Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The average-looking Nether Domain Master had a warm smile. He cupped his hands together and bowed. “Fellow daoist Westgate, I am ashamed to announce that today my Immortal Sect has won a round.”

Solitary Westgate had discovered the precelestial wood and made use of Kang Mingqiao to inform Qin Yu. The Immortal Sect had also appointed someone in their place to launch an ambush. This was a normal fight, and victory or defeat depended on the methods utilized by both sides; no one could argue about it.

“Humph! The Immortal Sect is disgustingly rich, so there is naturally nothing I can do. But, the junior you chose to represent you was too arrogant. Does he not place my Dao Arena in his eyes?” Solitary Westgate had an ill expression.

The Nether Domain Master’s smile brightened. “It was that junior’s first time coming into so much wealth and power so his ego was momentarily inflated. With fellow daoist Westgate’s status, why bother lowering yourself to his level?” He lifted a hand and tore open space. Looking across, one could see a complete spirit stone vein within. “This spirit stone vein was accidently found by me. Today, I give it to fellow daoist Westgate as an apology for Qi Cheng’s actions.”

Solitary Westgate grasped out a hand and the spirit stone vein loudly rumbled and shrank until it flew into his hand. With a cold snort he disappeared from sight.

The Nether Domain Master revealed a forlorn look in his eyes. After contemplating for several breaths of time, his body burst apart, turning into countless motes of starlight that scattered away into nothingness.

Immortal Sect.

The Nether Domain Master’s true body opened its eyes. “Something isn’t right.”

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign faintly responded. “Of course something isn’t right! Just how difficult is it to have the Soul Summoning Bell recognize a master? It is something that is suppressed and rebuffed by the world. Yet, this junior Qin Yu was actually able to come across a precelestial wood. If it weren’t for you and I interfering, I fear he would have already completed the master recognition process.”

The Nether Domain Master’s expression was dark and uncertain. “Is this the guiding hand of destiny? If so, then even the will of the world will not be able to hinder him much.”

“Humph! In this world do you think there is something like the guiding hand of destiny? Everything you want is something you struggle for. You and I have cultivated to this stage, so how could we not understand something like this?” The Buddhist Nation Sovereign had a cruel and callous complexion. “Drawing back 10,000 steps, even if Qin Yu is being pulled forwards by destiny, I will still beat him into the dust…Soul Summoning Bell, it must be mine!”

The Nether Domain Master lightly smiled. “It’s a pity that Qin Yu didn’t fall for the trap. If he attacked Qi Cheng then things would have been much simpler.”

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign responded, “Qin Yu isn’t a fool, otherwise he wouldn’t have his current achievements. Whether it is ranking on the Ancient Perishment Decree or breaking through the Mirage King Bead, all of his actions are proof of how outstanding an individual he is. If possible, I would be willing to forgive him the sentence of death and receive his soul into my Buddhist Nation, becoming a monk beneath my tutelage.”

The Nether Domain Master shook his head. “It’s too late to talk about such things. As long as Qin Yu stays in Four Seasons City, we can do nothing to him.” He paused and continued to say, “I recently led the Dao Arena Master into making a move. Although he hid his aura, I could still feel that Solitary Westgate is much stronger than before.”

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign’s voice was cold. “And? If he tries to stop me from obtaining the Soul Summoning Bell, I will not hesitate to fight him!”

The Nether Domain Master had a worried expression. But at this time, his eyes flashed and he looked up at the space in front of him.

Hum –

Space rippled and a black-robed phantom appeared. “Another precelestial wood has appeared in Four Seasons City.”

“What!?” The Nether Domain Master shouted out.

If it were said that he was only being pensive when he mentioned the guiding hand of destiny just then, now he had an incomparably intense feeling regarding this thought.

Precelestial wood. That was something that was nearly extinct from this world. Even within the Immortal Sect there was none of this treasure left behind.

But in that small and tiny Four Seasons City, two such treasures appeared one after another…if he were to try and say this had nothing to do with Qin Yu, it would be too forced.

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign squeezed out words from beneath his teeth, one syllable at a time. “Don’t hesitate to pay any price to take away the precelestial wood. I want to see whether this so-called guiding hand of fate can be broken or not!”

“Yes.” The black-robed phantom dispersed.

Whoosh –

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign stood up. “I want to personally make a trip.”

The Nether Domain Master frowned. “Solitary Westgate is there. If you go, I fear conflict will occur.”

The Buddhist Nation Sovereign shook his head. “You do not understand. Ever since I knew about the existence of the Soul Summoning Bell, a faint and dark aura resonance was created between me and that treasure.”

The Nether Domain Master hesitated for a moment. “Then I will go together with the Nation Sovereign.”

“Good!”

Shua –

Shua –

The two people vanished from sight.

…

Two hours ago.

Four Seasons City, Dao Arena’s top training room.

Qin Yu summoned Undying and passed him a jade box. “With your skills, concealing all of your aura so that you aren’t sensed by anyone should be simple. I want you to take this thing to the entrance of the auction house and try to peddle it away. I will arrive right behind you. As for what happens after, you can do as you see fit according to the situation.”

Undying opened the jade box. He took one glance and fell silent for several breaths of time. Without uttering a single word, he cupped his hands together and left.

Looking at Undying’s back, Qin Yu couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows. He always felt that this fellow was a bit different from before.

Today might be his chance to make the most money he had encountered in his lifetime. He hoped that nothing would go wrong.

In fact, Qin Yu really was worrying over nothing. Because at this moment, Undying was more reliable than any time ever before.

“Guiding hand of destiny? Shit, I thought it was just a joke, but I never expected it would really exist. Luckily for me, I met him.” Undying muttered to himself. Waves surged in his heart and it took a long time for him to calm down. He resolved his heart and clenched his jaws, roaring out, “I’ll fight! I’m going to bet it all! Qin Yu, you’d better not disappoint me!”

Once he made a decision, he felt his entire body immediately relax and his footsteps became that much quicker.

Kang Mingqiao stood at a distance, watching the black-robed figure leaving the training room. At first he didn’t care, but his eyebrows soon furrowed and his expression became increasingly dignified.

After looking some more, a bit of surprise mixed into his dignified expression.

He actually couldn’t understand or sense this person’s aura at all!

It had to be known that he was currently in the Dao Arena. As the steward of this Dao Arena, he had the strength of the entire Dao Arena supporting him. Here, he could even battle almighty beings for a period of time. Yet, he couldn’t see just how deep a single person was…either this person had an extremely formidable aura-concealing treasure on his body, or this person’s boundary far surpassed his own!

Kang Mingqiao’s thoughts tumbled without end.

Why would such a mysterious figure appear from Qin Yu’s training room?

Before he could think further, Qin Yu pushed open the doors of the training room. As he saw Kang Mingqiao a happy smile lit up his face and he sauntered over.

“Arena Steward Kang, has the auction already ended?”

Kang Mingqiao subconsciously replied, “Not yet. I just left the field ahead of time to come and see you…”

Qin Yu smiled. “That’s good. I have a matter that I need Arena Steward Kang’s help with.”

Kang Mingqiao nodded. “Feel free to speak.” The black-robed figure he couldn’t sense was still on his mind. He wanted to ask Qin Yu about that person but thought that he would be unhappy if he did, so he continued to waver.

Qin Yu said, “I want to borrow spirit stones.”

“Not a problem…uh, you want to borrow spirit stones?” Kang Mingqiao finally regained his senses. “That item was already won by Qi Cheng. Fellow daoist Qin Yu, don’t you think it’s too late to collect spirit stones now?”

Qin Yu shook his head. “It’s not too late. It’s actually just the right time.”

Kang Mingqiao didn’t know how to respond. But, seeing Qin Yu’s confident and toothy smile, he hesitated briefly before asking, “Very well. I wonder how many spirit stones fellow daoist Qin Yu would like to borrow?”

Qin Yu lightly coughed. “However many you have, I’d like to borrow that much.”

Kang Mingqiao: …

...

Auction House –

Qi Cheng had recklessly taken action, suppressing and forcing back the profligate young masters from the Zhao, Qian, Sun, and Li Families – four noble families from the Demonic Path. Then, he had even caused the renowned and illustrious Qin Yu to retreat, capturing the mysterious withered wood with 800 million spirit stones and becoming the center of attention of the entire audience. After they guessed his current status, the covetous looks in the eyes of the watchers retreated, replaced by awe instead.

Even the high and haughty young misses from the Zhou and Mu Families couldn’t help but glance at Qi Cheng several times, causing the satisfaction of his vanity to rise to never before seen heights.

Although Qi Cheng didn’t participate in any of the following auctions, he still remained the most eye-catching person throughout the entire audience.

When the last auction ended, Qi Cheng was suddenly submerged by a tide of people. Countless flattering voices left him smiling all around.

Right now, many people who he could only carefully look up to in the past, who he could only cautiously tiptoe around, were now directing blinding smiles his way. So what if he was one of the Immortal Sect’s people? Even if the Demonic Path knew about it, there wasn’t anything they could do as long as he didn’t violate any taboos. This was a rule observed by both sides. Otherwise, the world would have already been flipped into chaos.

The auction house cultivator spent a great deal of strength to force his way through the crowd and politely offer a metal box to Qi Cheng with both hands. Qi Cheng inspected the metal box and placed it into his storage ring. Then, he took out a transparent crystal spirit stone card.

The surface of the crystal card had a lifelike demonic visage etched into it. Lava seemed to flow from its eyes.

This was the most honored spirit stone card released by the Demonic Path. Each card represented at least a billion spirit stones and they were something that normally only almighty beings possessed.

Qi Cheng casually took it out. This could be called an explosive action. The eyes of those in the surrounding crowd immediately lit up with more awe and reverence than before.

The thin old man lowered his head, his hands hanging low as he quietly stood to the side. Not a single bit of extra aura was released. When this card appeared, the old man’s eyes swept around. His gaze was like a bucket of cold water being poured over everyone’s head. It caused them all to tremble and to immediately sober up from their hazy trance.

Qi Cheng smiled. “Don’t be nervous. I think fellow daoists won’t have any nefarious thoughts towards me just because of some mere spirit stones.” He cupped his hands together towards everyone around him. “Everyone, I have an important matter to attend to today. If I have free time in the future, I will invite everyone to a banquet and I hope that you will grace me with your presence then.”

These words immediately caused a wave of responses. Several female cultivators had bright and limpid eyes, their voices so sweet and succulent that you could die from sugar overdose. It was clear that as long as Qi Cheng wanted, he only needed to crook his finger and these women would crawl into his bed tonight without hesitation.

“Hahahah!” After a bout of carefree laughing, Qi Cheng took back the spirit stone card. He respectfully nodded towards the auction house cultivator and then walked away.

A group of people gathered around, watching him with amazement. It was an impressive sight.

Outside the front doors of the auction house, it was a rare day of good weather. The bright sunlight sprinkled down, warming Qi Cheng’s head. As he walked out, he subconsciously squinted his eyes and was drawn to a striking darkness nearby.

“Wonder wood! Wonder wood! Freshly chopped wonder wood! So fresh the cut is still wet! Everyone, you’d better not pass up on this opportunity or you’ll be missing out!” A vulgar peddler’s shouts were extremely piercing and grating in the crowd. But, the grating shouts also drew the attention of people, thus a number of cultivators were encircling this peddler right now.

Every time there was a large-scale auction, many cultivators would be drawn over to set up their own stalls outside in hopes that they could sell their own treasures to the wealthy people coming out. This could be called a long-established tradition.

“What? You’re asking me where this wonder wood came from? Heh, widen your eyes and take a look! When this wood is placed beneath the light, it produces darkness, and when it is bathed in darkness, it automatically releases a dazzling brilliance! Look again at these beautiful, brilliant colors. These textures and markings that captivate the mind. It is simply a natural piece of artwork!”

As Qi Cheng heard this, his smile stiffened. The sounds of flattering praise all around him had already vanished without a trace. The people that just walked out from the auction house all had incomparably strange looks on their faces. They had just witnessed a fierce competition involving several profligate young masters and an infamous character, and in the end an item being sold for a sky high price.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that the withered wood that Qi Cheng had just won…didn’t its attributes sound similar to what this peddler was trying to sell?

Suddenly, an excited voice rose up from the crowd. “That wood, I want it!”

Qi Cheng’s eyeballs popped open. This voice…it was Qin Yu!