Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 186 – Drastic Rise in Strength

Deep underground, in the sealed space formed by woven vines, a halo of five colored lights illuminated the surroundings. Reflected against the dense curtain of vines all around, the glowing lights actually appeared quite strange.

Qin Yu sat down cross-legged. The source of the five colored lights hung around him; they were five fist-sized spheres of lights that slowly swirled in a haphazard manner.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes. He lifted his hand with his fingers splayed out and the five spheres of light flew towards him, each one falling onto one of his fingertips. Starting from this thumb, they were in turn white, black, blue, red, and yellow. They shrank in size until they were the size of a knuckle. Then, as time passed, the spheres of light twisted and stretched, each one taking on the shape of a sword.

Hum –

Hum –

At this moment, the resounding cry of swords echoed through the underground cave. The vine violently trembled as if it were shivering. Qin Yu revealed a small smile that soon spread across his entire face. His carefree laughs rang against the walls, endlessly bouncing back and forth across the vines.

He had successfully refined the Five Element Sword Diagram!

From the moment he first saw the sword array in Immortal Eclipse Valley, to the time he obtained the sword diagram, to when he again obtained the Great Divided Heaven Sutra, to when he journeyed to the sea region to take the five-element spiritual objects…through all that he had been through, his adventure couldn’t be described as just ‘difficult’. After numerous twists and turns and several life or death encounters, all his efforts had finally borne fruit today. From here on out, with the Five Element Sword in his hands, while he might not be able to freely wander the heavens and earth, he still had a certain ability to defend himself in this world.

The nine levels of his Golden Core realm had been divided into five separate cores. Generally speaking, his Five Element Golden Cores should have fallen to the third or fourth level. But, the ruckus that Qin Yu had caused when he split his Golden Core had been too great, far outstripping his imagination of what it would be like. There was that vortex of spiritual energy, of the Sea Mausoleum, and also of that mysterious altar phantom that the Hundred Nether Sword had summoned. With all these powers superimposed upon each other, his divided cores were no longer considered normal. Thus, his five Five Element Golden Cores were all maintained at the seventh level.

This wasn’t as simple as five seventh level Golden Cores adding onto each other. The five elements both restrained and enhanced each other. If Qin Yu needed, he could take the magic powers of the five element Golden Cores and instantly transform them into a single element. The resulting rise would be far greater than merely adding them together, and with this, he could even face off against an early Nascent Soul in battle.

Now that he had successfully practiced the Five Element Sword Diagram and could utilize the Five Element Sword, while his cultivation hadn’t increased, his combat strength had risen drastically. He had yet to experiment with it, but he believed that he was capable of battling with a middle stage Nascent Soul. Moreover, one couldn’t forget that there was also Qin Yu’s bodily strength to consider. Ever since the Demon Body had swallowed the tumor and had been damaged and regenerated continuously when his Golden Core split apart, the potency of his body had far surpassed what it used to be.

After a long time, his laughter began to slowly die down. He closed his fingers into a fist and the Five Element Swords vanished along with it. Right now, it might seem that refining the Five Element Sword Diagram was meaningless, after all, it couldn’t help him change his current predicament. But this was because the people that Qin Yu faced were peerless powerhouses like the Sea Sovereign, Whale Sovereign, and Turtle Origin. These were amongst the most formidable existences in the world. Besides those people, he had the strength to freely run amok across the world.

He paused for a moment. Once his thoughts calmed down, Qin Yu looked up and smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.”

The branches and leaves of the vine rubbed against each other, producing more syllables. “Very…scary…”

Qin Yu’s eyebrows rose up. “Your voice seems to be much clearer than before. It seems you’ve made a considerable amount of progress during this time.”

After thinking about it, he had been in this underground cave for almost half a month. It was about time to leave.

The vine seemed to shake around in the air, appearing very happy. “Yes…my thoughts…are much…clearer…thank you…”

Qin Yu waved his hand. “There’s no need to thank me. I’ve already received your gift, and before I came here I also obtained certain advantages.”

The vine continued to swing around. “That…is not…my gift…you had…best not…use it…too…much…in the future…or…bad things…might… happen…”

Qin Yu thought for a moment. Even now he still didn’t know what the vine had given to him, so even if he wanted to use it he couldn’t. Suddenly, he subconsciously thought back to the day that black chip fused into his body and the illusions he had seen. He wanted to ask about it, but the vine suddenly twisted in pain.

Qin Yu’s train of thought was immediately broken. He said in a low voice, “What is it?”

“I am going…to…evolve…”

Qin Yu lifted his hand and put away the little blue lamp. With the vine in so much pain, it could no longer seal away this area. Countless vines fell down from the air and smashed into the ground, sending rocks tumbling about.

He had refined the Five Element Sword Diagram and the vine had also started to evolve; this should be enough to satisfy the royal palace’s original request. Qin Yu’s eyes flashed. He cupped his hands across his chest and said, “Brother Vine, you and I meeting can also be considered fate. After I leave today, I fear that we will never meet again. Then, this is where I say my farewells.”

He turned and left. As his figure vanished into the dark, the anxious voice of the vine followed quickly behind him. “Your name…”

Qin Yu didn’t even turn his head. “I am called Qin Yu!”

After a moment, he emerged from the raging tide of strength. Qin Yu stood in front of the stone door, his gaze tranquil. With his current strength, he was able to walk freely back and forth by himself, and he wouldn’t be as distressed as he had originally been.

The stone door opened and the old man who sent him in was waiting on the other side. It was unknown whether he had hurried here or whether he had been waiting here all this time. His gaze was faint but his eyes were much friendlier. It seemed that he had already obtained some news. He said, “Come with me.”

They stepped into the transmission array. With a flash of light, Qin Yu appeared in the corner of a temple.

The old priest just happened to be sitting there drinking tea. When he looked up, a beautiful brilliance bloomed in his eyes. He smiled and said, “Little Friend Qin Yu, you finally came back up.” There seemed to be a sense of relief in his words.

Qin Yu stepped out from the transmission array and cupped his hands across his chest. “I have made Lord Priest wait too long. My apologies.”

“It’s fine. It’s good as long as you come out.” The priest put down the teacup and cupped his hands towards the old turtle sitting across from him. “I thank Brother Turtle for the tea; it was wonderful. If you ever have a chance to come and visit my Moon Praying Shrine, I will be sure to entertain you.”

The old turtle stood up. He lightly coughed, “There’s no need to spout such honeyed words. If I visit Moon Praying Shrine in the future, it will be because I was captured or because you were all destroyed. No matter how it happens, many people will die, so it's best that we never see each other again.”

The priest smiled. “Brother Turtle may be overly direct, but the general meaning is correct. However, my Moon Praying Shrine has always obeyed the capital city and have never had any thoughts of rebelling. I hope that the peace may last a long, long time.” He cupped his hands together and turned around. “Little Friend Qin, let’s leave.”

Qin Yu bowed towards the old turtle. “For all this time, I must thank Senior Turtle for taking care of me so well. I apologize here in advance!”

The old turtle dismissively waved his hands again and again. “Go, just go. I don’t want to see the priest and I also don’t want to see you. Wherever you go, you’re just a troublemaking brat that brings disaster with you everywhere!”

These words…there didn’t seem to be anything Qin Yu could say to refute them.

Troublemaking brat Qin Yu rubbed his nose and revealed a bit of embarrassment.

At this time, Moon Praying Shrine’s luxurious and extremely eye-catching carriage was stopped outside the royal palace. The one driving was Xue Zheng.

Qin Yu glanced at him and nodded, not saying much. On that day, Xue Zheng had blocked the Whale Sovereign to save him. Although this was because Moon Praying Shrine needed his help, he still felt gratitude towards his actions.

The priest led the way with Qin Yu following close behind. After mounting the carriage, Xue Zheng gave a deep shout and the carriage began to slowly drive forwards.

At the entrance of the temple, the old turtle looked away. He took several steps and finally stopped. He frowned, “Something’s wrong. That brat Qin Yu, he clearly isn’t fatigued, but instead seems to have…become far fiercer.”

Within the carriage, the priest’s eyes flashed. He had thoughts similar to the old turtle. “Congratulations Little Friend Qin Yu, it seems your cultivation has drastically risen during this period of time.”

Qin Yu cupped his hands together. “I must thank Lord Priest for this. If it weren’t for you helping at the right time, I would have already died, so how could my cultivation have risen anywhere?”

“Haha, this is because Moon Praying Shrine needs little friend’s help, so there is no need to thank us.” The priest smiled freely and honestly. There was a bit of appreciation in his eyes.

Of course, Qin Yu acknowledged this because in front of these old fogies whose cultivation seemed to reach the sky, it was just far too difficult to conceal himself. Rather than lying and leaving a poor impression, it was easier to just admit it.

“Priest, I have been in the royal palace for too long, so I fear you have all been waiting anxiously for me. I am not tired right now and can go to work at any moment.” Why did Moon Praying Shrine rescue him? Qin Yu had never forgotten his point. Now that he had gained back a little of his freedom, he wanted to figure out the exact details of what they wanted and what was happening, rather than waiting for them to raise the subject for him.

The priest laughed out loud. “Little Friend Qin Yu is an interesting person. Then, I won’t be polite either.” He turned his hand and a jade box appeared in his palm. The light blue color was common, but with just a glance, Qin Yu could tell that it wasn’t ordinary at all!

Essence energy collected on its surface, not revealing even the slightest trace of brilliance. There was not a single sign of it being refined. Rather, it seemed as if it had been born directly from the world. Not only was this not ordinary, this was simply an incomparably precious treasure. To use such a treasure as a container, it could be imagined just how impossibly valuable the contents were.

Qin Yu carefully received it with both hands. After carefully opening it, he discovered that there was another space inside. The interior was far larger than its outside appearance.

Spatial treasure!

Of all the powers in the world, there were none that could not be grasped and mastered. There were common elements like metal, wood, fire, earth, and water, and there were also incredibly deep powers like those of space and time.

Qin Yu didn’t know what sort of cultivation one needed to grasp the power of space, but just by glancing at it, he could tell that one needed an extremely profound cultivation realm.

This jade box, it was a truly peerless treasure!

There was over a hundred feet of space within. There was soil, streams of water, and on the inner surface of the jade box’s walls, there were even phantoms of the sun and moon scattering down light. This was simply an extremely small and independent world!

It had naturally been born like this from the heavens and earth. If not for this, how could it be called a peerless treasure!

And all of this he noticed with a sweep of his eyes. Then, what completely caught his attention was something growing in the soil…a very beautiful flower.

That’s right. Qin Yu couldn’t think of any words to describe it, so he only thought of it as beautiful. This was because it was beautiful, so beautiful that anyone would fall in love with it.

This was love, not like. The difference between these two emotions was far too great and needed to be clearly differentiated.

It was 30 feet tall. Every curve possessed its own sublime grace and elegance. The leaves were a verdant jade green, a green so soft and gentle that it seemed like flowing water. Every several leaves, there were flowers in full bloom. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet…there were even more colors, as if every color in the world could be found on these flowers. They were so delicate as if they were made from the most gentle of waters; it made one subconsciously afraid to breathe, for fear that just the slightest breath would harm it.

Boundless vitality emitted from every inch of this beautiful flower. What one smelled was not the fragrance of the flower, but a pure force of life, potent to the extreme. Just a single breath stirred the heart and soul. Anyone would think that this was a perfect, unrivalled, and incomparably vital and vibrant existence.

But, Qin Yu could faintly feel that this aura of life was too much, too rich.

It seemed that something was wrong.