Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Wei Zongyuan drew several steps backward. Golden god blood flowed out from the corners of his lips. He furrowed his eyebrows together, his eyes as cold as ice. Then, he raised his arms up into the skies. World rules wildly spun around and a python emerged from thin air, its mouth opening as it bit towards Qin Yu.

The fragmented piece of godhead continuously spun around, releasing a deep blue light. This light was absorbed by Qin Yu's soul, allowing him to maintain the combustion of the Godfire.

During this process, Qin Yu felt as if his soul was an ingot of metal placed into a tempering furnace. All of the impurities were being burned away and the quality of what was left behind rose at a rapid rate.

When some gods trained their disciples in ancient times, they would sacrifice a part of their source godhead to help their disciples ignite their Godfire ahead of time. Although it wasn't possible to directly turn someone into a god, this method allowed their disciple's soul to experience a leap in quality, firming the foundation for them to ignite their Godfire later.

Of course, the disciple referred to here was an absolute direct descendant personally chosen by the god to inherit everything they had.

What Qin Yu enjoyed now was a god cultivating him without any hesitation over the price. Even if 'she' wasn't willing to do so.

As the Godfire burned, Qin Yu had a strength comparable to a god. But, he was still a mortal. The fusion of god and mortal allowed him to easily destroy that blood-colored arm.

Otherwise, even if another god arrived here today, that god would only suffer the fate of being swallowed up.

A fist punched out and the world shivered. The python that was biting at Qin Yu had its head blown apart. But, it didn't seem to suffer any substantive damage at all. Its massive body wrapped around the space where Qin Yu was and crazily contracted inwards.

A battle between gods could be seen more as a comparison between the levels of their rules. In this aspect, Qin Yu was undoubtedly at a disadvantage. But, the combination of man and god was able to restrain Wei Zongyuan's strength. Thus both sides had their own advantages and disadvantages and were evenly matched as a result.

The python's body constantly broke apart but was immediately repaired. It wanted to break the protection of rules that surrounded Qin Yu but was unable to.

If Qin Yu could wait then he would wait. After all, as his Godfire burned his soul was being constantly strengthened. Wei Zongyuan also seemed as if he would be fine for some time.

But besides them, there was someone else that couldn't last much longer.

The icy cold woman's voice was weak as she spoke within his soul space, "I have no idea if you are pretending to be confused or are intentionally delaying for time, but let me tell you that if things continue like this then the portion of my godhead will collapse. You should be aware of the consequences of this."

Qin Yu took a deep breath. These words might be exaggerating, but he couldn't take the risk.

He lifted a hand and pointed out.

Rumble rumble -

Winds and clouds seemed to close color. A massive finger appeared within the raging storm, falling down at Wei Zongyuan.

The finger fell without pause. Qin Yu raised a second finger.

With this finger, the skies suddenly darkened and the temperature rapidly decreased. A cold yin chill filled the air, piercing into one's bones.

Phantom after phantom, both beast and man, appeared in the gloomy skies. In the blink of an eye, the heavens seemed to become a netherworld prison of ghosts!

After the second finger was the third.

With this finger, the world lost color. Countless picture scrolls unfurled in the air, depicting the endless flow of time and the birth and death of countless lives.

The three Blue Fingers: Boundless Blue, Blue Spirit, and Blue Sea!

But at this moment, as Qin Yu burned with Godfire, after he pointed three fingers he paused for a moment before raising his hand once more.

His actions were extremely slow. As he pointed a finger upwards, the top of his fingertip rapidly turned clear. It seemed as if it were some kind of crystal but also seemed as if it were fusing together with the world.

The fourth of the Blue Fingers - Blue Heaven!

Its meaning: One finger to question the heavens, who dares contend with me?

This name and meaning appeared in Qin Yu's mind the moment he raised this finger. It appeared directly in his mind, never to be erased, as if it were branded in him by a hot iron.

At this moment, Qin Yu even had a faint feeling that pointing out the fourth Blue Finger wasn't the end. Rather, there was an even more terrifying strength behind it.

But it was clear that this wasn't a stage Qin Yu could reach with his current level. So, he simply recorded this in his mind before suppressing the thought.

Wei Zongyuan's complexion changed. He flicked his sleeves and a golden circle appeared behind him, releasing endless golden light.

In the next moment, the four Blue Fingers were like four arrows. They spanned across space and time, smashing into the golden circle.

Rumble rumble -

There was a heaven-shanking explosion. The surrounding space instantly shattered into chaos. Every time this space tumbled about it would release destructive shockwaves that swallowed up Wei Zongyuan's figure.

After several breaths of time, the golden Godfire that burned within Qin Yu's soul rapidly faded away. He fell back down from that feeling of being the center of the world.

He felt a little disappointed at the empty feeling. But then he couldn't help but smile. The godhead reclaiming its strength indicated that today's battle had ended.

Hu -

With a despairing howl, the python blew apart into pieces.

Wei Zongyuan emerged from the chaos. His expression was calm. He looked around, a deep sense of unwillingness in his eyes. "Your Majesty, you have won. I really am someone that deserves to die. I was willing to toss away my dignity and will, and yet I still couldn't survive in the end.

"Then, I will die here today. I only hope Your Majesty can abide by our promise and set up a stone tablet for me."

Qin Yu nodded. "Since I promised you that, I will naturally fulfil it."

Wei Zongyuan bowed. "Thank you, Your Majesty." In the next moment his body disintegrated, turning into dust that blew away in the wind.

Golden flames fell to the ground. They flickered like candles in the autumn wind, about to extinguish at any moment.

This was the final remnant soul of that god!

"Keep it, don't let it fall apart…"

The purple moon's weak voice echoed in his mind.

When the Godfire burned in Qin Yu's soul and tempered him, this somehow managed to undo the seal on the purple moon. Although he didn't know what the goal of the purple moon was, he trusted her. So, after a brief hesitation he lifted his hand and grasped forward.

Shua -

A pale purple moonlight flashed forward and the golden flames vanished from sight. After sensing that nothing was wrong, Qin Yu took a deep breath and smiled.

In hunting down Wei Zongyuan he had encountered a god. Although it had been dangerously risky, the harvests were equally tremendous. His soul had been tempered by the Godfire and the feeling of being at the center of the world had sublimated his will.

Not just that, but he had unintentionally forced out the 'Sea God' godhead that had already awakened but had remained hidden all this time.

As expected, harvests were always proportional to the risks!

Qin Yu flicked his sleeves. The shattered islands and mountain peaks rapidly repaired themselves. At the summit of a mountain, a grave appeared with a stone tablet above it.

Qin Yu landed in front of the grave. He cupped his hands together and bowed. Powder quickly fell down from the surface of the stone tablet, revealing the words: Great Wei's Royal Family, Wei Zongyuan.

Since he had promised to do this, he would naturally do it. Moreover, with Wei Zongyuan's cultivation, no matter what kind of person he was he still deserved a certain measure of respect.

His second kill had been achieved!

Qin Yu turned and walked away. But then he paused in his step. He flew above Carp Archipelago and his deep voice echoed out over every island.

"From this day forth, the sacrifices have ended forever. You are free from this demonic curse."

Countless pale and terrified natives were left stunned. Their eyes widened as they fell to their knees and bowed.

Through their generations of inheritance, it wasn't that the natives of Carp Archipelago never suspected whether or not this so-called evil god truly existed. Rather, they didn't dare to find out, nor did they have the means to find out. They could only offer generation after generation of sacrifices, exchanging the lives of their family members for the continuation of their tribe.

As Qin Yu flew away from the archipelago, a water sphere rose up from the sea's surface. When You Qi saw Qin Yu her face lit up with joy and she threw herself over him.

…

In the Land of Divinity and Demons, the seven great empires occupied all of the territory. But, this didn't mean that all places were ruled over.

For instance, at the border of the Qin, Wei, and Han Nations there was a place called Deep Stream. The three nations had once tried to integrate it into their domains, but after a series of various accidents they decided to give up.

Gradually, Deep Stream became a region that was under no one's jurisdiction. As time passed, this land set up their own system of rules.

All kinds of heinous and ferocious figures or cultivators that had nowhere else to flee to came to Deep Stream. As a result, the living environment here was incomparably bad.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

Within Deep Stream there were three great cities. They were named Aspiration, Forward, and Survival. These three great cities had powerful influences standing behind them and order here was maintained through an iron fist of blood and violence.

If anyone dared to cause trouble in the city they would be hunted down and would suffer a pitiful fate.

This order only existed inside the city gates. Once one left the city, even if it was just a single step, they would be free prey. Even if their blood splashed against the gates the guards wouldn't even bat an eyelash.

On this day, outside Aspiration City, a man and woman arrived. Their clothing was neat and their steps were calm and steady.

Many eyes locked onto these two from the shadows. But, no one attacked them. The reason was simple. These two people were far too calm. This calmness wasn't something that could be camouflaged.

Another reason was that these two people didn't show any weariness at all. This meant that along this way, no one had tried to kill them…or that all those who tried had been instantly killed off without being able to affect them at all.