Blood Bamboo Forest

In the faint light of the Deep Night, towering mountains stood, dotted with larch, hazel, and birch trees. Though the species varied, most had already shed their leaves, leaving only bare branches bearing white snow.

Qin Ming trudged through the snow, crossing several mountains before approaching the Blood Bamboo Forest.

He had never set foot in this area before; it was no longer considered the outer reaches of the mountains.

Along the way, numerous mountain beasts appeared, and the cries of Strange Birds echoed incessantly. But upon arriving here, apart from the whistling of the cold wind, all other sounds vanished.

Qin Ming realized the danger of the Blood Bamboo Forest. Various creatures in the mountains avoided this place, rarely venturing here.

This was still the frigid winter with its white snow. If the active period of the Fire Spring arrived, when all things revived and the Blood Snakes began to hunt, the vicinity would likely be even more silent.

"The scenery is quite beautiful," Qin Ming said, standing outside a valley and gazing inside.

The Blood Bamboo Forest was in the valley. Although the sky was dark, he could still clearly see the patches of bamboo standing tall in the wind and snow, a fiery red color covered with white snow, a breathtaking sight.

The valley was full of Blood Bamboo, very beautiful. From the bamboo stalks to the leaves, this plant was crimson, like red coral growing into dense woods in the snow.

"This is truly a good place," Qin Ming marveled.

Normally, no one would dare to come here to enjoy the scenery. The Blood Snake's fierce reputation was widespread, making even the Mountain Patrol wary.

No light from the Fire Spring steamed in the valley, as if it had truly been extinguished.

However, Qin Ming did not step into the valley. He believed there should still be "embers" under the frozen soil; the Fire Spring here might not be completely gone.

He detoured around here, observing the nearby terrain, climbing up a high slope, and looking down from above. Sure enough, in the center of the valley, there was still an extremely faint "red glow."

Qin Ming thought for a moment, then turned and left this quiet place, coming to an area with more Strange Birds and mountain beasts, where he caught a rabbit in the snow.

"I'm sorry," he said, holding the plump snow rabbit, returning to the vicinity of the Blood Bamboo Forest, standing on the high slope, and throwing it with all his might, casting the snow rabbit towards the "red glow" area in the center of the valley.

With a bang, the large rabbit was smashed into the thick snow, splashing large patches of snowflakes, not far from the Fire Spring embers.

Almost simultaneously, a red line shot out, sweeping across the snow, rushing towards the rabbit at a rather alarming speed, instantly piercing into its body.

Qin Ming's spirit was highly concentrated, and broken gold ripples appeared on his body surface. His eyes stared intently at the center of the valley, not too far away.

Without a doubt, it was a Blood Snake, only three feet long. Sure enough, as rumored, its body was as hard as fine iron, and it could briefly leap up, piercing its target like an iron arrow.

"It really is a dangerous creature. This is still a relatively small snake. If a large snake several meters long appears, it will be difficult to deal with," Qin Ming frowned.

The main thing was that in such a cold season, the Blood Snake was still active and could briefly move in the ice and snow, which was very tricky.

Then he saw several more red lines appear from the "red glow," all only a few feet long. This time, they did not shoot out like iron arrows, but crawled along the snow, coming close to the snow rabbit, their hard snake heads piercing into the snow rabbit's body.

These snakes carrying spirituality could not be measured by common sense and were not as afraid of the icy world as imagined, unable to freeze in a short time.

"Am I giving you a winter supplement, an unexpected extra meal?" Qin Ming looked at the Blood Bamboo Forest. The Blood Snakes were clearly sucking the snow rabbit's warm blood.

These snakes were named after blood, which was also related to their feeding method, unlike ordinary snakes that swallowed their prey whole.

They ate very quickly, perhaps because they did not want to stay in the snow for long, and soon swam towards the nearly extinguished Fire Spring.

"Hmm?" Qin Ming discovered that two of them did not immediately return to their nest, but instead crawled quickly in the Blood Bamboo Forest, as if searching for something.

At the same time, he noticed that a larger snake head appeared in the "red glow," constantly spitting out a bright red snake tongue, as if sensing something.

"A bit troublesome," Qin Ming saw that this deadly spiritual creature was very strong and very alert, much more difficult to deal with than other mutated creatures.

He pondered whether he could fight poison with poison, by sending them some poisonous blood food. However, seeing that the large snake didn't seem to be eating at all, and that a small snake always tried the food first, he felt this method wasn't very feasible.

Qin Ming noticed that after the two three-to-four-foot-long small snakes quickly patrolled the Blood Bamboo Forest, their speed noticeably decreased. They ended their inspection of the territory and disappeared into their habitat's "red glow."

"The icy weather still has a significant impact on them, which is good news." He walked down the hillside, retracing his steps.

He planned to transport all kinds of weapons over. Once he ventured deep into the Blood Bamboo Forest, he would definitely put on three or four layers of the Mountain Patrol Group's armor. He didn't want to be ambushed by the Blood Snakes; once their fine iron-like heads pierced the skin, even a New Life would surely die.

It didn't take long for him to dig out and transport the iron spears, armor, and other items, hiding them near the Blood Bamboo Forest.

"To deal with the Blood Snakes, Fu Entao's sharp long saber is actually more useful than a long-handled Black Gold hammer."

When using heavy weapons to attack larger alien creatures, the destructive power is indeed very strong, capable of smashing their heads. However, using them to smash slender snakes is really not as effective as a long saber.

Qin Ming wondered when the Fire Spring in the Blood Bamboo Forest would completely extinguish. The longer it took, the weaker the Blood Snakes would become, but he didn't have much time left, because the final negotiation between the higher-ups and the top alien creatures in the mountains would be completed within the next few days.

"I've stirred them up today, making them alert. I'll come back tomorrow." Qin Ming retreated. Although time was a bit tight, he didn't mind losing this one day.

"Should I be able to deal with this nest of Blood Snakes?" He pondered on the way back. Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, and others wanted to take advantage of the Blood Bamboo Forest, but he had annihilated all of them.

He felt he couldn't be careless and had to be cautious.

On his way back, he discovered three large birds of prey running through the forest at great speed, each carrying a person on its back, crossing through the dense forest ahead of him.

"People from Golden Chicken Ridge?" Qin Ming hid behind a large tree, guessing their identities after seeing this scene.

Those were three mutated ground chickens, each more than a person tall, very strong, and able to carry people running quickly through the mountains and forests. Only Golden Chicken Ridge could cultivate them in this area.

Qin Ming had heard of Golden Chicken Ridge, where a nearly Level Two Fire Spring surged. In the early days, there was a group of bandits there, but they were eventually recruited.

This was because the mutated ground chickens they cultivated were very practical. The Mountain Patrol sometimes needed to ask their Golden Chicken Knight to investigate the conditions in the mountains.

"Golden Chicken Ridge is very far from here, how did people from there come here?" He looked at the three departing ground chickens. One of them was wearing fine armor and didn't look like a local, with clothing completely different from the other two from Golden Chicken Ridge.

"From Red Haze City?" Qin Ming noticed that the person's black armor style was different from that of the Cao Family, Wei Family, and Mu Family, and should be from another large family.

Seeing that they weren't heading towards the Blood Bamboo Forest, Qin Ming continued on his way home.

Just as he was dragging a prey animal and about to leave the mountains, he saw four unusual New Lifes.

Although two of them weren't wearing armor, their clothing was obviously extraordinary, with black robes woven from metal threads covering their entire bodies, even concealing their faces.

Qin Ming was surprised. The Mountain Sweeping Operation hadn't started yet, but the mountains were already becoming lively. Who were these people? The other two New Lifes should be locals, both in their early thirties. One of them greeted with a smile, "Little brother, do you know if there's a silver-glowing crack nearby?"

Qin Ming realized that the other party was looking for a special node, and it seemed that the two black-robed men were mostly from Red Haze City.

"Go that way, walk straight for three miles and you'll be there!" Qin Ming pointed them in the direction. It wasn't any secret place, and many people already knew about it.

"Little brother, lead the way for us, and we'll give you a piece of Night Silver in return." The man who asked the question said with a smile.

Qin Ming took two steps back and said, "I'm afraid of that place, the crack is very dangerous, and I need to hurry back. I haven't caught any prey for many days, and my old mother is almost starving."

"Let's go." A black-robed man spoke, his voice sounding very young.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming was about to leave.

However, the black-robed man's next sentence made him freeze.

"Get rid of him. It's not appropriate for too many people to know that we appeared here." The black-robed man's light sentence directly decided the fate of a "young hunter."

Qin Ming was stunned. Where did these freaks come from? Deciding life and death with a single word, they were too dismissive of ordinary people's lives.

He had met Cao Long, Wei Zhirou, Mu Qing, and others, all from Red Haze City. Those people were very peaceful. Whether they were maintaining the proper etiquette and politeness of nobles or not, they were passable on the surface and didn't make people feel disgusted.

But this black-robed man was too "decisive in killing," with no emotional fluctuations, ordering the two New Life individuals who were guiding them to kill.

"Brothers, we're all locals, you can't do this," Qin Ming said.

One of them laughed, "Sorry, brother, we're ordered to accompany these two distinguished guests into the mountains and must obey all their commands."

"You are..." Qin Ming asked.

"We are from the Three-Eyed Sect." The two locals pressed forward together.

In the next moment, Qin Ming was like an agile cheetah, leaving an afterimage in place as he rushed over at top speed, the short sword in his left hand instantly slicing open their throats.

The two men from the Three-Eyed Sect were stunned, terrified, and in disbelief. They thought they had encountered an ordinary hunter, because Qin Ming's prey wasn't much, just a Blue Sheep, but they were inexplicably killed with a throat slit. The other party was too fast.

When the two black-robed men saw Qin Ming rushing over, and discovered that the long-handled Black Gold hammer he took from his back was unusually heavy, their expressions changed.

Qin Ming swung the Black Gold hammer in his right hand towards one of their heads, while the short sword in his left hand stabbed towards the other black-robed man.

Since the other party had already made a decision to kill him to ensure their tracks weren't known, then there was no point in him saying anything more. He could only try his best to fight back.

Instantly, the sound of metal weapons colliding burst out between the three of them, exceptionally ear-piercing.

With a slight contact, Qin Ming knew their strength. One of them was a Second New Life, while the other was not worth mentioning, having only undergone New Life once.

He went all out to attack the Second New Life, as only this person was a threat.

If it were before, he might have had to fight fiercely with the opponent for a while, but today's reading of the sword manual had been of great help to him. If it wasn't like a sudden enlightenment, it had greatly improved his fighting skills.

"Clang!"

After several collisions, the long knife in the hand of the stronger black-robed man was knocked up high by the Black Gold hammer, and his arm was numb.

At the same time, his pupils contracted, because the long-handled Black Gold hammer was like a bolt of lightning, swung by the other party with ease, striking towards his chest at a speed he couldn't match.

It was too late for him to dodge. His chest was smashed in, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and he was clearly not going to live.

"Fighting me with a blade?" Qin Ming gripped the long-handled Black Gold hammer, using the Throwing Blade Stance, not even looking at him, and turned to press towards the other black-robed man.

The other man was shocked. He had just been shaken back, and his companion had died in no time at all. It was too fast. How could a teenager who looked like a hunter be so terrifying? Knowing that he was definitely not an opponent, he turned and rushed into the dense forest, wanting to escape.

"Throwing Blade Stance!" Qin Ming spat out these words, and with a bang, the long-handled Black Gold hammer flew out, and the black-robed man's head not far away shattered directly like a rotten watermelon.

Qin Ming didn't hesitate at all, quickly cleaning up the battlefield, and then using snow to clean the blood stains on the long-handled Black Gold hammer, dragging his prey on his way home.

However, he was a little worried. There were so many people entering the mountains now, of all kinds, and he couldn't leave the Blood Bamboo Forest for too long.

After eating, he quietly returned to the mountain.

"Every day that passes, the Fire Spring will dim a lot, which is beneficial to me, but I must also pay attention to outsiders breaking in to compete for the Spiritual Objects," Qin Ming muttered to himself, currently he could only guard here.

He didn't leave until Deep Night, because no one would choose to make a move at this time. The pitch-black night had little effect on snakes, but would limit New Life individuals.

The next day, he entered the mountain early in the morning and found that the "red halo" in the center of the valley had indeed dimmed a lot.

With this discovery, he decided to wait a little longer, at the latest until the end of Shallow Night today before making a move.

An hour later, the entire mountainous area suddenly became radiant, with endless "Earth Light" steaming up and light rain appearing all over the sky, making the nearby area brightly lit.

The Earth Light soared, and the rosy clouds flowed. This spectacle made Qin Ming also stare in a daze, it was indeed very beautiful.

Especially this place, the fiery red Blood Bamboo Forest and the white snow set each other off, it was really refreshing and stunning, forming a magnificent and unusual beautiful scenery.

"Hmm?" It was at this moment that Qin Ming made a discovery, a group of people were approaching in the distance.

He was not impatient, but calmly retreated into the shadows. This was also good, if this group of people were coming for the Spiritual Objects of the Blood Bamboo Forest, then let them explore the way first.