Major Case

Under the faint night, the mountains stood side by side, covered with áiái white snow, Strange Birds circled in the low sky, and the sounds of mountain beasts came from nearby from time to time.

Letting the cold snowflakes fall on his hair, Qin Ming felt very satisfied. Although entering the mountain today was very thrilling, the harvest far exceeded expectations.

His "resources" for the Second New Life were sufficient, which meant that his strength would be greatly improved.

Qin Ming stood in the wind and snow, looking at the forest land stained with bright red blood. He didn't want to do this originally, but the other party didn't give him any other choice.

Since the other party had given such a generous gift, he had to bury the person properly. May the deceased rest in peace, and don't wear cold armor after death.

He stripped off the Black Gold armor, searched it from head to toe, and then put the body into the depths of the dense forest, where mountain beasts would send him off.

"What a good sword!" Qin Ming stroked the long sword that was like a pool of clear spring water, gently swiping it in the night, and the brilliant sword light was like a training across the sky.

However, he couldn't take it out of the mountain, which made him very regretful.

This sword was much stronger than Fu Entao's long knife. After he chopped the Blood Snake, the long knife was full of gaps, while the man with a blue-black complexion killed the Blood Snake with the sword in front of him, and the sword was still sharp and smooth as a mirror.

Qin Ming quickly cleaned up the battlefield, burying what should be buried, this group of people came from Red Haze City, and it must be cleaned up.

Whether it was the long sword or its owner's black armor, they were the best weapons and armor he could currently access, but they could only be left in the mountains.

"I'll dig it up when I need it."

Obviously, the weapons left by Fu Entao, Feng Yi'an and others could be eliminated, and they were severely damaged in the process of dealing with the Blood Snake this time.

Several people carried Night Silver on them, and the strongest man had thirteen Day Gold.

"Sure enough, people can't get rich without windfall, and horses can't get fat without night grass." Qin Ming sighed, but these Day Gold were stained with blood, and he didn't want to experience it again.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the Meditation Technique and Willpower Skill that he valued most. Thinking about it, it was understandable. Who would carry scriptures and secret books when venturing into the mountains?

Qin Ming embarked on his return journey, hunting a huge wild bull on the way. After cleaning its internal organs, he stuffed the Blood Snake into it and sewed up its belly.

There were no accidents along the way, and he returned home smoothly.

"Fu Entao and Feng Yi'an have been dead for two days, why hasn't the matter been exposed yet?" Qin Ming estimated that it should be soon.

After all, the Mountain Patrol who went to deal with the Blood Snake had sent people to spy on Fu Entao's stronghold and found that several wooden houses had disappeared.

In fact, the day after Fu Entao, Feng Yi'an and others disappeared, someone noticed something was wrong, because the catalyst needed for the Black Moon planted in the Fire Spring had been prepared, but when the time came, the person in charge of the Mountain Patrol Group did not come to collect it.

When Fu Entao was not seen for two consecutive days, and Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and others did not go to Silver Vine Town to fool around, the relevant people realized that something might have happened.

After Qin Ming had lunch, he began to practice his saber skills seriously.

He stood in the courtyard and waved the Long-handled Black Gold Hammer, gradually bringing up snowflakes all over the courtyard, causing artificial goose feather snow to fly. The hammer broke through the air, and there was a faint sound of wind and thunder.

It wasn't until his body was hot and he chopped out the strongest hammer, shaking the sky full of wind and snow, that he stopped the hammer, standing in the courtyard covered in sweat, feeling hearty.

Qin Ming had a new understanding of the fighting saber styles recorded in the saber manual. He stood still in place for a long time, grasping those feelings and carefully pondering them.

Afterwards, he began to study "Blending Light with Dust" again, visualizing stillness and emptiness, concealing vitality, and his spirit was dim. As he gradually deepened, he gained more and more experience.

As Shallow Night was coming to an end, Xu Yueping came back from outside with an extremely solemn expression, and then called all the New Life in the village over.

"Something big has happened this time!" His simple words immediately made everyone nervous.

"What's the situation?" someone asked.

"Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, and the others are very likely... to have been wiped out by the Mountain Monster, pfft!" As he finished speaking, Xu Yueping couldn't hold back his face and couldn't help but laugh.

He quickly restrained himself, after all, he couldn't show it too obviously, or it might cause some trouble if it really got out.

But the corners of his eyes and eyebrows relaxed, and even the action of brewing Black Ant Tea became brisk.

"Really?" Yang Yongqing stood up abruptly, this was really a big event.

Xu Yueping nodded and said, "They've been missing for two days, and I reckon they're probably in more danger than good."

Old Man Liu was old and didn't care about anything, he said directly: "Hiss, the mountains are really terrifying, Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng, those dog things are actually dead? This Mountain Monster is afraid that it will become a Mountain God!"

"How does Uncle Xu know?" Qin Ming asked. As a witness, he couldn't appear too calm, and he really wanted to know the latest situation.

Xu Yueping said: "Just not long ago, a large group of Mountain Patrol, dozens of people, rushed into Green Mulberry Village in a swarm, looking for Er Bingzi's distant relative, Xu Kong."

"Why are they looking for him?"

"Because Green Mulberry Village was the only one that didn't plant Black Moon this time, and Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and others had gone there to see Xu Kong the day before the incident."

Qin Ming was a little dazed after hearing this.

Green Mulberry Village, Xu Kong looked dumbfounded, what was all this nonsense? For no reason, how did he become one of the suspects? That day, Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and others came to visit very politely, even if they gave those people two guts, they would not dare to threaten him, there could not be a deadly feud between the two sides, because they were not on the same level.

But now the Mountain Patrol Group was making a big show, all wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, with iron arrows on their bowstrings.

There were even several great experts present, leading sixty or seventy Mountain Patrol to surround the place.

At the same time, the Mountain Patrol Group that had attacked the Blood Bamboo Forest was also targeted, and the leader, Liu Huaishan, was trapped by several leaders of the same level.

"Everyone, what are you doing? Although I can't stand Fu Entao and others, it is impossible for me to directly kill them all and put myself in a dead end." Liu Huaishan said quickly.

Someone said in a deep voice: "Then tell me, why has your group been reduced by several people, and recently took away twelve more sets of armor, and also bought a lot of poison, are you still not admitting it?"

"I... I'm simply wronged to death!" Liu Huaishan was sweating profusely, and explained: "We took away the armor and bought medicine powder to hunt spiritual creatures in the Blood Bamboo Forest."

An old man shouted: "That's right, the Blood Bamboo Forest is in the area responsible by Fu Entao, their group has always wanted to hunt Blood Snakes, and after you crossed the border, there must have been a bloody conflict with them. There is also a more terrible possibility, that is, when they and the Blood Snake were both defeated, you secretly attacked and harmed them, is it or not?"

"I..." Liu Huaishan almost vomited blood, he himself felt that all the links were right, and it seemed like it made sense.

"You have nothing to say?!"

Liu Huaishan shook his head in a panic, and quickly explained loudly: "Old man, don't do anything, everyone, please listen to me, we really didn't commit a bloody crime. However, I seem to know who killed them, we once saw a man with a blue-black face, carrying a long sword alone to kill the Blood Snake, in the past two days in that area, he is probably the only one with that kind of strength..."

Then, he added with a solemn expression: "Most importantly, we once truly felt that he had a strong hostility towards us Mountain Patrol, and once approached with a sword, wanting to kill us!"

"Take them all away and interrogate them carefully!" An old man ordered with a calm face.

Several old experts with profound strength all looked ugly, how many years has it been since such a serious thing happened? A Mountain Patrol Group was actually wiped out, if it was man-made, it would undoubtedly be a major case.

All the Mountain Patrol Groups in this area were dispatched, and they were all acting separately.

One of the Mountain Patrol Groups came to Double Tree Village, not only calling Xu Yueping, Qin Ming and other New Life to ask questions, but also blocking several idlers in the village.

"Is there anyone here who has conflicts with the Mountain Patrol Group, such as the New Life in your village, have they had conflicts with Feng Yi'an, Shao Chengfeng and others?"

A Mountain Patrol asked the idlers sternly, including Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong, who had tried to intercept Qin Ming's prey outside the village when he had just recovered from his illness.

"What are you guys looking at, I'm asking you, answer honestly!" The Mountain Patrol didn't have a good temper with them.

"Uncle Xu has always been kind, Old Man Liu's legs went weak..." Ma Yang replied.

In the distance, Old Man Liu heard these words and his beard bristled with anger, wishing he could roll up his sleeves and beat him up.

"Qin Ming, although Brother Qin has beaten us before, I can't slander him for no reason. He's the least likely. He hasn't had a New Life for long, and he's very kind and peaceful. He shares a lot of the prey he brings back from the mountains with the villagers, and he even shared meat with us despite our past grievances."

Ma Yang, Wang Youping, and Hu Yong answered one after another, saying that the New Life individuals in the village were all very good and had never had any disputes or conflicts with anyone.

A group of Mountain Patrol turned and left, not lingering for long. Their group was just doing their routine duty and had to rush to the next village.

That night, Liu Huaishan and several surviving subordinates, even though they were not good at painting, forced themselves to sketch, revising and redrawing again and again, finally creating a portrait of Wang Nianzhu wielding his sword to kill the Blood Snake.

Wang Nianzhu's stack of portraits was sent out in the first instance and quickly distributed to various towns.

At Deep Night, Qin Ming and Xu Yueping leisurely drank the jar of vintage wine that Old Man Liu had dug out from under his bed. The three of them sipped, all in high spirits.

"Hey, last time Little Qin was still cursing, saying so many 'what ifs,' and it really came true. They really were dragged away by the Mountain Monster!"

Xu Yueping was in a cheerful mood, drunk not from the wine but from his own joy. He was already tipsy after just a few cups.

"I told you, even the heavens couldn't stand them, something was bound to happen sooner or later." Qin Ming's face didn't flush, and his heart didn't skip a beat, using the heavens to refer to himself.

He was in a great mood now because he was about to prepare for his Second New Life, and now he suddenly felt that the taste of this old wine was actually not bad.

Old Man Liu felt a pang of heartache and said, "Alas, this is my treasured ten-year-old wine, just this one jar. After this, there won't be a single drop of wine left in the house."

"Grandpa Liu, don't be sad. I'll give you ten jars as a tribute in the future. Let's talk about the Second New Life. I've been having some feelings lately, and my body seems to be heating up."

"I'll be damned... are you a monster?!"

Deep Night, Qin Ming took out the Blood Snakes at home.

The wound on the second large snake was very deep. Qin Ming judged that, apart from the sharpness of the cyan-faced man's long sword, his strength must also be very strong, and his power was likely above his own.

In addition, with the opponent's faster speed, if they really met on a narrow road and fought to the end, then he might really be in danger.

A trace of gloom arose in Qin Ming's heart. All sorts of demons and monsters were coming out of the mountains, and it was becoming increasingly dangerous.

However, when he thought that the cyan-faced man had already undergone a Second New Life, his mentality became very peaceful again. He now had a thousand pounds of strength in his arms. If he underwent a Second New Life, then he would be able to lift two thousand pounds, far exceeding the records of those with extraordinary talents in Red Haze City.

At least in recent centuries, Red Haze City had no such shocking records.

"Everything is ready, it's time for me to undergo my Second New Life..."

Wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival, good health, and everything goes smoothly!