Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 574 – Mountain Valley

The crude camp and the grey skies. When a person saw all of this together, a sense of bleak desolation was inevitably born within them.

Qin Yu stood in front of the house, looking at a body covered with a simple white cloth. He glanced at Sang Zhu who seemed overcome with sadness and he couldn’t help but doubt his own judgment.

Perhaps he was overthinking things?

He secretly shook his head, suppressed these tumbling emotions. No matter what this woman seemed like right now, he shouldn’t lower his guard.

Sang Zhu looked up to reveal reddened eyes. “Everyone, daoist Shang Zhong had heavy injuries, but he died because he helped everyone escape from danger. I will take his corpse and return him to his family when we leave the Sea of Purgatory.”

She took out the items that were on the body and placed them next to the corpse. “These are fellow daoist Zhang’s belongings. In accordance with his last wishes, they will be given to his designated person. Now, I ask you all to check the records. I vow I will complete the task he has entrusted me with.”

Everyone’s complexions immediately changed.

After entering the Sea of Purgatory, no one was 100% confident that they would be able to leave safely.

In other words, those that came here were already prepared to be buried here.

They couldn’t help but wonder: what if they were the one that died today? Would someone collect their corpse and bring their remains back to their homeland?

No matter whether or not people thought that Sang Zhu was deliberately trying to win them over, all of their faces revealed a touched expression.

“Good, I will come as a witness!”

“This is a dangerous land. Who knows what lies on the road ahead? If something unfortunate were to happen to me, I ask you all to do the same.”

“I hope that in the future, we will be able to personally witness Your Highness Sang Zhu delivering his body back.”

They referred to her as Your Highness because Sang Zhu herself was a princess of the Qi Empire. This was the reason she was so persuasive when she spoke up in front of everyone.

Although Her Highness the princess didn’t have the qualifications to become the successor to the throne, she still possessed an incomparably honored status. If she were to break her vow it would bring shame to the entire Qi Empire. Thus, everyone had an extremely high level of confidence in her.

Sang Zhu opened her mouth and said with deep respect, “I will surely not disappoint you!” She swept her eyes around. “I have already finished the calculations. The power of the array formation will be at its weakest tomorrow. That is when we will wrestle with life and death!”

Everyone’s eyes brightened. Although they were a bit uneasy, they were feeling even more earnest desire.

No one wanted to welcome the arrival of death. But even if someone saw the light of hope, would that hope be able to warm and illuminate their body?

They feared this wasn’t necessarily true.

…

At almost the same time, the decayed corpse that was walking through the Sea of Purgatory according to its instincts suddenly stopped. Its blazing eyes looked straight into the ground, as if it could pierce through the barrier of dirt and stone and see into the deepest parts below. Its breathing began to quick and its body started to shiver.

This aura…it wasn’t wrong…it was him…it was him…the decayed corpse’s thoughts were thrown into confusion. Although it didn’t know exactly what it was thinking about, it knew that this thing it felt was what it incomparably longed for.

In fact, the reason that it had ended up in its current situation was because of him.

The decayed corpse howled out loud. Black flames lit up around its body, so terrifying that even the ground began to melt away.

Its figure slowly descended deep into the earth, soon vanishing from sight.

…

Next day, at the camp.

Sang Zhu explained in detail concerning the key points on how to break through the array formation. After asking around and making sure that everyone understood, she then said, “Let’s head out!”

The Yellow Springs Fog covered a massive area. Perhaps because of the invisible influence of slaughter energy, all life within had become extinct.

At the very least, as Qin Yu moved forward he didn’t see any vegetation or life. All he saw was a deathly stillness.

However, the further along he travelled, the more there was a sense of oppression in his heart.

The deathly silence around him also gained a faintly gloomy aura.

This feeling was like a mountain was leaning over on him. Although it wasn’t too strong, it was actually quite terrifying.

Qin Yu quietly furrowed his eyebrows. He looked at Sang Zhu who was leading the way up ahead. His eyes sparkled and he slowed his step, falling back to the rear of the group.

At this moment, a mountain valley appeared in front of them. What was surprising was that this valley had four different entrances, and from appearances they all seemed alike.

Sang Zhu stopped. The uneasy people behind her suddenly revealed happy expressions.

There were only four roads!

She let out a light breath. “It seems that my calculations weren’t wrong. We are pressed for time so we will immediately separate here and continue according to the plan.”

The troop split into four. Qin Yu stepped in front of the third entrance on the left. Sang Zhu swept her eyes around and walked straight near him, where several other people were too.

“I’ll come with you guys.”

The people around her all revealed happy expressions. They were confident that they could break through the array formation and leave the Yellow Springs Fog, but no one could say with absolute certainty whether or not they could succeed. If they were together with Sang Zhu, it would undoubtedly be much safer.

And this point was confirmed in their last test excursion.

Qin Yu maintained his composure, wariness in his heart. No matter how normal Sang Zhu seemed right now, he chose to believe his own intuition.

The other cultivators were unwilling but they knew they couldn’t make any demands. They all nodded and wished each other good luck before stepping into their own roads.

What was unexpected was that this road wasn’t too long. After several dozen steps, they passed through and entered the mountain valley.

Unlike the deathly stillness outside, the mountain valley in front of them was filled with vitality. There was green grass everywhere and fresh flowers.

Qin Yu was stunned. But at this time, Undying shouted out from deep within his mind. “Wake up!”

His field of vision darkened. When it cleared once more, there was no more life around him. Everything he saw was black gas.

It tumbled around as if it were simple black fog, without any aura at all. But when Qin Yu saw it, his pupils instinctively shrank.

This feeling was as if he met his natural enemy. Or to be more exact, it was something extremely terrifying. He had no idea what this black gas was, but he knew that if he were to fall inside without being aware of it, he would surely suffer a miserable outcome.

Besides him, Sang Zhu and the others all had lost and dazed expressions. They looked up ahead and gradually walked forward.

“Conceal yourself. Leave them alone.” Undying continued to say.

Qin Yu wasn’t a good-hearted humanitarian. Since Undying had given him a warning, he must have his reasons for doing so. He maintained the same rhythm as everyone else. Because his position was at the back, he could see all their actions.

The black fog grew increasingly close. Sang Zhu was at the front. Even though she was about to step into it, there was still no change in her demeanor.

After several steps, Sang Zhu was the first to enter the black fog. The several other people soon followed behind. As Qin Yu was hesitating, Undying said, “Little master, there is no need to worry. You may follow them.”

Although he trusted Undying, when Qin Yu stepped into the black fog he still felt the hairs stand up on his back. But, nothing terrifying happened. An invisible strength separated Qin Yu from the black fog outside.

Qin Yu lifted an eyebrow, an astonished look on his face. This was because this strength was…the power of array formations!

Since when did Undying have such profound skills like creating an array formation that emptied out space? Or did he always have such abilities and had kept them hidden?

Seeming as if he sensed Qin Yu’s confusion, Undying said, “This isn’t my strength, but the strength of the Endless Sea Array’s array spirit.”

Qin Yu’s eyes widened. He suddenly remembered the final terrifying attack he suffered when he tried to rush out from the Endless Sea.

Wasn’t it said that the Endless Sea Array’s array spirit had been destroyed?

Undying continued, “Its consciousness has already been annihilated. All that was left behind was its pure strength. This is a rather complicated matter, but if little master is interested I can go into further detail in the future.”

Qin Yu slightly nodded. He said inwardly, “What do we do now?”

Undying smirked. “If there isn’t an accident, you simply need to wait. There will be someone else bringing you out.”

He didn’t hide the taunting tone in his voice.

Mountain valley, outside the black fog.

Sang Zhu walked out. As she stared at the tumbling black fog, her ordinarily warm and gentle eyes were filled with cold callousness.

However, there was a bit of hesitation mixed in with that coldness. Had the cautious Xun Feng been dealt with so easily?

She thought he would be a little troublesome.

But soon, Sang Zhu suppressed these worries. Since he had entered the black fog, no matter what methods he had, he likely couldn’t escape death. Now was the time to attend to the others…

She turned and walked away. A look of anticipation lit up her face. Including these people today, the number should be enough.