Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Soft Peach breathed in deeply. She spoke in a cold tone, "Now, give me control of the body."

There was silence.

Crack, crackle -

Suddenly, the tiny cracks on Soft Peach's body tore open, forming wounds. Dark red blood seeped out from the cracks and her body was dyed red almost instantly.

The blood red skirt she wore was very striking!

"I hope you don't regret this!" Soft Peach closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes were clear but they looked tired.

She looked at Qin Yu and stepped back a few times. Then, she said, "I don't know how many more times I can threaten her. You should leave now."

Qin Yu panted heavily. His previous heavy injuries from that sword had almost caused him to lose his life. Despite that, the Rule System Body was healing him well and by this point, he had regained the ability to move.

His movements were still very restricted and he struggled to stand up. He stared at Soft Peach pitifully but could not run away. He still needed some time before he would have recovered enough to run.

"Cough cough!" Qin Yu tried to move but ended up coughing violently again.

This was heartbreakingly painful.

Once again, he started coughing out blood. However, this time, his chest felt much better after coughing.

Soft Peach's expression was nervous and she asked, "Are you alright?"

Qin Yu waved his hand dismissively and replied, "I won't die."

It was an awkward but nervous atmosphere.

Soft Peach was the one who attacked him and inflicted so many injuries on him. Yet, she was suddenly concerned about this.

This thought crossed her mind and her expression turned guilty, "Sorry…I didn't want to hurt you…but…"

Qin Yu spat, "I know!" He looked at her and a look of hesitation crossed him as he said, "You should leave now!"

Although the Ruler's Great Dao had entered his body and there had not been any movements from it, Qin Yu knew it would not remain in that silent state.

Regardless, Soft Peach had saved his life and this was something he could not ignore. Despite knowing that letting her go was going to be a stupid decision, he could not take revenge on her.

After today, all their grievances and gratitude to each other would be cleared up and they would meet on equal grounds. Qin Yu always knew that he and Soft Peach would be enemies. The contest between the original body, Peachy, and the avatar was something he would not allow to happen.

Soft Peach's eyes wavered as a thought crossed her head. She stepped backwards and the space shifted to allow her to retreat. Very soon, her figure was only a blur.

Right at that moment, a cold voice snapped at him, "She almost killed you but you let her off just like that? Qin Yu, are you brainless?"

Shoosh!

A foggy figure came out of his body. Its features were so blurred and Qin Yu could only make out the outline of her figure. Her body shape was slender and she had the same domineering aura. Although her face was misty, she was identical to the Ruler's avatar that he had met in the palace previously. They looked like they were carved out of the same block.

She stretched an arm forward and clutched it. Soft Peach grunted as she tried to escape. Her slowly fading figure was pulled back.

She staggered and the space around her shook violently as it crumbled apart piece by piece.

There was panic and anger in her eyes momentarily. In the next instant, her eyes turned cold and the aura around her drastically changed to be dark with a sheer cold iciness.

"You are here!" She sneered coldly.

The woman from Qin Yu pointed her finger and Soft Peach's body froze like an ice cube.

And that was it! The Ruler's avatar had easily killed six ancient Saints and she merged into Soft Peach. Three blows from her reduced Qin Yu to a dismal state. Yet, she was suppressed so easily by just a finger from the woman.

Qin Yu's heart jumped and his body tensed up. Were women these days so terrifying?

Soft Peach was overpowering and he felt like he could not match up to her even with his full strength and the sword from the East Sea. He barely managed to hold onto his life.

However, Soft Peach had appeared to be so easily crushed. She did not even have the chance to fight back. Right after the woman spoke a sentence, everything ended.

How strong was this woman exactly?

Her powers went beyond the scope of Qin Yu's imagination. In his eyes, Soft Peach was as strong as a Ruler already.

In other words, the other woman could crush a Ruler with a single finger…if he had not seen it personally, Qin Yu would never have believed it.

"What are you waiting for? Kill her and everything will end!" The woman snapped at him impatiently as she frowned.

Mm, he could sense anger wafting off of her…it felt like she had been rudely awakened from her sweet dreams and she was in a bad mood.

"Why do I have to attack her?" Qin Yu raised his head and stared at the woman.

This only made the woman's frown grow deeper and she had no choice but to explain patiently, "Because of some circumstances, I cannot kill her. You are the only one left."

Qin Yu laughed bitterly, "Senior, look at my state. I barely managed to survive. I don't have the energy left to kill anyone."

"You…humph!" The woman gritted her teeth, "Why did I choose you back then? I was truly blind. You were beaten so pathetically by her!"

This was hard to accept and Qin Yu could only smile reluctantly. Although the woman was unlikely to harm him, he ought to be cautious. He would pretend that he did not hear what she said.

The woman paced back and forth a few steps as she rubbed her forehead in agony, "I can't stay here for long but I cannot kill her either. What should I do?"

Qin Yu raised his hand, "Senior, why don't you heal me…"

She rolled her eyes at him, "Did you believe I didn't think of such a simple solution?" She breathed in deeply, "You are so weak now that you won't even be able to take a tiny bit of my strength! If a tiny bit of my strength enters your body while you are in this state, you will burst like a balloon!"

Qin Yu's expression froze and he lowered his hand coyly. Alright, let's pretend that he did not say anything.

Tip-tap stomp.

The sound of the woman's footsteps grew heavier and when she raised her forehead, Qin Yu saw her bloodshot eyes, "No, I must kill her today. At the most, I will just fall back into another long slumber."

She raised her hand and was just about to unleash her next attack when Qin Yu exclaimed, "Senior, hold on!"

He was truly terrified by this woman and drops of sweat dotted his forehead. How could she make decisions so impulsively? She had just been saying that she could not kill others yet she was going to attack her right away!

The Soul Seed Avatar was so strong and it was closely related to the original body. Peachy was in a bad state right now and the Spring Master had been devoured by the Ruler's Great Dao…if anything happened to Peachy while Qin Yu was not around, there was no one in the peach garden who would be able to help her.

If Peachy died…he knew about the Path of Ten Thousand Souls. If the original body died, every avatar would die along with her.

This was also why Soft Peachy did not want to wait anymore and she chose to consume Peachy…she did not want to take on this risk.

The woman frowned and she glared at Qin Yu impatiently, "What do you want to say?"

Qin Yu coughed lightly, "I feel that if you kill Soft Peach like this…mm, it wouldn't be wise to kill a Ruler's avatar."

The woman sneered, "What is your point?"

"Why don't you seal the Ruler's avatar here. When we have a solution in the future, we can kill her then. And in this way, you don't have to pay a price. There are only benefits to this!"

Qin Yu was sweating buckets as he explained and he did not believe his own words either. She could scoff at him at any moment and kill him directly. However, her next reaction caused his eyes to widen as he blinked continuously in surprise.

"That's a good idea!" She walked towards him and patted him on his shoulder happily. "I can't believe you are so smart! I shall take back my words from before. I have good foresight."

Qin Yu was at a loss for words. Are you sure that you aren't going to dig out your eyeballs and play with them like footballs? Or are you going to find another place and pour your brain juices out in the water? She must have been quite sharp in the past. After so many years, did she grow dumber as her cultivation improved?

Or was it possible that cultivators would lose their minds once their cultivation went past a certain limit?

There were many thoughts in Qin Yu's mind and he felt like he was in a mess. On second thought however, some of them were nothing.

It was obvious that the woman who came out of his body and suppressed Soft Peach with a single finger was the Ruler in Bounded Zero Place. She was also the master of the Spring Master and Scholartree Saint who arranged everything and played everyone like pieces on her chess board. This included the West Desolate, Mysterious Clan, the Ruler's avatar, the Spring Master, Scholartree Saint and the six ancient Saints.

In her eyes, True Saints who were considered incredibly powerful beings in the Vast Brightness World were nothing much.

This was what a Ruler was capable of!

As Qin Yu had all these wild thoughts, the woman made her move. Her sleeve waved through the air and a broken piece of the palace flew over.

Energy seemed to be reinjected into the piece while it flew over and bright light reflected off the once dim surface. The aura from the piece resonated with something in the environment, giving a mysterious but suppressive feeling.

Yet, before this, it was simply a piece of wall that had broken off the palace.

Rags to riches!

This was another reason why Qin Yu felt like the woman in front of him was so strong…perhaps, this was also in her plans and she had crafted this when she constructed the palace many years ago.

If the woman could truly make miracles and give so much power to objects, it was merely a moment of awe for Qin Yu…however, if she had planned this since many years ago, Qin Yu felt terrified.

Pieces of the palace floated around Soft Peach and surrounded her. The woman stepped forward and looked down on her, "I know that you can hear me so I will give you a chance. Kill the woman who is controlling your body and I will spare you. Otherwise…"

She snickered coldly as she curled her finger. The pieces of the palace gathered together and made cracking sounds in the air.

As the pieces collided with each other, they merged to form a spherical sealed space.

The space created by the fragmented pieces of the palace was not fully sealed because the seal was not completed. There was a gaping hole left in the sphere.

She could seal the sphere with a single thought. The pieces would merge together completely and create a dark space that was completely enclosed!

With a smirk, the woman said, "Trust me, the sealed prison can keep you sealed in there for eternity…your entire life from here on would be wrapped in darkness. I once experienced that feeling myself and it isn't something anyone would be comfortable with.

"If you can do it, reply to me immediately…even if you can't, you ought to give it a try."

Qin Yu's expression turned serious. It was obvious that the Ruler was no longer speaking to the Ruler's avatar but to Soft Peach!

She wanted to force Soft Peach to kill the Ruler's avatar!

This was all because of him…as expected, the Ruler was not dumb. She only revealed the surface of her thoughts and he would never know what she was hiding beneath it all.