Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu glanced sideways at Stone Pagoda, his eyebrows knitted together. "What are you trying to say?"

Stone Pagoda replied respectfully, "Master, I just want to remind you that in this world, whatever you see may not be how things truly are, but it's still better than listening to one-sided remarks and trusting them."

He paused for a while before continuing, "For example, with regards to the Great Dao Spirit, no one knows if something has really happened to it or not. Why don't you confirm this first and decide what to do afterwards?"

Qin Yu rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "I've already examined it using my senses many times, yet I have not found anything strange about it. How can I really confirm this?"

Stone Pagoda said, "Master is worried that your Great Dao has changed simply because it has shattered a few times…since this could be the cause, then that's no problem at all. Why don't you try to shatter your Great Dao again and see what happens."

Qin Yu paused and looked coldly at Stone Pagoda's illusion, angrily thinking about the kind of shitty suggestions that he was giving to him. Condensing the Great Dao was not difficult for Qin Yu, but it still was not a good feeling.

Furthermore, after confirming that the Great Dao had a spirit, shattering the Great Dao had to be done in steps. If it was overly stimulated, he could lose control of the Great Dao and it would backfire on him instead.

How could something like this be attempted easily?

Just when he was about to open his mouth to complain, he stopped himself. Stone Pagoda was extremely smart; why would he even suggest something so stupid?

Qin Yu glanced over at him, his thoughts turning quickly in his mind. It was as if he had suddenly come to a realization as he said, "Are you telling me that I can borrow someone else's power to prevent the dangers of the Great Dao backfiring?"

There were only two people he could think of - that woman or that mysterious being from space time!

Stone Pagoda nodded its head and said, "Master, I believe this is the best opportunity." He paused for a few moments before continuing, "In the World of Darkness when you were facing the Darkness Ruler, when you were about to call for the Ruler, that mysterious being suddenly appeared to help you. Even though it said that it was just helping you because it was being kind, you know very clearly that everything happens for a reason. We don't know what its intentions are, but it still did help you. As for what this will cost you, you will have to think about it yourself. By assessing the current situation, I don't think it will ask for too much."

Qin Yu replied, "We can't take such a risk. Even if it helped me once, it doesn't mean it will help me again."

"That's correct, so the Ruler will be our backup plan…" Stone Pagoda explained slowly. "Everything is ready. Not long from now, Master will be entering the Desolate Area to complete the assignment that she gave you. She won't let anything happen to you because of that. That being helped you for some unknown reason, and Her Excellency will be keeping a close eye on you, that's two safeguards. That's why I am telling you that this is the best opportunity!"

Qin Yu's eyes flashed for a second, finally understanding what Stone Pagoda was trying to tell him. Since they had already found out about the Great Dao's hidden dangers, and were unable to do anything about it, indeed, the best solution now was to borrow someone else's power.

This brat was indeed powerful and smart to be able to think of such a solution…in Qin Yu's heart, he could not help but acknowledge this.

Sooner or later, problems were going to arise, so why not make the necessary preparations now? It would be more difficult to solve his problems if the situation changed in the future. Furthermore, shattering his Great Dao was not an easy undertaking, even though Qin Yu could easily achieve it by channeling his Great Dao towards the East Sea Sword and unleashing its power. Shattering his Great Dao once could bring him a terrifying amount of power. However, if he just used it like that, it would be a waste.

Qin Yu had a slight headache, thinking about what kind of opponent he should find for this sword and also about the fact that he owed the mysterious being a True Saint's soul. There was not much time left, he should quickly get this over and done with.

Oh, why don't I use this sword to finish the deal? Though, it feels like I would be using a chopper to kill an ant. No matter, as long as I get what I want.

Who should I kill?

With time, the number of True Saints in the Vast Brightness World had gradually increased. Even though they did not usually make an appearance in public, there were still a number of them.

However, after thinking about it carefully, those that had enmity with Qin Yu had mostly been killed by him. To think that he was unable to find a suitable target.

He briefly thought about randomly killing an innocent True Saint, but it was best not to do something like that. There were many people in this world that deserved to be killed, so why kill the innocent?

He thought about it even more, and concluded that he now had two options. The first was to go to the World of Darkness.

There was loads of enmity between Qin Yu and them; even if he killed one or two Darkness True Saints, he would not feel an inch of guilt.

Though he thought of the World of Darkness first, he quickly ruled this option out. Since he had recently killed the Darkness Ruler, it was best to lay low in the Great Desolate to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Now, there was only the second option left - the Dusk Order!

It was a magnificent name, worthy of only the most powerful. Back then, when the Peach Garden was in danger, it was all the Dusk Order's doing. Yet, the Peach Garden did not collapse because of their deeds, and in fact had been reinvigorated because of Qin Yu's interference and now had two True Saints. They were even more powerful than they used to be, and because of this, they were able to find some traces of who had put them in danger. Discovering the Dusk Order's name was only a matter of time.

According to White Phoenix, whatever had happened at the Transcendent Sword Sect seemed to also be related to the Dusk Order.

The people from the Dusk Order had almost destroyed the Peach Garden, almost killed Peachy, and even set up a trap at the Transcendent Sword Sect targeting Qin Yu. These were reasons enough to kill them.

The only thing that was worth considering was the fact that they were able to command so many True Saints meant that there was a Ruler backing them up behind the scenes.

Killing True Saints was an easy task for Qin Yu. He was not scared that he was outnumbered, but at the same time, he was unwilling to wage a war with all of them at once as that might invite their Ruler to interfere. If that happened, things would be complicated. Even if Qin Yu was confident of his powers, he was not sure that he was at the stage where he could easily defeat a Ruler.

However, very quickly, his eyes shone. Since he had already decided to ask for help to solve the issue of the Great Dao backfiring on him, then it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the entire Dusk Order!

Otherwise, later on, when Qin Yu entered the Desolate Area, it would be catastrophic if the Dusk Order made a move against the Peach Garden again.

Qin Yu smiled a little. The more he thought about it, the more he found that picking the Dusk Order as his target was a wonderful choice.

Now that he knew who his target was, what he needed to do was to go back to the Peach Garden again and get detailed information about the Dusk Order from White Phoenix. Back then, he had only gotten a vague idea of who the Dusk Order was.

Making up his mind, Qin Yu did not delay any further and made his way towards the Peach Garden.

In the Outer Void, an extremely large and terrifying Void Creature was curled up in agony and could not stop moaning in pain. This situation once again reminds us not to eat anything and everything indiscriminately, otherwise a problem would definitely arise.

Suddenly, the Void Creature opened its mouth and spat out a ball of muddy fog. Qin Yu walked out from this fog casually.

Having gotten rid of the foreign object in its body, the pain subsided as well. The Void Creature was frightened as it looked at Qin Yu, before turning its head to escape from him.

Qin Yu did not stop it from escaping, after all, the structure of a small world had already formed in this Void Creature. Killing it would only attract more predators, and he did not want the heavens to be alerted to his deeds. It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble!

Qin Yu turned to leave, moving at a frightening speed such that he quickly arrived at the outside of a small world. He waved his arm to slice open a crack and walked through it.

Without any hesitation, the moment he stepped into this small world, he summoned the Peach Wood Portal Door. He opened the door and the next moment, he disappeared into thin air.

He had crossed the East Sea and spent some time in a Void Creature's stomach, which felt like he had gone through a long and arduous journey. However, only half a day had passed.

This was the privilege of being a strong cultivator. To them, though traversing these endless small worlds was not like prancing through their backyard, it was still incredibly easy.

Just this benefit alone was enough to make countless ordinary cultivators envious. One needed to know that many people had not left their hometown ever since they were born, not knowing that there were other worlds outside of their own.

The world was vast, but one also needed to be strong and powerful enough to be able to appreciate its vastness. Otherwise, it would be like looking up in a well and seeing only one small circle of the infinite sky.

I've deviated, let's go back to the main problem.

Qin Yu stepped out of the portal and went straight towards where White Phoenix resided.

He had only half a month when he struck a deal with the mysterious being. Now, he had barely a few days left. Even if he had chosen a target already, he still needed to speed up the process.

White Phoenix, who was still nursing a chest wound, was over the moon when he saw Qin Yu. However, without waiting for him to utter a single word, Qin Yu interrupted, "This is extremely urgent. Third apprentice brother, I need all the information you have about the Dusk Order."

White Phoenix froze for a while, but after looking at the expression on Qin Yu's face, he nodded and turned to leave. Very quickly, he returned and gave a jade slip to Qin Yu. He said, "I've made a copy of the information for you in here, this is everything we know about them."

Qin Yu cupped his fists and bowed, "Thank you, third apprentice brother!"

The moment he took the jade slip, he left once again at a frightening speed. White Phoenix's eyes widened, thinking to himself that this was what it meant to 'Destroy the bridge after crossing it,' running to me only when you need me, and leaving immediately after getting what you want.

However, from the looks of it, it seemed that shattering and recondensing the Great Dao were related to other secrets, otherwise junior-apprentice brother would not leave just like that without a word.

Under White Phoenix's calm and gentle facade, he was extremely curious about Qin Yu's secrets. Therefore, even though he understood Qin Yu's plight, he was still dying to know more.

White Phoenix looked at the spot where Qin Yu disappeared and laughed bitterly to himself. He could not help but rub his chest, feeling undoubtedly suffocated.

Qin Yu did not want to divulge any matters related to Furnace, but even if he did not mind sharing, he did not have the time to. He channeled his divine sense into the jade slip and read the information related to the Dusk Order.

Frankly, the information was not as detailed as he had hoped. The Peach Garden was one of the best Holy Lands that existed; its information network was definitely very broad and powerful. However, it could only retrieve limited information about the Dusk Order. Evidently, the Dusk Order was extremely cautious about the traces it left behind.

The good thing was that Qin Yu still managed to gain some valuable insights. For example, the jade slip recorded information about some of the Dusk Order's members.

"Flood Dragon Saint!" Qin Yu mumbled to himself. His eyes shone with excitement. Well, my first target will be you then.

……

Flood Dragon Saint.

Some aliases in this world were very ambiguous. They always sounded mighty, yet slightly strange. Yet, other aliases were plain and straightforward, such as that old dragon that was known as the East Sea's Dragon Saint. Just hearing the name let you know where that person was from.

Flood Dragon Saint was the same. Strictly speaking, he had some blood relation to that old dragon in the East Sea. But due to his mixed blood, he was a flood dragon and not a pure-blooded dragon.

A large portion of dragons in this world were flood dragons that were incomparable to true dragons. Their statuses were hugely different; true dragons were completely in another league.

However, everything in this world had exceptions. It was the same for the flood dragons as well. For example, this Flood Dragon Saint that we are talking about right now was an exception too.

It has been mentioned previously that the Dragon Saint and Flood Dragon Saint were related by blood. Firstly, the Dragon Saint had a higher seniority because he was very old. Many dragon clans in the Vast Brightness World were somehow linked to this Dragon Saint. Secondly, the dragon clans had a higher propensity to reproduce and they liked to mate with many different creatures. Therefore, this caused many variations of flood dragons to be created.

This Flood Dragon Saint's mother was a respected member in the Dragon Clan, and his father was an ancient and strange creature that was covered by armor made from gold.

Even though their offspring was of mixed blood, the Flood Dragon Saint was powerful because he had gotten a mix of his parents' powers. He even had a natural gift for cultivation.

It was precisely because of this that he could become a True Saint, and one of the most powerful cultivators in the world. Because he had inherited his father's traits, he also had a strong physical body.

Not many people knew that this Flood Dragon Saint had joined the Dusk Order in secret. Thankfully, the Peach Garden had a broad information network that allowed them to find out this piece of information. As a result, Qin Yu was here, standing outside of the Dragon Abyss Town.

Flood dragons were known as 'mixed blood dragons', which of course was not a compliment at all. Dragons from the Dragon Clan looked down on these flood dragons. This caused flood dragons to have a tense relationship with dragons even though they were related by blood.

As the most powerful flood dragon, Flood Dragon Saint had fought a big battle against the Dragon Saint from the East Sea a long time ago, wanting to overthrow the Dragon Clan's reign. This further cemented the statuses of dragons and flood dragons, as the battle ended in defeat for Flood Dragon Saint. However, Flood Dragon Saint managed to escape safely, showing his strong survival abilities.

Qin Yu looked at the huge stone tablet that sat on the edge of the abyss. On it were three words that said 'Dragon Abyss Town', written in blood. Qin Yu gave a sinister smile.

Thankfully, Flood Dragon Saint was an arch enemy of the East Sea Dragon Clan, otherwise he would be put in a difficult position since he owed that old dragon a favor.

However, thinking about it carefully now, in such a situation, there was not enough time for him to think of another option.

Therefore, even if Flood Dragon Saint and that old dragon had reconciled their relationship, Qin Yu would still kill Flood Dragon Saint. Hehe…indeed, he could not lie to himself; he was very clear about the kind of person he was and the things he was capable of doing.

Shaking his head and suppressing any thoughts of self-mockery, Qin Yu took a step forward, allowing himself to fall quickly like a large piece of stone.