Heart Stirred

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu were busy with various tasks such as chopping firewood, paving roads, and hunting, and everything was ready.

"Silver-Headed Ants have a mixed diet and a keen sense of smell, and they are very sensitive to their favorite scents. Now it's really showing!" Qin Ming said.

He and Old Man Liu spent a high price to buy some honey, and also prepared a sufficient amount of beast blood, sprinkling blood all the way, occasionally smearing honey, from far to near.

As soon as Qin Ming and Old Man Liu entered along the mountain crack, the two scents stimulated the Silver-Headed Ants that had been motionless to begin to revive.

"Some are starting to move, quickly light the fire!"

"Be careful not to burn yourself!"

The two threw several barrels of kerosene over and turned to flee after throwing the torches.

Boom! The fire soared, and all the Silver-Headed Ants in the mountain belly were awakened. Although many were burned to death by the kerosene, there were just too many of them here, densely packed, wriggling together, and the ant nest structure was complex, so many places could not be burned at all.

In an instant, the Silver-Headed Ants were enraged and rushed out along the ground fissures like a tide.

"Come on, you guys, it's best to call the Ant Queen out too!" Old Man Liu shouted, wielding his Thick-backed Greatsword.

"Hurry, they've already rushed over!" Qin Ming pulled him and started running up the mountain.

The two were not worried that these Silver-Headed Ants would not chase them, because they had sprinkled honey and beast blood along the way. In addition, this kind of creature was no longer an ordinary ant, with an extremely strong sense of territory and unparalleled ferocity. Daring to invade their nest would be avenged on the spot.

"Why can some Silver-Headed Ants fly?" Qin Ming hadn't run a hundred meters when his back started clanging.

"What's going on?" Old Man Liu was also dumbfounded. At least a hundred flying ants the size of fists rushed over, far exceeding their kind.

"You're asking me?" Qin Ming felt bad. This old man was a bit unreliable. Didn't he say he knew the situation in the mountains like the back of his hand? He didn't even know there were flying Silver-Headed Ants! Old Man Liu responded while chopping at the flying ants with his Thick-backed Greatsword, "It should be that the spiritual substances in the ant nest are too abundant, and some Silver-Headed Ants have evolved. There weren't any five years ago!"

"You... your information is five years out of date?" Qin Ming smashed the fist-sized flying ants one by one with his Long-handled Black Gold Hammer, feeling that they were quite hard. Ordinary people definitely couldn't smash them with one blow.

The flying ants were dark red, with brighter and more silver markings on their heads, and transparent wings. The sound of their wings flapping echoed in the snowy sky, somewhat terrifying.

Their mandibles were like a pair of large pincers, blood-red in color. When they landed on people, they bit the armor with a clang, so you can imagine how strong their attack power was.

The hundred or so that appeared were enough to devour ordinary people instantly.

"It's okay, there aren't many flying ants. These hundred or so aren't enough for us to kill." Old Man Liu kept waving his knife, while also paying attention to protecting his face.

As soon as he finished speaking, hundreds more flew out of the mountain crack, and the terrifying sound of their wings flapping was like metal plates rubbing together, which was quite eerie.

Qin Ming's face changed. If they kept flying out in an endless stream, thousands upon thousands of them, it would be a big trouble.

The two had good stamina and ran to the top of the low mountain in one breath.

Around them, hundreds of flying ants pounced like crazy. In this frigid environment, it didn't affect their speed at all.

It was like blacksmithing here. Qin Ming smashed the fierce insects rushing towards him one by one with his Long-handled Black Gold Hammer.

Old Man Liu was also unambiguous, waving the Thick-backed Greatsword in his hand, and the sound of cracking was constant in the bright light. A pile of ant corpses fell at their feet.

They stood on the low mountain and looked down. The dark red patches were really dizzying. A large number of Silver-Headed Ants crawled up along the snow.

In fact, they didn't even need to sprinkle beast blood and honey. This kind of fierce insect was too vengeful and had an exceptionally developed sense of smell. They chased after them just by smelling the two of them.

"How come their speed doesn't slow down in the extremely cold weather?"

"Slightly slower, but there's not enough time. We need to keep at it."

The two stood on the low hill, not fleeing, fighting the fierce flying ants while watching the Silver-Headed Ant army approaching from below, getting closer and closer.

"Their speed has slowed down. I reckon they might actually freeze stiff after a while."

"Let's set fire to a batch first, warm up their bodies, and try to attract more Silver-Headed Ants from the nest."

The two wielded their blades and hammers, while also remembering to light torches, knowing they had to eliminate the Silver-Headed Ant army below before entering the nest.

"Be careful, don't throw the torch in the wrong place!" Old Man Liu reminded, truly afraid that Qin Ming would be clumsy and detonate the earth explosives prematurely.

Those were byproducts from when people outside the world refined medicinal powders, which gradually spread to various places and were utilized by people.

"Don't worry!"

Soon, certain sections of the low hill covered with firewood began to burn. Because they were doused with kerosene, the fire blazed fiercely.

Many Silver-Headed Ants were burned to death, but it stimulated the ferocity of the ant army, who fearlessly continued to charge upwards like a tide.

"The second batch of ant soldiers has rushed out of the nest!" Old Man Liu said.

The worst-case scenario did not occur; there were not as many flying ants as imagined.

Suddenly, Old Man Liu cried out, and with a clang, he was knocked down by a giant flying ant, plunging headfirst into the snowdrift, and was immediately overwhelmed by a large group of flying ants.

Qin Ming's heart was startled. He saw a flying ant larger than a human head, its main body blood-red, covered with silver patterns. It was not only mutated, but it should have undergone two mutations.

He immediately rushed over, swinging his hammer to smash it, but this twice-mutated flying ant was extremely fast, dodging in an instant, and swooping down towards Old Man Liu in the snowdrift.

Qin Ming moved like lightning, quickly following up, and bombarded this special flying ant.

The twice-mutated flying ant, not wanting to be hit by the person behind it while pouncing on Old Man Liu, quickly dodged. It was enraged and flew towards Qin Ming, veering left and right, constantly attacking.

Old Man Liu cursed and scrambled out of the snowdrift, slashing at the fist-sized flying ants with his blade.

"I'm such a big person, and I was actually knocked down by an ant. I've completely lost face today. Could it be that I'm really too old and my legs are too weak to lift my blade? I… hiss, a super-strong twice-mutated flying ant, Little Qin, can you handle it?"

Qin Ming quickly responded and reminded, "I'm fine, be careful yourself, there may be other twice-mutated flying ants!"

Old Man Liu looked solemn and said, "That's right, although the Ant Queen is a thrice-mutated creature, she is not good at fighting and definitely needs to focus on nurturing these flying battle ants."

Qin Ming continuously swung the Long-handled Black Gold Hammer, hitting the flying ant several times. It was like hitting iron, actually making a crisp impact sound. It was quite powerful.

However, it ultimately could not withstand Qin Ming's immense strength. Every time it was hit, cracks would appear in its body, and then it would burst with a poof.

"Not good, three more super-strong flying ants have appeared." Old Man Liu's expression changed.

At the foot of the mountain, three flying ants that were obviously too large made terrifying flapping sounds as they flew upwards. Behind them were six slightly smaller flying ants, but they far surpassed ordinary flying ants.

"Three twice-mutated ones, six once-mutated ones. This kind of insect nest is indeed difficult to deal with!"

As for the ordinary Silver-Headed Ants, some had already climbed up the mountain peak. Although the main force behind them was moving slowly, they were still charging upwards, finding the two of them within reach.

"Almost there!" Qin Ming said, as he blocked the three strongest flying ants.

Upon hearing this, Old Man Liu quickly lit the fire. With a boom, the pre-buried earth explosives took effect, causing an avalanche. In the rumbling sound, a large number of Silver-Headed Ants were buried below.

They estimated the time, believing that the ant army was already about to freeze stiff, and being buried inside like this would mostly prevent them from crawling out, and ninety percent of them would freeze to death.

"You think you can knock me away, a tiny ant? I can't afford to lose face like that!" Old Man Liu blocked a second-stage mutated flying ant, engaging it in a fierce battle with his blade.

"So tough, can't cut it in one strike!" Old Man Liu was flustered, as there were other ordinary flying ants around.

Qin Ming went all out, the shattered gold ripples appearing on his body. Amidst the clanging sounds, he finally blasted two second-stage mutated flying ants one after another. Then, he swung the Long-handled Black Gold Hammer into a whirlwind, and with a series of "pu pu" sounds, ant corpses continuously fell around him.

"Don't move, let me do it myself!" Old Man Liu was very competitive, and finally killed the second-stage mutated flying ant.

After the two of them dealt with the Silver-Headed Ants that had climbed up the mountain but had not yet frozen, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"We can be considered to have eliminated a scourge for the people in advance. If the Ant Queen undergoes a fourth mutation, and the scale of the Silver-Headed Ants explodes, nothing will be left wherever they pass." Old Man Liu said, sitting down on the snow.

"It's not over yet, another large group is coming out of the cracks in the mountain." Qin Ming reminded.

Old Man Liu's face turned green upon hearing this. Fortunately, there were no second-stage mutated flying ants this time. Ordinary Silver-Headed Ants densely packed together, climbing up again.

"Not as many as the last wave, it should be about the same after killing these."

Now it was impossible to trigger an avalanche. The Silver-Headed Ants below seemed to have heard the command, returning to their nests in advance before freezing.

"Let's go down the mountain, lure them out outside the ant nest, and kill the ants at close range."

Even Qin Ming was exhausted this day, constantly killing ants.

But Shallow Night was almost over, and there were still a large number of Silver-Headed Ants crawling out.

As for Old Man Liu, he was already listless, barely able to lift his knife.

Fortunately, this area was very remote, and no other creatures dared to build nests near the Silver-Headed Ants, so it did not attract the prying eyes of mutated creatures.

"Let's continue tomorrow!"

In the past two days, some villagers entered the underground karst cave of the Great Rift Valley and brought out some excellent weapons, causing a sensation and leading more people to go there to pan for gold.

Many of the weapons and armor were left behind by the descendants of the great clans of Red Haze City after their deaths, so naturally they were all high-quality goods.

Qin Ming and Old Man Liu never expected that since the first day of eliminating a large number of Silver-Headed Ants, they had been killing for three consecutive days, and had not yet completely eliminated them.

"I think it's about the same today, it's no problem to break into the ant nest."

"You old man is a jinx, you should say less of that kind of thing!"

On the fourth day, the two walked and talked. When passing by the Great Rift Valley, Qin Ming was stunned, rubbed his eyes, and confirmed that he was not mistaken. There was a black mist in the valley that was moving quickly like a spirit snake.

"Old Man, take a look, over there at the Great Rift Valley..." Qin Ming gestured.

"Look at what? There's nothing there." Old Man Liu was surprised, his face full of incomprehension.

Qin Ming didn't speak, pretending to be seeing things. He was quite uneasy in his heart, secretly guessing that it was because he had absorbed the mysterious liquid that he could detect the abnormal black mist.

"I asked you to help me contact those once prominent, but now declining families, is there any progress?"

Old Man Liu said, "One family has loosened their stance, I think there's no big problem."

"That's really great!" Qin Ming was overjoyed.

"You two, come over here, what were you looking at just now?" Suddenly, a voice came from a distance, and two figures appeared one after another near the exit of the Great Rift Valley.

The two exuded a powerful aura, clearly dangerous experts, causing Qin Ming's heart to sink.

Old Man Liu looked at the emblems on their cuffs and lowered his voice, "The golden patterns on their sleeves means they've been initially recognized by the Golden Bandits. They should be the leaders from Golden Chicken Ridge, the two strongest bandits there."

Then, he shut his mouth and pulled Qin Ming forward.

Qin Ming naturally knew about these two bandits, especially recently, he had heard many rumors. They were Fourth New Life realm cultivators, among the strongest in the local organization.

What are these two doing in the Great Rift Valley? Is that black mist related to them? He wondered.

"Stop dawdling, hurry up and come over here!" one of the bandits shouted.

"We want to go into the mountains to hunt, just passing by here," Old Man Liu said in a very low posture.

The two bandits looked to be around forty years old, with cold eyes. One of them grabbed Old Man Liu's collar and lifted him up.

"Although he's a New Life realm cultivator, he's too old, not much use!" the bandit commented, throwing Old Man Liu to the side, causing him to stumble and nearly fall to the ground.

He came to Qin Ming and said, "You're quite good, achieving New Life at such a young age."

Then, he grabbed Qin Ming's collar and said, "Golden Chicken Ridge will be recruiting people these next few days, remember to sign up, you hear? I've already remembered your face!"

The bandit said plainly, although he didn't raise his voice, his tone was unquestionable.

"Okay, don't worry, I'll take him to sign up then," Old Man Liu quickly said, afraid that Qin Ming, being young and vigorous, would clash with the bandit, which would inevitably lead to disaster! "You're so old, are we keeping you around to freeload?" the bandit glanced at him.

"I mean, I'll send him to sign up," Old Man Liu explained.

"Hmm!" The bandit nodded, releasing Qin Ming's collar at the same time.

"I asked you a question just now, are you mute? Did you hear me?" the other bandit suddenly spoke, coldly berating Qin Ming.

"I didn't come to my senses for a moment, yes, I'll go sign up then," Qin Ming nodded.

"I'll greet their..." After arriving near the ant nest, Old Man Liu cursed, venting his anger, he was truly frustrated, he had been holding back a bellyful of anger.

Afterward, he quickly advised Qin Ming, telling him not to be impulsive, and to endure this time and sign up first.

"You're still young, and you're already so strong, you'll be even more powerful in the future, anything is possible, when that time comes..."

Qin Ming took over, saying, "When that time comes, I'll go to Golden Chicken Ridge alone and wipe out all the bandits there!"

Old Man Liu quickly stopped him, saying, "Keep quiet, you can't say that out loud, think about it after you've reached Fourth or Fifth New Life realm!"

Next, they proceeded smoothly. After breaking into the ant nest, they discovered that the Silver-Headed Ant army had indeed been almost completely wiped out in the previous three days.

The Ant Queen finally appeared, a silver worm. Although it was a mutated Third Ring creature, it was not good at fighting. Only the glowing liquid it spat from its mouth had relatively strong killing power, amazing penetrating power, and could corrode armor.

Upon their first encounter, Qin Ming and Old Man Liu were accidentally sprayed with the liquid and nearly hit. Their first layer of armor was penetrated, but fortunately, they had a layer of steel plate in front of their chests.

After that, the battle was without suspense. The strongest battle ants had already been eliminated, and without the protection of the massive Silver-Headed Ants, the Ant Queen was quickly dealt with by the two.

"We're rich!" Old Man Liu came to the depths of the ant nest, saw the honey wine sealed in the ant wax, and his eyes lit up. Although it had been almost completely consumed in the winter, even the small amount left was incredibly valuable.

Qin Ming said, "Let's bury it first. If we really sell it, we definitely won't be able to hide the fact that we're Third Ring New Life realm cultivators. Now that the bandits from Golden Chicken Ridge are acting inhumanely, there will be problems if they find out."

Old Man Liu naturally understood this and nodded there.

Immediately, they discovered the light golden spiritual substance, and both of them revealed expressions of surprise and excitement, enough for the two of them to use.

After returning home, Qin Ming looked at the light golden liquid in the porcelain jar, his emotions fluctuating, his heart surging.

Many things had happened recently, making it difficult for him to calm down, but as long as he was strong enough, all the troubles he encountered would not be a problem.

Thanks to Saint Immortal Qi Tian, thank you for the support from the Golden Bandits leader, and also Zhai Cai, thank you for the support from the Silver Bandits leader, as well as the two leaders, San Sheng Yuan Han Bao and San Sheng Yuan - San Cun Chi, thank you all very much. What happened today? Why are the big shots concentrating on giving rewards? I will work hard to write books to express my gratitude!