Refining the Mountains and Rivers

“Sect Master Qin, True King Qiongji, we’re here.”

Li Sang and Li Qing descended to the ground. 

In the next moment, a calm voice rang out, “Sect Master Qin and True King Qiongji came to visit, but I can only greet you from afar. I hope you understand.”

Ancestor Li greeted him, wearing a large white robe that gave off a heavy aura.

He looked different from what Qin Yu imagined. He had lived for many years, but he did not have an elderly appearance. He looked like he was about thirty years old, but he had a wise expression in his eyes. He was handsome and seemed carefree.

Qin Yu cupped his hands and said, “Greetings, Ancestor Li.”

True King Qiongji also greeted him, “Ancestor Li, forgive us for being impudent in visiting you without an invitation.”

Ancestor Li smiled slightly and said, “Two True Kings are visiting my Li Family, that is our honor. There is no impudence to speak of at all.

“I have prepared some wine for both of you. There are some juniors in my family who can’t wait to come and meet you.”

He turned his gaze onto Qin Yu and said, “Some of them are Sect Master Qin’s loyal followers. They are also cultivating Sword Dao, and they hope to be able to get some pointers from you. I hope you don’t mind the trouble.”

Qin Yu said, “Since Ancestor Li has mentioned it, of course I am willing to help. However, we came here to the Li Family today to find someone. I would be very grateful if Ancestor Li could help us with that.”

True King Qiongji’s face stiffened. Qin Yu was extremely straightforward. What was the hurry? He left no room for buffer, and if they were rejected, it would be hard to negotiate!

He coughed lightly and said, “Ancestor Li, I am here on Floor Master’s orders to assist Sect Master Qin in his matters. I hope you can be more accommodating.”

He mentioned Floor Master not for the purpose of scaring Ancestor Li. He knew that such a tactic would not work anyway. Ancestor Li had acted shamelessly in front of Floor Master more than once already.

Even then, Floor Master put up with Ancestor Li’s behavior.

The reason why Qiongji mentioned Floor Master was because he was hoping that Ancestor Li would know that it was their Floor Master’s intention for them to come here and think twice about his actions.

“Ah, if that’s the case…” Ancestor Li smiled and added, “Since Sect Master Qin was the one who asked me and this concerns Floor Master, naturally, I will not reject.”

“Please enter. Let’s talk more after we’ve sat down.”

Qin Yu looked at him. Things were going smoothly just like that? He somehow felt that there was something wrong about all of this. However, since Ancestor Li had already agreed to his request, he decided to continue playing along and see what Ancestor Li was hiding up his sleeve.

Entering the Li Family’s main hall where they entertained guests, he realized that the hall was already properly arranged to receive them.

Even though the place was big, there were only three seats. In the Li Family, only Ancestor Li was qualified enough to receive guests like Qin Yu and Qiongji.

If it were anyone else, it would be a huge disrespect to True Kings!

“Sect Master Qin, True King Qiongji, bottoms up.” Ancestor Li smiled and finished all the wine at one go.

Qin Yu did the same quietly.

“Ancestor Li, the person I want to find is a young man from the Li Family.”

Ancestor Li clapped his palms and laughed, “That’s a coincidence, all of my family’s young men are waiting outside the hall to have a look at the both of you. I will let them in now and you can talk to whoever it is you are looking for.”

Qiongji put down his wine glass and smiled happily.

Not bad. Ancestor Li was very cooperative.

It seemed that mentioning Floor Master was very effective…or, perhaps, mentioning Qin Yu’s reputation was quite useful now too.

After all, he was the only person in thousands of years who managed to stay alive even after Emperor Qin attacked him directly.

Even though Floor Master had come out to help him, it was still very remarkable that he could endure a few blows from Emperor Qin.

At least, for True King Qiongji, he had zero confidence. If it were him in that situation, he would have died already!

A bunch of young men from the Li Family streamed into the hall. There were at least a hundred of them.

However, one should know that the Li Family had been around for dozens of generations. All these young men were the cream of the crop, chosen after many rounds of selections. Otherwise, if all the Li Family’s young men really came here, even if the hall expanded to ten times its size, it would not be able to fit everyone.

“Greetings, Old Ancestor!”

All of them knelt in greeting.

Ancestor Li smiled and waved his hand, “Get up, all of you. Take a look at these people in front of you. They are Sect Master Qin of the Opening Heavens Sword Sect and True King Qiongji from Thirteenth Floor. They are both great figures in the Central Desolate Divine Area that are able to move the mountains.

“Remember what I’m telling you now. In the future, you are not to provoke or offend them!”

All these young men from the Li Family bowed politely, “Greetings, Sect Master Qin, True King Qiongji.”

A few of them looked at Qin Yu and their eyes were reddened with excitement.

They were swordsmen!

And Qin Yu was now the undisputed leader of the Sword Dao! 

The first in the world!

Qin Yu raised his head and said, “Ancestor Li, the person that I am trying to find is not here.”

True King Qiongji, who was smiling, felt his heart skip a beat.

Sure enough, something went wrong!

I knew that this old fart Ancestor Li would not cooperate so easily.

“Cough! Sect Master Qin, why don’t you take a closer look again?”

Qin Yu replied, “He’s not here.”

Ancestor Li looked shocked. “He’s not here? All of the outstanding juniors from our Li Family are right here. Should I get someone to bring all of our juniors here for Sect Master Qin to look through one by one?”

“No need to go through all that trouble. The person I am trying to find is Li Mu.” Qin Yu added, “Ancestor Li, please summon him here.”

Ancestor Li shook his head, “Li Mu…that will be a bit troublesome. This brat did not want to cultivate properly and has already been chased out by me. I don’t know where he is anymore.”

He smiled and continued, “Sect Master Qin, please rest assured. I will get someone to look for him right now. When he comes back, I will notify you immediately.”

Qin Yu fell silent.

The whole hall fell silent!

True King Qiongji tried to smooth things over. “Sect Master Qin, since Ancestor Li has said so, why don’t we continue to wait here? Maybe we will be able to find Li Mu soon.”

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

He then looked at Ancestor Li.

“Normally, you would be able to find him quite quickly, but I was really angry when I chased him out this time. I even took back the Li Family tablet from him,” Ancestor Li said and shook his head, “Therefore, I’m afraid it will take some time for us to find that brat.

“However, it’s no problem. If Sect Master Qin is in a hurry to find him, you can stay at the Li Family’s quarters temporarily. We will bring him home the moment we manage to find him.”

True King Qiongji felt his expression stiffen.

No one here was a fool. Everyone knew that Ancestor Li was being patronizing.

This old fart was so good with words and no one could fault him for saying anything wrong. However, it was obvious that he had no intentions to hand Li Mu over.

Truly, this matter was not as simple as he had thought.

There must be a hidden reason why Qin Yu wanted to find Li Mu, and the Li Family was not cooperating at all.

They had so ‘politely’ refused!

Qin Yu asked, “Ancestor Li, is there really no other way?”

Silence.

However, at this moment, True King Qiongji’s heart skipped a beat. He was starting to feel uneasy.

Qiongji laughed dryly, “Sect Master Qin is in a hurry. Ancestor Li, why don’t you help by personally making an effort to find him? I’m sure you’ll be able to find Li Mu.”

Ancestor Li shook his head, “It’s not that I am unwilling to help you. I am truly helpless in this situation. I can only express my regret that Sect Master Qin is not happy with this outcome.”

Qin Yu got up.

Whoosh –

Countless gazes fell on him.

Ancestor Li grinned and said, “Parasol City is truly very far from Xianyang, but I’m sure Emperor Qin can descend at this place with just a single thought.

“Let me remind Sect Master Qin that the Great Qin Empire’s imperial intelligence network is already operating at its maximum capacity to track you down, so let me give you a piece of advice: it is not good for young people to be so short-tempered. You will end up hurting yourself.”

This was a direct threat. They were now knocking heads with each other!

Truly, once you fell out with this old fart, he was not going to go easy on you.

Quick, harsh and precise!

With just a few sentences, he managed to grab onto Qin Yu’s achilles heel, making it hard for Qin Yu to retaliate.

Back then, it was only Floor Master interfering which allowed Qin Yu to live. However, this did not mean that Emperor Qin had really backed down. If an opportunity came and he ambushed Qin Yu, killing him, could Floor Master really take revenge against the emperor?

No way!

Therefore, as long as there was an opportunity to do so, Emperor Qin was going to make his move.

True King Qiongji shot a look at Qin Yu, trying to tell him not to be rash. Otherwise, the situation would only become more tense and by the end of it, it would be hard to make amends.

Qin Yu sat back down and poured a glass of wine for himself.

Just when True King Qiongji thought that Qin Yu decided to put up with it and back down for the moment, Qin Yu suddenly poured the wine onto the floor. 

“Using this wine, I give a toast to all of you from the Li Family!”