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Novel: [Night Without Borders]
Chapter 53: [Beyond the Mortal Realm]
Author: [Chen Dong]
Translator: [Shadow Knight AK]
Editor: [Shadow Knight AK]
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Shallow Night hadn't yet arrived, and the world was enveloped in a thick darkness.
Dense forests lined both sides of the road, their branches stretching wildly in the howling wind like swaying Ghost Shadows.
In this profound darkness, Qin Ming decisively swung his sword, as if a bolt of lightning had pierced the gloom, instantly shattering the oppressive atmosphere.
At that moment, the black mist surged forward, carrying a palpable malice, seeking to engulf the two men and swallow them into its vast shadows.
In this starless, moonless night, others would have seen nothing, but Qin Ming perceived the mist clearly and felt its bone-chilling coldness as it drew near.
With a hiss, like a hot knife slicing through butter, the mineral-coated short sword plunged into the black mist, causing its icy chill to boil.
"What's happening?!" Old Liu shouted, reacting with surprising speed.
With a whoosh, he drew his thick-backed sword and swung it at the void alongside Qin Ming.
However, when his sword entered the black mist, it seemed to strike nothing, as if his blow had fallen empty.
"Retreat now!" Qin Ming shouted.
At the same moment, he heard a bloodcurdling scream. The black mist began to rapidly condense, coalescing into a humanoid figure.
Old Liu, ever obedient, instantly sheathed his sword and fled without hesitation.
He couldn't see or hear anything, completely unaware of what was happening. Yet, his instincts screamed that the situation was dire, utterly wrong.
A man emerged from the black mist, his humanoid outline somewhat blurred.
But Qin Ming's sharp eyes could discern that it was a young man, his face contorted in agony, his icy gaze fixed on Qin Ming.
The Jade Iron Sword in Qin Ming's hand slashed into the figure's body.
Astonishingly, the humanoid creature formed from black mist began to bleed profusely, the dark liquid splattering onto the ground.
Qin Ming's expression darkened at this sight.
The young man opened his mouth and spat out a plume of black mist, which instantly transformed into an ink-black arrow feather.
It shot toward Qin Ming's forehead with chilling, sinister force, carrying a bone-deep cold.
Qin Ming tilted his head to evade the black mist arrow feather while violently shaking the Jade Iron Sword, causing all the mineral coating clinging to it to crumble away.
All this happened in the blink of an eye.
The black mist lunged silently, and Qin Ming retaliated with a swift backhand strike.
The man who had materialized from the mist instantly countered, aiming to kill him. There was no hesitation in their movements; both reacted in an instant.
Qin Ming sensed imminent danger, realizing he might die.
This unknown entity exuded an oppressive aura, making him acutely aware of the presence of death.
However, as he swung his sword, the situation rapidly shifted. The frigid, malevolent mist rushing toward him began to weaken dramatically.
In the darkness, a brilliant sword of light erupted like a blazing inferno, illuminating the forest.
The Jade Iron Sword in Qin Ming's hand, now free of its mineral coating, behaved entirely differently when confronted with this creature.
During this exchange, the young man who had materialized from the black mist retreated, desperate to escape the sword. Yet as the sword's light burned like a searing flame, his form twisted and trembled violently.
"Stop..." he shrieked, struggling frantically to revert to mist and flee into the air, but his efforts failed.
Qin Ming couldn't possibly stop. He noticed the young man's blood, which had splattered on the ground, vanishing like drifting ash in the wind—not real human blood.
"What exactly is this thing?"
The young man couldn't believe it.
In such a remote place, a random young hunter could wield a Jade Iron Sword.
Unable to dematerialize into mist, he retreated desperately, moving with the clumsy movements of a human body, struggling to break free from the sword's radiant grip.
Qin Ming had forged this sword but never used it before, completely unaware of its characteristics.
Now, after striking this strange creature, he discovered its remarkable capabilities.
His Heavenly Light flowed effortlessly into the sword—an impossible feat with any other weapon at his current cultivation level.
While his Heavenly Light was far less potent against the young man than the Jade Iron Sword itself, it allowed him to employ various techniques, such as his own Adhesive Characteristic.
Qin Ming swung the Jade Iron Sword, its white light surging forth to ensnare the struggling young man, as if burning a demonic entity.
"No, stop!" the young man cried out in terror, struggling violently.
But how could Qin Ming stop?
He didn't even know what kind of monster this was. If he let it escape, he would be in grave danger himself.
The young man repeatedly raised his hands and opened his mouth, trying to unleash black mist to attack Qin Ming, but each attempt was incinerated by the sword's radiant light.
His entire body was now engulfed in flames.
This was no longer like a hot knife slicing through butter; it was more like a red-hot sword plunging into dry grass, setting it ablaze.
Qin Ming used his Intercepting Technique, guiding the Jade Iron Sword through the young man's body, igniting fires everywhere.
Whenever the black mist surged, as the young man desperately tried to break free, Qin Ming shifted to Silk-Winding Technique and Adhesive Technique, locking him down firmly.
It was clear now: the Heavenly Light, piercing through the night sky and descending upon the spiritual Great Mountain, had nurtured mysterious things imbued with inexplicable power.
At that moment, Qin Ming deeply understood and appreciated the words Cao Long, Mu Qing, and others had spoken before.
The Jade Iron Sword's radiant light surged, completely suppressing the black mist-formed man.
In the distance, Old Liu's hair stood on end.
He saw nothing but Qin Ming's snow-white short sword glowing brightly, then transforming into what looked like a blazing torch.
"How could I have missed this completely? I didn't see a thing!"
Hearing his words, Qin Ming immediately realized that the young man formed from black mist was even more terrifying than he had imagined.
Ordinary people wouldn't even notice him—how could they possibly fight against such a being?
The young man was desperate, his entire body engulfed in flames, unable to escape.
"In an age without sunlight, I should have been safe traveling at this level. How could I be ambushed here...?" He was in agony, unwilling to die like this.
After weighing his options, he knew he had to sacrifice something.
"Are you one of those formless creatures that many great clans fear?" Qin Ming demanded.
"I'm not one of those things! I'm human! Stop and listen to me!" the young man cried out.
Hearing this, Qin Ming swung his sword even more fiercely, unleashing a flurry of horizontal slashes and vertical strikes within the young man's body, even channeling the sword intent from the sword manual!
The black mist man wanted to curse aloud.
Why was claiming to be human only making things worse?
"People like you are more terrifying than ghosts!" Qin Ming declared.
"I'm from Beyond the Mortal Realm..." the young man shouted urgently.
Panic seized him, but he had no time to speak before the fiery light emanating from the Jade Sword began to consume his entire body.
Qin Ming found this absurd.
He had repeatedly slashed the man's head with the sword, yet the man remained unharmed.
In the end, only the sword's fiery light seemed capable of burning him to death.
"Bang!"
At the last moment, the man self-destructed, abandoning his dense, shadowy body.
A scrap of cloth, containing his essence, broke free and attempted to soar into the night sky.
But he was too weak.
Activating the strange cloth slowed his escape significantly.
Qin Ming reacted swiftly, striking the cloth with his sword and knocking it down.
"Hmm?" He noticed the palm-sized scrap of cloth remained undamaged.
Though it had fallen, it still enveloped a wisp of black mist and seemed poised to surge upward again.
Qin Ming unleashed the Adhesive Force from his Heavenly Light Technique, drawing the cloth back to him.
Then, using Nail Technique, he pierced the sword through a gap in the cloth's imperfect seal.
"Ah, stop! I'm from Beyond the Mortal Realm..." the young man cried out, but it was futile.
The last wisp of dark mist was burned away.
A palm-sized scrap of cloth fluttered to the ground, and the young man who had materialized from the mist vanished as if he had never existed.
Qin Ming gripped the Jade Iron Sword, his expression grave. He suspected the young man's methods were those of a so-called Outsider.
This was different from what he had imagined. The opponent wasn't some invisible, inexplicable "thing," but a real human being in an extraordinary state.
"Are Outsiders this difficult to deal with?" Qin Ming's heart sank.
This man could fly and was invisible to ordinary people.
How could anyone possibly fight against such an opponent?
Old Liu had once struck this man with his thick-backed sword, but it felt like cutting through air—utterly ineffective.
Qin Ming stood motionless, his expression more solemn than ever before.
One of his future opponents was also an Outsider.
The Feather-Robed Youth who had led the burning of the entire village that night, with his ethereal and otherworldly presence, would undoubtedly possess similar abilities if he followed this path.
He might even surpass the dead young man in strength.
Initially, Qin Ming had been elated by his rapid progress, believing he had achieved remarkable feats in a short time.
But now, as the frigid wind whipped snowflakes against his face, he sobered up. He couldn't afford complacency; he needed to become even stronger.
The formidable force he would eventually face remained shrouded in mystery and unpredictability..
Qin Ming recalled why the Silk Book had appeared: several elders, dissatisfied with their own paths, had joined forces to deduce a new tecun, hoping to rival the most glorious paths of cultivation.
"The methods of the Outsiders are truly mysterious and terrifying," Qin Ming murmured to himself.
His own path stretched far ahead, requiring him to take each step deliberately, one at a time, toward greater heights.
"Is it taken care of? What kind of monster was that? This old man couldn't even see a ghost shadow—I was practically blind!" Old Liu strode over, his great sword in hand.
"An Outsider," Qin Ming replied.
"Their backing... must be formidable!" Old Liu's expression turned grave. "To have provoked such beings..."
Qin Ming used the Jade Iron Blade to lift the tattered scrap of cloth. He channeled his Heavenly Light, causing the sword to glow with a snow-white radiance, but the cloth remained unresponsive.
Old Liu's heart churned with turbulent emotions. The Xiao Qin before him felt strangely unfamiliar, having forged such an extraordinary sword and slain an invisible Outsider.
Yet, after decades guarding Blackwhite Mountain and witnessing countless bizarre occurrences, his composure quickly returned.
Qin Ming carefully examined the tattered fabric clinging to the sword. It was clearly no ordinary scrap, woven with metallic threads and embroidered with cloud patterns.
Though the fragment was too small nto discern the main design, its intricate craftsmanship hinted at something far more significant.
"Shall we head back to the village first?" Old Liu asked.
Qin Ming shook his head. "Let's go to Yinteng (Silver Vine) Town instead. We can grab breakfast there before heading to the family we arranged to meet."
"Don't you need to rest and recover?" Old Liu asked. "You're taking this all in stride?"
Qin Ming shook his head again. "There's no need for rest. The mysteries we don't understand exist only because my strength is still lacking. Borrowing those secret texts now is the most practical way to improve myself and truly embark on my path.".
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END OF CHAPTER
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