Night without Borders

Chapter 420 Breaking Through the Barriers and Sweeping Away the Enemy
The night wind blows, the white snow rises into a cold mist, the fiery red bamboo forest glows, and the golden bamboo leaves sway in the rosy light.

Qin Ming broke through his cultivation barrier and arrived at the ninth level of the Spirit Realm. He was overjoyed, but he remained calm and continued to shrink the natural Spirit Realm.

Despite the freezing cold in the mountains, the hearts of both groups of people were burning with excitement, their joy evident in their expressions and their eyes sparkling.

"Brother Dao, congratulations!" Cui Wu said with a smile.

"Haha, congratulations! Our joint efforts are a blessing for both of us." The old swordsman laughed, and in his excitement, two thick goat horns appeared on his head, and black hair grew out of his face.

Their joy was genuine, but their mutual congratulations were superficial; they were merely temporarily allied and needed to join forces to conquer this place.

Whether or not they will fall out afterward is another matter.

"The spirit field has dimmed; children, prepare to act!"

"After the appearance of this humanoid divine creature, it actually knows how to conceal itself. Could it be a rare medicine even more precious than the Pure Yang Flower?"

Many people are eager to try their luck. Even though they can't get to eat the "human bamboo shoots," the presence of the shimmering red and golden bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest is truly exciting for them.

The Cui family's puppets entered the bamboo forest, and although they were bathed in a reddish-brown and golden glow, they were not destroyed.

"It's alright, it's safe and feasible, the spiritual energy has indeed dissipated!"

"I'm so excited! I can already smell the faint fragrance of bamboo shoots, mixed with the natural scent of soil, and surrounded by a rich Daoist aura. If I were to consume just one, it would surely allow me to break through my cultivation barrier!"

Whether it was the Cui family or the foreign swordsmen, some of them ventured into the bamboo forest, worried that if they were a step too slow, the bamboo shoots would be picked clean by others.

Those puppets are clumsy and have lost their competitive edge.

"Don't push, fellow Daoist. You've already grabbed the knife hilt before even picking the precious herbs. What's the meaning of this?"

As they advanced, both sides harbored their own ulterior motives and became wary of each other, each occupying advantageous positions and terrain.

Cui Wu reminded everyone: "Although the spirit field is shrinking, it may have a slight resurgence in the end, so you must not get too close."

The old swordsman also rebuked, "Don't be so presumptuous! We're currently cooperating well, and we'll split any bamboo shoots we find!"

The two old men didn't dare to enter the bamboo forest. Since the younger generation would take care of it, they could just stay behind and keep watch for the time being.

Sure enough, as the group approached the depths of the red and golden bamboo forest, the spiritual energy there rippled outwards, blocking the path of a large group of people.

Some people probed from a distance, throwing out weapons and offering up rare treasures, only to find that the shrinking spiritual field had become gentler, merely deflecting knives, axes, and other weapons, no longer so violent.

Immediately, many people couldn't contain themselves and went to dig for bamboo shoots by various means as they approached the area. This time, they encountered a slightly stronger counterattack from the spirit field.

Some people were injured, but none of them were in mortal danger.

"It's confirmed, there are no problems!"

"You youngsters, get out of the way and let us have it!" Some middle-aged people parted the crowd and came to the front, intending to snatch the medicine.

Their status was naturally very high; some of them had accompanied Cui Wu and the old swordsman into the city lord's mansion and were core members of both teams.

Among them was Cui Shuning, who had also arrived nearby. Although she didn't personally go forward, she was eager to try. In such an environment, who wouldn't want to improve their strength and become a god or ancestor?

Some people were even wondering if they could get close to the core area and take a few big bites of the bamboo shoot people first. Did Cui Wu and the old swordsman expect them to spit it out?

A group of middle-aged people were unharmed and managed to pull out a few red golden bamboo shoots, bringing them out of the soil. However, they were always a little short of success, as the glowing ripples blocked their efforts, and they failed at the last minute.

They made a fuss for a long time, which even Old Swordsman and Cui Wu couldn't stand anymore.

"Clumsy as ever! You've been stopped before you even got close to the humanoid elixir? Get out of the way!"

In the end, the old swordsman and Cui Wu decided to step forward.

They observed for a long time and determined that the spiritual energy field had declined and the relevant area was now absolutely safe.

The main point is that the two of them studied it carefully and concluded that this was a spiritual field born from heaven and earth, not formed by human intervention, and not controlled by outsiders, so there would naturally be no traps.

Even if it is a naturally hidden plant with some spiritual qualities, it is still just a human-shaped bamboo shoot. Could it possibly kill someone?
All of this stemmed from their preconceived notions and fundamentally flawed predictions.

However, the two old men remained quite cautious. After venturing deeper in, their entire bodies glowed, revealing their late-stage fourth realm strength, enveloped in fine textures.

Furthermore, both of them were clad in high-grade armor, providing comprehensive protection from head to toe.

Beneath the frozen ground, Qin Ming sat quietly, his mind serene, resonating with this spiritual field and perfectly blending into the entire bamboo forest. He had been waiting for these two old fellows.

He can now clearly perceive everything outside through the fluctuations of his spiritual energy field.

"Step back, all of you!" When the two old men approached, even Cui Shuning, the tall middle-aged swordsman, and others made way for them and stepped back.

At that moment, Qin Ming launched his attack!
He contracted his spiritual field, naturally for a better burst of power, and selectively targeted the two people, causing the peaceful bamboo forest to suddenly erupt like a raging storm.

The red and gold ripples were violent and terrifying, throwing the two old men off their feet. Their armor exploded on the spot, and both of them coughed up blood.

Ripples spread, and the spiritual field enveloped them.

The light of their souls was greatly diminished, and their physical bodies were riddled with cracks. This was even with their thorough preparations, wearing high-grade armor and carrying protective amulets.

Even so, when the life-saving talisman burned out, they all screamed in agony. The old swordsman's right foot was shredded by the ripples, and Cui Wu's left kneecap exploded out.

Although they escaped to the edge of the region using the amulets, their bodies were already riddled with horrific cracks, almost completely torn apart, with many bones broken and their intestines spilling out.

The two men first groaned repeatedly, then screamed in agony, their bodies nearly torn to pieces, crisscrossed with terrible wounds, blood gushing out everywhere.

They had turned into blood-soaked figures. The old swordsman had even revealed part of his true form, with his two thick horns broken off, and Cui Wu's left eye had exploded.

At this moment, they were filled with fear, anger, and resentment. They still didn't know what was going on. How could the spirit field suddenly revive? It had clearly receded!
The two were severely injured and fell into the snow. They quickly took medicine to heal their wounds, but they didn't have many bottles or jars left, as they were all broken. They poured all the remaining medicine into their mouths.

"what……"

The bamboo forest was a scene of bloodshed, like a battlefield. Most people were strangled, and only a few important members of the inner circle, who also had trump cards to save their lives, barely survived.

The main reason is that Qin Ming controlled the spirit field, focusing on the old swordsman and Cui Wu; otherwise, none of the others would be left, they would all explode.

Even so, if he hadn't stopped in time, there would have been no survivors, and those people would have been torn to pieces by the impact of the spiritual field.

This was not because Qin Ming was soft-hearted. The main reason was that he was also in the spirit field, and at its center. Although he was resonating with and merging with this place, if the spirit field continued to rage for a long time, he might also be affected.

"Ah, where are my legs? And my hands..." Cui Shuning was going crazy. What woman doesn't love beauty? She was already missing an arm and a leg.

Relatively speaking, her injuries were relatively minor. This was mainly because she saw the old swordsman and Cui Wu approaching and feared that they might suddenly turn on each other and fight fiercely. So she walked out of the bamboo forest first, and thus suffered less impact.

The same was true for most of the other survivors.

At this moment, only a few people who were on guard outside were unharmed, but they were all terrified. What was going on? They came as a team and were almost wiped out!

"It... came out again!"

These people saw that in the heart of the bamboo forest, the human-shaped bamboo shoot slowly emerged from the frozen soil and snow once again.

"Is this bamboo shoot some kind of spirit? It's not a medicinal herb, but a monster?" Old Dao was so angry he almost vomited blood. This was his second time here, and he was injured again, far more so than before, and almost died.

"Damn it!" Cui Wu couldn't help but want to curse. He had failed miserably and almost died here.

“You…” Cui Shuning was shocked, her beautiful eyes wide open. She was still in the bamboo forest and had not escaped. Her view was not blocked by the bamboo forest, and from her angle, she could see Qin Ming’s profile.

She was completely overwhelmed, feeling like she was about to explode. She would recognize that familiar boy's face even if it were burned to ashes.

After all, Qin Ming and Lu Zizai had slapped her across the face when they visited the Cui family last time, and she felt she could hold a grudge for three lifetimes.

"How could it be you..." She couldn't believe it. Wasn't this a source-level spiritual field naturally generated by heaven and earth? Why would it be controlled by someone?

"Who is it? What's wrong?" Cui Wu shouted.

Cui Shuning was usually very aloof, but at this moment her face had turned pale and she was covered in blood. She thought of a possibility: it was said that Qin Ming was a genius and had a talent that was difficult for ordinary people to reach on the path of rebirth. Could it be that he had comprehended the origin of the spiritual field here?

"He is..." Cui Shuning exclaimed again as soon as she opened her mouth. Her face was as pale as paper. She was controlled by Qin Ming with the light of heaven and was lifted into the air, and then she was suddenly slammed to the ground.

She was filled with fear, anger, and overwhelming resentment. So many of them had been attacked by this boy, so many dead and injured, and she had suffered permanent disabilities. And now he was still beating her. "Ah..."

In the bamboo forest, a middle-aged man from the Cui family who had miraculously survived was brutally beaten to death by Qin Ming, who was controlling Cui Shuning.

Cui Shuning's mental state has collapsed; she has become a tool and is passively participating in the killing.

Subsequently, a severely injured foreign swordsman was also struck by her and died on the spot.

"It's you... Qin!" The other three members of the Cui family stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they were seeing, and recognized Qin Ming.

The last two foreign swordsmen remaining in the bamboo forest had also lost their focus. They had accompanied the old swordsman to the city lord's mansion, met Qin Ming, and even wanted him to lead the way into the mountains.

Qin Ming used the Heavenly Light to control Cui Shuning and smashed the other three members of the Cui family to death.

Subsequently, the two middle-aged foreign swordsmen, unable to bear the weight of their wives, breathed their last in frustration.

Cui Shuning felt like she was going crazy. She had severe mysophobia and, in an attempt to show closeness, had pretended to touch Qin Ming's head, but stopped at the crucial moment, her eyes revealing undisguised disgust.

Now, she is covered in blood, missing limbs, and most importantly, she was forced to smash the goat-sword swordsman in his true form, getting covered in wool.

This was worse than death for her. Looking at the long, black hairs that smelled of blood on her wound, she went completely mad and screamed incessantly.

"Qin Ming, I'm going to kill you! Ah, I'm going to skin you alive!" She crawled around on the blood-soaked ground littered with severed limbs and dismembered bodies, her hair disheveled.

Outside, the survivors trembled with fear. What had they heard? Was the situation in the bamboo forest related to Qin Ming?
Qin Ming stood up, shook off the frozen soil and snow from his body, stepped out of the core area of ​​the bamboo forest, and drew his mutton-fat jade iron knife with a clang.

"You... don't come any closer, don't kill me!" The crazed Cui Shuning chickened out at the crucial moment, terrified. Faced with life and death, she ultimately chose to live, abandoning her previous madness and stubbornness.

Qin Ming drew his sword and walked towards her.

She cried out, "Please, Qin Ming, I'm your aunt, you can't kill me!"

Qin Ming didn't bother to say anything more to her. Before he broke with the Cui family, when he was still in the Cui residence, this woman who knew the truth was very cold to him, and they didn't have much interaction.

Seeing the young man approach like a cold, indifferent demon, Cui Shuning completely broke down, knelt down and begged for mercy, crying out, "Qin Ming, I regret what I did, please let me go!"

puff!
As the mutton-fat jade iron knife slashed through the air, her head flew off, and in the flashes of light from the blade, her consciousness was also burned to ashes, and she died instantly.

"You little beast!" Cui Wu roared angrily.

Today's events far exceeded his expectations. No matter how hard he racked his brains, he could never have imagined such a situation: a young boy was going to wipe them all out!

"It's you!" The old swordsman's face was also frosty. He realized that the person who killed his junior earlier had nothing to do with the Cui family, but was the young man in front of him.

"Qin...Ming!" The men on lookout were trembling with fear as they looked at the bloodstains on the ground and the ethereal young man.

"Kill him, he's just a little brat!" Cui Wu said.

"Alright!" the old swordsman nodded.

They were seriously injured, but they made no attempt to escape. This was mainly because one had lost his right foot, and the other had his kneecap blown off, making escape difficult.

"Uncle, I'll go find someone to avenge you!" one of the more straightforward people shouted, forcing himself to speak, and then ran away.

The others remained silent and turned to leave.

However, everyone suddenly stopped, their path blocked.

"Lord Meng!" they cried out in fear.

They then scattered and fled.

"Stop!" One of them heard the shout and saw the creature blocking his way... it was a red squirrel.

He wanted to say, "How dare a rat block my way?" He raised his foot to step on it, but suddenly he saw a shadow. The Thunder King Bird of the Fourth Realm appeared behind the squirrel and reached out with a claw.

"Where do you think you're going!" On the other side, the fleeing Cui family members were trembling with fear because they heard Qin Ming's voice. He sat down on the ground with a thud, but when he looked up, he found that it was a blue magpie performing ventriloquism, imitating Qin Ming's voice.

Clearly, neither the foreign swordsmen nor the Cui family members could escape. With Meng Xinghai blocking their way, they were all turned into cold corpses in the blink of an eye.

"Xinghai, our two families have some connections, are you going to attack me?" Cui Wu shouted.

"Don't worry, Uncle Meng doesn't need to lift a finger. I'll be enough to kill you!" Qin Ming said, drawing his sword.

Cui Wu and the old swordsman exchanged a glance, temporarily ignoring Meng Xinghai, and charged towards Qin Ming at the same time. Even though both of them were lame, their speed was still terrifying in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, their injuries were too severe. During the charge, their bodies began to bleed profusely, and both of them were covered in cracks that were so deep that the bone was visible, and their intestines and internal organs could be seen.

Qin Ming approached with his knife, waiting for them to get close before he began to swing it.

In the blink of an eye, Qin Ming and the heavily injured old swordsman clashed several times. The old man was very skilled and had extremely high swordsmanship, but now he was bleeding profusely with every swing of his sword.

puff!
A sheep's head flew out diagonally, and the old swordsman was beheaded by Qin Ming with his mutton fat jade iron sword. His transformed form—a headless sheep carcass—fell to the ground with a thud, blood gushing out.

"I hate it! One day, the barbarian god will enter Night State, and you will not escape the fate of being purged!" His consciousness roared, but it was too late to change anything.

How domineering was the celestial light contained within Qin Ming's blade? With just one more slash, his spiritual consciousness shattered and was completely burned into nothingness.

“You…” Cui Wu staggered backward. He had also been attacking, but he was clearly not as brave as the old swordsman. He held his greatsword, pointed it at Qin Ming, and shouted repeatedly.

Qin Ming forcefully shook the mutton-fat jade iron knife, and the few drops of blood on it instantly flew off.

Cui Wu said, "No matter what, it was my Cui family that raised you. Now that you've killed so many people, do you think you can kill me too? In the past, I was your Fifth Master!"

Then, he showed a look of joy, because he saw Qin Ming put away the mutton fat jade iron knife.

However, the next moment, his face twitched again. Qin Ming took out a large hammer, as black as ink, also made of jade iron, clearly intending to smash him to pieces.

"Old man, how dare you bring up the past? I died for your Cui family. What should have been severed was severed long ago. Not to mention others, just you, how many times did you try to kill me afterward?"

Qin Ming didn't want to say anything more. With a loud bang, he swung the sledgehammer forward.

"What's going on in that forest? There's something unusual going on!" In the distance, the people from the East heard the sound of clashing weapons and faint shouts.

They couldn't hear clearly because they were too far away.

"I'll go take a look," Qi Yunzheng said. After arriving near Chixia City, he was filled with anger and resentment, wanting to avenge his younger brother Qi Yunxiao, but he couldn't find his enemy.

"I'll go with you." The woman who had threatened to smash Qin Ming's head outside the city lord's mansion walked alongside him.

An old man instructed, "You two, don't do anything rash. Come back immediately after you've ascertained the situation."

Before the bamboo forest where red and gold light flowed, Qin Ming swung his sledgehammer, causing Cui Wu to cough up blood and crack his hand bones.

"Ah..." Cui Wu roared, fighting back with all his might.

With a clang, the greatsword in his hand broke.

Moreover, his right hand was about to explode.

puff!
When Cui Wu coughed up blood, his hand holding the sword was covered in blood and flesh, his finger bones were broken inch by inch, and he could no longer hold the broken sword. He was completely injured by the sledgehammer.

He roared like a trapped beast. Amidst the heavy hammer shadows, the shield he activated with his will shattered, and the dagger he hastily pulled out was no match for it.

"Ahhh..." Cui Wu was in excruciating pain. In that instant, his hands were shattered by the hammer, and his arms also cracked with a popping sound. His bones broke and his tendons snapped, and his arms went completely limp.

His eyes were bloodshot, his heart filled with grief and indignation, and his face filled with despair, as he saw the large hammer smashing down towards his face with a loud thud.

Cui Wu tried his best to dodge, but his face was still torn to pieces, and then his entire head exploded here with a bang.

Cui Laowu is dead!

"Today, let's settle some debts first!" Qin Ming stood in the snow, holding a blood-stained sledgehammer.

(End of this chapter)