Both men were deeply calculating, each harboring schemes while betraying nothing on their faces.
As the abbot of a sect, Hanshan naturally carried himself with composure and magnanimity.
After Qing Chen carefully put away the magnetic crystal, he cleared his throat and began explaining the various conditions on the "mountainside":
"Deputy Sect Master Qing, this Primordial Magnetic Origin Mountain truly is rather strange.
"Other mountains grow narrower the higher you climb, like pointed cones. This one, though, grows broader instead, looking for all the world like an enormous funnel hanging upside down."
As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed at the surrounding miasmic fog, which churned and surged like waves, then continued:
"This mountainside region alone rises a hundred thousand feet, with ridge upon overlapping ridge stretching for hundreds of miles. It's considerably more expansive than my Cold Mountain Peak.
"For cultivators like us, whose divine sense is obscured by this strange environment, that is an outrageously vast area.
"Moreover, there are many magnetic beasts on the mountainside, most with third-tier cultivation. Those at the middle stage are the most numerous, though you may occasionally encounter one with late-stage strength.
"Some years ago, I even joined forces with the sect master of the Azure Sun Sect to drive off a peak third-tier Magnetic Runes Heavenly Eagle."
Qing Chen listened with great attention, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the magnetic crystal he had just obtained.
This was a late-third-tier magnetic crystal, warm and smooth to the touch. The primordial magnetism flowing within it was more than twice as powerful as that of a middle-third-tier magnetic crystal.
"But the greatest trouble is still the geomagnetism." Hanshan frowned.
His expression grew somewhat grave as he said, "Across most of this mountainside, the spell-suppressing effect is several times stronger than at the foot