Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Under the black robes, Qin Yu's face changed slightly and his heart throbbed. He finally understood why, for such an important matter, only three madames had turned up in the Imperial Palace.

It turned out that 'confirmation' was just a formality. Once all of them entered the Imperial Palace, they were under the shroud of that power. If there anything wrong with them was detected, they would be immediately killed!

This was the strongest deterrent, nothing else was needed.

The lightning bolt just now did not seem to be very big, but it had extremely terrifying power which could instantly kill the tanned cultivator, and also…Qin Yu.

And this was just a very small part of the power that the lightning flash contained.

If it exploded with full force, the power would be beyond Qin Yu's imagination!

Just this alone made Qin Yu more certain that the West Desolate Imperial Palace was extremely terrifying. The only way for him to survive was to make sure he concealed his identity well, without ever revealing the slightest loophole.

Otherwise, he would definitely die without any possibility of surviving!

Just as he was thinking about this, his ears suddenly buzzed and a strong feeling of exhaustion poured out from the bottom of his heart.

The exhaustion felt so intense that as soon as it appeared, it almost defeated Qin Yu's sense of consciousness and jumbled his thoughts.

At this moment, a slight tremor suddenly rang out, and like a drop of cold water that fell on his forehead, the chill penetrated directly into his mind.

Qin Yu woke up instantly, and when he noticed the change in the power of his body, he was full of anger!

As expected, the West Desolate's methods were hard to guard against.

The slight tremor just now came from a faraway Divine Nation that was closely related to Qin Yu.

Even if that Divine Nation was not yet complete and its power was extremely weak, when faced with another power of the same attribute, it could still give Qin Yu some warnings.

If not, Qin Yu would have lost all consciousness. The result would have been unimaginable!

In the quiet courtyard, various textures appeared on the cultivators' flesh and blood. Their eyes were open, but they were all in a trance.

Madame Zhou took out a black bell, and when she stretched out her five fingers, it flew up on its own and hung above everyone's heads.

Ding ling ling -

Without any activation, this bell rang on its own, its crisp sound spreading through the air.

All the cultivators who opened their eyes in a trance let the sound of the bell pierce through their minds, and the energy from their bodies began to release uncontrollably.

At this moment, a thick blanket of darkness emanated from Qin Yu's body, wrapping him within.

It was as thick as ink, like all the darkness in the heavens and earth had gathered. It was as if eternal night had fallen!

Like an endless abyss, it could devour everything.

Eh?

Under the black robes, Qin Yu suddenly raised his eyebrows and strengthened his control of his body. Now, all his attention was focused on a cultivator who was behind him.

It was a middle-aged man with a rather personable attitude. There was a red mole on the corner of his eyebrows, which added a bit of an evil charm to him.

The reason why Qin Yu remembered him was not because he was a handsome middle-aged man or because he had a red mole near his eyebrows, but because this man was the one who showed the most hostility when he entered the courtyard.

Even though this person hid it very well, Qin Yu, who was disguised as the Darkness Ruler, had extremely keen senses. He caught the coldness in the depths of this middle-aged man's eyes.

This man's inner energy was pouring out of his body uncontrollably. A trace of heat and coldness blended and integrated together as it flowed outwards.

What caught Qin Yu's attention was this particular aura…more precisely, it was Furnace that locked its attention onto this aura. Because it was a kind of flame - the Ice Flame!

This was the wave of thoughts that Furnace transmitted to Qin Yu. There were many more specifics, such as a detailed introduction about this Ice Flame, its abilities, et cetera…however, this was not the point. The point was that this Ice Flame could be swallowed by Furnace to help it undergo another transformation.

And the transformation of Furnace meant that Qin Yu's power could be further improved as well.

This was naturally an irresistible temptation for Qin Yu, who felt increasingly insignificant and weak ever since he stepped into the Desolate Area and witnessed many terrifying things.

After confirming that Furnace's judgment was correct, Qin Yu immediately made the decision. He was going to take the Ice Flame!

Of course, this could only come true if Qin Yu could safely get past this obstacle. Otherwise he would be too dead to even think about anything else.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, after a pause, Qin Yu started to sense the aura of the other people in the courtyard.

Unsurprisingly, all the people who turned up in this courtyard today were bound to be his competitors in the future. In other words, they were destined to be his opponents. Getting information about them beforehand would be helpful for him to make the necessary preparations.

Affected by the power of the Imperial Palace, one would lose their state of mind. Naturally, they would start to release their inner energy which would clearly reveal the true condition of their body.

Such as…Blood Flag!

Qin Yu was very sure that Blood Flag would try his best to kill him. Thus, after sweeping his divine sense through the crowd and getting an impression of all these people's aura, Qin Yu concentrated most of his energy on Blood Flag.

As for the middle-aged man that was mentioned before, 'Little Red', whose body possessed an Ice Flame, he did not need any extra effort in examining. This was because Qin Yu had already firmly remembered that man's aura.

This was out of respect for a powerful cultivator at the level of a Ruler…Qin Yu had to be cautious to take note of everyone's auras to prepare for the future. Otherwise, if they fought, he might not be able to kill them and on the other hand, he might be the one that would be killed.

Blood Flag was very strong!

Qin Yu had already known this since the day they fought in the Capital Border Area. However, he also knew that Blood Flag did not reveal the full extent of his strength.

For example, at this moment, blood mist gushed out of Blood Flag's body. It was thick and viscous as if it was liquid, and it wriggled like a big mouth that could open at any time, swallowing everything in its way.

Cold and awe-inspiring!

Although it was not clear what secrets this blood mist held, it was undoubtedly terrifying and deadly.

Evidently, it was not going to be easy to kill Blood Flag.

However, the good news was that now that Qin Yu knew this, he could make preparations beforehand so that he would not be a mess when things came to that point.

Hum -

Suddenly, the energy that existed between Qin Yu's eyebrows trembled violently, before weakening and then collapsing.

Qin Yu was alarmed, but did not panic too much. After witnessing the power that enveloped the West Desolate's Imperial Palace, Qin Yu had already guessed that things would not end this easily or quickly.

What he feared had really come true!

……

Far away, the small world could somewhat be known as Qin Yu's Divine Nation. All living beings in this small world felt a powerful and vast will that descended into their minds.

That was the ruler whom they wholeheartedly believed in and served, who possessed infinite power and radiance. At this moment, he was calling them… Their ruler needed help from all his believers!

"You are the light, you illuminate all things, you are omnipresent, you are eternal!" This extremely loud and shameful slogan was created by chicken overlord when he was offering sacrifices.

The chants and worship of all the believers in the Divine Nation caused its power to completely activate!

……

Qin Yu was struggling, his body feeling like a small boat that could capsize at any moment in the stormy seas and then be torn to pieces.

But it didn't stop there!

The endless pain was like an extremely sharp dagger that constantly sliced at his soul, causing many terrifying wounds.

The pain accumulated like an invisible mountain, causing him to feel overwhelmed. It made him feel like giving up.

To be honest, it was a horrible experience that was hard to imagine. However, Qin Yu could only hold on for his life, because he knew that if he gave up here, he would truly die.

He did not know how much time had passed. It felt like it only happened for a few breaths, but it also felt like forever.

In the small courtyard, shrouded in endless darkness, Qin Yu's numb and low voice rang out, full of endless destruction and violence. "I am the Darkness Ruler!"

The next moment, all the pressure and pain…everything that he endured, disappeared.

Hu -

Qin Yu let out a long breath, feeling the cold sweat that soaked his black robes. It was this feeling that reminded him that he had overcome the difficulties. Then, in another direction, he could hear Blood Flag's voice, "…Leaf Flag."

Pa -

Pa -

Several figures fell onto their backs, and their bodies continued to release their power. Gradually, they disintegrated and disappeared.

These corpses' eyes were all widened, and at this moment their pupils had shrunk and were slowly disintegrating as well. This undoubtedly showed that they had experienced a terrifying and horrifying death.

The sound of cold air rushing filled the air in the small courtyard. The cultivators looked like they had just woken up from a dream, their faces ashen. Although there was no resistance during the procedure earlier, after the 'identity confirmation' had ended, their bodies reacted in a way that was enough for them to know that something had happened before.

Madame Wu's icy voice sounded, "This procedure is of great importance. Even the slightest error will not be condoned. This procedure has been approved by His Majesty, and if any of you are dissatisfied, you can voice it now."

Her eyes swept across the audience gloomily, and everyone lowered their heads. They were in awe, and the anger instantly dissipated.

The will of the Imperial Palace was above everything else…it was not just because of honor, but also because the Royal Family was established with their own strength and ruthlessness. They had produced many Desolate Kings and were not to be provoked.

Since this was His Majesty's intention, even if they killed everyone here, it would not raise any issues.

After a period of silence, the other madame said, "Please do not worry, everything that happened here will not be disclosed to others."

"We would not dare to say it either!" Qin Yu bowed with the rest of them.

Madame Wu sneered, "Today's affairs shall end here. Everyone, please go back." She turned and left, moving her small feet, and in just a few moments she disappeared.

Blood Flag frowned and his face was extremely gloomy. Evidently, he was in a bad mood. He glanced at Qin Yu but said nothing, got up and left.

At this moment, there were Imperial Palace attendants waiting outside the courtyard to escort them out of the palace. Qin Yu followed the crowd without doing anything funny, not even looking at 'Little Red' again.

After all, 'Little Red' was at the level of a weak Ruler; even if it was just a glance, he would notice.

The journey went smoothly and they arrived at the exit of the Imperial Palace in silence. Under the indifferent eyes of the guards, everyone made their way home.

Qin Yu too stepped out of the Imperial Palace in silence, and at the moment when his foot touched the ground, a 'pop' sound suddenly rang out from his body…it was as if a bubble had burst!