Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Imperial Palace, Hall of Longevity.

The king looked gloomy. He took a step forward and disappeared.

In the next moment, he appeared in the Imperial Palace's internal warehouse. There were hints of fierceness lingering in the air.

Like a sword that could cut through anything, his appearance cut all the lingering aura to pieces.

Four Old Four Claws were sitting cross-legged. Their faces were pale and numerous scars covered their bodies.

At this moment, they opened their eyes and struggled to stand up and greet, "Your Majesty."

The king waved his hand, "Focus on healing."

He took a few steps forward and his gaze fell into an area deep in the storeroom. The broken lotus. It had only a few green lotus leaves remaining.

A sword gash could be seen in the internal warehouse and it was sealed in the space. It was less than thirty centimeters away from the lotus. Looking at this sword gash, the king frowned and his eyes grew colder.

Despite all the hints that had been placed before him, he did not believe any. But this sword gash was the nail in the coffin…that clan. It was really that clan. The ones that lost their names and ended up with no country or home. The hated people.

This lotus in the warehouse was extremely precious. Although it was displayed openly, finding it was not as simple as it seemed.

How did they know about this?

One of the Old Four Claws spoke respectfully, "Your Majesty, the person who came merely did a single attack and committed suicide before the restrictions from the palace could be activated. We investigated the corpse but could not find anything out…what was left behind was just a shell, and the soul's location is unknown."

The king waved his sleeve and the lotus in the storeroom disappeared, "I know." Earlier on, he had been at the Great Vortex Array. He had noticed something was amiss at the warehouse and that was why he had made that move with his sword.

The Central Desolate Li Family was colluding with that clan. No matter how they were using each other or what kind of complications there were, this was an undeniable fact.

So that was why the king got rid of Li Ge with that one sword attack. Although he let Li Ge live, not having a sword cultivation was equivalent to death to a sword cultivator.

This was the coldest and most brutal warning that the king was giving the Central Desolate Li Family. But he still decided to wait it out and observe more.

……

Min Residence.

Lord Min, who was watching the battle from afar, sneered. He knew that things would not end so easily like this. That lady had indeed not forgotten him. Since it had been asked…he did not dare to reject.

Not only because he had personally experienced the horrifying aura from the lady.

More than that, it was because Lord Min found out something astonishing from all this - that lady had already found out about his backing. If not, she would not have asked him to do this.

"Difficult. Very difficult!"

Lord Min sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they flickered in a golden color. His pupils were constricted and looked extremely icy. He was able to see through space and looked into the Li Residence, which had been turned to ruins.

The nine-tailed fox corpse was cut into two and completely devoid of any aura. It had turned into a real corpse with nothing left behind.

Two white-colored balls of demon energy slowly formed in the air. Lord Min waved his sleeve and the two white balls vibrated before disappearing.

……

Marquis Chongwu Mansion.

Rourou nodded in satisfaction. Everything had been done pretty well.

Although there were some ends left behind, it was settled. Unless that old man wanted to die, he should know what to say.

After so long, it was probably time to let Qin Yu break through.

At this moment, the capital's Great Vortex Array had been activated and the Nation Subduing Sword had been used. After the tsunami, the surface of the sea was still turbulent.

The aura had not been stabilized and this was the best time to use it!

Woosh -

Rourou crossed through space and appeared in the closed-door meditation room. She looked at Qin Yu, who was extremely red and bloated. His blood vessels looked like they were about to explode. Her mouth twisted, and then she looked calm.

"No pain, no gain…this is a very cliche saying that seems to be appropriate for us. But this is the truth. Qin Yu, you will soon find out that if I had given you a chance to choose, you would have come crying to me to let you redo everything."

She did not know whether she said so much to convince Qin Yu or to set her own mind at ease.

Rourou lifted her hand and touched Qin Yu's forehead, "The chance is now. How much you gain will depend on yourself."

"Ah!"

A thunderous shout could be heard from Qin Yu and the entire closed-door meditation room shook. The aura that had been sealed and suppressed suddenly flowed out like a flooded river.

Qin Yu had been at the brink of breaking through but had been forcefully held back by Rourou. When Rourou released the seal, he completed the last steps and entered the Ruler realm.

A Ruler from the True God Path was not the same as others. At this moment, he could sense the interlaced rules that filled the earth.

It was like a huge web that contained all living things in the world.

Magnificent, vast, and infinite. In addition to making one feel awe…there was also a very apparent feeling of suppression. Like a stick in one's throat, one was reminded of its presence with every breath.

It was like with every breath, numerous tiny thorns scratched one's throat.

Rourou's eyes lit up and she stretched her hand out towards Qin Yu. 'A drop of clear water' flew out and the silhouette of the Incense Child within it was clear.

At this moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and bowed respectfully.

Rourou was expressionless as she reached out and tapped.

Pak -

With a soft sound, the water droplet broke. The Incense Child was free and its first instinct was to escape into the world.

However, this thought only lasted for a moment before it was pushed away.

Rourou spoke, "Smart. That's why you are still alive. Go. As long as you do your best, I will give you a chance to become a person in the future."

The Incense Child was delighted as it bowed repeatedly. It then turned and entered Qin Yu's forehead. It turned into a gold spot before disappearing.

……

The Imperial Capital's Defense Division. Beneath the ground of the main general's residence, there was a huge underground palace.

The sword that had killed the nine-tailed fox and destroyed Li Ge's sword was in the underground palace.

The sword did not have a sheath and was like a feather suspended in mid-air. Yet it did not move.

But when the Incense Child entered Qin Yu's body, there was a buzzing sound and the sword vibrated.

In the underground palace, sword intent surged and the immense incense power that was gathered from all corners of the West Desolate started bubbling furiously.

However, no matter how one looked at the Nation Subduing Sword, nothing seemed amiss…it was as if the feeling from before had been a mistake.

The sword moved very slightly and eventually stilled once more. The frightening sword intent that filled the palace dissipated.

……

It was only at this step that it was finally considered a success. Rourou breathed a sigh of relief. If there was a problem, she may not have been able to defeat that sword.

If a problem had happened, she may only have been able to drag Qin Yu, who would have lost several limbs, away and find a way to revive him after.

Hmm…of course, she may have failed as well. After all, although that sword's grade was somewhat low, as the item that collected incense power, it was still powerful.

Forget it. Since nothing happened, there was no need for her to think of these scenarios.

Rourou lifted her hand and two white balls appeared in her palm. They were like balls of mist. This was the demon energy from the nine-tailed fox that Lord Min had taken. It could be seen as a divine medicine, a perfect supplement. This was the flesh and bones of the living dead…tsk, this was not accurate. After all, this was the entire essence of a major demon!

Rourou subconsciously licked her lips. Gritting her teeth, she flicked them into Qin Yu's body.

"Lad, just to help you, I really put in a lot of effort. If you wake up and do not know how to be grateful, or if you turn into a dog, I will kill you."

Qin Yu, who had the Incense Child within him now and was in a half-awake state, seemed to be able to sense her and his mouth twitched.

……

In the Imperial Palace, the king had just left the inner storeroom when he suddenly looked up. He looked east, towards an area in the palace. A picture formed in front of his eyes. Gold light dots rose and fell continuously.

In a part of the picture, there seemed to be an invisible attraction, attracting all the gold light dots. All the gold light dots moved towards it, forming a mini gold vortex.

The vortex did not seem big in the wider picture, but this picture represented the entire incense power in the West Desolate's capital.

Who was it?

The king touched it and the vortex started to spin even faster. Soon after, aura started to be released from it.

He looked surprised as he frowned.

Marquis Chongwu…Ning Qin!

Not long ago, he asked for a few treasures and then announced that he was going into seclusion. This meant that he must have succeeded in breaking through to the next realm.

Him…it was actually him…

From the amount of incense power, it was clear that he had gotten the recognition and approval of the Nation Fate.

Could it be that the king was wrong?

……

The West Desolate was a huge country and a huge Divine Nation. The different levels in the country were all part of the Divine Nation.

In the world of cultivation, all cultivators were bound by rules and were willing to serve the Imperial Clan…it was because they had something to gain from doing so.

It was not just their official title that would prevent people from finding trouble with them. More importantly, they had the support of Nation Fate!

Or rather - it was Incense Gift.

As officials of the nation, they each held a seal. These were Incense Transit Stations. Although most of the incense power would eventually be transferred away, the cultivators holding them would be able to absorb a small amount and improve their cultivation.

It was not much. However, by accumulating over the years, it became a substantial amount.

More than that, when cultivators broke through to the next realm, if they were sufficiently loyal and gained the approval of Nation Fate, they would get Incense Feedback.

This was the case when Qin Yu broke through to the Ruler realm today. Of course, though the Incense Feedback was good, it would also depend on how much the cultivator is able to attract.

And even if they were able to attract the incense power, they may not be able to absorb it all. As it was said, how much one could eat depended on one's appetite.

So the two demon essence balls that Lord Min collected were useful here.