Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1339: The Aura of a Ruler

Young and enthusiastic, Qin Yu had arrived.

The moment he stepped in, he could sense more than ten eyes concentrate on him. The ice-cold oppression was indifferent, stifling and absolutely unrestrained!

Whoosh –

Whoosh –

Two extremely powerful auras could be felt as two shadows flew through the air. They were sort of acquainted as they met at the platform before.

But of course, he could not express it. Instead he had to pretend to experience a mixture of shock, anger and fear. It tested his acting skills.

But with Qin Yu’s current strength, it was not difficult to do this. He frowned slightly and kept his gaze neutral. His expression was indifferent and pale, not showing any advantage.

“What do the both of you want to do? I have nothing against you. Unless you are trying to go against the agreement?!”

The power in Bounded Zero Place could be split into three areas: the Mysterious Clan, people from the World of Darkness, and people from the Vast Brightness World. Or simply put, they could be split into two. Those that would die and those that wouldn’t.

Those that would not die were from the Mysterious Clan and the World of Darkness. The rest that would die were the cultivators from the Vast Brightness World.

Because they came from different places, they still had grievances towards each other. Although the Vast Brightness World had the most people, they were the weakest in terms of power.

People were all scared of dying, especially strong cultivators. All the more they did not wish to have a miserable end.

Bounded Zero Place was where a Ruler had died. It was obvious that there were good things there and everyone from all three groups wanted them. At the start, they all fought intensely. The Mysterious Clan and the World of Darkness had initially joined forces to try and banish the cultivators from the Vast Brightness World.

No one knew exactly what happened but according to the Spring Master, a Ruler had stepped out and forced the Mysterious Clan and the World of Darkness to sign an agreement – in Bounded Zero Place, cultivators from both camps could not banish or kill cultivators from the Vast Brightness World.

Because, just the fact that they ‘could not die’ meant that the cultivators from the Vast Brightness World had no chance of winning.

Qin Yu hated the two people who had landed in front of him. His face was solemn and his eyes were like daggers.

“We are looking for someone. If you cooperate with us, there will be no problems. If not, don’t blame us!”

Qin Yu was shocked and angry, his emotions fluctuated. In the end, he ‘did not dare’ to go against them and chose to swallow and snort, “What do you want?”

The cultivators from the Mysterious Clan snarled, “Easy. Just stand here and don’t move.” One of them walked closer. Raising his hand, he gestured and began an array. He extended his fingers and a disk with numerous lines all over appeared in his hands.

With the Spirit Array to warn him, Qin Yu could guess that this disk was a part of the array.

There was no reaction!

Disappointment was clear in the eyes of the cultivators from the Mysterious Clan. They flipped their hands and put the disk away, turning to leave.

The cultivators from the World of Darkness eyed him from head to toe before waving impatiently, “Let’s go!”

Qin Yu took a deep breath as he pretended to be angry yet fearful. With a kick, he flew up.

“It is not him.”

Taking the array disk back, the cultivator in green shook his head.

On the opposite side, the array controller eyed the direction in which Qin Yu left and frowned slightly. He appeared slightly hesitant. This person looked extremely familiar. Unless he lost his Spirit Array, it was not possible that the array disk wouldn’t react.

His rejection earlier showed how much importance he placed on the Spirit Array. And even if he lost his Spirit Array, the cultivators from the World of Darkness had extremely sensitive noses. Even if someone had changed their entire appearance, they would not be fooled.

However, both parties had determined that he was not the one. Maybe he was too anxious…he had to be anxious! It had been such a long time since the array had been practiced, yet after so long, he could not find the perfect Spirit Array to merge in. He tried so many times but all attempts failed.

But this time, the aura of the Spirit Array from that person actually activated the array directly and this was something that had never happened before.

Because of this, at the inn previously, although Number 327 knew that it was not appropriate, he did not stop Number 418 from acting.

No matter what, they had to complete this array!

Swoosh –

Qin Yu flew quickly. After ensuring that he was far enough, a small mocking smile appeared on his pale face. So what if they were from the Mysterious Clan or the World of Darkness. He had still fooled them.

The entrance to Bounded Zero Place was probably where the shards were concentrated in this world, and this was the only safe place. This entire place had been raided and nothing was left behind.

Once he left this place, he would enter the danger zone and could meet with trouble at any time.

He was at the end!

Woosh –

Qin Yu did not hesitate as he stepped out. The moment he took the step, he could sense a berserk power of space pulling him away until all traces of him disappeared.

Although he had successfully hidden from the cultivators of the World of Darkness and the Mysterious Clan, this was still the best way to leave this place. After all, accidents could always happen. If these people realized what was going on, there would be trouble.

He was not scared of them. Even if they really fought and he had to kill them, it would not be a big issue to leave.

But the main reason why Qin Yu was here was for the Inextinguishable Flame. After that, it was to find something to help the Spring Master out of danger.

He would stay out of trouble as much as possible. If he was caught up in something, he would try not to waste any time.

Buzz –

Both his ears rang and made him dizzy. Although Qin Yu was prepared, he found that he started to despise the violent vibrations of the disordered space.

With his current cultivation level and the physical strength of the Rule System Body, he still found it challenging. If it were a normal cultivator, even if they were strong and near the Saint realm, they would have disintegrated in an instant.

From another angle, it was a good thing that Bounded Zero Place was a secret and that normal cultivators would never be able to know of it. If not, should any of them be attracted…okay, they had to first put aside the limit to the token. But there would definitely be a lot of deaths!

Hmm?

Qin Yu’s expression shifted slightly as he adjusted himself. Taking a deep breath, his heart started to pound faster and his bones and flesh expanded.

Boom –

With a bellowing sound, Qin Yu was hit and fell hard on the ground, forming a deep crater.

The one that attacked him was something resembling a monkey and had grey fur. Its eyes were bright and it was obvious that it had some intelligence. It was currently staring at the crater. It then turned, preparing to leave.

“Hmph! You dare to hit me and leave?”

With a loud sound, Qin Yu dashed out of the crater and raised his fist. Just now, he did not have time to react and could only bear the attack with his Rule System Body. There was no reason for him to suffer.

The strange beast with grey fur looked at him mockingly before it disappeared like lightning.

But in the next moment, it suddenly let out a shriek. A ‘bam’ resounded as Qin Yu took back his hand. The strange beast had been smacked far into the air by Qin Yu…the way it looked was as if it had dashed into Qin Yu’s fist!

It spat out several mouthfuls of blood but the strange beast did not die. It bounced up from the ground and ran away.

Qin Yu was surprised. Even Half-Saints could not take his fist, yet in this Bounded Zero Place, it could not even kill a random strange beast. This place seemed scarier than he had imagined.

It seemed like he had to be extra cautious.

As he thought of this, Qin Yu did not intend to let this strange beast go and he stepped forward and smacked its hand.

Rumble rumble –

An incredible force like a mountain fell on the strange beast with grey fur and the ground trembled.

This time, it finally stopped moving and the air was filled with the scent of blood.

Qin Yu walked to the corpse of the strange beast as he reached out and grasped the air. The fresh blood flowed out from the corpse and gathered into a large blood ball.

Using his divine sense, he could sense a frightening aura, albeit it was a bit weak. Back then, when the Ruler died, his body returned to the world and was absorbed by various creatures through the small world fragments, and that was how they obtained some power.

Even after so many years and through so many generations, it still remained until today. The reason why the strange beast in grey fur could withstand Qin Yu’s punch and not die must be related to this aura!

And this was just a very small part of the Ruler’s aura…Qin Yu took a deep breath as a reverent look appeared in his eyes.

He suddenly had a realization. Although it was true that beneath Rulers, True Saints who had reached the shore were the strongest…the difference between a True Saint and a Ruler was too stark.

As someone with plenty of experience killing Saints, Qin Yu knew his power very well. If he did not tap on the power of the innate spirit, he could at most kill Half-Saints. After drawing on the power of the innate spirit, he could kill True Saints without much pressure. However, if his opponents were peak True Saints like the Spring Master or Scholartree Saint, there was still some distance.

This was already considered strong, very strong. He was so strong that everyone in the Vast Brightness World had to pay attention to his existence. But even though he was powerful, he still could not help but feel his heart palpitate when he sensed the weak Ruler’s aura from the blood of the strange beast.

He felt like a tiny ant facing the big world…Ruler, this was a Ruler!

The distance between True Saints and Rulers was like heaven and earth. Or a more relatable comparison was that an ordinary person standing in front of a True Saint was probably how a True Saint would feel standing in front of a Ruler.

This was not entirely accurate as a True Saint would probably be in a slightly better position, but the disparity in power was still very real.

People had to face their inner thoughts. After obtaining the power of the innate spirit in the Lost Garden, Qin Yu’s cultivation shot up. Even his energy increased. Simply put, he felt extremely confident.

He thought that even though the realm of the Rulers was much higher, he was qualified to contest for it and he had high hopes.

The combination of his Light and Dark Body and space time energy, along with his Rule System Body, the Galaxy God Mark and even the semi-finished True Saint Great Dao from the furnace…with so many cards in his hands, how could he not aim for the Ruler seat?

But now as he faced a ball of blood, he felt as if a bucket of ice cold water had just been thrown over him on a freezing winter day and he was completely frozen.

Ruler, it was not so easy to reach. Even with his current cultivation level, he would at most have an opportunity to participate in the fight.

If he said he did not feel pressured or disheartened, he would be lying. He certainly felt down now.

Taking a deep breath, he waved his hand and stored the blood ball. Determination shone in his eyes. The mountain was not scary. What was scary was not being able to recognize the distance between oneself and the mountain.

This was Bounded Zero Place. The place where a Ruler died…such a strong Ruler could also be killed. The world was scarier than he imagined!

Become stronger. He could only become stronger, and getting the Inextinguishable Flame was the first step. Qin Yu believed that once he completed his True Saint Great Dao, his power would experience a transformation.

If one transformation was not enough, he would go through two. If two wasn’t enough, then three.

Step by step, he would keep going higher. Until one day when he could reach the peak of the mountain and look down at this incredibly vast world!