Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu’s mind was so shaken that he couldn’t help but give birth to a trace of fear and despair. And at this time, the fire dragon hadn’t stopped.

Although the remnant soul had escaped from the fire cage, it wasn’t sure if the Ruler’s Mark that Qin Yu possessed still had other abilities. If it were to encounter something like that fire cage once again, it would not be able to avoid death in its current state.

So it had to be fast and without any hesitation. As long as it swallowed Qin Yu’s soul, this Ruler’s Mark would belong to it.

Hou –

There was another roar. The fire dragon howled forward, its cold and cruel eyes locked onto Qin Yu. Fear was unavoidable. If it were anyone else facing this vicious fire dragon that was far more powerful than themselves, their heart would surely tremble.

Despair…perhaps this emotion did appear for a moment, but this didn’t mean that Qin Yu gave up resistance. On the contrary, his will to survive never wavered.

The fire dragon was formidable, but this was Qin Yu’s soul space…in other words, this was his stage.

“Stop!”

With a shout, Qin Yu pointed a finger. The phantom of an ancient bronze mirror appeared in front of him and shot out a beam of light. The light sank into the fire dragon’s body; this was the Soul Calming God Light that Qin Yu had inadvertently obtained in the past.

When facing souls, it was able to ignore all defensive power to a certain degree.

No matter how formidable a soul was, once struck by the Soul Calming God Light they would fall still for a brief moment of time. Right now, the fire dragon had become an existence that transcended the world, and its soul had undergone a qualitative rise.

But the Soul Calming God Light was still effective.

From this, it could be seen that the rank of this supernatural power was far, far higher than what Qin Yu first thought. But because his cultivation was limited, he wasn’t able to display the true power of the Soul Calming God Light.

And at this time, he wasn’t in the mood to pay attention to these matters.

The fire dragon froze for only a tenth of a breath of time before it broke loose from the Soul Calming God Light’s fetters.

Although it was an incomparably short time, the fire dragon felt a million alarms going off in its mind – this boy was truly a human worthy of obtaining the approval of a Ruler’s Mark. Although his cultivation was weak and feeble, he actually possessed countless astonishing methods.

For instance, the Soul Calming God Light didn’t seem formidable, but it seemed to adhere to some great will of the heavens and earth, and was even able to forcibly seal it.

If this ability were to be used by an existence of an equal level, even if it was for just a brief period of time it would still be enough to reverse the situation. At worst, it would have been thoroughly wounded and on the verge of death.

To be able to fight back even in such a dire situation, this junior Qin Yu couldn’t be underestimated.

The fire dragon’s eyes flashed with resolve. It took a deep breath and its body exploded into black and white fog that soared towards Qin Yu’s soul.

This was a method similar to disintegrating one’s divine soul. It would release the strength that a soul possessed to its greatest degree. Of course, this method was not without limitations. Once used, the soul had to swallow other souls before it could reform itself once again.

Otherwise, it would gradually fade away until it was finally annihilated.

If the fire dragon couldn’t swallow Qin Yu’s soul then it would surely be erased by the Ruler’s Mark. With that being the case, it didn’t fear risking its life here.

Moreover, no matter how many cards Qin Yu had in hand, his weak cultivation base remained an irreparable shortcoming. If he was just able to control such a weak and tiny soul, he could swallow it up in two to three bites. The degree of danger wasn’t as high as imagined.

Still, this soul space was Qin Yu’s stage so even when he faced the powerful fire dragon he still had the opportunity to attack first. But this opportunity only came once.

Not long after the fire dragon disintegrated, the black and white fog appeared. It split open, swallowing at Qin Yu’s soul like a great gaping maw.

Of course, this didn’t mean that Qin Yu’s soul was eaten just like this. In fact, the true swallowing only started now.

To Qin Yu, this taste wasn’t good at all. What he felt could be described as having been tossed into a boiling pot of oil, his entire soul being fried alive.

This was just a description. In fact, replacing the oil with strong acid should be more appropriate, because Qin Yu’s soul was being corroded and plundered from the outside to the inside. What was plundering him was naturally the black and white fog that surrounded him.

The soul was the foundation of a cultivator. It was born from the heavens and earth and was the most mysterious and mystical aspect of cultivation. Besides a supreme Ruler, perhaps no one could dare say they fully grasped the unpredictable circulations of the soul.

But there was one point that all cultivators were aware of. The soul was extremely sensitive. Any pain that affected the soul would be infinitely magnified, becoming unbelievably terrifying and astonishing.

So to be more accurate, this was the most painful moment that Qin Yu had experienced in his life.

The pain was so great that in just a breath of time, it was enough to break down anyone’s will and collapse their mind.

Once this happened and a soul lost resistance, the body-seizing process would proceed without accident.

Qin Yu’s mind was formidable and he had experienced numerous disasters in the past. So in terms of withstanding pain, he had a much higher capacity.

But now his mind was already fading. Perhaps before even ten breaths of time passed, his consciousness had plunged into darkness to protect itself.

Even so, his powerful instinct for survival still spurred his soul to resist the swallowing of the fire dragon.

Qin Yu gnashed at the black and white mist, tearing out chunks and swallowing them into his belly.

Seizing a soul was an incomparably dangerous venture to begin with, because relatively speaking, no matter how formidable a soul was, unless they had managed to reach the fabled boundary where their soul was able to solidify into reality, the quality and texture was actually extremely soft.

While the fire dragon’s remnant soul was still far more formidable than Qin Yu’s soul, during the seizing process it was still being maliciously chomped at.

Of course, compared to Qin Yu’s swallowing speed, the fire dragon was far faster. So Qin Yu’s soul would eventually be the one to dissipate first and become a part of the fire dragon.

But this was predicated on the premise that everything proceeded normally without any changes at all.

An accident would certainly occur, otherwise Qin Yu would die here and there would be no future when he rose up into the skies and illuminated the highest heavens.

The fire dragon thought that the seizing process was entering the final climax. As long as he put in more effort he could thoroughly swallow Qin Yu’s soul. He began to relax.

It seemed that the strength of a Ruler’s Mark was still limited. It couldn’t attack him again and again. Only when the body seizing was complete would the dust settle on the ground.

However, the toughness of Qin Yu’s soul surpassed his anticipation. During the seizing process, he instinctively fought back against the fire dragon, supplementing his own lost soul force. If it weren’t for this, the entire swallowing process would have been completed long ago.

But this was also good, because since Qin Yu’s soul had swallowed a massive amount of the fire dragon’s soul, his own soul was flooded with the aura of the fire dragon.

This way, once the fire dragon swallowed Qin Yu’s soul, a great deal of trouble would be saved and the fusion would be much easier.

Now was the time to bring things to an end!

The fire dragon’s thoughts stirred and the black and white fog that surrounded Qin Yu started to surge faster. Currently, Qin Yu’s soul was far more transparent than before, almost like a shadow. The plundering strength he faced rose drastically. His soul twitched from pain, as if it would collapse at any moment.

But then, the fire dragon suddenly heard the sound of a yawn, as if someone had just woken up. A trace of fear rose in the fire dragon’s heart. He had no idea where this yawning came from, but it caused him to feel despair!

A fierce dragon’s head appeared in the black and white fog. It aimed its mouth at Qin Yu’s soul, wanting to eat him up for good.

Although this crude method might cause injury to Qin Yu’s soul and even create flaws in the inheritance of strength, he couldn’t bother delaying anymore.

His intuition told him that if he didn’t make a move now, he would never have the chance again!

“Humph! You little thing, you woke me up and yet you still dare to open your mouth. It seems your courage is considerable.” A lazy voice sounded out. There was a flavor as if the one speaking had just risen from bed. When the voice entered the ears it was soft and mild, and brought about the image of a woman strolling along the summer river in the afternoon, her cheeks red and her messy hair hanging around her.

But when this voice fell into the ears of the fire dragon, there was no warmth. Instead, there was only endless fear and cold.

Puff –

No one saw who attacked and no one could see where the sword light came from, but the fog that surrounded Qin Yu was instantly cut in half. Normally, something like fog would have an intangible nature that could merge back together even if cut apart.

But what was strange was that the fog where the sword strike cut down seemed to have been placed in a blazing inferno, instantly burning away into nothingness.

“Ahh!” The dragon head that wanted to devour Qin Yu’s soul screamed out loud and shattered.

The fog was the fire dragon, and now that it was cut in half, that was the same as its body being hewn in half.

Before, the magnified pain that a soul endured was mentioned. So it wasn’t difficult to imagine what kind of horrible agony the fire dragon withstood as its body broke in half.