Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows and instantly decided to give up on chasing Mei Ruyu. He flicked his sleeves, retrieving Ji Yun's corpse, and ran far away.

Qin Yu's field of vision flashed black and his aura began to fluctuate, becoming unsteady. Just as he reached his limits, he sat down cross-legged and vanished from sight.

Within the duplicate world of the Space-time Lock, Qin Yu shut his eyes tightly. Black energy tumbled around his body and a devil head appeared between his eyebrows.

"Give up. Stubborn human, it is impossible for you to resist the strength of a great devil. Allow your soul to fuse together with mine. You will not vanish. Instead, you will obtain the formidable devil strength that I possess!

"If you and I merge together we will become one of the most formidable beings beneath the heavens. You can accomplish all of your wishes, even taking back that pitiful woman from the Immortal Sect. I can help you suppress the strength of the Sublime Lost Emotion Code! As long as you agree, you can be with her forever.

"Do you hear me? Give up your resistance and don't fight back, otherwise you will lose your final chance!"

With enticement, with threat, the devil mark's roars reverberated through his soul space.

Qin Yu revealed a pained expression. He could clearly see black lines drilled out from the devil head between his eyebrows, constantly spreading outwards.

When these black lines covered Qin Yu's entire body and connected with each other, the devil mark would complete its replacement of consciousness. It would be able to forcefully suppress Qin Yu's consciousness and obtain complete control of his soul.

This was a method it had prepared after staying quiet for several months and slowly gathering its power. However, its hasty eruption today had caused a flaw in its plan. Otherwise, the devil mark would never have wasted any words on trying to affect Qin Yu on a psychological level and diminish the resistance of his will.

But as it saw that Qin Yu was completely unaffected, the devil mark howled in anger and finally tore off its mask of mercy.

"Low, base, and pathetic insect. This devil strength will completely corrode your soul. At that time you will be a devil slave forever, living in pain for all of eternity!

"I will ruthlessly torture you. I will use every method at my disposal to make you taste every pain in this world. You will howl in despair and sorrow, your soul shivering as it shrinks away!

"I am eagerly anticipating the scene of you kneeling towards me, crying and wailing. Believe me, that day will soon arrive!"

In the duplicate world, Qin Yu suddenly opened his eyes. He slowly said, "You are afraid."

The devil mark's voice came to a sudden stop. Then, it raucously laughed, "Little insect, what did you say? Are you trying to make me laugh?"

"You are afraid."

Qin Yu repeated himself.

"Shut up! I am the great devil, the ruler of darkness. My inborn ability is to deceive souls. From the day I fused into your body, your soul was doomed to belong to me!"

"You are afraid." Qin Yu said a third time.

Qin Yu's lips lifted up in a smile. There was even a faintly happy expression on his face.

He shook his head and closed his eyes as if he didn't want to argue about this matter anymore.

This sort of natural attitude as if Qin Yu had grasped the truth of the situation caused the devil mark to fly into a rage. It crazily roared out loud. But what a pity, it couldn't elicit another response from Qin Yu. After a long time it fell silent. However, the black lines drilling out from the devil head between Qin Yu's eyebrows grew faster and faster.

It decided to respond with practical action!

But in the end, the devil mark fell into a stalemate and exhausted its strength after a day and night.

The black lines covering Qin Yu's body drew back like a falling tide. They retracted into the devil head where they hid from sight.

Qin Yu's robes were drenched in sweat. He opened his eyes, his pupils dark and filled with a deep sense of weariness. His tense heart relaxed. At this time, he didn't even want to move a finger. He carefully probed his body. After making sure that the devil mark had fallen into a deep slumber he fell onto his back and went into a deep sleep.

This devil mark's backlash this time had been the strongest one yet. But, this wasn't its limit…a greater challenge was waiting for Qin Yu.

Yet as Qin Yu was deeply sleeping, certain marvelous changes were occurring within him. His aura didn't change, but if one carefully sensed him they would discover that he was different.

He had killed three people to spur the transformation of his will. After that, he experienced a day any night of struggle with the devil mark's backlash. This allowed him to smoothly complete the final step. If the devil mark knew that it had helped Qin Yu fulfill this 'turning point', it would likely commit suicide in regret.

The sins of heaven could be forgiven but the sins self-inflicted could not be survived…perhaps as early as today, the devil mark had determined its final fate.

…

Song Zhongyi died.

As one of Frostfire's public agents in the Sealed Stone World, this news caused considerable commotion as it spread outwards.

Towards the killer, everyone felt both admiration and pity. No matter the reason, since Song Zhongyi had died, Frostfire would definitely make a move.

If this was so, then this killer's fate was decided.

No one doubted this!

…

The sealed stones were supported by an immortal will and couldn't be destroyed or altered. But, by using their original form and carefully arranging them around, one could still obtain a relatively safe place to stay.

For instance, this sealed stone that was narrow at top and wide at the bottom. It was around 40-50 feet high and there was a crack on one side that was less than two fingers wide. If one didn't carefully look for it, it would be almost impossible to find.

But if someone drew close to this crack and looked inside, they would find that after it extended three or four feet inwards, it would begin to expand, finally forming a space around 20 feet wide inside.

If one stood up high they would need to bow. But, to find this sort of safe place in the Sealed Stone World, one couldn't ask for more.

Now, in the middle of this sealed stone, a mass of blood red light was pulsating as if a blood egg was breeding something.

Suddenly, the blood light grew brighter. An isolating strength on the inner walls of the sealed stone was activated, covering the blood red light.

Pa -

There was the sound of an eggshell cracking apart. A n.a.k.e.d woman appeared. Her slender and perfect figure was completely exposed and her skin flashed with an ivory l.u.s.ter.

She reached out a hand. The shattered blood light eggshell condensed into a long dress that covered her beautiful figure.

Mei Ruyu looked up to reveal a pale face. She pursed her lips, her heart still shaking with fear.

Just who was that cultivator?

Four of them had joined forces. Even if they were facing a genuine almighty being, they would still have had a certain chance of retreating alive. But now, things had ended with three of them dying and one of them injured!

If it weren't for her possessing the strongest will of the group and freeing herself a step earlier, and also not hesitating to use the Blood Soul Explosion Art to escape, then perhaps even she wouldn't have managed to leave alive.

He had been truly horrifying!

Mei Ruyu didn't dare to provoke this sort of existence again. She would simply heal herself and wait for the storm outside to subside. After avoiding the limelight it wouldn't be too late to go out again.

The general idea was good, but reality always liked to make jokes of people's plans.

On the second day that Mei Ruyu was in seclusion, an old man in black clothes came to a pause outside the sealed stone she was in. There were wrinkles stacked up on his face but his back was straight and tall. He didn't give off any sense of decaying at all. From inside and out, he emanated a boundless sense of vitality.

Within the sealed stone, the recuperating Mei Ruyu opened her eyes. All she saw was a frost white color rapidly spreading through the inside of the sealed stone. The strength of absolute cold it contained left her mind shaking.

In an instant, she guessed the status of the person who arrived…Frozensky Frostfire. He was one of almighty beings who stood at the peak of the Sealed Stone World.

Mei Ruyu had no time to be annoyed about how her hiding spot had been found. If she didn't leave then she would freeze to death in this sealed stone.

She stood up. Her body turned into a blood red light that flew out from the crack. Mei Ruyu bowed, "Junior greets Lord Frostfire."

Frozensky Frostfire was a name given to him by others who feared his strength. As for his given name, Wen Congong, it was a warm and kind name.

Of course, not many people knew this name. And the majority of them had died already.

"Tell me, where is the man who killed Song Zhongyi?"

He simply didn't care about Qin Yu's status or background. Because in Frostfire's heart, Qin Yu was already a dead man walking.

Mei Ruyu instantly tossed aside any thoughts of staying out of the matter. Since Lord Frostfire personally came here, even hesitating to answer him would result in death.

"Lord Frostfire, I don't know much information related to the killer. But, that person is currently using the sealed stones to temper his will. Fellow daoist Song Zhongyi had relied upon this to find his location."

Frostfire suddenly said, "From this day forth, you will be protected by me and will fill Song Zhongyi's position…Mei Ruyu, do you want this?"

Mei Ruyu fell to her knees, "This subordinate greets the lord."

Frostfire lightly said, "Come with me."

He didn't care about Song Zhongyi at all. But, he needed a confession for this matter, otherwise who would be willing to work for him in the future?

After reaching the depths of the Sealed Stone World, one would discover that the strength of a single person alone was a very troublesome thing.