Refining the Mountains and Rivers

"You are finally willing to attack?" Soft Peach suddenly spoke, "You better feel glad or I will not let you go!"

Her attitude was stiff.

Her white eyes were emotionless and seemed only cold and lonely.

Looking at Li Quanji, Second Personality took a step and her shadow disappeared. In the next moment, the darkness was like an open mouth, devouring everything.

"How dare you try me? You are very brave and actually delivered yourself to me. Then, don't ever leave."

That voice came from the darkness. It sounded extremely murderous!

Li Quanji was shocked and angry as he complained, "You…cannot be…this cannot be…"

The darkness surged and a deep loud sound could be heard continuously. It seemed to be repeating what Qin Yu experienced earlier.

The difference was, Qin Yu had pretended earlier in order to test Soft Peach's true abilities.

On the other hand, Li Quanji might really suffer and be in danger within the darkness.

Qin Yu had always believed his acting skills were perfect. Now, he scratched his nose slightly awkwardly. He wondered how she saw through his perfect performance?

However, Soft Peach's Second Personality was extremely fierce. Qin Yu's heart could not help but freeze when she looked over earlier on.

Thankfully, he had received some gains. Soft Peach was very strong already. But when she was under Second Personality, it was obvious she could become stronger.

He still had to observe more.

Close Saint attacked. He punched the darkness that was surging forwards. It was not that he wanted to save Li Quanji. He knew that when the chance came both himself and Li Quanji would not hesitate to kill each other.

But things were different for now.

When Close Saint first attacked today, he had put himself against Soft Peach and there was no way for him to reconcile. If he watched Soft Peach kill Li Quanji, her power would increase and would ultimately endanger him.

Saving Li Quanji was like saving himself. He knew this well and did not hesitate to cut in.

Qin Yu's eyes flashed with hesitance. Close Saint did not want Soft Peach to kill and absorb Li Quanji…he did not want that either.

The reason was simple. The stronger Soft Peach was, the more danger Peachy would be in. He hesitated for only a breath before suppressing this feeling and standing in front of Close Saint.

It was more important for him to recognize what was urgent now. Soft Peach's Second Personality had already given him a warning. If he dared to try and plot something else, it could cause them to fall apart. Now that they were in the Mountain of Flames, it would put him in a horrible situation.

A crazy woman was the scariest of all. Qin Yu did not want to try it.

As for Li Quanji…he was the third prince of the West Desolate and the vengeful spirit of the ship. With both powers combined, it won't be so easy for him to get eaten by Soft Peach right?

As for how Qin Yu knew what Soft Peach was thinking…he recalled that Soft Peach had undergone 'Ghost Devouring Soul' and eventually completed the absorption. Moreover, her excitement was apparent and Qin Yu would be a fool to not know.

"Get out of my way!" Close Saint growled and punched out.

This punch had nothing to do with the power of the Ghost Path. It was purely the power from a peak True Saint.

After so many years, Close Saint was able to hide his Ghost Path identity and he was good at doing so.

But undoubtedly, his strongest abilities were from his Ghost Path cultivation.

He did not use it now…it could be understood as him being cautious. He was conserving his power as the situation changed so as to be able to adapt.

But it could also be that Close Saint was thinking ahead. More accurately, he was waiting for an opportunity. When Soft Peach and Li Quanji were deep in their fight and both parties were injured, he would take his chance.

If he could kill both Soft Peach and Li Quanji in one go, his power would surge and it would be easy for him to kill Virtuous Nine then.

Although the chance was not high, the expected profit was worth the risk…it would be best if Li Quanji won. But if he did not, it would not be too late to act then.

As for Virtuous Nine, he was slightly doubtful. But even without using his power from the Ghost Path, Close Saint was confident of defeating him.

This was the confidence a Ghost Path cultivator had when facing his enemy and also why Ghost Path cultivators became the fear of many cultivators.

Qin Yu's eyes flashed as he was able to guess what Close Saint was thinking. He internally laughed at how there were always schemes and plots in this world. However, he was not innocent of this and was not in the position to pretend to have high morals.

Qin Yu's mind moved fast as he punched. Since Close Saint wanted to wait it out, then let them all wait.

Defeating Close Saint, then going to help Soft Peach kill Li Quanji…this kind of passionate story was not something Qin Yu would do.

He had long passed the age of acting recklessly. Now, he would always think everything through before making a decision. This was also known as the sorrow of grown-ups, or the reality.

In the darkness, Li Quanji was crying out extremely miserably. Hearing his cries made one's hair stand.

Although no one knew what he was experiencing, one could not help but think of things like pulling off one's skin, grinding bones into dust, and pulling out one's spirit when one heard his cries.

It was obvious that it was either his acting abilities were so good that just his voice could make one envision scenes, or he was truly being tortured.

Qin Yu believed that it was the latter. As he saw the darkness shaking violently, he could not help but recall Soft Peach Second Personality's white eyes.

Sss~

An icy feeling overcame his heart and he felt as if he had been thrown into an ancient ice cave.

Because he had decided to act earlier, he was not able to really exchange blows with Li Quanji. However, from Li Quanji's aura, Qin Yu knew that he was scary.

But regardless of how scary Li Quanji was, he had been swallowed by Soft Peach Second Personality's darkness attack. Hence, the situation now. Qin Yu gained more clarity on how scary Soft Peach's power was.

Close Saint frowned as he turned solemn. What stupid third prince from the West Desolate and vengeful spirit from the ship? Even after both powers combined, he could not even beat a woman!

With his best outcome most likely not going to happen, he could not help but feel angry. However, even though he was angry, he had to act. If he let it continue, Li Quanji might really die and then he would be in trouble.

"Come spirit!"

Close Saint growled as he reached out. The flesh on his five fingers turned into a thick viscous liquid.

His exposed bones seemed to be holding onto a door as he pulled it open.

Boom -

Numerous uncountable shadows flew out rapidly. Soon, they covered the entire area.

Hoo hoo -

The chilly wind wailed as the air temperature dropped at an astounding rate. The bone-chilling cold came from the dark shadows made of nothing.

Numerous blood red eyeballs were locked onto Close Saint. They were a mixture of bitter resentment and ruthlessness.

"Hmph!" Close Saint snorted heavily. All the black shadows cried out as the resentment and ruthlessness in their eyes became more intense. They turned and dashed towards Qin Yu.

"Drag him back. He shall be your blood meal."

Hoo hoo -

The chilly wind gathered as the blood red eyes from the shadows emitted an even icier aura. It not only affected the external body, it also affected one's spirit and conscience.

In the cold, one's thinking rate slowed down greatly and one's spirit felt as if it was frozen and unable to mount any defence.

As time passed, the negativity in the ghost puppets grew and Close Saint became stronger and stronger.

This was why Ghost Path cultivators were scary. Not only were they able to quickly raise their cultivation levels through massacres, the longer they lived, the stronger they became.

As one of the ancient Saints, Close Saint had lived for a very long time. Along with the uncountable number of ghost puppets that he had, his power was clearly frightening.

But Qin Yu was not afraid.

Not only because he had Stone Pagoda, it was also because he realized that his Sunmoon Force Field was particularly effective against the ghost puppets.

Simply put, when a puppet forced its way into Qin Yu and tried to take his spirit…

Pak!

With a single sound, the ghost puppets shattered completely. And that was it.

Woo…

Okay, but that was not the ultimate end. The ghost puppets that shattered emitted endless negativity and a sinister power. To spirits, this was equivalent to deadly poison.

But coincidentally, these two things were like supplements to Stone Pagoda and he was not one to reject snacks.

Mouthwatering!

What was left was the brittle energy that the ghost puppets contained.

When cultivators were killed by a Ghost Path cultivator, they were cruelly turned into ghost puppets. These puppets only contained bitter characteristics like pain, despair and ruthlessness that constantly bombarded them. It was like a smelting process and these spirits were thoroughly tortured over and over again. Although their mass was probably 1% of their original, the quality was several times more.

Simply put, for every ghost puppet that Qin Yu killed, he would obtain a supremely valuable object for his spirit.

From a spirit's perspective, it was a pure white irregular polygon, similar to a snowflake that had just fallen. When it touched a spirit, it would be absorbed and release warmth.

Through this process, Qin Yu could feel his own spirit being enhanced…it was similar to the feeling when he succeeded in the Rule System Body and his physical body repaired his spirit.

Although it was not as intense as back then when the speed of enhancement was shocking, the amount now seemed endless.

So -

Pak!

Pak!

Pak!

Shattering sounds could be heard repeatedly. All the puppets that surged towards Qin Yu did not return.

Close Saint frowned sinisterly. He could sense clearly the status of his ghost puppets.

They were depleting very quickly!

As soon as they entered Virtuous Nine's body, they were immediately killed…no wonder he had been apprehensive about dealing with this person. It must be because of this.

But very soon, Close Saint's face relaxed as his mouth curled up at the corners, a sneer appearing on his face.

After living for so many years, ghost puppets were something that he had a lot of.

He could continue killing them. Let's see how long you can continue killing for.

Every ghost puppet killed would release a spirit-extinguishing power and accumulated negative emotions.

Hehe, with the two combined together, even an extremely powerful spirit would not be able to last long.

From Close Saint's point of view, Qin Yu killing his ghost puppets was just a slow suicide for himself.

Of course, if Qin Yu was able to withstand it and managed to kill all his ghost puppets while maintaining the integrity of his own spirit, Qin Yu would win.

But was that possible? Tsk tsk. As an elder in the Ghost Path, let me tell you, it is impossible!

Kill, kill them. As long as they eventually got rid of Qin Yu, Close Saint felt it was a worthy price.

They were just normal ghost puppets. If he compared to souls of peak True Saints…maybe if he swallowed Virtuous Nine's soul, he could possibly deal with Li Quanji and Soft Peach.

So right now, was speed the determining factor?

His eyes lit up as Close Saint had an idea. More ghost puppets flew out of the door and dashed into Qin Yu.

Faster!

Faster!

Faster!

Kill them, the more you kill, the better!

As for Qin Yu…he was happy to fulfil Close Saint's wish. His Sunmoon Force Field acted rapidly, crushing all the ghost puppets. It was like a huge mill, continuously reaping destruction!

Li Quanji found himself panicking.

He realized that he had underestimated Soft Peach's power. Especially Second Personality, which he had not known anything about.

It was horrifying!

The darkness was like a purgatory and he and Soft Peach were in it…hence, it was not only him that was suffering. Soft Peach was facing an identical pressure.

Or rather, it was Soft Peach who forcefully dragged Li Quanji into it and made him undergo the darkness baptism.

Hoo -

The baptism felt like knives raining down from the sky. It either made one freeze in shock or it cut out layers of one's skin…multiply that pain by a hundred and that was probably how it felt.

Perhaps Li Quanji had not suffered much in his life, however, the vengeful spirit was not the same. It was something born from Blood Sacrifice and inherited the burden of all the wrongful deaths. At the same time, it also had memories of extreme pain.

But even if this was the case, he still felt horrible and could only cry out miserably, expressing the fear he felt.

That's right, fear!

Li Quanji's vengeful spirit was frightened. Soft Peach was not only bearing with the pain a lot better, she was actually enjoying it.

That's right. Both Li Quanji and his vengeful spirit swore that she was definitely enjoying herself.

Crazy! Pervert! Demon!

Li Quanji's vengeful spirit was extremely remorseful to realise that it had made a foolish decision to choose Soft Peach as prey. It felt extremely hateful. It would be willing to slap itself tens of times to change its decision.

But obviously, no matter how many slaps it gave itself, it would not help the current situation.

Run. He had to run. If he stayed here he would die, and that moment seemed like it would happen soon.

Li Quanji's vengeful spirit was hesitating. He had one more card and if he used it, he could most likely escape. However, the price was too great. Maybe he could wait a while. Once Close Saint killed Virtuous Nine, he might help him escape.

Damn it, you are useless! You can't even deal with a True Saint! Hurry, kill Virtuous Nine and save me!

But Li Quanji and his vengeful spirit would have never imagined that as they looked to Close Saint for assistance, Close Saint was currently doubting himself.

Are my ghost puppets not strong? No, they are very strong. They are some of the strongest in the world!

Hasn't Virtuous Nine killed enough ghost puppets? He has. He has killed so many and my heart aches.

But why isn't he dead? Not only is he not dead, his aura did not change either.

Close Saint suddenly felt as if the Ghost Path cultivation that he was familiar with suddenly became unfamiliar - because reality went against what he knew!

It even caused a preposterous and scary thought to appear in his mind - Virtuous Nine might still be completely fine and energetic even after all his ghost puppets were killed!

As soon as this thought appeared, Close Saint stiffened. On one side, he was damn sure this was not possible. On the other side, his entire being stiffened at this chilly thought.