Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 36 – The Little Blue Lamp’s Second Surprise

An incredible traction force erupted from the great dao pedestal and all the strength of the ten Essence Augmenting Pills was instantly sucked in. Qin Yu raised the jade bottle and let the rest of the pills fall into his mouth. He had reached the breakthrough point of his cultivation. If he succeeded today then he would reach Golden Core!

The light within the pedestal grew increasingly bright and radiant. By crazily swallowing pills, Qin Yu was just barely able to keep up with the absorption rate of the great dao pedestal. However, at this time, Qin Yu suddenly stiffened as blood started to flow out from his nose and mouth.

He opened his eyes, his eyes dark and gloomy, revealing deep disappointment.

He had failed.

Luckily, because he had experienced the long process of breaking into the Foundation Establishment realm, he never thought that he would initially be successful to begin with. He took several deep breaths, tamping down the frustration in his heart before he started to check in on his current situation.

Within his dantian sea, the light that flooded out from the center of the great dao pedestal had dissipated and the pedestal itself had darkened. This was obviously because of his failure.

However, the color seemed much more rich and vibrant than before, as if more magic power was gushing out. Qin Yu was startled.

It was like...it was a bit purer than before. How strange…he had never heard of such an advantage after failing a breakthrough!

On Qin Yu’s cloudy face and gloomy eyes, light began to slowly shine out from deep within his pupils.

If the magic power in his body could be considered as 10 barrels of liquid, then what just happened was as if a barrel had been boiled away, leaving behind nine barrels that were purer than they were previously.

Everyone knew the advantages to having pure magic power. This was an enhancement in quality and it was usually only high level cultivation law formulas that possessed the ability to temper one’s magic power. This was the reason those disciples of great factions and families were able to stand above all others!

For instance, whether it was using magic arts or controlling treasures, if someone with purer magic power only had to use 50% of the magic power to accomplish the same thing as someone with less pure magic, then it was obvious who had the advantage. This was the benefit of having pure magic power.

What Qin Yu cultivated was the dilapidated True Wood Arts of the Eastern Mountain Sect, and that cultivation law formula only had a mere three incomplete sections. But today, it seemed as if he had stumbled onto a way to forcefully alter the quality of his magic power!

When others failed breaking into the Golden Core realm, their mortal body would suffer from the backlash of magic power striking back at them. In a best case situation they would end up severely wounded. However, Qin Yu only paled a little with his organs rumbling a bit. With the Demon Body’s powerful regenerative abilities, this sort of minor injury could be healed with a bit of sleep.

This meant that every few days he could try making another breakthrough, and even if he failed he could still purify his magic power. In a situation where the total amount of his magic power couldn’t increase, the quality of his magic power would increase instead, becoming more and more concentrated, also meaning he would become that much stronger.

Like this, it would be best if he broke into Golden Core later to give himself more chances to purify his magic power. If he missed such an opportunity then he might have to wait until his Nascent Soul breakthrough.

With these thoughts in mind, Qin Yu was much more happy and excited about what was to come. He took several Body Forging Pills to heal himself. Reality proved that the Demon Body’s regenerative abilities were much stronger than he thought they were. After a night of rest, all of his wounds were healed as if they had never been there. After taking a few Essence Augmenting Pills, the magic power within his body was also restored. As he looked at the great dao pedestal that shined brighter than before within his dantian sea, Qin Yu’s lips curled up in a smile.

It was time to continue!

He opened a pill bottle and swallowed the contents. The light of the great dao pedestal continued to gather and condense within its center. An hour later, Qin Yu gave a stuffy cough as he wiped blood from the corners of his lips. He smiled as he felt the purer magic power in his body.

He swallowed some pills to recover his body.

Theoretically speaking, the process of breaking through revolved around concentrating one’s magic power and overcoming the critical breaking point to reach the goal behind it. So, even if he failed during the process, his magic power should still become purer.

And nobody could compare with Qin Yu when it came to being filthy rich in pills. When he failed his breakthrough he could eat top quality pills, using the massive amount of spiritual strength within them to restore himself. Thus, even if other cultivators failed, the degree to which their magic power was purified simply couldn’t be compared to him at all.

Another important reason was the potency of the Demon Body. If the body could be compared to a bucket, then the stronger the bucket was the more of an impact it could withstand and the better it would be able to concentrate power within. If a person’s body were to break apart due to the rushing impact of magic power in their body, then any enhancement in magic power would be decreased a great deal.

All of these factors together made Qin Yu different from others. To fail in a Golden Core breakthrough, survive, and also purify his magic power at the same time, this was something that no one else could replicate.

Pa –

A low and deep sound rumbled in the training room. Winds began to rise up from the ground and windows were smashed open. Cracks appeared on the ground, spreading out like a spider web.

Qin Yu’s eyes shot open and he spat out a mouthful of blood. A stabbing pain in his chest left him pale white. As he examined his body, the joy in his eyes slowly turned to worry.

This was his seventh failed breakthrough. As his magic power became increasingly pure, the impact of magic power from the failed breakthroughs also became stronger. What had begun with only minor injuries was now truly harming him.

Although he was still fine and only needed to rest for several days to recover, he still couldn’t help but worry over his continued defeats. Sooner or later, his body wouldn’t be able to withstand the impact of magic power. As he thought of his body suddenly exploding someday in the future because of a failed breakthrough, his face darkened for a long time before he finally forced out a bitter smile.

Indeed, advantages came with disadvantages; there were no absolutely good deeds in this world. If he couldn’t find a solution for the time being then he would only put aside these worries of his.

“Golden Core, Golden Core, why must a breakthrough be so difficult?” Qin Yu mumbled to himself. He had completely forgotten about how he had been looking forwards to his breakthrough arriving later.

It took a full ten days for Qin Yu to recover from the backlash of magic power from his failed breakthrough. Hesitating to continue, he rose up and left the training room.

The bamboo dragonfly had flown to the entrance of his wooden house and had fallen into an idle state. Qin Yu shook his head and poured a bit of magic power into it. The bamboo dragonfly shivered for a moment before waking up. As it did, its wings vibrated faster than before and its eyes shined with a miraculous light.

Woosh –

It vanished from sight.

Qin Yu comforted himself. At least the effects of having purer magic power were clearly displayed through the bamboo dragonfly. After pouring in magic power this time, it might be able to last for a full three months before needing a recharge.

He strolled through the medicine field, looking over it. Even after the bamboo dragonfly fell idle, no one had come. There was only a corner of a field of Seven Star Flowers that had traces of being chewed at.

Qin Yu’s face darkened and he cursed inwardly. He had told it not to mess around in the medicine field yet it had blatantly disregarded his orders. He would need to find an opportunity to teach it a lesson.

Just as he was thinking, the fog on the edge of valley began to tumble about as a group of a brightly feathered chickens stepped out. A proud and noble looking chicken strutted at the front of the pack, shaking its wings from time to time as hens carefully combed its feathers from the sides.

The chicken overlord looked at the valley with satisfaction in his eyes. Its eyes flitted about as it gave several loud clucks, as if ordering its small group of hens to step backwards. Then, it flapped forwards, landing in front of Qin Yu and twisting about like a spoiled child. It flapped its tail and wings about, as if to say, ‘Master, you’ve finally come out! Let me rub your dog-leg.’

Two years ago, when the chicken overlord saw Qin Yu summon Blacksky Demon at the ruined entrance of the Eastern Mountain Sect and chop up Zhao Chan and his cronies as if they were vegetables, the chicken overlords had become servile and polite in front of him. And this sort of behavior seemed to be becoming increasingly intense over time.

Of course, the chicken overlord was still proud in front of the other hens.

Wait, it was actually far more arrogant and proud than before, as if telling the world that it had a strong backer to rely on and didn’t need to be afraid of anyone at all.

Qin Yu kicked it away. He coldly sneered, “You little thing, you’ve become fatter and bolder than before. You actually dare to violate my orders and steal spiritual plants from the field.”

The chicken overlord popped up into the air, its wings wildly wagging about as it cursed the heavens and earth, so aggrieved by this baseless accusation that it looked afflicted.

Qin Yu’s eyebrow arched up. He knew this little thing’s character and knew that if it really had done something, its go-to action would be to shout out loud and beg for forgiveness, right? However, the valley was protected with an array formation, so if it weren’t the chicken overlord, just what else had been able to get in?

Qin Yu walked towards the Seven Star Flower field and inspected the area. He found several shallow footprints, and indeed it really wasn’t the chicken overlord.

He ignored the chicken overlord that was complaining with its eyes, as if saying ‘Master, you’ve blamed me with such a grave injustice,’ and quickly fell into thought.

He rose up and walked to the edge of the valley. Digging up the ground he found the spirit stone buried beneath. This spirit stone was eroded and quickly crumbled to dust as soon as he touched it. He walked a bit more and found a second spirit stone. Luckily, this spirit stone was in slightly better condition and was a bit more opaque. Even so, it wouldn’t be able to last much longer.

He continued, confirming that several other spirit stones were in a similar condition. It seemed that the array formation had been gradually weakening, to the point where some wild creatures had been able to enter the medicine field.

Qin Yu frowned. According to what he knew, this sort of simple array formation should have an extremely light drain on spirit stones. After laying down the array formation it should have been able to last several years. But now, only two years had passed and these spirit stones had been exhausted of their spiritual strength. Something was wrong, but since he wasn’t proficient in array techniques he wouldn’t be able to find the reason. He could only blame this on the deficient heaven and earth energy here causing the spirit stones to drain faster than normal.

This was only 400 spirit stones. Qin Yu, who had over 60,000 of them, naturally didn’t place them in his heart. He simply replaced all of them, lest the medicine field suffer further damage.

He shot a glance at the chicken overlord. Looking at the chicken overlord’s sad and pitiful expression, he really had no idea just where it had learned such acting skills. If it wanted to cry, tears would immediately start dripping.

Laughing, Qin Yu took out several pills. The chicken overlord gulped them down like a hungry wolf, its face filled with joy. In the end, two were left. Seeing that Qin Yu wouldn’t object, it picked up the two pills and flew towards the edge of the mountain valley. It fell in front of a group of small hens and immediately stood up tall and proud.

Swinging their wings, two hens with the brightest colored feathers walked forth and each received a pill in appreciation. The other hens began to gather together, their eyes red with jealousy. The chicken overlord waved its wings with a teasing motion and led the hens into the forest.

To take top grade pills to feed a spirit beast, and a spirit beast like this useless chicken, there was no one else within 100,000 miles of the Southern Empire that had such daring.

Qin Yu didn’t think about it much further, or at least he didn’t care too much about it. This was the daring of someone who had near limitless pills at his disposal; he could simply give them away if he wanted.

He had encountered the chicken overlord at the beginning of his journey. Since destiny willed their paths to cross again, he naturally had to treat it well. Of course, although this fellow was stupid and prideful, he still managed to lift up Qin Yu’s mood at times.

Qin Yu clapped his hands and washed himself at the water canal. Subconsciously, he turned and remembered that the two Thousandgold Mulberries had been transplanted into his room. He had actually forgotten about them until now, but he feared they had likely wilted and died already.

Qin Yu was filled with regret as he entered the wooden house. But as soon as he entered and looked around, he was stunned. The last time he saw the two Thousandgold Mulberries, they were in a listless condition. But now they were growing vibrantly, almost 10 feet tall. There were even several mulberry leaves that had sprouted and were exuding a boundlessly ancient aura.

Qin Yu was stunned for a long time. His eyes slowed moved towards the little blue lamp. He couldn’t keep his calm as his heart began to violently beat in his chest and his mouth turned dry.

The Thousandgold Mulberries had been placed near the wooden rack. There was a system set up with a bamboo tube that was driven with flowing water so that every so often the Thousandgold Mulberries would be exposed to a bit of little blue lamp’s light. If someone told Qin Yu that the little blue lamp wasn’t related to this change, he wouldn’t believe it at all!

If this were true…

What cultivation? What breakthrough? At this time, all other thoughts were cast out from his mind. He turned around and rushed away to pick out different spirit plants from all over the medicine field as he eagerly waited for night to come.

As the sun fell, the long day finally ended. The pall of night covered the mountain valley and the little blue lamp released its deep blue light. As the spirit plants were bathed in the blue light, it was like they were covered in beautiful radiance. Then, something amazing occurred. All of the spirit plants began to sway and their leaves trembled in excitement, as if they were swallowing the most precious tonic in the world. All of them began to grow in an incredibly slow but firm manner.

While the rising sun broke through the darkness and golden sunlight brightened the earth, Qin Yu was still sitting on the ground, dazed, his entire face blank. This sort of daze was not because he was confused, but because he was happily surprised to the point that his mind couldn’t process it.

A long time passed. He blinked his eyes and began to pinch himself.

Ouch!

This really wasn’t a dream.

Qin Yu reared back his head and laughed, his deep voice echoing out from the wooden house and through the entire mountain valley.

Little blue lamp, oh my little blue lamp, you are truly worthy of being this world’s most mysterious treasure.

On this day, besides upgrading pills, Qin Yu discovered another use, and it was that it could accelerate the growth of spiritual plants!