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Novel: [Night Without Borders]
Chapter 71: [The Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall]
Author: [Chen Dong]
Translator: [Shadow Knight AK]
Editor: [Shadow Knight AK]
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Inside the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall, Qin Ming's body trembled violently, as if battered by crashing waves.
He felt like a lone small boat tossed about in a stormy sea, and if not for the crowd pressing around him, he might have collapsed to the ground.
Within this golden hall, etched with the texture of time, the surging emotions were so intense they threatened to overwhelm him, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
"No, I still want to live! I can't die here!"
"A'lan, wait for me to return and marry you! I can withstand the erosion of the Heavenly Light!"
"I am one hundred and twenty years old, my life is at its end. I yearn for the Heavenly Light's empowerment to break through to a higher realm and prolong my life, but it seems it's not meant to be."
...
In an instant, Qin Ming resonated with dozens of emotions, each one overwhelmingly intense, surging toward him like a tidal wave.
They carried the bitter resentment and unyielding defiance of those who had faced death.
And behind this initial onslaught, even more emotions churned, crashing against him in relentless waves.
If it had been a single emotion, he could have observed the person's life, savoring each detail.
But this overwhelming flood threatened to overwhelm him.
Qin Ming immediately withdrew from the resonance state, fearing his mind would shatter under the relentless attack.
He understood the situation perfectly. Over the years, countless lives had been lost within the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall.
Each dying breath had been filled with despair, agony, and fierce resentment. The collective weight of these emotions was truly terrifying.
Qin Ming rubbed his temples, trying to shake off the lingering discomfort. His heart remained unsettled, his thoughts churning like stormy seas.
Beyond the secret texts containing the lifeblood of past masters, the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall itself offered a spiritual resonance.
Qin Ming's mind raced with possibilities.
He stared at the ancient hall, wondering if, throughout its history, any awakener had, in their final moments, triggered spiritual fluctuations that resonated with hidden techniques.
He shook his head, doubting that many with such unwavering resolve existed.
Most likely, over ninety percent of people spent their final moments in fear, agony, and despair.
Qin Ming cautiously tried again, quickly touching over twenty intense emotions. As he'd predicted, they were overwhelmingly negative.
In his perception, these chaotic emotions resembled a vast, dark sea.
Unwilling to give up, he wanted to fish out a few "treasures" from its depths.
"I'll try again next time."
It was impossible now.
The Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall was swarming with people, and Qin Ming was being swept forward, about to exit the ancient hall.
"I'm never going to join a crowd again!" Wu Zheng wailed back at the inn, his face ashen.
He'd lost his other shoe and had to walk barefoot through the snow.
Even with his newfound strength from awakening, the cold was unbearable. He eventually took off his outer robe and wrapped it around his feet.
"I didn't even get a proper look at Chi Xia Mountain or the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall!" Wu Zheng complained bitterly.
Xu Sheng chuckled. "In a while, when early spring arrives, we'll go on a spring outing. You're really not coming? All the young ladies from the noble families will be out then. Don't you want to see them?"
Wu Zheng stammered, "Well... we'll see about that later."
Qin Ming asked, "Brother Xu, given the current situation, Spring Thunder might appear in just a few days. To receive the Heavenly Light, shouldn't we head up the mountain early and wait? Otherwise, we'll definitely miss it."
Xu Sheng's expression turned serious.
"You're actually considering going? Even saying it's a hundred deaths for every chance of survival doesn't adequately describe the danger there. You're still young—don't gamble your life on a momentary impulse."
Wu Zheng chimed in, "Brother Qin, don't be reckless! We're not even twenty yet, and you're an Awakener in the Golden Age. What's the rush?"
Xu Sheng naturally vehemently opposed the idea, refusing to let Qin Ming risk his life.
Left with no choice, Qin Ming revealed some of his past. "When I was at Black White Mountain, I accidentally fell into a special node saturated with Heavenly Light and managed to survive."
He figured this wasn't a secret anyway; anyone investigating him would easily find out, as the locals all knew about it.
Wu Zheng's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, right! When you came to my house to read, my grandfather mentioned something about that too. He said you have a remarkably resilient constitution."
"Back then, you were just an ordinary person. Surviving was incredibly lucky. But the Heavenly Light concentration in the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall is many times greater—you wouldn't stand a chance."
Qin Ming could see that Xu Sheng was truly a good person, genuinely worried about his safety, which was why he kept trying to stop him.
But Qin Ming couldn't explain the truth—that he was indeed capable of withstanding the Heavenly Light's corrosive effects.
"Brother Xu, you're a good man. Even if you keep trying to stop me, I still have to go."
Xu Sheng sighed and finally revealed that Qin Ming needed to ascend the mountain early.
"I'll personally go there with ropes to pull you out when the time comes," he said.
This was clearly a veiled way of saying he'd be retrieving Qin Ming's corpse.
Qin Ming replied, "Brother Xu, just send someone to pull me out and carry me away like a dead man. Hmm, I'll try to make myself look as disheveled as possible, so my face is unrecognizable."
Xu Sheng stared in disbelief. "What are you planning?"
"This is to avoid being recognized on my second trip," Qin Ming explained. "And don't show yourself during the first trip either. Just send someone to escort me. After all, you used to be a Traveling Merchant and know many people. If they see you, they might start paying attention to me."
Xu Sheng couldn't believe his ears. Was this kid's ambition boundless, or was he simply too ignorant to fear the consequences?
"Brother Xu, I'm not joking," Qin Ming said, seeing Xu Sheng's genuine kindness and deciding to ask for his help.
Xu Sheng, seeing Qin Ming's unwavering confidence, actually began to believe he might survive.
It wasn't until later that he realized he'd been caught up in Qin Ming's madness, agreeing to help him find someone to "collect his corpse" afterward.
The next day, Qin Ming treated Xu Sheng to a meal at the finest restaurant to express his gratitude, leaving the latter speechless.
Wu Zheng was equally dumbfounded.
Both of them were convinced Qin Ming had a ninety percent chance of dying on Chi Xia Mountain, yet he was celebrating with such enthusiasm.
Qin Ming explained, "Actually, I still need Brother Xu's help. I'm looking for local families with once-glorious lineages that have since fallen into decline. I want to pay to access their secret texts and secret technique manuals. The price is negotiable."
Wu Zheng's expression turned strange, feeling vaguely offended by Brother Qin's unintentional slight.
Xu Sheng remarked, "You're remarkably confident, aren't you? Assuming you'll survive the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall, you're already planning to learn a new techniques to fuse with your Heavenly Light Force on the day of your breakthrough."
Qin Ming indeed had this in mind.
He knew that the combination of Spring Thunder and Otherworldly Heavenly Light not only birthed a unique spiritual substance that granted awakening, but also produced an intense Heavenly Light, far surpassing the effects of the Three-Colored Flower.
Those who survived could enhance both the quantity and quality of their Heavenly Light, making it the perfect time to fuse different techniques.
Xu Sheng agreed, saying, "I'll ask around for you. Hmm, what kind of technique do you need? This is crucial; you can't just combine anything randomly."
Qin Ming wanted to say, "Any technique will do," but thinking better of it, he decided to keep a low profile.
"Something with forceful, direct power," he replied. "If that's not available, I'm open to other options."
Lately, he had been practicing the Yellow Mud Palm, mastering its supple (gentle) force. It was clear this technique was extraordinary, likely fused with multiple Heavenly Light Forces.
Learning one or two more now wouldn't be a waste of this opportunity to enter the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall.
The next day, Xu Sheng brought news: he had found a declining sect that still possessed ancestral techniques.
Their current situation was truly dire.
Qin Ming immediately went with him.
When they saw the dilapidated courtyard walls and the ancient, crumbling buildings, he realized this sect had completely fallen.
Xu Sheng sighed. "The Sun Family used to own a grand estate. Alas, fate is unpredictable. Over a decade ago, the old patriarch was critically injured and died shortly after. His son passed away in an accident two years ago, and the daughter-in-law ran off with another man. Now, only the elderly matriarch remains, struggling to raise her three-year-old grandson. It's truly heartbreaking."
When Qin Ming saw the Sun Family's matriarch and the young child, he was deeply moved.
The old woman's face was etched with wrinkles, her spirit worn down by hardship.
Her eyes were dull and lifeless, lighting up only when she looked at her grandson.
Rumor had it that she had once been a wealthy young lady, marrying into the prestigious Sun Family in her prime.
But now, with her husband and son both dead under mysterious circumstances and the family fortune lost, she clung to her grandson as her sole source of support.
Qin Ming felt that if someone was deliberately targeting the family, the child would inevitably be in danger.
Seeing the boy stirred something deep within him, as if he were looking at a younger version of himself.
The three-year-old child, dressed in patched clothing, practiced some technique in silence, his stubborn determination evident.
Qin Ming recalled fragments of his own faded memories: a childhood marked by poverty, raised alone by an elderly man who must have been his grandfather, who taught him the techniques from the Silk Book.
"Take it," the old woman said, retrieving a secret manual. "It's worthless now. People keep trying to steal it, and it's completely ruined. I usually let the children who want to learn look at it for free anyway."
She and her grandson lived in poverty, relying on the kindness of neighbors.
She would let them read the manual as a way to repay their kindness.
Qin Ming accepted the manual.
Only the beast-hide cover seemed ancient; the dozen or so pages inside didn't appear to be old.
The Awakening Technique was fragmented and incomplete, the descriptions of the techniques were vague, and the handwriting was sloppy.
Yet both the beast-hide cover and the paper pages pulsed with intense emotional energy.
After thanking the old woman, Qin Ming sat on a rickety chair and began studying the manual with intense focus.
In an instant, he saw the truth.
"Xin Yi Hall, you're too ruthless! Our Sun Family has fallen, and by my generation, we're truly declining. Yet you still covet our secret manual. Ge Qianxun, I treated you like a brother, but you tried to kill me!"
An elderly man coughed up blood repeatedly, mortally wounded by Xin Yi Hall members who had stolen the manual. He clutched only a single page of the cover in his hand.
At this time, slumped over his desk, he tried to rewrite the contents of the lost manual.
But his strength failed him.
After scribbling twenty-odd pages, he collapsed, vomiting blood as he died.
Clearly, more events had transpired later, leaving the tattered book with only a dozen or so pages.
"This must be the truth behind the bloodbath from over a decade ago," Qin Ming sighed, suspecting that the old woman's son's death was also connected to Xin Yi Hall.
He refocused his mind, resonating with the emotions embedded in the leather cover, and unlocked the complete contents of the secret manual.
It was a hammer technique, remarkably profound, incorporating two Heavenly Light Force Techniques: Hammer Force and Whip Force.
Only by mastering both could one unleash the true power of this hammer technique.
While this manual couldn't rival peerless techniques like the Yellow Mud Palm or Heaven-Severing Sword Intent, Qin Ming remained satisfied.
Gaining two additional techniques at this critical juncture would greatly aid him.
Looking at the pitiful grandmother and grandson, he saw echoes of his own past with his grandfather.
He retrieved thirty Day Gold coins and, before the old woman's eyes, flicked them one by one into the ground.
"Elder, I mean no disrespect. I fear troublemakers might target you. Discreetly take one coin whenever you need it. In the future, if I perfect this hammer technique, I'll write a new manual to refine it further."
He then placed a handful of silver coins in her hand and turned to leave before she could speak.
Xu Sheng, waiting in the courtyard, asked, "Finished reading so quickly?"
"Yes, I've read it. Let's go," Qin Ming nodded.
The old woman hurried after them, but realizing they were moving too fast to catch up, she stood there, tears welling in her aged eyes, the murky droplets silently falling.
...
The earth steamed with rising mist as the weather grew warmer day by day. Sunlight and rain danced through the mountain forests, rapidly melting the accumulated snow.
Qin Ming had already ascended Chi Xia Mountain, and over the past few days, the area had finally quieted down, no longer swarming with crowds.
On Chi Xia Mountain stood a Mountain God Temple, its incense perpetually burning.
A pilgrim, noticing the considerable number of people who had arrived early to prepare to withstand the Heavenly Light, couldn't help but remark, "In this day and age, do even those seeking death have to wait in line?"
Hearing these words, Qin Ming didn't grow angry; instead, he chuckled.
This time, he finally had the chance to appreciate the scenery of Chi Xia Mountain.
When spring arrived and the flowers bloomed, the entire mountain would blaze with fiery red hues, every plant and tree dominated by crimson shades.
For now, he could only admire the breathtaking cliffs, bizarre rock formations, and other natural wonders.
Over the following days, he entered the Thunder Fire Alchemy Hall everyday, its glazed tiles gleaming brightly.
Enduring the onslaught of resentful energies, he meticulously searched for something.
He remained determined to salvage treasures from the chaotic sea of dark emotions, refusing to give up hope.
"Boom!"
On this day, the first rumble of spring thunder echoed faintly in the distance.
Qin Ming suddenly looked up.
"Is it finally coming?"
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END OF CHAPTER
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