Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 170 – Light Column Soaring to the Heavens

In truth, no one knew what sort of oil poured on the fire the return of the Hundred Nether Sword today would be, and how it would completely detonate the situation.

Between Qin Yu’s eyebrows, the image of a black sword appeared in the blood bead, making the red several degrees darker. Then, this blackness was like ink that slowly spread out.

It turned into a black hole the size of a palm, a connection leading to somewhere unknown. A cold yin aura flowed out, and one could faintly hear the howling of wind and the cries of the dead.

At the edge of the capital city in the small courtyard, Meng Li’s little lover Xiao Qing was cleaning herself down. Indeed, this place was as haunted as the rumors said; she absolutely could not live here any longer. Once her master returned, she would beg him to hurry and switch to a different dwelling.

Just as she was imagining what sort of methods she should use to persuade Meng Li and how great her future dwelling would be, she suddenly fell to the ground before the smile could appear on her face. Deep choking sounds came from her throat as if someone was gripping it, and breathing became extremely difficult.

Kacha –

Kacha –

A surface layer of ice appeared in the bucket of hot water she had been using to clean herself, and began to condense at an alarming rate. In the courtyard, within the deep well, the icy cold water started to tumble about as if it were boiling.

Bang –

A black column of light shot towards the skies. It was like a great invisible hand that stabbed into the heavens above the capital city. But, what was strange was that it didn’t rip apart the spells above the capital city. Rather, the moment they touched, the beam vanished from sight.

Beneath this black column of light was a bleak and desolate area on the edge of the capital city. A gray mist covered it, making it difficult to see what was occurring within. Now, this mist started to seethe and roil. Phantoms of powerful sea monsters condensed, and they reared their heads back and roared out loud.

The entire capital city was shaken by this sudden change. Countless seafolk looked up towards this dark and bleak place, and their complexions began to gradually pale. There were some older seafolk that started to mutter to themselves in a quiet panic, “Sea Mausoleum…it’s the Sea Mausoleum…” They thought back to the calamity that occurred in the capital city that year, where 100,000 seafolk had died a miserable death and the smell of blood had covered the earth.

This wasn’t considered a secret. The people that lived in the capital city had some awareness of it. Fear began to spread like a plague, racing through the seafolk like a wildfire.

At the entrance of the royal palace, the copper bell began to ring.

The Sea Sovereign’s eyes darkened. His pupils were like profound vortexes spinning around. A boundless aura ascended from his body and the phantom of a flood dragon appeared in the skies above the royal palace. Its body was 10,000 feet long and its golden scales were tinted purple. Winds and clouds were stirred up as the flood dragon phantom danced amongst them. It flashed in and out of sight as the cries of a dragon rang out intermittently. A terrifying dragon’s glory spread out like a tide with the royal palace at the center.

From all around the capital city, the panic that gripped the people began to subside. They knelt down where they stood, prostrating themselves towards the royal palace. In the great calamity which occurred that year, it was the Sea Sovereign who had bravely stepped forwards, sacrificing a thousand years of his life to seal away the Sea Mausoleum.

Below the Nine Laye Building, Soupman’s complexion was pale. He whispered, “Your Majesty…” His face distorted and he roared out loud, “What is going on, what the hell is going on!?”

Your Majesty! With his condition he could not make a move, otherwise once his true strength was revealed, heavenly tribulation would arrive imminently. He looked up towards the skies above the capital city and as he thought, black clouds had begun to appear. A deep and dignified aura gushed out from them, the glory silencing all life in the world below.

This was the will of the world!

If His Majesty had chosen to cross tribulation during that year, then perhaps he might have had a slim hope of survival. But today…concealing himself from the heavens would surely trigger the anger of the world and there would be no chance of escaping from the heavenly tribulation that would follow.

Soupman wanted to stop him, but he knew that with His Majesty’s personality, there was no way he could stop him from taking action.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Soupman jittered with nervousness. As he looked at the black clouds above his head he repeatedly cursed, his gaze fierce and wild.

Without warning, a life and death catastrophe had appeared in front of the eyes of the people of the capital city. They could only watch with wide eyes, filled with panic and completely helpless, and wait for it to descend upon them.

Even in the royal palace, that most powerful ruler in the world had already prepared himself to die and seal away this Sea Mausoleum calamity once more. His gaze was faint without the least bit of fear, because ultimately he was the ruler, and this was his duty and responsibility.

Time slowly flowed on. But, what was strange was that while all this commotion occurred, the apocalyptic tragedy that should follow the appearance of the specters didn’t occur. Besides that black column of light impacting into the heavens and the ear-splitting rumbles outside, the capital city remained as calm as it was before.

The Sea Sovereign frowned.

At this time, the doors to the hall were shoved open and two distressed-looking officials rushed in. They waved their arms around, shooting, “Please stop Your Majesty, please stop! We have just investigated the situation and found that the spells around the Sea Mausoleum are still revolving!”

The spirit shell in Soupman’s chest rang out. He placed it to his ear and listened for several moments. Then, the suffocating despair that filled his chest completely vanished. He looked up at the anxious Old Sea and nodded, quietly saying, “There are no problems with the Sea Mausoleum’s spells.” He put away the spirit shell and looked up at the black column of light, somewhat perplexed.

Soon, this news was transmitted to all areas as fast as possible.

Everyone had the same question that Soupman had.

Since the spells around the Sea Mausoleum were fine and intact, just what was going on right now?

The spirit stones were drawn in by an invisible strength and not a single one of them fell down. Slowly, that spirit stone mountain became a ball and no one could see the figure wrapped up inside.

The black hole between Qin Yu’s eyebrows suddenly trembled and then…a raging black river surged out!

Outside the Nine Layer Building, Soupman’s pupils shrank. He kept his eyes closely glued to that giant sphere of spirit stones. As the vortex of spiritual energy raged and roared, the common people might not notice anything else about it, but to Soupman, it was as dazzling as a star in the dark night.

“The Sea Mausoleum’s aura…” He slowly opened his mouth, his eyes as sharp as swords. “Sea Lingdao, just what is Honorable Ning doing?”

As a Purple Card, possessing a formidable soul was necessary, so Old Sea also sensed the arrival of that sudden aura. His complexion changed. There had been a change with the Sea Mausoleum and then the black column of light had shot up into the skies. Now, the aura of the Sea Mausoleum had appeared here. If anyone told him this wasn’t related, he wouldn’t believe them at all.

Old Sea took a deep breath and shook his head. “Ever since returning from the royal palace, Ning Qin has been in seclusion. I have no idea just what he is doing. But, I firmly believe that he would absolutely never try to break the Sea Mausoleum’s spells. I can guarantee that!”

Soupman’s complexion darkened. He coldly snorted, his eyes flashing with indecisiveness. If it were anyone else that had been involved with the changes to the Sea Mausoleum he would have already moved to suppress them. Anyone who tried to harm His Majesty must be destroyed!

But it had to be Ning Qin.

As he was considering what to do, the spirit shell in his chest rang out once more. The Sea Sovereign’s voice sounded out, “Continue watching.”

Old Sea’s heart relaxed but his expression remained as serious as before. Looking at that giant sphere of spirit stones, he forced a smile.

Ning Qin, Ning Qin, you really stirred up a mess this time!

From the black hole, the raging black current submerged Qin Yu and then began to fuse into his pores. The potent spiritual strength contained within surpassed the limits of his mortal body, and his skin began to tear, like a ceramic doll that was being broken apart. Fresh blood came out, but before it could flow it was shaken into mist by a powerful strength.

Paka –

Paka –

Flesh and blood started to disintegrate!

The Hundred Nether Sword floated before the black hole. Only when the raging black current flowed through it would it be able to pour this energy into Qin Yu. As the sword saw Qin Yu’s battered and horrible appearance, it subconsciously began to shake. In comparison, it would be incomparably nourished. The spectral aura carried by the black current was cleanly devoured by it. It was like the sword was watching Qin Yu being tortured while enjoying a fine dining meal.

Of course, no matter what, the Hundred Nether Sword would never acknowledge this. It only did this in order to help its master pull through this disaster. Otherwise, if it didn’t absorb the spectral aura within the black energy, its master would not be able to absorb it. Yes, this was definitely the reason.

The Hundred Nether Sword was instantly filled with a proud righteousness!

Within Qin Yu’s dantian sea, the Sea Mausoleum’s strength, the spiritual energy vortex, and the spirit stones all gathered together, the three of them superimposing upon each other and finally satisfying the demand for energy that the five elemental magic power sources needed.

White, black, blue, red, yellow – five different colored spheres of lights swallowed up an immense amount of spiritual strength and gradually began to stabilize. But as the fusion continued, the amount of spiritual strength absorbed became increasingly more.

Even with Qin Yu’s potent Demon Body, he gradually became unable to withstand this. The collapse of his flesh and blood quickened and even his bones began to shake and groan, with fissures appearing through them. A fog of blood gushed out, slowly covering him. The spirit stones around were dyed red and some of the blood fog even entered the black hole.

Roar –

There was a restrained roar that transmitted from the black hole, carrying with it endless thirst and desire. Then, from that raging black current, a fierce claw reached out, grasping towards Qin Yu as if it wanted to drag him down!

The Hundred Nether Sword cried out and it chopped down like a bolt of black lightning. The claw that extended from the black current was instantly cut off and disintegrated before being reabsorbed into the black hole. A voice of anger and unwillingness roared out. But, with another sharp cry, the Hundred Nether Sword issued a stern warning. The roar gradually died down before vanishing.

The swordpoint swerved towards Qin Yu. The Hundred Nether Sword seemed to be thinking. If the sword could make an expression, it would surely be making a face full of distress and grievances.

If it didn’t take action then Qin Yu would surely die here. But if it did take action, it would lose a great portion of the strength it had laboriously saved up, and even the amount it ate today wouldn’t be able to cover the losses. This was surely a horrible business deal resulting in losses.

Aiya, why in the world were there always so many troubling dilemmas? Oh whatever. As a sword that knew compassion, that had a conscience, that had a sense of justice and a sense of gratefulness, it simply couldn’t watch Qin Yu die and not try to save him. Of course, it would definitely mark this down and would try to slowly get compensation for this in the future.

Buzz –

The Hundred Nether Sword lightly trembled. Black mist gushed out from the surface of the blade, and it tumbled about as if it had a mind of its own. Slowly, then quickly, it condensed into the phantom of an altar. If people saw this pitch black altar, they would realize that it was similar to the altar used to pray to the sea spirit in Prosperity Square, just outside of the royal palace.

Of course, this similarity referred to the aura and other similar characteristics, not just surface appearances.

The blood fog was drawn in and began to quickly settle and precipitate in the depths of the altar. Then, within the black phantom altar, a cross-legged figure appeared. Countless threads shot out from the altar and drilled into the surrounding spirit stones. Like the roots of a great tree, spiritual strength was absorbed and poured into the altar where it was then transformed into a potent life energy. And this life energy was then poured into the figure deep within the altar.

Thus, Qin Yu’s ripped skin, torn flesh, and cracked bones, began to crazily grow and regenerate at this moment. But before these wounds could fully regenerate, they were ripped open once more. Still, it was at least enough to maintain his body and prevent him from completely collapsing in on himself.

The demonic path – cruel, vicious, tyrannical, slaughter-mad. As the top body tempering method within the demonic path, the Demon Body naturally followed this spirit. The more it could withstand destruction, the more its potential could be stimulated. So, in the process of breaking down, regenerating, and breaking down again, the Demon Body strengthened itself with every round, becoming increasingly durable.