Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 308 – Rich

Ever since that day when the Daily Weather Channel’s Columnist Weekly hosted a public appraisal of the Divine Blood Pill, the black robes prominently featured at the end of the program had become the most popular attire to wear. It was said that by wearing these black robes, one could enhance their aura of mystery and find it easier to attract the hearts and minds of female cultivators.

But any trend had a time limit. This was especially true since that Ning Qin hadn't made another appearance after that day. Slowly, the ‘black robe’ trend began to die down. To wear black robes at this time wasn’t following the general flow of fashion at all, and could only be considered scraping the bottom of the barrel for the ideas of others. So, it was no wonder that several men who wore the latest tight-fitting clothes were not pleased as they looked at Qin Yu.

Of course, the most important factor was that for some unknown reason, Qin Yu had managed to step into some dogshit luck and he really did attract the attention and favor of a nearby cute and lovable girl with round cheeks. She chatted to him and pulled him over, causing several men who liked her to be pushed to the side, frowning as they watched on with bitter looks in their eyes.

Qin Yu was completely helpless. As someone who hated being troubled or running into troubles, he felt that he had displayed a sufficiently cold and frosty attitude. However, who would expect this girl to ignore all of that and instead treat him so friendly? His only plan was to mostly ignore the girl's strange and curious questions and also firmly refuse her request to see his true appearance.

Unfortunately for him, Qin Yu’s distant and indifferent attitude wasn’t able to push the girl away at all. Instead, it caused the several men around him to find him even more displeasing to the eyes. This beautiful girl that ignored them all was showing such interest in him, so why was he ignoring her? Was he trying to show off in front of them? This was a matter of course in their eyes, and their gazes became increasingly unfriendly.

After suffering for a long time, he finally arrived at the front of the line. He would just have to pay the deposit money and then he could leave.

Deposit money was another interesting rule that the Youth Alchemy Competition used as deterrence against cheating. This was because once proof was found of someone cheating, their 30,000 spirit stones of deposit money would be directly confiscated.

Suddenly, there was a sharp cry in his ears. In the line next door, the cute and lovable girl’s face suddenly changed color. “It’s over, it’s all over, I took my storage ring off yesterday while I was bathing and I forgot to bring it with me.” She eagerly batted her eyes at the Southshine Nation official sitting across the long registration table.

Although the middle-aged man enjoyed this attention, 30,000 spirit stones was not a small amount so he could only harden his heart and say, “All participating cultivators must pay a deposit. This is the rule. Today is the only day you can register. If you miss out, you will not be able to participate. If you didn’t bring any spirit stones with you, you can borrow them from a friend.”

“Ah, how could I have forgotten!” The cute girl took out her handphone. Her cute rabbit-shaped handphone case conformed to her image very well. Her slender fingers tapped on the screen several times before she suddenly stopped, a pleading and lost look on her face. She almost forgot that she had run away from home to come here. How could she be so unambitious and pathetic that she would admit defeat after just several days?

As for her friends, she definitely couldn’t ask them. Otherwise they would laugh to death over something this embarrassing. She certainly couldn’t disgrace herself like this.

She blinked her eyes and then turned around, her pitiful gaze falling onto Qin Yu.

Uh…what are you looking at me for? Qin Yu was puzzled. He kept his eyes down and head lowered as if he found the ground really interesting. But, that little girl was clearly not planning on letting him off that easily. She asked, “Big brother, I forgot to bring spirit stones today. Can I borrow 30,000 from you? I’ll pay you back later.”

The several surrounding men who had been strutting around like peacocks spreading their feathers suddenly widened their eyes, almost choking on their own spit. 30,000 spirit stones, that was 30,000 spirit stones! Why was she talking as if she were asking to borrow three or five spirit stones? All of them were originally disgusted by Qin Yu, but now they were overjoyed, happy that she hadn’t approached them just now!

With so many people watching, it would seem rude to refuse her request…but young lady, this is your first time meeting, so how could you just ask someone to obediently hand over 30,000 spirit stones?

Numerous eyes fell onto Qin Yu, as if they wanted to see the play that was about to unfold. Luck with beauties? That wasn’t dependable at all. This was more like beauties robbing you blind. Now they wanted to see just what this brat would do.

Even in the Land of Divinity and Demons, 30,000 spirit stones was still a considerable amount, capable of moving the hearts of many. Qin Yu frowned, ready to refuse. But then he saw the clear insightfulness within her eyes, as well as the helplessness and earnestness.

For some reason, this sort of gaze softened Qin Yu’s heart. Once the words of refusal reached his lips, he couldn’t actually speak them. After a moment of silence he took out a card, “For you.”

The girl’s eyes erupted with a blinding radiance. She received the card and bowed in thanks again and again. Then, she turned and passed it to the cultivator official sitting across the table. The middle-aged man’s eyes widened as if to say he came from a humble land and not to frighten him. It was only when the girl knocked on the table that he regained his composure. Then, in a daze, he helped her complete the registration.

With a brush of his fingers, the data was quickly transmitted and 30,000 spirit stones were used up…it wasn’t a joke, this really wasn’t a joke. Big brother, this is 30,000 spirit stones! How could you just give them away without batting an eye! And more than that, several young cultivators standing all around were also left completely dumbfounded.

How could you be so rich!

Although they felt disdain at Qin Yu’s foolish actions and na?ve nature, if he was able to easily take out 30,000 spirit stones, how could he be someone who was easy to deal with? They subconsciously restrained their thoughts to avoid courting disaster. As for why they said he was foolish? What nonsense, this was a person’s storage ring they were talking about. Who took that sort of object off when they were taking a bath? That sort of thing was absolutely water-resistant. And, if someone really was selective enough to take it off when they bathed, how could they forget to put it back on? Don’t be so na?ve! To a cultivator, a storage ring was as important as their life. And someone forgot that? This lie couldn’t even fool a ghost.

“Big brother, thank you for your card. I, Little Fengfeng, will certainly keep my promise!” She hopped over and returned the card to Qin Yu. It was at this moment that her handphone rang. She looked down at the ‘laughing demon king’ image that popped up and flushed red. “Ah, they’re about to find me. Big brother, I’ll see you later!”

She suddenly ran away, vanishing in several breaths of time.

She left…like that?

The originally stunned people were stunned once more. As they looked at Qin Yu, they couldn’t help but reveal looks of pity. This was 30,000 spirit stones! He had put down so much money yet he hadn’t even been able to hold hands, much less anything else. This was a loss, a great loss, a loss so great it reached back to his ancestors!

Qin Yu was startled. This little girl had said she would pay him back but he didn’t even learn her full name? With such a massive sea of people, how was he supposed to find her? Could it be that he had misjudged her? Qin Yu frowned, immediately suppressing these thoughts. This was only 30,000 spirit stones, an amount he could gain by casually taking out some pills if he wanted. Moreover, there were still four cards in his storage ring, each one with about a million spirit stones within.

“Please show me your identification card.” Behind the table, there was a beautiful and bored-looking female cultivator. At this time she was looking at Qin Yu with a deep gloating expression. As a cultivator conducting official national business, she naturally didn’t need to worry about things like retaliation. She sneered at Qin Yu. What a lascivious fellow. He saw a beautiful girl and all the blood drained from his head. He seriously deserved what he got.

However, when she inadvertently saw Qin Yu’s identification card her eyes widened. She looked at him with a startled expression as if she wanted to say something.

Qin Yu hurriedly lifted his hand. “Miss, please process things for me as soon as possible. Thank you.”

The female cultivator regained her composure. She was so excited that she nodded repeatedly. She didn’t think her luck was so good that she would see him here.

As she dealt with the paperwork, she carefully glanced up at him. She thought he looked more and more familiar.

Ning Qin. If he came here with an identification card from the inn and also wanted to hide his status without anyone knowing, it definitely had to be him.

Black-robed big brother, my righteous and faithful black-robed big brother! No wonder you didn’t even blink an eye when offering that little girl 30,000 spirit stones just now. Only my black-robed big brother could have such a broad mind and generous spirit!

Women, they could be fickle sometimes. Just a moment ago she had been laughing and now she was admiring. action

She swiped the card to pay the deposit. Then, Qin Yu took the receipt and nodded. The female cultivator watched him leave as if she found it hard to part from him. All of the surrounding cultivators changed their complexions. They thought, was this some famous figure or something? Otherwise how could this woman act so starstruck around him?

At almost the same time, there was a massive number of cultivators in a large building not too far away from the registration area. All of the participating cultivators had to go through a second round of verification before they could truly pass. As a bored cultivator was tiredly screening through applications, his eyes suddenly brightened. An identification card image showed on the screen in front of him.

Ning Qin!

Haha! He never thought that his sudden inspiration to take on this screening job would be useful. This person had really decided to attend the competition!

He took a closer look. If he came from the inn, then this should be correct.

He found an excuse and finished his shift early. He took out a handphone, typed in some information, and sent it out with a tap. Moments later, there was a light ring. The man hurriedly picked up his handphone. When he saw the prompt, he suddenly revealed an excited smile.

100,000 spirit stones, this was 100,000 spirit stones! This was several years of hard work for him! Ning Qin, don’t blame me. If you want to blame anyone then blame yourself for offending others!

Philosophy Watch.

Right now, the Elder Nangong that was valorous and high-spirited not too long ago was lying in bed, his face gloomy and withered, as if he had some great illness that he would never recover from again. In that last storm, he was just about to completely crush the inn beneath his feet. But after various twists and turns, not only had he failed, but he simply created an unbelievably successful advertisement for the inn.

In particular, the reason for this result was because he had agreed to allow someone to test the Divine Blood Pill. When the extraordinary effects of the pill occurred, Elder Nangong had vomited blood in anger and shame. In addition to the psychological backlash he received and the pressure from the sect, it was hard not to fall ill.

Right now, he glanced at the message on his handphone and his dim pupils suddenly erupted with a divine light. “Ning Qin, Ning Qin!” He would never forget this bastard for the rest of his life. If it weren’t for this person, how could he have fallen to such a miserable state. Elder Nangong looked up and shouted, “Pass down orders! Do not hesitate to pay any price to kill him! I don’t want him to live past today!”

“Yes, Elder!” The Philosophy Watch cultivators were frightened senseless by the hatred in the Elder’s voice. They bowed and hurriedly left.

Qin Yu didn’t know that news of his participation had already been noticed by a corrupt official and sold to his blood enemy Philosophy Watch. Right now, there was a group of cultivators headed his way with killing intent deep in their eyes. Luckily Qin Yu had always been discreet. He wore black robes when he registered, and as soon as he left he took them off and changed clothes. This caused the cultivators of Philosophy Watch, who were looking for a black-robed youth, to come up with nothing. They cursed him for his craftiness.

Originally, after the incident of the Divine Blood Pill appraisal, Qin Yu didn’t want to use the name Ning Qin. Unfortunately the competition had an extremely strict review process for a cultivator’s identity. Thus, Qin Yu was forced to use this earlier alias so that it would be easier for the inn to process.

After all, everyone knew that there was someone called Ning Qin at the inn, and he was loyal and righteous…cough cough, he didn’t want to toot his own horn. As for the name Qin Yu, after what happened with the Ancient Perishment Decree, he absolutely could not use it again.

After registering today, they would enter the wilderness tomorrow. Then, after passing through it and reaching the designated area, they would truly have earned the qualifications to participate. Qin Yu looked for an inn in the neighborhood and took out some pills to cultivate.

It wasn’t mentioned, but during this night, many black-robed cultivators experienced misfortune. At the very least, Qin Yu passed the night well. He opened his eyes at dawn, a light flashing in his pupils. His cultivation had risen a tad more.

Humph! Who cared if his talent was poor? He had pills!