Refining the Mountains and Rivers

All actions would come with consequences. Traces and evidence could be seen as shadows under a person's feet. No one could get rid of their shadow and no one would be able to hide their traces.

However, everything in the world was bound by limits and restrictions. Inevitably, any objective truth would also end up being limited.

Exceptions will nevertheless be there. If you have not encountered it yet, either you were out of luck or you did not have enough qualifications.

The shadowless were detached from the world and they were not bound by rules. As such, they were not recorded in books and they did not leave traces behind.

One of these shadowless groups of people were Rulers. Others were men who were at the same level as a Ruler.

Evidently, Qin Yu was able to move without causing any disturbance. He was a shadowless.

On the platform of the grand hall, many Peach Garden disciples' auras were gathered there. The two black-robed men who broke through kneeled down respectfully.

The hall, which was originally pitch dark, felt much more obscure. There were strange words coming from the darkness and the two people picked these up.

A few moments later, the whispers disappeared and the candlelight in the grand hall grew brighter. The two men stood up and their large robes covered their entire bodies. Their expressions could not be made out but the crowd could easily infer the seriousness.

"Shadowless…" A low voice came from the black robe. The voice appeared calm but there was a lot of emotion in his words.

The man opposite him spoke, "Everything in this world is fair and to gain something, you need to lose something. If you want it, this chance can be given to you."

"Hmph! Chances come with dangers. If you voluntarily gave this up, you must have sensed something." The black-robed man fell silent, "if you want to share your information, I will owe you one."

The man shook his head, "If I could make the preparations, I would not have given the chance to you…there is danger but it is not clear what it is. You don't have to test me."

The eyes beneath the black robe narrowed and he carefully surveyed the man opposite him. In the end, he could not glean anything and he said, "Then I will go ahead and find out what secret the ninth disciple of the Peach Garden, Qin Yu, is hiding."

……

Within the Shield Guard, Zhou Saint and Lin Saint wore ugly expressions. Their eyes were dark and cold. Involuntary fear filled their hearts.

They had to admit that the ninth disciple of the Peach Garden was strong, but he truly far exceeded their expectations.

Ignoring his cultivation rank, Qin Yu used very strange but strong methods that effectively bound the two True Saints.

No, 'bound' was not a good word to use to describe their current situation. If the situation continued, they were sure they would lose their lives here.

As this sinister thought crossed their minds, Zhou Saint and Lin Saint tried to break through the Shield Guard that imprisoned them. However, this resulted in failure after failure.

In front of them, Qin Yu was blinding with light. Every punch he released held so much energy that it made their hearts clench.

What terrified them the most was that each time Qin Yu punched, his powers grew stronger.

Qin Yu almost seemed to be using the two Saints as his test subjects. He was testing his capabilities and strengthening his control of his Divine Way with each blow.

It was terrifying!

It was obvious that Qin Yu had not mastered everything within his jade body. No, from the way his powers were improving, he probably just learned the basics of the skill.

He did not need to control it fully. As long as he made a step forward in the mastery of the skill, his powers would surge exponentially.

Although this scary explosion of power did not occur, Qin Yu was improving every second by tiny amounts. Eventually, he would reach a transformation.

By then, the two Saints who were trapped would explode and die.

The two Saints thought of this pitiful ending to their lives and they could not sit still.

Zhou Saint breathed in deeply and said, "We can't delay any further; we must escape now!" Suddenly, his face contorted with pain and gargling sounds came from his mouth.

Rolls of dark smoke wafted off his body. At the same time, his surface flesh rotted. It seemed like he had been thrown into a furnace with raging flames that consumed him and turned him into ashes. More and more smoke started to form.

In the blink of an eye, all of Zhou Saint's flesh was consumed. The long robe he wore had shriveled up. When the smoke parted, a grotesque skeleton was revealed. Its body was completely black and sticky like ink covered it.

No, more accurately, this was a body whose flesh and blood were devoured but whose bones and organs were still intact. There was a thick layer of mucous wrapping around his organs, and through it, one could roughly make out his rapidly beating heart.

Within his hollow eyes, the black flames of the furnace continued to burn. As black smoke continued to float around him, the skeleton looked like it had just come out of hell!

Its mouth opened and a shrill scream came. A soul attack pierced through the air, heading straight for Qin Yu. The sun rose from the east and set in the west. Together with the moon, it formed a forcefield. This forcefield suddenly vibrated very violently, like it was a mountain that was crumbling apart. Numerous rocks rolled off the landscape and fell into the water. There was the reflection of a purple moon and blue sun and small crackling sounds came from it, as though it was under huge pressure and was on the verge of breaking.

There were the silhouettes of two women in the purple moon and blue sun. Their faces vibrated and a pained look crossed them.

This was the first time something like this had happened and it also showed how strong a True Saint's soul attack was. It could directly hurt the original bodies of the purple moon and blue sun.

At the same time, Qin Yu's body stiffened and pain shot through him like countless wooden splinters piercing his mind.

After taking in a deep breath to stabilize himself, he motioned with his hand and made a seal. He shouted, "Soul Hiding!"

Shoosh!

The murderous aura around Qin Yu disappeared suddenly like a barrier covered it. It felt like his soul had been transported to another space that was impossible to touch.

The destructive attack from the soul of the skeleton lost its target but Qin Yu did not completely shake it off. Instead, he managed to lessen the impact of the attack on himself.

At this moment, Qin Yu had a sudden intuition about Soul Hiding. If he could master this technique, he might eventually be able to completely shield himself against an attack of the soul.

"Shield Guard!"

The surrounding energy contracted and suddenly became full of an illusionary and light aura. It was no longer sticky like mud.

The appearance of this aura pushed aside the remaining powers from Zhou Saint's skeletal soul.

The defensive capabilities of this skill not only helped him against physical attacks, they could also cover soul-based attacks.

And the limits of Shield Guard's capabilities did not end here. Even though his current understanding of the skill was elementary, Qin Yu was able to make out its potential.

Aside from physical and soul defense, it could also protect him from mysterious powers like curses.

Like Soul Hiding, Qin Yu needed to continue to train Shield Guard. When his mastery of the skill was good, he would gradually be able to control it better.

Zhou Saint's skeletal body could feel that his soul attack had been stopped. The black flames in his eyes raged fiercer and the black mist around him was suddenly ignited. He seemed to have become an evil spirit surrounded in an endless sea of flames. Disgusting and destructive aura around Zhou Saint gushed out.

"Lin Saint!"

A strange, low voice came from the skeletal body. It was a chilling noise that sounded like two hard stones rubbing against each other.

As he spoke, the skeletal body stopped forward. It raised its arms and smashed down, "Vanquished Nation Gate!"

Kaboom -

Black bones which formed the fists of the skeleton struck the air and caused it to shake violently. Darkness followed suit and quickly dispersed.

It was as if a black drop of ink had dripped into water. At the same time, a large silhouette of a gate in the dark emerged. It appeared translucent but one could not make out the world behind it.

There was darkness and a withered yellow color. It seemed like an endless wilderness. Wild winds blew strongly through the area and from time to time, the face of a ghost would reveal itself.

Perhaps it sensed that the Vanquished Nation Gate had been opened and it desired the smell of fresh blood. Instantly, the wind blew fiercer on the wilderness.

Faces of ghosts would follow the wind. As wind blew against the door, the ghost faces would appear before it too. It felt like a large hand had swept through the wilderness and was trying to force the gate open.

Right at that moment Lin Saint attacked!

The reason why he could react so quickly was that he had made his preparations when Zhou Saint transformed into his skeletal body. He had been waiting for a signal.

These wise Saints did not need to have detailed discussions to execute plans. They could understand each other's thoughts with something as simple as a gaze.

"Perishing Star!"

Lin Saint raised his arm and directed it towards the Vanquished Nation Gate. He muttered a chain of strange words. He was like a leader who controlled the skies. Every star in the galaxy shifted, obeying his will.

In the next moment, light illuminated the Vanquished Nation Gate and the skies around the wilderness where the wind blew through turned red. Flaming meteorites ripped through the clouds and rushed towards the ground with determination.

Flames and a Vanquished Nation were two naturally opposing forces. When the meteorites fell, it naturally resulted in a fierce confrontation.

However, right at that point, the skeletal Zhou Saint screamed. Fierce winds around the wilderness shot up towards the sky and started to combine with the falling meteorites.

As such, the blazing fire turned into a sinister sea of bright light that was filled with a cold, nasty ghost aura. Ghost faces started to appear one after another.

Boom boom -

Deafening explosions came as the meteorites struck against the Vanquished Nation Gate. The impact of the collisions forced it open.

"Let's go!"

Zhou Saint in his skeletal body shouted. He grabbed ahold of Lin Saint and the two of them shot through the gate and entered the world of the vanquished.

Right at that moment, a wave of uneasiness filled them. The two of them whipped their heads around. The closing Vanquished Nation Gate was being forced open by an invisible strength.

Suddenly, Qin Yu stepped forward. He got past the huge illusionary gate and was going to kill them!

Whoosh -

Strong winds blew across, causing his long robe to drift and his black hair to float nicely behind him. Vigorous power from the Rule System Body enhanced his physical body aura as he chased after them.

Kaboom!

The wind was even fiercer compared to when Zhou Saint transformed into his skeletal form. Across the wind, the haunting ghost faces were filled with greed, desire and viciousness. Their eyes locked onto Qin Yu and they followed the wind to chase after him. They wanted to devour his blood and flesh.

Qin Yu's eyes were icy cold but right then, his heart jumped. He flipped his palm over and a small Blood Jade Coffin appeared. This was the treasure he obtained from Close Saint in Bounded Zero Place.

The Blood Jade Coffin expanded instinctively without Qin Yu acting. In the blink of an eye, it was already a few hundred feet wide. Slowly, the wooden cover of the coffin opened and Qin Yu wondered if he was mistaken when he caught sight of a pair of blood red eyes in the coffin.

The feeling of being watched crossed him. Next, a powerful suction force came from the Blood Jade Coffin. Those greedy ghost faces that had been chasing after Qin Yu suddenly shook violently and a fearful expression crossed them.

They screamed and they tried to control the wind to carry them away. To their horror, they realized that they had lost control of themselves.

Their consciousness was strong but they could not control themselves and could only helplessly drift along with the wind. Soon, they were sucked into the Blood Jade Coffin like it was a hungry black hole. As the ghosts screamed and cried, they soon created a vortex!

A secret item of the Ghost Path!

Zhou Saint's eyes quivered non-stop and shock filled him. The Ghost Path had gradually diminished with time.

He had never imagined this: the ninth disciple of the Peach Garden, Qin Yu, was a Ghost Path user. His powers were terrifying.

He came to this conclusion through the aura from the Blood Jade Coffin.

Shock and disbelief overwhelmed him but he also felt that all this was absurd. Nonetheless, Zhou Saint did not have any time to think about this now.

"We have to go!"

Qin Yu was a Ghost Path user and the aura from the Vanquished Nation would not affect him. Instead, it actually made him stronger and his powers would be enhanced. The best option for the two Saints now was to escape before they were bound again.

Lin Saint could sense Zhou Saint's feelings as well and he turned to escape without another word.

The two Saints did not run off in opposite directions because they did not know if they would be able to shake Qin Yu off.

If they combined their forces, they still had a chance to go against Qin Yu. From this perspective, escaping separately would mean certain death.

They were right, but this did not make them feel any better.

In the midst of their escape, the two Saints suddenly stopped and froze in place. They stared at the dark sky in the Vanquished Nation and their faces turned pale as their bodies started to tremble uncontrollably.

They did not know what was going to come but they had a very bad feeling.

In the next instant, they heard Qin Yu's cold voice, "Royal Attack!"