Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Holy Palace, inner temple.

Looking at Qin Yu lying down on the bed, his aura becoming increasingly weak, Solitary Westgate said, “Alright, let’s begin.”

He lifted a hand and pointed a finger. Ripples immediately appeared in space. Like wind blowing across the surface of a lake, they spread outwards until they covered the entire hall.

These spatial ripples contained a formidable imprisoning ability. They thoroughly blocked outside perception from the inside, so that no one could sense what was happening within.

Beneath Yama’s golden mask, her eyes began to shine. Her aura suddenly rose as the dress she wore wafted about her, like a god descending to the earth.

She lifted a hand. Between her five clear fingers, the Samsara grinding pan appeared. It slowly rotated, emitting a deep and loud rumbling sound.

It was like a great suppressive strength was pushing down on the grinding pan. For every inch that it spun around, a tremendous amount of strength was required.

“Dao Arena Master, even when combining our strengths together we can only maintain the soul summoning for two hours. If the Holy Monarch cannot awaken within that time…”

If he couldn’t wake up then he would never regain consciousness. In other words, he would die.

Solitary Westgate had a deep expression. “I believe he will wake up!” In his eyes, Qin Yu was a brilliant existence destined to shine amongst the highest heavens. How could he possibly die like this?

Yama nodded. The Samsara grinding pan between her fingers began to quicken. In the presence of obstruction, a loud thundering sound erupted.

A light shot out from the Samsara grinding pan. Both white and black in color, it covered Qin Yu’s body.

…

Qin Yu was trapped in a long and endless dream. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t wake up from it.

In this dream, he was born in a vast courtyard. He seemed to have an extremely honored status.

But for some unknown reason he couldn’t clearly see the faces of anyone in this dream, including the man and woman that should be called his father and mother.

He was in the dream and yet he also felt like an outsider watching from within. And, the entire dream only lasted from the moment he was born until he was four years old, and it kept repeating itself from the beginning.

Again and again, Qin Yu’s initial curiosity slowly dissolved into unease. Because the world of his dream became increasingly blurry each time it repeated itself.

At the start, he was only unable to make out the face of the people; the sights and sounds of everything else were clear. But sound slowly vanished and the surrounding scenery also started to distort.

In fact, he even saw a person that appeared in his dream be directly swallowed up by the twisted space.

And after that, no matter how much Qin Yu looked for them, he couldn’t find that person’s existence in this repeating dreamland.

Thus he was able to determine that in this collapsing dream world, the person who had been swallowed had thoroughly vanished.

Qin Yu wasn’t able to work out what this event meant. But, he instinctively felt a cold and brutal aura around it.

If he was swallowed up by the collapsing dreamland world, then he feared his fate would be the same…however, that didn’t mean he would then wake up from this dream.

The dreamland world became increasingly unstable. The giant courtyard also began to break apart. Qin Yu was stranded on a fragment. He tried everything in his power to leave, but in the end he failed.

“Am I going to die in this strange dream?”

Standing in the courtyard, Qin Yu looked down at his hands that had shrunk to the size of a child’s. His voice was bitter and unwilling.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar entered his ears. At first he didn’t care about it because in this dreamland world, as space collapsed, it would often make similar sounds.

But soon, he realized it was different. Because this sound didn’t come from around him, but from above his head!

Qin Yu fiercely looked up. In the distorted and shattered skies, he could see the faintly visible form of a spinning black grinding pan.

“Samsara!”

Overjoyed, Qin Yu stared tightly at it. He soon determined that this grinding pan wasn’t something that was created by the dreamland world. A faint attraction force was released from the Samsara grinding pan phantom in the skies. After discovering Qin Yu’s existence, it rapidly flew over.

There was a shock to his consciousness. Qin Yu wasn’t surprised by this, because he knew that the Samsara grinding pan was trying to separate his consciousness from this strange dreamland.

A transparent Qin Yu started to emerge from the child-aged body he occupied in the dream. But then, the young child screamed out in pain. In the next moment his eyes turned gray.

A young, cold, and eerie voice came from the mouth of the young child. “This is your family. If you don’t stay here, where would you go?”

The child lifted a hand and grabbed onto Qin Yu’s transparent shadow. A piercingly cold aura surged out, rapidly corroding him.

Weng –

Weng –

The suction strength that twined around Qin Yu seemed to be affected by this corrosive power. It rapidly weakened.

In fact, a layer of white frost began to appear on the Samsara grinding pan spinning in the skies.

As if it was also being frozen by the ice cold strength invading Qin Yu’s body.

…

Holy Palace –

In the great hall, the temperature in the air began to rapidly fall. A layer of white frost appeared on Qin Yu’s body.

Standing at the bedside, Solitary Westgate and Yama who were both galvanizing the Samsara grinding pan with all their strength suddenly had different complexions.

They could clearly feel the absolutely ice cold aura. It was like a poison snake striking out from the darkness, drilling into their bodies.

“This is bad!”

Solitary Westgate spat out a mouthful of blood. Before this blood fell, it started to burn in midair.

Within the bloody flames, a rune appeared. It released a blood red light that covered both him and Yama.

The intrusive ice cold aura was immediately suppressed. But whether it was Solitary Westgate or Yama, neither of them had a happy expression.

Because at this time, the rune in the bloody flames was trembling with an extremely small and incredibly alarming magnitude.

Kacha –

Kacha –

Light sounds constantly came from the rune. Cracks started to appear on its surface.

Pa –

The rune shattered. From the moment it appeared until now, it had only lasted for three breaths of time.

Solitary Westgate stuffily coughed. Blood flowed out from the corners of his mouth. Before this blood dripped to the ground, it had become pitch black in color.

Winds suddenly stirred up in the hall. The sounds of sobbing as well as an extreme frost chill were carried along with the winds.

As if in the endless nothingness, a pair of ice cold eyes had locked onto the two of them.

Yama said, “Dao Arena Master, there is something wrong with the Holy Monarch. I fear we have provoked additional troubles!”

Solitary Westgate clenched his teeth. “With things having come to this point, we cannot give up here. Otherwise, today will be the day Qin Yu dies!”

Yama forced a smile, “Even if we can persist, how long can we last?”

Solitary Westgate took a deep breath, “Until I have reached my limit, I will not give up…I still believe that Qin Yu won’t die here!”

The temperature continued to fall. What froze was not flesh and blood, but the soul and consciousness.

…

In the dreamland world, Qin Yu’s consciousness turned around. His eyes met the eyes of the young child and his heart shook.

Because this young child had the same appearance as he did in his childhood.

Could this really be his childhood?

And why had this strange dreamland appeared?