Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The door slammed shut. Qin Yu let out a breath, his eyebrows furrowed together in thinking.

This woman, just who was she? He always felt that she represented some great and unknown trouble.

He couldn’t help but feel agitated. Qin Yu took several deep breaths before he managed to calm himself. He returned to the round cushion and continued to cultivate.

At the same time, Cloud Mist left Nine Nether Pagoda. She turned around from this cultivation holy land that was buried in the earth, and she mounted her carriage.

“Miss, are you alright?” The driver respectfully asked, unease in his eyes. Before this, he had received the miss’ signal but she hadn’t come out even though he waited all this time. If he hadn’t been worried about exposing her status, he would have rushed into Nine Nether Pagoda already.

Fortunately, nothing happened to the miss.

“It’s fine.” Cloud Mist faintly said. After several breaths of time she continued, “Go, let’s return home.”

The driver’s complexion changed. He certainly knew what ‘home’ miss was referring to. This was already a deviation from the original plan.

But no one dared to violate the miss’ orders. The driver respectfully nodded and leapt onto the front of the carriage. Raising his whip, the carriage slowly lumbered along.

In the carriage, Cloud Mist was expressionless. But, the tumbling emotions in her eyes indicated that her heart wasn’t as calm as she seemed on the surface.

She drew in a breath. Her back straightened and she seemed even more tall and striking.

Then, she let out a deep breath.

This breath seemed to empty out all the depression and perseverance, all the struggles and anxiety she had felt over these years.

She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was still herself, but there seemed to be a change to her demeanor.

Although it was difficult to say exactly why, it was as if she had let go of a certain burden, or as if she felt more relaxed.

Perhaps this was the most correct choice for her…even if she felt some unwillingness, this was already the best result.

After all, even if she was willing to insist, there was no road left in front of her.

When the carriage left the city it began to speed up. With the roar of a dragon, the two horses that pulled it had dragon scales cover their bodies as wings grew from their backs. They flapped their wings and rose into the skies, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

…

Qin Yu had no idea that he had been chosen by a certain woman and was going to replace her in completing a mission that she had shouldered for countless years.

Although he wanted to continue cultivating like this, the restlessness in his heart caused him to ultimately sigh and stop cultivating temporarily.

Of course, before leaving Nine Nether Pagoda, Qin Yu had already paid for his room. He didn’t want to wait in line when he returned.

He definitely didn’t have enough demon crystals, but he didn’t care about wasting this amount.

When he stepped into the transmission array and left the eighth floor, Qin Yu glanced at the guardian demon behind the table. Although this fellow had always been silent, he felt that his eyes weren’t kind.

But at this time, Qin Yu wasn’t in the mood to think about this any further. He smoothly returned to his inn.

Only Black Astral was there. According to what he said, Old Fox went out to find a way to earn demon crystals.

To a Demon Commander, demon crystals weren’t a problem. To put it in cruder terms, if they wanted to directly obtain demon crystals they could go to Adversity Peak City’s City Lord Mansion and make a fortune just by asking.

After all, the favor of a Demon Commander wasn’t something that could be obtained with mere demon crystals.

But all things had a limit.

With the honor of a Demon Commander, hundreds of millions of demon crystals wasn’t difficult. If they wanted a billion or more…there was certainly a way. But, they would have to become their subordinate and work for them.

So after learning that Qin Yu would be wildly burning away demon crystals at Nine Nether Pagoda, Old Fox and Black Astral felt some pressure.

After all, if even a billion wasn’t enough, who knew just how many he would need afterwards.

Seeing a solemn Demon Commander being reduced to running around finding demon crystals for him to spend caused Qin Yu to feel a bit awkward.

Black Astral respectfully replied that it was their honor to be working for him, and thus this was their responsibility.

After being in contact with Old Fox for such a long time, this fellow’s diplomatic and speaking skills had greatly improved. At the very least, he always left Qin Yu feeling comfortable.

Putting away this thought, he directly said, “There’s something I’d like you to do.”

Qin Yu took out a recording demon crystal. “There is a portrait of a woman in here. Figure out her status as soon as possible.” He paused and continued to say, “This is extremely important. Complete it as soon as possible.”

He had no idea whether they would encounter each other again in the future, but it was never wrong to be prepared.

Black Astral’s complexion changed as he felt how serious Qin Yu was about this. He said, “Sir, rest assured that as long as she is still in Adversity Peak City, I will find her!”

This was the attitude he wanted.

Qin Yu nodded in satisfaction. “If there’s any news, find me at Nine Nether Pagoda.”

Because he saved that woman, he had delayed for long enough. He had no intention of staying here. He turned and left.

When Mian Ya heard the news, she rushed all the way here and found no one. Her eyes filled with bitterness.

Although she had traded her approach, she couldn’t even see Qin Yu so how could she climb onto his bed?

Wasn’t it said that cultivating in Nine Nether Pagoda caused the fires of desire to blaze within someone? How come this effect didn’t work on Qin Yu?

Or did he already eat his fill and thus he didn’t take a liking to her? Thinking of this, the grudge in Mian Ya’s eyes was so heavy it nearly flowed out.

Was Qin Yu blind? Could she not compare to those hussy demon women at Nine Nether Pagoda?

No, this wasn’t good. She had to figure out a way to make a substantive breakthrough in their relationship.

Otherwise, if things continued like this, she would be nothing but deadweight in the group. Moreover, she had two troublesome little deadweights with her too. If she didn’t change the status quo, she would be driven away sooner or later.

Mian Ya had already taken Qin Yu as the future turning point of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox Clan. She could not allow this to happen.

After wracking her mind, she sighed dejectedly, helplessness on her face.

Even if she had a hundred different tricks, she couldn’t even see Qin Yu so how could she use them?

But, she would never give up!

…

Nine Nether Pagoda never lacked visitors. And, most of them were strong existences that regarded demon crystals as air. So when a wealthy individual stayed on the eighth floor to cultivate for a long time, this only aroused a small wave of interest before everything calmed back down.

It had to be known that this was the illustrious and infamous Nine Nether Pagoda. They had even received many Abyssal Demon King level existences before. Compared to that, an eighth floor high-roller wasn’t much at all. And with how busy they normally were too, all thoughts about him were soon left behind.

Oh course, there was one important reason for this – the Nightmare Clan was strong enough. Even though the old King had perished and a new King hadn’t yet appeared, they were strong enough to look down at the abyss with disdain, proudly raising their heads with pride.

But one person took note of Qin Yu’s existence. That was the demon who guarded the eighth floor of Nine Nether Pagoda and once mocked his manliness.

The last time he saw Qin Yu was ten days ago. In other words, Qin Yu stayed in his room for ten days without leaving.

The soul tempering power on Nine Nether Pagoda’s eighth floor put a certain degree of pressure on even Demon Commanders. Even he couldn’t cultivate here for ten continuous days.

During this time, he would inevitably need to rest. Otherwise, if he gathered too much soul tempering power in his body, he would eventually surpass his withstanding limits.

He wouldn’t die, but he would still lose several layers of skin.

But Qin Yu had continuously cultivated for ten days.

This was a little secret of his own. After being stuck on the eighth floor all year round, he didn’t know when it began, but the guardian demon found that a weak connection had formed between him and Nine Nether Pagoda.

Of course, this connection wasn’t enough to do anything at all. He couldn’t even interfere with the closing and opening of a door.

Cough cough. Taking a step back, even if he could do that, he wouldn’t be so stupid as to try it.

The guardian demon was well aware of the Nightmare Clan’s strength. Although he believed he was strong, he knew that if he did something out of the ordinary in Nine Nether Pagoda, death wouldn’t be too far away.

In short, the appearance of this wonderful connection was a secret of the guardian demon, one he had never told anyone about. As a result of it, he could vaguely feel the flow of soul tempering power within Nine Nether Pagoda.

Because of this, he was able to determine that Qin Yu had continuously cultivated for ten days nonstop.

Abandoning all else, just this point alone was astonishing.

At the very least, throughout his years at Nine Nether Pagoda, the guardian demon hadn’t seen someone capable of cultivating for such a long time.

He narrowed his eyes. The guardian demon recalled Qin Yu’s figure and the feeling of dread from when he first saw him.

It was because of this that he took the initiative to speak up. It was just that Qin Yu’s latter performance caused him to change his opinion.

But now, it seemed he was mistaken. This common-looking boy was definitely a great character.

Judging from the current situation, the Nightmare Clan hadn’t yet realized this. Otherwise they would have sent someone to contact him and try to establish a good relationship.

After all, even the Nightmare Clan never gave up on weaving a sufficiently powerful and valuable personal connection network through the abyss.

In the eyes of the guardian demon, Qin Yu definitely had the qualifications to be valued that  highly by the Nightmare Clan.

Although he had guarded Nine Nether Pagoda’s eighth floor for years, the Nightmare Clan had never been that close to him. Strictly speaking, both sides were simply cooperating.

He had no duty and no desire to remind the Nightmare Clan of this. Only one thought appeared in his mind – could he obtain the way to cultivate continuously from Qin Yu?

If he succeeded, his cultivation speed would drastically rise. He would be able to save a great deal of time.

After all, there wasn’t much time left for him to prepare.

He slowly drew in a deep breath and let it out. He looked up in a certain direction. At this time, in a small courtyard, there was an old fellow who was waiting for death. Although he hadn’t completely given up, his chances weren’t looking good.

The guardian demon didn’t hope to end up in such a pitiful and tragic situation in the future.

But what should he do? The guardian demon knew that no matter how Qin Yu had accomplished this, it was his secret. Obtaining this ability wouldn’t be easy.

If it was someone else, then the guardian demon might have had some unfriendly intentions. After all, having lived for so many years, he had done many things he shouldn’t have.

If he hadn’t, then through the countless years where the tides washed away the sand, leaving behind only the gold, he wouldn’t have been the only person to survive from the group back then.

But he didn’t fully grasp Qin Yu. So this was only a last resort plan. Unless he had no other choice, he wouldn’t try it.

The vast abyss couldn’t be described as just being a nest of ‘crouching tigers and hidden dragons’. One misstep and he would lose his life.

The older he was the more cautious he became. This wasn’t because he lost his courage, but because he had seen enough wind and rain that he had sufficient awe of this world.