Refining the Mountains and Rivers

With a thought, Qin Yu restrained his aura. He immediately returned to being that weak and harmless junior in everyone's senses. He swept his eyes around, and cultivators that he glanced at subconsciously changed their expressions. Although they didn't retreat, there was actually some fear in their eyes.

Killing Old Freak Hua seemed to have a good effect. It appeared he had already set up the foundation of his reputation.

He wasn't afraid of killing people, but it wasn't something he regarded as fun. He smiled and said, "Fellow daoists, my name is Qin Yu. Can you tell me where the dwelling of Old Freak Hua is? Me and my maid haven't found a place to stay yet."

Qi Lianshan stepped forward, concealing the shock and turbulence in his eyes. He cupped his hands together and said, "My name is Qi Lianshan. Old Freak Hua's dwelling is right over there and is kept well cleaned. It's enough for fellow daoist to live in along with your maid."

He had been mistaken, he had really been mistaken today!

Someone else quickly stepped forward. There was an awkward expression on his rough face. Zhou Pei rubbed his hands together and repeatedly said, "A misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding. As a cultivator of the Beast Control Clan, my instincts draw me helplessly to precious spirit beasts. If I offended you in any way, I ask fellow daoist Qin Yu to be broad-minded and not lower yourself to my level."

He didn't care about face at all!

Everyone felt repulsed by his actions but they couldn't help but acknowledge that Zhou Pei's shameless nature and ability to adapt to the situation was the best way to survive in the world.

Qin Yu smiled and said, "How could I? I have no opinion of fellow daoist Zhou Pei at all." His expression was warm and his smile was wide, but for some unknown reason Zhou Pei's heart raced with apprehension.

The final result was that Qin Yu tried to decline but eventually ended up accepting a stone egg from Zhou Pei. Both sides exchanged a few more words, saying that they would get closer in the future, and then dispersed.

Qi Lianshan wasn't wrong. Old Freak Hua was a man who knew how to enjoy the luxuries of life. His dwelling was not only spacious but also arranged exquisitely. There were several blush-worthy paintings hanging on the walls, but after Qin Yu quietly took them down, the place was even more pleasing to the eyes.

"Qin Yu, if you're feeling lonely at night, taking a look at such beautiful images can also be fun. If you suppress your urges too ruthlessly, you might burst apart one day." Snowside batted her eyelashes, a charming smile plastered on her face. "Since I am your maid, I will do my due diligence, such as keeping your bed warm or anything like that. If you have need of anything there is no need to be polite; just directly tell me what you want."

Qin Yu nearly choked on his own saliva. Looking at her shy expression, he thought that if he really were to say this, wouldn't she choke him to death? And, the key point behind this wasn't her warming his bed or anything. He wouldn't be confused by her.

He coughed. "In order to facilitate our future actions and ensure your protection, you need to take the identity of a maid for now. This is also a last resort, so I hope you don't mind it."

Snowside coldly sneered, her charming appearance immediately vanishing. She squinted her eyes at Qin Yu, "At least your head is still clear and you haven't allowed your arrogance to muddle your mind!" She lowered her head, a trace of disappointment as well as relief appearing.

In truth, some things were true and she wouldn't mind.

But what a pity, this kid was a block of wood...or perhaps he had noticed something and chose this way to protect himself.

What a gentle young man!

Snowside suppressed her thoughts and took out the stone egg. When Qin Yu had received it before, he casually handed it to her. Now that she looked at it more carefully, she said, "Qin Yu, this stone egg seems unusual, right?"

Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, "Why do you say that?"

Snowside groaned twice. "I still don't understand you. You can't leave until you have profits and you don't release the hawk until you see the rabbit…that surname Zhou offended you. If he didn't spit out a few mouthfuls of blood, do you think things could end so easily? His smile was so wide after you accepted this stone that even I could guess it."

Qin Yu's complexion darkened. What sort of nonsense about profits and hawks was she talking about? Was he such a person? He stretched out a hand and took the stone egg, carefully looking over it before putting it away.

"If I didn't take this thing, Zhou Pei would have remained restless and kept pestering me. I just didn't want to waste any more time."

Snowside curled her lips, as if Qin Yu should think whatever he wanted. If she were to trust him, then she would believe he had the ability.

Qin Yu left behind a final word, saying that it wasn't good for a woman to be too smart. This could be considered as acknowledging something so she turned back into the room.

"Hey, someone is definitely going to visit later. What should I tell them?"

Qin Yu waved a hand without turning around. "You can figure it out. The bigger the origin story the better. We also need some sort of background."

Snowside's figure flickered and she vanished behind a curtain. Then she stamped her feet. How was she supposed to make up a story and lie immediately upon meeting others?

A day passed. As expected, many cultivators from the camp came to visit just like Snowside said. They wanted to clarify who this junior and his maid were and where they came from.

The specific process wasn't explained, but after anyone spoke to Snowside and left, they would look back at the tent with more dignity and awe in their eyes.

None of them were truly able to discover anything. But with so much cloud and fog everywhere, they constantly felt the unfathomable power of the two.

Although they had no idea who Qin Yu and Snowside were, they had to be extremely awesome and badass people.

Generally speaking, this was what everyone in the camp thought.

All of this indicated that in terms of lying and making up stories, Snowside was a genius. Moreover, she was a standout amongst geniuses.

As expected, women were the best actors in the world.

When Qin Yu came out and spoke with Snowside he was startled by her performance. He thought that if she didn't go and become a professional actress it would really be a waste of her talents.

Without a doubt, Snowside had woven together a background that was so wonderful it lifted him into the skies. While there wasn't anything specific about it, the general point was that even an Origin God could only bow his head in front of my young master and he could easily find dozens of them.

Hehe, do you not believe me? Do you know who the teacher of my young master is? If I told you it would scare you to death!

Qin Yu was stunned for a moment, "Don't you think your boasting is too ruthless?"

Snowside sneered, "You were the one who said you needed an identity, and the bigger the better. Now you want to turn around?"

Qin Yu coughed and rubbed his nose. "You could just make up an identity at random, why do you need to say I have some amazing teacher or something? As soon as someone asks, won't our disguise be seen through? Do I need to put on another act of being an incredibly fierce teacher?"

Snowside rolled her eyes, "Then what do you want me to do? You were magnanimous enough to just directly call yourself Qin Yu, but I have no idea if there is an extremely fierce Qin Family in this world. Moreover, I don't know whether or not anyone in this camp knows someone from that Qin Family. Since I can't say your family background, I can only work on your teacher's background. I've used up so much saliva that a few layers of skin have been rubbed off my lips. You can't be so picky here."

She tossed Qin Yu a jade slip. Then, leaving behind a sentence that she wouldn't be staying, she turned and left the room, leaving Qin Yu helpless at what to do. This woman had become more and more presumptuous these days. Was she being so bold because he was too gentle to her?

He probed the jade slip with his divine sense. When he did, his thoughts of giving Snowside a small lesson immediately vanished.

A dense amount of information was recorded within the jade slip, including the statuses of all the cultivators within the camp, their origins, backgrounds, and so forth. It was unknown how much time and effort she expended to draw out so much useful information from casual conversations.

This woman hadn't said a single word about it before.

Qin Yu smiled. This information was important to him. After remembering it, he could pretend he was a being of this world. It would be helpful dealing with the test of the East Zhou Family.

He focused and read through everything. After memorizing it all, he crushed the jade slip. As he did, his eyes flashed.

Stranded God Canyon!

It seemed that the competition for the position of follower beside East Zhou Duly had reached a superheated phase. For this reason, someone had gone to great trouble to forcefully draw people into Stranded God Canyon to reduce their number of competitors.

Tsk tsk. This was indeed a great show of ability. From this, one could see how precious the spot of follower was, as well as how fierce the competitors were. When Qin Yu set up his reputation and forged his background, these were all necessary steps.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to compete with these strong people.

At the same time, through the information within the jade slip, Qin Yu was able to determine the strength of the East Zhou Family.

In simple terms, the Zhou Family directly controlled at least 20 worlds similar to the one where the Severed Heaven Abyss was.

Amongst the other participants, there were many that fully controlled worlds. It was a shocking number. Put together, it was almost a hundred.

What kind of concept was this?

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they had as many followers as trees in a forest. They could even destroy a world with a thought.

It was no wonder that for just one spot in the Path of 10,000 Souls, they could use an entire world as a competition field.

Qin Yu drew in a deep breath. The more he understood the East Zhou Family, the more he knew how difficult it would be to obtain a spot as a follower. With his current preparations, he was still far from sufficient!

But this Stranded God Valley seemed to be a very good opportunity.

To be exact, very few people knew the true location of Stranded God Canyon. The reason Qin Yu and the others were trapped here was because someone expended a great deal of effort to summon its projection here.

Of course, one might be surprised - how could a projection be so real? This was the marvel of Stranded God Canyon. Because it was not just a projection. When it came, it directly gathered the power of the heavens and earth and condensed it into a real and tangible world.

This was a projection but also reality.

Moreover, this was not the fiercest aspect of Stranded God Canyon. The reason its reputation was known far and wide was due to two different reasons.

One, was that its sealing ability was astonishing. Any cultivator caught within couldn't leave unless they solved the problem of the rules. This was something confirmed over millions and millions of years. No one had ever heard of anyone capable of brute-forcing their way out.

Two, Stranded God Canyon accepted bribes. To put it in better terms, it accepted sacrifices in exchange for the trapped cultivators within. Moreover, it had a precise asking price based on a series of judgment criteria including status, cultivation level, potential, and other factors. The price often made the redeemers grimace in pain.

Of course, the main topic was the first point.

The problems of rules!