Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Let alone with Qin Yu's current horrible condition, even if he was at his peak state he might not be able to block this bone beast.

He looked up at the increasingly round blood moon in the skies. Then, he took a deep breath. A flash of dark gold light appeared in his eyes.

As he thought, he saw something different. The moonlight from up above seemed to have a strange catalytic effect, causing the dead tree and two bone beasts to gradually fall into a frenzied state.

This might explain what happened. Otherwise, since the dead tree had a mind and will of its own, it would have been impossible for it to not have sensed the danger it was in.

Qin Yu reclaimed his vision and furrowed his eyebrows together. Several breaths of time later, a sharp light flashed in his eyes.

The more time passed, the greater the blood moon's influence over the dead tree became. He could only make a gamble here and hope that this revived dead tree wasn't as brainless as he thought!

With a thought, dark golden light appeared in his eyes once more. The sun and moon force field fluctuated, covering Qin Yu. He stepped heavily on the ground.

Because he was inside the dead tree, his shaking voice could be directly transmitted into its consciousness.

When the dead tree paused for a moment, Qin Yu shouted, "If you don't leave now, when will you!"

This voice contained a trace of aura from the jade embryo egg as well as fluctuations from the sun and moon force field that surpassed the material realm.

The root system that spread through the summit and the frenzy of tentacles that were fighting with the two bone beasts suddenly trembled.

At this time, the blood moon's influence over it seemed to have been broken.

Without hesitation, the dead tree drew out its roots, weaving them into legs that dashed down the mountainside.

Hou -

With a great roar, the second bone beast chased after it.

The first bone beast that kept most of its strength hesitated for a moment. Then, it flung its head into the skies and roared. It decided to stay at the summit.

As if it wasn't willing to truly force the dead tree into a hopeless situation.

Or, perhaps the blood energy in the mountain valley was far too enticing to it.

The dead tree dashed forward as the second bone beast pursued close behind. After running away from the mountain valley, a battle erupted between the two.

In the end, the bone beast had half its body broken and the dead tree lost almost half its tentacles. Both sides were severely injured.

Bushes drilled up from the ground and the blood moon vanished from sight. Just before that happened, the dead tree dragged its damaged body away and took root in its original spot.

Qin Yu could feel its weakened aura. It was clear that the repeated battles had wounded it deeply.

But he couldn't continue observing the dead tree's situation. He looked at the sleeping Lei Xiaoyu and closed his eyes, beginning to cultivate.

He had to heal his injuries as soon as possible.

Three days later, the blood moon was only a final sliver away from reaching perfection. Qin Yu guessed that it would be at most five days before it became a complete full blood moon.

This was a bit different from Qin Yu's original prediction. While the blood moon followed the rules of waxing and waning, it was clearly not on a 30 day cycle. It should be somewhat longer.

Shua -

He opened his eyes. Within the pitch black world, a sharp light flashed in his pupils.

Several breaths of time later, the light from the bushes illuminated the world.

He calmly looked out at the world outside the tree hole. He walked over to Lei Xiaoyu's side. After resting for several days and with him sharing in the swallowing pain of the witchcraft bug, her condition had more or less stabilized.

He placed a finger between her eyebrows and took it back a few moments later. Her eyelashes flickered as her eyes slowly opened up.

"Big Brother Qin…" She mumbled, her voice still weak.

Qin Yu smiled. "See? I said you would wake up. I didn't lie to you."

Lei Xiaoyu nodded. She tried to smile, but the more she tried, the more tears rolled down.

Qin Yu stiffened. He looked into her eyes and the emotions tumbling within them. He slowly asked, "You know?"

Lei Xiaoyu turned her head to the side and wiped away her tears. "When the ruler of thunder bloodline awakened, I felt the existence of the witchcraft bug within me. So it's because of this that I felt so much pain throughout the years."

She bit her lips and looked at Qin Yu. "Big Brother Qin, can you tell me how much time I have left?"

"Xiaoyu…"

"Big Brother Qin, I beg you to tell me. I promise I won't argue or cry."

Qin Yu let out a breath. "Half a year."

Lei Xiaoyu muttered, "It's just like I thought. It seems my senses weren't wrong. Big Brother Qin, thank you for not lying to me."

This girl, she actually sensed her remaining lifespan. It must be because of her awakened bloodline.

Qin Yu held her hand, "Xiaoyu, there isn't much time so I cannot sit here and comfort you. But I promise you that there is still a chance you will survive."

He gripped her hand and pulled her up, putting her on his back.

Arriving at the entrance, Qin Yu leapt down. Wind howled in his ears and he narrowed his eyes.

Pa -

He landed on the ground. Without hesitation, Qin Yu carried Lei Xiaoyu through the dim world, racing towards the distance.

"Xiaoyu, do you know? If I cannot crack open the secret of the cut markings, we might only have five days left to live."

He described the changes of the blood moon and the related cut markings with a simple explanation.

"Mm? Big Brother Qin, is this true!?"

"I won't lie to you. In truth, while I've grasped some key points, I have no idea whether I can succeed or not. So in some sense, we are standing on the precipice of death. But I haven't given up and I won't give up. Even if there is only a sliver of hope, I will do my best and carve open a road to survival."

"Big Brother Qin…"

"I didn't tell you before because I was afraid you would be worried about it. I'm telling you now because I hope you understand that there is no smooth road in this world. A catastrophe can appear at any time and kill you. All we can do is try to overcome all the obstacles in front of us to survive. Even if we fail in the end, there will be no need for us to be ashamed of our lives or feel any regret. Remember this. Whether we die or not, that is only the end result. But whether we want to die is our decision, and no one can change that."

At the end of their conversation, Qin Yu didn't tell Lei Xiaoyu that he had been living like this for all these years. Otherwise, with all the hardships and tribulations that came his way, how could he have lived until today?

There was no individual that could control everything in the world. But as long as something was within his range of control, he had to take hold of his own fate.

His luck couldn't be considered too good. Qin Yu spent almost ten hours before finding a new cut mark. After sweeping it over with his divine sense and discovering nothing wrong with it, he let Lei Xiaoyu down and slowly placed a finger on it.

He closed his eyes and meditated, enlarging his senses to a near infinite degree. With his fingertip as the medium, his mind entered the cut mark.

Six hours later, with a light 'pa' sound, the cut mark shattered and vanished without a trace. Qin Yu slowly opened his eyes. A few blurry shadows seemed to flicker in his eyes.

He looked down at his finger. There was another crack there that was in the process of healing and breaking open again.

He clenched his fists, feeling the pain in his fingertip. Then, he turned and walked away. When his feet landed on the ground, the dirt collapsed and fissures spread outwards as his speed reached the peak.

Finding the cut mark had used up nearly ten hours and perceiving it had cost six hours. Only eight more hours remained until the blood moon would arrive again.

Taking into account any unexpected situations and adding an hour as a cushion period, Qin Yu had to rush back to the dead tree within seven hours.

Lei Xiaoyu lowered her head as she clung tightly onto Qin Yu's back. His warmth spread through her. As she glanced at his calm profile, the fear, despair, and sadness in her heart slowly abated.

After today's conversation and what Qin Yu had been silently doing these past several hours, Lei Xiaoyu felt as if she had a much deeper understanding of him.

Big Brother Qin wasn't just speaking casually. He really was living it…life or death might be an end result, but whether or not a person wanted to die was their own decision. No one else could control it!

She inhaled a deep breath, pasting herself even tighter against Qin Yu. She quietly made up her mind - she wanted to fight against the heavens!

She had suffered enough pain and misery in these past years. Even if she committed some great sin in a past life, that debt had long since been paid off.

She wanted to continue living, because she had a premonition that this man who was carrying her on his back would surely become an existence that was worshipped and looked up to by countless people…only by living could she see and participate in this splendid scene!

"Big Brother Qin, thank you."

Qin Yu could hear the tranquility in her words as well as a reinvigorated and unshakeable faith. He smiled and said, "You don't need to thank me. Just live happily from now on."

"Mm!" Lei Xiaoyu nodded with effort.

Whoosh -

Whoosh -

Qin Yu went faster and faster, leaving behind a series of afterimages in his wake. He occasionally looked up at the dark skies and some strange emotion rippled in the depths of his eyes.

Something didn't seem right.

Taking in a breath, the two hearts within his chest started to accelerate. His exposed skin turned crimson and his flesh and blood thundered. With every step he took, the ground collapsed and shook. His speed rose to a new level.

Another two hours passed. There was still a distance to the dead tree. The restlessness in Qin Yu's heart grew heavier.

At this time, he suddenly heard the sound of movement. He looked up to see a sword light shooting into the skies. The tyrannical sword will carried with it a bitter killing intent. Several miserable howls came to an abrupt end as the thick scent of blood was carried along the wind and flooded the senses.

Qin Yu frowned. Hesitation appeared in his eyes. In the next moment his feet landed on the ground and he came to an abrupt stop.

Lei Xiaoyu asked, "Big Brother Qin, what is it?"

Qin Yu breathed out, "I have to save someone."

Shua -

He changed directions. Ten breaths of time later, after tearing through masses of black thorns, he arrived at a chaotic battlefield.

Sword marks spread across the ground. Each one released a chilling killing intent. If an ordinary creature were to step within, they would immediately be ripped to shreds.

Qin Yu looked around. Among a crowd of corpses, he immediately spotted a bleeding Ban Bu who had fallen to the ground.

That's right. When he was at Riverwater City, this was the formidable sword cultivator he had rescued in order to attract attention from all sides and lay out his plan.

Just before when Qin Yu saw the sword light, he had sensed Ban Bu's aura.

At this moment, Ban Bu opened his eyes. With the humming of a sword, a terrifying sword intent locked onto Qin Yu.

Qin Yu glanced at it and pointed a finger. The horrifying killing intent broke apart and vanished like a bubble.

Ban Bu's eyes flew open with stunned disbelief, "You…you are…"

Qin Yu lightly said, "If you don't want to die, come with me." He grabbed onto Ban Bu's hand and continued racing towards the dead tree.

Finally, the dead tree came into sight. Normally there would still be two hours until the blood moon arrived. But for some reason, the unease in Qin Yu's heart made him believe that a change would occur.

He didn't slow down. Instead, he went even faster. He held his breath and his speed erupted to an unprecedented level.

As Ban Bu was being dragged along he coughed as he was pulled forward even faster. His eyes subconsciously widened with confusion.

He had no idea why Qin Yu suddenly accelerated. But, it was clear that this sort of forceful eruption would create a tremendous burden and cause heavy losses to him.

In this terrifying place, one had to guarantee they had enough strength at all times. Otherwise fatal danger could arrive at any moment.

In Ban Bu's eyes, Qin Yu's actions seemed meaningless and even a bit stupid.

But he didn't dare to lightly draw any conclusions. Because when Qin Yu's dreadful finger easily destroyed his final sword intent, it also crashed into his mind, making him think of certain scenes from Riverwater City.

It was because of this that Ban Bu gave up all resistance and allowed himself to be carried away by Qin Yu. Before he could think of anything else, Qin Yu suddenly took a heavy step and flew up into the skies.

As the spatial distortion vanished, Ban Bu came to realize that Qin Yu's destination was this tree hole.

But they were already so close. This made Qin Yu's previous actions seem even more unreasonable.

Pa -

They landed. Qin Yu set Ban Bu down and turned around, looking at the world outside the tree hole.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Time silently passed. Ban Bu's lips moved, but before he could speak, a blood red light covered the earth!

And before this, the eternal darkness hadn't arrived.