After who knew how long, the centre of the mountain fell quiet again. Various incomplete statues of earth fiend beasts stood in the darkness in various shapes.

  Li Qingshan sat on the ground, silently contemplating the path of the qilin, as the Qilin Transformation showed signs of regression after the battle.

  Do you have to be so fussy? The stuff I killed can’t even be called living creatures!

  He realised more and more that the path of the qilin really was not as simple as he first imagined it to be, where his cultivation would skyrocket as long as he behaved like a good person and did some good things.

  The Qilin, with its Hovering Steps, Sympathises with the Living. However, even when he killed a peach tree to save a group of beggars, that was defying the path of the qilin, as human lives were not more noble than plants. Even if he did not have to sacrifice any lives, the people he saved would definitely end up devouring the life of others.

  The so-called concept of doing good and accumulating virtue was just the good and virtue of humans.

  Perhaps what he truly needed to achieve was to obey the path of nature, to forget about right and wrong, good and bad, as he tread through the air and overlooked all the living creatures.

  As it turned out, the so-called path of benevolence was actually so “heartless”.

  In the darkness, he suddenly opened his eyes and estimated the time. Roughly a day and a half had passed. He had to leave the mountain and hand over all the magnetic ferrum he had obtained within the three day limit.

  Gazing out, the large cavern was littered with glistening magnetic ferrum. The battle had paid off reasonably well.

  However, he had lost the basket to carry the magnetic ferrum, and it was not easy to take all this magnetic ferrum with him. He strolled through the cavern and suddenly arrived before the statue of the largest earth fiend beast again. He split open its stomach and pulled out a highly-pure piece of black iron ore.

  After a series of rubbing and kneading, he stretched it into several long rods and used them to weave an enormous basket. He did an extremely detailed job as well, so it did not seem crude at all.

  He put it on his back happily and began picking up the pieces of magnetic ferrum, tossing them inside, which led to a series of clangs.

  After collecting all the magnetic ferrum scattered on the ground, he began to dig through the cavern, doing his best to gather a little more magnetic ferrum to pave a firm foundation for his developments in the Myriad sect.

  By the time two days had elapsed, his metal basket was already filled to the brim. Only then did he pick it up and trudge off with heavy steps, making his way out of the mountain with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

  ……
“Elder brother, it’s a big harvest this time!”
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  The fair-skinned gentleman smiled as he tossed a piece of magnetic ferrum into the basket beside him, but it was caught mid-air and tossed into another basket. The dark-skinned fiend said indifferently, “This should be my piece!”
“Oh, I forgot. Hahahaha, sorry about that. We don’t have to bicker about these small details as brothers.”
They had not dug up a single piece of magnetic ferrum, yet their baskets were almost full.

  The dark-skinned fiend scrunched up his eyebrows. “Until now, not a single one of the three Soul Nascence cultivators have appeared.”
“They have to pass through here if they want to leave the mountain. The three-day deadline is coming up. They’ll appear sooner or later.”
“I’m worried they’re making trouble inside. Some of these people don’t seem to be willing to pay the toll.”
“Hehe, with this Magnetic Field Formation of the Earth Fiend, they’re not our opponent no matter what they’re capable of. However, if they’re sensible, there’s no need for us to develop too deep of a feud with them. Letting them pass through is fine.”
They were relaxed like they were on a holiday, but they were unaware that a pair of eyes were currently watching them through the stone walls.

  It was the female Soul Nascence cultivator. She had tied up her long hair. Dressed in leather clothes, she seemed very experienced and ready. Her eyes were particularly bright.

  Through some kind of method, she could actually overcome the influence of the magnetic field and directly peer through the rocks. Of course, she also used this to mine a great quantity of magnetic ferrum, such that over half of her basket was filled.

  Zhu Yingcai asked nervously, “Senior Su Tong, how is it? Are they still there?”
Su Tong withdrew her gaze. “They’re still there.”
It led to a series of sighs in the cavern, as well as furious cursing. “These two bastards are really as greedy as they can get! They’ve already stolen so much magnetic ferrum, and they’re still going?”
One or two hundred people gathered there. The various sounds converged together, making it noisy like a market.

  Someone warned them. “All of you, be a little more quiet, or you might draw over earth fiend beasts!”
Someone immediately replied in disdain, “You coward! What earth fiend beasts? It’s all just a lie!”
Su Tong blinked her eyes. She recalled the singing she had heard the day before yesterday when she ventured deeper into Magnetic Field mountain. The singing had originated from the centre of the mountain that was even further down beneath her feet. Back then, it had left her surprised. She never imagined someone would actually be bold enough to venture deeply into Magnetic Field mountain and sing loudly during the process. They were basically crazy.

  However, the singing never stopped, and the disturbance instead became greater and greater, which left her certain it was one of the Soul Nascence cultivators. The two bandit brothers had made their preparations here a long time ago, while the old daoist priest’s voice could not be so youthful. As such, it had to be him. A handsome, gentle face appeared in her head, which just left her with a good impression.

  Hopefully, he hasn’t been killed by the earth fiend beasts. He’s probably the reason why basically no one has encountered any earth fiend beasts.

  The test became surprisingly simple as a result. Even the conflict between others had decreased drastically. Without the threat of earth fiend beasts, they could venture into the mountains to mine more magnetic ferrum, so they were no longer forced to turn against each other.

  Li Qingshan had basically shouldered all of the difficulty of this test by himself. If it were not for the two brothers blocking the way, many people would have passed the test.

  Zhu Yingcai fell back on his bottom and sighed glumly. “What do we do? We can’t leave here. If only all Soul Nascence cultivators were like senior Su Tong!”
The cultivators all pleaded with her. “Senior Su Tong, you have to help us!”
Su Tong sneered in contempt inside, You bunch of fools, why should I help you? This move taken by the two bandit brothers is far too vicious. Even I’m not their opponent, so why would I still care about you? If it weren’t for the fact that it would affect my reputation in the Myriad sect, I would have tricked you out of your magnetic ferrum a long time ago and found another way out of here.

  Sigh, who can help the fact that I’m a female cultivator? I’ll definitely end up joining the faction belonging to the first senior sister, Chao Tianjiao, as soon as I join the Myriad sect. The first senior sister’s faction of female cultivators has always emphasised solidarity and friendship. If I give them the bad impression that I’m very scheming and cunning, that’ll be horrible. Male cultivators are simply better. They can fight and kill, and it’s nothing even if they do something bad. They might even be appreciated for something like that. Sigh, it’s just tough being a woman!

  Right as she felt conflicted, heavy footsteps rang out from the depths of the cave.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  It grew closer and closer too, so the cultivators immediately fell silent. Only an earth fiend beast was large enough to produce footsteps like that. They had nowhere to flee. If they travelled forwards, they would be running head-first into the trap set by the two brothers. They were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place now.

  Zhu Yingcai climbed to his feet again and asked anxiously, “Senior, senior! What do we do?”
Su Tong’s eyes shone brightly as she peered through the rocks. Then she suddenly widened her eyes as if she had just seen something unbelievable. “How… how is that possible?”
Before long, everyone widened their eyes, all in disbelief. They saw Li Qingshan trudging over with heavy steps.

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