Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 124 – Wresting Flesh and Blood

Chapter 124 – Wresting Flesh and Blood

Puff –

The sword easily cut through flesh and blood. The blade was submerged, sinking in with so much force behind it that even Qin Yu who was holding the hilt was dragged in. Blood churned all around, drenching him. As he drilled in, the flesh and blood around him wildly contracted.

Kacha –

Kacha –

In an instant, his arm and hand was nearly broken to fragments!

Qin Yu’s complexion was deathly pale. He stubbornly held onto the sword hilt, not allowing himself to fall back into the crazily shaking esophagus. The tumor maniacally shook as it put up its last ditch struggle. Pained howls rose up from inside and out, and only after an hour did it begin to slowly fade away. The wriggling flesh and blood began to relax and blood erupted like a fountain, pouring all over Qin Yu. As this blood fell onto his wounds, it was unexpectedly absorbed by him.

Hu –

Qin Yu felt as if his body had caught fire from within. His exposed skin and flesh suddenly turned deep vibrant red, as if he were a piece of iron in a blazing furnace. Steam evaporated from all around him, and this steam was light red like burning flames. As Qin Yu opened his eyes, his pupils had turned crimson in color. They were cruel, tyrannical, ruthless, and utterly emotionless.

Ignoring his arm injuries, he grabbed tight to the Hundred Nether Sword and used it to tear open the flesh and blood in the wound around him. As he strained himself, broken bones pierced through his skin, causing his face to pale even further. With his other hand, he labored to tear open the edges of the wound. But, what was strange was that not even half a drop of blood flowed out.

Qin Yu continued without expression. He drew the Hundred Nether Sword, and it seemed to shake as if it were unhappy. But with a cold cough it immediately quieted down. Putting away the Hundred Nether Sword, Qin Yu used his free hands and pushed his entire body in. With a comfortable sigh, the flesh and blood around the opening rapidly wriggled and regrew over itself. It was impossible to tell that there was a cultivator hiding within.

Deep within the seabed, a giant tumor floated about, several of its tentacles waving with the currents. There were already some sea monsters that had detected the powerful aura emanating from this corpse, and it turned their eyes red with greed. However, regardless of whether they were strong or weak, as long as they approached within a thousand feet of the tumor, their bodies would shake and twist and they would turn and rapidly flee. There was a horrifying majesty that filled the air, one so profound that they didn’t dare to provoke it.

One day, two days, three days…

The tumor withered more and more. It shrank a great deal, as if some hungry parasite was within, chewing away at its organs. Half a month later, followed with a dull thumping sound, a hand tore through the remaining thin layer of the tumor’s skin. Qin Yu shot out, a dazed look on his face. It was only after a long time that clarity returned to his eyes. Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, blurry fragments of the past floated about in his mind.

To plunder flesh and blood, taking its essence to use for oneself, was this the instinct of the Demon Body? After thinking for a long time, Qin Yu let out a long breath. No matter what happened, he was alive, and he felt quite good. His injuries had healed and every inch of his flesh and blood seemed as if it had been tempered within a flaming forge. Boundless potent blood energy flowed through his body, and when his bones crackled they seemed to contain a strength that could grind down everything.

Moreover, at this time deep beneath the sea, he didn’t feel any pressure from the water at all. It was clear that some sort of earth-shaking change had occurred to his mortal body. He looked down at the withered corpse of the tumor. Even the strength within the tumor’s corpse had been completely sucked away, so it wasn’t hard to imagine how such drastic changes occurred to his body.

At this time, the magic power within him seemed to be frozen, as if it were sealed away into his dantian sea without any fluctuations at all. Qin Yu faintly thought that this wasn’t a bad thing. He momentarily set this matter aside for the future. With a thought, all his pores closed and his aura was sealed into his body, unable to be sensed outside. Although this happened on the surface, there seemed to be more mysteries occurring in his body that he hadn’t discovered. Perhaps these were things he would slowly come to know about in the future.

Potato…

The Demon Monarch had lost his furnace and hadn’t been able to catch him. Would he vent his anger on Potato? Qin Yu felt his heart tighten. He stepped onto a large fish and hurtled through the water. Although his magic power had been sealed up in his dantian, he could still rely upon his potent mortal body to travel at an incredible speed. Along the way, the sea monsters felt his aura and turned to flee in panic.

In the eyes of the sea monsters, Qin Yu was actually an extremely powerful member of their race. This was because after the Demon Body swallowed up the tumor’s strength, it had also automatically obtained its aura.

The journey continued smoothly. Half a day later, Qin Yu found the underground cave at the seabed. The entire cave had been destroyed and Potato had vanished without a trace. Carefully sensing his surroundings, he faintly felt a bit of horrifying demonic energy that had yet to scatter.

For this energy to still linger here even after half a month, only the Demon Monarch could accomplish this.

He should have taken Potato away.

Qin Yu was worried. His eyes were overcast. He forcefully suppressed any thoughts he had. Considering things too much right now was useless. What he should do was refine the five element spiritual objects and cultivate the Five Element Sword Diagram. At that time, he might be able to contend with a Nascent Soul cultivator. Also, he needed to find a way to inquire into Potato’s current situation. Just as he was about to leave, Qin Yu stiffened for a moment before recovering. Still, his actions couldn’t be hidden from the eyes that were secretly watching him.

“What sharp senses.” A light sound echoed out. A powerful divine sense swept out, not even bothering to conceal its overbearing power.

Instinctually, Qin Yu suddenly closed off every pore of his body, severing himself from all outside contact. He was like a dead piece of wood, a block of stone.

The owner of the divine sense was startled. As he was, the water along the seabed tumbled, revealing a figure. This was actually a massive turtle, large to an unimaginable degree. Just its open eyes were the height of an adult human. The turtle cast a massive shadow onto the sea floor. Its eyes were locked onto Qin Yu. “Junior, what a powerful aura concealing method. Even I wasn’t able to probe you.”

Qin Yu’s thoughts raced. He quickly bowed. “Greetings, senior. I thank senior for saving my life!” This voice was the same voice that had faced off against the Demon Monarch. It was the mysterious sea monster powerhouse that had rescued him.

The giant turtle lifted a front claw. Although its actions appeared clumsy, its claws shined with a cold light. Qin Yu didn’t doubt that as long as this massive turtle gently waved his claw, he would be torn to pieces without any chance of resisting.

“Junior, put away your aura concealing method. I want to examine you and see just who you are.” Although these words were lightly spoken, they didn’t brook any room for argument. Qin Yu hesitated for a moment and nodded.

His pores started to open. But, within his body, there seemed to be a mutual understanding with his will as the fluctuations of his formidable blood energy were hidden.

The turtle’s nail fell between Qin Yu’s eyebrows. It was hard and cold to the touch. Qin Yu remained unbending, and after several breaths of time, the large turtle retracted its claw. It looked at Qin Yu with pity. It originally thought that this junior might be a spy from the demonic path, but it never imagined he would be a bastard with bad luck. His cultivation had been completely wasted without even a little bit left remaining.

Well, that was also reasonable. Just how terrifying were the shockwaves produced in the battle between it and the Demon Monarch? A common Nascent Soul would have fled far and wide. Although this junior’s cultivation hadn’t been weak, for him to escape and survive, that could already be considered a great stroke of luck.

But, the turtle had lived a long time, and it had always been careful. The large turtle narrowed its eyes, calmly asking, “Junior, why did you appear here? Why was the Demon Monarch chasing you?”

Qin Yu respectfully replied, “Reporting to senior, this junior had joined forces with others to seize a treasure of the demonic path. When the Demon Monarch arrived, I took the demonic treasure and fled, but I had to leave my friend here. With senior saving me, I luckily managed to survive. The reason I came back today was to see how my friend was doing.” As he spoke, he seemed a bit dispirited.

Something had truly happened to Shan Wugu, thus Qin Yu’s expression was entirely heartfelt and flawless. The large turtle thought for a moment. The things that Qin Yu told him weren’t far off from what it knew, so he should be speaking the truth. But then, its eyes flashed. “For the Demon Monarch to cause such a stir, even I am curious as to why. What kind of treasure did he lose?”

Qin Yu revealed just the right amount of bitterness. He took out the Saint Furnace and sighed inwardly with relief. It seemed that this turtle had an extremely high and lofty field of vision and had no interest in his storage ring. All of its attention was focused on the Saint Furnace. A light sparkled in the giant turtle’s eyes. The Saint Furnace suddenly let out a buzz and the large turtle coldly humphed before revealing a dignified expression.

It stared at the Saint Furnace. After a long time, it released a breath, a bit of unwillingness in its eyes. “This thing doesn’t have any fate with me. Since you stole it, you should keep it.” As it spoke, its eyes glanced at Qin Yu, a bit of strange curiosity in them. It was clear that he had seen something related to the Saint Furnace.

A bit jittery, Qin Yu tried not to reveal any expression at all. He obediently put away the Saint Furnace. Although he wanted to ask the old turtle what that look meant, he figured that the turtle wouldn’t tell him anyways. Now, he began to think about how to leave.

And as he was thinking about how to leave, he actually didn’t know that the large turtle in front of him was also considering what to do with him. To be able to frontally contend with the Demon Monarch and even faintly occupy the winning side, even if the large turtle had the advantage of the sea terrain, one could still imagine how incredibly powerful the giant turtle was. This turtle was no ordinary turtle, and in fact, he had an amazingly high status within the sea races.

As for why the giant turtle had appeared in the Netherworld Sea Region and had saved Qin Yu, that wasn’t a coincidence at all, but had been a request that someone had made of him. Although he also had his own reasons for coming, no matter what he couldn’t handle this matter poorly. If he allowed this human boy to go free and wander about in the Netherworld Sea Region, there would be no way he would survive past today. He would become food that fed the variation sea monsters.

The old turtle began to think over things. It was the sea races that had falsely accused him at the start, and although this boy had caused the sea races to lose a bit of face, he still kept his word and released that little girl Lushy. And afterwards, he also rescued her from the hands of the demonic path. The reason that the boy had fallen to such a state today was because of his own actions, but the sea races couldn’t fully absolve themselves from this.

In addition, this surnamed Qin boy had been severely wounded and his cultivation had been wasted, but even so he hadn’t forgotten his friend and had risked his life to return here and look for him. He could be said to be a rare individual amongst the humans that valued friendship.

Of course, the most important reason was that if this ridiculous boy could survive until now, he must possess heaven-defying luck.

Whatever, whatever, him coming up with so many reasons was all because the giant turtle had become tenderhearted in his old age. If this was back in his vibrant youth, then if some human cultivator were placed in front of him, he would simply have swallowed them whole as a little snack. The large turtle suddenly smacked his lips together, as if he were remembering the taste of something.

Inexplicably, Qin Yu felt a cold sweat drip down his forehead.

“Senior…”

The large turtle glared at Qin Yu, a bit angry that his pleasant recollection of past delicious meals had been interrupted. But remembering that Qin Yu was a human, he awkwardly looked at him. With a light cough, he said, “Boy, consider this a show of kindness. I will save your life.”

Before Qin Yu could say even half a word, a current of water wrapped around him and pulled him onto the turtle’s back. The large turtle began to move. Its legs floated about and its massive figure leisurely pushed through the water. It moved with incredible speed and roaring currents rose up at the sea bed. This feeling didn’t seem as if they were racing through the water, but that the seawater itself was pushing them forwards.

These simple actions revealed the old turtle’s tyrannical skills. It was no wonder that within the sea it had been able to face off against the Demon Monarch without suffering a loss.

Qin Yu was wrapped up tightly in water, unable to move at all. His eyes were wide as he cried without tears. Just what was going on here? He was doing quite well by himself, so who needed saving? His thoughts raced, but after several moments he sighed, closed his eyes, and accepted his fate. There shouldn’t be any dangers for now. At the worst he would just look for a chance to quietly leave.