Chapter 146: The Youth’s Demon Hunt
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
The Shenzhang Plains stretched endlessly, its lush greenery obscured by the oppressive darkness of night and shrouded in dense fog. The sprawling forest was eerily quiet, with the rustling of leaves and faint green mist flowing through the air. Qin Ming moved through the woods like a wraith, his body light and brimming with vitality, the Wood Force enveloping him entirely.
Each step he took seemed to carry him effortlessly forward, as if the green mist lifted him off the ground. His movements were swift and fluid, his hair dancing in the air like a celestial being traversing the night.
“This Wood Force is remarkable,” Qin Ming mused, pleasantly surprised. Not only did it conserve his energy, but the faint green glow acted like a medicinal balm, slowly purifying his blood and nourishing his essence.
Within this environment, he traveled swiftly, as if carried by the energy of the forest. His appearance, ethereal and serene, was that of a wanderer from another world.
Above, the ink-black sky flashed with streaks of crimson lightning, fiery streaks seemingly ready to scorch the earth.
“Looks like a storm is coming,” Qin Ming muttered, glancing at the churning clouds in the distance that darkened the plains even further.
Ahead, five figures came into view. Among them, Qin Ming recognized three—humans who had once hunted him alongside aberrants, treating him as prey. Cloaked in green mist, he shifted direction, his footsteps silent as he melted seamlessly into the forest.
The group didn’t notice him at first, continuing their march. It wasn’t until he was within two meters of them that one abruptly turned, startled. The man thrust his spear instinctively, the weapon gleaming in the dim light.
Qin Ming’s right hand swept forward, encased in green radiance. With a resonating clang, the iron spearhead disintegrated into shards, scattering onto the ground.
“It’s you!” one of them exclaimed, their faces pale with fear. The once-wounded youth they had thought doomed was now brimming with vitality, his strength oppressive, the scent of fresh vegetation emanating from him.
“Who sent you to hunt me?” Qin Ming asked coldly.
A young woman stepped forward hastily. “Brother, there’s been a misunderstanding! We heard the demons were fighting over a silver heart and came to seize it ourselves. We never intended to target you.”
A middle-aged man nodded vigorously. “Exactly, brother. We meant no harm. We only crossed paths by chance. We even wanted to help you, but you misunderstood and fled.”
Qin Ming’s expression remained icy. Their excuses were as hollow as they were self-serving, and they knew it. Weapons tightened in their hands, their true intentions clear.
Without further words, Qin Ming struck with his fist. The nearby Wood Force surged toward him, amplifying the power of his blow beyond its natural limits. The man with the broken spear exploded into a shower of blood and fragments.
“Brother, we’re of the same kind! You can’t do this!” the young woman cried, her voice trembling. Yet even as she spoke, her silver blade slashed toward him without hesitation.
Qin Ming’s palm met her attack, shattering the blade into several pieces. The green energy trailed after, severing her head from her body. Her lifeless form crumpled to the ground.
In moments, the remaining three attackers were gravely injured, coughing blood as they lay on the forest floor.
“Brother, spare us! We were wrong to give in to greed and join the demons in hunting you,” a young man begged, his voice trembling.
Qin Ming extended his awareness to confirm their words. They were indeed motivated by greed, but he showed no mercy. With a single step, the Wood Force surged, and their bodies detonated into sprays of blood.
A blue sparrow perched nearby muttered nervously, “What terrifying clarity of mind, like one close to immortality—but when he acts, he’s scarier than the demons!” It debated how to report what it had witnessed.
Thunk!
The sparrow exploded into feathers and blood as Qin Ming loosed an arrow, resuming his journey without a word.
In the depths of the night, a massive white peacock hovered in the air. Smaller birds flew in from afar, reporting, “This task is too dangerous. We’ve already lost over a dozen. We won’t continue monitoring this area—it’s not worth it!”
The chaos of the Shenzhang Plains had finally subsided. Most of the old demons had returned to their territories, leaving only a few roaming monsters—each a formidable presence.
Qin Ming soon encountered the massive one-eyed black elephant, its trunk swinging wildly as it tore apart swathes of forest. It crushed boulders underfoot in a fit of rage, its single eye burning with hatred from where the jade-tipped arrow had blinded it. Beside it stood another hulking creature of equal size: a boar demon with long, snow-white tusks and rippling muscles.
“I can smell him!” the black elephant roared, its keen nose catching Qin Ming’s scent. Its perception was sharp enough to detect him even when he made no effort to hide.
Of course, Qin Ming had allowed it. He wanted to test his new strength.
“You’re quite the pair,” Qin Ming called out, a wry smile on his lips. “Same thick skulls, tusks, and heavy snouts. If it weren’t for the length of your noses, you’d be twins!”
The insult made both beasts bristle. With a thunderous crash, the boar demon charged—but not at Qin Ming. Instead, it bolted into the darkness, calling out, “This has nothing to do with me!” Its short blades, fashioned from its own tusks, clattered against its back as it vanished into the forest.
Qin Ming blinked, momentarily taken aback. “It ran?”
The black elephant bellowed in fury. “Useless pig!” it spat, its brother’s cowardice leaving it seething. Yet as it squared off against Qin Ming, even it hesitated, sensing the terrifying intensity of his Wood Force.
Shrouded in green mist, Qin Ming seemed to float as he rapidly closed the distance.
The elephant trumpeted, realizing retreat was no longer an option. It stomped the ground, the resulting shockwave reducing trees to splinters. Its trunk lashed out like a battering ram, shaking the earth with every step.
From a sheer physical perspective, the elephant’s raw power far exceeded Qin Ming’s. But a human who had cultivated Celestial Light to such a degree could stand against even the mightiest beasts, like a nail driving through hard wood.
Qin Ming sidestepped the elephant’s charge, the green radiance around him flaring brightly. With a swift punch, the Wood Force erupted like flames, striking the elephant’s flank.
The beast shrieked in pain, staggering as its left side split open. Blood gushed from the wound, cracks radiating outward like fissures in stone.
“Now, where’s my jade arrow?” Qin Ming asked calmly, his gaze fixed on the wounded giant.
The black elephant felt both anger and humiliation. To this human youth, it was worth less than a single arrow.
With a swift motion, Qin Ming swung his white jade alloy blade, severing half of the elephant’s trunk. It stumbled back, its appearance now clumsy and absurd, resembling the pig it had previously mocked.
“Enough!” the elephant bellowed in pain, shaking its head violently. Finally, it flicked its ear, sending the missing jade arrow clattering to the ground as a token of surrender. Wasting no time, the beast turned to flee.
But Qin Ming wasn’t about to let it go so easily. He intercepted the retreating beast, forcing it into a desperate battle. The elephant fought ferociously, but in the end, Qin Ming leaped high into the air, his blade erupting with radiant light. With all his strength, he swung down, and the massive elephant’s head was cleaved from its body, crashing heavily to the ground.
The colossal corpse collapsed with a thunderous impact, blood gushing like a fountain.
Qin Ming wasn’t one to spare those who had once hunted him with the intent to kill. Compassion was for the weak, the innocent—not for old demons who had nearly taken his life. A severed head was the only conclusion to such a vendetta.
Moving silently through the forest, Qin Ming caught a few wolf demons. From their terrified confessions, he learned the whereabouts of the Black Roc and the Fire Lion. Overhead, the sky flashed with scarlet lightning as a light drizzle began to fall.
Amid the rain and the flicker of lightning, Qin Ming spotted a towering figure wandering the plains, gripping a bone blade. It was the violent mountain ape. Near the end of its lifespan, the old beast was lingering in the plains in the hope of securing silver blood to aid its offspring in reaching new heights.
Standing over ten meters tall, the mountain ape’s form was illuminated with each flash of lightning, its dense fur soaked and menacing. When it saw Qin Ming approaching, it bared its teeth in a twisted smile. The ape belonged to the most dangerous type of creatures—those too old to fear death.
Once, the mountain ape had nearly crushed Qin Ming beneath its massive feet. Now, there were no words. Qin Ming unleashed an attack with a blade strike that split the stormy night.
Though the mountain ape’s raw strength far exceeded Qin Ming’s—an innate advantage of its species—Qin Ming’s Celestial Light Force now rivaled legendary techniques like Tathagata Force, Six Rulers Force, and Sky-Supporting Force. He had caught up within the Awakening realm, and even the “true inheritance” scrolls of the Grand Courtyard’s disciples wouldn’t have allowed them to merge as many techniques as he had.
Blade light tore through the rain, as though summoning lightning to strike the ape. The mountain ape responded with terrifying power, swinging its eight-meter-long bone blade. Each swing cleaved through earth and stone, shattering trees and blasting the ground apart with immense force.
Rain poured, and thunder roared across the plains.
Qin Ming activated his Wind and Thunder Force, his body crackling with electric light and surrounded by gusting wind. His speed was vastly improved, matching even the swiftness of races known for their agility. He moved like a specter, circling the ape and slashing relentlessly, leaving deep wounds across its hulking form. Blood mixed with rainwater, staining the ground red.
The mountain ape, far stronger than the black elephant, was a true old demon at the peak of its kind. Its bone blade cut through the night, dispersing the dense rain, aiming relentlessly for the youth darting around it.
At last, Qin Ming vaulted into the air like a bolt of lightning, shattering the black rain curtain. Wrapped in green radiance, he seemed to step on the very air as he ascended. The entire forest’s Wood Force responded to his call, surging toward him.
From above, he descended with an explosion of radiant blade light, striking the ape’s head. The overwhelming force of his Celestial Light split its skull in two.
The mountain ape’s contorted face froze in a grotesque grimace as blood drenched its fur. It released its bone blade, collapsing with a resounding crash that shook the entire forest.
Qin Ming landed gracefully on the treetops, green mist swirling around him. Vital energy flowed into his body, replenishing the strength he had expended in the fight.
Standing atop the canopy under the stormy sky, he felt rejuvenated, the forest’s life force nourishing his spirit. “If the Wood Sutra alone is so extraordinary,” he murmured, “then what wonders must the complete Longevity Sutra hold?”
The Wood Sutra, merely a foundational section of the Longevity Sutra, was already a pinnacle technique. The full secret tome must be unimaginably powerful.
Descending to the ground, Qin Ming continued his journey across the Shenzhang Plains, slaying any demons that dared to obstruct him. Many minor demons fell beneath his blade, and even several old demons were vanquished, their deaths shaking the region.
Eventually, he ascended a towering mountain and reached the “Dao Ground” of the Black Roc. Behind him lay a trail of corpses and blood, marking his path of conquest. The plains were shrouded in dark clouds, rain pouring harder as lightning illuminated the grand structures on the mountaintop.
The terrain was vast and open, with monumental buildings large enough to accommodate the ten-meter-long Black Roc. The demon stood atop the peak, rain cascading off its body without touching it, repelled by the black aura it exuded. The oppressive energy seemed to warp the very space around it.
Nearby, the Fire Lion stood with its wounds fully healed, the gaping hole in its skull now completely mended.
Both demons fixed their icy gazes on the youth climbing the mountain, their eyes brimming with murderous intent.
“Roar!” A pack of blood lions charged at Qin Ming. He dispatched them effortlessly, each falling to a single slash, their bodies cleaved in two. Even the two strongest lions, at the Outer Saint level, were no match for his blade.
From above, predatory birds dived in a coordinated assault. Qin Ming swung his blade repeatedly, cutting down over a dozen of the Black Roc’s minions.
“He has truly transformed,” the old donkey muttered, trembling as it watched the scene. This time, it wore scholar’s robes, its voice betraying its fear. “His cultivation is unfathomable now.”
“Not much to worry about,” the Fire Lion growled, its crimson scales clinking like armor. A fiery red aura blazed around it, evaporating the falling rain and shrouding it in a maelstrom of demonic energy. “He can be dealt with!”
With a roar, the Fire Lion lunged, its massive claw glowing with searing red light as it struck at Qin Ming.
Qin Ming raised his palm, and the entire mountain seemed to respond. The forest’s Wood Force surged to him, vibrant green energy gathering in waves. The life force lifted him off the ground, as though carrying him skyward. With a single palm strike, the air exploded with power. The mountain’s grass and trees seemed to roar in unison, a massive green palm imprint condensing before surging forward to meet the lion’s attack.