Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Deep in the forest, there was a lonely testing building. Because of how remote and desolate it was, there hadn't been a beast trainer willing to be stationed there for a long time. However, this just happened to meet Sha Liuhe's requirements. So, when cultivators from Internal Affairs asked him about it, he looked at a map of the area and readily agreed.

On the third level of the testing building, the array formation was fully activated, isolating it from the outside world. Sha Liuhe sat down cross-legged. His hands were in front of his chest, his palms facing each other.

Black and red light overflowed from his palms, interweaving together. The phantom of a small furnace appeared there. Although it was blurry and only the size of a palm, this small furnace phantom gave off a terrifying feeling.

Looking at it, one could hear shrill screams fill the air. These sounds echoed directly in a person's mind, as if a trillion souls were suppressed within!

Suddenly, Sha Liuhe's body shivered. His face twisted from pain. Blood vessels bulged out from all over his body. They were blue in color, and beneath this blue color there were faint traces of red. The traces of red rapidly gathered within his hands as they submerged into the furnace phantom.

At the same time, Sha Liuhe's face paled. There was no blood in his complexion, as if he were a corpse that had been buried underground for a long time.

After several breaths of time there was a loud explosion. The furnace phantom blew apart, immediately dissipating. A deep green pill appeared in the air and was caught by Sha Liuhe.

He took great heaving gasps. It was a long time before he managed to compose himself. "My soul has become even weaker. I can only use blood energy to supplement it. But, this mortal body won't be able to last for much longer. I need to obtain Yun Die as soon as possible."

Sha Liuhe lifted a hand and closed the array formation. He summoned over a female secret disciple. Before she could say anything, he lifted a hand and pointed a finger. This young woman slumped to the ground.

He casually took off his clothes. Then, without expression, he walked over to the unconscious secret disciple. Following this, his expression remained the exact same throughout the entire process.

But as he moved, blood returned to his face and his weakened aura gradually stabilized.

When Sha Liuhe left the laboratory, he had returned to his normal appearance. However, the female secret disciple was still unconscious and her young and slender figure began to darken as wrinkles climbed up her face.

Today was the 14th day. It was the second to last day that the newly recruited beast trainers had to turn in their missions. When Sha Liuhe entered the Internal Affairs Division, news of his results soon spread throughout the entire Sky Declaring Pavilion at a shocking speed.

Sha Liuhe had finished his mission - his result, middle-grade heaven-step!

The three different rankings were mortal, earth, and heaven. A mortal-step result was standard, an earth-step result was outstanding, and a heaven-step result completely surpassed the scope of the mission itself and helped the spirit beast achieve a fundamental breakthrough.

With the difficulty of this mission, the middle-grade heaven-step outcome contained a deep weight to it. It instantly placed an aura of success around Sha Liuhe.

This originally common beast trainer had become the most shining star of all. It was said that this matter was even reported to headquarters. Perhaps it wouldn't be too long before they all had to politely refer to Sha Liuhe as grandmaster.

The director of the Internal Affairs Division, Bian Changli, smiled widely. His wrinkles stacked up like a daisy as he said, "Sha Liuhe has kept his depths truly hidden and our eyes have all been widened. Although there are no explicit rules in place, convention is that the highest scorer for the first mission will receive additional rewards that are considerably precious.

"With a middle-grade heaven-step result, Mister Sha's victory is inevitable. So, allow me to congratulate you ahead of time. I wish you a bright future and splendid prospects, and I hope that you will soon be named grandmaster in the future."

Sky Declaring Pavilion's mission gradings had extremely strict standards attached to them. Bian Changli was very sure that the strength Sha Liuhe displayed in this mission had reached the higher order Silver Moon realm.

This was a true grandmaster class character. Looking at the entire Sky Declaring Pavilion, there were no more than five of them and they were true peak characters. It was natural for him to want to flatter this person.

Sha Liuhe was surrounded by a crowd of people. His smile was warm and humble and he said, "I understand Director Bian's good intentions, but the current mission timeline hasn't ended yet. There is still an unknown variable, so it isn't too appropriate to say this right now."

There didn't seem to be any problem in his words, but those present weren't idiots and they naturally knew who he was referring to. Although the mission timeline hadn't come to an end, there was only one person who had yet to hand in their mission - it was Mister Ning Qin of Rising Lake!

It seemed that Mister Sha wasn't happy with the Rising Lake Manor incident.

Bian Changli wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. "Ah…when we were allocating stations to the various grandmasters, it was all due to instructions from above. But, our Sky Declaring Pavilion has always considered strength above all. I believe that after this mission has ended, the higher ups in the pavilion will surely reconsider things and arrange a new station for Mister Sha."

Regarding Ning Qin's placement at Rising Lake, that was indeed an order from above. He had fully abdicated responsibility from this because he didn't want to be 'remembered' by a grandmaster.

As for his other words, he wasn't speaking randomly. This was originally Sky Declaring Pavilion's customs; powerhouses enjoyed the best treatment.

If Ning Qin didn't display sufficient skill in this mission, then he didn't have the qualifications to stay at Rising Lake Manor.

Sha Liuhe smiled. "It's fine. There is still another day until the mission comes to an end. Perhaps tomorrow Mister Ning Qin will turn in an even better reply. We should wait for everything to settle down before discussing these things again." He cupped his hands together and said, "I have expended a great deal of energy to complete this mission. I will be heading back to rest, so I will bid my farewells here first."

"Mister Sha, please be careful!"

Everyone said with flattering smiles on their faces.

Leaving the Internal Affairs Division, Sha Liuhe looked up at the skies. His lips curled up in a smile. He had already indicated his position. After tomorrow, Sky Declaring Pavilion would have to give him an answer.

As for Ning Qin's performance…was there any need to care about it?

When Ning Qin's face swept the floor and he was chased out of Rising Lake, he would only need to use some small methods to have Yun Die obediently follow him.

…

Rising Lake testing building.

Yun Die stared at the tightly shut doors, a look of hesitation on her face. She didn't know what her teacher was doing inside so she didn't dare to rashly disturb him.

If it wasn't for today being the final deadline for the mission, Yun Die didn't think it would be a problem even if she had to wait another month…after all, with her teacher's status, she had no idea how much good fortune she had used up to be able to follow by his side!

She looked at a clock and saw that it had just reached noon. Yun Die took a deep breath and pressed down on the communicator button.

She couldn't watch on helplessly as her teacher failed his first mission by exceeding the time limit. Still, even if that were to happen, she believed that as long as others looked at the result of her teacher's work, no one would care about something so minor as exceeding the time limit.

Ring -

Ring -

There was a busy signal for several moments. Then, the other end of the receiver was picked up and her teacher's calm voice sounded out, "What is it?"

In Yun Die's ears, this voice was filled with a great dignity. She subconsciously stood up and respectfully said, "Teacher, I apologize. I shouldn't be disturbing you, but today is the final day to hand in the mission."

On the other end, there was a brief silence. Then, Qin Yu responded, "It's already been half a month? Time passes by fast…mm, I understand."

The other end hung up.

Yun Die put the receiver down, a look of admiration on her face as she sighed with emotion. Even an existence as powerful as her teacher was still working so hard. No wonder he had been able to reach his current achievements today.

She suddenly realized that even if this mission was none of her business from beginning to end, just discovering this point alone was enough for her to rejoice for the rest of her life. No one's success came easily!

Thus, Yun Die felt even more respect for her teacher in her heart.

Soon the array formation lights of the laboratory were extinguished and Qin Yu stepped out. He said, "Yun Die, according to the rules of Sky Declaring Pavilion, can you hand in the mission for me?"

Yun Die was stunned for a moment before she regained her senses. That's right, with teacher's status, how could he care about something as trivial as reputation?

Even though this seemed like an incomparable glory for her, in her teacher's eyes it wasn't anything at all.

Yun Die respectfully bowed. "Teacher, according to the rules of Sky Declaring Pavilion, I am only your secret disciple so I do not have the qualifications to stand in for you."

Qin Yu furrowed his eyebrows. This was a critical moment of restoring his body and he didn't want to waste any time at all. "And if you were my official disciple?"

Yun Die's heart began to race. Her face flushed red and her mind became dizzy. "…If…if I was…your…official disciple…then…it is possible…"

Did teacher mean that he was going to take her in as an official disciple? Was that possible? She didn't have the qualifications!

After she finished stammering out an answer, Yun Die felt as if she were being hung out in midair, unable to summon any strength.

Qin Yu nodded. "Good. Then starting from right now, you are my official disciple." He turned and looked at the Wonder beast whose appearance had changed a great deal. He furrowed his eyebrows, but according to its aura, this should be something good. "She is my disciple. Don't stir up trouble with her!"

After he finished he turned and left.

Bang -

When the laboratory doors closed shut and the array formation runes shined once again, it was only then that Yun Die regained her composure. Her legs weakened and she had to lean back against the testing platform so she wouldn't fall over. Then, she started to laugh out loud like a fool for a long while.

This time, she really felt as if a giant meat pie had crashed down from space and landed on her head…it was very large and very delicious!

I am teacher's disciple, his true disciple…

Yun Die's eyes brightened. She suddenly felt as if her dark and dreary existence was now filled with life. All of her tribulations had faded away!

She looked at the Wonder beast within the array formation. Her eyes were light and without any awe at all.

Because right now, she was teacher's disciple!

The array formation shut down. Yun Die reached out a hand, "Wonder beast, follow me."