Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 244 – The Opportunity Arrives

She thought back to when she first saw him and the favorable impression that she subconsciously felt. After coming to know him a little, she felt more and more that there was much potential in his calm and quiet demeanor. Ning Yuan quietly sighed.

Originally, she had wanted to understand him on a deeper level. But reality never gave her the chance. As she thought about how he was behind this iron gate, in some tiny courtyard, Ning Yuan’s mood fell. Perhaps in this environment he had already fallen…after all, the Waste Pill Disposal Department was a place where no one could see any hope.

As her eyes were filled with disappointment, the iron gate suddenly opened and the face she was imaging appeared in front of her. Neat and clean robes, black eyes that shined brightly; after a brief moment of surprise, that face smiled.

“Senior-apprentice sister Ning Yuan, it’s been a while.”

The contrast between what she saw and what she thought were completely different. Ning Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. She looked up at the warm smile of the man in front of her and her heartbeat began to quicken.

“Oh…ah…it’s you…” Her performance was that of a beautiful young woman. Her face flushed red and a bit of sweat came from the tip of her nose.

Luckily, Qin Yu didn’t seem to care about her awkwardness. “Hm, I am the one collecting waste pills on the first and fifteenth of every month.”

Ning Yuan composed herself. But when she heard these words, she immediately frowned. “It’s just you? How is that allowed!”

She looked up. “Qin Ning, are those inside forcing you?”

These were waste pills! Everyone wanted to be as far away as possible; who was willing to come close to them? If someone said there wasn’t some underhanded work happening within, Ning Yuan would be the first to not believe it!

Qin Yu smiled and waved his hand. “No, I know what I’m doing.”

Ning Yuan furrowed her eyebrows. “Qin Ning, you…”

“Senior-apprentice sister, there is no need to worry about me. Although pill toxins are scary, I can still study many alchemy skills through analyzing waste pills.” This wasn’t nonsense either. Every waste pill was its own individual case, each one recording the failures and shortcomings of the alchemist.

Admiration rose in Ning Yuan and she was secretly ashamed at what he thought before. Qin Ning simply didn’t fall into sorrow and despair. Instead, even in his misery he worked diligently. This caused her gaze towards him to change. She felt that this tenacious and hard-working Qin Ning shouldn’t be that cold-hearted betrayer as the rumors said.

Perhaps he might have his own reasons…

But with things having come this far, there was no way to go back to how they were. Ning Yuan’s lips moved, but as she hesitated, Qin Yu suddenly raised the topic.

“Senior-apprentice sister seems to have some thoughts on your mind?”

Ning Yuan sighed. She nodded, a bit wearily, and said, “That’s right. Recently there have been some problems in the clan…” Originally, she wasn’t planning on continuing to speak. But she was worried Qin Yu would see the guilt in her eyes, so she continued to say, “There seems to be some news being spread in the outside world that isn’t good for the clan. The lords have been annoyed recently and the atmosphere has become a bit tense.”

Qin Yu’s eyes brightened.

To have the Gold Noble Family develop a sense of crisis, one could see that this wasn’t a small matter. He thought back to the opportunity that the mysterious young man from Heavenseek Pavilion mentioned.

Could it have arrived?

But with Ning Yuan’s status, it was clear she wouldn’t know any more, so Qin Yu didn’t ask further. He nodded, “Then senior-apprentice sister should be a bit more discreet to avoid being affected.” He reached out a hand, “Please hand me the waste pills. It would be best if senior-apprentice sister returns sooner. Because of some minor matters, I have already been delayed a great deal.”

Ning Yuan nodded and handed over the storage ring.

Qin Yu was already familiar with this work. He transferred the waste pills to a special storage ring from the Waste Pill Disposal Department and then checked it over to see that there were no mistakes. Then, he inputted information into the status token indicating that today’s task had been completed.

“Alright, senior-apprentice sister, please take this storage ring back. Farewell.”

Ning Yuan seemed to want to say something, but after a moment she just smiled and left.

Behind her, the sound of the iron gates closing rang out. A smile lifted the corners of her face. It seemed that this junior-apprentice brother Qin Ning didn’t hate her at all, and he was also working diligently in the Waste Pill Disposal Department. In the future, there might be a chance for him to turn his fortune around.

Qin Yu quickly returned to his dwelling. First, he shifted all the waste pills into his own storage ring, and then a thoughtful look crossed his face.

The opportunity might have arrived. It would be nice to stay in the Waste Pill Disposal Department, but it would be difficult for him to receive news from the outside on time. Qin Yu had to admit that he hadn’t initially considered this.

It seems that there was only one way left for him to leave.

He flipped his hand and a jade box appeared on his palm. Inside was a set of pill materials that Qin Yu had carefully prepared, for one called a Nascent Forming Pill.

Originally these materials were only half-ruined. After carefully treating them with the little blue lamp, he managed to save them, and now he kept them around to deal with unexpected situations. But once he left, he likely wouldn’t have the chance to come back here. Being able to harvest materials for high level pills was something Qin Yu found hard to give up.

But compared to the Nascent Soul great dao, this wasn’t anything at all!

The next day, Qin Yu left the Waste Pill Disposal Department. He requested to see the manager of the Alchemy Chamber and handed over the jade box to him, saying that he had found a mostly preserved set of Nascent Forming Pill materials amidst the waste pills.

A Nascent Forming Pill was incomparably precious and the value of its materials was similarly high. This was absolutely a great merit.

The manager pondered things for a long time. He called people over and asked around. He determined that Qin Yu wasn’t talking nonsense and had really been diligently working at the Waste Pill Disposal Department, leading to him discovering the materials for the Nascent Forming Pill. Then, he spent half the day going over Qin Yu’s file.

“Rest for a few days first and carefully observe your bodily condition. If there isn’t anything strange for the next half month, then you can come back here to work.”

Qin Yu respectfully excused himself.

News quickly spread out, and there was the sound of dropping jaws from within the Alchemy Chamber. No one imagined that someone from the Waste Disposal Department would be able to find a chance to return. They all sighed over Qin Yu’s unexpected dog shit luck.

And after news of this spread out wide, those people that didn’t like Qin Yu to begin with simply sneered and didn’t try to do anything to him again. In their opinion, even if Qin Yu came back, he had already been drowning in waste pills for the last several months and the toxins had likely corroded his body and ruined his foundation. In his current state, how could he possibly compare with them?

Without any threat, no energy, and in addition to the current tense situation, they might as well let this horse go and allow him to freely self-destruct.

Perhaps Ning Yuan was the only person happy about this. She never imagined that slight hope she thought about would come true. Qin Yu had truly found a way to turn things around and smoothly return to the Alchemy Chamber. This even made her think that this was because of fate, and her cheeks blushed a light red when she thought of it.

“Junior-apprentice brother Qin Ning, congratulations!”

Feeling the joy in her words, Qin Yu quietly apologized. He cupped his hands together and said, “Senior-apprentice sister, I just returned and there are some things I need to do, so I will excuse myself first.”

Ning Yuan was startled. Her face immediately flushed red. She swept her eyes around, and there were indeed many eyes glancing at her. She scolded herself for losing any sense of cautiousness. Qin Yu had just returned and this was the time when he should be keeping a low profile, so how could she approach him like this?

What a thoughtful and intelligent man.

If he was so careful and so intelligent, how could he have publicly admitted to the rumors in public view of everyone? At the very least, even if the rumors were true, there must be a deeper story behind it all.

Ning Yuan thought more and more that the Qin Ning in front of her couldn’t be that kind of person. He seemed to be covered in a mysterious fog, making her want to pry it open and find out what lay within.

The truth of the matter was completely dissimilar!

Qin Yu really just didn’t want to be closer to her, that was why he excused himself.

Of course, he didn’t deny there were other reasons. After he made his move, he didn’t want Ning Yuan to be implicated in his mess. There wasn’t anything embarrassing about this. A gentle and beautiful young widow wanted to be friendly with him. Even if he didn’t want to accept her feelings, giving her a bit of consideration was also normal.

Because he had worked at the Waste Pill Disposal Department for three months, his dwelling at the base of the mountain had been removed. Perhaps in order to compensate him or reward him for his merits, he was allowed to stay halfway up the mountainside.

Of course, it wasn’t in some luxurious courtyard. It was located in the corner of a valley, and it was also quiet. The arrangements inside could not be compared to the Waste Pill Disposal Department; the decorations and furniture were all elegantly done.

Qin Yu sat down, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

Perhaps he needed to obtain a way to find out some news.

Several attempts ended up in failure. In the end, he had to use the young widow Ning Yuan’s favorable impression of him. After inadvertently mentioning it, Ning Yuan relaxed and spoke a great deal without any scruples at all. Qin Yu also slowly realized what the situation was like.

In the rumors, it was said that the Gold Noble Family possessed a key to a special space. There was more than one key and they were all held by different influences. The reason for the rumors this time were because it was leaked to the outside that the Gold Noble Family wanted to use some secret technique to forcefully open up this special space using a single key. Thus, they were being questioned by other influences that held keys.

Ning Yuan had a solemn expression. She reminded Qin Yu not to speak of any of these things. She had only learned of them because she had accidentally heard her elders at home mentioning it.

Qin Yu nodded.

Originally, he didn’t have full certainty, but now he could determine that this was the opportunity Heavenseek Pavilion spoke of! With the Gold Noble Family’s strength, if there was some influence that could control a similarly precious key without fear of provoking disaster and also have the qualifications to question them, then there were few of these in the world.

For instance, the demonic path and Immortal Eclipse Valley, these were the most likely possibilities.

Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, thinking that he might see some old acquaintances of his. If this were true, then he had to be careful lest he create any troubles on the side.

As he was thinking over things, in a great hall at the peak of the mountain city, shrouded in fog, the atmosphere was so tense and thick that it seemed as if it could drip water.

“Everyone, the corresponding accountability letters of the three factions have been placed on the record. The Old Ancestor’s original idea was to push this to the side, but they are clearly suspicious and have decided not to give up. This time, I have called everyone here to come up with an idea to deal with the current situation.” In the main seat, an old man with white hair and a white beard spoke. He wore long purple robes that gave him a regal and majestic appearance.

“The matter with the space is the greatest secret of my clan, how was it leaked out? I think we need to thoroughly investigate this matter first, otherwise we will continue to be schemed against in the future.” An old woman on the left coldly spoke. Her old face was like dried orange peel, stiff as stone.

The old man in the main seat spoke again, an icy chill in his tone. “I have already passed down orders concerning this. There will not be a second time. At present, we must discuss the matter of the three factions requesting accountability.”

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