Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1693 – Three Trials of Sword Bestowing

A layer of delayed aura was covered up as sword intent rushed up to the skies, like a golden sword shadow that could slash mountains and rivers in half. In an instant, silence filled the air.

It was like a sword that one would see in paintings, but also like a shadow that could be found on a water surface.

Powerful and important figures liked to watch from a distance. Not only did this maintain their status, but from a distance, they could observe the changes in the situation and adjust their condition accordingly.

The true elders of Swallow Mountain were observing the Opening Heavens Sword Sect through a projection light curtain. At this moment, their expressions started to change.

"Sealing Sword Talisman!"

In the projection light curtain, the situation changed once again.

As the swords were shattered the sword shadow was covered by an aura. Jin Geng's eyes narrowed and he started to feel anxious and uneasy.

Both his pupils turned gold in an instant and without any hesitation, he directly used a forbidden technique that he had not yet fully grasped.

The glow around the golden sword that had been sealed started to brighten. On the surface of the sluggish aura, countless cracks started to appear like a sieve full of holes, and it looked like it was going to shatter at any time.

Then, Qin Yu flicked his finger. A beam of light flew out and hit the spot between Jin Geng's eyebrows and directly entered his body and disappeared. His entire body instantly froze and his golden eyes became blank and lifeless.

Soul Calming God Light!

Of course he listened seriously to Rourou's reminders. Today was the first time that he was putting it into practice. Indeed, the results were very surprising. He did not know whether it was because he now had the Sun Moon pair in his soul space which made him more powerful than he anticipated. He had very easily broken Jin Geng's counterattack.

Without any hesitation, Qin Yu pointed at the sword and directed it at Jin Geng's forehead.

"Do not hurt my young master!" the scruffy old man bellowed angrily and rushed out without any thought of his own safety. It was not that his reaction was slow, but in actual fact, the battle situation was changing too quickly.

Just a moment ago, Jin Geng had the upper hand and looked like he could chop Qin Yu in half. Who would have expected that in the blink of an eye, he would be the one to be put in a dangerous predicament?

Hmph!

A cold snort rang out amongst the audience. The scruffy old man who rushed out was directly slashed by a sword's light ray. He began to bleed from all seven orifices and his skin started to crack. His robes were now dyed red as he collapsed to the ground.

A scoff could be heard now. No matter where one stood, be it before the projection light curtain or right here, it could be heard clearly. "When did Swallow Mountain become so unruly?"

Pa –

The spot between Jin Geng's eyebrows exploded and his headless corpse fell to the ground.

However, whatever happened next was rather strange. The flesh of the corpse rapidly shriveled and blood essence gushed out from within, creating another Jin Geng from thin air whose face was terribly pale.

"I admit defeat!" he declared without any hesitation.

Opposite him, Qin Yu frowned.

Whoosh –

Hu Fu's figure appeared in front of Jin Geng and said in a low voice, "Swallow Mountain has fixed rules. If the challenger admits defeat, the battle will cease immediately."

"What are you going to do about people who intervene in a challenge of their own accord?"

Hu Fu was expressionless as he replied, "They will get the death sentence."

Rourou scoffed, "Okay, you said it yourself."

The scruffy old man who was lying in his own blood on the ground widened his eyes. 'Bang!' He exploded and his bones and flesh shattered. Even if he had a technique where he could conjure a dummy to die in his place, he still would not be able to survive this.

"Hu Fu, it is time for our grievances to be settled."

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Hu Fu raised his head, looked at the Opening Heavens Sword Sect and said, "Three days later, my sect will come for the Sword Bestowing."

"Very good," Rourou said.

Hu Fu looked at Qin Yu before he turned around and said, "Young Master Jin, I will escort you out."

Jin Geng cupped his hands, "Thank you, Sect Master Hu Fu."

He turned around and left without any hesitation. His servant who had been watching the battle from afar paled and quickly came over to hold him up.

Jin Geng did not refuse her help because he was truly very weak now.

Did he have hatred in his heart? Of course he did!

However, Jin Geng did not show it at all. He had indeed lost; there was no point in being angry about it.

Hu Fu looked extremely apologetic as he remarked, "Young Master Jin, I am very sorry. My sect was careless and did not manage to save you in time; this has caused Young Master to suffer great losses."

Jin Geng shook his head, "If it were not for Sect Master who stepped up to help me, I would probably have been dead already. I can't thank you enough already, so why would I complain about anything?"

He cupped his hands and continued, "The token on me was activated when I 'died' just now. Old Ancestor will very quickly send someone to escort me back home. Before that happens, I'm afraid I have to impose on Sect Master for a few days."

Hu Fu nodded, "That's no problem at all. Young Master Jin can treat your wounds at the Circling Heavens Sword Sect. I promise you that you will be safe there."

He waved his sleeve and an aura wrapped around the three of them. Then, they disappeared.

Following Jin Geng's defeat and the use of his substitute which allowed him to stay alive, peace was restored at the Opening Heavens Sword Sect. Still internally shaken from the turn of events, everyone knew that the Opening Heavens Sword Sect had successfully gotten over the first wave.

They successfully regained control of the entrance, which meant that they had completed the first stage of reopening the sect. However, this was not the end of their troubles.

The 'Sword Bestowing' mentioned by Hu Fu earlier was a challenge that any sect in Swallow Mountain had to go through in order to reopen. It tested a sect's true power and whether or not they had any Incense Affinity.

The Sword Bestowing had three rounds, where the three people who were in the roster were well-recognized and powerful swordsmen in Swallow Mountain. In the whole of Swallow Mountain, there were only about ten people who could fulfill these conditions. Only by getting through this test could the Opening Heavens Sword Sect be considered to have complete morals and virtues, and only then would they be accepted by Swallow Mountain.

As for the 'Incense Affinity' that was mentioned earlier, they would have some room for manipulation in the Three Trials of Sword Bestowing if they had some Incense Affinity…however, no one had much hope for the Opening Heavens Sword Sect.

Not to mention how the Opening Heavens Sword Sect had been eliminated because they were surrounded by enemies and could not find any strong support, much time had already passed since then. Even if there were some leftover Incense Affinity, it should have been completely wiped out by now.

In summary, the Opening Heavens Sword Sect had scored full marks for their first performance. As the inheritor of the sect, Qin Yu had given a powerful impression to all parties involved. Still, however, no one was optimistic about their sect's future. Everyone felt that they would not be able to get past the Three Trials of Sword Bestowing…others aside, just the terrifyingly powerful Hu Fu from the Circling Heavens Sword Sect was enough to defeat the Opening Heavens Sword Sect.

Furthermore, that young master from the Jin Family, which was known to be a family that practiced Sword Dao, had been killed once by Qin Yu. He only managed to live because of his substitute treasure. The value of the substitute treasure went without saying, so who knew if the Jin Family would take this chance to get back at the Opening Heavens Sword Sect?

……

"Three Trials of Sword Bestowing?" Qin Yu took a deep breath and his eyes widened unconsciously. This was the first time he heard Rourou mention this key part about reopening the sect.

After clarifying the details, the first thought Qin Yu had was to escape Swallow Mountain.

What kind of joke was this?

Everything aside, just the way that Hu Fu from the Circling Heavens Sword Sect looked at him today was enough to make his heart pound in fear and shock. Even though Hu Fu did not do anything, he had released a terrifying sword aura.

This was the plan that Rourou and Bull Dingtian came up with? What is this? Is this also a plan to send me to my death?

Qin Yu was silent this entire time, but his eyes very clearly gave away what he was feeling.

Rourou scoffed, "Why are you panicking?!"

Qin Yu's eyes brightened, "Are you going to personally make a move?"

If that was the case, then of course there was nothing to fear. This Three Trials of Sword Bestowing and everyone else was insignificant.

Rourou shook her head.

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Qin Yu's expression faltered, "Do you think that I will be able to pass the Three Trials of Sword Bestowing?" His lips twitched as he took a long breath and continued, "Rourou, don't you think you have too much confidence in me?"

She pursed her lips, "You are as cowardly as a rat. No wonder you and that chicken are master and servant."

Qin Yu rubbed his face and said, "I think that this is called being self-aware, not being cowardly? Furthermore, after handing chicken overlord over to you, I haven't seen him in a long time…" He looked at Rourou's red and moist lips before coughing dryly, "It couldn't be that you got hungry one day and ate him, right?"

Rourou merely rolled her eyes at him, "What's nice to eat about chicken overlord? Even if I wanted to eat him, I have to wait until he gets bigger…don't think about changing the topic, we are not going anywhere; we will be staying here at Swallow Mountain."

Qin Yu clenched his teeth, "Then tell me, how do I stay alive?"

Rourou flipped her hand and a token appeared. She put it in front of Qin Yu. He was familiar with this object, and after thinking about it for a while, he remembered that this was what Bull Dingtian gave to her before she left.

"If you don't recognize this, it's alright. You just need to know that this token is able to help you offset one of the trials."

Then, she retrieved a dagger. It was mottled with rust and looked like it could be broken in half with just a little bit of force, "This dagger can also help you offset one of the trials."

Qin Yu's eyes brightened once again and he stared at Rourou, waiting for her to take out another item.

However, after a few moments of waiting, there was no follow-up.

"Rourou, I think that with your wisdom and foresight, you definitely would not just have prepared these two items right?"

She scoffed, "I'm sorry to disappoint Great Master Qin, but I really only have these two items." She had a serious look in her eyes and she continued, "The person behind the third trial of Sword Bestowing will definitely be Hu Fu. You have to rely on yourself to survive it."

Even though it seemed like the difficulty level had dropped by a great amount now that two of the three trials were offset, it only took one sword to kill…whether there were two trials offset or not, death was still there, waiting for him!

After looking at Rourou's expression and confirming that she was not joking, he took a deep breath and asked, "If you want me to risk my life, you have to at least give me a sword right?"

She nodded, but after a few moments, she shook her head, "I will give one to you, but not now."

Qin Yu laughed bitterly, "Stop playing around; what time is it already and you still aren't giving it to me? I will die going against Hu Fu without a doubt."

Rourou turned and before she left, she informed him, "I'm going to go and arrange the first two Sword Bestowings."

Whoosh –

She disappeared.

Qin Yu felt his teeth aching and after taking a glance up, down, left, and right, he could not help but think – why not escape by myself now? However, this thought was quickly abandoned.

Without him, the plan was not going to work at all.

With Rourou's powers, trying to escape right in front of her was even harder than crossing the Celestial Threshold. Getting caught while trying to escape was extremely embarrassing, so why not just grit his teeth and hold on until the end?

Qin Yu did not believe that Rourou would really arrange a situation where only certain death awaited him.

Clenching his jaw, he discarded all these thoughts and sat down cross-legged. There was not much time left and there was not enough time for him to cultivate already.

What he needed to do now was to figure out what he had that could help him go through these trials, to prevent being killed by someone too quickly – Rourou definitely had some back-up plans!

He had to use his small world, but against Hu Fu, it would not be very useful.

The second thing was the Soul Calming God Light that he unfortunately used today. It would definitely be remembered by people who wanted to have it. It would be hard to achieve that wondrous effect that he did today.

However, it would surely still be useful. At most, it would allow him to gain a little more life energy in desperate situations.

Thirdly, there was the Sealing Sword Talisman.

This object was a little thing Qin Yu had gained after using lots of brain cells to read the book that Jiang Huan left behind.

Its offensive power was pretty good.

Putting all these aside, if he was able to seal the golden sword shadow, he would definitely be able to block Hu Fu's sword.

It was a pity. If only all three trials of Sword Bestowing required blocking just one sword.