Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The dark skies hung low. The layers of clouds seemed as if they would overlap with the distant mountain ranges. On the great black earth, oddly-shaped dead vegetation seemed to grow, sharp thorns covering every branch.

Suddenly, seven dots of light appeared in the tranquil air and started to rapidly spread outwards. After the light collected and restrained itself, it slowly faded away to reveal seven figures.

Qin Yu swept his eyes around. When he saw Guard One and the other six, he felt much more relaxed. The Demon Envoy's arrangements had gone smoothly so far. With these six people by his side, things would be far safer.

Guard One took a deep breath. A complex light flashed in his eyes before he returned to normal. He cupped his hands together and said, "My lord, what grows below us are earth phantasm thorn bushes. They have the effect of producing illusions. If you feel any discomfort, take out your satchel and sniff it a few times."

Seeing Qin Yu nod, Guard One made a hand signal. Guard Two and the others spread out in a protective formation. The mysterious Guard Four also disappeared without a trace.

"My lord, let us go."

Whoosh -

The group began moving forward.

The Water Marid was one of the Chu Empire's great guardian God Beasts. It slept throughout the year in the depths of the Sea of Purgatory, one of the forbidden zones that could not be entered. Since they only had one month and they had no idea what sort of troubles they would encounter along the way, they naturally didn't dare to delay.

Qin Yu's eyes fell on Guard One, and then he looked at Guard Two and the others. They seemed to move together with a tacit understanding of each other. Their methods were flawless, as if they were already familiar with the Sea of Purgatory.

Could it be they had come before?

But just as this thought appeared, it was dismissed by Qin Yu. According to the Demon Envoy, from the moment the great Chu Empire was founded, the Sea of Purgatory had only been opened a mere several times.

The last time could be traced back to 700,000 years ago. Was there any life form in this world that could live for that long? He was likely overthinking things.

…

Shen Yuanyin's face was covered with a thin veil. Her chilly eyes seemed like the moon in the night sky, faint and indifferent, without any hint of emotion.

12 female cultivators knelt behind her. All of them were slender with incomparably beautiful appearances, but their faces were stiff as if they were wearing masks.

Not too far away, there was a monster beast covered in black diamond-shaped scales. Its body had been cut into 13 parts, the surface of the cuts as smooth as a mirror.

The wounds seemed to be wrapped by an invisible membrane. Not a drop of blood flowed out, but the air was still thick with the smell of it.

This bloody smell didn't come from the dead monster beast, but the 12 women that were kneeling on the ground.

"Palace Master, we should leave."

Shen Yuanyin nodded. She stepped forward and her body fluttered away like a ball of cotton. The 12 female cultivators behind her stood up and followed closely behind.

…

Looking down at the wound on his arm that was slowly darkening, Zhan Lingtian slowly furrowed his eyebrows together. He said in a deep voice, "Be extra careful. Something doesn't seem right with the current situation."

Seeing the worrying eyes cast his way, he turned his head and said, "Weiwei, don't worry, this trivial poison won't harm me."

Weiwei shook her head. She handed over a poison curing pill. Although it didn't have any use here, Zhan Lingtian still swallowed it.

"Is it alright now?"

Several people in the troop saw the miss' worried expression. Although they didn't say anything, they all had ugly complexions.

Despite the incident just now having happened suddenly and they came out unharmed, their young master had still been injured. This was simply unforgivable.

If something happened to the young master, not even 10,000 deaths would be enough penance.

Each of them clenched their fists, resolving their hearts to raise their guard to the peak. They couldn't make another careless mistake like this.

But at this time, with a cry of alarm, the entire troop fell into confusion.

…

Guard One's face was ugly to look at. They had been sufficiently careful along the way, but they had still caught the attention of four monster beasts. The strength of the one in front of them was particularly astonishing. Although it hadn't yet reached the Calamity Immortal level, in terms of pure destructive force it wasn't any weaker. They had to spend a considerable amount of time and effort in order to slay it.

Qin Yu had no idea what this meant. But, he could feel from the dignified postures of the several True Demon Guards that some problem must have occurred.

As expected, Guard One said, "My lord, the monster beasts within the Sea of Purgatory live in different divided zones. Generally speaking, as long as we are on the edges, we won't encounter monster beasts that are too tyrannically strong…I ask my lord to be more wary. I feel that today's Sea of Purgatory is somewhat strange."

Qin Yu nodded. But at this time, his complexion suddenly changed. "Be careful!" He moved his feet. Just as the ground below him collapsed, his figure shot up into the skies. In the next moment the earth shattered and several black tentacles slithered out. Luckily, the True Demon Guards had been warned by Qin Yu so they were able to avoid them.

The black tentacles rapidly retracted, pulling the corpse of the dead monster beast back with them. Then, what followed soon after was the bone-chilling sounds of flesh and bone being separated.

The moment Guard One saw the underground tentacles, his pupils violently shrank. When he heard the swallowing sounds, his entire body stiffened. "My lord, we will delay it. Please hurry up and leave this area!"

With a loud shout, gray energy surged around Guard One's hands. The energy condensed into a massive chopping blade. Then, the chopping blade came cutting down.

Bang -

There was a heaven-shaking explosion. A massive crack was instantly formed in the ground below to reveal a terrifyingly large figure. The slippery surface of the creature was torn open and dark green sludge flowed out.

Pained roars of anger transmitted out from below. The horrifying life form that was hidden beneath the earth tightened its flesh and blood, and the edges of the wound attached back together. Following that, there were sounds of whistling air as several black tentacles shot out like bolts of lightning. Guard One didn't resist at all and allowed the tentacles to drag him into the ground.

"Your Highness, please flee!"

Guard Two and the others rushed into the earth. At some point, even the hidden Guard Four had appeared on the ground near the crack. He held a long knife in his hands as he dove into the opened flesh and blood.

Rumble rumble -

Like an earth dragon awakening, the earth began to fiercely quake. Layers upon layers of incredible waves rose up, instantly submerging Guard One and the others along with the terrifying life form. However, loud thumping sounds from deep below the earth proved that an intense battle was still taking place.

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows. He thought for a moment and took a deep breath. As he stepped forward, about to take action, the Cosmic Seacross Bell in his soul space began to ring out loud.

He looked up. In the distance, he could see a black mountain ridge begin to shake and disintegrate…there was something racing towards this location from deep below the earth, and there was more than one of them!

Qin Yu's eyes darkened for a moment but he restrained all of his emotions in an instant. Without any hesitation, he turned and hurtled into the distance.

He didn't turn his head. It was only when he no longer heard the thunderous shakings of the earth or the loud bangs below the surface did he finally stop.

He looked back. The fog weaving together in the gray skies was like massive mountains, wanting to crush everyone below to pieces.

Before Qin Yu came to the Chu Empire, he had gone over in great depth all the information he could find related to the Sea of Purgatory. With his status as the Holy Palace's Holy Son, there was almost nothing he couldn't access. He had a considerable understanding of the Sea of Purgatory.

Guard One and the others were all extremely strong individuals. But not long after entering the Sea of Purgatory, they had encountered a disastrous catastrophe and then suffered total destruction…although this place should be dangerous, it absolutely shouldn't be as dangerous as it was today!

For a time, Qin Yu didn't realize that it was his and Shen Yuanyin's identities being exposed that was the reason for all of this. Their appearances here had stirred up the Great Chu Emperor's killing intent, leading to the present situation.

He thought about Guard One and the others; they were likely done for. A difficult and uneasy feeling appeared in his chest.

Although they hadn't been together for too long, these people had still wholeheartedly protected him. Even though they knew their actions just now were tantamount to certain death, they didn't hesitate at all.

But these feelings lasted for a mere moment before they were suppressed. The True Demon Guards and used their lives as the price for him being able to withdraw intact. The best way to repay them would be to keep living on.

Right now, two choices were placed in front of Qin Yu. First, he could quickly retreat and leave the Sea of Purgatory. This place was strange and unpredictable, far more dangerous than it should have been. This plan was the best way to maintain his life.

The second choice was to continue delving deeper. However, if the edges were already so dangerous, then who knew what sort of terrors lay with the forbidden zones. This choice was...

But before Qin Yu could come to a decision, loud and deep roars suddenly echoed out from behind him. He turned around to see several people running away, a massive figure chasing after them.