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Novel: [Night Without Boundaries]
Chapter 144: [Chaos]
Author: [Chen Dong]
Translator: [Shadow Knight AK]
Editor: [Shadow Knight AK]
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Under the cloak of night on the Land of Divine Lament Plains, Qin Ming was in a desperate escape for his life.
The Old Donkey commanded its demonic horde—wolf demons, sheep demons, rat demons, and more—to encircle and intercept him.
Every creature was mobilized, and the Dog Demon was dispatched to deliver messages.
The Old Donkey itself joined the hunt, tearing off its tattered official's robe and abandoning its upright posture.
It dropped to all fours, its pitch-black donkey face grim, and galloped wildly after Qin Ming.
Remarkably unscathed, the Old Donkey retained its full combat prowess. Only its hooves, trimmed by Qin Ming's Jade Iron Sword during their earlier clash, showed any sign of damage.
At this stage, among the Four Old Demons, only the Old Donkey posed a truly lethal threat to Qin Ming.
Qin Ming stumbled through the forest, his body drenched in blood and multiple bones broken—the most severe injuries he had sustained since embarking on the Path of Awakening.
Under normal circumstances, the Old Donkey should have overtaken him long ago.
Yet the pursuit grew increasingly difficult for the donkey. Qin Ming's Jade Iron Sword had left its hooves uneven and jagged, making its gait unstable.
One of its front hooves was nearly severed, while the hoof on its right hind leg remained completely intact, untouched by the sword.
This unevenness caused the donkey to stumble repeatedly, nearly twisting its ankle several times.
Its donkey face stretched long and dark, so black it seemed to drip with ink.
Even so, it was closing in.
As it neared the tattered, blood-soaked figure ahead, it surged forward with renewed ferocity.
Suddenly, Qin Ming whirled around, brandishing his sword and charging straight at it.
In that instant, the Old Donkey froze, its hooves skidding to a halt.
The sight of the human youth's jade-white sword flashing again sent its donkey fur bristling in terror.
It had witnessed firsthand the gruesome fates of Black Peng and the Fire Scale Lion, and the memory still haunted it.
Qin Ming feigned a throw, raising his hand as if to hurl the sword.
The Old Donkey panicked, instantly performing a donkey roll, abandoning all pretense of dignity.
When it looked up again, the human youth had already fled.
Feeling mocked and humiliated, it resumed its relentless pursuit.
As it closed in a second time, Qin Ming once again turned and raised the sword.
Yet, despite its initial fury, the Old Donkey cowered again.
This pattern repeated itself.
By the fifth time, convinced that Qin Ming was truly at his limit and could no longer unleash that deadly strike, the Old Donkey reared up on its hind legs, charging with murderous intent to crush the faltering human youth with a fatal kick.
This time, Qin Ming poured his Heavenly Light into the small sword without reservation, causing it to blaze with light for a split second before he hurled it at close range.
With a thud, the sword pierced through the Old Donkey's flank, narrowly missing its vital organs.
A bloody hole appeared, the sword exiting the other side.
The wound stirred painful memories of the donkey's past—years of servitude before its eventual rise to freedom.
Naturally cautious by nature, it whirled around and fled.
Qin Ming retrieved the Exotic Metal sword and leaned against an ancient tree, struggling to stay upright.
Blood streamed from his mouth and nostrils; his injuries were severe.
As he gasped for breath, his chest heaved violently.
The broken ribs pierced his internal organs, sending cold sweat pouring down his face.
He endured the agony and forced the bones back into place.
If the fractured ribs had remained lodged in his organs, his situation would have been far worse.
Qin Ming couldn't afford to linger.
He pressed onward through the dense forest.
He needed to find a secluded spot to refine the Silver Heart.
He couldn't achieve a breakthrough in the heat of battle; Awakening was a gradual process, requiring a day or two.
"Here!" a bird shrieked from the sky.
"Thud!"
The bird exploded into a bloody mist, shot down by Qin Ming with an ordinary iron arrow.
His situation was dire.
The Old Donkey had issued orders, mobilizing every creature that flew in the sky or ran on the ground—birds of prey and strange beasts alike.
This territory fell under the dominion of the Four Old Demons, and the Bird Demons and Beast Monsters dared not disobey.
A five-meter-long Fire Bat flapped its blood-red leathery wings as it approached. Though not as powerful as the Four Old Demons, it was still at the Outer Saint-level, posing a significant threat to the increasingly weakened Qin Ming.
Qin Ming took a deep breath, adjusted his stance, and drew his bow again.
This time, he deliberately feigned weakness, the iron arrow flying with diminished force.
The Fire Bat remained cautious, refusing to close the distance.
Instead, it opened its maw and unleashed a blinding crimson beam of intense heat, instantly incinerating the massive tree Qin Ming had been leaning against.
Qin Ming dodged awkwardly, having conserved his Heavenly Light for defense.
As a result, a strand of his hair caught fire, which he swiftly severed with a palm strike.
The Fire Bat closed the gap, its demonic blood-red wings beating furiously.
It greedily sniffed the air, catching the scent of the Silver Wolf King's heart.
Flames erupted from its mouth in relentless bursts.
Qin Ming drew his bow once more, this time nocking a Jade Iron Arrow.
With a desperate surge of strength, he fired.
The arrow struck the Fire Bat's head with a thud, and the Heavenly Light Force exploded outward.
The headless bat corpse plummeted to the ground, snapping thick tree branches as it fell.
A towering ancient tree suddenly shattered, and a massive bear materialized silently, ambushing Qin Ming. Its massive paw struck down, shattering the tree trunk he had been leaning against.
Weak and unsteady, Qin Ming stumbled sideways, narrowly dodging the blow.
The bear roared and lunged at him.
This massive creature posed a serious threat to Qin Ming in his current state, clearly possessing Outer Saint-level strength.
The forest around them was being ravaged.
Blood-red light radiated from the bear's body, its ferocity intensifying as it tore through the dense foliage, threatening to level the area.
After a fierce struggle, Qin Ming leaped forward, plunging his sword into the bear's skull.
With a thunderous crash, the massive corpse collapsed to the ground.
Qin Ming collapsed as well, drenched in bear blood, too exhausted to move.
Despite his exhaustion, he forced himself to his feet.
More monsters were approaching.
Clearly, he wouldn't find a quiet place to refine the Silver Wolf Heart anytime soon.
He sat down where he was, first circulating the Wuji Scripture to absorb a small amount of earth essence and replenish his strength.
Then, clutching the Silver Light-infused heart, he took a direct gulp of the silvery blood.
According to the Life-Altering Scripture, Silver Blood should be refined with Heavenly Light through repeated purification until its medicinal properties transform into ethereal clouds, nourishing the flesh and blood.
But Qin Ming had no time for such meticulousness.
After swallowing the Silver Blood, his stomach felt like it was on fire, as if being pierced from within.
As expected, his crude method had backfired.
The Life-Altering Scripture's extraction method was correct, but the wolf blood's composition was far too complex.
Even in this era, he should have sought an Alchemist to refine the Silver Blood's essence instead of gulping it down in such large quantities.
Qin Ming's abdomen was wracked with excruciating pain, as if being torn apart.
He felt like his intestines were about to rupture, and he desperately wanted to writhe on the ground in agony.
The Silver Wolf King had once possessed boundless potential and rapid growth, but its failed transformation into a Silver Creature had halted its cultivation.
Beyond producing Silver Blood, the process had also generated harmful byproducts.
Qin Ming was drenched in sweat, but even more alarming, wisps of blood seeped from his pores.
Only after a long, agonizing wait did the excruciating pain gradually subside.
Qin Ming was surrounded by pairs of greedy eyes, all belonging to mutants.
However, the sight of the massive bear carcass and the nearby Fire Bat with its head exploded deterred them from attacking immediately.
After enduring the ordeal, Qin Ming felt a surge of vitality within him.
The beneficial silver blood he had absorbed was rejuvenating his body, improving his condition.
At the very least, he no longer felt so weak.
Qin Ming leaped to his feet, wielding the Jade Iron Sword like lightning as he charged forward.
With a series of thwacks, he swiftly slaughtered six mutant creatures, including two Outer Saint-level creatures.
The area erupted into chaos, with Beast Monsters, Bird Demons, and other creatures scattering in panic.
This brief flurry of activity left Qin Ming feeling exhausted again.
He desperately needed rest, but the surviving Old Demons wouldn't grant him the time.
Drawing on his extensive wilderness survival skills, he quickly identified several plants, crushed their leaves, and smeared the juice over his body to mask his scent.
Unfortunately, the Silver Wolf Heart proved difficult to conceal.
No matter what he tried, its faint, alluring fragrance persisted.
As Qin Ming fled, he found himself constantly discovered by monsters.
Fortunately, the mouthful of silver wolf blood was still working, his body burning hot and his vitality growing stronger.
Qin Ming knew he wouldn't find a quiet place to rest.
Given the circumstances, he might as well refine the Silver Wolf Heart directly.
After recovering slightly, he activated the Heavenly Light Force, unleashing a brilliant light that enveloped the priceless wolf heart, continuously refining it.
Silver mist billowed, luminous vapors swirled, and a unique medicinal fragrance wafted out, utterly irresistible, especially to aberrant creatures.
For them, the allure was practically fatal.
Hordes of Beast Monsters reappeared.
Even though Qin Ming used the Heavenly Light to bind the Silver Wolf Heart, trapping as much of the luminous mist and medicinal fragrance as possible around himself, wisps still leaked out.
He couldn't afford to worry about that now.
Once the refinement of the Silver Blood began, he had no intention of stopping.
Battles were inevitable along the way, and he slaughtered his way through them.
The Old Donkey also appeared twice.
When it saw him refining the Silver Wolf Heart, even it couldn't help but swallow hard.
It led a pack of demons to besiege Qin Ming, but the Old Donkey wasn't at its peak, its body still bearing a bloody wound.
Wary of Qin Ming, it hesitated, acting cautiously.
Moreover, it noticed that Qin Ming's condition was steadily improving.
Finally, the Old Donkey decisively sent a message to the Outer Realm, summoning allies and issuing a kill order to eliminate the human youth.
The so-called Outer Realm referred to the territories beyond the domains of the Four Old Demons.
Under normal circumstances, other mutant creatures of comparable power would not dare to cross these borders without invitation.
Now, the Old Donkey had broken this precedent by actively inviting them.
In an instant, Qin Ming found himself in mortal danger once again.
Qin Ming had previously lingered in this territory, avoiding long journeys, primarily out of fear of encountering unknown and formidable demons and monsters from other realms.
After all, with the Four Old Demons of this territory wounded and weakened, it had seemed relatively safe.
But when the Old Donkey began "summoning demons," everything changed.
Carried by swift birds, news of the situation spread almost instantly, reaching the powerful creatures of neighboring realms.
"Though the Silver Wolf failed in its Transformation, traces of silver blood still remain in its heart."
This revelation stirred some astonishingly powerful Old Demons.
Even if their own Cultivation was too advanced to benefit from the heart, they could bestow it upon their descendants.
Qin Ming fled once more.
His condition had improved significantly, but the monsters he encountered grew increasingly formidable.
He was currently being hunted by a massive black elephant, an Old Demon that had crossed over from a neighboring realm.
Its colossal size and power rivaled those of the Silver Wolf King.
Still not fully recovered, Qin Ming found himself on the defensive against the behemoth.
Each thunderous step of the elephant's massive legs shook the earth, and its trunk lashed out, shattering ancient trees.
Twice, Qin Ming narrowly avoided being crushed beneath its massive feet.
The black elephant radiated Heavenly Light from every pore, its immense form posing a lethal threat to Qin Ming in his current state.
During the relentless pursuit, Qin Ming seized a critical opportunity. Drawing his Jade Iron Arrow, he bent his bow and shot, piercing the elephant's eyeball.
The creature roared in agony, nearly collapsing to the ground.
While the Jade Iron Arrow could pierce Heavenly Light, it lacked the devastating force of Exotic Metal.
"What a waste—another Jade Iron Arrow lost. I wonder if I'll ever recover it," Qin Ming muttered, not pausing to linger.
He turned and fled.
His anger flared as he continued his escape.
Human adventurers from the Land of Divine Lament Plains, having heard the news, had arrived—not to help, but to hunt him down!
Their eyes fixed on the Silver Wolf Heart in his hand, their faces twisted with greed.
In the dense jungle, Qin Ming decapitated a middle-aged man with a single strike of his sword and vanished without a trace.
"Brother, we're on the same side! I'm here to help!" A young man emerged from the undergrowth, holding up his hands to show he meant no harm.
But from behind Qin Ming, several cold arrows forged from Secret Gold shot forth, aimed at his head, back of the heart, and other vital points.
His condition had improved significantly.
The Heavenly Light within him gradually grew stronger, and his Divine Wisdom and Consciousness Spiritual Light had accumulated, sharpening his instincts to an extraordinary degree.
Qin Ming dodged the arrows, gripped his Jade Iron Sword, and launched a counterattack.
Moments later, three heads rolled to the ground as he drifted away.
As time passed, Qin Ming gradually refined the essence of the Silver Wolf Heart.
The silver blood's composition was incredibly complex, containing Spiritual Substance that could trigger his Seventh Awakening and mysterious medicinal properties that could strengthen his "foundation"—a treasure beyond measure!
The bad news was that the region had descended into chaos.
Demons and monsters roamed freely, and human adventurers, driven by greed, were also on the hunt for Qin Ming.
He took a deep breath and discarded the shriveled Silver Wolf Heart.
A silvery mist billowed around him, enveloping him in a luminous haze and filling the air with an intense medicinal fragrance.
Qin Ming repeatedly purified himself before beginning the absorption process.
Awakening was a gradual process, requiring a day or two, but from this moment onward, his body would steadily grow stronger!
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END OF CHAPTER
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