Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 362 – Sword Rain

The complete list of guards was delivered to the commander’s mansion. The ten selected Divine Soul cultivators hadn’t yet changed. After glancing through the list, Xu Jiao frowned.

The Lord Commander didn’t open his eyes. “How is it?”

Xu Jiao put down the list. “My Lord, Qin Yu’s name is on the list.”

“Mm.”

Xu Jiao didn’t comment further.

“Brother Xu, are you wondering whether or not I should cross out his name?”

Xu Jiao cupped his hands together. “The inn highly values Qin Yu, otherwise they wouldn’t have resisted the demands of Yuan Jingzhe so vigorously. If we leave his name on the list, the inn will surely be dissatisfied. This may affect your future path.”

The commander nodded. “Brother Xu is correct, but if there is someone to blame, it won’t fall on my shoulders.” He paused and continued to say, “Moreover, the inn has been in the limelight too much recently. There are some people who hope I can look for an opportunity to give them a warning.”

Xu Jiao suddenly said, “Then that’s a pity. This junior Qin Yu is actually quite good.”

The commander smiled. “It could only be said that his destiny is poor.”

Xu Jiao said, “In order to avoid conflict, diverting Hong Ruo away might be an option.”

“Mm, then I’ll have to trouble Brother Xu.”

Xu Jiao respectfully bowed.

An hour later, Aunty Hong gave a short explanation and stepped into a transmission array, vanishing from sight.

A large customer wanted to personally negotiate prices with her. Their status wasn’t low so she had to show sufficient respect.

Then, Qin Yu received an order from the Beast Hunting Battalion.

Congcong had a worried expression. “Mister Qin, do you think it’s Yuan Jingzhe?”

Qin Yu smiled. “It is the Lord Commander’s order. I will return quickly.”

After leaving the inn, Qin Yu quietly followed behind the messenger who brought the order and soon arrived at the gathering point.

This was a large-scale military tent. Dozens of cultivators were here. As he glanced over them, he relaxed a little. With so many people, there shouldn’t be any problems at all.

Looking at their expressions, they also had no idea why they were here.

More and more cultivators were brought over. Once a hundred had gathered, the military tent was opened from outside and Yuan Jingzhe walked in with ten Divine Soul cultivators following close behind him.

“We greet the lord!”

Qin Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He pushed away his previous assumptions; it seemed this wouldn’t be as simple as he thought.

Yuan Jingzhe said, “The reason you were all summoned here today is to be entrusted with a mission.” Then, he simply explained the matter. The general idea was like this: some noble one from the Chu Empire had suffered a monster beast attack in the wilderness and needed the Beast Hunting Battalion to provide them with guards. After escorting them to their destination, the mission would be considered complete.

“Remember, the noble one has an extremely high status. You must obey all orders. After this mission is over, you will all be rewarded with a rich amount of points based on your performance.”

After saying this, Yuan Jingzhe turned and left. From beginning to end, it was like he didn’t see Qin Yu at all.

Qin Yu frowned. This was because he had sensed a pair of eyes looking at him for a long time already.

Looking over, he saw an old white-haired Divine Soul cultivator. His cloudy eyes were slightly vacant.

As their gazes met, the old man seemed as if he didn’t realize anything at all, as if he had never been paying attention to Qin Yu to begin with.

The military tent was silent. Yuan Jingzhe’s explanation was simple, but there weren’t that many idiots in this world.

To mobilize ten Divine Souls and a hundred Beast Hunting Battalion Nascent Souls, this guard assignment was definitely not simple.

But even if they knew that something was wrong, they couldn’t resist an order passed down from the high-level figures of the Beast Hunting Battalion. Luckily, with ten Divine Soul powerhouse colleagues travelling alongside them, they felt a bit more at peace.

Soon, some people brought in new robes. All traces linking them to the Beast Hunting Battalion needed to be completely erased.

Qin Yu held onto his clothes. With a thought, the Demon God Armor automatically transformed into the appearance of the clothes he received, and he casually placed the clothes in his storage ring.

Everyone started to tidy up their things. The ten Divine Souls were the first to leave the tent, silently waiting.

A caravan of speedcars came flying forth. The Lord Commander personally came to see everyone off. “Noble one, be careful along the way. The people of my Beast Hunting Battalion will surely keep you safe.”

A woman’s faint voice responded, “Thank you, commander.”

The glass window rose up and the troop left the battalion, entering into an especially built transmission array.

120 people and a speedcar were surprisingly able to fit within. Following a flash of light, everyone vanished from sight.

The Lord Commander turned around and walked away. When he returned to his office, he hesitated for a moment and took out a jade slip. After branding some information on it, he crushed it into pieces.

Although handphones were convenient, there was always the possibility that information could be leaked. So when it came to particularly secret matters, there were people who still preferred to use old-fashioned signaling jade slips.

Sighing, the commander leaned back in his chair, a look of weariness crossing his face.

Although he didn’t want to be involved, as long as he lived in this world there would always be times when he had no choice.

He hoped he wouldn’t provoke some disaster.

In the wilderness, there was a bright surge of light as the troop of cultivators appeared.

After a brief pause the troop started to move in the direction that was bathed in sunlight. The ten Divine Souls solemnly marched forwards, the troop quiet and serene.

But soon, many Beast Hunting Battalion cultivators started to develop ugly complexions.

This was because at this time, the direction the troop was headed in was deep into the wilderness.

If this noble one from the Chu Empire was truly in danger, then rushing to the city would be the best choice.

Something was off!

A constrained atmosphere started to spread amongst the troop. Everyone raised their guards.

The first day continued smoothly.

When night came, the troop set up camp. Qin Yu was assigned to stand watch. The flickering flames emitted a faint warmth in the icy cold darkness.

Of course, the wood used to stoke the fire was some sort of black lumber. After igniting it, it released an acrid aura that intensely stimulated monster beasts. There was no need to worry about them while the fire was lit.

Halfway through the night, when it was about time to change shifts, there was a slight sound. Qin Yu frowned and turned his head. He saw the glass window of the speedcar fall halfway down to reveal a woman’s face.

Within the dark night only illuminated by the dim flames, it should have been impossible to clearly see her face. But, Qin Yu’s five senses were outstanding to begin with, so he could see her even in the low light. She was a very beautiful girl, one who still had a bit of immaturity in her features. Perhaps it was because of the dim lighting, but there seemed to be a bit of confusion and fear in her face.

Qin Yu was surprised. This was the Chu Empire’s noble one?

There was the sound of footsteps. People had arrived to switch shifts. The glass slowly slid up, covering up the face.

Qin Yu turned and left. He huddled into his military sleeping bag and closed his eyes.

On the second day, the weather was poor. A cultivator skilled in judging the weather estimated that it would rain hard at around noontime.

Not only were some people not worried, they were even overjoyed. This was because the rainwater would wash away their traces, erasing their smell and so on.

As expected, rain poured down around noon. He pulled on his hood and the cold rain fell over his body, flowing down his robes. It couldn’t penetrate his clothing at all.

But soon, everyone’s complexions were no longer relaxed. This was because the downpour of rain grew increasingly heavy. It was like the heavens had been split open and some vast sea up in the skies was falling down on them.

The curtain of rain became a waterfall, covering everyone’s line of sight and leaving everything a vast whiteness.

Qin Yu wrinkled his eyebrows. He looked up with some difficulty and saw a figure approaching him from the left.

Looking at his robes, he was clearly someone of a higher level. The white wisps of hair coming out from below his hat caused Qin Yu to narrow his eyes.

They both slowed down. With one in front and one behind, they both fell behind the troop.

The law-enforcing Divine Soul cultivator responsible for making sure that no one tried to run away seemed to not notice this at all. He flew towards the front end of the troop.

Thus, in the boundless curtain of water, there were only two people left.

Qin Yu stopped and turned around. “Yuan Jingzhe?”

The cloudy eyes were somewhat surprised. “You seem quite confident in yourself.”

Qin Yu lightly said, “You should know that for me, a Divine Soul cultivator isn’t someone I can’t kill.”

Zheng Hai smiled. “But I’m still here.” He reached out a hand, allowing the heavy rain to soak his palm. “What great rain!”

Before his voice fell, Zheng Hai stepped forwards. The curtain of rain within a thousand feet suddenly froze.

His figure vanished. In the next moment he emerged from the rain, his hand thrusting out.

Qin Yu’s pupils shrink. He lifted his palm horizontally to block. His arm shook and the ground beneath his feet cracked open.

The raindrops on their two bodies were immediately smashed apart, turned into a dense mist.

Zheng Hai had a look of acclaim on his face. “No wonder Xu Younian died beneath your hands. Who would have expected that you with your Nascent Soul cultivation would possess such potent combat strength? If we were to directly fight each other, I might not be your match. But today there is a heavy rain, and my strength is related to rain.”

Before his voice fell, Zheng Hai’s figure vanished once more.

Qin Yu’s feet quickly moved, avoiding a strike to his chest by the width of a hair.

Zheng Hai had a calm expression. “It’s useless. This curtain of rain is my world. Where do you think you can run to?”

He stepped out from the curtain of rain and reappeared, his palm falling down once more.

Qin Yu didn’t dodge nor did he evade; he welcomed the strike.

Zheng Hai’s eyes brightened. His palm struck Qin Yu’s chest and at the same time, a fist heavily struck his body.

Bang –

All raindrops within 500 feet were instantly smashed into mist!

Zheng Hai’s complexion was pale but a smile lit up his face. “You want to trade wound for wound? That is the wrong choice.”

Qin Yu revealed a bloody smile. Receiving the might of a Divine Soul’s palm didn’t leave him any better off. But at this time, his expression didn’t change. He lightly said, “What I am trading for is a life.”

Zheng Hai frowned.

His form instantly started to fade. He wanted to blend into the curtain of rain but the two were too close at this time. Before his figure could vanish, a translucent finger flew out from between Qin Yu’s eyebrows and entered his body.

Dao arts, Boundless Blue Finger!

Zheng Hai’s body shook and his eyes widened in shock and fear.

In the next moment, all of the light in his eyes disappeared and he fell face down into the mud.

With my wound, I’ll trade for your life!

The curtain of rain within the surrounding 1000 feet was restored to normal. However, a loud rumbling sound entered Qin Yu’s ears, causing his complexion to change.

Without any hesitation, he exploded forwards.

This wasn’t to flee, but to catch up to the troop and get as close as he could to that speedcar. action

Several Divine Soul cultivators glanced at him with a stunned expression.

But they had no time to think further about this. This was because the raindrops falling from the vault of heaven suddenly extended and elongated, turning into translucent water swords.

A sword rain was falling from the skies. These weren’t the lyrics to some beautiful song; it was the prelude to a harvesting of life.

With roars of panic, endless waves of magic power erupted, smashing apart those water swords.

But the rain falling down from the skies was endless and boundless. Some people finally couldn’t support themselves and the rain swords pierced through their heads. Blood instantly gushed out.

Once the death began, there was no longer any stopping it. The original 100 Beast Hunting Battalion Nascent Soul cultivators started being cut down at a rapid pace.

And at this time, the person who attacked still hadn’t appeared.

“Controlling the rules…” A Divine Soul cultivator paled.

This was the might of the Blue Sea.

And with the ability to change the rules in such a wide range, it was likely they were at the Revered Blue Sea level.

Against such a terrifying existence, no matter how many Divine Soul cultivators there were, it was simply seeking death.

“Protect the noble one and flee!”

The troop instantly accelerated. No one cared for those that had fallen. They could only pray that this formidable existence would care about their status enough to not directly attack them. Then, once they broke free from this curtain of rain, perhaps there might be a slim chance of survival.

Qin Yu kept his head low and raced forwards. The power of the Five Elements surged within his body as he broke apart all the water swords that approached him. He followed closely behind the speedcar.

The terrifying powerhouse that caused this curtain of rain to fall likely had one goal: the noble one within the speedcar. But at the same time, that noble one likely had the strongest life-maintaining methods.

Only by staying close to the speedcar could he resist the power of a Blue Sea!