Night Without End
Chapter 90 - 57: Riding Alone onto Jinji Ridge

Chapter 90: Chapter 57: Riding Alone onto Jinji Ridge

Qin Ming sensed something and glanced at the mountain from where the Purple Lightning Beast had emerged, but he did not wish to delve deeper; for him, speeding up the journey was the most urgent matter.

Deep in the mountain, a man in his late thirties dressed in green was standing on a cliff, looking out.

Across on the robust high mountain shrouded in white fog, a vague haze covered most of the peak, and within the fog, a High level Creature appeared.

"The new city lord of Chixia City, why come here instead of taking office?"

"I’m passing by and wanted to pay a visit to the Mountain Master."

...

After galloping for more than ten miles, the Purple Lightning Beast became restless again, its fur swirling with Purple Mist and running wildly, which was very bumpy and unsteady.

Sometimes it would suddenly slow down, anyone else would have fallen off by now, and might even have been thrown off.

Seeing it acting up, Qin Ming pressed the Phoenix Pattern Long Sword on its neck down, instantly causing a clump of slightly glowing purple mane to fall off and its neck began to bleed from a cut.

"If you don’t carry me for a journey, then I will carry you!" Qin Ming didn’t intend to fully subdue it.

Besides, he didn’t feel any guilt, for the Purple Lightning Beast had kicked him first; if it were an ordinary person, their head would have been crushed.

"If you don’t behave, it’s the end of the road for you!" Qin Ming pressed the sword again, and this time the Purple Lightning Beast was genuinely terrified, its mane soaked in blood from its neck.

It calmed down right after, being more obedient, smoothing out the journey, and they were only a dozen miles away from Jinji Ridge.

Qin Ming was a bit lost in thought; even without using his Heavenly Light Force, he could sit steadily on this Alien Species and control it well.

Before this, he had never ridden any horse in the territory of Black and White Mountain. Especially since he was riding bareback, without a bridle on the Purple Lightning Beast.

Vaguely, some images appeared in his mind; outside a huge fortress, he had also spurred a creature to run wild, that Alien Species looked even better than this Purple Lightning Beast.

He shook his head, not dwelling on these thoughts, but as if by habit, he used the long blade like a riding crop, lightly slapping it on the backside of the Purple Lightning Beast.

This Alien Species immediately spooked, thinking it was about to be slashed again, it moved as if riding the wind, speeding up, becoming a streak of light with Purple Mist, slicing through the thick night.

Qin Ming rode the ferocious beast, rushing through the long night, approaching Jinji Ridge!

Ahead it was bright, even in the dead of night, Jinji Ridge was not dim, as the Fire Spring nearby was almost of the Second Level, almost comparable to the one in Yinteng Town.

The road was wide, leading directly up to the mountain ridge, surrounded by dense mountain forests, no Alien Species peeking out, because they knew the bandits here were tough to provoke.

However, Jinji Ridge was much quieter than before, as many had been heavily reduced while fighting for mysterious resources in Dalie Valley—the many Alien Species of Black and White Mountain had a full meal that day.

Now there were about thirty people left on the mountain, those who could stay to guard the place all had some connections, and their deeds were even more nefarious.

Using Old Man Liu’s words, the remaining bandits could be casually slashed with a blade, no worries about harming any good people, even dying a few times wouldn’t be a problem.

Qin Ming sheathed the long blade, took the Hard Bow from his body, and rode the Purple Lightning Beast, charging into the bright area of Jinji Ridge where Fire Spring flowed.

The first to notice him was not any of the bandits, but a Golden Chicken used specifically for sentry, this two-times mutated creature was indeed responsible, hiding among the trees, and upon seeing someone invading, it instantly squawked loudly, "Gick-ack!"

Qin Ming’s first Iron Arrow was fired at it; ’thud’—the head of the Golden Chicken was pierced by the speeding Arrow, its cries abruptly ceased.

"What’s happened?" Some of the bandits in the stronghold were drunk.

Some old bandits woke up from their stupor and yelled, "Enemy raid!"

These people quickly stood up, seeing on the road outside the stronghold, a man and a mount enveloped in Purple Mist lighting up like Heavenly Light tearing through the night sky, crashing toward the Mountain Sect.

In the past, their watchtower and fortress walls would definitely have archers, but now Jinji Ridge was in a semi-crippled state, with leftovers who hardly worked.

In such cold weather, snowflakes were still falling from the sky, they mostly hid indoors eating, drinking, gambling, etc.

Qin Ming advanced with the beast; the very solid gateway in front of the heavy hooves of the Purple Lightning Beast was smashed with a loud boom, and the man and his mount charged directly into the Jinji Ridge stronghold.

"Everyone, get up, enemy raid!" Jinji Ridge was in complete chaos, even those drunk knew what was happening.

The stronghold was brightly lit, the Fire Spring close to the Second Level flowed with Fire Glow, definitely a treasure location, far superior to other villages outside the mountain.

At this moment, Qin Ming, in shining armor, his face covered by the facial guard of the helmet, only his eyes and nose and mouth visible.

In the eyes of these bandits, this one man and one mount were too fast, flowing with Purple Light, terrifyingly impressive with incomparable impact.

Qin Ming bent his bow and shot arrows, continuously firing, each Iron Arrow under the illumination of Fire Glow seemed like a cold lightning streak passing through.

Thump, thump, thump...

In just one encounter, he had already shot and killed five people, some bandits had not even reacted before being shot through the forehead by an arrow, and two others were pierced through the chest by the same Iron Arrow and died.

"Quick, fire back with arrows!" someone sobered up, quickly organizing the manpower and blew a whistle, issuing commands to the trained Golden Chickens to charge at the enemy.

Qin Ming, who has extensively studied the secret book of the Wu Family, said to be peerless in both gun and arrow, was not joking. His bow and arrow seemed to possess a soul, his eyes exceptionally sharp. Before the person giving orders could finish, he was already shot in the head with a special heavy arrow by Qin Ming.

Under the glow of Fire Spring, this scene was vivid, with blood and bone splatters terrifyingly landing on other mountain bandits, some nearly freezing in place.

However, they were after all blood-experienced bandits with ferocious natures. They quickly rallied with loud shouts and began to fight back, with some bending their bows to shoot arrows.

At that moment, five Golden Chickens also charged over, spreading their wings, extending their huge beaks, and unleashing their sharp claws, attacking both man and mount.

The Purple Lightning Beast, forced onto the mountain and already feeling frustrated, burst into fury when attacked by the lower-ranking Golden Chickens.

It roared loudly, though it had a head similar to a horse’s, its body was like that of a tiger or leopard, extremely fierce. It stood upright suddenly, swinging its huge hooves down.

With two "plop" sounds, two Golden Chickens were instantly killed - one had its head crushed by the beast, and another had its body pierced through. Then, aggressively shaking its head with a mouthful of sharp teeth, it bit off another Golden Chicken’s neck in a swift "beheading".

During this process, whether it was standing upright or leaping, Qin Ming clung to its back, steady as if on flat ground. He kept shooting arrows, single-handedly suppressing the enemy’s shower of arrows.

Two formidable bandits appeared silently, but did not act immediately because they understood that someone who charged into battle alone was certainly no ordinary person. The situation looked extremely fierce.

In reality, they still underestimated Qin Ming. They judged the enemy’s level through the force of the arrows, but the `bend` of the hard bow has its limitations, and was far from reaching Qin Ming’s upper limit.

The next moment, they realized their mistake when one of the bandits personally discharged an arrow at Qin Ming.

Qin Ming easily deflected it with an Iron Arrow, sending the greatly powerful arrow flying amidst a spray of sparks, his keen perception and judgment causing the bandits to sink in fear.

At the same time, Qin Ming also bent his bow and retaliated.

"Thud!"

The two bandits dodged, but a young man beside them couldn’t react in time and was shot through the head, collapsing backwards without even a chance to scream.

One bandit roared lowly, obviously having a close relationship with the deceased, his killing intent soared.

Qin Ming continued to shoot to kill!

In that brief moment, Jinji Ridge had already lost over a dozen people, originally having around thirty left, now nearly half were annihilated.

Qin Ming directly maneuvered the Purple Lightning Beast, charging towards the nearby wooden houses. At this moment, he stowed away his bow and arrow and grasped the sharp Big Gun.

As one man and one mount charged, many bandits felt a chill, it felt like a massive army was storming at them, the mount was too savage, instantly trampling a few twice-mutant Golden Chickens to death, and the person on the beast, clad in icy armor, resembled a killing god. With one arrow taking one life, many couldn’t help but tremble under his gaze.

Riding solo and drawing close, Qin Ming thrust his spear with great force, lifting a wooden house and instantly shattering it.

Two people inside panicked and swung their blades, but having only been reborn once, facing such a team was akin to delivering themselves to death.

Two splashes of blood rose, Qin Ming shot out his spear like lightning, skewering them one after another before charging towards the two major bandits of Jinji Ridge.

The Purple Lightning Beast stood upright, its heavy hooves stomping forward, causing a wooden house to instantly disintegrate and splinter.

Qin Ming sensed something, wind sound from behind, he swiftly turned around raising his spear to strike.

It was an old bandit he had once seen in Dalie Valley. Having survived till now, he naturally was a third time newcomer. This time he was surprisingly riding a much larger Golden Chicken than its counterparts, his mount clearly having mutated three times, half-flying from the high ground to launch an attack.

"Jinji Ridge indeed has some tricks, able to breed such mutant creatures on a large scale." Qin Ming was unfazed, his long spear creating dozens of shadows.

In mid-air, while the elder swung his blade, his arms numbed from the vibration. He was horrified to realize he was far too inferior, and his attempted ambush failing might mean his death right there.

At his level, his intuition was highly acute.

In reality, death came quicker than he thought. When Qin Ming’s Big Gun vibrated, it not only blocked the elder’s long blade but also left several bleeding holes in the third time mutant Golden Chicken, causing its immediate demise.

"Ah..." the elder cried out, swinging his blade trying to escape from mid-air.

However, his opponent below far surpassed him in strength. Amidst the dense spear shadows, he couldn’t discern which were real and which were illusions; with a "puff", his chest was pierced by a spear.

Qin Ming slew him and then, like discarding a scarecrow, flung the elder’s corpse from his long spear flying over ten meters away, crashing into a wooden house making people inside retreat in shock.

This was a high-ranking expert in their camp, second only to the two major bandits, yet he was easily killed by the opponent.

At Qin Ming’s signal, the Purple Lightning Beast slowed its pace but its cries were grave, ignoring others, directly pressing towards the two major bandits.

Both bandits looked tense, one drew a Broadsword, and the other held a Long Spear, both stepping forward.

At this moment, from a shadow on one side, another elder silently appeared, suddenly launching an attack from behind towards Qin Ming, trying to coordinate an assault with the two major bandits.

Qin Ming, holding a long spear in one hand, pointed it at the two major bandits before him, the spearhead motionless, while his left hand swiftly drew the Phoenix Pattern Long Sword from behind his back, slicing through the air like a blinding flash of lightning, sending the attacking elder’s sword flying twenty meters away.

With tremendous power, Qin Ming’s swing was unimpeded even for a moment. After sending the long sword flying, the blade’s motion continued swiftly through the night air; with a "puff" sound, it diagonally severed the elder’s shoulder, causing him to die with his eyes wide open, another third time newcomer dying!