Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 2 – A Touch of Blue

The chief disciple was astonished. “You know him?”

Qin Yu was completely unprepared to stumble onto a murder scene. He was terrified. But, the more he thought, the clearer his thoughts became. He rapidly judged the situation and leapt up to his feet, his face pale, “No, no! I don’t know him!”

The chief disciple’s eyes sparkled. His smile seemed to become even calmer. “It seems that Junior-apprentice Brother Wei Wei knows you though?”

Qin Yu shook his head again and again, horrified.

Wei Wei roared out loud. “Qin Yu, now that you have stumbled into this today Han Dong will never let you go! He has also been severely wounded and that last strike just now cost him all the final dregs of his strength. Hurry up and kill him, otherwise once he recovers his magic powers we will both die here!”

The chief disciple chuckled and clapped his hands together. “Junior-apprentice Brother Wei Wei’s thoughts are quite intricate. You want to push Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu to his death and waste my remaining strength. How admirable.” He looked towards Qin Yu and sighed. “Brother Wei’s plotting nearly cost me my life. Luckily, it seems my fate with junior-apprentice brother here is quite good. We can directly split the harvests here.”

The chief disciple pointed to Wei Wei and said, “Kill him and we can equally divide whatever I find on him, and we also do not have to tell anyone of what occurred tonight. How about it?”

Qin Yu’s eyes lit up with interest.

But before he could respond, the earth began to shake. A giant wild boar as large as a cow and covered with pitch black spikes suddenly rumbled into the mountain valley. Its jaws opened to reveal fierce fangs and a pair of tusks. It was enraged by its territory being invaded.

As three pairs of eyes fell onto its body, the wild boar’s expression stiffened. It stamped a leg on the ground, its imposing stance seeming ridiculous at this moment.

After sneaking its way into the medicine garden and eating some spiritual herbs, the wild boar had gained a small degree of spiritual wisdom. It could naturally feel the tension in the atmosphere. In particular, the auras rolling off Han Dong and Wei Wei were horrifying.

The wild boar’s gaze fell upon Qin Yu. Without a doubt, he was the weakest of the three here.

Qin Yu also glanced at the beast. As he saw a missing corner on one of its front hooves, all sorts of complex feelings filled his heart.

Han Dong chuckled. “Today is truly lively. Even such a stupid beast has rushed over to join the fun.” He shook his head. Even though this wild boar had a bit of spiritual wisdom he didn’t care about it at all. “The further we delay, the more troubles can occur. Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu, have you made your decision? I promise you that I will not harm you after this.”

Wei Wei roared out, “Once the Sect Master discovers you’ve killed me, you will die...” He lifted his hand and three arrows shot out from his sleeve, shooting towards Han Dong.

A thin barrier erupted around Han Dong. As the three sleeve arrows struck it, they weren’t able to break through. Even so, three wisps of dim black energy penetrated the barrier and shot into his body. Han Dong fell backwards with a stuffy cough, fiercely waving his hand in response and shooting out a talisman.

The four to five meter distance was closed in the blink of an eye. The severely wounded Wei Wei was splayed on the ground and unable to respond to the talisman in time. With a loud whistling sound, ghostly green flames ignited. Wei Wei couldn’t even make a sound before he was incinerated into black bones. The eerie green flames burned over his bones and soon extinguished, leaving nothing but a strange glow in the dark night.

The moment the hare was flushed out, the falcon swooped down. Life and death had been decided in an instant!

“Kuh! Kuh!” Han Dong violently coughed. The three wisps of dim black energy had opened three bloody holes in his body. The blood leaking from him was tinted black, clearly indicating poison. He took out a jade bottle from his waist and opened it, swallowing a few pills. He ruefully smiled, “I never imagined that the Nether Melody Bow which appeared just recently would actually have fallen into Wei Wei’s hands. I nearly died due to my oversight.”

As Han Dong spoke he straightened himself. He glanced back and as he saw the wild boar still frozen beneath the great tree, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

Han Dong’s eyes inadvertently swept over Wei Wei’s bones. Blue sparkles of light shined, glimmering in the dark like the deepest blue of the sea. Han Dong’s gaze instantly turned blazing hot but calmed down in the next moment.

“My pledge remains the same as before. We will divide the items on Wei Wei’s body and then forget about what happened tonight. Of course, if junior-apprentice brother believes that you have the confidence to kill me here and take sole possession of these treasures for yourself, then you’re free to try.”

Qin Yu’s eyes widened with greed, but he soon turned timid again. “How...how could I disrespect senior-apprentice brother like this? I am already more than satisfied with half of the harvest.”

Han Dong smiled and nodded. “Junior-apprentice brother is such a bold man! It is difficult for me to move right now, so can I bother junior-apprentice brother here to check Wei Wei’s corpse and see what treasures he had hidden on him?”

Qin Yu’s eyes shined with greed. He locked his eyes on Han Dong and cautiously made his way over to Wei Wei’s corpse. Although his complexion was grim and earnest, it was completely different from his voice, because as he spoke, he did so with a slight shudder of excitement. “Senior-apprentice brother, how did you know that Third Senior-apprentice Brother Wei Wei had treasures on him?”

One step. Two steps.

Han Dong’s voice sounded out from behind, “Wei Wei’s spiritual roots are mixed and uneven. He has cultivated slowly for all these years and yet two months ago he was reborn and broke through seven levels of Energy Refining in 27 days to enter Foundation Establishment. This is the most critical question.”

Three steps. Four steps.

“Others think he had made deep preparations for this moment, but I don’t believe that at all, because nine years ago when Wei Wei entered the sect, I was the one who examined him.”

Five steps. Six steps.

“My memory is quite good. People I see, what they do, those are things I basically won’t forget. I naturally wouldn’t incorrectly recall Wei Wei’s talent.”

His voice carried a faint taunting undertone.

Seventh step.

With his back against the large tree, Han Dong’s eyes turned ice cold. Bloody light appeared on his fingertips and contempt lined the corner of his lips!

At this moment, Qin Yu staggered as if he had tripped on something. Han Dong’s movements slowed for a brief moment before a loud rumbling sound rose up behind him.

Awo –

The frightened wild boar emitted a strange howl. It subconsciously rushed forwards, its fast actions completely out of sync with its enormous body as it mercilessly slammed into Han Dong. Its two giant tusks ripped through Han Dong’s chest and pierced his heart. Han Dong’s eyes widened and fresh blood gushed out from his mouth. With endless fury and rage swimming in his eyes, he died!

The wild boar swung its head and threw the body away. It rushed away from the valley in a panic, its cries of terror still echoing in the night.

The mass of blood red light burst apart in the air and covered Han Dong’s corpse, turning whatever it touched into ashes as it hit the ground.

What a pitiful person. This chief disciple Han Dong had believed that everything was in his grasp, but he had actually been killed by the ‘stupid beast’ he had mocked just a moment ago, and not even his bones were left remaining.

Qin Yu fell to the ground, feeling as if all the bones in his body had been pulled out. Sweat poured out from every pore until his robes turned sticky and pasted to his body.

By activating the trap, the wild boar had been frightened and as a result it had killed Han Dong...rather than saying this was Qin Yu’s plan, this should be called his luck instead. If anything had gone wrong, he would have died.

Looking towards the direction the wild boar fled off to, Qin Yu smiled. “Half a year ago you nearly killed me, but today you rescued me. With that our debts have been settled.”

His gaze fell onto Wei Wei’s bones and he couldn’t suppress the excitement rising in his mind. That deep blue sea color seemed as if it could draw in his mind with a single glance. If it could cause Han Dong to kill his fellow sect disciple without any scruples at all, it was clear how precious it must be. Moreover, there was also Wei Wei’s recent meteoric rise as evidence.

Qin Yu gasped several times and struggled up to crawl towards the bones. But before he could take a few steps, a loud snapping sound broke out from within his body and all the strength within him seemed to subside, leaving him feeling incomparably weak and empty. His consciousness began to blur. With his body and mind exhausted and his emotions rising and falling, his fragile second level Energy Refining realm had decided to begin collapsing at this moment! action

“No!” Qin Yu roared out in his heart. He knew that once he fell down he would never have a chance to stand back up.

He was not willing to die like this!

His body fell to the ground and he could no longer see everything around him. His shaking hands gripped the dirt as he pulled and squirmed his way forwards.

He didn’t know how long it took, but he finally touched something cold. He didn’t know what it was that he touched, but once he grabbed it he didn’t let go. Then, his consciousness began to turn dark.

The night was thick and sticky like ink. The wind whistled through the valley, carrying with it the light scent of blood. Small motes of dim green light glowed in the dark like ghostly flames.

Qin Yu lay prone near Wei Wei’s bones. The ghostly green light illuminated his young and pale face and that was twisted with pain. His breaths were weak, and without accident, he would die here, becoming another lonely ghost that haunted this valley.

But perhaps it was destiny, perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was just an accident...he was not destined to die here today.

Qin Yu’s right index finger poked through a hole in Wei Wei’s clothing and touched his bones. The ghostly green lights that covered his bones seemed to come to life, creeping up towards that finger like wriggling flesh and flowing into his body like mercury.

Qin Yu’s entire body turned green and massive tracts of glowing dots appeared on his skin. Although he had already fainted, painful cries still unconsciously sounded out from the depths of his throat as his body twitched out of control.

In truth, Qin Yu was lucky. If this poisonous corpsefire talisman hadn’t exhausted almost all of its strength when it killed Wei Wei, then he would have been turned to bones by now!

Although that trace of deep blue was grasped in his hands, there wasn’t the tiniest reaction at all. But when that poison corpsefire tried to invade Qin Yu’s body, that peaceful deep blue began to surge with rolling waves. Like a spring breeze caressing the surface of a lake, small ripples started to spread out. The terrifying corpsefire spots on Qin Yu’s body began to rapidly melt away like snow beneath the sun.

Misfortune had turned into a blessing!

Qin Yu should have died. But after the poisonous corpsefire invaded his body and was also melted away, his breath had finally leveled off. Although it was weak it was steady, and a faint blush of red reappeared on his face.

He grasped the touch of blue and fell to the ground. Then, as if he possessed everything he needed, he fell asleep.

As the skies lit up, Qin Yu was awakened by the morning bells of the Eastern Mountain Sect. His mind was confused for a brief moment and then his eyes suddenly widened. He crawled onto his feet. Although his entire body was sore with aches and pains, his chest felt comfortable and there was no rattling in his breath or occasional pains as he breathed.

How could this be?

Last night he had clearly...

Qin Yu’s mind shook. He looked up and swept his gaze around. A complicated light appeared in his eyes. At a large stone beneath the great tree, the bones there as well as the icy coldness he gripped in his palm told him that what he was seeing and what he remembered was not a dream.

Qin Yu’s young heart began to panic, but he soon tamped it down. He looked at the thumb-sized lamp in his palm and his eyes brightened. He noticed that a part of his finger had turned a strange ghostly green, but he didn’t have time to think about what this meant.

He placed the lamp against his chest and started to quickly clean up the scene. He was an amateur cultivator of the lowest level and had never managed to practice the magic arts of an immortal cultivator. He could only try to erase the traces of evidence himself with his own effort.

Sometime later, besides the large stone beneath the tree, the valley returned to its original state.

Third senior-apprentice brother’s bones, clothing, as well a crossbow hidden in his sleeves were buried by Qin Yu. Several jade bottles were also buried; of course, the pills inside them were taken out.

In addition, there were also two pieces of stone as long as a finger. Qin Yu could clearly feel the spirit energy emanating from them.

Spirit stones!

The blood fire that Han Dong released had burnt himself as well as all his possessions to ashes. While this had saved Qin Yu the troubles of having to dispose of his corpse, Qin Yu couldn’t help but think that the chief disciple Han Dong surely would have had more possessions on his body. To think that all of these things were destroyed by that blood fire, Qin Yu felt his heart ache a little.

He made a circle and examined the site once more to make sure that he couldn’t find any mistakes. Then, he slowly walked backwards and left. Although his speed was slow, he meticulously cleared away his footprints as he left. It was only when he left the valley and discovered the presence of others that he turned and quickly hurried away.

Even though Qin Yu had gone as fast as he could, he still spent a good period of time on this delay. The outer court disciples had already started heading out to work along with the ringing of the morning bell.

However, this made Qin Yu feel a little less troubled. It was only when he returned to his residence and closed the door, isolating himself from the outside, did he truly let out a sigh of relief. An intense wave of fatigue swept over him.

He suppressed his exhaustion and switched his clothes. He hid the lamp, spirit stones, and pills in a hidden drawer beneath the window. Then, he plopped onto his bed and fell asleep.

After an unknown period of time, Qin Yu was awakened by the sounds of rapid knocking on his door. He could see the two doors leading to his room suddenly groan and then fall down. Several vigorous and quick young men rushed into his room and stood to the side with bowed heads.