Huang Jingjun sank into utter despair. Even his elder brother had fallen, losing an arm — who was left now to save him?
In his eyes the young hunter, carrying a blood-stained long blade, was still the same man, and yet the figure before him had become something altogether different. Before, he had meant to force the fellow to gather herbs beside the Heaven Light, thinking him naively simple, laughable — a boy on the brink of death, still asking his elder brother questions. Now, looking back, he understood. Back then his own mouth had curled with a faint sneer and his brother had chuckled, but had the other man not been looking at them the very same way?
The three-colored flower was almost ripe. Mist of light drifted, and the refreshing fragrance grew ever headier; the very scent cleared the mind and lifted the spirit.
Qin Ming was utterly drawn in. He turned at once to dig the jade box out from beneath the pile of rubble, fearing he might miss the very best moment to pluck it. Who could say whether the spirit-flower would wither swiftly once in full bloom?
Huang Jingde held his severed shoulder with his left hand, the entire right side of his body drenched in blood, the armor sodden with it. Clutching himself, he staggered backward, each step leaving a red footprint on the ground. Seeing Qin Ming turn away, he had no thought of a sneak attack; instead he cast a deep look at his younger brother, meaning to flee. If he could only live, even crippled, so be it.
Qin Ming was eager to pluck the three-colored flower, but he was no fool prone to lowly mistakes — how could he let a Third New Lifer of that caliber escape beneath his very eyes? Without even turning his head, he sent the long-handled black-gold hammer in his left hand flying. How fierce was his strength? When he hurled it with all his might, even a city wall would be gouged out.
Huang Jingde cried out. In the instant he turned, a brittle crack rang in his ears — the sound of a bone snapping. Through the agony he felt his spine shatter; he could no longer support himself. The world spun around him, and with a thud he pitched forward onto the ground.
Qin Ming fetched the jade box and hurried forward, for the three-colored flower was opening fully before his very eyes, dazzling and beautiful beyond anything.
Nothing mattered more than this. Qin Ming plunged into the luminous, multicolored mist around the Heaven Light and came straight to the spirit-plant, where the fragrance had grown thickest. It grew beside a fissure among the heaped stones, little more than a foot high. The blooms were not small—once the many petals unfolded, they were as large as a fist. From the fissure the Heaven Light gushed forth, pressing on Qin Ming's chest until he felt discomfort. Yet the whole plant stood amid a rain of light, crystalline and dewy, in full bloom.
By the Heaven Light, the flower's body was predominantly silver, marked with threads like red haze, while the edges were blue, crystal and transparent. Its petals were shaped like willow leaves, but sharper, with angles and edges at the rims; and there were so many of them, folded layer upon layer, arrayed together like a small forest of miniature blades and swords — beautiful, and yet radiating a sharp, piercing air.
"It's fully ripe!"
Qin Ming set to work, raking the rubble aside and digging the whole three-colored flower out with his bare hands. From the leaves to the roots it was three-colored as well, brimming with dense vitality.
With a snap he shut the jade box and let out a long breath — he had securely reaped this priceless spirit-flower.
"A double blessing today!" Qin Ming was delighted, full of the sense of gain. After killing the people of Golden Ridge and venting his fury, he had come upon the blue jade iron and now this spirit-flower in turn.
Nearby, Huang Jingjun was choked with rage, coughing strands of blood. Were those not the very words they had spoken? And now he was at the end of his strength, plainly not long for this world.
"Thank you both for your gifts. All my days of toiling in the mountains have not brought me as much as I gained today." Qin Ming's thanks came straight from the heart.
Huang Jingde was furious enough to burst; a reeking fire seemed about to tear through his chest. He had once glimpsed such a splendid prospect — he had meant to borrow the spirit-flower to master Heaven Light Force — and now nothing remained of it!
Whether or not they were near their last breaths, Qin Ming walked over and finished each one himself, sending them off cleanly and efficiently.
When he searched the bodies, to his surprise he found a candle on Huang Jingde's person. He mulled it over a moment and understood how it was used — to seal the gaps of the jade box.
"Rigorous," he praised. That way, even if some sharp-nosed aberrant passed by, it would likely smell nothing.
At last Qin Ming picked up the two Huang brothers and laid them beside the old man of Golden Ridge and the two Golden Riders. Reluctantly, he set down beside them the long blade and the silver spear. These weapons were far too conspicuous; he truly could not take them out into the open.
By now the underground was in great upheaval. All manner of aberrants had come crashing in, and Qin Ming arrived at the stretch where the roaring was loudest, drawing at once a pack of ferocious mutated beasts.
In time the old man of Golden Ridge and the Huang brothers were reduced to "flesh and blood spiritual medicine" for the aberrants.
Above on the ground, great birds of prey wheeled. The silver eagle spread wings a full ten meters across, leading a host of flying aberrants as it watched over the whole Great Rift Gorge.
Within the underground world even Cao Long, Mu Qing, and Wei Zhirou's faces had gone pale, clustering close by the old masters of their clans.
"On the visible surface alone we've already seen creatures mutated four or even five times!"
"Let's hold on down here. At least we're in the depths of the Great Rift Gorge, not at the entrance — a fairly good position. The aberrants can't press this place for long. Once word gets out, Redcloud City is sure to send someone to rescue us."
Even Qin Ming felt the shock of it in the underground cavern. In such chaos it was no longer fit for fishing in troubled waters; it had grown too bloody. Some of the aberrants were utterly vicious, tearing men apart before eating them. By the time he found his road, he had already slain several mutated beasts.
He dared not run toward the depths of the Great Rift Gorge. Following his memory, he headed for the stretch where the mountain folk had disappeared.
Qin Ming reckoned some of the old hunters might know a route out of the ravine, for they roamed the mountains year-round and their skill at survival was high — you could tell as much from how, the moment they entered the earth, they made the right decisions.
A great white bear glared with savage eyes, its mouth drenched in blood, two corpses impaled on its great sharp claws. The instant it saw Qin Ming it charged straight for him.
"I can't take this great bear!" Qin Ming sensed the danger; the beast was far more ferocious than any creature mutated three times. He fled far and fast. When still young he had known such desperate escapes from death — he had been making his living in the mountains at fourteen or fifteen, skirting death again and again.
But in those days he had faced only ordinary beasts, and he had had Lu Ze, Xu Yueping, and the others to watch over him. Now he had come upon a great beast mutated again and again.
It had been a long while since Qin Ming faced so blood-soaked and terrifying a scene. There was nothing to do but keep fleeing — if he stopped, he would die.
Luckily the underground passages were dense as a spider's web, some of them narrow indeed. The great white bear was blocked, and in a fury it slammed the stone walls, making the whole passage shudder, stones tumbling down, while the two corpses dangling from its claws were beaten to a bloody pulp.
Qin Ming knew that Golden Ridge and the Three-Eyed Church would suffer enormous losses this time. The few who survived had already rushed for the ground Huang Jingde's clan had claimed.
Many roads within the underground cavern were stained with blood. From time to time came the howls of aberrants and the shouts of men. If the two sides truly met, one was bound to fall.
Qin Ming walked along the narrow passage and, emerging into another stretch, happened to watch an old man of the Three-Eyed Church die miserably — a golden bull had gored clean through his chest with its great long horns.
This Third New Lifer was an ill-fated fellow, hopeless with directions, lacking all sense of bearing. He had wandered round and round and never once left this stretch. Had it not been for that, a man of his skill would have made it to the Huang family's ground long ago; even now he was circling, utterly dizzy.
Upon the golden bull's two massive horns hung five corpses already. The huge ox-head shook violently, flinging every body free; with dull thuds they struck the stone walls, leaving stain after stain of blood. At its feet lay still more corpses, already crushed flat beneath its enormous hooves.
The golden bull's smooth, satin-like pelt was nearly soaked through red. The moment it saw Qin Ming, it spat gouts of fire from muzzle and nostrils and came thundering over.
Seeing it so murderous, Qin Ming knew he was no match. He turned and slipped back into that narrow passage.
At a time like this, snarling threats and curses at a monstrous aberrant did nothing at all. He could only pray the brute would hurry on its way.
It was an ill feeling, this sense that his life or death did not rest in his own hands. Qin Ming burned with the desire to grow strong again. In such a place, if a smaller creature that had mutated many times should appear, he was certain to die.
"WHAM!"
The golden bull's horns were more dreadful than a gleaming long blade; they smashed the stone wall to pieces, great slabs of rock crashing down in rolling clouds of dust. The fire it spat from its mouth seared the rock until it glowed red, waves of heat rolling past.
"Small wonder even the Third New Lifer was no match for it, dying miserably in the passage." Qin Ming's heart lurched, and he fell back deeper into the tunnel.
Only after a full quarter-hour did the golden bull go away; having caught sight of a two-legged beast, it was unwilling to leave the kill unfinished.
Qin Ming waited a while longer. The outside had grown quiet. He groped his way out into the passage, and though he met a few aberrants this time, they were nowhere near as dangerous.
At last he slipped through a crevice barely wide enough for a man, and beyond it the going improved somewhat. This was the last stretch the mountain folk had entered.
Qin Ming stumbled on through pitch darkness. Luckily he carried a sunstone on his person; and even so, he scrambled through all manner of rough, treacherous passages for the better part of an hour before he stepped out of the dim underground fissure, left the Great Rift Gorge behind, and came into a stretch of dense forest.
Qin Ming could not but admire those old hunters of rich experience. Had he been left to find this escape route himself, he could never have hit upon it so quickly.
He was a little moved. Those prospecting mountain folk had been in the most dangerous spot of all, yet in the end it was they who had gotten away alive. Of course, that owed to how, from the moment they entered the earth, they had begun saving themselves. Had they been chased in by aberrants as Golden Ridge and the Three-Eyed Church had, where would they have found the time to search for a road?
Qin Ming let out a long breath. However it had come about, he too had escaped with his life.
The mountains were very quiet. As he hurried along he scarcely saw a living thing.
Qin Ming slowed his step. These days many dangerous aberrants had gone off to the Great Rift Gorge. He mulled this over, then halted abruptly.
"If I remember rightly, the lairs of that white bear and the golden bull are both within ten li of here. They belong to the most formidable creatures on this outer edge of the mountains."
Qin Ming acted without hesitation. He turned and bolted in a certain direction.
When he had met the two great beasts, he had very nearly been done for. Though in the end he bore no wound at all, the whole process had been hair-raising. Had he not found that narrow passage, he would either have been torn apart by the bear's claws or hung upon the bull's horns by now.
Qin Ming made up his mind: while the two great beasts were away from home, he would go ransack their dens.