Night without Borders

Chapter 426 Before the Form of Heaven and Earth
Qin Ming walked with ease, and even in the darkness of night, his face shone with the radiance of dawn. After seeing this new world, he seemed to have developed an inseparable bond with the earth.

"The seclusion went smoothly, didn't it?" Yao Ruoxian asked. She was leading a team to inspect some important towns and cities in the southeast of Dayu, and large metal mining areas were also her main destinations.

"It's alright." Qin Ming replied with a smile. They had already left the highlands and were traveling across the snowfield. It was clearly early spring, but the ice here had not yet thawed.

"It seems you've learned a lot."

Yao Ruoxian's team consisted of about twenty people, all of whom were experts, including an elderly woman with a full head of white hair who had reached the level of a grandmaster.

An old man with short hair as sharp as steel needles reached the fourth realm of perfection.

The two experts exchanged glances, both showing surprise as they looked at Qin Ming, whose light steps and wisps of earth essence emanated from his feet.

This boy seems to have a natural affinity with the earth, walking without much effort, as if he is being carried forward by the earth's energy, which is quite rare.

"Princess, why is he here in seclusion? What extraordinary skill has he been practicing?" the silver-haired female master asked in secret.

Yao Ruoxian said, "It should be the 'Wuji Jing'."

The short-haired old man said, "That is a renowned and extraordinary skill in the Five Elements realm."

The old lady was immediately startled and said, "This... could he be reenacting a legend, bringing the events recorded in ancient books to life?"

The grandmaster, with her vast knowledge, guessed what it was.

"What's going on?" the old man asked.

The female master said, "Seeing the new world and picking up the secret treasure, if I am not mistaken, he may have obtained the legendary secret book 'The Earth Virtue Scripture'. No wonder he is so close to the earth."

"Such a rumored thing actually happened to him." The old man looked shocked.

As a member of the royal family, Yao Ruoxian had read extensively since childhood and had a wide range of knowledge. She had already guessed this, and her heart was even more uneasy because she knew that Qin Ming was going to a large metal mining area and was even searching for the sea. Could it be that he wanted to even pick the secret treasure?
She transmitted her voice, "You two, keep this a secret, don't let it leak out."

Qin Ming is clearly aiming to see new horizons and explore the world. How many people can do that? However, before this talent is fully realized, it may bring him trouble.

The female grandmaster and the old man nodded, their expressions changing as they looked at Qin Ming's retreating figure. Previously, they had expressed reservations, believing that the princess should not accommodate the young man's route during her inspection.

The snow-covered plains stretched for hundreds of miles, deserted and desolate. The rustling of the pine trees created a somewhat eerie sound, and shadowy figures appeared and disappeared. This kind of wilderness area was extremely dangerous.

Behind the group, an old man dressed in funeral clothes followed silently, having trailed the procession for over a hundred miles without giving up.

“He’s still here!” a guard whispered.

"Don't speak, ignore him."

Even with a Grandmaster in charge, the Nightfall creatures still followed, demonstrating just how serious the problems in the world are now.

Soon after, everyone felt a bone-chilling cold, and the road ahead suddenly became pitch black. Then they suddenly saw two red lanterns hanging and two figures leading the way.

"Halt!" the female master shouted.

The old man said, "Something's not right. We've stepped into a mysterious region!"

The female master said, "We are no longer in Night State in the area where reality and Night Ruins overlap."

Immediately, the entire team erupted into chaos.

Yao Ruoxian warned: "Do not move rashly. Activate the blood and qi in your body, unleash pure yang consciousness or heavenly light, and wait to reconnect with reality. Under no circumstances should you move around on your own."

The two dark figures leading the way turned around, their gleaming fangs gleaming coldly in the light of the red lanterns.

An elderly man dressed in funeral clothes strode up from behind, trying to urge the crowd forward.

"Boom!"

The earth beneath Qin Ming's feet surged with energy, sending the old man in his burial clothes flying into the air.

The female grandmaster made her move, her pure Yang consciousness slashing out like a blade, causing the old man in the burial clothes to tremble violently, blood spilling from his mouth as he fell into the darkness.

A moment later, things returned to normal, and they reappeared on the snowfield. However, they could vaguely see red lanterns hanging in the mist, and in the distance, a hazy blue fire spring flowed.

“Not a ghost, but a creature with flesh and blood and warmth,” the female master said.

Qin Ming ignored the flesh-and-blood creatures and stared at the gradually disappearing red lanterns and the eerie blue light, asking, "Are there fire springs in the Night Ruins?"

Yao Ruoxian nodded and said, "Yes, most of them are blue."

Qin Ming seemed to be deep in thought, and said, "I have a feeling that the biggest problem in this world lies in the fire spring."

Having read many ancient texts, Yao Ruoxian responded, "Many people have thought of this. Even earth immortals have traced the source of the fire spring and dug deeper and deeper, but in the end they all gave up and nothing came of it."

That day, they rushed to the mining area, which was 600 miles away.

This is a large metal mine with a complex composition, containing various rare metals used in weapon making, as well as day gold. In the past, even a few specks of exotic gold have been unearthed.

In recent years, mining in this large mining area has been suspended by Dayu and is being used as a reserve.

Now, the world is like a series of isolated islands. The royal family of Dayu is not at ease with this important place, so they sent royal family members to inspect it personally.

"Why is this village so strange?"

As they approached a pitch-black village, everyone sensed something was amiss. The once vibrant red fire had gone out, and the village was filled with shadowy figures. In the dead of night, many villagers were still awake.

"Hiss, this is a ghost village!" A guard gasped in the night mist, feeling a chill run through his body.

This place has also been eroded by the Night Ruins.

The entire village died, becoming creatures governed by flesh and blood.

"It's a horrific sight; grotesque creatures roam the earth, walking corpses roam freely," the female master sighed.

Calling these villagers ghosts is not accurate. They are not spirits; their flesh and blood still have warmth, but they are completely different from before, carrying the special rules of the Night Market.

"Mother, the fire spring has disappeared. I'm so scared. I want to stay with you." In the village, a young child trembled and whispered.

A dark figure walked over, pulled him up, and dragged him into the darkness.

Some guards were about to rush into the village to rescue the children.

The female master shook her head and said, "That was his last obsession before he died. He died long ago."

At the edge of the village, a girl's clear laughter echoed, the last sound in the darkness. She disappeared into the inky blackness, heading deeper into the night market.

Qin Ming sighed softly, "Alas, I hope they can live in another world in another form."

“The problem is very serious in this remote place!” Yao Ruoxian felt a tightness in her chest. These were all people of Dayu, yet they were isolated from the outside world and ended up like this.

They then discovered a small town that had also been eroded and was now completely dark.

Moreover, they were astonished to witness something "miraculous" here. Deep in the dark town, at the junction of the night market and reality, a silvery-white light gradually emanated from there, which was quite sacred.

It was a creature, shrouded in a white halo, silently watching the people outside the town.

Yao Ruoxian demanded, "Is it a monster like you who dragged the entire town into the night market? How dare you take lives like this!"

"What makes you think your land is peaceful, sacred, and tranquil? I am saving them," the creature shrouded in a silver halo spoke; it could actually communicate.

"You killed an entire town, and you still dare to claim you can save them?" Yao Ruoxian said indignantly, her fair face filled with murderous intent, wishing she could kill the other party immediately.

The hazy being within the divine halo spoke: "This world of night is like a sea of ​​suffering. It's better for me to pull them ashore and let them be reborn on the other side than for them to struggle for survival here."

Yao Ruoxian retorted, "What nonsense!"

The creature within the divine halo spoke: "You are born into suffering but do not know that making the wrong choice will inevitably lead to a tragic end. Just like in your land, once you choose to become an immortal, your life form will change. Few are truly holy and transcendent; most are strange and bizarre, with terrifying forms."

"You still want to bewitch people?" the female master said coldly.

The creature within the silver halo ignored them and continued, "Because you didn't enter the right place, turning your backs on the land of immortality, how could you expect a good end?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?" the short-haired old man scolded.

The mysterious being said, "If a being who has become an immortal turns around and enters the Night Ruins, everything will be different. They will be destined to be sacred and transcendent, truly ascending to immortality. There will be no terrifying or strange phenomena. They will be freed from the sea of ​​suffering and transcend to the highest realm."

"That's utter nonsense," the commander of the guards retorted.

“You don’t understand. The Holy World, which you call Night Ruins, is now intersecting with your place. This is your honor, allowing you to land. Other areas outside the Jade Capital’s influence have no hope of obtaining such an opportunity.”

In the darkness, the creature within the divine halo was actually lecturing the crowd, which was naturally refuted.

"How many levels are there in the Night Ruins?" Qin Ming asked.

The creature within the divine ring asked, "How many layers of heaven are there in your mythology?" "What do you mean?" The female grandmaster's gaze sharpened.

The creature within the divine ring spoke: "Think about why the Jade Capital you speak of, which is so supreme, is upside down."

Outside the dark town, a group of people fell into a brief silence.

Suddenly, from the depths of the Night Ruins, an extremely terrifying mental field fluctuation emanated, accompanied by a low roar like a tsunami: "Fugitive Dreamer, we've found you!"

At the same time, a giant hand grabbed out, covering everything in its path, engulfing the creatures within the silver divine ring, and dragging the entire town away as well.

The place was silent and empty; nothing was left behind.

This scene is terrifying.

After a moment, one of the guards spoke up: "The depths of the Night Ruins are far more complex than we imagined."

The female master rebuked, "Don't believe those words. Didn't you hear that giant creature call it the 'Dreamer'?"

After the group left this abnormal area, the atmosphere in the entire group became somewhat heavy.

Finally, ahead, the fires blazed brightly, and only the two villages and towns we had seen earlier were dragged into the night market; the situation had not truly collapsed.

“Something is still not right,” the guard captain said.

In a village ahead, demons were roaming about, and shrill screams were coming from there.

Qin Ming, Yao Ruoxian, and the others rushed over and saw a bloody scene: an old jackal was eating a person; its upper body was that of a beast, and its lower body was that of a human.

A pale-faced boy, his chest ripped open, was dead, but his eyes remained open, his face frozen in terror.

Inside each household, many people were desperately bracing themselves against the door panels, their faces pale and their bodies trembling slightly; even the cries of children had ceased.

Within Qin Ming's body, celestial light burst forth, transforming into a giant hand that gripped the jackal's neck, almost snapping it in two with a cracking sound.

Yao Ruoxian's face turned icy cold as she said, "Speak, how dare you do this?"

For many years, such a heinous event had not occurred within the territory ruled by the Great Yu Dynasty. An entire village had fallen and become food for demons.

The guard commander captured another bear demon from the village, its large paws also stained with blood.

"Let go! We are here on the orders of the King..." The old jackal and the bear demon struggled.

The situation was even more serious than Qin Ming and his group had imagined. Many villages and towns in the surrounding area had fallen, and demons were coming and going, treating the villagers as slaves and forcing them to mine.

Yao Ruoxian's flawless face was filled with coldness. There couldn't be anything worse than this: the order of this land had collapsed, and it had actually been occupied by demons.

Each village has two or three demons. They usually take the villagers to mine, and they all have tasks to perform. They are completely unscrupulous and feed on the villagers when they are hungry.

After the various places became isolated islands, this area was so devastated that Yao Ruoxian's killing intent soared, and she led her team to clear out the jackals, tigers, and leopards in this area overnight.

"Speak, where do you come from, and who is your king?" The female grandmaster had a full head of silver hair and was very old, but tonight her emotions were also in turmoil, and she wanted to go on a killing spree.

Soon, they learned that these demons were conscripted from deep in the mountains, and that the king they spoke of was an outsider.

Currently, the king and his demon horde are stationed in a distant city.

Gengjin City is just a few dozen miles away.

In the early days, there were only sparse villages and towns here. Later, due to the mining of large metal veins, the area became more and more popular and gradually formed a city.

In recent years, with the cessation of metal mining, Gengjin City has lost much of its former prosperity.

After the emergence of creatures from the Night Markets in various places, a consensus was reached among all parties that whoever could protect a place could become its ruler.

Yao Ruoxian never expected that this place would be targeted by a group of foreign demons. They occupied the city not to protect the local people, but for the rare minerals.

The people in many villages and towns in this region were enslaved. The demons who came for jade iron and strange gold particles were bloody and cruel, and did not treat the villagers as human beings at all. Some people were worked to death, and some were eaten.

These foreign demons are even more destructive than the creatures of the Nightfall.

"He deserves to die!" Upon learning of this situation, the group was filled with righteous indignation.

"Among those foreign demons, there might be a grandmaster-level expert." Soon after, they learned of this news, and their expressions became solemn.

The guard commander said, "To be on the safe side, go to that giant city five hundred miles away and gather some experts. There should be a grandmaster there."

Yao Ruoxian nodded, wrote the letter herself, and had it delivered overnight.

"We've been on the move, and tonight we'll rest and recharge. Once our reinforcements arrive, we'll head to Gengjin City to investigate, hoping to capture all those demons."

That night, Qin Ming went straight into the mountains. He didn't want to waste time. While the group rested, he went deep into the dark mine.

In the dead of night, the bottomless mine seemed to lead to an abyss, or the entrance to hell. As soon as Qin Ming entered, he sensed something was wrong. There was the sound of chains and the presence of serpents.

Clearly, this place became the intersection of the Night Ruins and reality. He saw the eerie blue fire spring deep underground, as well as some terrifying figures.

Qin Ming did not insist on going deeper, but chose to withdraw and move to another mining area.

In this mountain range, there is nothing else but a great many ancient mines, and the metallic aura is very strong.

Deep underground, Qin Ming sat quietly, circulating the "Golden Silkworm Scripture." Instantly, a strange energy flowed through this large metal mine.

He seemed to be one with the entire mountain, as if an invisible metallic aura was engulfing him.

Outside Qin Ming's body, countless golden threads, like silkworms spinning silk, pierced into the mountain wall, then seemed to weave a net and form a cocoon, enveloping him within.

"It turns out that the next secret text is the 'Silkworm Emperor's Golden Sutra'." He successfully entered a new world and obtained the secret treasure.

At this moment, Qin Ming found himself in a lush, metallic forest. He seemed to have transformed into a silkworm queen, feeding on metallic energy. On a golden mulberry tree, he saw pages of scriptures hanging.

Most importantly, he was nourished by the special active metallic energy here, accumulating a lot of mysterious spiritual substances.

He felt that he might be able to break through a major barrier here.

"There's a high probability I can step into the realm of the Heart Lamp." This was an instinctive intuition of his.

However, upon closer reflection, he had a nagging feeling that things weren't going well and that there was a possibility of failure.

If the flame of his heart is not lit and he stops halfway, it may severely damage his vitality.

Qin Ming frowned. In the early stages, obtaining a secret treasure was enough for him to break through a small realm. However, as his cultivation deepened, the barriers to later realms became increasingly difficult to overcome.

"It seems that, as expected, we still need to obtain the secret text, the 'Overturning the Sea Classic'."

Qin Ming no longer focused on his studies and began to comprehend the "Silkworm Emperor's Golden Scripture." After seeing a new world, he found that in this special place, his cultivation was twice as effective.

Outside its body, metal vaporizes into various weapons, shooting everywhere, and then silk threads shuttle through the void, as if distorting heaven and earth.

Much later, he opened his eyes and his mind returned to reality. The entire mine was dilapidated and on the verge of collapse. His body was covered with Silkworm King Energy.

"It's time to go back." Qin Ming got up and left the mine.

On his way back, he paused briefly before another abyss-like mine, where he saw eerie blue flames and the hazy silhouette of a city.

"As many layers of heaven are there in mythology, so are the layers of Night Ruins?" he murmured, then vanished in the blink of an eye.

"It has been determined that the monsters occupying Gengjin City are not native to Yezhou, but are very likely our old adversaries."

After Qin Ming returned, Yao Ruoxian told him the news.

As night fell, they became even more certain that it was indeed their archenemy, the demon faction that had fought them on the Plains of Divine Desolation.

During this period, many things happened in Yezhou. The demon camp in the far west was very envious and wanted to send people to get closer, but they dared not reveal their identities.

For example, before Yujing fell, when geniuses from all over the world entered Tucheng, some people from the demon camp also came secretly, but they only dared to linger in the distance and did not dare to really show themselves.

After the dramatic changes in the world, they saw an opportunity. When they lost contact with each other in different places, some of them decisively went to remote places to collect creations and other treasures.

The guard commander reported: "They dare not enter Yezhou in large numbers, only a small force. There should be one or two demon grandmasters and several seed experts in Gengjin City, among whom may be the Jade Emperor."

"Hmm, some powerful celestial demons have indeed arrived!" Yao Ruoxian exclaimed in surprise. She was no stranger to the Jade Emperor, who was an extremely formidable figure in the demon camp.

Qin Ming said, "They were already utterly defeated on the Divine Devastation Plains, yet they still dare to stir up trouble. Kill them all!"

Those present grew increasingly angry upon hearing this, their murderous intent surging. Their former defeated foe dared to venture deep into the heart of Yezhou, taking advantage of the upheaval to wreak havoc on the region.

(End of this chapter)