Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 175 – Prisoner

“Re…reporting…to Whale Sovereign…what Mister Turtle said is…true…”

Meng Li stammered as he spoke. When he finished, he nearly cried. It was over, he was done for. He had spent his life utilizing an array of tricks to get ahead, pleasing all of his superiors and flattering them, and now everything was falling through today.

He had offended the Whale Sovereign. While the sea region was vast, Meng Li still found it difficult to breathe.

The Old Turtle nodded in satisfaction. He swept his eyes around and said, “Did everyone hear that? I said that the boy is my guest, so of course he is. What else do you have to say?”

The Whale Sovereign frowned. He was known to be calm like a mountain, and yet ruthless and overbearing in his actions. However, this didn’t mean that he didn’t know when to step back. His absolute strength might be higher than the old turtle’s, but if he really wanted to win then he would need to engage in a life or death battle. The price was too great; he couldn’t take the risk.

The thought of retreating grew in his heart. By this time it was determined that Qin Yu was Turtle Origin’s guest, so he had lost his reasoning for trying to kill him. At the very least he could toss out some words before he left, so it would make it seem as if he were trying to care for the overall situation.

And it was at this time that his eyes swept over Qin Yu. Qin Yu also happened to be looking at him, and their eyes met each other. The Whale Sovereign suddenly felt his heart shrink, and an inexplicable sense of fear rose within him. He thought: if he didn’t promptly kill this Qin Yu now, it would be no different from raising a tiger and creating a future disaster!

It was said that those who nearly reached the Divine Soul realm had a faint sense of the dark flow of fate. Because of this sudden and intense feeling of crisis, killing intent rose within the Whale Sovereign.

Qin Yu was startled. Just as he was about to lower his head, the Whale Sovereign’s eyes brightened. His gaze was like two arrows that shot out from the void. Qin Yu coughed and closed his eyes. Blood began to flow out from between his eyes, and what was more terrifying was that his soul really did feel as if it had been pierced through by an arrow as he was wracked with a terrifying pain!

If it weren’t for Qin Yu’s soul force having risen so drastically recently because he refined the five-element spiritual objects, then this strike would likely have taken his life. As he withstood the agonizing pain, he suddenly thought of something. If the Whale Sovereign possessed such a formidable divine sense attack, then why didn’t he use it that day when he captured Princess Lushy? Perhaps there was only a single answer, and that was that he had silently allowed the incident to occur.

The old turtle angrily shouted, “Whale Sovereign!”

Bang –

A heaven-tumbling aura broke out from his body. In the void above him there was a sudden roar. The phantom of a giant turtle appeared, as grand and imposing as a mountain!

The Whale Sovereign looked up. A tyrannical strength erupted and an invisible strength seemed to twist the surrounding space into chaos. Within this chaos, the phantom of a giant whale appeared. The whale phantom flung its tail about, causing tides of spiritual strength to splash around.

One turtle, one whale – two colossal entities faced each other. Although they were only phantoms, they represented their true strength. An invisible collision of auras occurred, and cracking sounds filled the air as crevices started to appear in space itself.

This was the collapse of space. In the legends, this was something that only those figures above the Nascent Soul realm, Divine Souls, could hope to accomplish. With the Whale Sovereign and Turtle Origin revealing the limits of their strength, the collision of it could actually compare to the Divine Soul realm!

Just as a heaven-shaking battle was about to erupt, a light sound echoed out in the skies above the capital city. “Do you two wish to raze this Solitude’s city to the ground?”

The voice was calm and peaceful. In this tense situation, it was only natural for one to wield a powerful self-confidence. This was the will of the Sea Sovereign, the ruler of all the sea races.

Even the strong Whale Sovereign and Turtle Origin had to lower their heads and display sufficient respect towards this will. The two of them respectively drew back one step. Although they still had ill intent in their eyes, they left their combative stances.

“Greetings, Your Majesty!”

The Sea Sovereign’s voice continued to ring out. “Concerning this matter, this Solitude will personally investigate it. Whale Sovereign, you need not meddle any further.”

The Whale Sovereign courteously nodded, without any intention of arguing the point. He bowed once more to express his respect and then turned and walked away. As for injuring the others, neither he nor the Sea Sovereign mentioned anything about it. With their status, these were minor matters not worth discussing.

“Mister Turtle, I will have to trouble you with cleaning this mess up.” The Sea Sovereign’s voice faded and the invisible aura that seemed to cover the world disappeared along with it.

A single sentence had forced the Whale Sovereign to retreat. Of course, what the Sea Sovereign relied on wasn’t something as simple as words.

The sea races were far more direct than humans. Here, strength decided all!

Soupman was lifted onto a carriage. His injuries were serious, but the old turtle didn’t seem worried at all. Thinking about it, since Soupman was the guardian of the royal treasury, he likely had an astonishing amount of heavenly materials stored up. As long as he wasn’t immediately killed, he was likely to live on.

Seventh Night Sky was carried off by the guards from Sea Spirit Pavilion. For some unknown reason, their attitude towards the royal guards seemed a bit cold. The old turtle seemed to know something, but he shook his head and didn’t say much. However, he didn’t discover that from Sea Spirit Pavilion’s carriage, a pair of deep blue eyes were peeking out at Qin Yu and staring at him with a slightly vacant expression.

Xue Zheng’s injuries were horrifying. Without saying anything, one only had to see his cracked flesh and blood and the bones that punctured his skin to see how dire his situation was. But, the coldness he displayed had left everyone shocked. He rejected the help of his subordinates and pushed himself to his feet as he mounted his sea wolf.

Moon Praying Shrine’s carriage turned and rode somewhere into the distance.

The old turtle looked after them, seeming to appreciate Xue Zheng. But, he still frowned, as if confused about why Moon Praying Shrine would choose to intervene in today’s events. Well, whatever, if he couldn’t think of the reason then he wouldn’t bother with it. He was already at the old age where his mind didn’t work as well as it used to, and if he could save himself from overthinking things then that was for the best.

The old turtle turned, his gaze falling upon Qin Yu. His lips twitched. If he had known that bringing this brat here would cause so many unknown variables within the capital city, he would have swallowed him up a long time ago as a dessert.

But now, not only could he not eat this boy but he also had to cautiously protect him. Thinking about this, he felt a bit melancholic and his complexion was equally ugly. He waved his hand, “Take him. Bring him to the royal palace for questioning. We must find Honorable Ning and rescue him!”

Soupman had already used this excuse, so he might as well keep on using it. Although it was a bit like burying one’s head in the sand, for better or worse it could deceive the general public a little.

Qin Yu was carried up. As he passed by the old turtle, he cupped his hands together and said, “I thank senior for saving my life.”

The old turtle’s complexion became even uglier. “Bring him away!”

Peh! If it wasn’t for His Majesty then who would want to save you? Stop being so sentimental!

It could only be said that the royal palace had experts and so could easily clean up the situation. Soon, spiral shell messages were sent through all the stations, announcing that Honorable Ning had been captured. The surrounding several streets around Sea Spirit Pavilion’s Nine Layer Building would also be cordoned off to be cleaned up and renovated.

At the same time, several variations of rumors spread throughout the capital city, all of them stating that Honorable Ning had fallen for a human’s trap, and that human had disguised himself to take advantage of Honorable Ning’s status. There were also one or two rumors mixed in about how Honorable Ning was a human, but these rumors were rough and filled with inconsistencies, making it seem as if they were definitely fake.

All sorts of methods were used, suppressing this momentous event in the shortest time possible. They had succeeded in muddying the waters so much that no one could conclude that Ning Qin was really a human.

This was enough.

…

In a sentence, after enjoying the benefits of coming out and tricking everyone, eventually one had to pay the price. Qin Yu had enjoyed a dazzling period of time and now he had tragically degenerated into a prisoner. The shackles the seafolk used to imprison him were especially forged for cultivators. They locked onto him tightly, sealing his body, cultivation, and soul.

Luckily, it seemed as if no one in the royal palace had decided just how to deal with him. Or, perhaps they wanted to make some sort of demand of him, thus his storage ring and other personal belongings were left with him and weren’t taken away.

Qin Yu thought about it and concluded that it had to be the second situation. If so, then it should be related to that terrifying vine located beneath the royal palace. He relaxed a little.

He had disguised himself as a sea spirit teacher, participated in the great sea spirit teacher competition, and had obtained the sea spirit baptism. He had obtained so many harvests during this time that no one would have thought he would have ended up like this so quickly.

Even if he understood why, there was no way to think about these things anymore. Still, Qin Yu couldn’t help but shake his head and force out a smile, sighing about how all he needed was a bit more luck.

…

Seventh Night Sky was extremely strong. However, what he prided himself upon was not his strength, but the methods at his disposal to preserve his own life. He was a mercenary who had wandered through the sea region for many years. Though he had been taken in by Sea Spirit Pavilion as one of their followers, he still relied on his amazing life-preserving skills to live to this point.

So even while his injuries were heavy, after a brief inspection, the woman sighed and relaxed. After giving some orders in a soft voice, she brought the young miss away. In her words, even though they had moved out of the palace a long time ago, they were still of high enough status that they couldn’t expose themselves to such an unlucky place with the wounded and sick.

Seventh Night Sky bitterly smiled as he heard this, but he could also sense the unwillingness and perseverance in her heart. He closed his eyes and pretended not to hear anything.

The door closed and her actions became much more relaxed. She turned and saw that the young girl beside her seemed a bit distracted. She asked, “Miss, were you frightened by today’s events?”

The young girl smiled. “Seventh Aunty, you look down on me too much, I am not that much of a coward. It’s just that…” She bit her lips and said in a quiet voice. “Seventh Aunty, do you think that Honorable Ning seems a bit familiar?”

The woman frowned. She crouched down, “Miss, although Seventh Night Sky helped block the Whale Sovereign, Ning Qin is still a human in the end. Ultimately, our Sea Spirit Pavilion will have to cleanly separate ourselves.”

The young girl seemed to understand but also not understand. She mouthed an ‘Oh’ before lowering her head and not speaking much more. Her eyes swiveled around. He was clearly familiar; she had definitely seen him somewhere before. After the woman left, she placed her hands beneath her chin, and after a long period of thought she clenched her teeth, seeming as if she had made a decision.

…

The group from Moon Praying Shrine settled themselves in the capital city. They didn’t try to evade those people that followed them, and walked about honestly and openly. They moved into the rear courtyard inside one of the capital city’s gambling establishments.

Which one of the sea region’s formidable tribes hadn’t placed informants within the capital city? This was a matter that was tacitly approved behind the scenes. For instance, this gambling house belonged to Moon Praying Shrine, although that business was only their outside appearance.

Xue Zheng rested in a room and started to recuperate from his wounds. Although he was strong, it would take a considerable amount of time to recover from his injuries.

The white-robed woman followed behind the Vice Priest. She left the room with him, and as they walked down the hallway, she hesitated several times before finally whispering, “Vice Priest, what do we do now?”

The Vice Priest calmly responded, “We wait.”

Moon Praying Shrine stood proud and tall as one of the strongest forces in the sea region, so how could they not have any spies? And they had enough people to utilize within that solemn royal palace.

Since this matter involved the Saint Flower, no amount of news could be leaked out. So even though he burned with impatience, he had no choice but to wait for more information and establish another plan.

…

And as the young girl made her decision, as the group from Moon Praying Shrine had no choice but to wait, at this moment, a raging discussion was occurring within the royal palace to determine how to deal with Qin Yu.

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