Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Qin Yu, who delved into Nine Nether Pagoda’s eighth floor and had focused all of his energy into cultivating, thought he had been sufficiently low-key. Besides a minor incident with that wicked girl, he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. But even now, he had been targeted by someone.

Otherwise, he would have definitely sighed with emotion. No matter how low-key he wanted to be or tried to be, his strength wouldn’t allow it!

As Qin Yu was wholeheartedly cultivating and the guardian demon who watched over the eighth floor was trying to figure out how to obtain this ‘cultivation tool’ from him, Adversity Peak City was slowly growing increasingly lively.

The reason it was lively was not just because more and more demons were gathering here. Rather, numerous conflicts appeared between these demons, with at least a hundred of them erupting in the crowds.

Although they didn’t fight to the point where brain matter was splattered across the streets, it still turned Adversity Peak City into a pot of rotten porridge that kept tumbling about.

Before, it was said that Adversity Peak City guarded the Nightmare Ancestral Land, and the Nightmare Clan was the super large tree that propped them up. If anyone, even a royal family member, tried to cause trouble, there wouldn’t be a good ending for them.

But now, facing these people that caused so much trouble, Adversity Peak City’s City Lord Mansion actually maintained a strange silence. Even the vicious and arrogant city guards seemed to have vanished from sight. As long as the commotion wasn’t too great, they turned a blind eye to it as if they didn’t see anything.

The reason was simple. The massive number of demons that rushed into Adversity Peak City mostly came from the Nightmare Clan or had a close connection to them.

To be exact, they came from the three different great factions that existed within the Nightmare Clan!

As long as they reached a certain size and scale, it was impossible for any influence to have just one voice.

Whether it was flesh and life beings or abyssal demons, they had their own minds and thoughts. As a result, they had their own greedy and selfish desires.

This would inevitably lead to a division of factions that competed with each other.

Moreover, this was the Nightmare Clan that was ranked amongst the top ten royal families of the abyss. As the old King had died and a new King hadn’t been born, the strife and conflict between the three great factions grew increasingly intense and heated with every new passing day.

Not to mention, they were all gathered in Adversity Peak City to compare their skills and prowess, eventually deciding which family the new King would come from. It was already astonishing that rivers of blood and mountains of corpses hadn’t formed yet.

The old King – that was, the previous Nightmare King – had thoroughly perished and his source had dissipated. There was no more chance of him ever returning to the abyss.

The direct bloodline he left behind wasn’t willing to resign control of the throne. They became the first force in the struggle for the throne.

The lineage of Ancient Kings was currently recognized as the strongest force competing for the throne of the new King.

The reason they were called Ancient Kings was that three Nightmare Kings had appeared in their direct bloodline.

Although they had long since perished, the long accumulation of years had enabled this lineage to hold a pivotal status within the Nightmare Clan. They were a formidable faction that couldn’t be easily shaken.

Now that the old King had died, they certainly hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to lift up a fourth Nightmare King!

The last side could be called a new faction. They didn’t have much of a relationship with the two other King bloodlines.

During the time between the old King vanishing and recently when he finally dissipated, a new faction had formed within the Nightmare Clan.

As a newborn faction, their background and strength was the weakest. But, they were also the most aggressive and their momentum was no weaker than that of the other two.

And according to the rumors, there were other royal families supporting this new faction from behind.

After all, this was a struggle that involved the inheritance of the Nightmare Clan’s throne. The benefits involved in this were so large that it simply couldn’t be calculated.

There was some risk in meddling, but if they succeeded, the repayment would be unfathomable.

This was enough to take the risk!

Of course, those that had the qualifications to interfere were all absolutely strong influences. Otherwise, if someone tried to mix their way in, they would die without knowing how they died.

The new King’s birth required the approval of the ancestral land. Thus, Adversity Peak City became the field of confrontation between the three great factions. Until a new King was chosen and a new era dawned, the Nightmare Clan would be in a state of strife.

…

Qin Yu left Nine Nether Pagoda. When he turned around and looked back, he saw the door closing shut and cutting off all lines of sight with the outside world.

He heard the sounds of complaining in his ears. It was noisy and jumbled up, but it also allowed Qin Yu to figure out what was going on.

The Nightmare Clan’s three great factions had gathered at Adversity Peak City to contend for the throne of the new King. This process needed the coordination of the Nightmare Ancestral Land. So, Nine Nether Pagoda was temporarily sealed up and was no longer doing business.

This caused Qin Yu’s complexion to darken. He wasn’t sure what the relationship between the new Nightmare King and ancestral land was, but the existence of the other party would definitely affect the ancestral land.

If this caused his previously established contact with the Nightmare Ancestral Land to be destroyed, that would be a striking tragedy.

But now, Nine Nether Pagoda was thoroughly sealed away. Even if he wasn’t willing, there was nothing he could do about it.

While ‘waiting for death’ wasn’t an appropriate phrase and also sounded sad to hear, this was indeed the situation that Qin Yu was facing.

He took a deep breath, turned back around and left in a hurry.

Because of his unstable thoughts, Qin Yu didn’t notice a pair of eyes fall on him as he stood outside Nine Nether Pagoda.

It was the guardian demon who protected Nine Nether Pagoda’s eighth floor. He hesitated for a time but didn’t walk forward in the end. This was because he could sense that Qin Yu wasn’t in a good mood.

If he approached him now, it would be difficult to leave a good impression. Plus, with what he wanted to do, he needed to search for a good opportunity or it would be difficult to succeed.

The guardian demon’s eyes sparkled and he turned and walked away. Through Qin Yu’s reaction just now, he seemed to have discovered a path forward.

But accomplishing this wouldn’t be easy. He needed to plot out things and see whether or not this plan would succeed.

Qin Yu returned to the inn, quiet and sullen. Mian Ya, who had been waiting all this time, was immediately overjoyed. This was because Qin Yu didn’t seem to have any intention of immediately leaving.

However, his expression was cloudy and he didn’t look happy. Mian Ya observed him for a moment. After circling around him twice and receiving feedback from him, she immediately converged her thoughts and wisely turned and left.

Qin Yu really was in a bad mood right now. Anyone who approached him would be in for a round of bad luck. No matter how impatient she was, she wouldn’t take the initiative to go up and annoy people.

Mian Ya took a quick trip outside. By the time she returned, she already knew why Qin Yu was in a bad mood – Nine Nether Pagoda had been sealed up!

This caused her to relax a little and have a headache at the same time. Those that were wholeheartedly obsessed with cultivating and didn’t care about external affairs were the most difficult to deal with.

Because to them, as long as they could cultivate, nothing else mattered, not even women or anything else.

Old Fox and Black Astral hurried back. Needless to say, it was Mian Ya who messaged them. Since there was no chance of her crawling into Qin Yu’s bed, there was no reason for her to conceal anything.

“Greetings, sir.” The two old demons respectfully bowed.

Qin Yu knew these two people were rushing around earning demon crystals for him. His gloomy expression vanished and he drew in a deep breath before nodding and saying, “You two must be tired.”

Old Fox smiled. “To work for sir is our greatest honor.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Sir, are you angry because Nine Nether Pagoda has been sealed up?”

He had demon crystals but couldn’t spend them. He could only watch on helplessly as trouble started to stir up. This was the source of irritation in his heart.

Black Astral had a dignified expression, “We also learned of this.” As he spoke, he hesitated a little.

Qin Yu’s eyes sparkled and he said, “What do you want to say?”

Black Astral cupped his hands together, “I don’t dare to conceal this from sir. During a recent cooperation, I came to meet a Demon Commander level powerhouse from the Nightmare Clan. In a conversation, I inadvertently obtained some news. It seems that the sealing off of Nine Nether Pagoda doesn’t have a direct relationship to the competition for the new Nightmare King.

“Rather, as the competition for a new King begins, the strength of the Nightmare Ancestral Land will become incomparably active. This is an extremely good opportunity for those demons that cultivate at Nine Nether Pagoda. If they have good luck, they can have an immense harvest.”

Qin Yu’s eyes lit up. “You mean that this situation is the only reason the Nightmare Clan decided to temporarily close up Nine Nether Pagoda?”

“Mm, this is likely the reason. After all, their tribe doesn’t even have enough of these opportunities to use, so how could they be willing to trade them to others?” Black Astral nodded and continued to say, “I didn’t ask about the specifics, but since Nine Nether Pagoda is still open, that doesn’t mean we have no chance. However, I fear that getting a spot won’t be easy.”

It certainly wouldn’t be easy. But as long as there was a chance, Qin Yu couldn’t give up. Moreover, if the strength within the Nightmare Ancestral Land became more active, that would be highly beneficial to him.

The longer he was away from Nine Nether Pagoda, the heavier his restlessness became. Slowly, a clear and intense intuition appeared in Qin Yu’s heart – the birth of the Nightmare King would absolutely have an enormous influence on his connection with the Nightmare Ancestral Land.

In fact, it would even thoroughly sever his previous efforts and ruin his chances of entering the Nightmare Ancestral Land.

Then, if Qin Yu wanted to find the secrets of the Path of 10,000 Souls, he would be forced to start at the beginning again.

Not to mention the difficulty of a new start, Qin Yu wasn’t confident he could find a new way.

He took a deep breath and said, “Black Astral, go and immediately find this Nightmare Clan friend. You understand the rest, right?”

Black Astral nodded, “Sir, rest assured that I will do my utmost to obtain news from him.” He bowed and walked away.

Old Fox grinned inwardly, thinking that this old black dog was really lucky. Looking at Qin Yu’s actions, this was an important matter to him. If Black Astral handled this matter well, his value in Qin Yu’s heart would rise.

No, I can’t sit back and do nothing. Although we are friends and allies on the battlefield, I cannot fall behind. I have to maintain my position at the forefront of His Excellency Qin Yu’s mind.

Old Fox respectfully bowed, “Sir, I will also go out and look. Perhaps I can find another opportunity.”

Qin Yu wasn’t in the mood to care about what random thoughts Old Fox was thinking. He nodded in agreement.