Refining the Mountains and Rivers

"Fellow daoist, please wait a moment!" A warm and honest voice sounded out from behind him. Qin Yu stood still and turned around. A cultivator smiled and bowed, "My name is Yang Dingbo. I see that you come here alone every time, so I was wondering whether or not you would be interested in joining our discussion group. Our group is full of cultivators who listen to lectures. We can exchange experiences with each other and there are bound to be some benefits."

Qin Yu shook his head and lightly said, "I am used to being by myself and don't like to mingle with others. While I appreciate your good intentions, I must decline. Goodbye."

He turned and left.

Several people jogged over to Yang Dingbo's side, their complexions unfriendly.

"Humph! He has no idea what's good for him. Brother Yang personally invited him but he actually refused!"

"This sort of loner only knows how to work behind closed doors. Even if he has some degree of talent to arrive where he is today, he will never truly succeed."

"When the waves wash away the sands, true talents will emerge but there will also be those that are left behind and wither away. This person has alienated himself and his path towards the Great Dao, so why waste any more time on him?"

Yang Dingbo smiled and nodded. He looked towards Qin Yu's departing figure and helplessly smiled.

It was a pity that this person was so vigilant and cautious and didn't give him a chance.

Qin Yu could clearly hear the cold mocking words behind him. But, his expression remained calm and unchanged.

Everyone wished to break through the God boundary and stand out from amongst the endless crowds. They wanted to leap out from the sea and become a roc, soaring in the highest heavens.

Diligently gathering accumulations required not just hard work, patience, and talent, but also a certain degree of luck. Otherwise, with one single accident they would die, and all their work would be swiftly stolen away by others.

There were billions and trillions of lives in this world. Each person had their own path and Qin Yu didn't judge them. As long as they didn't involve him, he wouldn't interfere. The road they walked was one they could only choose for themselves. Whether the result was sweet or sour, only the person themselves could taste it and find out.

"Hey, that Yang Dingbo has some reputation in the surrounding academies. They personally invited you so why didn't you agree?"

Qin Yu furrowed. Without stopping, he continued walking forwards. If it wasn't for the sake of showing respect towards the teacher at the temple, he would have already shuttled through space and left.

"Hey!" A woman leapt out and blocked Qin Yu's way. Her small figure only came up to his shoulders and her round eyes made her look like a little tiger. She had an ill expression, as if she would bite Qin Yu if he continued to ignore her.

Qin Yu paused. He frowned and said, "What I choose has nothing to do with you."

"You…at any rate, we are classmates. We listened to a few lectures together already, so why are you being so distant?" The woman bit her lips, her eyes looking increasingly dissatisfied.

Qin Yu said, "Get further away from me and I naturally won't even be near you." As his voice fell he turned and passed around her. After leaving the range of the school temple's blue stone slabs, space twisted and he vanished from sight.

The woman stamped her feet in anger, bitterly staring at the place where he vanished. She mumbled something beneath her voice.

"Xiaoyu, that's the person you often say is an extremely cold and indifferent fellow? Besides his so-so appearance, there's nothing exceptional about him at all. Is he worth your attention?" A thin young man walked over, laughing as he spoke.

Xiaoyu looked at him, "You don't understand."

Another young woman walked over. Her dress floated around her. She smiled as she said, "Xiaoyu said you don't understand, so stop trying to interfere. And I think this person looks quite secure, so he should have some background."

The thin young man jeered, "So what? If he's not at the God boundary, he's just an ant!" He rolled his eyes. "How about we make a bet? As long as Xiaoyu reveals some rumors about her family, I'm sure that person will stick to your side like wet paper and you won't be able to drive him away if you wanted to!"

"Cao Yaozong, you shut your mouth for me! If I hear any rumors about me I will never forgive you!"

Seeing Lei Xiaoyu throw a fit, the thin young man shrank back. Without any anger, he smirked twice and gave up.

The young woman to the side mediated the situation. "Xiaoyu, don't be angry. That man is a stone but he'll understand how great you are sooner or later…I heard a couple days ago that a new auction house just opened up. The owner has a considerable background and there are some good things there. Should we take a look together?"

Lei Xiaoyu shook her head, refusing. "I'm not going. I'm going back home to cultivate, so I'll leave first."

…

After leaving the space distortion, Qin Yu boarded a carriage. Seeing Qin Yu's slightly gloomy expression, Snowside, who was driving the carriage, laughed and said, "What is it? Did you meet that girl again today? Qin Yu, I'm really beginning to doubt that you didn't tell me the truth earlier. Otherwise, why would that young girl chase after you every time? Could it be that you took advantage of her, and after eating her up you decided not to be responsible for it?"

"Stop speaking nonsense. Let's go back." Qin Yu's impatient voice came from within the carriage.

Snowside chuckled and shook the carriage reins. The old horse who was bought from the market snorted and began slowly pulling the carriage towards the city.

In the carriage, Qin Yu rubbed his forehead and revealed a helpless look.

The connection between him and Lei Xiaoyu was completely accidental and unexpected. At the beginning, this little girl seemed to have a conflict with her family. She deliberately escaped the guards that followed her around. Afterwards, she had been targeted by some hooligans who regarded her as a lonely fat sheep.

Normally, Qin Yu didn't want to bother with this type of spoiled and willful young miss who had a considerable family background. But, those people really hadn't been able to open their eyes. After seeing Qin Yu not saying anything, they surrounded him too.

Qin Yu had no choice but to do something. After beating those people away, he turned around and left. He simply didn't listen or care about what Lei Xiaoyu had been shouting out to his back.

Then, that surname Lei girl seemed to become his shadow. She chased after him everywhere he went.

He took a deep breath, suppressing these irrelevant thoughts. When his calmed down, he thought back to proper business. For over two months, he had visited all the nearby schools both large and small. The mister he encountered today had considerably high standards amongst those he had seen.

Of course, Qin Yu wouldn't truly believe everything that man said. At the very least, when that gentleman said that a person could coexist with the heavens and earth, the sun and moon, after reaching the God boundary, that was obviously wrong.

While Qin Yu had yet to reach the God boundary, with his experience and level he was destined to know far more than an ordinary cultivator.

Let alone an existence at the God boundary, even existences that were countless times stronger were unable to truly escape the limits of one's lifespan.

Otherwise, where would the marks left within the jade pendant embryo egg come from? In order to have the qualifications to leave behind one's undying brand mark within the world, where it would not be washed away even within the endless river of time, just what boundary did one need to achieve this?

Qin Yu had no idea. But he knew that even the slain Great Dragon Overlord was 108,000 miles away from even hoping to reach that boundary. And the Great Dragon Overlord had been a genuine God boundary character, and an incomparably formidable and outstanding one at that.

But there was one point Qin Yu could now determine. There really were many, many ways of breaking into the God boundary. And at the time of the breakthrough, each additional condition that one satisfied would allow the condensed God mark to have a halo that made it brighter than others.

This halo was not only beautiful. What mattered was that it allowed a cultivator to grasp onto a greater level of strength, so that their future prospects were even wider.

And this sort of halo had an extremely resounding name within the God boundary - it was called the Glory of the God Mark!

These were not empty words. The halo that surrounded the God mark truly represented unsurpassed glory. Basically, those at the God boundary with three rings of glory would not bother to associate with those with one ring of glory, and those with five rings of glory would not even place those with three rings of glory in their eyes.

As for seven rings and even higher…those were legendary existences. Each one had great background, immense luck, and were beloved by the world. As long as they lived calmly and safely and weren't killed off, they were destined to have great achievements in the future.

According to Snowside, the fiercest God boundary character she ever saw had six rings of glory around their God mark. It was so radiant and dazzling that it almost blinded those who saw it. At that time, they received a courteous reception even when facing someone at the Origin God boundary. They were nearly treated as equals.

This was because God boundary cultivators of this world understood that only God boundary cultivators that had five rings of glory or more had the chance of becoming an Origin God. And, the more haloes of glory one had, the greater their potential was.

When Qin Yu learned all of this, he really had been shocked into a cold sweat. He finally understood the oppressive feeling he experienced when he achieved the Ancient race's Undying Body.

That was the barrier of the God boundary, also known as the World's Dragon Gate. As long as one successfully knocked on the door they could induce feedback from the heavens and earth that allowed one to condensed their God mark and pushed them into the God boundary.

Qin Yu didn't doubt that with the Ancient race's Undying Body combined with his status as a King of the Ancient race, the strength he erupted with could easily pierce through the World's Dragon Gate.

Luckily, he had hesitated at the time and decided to suppress his strength and not cry. Otherwise, if he condensed a God mark with one ring of glory, then he really would have no place to cry.

As he thought, when it came to cultivation it was always best to have a competent and talented person lead the way. If one climbed up blindly, they had no idea if they would randomly suffer a great loss.

So, Qin Yu listened to Snowside's advice and entered into the various academies, supplementing all the knowledge he lacked.