Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Cloud Boundless looked at Qin Yu. Their eyes met in midair. He slightly bowed; everything that needed to be said was already said.

"Set off!"

As before, on the surface Cloud Mist remained the leader of the troop. She waved her hand and was the first to step into the channel.

Even though it was called a channel, it was in actuality a giant black hole that had formed in the ground after the earth collapsed. It was pitch black inside, leading to somewhere unknown.

As soon as Cloud Mist entered, it was like a pebble falling into a great sea. There was not a single splash, as she directly disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Yu leapt forward. The next moment he was given a shock as he felt as if he had crashed into icy water.

Traces of a bone-piercing chill invaded his body. The heart of the abyss began to beat within his chest, forming blood through his body.

The chill that violently intruded into his body relaxed. Although it was still piercingly cold, it was limited to the surface of his body.

Qin Yu immediately became aware of something. The Nightmare Beast Territory was a hunting space in sole possession of the Nightmare Clan. Any outsider would be erased by this icy strength.

Although he hadn't truly contended with it, the terrifying power of that chill he momentarily came into contact with just now was without a doubt.

Old Fox and Black Astral didn't have the Nightmare bloodline, so how did they resist the invasion of the icy strength? Thinking about it, Cloud Boundless probably made arrangements long ago. It seemed that when it came to the Nightmare Beast Territory, the Nightmare Clan had done a great deal of research.

Before Qin Yu could think further, the ice cold feeling instantly faded away. The darkness shattered and light sprinkled down once again.

Pa –

His feet landed on the ground and he swept his eyes around. When he didn't discover any danger, his tense body relaxed. Cloud Boundless had already given him extremely detailed information about the Nightmare Beast Territory.

To be precise, the place they were currently in could be considered another layer of the abyss. It was just that some accident occurred to it as it was forming, causing the space to become extremely unstable. The entire world was still in a constantly transforming environment.

It was because of this special environment that the nightmare beasts were born, a type of life form that was situated between reality and illusion.

The reason they were called an illusion was because they had no solid, physical form. They were like a type of energy being. But, the nightmare beasts all had hearts in their bodies. Of course, what they pushed through their bodies was not blood, but abyssal demon energy that churned through them, constantly strengthening them.

The Nightmare Clan regarded the Nightmare Beast Territory as a grinding stone for testing candidates for the throne of the new King….but in truth, for the Nightmare Beast Clan, the Nightmare Clansmen who intruded in were prey they hunted down.

In the nightmare beast hunt, they were hunting down nightmare beasts…but at the same time, the nightmare beasts were hunting them down too!

Shua –

Shua –

Behind Qin Yu, Old Fox, Black Astral, and the others appeared one after another.

Now that he had relaxed, he was able to clearly see his surroundings. The space in front of him had suddenly cracked and spat them out as if it was vomiting.

This way of entry…mm, it was quite strange.

A demon crystal appeared in Cloud Mist's hand. After pouring some demonic energy into it, it began to shine, projecting a detailed map into the void.

At the same time, she took out another cone-like stone and similarly poured in demonic energy.

The stone surface glowed with a red light. After several breaths of time, a red dot appeared on the projected map.

Seeing the position of the red dot, Cloud Mist let out a breath of relief. She said, "Our luck is good this time. Our entry point wasn't in a danger zone."

As she spoke, she looked at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu waved his hand. "Although I've obtained the information material, my knowledge of the Nightmare Beast Territory is limited. You should decide what you want to do."

The three Demon Commanders from the old King's lineage were named Cloud Mountain, Cloud River, and Cloud Sky. They all had calm expressions. Before they entered the Nightmare Beast Territory, they had received instructions from Cloud Boundless.

It was hard to say how much they knew, but they clearly knew that Qin Yu was the most essential core of the team.

Cloud Mist didn't beat around the bush. She directly said, "After killing a nightmare beast, the heart they leave behind will produce a type of strength that can nourish the soul. To us abyssal demons, this is a rare treasure. Therefore, even though the numerous factions might not have any hopes for the throne, they will still dispatch people into the Nightmare Beast Territory, all in order to collect nightmare beast hearts."

"So according to the Clan Elder's estimate, there are at least 100 teams that have entered the Nightmare Beast Territory…regardless of whether the plan proceeds smoothly or not, we must ensure that we kill enough nightmare beasts and obtain a top ten spot. That is the most important goal here."

Taking a breath, she swept her eyes around and said, "If there aren't any questions, let's set out now and hunt nightmare beasts!"

When she finished speaking, she determined her current direction. Then, she started headed towards a place on the map where nightmare beasts gathered.

In fact, before they reached their target location, a surprise battle occurred.

What attacked them was a nightmare beast similar to a demon wolf. The only difference was that its eyes were translucent. Mist seemed to swirl within them, making them blurry.

Unfortunately, the nightmare beast had chosen Old Fox as its prey, causing the old man's complexion to become somewhat ugly.

Cloud Boundless was strong enough and his status was honored, so even if Old Fox felt shamed, he still had no choice but to comfort himself and endure it.

But what was in front of him was just a little nightmare beast, yet it also dared to bully him. This was pushing things too far!

In a group of seven, it clearly didn't choose anyone but him. Wasn't this just calling him out as the softest fruit?

Nursing hatred, Old Fox attacked, quickly and neatly killing the nightmare beast. He blew it apart it pieces, displaying the strength of a Demon Commander.

Then, Qin Yu was able to see with his own eyes the coalescing process of the nightmare beast's heart.

After it died, its body decomposed. Without any blood flowing out, it transformed into pure energy.

Then, this energy contracted inwards and collapsed. In the blink of an eye it became a knuckle-sized nightmare beast heart.

Of course, even though it was called a nightmare beast heart, it was more like a pure energy crystal. It was faint blue in color, and somewhat transparent.

Old Fox took the nightmare heart. Although he was curious about it, he passed it to Qin Yu without hesitation.

Qin Yu smiled, not refusing. He took it.

Cloud Mist said, "You only need to pour in a little demonic energy and the nightmare beast heart will be stimulated."

Qin Yu nodded. As he injected some demonic energy, the nightmare beast heart directly lit up.

Pa –

With a light crack, it shattered into powder. Then, a cool strength fused into Qin Yu's body. His spirits were refreshed and his eyes brightened. As he sensed is body, joy lit up his face.

The strength of the nightmare beast heart was useful to his soul. Although the range of increase wasn't too large, with the intensity of Qin Yu's soul, just a minor promotion was already astonishing.

And most importantly, he had determined he could make use of the nightmare beast heart.

It seemed that this thing's only limit was to the soul, and it wasn't aimed at just abyssal creatures.

At this time, a sudden thought popped into Qin Yu's mind. The abyss and the living world were diametrically opposed to each other, and the forces of both sides were naturally hostile. If so, why did there seem to not be much of a difference in the souls of the two sides?

Seeing Qin Yu's happy expression, Cloud Mist waited a few moments before asking, "How is it?"

Qin Yu shook his head, "It's fine. The nightmare beast heart really can increase one's soul force." As he spoke, he suppressed that thought.

Cloud Mist said, "The abyssal demon race is born with formidable bloodlines. We only need to absorb holy energy and constantly stimulate our bloodlines to obtain greater strength. But the soul has always been the shortcoming of all abyssal demons. The souls of my tribe are strong, and we even have all sorts of inheritances aimed at the soul, but in fact this is also a power passed down through our bloodline."

She glanced around at the others, "So entering the Nightmare Beast Territory is a lucky chance for all of you. So from now on, all nightmare beast hearts will be temporarily handed over to me unless necessary. After the results are tallied, they will be handed back."

Cloud Mountain, Cloud River, and Cloud Sky all had looks of pleasant surprise. They bowed and said, "Thank you, young master!"

Before entering the Nightmare Beast Territory, although they had obtained nightmare beast hearts, it was only a very small amount. But looking at Cloud Mist's meaning now, it seemed she planned to completely return all the nightmare beast hearts that they obtained in the hunt.

This point alone would cause their income to skyrocket several times over.

Qin Yu looked at the three people with their reddened eyes. He was sure they would devote all their strength into the following hunt.

Cloud Mist's actions seemed to indicate cautiousness and uncertainty about this nightmare beast hunt…because with their strength, ending up in the top ten shouldn't be difficult.

As if sensing Qin Yu's puzzled gaze, Cloud Mist thought for a moment. Then her voice echoed in his ears, "I keep thinking that this nightmare beast hunt will not proceed smoothly…you can think of this as just my intuition, but trust me, my years of experience have proved that my intuition has been accurate."

Qin Yu slightly nodded to express he understood. Yet, he couldn't curl his lips inwardly. If she really was so fierce, how come she never discovered all those assassination attempts?

If it wasn't for my luckily saving you time after time, would you still be here happily walking around?

They hurried along.

The old King lineage's map was extremely accurate. Soon, under Cloud Mist's guidance, they found the gathering spot of nightmare beasts.

A valley lay in front of them. A group of wild horse-like nightmare beasts lived inside.

But between their lips, there were fangs that were several feet long and they also had pitch black scales covering their bodies. They could only be called similar in shape.

"We call this sort of nightmare beast a violent horse. This is because they have a cruel and extremely violent temper as well as being extremely territorial. Once they sense an intruder, they will immediately riot and launch an all-out attack on any outsider."

"Of course, this is also our advantage. Due to this, they have a poor relationship with other nightmare beasts. If we fight them, we won't have to worry about drawing in other nightmare beasts and getting caught."

Cloud Mist succinctly explained.

Qin Yu's brightened. This sort of ill-tempered and violent nightmare beast was really good…he coughed and asked, "Then…let's begin?"

Cloud Mist looked at him and said, "Wait a moment." She turned and glanced at Cloud Mountain, Cloud River, and Cloud Sky.

The three Demon Commanders cupped their hands together and bowed. Then, they each chose a direction and quickly sped away. Soon, Qin Yu could feel some changes in the air.