Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu patted East Zhou Duly and shoved her away from his arms before getting out of bed. The moment he landed on his feet, the closed door was thrust open.

It was still pure darkness there, but at this time East Zhou Duly could feel a turbulent ice cold aura gushing out from that pure darkness and drowning her.

She wasn’t able to resist it at all. It passed through her skin and seeped into her body. Without stopping, it made its way deeper, reaching the depths of her marrow and diving into her soul!

She froze in place. Besides her thoughts, she couldn’t even move a finger.

The sun and moon force field spread out in Qin Yu’s soul space. The intrusive yin chill aura invading his body was quickly melted away by his roiling blood energy.

After a brief moment of stiffness his movement was restored. He stepped forward without hesitation as he raced towards the door.

East Zhou Duly was in the room. He didn’t hope for her to be dragged into this battle.

Moreover…fortune favored the brave. It should be beyond the inspector’s expectations that he was able to resist the invasion of that yin chill aura.

While it was unprepared, he would seize this chance to widen his advantage!

The sun and moon force field rolled out. Qin Yu’s eyes were closed but he could still sense that seemingly invisible and intangible presence in the dark.

Without hesitation, he raised a hand and punched out.

The other party slowed down. The inspector that pushed open the door and was just about to step in clearly hadn’t expected such a violent counterattack.

Its hand was still raised, a cold aura wildly gathering there. But by now, Qin Yu’s fist had already fallen.

The moment Qin Yu touched that yin chill aura, he simply didn’t need to activate anything. The jade embryo egg’s strength within his body seemed to sense its natural enemy and burst out howling.

At this moment, a trace of light appeared in the darkness.

It was weak, but within the darkness it was enough to illuminate this small space.

Qin Yu was finally able to see the inspector hidden in the darkness. It was an old man with an ordinary face. His mouth was still covered in bloodstains that had yet to be cleaned up.

But what shocked Qin Yu the most was that this face belonged to the owner of the courtyard – Uncle Cow!

Before he had time to figure out what was going on, the yin chill aura beneath his fist began to bubble as if it had been exposed to the hot sun. It all disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Qin Yu could sense that while his fist was able to collapse the chest of his opponent and cause numerous ribs to break, he actually wasn’t able to cause any substantive damage.

To the inspector that was covered in a cold aura and fused into the night, an injury of this degree was something that could be restored with just a thought.

However, what Qin Yu erupted with now was not just his own strength, but also the power of the jade embryo egg.

Like a torrent of hot lava, it followed the wounds inflicted by Qin Yu, smashing into the inspector’s body.

Where it went, everything was destroyed and no vitality was left!

A pained howl rang out. The face that looked exactly like Uncle Cow’s painfully distorted. Flames surged out, wrapping around the inspector and then extinguishing a second later.

The extremely terrifying nighttime inspector, who hid in the darkness and was able to disable East Zhou Duly with just its cold aura, was thoroughly burnt to ashes.

It died.

Let alone the inspector, even Qin Yu was stunned because the process had been far too simple and easy. The enemy had pushed open the door, he had attacked, and with a single punch the fight was finished.

When he pushed East Zhou Duly away and took the initiative to launch an attack, he had already prepared himself for a long and drawn out battle. Otherwise, why would he worry about the shock waves of the battle drawing in East Zhou Duly and harming her?

The jade embryo egg’s strength…

Since he refined it into his body, this was the second instance of it exploding with power without Qin Yu needing to control it.

The first time was when he killed the abyssal being he saw at the start. The second time was now.

In essence, Qin Yu could determine that the city inspector had obeyed orders from the abyssal being to come here. And the strength of the jade embryo egg had erupted once more, causing a terrifying fatal injury to the inspector.

This possibly indicated that the inspector’s body had been tainted with abyssal energy…in other words, the Path of 10,000 Souls and its city of inheritance had been eroded by the power of the abyss!

If this was true, then while he had killed the inspector tonight, perhaps it was only the start of a terrifying new arc.

As he thought of this, his complexion became even more dignified.

He looked up at the pitch black darkness outside the courtyard. He took a deep breath, feeling the threat of the infinite yin chill.

He didn’t go and close the courtyard doors. Instead, he took a step back and closed the door to the room. While the yin chill feeling was still there, it was isolated outside. He felt much more at ease.

He turned around and moved to the bedside. He picked up East Zhou Duly’s hand and felt the piercing cold within her. He furrowed his eyebrows.

There was a brief hesitation in his eyes. Then he got onto the bed. He said in a low voice, “My apologies if I offend you.”

He stretched out his arms and pulled her cold body into his chest. His heart started to wildly beat. Billowing blood energy flowed through him, causing him to release heat that wrapped around her.

An hour later, Qin Yu heard a long exhale. He asked, “How do you feel?”

“I’m…I’m fine…” East Zhou Duly’s voice shivered. When she was permeated by the cold chill in the air her thoughts had become increasingly slow and she could do nothing about it. She even thought that she was going to die.

Now that she leaned into Qin Yu’s chest and felt the warmth he released, she unexpectedly had an impulse to cry.

Only after experiencing the torment between life and death could a person understand how precious it was to live.

“Qin Yu…thank you…thank you for saving me…”

After a short pause, Qin Yu revealed an apologetic look. He said, “If I’m not mistaken, it came for me. You were merely swept up in this matter because of me.

“I have a premonition that this is just the beginning. I will find another place to stay tomorrow. Don’t say anything else and just recover as soon as possible.”

The rest of the night passed quietly. The deathly silence and darkness that covered everything retreated from the city, and noise could be heard once again.

Qin Yu loosened his hand and got off the bed. East Zhou Duly sat there, her complexion still pale. “You’re leaving now?”

“Mm.” Qin Yu didn’t give an explanation. He thought for a moment and said, “There is an unknown danger hidden in the Path of 10,000 Souls’ land of inheritance. You should leave as soon as possible.”

East Zhou Duly revealed a look of struggle. But she soon took a deep breath and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

The events of the past two days had left her exhausted in mind and body. In addition, the unprovoked attack from the nighttime inspector last night caused her to make the decision to finally leave.

Although she didn’t obtain the 10,000 Souls Great Dao that she most wanted, her harvests had still been considerable.

People had to know when to be satisfied and stop. If they were insatiably greedy and wanted more all the time, it would be difficult for them to have a good ending.

Qin Yu nodded. Just as he was about to push open the door and leave, he furrowed his eyebrows, an amazed look in his eyes.

A moment later, there were the sounds of several people speaking coming from the courtyard.

“East Zhou Duly lives here?” A woman asked.

Another person said, “That’s right. I saw her come here with my own eyes.”

“Why is the door open?”

“Go, see if she’s still in there!”

On the bed, East Zhou Duly’s complexion changed. She glanced at Qin Yu and revealed an anxious look. “My friend has arrived. Don’t come out!”

As she spoke she got out of bed. Adjusting her clothes a little, she pushed open the door and walked out of the room.

“Miss Yun, fellow daoists, may I ask why you came here in the morning looking for me?” East Zhou Duly looked around. When she saw two black-robed figures standing behind the group, she frowned.

Yun Feng had a calm expression. She smiled and said, “Miss East Zhou, our time is precious so I won’t waste any of it with small talk. The reason we came here today is for yesterday’s matter. May I ask whether or not Miss East Zhou has considered it yet?”

East Zhou Duly’s eyebrows furrowed even tighter. “I already gave you an answer yesterday. I won’t trade away my silver coins!”

Yun Feng lightly said, “Miss East Zhou, we can be considered friends so I hope you reconsider this and don’t make things awkward for all of us.”

“Miss Yun, I’m not trying to make things difficult for anyone…I don’t want to talk any more, so if there’s nothing else you have to say, please leave!” East Zhou Duly said, rising anger in her voice.

“You would rather do things the hard way than take the easy way out! East Zhou Duly, since we came to visit, you do not have the qualifications to refuse!” Another cultivator said, a look of ill intent on his face.

“Hand over your silver coins and our previous agreement won’t change. Otherwise, Miss East Zhou will regret it!”

“East Zhou Duly, a true genius knows when to submit to circumstances. Don’t harm yourself because of your stubbornness!”

The group of cultivators all had cold expressions.

East Zhou Duly said, “If I don’t agree will you all steal from me? Don’t forget what place this is!”

This was a place where cultivators felt hunger and needed to fill their bellies with food. It was a place where they had to find a place to stay in the evening to avoid the night. However, cultivators who entered the city still possessed their own strength. Once they collided with each other, the aftermath would inevitably spread out to the surrounding area.

And in this city, once any native residents were affected, those involved would be directly suppressed by the city guards.

Because of this, even though several days had passed the city was still peaceful and there wasn’t any explosion of slaughter between outside cultivators.

Yun Feng glanced around, a look of pity in her eyes as if she were feeling sorry for East Zhou Duly’s ignorance. She turned towards the two black-robed figures – one could only distinguish that they were a man and a woman – and respectfully said, “My lords, East Zhou Duly has chosen not to cooperate. I can only trouble you with this matter.”

A man’s deep voice came from one of the black-robed figures. “Alright.”

He lifted a hand and two figures flashed out. They were impressively the guards that maintained order during the daytime.

“I need to deal with some personal matters here. Please ask the surrounding residents to temporarily leave.”

The two guards nodded and left in different directions. They knocked on the courtyard doors along the street, leading the citizens away.

Hearing the sounds around her, East Zhou Duly paled. She looked at the two black-robed people with stunned shock.

They could actually control the city guard!?

Even though this wasn’t the first time Yun Feng had seen this happen, she was still in awe of it. She had no idea where these two lords had come from, but they had already agreed to reward them once they collected enough silver coins.

Yun Feng didn’t doubt this at all. Her voice became even more respectful as she said, “I must exhaust the two lords.” She turned towards East Zhou Duly, the disdain and pity in her eyes even thicker. This was just a girl from some distant backwater place, so how could she understand the true secrets of the world?

Before the Path of 10,000 Souls had opened they had already locked onto the inheritance they wanted.

But all of this was based on satisfying the conditions of the two lords. So, she had to obtain East Zhou Duly’s silver coins!

“Miss East Zhou, hand over your silver coins and I will give you one final grace.”

East Zhou Duly paled even further.

At this moment, the black-robed woman suddenly spoke up, “There’s another person in the room.”

Yun Feng’s eyes were swift and fierce, “Who is it? Come out!”

East Zhou Duly fiercely looked up. “I will give you all of my silver coins, so I ask you to leave immediately!”

“Hoho, it seems that Miss East Zhou is very nervous about the person in the room. Then, I must take a good look and see who it is.

“Come out, otherwise don’t blame us for attacking!”

Creak –

The door was pushed open from within. Qin Yu walked out. He swept his eyes around. When he saw the two black-robed figures, a dark golden light flashed in his eyes.

“It’s you!”

With deep shouts, the group revealed looks of surprise.

A few days ago, East Zhou Duly had invited Qin Yu to dine with them. Although they didn’t speak much, it was not too long ago so of course they remembered.

Yun Feng’s pupils flashed. “It seems that we have some fate with this fellow daoist. Miss East Zhou, will you not introduce us?”

The first time they met, she had felt something strange coming from Qin Yu. Now that she saw him again, this feeling was even more intense. In addition, there was also the way East Zhou Duly tried to protect him.

Yun Feng narrowed her eyes. It seemed there were some issues with this person.