Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1428: Stone Pagoda’s Secret

As a veteran angler, of course he would not let himself get bitten by the fish he baited. It would be too embarrassing.

Qin Yu did not move, staying rooted to the ground. Suddenly, he punched out.

The force of the punch caused the earth to suddenly rise before descending again.

Bang!

The being that rushed towards him seemed as if it had slammed into an invisible wall. All its teeth shattered like a fly that had been mercilessly slapped to death. Its body was also falling apart, and since its body was made out of fleshy paste, it melted back into the pool of wine.

This was not how it expected things to go. It let out a pained and angry roar that resonated throughout the small winery.

Qin Yu could also sense that it felt slightly aggrieved…this made Qin Yu let out a playful smile. If this being felt aggrieved, it must have gone through a rather tough time during its life.

What did the Spring Master do to this being…

Countless ideas formed in Qin Yu’s head – stories about gratitude and hatred, even stories about love with lots of twists and turns.

He quickly realized that such thoughts were disrespectful to the Spring Master. Even if their relationship was transactional, it was still rude.

Then, there was yet another roar that caused the pool of wine to explode in all directions. Qin Yu’s eyes were bright and full of admiration – this being was very powerful. In such a short time, it had managed to find a way to deal with him.

The roar was the same as before, but it seemed to realize that Qin Yu’s soul had taken refuge in an alternate ‘space’.

Qin Yu only had a light grasp on Soul Hiding, and was far from understanding it completely. It was not an easy task.

Given enough time, the being in the pool would be able to decode Qin Yu’s Soul Hiding technique. Of course, Qin Yu was not going to let the being do that.

Qin Yu clenched his fist and reached out. ‘Bang!’ A loud rumbling sounded out, and the pool of wine splashed upwards. A pained cry could be heard once again.

This punch was different from the one just now. It was not an attack from the outside, but one from the inside. It was more terrifying, causing the being in the pool to be shocked.

It could not understand how Qin Yu had managed to take control of its tentacles, causing them to attack itself instead.

This being was terrifying precisely because attacks on its physical body would injure it, but these injuries would not be life-threatening. However, an attack on its soul was different. By shattering its soul, it would truly be killed, without any chance of restoring itself. Not long ago, it saw a glimpse of its glorious self after seizing second apprentice brother, Thousand Battles.

It had painstakingly endured hardship for many years, and finally obtained the chance to leave this place. How could it bear to just die like this?

No, there was no way it would let it happen!

Hong –

The pool of wine started to boil and it exploded once more. However, its target was not Qin Yu anymore, but that passage that led to the outside world.

Trying to escape without the necessary preparations meant that it would lose a lot of its power due to its weak state, even if it managed to succeed. But it could not care about anything else now. Dying while trying to escape was a price that it was ready to pay. Furthermore, Qin Yu was not about to let it escape alive.

A being of unknown origins that most probably carried hatred towards the Peach Garden was better off dead. If he was merciful this once, this being might wreak havoc on the Peach Garden, and he did not want this to happen.

Of course, because this being was so terrifying and ugly, Qin Yu never once held a thought of showing it mercy.

Bang –

Another rumbling sounded, and the escaping being cried out in agony as it was ripped apart, causing raw flesh to land near the edge of the pool of wine. A face that was contorted in pain appeared on the surface of the pool. The being called out, and with a ‘hu’ sound, the raw flesh crawled back towards the pool.

The being’s body was severed in half. It would either lose half its body, or come back to recombine both halves together.

Losing half of its body…even if it was savage enough to do something like this, it was not well-prepared, and would not live for very long if it successfully managed to escape.

“Who are you! Who exactly are you?!”

With a monstrous roar, the wine in the pool started to boil even more vigorously, forming large waves with strong currents.

It was unable to figure out how Qin Yu had managed to control its soul to self-inflict damage on its own body.

The true answer was through using two techniques at once – a mixture of Moon Embrace and Royal Attack. In simple terms, he used Moon Embrace to ‘control’ a part of the being’s soul. It was only possible because while this Divine Way was used for soul refinement, there was a secret technique that allowed one to steal their target’s soul to strengthen themselves.

Of course, such a secret technique came with a huge risk. Using it sparingly would not be a problem, as long as one spent some time to ‘digest’ the soul properly. However, using this technique often meant consuming many different souls, and it might lead to the heart and mind suffering from disorder.

Qin Yu did not use this secret technique out of a desire to strengthen himself, so after ‘controlling’ part of the being’s soul, he changed to Royal Attack so that the being would self-inflict heavy injuries.

He had also used Star Retrieval prior to using Moon Embrace and Royal Attack. This Divine Way was a body refinement technique, and using it allowed Qin Yu to strengthen his physical body, so when he used Royal Attack, it was able to inflict the maximum damage.

Even though he had only learnt the techniques not long ago and was unable to get an in-depth understanding of them, he knew that using the five Divine Ways in combination had a terrifying destructive power.

Yet, again, all Divine Ways in the world had their own limits. Even if a Divine Way was exceedingly powerful, it would certainly have its weaknesses. It was possible that the stronger a Divine Way was, the bigger the flaws it would possess.

Qin Yu was still unclear what kind of flaws the five Divine Ways had, but he felt that he was able to subdue this being in the pool of wine only because it was already not in a good condition. It did not mean that he could defeat anyone with these five Divine Ways. It was impossible in reality.

Qin Yu’s eyes were cold, not bothering to explain himself to this creature, even though he was also curious about whatever secrets this mysterious being held. However, since the Spring Master was unable to decipher its secrets for so many years, Qin Yu did not think that he would be able to accomplish it in a short period of time. Since this was the case, then he might as well just kill it. There was no point in delaying its death.

Qin Yu raised his arm and pulled fiercely again.

Bang!

The pool of wine erupted once more.

“Ah!” The being cried out, full of desperation and suffering. A face appeared on the surface of the pool again and stared at Qin Yu, “I am willing to become a servant and be suppressed here in the winery to continue producing peach blossom wine for the Peach Garden!”

Qin Yu shook his head. “Sorry, I was telling the truth just now when I said I do not like to drink wine. This deal is not very attractive to me.”

The face warped and distorted, before crazily yelling, “Do not force me into a corner! Do not! I have no hatred towards you. It was the Peach Garden that captured me, suppressed me, and locked me down here in the winery. They used my flesh to brew their wine, which helps their cultivation and physical aptitude! Don’t I have the right to swallow one apprentice? Furthermore, he’s not even dead. If you let me go, I will release him and I promise never to harm anyone from the Peach Garden ever again!”

The Spring Master had indeed crossed the line. This being did seem very pitiful…

Qin Yu thought for a while before he sighed and shook his head again. “The more you speak, the less I trust you. If what you said is true, then the hatred that you have towards the Peach Garden must be huge, and I can’t turn a blind eye to that. I won’t always be in the Peach Garden, so it would be best if I could destroy everything that harms this place. You can die in peace now.”

“Ah!”

Hong –

The pool of wine bubbled fiercely, and suddenly, a whirlpool formed. The whole underground space started to tremble. ‘Ka-cha! Ka-cha!’ Cracks started to form on the outer edges of the pool.

A frantic and crazed energy filled with killing intent rushed out, causing the wine in the pool to shoot upwards along with it. The whirlpool sucked the wine into it and from within, a twisting silhouette condensed and formed.

It had rotting red flesh, and obviously, it was the being that had been suppressed and held captive in this place by the Spring Master to brew wine.

It was releasing a terrifying aura, as if it was a wraith that had come from the depths of hell that was bent on destroying everything and bringing death to every land.

It was flipping out!

Qin Yu grabbed second apprentice brother and took a few steps backwards.

A thunderous roar sounded. “Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to die here with me!”

All it got in return was the back of Qin Yu’s head as he rushed towards the crevice without any hesitation.

The being in the pool of wine lifted its arm, causing a wave of cold and dark energy to fall upon Qin Yu and second apprentice brother.

At this time, a buzzing sound rang out. The illusion of Stone Pagoda suddenly appeared, trapping the being within, with Qin Yu and second apprentice brother on the outside.

Bang –

A low rumbling could be heard, and Stone Pagoda’s illusion shook softly. He laughed coldly, “Little rascal, you’re truly quite powerful. However, things like vengeful wraiths are honestly not any threat at all.”

Whoosh –

Qin Yu walked into the crevice with second apprentice brother beside him, turning back to say, “Be careful, don’t cause the entire wine cellar to collapse.”

Stone Pagoda smiled slightly. “Do not worry, Master, since I’ve taken action, I know what I’m doing.” When saying this, he felt warmth, a slight sense of longing, and apprehension.

However, he thought for a while before pushing down all feelings of hesitation. Since he had already decided to trust Qin Yu, he decided that he should not hide anything from him.

Furthermore, this secret was one that he had to face sooner or later.

Qin Yu could tell that Stone Pagoda was having some complicated feelings, as if he was thinking of something heavy. However, he did not say much. Instead, he merely nodded and said, “I’ll leave it to you.”

Within Stone Pagoda’s illusion, the being from the pool of wine was going crazy. It wanted Qin Yu and second apprentice brother to die together with it, yet it was stopped midway, causing it to be extremely mad.

It howled and brought down a torrent of blows onto Stone Pagoda’s illusion, causing many ripples to spread in every direction.

However, like Stone Pagoda said previously, things like vengeful wraiths were of no threat to him at all. Truly, it did not look like he had been injured at all.

“Mm, vengeful wraiths that have reached this level of anger are the yummiest.” With an evil laugh, Stone Pagoda made his move.

Qin Yu could only see tentacles coming out from Stone Pagoda, and as quick as an arrow, they pierced through the being’s body. Its body instantly curled up, and the wrathful expression on its face was replaced by one of agony.

Then, loud sounds of swallowing could be heard…this move was indeed a quick and decisive one!

Qin Yu suddenly felt a coldness shoot up his spine, and the hair on his neck stood up on end. He thought back to the time when he was ‘awakened’ by Stone Pagoda. Did it look something like this too?

Hiss –

Just thinking about it made his blood run cold!

The vengeful wraith contorted in pain, and it exploded with a power that it had not displayed before. With a berserk energy, it summoned huge waves that had the power of a tsunami and continuously attacked the inner parts of Stone Pagoda.

However, no matter how much Stone Pagoda’s illusion shook from the force, there was no indication that something was going to break out of it. He did not stop swallowing and digesting the vengeful wraith.

As time went on, the resistance from the vengeful wraith became weaker. It had curled up even more now, like a fish on a chopping board. Stone Pagoda’s illusion started to solidify, becoming tangible. Qin Yu could feel that he had become even more powerful in this short span of time.

His swallowing power was indeed outstanding; why didn’t Stone Pagoda exhibit this power earlier on? Could it be that it could only be performed on vengeful wraiths?

Hmm, that couldn’t be. Qin Yu had seen it for himself before – Stone Pagoda swallowed a living being just as well.

Suddenly, realization dawned on Qin Yu’s face. He looked at Stone Pagoda, and thought about how he was almost all-powerful and all-knowing…even though Stone Pagoda had used research from when he was sealed and trapped as an excuse, today Qin Yu realized that perhaps there was a better explanation.

For example…the more Stone Pagoda ate, the more he knew!