Refining the Mountains and Rivers

News of Qin Yu being confirmed as East Zhou Duly’s follower spread out through various channels at the fastest speed possible.

As the only cultivator from ancient times until now who had managed to escape Stranded God Canyon through his own power, and with this just happening to coincide with the opening of the Path of 10,000 Souls, it was natural for it to attract more attention.

Everything seemed tranquil on the surface, but that was merely the surface. Mighty undercurrent surged below, waiting for the right time to erupt.

After all, if they could obtain Qin Yu’s approval and pull him to their side, then once they entered the Path of 10,000 Souls, their chances of success would greatly improve.

This point was enough for the East Zhou Family to take some risks and play dirty.

However, after this news became known to other influences, they were left confused. Why was the normally cautious East Zhou Family being so decisive at this time?

Qin Yu’s status and origin was only just a rumor. No one actually knew who he was.

Or, did they already know the truth behind Qin Yu’s background?

No matter what, the East Zhou Family’s actions were a clear signal – this Qin Yu person could be used!

The signing of the contract could only be considered as the East Zhou Family having taken the lead. As long as they didn’t enter the Path of 10,000 Souls, if one was willing to pay a price they could naturally tear apart the contract.

The competition was not over yet.

…

East Zhou Duly replaced all servants that might come into contact with Qin Yu with the most trusted subordinates of the East Zhou Family. Without permission, no one could contact him.

Of course, all of this was carried out in private so that he wouldn’t realize it.

The reason for doing this was to avoid the possibility of Qin Yu being won over by others.

After all, there were no absolutes in this world. As long as the dust hadn’t yet settled, all things were possible.

East Zhou Duly believed in Qin Yu, but also didn’t want any more waves to occur.

After several careful inspections, East Zhou Duly confirmed that all channels to the outside world through which others might try to reach Qin Yu were closed as much as possible. Then, following some brief preparation, East Zhou Duly invited the five followers together.

The Path of 10,000 Souls was about to open soon and they needed to familiarize themselves with each other. At the very least, they should know each other’s respective strengths and what they excelled at.

By doing so, a team could display their most formidable strength.

Because she didn’t want others to discover that the East Zhou Family was treating Qin Yu with extra attention and allowed him to sign a revised contract, he enjoyed the same treatment as the other followers.

East Zhou Duly stood at the entrance of the courtyard. She nodded at Qin Yu as he came jogging in behind a servant and said, “You are the only one left.”

Qin Yu nodded. “I was cultivating just now so I was a little delayed. My apologies.”

East Zhou Duly smiled. “The timing is just right. Let’s go.” She led the way and the servant stood to the side. What was about to happen was not something that the servant had the rights to participate in.

Shua –

In a quiet garden, several pairs of eyes beneath a pavilion looked at him. They were greeting him and also sizing him up.

East Zhou Duly said, “Everyone, this is fellow daoist Qin Yu. Because his cultivation was interrupted, he came a little late.” She gave an explanation because she didn’t hope for any disharmony to occur on the team.

“It’s fine. I also just arrived.” Shang Lingyu was the first one to speak.

Qin Yu nodded at him and cupped his hands together at everyone, “Greetings, fellow daoists.”

Everyone bowed in return.

Following that, there was a brief introduction.

Besides Qin Yu and Shang Lingyu, the remaining three were one man and two women. Looking at their appearances, they weren’t too old.

Of course, when it came to cultivators, outside appearances had no reference value at all.

At the very least, in Qin Yu’s opinion, the woman who was closer to him had a delicate appearance with a trace of innocent ignorance. She was definitely pretending to be naïve.

Tsk tsk, the smell of the years was so thick that just taking a breath of it almost blocked his throat. She could be called one of the longest lived cultivators Qin Yu had ever seen.

In ordinary situations, the longer a person had lived, the more formidable their strength was.

The man had a warm and gentle appearance. His name was Pure Summer.

The name of the woman that was pretending to be young was also fresh and interesting, it was Fairylike.

As for the last woman…she should be a woman, because she didn’t have a bump on her throat. However, her chest was really too smooth.

She was just like her name, Peaceful Nun.

That’s right, she wore yellow Taoist robes and carried a whisk in her hands.

No matter what their appearances were, it was fine just to take a look. If they could be approved by the East Zhou Family to become East Zhou Duly’s followers, then their strength was no trifling matter.

After a few simple exchanges they could be regarded as mutual acquaintances. Because once it was determined that they were all followers of East Zhou Duly, they would have to cooperate to overcome the various crises and dangers that might arise in the Path of 10,000 Souls. After lowering their guards a little, their conversations were relatively smooth.

East Zhou Duly said, “The five of you will enter the Path of 10,000 Souls with me to compete for the inherited lucky chances. It would be best if we all had an understanding of our respective strengths so we can be prepared ahead of time.”

She swept her eyes around and paused for a moment before saying, “My cultivation is at the seventh level of the God boundary. I have my family’s secret arts and a card that allows me to erupt with strength. If I use all my strength, I can just about contend with a peak God boundary expert for a short period of time. Besides that, I have other life-maintaining items in my hands. After this I will pass out a detailed list so that everyone has an approximate understanding.”

Before coming here, everyone understood what today’s meeting was for so they were all prepared.

When East Zhou Duly finished speaking, Shang Lingyu smiled and said, “My cultivation is at the fifth level of the God boundary; I study the cultivation methods of Peach Blossom Island. If I go all-out I can fight with a peak God boundary. Moreover, I have done some studies of spells.”

Pure Summer, Fairylike, and Peaceful Nun each introduced themselves. Among the three of them, the most surprising fact was that the oldest and most tender-looking Fairylike was actually a beast-controlling cultivator. She seemed to possess a considerably fierce monster beast.

Then it was Qin Yu’s turn.

He paused and said, “My name is Qin Yu. My cultivation has yet to enter the God boundary. If I fight with all my strength…I might be able to fight with a peak God boundary. Besides that, the intensity of my mortal body is slightly higher than usual and I am sensitive to the fluctuations of the world’s rules.”

Within the garden, the little pavilion fell silent.

Everyone subconsciously widened their eyes, looking at Qin Yu with shaken expressions.

There were two reasons for this.

You are so strong and yet you aren’t at the God boundary yet? Once you break through in the future, won’t your strength rise to a whole new level?

Relatively speaking, while this first point was shocking and envious enough, the second point was more important…you aren’t even at the God boundary yet, so how do you plan on entering the Path of 10,000 Souls?

East Zhou Duly took a deep breath. She seemed to have forgotten something. She asked, “Qin Yu, you haven’t entered the God boundary yet?”

Qin Yu nodded.

Her heart sank and she bitterly smiled. It was unexpectedly true!

But you are so strong, strong enough that you can rely on yourself to break out of Stranded God Canyon and also be an existence that not even Shang Lingyu dared to provoke. Yet, you haven’t even broken through to the God boundary…if you didn’t tell us, how were we to know of this?

And I thought your ability to conceal your aura was formidable and you were deliberately hiding your cultivation.

With this, things were much more troublesome!

East Zhou Duly looked at Qin Yu and her smile became even bitterer. “Qin Yu, you might not be able to enter the Path of 10,000 Souls with us.”

Qin Yu frowned. His eyes flashed, “Is there a cultivation limit for entering the Path of 10,000 Souls?”

Shang Lingyu looked deeply at him, “The condition for entering the Path of 10,000 Souls is to be above the God boundary and below the Origin God realm.”

His eyes flashed with doubt. With Qin Yu’s status, he should know of this.

But it was clear that Qin Yu had never heard of this before.

This really was strange.

East Zhou Duly grimaced inwardly. With him, she was much more confident entering the Path of 10,000 Souls, but who could have imagined things would be like this?

Qin Yu wasn’t at the God boundary…could it be that…he wanted to take that path…

But even if he wanted to take that path, it shouldn’t be in this situation.

Qin Yu mulled things over and slowly said, “Since that’s the case, I will break through to the God boundary before the Path of 10,000 Souls opens.” With his current accumulations, it would be easy for him to knock open the World’s Dragon Gate and condense his God Mark.

But it was clear that the others didn’t believe in this. As his voice fell, they started to look at him strangely.

Breaking through to the God boundary?

Originally, with Qin Yu’s talent, it should be easy for him to accomplish this. None of them doubted that.

But now…the accumulations you gathered before the God boundary seemed to be too much.

It had to be known that sometimes, having too many accumulations wasn’t a good thing…this was especially true for cultivators who hadn’t yet broken through to the God boundary!