Refining the Mountains and Rivers

As Stone Pagoda was dreaming about his fantasies, two other people were engaged in an intense battle. They were Close Saint and the vengeful spirit in Li Quanji, the two who were previously in a close alliance.

They were truly pitiful. From the initial objective of trying to kill Soft Peach and Qin Yu, they ended up being crushed and they lost all dignity.

After such shame, the two of them could be considered brothers who went through hard times together. However, they were not the kind of people who would pitifully cry in each other's arms.

They chose to direct their anger at each other. Consume him and recover the loss from before!

Birds of a feather flock together.

It was hard to say who made the first move but that was not important. The instant they turned against each other, Close Saint and Li Quanji knew what the other party was thinking.

After Li Quanji had been beaten by Soft Peach and Close Saint was tricked by Qin Yu, they were both agitated and their need to kill grew even more intense.

Roar -

With a cry, Li Quanji's mouth opened and like a large black hole, it devoured Close Saint.

However, the battle did not stop. Li Quanji seemed to have the upper hand after he swallowed Close Saint but he had actually been tricked.

Just as Close Saint was about to be devoured, a black flame rushed out from Li Quanji's nose and instantly covered him.

"How dare you try to swallow a Ghost Path user? Are you unafraid of death?" Close Saint smirked coldly and smoothly found his path of escape through the black flames.

Li Quanji taunted, "Let's see who will survive till the end!"

Boom!

A thick cloud of blood rushed out from the black flames and twisted to form a layer of blood mist. The mesmerizing colors of black and red formed an incredible scene in the sky.

……

Soft Peach curled herself into a small sphere and she was like a bubble that floated in the flames.

Upon a closer look, her soft and delicate skin had streaks of golden marks on it. As the Inextinguishable Flame burned, the golden streaks surged and light spots gathered from all directions and entered her body.

As time passed, her weak aura started to recover.

The use of her second personality had taken a huge toll on her. It was similar to an outburst that drained her energy.

As such, the consecutive awakening of her second personality eventually placed her in a deep slumber to recover her strength.

Sleeping did not put her in a vulnerable state. Instead, Soft Peach was an even more dangerous threat now.

The fire danced and a pair of cold eyes appeared in the flames. This creature locked its eyes onto Soft Peach. It finally decided to take action after a long time.

It reached out and its mouth opened viciously. Vicious flames gathered together and formed a concentrated spot with very high heat.

Roar -

Suddenly, a dragon shot forward from the flames. Its target was Soft Peach.

However, right before the dragon reached its target, the gold streaks on Soft Peach flashed.

Then, everything came to a standstill. These two creatures - the roaring dragon and the creature formed from the flames of the Inextinguishable Flame - vanished.

This entire process was very silent and nothing appeared amiss. Everything returned to normal and it was like nothing ever happened.

……

Although it had been pretty much determined that he had to proceed by moving forward, Qin Yu still tried to go down the side paths multiple times. After he was sure that he could not advance via the side paths, he frowned and looked forward.

The second hall.

He had experienced this before and obtained rewards after tough obstacles. However, Qin Yu could not help being nervous.

This time, there weren't any statues in the hall but there were illustrations of dancing women on the floor. It was as if this group of women were sucked into the floor of the hall when they were dancing.

The illustrations were very vivid and lifelike. When Qin Yu looked at the drawings, it felt like he could vaguely hear the enchanting music as the women danced elegantly in the hall.

Qin Yu was sure that the obstacle in this seemingly peaceful hall would come from the dancing women.

Fire Spirit had already circled the hall numerous times but nothing seemed to happen. She stood confidently in the hall and her expression seemed to be telling Qin Yu, it isn't my fault if anything happens! You saw it for yourself. Come in if you dare to, otherwise, stay out.

Life often made him feel so helpless. Despite knowing that this was a trap, he could only advance forward.

Taking in a deep breath to calm himself, Qin Yu stepped into the hall. Just as he entered, a buzzing sound reverberated through his ears.

Soon, a cold aura drifted across.

It was here!

The melodious strum of instruments mesmerized him. Slowly, drum beats joined in followed by the sound of flutes. In the blink of an eye, the charming music flowed like water through him and instantly pulled him into a trance.

Qin Yu bit his lip and forced himself to focus. There was something terrifying in this hall. The music alone was enough to pull him into an illusion.

Thankfully, he was wary and he had prepared himself to immediately counter anything amiss. This hall was dangerous!

A girl started to sing along to the enchanting music. Qin Yu could not make sense of the lyrics but his soul was immediately aroused.

He laughed bitterly. He had just refocused himself but he was almost pulled back into the illusion. Yin and Yang forces were still circulating normally and it was evident that whatever he was experiencing was not a normal attack on his soul.

One by one, the women in the floor slowly started to walk out of it. Their charming smiles and bright eyes were brilliant and Qin Yu could not help being mesmerized by them.

One of them started to dance. Her elegant movements followed her as she waved around the floor. Qin Yu bit his lip so hard that a strong metallic taste of blood appeared in his mouth.

He knew that everything in front of him was an illusion and falling into it would mean certain death. However, he could not remain calm. This might seem very easy to do, but without experiencing it by yourself, there was no way to know how terrifying and dangerous this was.

It was almost like he was voluntarily walking into his grave even though he did not want to die. Throughout the entire process, he was very clear-headed but he could not control himself.

Qin Yu did not know how long he would be able to take this for. Perhaps, he would lose control in the next moment and fall into a deep dream realm.

Death was obviously the one thing that came at the end of that tunnel.

If that was the case, he would give it a try. Although he was not confident and he felt that this method was very illogical and strange, this was his only option now.

He took in a deep breath before stepping forward decisively.

Ptui!

His mouth was full of blood from biting his tongue. Finally, there was use for that blood. He spat the blood onto the ground and it was instantly absorbed.

The music came to an abrupt stop as did the dangers. All the beautiful ladies shivered as they dropped to the ground.

They bowed three times to Qin Yu before dissipating into the air.

A deadly silence fell in the hall.

Although Qin Yu had some degree of hope before, after what happened, he felt slightly lightheaded.

It ended just like that? It was only a mouthful of blood and Qin Yu was the one who spat it out!

Stone Pagoda's light voice rang through his head, "Master, are you going to continue hiding your identity?"

Qin Yu remained silent.

What could he say? He did not know how to explain.

He glanced around him and found Fire Spirit staring at him with a look of realization too. No wonder she felt so fearful around Qin Yu; he had such a solid background.

As expected, she was right to be careful around him. Otherwise she would be dead meat by now!

Phew.

Qin Yu gave a long sigh. By now, it was pretty much confirmed that there was a close connection between this hall and his origins.

More accurately, he was closely connected to the Ruler who died.

This was the only explanation for how his mouthful of blood spat onto the ground could stop the trial. It was a complete joke!

Qin Yu thought deeply. He had two guesses now, one of which was the little blue lamp.

This guy was addicted to going missing and now only a very faint thread of connection still existed between him and Qin Yu. He had gone completely silent and there was no movement.

However, it was normal for the secrets and mystery around the little blue lamp to be related to the Ruler.

The other possibility was the mysterious woman in the Shadow of the Sun and Moon.

She was his deepest secret. Furthermore, it appeared that she was far stronger than a True Saint. The only option left was that she was a Ruler.

A sudden thought popped into his mind. What if the Ruler back then did not really die but found a way to escape?

However, this did not seem right either. The reason why the Spring Master and Scholartree Saint had such a unique Great Dao was because they obtained special nourishments for their True Saint path.

From this, it seemed almost certain that the Ruler had truly died.

Qin Yu raised an arm and rubbed his forehead. Everything seemed so unclear right now. Thankfully, he was comfortable with putting aside these problems that he had no answers to at present.

Strictly speaking, there was nothing bad about this. Instead, this was very helpful for Qin Yu.

A mouthful of blood allowed him to pass the trial. If others knew about this, they would be very jealous.

Passing the trial was not the end. The previous hall gave him such a huge reward and there was no reason that this hall did not have something for him too.

After all, based on the difficulty of the trails, the slashing by the Sword Flash was highly dangerous but at least there was a way to defend himself against it. These dancing women were invisible murderers who stealthily killed in the dark.

Qin Yu ignored Stone Pagoda's words and avoided the gaze of Fire Spirit. He rushed to the next hall.

Suddenly, his eyes brightened. As expected, there was something!