Outside the stone house.
Xu Xing looked at the bronze furnace in his hand, from which wisps of incense smoke rose, his expression barely changing.
The Heart-Questioning Furnace.
It was a magical artifact Hong had bought from the Academy of Myriad Races in the Heaven Domain.
It came with many different kinds of spirit incense, each producing a different effect when lit.
The spirit incense currently burning gave off a fragrance that magnified the innermost desires of living beings below the God Forging Realm.
He had deliberately shown weakness earlier in order to cooperate with the Heart-Questioning Furnace's effects.
To be honest, if possible, he truly had not wanted to kill them.
After all, there were far too few Human Race cultivators now, especially those who had reached the Condensing One Realm. Every one of them was precious.
But there was no helping it.
He could not remain in this settlement for long, nor could he ensure that, after he left, they would not monopolize the cultivation methods again.
That was why he had used the Heart-Questioning Furnace to uproot the hidden danger in advance, lest this settlement fall into the same old rut after he was gone.
As for whether this counted as entrapment...
Xu Xing did not care.
So long as he could solve the current problem and eliminate future dangers, that was enough.
With that thought, he pressed his palms together and put away the Heart-Questioning Furnace in the storage pouch at his waist, then headed toward the center of the settlement.
The problems that needed solving had been resolved. Next...
It was time to pass down the cultivation methods.
By evening.
The unsettling atmosphere that had filled every corner of the settlement had vanished.
In its place were spiritual energy vortices of varying sizes,