Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Atop the long snake stone tablet, the skeleton placed a hand against his chest and bowed respectfully. "This lowly one greets His Majesty the Emperor."

Emperor Zhou stood tall with his hands behind his back. His calm appearance was the embodiment of noble dignity. When his eyes opened and closed, it manifested constant changes in the skies above.

"Tens of millions of years have passed and yet your race hasn't been exterminated. Now, you appear in front of me. Could it be that you want to die? You criminal!"

A low and deep voice sounded out like distant thunder, rumbling through the heavens as it echoed into the distance.

The skeleton stood up straight, black fire surging in his eyes. "Your Majesty's pressure is unparalleled. If you wish to kill me, that is as simple as turning your hand. But, the current Land of Divinity and Demons is no longer the Great Zhou Empire of the past. I fear that the seven empires that have divided up the land will not stare on helplessly as Your Majesty rules the world once more."

"Are you warning me?"

"This lowly one dares not offend Your Majesty. It's just that I believe that my continued living might be more beneficial to Your Majesty. This is because my race shares a common need with Your Majesty; we both wish for this world to fall into chaos. Within the chaos, Your Majesty may take hold of that opportunity to restore the Great Zhou Empire, and my people can also return to our native lands once again, avoiding the great calamity of extinction."

Emperor Zhou's eyes brightened, like vast stars spinning around. "The wave has arrived at the border of the northern cold?"

The skeleton nodded, "Yes." He naturally understood the reason why this great founding emperor cared about this matter.

With his honored status, he should be able to enjoy unsurpassed glory and dominate the world for tens of millions of years. But, he willingly discarded all of this to fall into a deep and dark slumber.

Wasn't it all for this chance that appeared only once in hundreds of millions of years?

Emperor Zhou's lips curved up in a happy smile. After several breaths of silence he opened his mouth and slowly said, "Because you brought this news to me, I will give you all an opportunity to redeem your sins."

The skeleton fell to his knees. "If my race can escape their great calamity, then in the future whether we are killed, honored, or disgraced, everything will be in Your Majesty's hands!"

Emperor Zhou turned around. "Remember the pledge you made to me. You only have one chance."

He took a step out and his figure scattered in the wind. He was unexpectedly just an incarnation.

Atop the long snake stone tablet, the skeleton stood up. Black figures surged in his eye sockets. It was unknown whether he was feeling sorrow or joy.

Great Zhou had ruled the world and expelled its sinners into the northern cold regions. Through these years, the number of people who had died in their race was incalculable in number.

But now, he had made the choice for his race to subordinate themselves to Emperor Zhou…

Would his living tribesmen understand his difficulties? Would his dead tribesmen forgive his choice?

After a long time he gently sighed, suppressing all of these difficult emotions. In this world, was there really anything like perfection? As long as he could save his tribe, as long as he could allow the babies and children of his people to grow up smoothly, as long as he could make it so that the weak and the old didn't need to die in the snowy field on their own initiative, that alone was more than enough…

…

Virtual world.

Although this was a side world condensed by vast supernatural arts, it couldn't withstand the formidable aura outside for a long time.

This forced the cultivators who entered to be in a perpetually active state. Once they stopped for even a moment, this space would collapse and form a terrifying vortex.

Because this was called a world, even a virtual world, it already had some of the more complete characteristics of a world. For instance, if this space collapsed, the power behind it would be extremely horrifying.

As a result, this completely severed Qin Yu's plans of hiding in the background and acting as a fisherman. He shook his head in regret.

With the Cosmic Seacross Bell and purple moon helping him, if he had the intent to hide himself, he basically wouldn't be discovered by anyone.

But with the current situation it was useless to think too much about it. Qin Yu restrained his thoughts and his figure howled forward.

This virtual world had mountains and rivers, but it had no aura of life or vitality. Everything was dusky, like being surrounded in a cage formed of mist, constantly making one feel oppressed.

Suddenly, Qin Yu's heart shrank. Before his thoughts even properly formed, his body had instinctively reacted.

His foot struck the ground. He lifted a hand and formed a fist, ruthlessly punching outwards.

Bang -

Within the crash, space fiercely twisted. A shadow suddenly appeared. It backed up several steps before stopping, a look of surprise in its eyes.

It clearly never thought that this boy with the weakest aura could actually discover its sneak attack.

A distance away, Qin Yu's complexion was pale. He thought about how he had experienced a brush with death just now. His heart was still in disarray, and the more he thought about it the more startled and angry he became.

From start to finish, he didn't receive any warning at all. This was the first time this had happened since had obtained the Cosmic Seacross Bell and purple moon.

There were countless crouching tigers and hidden dragons concealed in the vast world. Today's accident also gave Qin Yu a profound lesson. He couldn't lower his guard or underestimate any situation. Even though he possessed special treasures, this didn't mean everything was in his grasp.

As he thought about how he was feeling regret because of how unstable this virtual world was, Qin Yu felt embarrassed. His face darkened.

Even if he could go into hiding, so what? He feared if he had done that, someone would have quietly reached his side and taken his life without him being able to respond at all.

That would have been a real joke!

Qin Yu quietly warned himself. He looked up at the figure across from him and his eyes turned icy cold. He wouldn't feel any gratitude towards this opponent just because of his helpful 'reminder'.

"Hehe, I originally wanted to save my strength but it seems I looked down on you. It seems I will need to spend a bit of effort." The cultivator across from Qin Yu lightly said, his face full of confidence.

When this person entered the virtual world he had already taken note of Qin Yu. He felt that Qin Yu's aura was average, without there being anything special or extraordinary about him. When he was discovered just now, he had been secretly surprised and thus he had attacked without hesitation.

Shua -

This person's eyes turned pure silver white, icy cold without any heat in them.

Then, a terrifying divine sense impact erupted like a broken dam.

A moment before he had been arrogant and complacent, and in the next moment he had attacked after saying he would attack. There was no indication of any of his actions.

If someone was chosen to be sent into this virtual world, how could any one of them be an idiot? Even if this person was confident in himself, he wouldn't underestimate his opponent.

There was a reason this cultivator could hide from Qin Yu's senses. His special and formidable soul allowed him to crush his opponent when it came to matters of the soul.

Once a person's soul was damaged, their life and death would be in his hands.

Qin Yu stuffily humphed, his complexion turned deathly white. The other cultivator hurtled forwards, thrusting a hand towards Qin Yu's forehead.

Before the hand fell, a terrifying aura arrived. His attack was merciless.

But at this time, a hand rose up and grabbed this person's wrist. Then in the next moment, that hand fiercely pulled back.

The other cultivator staggered forward. Before the panic and stunned disbelief dispersed from his face, a fist smashed into his chest.

Blood wildly spurted out from his nose and mouth, mixed with bits and pieces of organs.

Qin Yu's fist struck solid. Then, without delay, a second and third fist followed in rapid succession.

With a casual toss, that cultivator plopped to the ground. His entire body had collapsed into a ball, nearly turned into goo.

He had died!

After killing someone in three fists, there was no expression on Qin Yu's face. He turned and walked away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Soon, four more figures arrived. When they looked at the corpse on the ground, they revealed fearful looks.

From the moment when they sensed the auras to when they arrived in this area, only an extremely short time had passed.

But during that brief conflict, someone had died. The killer had also left calmly. The strength required to do this left them startled!

They glanced at each other. Without pause, they all left.

Who knew whether the fluctuations that came from here would draw in more people? Everyone wanted to live until the end, but no one dared to easily start a battle royal.

…

Outside the pool of soup, somewhere atop a mountain top, there was a sudden angry roar. Immediately, a vicious perception locked onto someone far away.

The decayed corpse was without expression. He continued to look at the situation within the virtual world, completely disregarding this action.

That vicious perception lingered around hesitantly before finally dispersing. Although it was extremely angry and resentful, it didn't dare to be too dissolute here.

Because the one who laid down the rules was Emperor Zhou!

Time slowly passed, a moment at a time. The decayed corpse suddenly frowned, a gloominess deep in his eyes. It was because even at this time, he still hadn't discovered the location of the boy that had been behind Emperor Zhou.

The virtual world wasn't complete so it couldn't block out his perception. Although he didn't know the reason that caused this matter to occur…in his heart, a foreboding premonition slowly appeared.