Refining the Mountains and Rivers

e used a bit of strength and crushed the jade slip that contained Cang Mangzi’s last words to pieces.
Then, he placed the other two within his robes.
This was to avoid future troubles.

Qin Yu bowed.
“Senior Cang Mangzi, junior has no way of repaying your graciousness today.
I can only give you a peaceful burial.
I apologize if I offend you.”

The soil was thick and deep.
Without using much strength, Qin Yu dug out a square pit within the thatched hut.

He carefully picked up the skeleton and slowly placed it into the pit.
But at this moment, there were two light ‘pa’ sounds as two beads fell to the ground.

Qi Yu’s eyes widened!

But he didn’t stop his movements.
He continued to move the skeleton.
It was only when he covered the pit and bowed again that he picked up the two round beads.

Of these two beads, one was ash white with cracks all over its surface.
Even so, it glowed with a faint golden light within.
The other bead was pitch black as if it were solidified ink.
Its surface was smooth and clear and emitted a faint black luster.

What were these?

Qin Yu rose up.
But at this moment his body suddenly stiffened.
On the surface of that pitch black bead, the dim light gathered into an ugly ghost face that bit down on his hand, entering into his body! Billowing black gas burst out like a broken dam, crazily rushing through Qin Yu’s body.
With it, a chaotic and vicious will shot into his mind.

This black gas was poison!

The bead was formed by Cang Mangzi’s poison-attuned body.
It had formed over hundreds of years by absorbing all sorts of poisons, and when Cang Mangzi died, it remained behind.
And in these past years it had gradually developed a rudimentary consciousness!

A consciousness of pure poison, it was cruel and destructive!

It was true that Qin Yu was immune to invasion from poisons, but that was only at night when the little blue lamp releases its sea-blue light; it was useless to him in the daytime.
Because of that, it only took an instant for the violent poison to invade his body.
If it weren’t for his cultivation having increased to the eighth level of Energy Refining as well as the massive number of body tempering pills he had taken, then he would have already died by now!

Even so, this only helped him for a few breaths of time as the intensity of the pain began to ramp up.
Pain, itching, numbness, all sorts of feelings surged through his body, nearly submerging his consciousness.
If this were compared to the time he had been beaten up due to the medicine garden incident, then that would have only been called a little tickle.

But the world was filled with wonderful coincidences.
Those several breaths of time that he gained to put up a last ditch struggle might have seemed futile, but they really did save Qin Yu’s life.
The cracked ash-white bead in his hand suddenly burst out with a dazzlingly golden light.
Faintly, one could see a blurry figure sitting deep within that golden light.
This golden light pierced into Qin Yu’s body like countless needles, suppressing everything!

Within the underground space, a powerful pressure swelled out like a tide, fluctuation without constraints.

Golden Core! This was a Golden Core!

This round bead was actually the Golden Core left behind by Cang Mangzi after his death.

Qin Yu froze on the ground, stiffening up like a statue.
The violent poison and vicious will that rampaged through his body was nailed to the ground, unable to move.
Even so, it didn’t give up.
Like a wild beast it desperately fought back, colliding again and again with the strength of the golden light.

All of this was occurring within Qin Yu’s body.
The battle was like countless knives that slashed away at every inch of flesh and blood in his body.
This sort of pain surpassed anything he had ever experienced in his life.
His blood vessels suck out and his mouth opened wide, but he couldn’t emit even half a sound!

Qin Yu wanted to faint, but it was impossible in this pain.
Instead, his consciousness became even sharper.
It was also at this time that some memories began to inexplicably appear in his mind, turning from blurry to clear.

These were Cang Mangzi’s memories!

Whether it was the poison bead or the Golden Core, they were both things born within Cang Mangzi’s body and contained his aura as a result.
Now that they were violently clashing in Qin Yu’s body, the shockwaves they released were absorbed by him and turned into images.

In the past when Cang Mangzi died of old age, the poison bead and Golden Core were able to mutually balance each other out.
It was also because of this that the strength of the poison bead hadn’t erupted.
If it had, then with the Eastern Mountain Sect having gone into decline, this entire area would have turned into a land of death hundreds of years ago.

Because of the existence of the poison bead, the Golden Core was stimulated and it began to instinctually absorb the strength of the heavens and earth to suppress the poison bead.
This was why it had managed to persist until this day without fading away.

Time passed.
To Qin Yu, every second was an incomparably long time.
In the throes of excruciating pain, it was as if tens of thousands of years were passing.

Then, night finally arrived!

As if noticing Qin Yu’s condition, a foot-long area of blue light appeared on his chest.
The pure blue light was dazzling to the eyes.
The poison bead trembled for a moment and the violent will and instinct that invaded Qin Yu’s body screamed before vanishing, as if it had been torn to pieces by a giant invisible hand!

The grotesque face on the poison bead collapsed, turning into a black torrent that crazily poured into Qin Yu’s body.

Or, it was more accurate to say that it was being forcefully dragged in!

The mighty black waves flowed into Qin Yu’s body and gathered on the index finger of his right hand.
The ghostly green knuckle area began to rapidly turn black.
Compared to the violent poisons that Cang Mangzi had absorbed through his life, the poison of the corpsefire talisman was nothing at all!

After taking several deep breaths, there was a light cracking sound.
The poison bead shattered into powder.

Qin Yu slumped to the ground!

Hu –

Hu –

He gasped, his entire body shaking and weak.
His robes were matted with sweat.
As the poison bead shattered, the golden light erupting from the Golden Core also faded away.
The powerful pressure in the air disappeared along with it.

Kacha –

With another light sound, an additional crack appeared on the surface of the Golden Core and it returned to its ash-white appearance, looking no different from a pebble on a riverside.
If he hadn’t personally witnessed the power of this ash-white bead, he would have never believed that it was the Golden Core of a peak Golden Core master, someone close to the Nascent Soul realm!

Before, the figure in the golden light was the divine phantom within the core.
It was a hollow Nascent Soul that could have become a true Nascent Soul.
The memories that appeared in Qin Yu’s mind gave him a clear understanding of what this Golden Core was.
His lips twitched and he bitterly smiled.

Cang Mangzi’s Golden Core had already reached a spent state.
And now, suppressing the poison bead had exhausted the final dregs of its strength; it could be said to be completely wasted.

Of course, if one had to discuss its usefulness, it still did have some use…for instance…helping to put on an act.

By pouring magic power into the Golden Core, it would release the aura pressure of the Golden Core realm.
This could only be used one time before the Golden Core would thoroughly disintegrate.
He nearly lost his life and had suffered excruciating pain as if he were being boiled alive in frying oil, and yet all he obtained was a hollow Nascent Soul Golden Core that could only be used like this one time.

Qin Yu didn’t know whether he should laugh with joy at barely managing to escape death, or cry for his own bad luck.