Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1488 – Stealing Essence

A large crater was created in the earth once all the dust had settled. Taotie’s body lay in the middle of the crater where a massive wound gaped open in its chest. Its body was still and it no longer struggled.

Streaks of red aura were gushing out of its body and they dispersed into the air.

The Abyssal Titan stood up straight and it roared towards the sky. He stretched his arm forward and closed his fingers into a tight first.

Bam!

Space was already condensed into a violently oscillating compound. Now, it shrunk and collapsed inwardly. A trace of crimson red color appeared in the vibrating space and it felt like the aura that came out of the Taotie’s body!

Roar!

A ferocious roar filled with anger rang through the ears of the Abyssal Titan. Soon, a large illusion was formed from the crimson red between the collapsed space.

It looked like the body in the crater and it was a perfect mirror image of the Taotie that had been killed.

In fact, this was the real Taotie!

As an ancient creature that could devour the heavens and earth, it could still survive even if its physical body was destroyed.

If there was a good opportunity, he will gain a second chance and revive himself… This was similar to how Ning Xiao had suffered the backlash from the Taotie Projection and his body was used as a shell to allow the Taotie to grow.

Even though it was not complete and it could not sustain this way of living, it might gain a chance of surviving if it could kill the Abyssal Titan and devour this large entity.

The core of how the Taotie could revive again and again was the Taotie Essence. This was the red substance floating in the air that was attempting an escape. Naturally, the Abyssal Titan would prevent this.

To the Taotie, Ning Xiao’s death was just a lost shell that he had stolen. It was nothing too major.

However, the Taotie could not lose its essence. Even a slight diminishing of its essence would mean a loss of a part of its strength forever.

As such, the moment it sensed the Abyssal Titan going for its essence, the Taotie directly summoned its will.

For the Taotie whose real body was destroyed and whose will was scattered all over the land, it was a huge burden for him to call upon and summon its will forcefully.

In other words, even if the Abyssal Titan stopped now, the Taotie had already suffered a heavy injury… The difficulty if it wanted to revive itself again would be immense.

However, the Abyssal Titan refused to stop!

Qin Yu could sense that the bloodline belonging to the Abyssal Titan had been activated. He fully desires the Taotie Essence in front of him.

He could sense that the desire from the Abyssal Titan was not driven by the adrenaline of the fight but it came internally from its bloodline. Qin Yu had an easy explanation for this, if he could obtain the Taotie Essence, he could refine it and the Abyssal Titan would become much stronger!

Leaving it alone after seeing it would be a waste and Qin Yu knew that he did not want another battle with the Taotie. The slight hesitation in Qin Yu’s eyes slowly turned into determination.

It used to appear that the bloodline of the Abyssal Titan was not important for him but today’s battle had proved otherwise.

The Abyssal Titan could contest against an ancient creature, the Taotie. This proved its potential.

After all, for the two creatures to be rivals, they would have to have roughly the same strength.

Otherwise one of them would have been killed cleanly very quickly and the grudge between them would not have deepened and lasted for so long

Perhaps, there would be an unexpected gain from stealing the Taotie Essence… For Qin Yu, the upcoming Tomb of the Barbarian King and his uncertain future were huge motivating factors and Qin Yu did not want to waste any opportunity that will help him increase his powers.

He will give it a try… glancing at the dead Taotie, Qin Yu only wondered how strong its indestructible will could be?

The Abyssal Titan roared and made a trial by stretching its claws and grabbing forward. After the refinement by the furnace, the Great Dao it possessed buzzed lightly before it unleashed its full strength.

Crackle crackle!

The Abyssal Titan’s massive body that could support the heavens grew bigger quickly as his muscles and flesh stretched.

In the blink of an eye, a dark golden circle appeared deep within its eyes, revealing a majestic feeling.

The space was being destroyed.

After the great collapse, there was endless destruction before small bits of darkness started to appear. Like ink that dripped into water, it started to disperse rapidly and pure darkness quickly expanded in the area.

The Taotie Essence was escaping using space as a medium of transport. All of a sudden, the red streaks were pulled back forcefully. Like fish caught in a wide net, they struggled desperately to escape the grasp but to no avail.

A low roar came from the Taotie and anger and hatred could be heard from its voice. Its eyes were bloodshot as it glared at the Abyssal Titan. Boundless killing intent and hatred poured out of it.

Qin Yu's heart clenched and he felt as though he was thrown into an endless well of ice cold water. His body felt like it was being frozen alive. The Taotie's mouth sprung wide open and it bit down fiercely. A clear snap could be heard where the red colored essence was trapped within the darkness.

A whistling sound came as the darkness was sucked into the Taotie's mouth. In a short period of time, the essence had managed to escape its grasp.

He had failed!

Qin Yu was upset at things ending this way and there was a thick sense of unease overwhelming his heart. He had offended this Taotie already and as a creature that could never die, who knew when this ancient creature's grudge would turn into something more dangerous for him.

But this was the truth now.

Everyone needed to make choices and they had to take on the consequences of their choices.

Roar!

The Abyssal Titan roared in anger and its body stiffened as its muscles on both arms bulged. Because of the excessive use of force, the scales that lined its body started to rip apart, revealing gaping wounds. However, this did not stop the Taotie Essence from escaping.

There seemed to be no other choice…

At this point, Qin Yu suddenly thought about the East Sea Sword!

However, the moment this thought jumped into his mind, he dismissed it. Regardless of whether the East Sea Sword would be able to get the Taotie Essence, what was he going to do if he succeeded?

With his current state, how long will he need to refine his Great Dao again after shattering it?

If West Desolate noticed something amiss in the meantime, what was he going to do if they sent someone after him?

Even if he managed to succeed and did not reveal anything wrong, how was he going to go to the Tomb of the Barbarian King?

He could not be rash!

Qin Yu breathed in deeply to calm himself down. He had already achieved his goal today by getting the Ice Flame and it would only be a pity to give up on the Taotie Essence.

As for the hatred from the Taotie… Qin Yu would not concern himself with future events. Perhaps, this ancient being would no longer be a threat to him in the future.

Many things of this world were a wonder. Qin Yu had just made his decision to abandon the Taotie Essence when things changed.

The source of the change was Stone Pagoda!

When Qin Yu entered Boiling Mountain Fantasy and had not ignited the time ‘star’ yet, he had informed Qin Yu that he would be doing a trial.

Stone Pagoda went missing after that. After that, Qin Yu condensed his energy and accepted the gift from the time ‘star’. Then it was the fight with Ning Xiao and the great battle against the Taotie.

He had been so busy concentrating on his tasks that he forgot about Stone Pagoda.

In fact, Stone Pagoda had not run away after witnessing the great battle with the Taotie… Instead, it succeeded!

It was only when the Taotie will descended and threatened to take away all the Taotie Essence with it that Stone Pagoda finally decided to show himself.

Buzz-

At that moment, Boiling Mountain Fantasy had been fully wrecked after the onslaught from the darkness and the Taotie Essence. The space suddenly jerked violently.

It felt like a large stone that dropped into the pond, causing ripples through its surface. These shock waves moved very quickly and they swept through the land in the blink of an eye.

What was more terrifying than its speed was the overwhelming pulverizing force that it carried!

One by one, Qin Yu started to sense stars appearing. They appeared in different ways and took on different physical traits. Light from the stars combined together to form a tight chain that enveloped the Taotie will and correspondingly, the Taotie Essence in its mouth!

Stone Pagoda appeared on top of the chains and he exclaimed excitedly, “It succeeded, it actually succeeded!”

It seemed like he had not been expecting this either.

The look of astonishment in the Abyssal Titan’s eyes was quickly replaced by excitement and adrenaline. It roared enthusiastically and stomped down, its mountain-like body rose into the air and it pounced at the tightly trapped Taotie will.

The curved claws of the Abyssal Titan stretched out, grabbed the Taotie will and yanked it towards him forcibly. The Taotie will wriggled tirelessly but the Abyssal Titan mercilessly consumed it.

A cold light reflected off his sharp teeth as he chewed. There was a tingling sound that sent chills down a spine before the Taotie will was swallowed.

Roar.

The Taotie roared in anger and its eyes turned bloodshot and it seemed like it was about to cry blood.

A terrifying aura burst from his body like an erupting volcano as it struggled to escape the bind that it was in.

The ‘stars’ that appeared shone even brighter and they started to shake slightly as the Taotie struggled.

Stone Pagoda yelled, “Hurry, I can’t hold on for long!”

The Abyssal Titan stretched his arms forward and grabbed another handful of Taotie will, stuffed it into his mouth and gulped it down.

He was not going to stop!

The cries from the Taotie grew more desperate and angry. Cracking sounds could be heard from the stars.

Clang-

The first star shattered, followed by the second and the third… the tight bind was slowly beginning to break apart!

The hatred from the Taotie will ran very deep and it continued to glare at the Abyssal Titan. The two streaks of red Taotie Essence vanished in the blink of an eye.

Kaboom-

Boundless waves of forces was in a frenzy and it swept across the land as shock waves similar to tsunami. With the battlefield as the center, the shock waves spread out in a circular manner and covered all the land.

This was the harm done to Boiling Mountain Fantasy from the large amount of stars being destroyed!