Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 96 – Dividing the Spoils

As the sound of breaking air sounded out, Qin Yu turned around.

War Bear’s figure entered his field of vision. With a shout, his fist came thundering out.

Qin Yu stepped forwards. He didn’t dodge or evade, but welcomed this fist head-on.

Bang –

The cave trembled and the sound of billowing thunder followed!

War Bear humphed and fluttered backwards.

Qin Yu also landed on the floor, blood energy raging in his chest.

The two of them both revealed surprise.

War Bear glowered, “Fellow daoist Qin, what wonderful cultivation!”

Qin Yu spoke without expression. “The feeling is mutual.”

This War Bear was absolutely a ninth level Golden Core master, and his mortal body was incredibly potent. It seemed that he had been hiding his strength all this time.

But, the strength that Qin Yu erupted with had similarly shocked War Bear.

The two people fell silent.

Neither party had full assurance they could win, and at the same time neither knew what cards the other was hiding. If they fought, perhaps only one of them would walk out alive.

At this time, Xiang Ruyu, Gu Shengping, and Daoist Wuyuan arrived. As they stood together, even though they were severely wounded they were still a force to be reckoned with. At the very least, they had a chance of pulling down Qin Yu or War Bear to perish with them.

Fairy Xiang shrilly screamed, “You can forget taking the treasures alone! Either divide the treasures, or divide life and death!”

War Bear’s face distorted. He roared out, “In the end, I looked down on the heroes of the world. I didn’t want to do this…but you have forced my hand!”

His hand flickered and a skull appeared. The cut was new; it was from the headless corpse that Qin Yu had seen. A brilliant flash of magic power erupted and merged into the skull. Then, a strange black rune appeared between the skull’s eyes, glowing with an eerie light.

Ga –

Ga –

The skull flew up on its own and began to emit a strange cackle.

Hiss –

Hiss –

A faint sound echoed out. But as everyone heard it, it made their hairs stand on end.

Qin Yu’s pupils shrank; this sound was coming from the round pool!

Immediately, a terrifying scene occurred. Countless black worms crawled forth from the bones, frantically rushing over the ground.

An ominous and dark smell of blood overwhelmed the air, filled with a dreadful killing intent.

A hint of fear appeared on War Bear’s face. He bit his finger and wiped it on the skull. “Kill them!”

The black worms flew up into the air. Only now could everyone see their thin and transparent wings. Before this, they had been closely pasted on their bodies, making them hard to see. action

Qin Yu was the first to bear the brunt of the attack!

If War Bear was going to kill them, then he would certainly start with the strongest. As long as Qin Yu died, only Fairy Xiang and the other two would be left remaining. War Bear could personally deal with them and wouldn’t need to allow the worms to obtain more blood and food, lest they run out of his control.

Qin Yu’s complexion changed. But before he could act, the imperial spirit bag began to move about. He could feel the excited mood of the ant king.

With a flick of his sleeve, the imperial spirit bag was opened. The Purpleback Bluewing Ants howled out, buzzing and screeching as they hurtled towards the black worms, led by the ant king.

Pa –

Pa –

This was the sound of little wriggling black bodies being broken apart. The Purpleback Bluewing Ants opened their mouths wide open as they hunted and devoured. The previous arrogance of the black worms had all but disappeared. They began to tremble in fear as they turned to flee!

The Purpleback Bluewing Ants ravaged their prey. The battle lasted for several breaths of time and they swallowed dozens of black worms with every breath. It was only when the black worms vanished deep into the round pool that they circled around it, clearly fearing entering it.

War Bear was stunned!

He never expected that the trump card even he was scared to use would actually be completely broken apart in just several breaths of time!

He had once personally seen how terrifying the black worms were. Just what sort of ants were these; they were actually so fierce!

Qin Yu’s thoughts stirred. The swarm of Purpleback Bluewing Ants came howling back. They circled above Qin Yu’s head, shrouding all four people in a grim and vicious light.

The complexions of everyone underwent a tremendous change!

With how terrifying the Purpleback Bluewing Ants were, if they were to come in swarms, they feared that…they wouldn’t be able to block it!

War Bear burst backwards, standing together with Xiang Ruyu, Gu Shengping, and Daoist Wuyuan. Without any words, they all reached a mutual agreement to join forces.

The situation had undergone a complete reversal!

Qin Yu revealed a bit of hesitation.

War Bear said in a low voice, “Fellow daoist Qin, even if you have spiritual insects helping you, the four of us are still late Golden Core masters. If we fight you with all we have, you might not necessarily be able to take the advantage!”

Qin Yu frowned.

Xiang Ruyu saw this and quickly said, “With the treasures of a Nascent Soul so close at hand, wouldn’t it be too sad if we were all to die here together? Fellow daoist Qin should consider the situation clearly to prevent us all from perishing together!”

Daoist Wuyuan and Gu Shengping clenched their teeth. They stimulated their magic power, their aura rapidly rising.

Qin Yu sighed. “Enough. I originally had no intention of taking the treasures all by myself. You are just overthinking things.” With his calm appearance that revealed just a bit of hesitation, it made him much more believable.

At the very least, even if War Bear and the others coldly sneered in their hearts, they released a breath of relief outside. They quickly nodded, praising fellow daoist Qin Yu for being someone virtuous with high moral character.

With a flick of his sleeves, the Purpleback Bluewing Ants flew back into the imperial spirit bag. Qin Yu still had a faint unwilling expression on his face, but in reality, his clothes were being matted with a cold sweat.

Yes, the Purpleback Bluewing Ants were indeed fierce, but after swallowing a massive amount of black worms, they had suddenly started to rampage out of his control a little. Luckily, he held absolute dominance over the ant king, so he was just barely able to force them all into the imperial spirit bag where they fell into a deep slumber together.

Qin Yu didn’t know what had occurred, but he was sure that the Purpleback Bluewing Ants wouldn’t help him anymore. So, it was best that he push the boat a little to reconcile with these four. Of course, he needed to act a little hesitant, otherwise if he were to agree too easily, it would definitely arouse their suspicions.

Qin Yu let out a breath of relief, and War Bear and the others let out even larger breaths of relief. After seeing the horrifying powers of the Purpleback Bluewing Ants, they truly didn’t want to face them.

The situation had calmed down.

A light flashed in Qin Yu’s eyes. “Fellow daoist War Bear, don’t you think it’s time to give us an explanation for all of this?”

Hate shimmered in Xiang Ruyu’s eyes. If she had to point to the one she hated here the most, it would be War Bear. This person knew far too much and they knew far too little. If it weren’t for his plotting, she wouldn’t have ended up in this miserable situation to begin with.

Gu Shengping and Daoist Wuyuan also had grim expressions.

War Bear cried out in his heart. Even at this moment, Qin Yu still hadn’t forgotten to sow dissent in their group. He awkwardly coughed and said, “Now that things have gotten to the point, I won’t hide anything anymore. Indeed, this place is the cave dwelling of an ancient cultivator and I came here dozens of years ago with several other companions. At that time, a terrifying matter occurred, one that I don’t wish to speak of. But, I will admit that I concealed some information from several daoists.” He paused and then continued, “But, the rest of you haven’t been honest with me either.”

Qin Yu didn’t have any intention of delving too deep into this. He took advantage of this opening and said, “Since fellow daoist War Bear has come here before, you should also be the one most clear about this place. So, I ask that fellow daoist be the one to bring over the treasures of the ancient Nascent Soul cultivator. And I also trust that fellow daoist War Bear wouldn’t be so silly as to play any more tricks right now.”

War Bear hesitated for a moment. But as he saw Xiang Ruyu and the others glaring at him, he could only bitterly smile and agree. He was clearly terrified of the round pool. He rubbed his hands for several moments and grit his teeth. Then, he flew up to the blue jade platform in a flash of light. Beneath the gazes of several people, he took the items in his hands and brought them back down.

He landed on the floor and placed the items directly into an open space, stretching out his hands afterwards.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

The ancient Nascent Soul cultivator hadn’t left behind much. There were four items: a storage ring, a mottled bronze mirror, a wolf-shaped jade slip, and a gray slab of iron.

Without a doubt, the storage ring was the most eye-catching object. However, Qin Yu, War Bear, and Fairy Xiang each separately investigated its contents and found it to be completely empty. Even so, the storage ring itself had over a thousand feet of space within. It was also a space that had been separately divided; it was definitely a priceless treasure.

The function of the bronze mirror was unknown, but it was definitely a magic tool at the Nascent Soul step. Just by sweeping one’s divine sense across it, one felt as if their thoughts were being knotted together. It was certainly a mighty item.

The jade slip was sealed with a spell and it had to be carefully unraveled before one could investigate it. It might be a peerless cultivation method or even a useless object. Its value was unknown.

The final slab of iron was extremely light, as if it could be blown away with a single breath. But, the material was of a horrifyingly tough quality. Qin Yu secretly tested bending it with his Demon Body, but found that he couldn’t even leave a single mark upon it. A light flashed in his eyes and he quietly laid it down.

The treasures were in front of them. Now, all that remained was dividing the spoils.

Of course, dividing them equally was impossible.

Qin Yu didn’t hesitate. “Four treasures. I will take two, and the rest you can split amongst yourselves!”

The complexions of War Bear and the others were ugly to look at. But, after a moment of thought they agreed. If they were to join forces they could only ‘reluctantly’ fight with Qin Yu, so distributing treasures like this was the most reasonable.

Qin Yu smiled. “The storage ring and bronze mirror, I want those!”

War Bear roared. “Impossible!” He sucked in a deep, shaking breath. “Fellow daoist Qin, you and I both know that based upon the visible values of these four items, these are the two most valuable. Perhaps the jade slip and iron slab might be treasures, but they also might be garbage. If fellow daoist Qin wants to eat the meat, then you must at least give us some soup to drink.”

Daoist Wuyuan clenched his teeth. “That’s right! Fellow daoist Qin wants to choose two first, and while we cannot argue with that, you absolutely cannot choose the storage ring and bronze mirror together!”

Qin Yu mulled over it. “Fine. I will choose the storage ring and jade slip.” As he looked up, his gaze was dark and dreary. “This is my bottom line. Don’t push me to anger!”

Gu Shengping’s lips moved, but in the end he didn’t say anything. He was someone skilled in sealing array formations, so he naturally felt something uncommon from the jade slip’s spell. However, the current situation didn’t favor him.

Qin Yu lifted his hand, receiving the storage ring and jade slip. Although his complexion was a bit dark, he was actually secretly overjoyed.

Out of the four items, the one he wanted the most was in truth the jade slip! This was because he discovered that the magic power summons he felt after entering this cave dwelling originated from this jade slip. He didn’t know what this meant, but from the very start he had already decided to obtain the jade slip no matter what.

When he first chose that bronze mirror, that was because he wanted to use the mindset of the four people and then appear to take a step back before locking onto his true target. This was the safest path to take. It had to be known that what War Bear and the others feared were the Purpleback Bluewing Ants, but those little brats were currently slumbering within the imperial spirit bag. Since Qin Yu was relying on appearances to bully these people, he naturally needed to be more discreet in his actions.

Luckily, everything had ended smoothly.

He had obtained what he wanted. What remained were the bronze mirror and iron slab. While Qin Yu desired them, since he knew he couldn’t obtain them in his heart, he didn’t place any more importance on them.

A great war of bluffing followed. War Bear panted, his face turning red and blue veins sticking out from his body. But, Fairy Xiang suddenly ripped apart the magic power she had used to cover her ruined skirt and revealed her horrifying body. In the end, he unwillingly lowered his head, clenched his teeth, and took the iron slab into his storage bag.

Qin Yu didn’t know if it was an illusion or not, but he seemed to sense a bit of laughter in War Bear’s eyes. This person had entered this cave dwelling twice already and he clearly knew much more than they did. Was it possible that this iron slab was a great treasure? Qin Yu’s thoughts turned, but he suppressed them in his mind. Right now wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things.

Fairy Xiang, Daoist Wuyuan, and Gu Shengping obtained the bronze mirror together. It was unknown how they were going to split it, but after a lengthy conversation, the bronze mirror was ultimately taken by Fairy Xiang. The other two had calm expressions; it was obvious they had received sufficient compensation.

After carefully searching the area and making sure that nothing had been missed, the journey into the cave dwelling came to an end. The five people left the floating mountain. Beneath its deep shadow, they found an ancient array formation. The array formation had visible signs of being repaired, but there were still traces of spirit stones that had been turned to powder after being exhausted of spiritual strength.