Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu pushed open the doors to the 29th courtyard. As he did so, the sound of firecrackers suddenly rang out from outside, filling the air with noise.

“Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu, are you here? We’ve come to congratulate you!” A large group of people shoved their way into the courtyard, making the space much more cramped.

Qin Yu welcomed them with a happy expression. “Welcome, fellow senior-apprentice brothers. Quick, come in!”

A man flicked open a folding fan, waving it twice as he said, “Junior-apprentice Brother Qin, do you know how much face you’re being shown right now? This is Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei, a disciple of Grand Martial Uncle Huang. He is one of the most outstanding disciples of the sect and personally came here today to congratulate you. This is an unprecedented event.”

“Right, right, right, I have never seen something like this before. For Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei to personally come here and congratulate you on your new promotion, you must be the only one to experience such an honor.”

“If Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei is treating you so well, you should also be sincere, Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu. You should try to be as close as possible to your senior-apprentice brother, so don’t disappoint us!”

A chorus of voices chimed in their agreement. Luckily, Qin Yu didn’t immediately nod his head. To become Xu Wei’s underling would be the worst possible offense.

Qin Yu’s face began to flush red. Everyone seemed to be waiting with bated breath, as if Qin Yu would immediately swear to the heavens that he would wholeheartedly follow and admire Senior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu.

Xu Wei lightly coughed. He smiled and said, “Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu, I came here in a hurry so I wasn’t able to prepare an appropriate congratulatory gift. But, I have a hundred year old ginseng here.” He took out a wooden box and opened it. Indeed, there was an old wild ginseng within. It had hairs and all, and had even taken on a bit of a human form.

Everyone cried out in admiration again and again. This was Senior-apprentice Brother’s great generosity!

Qin Yu pushed back, continuing again and again until he reluctantly received it.

Xu Wei’s eyes glanced to the side and the man with the folding fan chuckled. “I heard that Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu has a storage bag. Since Senior-apprentice Brother Xu gifted you a precious hundred year old ginseng today, why not return the favor by gifting him the storage bag? I’m sure news of this charming meeting will spread out far and wide in the future.”

“It should be like this. A hundred year old ginseng for a storage bag should be considered appropriate.”

“When news of this spreads out, Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu’s fame will spread out like a tide and you will immediately become the sweetheart of countless junior-apprentice sisters. This is worth celebrating!”

“Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu, what are you still waiting about for? Take out the storage bag and give it to Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei.”

Xu Wei stood there with a happy expression, not saying anything.

Qin Yu violently cursed in his heart. What a pack of bastards! They wanted to use some bullshit hundred year old ginseng to trade for his storage bag? This was even worse than that bastard Li Mu!

Qin Yu’s expression froze and he quickly pulled out the ginseng box. “Senior-apprentice Brother’s gift is too valuable. I don’t dare to receive it.”

Xu Wei’s complexion darkened. His eyelids rose as he asked, “What is the meaning of this, Junior-apprentice Brother?”

Qin Yu stammered, “I ask…I ask Senior-apprentice Brother to take it back…”

Xu Wei turned and left. “The things that I give I have no intent of taking back. Junior-apprentice Brother should keep it; perhaps you might find some use for it in the future.”

With the sound of flapping clothes in the wind, over half the crowd departed. those that still remained all had cold and gloomy expressions.

The man with a folding fan spoke up, pity thick in his voice. “Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu, do you know the best way for this old ginseng to maintain your life? If you have a heavy wound, take a piece and bite it between your lips; it should be able to allow you to live a little bit longer. Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei allowed you to keep it, so take good care of it.”

The man turned to leave. But then, he stopped and turned back, his lips curling upwards, “Let me inform Junior-apprentice Brother of this ahead of time. The Foundation Establishment trial will soon begin, and all new Foundation Establishment disciples have to participate. The one leading the group will be Senior-apprentice Brother Xu Wei, so Junior-apprentice Brother should be prepared.”

The several remaining people coldly sneered several times before leaving. Finally, the courtyard fell into silence once more. Qin Yu closed the doors with a smile on his face and a light wrinkle in his eyebrows.

Foundation Establishment trial? He seemed to have heard of this before. In order to increase the experience of disciples, the Eastern Mountain Sect would hold a trial for new disciples every year. This could also be considered a type of examination.

Xu Wei was Xu Jian’s cousin. If it weren’t for Xu Wei, there was no way that Xu Jian would be so rampant in the outer court. It was best not to provoke him, otherwise his old grudges would mix with new ones.

A cold light flashed in his eyes and Qin Yu regained his composure. He turned and entered his room. After surviving the incident of East Stream Town, his will and mind had become much more solid and strong. He had even killed a Golden Core cultivator, so what could a mere Foundation Establishment realm cultivator like Xu Wei do to him?

…..

For the next few days, Qin Yu stayed in his room, not leaving. It seemed that he was deep in closed door seclusion, but he knew the reality of his situation. With his talent, it was basically impossible for his cultivation to advance without pills. He could only anxiously wait around and bear with it. Otherwise, if anyone were to discover something out of place, he would be doomed.

Of course, the greatest reason Qin Yu was able to patiently bear this was because no one would casually enter the Pill Disposal Department. And the chicken overlord was skilled in hiding and it was unlikely he would be discovered. Otherwise, he would have already recklessly rushed there to retrieve his own storage bag. It had to be known that his little blue lamp was inside!

Though his cultivation didn’t advance, Qin Yu didn’t waste his time. Besides a new cultivation law formula, he obtained three more supplementary magic arts.

As for the law formula, although the quality was higher than the one he practiced before, it would require time to change over to a new one. Moreover, Qin Yu had depended on pills to increase his cultivation and had little reliance on the law formula he practiced. So he didn’t waste his time on this. He figured that once his cultivation deepened in the future, he would replace his law formula with an even higher grade one.

This was something he didn’t need to worry about for now.

As for the three magic arts, they were called Gale Step, Vorpal Edge, and Spirit Stab.

Gale Step was a movement technique. After studying it, one’s body would become as light as a swallow and would be able to travel 10,000 miles in a day. Of course, the premise behind this was that one had enough magic power to support oneself.

Vorpal Edge was the roughest and could barely be considered an offensive magic art. It forced one’s magic power out of their body and into the shape of a blade’s edge, and this could be used to cut stone and iron apart.

Qin Yu suddenly recalled the night that he had obtained the little blue lamp. When Hang Dong launched a sneak attack on him, it should have been this Vorpal Edge. If it weren’t for him being just one step faster, he would already have been decapitated.

As for Spirit Stab, this was actually beyond his expectations. It was a sort of divine sense attack. Because those at the Foundation Establishment realm had incomparably weak divine senses, this skill was also weak. But in truth, it was this Spirit Stab that gave Qin Yu the greatest surprise!

He didn’t have anything but a great number of pills. In particular, after reaching Foundation Establishment he had refined a vast number of pills that could increase his divine sense. In terms of divine sense, he truly didn’t fear anyone within the Foundation Establishment realm. If he used this skill well, this Spirit Stab would definitely go beyond his expectations and play a key role in critical situations!

These three types of magic arts were very simple. In addition to Qin Yu’s strong divine sense, learning these abilities wasn’t difficult. On this day, he just managed to grasp them.

Qin Yu rose up and pushed open the door. Like ordinary times, he casually moved around his residence. Although it seemed he was randomly walking around, he was actually sweeping his eyes through his surroundings. An hour later, Qin Yu smiled. The little tail that had been spying on him had finally withdrawn.

Still, he had to be discreet; he couldn’t hurry. Since he had already waited a few days, he might as well wait another two days. Qin Yu turned and continued to study magic arts. Soon, another two days passed.

On the third day, Qin Yu quickly hurried out, soaring all the way to the Pill Disposal Department without concealing himself. He had already said that the ‘Grandmaster’ had entrusted him to look after Cang Mangzi’s grave, so of course he didn’t need to avoid being seen by others.

The trip went without problem. He used the entry token to enter the Pill Disposal Department. Qin Yu carefully looked around. He didn’t know where Yu Yi had gone. Then, without hesitation he opened the hidden entrance and entered the underground space.

Just as he was about to call out to the chicken overlord, Qin Yu’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. He respectfully walked over to the thatched hut and said, “Senior Cang Mangzi, junior came at the bidding of Grandmaster to offer prayers to you. I fear that you are lonely here, so I will accompany you for the night.”

His voice was not loud or quiet, just enough to spread throughout the entire underground space. He looked around without any interest. When he didn’t see the chicken overlord, his heart chilled for a moment, but he didn’t panic. If the chicken overlord had been found then he would have already been captured; he definitely wouldn’t have his freedom right now.

In a respectful posture, he pulled out an incense burner, paper money, food, wine, and some other things from his storage back. Then, he arranged all of this on the ground and began to bow.

If he was putting on an act, he had to carry it out to the end. Qin Yu had already prepared all of this beforehand.

In a far-off corner of the underground space, there was a common-looking shadow. But at this time, a youth hidden within this shadow had an ugly complexion. He wavered for half a day and as he saw that Qin Yu had no intention of leaving, he reluctantly appeared.

“Who is it!?” Qin Yu shouted out.

The young man revealed an awkward expression. “Junior-apprentice Brother, please don’t misunderstand. I was under orders to watch over this place…” The young man said without much sincerity. Even he felt this was hard to justify.

Qin Yu cupped his hands across his chest. “Oh…I think that Senior-apprentice Brother looks a bit familiar. I should have seen you before, right?”

The young man coughed. “Um…you might have seen me before. Well, I think I’ve watched over this area long enough; I shouldn’t stay much longer. Then, farewell.” The young man left as he finished speaking.

Even with the poison warding pill given to him by Huang Dangui, Tao Jie didn’t dare to stay here too long. If he stayed here for the entire day and was accidently contaminated by the pill toxins, then he really would have no place to cry even if he wanted to. If so, then he might as well consider his mission finished. He would go back and report that everything seemed normal. After today, Grand Martial Uncle Huang should be able to rest assured.

Qin Yu spoke up, “Take care, Senior-apprentice Brother.”

He calmly turned around, a faint trace of cold sweat shimmering on his forehead.

What a close call. If he had directly summoned the chicken overlord, then even if that little fellow was smart enough to not come out, the others would have thought something was strange.

Indeed, he had to be careful in the future and make sure that nothing was wrong. This was something he would definitely keep in mind.

Qin Yu took a deep breath and sat down. Since he said he would stay all night, then he would have to go back tomorrow.

The night passed in peace.

Just before the dawn, when the night was deepest, Qin Yu opened his eyes, light flashing from within them.

“No one’s here! Come out!”

Cluck! Cluck!

The chicken overlord rushed out. Qin Yu only discovered now that this little thing had been hiding in one of the cracks leading upwards; it was no wonder he hadn’t been discovered until now. 𝑓𝐫𝑒e𝒘𝚎𝘣𝚗𝘰𝘷𝐞𝑙.co𝑚

The chicken overlord pounced in front of Qin Yu. Then, it lay down the storage bag, swung its body in a circle, and plopped to the ground as if it had fainted. It had been poisoned deeply, but even though it was afraid, it had clenched its beak to do its job with all earnestness. Finally, it fell to the ground, trying to seem as pitiful as possible.

But please, if you are going to fall to the ground then truly fall to the ground. How come your wings are still carefully protecting your face? Are you afraid that your face will be disfigured!?

Qin Yu stamped his feet. “Stop pretending to be dead. Since you did perform such a great merit this time, you will definitely be rewarded.”

The chicken overlord jumped up like a carp leaping out of the water. It stood straight, filled with energy. Its tiny eyes shot Qin Yu a look, as if saying ‘at least you know what’s good for you’.

“We can’t stay here much longer. Hurry up.” Qin Yu’s thoughts stirred and the little blue lamp appeared in his lap. The foot-long range of sea blue light quietly bloomed in the dark.

The chicken overlord flapped over, its eyes falling low and revealing a comfortable expression. It stared at the little blue lamp, its eyes rolling in pleasure.

Qin Yu laughed. He scolded, “Don’t have any devious thoughts, otherwise I’ll cook you up!” As he spoke he took everything out from the storage bag and placed it into Li Yunmo’s storage bag.

Everyone thought that he only had a single storage bag and because of that he couldn’t use the gold and silver thread storage bag for the time being. Thinking about it, he took out some pills and placed them back in the storage bag, and then buried it in a pit.

“Little chicken, I won’t be able to bring you out so I’ll leave some pills for you. You can continue hiding here for some time. Don’t worry, once I find a chance, I’ll bring you out.”

The chicken overlord’s face was filled with resentment.

Qin Yu waved his hand. “Once you leave, I’ll help you find a hundred hens to make your own harem!”

The chicken overlord coldly coughed and looked up.

Qin Yu smiled. “You can choose them. We can choose the most beautiful flock.”

The chicken overlord’s tail began to swing about.

After pausing in front of Lang Tu’s grave for a moment, Qin Yu left the disposal department at dawn and returned to his residence. The last bits of tension in his heart quietly loosened.

“Grand Martial Uncle, Junior-apprentice Brother Qin Yu has returned. Nothing is out of the ordinary.” The spying Senior-apprentice Brother Tao Jie respectfully said.

Huang Dangui waved his hand in dismissal. After the disciple left, he mumbled, “Perhaps I was thinking about this too much. It’s just some junior that found a lucky chance; I guess I’ll let him be.”

He rose up and returned to his alchemy room. Since the array formation around the forbidden zone had been broken, he needed to hurry up and repair it.

The furnace was about to reach maturity. In this critical moment, he could not lower his guard!