Chapter 44: Stirring Emotions
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
The elder was a towering figure, rushing forward with frightening speed like a black tiger pouncing on its prey. His cold, ruthless eyes would make any ordinary person’s legs go weak with fear.
Qin Ming gripped his long-handled black hammer tightly, moving with the agility of a leopard. He leaped forward swiftly but quickly shifted directions, avoiding a direct clash. Instead, he swung his hammer from the side, aiming it at his opponent.
The elder frowned, surprised by the boy’s speed, which nearly matched his own. Just as they were about to collide, Qin Ming changed direction in an instant, dodging to the right and swinging the hammer at him from the side!
Qin Ming felt the intense vibration of the metal handle. The elder had slapped the side of the hammer with his bare hand. It was terrifying how strong the old man was. This first strike was just a test meant to gauge how extraordinary the elder’s “light aura” truly was, and the result made Qin Ming’s expression grow more serious.
The elder passed by, his body enveloped in a white glow of Celestial Light, leaving cracks in the ground beneath his feet. The sheer force behind his movement was evident. Any lower-level novice would have had their weapon flung from their hands by now.
The two of them had switched positions, and the elder glanced down at the mashed remains of the Golden Rooster Knight at his feet. The once-proud warrior was now unrecognizable, his face a mere lump of flesh. When the elder looked up again, his eyes were as cold as ice.
Qin Ming sighed inwardly. He had only been trying to tidy up the corpse of the Golden Rooster Knight, hoping not to draw attention to the strange circumstances of his death too soon. But then the elder charged in.
He had hoped to observe the three-time awakened warrior from the shadows, cautiously testing his abilities. Now, it seemed like a full-on battle was unavoidable.
They moved silently, circling each other like two dangerous beasts poised to strike at any moment.
“I’m from Scarlet Dawn City. Aren’t you afraid of revenge if you kill me?” Qin Ming suddenly spoke, his tone casual.
He was wearing the armor Cao Long and Mu Qing gifted to him, which did a decent job of making him look the part. Still, he didn’t expect to intimidate the elder. However, he hoped it might cause the man to hesitate for just a moment. After all, Scarlet Dawn City was the center of this region, and its noble families were not to be trifled with.
But experienced fighters like this elder weren’t the type to show mercy. He’d certainly strike without hesitation in the end.
Right as Qin Ming finished speaking, he made his move, springing into action.
As expected, the elder paused for just a split second, but that was all Qin Ming needed. He swung his hammer with all his might.
The two were already close to each other, so the elder had no choice but to take the hit head-on. It was too late for him to dodge.
A dull thud echoed through the empty cave, followed by a slight tremor in the ground. The elder tried to catch the hammer with one hand while the other hand reached out to strike. However, this time the hammer’s force was far greater than before. Qin Ming was going all out, and the elder’s protective white glow wavered, almost shattering under the impact.
The elder had wanted to catch the hammer and throw it aside like wrapping dumplings, but the “dumpling skin” nearly tore apart.
He quickly retreated. The strength of this young man, who hadn’t even awakened his Celestial Light, was absurd. His hand throbbed painfully from the blow.
Now that Qin Ming had the advantage, he wasn’t about to let up. He swung his hammer again and again, launching a relentless assault as if he were trying to beat an old master to death with sheer force.
Each strike rang out like thunder, fast and furious. The elder was nearly coughing up blood as he tried to evade, but Qin Ming kept up with him no matter how quickly he moved.
Inwardly, Qin Ming was amazed. The elder had blocked seven of his hammer strikes, all with his bare hands. It was insane.
Though the elder was a three-time awakened warrior, his raw strength couldn’t compare to Qin Ming’s. But with the added power of the Celestial Light, the elder could still withstand the weight of the black hammer.
Qin Ming felt a spark of desire within him. He longed for the day when he could awaken his own Celestial Light.
The elder’s face was flushed from the strain of blocking such a ferocious assault. His hands alternated as they slapped against the hammer, but even he was starting to falter, his hands trembling.
At this moment, he no longer cared about pride. Spotting an open area without any rocks in his way, he suddenly dove to the ground, rolling and tumbling like a snake to escape.
Though it was a desperate move, he finally broke free from Qin Ming’s rhythm.
He looked down at his hands. Even though the Celestial Light had protected his flesh, his hands were swollen and red, and he suspected that his bones might be injured.
“Damn, he’s tough. That didn’t break him?” Qin Ming’s expression darkened as he closed in again.
The elder’s eyes were cold. He wanted to shout, Who’s the real monster here? A boy without even the Celestial Light had reached this level of strength.
The elder unsheathed the long knife from his back, silently cursing himself. In the heat of battle, he hadn’t had time to draw it earlier. His hands had been like windmills, fending off the hammer as it came crashing toward his face.
Now, with the long knife in hand, the elder used the Celestial Light to heal the blood blockage in his hands, easing the pain for the moment.
“It’s a pity my Celestial Light Aura isn’t fully mastered,” he muttered. Although three-time awakened warriors could awaken the Celestial Light, mastering its mysterious force was another story altogether.
Qin Ming knew that as one’s cultivation increased, it was possible to develop rare and powerful versions of the Celestial Light, capable of tearing weapons apart like paper. But reaching that level at the three-time awakened stage was impossible. Even learning advanced techniques like the Giant’s Force or the Buddha’s Strength required a higher realm to support them.
Naturally, Qin Ming wasn’t about to give him time to recover. Wielding his black hammer and short sword, he launched a flurry of attacks: smashing, slashing, cutting, and pounding. In one breath, he struck fifty-eight times with his hammer and forty-two with his sword, leaving the elder no time to breathe.
The elder was furious. When had he ever been this cornered in his own territory, especially by a mere boy? Celestial Light flared around him as he launched a ferocious counterattack.
Soon, even the elder was shocked. The boy had suddenly switched up his style. The black hammer still hit with immense force, but there was something different now—this wasn’t hammer technique anymore. It was like knife skills.
As Qin Ming swung the hammer at high speed, his wrist shook violently, as though wielding a blade. The hammer whirred as it came down, creating a tearing force that nearly ripped the elder’s long knife from his hand.
The elder’s face grew solemn.
Qin Ming changed tactics again, his hammer descending like bolts of lightning, one after another. The terrifying black hammer moved so fast, it left dense, overlapping trails of light, like a web of lightning exploding in the underground space.
With a loud crash, the elder was thrown backward, slamming into the stone wall. His right hand trembled, and even with the Celestial Light protecting him, he was starting to feel the strain.
His eyes sharpened, and he leapt from the stone wall, launching another fierce assault. This time, Qin Ming felt the weight of the elder’s true strength.
The old man had gone berserk, slashing with his long knife in one hand while blocking the hammer with the other.
There was a sharp clang, and sparks flew from Qin Ming’s shoulder. The elder’s left hand had grazed him, sending four or five pieces of armor flying off. Qin Ming’s eyes narrowed. The power of the Celestial Light was no joke.
The elder kept his distance, his towering frame moving cautiously as he eyed Qin Ming’s every move. He wasn’t going to let the boy close in again. Meanwhile, Qin Ming spun his massive black hammer like a windmill, creating a dense blur of strikes that filled the air with their force.
The elder thought to himself, If it weren’t for my Celestial Light, I’d have been crushed by this kid by now. What kind of monster is he? To think that someone without light aura could already be this powerful was unthinkable.
Moments later, amidst the blur of hammer strikes, Qin Ming’s weapon roared, and like the sun breaking through clouds, the strongest blow yet exploded out from the shadows. He was so fast that the other hammer shadows hadn’t even faded, swirling around him like electric sparks. The elder’s long knife nearly flew out of his hands from the impact. He summoned his light aura to block the strike, but even so, his exhaustion began to show.
Qin Ming delivered nine hammer blows in a row, each one more powerful than the last. The elder, unable to bear it any longer, dimmed his light aura, coughing up blood.
Seeing his chance, Qin Ming swung his hammer in a wide arc. This time, the strike was infused with a blade-like precision, tearing through the air like lightning ripping through the night. The entire underground cave echoed with the sound of the hammer crashing as stones and dust scattered under the force of the attack.
The clash between the hammer and the elder’s long knife was deafening. The elder’s arms spasmed, and he couldn’t hold onto his weapon anymore. His knife fell to the ground as he coughed up more blood.
Without mercy, Qin Ming kept swinging, each strike shattering the elder’s protective light aura.
With a sickening thud, the elder’s right hand was torn apart, his flesh shredded without the support of his light aura. His bones snapped under the weight of the next blow.
In the next instant, blood sprayed from the elder’s mouth as pain exploded in his chest. His ribcage collapsed under the force of the hammer, and he was sent flying seven or eight meters, skidding across the ground.
“Three-time awakeners are so hard to kill!” Qin Ming gasped, feeling the exhaustion seep into his bones. Dealing with the light aura was no small task.
The elder, though barely alive, spat out another mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with disbelief. He thought bitterly, This kid doesn’t even have light aura. How could he believe he could kill a three-time awakened like me?
But the truth was undeniable. He had been defeated by someone who hadn’t even awakened their Celestial Light. The shame of it filled him with rage.
Qin Ming walked up to him, lifting his hammer. “I’ll make sure you match the other guy—a nice, flat face for you too,” he said with a cold smirk.
The elder choked on blood and managed to rasp out, “You… little… brat!” He cursed weakly, unwilling to accept his fate, but there was nothing he could do. He was about to die at the hands of this teenager.
Qin Ming shook his head. “You Golden Rooster people sure like to curse a lot.” He slammed the hammer down, flattening the elder’s face, his skull collapsing under the force.
With a sigh, Qin Ming began searching the elder’s body, arranging the corpse with some care. “If those mutated beasts break in here later, maybe they’ll help me clean up these bodies.”
He moved deeper into the vast cave, his brow furrowed. He had already spotted three more elders in other tunnels, and it seemed they were all three-time awakeners.
“This is gonna be tough,” he muttered to himself, reluctant to take such a big risk.
Suddenly, he spotted someone familiar—it was the same Golden Rooster Knight who had once scolded them. Qin Ming remembered how that knight had whipped an old man, leaving a deep cut across his face.
“Kid, where did those villagers go? Come here, I’m talking to you!” the knight barked.
Without a word, Qin Ming swung his hammer, sending it flying with a loud bang. The cave fell into silence.
Dragging the knight’s body into the shadows, Qin Ming moved through the underground tunnels. The winding paths were like a spider’s web, and from one of them, a group of strange creatures suddenly rushed in, throwing everything into chaos.
Qin Ming withdrew to a safer area, where threads of Celestial Light crisscrossed. For now, he had no need to hunt down the people from the Golden Rooster Ridge or the Three-Eyed Sect. Instead, he focused on his real goal: the search for a mysterious resource.
He ventured deeper into the underground world, walking further than he had before. Thin strands of glowing mist floated around him, making the dark cave seem less ominous.
“No way… Is my luck really that good?” Qin Ming thought aloud as he reached a place where the Celestial Light was especially thick. He could feel a faint, pulsing energy.
A short while later, he smashed open a rock the size of his fist, revealing a piece of blue glowing metal inside. It was about the size of a walnut, but the faint blue gleam made it seem incredibly valuable.
“Well, this could make for one great arrowhead,” Qin Ming said, grinning. Any discovery was a win, especially when it was this rare.
“Looks like I’m having a lucky day,” he added, but then heard footsteps approaching from a nearby tunnel. Two figures appeared, their eyes lighting up with joy when they saw the blue metal in Qin Ming’s hand.
He recognized them immediately—people from Scarlet Dawn City. Without realizing it, he had wandered so far that he’d run into another group.
“Hey, aren’t you Qin Ming?” one of the young men asked, his expression changing.
Qin Ming squinted at the youth, vaguely recalling him from a previous encounter. The young man had been watching when Qin Ming fought Nie Rui and Shen Jia Yun.
“Oh, so this is the kid with the impressive spear skills who beat Nie Rui and Shen Jia Yun?” said the older man, who looked to be in his thirties. He wore scarlet armor and gave a faint smile. “Qin Ming, right? Come over here for a chat.”
Qin Ming didn’t move, standing his ground.
Earlier, he hadn’t had a bad impression of the nobles from Scarlet Dawn City. People like Cao Long, Mu Qing, Wei Zhi Rou, and even Nie Rui and Shen Jia Yun had seemed decent enough.
But now, he sensed something darker from these two nobles in front of him. It was clear they were eyeing the blue metal he had just found. Not everyone was as good-natured as he had thought. Some people’s smiles and grace were only for show when others were watching. In a place like this, hidden from sight, their masks could easily be torn off.
Qin Ming remembered the young noble in front of him. After his victory over the Twin Stars, the young man had chatted with him in a friendly manner. Now, though, there was no smile. His tone was cold and flat.
“Qin Ming, come over. We could use your help,” the young noble said, his voice devoid of any warmth.
“Three-time awakened?” Qin Ming ignored the young man and focused on the older one. He noticed a faint glow of Celestial Light when the man lightly clenched his fist.
“Hmph, it’s good that you show the proper respect to someone like me,” the older man said. “In this dark underground world, all those stories about you mean nothing.”
Qin Ming stayed quiet, but he began walking towards them, his mind racing. The two nobles didn’t seem worried about him trying to escape. After all, they had witnessed his strength before, and at that time, he had only just undergone one awakening.
Qin Ming followed them into a wide, open area.
“What the…?” Qin Ming was stunned. Ahead of him, the glowing mist was thick, swirling in the air. At the center of it all was a brilliant three-colored flower, radiating light. It was on the verge of blooming.
The older noble smiled. “Qin Ming, you don’t seem too affected by the Celestial Light’s corrosion. Do us a favor, will you? Once that flower fully matures, help us pluck it from the light.”
“What’s it for?” Qin Ming asked, his curiosity piqued.
“It’s incredibly valuable,” the older noble replied. “It can help someone master Celestial Light Aura. After three awakenings, who wouldn’t want to master more than one kind of light aura? But even learning just one is difficult. This flower is a rare treasure.”
Qin Ming was amazed. “That’s… pretty tempting,” he admitted.