Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The person wrapped in black fog came to a stop after fleeing far away from Qin Yu. Then, like a bubble popping in the air, he vanished from sight.

A voice lingered around, "It's been a long time since I've met a junior with such talent. It shouldn't be against the rules for me to give him a little warning, right?

"Mm, it shouldn't be…"

These final words revealed a clear sense of relaxation, as if this person had laid down some heavy psychological burden.

…

The deeper one went into the Sealed Stone World, the more spacious it became. This was because the sealed stones started to grow larger. From several dozens of feet they turned into several hundreds of feet and then into several thousands of feet.

One year later.

Qin Yu sat down cross-legged. A giant sealed stone stood across from him, as large as a small mountain. His mind was completely focused as he resisted this will that seemed as heavy as the heavens and earth.

Behind his closed eyes, a distorted figure slowly appeared in his mind.

Even if it were blurry, it was enough to shock the mind. It was like nothing else existed in the world but this figure. It completely flooded out everything else in his mind.

It was disdainful of all, formidable and invincible!

Qin Yu's intuition told him that this figure was the one who had entrusted these sealed stones with their immortal will.

He had already sat in front of this sealed stone for over 20 days. But, there was no sense of anxiousness in his heart. He was well aware that the tempering of will from the sealed stones had reached a new level. Once he obtained their approval, he would definitely have immense harvests.

Now, he needed to do his best to slowly enhance his own will and obtain the approval of the sealed stone.

Qin Yu suddenly furrowed his eyebrows and took a step back, leaving the range of the suppression of will. With a thought, he entered the duplicate world of the Space-time Lock.

Several breaths of time later, five figures howled towards his direction. One of them was clearly being chased by the four others behind him.

"Lei Zhen, you cannot escape. Hand over the stone bead!"

The chasing cultivators roared.

The man being chased clenched his teeth and cursed out loud. "We all came to an agreement that we would search according to our own skills and methods! I was the one who found a high-grade stone bead. Since this is my luck, you shouldn't push things so far!"

"There's no need to spout such nonsense. I'm just going to ask you, are you handing it over or not?"

"You can forget about it!"

Lei Zhen shouted in reply.

One of the four chasing cultivators suddenly said, "I've got you!"

His lips curved up in joy. A yellow paper doll appeared in one hand and a wooden needle appeared in the other. He used the wooden needle to pierce through the chest of the paper doll.

"Ahh!" Lei Zhen screamed. He grabbed onto his chest and staggered to a stop.

On the chest of the yellow doll where it had been stabbed, some red liquid flowed out as if it were blood.

The cultivator took out a second needle. "Lei Zhen, are you still going to run?"

Puff -

The paper doll's thigh was pierced through!

Lei Zhen roared in anger, "It's impossible! You had no chance to curse me so how you have locked onto me!"

"As long as people live long enough in the world they will come across all sorts of unbelievable events. Luckily, soon you will not have to experience such things."

Another cultivator said, his eyes sharp and dense.

Lei Zhen was deathly pale. "We have been friends for many years. Don't kill me; I am willing to give the stone bead to you."

"It's too late. What we want now is not just the stone bead you obtained but also the ones you had originally."

The spell-casting priest raised up two fingers. "I want two medium-grade stone beads. You can divide the rest amongst yourselves."

The other three people furrowed their eyebrows. They nodded in agreement after hesitating for a moment. The spell-casting cultivator's eyes warmed and he turned to Lei Zhen, saying, "We have known each other for many years so you should understand me well enough. You had best take out the stone beads yourself, because if I have to do it, you will suffer immensely."

Lei Zhen's expression turned fierce. He suddenly lifted a hand and slapped his forehead. "If you want to kill me then let's die together!"

The spell-casting cultivator's five fingers fiercely tightened and the yellow doll figure exploded into dust in his hands.

Lei Zhen's fierce expression stiffened. His palm remained pressed against his forehead but he couldn't summon any strength at all. His aura began to rapidly fade.

"The agreement is that two medium-grade stone beads are mind." The spell-casting cultivator turned towards the other three people.

One of the three shook his head and said, "Lei Zhen has died, so you can only take one."

"That's right, take one."

"Only like that can we divide it."

The spell-casting cultivator's complexion turned ugly. He screeched in a hoarse voice, "Fine. But remember that I must take at least one, otherwise no one here is going to be well off!"

They quickly cleaned up Lei Zhen's goods. He had just obtained a high-grade stone bead and he hadn't had enough to have it recognize a master, so it naturally remained well-preserved.

Besides that, there was a medium-grade stone bead, two low-grade stone beads, and some other items.

The four people all relaxed. It seemed that there was enough to divide the spoils amongst everyone.

"I will take the medium-grade stone bead first. You can divide the rest amongst yourselves!" The spell-casting cultivator said. He reached out a hand to take a stone bead.

But at this time, his eyes widened in startled anger.

A fierce layer of black light erupted, forming a thick defensive shield behind him. But, it couldn't block the punch that was headed his way.

The fist didn't slow down at all. It crushed through the black light and smashed into the spell-casting cultivator's head.

Pa -

A transparent little man flew out from the headless corpse. It glared at Qin Yu with hatred before turning and fleeing.

It fled extremely quickly, so fast that it nearly couldn't be seen with the eyes. But then, the little man screamed in horrified panic.

"No - !"

A terrifying suction strength latched onto it, pulling it back.

Qin Yu gripped onto it. The little man rapidly withered away before vanishing from sight.

Within Qin Yu's soul space, the Cosmic Seacross Bell that freed itself from its seal a bit later than the purple moon began to emit excited cheers.

It was really, really, really hungry!

Qin Yu turned and looked at the three people across from him. He lightly said, "I want these stone beads."

The three people instantly paled. This man had instantly killed the spell-casting cultivator and then used strange methods to extinguish his soul. In truth, they didn't dare to provoke such a ruthless person.

But the ownership of the stone beads wasn't something they could decide on. If they returned empty-handed, they would definitely be punished.

One of them clenched their teeth and said, "Senior, we are here upon orders of Lord Frostfire. We can give you the medium-grade and low-grade stone beads, but I ask that you show us mercy with the high-grade stone bead."

If Qin Yu had stayed in the Sealed Stone World for some time longer he might have known the infamous name of Frozensky Frostfire. Unfortunately, at this moment the name didn't ring any bells for him.

"Leave behind the stone beads, or none of you will leave." Qin Yu lightly said. As he spoke he took a step forward and his aura erupted like a towering mountain.

For these three people to freely move around this area, that meant that they had already obtained the approval of the sealed stones. But, the absolute disparity in their strengths wasn't something that could be made up for with the increase of their wills alone. Moreover, the intensity of Qin Yu's current will was enough to resist the suppression of the three others.

"Since senior isn't willing to give up, we will bid our farewells first."

These three people didn't dare to argue any further. They turned and ran away. If this person could easily kill off the spell-casting cultivator, it wouldn't be hard to kill the three of them too.

Moreover, these three people were actually frightened. Just who was this mysterious powerhouse? He didn't even care upon hearing of Lord Frostfire's great name.

How could they dare threaten such a character? That was no different from suicide!

Qin Yu had no idea that he had unknowingly provoked an extremely formidable cultivator. After he searched around, he obtained two high-grade stone beads, three medium-grade stone beads, and six low-grade stone beads…that spell-casting cultivator was much wealthier than expected.

Qin Yu had been in the Sealed Stone World for over a year now. He didn't know whether he was lucky or not, but he had already encountered a 'destruction of will' event once. Even though several months had passed he could still vividly recall it.

In his line of sight, all of the sealed stones began to vibrate with a similar frequency, as if countless waves were fusing together, finally turning into a sky-covering dreadful tsunami that rolled through the world.

Qin Yu's consciousness immediately fell into darkness and he lost the ability to think. After an unknown period of time passed he finally regained his composure. A deep crack appeared in the stone bead he had fused with. It was a clean and smooth crack, as if it had been slashed across with a saber.

Qin Yu didn't doubt that if it weren't for the stone bead's strength resisting the 'destruction of will', he would have already died.

Seeing with his own eyes was always better than hearing any stories. After personally experiencing a baptism of the 'destruction of will', Qin Yu's urgency towards the stone beads became far stronger.

Including today's harvests, he had a total of three high-grade stone beads, six medium-grade stone beads, and 15 low-grade stone beads. However, when he thought about how the token's sealed space couldn't isolate out the 'destruction of will' and how he and You Qi both needed stone beads, he wasn't satisfied with this amount at all.

In the Sealed Stone World, the more stone beads he had the better.