Refining the Mountains and Rivers

As he expected, Hundred Saint did not suspect anything amiss. He did not suspect that it was a fake Darkness Ruler in front of him right now.

His eyes were cold but Qin Yu could tell that he was suppressing his emotions, "It is the Desolate King's orders; why would he need to explain to us? You will know once you are there."

The black-robed individual on the grand seat fell silent for a few moments before he said, "Alright!"

Although Hundred Saint knew that the Darkness Ruler would never disobey orders, Hundred Saint felt relieved once he saw the Darkness Ruler nod in agreement.

After all, after devouring Eye of Eternal Night, the current strength of the Darkness Ruler was a mystery.

Perhaps he could ignore the fact that Eye of Eternal Night had been devoured. The orders from the West Desolate had shown their accommodating attitude to the Darkness Ruler.

Hundred Saint knew why they were accommodating. As Rulers, powerful individuals in the Desolate Area were people that they had to be on the good side of.

It was only natural that the West Desolate took on this attitude towards the Darkness Ruler, given that he was the Ruler of the World of Darkness.

As he thought of this, Hundred Saint grew much warmer, "Darkness Ruler, please give me a moment while I open the Connecting Passage."

Hundred Saint flipped his hand to reveal a black crystal body. The crystal looked perfectly shaped and despite the darkness, it appeared very bright.

Obviously, Hundred Saint was very confident that the Darkness Ruler would not be able to control the Connecting Passage even if he saw the object.

He was right.

The crystal appeared unordinary and it was actually an item from the Imperial Palace. Rumors had it that a Half-King personally constructed it. Even Hundred Saint had to get permission to open the Connecting Passage each time.

The crystal was a key. Although it was not a disposable object, authorization was required each time it was used.

Not to mention that the Darkness Ruler would never be able to obtain the crystal, even if he did, he would have no use for it.

As such, Hundred Saint was not afraid of showing the item to him.

Buzz -

As dark energy entered the crystal, it vibrated slightly and there were fluctuating waves in the space in front of him.

This seemingly calm phenomenon of space waves vibrating made Qin Yu's expression harden.

What a terrifying aura!

There was no time for him to think. With the ring-like mountain palace as the center point, boundless darkness gathered.

The World of Darkness was covered entirely in darkness. Qin Yu could feel endless streams of darkness gushing over from all directions.

The outline of a large door started to form as dark energy rushed into it. It began to harden and materialize.

Qin Yu did not have time to think because the summoning of darkness and the terrifying aura of the large doors were unprecedentedly scary.

This was not an exaggeration. Even that mysterious woman did not give Qin Yu such a terrifying feeling when they touched.

He felt like an ant against a mountain. If they battled, he would die with just the bat of an eyelid!

The only similar feeling that he encountered before was when he peered into Soft Peach's memories in Bounded Zero Place.

As such, this power must originate from Half-Kings, who Qin Yu both feared and respected!

Qin Yu immediately restrained his aura before such power. He did not dare to reveal anything wrong and he naturally did not have time to think about it.

Aside from this, there was another reason. Qin Yu realized that Hundred Saint dared to use the crystal in front of him and that meant that Hundred Saint was not afraid of Qin Yu seeing the opening of the Connecting Passage. Qin Yu…came to a realization!

No, this explanation was not accurate. Qin Yu did not fully understand everything that was happening before his eyes. He did not know the exact details and processes but he could sense that all the dark energy gathering towards the big door was constructing what it was hiding.

He felt like he could interfere with the process…oh, more accurately, he would only need a thought to stop the big door from forming.

This was a strange feeling. The reason he had this feeling originated from the ring-like mountain palace.

The black robe covered him and Qin Yu was not afraid of being seen. However, he restrained his aura with all his might to ensure that nothing amiss could be seen.

He could not help feeling that all of this was strange. This was truly a miracle that had dropped from the heavens…if the West Desolate knew that a fragment of the only Connecting Pathway to enter the southwest fragmented area was in Qin Yu's hands, they would kill him at all costs.

That's right, Qin Yu could sense and confirm all of this with his connection to the ring-like mountain palace.

He was very calm and his aura did not change despite suppressing it. However, his excitement was threatening to boil over from the bottom of his chest. Qin Yu felt confident of his own future.

After he learned of the existence of the West Desolate and that clan in Bounded Zero Place, Qin Yu had felt that two large mountains were crushing his heart.

With more contact and experience with them, Qin Yu felt that this fearfulness grew more real!

This was especially so after Qin Yu learned of Half-Kings…their powers were unrivalled. Evidently, the West Desolate and Mysterious Clan had Half-Kings, and they may each have more than one Half-King.

Even though Qin Yu was very confident in himself, he never thought that he would be able to battle against them.

If his identity was exposed, the West Desolate and the Mysterious Clan would take revenge on him and there was no doubt that he would die!

As such, Qin Yu appeared to restrain himself but he was hiding a powerful desire.

He needed time for this, but time was something he lacked. The contact had been initiated and the pathway for vengeance was created. The two clans would not give him a chance to continue growing.

Yet, Qin Yu now found that he had the ability to choose when he would 'go to war'.

One Connecting Passage had two large doors on either side that led into it. If either one was closed, it would become a dead end.

In other words, if things went south and he was in grave danger, Qin Yu only needed to escape to the Vast Brightness World and close the door. He would successfully trap his enemy outside.

While he could not completely shut down the possibility of the two clans forcing their way through, it would not be easy. Otherwise, the Vast Brightness World would be a hot mess already. There was no reason for the two clans to have kept such a low profile until now.

The likelihood of success was pretty high.

Although this plan hinged on the need for Qin Yu to flee with his life, this was much better than the sense of helplessness he felt before.

As such, Qin Yu was exceptionally happy and he felt much more confident now compared to his nervousness from just before. He desperately restrained himself from doing any tests that were related to closing the door. Unless truly necessary, he would never do anything to reveal himself.

Thank you Darkness Ruler!

Hundred Saint cocked his head slightly and looked at the silent Darkness Ruler. He felt that there was a huge emotional wave going through the calm Darkness Ruler now.

However, upon thinking how the Darkness Ruler was summoned to the West Desolate and how he had devoured Eye of Eternal Night before this, it seemed only natural that he was nervous.

After all, they were about to enter the Desolate Area, the real world. It was nothing a fragmented world could compare to!

A Ruler was the strongest in the Vast Brightness World but he would only be an overlord in the Desolate Area. Furthermore, he was an overlord who chose his position!

Independence from the outside world…Rulers were not qualified enough to have that. At least, a large majority were not.

The Darkness Ruler had a good understanding of the West Desolate and the problems associated. He would not overstep his boundaries just because his cultivation had soared.

Once he thought through this, Hundred Saint ignored all other anomalies and focused on empowering the black crystal.

Crack!

A clear, crisp sound came as the tightly shut doors suddenly opened and revealed a gap.

Hundred Saint felt relieved that things proceeded smoothly and the Connecting Passage was opened. Now, he only needed to supply it with more power to widen the entrance.

The reason why he was able to escort the Darkness Ruler to the West Desolate was because of his status. Since time was almost up, it was not difficult to leave.

Secondly, Qin Yu had conducted a mass slaughter and the number of True Saints in the World of Darkness had greatly decreased. Hundred Saint was the only one left who was qualified to open the Connecting Passage.

However, Hundred Saint was not upset with this and he was even excited. He could not wait to find out who that person was.

Ten Thousand Saint!

That's right, it was the mysterious True Saint in the East Sea who he greatly admired and was even willing to sacrifice himself for. Although he had been saved by Eye of Eternal Night back then, Hundred Saint had not heard news from him since. Hundred Saint, who saw Ten Thousand Saint as a brother, felt very uneasy.

After the incident, Hundred Saint had investigated within the World of Darkness but he failed to find out anything about Ten Thousand Saint.

This initially made Hundred Saint puzzled, but he eventually found his explanation. The World of Darkness was the forefront of the West Desolate. However, the West Desolate did not have a flat, monolithic hierarchy and it was under the rule of the Imperial Palace. There were many conflicts that could erupt at any moment and it appeared calm on the surface only because of the authority and power of the Desolate King.

The southwest fragmented area belonged to the West Desolate and this was common knowledge among the empire and high ranking officials in the palace. However, conflicts arose when it came to the splitting of benefits. Everyone wanted gains from it and they desired to have greater ownership of the new land.

The idiotic children of the Desolate King fighting among themselves, as well as the greedy elders of the Imperial Palace, were an example of this.

As such, those who came from the World of Darkness to the West Desolate were not familiar with each other. There were even some who were hidden from the world. Even if you checked through the name list of those who descended, it was highly likely that you would gain nothing.

These men came here through various orders…in Hundred Saint's opinion, it was likely that Ten Thousand Saint was one of these men.

Logically speaking, with his identity, the best option was to keep a distance from these people with unknown origins.

However, Ten Thousand Saint was different. He was a friend whom Hundred Saint had acknowledged. Regardless of where he came from and what he did, Hundred Saint still wanted to find him.

If there was a chance, he would pull this friend out of the dark waters. They would spend time chatting and watching shows together. There was no reason for them to be involved with the darkness!

As he thought of this, Hundred Saint grew more impatient with returning to the West Desolate.

If Qin Yu could read Hundred Saint's thoughts now, he would have a major headache and he would consider killing and silencing Hundred Saint again.

Without meeting, would they miss each other again? Why was he so adamant on Ten Thousand Saint!

Time flew by.

Finally, the doors opened!

Hundred Saint turned around and cupped his hands together, "Darkness Ruler, let's go."

Qin Yu nodded and got up from his seat. Right in front of the doors, he hesitated and asked, "Has the Connecting Passage been repaired?"

Hundred Saint answered, "Someone will protect the both of us."

Qin Yu no longer hesitated. He met Hundred Saint's gaze and stepped into the Connecting Passage.