Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The village was not big and in a short time, Qin Yu and Cang Zhu had walked around the entirety of it. Everyone they met had been friendly and answered their questions openly, but all the answers were more or less the same.

In summary, it was because of something that happened many years back. It was something incredibly shocking. In order to hide, their founding ancestors moved to this place and set an order to restrict all their descendants from leaving this village. This allowed the village to continue to exist.

Other than that, the entire village seemed ordinary and there was nothing unusual. Old Turtle and Stone Pagoda gave similar answers.

This was even more scary. Even though they knew something was off, everything looked normal. It seemed like they had no choice other than to pick a fight.

To be honest, this was not the first time this thought had come up in Qin Yu's mind. But he felt uneasy just thinking about it. It was as if something very frightening would happen.

Upon asking Cang Zhu, she said that she had a similar feeling, and this made a chill run down Qin Yu's back. They did not dare to act rashly. He could not help but think that these people had ancestors that lived in the ancient era. Back then, when they realized that there were abnormalities in the ancient creatures, they did this to protect their descendants.

But if this was the case then why was everyone here just regular people? Why did they not have the power of cultivators?

Giving the excuse of not feeling well, Qin Yu and Cang Zhu thanked the lady of the house for her invitation to dinner and went back to their room. They made their decision - tomorrow, they would take their leave with the excuse of going home. They were going to leave this strange village in the cave.

Perhaps because they had made up their mind, they felt their worries lift and were extremely exhausted. Cang Zhu was the first to enter into dreamworld. Qin Yu resisted for a while before giving in to the wave of exhaustion that was overcoming him. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep on the table.

After a dreamless night, it was as if all the stress they were carrying left their bodies. When they woke up they felt exceptionally relaxed.

Qin Yu opened his eyes and his gaze fell on Cang Zhu, who was still sleeping. Nothing happened throughout the night. But why were they not alarmed at all and could even sleep so well?

Something was definitely not right. Qin Yu took a deep breath and went to wake Cang Zhu. Regardless of what this place was, they could not stay any longer. They had to leave.

But as Qin Yu stood up, his expression changed. Perhaps it was because he had slept on the table, but both his legs were extremely numb. He managed to grab onto the table as he stumbled and stopped himself from falling to the ground. The commotion woke Cang Zhu and she turned to ask him what happened.

At this moment, Qin Yu could not answer her question. His eyes widened in disbelief.

It was normal for someone's legs to become numb after sleeping on a table all night. But this only happened to normal people. This should have no impact on a cultivator.

But this happened to Qin Yu. His first thought was that things were not good. He quickly assessed his internal body condition and froze.

At this very moment, Qin Yu realized that he had become a normal person. All his power was completely gone. He could no longer feel the divine sense that he could usually activate easily.

Was he hallucinating or was he still in dreamland? His heart started pounding in his chest. Fear and unease overcame Qin Yu.

Just a day ago, he was an extremely powerful cultivator that could do a lot of things on a whim. After a night's rest, all his powers were stripped off him. He was like a cleaned whiteboard. How could anyone accept this?

After losing the powers that he counted on, fear and helplessness filled him. It was extremely difficult for Qin Yu to calm down and think, but he managed it.

"Brother Qin, what happened?" Cang Zhu asked carefully.

Qin Yu's expression was so dark it looked like he was about to swallow a person. It was so apparent; she must have been blind to be able to miss it.

Her voice jolted him and he refocused. He ignored the fact that his legs were hurting from the numbness and quickly walked to the bed and grabbed Cang Zhu, "Is your cultivation still there?"

Cang Zhu had been startled, she thought that Qin Yu was going to pounce on her. After a moment of disappointment, her face changed to neutral before turning pale.

Looking at her, there was no need to ask further. Qin Yu lifted his hand to massage his head. He was not able to understand what was going on.

Cang Zhu was about to cry as her voice trembled, "Brother Qin?" She looked carefully out of the window.

Qin Yu understood what she meant to tell him. After he had calmed down, he had already thought of this - how would the people in the village treat them after they lost their powers overnight?

At this moment, there was a knock on their door. The warm voice of the lady of the house floated in, "Dear guests, are you both awake? It is time for breakfast."

Whether it was fortune or misfortune, they would not be able to hide!

Qin Yu took a deep breath and turned to open the door. Cang Zhu held him back and shook her head.

"We have to face it sooner or later." He pulled Cang Zhu's hand off and walked to the door. He paused for a while before opening it.

On the other side of the door, the village head's wife seemed to be shocked by his serious expression, "Sorry, I must have disturbed you from your rest. If it is not convenient now, you can have your breakfast later."

It seemed like nothing had changed.

Qin Yu felt slightly relieved but he did not dare to be careless. He forced a smile, "No, it is okay. I didn't rest well last night. Please go ahead, we will follow shortly."

After the woman left, Qin Yu walked back quickly, "Pretend that nothing has happened, let's see what happens. Maybe things are not as bad as we think."

Qin Yu was right. When he brought Cang Zhu to the dining table, the village head immediately apologized to them for drinking too much the previous night and embarrassing himself. He was still smiling.

His three daughters were eating with their heads bowed, occasionally sneaking a glance at Qin Yu before lowering their heads once again. Their white and soft ears had a tinge of red. Soon they said they were full, and after bidding farewell to Qin Yu and Cang Zhu, they picked up their farming equipment and rushed out of the house.

After the meal, the village head said that he had to go and work in the fields and asked the two of them to rest in the house. He then packed up and left.

Soon, only the attractive middle-aged woman was left. She started to tidy the inside and outside of the house. Sitting in the garden, both Qin Yu and Cang Zhu let out a sigh of relief.

Maybe it was really not that big of a deal. It seemed like the village head and his family did not notice that the two of them had lost their cultivation.

So, what should they do next?

Cang Zhu looked at Qin Yu. As a woman who had lost her powers, she felt incredibly vulnerable and looked to Qin Yu as her only support.

Qin Yu was in no mood to bask in the feeling of being counted on by a woman. He continued to try and connect with Old Turtle and Stone Pagoda.

In the end, he got nothing.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Yu got up, "I have to try and see if we can leave here."

Cang Zhu shouted, "I'll go with you!" She did not want to be left behind.

Qin Yu nodded without saying anything. Walking one behind the other, they left the house. There was an old man sunbathing outside. Seeing new faces, he smiled and greeted them.

Nodding in greeting, Qin Yu turned to walk away from the village. The air was fresh and the fields were beautiful. There was no sun above them but light still shone. Butterflies were flying around and rabbits hopped out of their burrows with their ears upright. They looked at Qin Yu in alarm before turning and disappearing into the meadows.

This whole scenery was tranquil. It had been a long time since Qin Yu felt this kind of peace. But at this moment, he did not have time to think about this. He continued on his way.

Hooo -

Hooo -

His heart sped up and his breathing became more rapid. Both his legs felt tired…this was something he had not felt in a long time. Qin Yu chuckled bitterly. He never thought that a day would come when he would feel the exhaustion that normal people felt again.

The village was in a cave and if they wanted to leave, they had to climb a hill. It was easy when they were coming down, but going out was so much more difficult.

The fields were scattered and cut into sections of the hill that were flat. The farmers who were working hard all stopped what they were doing and greeted Qin Yu and Cang Zhu happily whenever they walked past.

No one asked them where they were going and nothing out of the ordinary happened to stop them from leaving. It looked as if there were no restrictions to this place. They could come and go without a problem.

Qin Yu felt like he could continue a while more but the footsteps of Cang Zhu, who was behind him, started to soften. He looked back only to see that she was quite far away from him. Her face was pale and her hair was drenched in sweat and stuck to her forehead. She gritted her teeth and did not complain.

Qin Yu looked up to see that they had only completed half the journey and had another half to go. He found a stone to sit and rest.

Cang Zhu walked over and leaned on the stone without saying another word. "Heave, ho, heave, ho," she panted. On one hand, she was strong, on the other hand, she was afraid that Qin Yu would abandon her if he got irritated.

In their current situation, who would be able to care about others?

Qin Yu could sense it but did not care to say anything. He closed his eyes slightly to rest.

After a short while, he opened his eyes, "Let's go."

Cang Zhu was not done resting but she did not say anything. She clenched her teeth and nodded.

As they continued to climb, the wind became stronger and dried out her sweat-drenched hair. It was a refreshing feeling. But at this moment, Qin Yu suddenly stopped. Along with the wind, there was a scent.

Despite having his powers wiped out, he still had some of his innate abilities.

For example, Qin Yu had stronger five senses than most people and they allowed him to detect the smell in the wind as well as the lighter footsteps.

As if realizing that their prey had noticed them, the grass was pulled apart and two wolves appeared.

Looking at their bodies, it was likely that one was male and one was female. Their green eyes fell on Qin Yu and Cang Zhu. Saliva dripped from their tongues and onto the ground. They looked cold and cruel.

Without hesitating, they let out a low growl and the two wolves attacked. They coordinated very well as the male wolf attacked Qin Yu, opening his mouth to reveal sharp, razor-like teeth, glistening from the light.