Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 355 – Dao Arts

Chapter 355 – Dao Arts

A cultivator drew on the spiritual strength of the heavens and earth to temper their own magic power. To stimulate magic power and erupt it as techniques of mass destruction, that was called magic arts.

Once a cultivator stepped into the Divine Soul realm and opened their soul space, allowing their intangible soul to become clear and increasing their soul force, and then released the power of their soul as techniques, this was called supernatural arts.

To a low level cultivator, there wasn’t much of a strong division between magic arts and supernatural arts. But, a difference was still a difference. It always existed, and only depended on whether or not someone had the qualifications to know about it.

This was not nonsense because magic arts and supernatural arts were completely different. But in certain extremely special situations, they actually fused together.

To explain things more clearly: if it was activated by magic power, it was magic arts. If it erupted from the soul, it was supernatural arts.

In the Land of Divinity and Demons, those abilities that were both considered magic arts and supernatural arts obtained a brand new name – dao arts. The dao was the rules, and dao arts contained the power of the rules. They could be exerted by different forces because the rules were omnipresent and omnipotent, existing everywhere and within everything.

Even in the Land of Divinity and Demons where powerhouses were like clouds and where countless magic arts and supernatural arts existed, dao arts were still a rare existence. Only those massive large-scale influences with truly deep inheritances were able to grasp them.

Qin Yu had nothing to do with this. But, his luck was indeed sometimes good. As his life and death hung by a single thread, as the gaze of the blood dragon locked onto him, he discovered that he still had the strength to resist.

The first of the Blue Fingers – Boundless Blue Finger.

As his finger fell, the eyes of Qin Yu’s soul darkened. A terrifying strength was drawn out from him, nearly shredding his soul to pieces.

But he clenched his teeth and persisted. He forcefully maintained consciousness, because if he were to fall unconscious at this moment, he would certainly die.

Even though this only continued for a breath of time, to Qin Yu it seemed like a moment that stretched into infinity. Then, the terrifying suction of strength finally stopped and a transparent crystalline finger appeared, colliding with the blood light.

Without any waves, the transparent finger and blood light started to collapse together, as if both sides were perishing as one. But on the surface of Qin Yu’s soul, countless tiny cracks formed.

Each one was incomparably small. They were like the cracks formed in a failed porcelain dish. It seemed as if the slightest touch would cause everything to break apart.

This was because the might of the blood light had surpassed the withstanding limit of the Boundless Blue Finger. Luckily it wasn’t by too much, otherwise even if he managed to destroy the blood light, his soul would still have disintegrated.

The blood dragon stared at the crack-filled soul and a trace of surprise flashed in its eyes. This was the first time there was a change in its mood, but it still managed to compose itself.

So what if Qin Yu held off the blood red light? It still had the strength to easily annihilate a soul.

The blood dragon wasn’t willing to delay any further. It swung its tail and rushed towards the soul, ready to tear it with its jaws.

But without warning, the blood dragon froze in place. An endless cold light erupted from its eyes.

Then, countless cracks appeared on the surface of the blood dragon. Its situation was extremely similar to that of Qin Yu’s soul.

A cruel and vicious aura erupted from these cracks, mixed with a fierce and startled anger.

As if all of this was beyond the blood dragon’s expectations!

But this annihilating aura wasn’t able to explode outwards, because the phantom of a great sun rose up and its light sprinkled down. The sunlight was like invisible hands that tightly grabbed hold of the blood dragon, suppressing all the strength in its body.

The blood dragon violently trembled and the phantom of rules emerged in its eyes. But the power of these rules couldn’t erupt at all before it was severed by the aura of nihility.

The great sun phantom and the blood dragon both vanished together into nothingness.

Puff –

Qin Yu spat out a mouthful of blood and fell face down. His chest heaved and he gasped for breath but he wasn’t able to ease the agonizing pain that wracked his mind. It was like a blunt rusted knife was cutting into him. And this wasn’t just one knife, but countless knives tearing through his body, causing pain in every inch of his flesh and blood. He unconsciously twitched.

This pain surpassed his imagination. But at this time Qin Yu was filled with joy, because only the living could feel pain; the dead didn’t feel anything at all.

If it weren’t for the little blue lamp, Qin Yu still wouldn’t have survived the fate of death. But, he also instinctually felt that if he couldn’t resist the blood dragon’s last strike, the little blue lamp wouldn’t have appeared.

This wasn’t a test, but a brutally realistic choice. Only when the blood dragon was weakened to a certain extent would the little blue lamp have a chance to hunt it down.

Otherwise, it would have rather allowed Qin Yu to die than place itself upon the precipice of destruction.

Qin Yu bitterly smiled but he had no intent of complaining. If he really did die, he hoped that the little blue lamp could survive. At some unknown point in the future, perhaps some other unlucky fellow would stumble upon it and step onto a heaven-defying road. And maybe that person could even take revenge for him.

Alright, he really was overthinking things right now. Then, the sound of a door being forced open interrupted Qin Yu’s train of thought.

The first thing the Old Ancestor saw was Qin Yu’s stunned appearance. His shocked eyes brightened as if he had gone from hell to heaven.

He was alive, he was still alive!

Moreover, as he looked at the Revival Good Fortune Pill, just its aura alone told the Old Ancestor that the refinement had been completed.

Within the underground temple’s altar, the Old Ancestor’s body was even more withered than before, like a corpse that had been dried out for many years. A thick death energy continuously tumbled around out. Out of the nine surrounding oil lamps, besides one that had been extinguished, six had trembling flames with flickering faces appearing above them as if they wanted to break free.

The other two started to gently fluctuate as if they were probing.

The Old Ancestor revealed a diabolical grin. “When I refined you in the past, I never planned on giving you an opportunity to escape!” He lifted a hand and slowly tapped with his finger. A drop of blood would appear each time. Eight drops of blood fused into eight different oil lamps and the flames suddenly brightened. Faintly, one could hear pained howls emitting from them.

The outlines of the faces in the flames vanished from sight and the oil lamps returned to normal. But, the Old Ancestor knew that this was only a temporary suppression method. If he couldn’t restore his own vitality, he would suffer a backlash soon.

The Old Ancestor’s exposed body parts were already completely dried up, like dead branches. The countless lines crossing his face were like cracks, and these small cracks ran straight through to the depths of his flesh and blood, even to his soul!

Outside the alchemy room, five of the avatars stood guard with no expression. Their dark ghostly pupils shined with a cold air as they stared at the entrance.

The Old Ancestor helped Qin Yu out, a Revival Good Fortune Pill in his hand. Although the aura it emitted was weak, to the senses of the avatar it was as dazzling as a great sun.

The five avatars each revealed a struggling expression. They took a step forwards, but this was the limit of what they could do.

Blood red shackles appeared within their flesh and blood, locking them in place and forbidding any further movement.

The Old Ancestor revealed a cold sneer, but his voice was incomparably gentle. “Ning Qin, let us begin the sacrifice.”

Although his tone was even and steady, there was no room for him to refuse.

Qin Yu looked around. He forcefully suppressed the pain in his soul and slowly nodded. Just this simple movement caused sweat to stream down his face and his complexion to pale further.

The Old Ancestor stopped 30 feet away from the Good Fortune Tablet and gave the Revival Good Fortune Pill back to Qin Yu. Then, he loosened his hand, and a dark golden light wrapped around Qin Yu’s worn out body, pulling him closer.

Qin Yu sucked in a deep breath and did his best to lift his hand. The Revival Good Fortune Pill was whirled away by the dark golden light and vanished into the Good Fortune Tablet. After completing all of this, he could no longer resist the pain in his soul. His consciousness faded, but before it did, his last thought was: from this day on, this stone tablet finally has the surname Qin.

The Old Ancestor closed his eyes, feeling a vitality that he hadn’t experienced in a long time flowing through his body. He shivered, his expression one of complete immersion.

Yes, this was it. This bright vitality, this strength that allowed him to continue living on. Even though he had already lived for 100,000 years, he still had attachments to this world.

Now, he had another hundred years of life.

Compared to 100,000 years, 100 years was nothing but a snap of the fingers. But to the Old Ancestor whose life had already reached its terminus, this was an incomparably precious amount.

With this hundred years of life, he could slowly and carefully polish up all of his plans and prepare to break past his shackles.

Calamity Immortal…the Old Ancestor had never felt so close before.

He opened his eyes and looked at the unconscious Qin Yu. A look of gratification filled his face; it seemed he hadn’t misjudged.

Recusing him had been the correct decision.

After all, no matter how it was said, this junior had done him an enormous favor today. If so, then he could give this junior some good fortune.

In any case, anything he delivered now would be repaid twice over in the future.

The Old Ancestor smiled in joy. With a thought, the Good Fortune Tablet started to tremble. Outside the alchemy room, the five originally silent avatars all revealed pained expressions.

Phantoms appeared on their faces. They twisted and howled as a pure soul force was continuously drawn out from them.

Then, with the dark golden light as the medium, this soul force fused into Qin Yu’s body where it was absorbed into the cracks of his soul.

This soul force was left behind by the remnant souls who had died unwillingly. When the Old Ancestor was a lamp without oil, he had no means to erase them and could only forcefully suppress them.

Today, since these specters had dared to act up, then he might as well take advantage of this opportunity to thoroughly cut them down and be done with it once and for all.

The remnant souls’ screams of pain and suffering became a grand feast for Qin Yu’s soul. His soul greedily absorbed them and the cracks on it rapidly shrank. Soon, Qin Yu’s soul was restored to how it was in the beginning.

Spirity’s face flushed red. She could no longer suppress her urges and she spread her arms out wide, allowing the soul force to wildly surge into her.

These remnant souls had all been incomparably formidable before their deaths. The only reason these soul fragments hadn’t dispersed yet was because of the power of their thoughts and obsessions, thus they were incredibly pure. The soul force they produced was far greater than imagined. Even with Qin Yu’s soul and Spirity whole-heartedly dealing with it, they still couldn’t absorb it all.

And this soul force could not be saved up. Once they could no longer absorb any, it would vanish into the air, dissipating into the heavens and earth. Spirity’s face was flushed red but she had done everything in her power and could no longer absorb any more soul force. She bit her lip, only able to watch helplessly on as all this soul force escaped.

If she were to cultivate this much pure soul force by herself, it would take dozens of years or even longer!

At this moment, no one discovered that a line on the Good Fortune Tablet suddenly shined. Then, within Qin Yu’s soul space, a marvelous change occurred.

The soul force rushing into his body seemed to be drawn together. The phantom of a bead rapidly condensed into reality. Even though it was only the size of a fist, it was like a bottomless abyss. No matter how much soul force flooded into it, there was no response.

Spirity’s eyes popped open. “Soul bead…” She trembled. As Qin Yu’s Partner Soul, she could sense everything occurring to him. A trace of understanding flashed in her eyes and she couldn’t help but sigh. Her master’s luck was truly too good!

Spirity closed her eyes and dozed off.

At this time, not only had Qin Yu’s soul injuries recovered but she had also obtained an enormous advantage. Somewhere deep in her soul, the sealed memories started to slowly awaken.