Night without Borders

Chapter 548 Dream
The ancient temple, with its faded red walls and dim golden tiles, exudes a sense of historical vicissitude. In the morning glow, one can almost hear the sounds of the evening drum and morning bell from thousands of years ago, drifting back across time and space.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds and was quite desolate. Most of the main gate had collapsed, but a small part of it still stood stubbornly, with broken and uneven red bricks.

Qin Ming stared intently; the main gate looked as if it had been punched through, leaving only the remaining parts.

Only a small section of the bronze plaque remained, covered with spiderweb-like cracks. Most of it had disappeared, leaving only the last character: Temple.

What exactly this temple was has long been lost to history.

When Qin Ming approached, he tried to resonate with the place, only to find that there was only emptiness and no past.

He touched the broken bricks and walls with his hands and tapped them gently. Even after thousands of years, they were still very hard and showed no signs of decay.

Qin Ming flicked his finger, and the bronze plaque rang out with a clear, resonant sound, without falling off or breaking.

This surprised him, and he unconsciously increased his strength.

A moment later, Qin Ming's expression turned solemn. His chaotic energy could not break the bronze plaque, which was already full of fine cracks and was in a terrible state.

Not only that, but even the broken brick red wall was difficult for him to break with his finger strength.

Somewhat disbelieving, he took a step back and then suddenly swung his right fist, like the rising sun, smashing it forward. However, the main gate, which was about to collapse, remained completely still.

Although Qin Ming traveled as "One Sword," he did not travel in spirit but arrived in person. Now that he was in harmony with his body and spirit and was able to act freely, he was unable to do anything to the broken plaque and the broken wall.

His pupils contracted, and he found it hard to accept.

His current chaotic energy is incredibly domineering. Such a full-force attack would be unstoppable even for some grandmasters, and would even pierce through ordinary Nascent Soul experts.

Qin Ming stepped back and re-examined the place. He looked at the dilapidated main gate, which was missing 70% of its area. The cracked bronze plaque had only one character left. The plaque was not hanging there, but embedded in the bricks and stones.

He observes silently and can reconstruct the scene from back then.

Someone once punched through this place, and the jagged broken bricks and shattered bronze plaques are remnants from the explosion.

In comparison, a grandmaster is nothing special here.

"Am I here just like an ordinary person?" Qin Ming stared at the spot, trying several times, but failed to pry off the bronze plaque.

He silently sensed that it wasn't the materials here that were special, but rather that they contained an inexplicable spirituality. This temple was once quite extraordinary, with an unparalleled expert presiding over it. The temple was nourished by his aura, and even the bricks and tiles here seemed to have been imbued with that person's aura.

"When something is strong enough, it can turn the rotten into the miraculous."

The so-called morning glow here is generated by the ancient temple itself and is bathed in it all year round.

Qin Ming's expression was solemn. Was this the indestructible aura left behind by an unparalleled expert?
He no longer dared to underestimate this place. After circling the dilapidated temple and carefully investigating, he found no dangerous restrictions before cautiously entering.

He waded through the tall grass and passed through several courtyards. Many of the buildings here had collapsed, and the remaining ones were dilapidated, as if they had been roughly pieced together. This was clearly the result of being impacted by a tremendous force.

In this core area, Qin Ming saw a pool of ashes, and vaguely saw a faint golden glow flowing, which was the remaining spiritual energy consistent with the entire ancient temple.

"The unparalleled masters in the temple have turned to ashes. What happened here?" Qin Ming was full of doubts.

He stands here once again, attempting to resonate and trace the truth back thousands of years.

This time, he sensed something, seeing some blurry and distant images, and vaguely even hearing a soft sigh, which struck him as if he had been struck by lightning.

Qin Ming was shocked; there had indeed been an incredibly terrifying being here.

He did everything he could to capture those "past" moments that had almost completely vanished.

It was a sky full of red light, like karmic fire, like fresh blood, spreading down from the sky and covering the earth. Then, an old man in the temple, with golden light surging into the sky, rushed up to meet him.

Qin Ming was shocked. In today's world, this would definitely be considered an unparalleled master.

The entire sky was filled with the old man's golden light, and he held up his hands as if he wanted to overturn the blood-red sky.

Behind him, a group of experts followed, rushing into the sky together and attacking simultaneously.

However, the blood cloud surged, as if a piece of the sky had fallen. The old man in the ancient temple could not hold it up and continued to sink. In the end, he burned and crumbled into pieces.

As for his followers, they were completely wiped out on the spot, leaving nothing behind.

The old man fell, leaving only a pile of ashes behind.

The endless blood-red clouds fell into the mountains and forests outside the temple, instantly staining the mountains and rivers, turning this area blood-red.

"That old man was at least a seventh-level peak expert, and might even have been involved in the realm of gods, but he couldn't stop the blood light falling from the sky at all."

Qin Ming was deeply shocked. What kind of natural disaster was that?

If the old man in the temple is a celestial being, and if this place was once a grotto-heaven on the ground, then it is even more terrifying.

Behind the old man who turned to ashes, there is a lotus pond, which still retains a faint medicinal fragrance.

Qin Ming walked forward and found that there was still some water in the pool, which was slightly reddish. There were rotten lotus roots in the silt below, with a few lotus leaves growing out of them, purple with a hint of blood mist.

He took out a yellow silk umbrella and asked, "Old Huang, what do you think?"

"It was once a miraculous herb, but now it has serious problems. I feel that something very bad has happened to it."

Although the Yellow Canopy Umbrella is a newly awakened consciousness and not the original old artifact spirit, it has inherited some ancient memory fragments. As its power increases, the "legacy" it inherits will become more and more abundant.

Qin Ming asked, "What happened to it?"

Huang Luogai San said, "This is a purple lotus of extremely high grade. It turns from red to purple. After it matured, I felt that it had been parasitized by someone, who used it to undergo nirvana, absorbing its creative spirit, leaving behind decay and ruin."

Qin Ming frowned. He had no expectation of directly picking a terrestrial immortal herb, let alone hoping to encounter a celestial immortal-level herb.

How could someone who is capable of cultivating purple lotus possibly leave the opportunity to someone else?
Could it be that the peerless expert in the temple did not die and was reborn here?

Huang Luo Gai San made a judgment and said, "This immortal herb has been used many times. The last time it was harvested and reborn through a borrowed body should have happened within the last twenty years."

Qin Ming was startled. Even the peerless expert in the temple, who had reached the Heavenly God Realm, could not live for more than a few thousand years. There was probably someone else parasitizing him.

He calmed himself down and stared at the lotus pond. Could these withered purple lotuses still be used now?
Huang Luo Gai San said, "Don't count on it. It's entangled in decay, and its remaining medicinal power is not enough to purify that decaying aura. This lotus itself can hardly survive."

Qin Ming sighed inwardly, regretting that some people used such a miraculous medicine without a second thought, resorting to near-extinction-style parasitism.

He walked around the lotus pond, observing it carefully.

Huang Luo, with his canopy over his head, said, "This could be an ancient temple that is still standing on the ground, a branch of the Great Thunderclap Temple."

It floated on the water, examining the lotus pond, and said, "In those distant ancient times, this kind of lotus pond could also be used to transmit messages, but it could not be used by anyone other than the direct descendants of the Great Thunderclap Temple."

Qin Ming's heart stirred; he had mastered one of the faction's secret manuals—the Divine Cicada Scripture.

Huang Luo, recalling those fragmented memories, said, "Even if you master it, it will be useless. Only those who have entered the direct line of the Great Thunderclap Temple can use it."

Qin Ming said, "I have been inside the virtual landscape of that ancient temple."

Looking back, it was there that he first met Bai Meng and Tang Yushang.

Qin Ming sat quietly by the pool, circulating the "Divine Cicada Scripture." His body emitted a faint golden light, and the remaining pale red water in the pool rippled, reflecting the distant scenery.

Then, he stared in disbelief at the sight of another dilapidated ancient temple in the pond, a black lotus, and two familiar faces trapped in the lotus pond.

"Huh? Brother Ming!"

"Qin Ming? This... have we fallen into a deep cycle again?"

In the distance, the two people in the lotus pond were filled with astonishment. They were Xiao Wu and Xiang Yiwu, both pale and exhausted, as if they could no longer distinguish between reality and illusion.

Qin Ming hadn't seen them for several years. Seeing that the two were in very bad condition, he asked anxiously, "It's me, Qin Ming. What happened to you? Where have you been?"

Xiang Yiwu shook his head vigorously and said, "It's fake. We are in the Lotus Pond of Reincarnation, fighting against the Black Lotus. How could we possibly see Brother Qin?"

Qin Ming had no way to use his strength. In this situation, separated by the void, he couldn't help much. He couldn't shake their resolve, but he should strengthen their beliefs. "Even if it's fake, I still want to talk to Brother Ming," Xiao Wu murmured.

His gaze was unfocused as he said, “Brother Ming, we don’t know if we can survive. This Reincarnation Black Lotus is too evil. It makes us feel like we are going through life and death again and again. Our hearts have aged for hundreds of years. If we hadn’t been determined and worked hard to cut off the vicissitudes of life and purify our spirits, we might have already died and turned into dust.”

Qin Ming's heart sank. He said, "Xiao Wu, Da Xiang, hang in there. Tell me the location, and I'll come find you."

Wu Yaozu shook his head vigorously to stay awake and said, "Brother Ming, it's no use you coming. The ancient temple is closed. If we can't escape the cycle of reincarnation, our spirits will dissipate and become part of the Black Lotus, and our bodies will also decay."

Xiang Yiwu also spoke up: "This time, it feels even more real to me. Brother Qin, have you also fallen into an ancient temple? The red lotus brings calamity, the purple lotus is a celestial medicine, and the black lotus represents reincarnation. You must be very careful."

He was worried, so regardless of whether it was true or false, he gave a heads-up first.

Little Wu suddenly shouted, "The cycle of reincarnation has begun again! The Black Lotus wants to devour us, and we must try our best to eat it too, to see who can survive in the end..."

Then, Qin Ming saw the black lotus expand, engulfing them in its petals, while inside, Xiao Wu and Xiang Yiwu struggled violently.

A dazzling golden glow emanated from Xiao Wu's body, swirling with mysterious Daoist charm. Behind Xiang Yiwu, a tall figure appeared, his peerless majesty shining through the petals of the black lotus, his silhouette hazy.

Otherwise, the two of them would probably have already been digested and absorbed by the Black Lotus.

They were tearing apart the black lotus and stuffing it into their mouths; they were literally eating each other. Jin Xia wrapped Xiao Wu in golden light, and that peerless figure merged with Xiang Yiwu, with part of his arm emerging from the black lotus.

Xiao Wu, tears streaming down his face, said, "Why is it so difficult to become stronger? It even requires sacrificing one's life. We've stumbled into this place, and it seems we can never get out, trapped in an endless cycle. I still want to see my grandmother one last time, and I still want to avenge my people. She was a ruthless woman who carved through the Kunlun Mountains, so powerful it's suffocating. I see no hope now, and I can't escape..."

He was somewhat out of control of his emotions. He was usually cheerful and carefree, but he actually carried too many burdens in his heart. He was the only son of the entire clan, yet he could not escape the cycle of reincarnation and could not leave this place.

"I have to live!" he roared.

Xiang Yiwu also roared. At this moment, he had only broken free of part of his body from the Black Lotus of Reincarnation. His flesh and blood were a mess, and his spirit and will seemed to be crushed by an invisible force.

"Is there a way?" Qin Ming asked Huang Luogai.

The alluring figure on the umbrella shook her head and said, "They have to rely on themselves. This is a path that only those at the end of their lifespan in the Great Thunderclap Temple will take. They will go through reincarnation, endure it, extend their lifespan, and be reborn from the ashes. They will be even stronger."

However, very few succeed.

Otherwise, if it were that easy, all the masters would simply use this to regenerate.

Qin Ming shouted loudly, "Xiao Wu, Da Xiang, once you break through the cycle of reincarnation, the sky's the limit! You must hold on, and when you escape, you will surely soar to the heavens."

For the dying with their lifespan exhausted, the Black Lotus of Reincarnation is a coveted sacred object. However, for two young people in the prime of their lives, experiencing this is too cruel, and they will most likely die young.

Qin Ming felt heavy-hearted and incredibly depressed. His two closest friends, whom he could rely on to stand back-to-back with during the life-or-death battle, had both met with certain death.

He recited a few life-saving techniques and passed them on; that was all he could do.

Qin Ming stood up, and the scenery in the lotus pond blurred. He couldn't calm down for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh.

He walked through the entire ancient temple and found it deserted. Apart from some leftover medicines that smelled of decay, he could not find any items of value.

He tried to empathize, because those lost histories are hard to trace.

Qin Ming guessed that the "past" here had either been smoothed over by time or erased by some supreme rule.

He tried to see ancient things and the truth through those remnants of medicine, but he failed.

Much later, Qin Ming put aside his heavy heart and temporarily stopped thinking about Xiao Wu and Xiang Yiwu, exploring the ancient temple and the surrounding area.

"I dare not use the herbs here," he said, his brow furrowed.

Even though he heard others talking about how the herbs growing in the "mature fields" of certain buildings were edible and unlike those growing in the wild outside, Qin Ming was still wary.

Moreover, he saw that the people who said that Rehmannia glutinosa was harmless had not actually taken the medicine themselves; everyone was just saying it and was being very cautious.

Qin Ming muttered to himself, "This area has the momentum of a soaring dragon and the signs of cultivating the Dao. No matter how you look at it, it seems extraordinary... and unfathomable."

Earlier, he had blurted out that this was the place where he attained enlightenment, which was entirely instinctive and a divine first impression.

Now, after exploring and pondering, Qin Ming increasingly felt that this land seemed to contain endless wonders and extraordinary things.

"The herbs can't be ingested. What else is here, and how can I use it?" he pondered.

Suddenly, he realized why he had such a good first impression of this place and thought it was the place where he could break through his current limitations.

He pursued multiple paths simultaneously and was considered a divine seed of Tantric Buddhism. However, he had been passively improving on this path and hadn't paid much attention to it. He was astonished to discover that everything here seemed to be quite in line with the teachings of Tantric Buddhism!

Qin Ming discovered the problem.

He opened the inner vision of the third realm of the esoteric Buddhist system and embarked on the path of spiritual enlightenment in the fourth realm, but mainly relied on the transformation of the new life path system to propel him forward on other paths.

Now, with a broader perspective, he sees himself as a divine being and views this place through the lens of Tantric Buddhism. He is immediately overwhelmed with emotion and feels it is incredible.

"For those who follow the esoteric path, this place seems to be the ultimate place to achieve divinity, so perfect as to be almost dreamlike, somewhat unreal!"

Qin Ming was completely stunned. He explored the land using the method of communicating with the underworld, and every inch of the land seemed to be interwoven with sacred patterns. Purple qi and red clouds surged underground, as magnificent as rivers and seas.

"This..." The more he investigated, the more outrageous it seemed, to the point that he began to doubt the meaning of life. How could such a place exist in this world? It was too perfect.

For those who follow the esoteric path, this is practically the highest level of divine attainment.

As the Tantric system has developed to this day, there are many ancient methods as well as many new methods. There are paths to divinity that confine one place to one place, and there are holy paths that require breaking the shackles of mountains and rivers and allowing one to travel to many places. Chu Canglan is an example of the latter.

Some even suggested that any place, whether it be a desolate wasteland, the mortal world, or a celestial wonder, can be used to establish oneself and should not be restricted at all.

If Qin Ming were to choose, he would naturally not confine himself to a limited area, but would instead travel to various places and roam the world, as this is the righteous path of Tantric Buddhism that he approves of.

However, his belief wavered today. This place was the dream of the Tantric system, and he felt that there was nowhere he could surpass it.

From the perspective of the esoteric Buddhist system, he very much wants to take root there.

Qin Ming reflected: "Perhaps I am inexperienced. When I see a dreamlike place, I think it is a flawless Taoist land."

After sharing some of his thoughts with Huang Luogai, Xiao Huang pondered for a while and said, "Although I have lost most of my ancient memories, this place does seem unusual to me; it is truly remarkable."

Qin Ming investigated for a long time, but instead of taking the medicine, he planned to use the land to cultivate and employ the methods of the esoteric Buddhist system.

He possesses a wealth of sacred scriptures, otherwise his esoteric path would not have reached its current height. In the past, he obtained a golden scale from a centipede that aspired to become a god. The scale was covered with scriptures and resonated with the corresponding subsequent interpretations.

This authentic scripture has been confirmed by Meng Xinghai and Li Qingyun, and its origins are probably beyond imagination, no less significant than the existing fundamental scriptures of Esoteric Buddhism.

In the end, Qin Ming returned to the ancient temple and sat down cross-legged.

"I can't really settle down here, so I can only resort to extreme measures, be a little 'short-sighted,' and frantically seize whatever opportunities I can get my hands on."

He believed that such a perfect place must contain terrifying Taoist charm and various extraordinary substances.

Qin Ming circulated his true essence, his spirit probing into the ground, and his physical body slowly sank into a realm where purple energy surged like rivers and seas, and red clouds fell like stars in the sky.

Elsewhere, seeing azure mists and wisps of purple vapor rising is considered a treasure land, but here, everything is overturned.

At this moment, Qin Ming was surrounded by red clouds and purple aura, completely submerged by extraordinary energy. This place was an endless "ocean", vast and boundless!

His physical body, driven by instinct, continued to sink, searching for that ultimate place, the place where the Dao was born.

Qin Ming even suspected that this was the origin of all laws, the tangible nest of the Dao.

As he ventured deeper underground, he sensed that his inner realm was being nourished and expanding. His path to the underworld was a smooth road, leading him to a supreme Daoist land, the ultimate place he was seeking.

With a bang, he was suddenly thrown into a place where ten-colored light and mist surged.

The yellow-robed umbrella that had been by his side, protecting him, completely lost his composure and nearly cried out in alarm.

Qin Ming's body jolted, and he suddenly woke up. Then, he opened his eyes wide in shock, his heartstrings trembling, and stared in disbelief at what lay ahead.

(End of this chapter)