Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1268 – The Radar of a True Saint

Xu Wei was stunned for a moment. He quickly shook his head, “This is a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding! I…I was looking for the source of life. It was a coincidence that I met you. I was confused just now and accidentally attacked you.”

“Are you not going to tell the truth?” The one in the red robe sneered. It was like a bone-chilling wind, “It seems like you don’t care for your chance to live.”

As he said this, he raised his hand and looked as if he was going to bring it down.

Xu Wei was terrified, “No, no it is not like that. Everything that I just said is true!” He had already witnessed the strength of the man in the red robe. A single punch broke his dummy pendant.

If his fist fell, Xu Wei was definitely going to die!

Qin Yu frowned. It seemed like this person was telling the truth. But there must be something going on. If Qin Yu had only just met him, it may have been considered a coincidence. However, this was already the fifth one to attack him. Only a fool would believe him!

Qin Yu took a deep breath and lowered his fist, “Tell me everything that has happened from start to end. You better not tell a single lie.”

Although time was precious, it was worth it to spend some time trying to figure out the root of this problem. If Qin Yu could not determine who was plotting against him, he would feel as if he had a fishbone stuck in his throat. He would continue to feel uneasy.

Xu Wei rushed to explain everything about Zhang Zhongshi. He did not hide anything and told everything in detail.

As he spoke, he suddenly recalled how he had lost control of his emotions earlier. He gritted his teeth.

Bastard!

It looked like Zhang Zhongshi had made use of him.

So it was him!

Qin Yu’s heart froze. Back then when the White Phoenix was being plotted against, he did not take notice of when Zhang Zhongshi left. There were actually two people that had managed to escape. They must not be as easy to deal with as they looked.

Now, they had set their sights on him. What was the reason? And how did Zhang Zhongshi manage to know his exact location?

Qin Yu reached out, “Pass me the compass.”

This thing was his only clue. But as soon as Qin Yu grabbed onto the compass, a low rumble could be heard and it exploded.

Xu Wei was dumbfounded as he immediately waved, “It is not me, it is not me!”

Of course it was not him; unless he was tired of living, he would not try something like this.

Qin Yu’s face fell. A shard, about the size of his fingernail, lay silently in his palm.

When he intervened, the compass exploded and only a tiny piece remained.

Xu Wei had told him everything and had no value now.

Killing him was a very simple task for Qin Yu. Just a single hand could send him to heaven.

But no matter how simple or easy, it still required energy. In Qin Yu’s current state, he should save whatever energy he could.

Just as he was about to wave and ask Xu Wei to disappear, Old Turtle suddenly said, “Master, wait. He has something on him.”

Qin Yu asked, “What?”

“I am not entirely sure, but if I am not wrong, it is something related to the Lost Garden.” Old Turtle paused, “According to my feeling, this thing is not ordinary.”

Qin Yu’s eyes flashed and a low voice could be heard from beneath the red robe, “I can spare you from dying, but you cannot go! You have something on you that is connected to the Lost Garden. Hand it over.”

Xu Wei’s heart shrunk rapidly as he wondered where this Divine Saint was from. How could he have sensed it? This item was one of the reasons how he managed to get a spot in the Lost Garden.

Although his heart ached at the thought of it, he did not hesitate as he took out something very similar to the broken shard of the compass. “I do not dare to hide from you; this was something I happened to get many years ago. I heard that it is connected to the Lost Garden. But even after I entered the Lost Garden, nothing changed. Please take a look, I do not dare to lie to you.”

Once Old Turtle confirmed that this was the item, Qin Yu waved his sleeve and growled, “Get lost!”

Xu Wei immediately bowed and turned to run.

Qin Yu lifted his hand, showing the shining compass shard, “Both of you, try and figure out a way to find Zhang Zhongshi through this thing.”

“Don’t worry Master. Leave it to me!”

Stone Pagoda spoke in a low voice, “I will do my best.”

Old Turtle pursed his lips as he wondered what Stone Pagoda could do. In the end, he would be the only one that could help. Exploring and sensing had always been the strong suit of the Shadow of the Abyss.

But this time, things were quite surprising. Using the compass shard as a medium, Old Turtle started to expand the range of his senses but he ended up not finding out anything.

He could not believe it and tried once more. Old Turtle’s face started to pale and he felt as if he had been slapped. Just a moment ago, he was acting all confident. But now he could not find anyone. This was putting him in a very difficult situation!

Stone Pagoda said slowly, “If you can’t do anything, hand the shard over to me.”

Old Turtle sneered, “How can you find anything when even I am not able to?”

Stone Pagoda replied, “I am not certain but I have to try. After all, I told Master that I will try my best.”

There was nothing wrong with what he said, and his words were even subtly sucking up.

Lackey!

He had no abilities and only knew how to talk. But in reality, those that talked a lot were often not truly dangerous.

Ha ha!

Let’s see what you are capable of.

With a mocking smile, Old Turtle passed the shard over to Stone Pagoda’s hand. Of course, we don’t expect Stone Pagoda to really have the ability, just the intention was enough.

However, the outcome was slightly surprising. Old Turtle stared in shock and his first thought was that it was impossible.

This did not make sense; how could Stone Pagoda do something that even he could not do?

But the truth was right in front of him. Stone Pagoda spoke assuredly, “In the Vast Brightness World, a high level puppet technique exists. It can hide one’s aura in a puppet and so even when one’s aura is detected, it would be difficult to pinpoint one’s location.

“Coincidentally, this puppet technique is also one of the areas that I have been researching. I have some findings that can help Master. This was a pleasant surprise.” action

Stone Pagoda paused for a moment before lowering his voice, “Of course, if some turtle does not believe me, I can share the method and you will know if I am telling the truth.”

Old Turtle tried and it was the truth!

Damn it, how can it be so coincidental? This stupid Stone Pagoda. Why couldn’t he just sleep when he was trapped in the darkness, why did he have to research all sorts of things!

Comparison was the worst thing of all. After what happened today, Stone Pagoda’s position in Qin Yu’s heart was bound to rise.

And this opportunity had been given by Old Turtle. Old Turtle was so angry he felt like his stomach was about to explode, but there was no one he could vent to.

But it did not stop there. It was rare for Stone Pagoda to get an opportunity like this and he wanted to perform to his best.

Hence, while Old Turtle was speechless, he prepared what he was going to say before continuing, “Master, you have to be careful. This puppet technique that I mentioned requires someone strong to use it.”

Qin Yu frowned, “So you are saying that the real person controlling the puppet is very strong?”

“Yes, extremely strong.” Stone Pagoda paused, “According to my estimation, from the aura of the shard, it should be a Saint.”

“True Saint?”

“Yes.”

Qin Yu exhaled. Fine fine. He thought that the backlash from killing an innate spirit was about to end.

It had not!

For no reason, he was on the radar of a True Saint. Did they think that he was not dying fast enough? But that wasn’t right. In the Lost Garden, there shouldn’t be Saints. This was a regulation that had been set a long time ago by the ancient creatures. No one had ever been able to break it.

Stone Pagoda could sense Qin Yu’s confusion and spoke, “There is nothing that is certain in this world. Even if there was, it would only exist in a certain boundary. With the cultivation level of a True Saint, if they are willing to pay the price, it may not be impossible.”

“But if that were the case, how do you explain when Zhang Zhongshi got everyone to kill White Phoenix? With a True Saint’s strength, even if he was just a puppet, he would have been able to kill White Phoenix.”

Stone Pagoda replied, “Master, when it comes to this kind of technique to split the body, there are many restrictions. For example, the amount of energy it can contain. You have seen Zhang Zhongshi before and can more or less guess his cultivation level. How would he have been able to contain the energy of a True Saint?”

Qin Yu finally understood. There were limitations to using a puppet and this was more like a one-off card. So before this, when Zhang Zhongshi gathered everyone to kill White Phoenix, it was likely that he was saving his energy to do something else.

Qin Yu could kind of guess why he was the target of this puppet user.

The heavens’ punishment!

That change was too big and everyone in the Lost Garden could clearly see and feel it. With the True Saint’s experience, he would have easily been able to guess that the heavens’ punishment was in play and numerous strict conditions had to have been met.

No matter what, there were huge benefits awaiting.

The next steps were simple. The True Saint, who had somehow managed to enter the Lost Garden after a lot of effort, suddenly realized that he had a better option and he could not let it go.

But why did he not make a move until now? Instead, he was controlling the puppet and spending so much effort to continuously trick other cultivators into giving up their lives.

It was not the same as the situation with White Phoenix where he was trying to pull together the strength of the masses. Qin Yu only needed a single punch to kill all of the four previous cultivators.

He could not understand!

Old Turtle could not just sit and watch. If he did, the entire stage would belong to Stone Pagoda.

He would not accept it!

“Master, the reason why the True Saint is not making a move could be because he is worried about what your current state is.”

Qin Yu’s eyes flashed. He did not think of this.

Stone Pagoda said, “That’s right, I also believe so. Although the puppet holds the True Saint’s will, his strength is not complete. If he can sense your current strength then it isn’t unexpected for him to choose to temporarily take a back seat. After all, he may be worried that if you become desperate, you may choose to self-destruct and kill the puppet as well.”

Old Turtle was dissatisfied with being left behind and added, “Master, that’s why this puppet is tricking so many others into finding you. He is hoping to deplete your energy. Or maybe, he wants to make you unsettled and find an opportunity to kill you!”

Qin Yu took a deep breath. This was more complicated than he thought and he needed some time.

Zhang Zhongshi was not really Zhang Zhongshi. He has already turned into a puppet controlled by some True Saint.

The True Saint most likely set his target on Qin Yu because of the heavens’ punishment.

The only reason he was holding back was because Qin Yu’s body now held a horrifying strength.

He was waiting for a chance, and when the opportunity arose he would make a move.

“Not only that, if he does not find an opportunity he will take a risk before the Lost Garden closes.” Stone Pagoda said solemnly.

Qin Yu slowly nodded. It was not difficult to come to this conclusion; he just had to think from another angle. This meant that even if he kept getting rid of the tiny obstacles sent by the True Saint, he would not be able to avoid the confrontation.

If he really were to go up against the True Saint’s puppet, in his current condition, he would only slowly crumble. In other words, no matter what way Qin Yu thought of it, it looked like he was bound to die.

His probability of dying was ninety-nine percent. This was not something that anyone would be happy to hear.

Qin Yu paled and this was the first time that he had regretted his decision. If he knew this was going to happen, he would not have killed the Spiritual Snake.

But now that things had come to this stage, there was no point in regretting. Even if he had known that he would end up in this state, after careful consideration, Qin Yu would most likely have made the same decision and taken the risk.

There was always a risk to take when accumulating wealth, and as a cultivator, it was no different. If he could not take a little bit of risk, what future would he have?

Calm down. Let’s think about it.

Although the True Saint already had his targets set on Qin Yu, as long as he did not make a mistake he would not be in any immediate danger.

But the problem now was that Qin Yu was not sure when the Lost Garden would close. Hence, he could not really plan.

Stone Pagoda spoke, “Master, are you worried about when the Lost Garden will close? On this point, I also happen to know something.”

Old Turtle was speechless.

You know something? Why do you know so much? Bastard. Are you an encyclopedia?

“According to the past occurrences, as long as the Lost Garden opens for more than a month, it would be considered to be in the long term opening state. If nothing unusual happens, it will remain open for another half a month. So in the next few days, you have nothing to worry about. We still have time to change the ending.”

What he said made sense and he sounded confident.

Qin Yu took a deep breath, “You are right, there is no point worrying, we will see how it goes!”

So what if it was a Saint?

He already killed two. Even if the one targeting him now was a True Saint, his current state was just a puppet and Qin Yu had a chance.

Killing two Saints had some effect on him. It was not that he became cocky, but at least he was somewhat more confident. When facing Saints, he was better than other cultivators.