Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Finally, a True Saint could not wait any longer and decided to take action.

Golden lines covered Thousand Battles' exposed flesh and was shining brightly. Low, intense crashing sounds kept filling the air. It was him trying to resist the force that was suppressing him.

"If you were in peak condition, you might have been able to resist me. But since you have yet to recover, you are no match."

A figure appeared in his vision. The air surrounding him was vibrating slightly, forming a thick blanket that caused the people around him to only be able to see a vague figure.

But all of the gazes on him were filled with respect and fear.

Rulers stayed out of sight and True Saints were the strongest in the Vast Brightness World after them. True Saints did not often appear and when they did act, they could cause the world to shake. Today, the Peach Garden had lured the peak cultivators to appear!

Woosh -

Within the Peach Garden's defense, another figure appeared. It was the third disciple, White Phoenix. He was the only Saint in the Peach Garden now. He said, "Greetings, True Saint."

Amidst the vibrating air, the True Saint's voice was calm, "Do you want to save him?"

White Phoenix shook his head, "No, I am here to receive someone." As he finished speaking, he bowed, "Welcome, Zhou Saint!"

A figure appeared beside Thousand Battles, similarly, the air was vibrating around the figure and causing them to appear vague. He reached out and tapped the air, and with a 'pak' the suppressing force disappeared in an instant.

Zhou Saint was calm, "I owe the Spring Master a favor. Lin Saint, please take me into account."

The Saint circle was small and the number of True Saints was even lesser. They all hardly came out and even if they did not have a close relationship, they had bumped into one another a few times and knew each other.

Lin Saint frowned slightly, "Zhou Saint, are you going to protect the Peach Garden entirely?"

Zhou Saint said slowly, "At least for today, I will not just sit by and watch." This also meant that the future was debatable.

The entire place was silent for a while.

Lin Saint turned to leave, "In three days, I will come again. Zhou Saint, I hope you will not stop me then."

Woosh -

He took a step and the Saint disappeared. The horrifying aura surrounding the Peach Garden dissipated by half, allowing them to breathe.

White Phoenix bowed, "Thank you for your help."

The golden lines on Thousand Battles had disappeared and his face was pale. He was breathing heavily as he said, "Thank you Saint!"

Zhou Saint nodded, "Let's go into the Peach Garden and talk."

A slight hesitation flashed through White Phoenix's eyes but quickly disappeared. He reached forwards and tapped the air, "Zhou Saint, please follow me."

Woosh -

The three of them flew through the Peach Garden's shield.

Numerous peach trees were filled with flowers as far as the eye could see. They did not change much just because Spring Master had died. Above their heads, the wind seemed to be blowing, causing thousands of petals to fly up in the air and form a ceiling of petals.

This was also the shield that the three of them had gone through. It had been prepared by the Spring Master many years ago and its power was horrifying.

Zhou Saint stared before he sighed in admiration, "Alas, he is the Spring Master; his cultivation and power were immense. He could actually create such a powerful protective barrier. Even if True Saints are here, they will not be able to tear it down in a short time."

White Phoenix smiled slightly, "If Master could hear this, he would really appreciate it. He put a lot of effort into this shield in order to protect the Peach Garden from internal and external threats."

Thousand Battles' pupils shrunk as he found this sentence a bit strange.

Zhou Saint fell silent for a while before saying slowly, "Under these circumstances, it is better for you all to be cautious. On account of my relationship with the Spring Master, I will pretend not to hear you testing me. It better not happen again." He then turned to leave, "I will stay outside of the Peach Garden for the time being. For the next five days, no one will do anything."

Woosh -

Zhou Saint's figure disappeared into the shield.

White Phoenix's face was slightly stiff as he chuckled bitterly, "Second apprentice brother, I may have been too petty. Zhou Saint will only protect the Peach Garden for five days…"

Thousand Battles shook his head, "You did not do anything wrong. As Zhou Saint said, he understood why you did what you did."

White Phoenix took a deep breath, "Elder apprentice brother is currently isolating to try and break through. I will go to Zhou Saint now and beg him to stay for a few more days."

He turned and chased. But soon he returned unhappily, "Zhou Saint is not willing to see me. He does not want to do anything."

Thousand Battles took a deep breath, "Five days then. Perhaps this is Zhou Saint's limit…in the end we can only count on ourselves."

"But five days…"

"Elder apprentice brother has been at the entrance for many years and can take that step anytime. Five days is enough." There was another part that he did not say. If five days was not enough, no matter how much time they had, it would be meaningless.

White Phoenix seemed to have a realization as he breathed in deeply, "I have always been the one maintaining the Peach Garden's shield for all these years. I am the most familiar with it. Now, I am the only Saint in the Peach Garden who can fully activate its power…so as long as I am alive, I will not allow anyone to enter and disrupt elder apprentice brother while he is breaking through."

He bowed and turned to leave. The peach blossoms flew up in the air and he disappeared.

Thousand Battles coughed repeatedly. He covered his mouth. After a few moments, his palm was red. His strength had not fully returned and he had pushed his powers to the limit. This caused a severe backlash.

But this was something that he had to do. He needed to show all those that were looking greedily at the Peach Garden that the Peach Garden's disciples were unyielding and were still able to fight back. They would resist any evil schemes.

Zhou Saint had promised five days. With his status, he should be able to do it. Hopefully, elder apprentice brother would be successful…and hopefully junior-apprentice brother would be able to return quickly…only by having their own True Saint would they be able to stabilize the Peach Garden's position. If not, everything was just lengthening the time but had no use to the overall picture.

He wanted to help with this, but there was nothing he could do. He had always been a proud person and loved to fight. This fact was difficult for him to accept as he chuckled bitterly.

But soon, he adjusted his emotions as he walked deeper into the Peach Garden. When he was helping the Spring Master to tidy up his wine cellar earlier, he had unintentionally found something. He had told Master about it and Master had told him to do whatever he deemed fit…could he have guessed that this day would come?

As he thought of this, a determination set in Thousand Battles' eyes - if something unexpected happened, he would do his best to protect his juniors and help them escape even if it cost him his life. He would give the Peach Garden a chance to return in the future!

As he harbored such thoughts, his steps grew heavier and more serious. Coughing again, the second disciple of the Peach Garden disappeared deeper into the garden.

This was the direction to go to the Peach Garden's wine cellar. It was a place that had always turned the peach blossom flowers into beautiful wine. But it was a restricted place and those that were not from the Peach Garden were forbidden to enter.

The only ones who had entered were the Spring Master, elder apprentice brother, and second apprentice brother.

……

The Peach Garden was in trouble!

Soon after leaving Dark Hole City, Qin Yu found out about this. This was a secret within the Saint circle that was being spread all over through various hidden channels.

Eight Saints had died and a catastrophe was happening. There was going to be a huge change…all cultivators were like fishes in a raging river. If they managed to survive the torrent of the catastrophe, they would be qualified to live on. If not, they would perish.

Qin Yu had heard the Spring Master talk of similar things. He himself had personally experienced the third Saint calamity. It was like a wave that washed over the Vast Brightness World.

The Qin Yu and Spring Master of back then would never have expected that they would be involved in the fourth calamity. One fell while one rose. Moreover, the Peach Garden was now a dangerous vortex that had formed in the river.

Boom -

Punching forward, the air in front of him broke. Qin Yu stepped out from the endless darkness into the empty space outside. He frowned as a sinister look appeared on his face. He had no intentions of backing off or feeling fear. He was rushing back to the Peach Garden as fast as possible.

Wait for me!

……

In the familiar darkness, the flame appeared once again. But this time, without waiting for it to speak, the darkness responded.

"You went against our agreement. Please give me a good reason or we will take it as you having betrayed us."

The darkness was silent but it seemed to be hiding endless horror that could open and swallow everything at any time.

The flame's voice sounded. It was still as fleeting as before, "There was an incident in your plans, I could only respond accordingly."

The darkness was silent for a while, "Give me the details."

The flame replied, "The Peach Garden's shield is stronger than you reported…no, it is a lot stronger. Not only does it block, it has an automatic attacking system. I personally experienced this myself and can confirm it.

"If I had gone with the original plan, I would not have been able to guarantee my own safety when the Peach Garden's shield attacked back. Moreover, I was not certain that things would go according to our plan after that."

The darkness was silent for a long time as if verifying the authenticity of what he had said, "We will investigate this. If it is true, then it is our mistake. But the great being in the darkness tells me that you are hiding other things."

The flame coughed lightly as his voice turned serious, "Yes, there is another reason that made me change the plan - in the Peach Garden, there is someone trying to break through."

The voice from the darkness was filled with surprise, "True Saint?"

"Yes. Although the aura is still cryptic and they tried to conceal it intricately, I happen to be very sensitive to auras. You can go and confirm this too…if nothing happens, you will find out that the one trying to break through is the Peach Garden's chief disciple."

"Thank you for your honesty. This will get rid of unnecessary misunderstandings. Please wait patiently; we will get an answer very soon."

The darkness fell silent once more. Only that ball of flame continued to burn in the silence, illuminating just itself.

"Thank you for your patience. We apologize for our careless mistake. We are willing to make up for it and give you something to thank you."

It was obvious that they had managed to confirm the truth in a short time. This was enough to show what a powerful force there was behind this voice in the darkness.

The flame replied, "Okay! Then now, let's renegotiate the plan…additionally, I need to confirm once more, has he returned to the Peach Garden?"

The voice in the darkness replied, "Don't worry, the great being in the darkness has always been watching the Peach Garden closely. Once he appears, he will know even before he nears the Peach Garden."

The flame replied, "Hopefully you all won't make a mistake this time."

"Of course. We promise."

……

Thousand Faces was guarding elder apprentice brother.

She had changed her face once more. She looked beautiful and delicate, like a peony. At this moment, she was frowning and her gaze fell on the garden in front of her, worry etched across her features.

Because of her cultivation, she was able to get past the blockade and could feel the change in the garden's energy.

Elder apprentice brother had successfully taken the first step and entered the Sea of Bitterness. If this was his goal, he would have broken through a long time ago.

It was obvious that the reason why he hesitated for so long in front of the starting point was because his goal was not just becoming a Half-Saint.

His goal was to break through two realms at once to reach the shore and become a True Saint!

Thousand Faces was not able to confirm if such a thing had been attempted before. But she knew no one had succeeded before. Elder apprentice brother remained sluggish for a long time, not able to take the next step. As time passed, this was clearly not good news.