Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Snowside curled her lips. She dared to bet that Zhou Pei’s performance when he left today was partly due to the genuine heartache he felt, but also because he was acting. This fellow was deliberately trying to garner attention and elicit sympathy while exerting pressure on her side.

How can you be forgiven for using such petty methods against me? But since Qin Yu spoke on your behalf, hum hum, I’ll let you go this time.

Snowside was in an excellent mood and decided to forgive him this one time. She looked at the door and a satisfied smile crossed her face. She thought that even if Qin Yu was the one who told her to stop, everyone would think that he was the one who was bullying others for benefits.

After all, she was just a little maid who accompanied Qin Yu at his side. Without her master’s permission, how could she act so unreasonably?

This was a burden that Qin Yu had to shoulder!

In the blink of an eye, several more days passed. The tenth day of Qin Yu’s second attempt at solving the problems of the rules arrived.

He walked in front of the red cliff. A crowd of people was already waiting there, all of them with complex looks in their eyes.

A follower spot was already in Qin Yu’s pocket. This was without a doubt.

You said that he hadn’t broken out of Stranded God Canyon yet?

Haha, you think he can’t break out? It’s clearly because he doesn’t want to!

The East Zhou Family weren’t idiots. They would naturally realize this and there was no way they would let go of such a powerful potential helper.

However, you have a transcendent background and such formidable talent, so why did you come here to compete for a follower spot with us?

People woefully sighed inwardly.

Qin Yu stood in front of the red cliff. With a thought, he began to solve the rules.

This time, both inside and outside Stranded God Canyon, more attention had gathered on him.

The East Zhou Family, the Leng Family, and also that stone pagoda that had been lying in the endless darkness for countless years…

Piki paka –

Everything proceeded as smoothly as flowing water…

This approximately described the speed at which Qin Yu solved problems…

So half a day later, he once again reached the 99th problem. Just one more step and he would succeed.

Everyone waited with bated breath, wanting to see what he would do.

He had already given up on a chance one time. He wouldn’t do this a second time…right?

Hey, we all know that out of the three spots for followers, one of them is yours, and we’ve extinguished any thought of competing with you.

So please hurry up and leave this place. We don’t want you to stay here and continue attacking our confidence!

But their prayers were clearly useless. If they wanted Qin Yu to give up now, that was impossible.

This was only the second wave. Why should he stop here?

So with a ‘pa’ sound, everyone’s faces stiffened at the same time.

It’s here, it’s here again!

Qin Yu shrugged his shoulders. He turned towards the crowd and said, “Aiya, what a pity, I failed the last problem again.”

With a ‘heavy’ face, he waved his hand as if he didn’t want to speak any further. Then he started walking towards the camp. But for some unknown reason, no one could sense any sorrow or sadness from his fading back. Rather, they felt joy emanating from him.

Qi Lianshan’s lips twitched. He thought that this fellow daoist Qin Yu’s irresponsible acting was truly lacking in sincerity. Shouldn’t he have already guessed by now that everyone knew he was doing this on purpose?

He looked at Qin Yu’s back. He had already determined that the reason he failed twice in a row was because he wanted to use Stranded God Canyon as the strongest prop to improve himself.

To solve ten problems a day, just how astonishing was this speed of improvement? If it was him, he wouldn’t want to easily leave either.

Moreover, what caused Qi Lianshan to sigh with emotion was that countless shockingly talented cultivators had been caught in Stranded God Canyon throughout the years, but no matter how much they dominated their peers, they eventually lowered their heads and had to have sacrifices offered to Stranded God Canyon in order to escape. Yet in front of Qin Yu, they had all become jokes.

And disregarding the differences between people, even if one looked at it from the angle of Stranded God Canyon, this really was a lamentable matter. If Stranded God Canyon had a spirit of its own and could sense what was happening, it would likely hop around in a fit of anger…

What Qi Lianshan didn’t know was that he had guessed the truth of the matter. Because at this moment, a stone pagoda really was jumping in a fit of anger…

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

With thunderous roars, the air surged and tumbled as the stone pagoda jumped around.

“You’re actually using such a method to cultivate? Don’t you know that as long as you pass the test, you can become the candidate approved by me? At that time, I have hundreds of far superior ways so that you can grow even faster than you are now!

“I take back my previous assessment of you! You are just a shortsighted idiot without any intelligence at all! You really disappoint me!

“Ahhh! I’m going to die of anger! I’m really going to die of anger! Just wait for me, this matter won’t end here!”

…

That person in Stranded God Canyon had failed on purpose.

This was the conclusion the East Zhou Family came to and their attention towards this matter rose to the highest level.

“No matter the cost, find him as soon as possible. As long as he wants a follower spot, then he has one!”

This was the will of the family that was transmitted to East Zhou Duly. She temporarily suspended her cultivation to learn of this matter.

If she could find a sufficiently formidable follower, it would greatly help her after she entered the Path of 10,000 Souls.

So wasting some of her cultivation time was worth it.

But what a pity, even now, the East Zhou Family wasn’t able to confirm the identity of the person in Stranded God Canyon who was crazily solving the problems of the rules.

“Miss, rest assured and continue cultivating. I will follow up with this matter. Once anything has been learned, I will notify you as soon as possible.” Doctor Ye said in a low voice, his expression respectful.

He certainly knew that there were factions within the family who opposed the miss and didn’t hope for her to obtain such a formidable follower.

There were bound to be twists and turns in this matter. What he could do now was to try everything in his power to find this person for the miss and have him agree to help her.

East Zhou Duly nodded. “Old Ye, then I’ll trouble you with this matter. No matter what, I need this person. He is important to me.”

“Yes!”

…

Stranded God Canyon could not be provoked…and that person who was solving problems inside…also could not be provoked.

This was the conclusion that the Leng Family elders came to. It was like a heavy stone placed atop their chests, leaving them gasping for breath.

To be able to easily solve problems all the way to the 99th problem two times, even an idiot knew that this person wasn’t easy to deal with.

Could such a character be ordinary? Could they afford to mess with such a person?

Alright. Even if they took a step back and assumed this person was ordinary, after this matter was over, would this person still be ordinary? Don’t even joke around.

When this person left Stranded God Canyon, that would be the time when their name was known throughout the world. Countless influences would be extending their hands towards him.

Compared to these influences, the Leng Family wasn’t sufficient enough to look at!

So no matter how much anger was in their chests, they could only forcefully swallow it back down.

…

In the eternal darkness, the light of the scar-covered and pitiful-looking pagoda had become incredibly dim. It gave off a breathless feeling, as if it would be extinguished at any time.

If anger could be expressed in numbers, then there would definitely be a long 9999 above its head…it was just a step away from blowing up with rage.

But now, the stone pagoda had come to recognize the reality of the situation. Even if it really did blow itself up, nothing would change.

That boy had made up his mind that the assessment process was his best choice for cultivation.

This was the darkest road possible.

If it allowed him to keep messing around, then once its strength was exhausted it would fall into a deep slumber once again. Who knew how many more years would pass before it would wake up again?

Or maybe…it would never wake up again…

As this thought appeared, the light on the stone pagoda suddenly flashed several times, exuding a sense of terror and fear.

It had never concealed its fear of death. So starting from many years ago, it had tried its best to improve its ability to survive.

And reality proved that its choice had been correct. Because of the catastrophe in the past, it was the only one still alive.

The more it lived, the more it understood how horrifying death was. The stone pagoda didn’t want to die. It wanted to live. Even if it lived until the end of time it wouldn’t feel tired at all.

So after feeling the breath of destruction, the stone pagoda could no longer calm down. But if it lowered its head on its own initiative, the nature of the situation would change – that boy would no longer be a candidate for being one of its subordinates after passing the examination. Rather, the situation would switch around and he would become its master instead.

The stone pagoda found this result difficult to accept. But as it said before, it was a fellow who feared death the most. In front of death, there was nothing it couldn’t accept. Everything was up for discussion.

Do I have to lower my head? Do I really have to lower my head? Do I really need to lower my head to such a little thing? Ahhhh! I’m not willing!

Moreover, even if I lower my head, can he do it? If he fails…hoho, then I really am done for!

…

During the fourth round of farming benefits…cough, well, saying it like that was going too far. This was Qin Yu’s fourth time solving the problems of the rules.

The camp was peaceful. This was because besides him and Snowside, everyone here had sent distress signals to the outside world using various methods, and sacrifices were offered that allowed them to be transmitted out.

They really couldn’t stay in this place any longer. Otherwise they feared that their hearts wouldn’t be able to withstand it and they would blow up.

Even so, Qin Yu’s name would become a nightmare that hovered over them for the rest of their lives. They would never be able to free themselves.

“I’m going out.” After giving a greeting, Qin Yu pushed open the door and walked towards the red cliff.

He furrowed his eyebrows, a dignified look in his eyes.

This was his fourth time solving the problems of the rules. He could feel that the difficulty of the problems had risen dramatically, as if some unknown existence was unhappy with his actions and thus raised the difficulty level.

Now, 14 days had passed and he had only solved 73 of the problems.

It was clear that farming advantages wouldn’t be simple from here on out.

And Qin Yu also started to feel a sense of urgency. This was because everyone had left. If he was still in Stranded God Canyon and the East Zhou Family assigned all of their follower spots, what would he do?

So he started to consider whether or not he should leave. But once he left this place, he feared there wouldn’t be another chance for him to find such a cultivation treasure trove again.

Thinking of this, Qin Yu felt aggrieved.

Snowside watched as Qin Yu walked into the distance. She smiled. Right now, only she and Qin Yu were here. If she could continue living such a life, it didn’t actually seem that bad.

But she knew it would be impossible for Qin Yu to stay here.

And she had no idea how many more days of such a life were left…

Snowside took a deep breath and suppressed the bitterness in her heart. A person shouldn’t consider so many things in their life. If she could enjoy life, why allow herself to be bothered by the possibilities of the future?

Five days later, Qin Yu solved the 90th problem.

Another five days later, he solved the 98th problem.

He took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. They were covered in blood vessels and he had an exhausted expression.

He shook his head, casting away the weariness in his mind. He returned to his dwelling. This time, he didn’t cultivate but fell into bed, falling asleep at almost the instant he touched the sheets.

Snowside covered him with a blanket. She stood at his bedside and looked at him. After hesitating for a long time, she finally gave up on the troubling urges in her heart.

Whatever. There would always be chances in the future. Since he was so tired right now, she wouldn’t squeeze out his seed, lest she cause an accident.

In his deep sleep, Qin Yu had no idea that he somehow managed to escape a sexual calamity.

This time he slept for three days and three nights. When he opened his eyes, a sharp light flashed through them. He had been restored to his best condition.

Mind, body, and soul were all in peak condition!

He tossed aside the blanket and stood up, stretching his waist. After loud popping sounds, he let out a deep breath, his spirits even more invigorated.

Now was the time!