Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Before sunrise when the night was heaviest, the Great Dragon Overlord returned to Valiant Tomb Castle. His divine sense erupted in wild waves, sweeping across all directions.

A moment later he reclaimed his divine sense. The Great Dragon Overlord grimaced as he found nothing. His heavy eyes locked onto the six obam powerhouses in front of him.

"That girl has been severely wounded and cannot use the Flesh and Blood Distortion Art. I will give you all five days. If you cannot find her by then, then don't return!"

"Yes, Overlord!" The six obam powerhouses trembled.

Then, the entire Great King City and all of its attached territories began to mobilize their strength, launching a search of unprecedented scale! With the Valiant Tomb Castle as the center, defensive blockades were formed. Whether it was the sky or the earth, everything was blocked at all levels.

But what a pity, this gigantic search was destined to fail from the start.

The most dangerous place was also the safest. After Qin Yu rescued Silent Kite from the dungeon he didn't go too far. After escaping their range of sensing, he cut his way underground, deep into the mine.

Of course, if he wanted to hide here he needed to overcome the first wave of pursuit and the Great Dragon Overlord's person investigation.

Qin Yu hugged the unconscious Silent Kite against his chest. Invisible rules fluctuated around him, perfectly restraining his aura. Even if the Great Dragon Overlord was powerful, unless he carefully searched this area he wouldn't discover anything different.

Hu -

Qin Yu let out a sigh of relief as he sensed the Great Dragon Overlord's terrifying suppression vanish. He placed a finger between her eyebrows and determined her injuries. While they were serious, there wasn't any danger of her dying. Qin Yu sat down cross-legged beside her.

Although he had no idea what the outside situation was, he could approximately guess it. After losing his bait, the Great Dragon Overlord must have gone wild. He had likely activated every available force to frantically hunt for them.

Even so, they could safely recuperate here for some time. Once Silent Kite's injuries stabilized they could figure out another solution to leave Valiant Tomb Castle.

After coming to a decision, Qin Yu closed his eyes and began to cultivate. While having the jade pendant embryo egg was like possessing a heaven-defying cheat skill, being diligent and working hard was the only true way to become more powerful.

This was something that Qin Yu had never forgotten the moment he stepped onto the true path of cultivation.

Silent Kite felt as if she had fallen into an incomparably long dream. Her dream was black, without any light at all. It was like a massive invisible swamp wrapped around her, constantly pulling her down so she would be buried in the depths.

Hesitation, helplessness, and fear gushed out from the depths of her heart. She struggled with all her might but she couldn't rid herself of this dark imprisonment.

As she gradually fell into despair, a vague voice came from above the darkness. It started off faint but slowly became clear.

"Wake up…wake up…"

Silent Kite became excited. Someone was calling out to her!

Although this was an unknown voice, Silent Kite suddenly felt grateful and close to it. Then, she discovered that the imprisonment of the surrounding darkness had weakened a little.

She struggled desperately and the restraint of darkness grew increasingly weak. After an unknown period of time, she finally managed to escape.

Hu -

Hu -

She gasped for breath and weakly opened her eyes. Then, she discovered that her dress was once again soaked in sweat and was tightly pasted to her body.

Without caring for how distressed she looked, Silent Kite smiled. She quietly said to Qin Yu in front of her, "Thank you!"

At first glance she recognized him as the man who had mysteriously appeared in the dungeon.

Since he was in front of her and clearly hadn't been caged, that meant they had escaped.

Qin Yu nodded, "How do you feel?"

Silent Kite said, "A little bad. But since I haven't died, I'll be able to restore myself with time." She glanced around, "Where are we?"

Qin Yu responded, "The underground mine."

Silent Kite was startled for a moment before immediately saying, "Hiding here is a good idea. The obam shouldn't search here."

Qin Yu didn't say that the Great Dragon Overlord had already personally searched with his divine sense. He said, "Mm, so you should recover your injuries first. Once you have restored yourself we will find a way to leave."

Silent Kite nodded. Just as she was about to say something her face froze. In the darkness, she could hear some constrained voices.

At first, Silent Kite didn't realize what it was. When the panting grew louder and the woman's cries grew more frenzied, she suddenly panicked and her pale face flushed red.

"I…I have to cultivate…"

She quickly closed her eyes. But the sounds in the darkness continued to enter her ears. Silent Kite wasn't able to calm her heart. Rather, her breathing deepened. She didn't dare to move and beads of sweat soon formed on the tip of her nose.

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows. Indeed, she was still a little girl. When she faced the Great Dragon Overlord she possessed the strong will to commit suicide, but right now facing these sounds she was actually left disturbed.

He shook his head and picked up a stone. He casually tossed it into the darkness.

"Ah!" A loud cry of pain rang out, followed by panicked footsteps. Then, the disturbing sounds finally vanished.

After completing this, Qin Yu took several steps back, sat down, and closed his eyes.

Silent Kite carefully opened a slit in her eyes. Seeing that Qin Yu wasn't paying attention to her, she relaxed a little and also felt a bit of gratitude towards him.

The adamant stone mine discovered beneath Valiant Tomb Castle was astonishingly large. After 3000 years of mining, all sorts of crisscrossing tunnels had formed below the earth, creating a labyrinth like system.

To this day, even the obam of Valiant Tomb Castle didn't know how many human slaves were in the underground tunnels. Many of them died every year and were constantly replenished in return.

And at the same time, those human slaves that were dumped into the tunnels of the mine and were never able to leave, they constantly created future generations of descendants.

Although Qin Yu only stayed in this region and didn't investigate his surroundings, he could occasionally hear people speaking. In addition to the exploration he did with his divine sense, he discovered that in these massive labyrinth mine tunnels, a secondary slave system had formed.

Powerful slaves had become masters above others. They controlled more ordinary slaves to complete mining tasks assigned to them from Valiant Tomb Castle. And with the adamant stones as resources, they exchanged them for necessary survival materials from aboveground.

To the vast majority of human slaves, the underground mine was a living hell. But a very small portion of them were actually able to live well.

Of course, even though he knew all of this, Qin Yu didn't pay much attention to it. Everyone had their own destiny. Moreover, he wasn't even able to fully grasp his own life, much less look after so many others.

In the darkness, he could hear the panting of a man and woman once more. Qin Yu revealed a helpless look. Could the place he chose to hide just happen to be a place suitable for this type of recreation?

He glanced at Silent Kite who was slowly becoming disturbed again. Qin Yu flicked his sleeves. A brown light wrapped around the two of them. After some time, they quietly arrived in another tunnel.

But soon, Qin Yu discovered that it wasn't the fault of the place he chose. Rather, the human slaves in the mine had lost the limits of rules and morals after living in total darkness for so long. They had become beasts that only followed their desires. As long as they wished, any place could become a place for love-making.

If it was just Qin Yu then he could disregard them. But this Silent Kite clearly wasn't able to accomplish this.

Qin Yu considered whether or not he could bring Silent Kite out of the tunnels and open up a space themselves, but he soon suppressed the idea.

It was too risky.

While they had managed to hide from the Great Dragon Lord's investigation, who knew when he would return? By hiding in the tunnels and mingling with the human slaves and borrow their auras to cover his own, that was the safest path to take. Otherwise, if they were accidentally discovered, that would truly be regretful.

Silent Kite seemed to sense Qin Yu's conundrum. She endured her shame and opened her eyes, saying, "Big Brother Qin, I'm fine…like this."

Qin Yu hesitated, nodding and not saying anything. He knew that every word he spoke would make things more awkward for her. Whatever. It was just a few days. Once Silent Kite restored her injuries some more, they would leave this place.

Qin Yu could certainly choose to use strength to frighten away the surrounding slaves and obtain a peaceful environment. But doing this would lead to them being discovered. Although these human slaves must hold incomparably hatred for the obam aboveground, the deformed secondary slave system made Qin Yu reluctant to take such a risk.

Now, he and Silent Kite's best choice were to become two invisible people here. That would give them the lowest chance of being exposed.

But reality proved that sometimes the more someone didn't want something to happen, the more likely it was to happen.

When Qin Yu opened his eyes, he could hear the sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps. From the breathing as well as the weight behind the footsteps, he could determine that this person was a woman, and one that was clearly panicking.

Bang -

The woman fell to the ground. Qin Yu could hear her pained cries.

"Hehe, Dai Shan has already died! It's better to just follow me and continue being a master above others in this mine!" A man grinned and laughed.

"Tu Gang! If it wasn't for Brother Shan in the past, you would be nothing but bones! To treat me like this after all of that, are you still human?"

"Little sister-in-law, in this lightless hell, after we enter there is no chance of ever leaving again. Being a human or not being a human, what is the difference? If little sister-in-law feels better cursing at me, then go ahead, I don't mind at all." The man cackled and lunged forward.

Bang -

Flames suddenly blazed and a bang erupted. Light illuminated the dark mine tunnel and the man emitted a pained cry.

"You whore, you filthy stinking whore, you would rather do things the hard way! I'll ruin you!"

As he cried out loud, he wiped away the face on his blood and wildly rushed over.

Pa -

With a faint sound, Tu Gang could feel his strength rapidly vanishing.

"Just who…"

As this final thought appeared, his mind fell into darkness.

Thump -

Qin Yu loosened his hand and allowed the corpse to fall to the ground. He looked to the shivering woman who had also been injured in the explosion. He suddenly asked, "You know An Ke?"

The woman suddenly looked up. The explosion just now had left some wounds on her face, but one could still tell that she had once been a beautiful woman.

No. To be more accurate, she was a girl. She wasn't too old but her face was covered with the markings of time.

Upon hearing An Ke's name, she hurriedly said, "Who are you? Why do you know my brother's name? Has he been sent here?"

Qin Yu quietly thought that things were as he thought. To him, the darkness in the tunnel was meaningless. When he first saw her, he felt that there was something familiar about her.

Because this girl's appearance was 90% similar to An Ke's. In particular, their features seemed carved from the same mold.

Although he knew that he shouldn't help her, he still did. If he watched on blankly as she was raped or even killed, he would never be able to face An Ke.

Now, he could only hope that what he did here didn't attract too much attention.

"I know your brother. He isn't here. Don't ask me too many questions, let's leave first." Qin Yu flicked his sleeves. A brown light wrapped around her and Silent Kite and they vanished into the ground.

An Ke's little sister was named An Xin. After learning who Qin Yu was and realizing that there was a chance she could leave this place, her mind surged with joy. She soon fell into a deep slumber.

Qin Yu looked at her and the bloody wounds that crossed her face. He turned and welcomed Silent Kite's sparkling eyes. "My apologies. I owe her big brother a favor so I could not stand by and do nothing."

Silent Kite shook her head. "What you did was right. And you saved my life anyways, so there is no need to apologize."

Qin Yu nodded, "how are your injuries?"

"Much better than before. After another three days I should be able to move without hindrance."

Qin Yu was surprised. He was well away of how deep Silent Kite's injuries were, yet she was able to recover so quickly. There had to be another reason behind it.

Everyone had their own secrets so Qin Yu didn't ask further. He sat down and took out some bottles and pots, constantly mixing something together.

After a period of silence, Silent kite suddenly asked, "What are you making?"

Qin Yu was startled. While he had rescued Silent Kite, the two of them hadn't spoken much these past two days. "I'm mixing some medicine together."

"To treat the wounds on her face?"

"Mm."

The conversation ended here. Qin Yu was absorbed in mixing together the medicinal ointment. He didn't notice Silent Kite's increasingly sparkling eyes.