Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Who was this man? Why did he have such a trump card and why did he only decide to take it out after having been beaten so miserably?

Was it sadistic tendencies? Or would he receive a severe backlash from using this trump card?

As everyone puzzled over it, Qin Yu's expression changed slightly. He noticed that Dragon Peak had escaped. The net that he laid down was not enough to restrain him in the slightest.

Qin Yu recalled how Dragon Peak had continuously avoided dangerous situations when he was leading the group. As expected, there was more to the seemingly dim-witted son of the Half-Saint Dragon.

If he informed White Phoenix now, there was a chance of stopping Dragon Peak. However, after a brief hesitation, Qin Yu did not deliver the news. He had a feeling that Dragon Peak would not be an easy person to deal with, and hence it was better to leave him be for now.

The situation in the Lost Garden was more complicated than he had initially imagined. Not only were there powerful cultivators consisting of elder senior-apprentice brother and the men with Nine Heads, there were also cultivators like Dragon Peak who hid their strength.

Yet, there was no point pondering over this for long. Qin Yu cast his thoughts aside.

He folded his finger and immediately pointed towards another cultivator. The man's expression instantly changed and he tried to flee. After Flatrock's death, everyone was on guard and their reaction speeds were way faster than before.

However, there was no use!

His body stiffened and the life in his eyes disappeared as a sudden pop sounded. Blood pooled in his mind when his head exploded.

The second one!

Qin Yu pointed his finger at the third person without wasting a second. Everyone witnessed in horror as Qin Yu murdered his third victim. The bodies fell to the ground lifelessly and the smell of blood flooded the air.

There was no stopping him! It seemed as though Qin Yu had mercilessly killed three men without much hesitation.

"Run!"

"He is terrifying!"

The rest of the cultivators tried to flee as fast as they could. A few people had witnessed Dragon Peak running away. However, it was a pity that none of them could fight against the net of rules seal.

"Come on! Let's break this forcefully!" Someone shouted.

In the next instant, that person froze. A muffled sound of an explosion followed as his body dropped to the ground. He was the fourth victim.

Could the net of rules be broken? Of course it could! But Qin Yu was not willing to give them a chance to break it.

He would kill the loudest person first.

The men from the Saint circles had made a mistake in joining forces to kill the disciples of the Peach Garden. However, Qin Yu allied with White Phoenix to fight back and slaughter the rest of the practitioners. Although this was justified, they would still be in deep trouble.

Their enemies were willing to take any chances to send the two of them to hell.

As such, Qin Yu and White Phoenix were going to kill everyone. There was no law in the Lost Garden. As long as they cleaned up after themselves, they would not find themselves in too much trouble.

White Phoenix was at a loss.

Although he was conducting a massacre and venting his anger, he still paid attention to Qin Yu's situation. He had just been saved by Qin Yu and he could not watch him be killed.

But if Qin Yu was beaten up, he would feel oddly satisfied. The brat had stolen Peachy, and White Phoenix still held a grudge over this.

White Phoenix would wait for Qin Yu to suffer more at the hands of the others first before saving him. The debt he owed Qin Yu for saving his life was immeasurable and could not be repaid by just saving Qin Yu once.

At the very least, he could feel more at ease if he met Qin Yu again in the future. White Phoenix watched Qin Yu out of the corner of his eye and he witnessed the destruction Qin Yu caused.

He sucked in a breath of cold air and killed a cultivator with ease. While this movement seemed to be a piece of cake, White Phoenix knew his own strength. White Phoenix tried to showcase his might and power as he killed cultivators. However, he ended up releasing a trump card because of Qin Yu.

After this trip to the Lost Garden, he would need to rest for a few years to completely recover. On the other hand, Qin Yu appeared to be completely at ease. A single flick of his finger was all he needed to kill a person.

Furthermore, Qin Yu merely raised his finger and managed to explode his enemies' brains and cause a mass of bodies to gather on the floor below them. His movements seemed much more powerful than White Phoenix's method of killing people through his cold breaths.

Thinking about it carefully, if he had not chosen to go into seclusion back then but went to confront Qin Yu instead, it was likely that he would be the one who would have lost a sparring match between them.

In the entire Peach Garden, who would have known that the youngest disciple would have such terrifying murderous intent?

If White Phoenix had really confronted Qin Yu back then, he might have been crushed by Qin Yu's finger before he could make any movement. Even if his mind was strong enough to withstand a direct murder, he would be utterly humiliated.

Unexpectedly, White Phoenix felt lucky at this moment.

He had not imagined that things would turn out this way. Wasn't he supposed to be the one who controlled the entire situation, avoiding mistakes and burdens?

As these thoughts gathered in his mind, White Phoenix became more ruthless in his methods. This bunch of idiots dared to plot against him. He could not tolerate this!

After half an hour, the battle was over. At almost the same instant, everyone in front of Qin Yu and White Phoenix fell to the ground dead.

The scent of blood in the air morphed into a thick fog. The frightening low temperatures caused blood to condense and form layers of deep red clouds.

Qin Yu cupped his hands together and praised, "Third senior-apprentice brother is so strong. I am in awe!"

When there were others around, he had to put on an act. With no one left, he could praise White Phoenix and also remind him of what he said previously.

White Phoenix's face stiffened and he hesitantly said, "Junior-apprentice brother is too kind, I did not expect you to be so strong either."

White Phoenix guessed that Qin Yu had purposely held back and killed his last opponent at the same time as him. Yes, that was definitely the case!

He was White Phoenix, the third seat of Peach Gardens. He had always viewed elder senior-apprentice brother and second apprentice brother as his goal but he could not believe that he would have to give up his seat to someone else now.

This made White Phoenix uneasy. After careful consideration, it made sense. Master was a proud man who doted on Peachy a lot. He would only betroth his daughter to someone outstanding.

Qin Yu had demonstrated through his actions that he was unordinary. Furthermore, master had incredible foresight and was never wrong.

White Phoenix's intentions towards Peachy were no secret in the Peach Garden. Master definitely noticed it, but he paid no attention to it.

Perhaps it was only natural that he lost to Qin Yu. He could only blame himself for not being good enough.

Qin Yu had not expected that his words would cause third senior-apprentice brother to fall into a depressed state.

Seeing White Phoenix's silence, Qin Yu pondered for a while before saying, "Third senior-apprentice brother, we should not stay here for long. Let's leave."

White Phoenix nodded as he smiled bitterly to himself. He was not good enough and he even had to be reminded by Qin Yu for such a simple thing. Master was right in disapproving of his relationship with Peachy.

He felt even more dejected.

"Third senior-apprentice brother."

Sighing deeply, White Phoenix turned and left. Qin Yu hesitated for a while before stomping hard on the ground.

Boom. The earth shook below as a shockwave swept through the ground in all directions, destroying everything in its way.

White Phoenix shivered slightly.

Qin Yu had so easily cleaned the entire mess of the battlefield. White Phoenix fell deeper into his depressed state.

A few moments later, the two of them stood opposite each other. Qin Yu reached his hand forward, "Third senior-apprentice brother, I entered the Lost Garden secretly on master's orders; I did not mean to hide it from you."

White Phoenix nodded, "Junior-apprentice brother, you do not need to explain. Since it is master's orders, I can understand it." After a pause, he sighed and said, "When your engagement with Peachy was announced previously, I was in seclusion and failed to give you my congratulations. I hope you can forgive me for that."

Although his tone was bitter, he was sincere and truly apologetic to Qin Yu.

This…

Qin Yu was shocked, he never expected that White Phoenix would raise this matter and also approach him with this attitude. It felt as though White Phoenix was admitting his defeat.

Really? Was this real or was this an act?

White Phoenix could not blame Qin Yu for overthinking. In this short period of time, White Phoenix's attitude had changed drastically. He had been in seclusion all this while; why was he giving his congratulations now?

No one could have imagined the thoughts that passed through White Phoenix's mind during that short period of time. No matter how much he tried to deny it, there was a nagging feeling in his mind that Peachy and Qin Yu were meant for each other.

This was the human heart, something that was difficult to grasp and guess.

White Phoenix felt the slight change in expression on Qin Yu's face, he coughed slightly, "I misjudged my standing previously. This was the choice made by master and senior-apprentice sister Peachy. After all, Peachy and I did not have anything between us previously. Junior-apprentice brother, you have already proven to me today that you are more suitable than me to be Peachy's suitor."

Qin Yu was very tempted to ask if third senior-apprentice had gotten something wrong. He had still been sighing over the difference in their strengths during their earlier conversation. Qin Yu had also been worried that White Phoenix would settle their scores in the future. Why did his attitude change so suddenly?

But he held back his question.

Some things were best kept to himself. Regardless of the reason, wasn't it fine as long as the result was satisfactory?

Qin Yu bowed and said, "I always knew that senior-apprentice brother was an open-minded person. You will not hold something against me."

White Phoenix nodded, "Of course. We are both disciples of the Peach Garden; we share the same origin and there is no reason for us to be divided."

Qin Yu could rest assured. He could tell that White Phoenix was sincere with his words. Suddenly, a great sense of satisfaction swept over him and his heart danced with joy.

Perhaps because of what he said, White Phoenix felt relieved and he could finally be himself again. He thought for a while and said solemnly, "Junior-apprentice brother, do you know the people who wanted to kill me in the array?"

Qin Yu knew what White Phoenix was saying and he replied, "Two people escaped. One was a cultivator with the surname Zhang. The battle was probably too much for him."

White Phoenix lightly added, "I had already guessed that. The incident back then injured his wife and children. He had been tolerating it for all these years… never mind, when the Lost Garden is closed, this matter will also come to a close."

"How about the second person?"

Qin Yu answered, "Dragon Peak, he is the son of the dragon Half-Saint."

White Phoenix frowned as he fell into deep thought, "Dragon Half-Saint…I heard that he only had one son who was playful and rebellious. His cultivation is also average." As he said this, he glanced at Qin Yu and noted, "You seem to be worried about this man."

With a deep voice, Qin Yu said, "I have not interacted much with Dragon Peak and I am not sure of his real strength. But if you meet him in the future, you have to be careful. He is no average man."

White Phoenix perceived Qin Yu to be much stronger than he was and he took Qin Yu's advice with a heavy heart. He would not dare to take this warning lightly.

"Thank you for your reminder, I will remember it." White Phoenix nodded.

Qin Yu continued, "Third senior-apprentice brother, do we have to…"

He gestured his hand across his neck.

After a moment of thinking, White Phoenix said, "No we don't have to take deliberate action. If there is the chance, we can do it. Even if they can live, they would not dare to say anything. Otherwise it wouldn't just be me and you - someone else would take their lives. So many people allied together and only those two survived. There is no way they can wipe their hands clean from this."

Qin Yu cupped his hand and praised, "Third senior-apprentice brother is wise."

White Phoenix smiled bitterly, "Alright, I have already let go of the past. You don't have to be bothered about it."

He took in a deep breath.

"Since master arranged for you to enter the Lost Garden secretly by yourself, he must have had other plans in mind. I will not question you about it. Junior-apprentice brother, are you going to continue by yourself?"

Qin Yu nodded in confirmation, "Yes, I will continue on alone. It might be safer."

White Phoenix reminded, "The Lost Garden is very dangerous. Part of the danger comes from the cultivators here and the other part comes from the terrain. This place has numerous beasts that are stronger than the average man. Junior-apprentice brother, you must be careful."

He flipped his hand and revealed a white feather. "This feather contains a tiny bit of ice phoenix blood and it can sense danger. It can also be activated at a critical moment to summon an ice phoenix mirage that can help you. Don't refuse this and just take it as my apology to you for being rude while in seclusion previously."

Qin Yu thought about it for a while before he politely extended his hands forward and said, "Thank you third senior-apprentice brother."

White Phoenix laughed, "Alright. This is the attitude disciples of the Peach Garden should have. I will take my leave first, and I hope that you will surprise me with your strength when we meet again."

He turned and left swiftly, disappearing into the distance.

Qin Yu stood up and fell silent as he smiled to himself. Disciples of the Peach Garden were different. Third senior-apprentice brother was an interesting man.

Letting go of one's desires may seem easy, but who would be willing to do it?

However, what caused the sudden change in White Phoenix's attitude? Qin Yu rubbed his chin as he pondered this. He could not find a reason.

If he could not figure it out, he would just let it go.

Qin Yu looked around to identify his coordinates. After confirming with Old Turtle, he took off.

His plans had been delayed because of what happened to White Phoenix and he did not know if someone else had discovered his original aim.