Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 375– Bronze Bell Ancient City

In the distant Qi Empire.

Within the emperor’s palace, a vortex peacefully spun around. As if dreading the unsurpassed will represented by this palace, it seemed as if it didn’t dare to emit too great a sound.

This was an entrance to the Infinite Realm. With the might of the Qi Empire, he was able to forcefully move it so that it became a channel exclusively used by the juniors of the royal family, nobles, and other high level officials. However, today, amongst this massive group of noble youths, there were several young cultivators that were incomparably dazzling.

Within the grand hall, they faced the hundreds of young elites of heaven who represented the transcendent status of the Qi Empire and were able to remain calm. Their eyes sparkled with confidence. This was because they were disciples of the Immortal Sect, one of the strongest sects of the Land of Divinity and Demons, a lofty existence that faintly stood above even the seven great empires.

Ning Ling quietly stood amongst these young Immortal Sect disciples. With her appearance and temperament, she was like a crane amongst chickens even in the Immortal Sect. Countless envious looks and gazes that burned hot all stared at her from around the grand hall. Still, her expression was cold and indifferent, without the smallest response.

Suddenly, the vortex within the grand hall began to speed up and emit a strong suction force.

Yu Bai turned and smiled. “Junior-apprentice sister Ning Ling, follow close behind me and you’ll be safe.”

Ning Ling nodded. “Thank you, senior-apprentice brother.”

Shua –

Shua –

The young disciples within the grand hall and their massive number of guardians all loosened control over their bodies and allowed the vortex to suck them in.

…

The infinite darkness was rich, so much so that it seemed tangible to the touch. Walking within it, one felt as if they were wandering forever in a sea of eternal night. The surroundings were deathly silent without the slightest bit of vitality. It seemed as if this entire world had already died and he was the only one left living.

Qin Yu silently walked forwards. Within this world of darkness, his mind was steady and waveless, uninfluenced by anything. This sea of darkness was the Infinite Realm’s first test. Only by having a firm will and formidable belief could they walk out without having their mind affected.

Otherwise, if one was frightened and lost their faith, they would be forever lost in this sea of darkness, and if they couldn’t extricate themselves before the Infinite Realm closed, they would be stuck here forever.

An unknown period of time passed. It could have been a flicker in time or it could have been endless long years within this world. But soon, light began to appear in Qin Yu’s eyes. Then, this light spread out at an astonishing rate, forming a giant door in the endless darkness. It was so large that when standing in front of it, it seemed like a whole new heaven and earth, the world in a grain of sand.

Qin Yu revealed a look of shock. Even if he knew about this door beforehand, he was still shocked by how large and magnificent it was. Every cultivator that stepped into the Infinite Realm would see this door. In the legends it was said that this door truly did exist, and inexhaustible good fortune was found within. Unfortunately, through the millions and billions of years, the Infinite Realm had been opened thousands of times and yet no one had ever found more information about this door.

Qin Yu took a deep breath and reached out a hand. He placed it upon the great door and darkness shrouded his sight once more. Then, he appeared in the skies above an endlessly rolling mountain range.

This mountain range winded like a dragon, crawling over the earth and stretching all the way to the ends of one’s sight. But not too far away, one part of the mountain range seemed to have been broken up by some terrifying strength.

This was a scar left countless years ago, yet a terrifying aura was unexpectedly preserved from it. There wasn’t any plant life at all on the bare cliffs. As he looked upon it, he felt a stabbing pain in his eyes and quickly closed them. Tears flowed down his cheeks.

His heart shook. This was the leftover aura from a strike that happened in the far off past, and yet he still couldn’t look straight at it. The person who did this must have been inconceivably strong.

Roar –

There was a loud roar from the mountain range below. Qin Yu relaxed his gaze, and the moment he broke free from its influence a shadow had already appeared in front of him. This was a lynx with markings covering its body. Although it was only a half meter in length, its jade blue eyes were filled with cruelty and savagery. It extended its claws and slashed out, already in front of Qin Yu. If he hadn’t managed to wake up from his daze in time, this strike would have torn open his chest and ripped out his heart!

“Humph!” Qin Yu punched and the lynx cried out miserably as its body blew apart. It only had a strength equal to a third or fourth level Divine Soul. Its speed and sound wave attack were its major advantages, and once it failed in its initial attack, all that remained was death.

After casually killing the lynx, Qin Yu didn’t relax at all. This lynx was a relatively weak existence in the Infinite Realm. The key point was that he was attacked as soon as he was transmitted here. This was proof that there was a terrifying amount of monster beasts within the Infinite Realm.

At this moment, a faint fog rose up from the corpse of the lynx and fused directly into Qin Yu’s body. His eyes brightened. Because of certain special reasons, the monster beasts of the Infinite Realm all possessed the aura of some of the rules of this incomplete world.

When a cultivator killed a monster beast it could absorb this aura. And after absorbing it, it helped a cultivator strengthen their ability to sense the rules of the world.

The more powerful a monster beast, the stronger the aura of the rules in its body and the better the strengthening effect. Thus, hunting monster beasts in the Infinite Realm was in itself considered a lucky chance to the cultivators who entered.

But in truth, no one wanted to spend too much time on these monster beasts. This was because there was a limit to the amount of time they could stay here for, and it wouldn’t surpass one year. For such a short period of time, even if one spent all their days slaughtering monster beasts, the strengthening effects would still be limited. Moreover, killing monster beasts was a risky venture. If someone wasn’t careful and encountered a variation monster beast that possessed an ancient bloodline, it would be easy for them to lose their life. If so, it was better to find other lucky chances.

Whoosh –

Qin Yu dropped down and rapidly hurried forward following the direction of the mountain range. He needed to find a landmark within the Infinite Realm so that he could determine his own position. If he were to accidentally stray into some perilous zone, that would put him into a desperate situation.

It had to be known that when the Infinite Realm first opened, Blue Seas were allowed to enter. Even if the current rules were broken and dispersed and many powerful life forms destroyed, there were still horrifying existences slumbering in the depths of some areas. They were limited to an extremely small range, so as long as one didn’t willingly walk in, there wouldn’t be any danger. But if one did, there was almost no chance of survival.

He cautiously made his way forward. He would rather slow down than rashly rush ahead. After killing the 16th monster beast, he stood atop a mountain. At the edges of his sight, a shattered city appeared.

Qin Yu hesitated. The Infinite Realm was a fragment of some great world. Since there were monster beasts here there must also be native life forms left behind.

The Infinite Realm was incredibly strange. The native life forms here possessed a cultivation system completely different from that of the Land of Divinity and Demons. Rather than focusing on magic power and rules, they instead focused on cultivation of the mortal body.

The native life forms of the Infinite Realm possessed incomparably potent bodies. Their fists and feet possessed the ability to crack mountains and sunder rivers. They didn’t need to perceive the rules, so this shattered spatial fragment didn’t hinder their cultivation. This allowed many powerhouses to be born amongst the native life forms.

Of course, once the strength of their mortal bodies surpassed the withstanding limit of the Infinite Realm, they would be forcefully erased by the shattered rules of this land. This was the natural survival instinct of the spatial fragments. Otherwise, if the native life form super powerhouses were allowed to grow without end, the Infinite Realm would soon be destroyed from within.

These native life forms mostly lived in some cities within the Infinite Realm. By borrowing the protection of the cities, they could resist the countless monster beasts outside. Thus, when stepping into a city, encountering them was highly likely. And there weren’t many cities in the Infinite Realm to begin with, so as long as one encountered one recorded on a map, they could determine their position.

After a brief hesitation, Qin Yu stepped into the shadows and vanished. He disappeared and appeared ten miles closer. There shouldn’t be many dangers when approaching a city, otherwise he wouldn’t have dared to use Shadow Step like this.

Soon, Qin Yu reached the city’s edge. The city wasn’t too large and most of it was dilapidated beyond repair. The city’s protective barriers were as rotten and broken as a screen with giant holes.

It was clear that this was an abandoned city. Qin Yu’s heart relaxed but he didn’t dare to lower his guard. He carefully spread out his divine sense, probing the area.

He didn’t sense any dangers.

Qin Yu’s figure moved and he flew into the city through a giant hole in the protective barrier. Looking around, he discovered that this place was truly broken down. There was a thick layer of dust covering the ground and building; proof that no one had come here for a long time already.

This was the best possible situation. Qin Yu hurried around the city, trying to find a recognizable symbol he could identify the city with.

At this time, Qin Yu stood before a tower. There was a giant bronze bell on the roof and the bell tower had mostly collapsed. The bell was exposed to the outside air and had a completely rusted appearance. His eyes brightened with a bit of joy. He flipped his hand and took out a jade slip. After probing it with his divine sense, he soon found the information he wanted.

“Bronze Bell Ancient City, located at the southeast branch of the Endless Mountain Range. It is suspected that a large number of native life forms once inhabited this area, but it was abandoned because of certain reasons later…” After that were tidbits of information recorded down by cultivators of the Land of Divinity and Demons. Qin Yu glanced over them and decided there wasn’t anything noteworthy.

But now that he knew this was Bronze Bell Ancient City, he could determine his own position and avoid walking into danger zones. This was what mattered the most.

Qin Yu took out a jade talisman and dripped a drop of blood on it, refining it. The jade talisman released a black, white, and red-colored map that hovered in the air. Qin Yu tapped his finger and a green spot appeared in the white region.

This green spot represented his location.

This map wasn’t complete; it was only a publicly circulated map with information concerning the Infinite Realm. The white regions represented explored areas and the black regions were unexplored areas. As for the red regions, they occasionally dotted the white areas and represented terrifying danger zones.

Although this map wasn’t of too high quality, it drastically increased one’s safety. Qin Yu smiled. Now, he could go and find Ning Ling.

However, the scope of the Infinite Realm was incredibly vast. If he wanted to find someone it was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack. So, the best way to go about this was to find any disciple from the Immortal Sect. If one came from the Immortal Sect, their background would be incomparably honored and they would likely have many astonishing skills. Perhaps they had some way to communicate with each other in the Infinite Realm. If so, it would increase his chances of finding Ning Ling by a great deal.

Shua –

Qin Yu turned and left. He had already determined his position so he didn’t want to stay in Bronze Bell Ancient City any longer. It was likely that this place would attract other cultivators. Although he didn’t fear them, he didn’t want to provoke unnecessary troubles.

When Qin Yu arrived at the edge of the city, his complexion suddenly changed. A group of cultivators flew through a crack in the protective barrier and saw him.

It was them!

This group of 11 people was the last group to invite Qin Yu to join them before he entered the Infinite Realm.

Both sides never expected that they would meet here. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the faces of the people in the group darkened.

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows, a bit puzzled. He didn’t have any harvests yet, so why were these people revealing ill intent?

The young female cultivator’s eyes widened. She suddenly said, “Cousin, no wonder this person didn’t accept your invitation, it turns out that he also knew…” She suddenly stopped talking, a tense look in her eyes.

The purple-gold crowned youth wrinkled his eyebrows. He cupped his hands together and said, “Fellow daoist, I didn’t think that we would have such a fate of meeting here.”

Qin Yu nodded, “Me neither.”

The purple-gold crowned youth was silent for a moment. Then he asked in a low voice, “I wonder, can fellow daoist tell us why you came to Bronze Bell Ancient City?”

Qin Yu said, “I inadvertently discovered this place. I only came here to determine my position.”

The female cultivator sneered. “Stop trying to lie. Just how vast is the Infinite Realm? If you weren’t prepared beforehand, would you be transmitted here? Cousin, this person cannot be trusted!”

A middle-aged cultivator quietly said, “Young master, the miss is correct. After entering the Infinite Realm we travelled nonstop and only just arrived here, yet this person was faster than us. If he didn’t prepare beforehand, I simply cannot believe that.”

Another middle-aged man had a grim expression. “Young master, this matter is too important. I would rather kill him than let him go!”

Qin Yu’s complexion darkened. After hearing their words, he guessed he had accidently bumped into their carefully crafted plans. This Bronze Bell Ancient City should have some sort of treasure that he didn’t know about and these people had come here for it. Then, he just happened to cross paths with them as he left…this matter, there really wasn’t any way to explain himself!

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