Refining the Mountains and Rivers

For the next several days, Yun Die was deep in concentration studying. She refused Lu Yuhong's requests to meet several times. Even when Yan Jiao helped him out, Yun Die still didn't change her mind.

In the manor where guests were received, the handsome and delicate Lu Yuhong was sprawled back against a sofa, his face deathly pale and streaming with sweat.

There was struggle in his eyes. They flashed with decisiveness several times before rapidly fading away.

Lu Yuhong took a deep breath and sat up with difficulty. His shivering fingers picked up a phone and he dialed the same number that he had dialed repeatedly before this.

A connection was soon made. A sweet yet melancholic voice sounded out, "Brother Lu, are you looking for senior-apprentice sister again? Today she went into the laboratory with teacher."

Lu Yuhong stiffened and the phone crashed to the ground. The heavy crash caused the connection to cut off.

In that moment, Lu Yuhong was a drowning man whose last hope had slipped through his fingers. He gasped for breath.

After an unknown period of time, the sound of footsteps rang out. Lu Yuhong's body shook and he looked towards the servant who was walking toward him with fear.

"This mission has failed." The servant said without expression. His eyes glared at Lu Yuhong, as if he were looking at a dead man walking.

It was unknown where the strength came from, but Lu Yuhong leapt onto his feet. He fervently implored, "I beg you…please ask master to forgive me…ask master to give me some more time…as long as I have three days, just three days…I can definitely complete the mission…please!"

The servant sneered. "Yun Die simply doesn't like you. Even if I gave you another month, the result wouldn't change…and plead for you? I never had any thoughts of dying with you!"

Lu Yuhong was about to say something when endless fear gushed out from his eyes. But right after, he calmed down. He slowly sat down on the sofa and lightly said, "Send a message to Sky Declaring Pavilion. We're leaving."

The servant respectfully bowed, "Yes, master."

Moments later, Lu Yuhong and the servant exchanged greetings with the Foreign Affairs Division cultivators and bid their farewells.

After leaving Midmorning City, the two people landed in a dense forest. The calm Lu Yuhong looked as if he had his soul and all of his vitality sucked out of him. He slumped to the ground like a pool of rotten flesh.

To the side, the servant had a tranquil expression as if he already expected this. He coldly watched as Lu Yuhong's flesh and blood rotted away. Soon, all that was left were bones.

But at this time, a massive amount of blood gushed out from the servant's mouth and nose. It was like a dam that had been broken, simply impossible to stop.

The servant fell to the ground. Before horror came over his face, he had already frozen. His flesh and blood rotted away until nothing was left but bones. Then, two black masses of gas flew out from the two sets of bones. Following that, gray flames appeared from midair and the bones of the servant and Lu Yuhong were reduced to ashes.

What the flames destroyed were not just their bones, but their remnant auras too. Everything was erased, as if these two people never existed in this world.

With this, even if some mighty figure came to ask about them, they wouldn't discover anything…from the start, regardless of whether this mission was a success, these two were abandoned servants that were destined to die!

The two masses of black gas wove together in midair, condensing into a blurry figure. She looked towards Midmorning City, a serene expression in her eyes.

Her first attempt had failed, but this didn't matter. What the Dark Parliament wanted, the Dark Parliament would obtain…sooner or later. It was just that through the senses of this puppet, she felt a faint trace of restlessness…

"Ning Qin…"

Leaving behind that last whisper, she looked at Midmorning City once more. Then, she turned and vanished from sight.

…

It was a broad and magnificent hall that was hundreds of thousands of feet high. It stretched forward for an unknown distance. It was buried deep beneath the earth, unknown to the outside world.

Suddenly, the faint sound of footsteps resounded in the hall. Because it was too spacious and too empty, the sounds echoed and overlapped with each other, sounding like a surging wave as they moved forward.

The bright and dust-free ground was like a massive mirror, clearly reflecting the figure walking above it.

His body was tall and slender, and each movement he made exuded a disdainful and lonely feeling. It was as if he stood upon the peak of this world, and there was no foe that could contest his power.

But, an invisible strength wrapped around his face. What was reflected from the ground was also nothing but a blurry shadow. Only his calm eyes could be seen. They were calm and still, as if they had never changed since ancient times.

After an unknown length of time, the man came to a stop. What stood in front of him was a giant stone door, as if it were a gate that led to the gods. It was over a hundred thousand feet tall, and anyone who stood before it seemed smaller than an ant.

Without hesitation, he placed a hand on the stone door and slowly pushed it open.

Quietly, the stone door opened to reveal a small slit.

Although it was a slit, it was still several thousand feet wide. It was enough for hundreds of people to walk through together. Behind the door, there was nothing but eternal darkness.

Cold, dry, lonely, an absolute silence!

The man didn't walk in. He drew back his hand and remained outside the door, as if he were waiting for something.

After several breaths of time, a blood red light lit up from the eternal darkness. It was like a tumbling sea of blood, capable of swallowing everything. It was so large that even the slit through the stone door couldn't show the full picture. All one could see was a blood red color that horrified the mind.

"What have you come for?" A deep voice rang out. It carried with it a torrential flow of killing intent and hate. The voice tumbled through the hall, causing everything to shake and tremble.

The man waiting outside had his hair sent flying against the wind, dancing around him. His robes were like liquid metal as they clung tight to his body.

But his eyes remained calm.

"We've found a Great Sun realm Grand Expert outside."

The terrifying aura behind the stone door stagnated for a moment. Then, there was a cold sneer. "A Great Sun realm cannot be called a Grand Expert!"

The man's voice was tranquil. "This man created a new species. I have personally inspected it. This newly created species is stable and it contains an incredible potential for growth."

To create a new species, have that new species survive in a stable manner, and also be able to grow and further evolve, this was the standard criteria of judgment for the Grand Expert boundary.

Behind the stone door, there was another brief silence. The hall fell deathly silent.

"Why do you help me? Are you not scared that I will rush out there and swallow you!?"

The man's eyes were without fluctuation. "If you can do that, I would be gratified."

"Humph!" There was a cold cough from behind the stone door. "I will believe you this one time!"

The man nodded. He turned around and walked backwards. It was only when he was a long distance away that he came to a stop.

"Coward!" With a laugh, terrifying rumbling sounds came from behind the stone door. It was like stars were exploding.

The darkness behind the stone door surged like a tsunami. A vortex rapidly appeared. Then, a terrifyingly sharp claw, one glowing with a metallic sheen, stretched out from that vortex with difficulty and hooked against the stone door.

Buzz -

A violent trembling sound erupted. Runes began to shine all around the stone door. What appeared next was blinding purple lightning. The lightning appeared from every single rune, flooding out in one direction. Finally, they gathered together and blasted the claws that had hooked against the stone door.

The violent power of thunder raced along the claws after plunging into the stone door. The darkness behind dissipated a little. Faintly, one could sense that what lay behind the claws was an incalculably large arm that was covered in scales. It was unknown how long this arm was, but eventually it disappeared into the infinite darkness behind it!

Roar -

Behind the stone door, there was a howl of pain and anger. The sharp claws that pulled against the stone door were slowly pulled back, a little at a time.

Although things were still quiet as before, the air remained oppressive and disturbing. Listening carefully, one could hear harsh grating sounds from behind the door.

The runes on the stone door grew even brighter and more purple thunder appeared. It linked together, forming a terrifying pool of thunder.

A horrifying annihilating aura erupted outwards. It was like a great sun of thunder was rising from deep below the earth!

Thunder leapt across every inch of that giant arm in the darkness. The scales started to crackle and shatter. Faint traces of dark red blood seeped out.

Under the ravaging destruction of thunder, the blood constantly evaporated. But, it never completely disappeared, only became increasingly pure, like threads of red spider silk.

Driven by an invisible strength, the tiny strands of blood constantly flowed forward. They converged in front of the raging thunder, condensing into a blood bead the size of a palm.

"Give this blood to him. If he cannot even discover the problem, then this is his life-taking curse!"

The arm shook and the blood bead flew out from the lightning. When it fell onto the bright and clean floor, it created the sound of colliding metal and stone.

It had already coagulated into a blood red jade the shape of a water drop. It was pure and flawless throughout.

The claws loosened. The purple lightning on the stone door rapidly diffused and it soon closed shut.

The man reached out a hand, taking the blood jade on the ground. He glanced at the stone door once more. Then, without pausing, he turned and left.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away. The hall deep underground returned to tranquility once more.