering heavenly light along the way.

Today, he was passively integrated into something.

Qin Ming finally understood why there were no other wild beasts or birds of prey in this area: entering meant certain death, and no one could break through such a realistic illusion without experiencing a death ordeal.

"Of the 150 people, only a dozen or so survived!"

This was only because he intervened; otherwise, everyone else would have died in the mushroom forest, resulting in almost total annihilation.

Qin Ming tied more than a dozen people together, carried them quickly away, climbed up the cliff, and arrived at the depths of the pitch-black plateau.

That sea of ​​mushrooms was too eerie. He wanted to pause his exploration, go back and take a break, and let the Grandmaster check if these people were still normal and could recover.

Along the way, he warned people and told other explorers about the horrors of the Mushroom Sea.

Some people stopped immediately, while others were skeptical. Regardless of whether they took it to heart, Qin Ming had told them the truth, which was more than enough.

Without any delay, Qin Ming returned to Yezhou through the Zixia Cave and quickly reported the situation to the experts guarding the area.

"What? Five-colored spirit mushrooms? Even in Yezhou, they are rare and precious medicinal herbs that cannot be cultivated. They are difficult to survive in the world and can only be seen occasionally. You actually found dozens of them in that world?"

Even a grandmaster was shocked. There was actually a sea of ​​mushrooms over there, as well as rare medicinal herbs like the Five-Colored Spirit Mushroom, which truly excited him.

"Senior, it can cause hallucinations and is deadly!" Qin Ming warned.

A grandmaster frowned and said, "It's most likely a mutated five-colored spirit mushroom. Could it be a degenerate variety of the Great Dream Mushroom?"

He knew all too well that there was a terrifying nine-colored divine mushroom, quite frightening, that could pull the patriarch into a dream, to experience reincarnation, death, and to kill him invisibly.

The two five-colored spirit mushrooms in Qin Ming's hand were immediately "requisitioned" by the Grandmaster, who, after careful examination, said, "No problem."

Soon after, the two grandmasters intervened and saved more than a dozen unconscious people. After a brief period of confusion, they all recovered.

Moreover, they all broke through the barrier!
"Report to the patriarch; there might be high-grade spiritual herbs, or even immortal medicines, over there!" a grandmaster said solemnly.

Clearly, the news had inevitably leaked.

Just as people were wondering if this was another huge pit, a patriarch personally came and reinforced the Zixia Cave, leading people through it that very day.

The news reached many people in Tucheng, which was nearby, and many couldn't sit still any longer, so they all came to the vicinity of Zixia Cave.

This "gate" is located in Yezhou, near Kunling, where Yujing is hidden. Earth Immortals from outside the region are very wary of Yujing and dare not easily approach this special area.

Soon after, experts from various paths entered Zixia Cave, and promising talents such as Jiang Ran, Cui Chonghe, and Cheng Sheng went to the other world one after another.

Xiao Rulai, Jian Huaidao, Xie Lin, and others, these outsiders who had kinship ties with Yezhou, also crossed over to this new territory.

The scorching sun from another land, Xiao Jinye, Lu Chenxiao, Mu Xingyao and others, after being "accommodated", also successfully entered the other land.

Night State was far from peaceful. People realized that this was not a big pitfall after all; they might have discovered an extraordinary high-level spiritual herb garden in another world.

However, both the founders of each path and the first ancestor of Tucheng were very serious, as if they were on guard against something.

"Ah..." Suddenly, some of the dozen or so people who had been rescued by Qin Ming let out painful screams.

His flesh glowed, then exploded with a "poof," releasing a large number of tiny points of light that rose in the night fog with the wind.

"Hiss, could this be the spores of the Great Dream Mushroom after its degeneration?!" A patriarch's expression changed upon seeing this sight.

Some patriarchs had eyes that shone like divine rainbows, clearly showing excitement, and said, "If we have the Nine-Colored Divine Mushroom, the great medicine refined from it will be a tonic for us, with extraordinary medicinal effects!"

Half a day later, the Purple Cloud Cave roared, and a large number of light spots surged out, instantly scattering into the night sky, like countless tiny fireflies floating in the air.

"A ten-colored divine mushroom with a will!" Inside the Purple Cloud Cave, a grandmaster uttered a weak voice, and blood splattered from the "tunnel".

boom!
More points of light burst forth, and a massive amount of spores flooded the night sky, covering everything and even the nearby earthen city.

Many people felt their scalp tingle after seeing this scene, wondering if they had brought about a terrible disaster.

Qin Ming was also stunned. Was this a real scene? Or was he still in another world, still in a dream?

(End of this chapter)