Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu hadn't yet seen the tricks that the master of this courtyard was planning to play, but the cultivators who broke into here started to have problems.

The reason was simple. No matter how many treasures there were in the courtyard, they wouldn't withstand so many cultivators recklessly shoveling them up.

At the start, everyone was busy 'harvesting'. Even if there was some conflict, they simply sneered at each other and parted ways.

But as more and more time passed and there were fewer and fewer treasures remaining, the number of conflicts grew, and genuine anger began to rise.

Of course, there was an important passive factor contributing to all of this - the fog that covered the courtyard!

The fog had poison that could damage the soul. Only by refining the treasures here could they resist it.

No one knew how long they would be trapped here. Even if they each had an abundant amount of treasures, this didn't hinder their desire to obtain more.

In particular, while the cultivators that entered the courtyard all had considerable levels of cultivation, there were still differing degrees of strength among them.

The weak were fine, but the strong had their own thoughts.

An ordinary nameless green grass was the cause of the first murder case within the courtyard. The process wasn't important. What was important was that he died a miserable death…and this was when the terror arrived!

The dead cultivator turned into powder. A crimson blood bead the size of a longan appeared in front of everyone.

No one knew what this blood bead was. In fact, while they felt surprised at the start, not many people continued to pay attention to it.

Because as the cultivator turned to powder, his storage treasure was also destroyed and all his valuables were scattered across the floor.

This included all the things he gathered after coming to the courtyard.

A bloody competition followed. In the process, it was unknown who took the blood bead.

People dying never scared the cultivators here. To those who lived in the dangerous world of cultivation, this was normal.

But from here on out, in the courtyard covered by poisonous fog, more and more people died…a terrifying shadow covered everyone's hearts!

Because things were starting to become weird.

At the start, there was a reason for people dying. For instance, two sides competing for treasures, or two people having a grudge against each other.

But this slowly changed. There was no longer a reason needed to murder someone else. There were even cases of stark naked attempts to kill other cultivators.

And it just so happened that at this time, the fog that covered the courtyard changed again. The poison remained the same, but for some reason it gained the ability to block out one's divine sense and aura.

Without a doubt, this provided an even better environment to the perpetrators. As a result, the number of dead cultivators drastically increased in a short period of time.

There was no love or hate without reason in this world. And in this place, there was even less reason for there to be unjustified and reckless murder.

There had to be a problem!

The courtyard was only so large. Even if a perpetrator was being careful and also had the fog helping cover him, he would eventually be exposed. In particular, as the reckless slaughter continued, the number of cultivators fell and the ones that remained were even more cautious and banded together to protect themselves.

So after one 'fishing' attempt, a group of frightened cultivators finally discovered the secret hidden within the slaughter.

That's right, this secret was the condensed blood bead, which many people had seen themselves when a cultivator died and their bodies turned into powder.

In this world, nothing had a name at first. It was only afterwards that some people called it something, and that became its name.

This thing's name was the human bead.

When a cultivator died, their essence, energy, and spirit were extracted and their body reduced to powder in order to condense this blood bead. Calling it a human name was actually appropriate, so appropriate that anyone who heard it felt a shiver run down their spine.

But cultivators weren't ordinary people. Or to be more exact, they had a steely resolve and ice-cold heart, giving them an ability to accept new things that far surpassed ordinary people.

It didn't matter if something's origin was scary or terrifying, as long as this human bead was useful to them…and, it just so happened that it was an extremely valuable treasure!

After swallowing a human bead, a cultivator's cultivation would drastically rise in a short period of time and they could even break through the bottleneck of their cultivation.

What was even more enticing was that perhaps because a human bead gathered a cultivator's entirety, it could even enhance a cultivator's potential.

Before, it was mentioned that there were countless lives in the world. Even if a person stepped onto the great path of cultivation, that didn't mean they would be free of all problems.

Even if someone's luck was good and they avoided all sorts of disasters and were diligent…once they reached the limit of their potential, even if they knew a great path still lay in front of them, they couldn't take a single step forward.

If there was something that could drastically raise their cultivation and increase the limits of their potential…was there a need to say anything else? Just these two points were enough to turn everyone here crazy.

So after executing the murderer, the argument over who would own his human bead turned violent.

Not long after, this team of cultivators that united to protect themselves completely collapsed because of several internal killings.

No one could be trusted. Because to the cultivators in this courtyard, everyone other cultivator was a moving human bead!

Even if they were close friends, family, cultivators from the same sect, or even lovers…there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be a knife to their back that ended their life.

At this moment, the trust between people no longer existed…all that remained was cold killing intent and burning hot greed!

This courtyard now became a living purgatory on earth!

…

Qin Yu didn't leave the firewood shed, but that didn't mean he had no idea what was going on. And after Old Turtle showed his perfect sneaking and spying abilities, he more or less had a panoramic view of everything.

While he looked at the slaughter outside indifferently on the surface, he felt a chill creep through his heart. Killing shouldn't have been anything to a cultivator.

But in this courtyard, it was actually a group of powerful, calm, and high-level cultivators who had turned into beasts that only knew how to kill.

He guessed that there would be a follow-up, but this follow-up was a bit too brutal.

Of course, feelings were just feelings. Qin Yu had no intention of changing his original plan, nor did he have the impulse to become a savior or something.

They were all strangers to him. If they died they died. If he thought it was cruel, he could just close his eyes and ignore it.

Saving others was impossible. Qin Yu wouldn't thrust himself into a trap just because of some so-called compassion.

When Qin Yu was outside the mountain, in order to frighten and deter the others, he had exposed his ability to wield the Space Laws.

Now there was this human bead thing…

Qin Yu guessed that the appearance of this human bead was related to the contract that Old Turtle spoke of. Since he hadn't touched anything in the courtyard, then even if he died there wasn't a high chance he would turn into one.

But the others didn't know about that.

In this situation, if Qin Yu appeared he would immediately become the target of all. The Space Laws were said to be only inferior to the Time Laws, and was something even existences at the Saint boundary didn't necessarily comprehend. How could others not covet it?

And now, the opportunity was right in front of them. If they killed Qin Yu and ate his human bead, everything would be theirs!

Qin Yu decided to become the 'turtle' this time and hide away until some new change occurred.

Although he had no idea what the goal of this courtyard's master was, the dead were useless. He couldn't allow all the cultivators in this courtyard to kill themselves.

This train of thinking was correct and Qin Yu was prepared to hide. Since he didn't even take the treasures, it was impossible for him to desire something as strange and unpredictable as a human bead.

But sometimes, a person's plans never matched with reality.

Old Turtle saw Flare Wind!

This Ash Flame Lineage descendant's luck was extremely poor. Out of the many cultivators who came to the courtyard, he was amongst the last.

In other words, by the time he arrived, the fog has already arrived but he hadn't gathered sufficient treasures.

This was a very unhappy matter. In particular, after he learned that the cultivators who came in before him had all gained a lot, his unhappiness escalated once again.

But luckily, the slaughter soon arrived. In truth, Flare Wind, who wanted to kill others and steal their treasures, was one of the first people to discover the secrets of the human bead.

So by now, not only was he ridiculously wealthy, but his cultivation had experienced amazing improvements compared to when he first entered the mystic realm!

He already clearly touched the threshold of the Origin God boundary. If it weren't for him wanting to condense an even more perfect and powerful Great Dao origin, he was confident he could break through in one try.

Some time ago, Flare Wind ran into a strange cultivator. He had no impression of this cultivator, but his strength was formidable.

So powerful that even Flare Wind in his current state felt an extreme sense of threat.

But at the same time, there was an almost irresistible…temptation!

That's right, it was temptation. He wasn't mistaken.

Flare Wind met a man, but this had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. Rather, he could feel the aura of the Great Dao from this strange cultivator's body!

An intense intuition constantly provoked Flare Wind's mind - as long as he killed this person and swallowed his human bead, he could condense the perfect Great Dao origin and then become an Origin God.

Becoming an Origin God couldn't be considered much, but a perfect Great Dao origin…this was an unfathomable enticement to any God boundary cultivator.

So even though he knew this was dangerous, Flare Wind still decided to take action after a brief period of time. His original intention was to launch a sneak attack. Even if he couldn't slay his enemy, he could still occupy the upper hand.

But for some unknown reason, whether it was a coincidence or something else, this strange cultivator also had the same thoughts towards Flare Wind.

Since neither side was able to ambush the other, a battle erupted when they met.

The two were extremely strong, so strong that they couldn't kill each other in a short period of time.

Whether it was by design or accident, they started to avoid other cultivators as they made their wave to a distant corner of the courtyard, in order to not be taken advantage of by someone else.

Then, they arrived at this small yard that few people came to. There was an empty firewood shed behind them.

Beyond his control, Qin Yu found himself faced with another question - should he kill Flare Wind who had delivered himself to his door?

If he killed someone, there was a chance he would expose himself. And if he was exposed, even he felt his heart shake thinking about what the consequences would be.

But if he didn't kill Flare Wind, how long could Yun Shi last in her current condition? He wasn't confident in her chances to last much longer.

If she died, then everything Qin Yu did before would be meaningless. Without hesitating for long, he let out a breath and a sharp light flashed in his eyes.

The reason Qin Yu entered the Endless Sea and rushed to the Land of Disorder was to earn fame and subsequently be given a chance to enter Peach Blossom Spring.

His original plan was to pass through the entire Endless Sea. But because of Old Turtle, he had to change his plans.

Since that plan was doomed to failure, if he wanted to achieve his goal of 'earning fame', this realm was the best choice.

In fact, Qin Yu even began to suspect that the reason so many tyrannical cultivators joined this Endless Sea trial was because of the formidable soul body in this realm within a realm.

And Yun Shi…she was likely the key to suppressing it!

Similar to what he said before, although there seemed to be many choices open to him, that wasn't the case. There was only one path to take.

The other paths could be taken, but they required a person to discard some things…and these things were often important.