Night Without End
Chapter 253 - 163: Truth and Surprise

Chapter 253: Chapter 163: Truth and Surprise

Deep in the night, blue fog silently spread.

The entire city was empty, devoid of any sound.

Qin Ming was sweating on his forehead, as if he had entered a ghost city. Other than himself, there was not a single living being.

The Fire Spring was very abnormal, that rich blue color made one feel like sinking into it.

It was like the ghost fire in an old cemetery, equally eerie in its blue, silent and haunting.

Qin Ming’s body tensed up, becoming extremely vigilant.

He couldn’t understand, where had all the people in the city gone?

The entire city felt lifeless, making one feel very depressed.

Suddenly, Qin Ming felt something, turned around, and astonishingly discovered a dark shadow coming towards him through the heavy fog, without any concealment.

On the deserted street, faint footsteps could be heard, and the shadow moved quickly, reaching him in a blink.

He was only about one and a half meters tall, extremely emaciated, wearing a bamboo hat, dressed in a set of old, tattered straw clothes, with straw sandals on his feet.

The moment he lifted his head, his eyes were dark red, gazing at the eerie blue Fire Spring with a deep longing, yet also with an expression of awe.

Only now did Qin Ming clearly see its appearance, instantly gripping his knife’s hilt, his visitor’s face was also covered with straw clothes, to be exact, it was a scarecrow.

The scarecrow looked at him, opened its mouth, making a rustling sound.

"What are you saying, what is happening here?" Qin Ming asked.

"A newcomer who knows nothing?" In the scarecrow’s eye sockets, a bright red light flared, transmitting a wave of consciousness.

Then, it suddenly lunged forward, drawing an iron knife from behind it, cutting a terrifying trajectory towards Qin Ming’s neck.

This was indeed a sudden attack!

Qin Ming was confused, bewildered by witnessing a scarecrow, and didn’t know why it suddenly made a move.

Since it wanted his life, there was nothing to say, he swiftly swung the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade in counterattack.

Faced with an unknown opponent, he always went all out, thus the entire blade erupted in an extremely dazzling light, like a blazing divine flame dancing.

With a clang, that iron knife was cut by him, and the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade possessed extraordinary properties, its radiant and sacred light incinerated the scarecrow before even touching it, causing it to scream painfully.

"Stop, it’s a misunderstanding!" It screamed in terror, quickly retreating.

Qin Ming paid no heed, it was the scarecrow that initiated the attack, and now wanting to make peace when things took a turn for the worse? Any hesitation in battle could lead to one’s downfall.

With a whoosh, he cleaved the scarecrow in two, scattering straw everywhere.

A ball of red light tried to escape, but was struck by Qin Ming’s knife, exploding with the piercing sound of sparks scattering in the air, and then extinguishing.

Qin Ming frowned slightly, the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade posed a lethal threat to strange creatures, now he was drawn into some inexplicable event?

Just then, there was movement in the blue fog, it was a small beast, floating in the air, riding on something as it approached.

It did not have a corporeal body, appearing somewhat faint and ethereal, but it was stepping on something tangible, which was a two-foot-long fluffy animal tail, flowing with a hazy radiance.

"Riding on the tail... a weasel spirit?" Qin Ming stood with his blade, everything happening tonight was too bizarre.

Some in the Outer World believe that a stage of out-of-body consciousness can be called a Yin Spirit. Naturally, most Outer World Masters do not accept this term.

For those not in this realm, it’s difficult to notice Yin Spirits, even when they’re right in front of them, it often feels like nothingness.

But Qin Ming was very sensitive to them, perceiving them as common things.

This weasel spirit was quite composed, glanced at the broken scarecrow on the ground, then courteously cupped its hands to Qin Ming.

"This place..." Qin Ming mused, he had no idea what was going on, hoping to draw more words from the other.

"This place harbors both danger and great fortune, worth risking one’s life for, and accommodates many peers, I have no quarrel with you." the weasel quickly stated.

"Please, after you." Qin Ming nodded calmly, saying no more.

The weasel nodded, clearly showing some hesitation as well, but eventually, it moved forward, with a splash, diving headfirst into the eerie blue Fire Spring.

"Ah..." From within the Fire Spring came its cries of pain, it rolled and tossed inside, splashing a large amount of blue liquid, accompanied by a flamboyant fire haze.

Visible was the fact that it wasn’t so ethereal anymore, slightly more solidified, and that fluffy broken tail, from withered yellow to glowing, with a faint golden hue, had acquired a degree of spiritualness.

Qin Ming was taken aback, what was going on? He too felt a bit tempted, should he try throwing in the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade?

However, in the next moment, he retreated vigilantly, as the weasel’s Yin Spirit rushed out, piloting that faint golden real tail, consciousness jumbled, chaotically crashing around, continually howling.

"Desecrate... the divine shall die!" it went mad, claws bared, roaring furiously, then its eyes flashed with vicious light, charging at Qin Ming.

Swoosh!

A flash of blinding knife light swept past, like a red-hot iron falling into dry leaves, hissing, Qin Ming’s Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade not only cut the weasel apart, but incinerated it to ashes.

Then, wielding the blade once more, even that lone tangible object, the faint golden tail, when falling got easily cleaved into two, unable to withstand the pristine blade.

"Does the blue Fire Spring relate to god-like creatures?" Qin Ming furrowed his brow deeply, if so, the problem became grave.

He recalled, when he first saw the blue light, it blew apart the clouds in the high sky, expanding in all directions, he too plummeted from the bird.

Hissing sounds emerged, a large snake appeared in the night, also a Yin Spirit, riding on a snake shedding flying in, swirling with black mist in the air.

Upon seeing the scarecrow and broken tail under Qin Ming’s feet, it seemed somewhat fearful, stopping not far away.

"They provoked me first, that’s why they died so miserably." Qin Ming stated.

"I bear no grudges with you, wouldn’t dare offend." the big snake spoke, courteous yet cautious.

Qin Ming nodded, with the tangible "battle record" under his feet, this Yin Spirit finally spoke properly. He decided to directly inquire about the situation.

"What exactly is going on here?" As he spoke, he kicked aside the broken scarecrow.

"This place is related to Divine Grace, containing rich divinity. It can refine various Spiritual Artifacts and rapidly enhance their quality. If one takes risks, it can also enhance one’s divinity, but risks backfiring. The Divine Domain contains great majesty and is quite terrifying." The Big Snake patiently explained.

It moved with its skin and landed by the Fire Spring, placing the snake shedding into it. Instantly, the dull snakeskin began to glow brightly, its spirituality surged significantly, and then it quickly retracted it.

"Why don’t you continue?" Qin Ming asked.

"My old skin can’t bear too much divinity; it’s already at its limit," said the Big Snake.

Even so, it was very satisfied, feeling quite excited.

It repeatedly wanted to leap into the pool but forcibly restrained itself.

"What’s going on with this city, and what about the residents here?" Qin Ming asked.

"This is a Divine City with a great presence, almost reaching the boundary of becoming a divine being, but it seems an accident happened. As for the residents, I don’t know." The Big Snake appeared bewildered at this point, not having seen anyone here.

Qin Ming looked solemn, recalling the blue light he initially discovered. Even from such a distance, he could feel its power; could it really relate to becoming a god?

Seeing him look perturbed, the Big Snake quickly explained, "This Divine City appeared suddenly, likely something happened with the great presence. I’ve not seen its people or those residents."

Qin Ming was stunned, asked, "You’ve never seen this city before, and it appeared abruptly in this area?"

"Yes!" The Big Snake nodded earnestly.

It, along with the scarecrow and weasel, were the closest beings with divinity, hence their Yin Spirit left their bodies to quickly arrive here.

Qin Ming gently tapped the bluestone ground with the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade, producing a clear sound. It felt very real, his expression heavy, could it be this horrifying?

"Can I use divinity to nurture this blade?"

"As someone on the Newborn Road, your usual weapon hasn’t been refined, so the effect...might not be very good," the Big Snake delicately replied.

Qin Ming understood that the Fire Spring was the core of the Divine City, left behind after the "great presence" encountered an accident, containing rich "divinity"!

The Big Snake moved away, restraining its urge to leap into the divinity pool, disappearing in a flash in the night.

Qin Ming walked to the blue Fire Spring and dipped the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade into it, seemingly unchanged.

Soon, he pulled out a palm-sized piece of broken cloth, woven with metallic threads and embroidered with cloud patterns. There might be other designs, but the cloth was too small to discern the main pattern.

He had obtained this from Black and White Mountain after slaying a young man who could vaporize, something extraordinary because even the Mutton Fat Jade Iron Blade couldn’t cut through it.

Qin Ming placed it into the blue Fire Spring Pool.

Immediately, the pool boiled as if a dazzling sun had fallen into it, illuminating the area and generating thick blue mist.

"This is too dazzling, something’s going to happen, what is this thing?!" Qin Ming was stunned, never expecting such a commotion from an inconspicuous piece of broken cloth.

However, this holy scene only lasted for a moment before quickly calming down. The broken cloth turned into a sun that seemed to extinguish.

Qin Ming’s instinct sharpened uncannily; he noticed, even though there was no spectacle, the dense blue of the Fire Spring seemed to be slowly fading.

He immediately crouched to inspect the broken cloth, noticing it had slightly expanded.

Moreover, it was radiating a faint glow. Previously it had been lifeless, but now it seemed "reborn."

Gazing at it, Qin Ming’s heart trembled intensely. The metallic thread woven into the cloth was no longer dim. Some were pure white, while others were shrouded in purple mist, resembling various "Exotic Metals"!

He inhaled a breath of blue night fog in surprise; this far exceeded his expectations. The palm-sized piece of broken cloth hinted at a significant background.

After all, Li Qingyue’s Close to Immortal Item—the Furnace of Eight Trigrams, was also cast from various Exotic Metals.

Upon close examination, Qin Ming discovered that after the cloth expanded slightly, a partially missing Big Sun pattern appeared in its edge area.

He finally understood why there had been such a big commotion just now. The broken cloth, when augmenting and self-repairing, displayed a residual sun that directly emitted light.

The sun was woven with golden threads, undoubtedly made of Exotic Metal.

Qin Ming carefully sensed that the blue Fire Spring in the pool was indeed slowly fading, and the piece of cloth seemed to be slightly enlarging.

This stirred ripples in his heart, difficult to calm, while simultaneously filling him with anticipation.

At this moment, some Yin Spirits gradually appeared outside the city, drawn by the Divine City, all revealing an expression of intense longing.

In the distant direction of Chixia City, it seemed like several suns were hanging in the sky, overly dazzling, illuminating the pitch-black world.

"A mere Demon Worm dares to attempt swallowing the city to achieve godhood; I’ve been waiting for you for many days!" A voice rang out coldly and mercilessly from one of the Fierce Suns, carrying an indescribable sense of oppression, intimidating many living creatures on the ground into trembling uncontrollably.

Clearly, the "great presence" mentioned by the Big Snake encountered an accident due to some strong beings mounting a targeted ambush.

The figures within the suns were not bodily, yet intensely brilliant, illuminating the night sky.

From within one sun, a white-haired old man’s eyes were like two Immortal Swords, and he shouted, "Qingxu, go forth, the Divine City’s Creation is extraordinary, hurry!"

"Yes, Master!" Li Qingxu responded.

A High-level Exotic Bird spread its huge wings, swiftly carrying a group of Outer World disciples away. Some were familiar to Qin Ming.

"The opportunity is considerable; Esoteric Buddhism’s disciples mustn’t fall behind!" Another voice came from another sun.

Another massive raptor appeared, carrying Esoteric Buddhism’s disciples toward the Divine City.

From a third blinding sun came the trumpeting of elephants, accompanied by a loud shout: "You all catch up quickly!"

Evidently, Alien Species also arrived, including the young Six Tusked White Elephant and Purple Lightning Beast, among others.

A "great presence" intended to approach the boundary of becoming a divine being, but ended up being ambushed from all sides, turning into a grand feast.