Refining the Mountains and Rivers

“Lies! Lies! All stinking lies!” In the eternal darkness, the light illuminated a dilapidated stone pagoda. An extremely angry voice reverberated in the air. “How is this related to me? I haven’t done anything at all! I’m the one hoping more than anyone else that he succeeds, so why would I ruin his work!?

“You little bastard, you really disappointed my expectations. You didn’t even try at all. You already broke through to the 99th problem and were just about to succeed, so why didn't you cherish this chance and solve it? Don’t you know that I’ve been stuck in this heaven-forsaken darkness for countless years already and I can’t wait to be delivered from here so I can start my new and happy life!?”

The more the voice spoke the angrier it became. In the end, it seemed to exhaust all of its strength and it became hoarse. After being worn out, it finally fell silent. But it wasn’t that it wasn’t angry anymore. Rather, it seemed to have sensed something…this situation didn’t seem right?

The last problem was indeed difficult, but it wasn’t on a new level of difficulty. How could someone who had easily rushed all the way to the 99th problem suffer defeat so easily here?

The only explanation was that he intentionally did this!

A thunderbolt seemed to split the fog of confusion. The voice sounded out once again, even louder than before.

“You damned poisonous little bastard, you ate your fill and now you decided to deliberately find something shocking to do? Are you stupid? Tell me, are you really that stupid!?

“Ahhhh! I’m being annoyed to death, I’m being annoyed to death!”

…

Qin Yu sat in meditation inside his tent, digesting his harvests. He suddenly shivered, as if a cold pair of eyes filled with ill intent had locked onto him.

But in the next moment this feeling vanished. He checked over himself once again and found nothing strange.

This was the second time he had felt restless without any reason at all. Thinking about it, the last time he had felt this way, it was like someone was secretly peeping at him.

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows. He mulled it over but couldn’t come up with anything in the end.

But faintly, his intuition told him that if there really was a problem, it couldn’t be separated from Stranded God Canyon.

If this was the case, would him recklessly taking advantage of the system here produce some unknown problem? Since he couldn’t come up with an answer, he decided to momentarily push his idea to the side.

No matter what, he should take all the advantages first. What if he was just overthinking things?

After all, Stranded God Canyon had existed for countless years and he never heard of a problem solver encountering troubles while doing so.

A day passed.

When Snowside saw Qin Yin leave on time, the little bit of restlessness in her heart vanished.

As she thought, his defeat yesterday wasn't a true defeat.

She thought back to how Qin Yu had inexplicably asked her to remind him when the tenth day of problem solving was…

She smiled. This Qin Yu, how could he play around like this? Although she didn’t have evidence, she could basically determine that he had intentionally failed yesterday.

She couldn’t figure out why Qin Yu did this, but she knew that from the moment she met him, he had never done any business that put him at a loss.

This fellow must have been plotting something.

Hum hum!

She thought back to yesterday. A number of cultivators had visited with concern etched on their faces, but the truth was that they were all excited and happy. Even their attitudes had subtly changed. Snowside silently sneered and thought these people really were poor and pathetic.

Laugh and smile all you want. There will be a time when your eyes pop open and you don’t even have time to cry.

“Little ice fox, don’t you think I’m right? As well as your original master. Since he was so tactful and laid down so many presents, I thought about being merciful and sparing him. But now….hoho, I remember our previous conversation. He misspoke and said he had some treasure of some sort. Maybe I should help save it for him.”

Qin Yu arrived in front of the red cliff.

Everyone was busy trying to solve the problem of the rules. When they saw him, they all froze in place. Originally there was still some quiet conversation taking place, but now it was like a pause button had been pressed and the air fell deathly silent.

Crack –

Crack –

A few muffled sounds rang out in succession followed by loud wails. It was clear some people had just failed their attempts.

But now, no one paid attention to who the unlucky people who failed were. All of their eyes were locked onto Qin Yu.

Why did you come? You shouldn’t have come!

You failed at the 99th problem yesterday! You should have gone back to your bed and vomited blood, wallowing in despair and sorrow! That’s how things should be! So why did you return today as if you had come just in time to clock in for work, and you look so relaxed while doing so?

“Hoho, it really is embarrassing, I disturbed your attempts. There is no need to worry about me, I’ve already left the shadow of my defeat.”

Qin Yu waved his hands around and greeted the crowd. Then, he calmly walked in front of the red cliff and started to solve the problems of the rules.

No need to worry? You’ve left the shadow of your defeat?

At this time, as everyone looked at his back, a foreboding premonition rose in their hearts.

Something seemed wrong…

Then an hour later, with a light ‘pa’ sound, as everyone’s lips twitched, the first problem was solved.

Qin Yu nodded in satisfaction. Analyzing his previous experience, his speed had increased by more than one or two levels.

Mm, he had to guard against his own arrogance and recklessness and put forth his best effort. This sheep was as tall as a mountain, so how much wool was he going to have to cut off? He had to work hard!

…

The East Zhou Family ruled over a hundred worlds. They were a veritable giant-level colossus that was worthy of their reputation and their tentacles extended far beyond the imagination of others. For example, into the Leng Family that had recently risen. The East Zhou Family had placed shadows amongst their ranks who now occupied pivotal positions.

So concerning Stranded God Canyon, the East Zhou Family already knew of it from the very beginning.

With the East Zhou Family’s status, they wouldn’t pay attention to such matters as long as everything was guaranteed to be within a controllable scope.

As for whether or not the Leng Family’s actions were fair and whether the cultivators trapped in Stranded God Canyon would miss out on their chance to earn a place as a follower, the East Zhou Family didn’t care.

Because true fairness never existed in this world to begin with. All they cared about was finding the most powerful and reliable follower for East Zhou Duly.

And who that person was, and what method they used to win…none of that mattered.

But soon, follow-up news caused a stir amongst the high-level figures of the East Zhou Family. Someone in Stranded God Canyon had easily solved ten problems of the rules every day, and today was now the tenth day.

If he managed to smoothly do the same today what he did before and break out of Stranded God Canyon, he would be the first one in living memory to escape with his own strength.

This was enough to attract key attention from the East Zhou Family. The decision makers even came to a mutual agreement – as long as this person met the requirements, they would invite him to become one of East Zhou Duly’s followers no matter the price. In this way, it would ensure that she truly did obtain some harvests after entering the Path of 10,000 Souls.

After all, entering the Path of 10,000 Souls was not the goal. Obtaining the inheritance and opening up one’s own path towards an unsurpassed dao was the true target. But unfortunately, this person failed at the 99th problem. Even if it was just a single step away, it was like heaven and earth.

“Continue following up on this matter. After determining who the person is that broke through the questions, wait until he leaves Stranded God Canyon and then contact him and verify his identity.” After giving this order, the colossus known as the East Zhou Family shifted their attention to other places.

Defeat was defeat. Even if he was defeated at the last moment, he wouldn’t receive the same treatment as a winner.

But soon, matters changed.

The shadows placed within the Leng Family sent over more news – the person who crazily solved questions in Stranded God Canyon had begun once again.

The rhythm was the same as before, solving ten problems every day. Five days had passed now without any accidents.

Even the experienced and well-informed East Zhou Family elders were left a little puzzled. What sort of rhythm was this?

Leng Aoshuang also had no idea what sort of sin he had committed that the heavens would punish him in such a manner. Once wasn’t enough, but this person was coming back for more?

He looked through the communication portal and at the red line which was constantly rising up, and he gnashed his teeth so hard that they almost broke.

He was doing it again! He was doing it again!

Just yesterday he had been defeated. Didn’t he suffer any psychological damage? How come he suddenly decided to try again?

Don’t you know just how much wealth the Leng Family is losing because of you?

Don’t you know that even my place in the family is starting to be shaken because of you?

Now, you’re going to do this all again?

What enmity do we have that you’re doing this to me? Do you want to mess with me until I die? Can’t you give up!?

At this moment, Leng Aoshuan’s complexion paled and he clenched his jaws. But, his heart was icy cold. He had a foreboding premonition of what his ending would be.

The Leng Family was the one that summoned the arrival of Stranded God Canyon. It was like signing a contract; all losses of strength during its arrival had to be borne by the Leng Family.

This amount wasn’t small to begin with, however with the Leng Family’s resources they could handle it. But now things had changed…

The first time this person had pushed his way forward and solved 99 problems, the amount of losses endured had far surpassed the actual consumption of resources the Leng Family had used to summon Stranded God Canyon.

If this person came again, the price would simply be far too heavy, so heavy that even the Leng Family felt strained. So, after an intense argument, the Leng Family came to a final conclusion – they had to stop.

Before, it was said that they were the ones that summoned Stranded God Canyon and it was similar to signing a contract. In a similar sense, if they no longer wanted to continue and wanted to tear the contract apart, they simply needed to pay an extra price.

But following that, this incident reached its true high tide…because the Leng Family discovered to their horror that they unexpectedly didn’t have the means to unilaterally tear apart the contract…or to be more exact, Stranded God Canyon itself had refused their decision to cancel the contract.

This was another unprecedented matter. In the endless river of time, Stranded God Canyon had been summoned innumerable times, and the summoning had been canceled midway more than once or twice. As long as someone was willing to pay the ‘penalty’, they could withdraw.

But what was happening now? Did it think that their Leng Family was easy to bully?