Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 54 – The Black Short Sword

Everything in front was pure black. A tearing feeling enveloped their bodies. With Qin Yu’s Demon Body, he was only a little uncomfortable. As for You Qi, she was tensed, holding hard onto Qin Yu’s hand as her breathing quickened.

Qin Yu hesitated for a moment. He reached out an arm to hold her, her warm fragrance filling his senses.

You Qi stiffened. After a brief moment, she gradually softened.

The process forwards took much longer than imagined. Just as Qin Yu was wondering whether they would be trapped in this darkness for eternity, the tearing feeling all around him suddenly scattered.

He loosened his hand and stepped back. You Qi straightened up and looked around. A faint pink blush colored her ears.

Qin Yu broke the silence. “Where do we go from here?” At this time, they were in a giant stone cavern. The walls were covered with holes on all sides, the tunnels winding and twisting to who knew where.

You Qi seemed to relax. She took out her compass and carefully checked. After a moment she put it away and said, “Follow me.” As she stepped forwards, she warned again, “Remember to keep hold of your guardian token.”

She hurriedly led the way.

Qin Yu smiled and followed behind.

Entering one of the giant holes in the wall, the light suddenly dimmed. Although it wasn’t narrow, this place still left one feeling breathless. In the cold silence, besides the dark stone around them, one couldn’t see anything else at all. As Qin Yu saw You Qi carefully leading the way, he remained vigilant of his surroundings, not daring to show even the least bit of carelessness.

Without warning, accompanied with shrieks, a large stone to the left suddenly bulged outwards. A withered arm stretched out from a dark seal, grasping towards You Qi.

She tossed herself to the side and quickly stood up. She cast an icy glare at the stone, seeming completely fearless. However, her slightly pale face and the beads of sweat that dripped down her nose revealed her true feelings.

In truth, Qin Yu had also been frightened. For her to adjust herself in such a short period of time, that wasn’t easy at all. Sure enough, her charming weakness and delicateness had all been a lie. Deep down she was stubborn and brave, and even if she were afraid, she would still stubbornly persist no matter what.

After walking a bit, Qin Yu suddenly said, “Let’s rest a little.”

You Qi slowed a little, not even looking back. “You’re so troublesome!” She carefully checked her surroundings, and once she established there weren't any problems, she turned around and sat down.

Qin Yu tactfully sat down a distance away and closed his eyes in meditation.

You Qi bit her lips. She reached down and rubbed her aching ankles. As she looked at Qin Yu, her gaze was a bit softer.

Of course, she would never let Qin Yu see this.

After some time, You Qi stood up. “Let’s go!”

Qin Yu opened his eyes and smiled.

As the two continued deeper in, the cave began to expand all around them. Once a skeleton that had been decaying there for an unknown number of years appeared on the ground, You QI’s complexion changed. She thought for a long time and then turned around, saying, “Be careful.”

Qin Yu slowly nodded.

A little bit further, they really found a seal that had been broken. On the stone walls where the seal had been broken, a large hole had appeared.

You Qi walked forward to examine it. After a long time, she let out a deep breath. “The seal loosened, allowing him to escape. But, the strength of the seal still severely wounded him, and he fell to the ground and perished.”

Qin Yu looked at the swarthy black hole, not sensing anything particular about it. But since You Qi said this, she definitely had knowledge of it.

After reaching a junction, the tunnel split into three different paths. You Qi took out the compass, but after fiddling with it for a long time she seemed to encounter some difficulties.

“You give it a try. You should be able to sense it with your blood.”

Qin Yu closed his eyes and emptied his heart and mind. After several breaths of time, he lifted a hand and pointed out, “The left.”

You Qi looked down at the compass, worried.

“Is something wrong?”

You Qi gently sighed. “It seems that wanting to easily obtain it isn’t easy at all. Out of the three tunnels, the left is the most dangerous.”

Qin Yu frowned, “How dangerous is it?”

“Very dangerous.”

“…Should we go or not?”

You Qi’s eyes brightened. “Of course we go! Otherwise I would have come here for nothing at all.” She took a deep breath. “If you can’t withstand it, then use the guardian token and pour your…oh, forget it, you’re not a demonic cultivator. Just stand closer to me.”

Qin Yu simple walked over.

He drew close to her, almost seeming as if he were pasted next to her. Her fragrance continuously wafted into his nose, and if he lowered his head he could see her fair back and extremely pale strands of hair.

You Qi rolled her eyes, trying to signify that he didn’t need to be so close.

Qin Yu pretended that he didn’t see.

This was the Land of Sealed Demons! Although their journey so far had been relatively safe and calm, who knew when some accident would occur?

Moreover, since they all knew it was going to be extremely dangerous soon, why wouldn’t he be more careful and stay closer to her? If he didn’t he would be an idiot!

You Qi gnashed her teeth in anger. Yet, as she felt the aura behind her, she couldn’t help but acknowledge that she felt much calmer.

Whatever. They needed to attend to important matters, so this miss would endure it!

As they entered the left tunnel, their complexions turned dignified. Here, it was incredibly dark, so dark that You Qi needed to take out an illuminating pearl to light the way. And beyond that there was also a light demonic energy that filled the air.

The Land of Sealed Demons was called this because there were demons sealed here, so it was perfectly reasonable if there was a leak of demonic energy. However, as the two came this far, and even at the place where the sealed demonic cultivator reached out, there hadn’t been the least bit of aura revealed…

And, according to You Qi’s compass, this was also the most dangerous path.

The two slowed down a great deal, and neither of them were in the mind to continue speaking. Only the faint sounds of their footsteps reverberated in the tunnel.

Suddenly, You Qi stiffened. Qin Yu didn’t know what happened but he instinctually prepared himself for any possibility.

Bang –

Bang –

Within the air, the light demonic energy began to tumble about like a boiling sea, and it was also starting to rise at an alarming rate. One could also see that traces of demonic energy were constantly flowing out from the stone walls in front, accompanied with the sounds of pained howls and shrieks.

These weren’t true sounds. Rather, countless demonic wills jumbled together and tried to invade their minds to control them.

With a shout, the guardian token in You Qi’s hand in erupted with a black light, enveloping her and Qin Yu. The invasion of the demonic wills was suddenly isolated outwards.

“Hurry and run!”

Grabbing onto Qin Yu, she rushed forwards. As if discovering the demonic wills weren’t working, the demonic energy began to gather and condense. Distorted demonic phantoms appeared on the cave walls, howling as they threw themselves forwards.

You Qi’s pupils flashed. “Ignore them, they are just illusions!” And indeed, the demonic phantoms passed through their bodies and faded away.

“Don’t leave!”

“Stay behind, join us!”

“You cannot escape!”

Low and sharp, plaintive and sad, all sorts of sounds began to rise up in the tunnel. There were men and women, old and young. Then, from both sides of the walls around them, the outlines of seals began to appear. The fierce figures of demonic cultivators appeared, wildly reaching out and attempting to grab hold of them.

You Qi quickly dodged. She seemed to have practiced some exquisite movement technique. No matter how crazily the demonic cultivators reached out to her, they couldn’t touch her in the least. She warned, “Don’t resist, let me lead the way, otherwise if you accidently touch a seal, you and I will both be sucked in!”

Qin Yu nodded.

But at this time, his pupils violently shrank. He grabbed You Qi and thrust a foot down, coming to a screeching stop.

Caught off guard, she was almost caught by a sealed demonic cultivator. You Qi turned, ready to curse at Qin Yu, when she saw him draw back his fist and punch outwards.

With a loud crash, a demonic phantom flying towards them emitted a miserable shout as it disintegrated. A black short sword clattered to the ground.

You Qi paled. If Qin Yu hadn’t noticed this and she continued running forwards thinking that it was an illusion, the consequences could be imagined. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she was interrupted by Qin Yu, “Let’s go.”

Of course, the black short sword that fell down was conveniently picked up by him.

Perhaps it was because they discovered that they couldn’t do anything to this man and woman, but the sealed demonic cultivators all began to fall silent.

Soon, the two of them ran out from the tunnel and arrived in another massive underground cavern.

You Qi let go of his hand and started to gather her scattered hair. “This is a demonic treasure and the quality should be quite good. It has soaked in pure demonic energy all these years and has already developed a bit of spiritual awareness.”

Qin Yu’s eyes brightened.

Whether it was a magic treasure or demonic treasure, under the guidance of fate, both had a chance of developing their own spiritual awareness. Once this happened, they were called spirit treasures. Spirit treasures were items that even Nascent Soul cultivators might not possess, so it could be seen how precious they were.

“Don’t think too much about it. This short sword should have only begun its initial awakening and is only a shadow of a spirit treasure. There is still a long distance for it to go before it transforms into a true spirit treasure.”

Qin Yu smiled and put away the short sword. “In any case I’ve picked it up, so as for what happens to it in the future, that depends on its good fortune.”

Whether it was because his words were magnanimous, blunt, or casual, something caused a light to flash in You Qi’s eyes. She covered her expression and turned around, “Let’s rest.”

Qin Yu nodded, “You rest, and I’ll keep watch.”

Just now, it had been You Qi taking action. He had been relatively idle most of the time.

You Qi didn’t refuse. She sat down and took out a pill, swallowing it. The pill was black with faint threads of purple surrounding it. It seemed to fill the air with a bit of a dark fragrance and was completely dissimilar to any pill Qin Yu knew of. This You Qi, her background was quite mysterious.

After a moment, You Qi opened her eyes. A faint trace of purple appeared in the depths of her eyes, followed by an inexplicable grandeur.

“We can go now.”

Qin Yu turned to look back at the tunnel they came from. “Miss You Qi, this Land of Sealed Demons should have been sealed long ago, so how come the suppressed demonic cultivators here still haven’t died?”

You Qi shook her head, “The vast majority of them have died. It’s just that the strength of their resentment hasn’t scattered yet due to the seals.” She didn’t seem to want to speak further about this. “With your sense, which direction should we go in?”

This underground space was massive and they couldn’t see the end it. Visibility in the dark was also extremely low.

Qin Yu closed his eyes and opened them after several breaths of them. With an earnest look, he said, “We seem to have arrived.”

He pointed a finger forwards.

You Qi revealed a joyous expression.

Walking forwards, the two soon saw a jade slip emitting a weak blood red light. It was hanging over a large boulder.

The two of them didn’t recklessly rush forwards. They carefully inspected the surroundings, and only after discovering that everything seemed okay was You Qi unable to further suppress the excitement in her eyes.

Qin Yu turned and drew back several dozen feet.

You Qi’s lips curled up. This fellow also knew how to be tactful when times required it. She walked to the side of the large boulder and lifted the jade slip. She seemed to be looking for something, but she soon put away the jade slip, her smile even wider.

She had been right! It was here!

She took out a storage bag. With a flash of demonic energy, a jade bottled appeared in her hands. It was translucent, and one could see a viscous scarlet liquid within. After opening it, the rich smell of blood instantly filled the space. Blood red fog seemed to rise up from the bottle where it was drawn into the boulder. Soon, all of the scarlet liquid had evaporated into space, and the large boulder was thoroughly covered by the fog of blood.

The blood fog was absorbed by the boulder and the boulder turned the same scarlet red. Then, as if it were a living creature, the surface of the stone seemed to creep and wriggle about. Textures and patterns appeared, winding and weaving into each other. Although it seemed a bit chaotic, it actually formed a strange circular seal.

Qin Yu frowned. From afar, this looked to be some sort of clan emblem.

You Qi’s expression was dignified. Demonic energy started to seethe around her. Heat and steam rose up, causing her long black skirt to stick to her body.

Even in this critical moment, Qin Yu still couldn’t help his eyes roaming up and down. This back, this waist, the way it curved, there was indeed no one else that possessed such charm.

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