Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Hooo -

A huge wind blew, like the autumn wind stirring up leaves. The entire place, which had been covered in fog, now split into four or five sections. It exposed the inside of the hidden mountain. An enormous cave could be seen, and in the cave there were thirteen stone statues of creatures carrying stone pillars.

There was a sinister-looking dragon with horns on top of its head and wearing a plate of black armor.

Spreading its wings, mouth and sharp claws was a phoenix.

With four thick limbs and a shell filled with cracks, there was a turtle that looked like it could support the heavens.

Covered in complete darkness, a furious devil!

……

Each of the thirteen stone statues carried a huge stone pillar and they were all extremely realistic. It was as if they were going to wake up at any moment.

They were all erected separately but formed a single statue with the stone pillars. It was as if they were working together to hold this cave open. This cave was underground and it was as if the rocks could not withstand the weight of the mountain; there were numerous cracks. Each and every crack was huge and horrifying.

Beside these thirteen statues, there were numerous other stone statues that were either lying down or standing up. There were animals, birds etc…there were even some statues of cultivators.

Initially, Qin Yu was one of the numerous statues and blended in with them. But today the stone layer covering him broke. He could now see the light again and be born once more.

"Congratulations for passing the heart calamity Master. From now on, the path of your heart will forever be strong. It will no longer be affected by evil influence and will follow the right path!" Stone Pagoda was excited and his voice was filled with relief and joy.

Even though Stone Pagoda had been with Qin Yu for a while and knew he had pretty good luck, Stone Pagoda had still been filled with despair a while back. This was because no one could interfere with what Qin Yu was going through and he could only count on his willpower to get through the heart calamity.

Those that went through this calamity needed to have a moral heart, perseverance, and willpower. If not, they would not be able to make it through. If they lose their morals and trust, they would forget their imprint of themselves and vanish.

Perhaps this simple explanation would not be able to truly express how horrifying it could be. Proof would be more effective - for millions of years, this heart calamity in the Lost Garden's mountain had once attracted many cultivators. Now, they made up the numerous stone statues around the cave.

Qin Yu was the first and only one to wake up.

As Qin Yu started to slowly become more conscious, he became aware of everything that happened to him. He stayed completely calm as he moved to remove the remaining stone fragments on him. He turned and his gaze fell behind him; he was looking at Cang Zhu who was still a statue.

A complicated look filled how eyes but was slowly swallowed. This was just a heart calamity. Now that he had passed it, everything that happened in it disappeared like bubbles.

He took in a deep breath as he lifted a finger and touched it in between Cang Zhu's eyebrows, "Wake up!" As he growled, cracking sounds started to fill the air. The statue of Cang Zhu started to crack.

They went through this heart calamity together. Since Qin Yu made it out, she would be able to live, but she wouldn't be able to reap the benefits of it.

"Ah!" Cang Zhu exclaimed as she raised her hands to block her eyes. After a few moments, her vision cleared. Standing in front of Qin Yu, her eyes were wide with surprise, "Brother Quan!"

She jumped on him.

However, in the next moment, she was frozen to the spot. She became rigid as she stared at him.

Qin Yu spoke indifferently, "It was just a dream, now that we are awake. Miss Cang Zhu, please don't be too bothered by it."

Cang Zhu was stunned as she took a step back, "Brother Qin, what you are saying is that the heart calamity was like a dream, now…that the dream is over, we will not talk about it."

Qin Yu nodded and changed the topic, "I think we have reached the deepest part of the mountain."

"These thirteen statues…"

Qin Yu said, "They are statues but just a moment ago, you and I almost became a part of them. "So I guess that many years ago, they were once alive and these thirteen statues should have once been extremely powerful ancient creatures. I am even guessing that perhaps they are the ones that created the Lost Garden."

Cang Zhu's eyes lit up slightly as she frowned. A flicker of hesitance appeared in her eyes and she took a deep breath, "Previously, I said that I wanted to tell you a secret. I can tell you now." Looking at Qin Yu, she took another deep breath, "The shard that I handed to you most likely was part of a shell that a strong creature broke out of."

Qin Yu's pupil shrunk.

Egg shell…truthfully, this was surprising to him. Moreover, what made it harder for him to believe was that if just the egg shell contained so much energy, how terrifying and powerful was the creature that came out of it? Even the puppet of the True Saint was destroyed as if it was an ant.

He felt as if something was coming into his mind, but he could not grasp it completely.

Cang Zhu continued, "I am from the East Sea and my ancestor could have come from this majestic mountain in the Lost Garden."

Qin Yu rejected, "That is not possible. All living things in the Lost Garden are restricted by the world's rules and they cannot leave this place."

Cang Zhu replied, "Although that may be the case, there are always exceptions. I don't know the details but my ancestor could have taken the chance to leave when a catastrophe happened many years ago."

She bit her lips, "Moreover, my old ancestor wants to take the lives of me and my brother to lengthen her lifespan. I am fine with dying but my younger brother is innocent. That's why I came to the Lost Garden hoping to find a way to prolong her life."

Qin Yu asked, "What else do you know?"

Cang Zhu let out a deep breath, "Brother Qin, if we can find the life-extending item, I hope that you can give me a portion. I don't need a lot. After all, this is only possible because of you. I will not dare to take any more than half."

She looked at him in a pleading manner.

In a low voice, Qin Yu agreed, "Okay."

She bowed to him, "Thank you Brother Qin."

With a single word, she believed him.

Even if she did not trust Qin Yu, she was willing to believe the common man who had accompanied her in the heart calamity.

Cang Zhu got up, "Before I came to the Lost Garden, I secretly looked in my ancestor's handbook. The mountain is indeed suppressing a terrifying creature. Back then, the reason why the ancient creatures could resist the heaven calamity and build the Lost Garden was because they had the body of the terrifying creature as the foundation.

"The real reason to be scared of the thirteen statues that we are looking at is because they are suppressing the body of the terrifying creature and extracting its energy to maintain the Lost Garden. The stone pillars they are holding are the way they send energy."

A light burst forth in the depths of Qin Yu's mind, and he finally caught hold of the thought that he could not place before.

A small piece of shell contained a frightening amount of energy that was sufficient to easily kill the puppet of the True Saint.

Cang Zhu just told him that the body of the terrifying creature was being used by the ancient creatures to extract energy to create this Lost Garden that went against the world's will.

The only thing that could go against the world's will…or maybe, contain a power that was equivalent to the world is the…innate spirit!

Because only an innate spirit was able to survey this huge mass of land.

Qin Yu recalled the lava lake underground and the Spiritual Snake that he had killed. Could it be that its parents were the ones buried under this mountain? No, that wasn't right. Innate spirits were born from world. They couldn't have descendants.

And where did the voice, asking him if protection was needed, come from? Why couldn't Cang Zhu hear it? Was it because he had absorbed over half of the Spiritual Snake's energy?

Qin Yu was conflicted but nothing showed on his face. He was the kind of person that could have a storm brewing within but maintain an expression that was as calm as a lake. The heart calamity trained not only a moral heart but also a person's perseverance. It was enough to strengthen one's mental state to become incomparably strong.

"Stone Pagoda!"

He growled.

Stone Pagoda replied, "Master, I am listening." He was silent for a while, "The information is very fragmented and cannot be used to accurately determine anything. But what I can tell you is that it is not impossible…for this to be a body of an innate spirit. One that was flourishing at its peak. If this is the case, the work of the ancient creatures back then was a lot greater than what we imagined!"

"But this is not right, if it was a complete and flourishing innate spirit, then unless it reached the end of its life and disappeared to become a part of the world, no one should have been able to kill it…because it in itself would have almost become the world!"

Old Turtle suddenly spoke, "You are forgetting something. What about the Spiritual Snake that we killed together. It was also an innate spirit and had been restricted by the rules of the Lost Garden. After so many years, it maintained its young stage and had yet to grow."

Stone Pagoda blurted out, "Reincarnation!" His voice trembled, "If the legend is true, then there is a possibility!"

Qin Yu frowned, "What?"

Stone Pagoda spoke extremely quickly, "Legend has it that every time an innate spirit crosses an era, it is close to the end of its life. It can choose to disappear and return back to the world or, using an interesting way, it can choose to give birth to itself. It will then be able to grow, be awakened and start a new life. This method is called reincarnation!

"The Shadow of the Abyss reminded me. The Spiritual Snake you killed could be the reincarnation…or maybe, it was not a completely new innate spirit. That's why it was restricted by the rules of the Lost Garden and had been trapped in that young state. That's right, there is a possibility I have been suspecting. Even if ancient creatures are able to escape from the Lost Garden, there is no way that they are able to stop an innate spirit from growing. Because the entire process only needs itself to complete…but if it is not complete, then there is a possibility!

"Moreover, this will help to explain why those extremely powerful ancient creatures all suddenly disappeared back then. It was as if they had been wiped out by a powerful hand, not leaving a single trace."

Old Turtle did not really understand what Stone Pagoda said. But that was not important. What was important was that he had managed to cut in and finally it was not just Stone Pagoda getting all the recognition.

Qin Yu did not understand either, but he did not ask further. It was as if he was settling something internally. After a few moments, Stone Pagoda took in a deep breath, "Master, I am now going to tell you a story. It could be real, but it could also be a wrong assumption based on the information we have now."

"A long long time ago, there was a powerful innate spirit that lived to the end of its era. It was not willing to die and chose to be reincarnated. No one knows why, but perhaps its secret got exposed or maybe a group of desperate thugs happened to chance upon it. And these desperate thugs were the ancient creatures that once united the Vast Brightness World.

"While going through the reincarnation, the innate spirit was in a weak state and this gave the ancient creatures an opportunity. They gathered their most powerful forces and cooperated to attack the innate spirit. The outcome of this battle was that almost all the powerful ancient creatures died and the innate spirit was also killed. Its body became the foundation that the ancient creatures used to build the Lost Garden. But before it died, the innate spirit split a part of itself into an imperfect version. It was also sealed by the Lost Garden. This could be the Spiritual Snake that you killed."

The story was not complicated and very soon it was over. However, even after a long time, Qin Yu, Stone Pagoda and Old Turtle did not say anything. Because if this was the truth it would prove that not only were the ancient creatures back then strong and crazy, it also meant that they could very well be on the tomb of a grown innate spirit.

And this dead innate spirit, even if it was just the remnant energy of its body, was able to go against the world's will and maintain the Lost Garden till today.

If it was just this, they might have been surprised and overwhelmed by emotions. But Qin Yu was different…because not long ago, he had killed a Spiritual Snake and took its energy.

Qin Yu, Old Turtle, Stone Pagoda and even the Purpleback Bluewing Ants that formed his robe, had a share.

There were two possibilities now. One, they could be killed by the instinct of the innate spirit. It would be extremely easy for the innate spirit to crush all of them.

However, they had been in the mountain for so long but had yet to feel any suppressing power…it meant that they could strike off this possibility.

The second possibility…

The voice that Qin Yu could hear but Cang Zhu could not, asking if he needed protection. Could it be an initial step of recognition?

It could even be the instinct of the innate spirit's energy after the innate spirit died. It had recognized Qin Yu. Or maybe, it was more accurate to say that it had recognized the Spiritual Snake energy that Qin Yu absorbed.

But that was not important. What was important was that the three of them once again found out the possibility of a golden mountain existing. Or rather, it could be imagined as a table with a feast that was large enough to cover the entire sky. On top of the table was a sumptuous banquet that had been prepared for them — the dead, matured innate spirit!