Refining the Mountains and Rivers

To avoid creating any unnecessary side issues, he picked up the rusted hatchet and walked over to the pile of logs that was stacked several people high.

Kacha –

Kacha –

The sound of splitting wood constantly reverberated through the room. It was only when the sun rose on the next day that he finished up.

Qin Yu ‘dazedly’ slept for a short period of time before he was rudely woken up. After casually washing, he was brought in front of the servant leader with a face full of exhaustion. The servant leader seemed satisfied with his appearance. He smiled and said, “After a moment, bring him over.”

Li Wei picked Qin Yu up and utilized his magic power, rapidly racing over the ground. They soon arrived in front of a massive square. At this time, numerous cultivators had gathered here but none of them were speaking. The atmosphere was solemn and respectful.

But right now, eyes began to veer towards Qin Yu. Some gazes were filled with ice cold mockery, some were sympathetic, but most were faint and distant.

To cultivators who stayed high and aloof, a low and humble mortal didn’t have the qualifications for them to pay attention to. In any case, this mortal was also doomed to be thrust into the abyss.

After arriving at the entrance to the hall, Li Wei let go of Qin Yu. He respectfully said, “Sect Master, fellow Elders, I have brought Zhou Li’s fiancé here.”

There was a brief pause and then a low and deep voice came from within the hall, “Bring him in.”

Li Wei hurriedly bowed. He said to Qin Yu, “The Sect Master has summoned you. Hurry inside!”

Qin Yu had a ‘fl.u.s.tered’ look on his face as he rushed through the doors, nearly tripping on his way in. He swept his eyes around the hall and then lowered his head in fear.

Although his cultivation hadn’t been fully restored, his eyesight was still there. And, the people in this hall didn’t bother concealing their auras at all.

The one sitting in the central seat of honor should be the ruler of the True Wood Sect. This person’s aura was unfathomably deep and also seemed unified with the heavens and earth as one whole. He gave off an incomparably mystical feeling.

But compared to the Old Zhao he saw at Sky Declaring Pavilion, this person was far, far weaker. It was likely he had just touched upon the Great Dao realm and hadn’t yet completed his breakthrough.

There were people sitting in chairs on both sides, seven men and women in total. Each one of them was at the Calamity Immortal realm. Amongst them, three of them gave Qin Yu a great sense of oppression.

Qin Yu’s heart skipped a beat and he thought to himself that this world was truly fierce. This was only a minor sect and yet it unexpectedly possessed a formidable strength no weaker than the Holy Palace lineage.

On the stage, a man with white temples stood up. He was one of the three people who gave off an oppressive feeling to Qin Yu. He had a dignified expression as he said, “When Zhou Li entered the True Wood Sect, I took pity upon her humble origins and also admired her heart that never gave up, thus I decided to bring her in as a disciple. But, I never thought that in order to achieve her goals, she would use her beauty and try to seduce one of my outstanding disciples, Feng Yang, eventually causing him to suffer heavy losses and almost lose his life!”

After that his voice and appearance became stern and his icy cold eyes seemed to fill with the strength of a thousand soldiers. “For this reason, I ordered people to bring a member of the Zhou Family here to deal with this matter and show that my True Wood Sect is impartial and fair. Since you are Zhou Li’s fiancé, you also have the qualifications to stand here. If you have any objections to this result, you can speak up and refute it!”

Yu Qing flicked his sleeves and shouted, “Men, bring the sinful disciple Zhou Li into the hall so that she may accept the rightful punishment of the sect!

There was the sound of ringing shackles. Zhou Li walked in. She had been stripped of her usual attire and now only wore white clothes. She diligently tried to keep her back straight and upright. Perhaps because this affected her wounds, faint traces of dark red blood seeped out, looking particularly striking against her stark white clothing.

Yu Qing had a heavy expression on his face as he said, “Zhou Li, do you acknowledge your guilt?”

“I am innocent!” Zhou Li bit her lips and fixed her eyes tightly on her teacher, “You know the truth behind this matter. Why must you distort the truth, turning white to black and slandering me?”

Yu Qing had a stern and righteous expression. “The only thing I believe in is evidence. I will not show favoritism just because you are my disciple.”

His eyes emanated with a heavy suppression. “Zhou Li, the sect has already investigated the situation and the evidence is conclusive. Do you still plan on denying it?”

Zhou Li’s eyes turned vacant. She instinctively revealed fear, but she soon bit her lips and freed herself from the fear percolating in her mind.

“Teacher, I am disappointed in you, and I am disappointed in the entire True Wood Sect! Do you only do this because Feng Yang comes from an honored background while my origins are that of a low and humble mortal family?”

She could already see her own ending and her heart was icy cold. But since she had no way of avoiding death in the end, what was there left to fear?

Her eyes swept across the supposedly virtuous and righteous cultivators around the hall. She said, “None of you deserve to be called immortals!”

Because this was a sect meeting, everything happening in the hall could be sensed by the cultivators standing in the square outside. At this moment, all of their eyes widened with shock.

This Zhou Li, her guts were far larger than they imagined. She was surely going to die today…but when they listened to her words, many of them suddenly felt ill at heart. If the person standing in her position today was one of them, what would happen then? They feared the result would be the same.

“How insolent!” Xu Qing shouted out loud, the corners of his eyes twitching. He never thought that Zhou Li would be able to resist the mental suppression he exerted on her. The words she said were no different from publically slapping them in front of everyone.

Yu Qing could feel the faintly mocking look of the Sect Master from up high. He took a deep breath and said, “Zhou Li, your fiancé is in the hall with us right now. Husbands and wives share a singular body. If you remain stubborn and refuse to acknowledge your guilt, then I will open up a second round of investigations. Once enough evidence has been gathered, your fiancé will be punished together with you! Zhou Li, you had best consider your situation clearly. Will you acknowledge your guilt or not?”

Everyone scolded this person for being shameless in their hearts. He had even resorted to using outright threats; it was simply unbefitting of his status.

Yu Qing had no expression, as if he didn’t see the eyes around him. He needed to end this quickly; the longer it dragged out, the more face he would lose. If this all became a farce, then not only would his plan of being on good terms with Feng Qing fail, but he would also end up offending her.

Fiancé?

Zhou Li revealed a vacant expression. She followed everyone’s line of sight to see the ‘terrified’ Qin Yu standing in a corner of the hall.

It was him!

“You…why are you here?”

She suddenly felt a bit panicked. He wouldn’t believe that Feng Yang had ‘touched’ her, right? She had been able to stand up to this entire hall full of high-level cultivators and speak her mind, but for some unknown reason, upon seeing Qin Yu she was suddenly fl.u.s.tered. Her heart filled with grievances and her eyes started to turn red.

Qin Yu ‘trembled’ as he said, “The immortals said that you experienced an accident. The old sir asked me to come here in his place.”

Seeing his horrified and pale face, Zhou Li’s surging emotions suddenly vanished.

That’s right. Qin Yu was just a common person. Facing these cultivators that stood tall and lofty and possessed formidable strength, it was already difficult for him to remain standing. It was impossible for her to rely on him…perhaps he was full of dread and fear right now, afraid that he would be implicated.

Zhou Li took a deep breath and her expression turned indifferent. “Are grandmother and grandfather doing fine?”

“Yes, they are doing well.”

“Then I can rest assured.” Zhou Li turned away. She looked at Yu Qing and said, “Teacher, I acknowledge my guilt!”

Considering the shameless actions displayed by the True Wood Sect so far, even if they proceeded with another investigation, the result would not change. It would only result in Qin Yu also losing his life.

It was fine. That ash line grass was gifted to her by him. This could be considered as returning the favor. From this point on, she didn’t owe him anything anymore.

…

The True Wood Sect’s great sect meeting had already begun. Feng Qing arrived late. In her opinion, they were simply slandering an innocent woman and vilifying her purity. Even this so-called trial that would only result in her death was nothing but a dirty deal dressed up nicely. She felt nothing but disgust in her heart.

But what was truly a pity was that Feng Qing was a participating member of this deal. No matter what she thought, she needed to enter the stage and receive the response of the True Wood Sect.

I have received your regards and will naturally repay you in the future.

Her chest began to tumble and her face paled. But, her expression didn’t change. Coldly and apathetically she entered the room. Through the array formation that had been arranged here ahead of time, she could see every corner of the hall.

These past years, she had long since trained herself to maintain a smile that was beautiful and yet lacking any warmth, as well as keep her feelings as hard as stone and metal.

“Miss Feng Qing, Zhou Li has acknowledged her guilt!” A True Wood Sect cultivator who was guiding her suddenly turned around, a smile on his face.

Feng Qing nodded, not surprised by this result. How could a delicate girl with no background block the sinister actions that had been unanimously agreed upon by the entire sect?

Zhou Li. Was that her name?

Feng Qing silently kept this name in mind. She wouldn’t interfere in today’s result, but after this disturbance was over, she could give some compensation to her family members…just like she had done before.

Her eyes fell onto the array formation projection and she saw Zhou Li. This was a young girl with a stubborn temperament who had her own pride.

Seeing her, Feng Qing was left in a daze, as if she could see herself from the past in this young girl. A her from the past who had no one to rely on, who was all alone, who stubbornly grit her teeth and clenched her hands.

Suddenly, Feng Qing stood up. Because in the array formation projection, she saw a figure that should never have appeared here, no matter what the reason was.

She flicked her sleeve and the array formation projection focused, enlarging on a certain area. When she saw the ‘horrified’ man in the projection, she was left stunned.

This person started to overlap with the figure in her memory, becoming one.

Their actions, their aura, none of it was the same. Could it only be that their appearances were similar?

No, it wasn’t just similar. Their mouth and nose, all of it was the exact same!

Feng Qing sucked in a deep breath. She pointed at the figure and said, “Who is that person?”