Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The Beast Trainer Alliance had indeed encountered a great deal of trouble. Although they stood at the pinnacle of the world with their strength, the truth was that far too many people had died this time.

Even if the cultivators riding the alliance's ships all had mediocre statuses, that was only relatively speaking. When the quantity of the victims' relatives reached a certain number, they were still able to condense into dreadful waves.

The Beast Trainer Alliance tried their best to appear calm, but the atmosphere on Starfall Archipelago was still grim and solemn. Walking along the roads, one could see alliance cultivators hurrying around everywhere with dignified expressions.

This sort of situation continued for half a month before it gradually calmed down. It was unknown what price the Beast Trainer Alliance paid in order to extinguish the anger of the world.

But none of this mattered to Qin Yu. The only thing he cared about was that the Great Beast Trainer Tournament that had been postponed for almost three months was finally about to begin.

The rules of the tournament had been issued. As in previous years, the rounds were divided into the primary, semfinals, and final. Ranking was based on a unique weighting factor. In the end, the top ten beast trainers could obtain a grandmaster rank beast trainer token issued by the alliance.

Based on this token, one could wander throughout the world and be welcomed with a smile by any influence. This was the benefit of coming here, otherwise there would be no reason for everyone to gather here from billions of miles around to attend a tournament.

Of course, this shining token that allowed one to eat their fill for the rest of their life was only for people who didn't know how to use it. As for those that were knowledgeable, they knew the truth about receiving this token - the true lucky chance was the opportunity to enter the alliance's mystic realm!

As for what the lucky chance was, only a small number of people knew. And because everything was done in order to keep this a secret, it was never revealed to the outside world.

Qin Yu flipped through the rules of the tournament. Besides some regulations and general schedules, there wasn't any mention of the tournament's contents.

Senior Lin explained, "The Beast Trainer Alliance's tournament has always been like this. While the approximate process has been the same each time, the rounds are different and there are always new topics."

Qin Yu nodded. He wasn't surprised. At Vast Sea City, even the Giant Spirit Clan had been selling information. Although their purpose was to lead Dorelis over, it seemed there was such an industry.

He thought about it. Before the tournament started, if someone were to obtain the topics ahead of time while everyone was still lost in the dark, that must be a refreshing feeling.

Should he try to figure out a way to discover what the topics were ahead of time?

Qin Yu mulled it over and tossed the idea to the side. If the Beast Trainer Alliance couldn't even maintain a certain degree of security, then this so-called Great Beast Trainer Tournament which gathered talents from all over the world would have long since become a joke. How could it have continued to this day?

In short, while things like leaking information on topics likely did exist, they would definitely be limited to extremely small and discerning circles. There was no chance that they could be leaked out en masse. So, if anyone really believed this kind of thing, then their brains were truly lacking.

Three days later, the primaries of the alliance's great tournament began.

After submitting one's identity certificate and having it verified, one received a jade token. This thing had to be kept for the rest of the tournament as it would be used for the entire event.

Qin Yu swept his eyes around the massive square he was standing in. The crowd around him stretched far into the distance.

There were at least several thousand people here, and this was also with the premise that so many people had been killed off before they arrived.

If this accident hadn't happened, there would likely be far more people. Breaking past 10,000 wouldn't have been difficult at all.

In this world, beast trainers were an extremely high-end occupation. While they couldn't be considered too rare, there absolutely weren't too many of them. They belonged to the upper echelons of cultivator society.

Over 10,000 beast trainers had congregated for this great tournament, and this was already after having been screened out.

Disregarding all else, just this single appeal of the Beast Trainer Alliance's tournament was astonishing!

"Fellow beast trainers colleagues, please check your participating jade tokens and follow the guidelines to go to your venue for the tournament primaries. Please don't cause any disturbances during this process, otherwise you will be deprived of your qualifications. I thank you for your cooperation."

An Alliance Elder briefly spoke from a high platform before waving his hand to begin.

Qin Yu was in the southward group. Besides the sound of footsteps, he couldn't hear anything at all. Everyone had serious expressions; they were all quietly wondering what the topic for the primaries would be.

Soon, the group walked out of the alliance city. A great ship was already waiting by the shore.

They were going out to sea?

Many beast trainers revealed hesitant expressions. Regardless of whether or not they experienced the assault from the giant sea beasts, the event had occurred not too long ago. When they thought back to those unlucky fellows that were now ghosts, they felt a bit uncomfortable.

"For the first round, the tournament venue is located on another island. Please rest assured that the Beast Trainer Alliance has established strict protections and there will be no problems at all. Of course, if any beast trainer truly isn't willing to take the risks then you can choose to quit now. The alliance will not force you to do anything."

Withdrawing this early was certainly impossible.

These words were just spoken to make some people feel better, so let's hurry up and board the ship!

Qin Yu's position was near the side of the ship. He could see the ship rapidly moving forward as the surging waters parted the sea.

Around two hours later, the ship anchored near a small island. This island had clearly undergone major construction recently. On a recently repaired roadside there were still some broken branches and greenery.

Since everyone had already come this far, when they were asked to disembark, no one hesitated. Following the alliance cultivators, they walked along the great road and soon arrived at a mountain valley.

When they saw this valley, everyone's eyes widened. They couldn't help but think the same thoughts; just what tricks was the beast trainer alliance playing with this?

In this valley there were monster beasts everywhere they could see. There were giant swamp alligators surrounded in black gas, and there were hawks bathed in flames that flew low to the ground. There was even a variation black wolf. It was over ten meters long and its fur was as black as ink. It shone with a strange luminescence below the sun.

But there were still more monster beasts with astonishingly weak auras. There were golden chickens, leopards, three foot tall rabbits, and so forth…

And what was strange was that even though these monsters had different levels of strength and different types of appetite, they stayed together without bloodshed.

Every monster beast paused in their own sphere of activity. When they saw the beast trainers arriving from outside the valley, some had looks of fear and some looks of callousness.

"Beast trainers, this is the field for the alliance tournament's first round. The topic is affinity! Under the premise that you do not use any strength, within two hours, obtain the approval of the monster beasts in the valley. That is the entire first round. According to the time it takes for you to obtain approval and the strength of the monster beasts, we will arrange your ranking appropriately.

"Of course, if any beast trainer has worries about fairness, we can give you a one-time chance to exchange examination areas. Ten miles in this direction, there is another tournament venue."

After waiting for a moment, a pale female cultivator raised her hand and requested to go to a different tournament venue. Besides her, no one else expressed any objections.

Qin Yu casually followed the eyes of the female cultivator and saw a giant mouse that was two to three feet long. He was left speechless for several seconds.

As a beast trainer, one had to deal with all sorts of fierce and vicious monster beasts, even using them as subjects for experiments. Yet, she was unexpectedly scared of a mouse!

The female cultivator was brought away. As the managing alliance cultivator waved his hand, an invisible array formation emerged from nothingness.

The monster beasts within the valley were agitated. In particular, the eyes of several large and strong monster beasts inside flashed continuously.

But they clearly suffered a loss. After hesitating for a moment, they gave up any idea of rushing out and lowered their heads.

"Everyone, rest assured. After being covered with this array formation, the monster beasts will not attack you on their own initiative. But once you have chosen your target, this restriction will disappear. So, allow me to seriously remind you all that you had best act according to your own ability in order to avoid any incidents.

"Of course, if you encounter danger that you cannot contend with, you can choose to call for help. As long as you smash the jade token on your body, you will be transmitted directly out of the valley."

This explanation caused many nervous beast trainers to relax. The speed at which they entered the valley increased. However, there were many people that were calm and confident from the very beginning.