Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 678A – Life’s Greatest Shame

A great plume of dust shot into the skies as many thick trees toppled to the ground. Big Pig fled in a panic, a three-colored flower between his lips. The flower glowed with a luminescent light, indicating that it was clearly a treasure.

Bang –

Behind Big Pig, several giant trees fell down, revealing a giant shadow behind. The giant shadow seemed to feel some sense of dread. After roaring several times it returned back into the forest unwillingly.

Qin Yu looked at the line that separated the pasture and the mountain forest area. His eyes flashed before he suppressed his thoughts.

Big Pig lay prone on the ground, gasping for breath and looking as if he had just been dragged out of the water. His muscles twitched, making him seem like he would collapse at any moment.

Although Qin Yu’s cultivation had temporarily disappeared, his eyesight was still sharp. This pig had only tired himself out trying to escape; he would be fine after a night’s rest.

Squatting down, he took the three-colored flower from between Big Pig’s lips. Qin Yu wasn’t exactly sure what the effect of this thing was, but as an alchemist he recognized all sorts of spiritual treasures and identifying their usages was one of an alchemist’s most basic and fundamental skills.

Carefully, he took out some juice from the root and sniffed it. Although the three-colored flower didn’t seem harmful, there was nothing that didn’t exist in the myriad worlds. It was highly likely that there would be something like this that had a completely innocent appearance but would eventually grow into something that was highly toxic.

The most famous of these examples that he knew of was the Thousand Illusions Flower. It had an appearance far more harmless than this three-colored flower, but if anyone underestimated it and tasted even a tiniest bit of its juice, then even a formidable cultivator would have their intestines melted away and eventually their soul too. This was basically a death sentence.

Qin Yu had just arrived in this world which theoretically had a cultivation level much higher than the Land of Divinity and Demons. It was natural for him to not underestimate anything.

Fortunately, nothing awful happened. This three-colored flower was indeed a treasure. Although its effects were ordinary, its function just happened to be helping repair one’s mortal body.

After the last attempt, Qin Yu had already discovered that if he wanted to fully recover his cultivation he needed to dispel the annihilating strength of space within his body. But, this was a difficult task.

Taking a step back, repairing his mortal body was his best choice right now. With the potency of the Ancient race body, even if he managed to restore just a portion of his strength it would be enough for self-preservation.

But Qin Yu wouldn’t directly eat this three-color flower; he had an even better option. Carefully putting it away, he waved the whip and shouted out loud, guiding the somewhat unruly black-horned sheep down the hill and back to the village.

The first day of herding came to a successful end. The granny carefully examined the state of the black-horned sheep and then smiled and gestured at Qin Yu, praising him for his youthful strength.

The old man stroked his beard, a smug look on his face as if saying he was a good judge of character. “I immediately saw at a glance that young Qin here is good shepherd material. But, it is always best to remain wary of becoming arrogant, otherwise you might make mistakes somewhere.”

Qin Yu smiled and nodded.

Moments later, A’li returned with an even larger flock of sheep. She gave Qin Yu her usual ill expression, but she seemed to have reflected on herself a little lately. She greeted her grandparents before returning to her room.

At night, A’li ate dinner in her room. Her granny stayed inside with her for a long time. It was unknown what the grandparent and grandchild spoke about, but when the granny came out her eyes were red.

Night arrived as it always did. When everyone went to sleep and Qin Yu was lying back on his bed, he suddenly opened his eyes. He slowly unclenched his five fingers and faint traces of deep blue light flowed out.

The three-colored flower was placed within this light. Its originally dispirited appearance from being plucked recovered and it immediately started to shine with radiant light. The petals gently trembled as tricolored light flowed across their surface.

The next day, Qin Yu got out of bed early. Facing the sun, he stretched his waist. His slightly pale face had finally gained some color to it.

At the dining table, the old man looked at Qin Yu and sighed out loud, “Being young must be great. After just a night’s rest your condition today is much better than it was yesterday. I imagine that you will fully heal in a few more days.”

Qin Yu smiled back, “I’m lucky that granny took such good care of me. It’s also because of the medicinal herbs she added to the porridge that helped me heal so quickly.”

“Humph!” There was a cold cough from behind. A’li maliciously glared at Qin Yu as she walked in. She pulled out a chair and lowered her head to eat.

Her table manners completely did not match her youthful and delicate appearance. She ate at a frightening speed and soon finished breakfast in a few bites. After speaking with her grandparents a little, she stood up and left.

Qin Yu lay down his bowl and chopsticks. “I’m also full. Please take your time finishing.” He lifted the whip, tightened the fur hat on his head, and began to drive the sheep towards the mountains.

What was different from yesterday was that today there suddenly seemed to be many more idle people about. Most were young men in their 20s and 30s. They lined up on both sides of the narrow village road, glaring at Qin Yu, a cold expression on their faces as if they were sick of seeing him!

The unmarried girl from the Zhou Family was the best in the area when it came to appearance, figure, and character. Moreover, she was also an expert herder. She had been popular in the several surrounding villages for a long time and was considered a dream lover for many young men.

For the first two years, in order to gain her attention and affection and also win the opportunity of marrying her, many fights and scuffles were triggered throughout the small mountain villages. Afterwards, an accident happened to the Zhou Family couple and A’li’s wedding was delayed. After some restlessness, the situation calmed down.

But who would have thought that an inexplicable boy would come out of who knew where!? Not only had he been allowed to live in the Zhou Family’s home, but looking at the current situation it was clear he was planning to stay for some time.

What? Hey brat, don’t tell me you want to be their son-in-law? Even if that’s what you want, none of us will agree! Stop daydreaming!

But what a pity, with Qin Yu’s experience, the hostile gazes of these young men didn’t hold any threat to him. He led the flock of sheep away from the village, not even glancing at them.

“This boy is too arrogant!”

“His gall is larger than the heavens! Just wait, Old Li’s men won’t let him feel any better!”

“Count me in too! We have to find a way to carefully take care of him and teach this brat just why flowers are so red!”

Holding a pig with his left hand and guiding sheep with his right hand, it was like this that Qin Yu strolled away from the whispered curses of the crowd.

“Stop putting on a sad face. Yesterday was a little dangerous but as long as you run a bit faster you won’t be in trouble.”

Hearing Qin Yu’s words of comfort that seemed to lack any and all comfort, Big Pig nearly blew up on the spot. Pretending you care and saying some nice words wouldn’t break your back you bastard! Was yesterday just a little dangerous? If it wasn’t for my feet being agile then I would have perished!

But right now he was just a fish on the chopping block. No matter how much bitterness he felt and how many tears he cried he could only swallow them in his belly. Big Pig nodded and accepted his fate…the Ancient race’s blood-raised beasts were doomed to never be separated from their masters.

Qin Yu chose a dense grassland. It was lush and green, indicating that this area was a high quality pasture. He allowed the black-horned sheep to spread out and forage for their own food. Then, he glanced at Big Pig. The fellow drooped his head and started to search for spiritual treasures.

Watching Big Pig go far away, a trace of worry flashed in Qin Yu’s eyes.

Within the turbulent spatial flow, this wild pig had also been severely wounded. Right now it had less than a tenth of its original strength.

Having him search for spiritual treasures was only a last resort option. Qin Yu had to find a way to change his situation as soon as possible. He couldn’t allow his hopes of recovering to be placed solely on Big Pig’s body. He needed to obtain a more formidable guarantee.

In truth, he didn’t need to desperately search everywhere; Qin Yu actually had a hidden card on his body – it was the purpleback bluewing ants in the imperial spirit bag. But right now all his magic power had disappeared and he simply didn’t have a way to open it.

As long as he could restore a bit of his magic power he would be able to do that. Then, with the protection of the purpleback bluewing ants, he would have much more confidence to look into other options.

“Just how can I open a tiny slit in the shackles formed from the annihilating strength of space. Even if it’s just for a single breath of time…”

Mumbling beneath his breath, Qin Yu subconsciously furrowed his eyebrows in anxiousness.

This was a truly difficult dilemma!

After the second day of grazing, the wild pig returned with a blue gourd. Opening it, one could see a thick honey-like juice forming within. Its smell was fragrant and inspired the spirit.

In terms of quality, the blue gourd was absolutely above that of the three-colored flower. But Big Pig also paid a steep price for this reason. There was a gash on his forehead, one that went all the way to his nose, almost piercing an eye. His bloody appearance looked haggard and miserable.

After comforting Big Pig a little, Qin Yu couldn’t help but be distracted. As expected, his worries were beginning to come to life. If an accident happened to Big Pig, his plans for recovery would be immediately interrupted. If this occurred, Qin Yu’s situation would fall to rock bottom.

Looking at Qin Yu’s absent-minded appearance, Big Pig almost blew out his lungs in a rage. This ungrateful bastard sc.u.mbag loser, this pig master curses you to never have a good life! Ahhhhh! This pig is going to be angered to death!

Qin Yu simply didn’t notice that Big Pig was angered halfway to death. Deep in thought, he started herding the flock of sheep back to the mountain village. A crowd of mountain village youths were already waiting for him in an area he had to pass through.

“Hurry and look! The boy is about to come!”

“Great, great, great, my big fist has been hungry for blood for a long time!”

“He’ll walk here standing tall and leave here crawling on the ground!”

“Hehe, this is great timing. After a little longer A’li should be coming over. This is a good chance to let her have a look at which man is the best choice for her!”

As these words came out, the young fellows rubbed their fists, their expressions more energetic and their chests swelling with strength. They decided that they had to beat up Qin Yu in the most brutal way in order to show off their power and impress the heart of the woman they liked.

However, they had no idea what sort of situation they would be facing…they guessed the beginning, but they couldn’t correctly guess the end…from the very start, the script had deviated from their happy imaginations…