Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu felt unsettled for a few days because of the West Desolate’s ‘Boundary Breaking Seal’ plan. Eventually, he decided to take it step by step.

He could not directly give up on his prior plan and abandon the identity of General Jinwu, whose reputation he had painstakingly built up.

After entering the mine, he waited ten full days before he finally received the answer. He would head off the next day.

Although the smuggling was no secret, the higher ups in the empire would not make it public to save their face.

General Jinwu sent a message to the marshal tent that he had a breakthrough after suppressing the underground sinners. Hence, he would close himself in seclusion to stabilize his cultivation.

All matters in the mine would be temporarily overseen by the military advisor, Assistant General Hundred Saint.

As a general who could control troops, Qin Yu could grant the name of Assistant General to Hundred Saint. He merely needed to inform the marshal tent and file some admin matters.

No one took much notice of it but the people in the West Border camp had the same thoughts - General Jinwu was officially going to handle the smuggling for the Imperial Clan.

Open your mouth and take a bit of fat and oily meat. You are sure to get a round tummy!

……

“It isn’t going to be that easy.”

Wu Tongtian spoke without lifting his head, “The Imperial Clan receives a lot of goods from smuggling in the West Desolate each year. So many mouths are waiting to be fed from the side. General Jinwu took over this matter and once he cuts off their gold road, he will become their enemy.”

Although he had made an agreement with Lord Chengtian, he still did not like Qin Yu. Seeing Qin Yu drown in quicksand and be disregarded by others would be very satisfying for him.

As the border commander, he had to abide by the agreement he made. Otherwise, no one would believe his promises in the future.

Wu Tongtian would not take action against General Jinwu.

Yet, even if he did nothing, others would also not want General Jinwu to complete this matter successfully.

Ye Sangdu had already taken action!

……

In an area in the Western Barbarian Land far away from the main battlefront, the clashing sounds of the battle could not be heard and there was silence in the air. Wind blew swiftly against the grass, setting off waves that traveled far and wide.

Horse hooves created melodic clip-clop sounds together with the wheels of the carriage they pulled. A group of a hundred men were traveling through the tall grass.

There wasn’t a proper path carved out. Footprints and horse hooves were left as marks on the ground.

Rourou pushed open the carriage window and her eyes were wide as she looked at the scenery. As though she thought of something nice, she smiled with her eyes.

She turned around, whipped the horse, and yelled, “Ning Qin, Ning Qin! Look at this beautiful place, I want to build a house here and plant a large tree and grow many fruits and vegetables. This is a paradise that is out of this world!”

A few people stared at her, lured by her charm. Most people in the group were already used to this. This Lady Rourou from the Demon Sect was short-sighted. What was so nice about these plains?

Just like her name, she was a dimwit.

Some people were counting in their hearts.

One.

Two.

Three!

As they expected, a calm voice came from the other horse carriage, “No way.”

There were no explanations and it was a plain and direct rejection.

Rourou gritted her teeth and her face flushed red from anger. Everyone knew that this was the extent that she would go to.

Bam!

The carriage window was slammed shut and she hid inside and boiled with anger. Occasionally, the ear-piercing shriek of a pitiful chicken could be heard.

In fact, this was a puzzle for the group – how could any wild chicken tolerate such a character? Please explain!

Zhou Xiaoshan reluctantly looked away and he turned towards General Jinwu’s horse carriage. He was discontented. In his opinion, Lady Rourou was a very beautiful lady and General Jinwu could have granted her small request.

“Father!”

He turned towards Zhou Dafu and immediately shrunk inwardly. He hurriedly bowed towards his father.

“You can like women but you should know your limits. At least, you should know that you should not have dirty thoughts towards the General’s woman.”

Zhou Dafu frowned as he looked back and saw the group behind him. He was near the front of the group and was leading them.

The land of the Barbarian Clan was barren but this made it a perfect place for wild grass to grow. No one knew where they came from but their survivability was strong. Every year the drought season would turn the grass into a sea of yellowness, but it would grow again to fill the land.

Because of this, the smugglers who came to the Western Barbarian Land were never able to retrace the steps they took the previous year.

They needed to be led by people with a lot of experience. Otherwise, it was easy for them to get lost and they might unknowingly barge into the nearby territory of the Barbarian Clan where they did their activities.

The West Desolate wanted to hide the smuggling and they would not want to expose it on the surface. As such, if they were discovered by the Barbarian Clan members excluded from the smuggling during their deals, a bloodbath would occur.

Thankfully, after so many years of cooperation between both parties, the smuggling team of the West Desolate was experienced. Furthermore, the Barbarian Clan aided them and provided a safe route to head to the deal location. Although it was a long and wild journey, it was relatively safe.

The nine suns in the sky set slowly, but before the sky turned completely dark, the group had already stopped. They began setting up camp in a routine manner.

When the silver moon hung in the sky, they were almost done. The camp area was not large but it could prevent ambushes. The tents were arranged in a circle and if anything went wrong, they could take a circular formation for defense and fight back against their enemies.

Cultivators did not need to eat and drink.

In order to avoid attention, the smuggling team avoided lighting fires if they could. However, this tradition was completely broken apart with the arrival of Lady Rourou.

A bonfire, together with drinks and meat, was a must!

If Qin Yu had not stopped her, she would have also demanded that musicians play music to create a lively atmosphere.

The burning flame made everyone’s faces red. These were men who smuggled to live their days and although they had experienced this many times before on the journey, they could not help feeling uneasy. Instinctively, they would conceal themselves in the shadows and try to hide in the darkness.

Many people stared at the bonfire and Lady Rourou who leisurely ate and drank. General Jinwu sat beside her with a calm expression. This was a very weird scene.

We are the smugglers of the West Desolate right? That’s right, that’s who we are!

Zhou Dafu was expressionless as he stared at the bonfire. The people around him had sunken eyes and a cold look.

“I didn’t expect General Jinwu to be like this.”

Someone spoke with a discontented tone.

Smuggling in the Western Barbarian Land was a very dangerous journey and most members of the group had experienced a grave situation before. These men who walked out of their graves were lucky to have lived till this day.

As such, they did not see eye to eye with the actions that General Jinwu took on this journey.

This was especially so since General Jinwu brought along this stubborn, useless woman with him. It was laughable.

“Shut up!” Zhou Dafu snapped and his gaze swept past the bonfire. He said in a deep voice, “Since General Jinwu was acknowledged by the Desolate King and even placed Marshal Wu in a tight spot, we can’t compare to him! No one shall talk about this anymore!”

Before the deal began, General Jinwu was willing to let him go. Zhou Dafu looked up at the sky and observed that there was a soft glow of light circling around the silver moon.

“Look at the sky. We might have a storm coming later in the night. Tell the men to strengthen the tents and prepare water.”

“Yes, my lord.” Two people turned and left.

Zhou Dafu waved his hand and eight figures that were originally hidden in the darkness scampered away without a sound. They changed their locations continuously and dispersed in all directions.

Because of the hatred the Barbarian Clan had with the West Desolate, there were many accidents that resulted in sad outcomes. Unavoidably, there were some deliberate actions that were going to be taken by enemies.

Although he already took precautions, there was no harm in being careful.

“Qin Yu, drink up. This is amazing!”

Once out of the mine and away from the border army, Rourou could not wait to discard her pretense when she was in the territory of the Barbarian Clan.

Cute, timid, and easily bullied. She disregarded all these characteristics! In her own words, the scenery had changed and she had to change herself too. She could not waste this trip.

Qin Yu looked at her flushed face as she ate the delicious meat and lifted a cup of wine to drink.

Rourou smiled charmingly at him and Qin Yu decided to ignore her.

With these few days, Qin Yu had determined her personality. The more she objected, the more stubborn she would be.

This was especially so at night.

The wine barrels were scattered messily on the floor and Rourou stumbled in a drunken manner. She wrapped her arms around Qin Yu’s neck and said coquettishly, “Little Qin…”

The moment she spoke, a hand flew over her mouth.

“Stop talking when you are drunk or I won’t allow you to drink in the future!”

Qin Yu frowned. He was not sure whether she was really drunk.

“You…live too rigidly…boring…how boring…” Rourou burped and continued to pat his back, “Look at me. Look at me, I am living the life!”

Qin Yu shook his head. He beckoned a hand towards the darkness and Lotus Lady walked forward and bowed respectfully. She was wearing a mask over her face.

“Bring her back to the tent.”

“Yes, General.”

Lotus Lady supported Rourou and dragged her away.

Beside the fire, chicken overlord shrunk himself to appear as small as he could.

There was a light chuckle in the air that sounded drunk. Suddenly, a voice came, “Little chicken…you…Aren’t you going to come over? Are you waiting for me to turn you into a honey roasted chicken?”

Flap flap –

The sound of wings beating against each over rose as chicken overlord flew over and landed gently in Rourou’s arms at a perfect angle. He lifted his neck and allowed her to pet him.

“Qin…Qin…Hehe. It will rain tonight and there might be thunder too…I…I…may go and find you…”

Qin Yu ignored her drunk words. He waved his sleeve and put out the bonfire. Then, he turned and returned to the tent.

This time, he only brought Rourou with him when he left the mine. Even if he counted chicken overlord, he had only brought one person and one chicken with him.

One rich person was better than a thousand peasants. With the mysterious being around, it was enough to compare to a thousand men and horses.

In fact, Qin Yu was not afraid even if Zhou Dafu wanted to scheme against him.

Although Rourou did mention that she could not muster much strength in her current state, it would be Qin Yu’s loss if he believed these words!

The lantern was something that the empire of the West Desolate constructed. It was strong!

Yet a single finger tapping on it sealed it.

This was enough to prove everything.

Returning to the tent, Qin Yu activated space and time rules with a thought. He sat down and looked at the ring on his finger.

There was information regarding how to construct the Boundary Breaking Seal. According to what Qin Yu had read about the construction so far, the ring would give him a hint once he found the correct spot.

This process was very complicated!

Most importantly, constructing the Boundary Breaking Seal would create a lot of disturbances in space. It was very easy for him to be discovered. This was also why the West Desolate’s progress with the Boundary Breaking Seal was so slow.

Calculating the distance, they should already be deep within the territory of the West Barbarians. According to Zhou Dafu, he would invite people who were important in the dealings and introduce General Jinwu to them. This was the only way for the Barbarian Clan to acknowledge him and continue with the dealings.

Qin Yu did not care whether his words were true or not. However, one thing was clear. Unless Zhou Dafu was a saint and wasn’t scheming something, this would be his chance.

Zhou Dafu definitely would not dare to take action against Qin Yu. After all, Zhou Dafu only had a tiny bit of the Imperial Clan bloodline and he was a dog for them.

His life would end if he attacked Qin Yu!

However, the Barbarian Clan would not be bothered about this. Even if the Imperial Clan wanted compensation if the Barbarian Clan killed General Jinwu, they could only choose to continue trading with them.

Qin Yu’s eyes flashed.

He was waiting for his assassinators to come. This was a chance for Qin Yu to try something out. After learning about the truth of the ‘Boundary Breaking Seal’, he had to take some risk and ascertain whether he should continue with it.

Thunder boomed late at night and a storm brewed as strong winds and a downpour followed!

Before Qin Yu met the assassination attempt by the Barbarian Clan, Rourou’s soft body suddenly appeared on his lap.

The darkness did not hide anything from him. He shifted backwards and his eyes flashed. He saw that Rourou had taken off her outerwear and was only wearing a thin white dress. She stared at him with wide eyes and her thoughts were clear. Aren’t you a big man? Why are you running away?

They looked at each other without a sound.

The thunderstorm grew more intense as thunder struck again. The sound of rain droplets hitting against the tent broke the silence and the atmosphere was strange.

Rourou bit her lips and whispered, “Will you believe me if I say that I am afraid of thunder?”