On the day of the outer sect competition, the sect announced the first level of the mandatory trial.
The location is the newly discovered ruins of the "Fire Refining Sect" - the remains of a small sect that collapsed hundreds of years ago, located deep in the Qinglan Mountains. The mission hall has explored it in advance and confirmed that there are Foundation Establishment Realm restriction residues in the core area, but the maximum peripheral power does not exceed the peak combat power of Qi Refining, making it suitable as a training ground.
In the early morning, the outer square was dark and full of people.
Qin Tiexin stood in the crowd, like a rock. He roughly estimated that there were at least 5,000 disciples present, much more than when he was little. Many of the faces were unfamiliar, and their auras varied in strength. The weakest ones were at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and the strongest ones were already at the ninth level.
He saw a few familiar figures in the crowd - they were all men who had carried the stone weights together in the outer training courtyard. They nodded to each other without saying much.
The deacon stood on the high platform, and his voice spread throughout the audience through the amplification array:
"The trial lasts for ten days and is located in the ruins outside the 'Fire Refining Sect'."
"Task: Collect the 'Fire Pattern Jade' tokens. Each person must return at least three in order to qualify for the competition."
"Rules: Fatal internal fighting is prohibited. Violators will have their cultivation level revoked and be expelled from the sect. The rest of the methods are based on one's ability."
"You can form a team freely, there is no limit to the number of people. Start now--"
As soon as he finished speaking, the square suddenly became noisy.
Qin Tiexin looked at Li Yun. Li Yun was already prepared and walked towards him. Behind her were two male disciples.
"Junior Brother Qin, these are the two senior brothers I met before." Li Yun introduced, "Senior Brother Wang Zhong, at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining, earth element Cultivation Method. Senior Brother Chen Feng, at the mid-seventh level of Qi Refining, wind element Cultivation Method."
Wang Zhong was of medium height, with broad shoulders and an honest face. He cupped his fists at Qin Tiexin and said, "Junior Brother Qin." His voice was steady.
Chen Feng was taller and thinner, with sharp eyes. He took a look at Qin Tiexin, especially when he saw the Edgeless heavy knife behind his back, his brows furrowed imperceptibly, and then he smiled and said, "Junior sister Li always mentions you, and I finally saw you today."
Qin Tiexin nodded. "Senior Brother Wang, Senior Brother Chen."
He could feel the attitudes of the two of them - Wang Zhong was purely polite, while Chen Feng was showing a hint of unnoticeable scrutiny. Especially when Li Yun naturally stood next to him, Chen Feng's smile faded by half.
"Let's form a team." Li Yun said, "The four of us will take care of each other."
Wang Zhong nodded. Chen Feng smiled, "I listen to junior sister. But..." He looked at Qin Tiexin, "Junior Brother Qin is only at the fourth level of Qi Refining. He looks like a body refining person. After entering, he will be responsible for exploring the way."
These words sounded like concern, but in fact they defined status.
Qin Tiexin didn't answer, just said "hmm".
Li Yun glanced at Chen Feng but said nothing.
The four of them went to the deacon's office to register. At this time, there was a commotion nearby.
Zhao Yan came with four disciples. He was wearing a crimson robe and a long sword with a scabbard inlaid with flame patterns on his waist. He looked arrogant. The four people behind him had strong auras, two were at the eighth level of Qi Refining, and two were at the peak of the seventh level of Qi Refining.
When passing Qin Tiexin, Zhao Yan paused.
His eyes rested on the arm shield of Qin Tiexin's left arm for a moment, and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile that was not a smile at all, "Senior Sister Nangong has good vision, and I found someone who can carry it."
His tone was calm, and no praise or criticism could be heard.
A square-faced disciple at the eighth level of qi refining behind him sneered, "No matter how hard the body is refined, the weapon refining is a delicate job. Don't forget that the spiritual patterns will not be carved accurately."
Li Yun frowned slightly, and just when she was about to speak, Qin Tiexin shook her head slightly.
Zhao Yan withdrew his gaze and led the people away. On the other side, Zhou Chongshan also led a group of people passing by. The disciple who ranked first in the competition was as tall and tall as a spear. When he saw Qin Tiexin, his eyes paused with complicated expressions, and finally he nodded.
Chen Feng lowered his voice. "Zhao Yan and Zhou Chongshan are both strong newcomers... This trial is very lively."
Wang Zhong said in a deep voice, "Let's take care of ourselves."
The teleportation array can transport thousands of people at a time. Four people Qin Tiexin were assigned to the third batch.
When he stood in the formation, the formation lines under his feet lit up with white light. After a brief feeling of weightlessness, the scene in front of him suddenly changed.
Qin Tiexin looked around, all four of them were there, but the others who were teleported together were all gone.
A heat wave hit us, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur and scorched earth. The sky was dark red, as if it had been burned by fire. In front of us were ruins - collapsed stone temples, blackened beams, and cracked ground. There were outlines of mountains in the distance, but the details could not be seen clearly, and the line of sight was blocked by ashes floating in the air.
The temperature is at least ten degrees higher than outside.
"Be careful." Li Yun said, "The fire Spiritual Qi is active here, and other attributes are suppressed."
Qin Tiexin Expand Divine Sense. The range was compressed and could only extend to about fifteen steps, but the clarity remained unchanged. He could "see" the dark red magma slowly flowing in the cracks in the ground, the faint formation fluctuations remaining on the stone pillars, and...
"Twenty steps ahead on the left, there are formation patterns remaining on the ground." He said, "Go around."
The four people walked around. Just ten steps away, three pillars of fire suddenly erupted from the ground, which lasted for three breaths before extinguishing. If they stepped on them, they would be injured even in the middle stage of Qi refining.
Chen Feng glanced at Qin Tiexin with a more serious look in his eyes. "Junior Brother Qin Divine Sense is pretty good."
"It's okay."
Keep going.
The ruins are huge, with broken walls and ruins everywhere. Occasionally, you can see the figures of other teams, but they all keep their distance. The fire-patterned jade seems to be hidden in certain specific locations and needs to be found.
Half an hour later, they encountered their first battle.
Three fire-scaled lizards emerged from the scorched earth. They were five feet long, covered with dark red scales, and could spit fireballs as big as fists from their mouths. Their strength was approximately equal to the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining.
Qin Tiexin took a step forward and raised his left arm.
The first fireball hit the arm shield and exploded with a bang. Flames flew everywhere, but the aura on the shield flashed slightly, neutralizing most of the impact. The force of the shock caused the Fire Scale Lizard to stagnate.
Li Yun seized the opportunity and accurately shot three lizards in the eyes with three ice picks. Ice and fire were in conflict, and the lizards howled miserably.
Wang Zhong pressed his hands on the ground, and an earth wall rose from the ground to block the lizard's attack route. Chen Feng's wind blade arrived shortly after and slashed at the weak spot on the side of the lizard's neck.
The cooperation was quite tacit. Within ten breaths, the three fire-scaled lizards fell to the ground.
Qin Tiexin Checked the arm shield, there were only slight burn marks on the surface, and the spirit patterns were operating normally.
"Junior Brother Qin's shield is pretty good." Wang Zhong said, "It can withstand fireballs."
Chen Feng didn't say anything. He squatted down and rummaged through the lizard carcass, and took out a dark red jade piece from the pouch on the abdomen of a lizard - it was fire pattern jade.
"One." He threw it to Li Yun, "Junior sister, keep it."
Li Yun took it and looked at Qin Tiexin.
"Put it there." Qin Tiexin said.
The team continued to move forward. In the next two hours, they encountered several more waves of fire-scaled lizards and found two stone chambers containing fire-patterned jade, harvesting a total of four. The efficiency was not high, but it was safe.
On the way, while passing a half-collapsed stone corridor, they met Zhao Yan's team on a narrow road again.
Zhao Yan and others had just come out of a stone room. Each of them had two or three fire-patterned jade hanging on their waists. The harvest was obviously more abundant. Seeing the four Qin Tiexin, the square-faced disciple in Zhao Yan's team sneered again, "What about picking up rags? So slow."
Wang Zhong's face darkened. Chen Feng's smile was a little stiff.
Qin Tiexin His eyes glanced at Zhao Yan's waist - in addition to the fire-patterned jade, there was also a short dagger hanging on the body. The dagger body had red lines. Spiritual Qi The fluctuation was obvious. It was at least a low-grade Law Artifact.
Zhao Yan noticed his gaze and flicked the dagger with his finger, making a crisp metallic trembling sound.
"Let's go," he said.
The two teams passed each other.
When Zhao Yan's team walked away, Chen Feng cursed, "Why are you so arrogant..."
"With strong strength, you are naturally arrogant." Wang Zhong shook his head, "Say less."
Qin Tiexin did not participate in the discussion. He just sensed something strange at the end of the stone corridor - not the fluctuation of fire-patterned jade, but a deeper and more mixed "call", like multiple metals neighing at the same time in a furnace.
Coming from front left.
"Over there." He pointed to the direction with the strongest induction.
Li Yun asked, "Did you find anything?"
"There might be something."
The team turned around. After walking for about an incense stick, a wide, half-collapsed stone hall appeared in front of them. A plaque hung diagonally, with the words "Weapon Refining Hall" remaining.
The door of the palace has long been broken, and it is empty inside. Broken crucible fragments, rusty anvils, and broken hammer handles are scattered on the ground. It has obviously been searched more than once.
Chen Feng was disappointed. "I ran away in vain."
Wang Zhong looked around. "It's really nothing."
Qin Tiexin But his heartbeat began to accelerate.
In the sea of consciousness, Illustrated Catalog of Ten Thousand Artifacts was trembling slightly, conveying a strong sense of desire. He followed the guidance of [Spiritual Material Induction] and walked towards the corner of the hall - there were some rubble and waste piled there, which looked very similar to the place where the waste was collected in the Abandoned Pavilion, but in the middle there was a mixed-color boulder about two feet high and three feet wide.
The surface of Shitou is rough and uneven, and its color is gray and black mixed with dark red, lapis lazuli, dark black and other various colors. It looks like waste materials formed by randomly dumping and cooling after smelting various ores. It is inconspicuous in the ruins full of scorched earth.
Qin Tiexin reach out and touch.
It felt rough to the touch and the temperature was slightly higher than the surrounding rocks. He penetrated Divine Sense into the stone--
The dense lattice structure is so tight that it is suffocating. Various metal properties are mixed together: the sheen of Mysterious Iron, the toughness of red fire copper, the sharpness of star sand, the hardness of fine gold, the density of black iron sand... They are completely melted and mixed at a certain extremely high temperature, and then cooled and solidified in a very short time, forming a stable to almost stubborn mixture.
For ordinary monks, this thing is completely useless and takes up space.
To ordinary weapon refiners, this is a piece of "Hunyuan molten core" that cannot be separated and is difficult to use, a waste among waste materials.
But for Qin Tiexin...
This is a treasure. Qin Tiexin, who has worked in the Waste Equipment Pavilion for a year, is confident that he can separate pure spiritual material ingots from it. The preliminary estimate is that the value exceeds one hundred low-grade Spirit Stone, or even more.
He took a deep breath to suppress his excitement.
"This piece of Shitou is useful for my weapon refining." He turned to the three of them, "If you find anything later, please take it first."
Wang Zhong and Chen Feng looked at each other and walked to Shitou to inspect it carefully. Wang Zhong even knocked on it with his hand, injecting a trace of spiritual power to test it.
The spiritual power is like a mud cow entering the sea, and there is no response.
"Isn't this... a harder piece of Shitou?" Chen Feng frowned, "Junior Brother Qin, did you read it wrong?"
"It works for me." Qin Tiexin repeated.
Wang Zhong thought for a while, "Since Junior Brother Qin needs it, let's take it. But..." He looked at the boulder, "This weight is not light, how can you carry it?"
Qin Tiexin didn't explain, just started.
He clasped the bottom of Shitou with both hands and exerted force on his back. The boulder slowly lifted off the ground, and its weight was far greater than expected - at least more than 10,000 kilograms. He mobilized his spiritual power to infuse his arms, and then he reluctantly lifted it and moved it with difficulty to the entrance of Storage Bag.
Storage Bag The light flashed and the boulder disappeared.
Qin Tiexin There is sweat on the forehead and the breath is slightly wheezing.
Chen Feng's eyes flickered and he said nothing. Wang Jian nodded. "Junior brother Qin is so strong."
Li Yun had been watching quietly, and then she said, "Take a rest?"
"Hmm."
The four of them found a relatively intact corner and sat down. Qin Tiexin swallowed a Qi-Reviving Pill, closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.