Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1650 – ‘Surplus’ Word

The group of assassins that targeted the Xu Family were all dead. However, the county people could not be bothered with the assassination.

Something even bigger had happened in the Li Family.

No one knew how many hidden cards the Li Family held in its residence. However, the outcome was clear. All these hidden cards became a joke.

The Li Family residence was so quiet that it felt like a ghost town. The master and servant pair of ladies had not actually killed everyone there.

Mm…the strange thing was that everyone in the Li Family were sure that they could do that and they were willing to do that. It was because of some other reason that were all still alive.

As such, all of them held their breath and the entire area was silent. They obediently knelt on the ground and forced themselves to stop shivering out of fear. It felt like any movement would get them killed.

Of course, there was only one reason why the two could reduce the entire Li Family to such a pitiful state without starting a massacre – they knew those two would be dancing cheerfully while they killed!

The one who had been killed directly was the person who everyone in the family was confident in.

At this moment, the Li Family men were still in disbelief. That person had immense Divine Ways and he stood guard at the front. However, that lady merely glanced at him. Without any further movements, her servant beheaded him.

Li Yuantai knelt on the ground, shivering uncontrollably as his face turned as white as a sheet. He could not grasp what was happening. How did things end up like this?

An intelligent man was willing to become a puppet…however, he did not think that a puppet would end up like this while listening to its master.

He was in despair and he knew that he could only blame the person who was pulling the strings behind him. Otherwise, would he blame the two mysterious ladies in front of him?

He was supposed to turn into a real dragon that would shake the mountains and fly out of the water, but he acted like a harmless small fry. Why did things end up like that?

All of a sudden, Li Yuantai’s body stiffened and his face turned paler. Sweat poured down his forehead. The pair of eyes looking at him felt like they weighed a million pounds. Their gaze was going to crush his bones and squash him.

“Hand over the passes.” White Iris conveyed her master’s intentions. These men were not qualified to hear the lady speak.

They were not worthy enough!

Li Yuantain quickly flipped his hand over and revealed the two passes. He knelt down respectfully and raised his hands above his head.

White Iris’ sleeve swept across his hands and she put the two passes away. Rourou pointed her finger forward.

Bam –

There was a hollow sound and Li Yuantai’s body exploded. His soul was instantly sucked away and landed on Rourou’s hand. His eyes widened in horror. However, there was no room for him to struggle and he was suppressed completely.

Rourou’s lips curled slightly and she smirked. Lifting a finger, she placed it directly in the middle of his soul’s forehead.

“Ah!”

Li Yuantai screamed pitifully and he felt like he was thrown into a pot of hot oil. Smoke wafted from his soul and it quickly started to rot and change.

Some black-colored smoke lingered around his soul and this soul fragment looked like a piece of black jade. It fell out from his forehead and landed in Rourou’s palm.

In the next moment, Li Yuantai’s soul dissipated like the wind.

The second young master of the Li Family, an intelligent man who pretended to be a fool, did not know that he was not a living man from the start.

He was willing to be a puppet who enjoyed life’s riches without regard for anything else. Yet, he met the same tragic outcome…even if he did not meet a tragic end today, he would be pitiful tomorrow too. This would not change.

Rourou carefully inspected the black jade-like soul fragment. All of a sudden, a handsome face appeared inside it. However, there was a look of scorn on the face and its eyes glared at Rourou, “You destroyed my avatar and ruined my Dao. I will not forget this grudge!”

Rourou smiled, “Then don’t forget it; what can you do?” She pointed her finger forward and there was a crushing sound from the soul fragment. The divine sense that had been stored inside it was directly scattered.

This item was the real reason why she was willing to head to the Li Family tonight.

If she was going to steal a person’s fortune and opportunities, she would take the full thing. Only if she took the thread of karma that existed between both parties could she successfully complete her objective.

The outcome was not bad.

As for the consequences of this…there was no such thing as pure karma in this world. Could she avoid the hatred of the person she stole fortune from?

Rourou felt like she was not such a domineering man. At most, she would kill him in the future and give Qin Yu more cultivation resources. This would resolve the karma between both parties once and for all.

“Let’s go.”

Rourou stood up and walked out.

White Iris followed behind her respectfully.

If this was before, her eyes might have been cold and she would scan the group of Li Family members with a strong killing intent.

However, this was no longer the case.

The lady must have her own reason for doing so and she did not need to fill in the gaps. Since the lady did not want to kill them, she would let them live. After all, they were just litter in a dirty river. So what if they lived; would they be able to redeem themselves?

They left the Li Family. The moment they stepped out of the gates, numerous eyes glued onto the master and servant pair. However, they could only stare at them. No one dared to go closer and they would not do any stupid thing.

The Li Family in East Pole County was not the strongest. However, aside from the Yang Family, who else would dare to suppress the entire Li Family? The master and servant pair crushed the Li Family tonight and they could easily consign them to eternal damnation.

As for the Yang Family…they had no grudges with the Li Family. Would they do this out of curiosity? Or were they already at odds with the Li Family in the first place? Forget it, let’s stop joking around. Everyone is mature!

Their journey went smoothly. When they returned to the Xu Family courtyard, White Iris left respectfully after she opened the door. Rourou stepped forward. She went in and scanned the area. She stared at the big hole in the ground and then at Qin Yu who was standing quietly beside it.

She saw his slightly pale expression and smirked, “Lord Qin, you almost capsized. How did it taste?”

Qin Yu’s eyes opened and his expression was calm, “Not bad.” After a brief hesitation, he continued, “Although some of my strength was stolen away, the sun and moon did give me a strong impression.”

Rourou scoffed, “Stubborn! This time, you owe me again. Don’t deny it, otherwise I am going to settle the debt.”

Qin Yu hesitated before nodding.

Although Rourou’s chain of reasoning was a bit far-fetched, it was not illogical.

Just now, Xu Zhiruo really took a huge risk. Although she managed to escape death, Qin Yu could not stay out of the disturbance caused by the sun and moon.

Eventually, a small portion of the area in East Pole County would be swept cleanly away.

Just the thought of the disturbance alone would make people feel extremely alive!

Rourou turned and shot a glance at White Iris. White Iris stepped forward respectuflly and handed over the two passes.

Qin Yu put away the two passes with a helpless look. Originally he did not want to attract any attention and wished to enter the Central Desolate silently.

However, reality did not go according to his wishes!

If he knew this earlier, he would not have gone through all that trouble and would have gone to a big family in East Pole County from the start to get the passes earlier. He would have saved himself from one of the events.

After a second thought, Qin Yu realized that if it weren’t for the earlier events, he would not have entered the Surplus Shop and met this poor, exceptionally talented lady who unfortunately ended up being schemed against by others.

This was probably the destiny that was set in the darkness.

Rourou’s lips curved and she turned and walked back to her room. She thought to herself, ‘ridiculous destiny’. Lanterns lit the night and there were numerous merchant houses in East Pole County. There were not many that hung a red lantern at their door, but there were at least a dozen.

Did they eventually choose the Surplus Shop because the red lantern hanging from their door was the biggest? Oh…Rourou had to admit that this was one of the reasons. However, Qin Yu could not yet see the deeper meaning.

Xu Zhiruo was definitely an important factor because of her Sun Moon Eyes and the fortune behind them. Aside from that, there was a deeper reason…Rourou wondered if Qin Yu would be able to figure it out before he left East Pole County.

If she intervened, the outcome would be the same. However, it would decrease the meaning of the exercise.

Beside the old scholartree, Qin Yu’s head was lowered and he glanced at the two passes in his hand. There was a thoughtful look in his eyes. Tonight, Rourou personally went to the Li Family. Since she ‘made nothing of hardships’, it must not have been difficult to get her hands on the passes.

Not to mention two passes, doubling or tripling it was easy since the Li Family had been so frightened out of their minds. They were probably not going to find trouble with Rourou over this matter in the future. Were they going to turn her down if she demanded more passes?

Of course not.

Rourou only took two passes, and that was her way of telling Qin Yu that the Surplus Shop still owed them another pass.

Whether Qin Yu would demand compensation for the last pass was up to him. Rourou would not interfere.

The night passed. Xu Xianglin and Xu Zhiruo were both in deep sleep.

There was a knock on the door. Qin Yu got up and opened it. His expression was calm when he saw Zhou Yunshan outside.

Shopkeeper Zhou’s face was pale and as he sighed, he smiled. He bowed respectfully, “Honorable guests, I am here today to seek forgiveness for my crimes. Please give me another chance.” As he said this, he presented a pass to Qin Yu with both hands.

Qin Yu took the pass and stored it in his sleeve. “Come in and talk.”

Zhou Yunshan thanked him respectfully.

The hole in the yard had been patched up, and without the old scholartree, the nine suns above shone down brightly on the land. However, it gave people a feeling of emptiness.

There were two round stools beside the stone table. Qin Yu sat down first and gestured, “Shopkeeper Zhou, please sit.”

Zhou Yunshan sighed. The politeness he showed today was evidence of how distant he felt from Qin Yu. Preparing himself mentally, he sat down and said in a deep voice, “The Surplus Shop had actually disclosed information about the three of you purposely. We used the Yang and Li Family to create trouble for you.”

Qin Yu glanced at him, “Shopkeeper Zhou, can you explain why you did that?”

Zhou Yunshan kept a straight face and there was a determined look in his eyes, “Sorry.”

Qin Yu calmly said, “Since that is the case, do you think that your apology and this pass you gave me today is the end of it?”

Zhou Yunshan shook his head, “I would not dare to be too hopeful.” His face grew more pale and he stood up and bowed respectfully, “I am willing to give my head to you in exchange for the explanation. I hope you won’t continue to pursue this matter.”

Qin Yu’s expression was calm, but he was in disbelief.

He truly had not thought much about it, but after Rourou’s reminder, he realized that the aura of Shopkeeper Zhou was unordinary.

The Surplus Shop had conducted business in East Pole County for a few hundred years…who would have imagined that they were a part of that clan?

Many years ago, there was a famous pastry shop in the Central Desolate called Surplus Years Hall. They could be considered an outstanding shop since they opened many branches in many cities. Then, the wind changed someday and the sun and moon switched positions. People were stunned and their eyes were wide in disbelief when they realized that the pastry shop, Surplus Years Hall, had such a complicated background.

Qin Yu did not have much evidence, but both shops were named with the word ‘Surplus’. Evidently, there were some links between the two.

Did that clan realize their roots? Qin Yu did not think so. Otherwise, Shopkeeper Zhou would not have borrowed the hands of others to conduct his misdeeds.

Shopkeeper Zhou spent a lot of money before he barely put an end to the disaster and preserved his life. He walked away with a face as pale as a sheet.

Sweat was like rain pouring over him and he walked like he was on the verge of collapse. Obviously, aside from spending a large sum of money, he revealed something else…Qin Yu had touched his roots and ensured that Shopkeeper Zhou would not dare to do such a thing again in the future.

Rourou appeared behind Qin Yu. She sat on Shopkeeper Zhou’s seat and frowned, “You let him go just like that?”

Qin Yu calmly said, “So what if I kill him? In the end, I am the victor of this room.” There was a brief pause before Qin Yu smiled slightly, “Consider it a good beginning – a good omen without any deaths.”

Rourou scoffed, “Pretentious!”

Qin Yu thought about what he wanted to do here and then the words he just said. He truly was being pretentious. He awkwardly rubbed his nose and remained silent.