Night Without Borders Chapter 204
Chapter 204: Priceless New Silk Script
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Amid the charred remains of a simple thatched hut, several bamboo scrolls lay scattered on a smooth green stone table. Once, the table had held many more, but most were devoured by flames when the Silver-Armored Girl departed. Only a few fragile scrolls remained.
Two young men stood there, each clutching a scroll with trembling hands. Their faces glowed with excitement.
One of them laughed in a wild, almost delirious way, blurting out strange, half-coherent phrases as though daring the heavens themselves.
The other beamed with joy, gazing at the bamboo scroll in his hands as if he could leap into the sky and challenge fate with his newfound power.
“I’ve got it! I see it all so clearly—this is the path forward!” cried Yao Zu, gripping his scroll tightly. A rush of realizations filled his mind, and he nodded again and again, each moment deepening his comprehension.
Qin Ming, standing beside him, felt a wave of awe. Each bit of bamboo looked priceless in his eyes, like genuine gifts from the heavens.
At first, he was at a loss for words. The scrolls contained something called the Silk Script Method, and the text was dense with complicated characters. Despite appearing unimaginably old, every stroke remained crisp. There were also diagrams of human figures, each one emanating a powerful sense of history.
The scrolls had yellowed, clearly ancient. Qin Ming initially assumed these were the works of a great Ancestor, yet as he studied them, he noticed subtle changes in the writing—delicate refinements, slight alterations that set them apart from the Silk Script he knew.
It didn’t take him long to realize they were answers to questions he had wrestled with for years. Each scroll offered “new interpretations” to problems that had long puzzled him in his training.
“This tea is out of this world… and these bamboo scrolls—truly divine. They’re making all my thoughts shine!” Qin Ming’s eyes blazed with intensity, as though someone had lit a spark of enlightenment inside him. His entire being thrummed with clarity and vitality.
“Brother! The scrolls are dissolving every doubt I’ve ever had! My mind is so clear!” Yao Zu said, clutching his scroll like a treasure. Past confusions seemed to vanish in an instant, replaced by a bright sense of certainty.
Qin Ming shook his head. “I don’t think it’s the scrolls themselves giving us the answers. It’s more like they’re reflecting what’s in our hearts. The tea boosted your awareness, which helped us think more deeply. All these solutions were there inside us to begin with, but the scrolls helped us see them.”
Nodding, Yao Zu agreed. “Yes, we used to have little sparks of insight that faded just as quickly. But now it’s like waves crashing over me!” He stopped talking, letting himself sink into this rare and precious state of enlightenment—something beyond the reach of wealth or power.
There was no doubt that the combination of these scrolls and that mysterious tea had sent their understanding skyrocketing. For people born with Ancestor-Level Talent, any sudden leap in comprehension could lead to truly frightening results.
Holding one of the scrolls, Qin Ming felt the fog in his mind lift. Questions that had troubled him for years began to unravel.
He had studied the Silk Script Method for so long, collecting clues here and there. Some challenges had been just one step away from resolution. Now, in this heightened state, he saw the last pieces falling into place without effort.
“In the past, I managed to stop the Silk Script from causing violent backlash inside the body, but there were still a few small problems,” he thought.
Now, with sharpened awareness, Qin Ming refined his understanding. He compared the notes in these scrolls to the enhanced Silk Script Method he had discovered in the Divine Temple.
He had been carefully studying that temple script, noticing that the improvements to the Awakening Path were very slight. But even so, the changes were incredibly precise.
This sparked a revelation in him—true mastery was often found in perfecting the subtlest details. He had approached the Fate-Altering Sutra in the same intuitive way, harmonizing naturally with the grand rhythm of the universe.
Whenever Qin Ming practiced, he allowed his essence, wisdom, and consciousness to meld into one, carving out his unique path under the technique’s wider framework.
Drawing his attention back to the Silk Script’s smallest details, he found that the uncertainties he once felt were now barely whispers. Strengthened by his new clarity, he was ready to act.
Nearby, Yao Zu chuckled softly, looking a bit silly, yet his expression glowed with the pure happiness that comes only when one truly understands something deeper.
Qin Ming decided not to interrupt him. Instead, he picked up his teacup again and took a deeper sip, well aware that what came next could shape his future.
The instant the warm tea slipped down his throat, his thoughts snapped to a razor-sharp focus, and every unnecessary idea simply fell away. The questions in his mind lined up in perfect order, and everything he had learned seemed to echo in the bamboo scrolls.
Qin Ming had practiced the Silk Script Method since he was a child, so its patterns were second nature to him. Now, he dared to break a few rules. Its main structure stayed the same, but he let the technique flow with more freedom until it felt almost effortless.
He watched his own practice closely. At a glance, the method still moved the way it always had. Yet in this heightened state, he noticed faint moments where his energy flow seemed to meet resistance.
“Change it!” he said to himself firmly, and he adjusted the technique right away. After just a subtle shift, that hint of resistance melted away.
Under normal circumstances, spotting these small problems and fixing them might have taken months or even years of careful study. But today was different.
Qin Ming was already a person of remarkable gifts—clearly Ancestor-Level Talent. Now, boosted by this temporary surge in perception, his abilities hovered on the edge of the incredible.
Ideas flowed so smoothly in his mind that each new insight lit up the next. A scholar or master watching would have been utterly amazed.
“This part also feels forced—too stiff. The microcirculation doesn’t glow like the rest,” he muttered. In his current state, any tiny imperfection stood out like a bright star against the night sky.
He refined the method over and over, running it through his body repeatedly with his eyes closed. Each time, his energy flowed faster, burning like a brilliant sun within. At last, the Silk Script Method reached a kind of completeness in its first realm, one perfectly suited for Qin Ming’s own path.
In that moment, the Celestial Light that illuminated his interior moved so swiftly, linking seamlessly with his flesh and blood. It felt like every adjustment he had made was uniquely tailored just for him.
Qin Ming realized that if he performed the Silk Script along this newly refined route, his Celestial Light Force would likely grow even stronger.
After some time, he opened his eyes and saw Yao Zu nearby, sipping his tea with the same silly grin, still lost in his own blossoming insights.
Qin Ming lifted his teacup and took a third sip, nearly finishing it this time.
Not far off, several onlookers watched but couldn’t see what had happened at the thatched hut ruins. To them, Qin Ming and Yao Zu appeared to be sipping empty air and holding imaginary scrolls, bursting into laughter at random intervals. Their bizarre behavior left the spectators unsure how to react.
Still, a few kept their eyes on the two young men, their faces grave—among them were Ling Yu and Xin You Dao. Even Liu Han Ya appeared deeply shaken, beginning to suspect that Qin Ming and Yao Zu were immeasurably profound.
At that pivotal moment, Qin Ming activated the Silk Script Method once more, pausing ever so slightly before seamlessly blending his Celestial Light Force, Divine Wisdom, and Consciousness Aura into a single unity. It was clear he was re-creating the state he had reached when he first grasped the Fate-Altering Sutra.
Merging the Silk Script with these forces felt quite natural. Qin Ming wasn’t the least bit shocked, since he often combined them in his daily training anyway.
“Everything’s so much clearer now,” he murmured.
Beneath his skin, his blood and tissues shone as though golden streams were flowing through the shadows, lighting up every corner of his body. Only one tiny blockage remained, but it was hardly worth mentioning. Still, Qin Ming decided to clear even that small flaw.
He briefly isolated his Celestial Light Force to test it alone, making sure his new adjustments worked as he intended.
Finally, it all clicked into place—this path fit him perfectly. By weaving his Consciousness Aura and Divine Wisdom into the Celestial Light Force, he was like a farmer sowing seeds in rich soil, waiting for an abundant harvest.
With the Silk Script fully revised, Qin Ming felt a deep sense of completion. The technique was now flawless—for him, at least.
He drank the last of his tea, then turned back to the bamboo scrolls and read from other texts. He revisited the Separation Flame Sutra, the Wuji Sutra, and also spent some time thinking about the Golden Cicada Sutra and the Dragon-Snake Sutra.
When he tipped the teapot over, only a few drops fell into his cup. He drank them, realizing the special focus he had felt earlier was fading. Apparently, the timing had been perfectly in tune with his needs.
“Brother, I still have some tea left. Want it?” Yao Zu asked with a wide smile. “I’m all set now. Don’t think I’ll get more out of it.”
“No, I’m good,” Qin Ming replied calmly.
“In that case, maybe we’ll leave the rest for the next person who stumbles upon it,” Yao Zu said, setting the tea aside.
He gazed at the teapot, a wistful look in his eyes. “That was just leftover tea—probably sitting here for who knows how many centuries—and it still had such a huge effect. If we ever find a place where it grows fresh… I feel like we could blaze our own path!”
His words captured the magnitude of what they had both gained.
Qin Ming silently agreed. The breakthroughs he had experienced today would guide him for many years to come. Adjusting the Silk Script Method in such a heightened state was a truly monumental step. Others might see it as nothing special, not knowing that each small refinement was like thunder crashing onto the Awakening Path.
By the time Qin Ming came back to reality, most of the teams had departed. Those who had lingered to watch grew bored of what they saw as a strange “act” and had moved on, shaking their heads in disbelief.
In the distance, Ling Yu and Xin You Dao gave brief nods before taking their groups elsewhere. Both had been warned to keep a respectful distance from Qin Ming and Yao Zu, though they left with looks of regret.
“Team Mountain and River Two hasn’t left yet,” Yao Zu remarked with a smirk.
Hearing this, Liu Han Ya and her companions couldn’t help rolling their eyes, aware of Yao Zu’s small grudge against that team.
“Shall we head out together?” Liu Han Ya offered with a friendly tone.
Neither Qin Ming nor Yao Zu refused, so they joined her group. Traveling with more people to explore this strange land would make things much easier.
By now, everyone realized that the common herbs, minerals, and resources scattered around were far less valuable than the hidden treasures that whispered through their spiritual senses.
As they walked, teams began to split off due to quarrels and different goals, scattering into the dense forest. But, strangely enough, they all ended up converging on one spot. That area stood out—a brilliant haze of five swirling colors enveloped it, visible even from a distance.
Most people who had only recently awakened couldn’t sense anything unusual. But anyone who had reached the Outer Saint Realm or started developing a Consciousness Aura felt the hidden power there.
“This is just ridiculous. Inside that mist, you’ll see another version of yourself, and you have to fight it. If you lose, you can’t even see the five-colored mist anymore,” someone warned.
“I’m furious!” another person complained. “I was just beaten by myself! My injuries are awful!”
Many had tried and failed. The reflections they battled seemed to draw on their strongest past state, so most had to settle for a stalemate at best.
“This realm mixes reality with magic,” Qin Ming commented. Fresh from his enlightenment, he found it perfect for testing himself.
Suddenly, Gan Jin Cheng stumbled out, coughing blood. “My reflection nearly finished me off,” he groaned. Even someone as powerful as he was couldn’t overcome his own mirror image.
“Some say you should wait inside the mist for a moment, reflect, and see if a new insight comes to you. If you don’t get a breakthrough, there’s no point in trying,” one person advised.
Within moments of entering the five-colored mist, everyone heard cries and gasps from behind them.
“Look, it’s those two weirdos again!” someone blurted out, startled.
Sure enough, Qin Ming and Yao Zu had wandered into the mist, and the commotion was almost unbelievable. The scale of their encounter with their reflections looked alarmingly large.
Liu Han Ya, watching from outside, made up her mind—she needed to stay close to these two younger men. They were definitely not ordinary. She told her team to move ahead, then lingered to observe.
What she saw made her blood run cold: within the swirling colors, a majestic, gleaming bridge appeared, emanating a power so strong it was almost terrifying.
Moments later, it looked like a blazing sun rose within that misty realm. The light shimmered so brilliantly that her own spirit felt disturbed, and she was standing at a distance. She could hardly imagine what it would be like up close.
“This… is that Ancestor-Level Talent? No, it’s even more incredible—surpassing Ling Yu by far!” Liu Han Ya thought in shock. The two young men she saw within that sparkling cloud seemed unbelievably powerful, each more impressive than the other.
She felt that the fiery, sun-like punch rippling through the mist could have destroyed everyone around, including her. Even a single brush against that scorching presence might set an Immortal Path cultivator aflame.
A short while later, Qin Ming and Yao Zu emerged. It amused them to discover that they had battled against their own reflections from before their enlightenment at the thatched hut. If the reflections had been of their current selves, the fight might have ended in mutual destruction.
Still, Qin Ming was relieved: the Silk Script’s new route had proven flawless under actual combat conditions, fitting him better than ever.
Yao Zu spat out a small mouthful of blood but grinned broadly as he walked out of the mist, clearly pleased.
“Senior Sister, would you mind making an unbreakable vow not to reveal anything you just saw?” Yao Zu teased, his tone mischievous.
Liu Han Ya hesitated, but she understood. The two obviously held terrifying secrets, and their humble behavior only added to the mystery.
She took a steadying breath and swore the oath, fully aware these two might look harmless but were quite dangerous.
Qin Ming and Yao Zu strode on, still lost in thought about the changes within them.
“You two…” Liu Han Ya began, struggling with what to say. She realized they might be Immortal Seeds or Divine Seeds, here quietly blending in.
“Nothing special,” Yao Zu responded casually. “Senior Sister, just act like you never noticed anything.”
“Wait… is that a village?” Liu Han Ya called out suddenly, standing on a small rise and pointing ahead.
A number of people were heading toward this misty, silent village. Some went in, while others skirted around it, each group making its own choice. Qin Ming, Yao Zu, and Liu Han Ya approached cautiously.
“It’s so quiet,” Qin Ming remarked. “And whoever went in has disappeared, like the village just swallowed them.”
Before they even reached the village entrance, the sound of fierce combat suddenly erupted. Shouts, cries, and clashes rang out from the mist.
“Run! Get away!” someone screamed in terror.
Blood-soaked figures dashed out of the village, more than ten people in total. Some were struck down by hammers hurled after them, exploding into gruesome sprays of blood. Others were speared through, shrieking in agony as the onslaught continued.
“What good are these genius disciples? They pop like balloons!” a chilling voice laughed mockingly. “So these are the famous Kun Lun academies? They’re nothing special!”
“Demons!” Liu Han Ya hissed, her face going pale.
Qin Ming and Yao Zu launched forward without hesitation. No matter how they felt about some of these people, everyone on this side was united against the Plateau Demons.
Qin Ming raised his bow. Arrows sliced through the air in quick succession, hitting the tall demon figures perched on rooftops throwing spears and hammers. Blood spurted as several of the demons toppled to the ground.
Strikingly, Qin Ming hadn’t even used his Jade-Iron Arrows or invoked his Celestial Light Force. His physical strength alone caused such destruction.
“Hurry! Get out!” one of the wounded survivors cried as they stumbled away.
“The demons inside are terrifying. Even Xin You Dao, Gan Jin Cheng, and Jiang Ruo Li were badly hurt!” another gasped.
Qin Ming pressed on. Clearly, the demons were dangerous, but if the strongest among them hadn’t simply slaughtered everyone immediately, perhaps they weren’t unstoppable. Soon, though, he realized these were not ordinary opponents.
Four powerful demons stood in the village road. Adding the ones on the rooftops still hurling spears and hammers, there were fewer than ten in total.
Yet they had broken five different teams—over fifty people—scattering them like leaves and killing many.
Yao Zu gave a loud shout and threw a spear with lightning speed into the fray.
Qin Ming fired more arrows, then snatched a fallen hammer and flung it like a thunderbolt. One of the taller demons took an arrow in the shoulder, blood trickling down, while several rooftop demons were skewered in mid-attack.
“Ah, so we have some actual fighters,” a wolf-headed demon on one of the roofs growled.
The four lead demons on the ground said nothing. They looked almost human, and their bodies were free of bloodstains. It was a frightening reminder of their overwhelming power.
“Retreat!” hissed Xin You Dao. Spotting Qin Ming and Yao Zu, his eyes lit up with faint hope. However, more than twenty human cultivators working together had failed to take down these four demons.
“Did I say you could leave?” sneered a silver-haired youth who zipped forward, moving almost too fast to see.
There was a sickening slice, and Sun Jun Lin—a team leader from the Great Dream Dao Ground—was cut clean in half.
Everyone froze in horror. Sun Jun Lin was quite strong, yet he died instantly.
At the same time, a golden-haired youth lunged with a spear, impaling Lin Qian Yu. Lifting her high, he let her scream echo, then hurled her lifeless body aside. Her chest had been torn open, leaving a grisly hole.
Qin Ming and Yao Zu closed in, weapons raised, but two of the other young demons blocked them.
Casually flicking his spear, the golden-haired youth flung Lin Qian Yu’s corpse to the ground, where it landed with a dull thud. Another gifted team leader had met a dreadful end.
Xin You Dao and the handful of survivors stumbled closer to Qin Ming and Yao Zu.
“Get everyone else out of here!” Qin Ming said under his breath.
The four demons paused, and most of the surviving humans fled. Only a few, including Jiang Ruo Li, Gan Jin Cheng, and Xiao Ya Qin, couldn’t bring themselves to abandon those still inside. They turned back, determined to help.
They were covered in wounds, panting with exhaustion. What they witnessed next stunned them: Qin Ming and Yao Zu were clashing directly with two of the young demons—and holding their ground. Neither side appeared injured.
This unexpected turn made the demons hesitate instead of pursuing the fleeing humans.
“Those four are infamous on the plateau,” Xin You Dao explained quickly. “Each one is in the Second Realm, and the black-haired demon is especially important—he’s in line to compete for something called the Demonic Seed. That’s about the same as one of our Immortal Seeds. Once he fully refines his powers, he’ll be nearly impossible to defeat.”
His voice shook with fury. If only his cultivation had been higher, maybe he could have stopped this slaughter.
“Competing for a Demonic Seed? He won’t get that chance,” Qin Ming said quietly.
Those words startled everyone present, including Jiang Ruo Li, Gan Jin Cheng, and Xiao Ya Qin. They suddenly wondered if the strange events back in the thatched hut had been entirely real.
“How many demons are here? Did they plan this ambush?” Qin Ming asked.
“No,” said Xin You Dao, gritting his teeth. “Our people took control of most of the plateau, including this hidden realm. These demons got trapped but didn’t want to surrender, so they hid.”
“In that case, let’s deal with them now,” Qin Ming said. He had already fought enough demons on the frontier to know there could be no peace. They were an ever-present threat.
“Two each!” Yao Zu suggested, flashing Qin Ming a grin.
The golden-haired demon let out a scornful laugh. “Oh, really? We’ll teach you not to run your mouth. You’ll regret underestimating us!”
All four demons stepped forward. They had terrifying reputations on the plateau and were confident in their Second Realm powers and the deadly legacies of their demonic clans.
Qin Ming stayed silent, moving in to meet them. Yao Zu followed, and together they stared down the four demons.
“Those two…” Gan Jin Cheng muttered in disbelief.
“I think they might actually do it,” Liu Han Ya whispered, a flicker of hope in her eyes.
“We’ll handle the demons up top!” Jiang Ruo Li shouted, motioning for her companions to fan out.
Xiao Ya Qin wore a complicated expression, regretting that she hadn’t teamed up with Qin Ming and Yao Zu sooner.
“Where are you two from? Are you aiming for Immortal Seed status?” scoffed the black-haired demon, clearly a quasi-Immortal Seed himself. “You have no idea how insignificant you are.”
“Who wants to go first? Kill one of them right now,” he added coldly.
“I’ll do it,” volunteered a silver-haired demon, stepping up. This was the same one who had brutally sliced Sun Jun Lin in half.
“I’ll take him,” Yao Zu began, but Qin Ming was already in motion.
The silver-haired youth came on fast with a blood-stained blade, but his sneer disappeared when Qin Ming raised his own five-colored blade, the rotating Five-Element Wheel shimmering around him like a halo. There was no time for further talk—Qin Ming was out for blood, not a friendly duel.
They traded blow after blow in a flurry of sparks, the silver-haired demon matching Qin Ming over a dozen times. With his enlightenment still fresh, Qin Ming’s raw power was astounding.
In the final clash, the demon’s blade shattered, the pieces ringing on the ground. A thin line of blood appeared on the demon’s forehead, traveling down his body before splitting him neatly in half.
With a wet slap, his lifeless halves hit the earth, blood spraying across the battlefield.