Refining the Mountains and Rivers

After being saved from the precipice of death, Sang Zhu's face changed colors. She looked up in a dull daze as someone appeared in front of her. A fine veil covered her face. But even so, one could sense something called 'peerless grace and beauty' from her.

In stunned bewilderment, Sang Zhu actually felt envy for a moment. But soon she reawakened from her confusion and quickly lowered her head, concealing her mood.

Who was this woman? She was even more impressive and regal than her, a solemn princess of an empire?

Qin Yu already recognized who this person that interfered was. It was the veiled cultivator he had cooperated with in the city ruins before. He thought back to how she had cleanly vanished as soon as he felt some guilt for planning to abandon her soon, and his face couldn't help but cloud over.

Of course, he would never acknowledge that his expression right now was in part to cover up his own awkwardness. He really had no idea why this was so!

Shen Yuanyin looked at Qin Yu and her eyebrows furrowed together. A cold yet pleasant voice sounded out, "It's you."

Qin Yu was boiling over with killing intent and his aura had completely erupted; he naturally couldn't conceal himself any longer. "We meet again." He glanced around but no longer saw the female cultivators that had followed this woman before. Thinking about it, this woman had probably encountered trouble these past days.

Carefully sensing it, although it was faint, he could sense that she had weakened beneath her powerful veneer.

Hearing Qin Yu's calm voice, waves began to form in Shen Yuanyin's calm indifference. When she revolved her cultivation method, loathing started to form in her heart.

"I must save this woman."

Her voice was even colder, as if she would start a fight at any moment.

Qin Yu frowned. "Do you know what she has done?"

Shen Yuanyin coldly said, "I don't know, nor do I care to know." Within the Sublime Lost Emotion Code, besides the leeway allowed for the fear of death, the only thing that might be called a leftover emotion was her regard towards the Immortal Sect's approval.

As the master of Nineheaven Mirrormoon Palace, she couldn't allow a direct lineage of the Immortal Sect to die in front of her.

When Sang Zhu was about to die, part of the hastily summoned protective power she brought out belonged to the lineage of the Immortal Sect. Otherwise, with her current condition, how could she possibly try and save this girl?

When Qin Yu heard this, the words he had prepared in his mind began to disperse. He looked deeply at her and said, "Do as you wish!"

He turned and left.

It wasn't that he was some l.u.s.t-filled idiot, it was that this veiled female cultivator was unfathomably deep in his eyes. Her strength was tyrannical.

If he insisted on killing Sang Zhu and came into conflict with this veiled woman as a result, he feared they would be mutually wounded.

Qin Yu lifted up the unconscious Feng Yunyun and shot into the skies, soon disappearing from sight.

Watching the two leave, ripples began to appear in the lake of Shen Yuanyin's heart.

Why did this person always disturb her mind? Just as this question arose it was immediately suppressed. Lost emotion…she couldn't waste her time on such minor things.

That's right, within Shen Yuanyin's eyes, Qin Yu was currently a random person that she could neglect. She turned around and coldly said, "Who are you? Why do you have an Immortal Token on you?"

Sang Zhu regained her composure. She straightened herself and respectfully said, "Replying to fairy maiden, I am a princess of the Qi Empire. Although I have yet to truly enter the Immortal Sect, I was sheltered by the Immortal Sect when I was young. When I was a year old I was granted an Immortal Token."

She offered the token with both hands as she spoke.

Shen Yuanyin glanced over it; it was undoubtedly a genuine Immortal Token from the Immortal Sect. She nodded and said, "The Sea of Purgatory is dangerous. You should retreat immediately to avoid being buried here."

She turned and left.

"Fairy maiden, please wait a moment!" Sang Zhu quickly said.

Shen Yuanyin paused and looked back, her eyes indifferent.

Sang Zhu saw she wasn't the type to be moved easily and hurriedly changed her strategy. Instead of trying to seek sympathy, she instead said, "I owe fairy maiden for the graciousness of saving my life. I will never forget this for as long as I live. Is there any way I can repay you?"

She cautiously looked up and was overjoyed when she saw Shen Yuanyin not refuse her. "The Qi Empire's royal family has always revered the Immortal Sect. If my sovereign father and the Elders of my family learn that I received your graciousness and didn't repay it, I will surely be punished. I ask fairy maiden for the chance to repay this debt."

She kneeled as she spoke.

Shen Yuanyin opened her mouth and said, "If you want, you can follow by my side for the time being. You can act as my protector when I cultivate."

Qin Yu's previous feeling wasn't wrong. She had indeed been injured, but the most important reason was that she had received a backlash from her cultivation method.

Originally, Shen Yuanyin shouldn't have tried to utilize the Sublime Lost Emotion Code anytime soon in order to not stimulate the hidden dangers in her body.

But during the two times she saw Qin Yu so far, the quiet lake of her mind had experienced turbulence an equal number of times. She had no choice but to suppress her cultivation method.

Thinking about her current condition, Qin Yu had to bear a certain portion of the responsibility.

Sang Zhu was overjoyed. "I will listen to fairy maiden in all!" She respectfully bowed, her voice meek and obedient.

…

When the evil hell spirit ran away, the Yellow Springs Fog dispersed. Qin Yu easily left and flew for two hours before coming to a stop.

He swept his divine sense around. When he was sure that this place was temporarily safe, he landed on the ground and set Feng Yunyun down.

Within the Infinite Realm, Qin Yu had been falsely accused by the cultivators of the Immortal Sect, and only this woman had spoken up on his behalf.

The cause of the past led to the effects of today. If it weren't for that, Qin Yu wouldn't have helped and Feng Yunyun would have died.

Of course, reality proved that in preserving his final bottom line, he had been repaid with a blessing.

When Qin Yu saved her it was the same as saving himself. Otherwise, that evil hell spirit that was pretending to be asleep wouldn't have been easy to deal with.

Along the way here, he had checked her current condition. Right now, he placed his hand between her eyebrows once more, sensing her state for several breaths of time.

Qin Yu relaxed. Although she was weak, her condition was relatively stable. She should be able to recover after resting a little.

But this was the Sea of Purgatory and there was no absolutely safe environment. With Feng Yunyun's current state, once she lost his protection she would easily die.

But if he wanted to hunt for the Water Marid, it was impossible to keep her by his side…this was actually a troublesome dilemma.

He shook his head. Then, he took out some healing pills and fed them to Feng Yunyun before closing his eyes in meditation. He would figure things out after she woke up.

…

Two cultivators flew carefully at a low altitude. One of them suddenly stopped. He turned and looked down at the earth with a look of surprise on his face.

At this time, the other person had already sensed that something was off. He turned around and their gazes met.

"These fluctuations…something's not too right."

The second person licked his lips. "Yes, it feels as if…a treasure is about to be born."

The atmosphere quieted down. A burning heat appeared in both their eyes. The Sea of Purgatory was perilous, but there were many good fortunes to be found here too. These two had come across some harvests before this.

"Come, let's go take a look!"

The two people descended. A canyon appeared in front of them. As they approached, the fluctuations became increasingly strong.

Originally they had only suspected it, but now they could almost confirm that there was a treasure here.

Although the two were pleasantly surprised, they didn't lower their guard. They used various methods to probe the surroundings and determine that there weren't any dangers in the canyon below.

Without speaking further, the two cultivators flew down into the canyon. Shortly after, the excited shouts of two people echoed out, as if they had found great harvests. But soon, for some unknown reason, their shouts began to fill with panic and horror. At first there were some rustling sounds, but soon everything fell silent.

The canyon below slowly closed up. Moments later the ground was completely smooth, with no sight of the canyon in view.

A few more moments passed. The dirt on the ground rose up, gathering into the figure of a large bald fellow. The man stretched his waist, his bones cracking and popping.

"Hu…there was a sweet snack as soon as I woke up. This day is indeed comfortable." His smile was simple and honest. He sniffed around and couldn't help but frown. "What a disgusting stench. That damned corpse, it still hasn't rotted away yet. What a disappointment."

"But since even he woke up, there really should be movements by now. Hoho, I'm really looking forward to this."

The large bald fellow smiled and stepped out. His figure suddenly vanished, appearing in the far distance in the next moment.

With a few more steps, he vanished across the horizon.

…

The miss from the state minister's mansion revealed a panic-stricken expression. As she looked at the insects that were crawling towards her from all directions, her eyes widened in abject fear.

Although she was only a daughter that wasn't valued much by her father, she was still the official daughter of the solemn Chu Empire's third state minster. Who would dare to harm her?

She never found out the answer, because at this time, this young lady fainted.

Her consciousness fell dark. Her last thoughts before this happened were her wondering if this was a dream.

But in truth, this wasn't a dream.

There was rustling sounds all around. Countless ugly insects with too many teeth and too many legs crawled all over her body.

Sounds of chewing filled the air. In a brief period of time, her body shrunk and shrunk until all that was left was her skeleton.

Her empty eye sockets helplessly looked up at the ash gray skies. The only fortunate thing here was that this all happened while she was unconscious, so she didn't feel too much pain.

The insects that ate her flesh and blood began to twitch. They tumbled around on the ground, their previous full and happy appearances completely gone.

Bang -

Bang -

The insects began to explode one after another, like numerous firecrackers thrown together.

In the blink of an eye, a blood fog filled the air. And what was even stranger was that this blood fog didn't disperse into the wind, but constantly tumbled about, as if something were brewing within.

Finally, a blood red arm stretched out from the blood fog. There was no skin on the arm's surface, so it dripped with blood.

Slowly, the arm reached out between the eyes of the skeleton. Strange traces appeared, rapidly racing down the skeleton.

When the lines covered every inch of the skeleton, the blood red arm trembled and collapsed, as if it had used up all its strength.

Then, the blood fog disappeared. All that was left behind was a petite skeleton on the ground, one that was covered with lines all over.

Hu -

Two black flames lit up in the eye sockets of the skeleton. The skeleton stood up from the ground and its head turned as if it were looking around.

In the next moment, it lifted its leg and took a step forward.

When this foot fell, the ground violently shook. A loud rumbling filled the air, spreading out from somewhere deep within the earth.

It was like some vicious beast from deep below the ground was finally reawakening.

Cracks appeared on the ground. The earth collapsed and a giant stone tablet emerged, breaking free from the dirt.

The tablet was a thousand feet tall. A boundless aura wrapped around it. With just a glance, one could tell this was an ancient object of the world.

On the front, there were etched characters. It was different from the language known today; the meaning of the words was unknown.

A large beast decorated the back. Its shape was that of a huge snake, its mouth opened up to swallow the sun and moon. It roared towards the heavens.

If one stood at the very highest point of the Sea of Purgatory and looked all around, they would discover that a total of 12 stone tablets had drilled out of the ground from all around.

The writing on the front was the same. It was just that on the back of each stone tablet, there was a different beast etched there.

When the 12 stone tablets appeared, a heart-shaking aura suddenly descended, covering the entire Sea of Purgatory.

Qin Yu was in meditation recuperating his energy. At this time he fiercely woke up, a sharp light exploding from his eyes.

That aura just now…

Although he had no idea what happened, he could feel an invisible mountain arrive atop his heart. Even breathing became a little bit more difficult.

At the peak of the snake stone tablet, the skeleton held its hands behind its back. Black flames surged in its eyes; it seemed to be waiting for something.

But in the end, the expected matter didn't happen. The skeleton was silent for a brief moment before it opened its mouth and silently laughed.

So it seemed he wasn't the only one who fell today…