Chapter 48: Unconventional Plans
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
The room was warm, and at first, it was mostly Old Man Liu talking, while Qin Ming quietly listened. Later, they started brainstorming together.
Qin Ming felt a rush of anticipation, his heart racing with excitement. In this dangerous world, he longed for his third awakening, desperate to avoid another close encounter with those terrifying beasts. If he were strong enough, neither the people from Golden Rooster Ridge nor the Three-Eyed Sect would dare push him around. They wouldn’t treat him like expendable fodder, sending him underground to mine like a disposable tool.
Old Man Liu took a sip of water and said, “Once we’re in the mountains, we need to carefully survey the terrain. We have to plan our escape routes before we make any moves.”
Qin Ming raised an eyebrow and asked suspiciously, “Why does it feel like you’re not all that confident, old man? Are you going to drop the ball when things get real and cause a disaster?”
Old Man Liu chuckled. “Better safe than sorry. Look, we can’t afford to lose. The place we’re going to is full of rare spiritual materials. It’s deadly dangerous. If we mess up, people are gonna die.”
Qin Ming nodded cautiously and suggested, “Do they have any explosives in Silver Vine Town? Maybe we should get some.”
At that, Old Man Liu’s eyes lit up. “Now that you mention it, I think you’re onto something! We might be able to consider a few other options too.”
“Like what?” Qin Ming leaned in, curious.
“There’s a lake in the western ravine, deep in the mountains. A three-time-mutated old turtle is hibernating there. That thing’s body is pure treasure, and its blood is loaded with spiritual energy. It’s deep asleep right now. If we can dig it out and toss some explosives into its burrow while it’s still groggy, we might just pull it off!”
Old Man Liu got excited as he spoke, clearly considering ditching their original plan to go after the spiritual turtle instead.
Qin Ming, however, wasn’t so easily swayed. He frowned and reminded Liu, “Turtles have insane defense with their shells. I’m not sure explosives can even crack it. Besides, the lake is huge. How are we supposed to find it? Dig until the end of time?”
“You’re right,” Old Man Liu said, cooling down. “Spirit creatures are tougher than most mutated beasts at the same level. That turtle’s undergone three mutations, so it’s probably too strong. Especially since this species has long legs—when it gets mad, it can be surprisingly fast.”
Hearing this, Qin Ming’s face dropped. “Wait a second… Old man, are these stories you’re telling me from twenty years ago?”
“Relax, I’m not that unreliable,” Old Man Liu shook his head.
He then proposed another plan—using explosives to scare away a troop of long-armed apes, then looting their nest for the spiritual materials they guarded.
Qin Ming shot him a skeptical look. “Are all your ideas this… unconventional?”
Old Man Liu grumbled, “I’ve wanted to wipe out those apes for ages. They’re a menace!”
Qin Ming tilted his head. “Did those apes bully you or something? They’re over twenty miles away. How could they even bother us here?”
Old Man Liu slammed his hand on the table. “Those apes are a threat to everyone! People from Emei Town have lost their hunts to those things, and they’ve even dragged people off.”
Hearing this, Qin Ming figured the old man definitely had some unresolved grudges against the apes.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Qin Ming said. “What if we don’t scare them off, but instead make them furious? They could hunt us down, and apes have long memories. They hold grudges.”
Old Man Liu shrugged. “It’s risky, sure, but it’s possible. Thirty years ago, someone made a huge commotion and used a decoy to steal from the Tiger Lord’s lair. Same kind of strategy.”
“Wow, that’s bold!” Qin Ming couldn’t help but admire the story. The Tiger Lord was even stronger than the giant bears and the old bulls.
Old Man Liu shook his head. “The Tiger Lord holds even worse grudges than those apes. Back then, it wasn’t as powerful, but it was still deadly. Three months after the incident, it stormed Silver Vine Town in the middle of the night and tore those two thieves apart.”
Qin Ming, who had just thought highly of those thieves, felt a chill run down his spine. “Yeah, uh, maybe your backup plans aren’t the best. Let’s just stick with the first one. Let’s head into the mountains.”
As they stepped out the door, they spotted some people from Golden Rooster Ridge arriving in the village. Their strange mounts, giant running chickens, were unmistakable.
“So, Golden Rooster Ridge still has people left?” Old Man Liu muttered quietly. “I thought they’d all died in the Rift Valley.”
Their arrival made the villagers nervous. Even though Golden Rooster Ridge had been legitimized, they were still bandits at heart.
“We’re here for a census. All newly awakened villagers, come register,” announced a middle-aged man sitting atop one of the chickens.
Everyone’s hearts sank. Were they here for revenge?
Everyone knew that most of the people from Golden Rooster Ridge and the Three-Eyed Sect had died in the ravine while the mountain folk had escaped unharmed. Golden Rooster Ridge’s reputation suggested they might take out their frustration on the surrounding villages.
Yue Ping, a local, whispered, “Some of the larger villages were being checked just yesterday.”
Qin Ming frowned. “Why do we care if they couldn’t escape? They were in the position of power. If they couldn’t survive, that’s on them. They shouldn’t blame the mountain folk for being better at it.”
Old Man Liu sighed. “They’re not going to be reasonable. The world doesn’t work that way. If you’re strong enough, even the high-ranking spirit creatures in the mountains might show up at your wedding. But if you’re weak, even the monkeys will bully you. People need to rely on their own strength.”
He added, “The spirit beasts deep in the mountains and the high-ups in Scarlet Dawn City have connections, believe it or not. An old mountain patrolman once told me so.”
After the two men from Golden Rooster Ridge left, Yue Ping mused, “They’re probably looking to refill their ranks.”
Everyone thought that sounded reasonable. Golden Rooster Ridge had suffered heavy losses and needed new blood.
Old Man Liu frowned. “This is trouble. They’ll demand more than just people. They’ll want supplies too, and recruiting new people isn’t cheap.”
The villagers felt a heavy weight on their hearts. Golden Rooster Ridge had always pressured the surrounding villages, and that wasn’t likely to change.
As Qin Ming and Old Man Liu made their way into the mountains, they cursed Golden Rooster Ridge, calling them thieves through and through.
“I wish we could just wipe them out,” Qin Ming muttered.
“Don’t say that out loud! If anyone hears, it’ll be big trouble,” Old Man Liu warned.
“By the way, old man,” Qin Ming asked, “you said the spirit creatures in the deep mountains have connections with the big shots in Scarlet Dawn City. Is that really true?”
Old Man Liu shrugged. “That’s what people say. I can’t tell you for sure.”
“Then how do you explain the disaster at the Great Rift?” Qin Ming asked, glancing at the quiet, eerie valley ahead. Three days ago, countless people and creatures had died there, and the air was still thick with the scent of blood.
“I’ve got a theory,” Old Man Liu said. “The spirit creatures’ attack on the Great Rift might’ve been agreed upon by the higher-ups on both sides.”
Qin Ming raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”
“The spirit creatures have been multiplying, but there isn’t enough territory for all of them anymore. And the noble families of Scarlet Dawn City have been growing stronger and richer over the years. According to traveling merchants, each family controls its own industries, and the City Lord can’t just suppress them directly. But the bloodbath in the Great Rift? That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Qin Ming gave him a sideways glance. “You’ve got some wild theories, old man.”
Old Man Liu grinned. “I’ve seen a lot in my time. I know the city pretty well. If it weren’t for that blasted spirit beast that injured me years ago, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
The two of them continued walking, chatting as they went.
After traveling about ten miles deep into the mountains, Old Man Liu said, “Let’s stop talking now. Once we’re this deep in, we shouldn’t mention the old monsters in the mountains.”
They trekked a little further until they reached a dense, ancient forest at the foot of a mountain.
“There’s a Flame Spring inside the belly of this mountain,” Old Man Liu explained. He knew these mountains better than anyone. Without his guidance, no one else would have known about this place.
Old Man Liu had scouted ahead before. He knew that the magnetic fields in the mountain had dulled the Flame Spring, making it less dangerous. That was one of the reasons he’d chosen this spot for their operation.
Living inside the mountain was a colony of silver-headed ants that depended on the Flame Spring for warmth. Without it, their activity levels dropped dramatically in the cold, making them sluggish.
Old Man Liu’s target choices were always unconventional- from blood snakes to spirit turtles, long-armed apes, and now silver-headed ants. But Qin Ming had to admit, this was their best bet right now.
Silver-headed ants were ferocious, and there were thousands of them. Winter was the perfect time to take them on.
Another critical point was that in the entire colony, there could only be one queen. Even though the spiritual energy in the hive could cause other ants to mutate, the queen wouldn’t allow it.
“We’ll need to reinforce our armor with steel plates,” Old Man Liu said. “Just wearing our current armor won’t be enough. If a silver-headed ant bites you, it won’t kill you with poison, but half your body will go numb for a long time. If they swarm us, they’ll eat us alive.”
These silver-headed ants were far more dangerous than the black ants Yue Ping used to make tea. They ranged from the size of a baby’s fist to the size of an egg, and they were vicious.
Their heads had silvery patterns, which was how they got their name. The most amazing thing about these ants was their ability to brew honey wine. They gathered pollen, wild fruits, and even stole grains from farms, using the Flame Spring’s spiritual energy to ferment the mixture into a liquid that was part honey, part wine.
The ants continually refined the honey wine, repeatedly fermenting it until it became a pale golden liquid packed with spiritual energy. In big cities, silver-headed ants’ honey wine sold for astronomical prices, and the final, refined product was worth even more.
Qin Ming and Old Man Liu crawled through a crack in the mountain to inspect the area. Qin Ming felt a chill run down his spine. The area around the dim Flame Spring was crawling with massive ants, their silver patterns shimmering in the low light. They were motionless for now, but anyone with a fear of bugs would have a hard time here.
They quietly retreated and began studying the nearby terrain, planning their escape routes.
Over the next two days, they made several trips in and out of the mountains, bringing in all the supplies they needed.
“Everything rides on this,” Qin Ming muttered. The icy air turned their breath to white fog as they prepared for the task ahead.
Though Qin Ming wasn’t exactly nervous, his mind was restless. If they succeeded here and he underwent his third awakening, what would happen when his fractured memories finally returned? What would he see this time?