Chapter 1353: Earth Fiend Beasts
“They’re brothers!”
Ruan Yaozhu was surprised. Actual brothers and sisters had always been rare in the cultivation community. The two of them had never exactly communicated with each other earlier, and their names even differed drastically, so she never thought there would be a connection like this between them. Even the cultivation methods they practised and the auras they gave off were vastly different.
But at a closer glance, she discovered that the two of them truly bore some similarity in appearance.
Ren Aoyou snorted coldly. “I’ve seen this far too many times. With them working together, no one in the mountain will stand a chance against them. First place will obviously be one of them, and it’ll obviously be the elder brother. Junior brother Pi, you might have realised they’re brothers too, but you’ve mistaken who’s the older one and who’s the younger one!”
Pi Yangqiu smiled. “Senior brother Ren, how do you know if I’ve made a mistake? And how do you know that the elder brother won’t let his younger brother take first place? On top of that, there is no kinship when it comes to contests, let alone brotherhood. It’ll all come down to who’s stronger and more vicious in the very end!”
Le Tian clapped his hands and smiled. “That’s right, that’s right. There’ll definitely be a struggle between the brothers!”
“They’re brothers.” Ruan Yaozhu sighed. “Once you get greedy, families really do fall apart, and brothers really do turn against each other.”
Pi Yangqiu giggled. “You probably haven’t experienced how it’s like to have siblings. Compared to strangers, that’s the only relationship that’ll make you bicker from childhood to adulthood!”
Ruan Yaozhu said seriously, “How haven’t I had siblings? The senior brothers and sisters and the junior brothers and sisters of the Myriad sect are all my siblings!”
The four of them looked at one another and shook their heads with a smile. If someone else had said that, they would basically laugh their asses off, as it was so sappy that it was disgusting. However, it made them feel warmth inside.
If she had not treated him as an elder brother, why would she nag them every single time she saw him? Gambling was his life. If someone else dared to make a fuss with him like that, he would have taught them a vicious lesson a long time ago, yet right now, he was even worried she would be deceived by someone else.
If Leng Yuan and the other two did not view her as a younger sister, why would they make such a great wager and gamble in her place? Even though they were trying to rope her in against her will and teach Le Tian a lesson, it was completely unnecessary for her to take any risks at all for the opportunity to make a killing.
“And that’s why you should stop gambling, senior brothers.” Ruan Yaozhu used this opportunity to suggest this to them, completely ignoring the temptation of the pile of Green Jade bookmarks. All she wanted to do was lead them on the right path.
Pi Yangqiu sighed. “Sigh, I really can’t stand you! Just with the slightest distraction, such a great gamble has almost been dismantled by you. I for sure don’t treat these guys as my brothers, particularly with that guy Le Tian. I’d basically like to see him lose everything, including his underwear.”
Le Tian said, “Once I win, I’ll give you a few Black Wood markers out of generosity.”
Ren Aoyou said, “Then let’s see how these brothers turn out! Junior brother Le, let’s see how your dark horse is doing. Is he mining away obediently, or is he doing the same thing as these two?”
Ruan Yaozhu sighed. “He won’t do something like that.”
“If it’s the latter, then my bet with junior sister Ruan is settled. And I’m certain that with his wickedness, the two brothers definitely won’t stand a chance against him. I’m going to make a fortune this time!”
Le Tian cupped his hands over the Map of All-seeing and All-hearing and twisted them left and right.
In an instant, the image gathered on Li Qingshan. He continued through the cave at a steady pace, neither digging nor setting up an ambush. Instead, he sang at the top of his voice. The resounding singing erupted from the Map of All-seeing and All-hearing.
“East flows the river! The stars shine ‘round beidou!”
TL: This is the same song that Li Qingshan sang when he met Si Qing in chapter 626. It is called the Song of Heroes from Water Margin, which you can listen to here.
Even Le Tian’s mask-like smile froze slightly. Ruan Yaozhu widened her eyes. “He’s… singing?”
Ren Aoyou sneered. “He’s afraid of the dark, so he’s singing to build up his courage?”
Pi Yangqiu thought of something and blurted out, “No, he’s trying to lure over earth fiend beasts!”
Le Tian called out, “What! Is he crazy?”
……
Daemons and monsters—they were a similar concept, but they were actually two different things.
Daemons were the Daemon race that took all shapes and forms. They could assume human form, and they possessed extremely high intelligence and wisdom.
Monsters were a reference to strange beasts and creatures with great strength and low intelligence.
From the perspective of humans, they frequently mixed the two together. The boundary between the two was not particularly clear either. When daemons reverted to their original forms and rampaged, they were basically no different from monsters. Monsters also possessed a chance to develop intelligence and become daemons.
However, there were some extremely pure, true “monsters”.
They possessed absolutely no thought process to speak of. They were completely a product of a special environment, and they completely acted on their instincts. The most well-known and strongest variety were the legendary space-devouring beasts.
Space-devouring beasts were so powerful that they could destroy worlds. Their power was no less than True Immortals, yet the heavenly tribulations would never descend upon them. It was as if they were merely a part of the natural phenomena. They possessed terrifying strength, but they were similar to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Although they possessed some characteristics similar to creatures, they were not truly living creatures.
Earth fiend beasts were monsters like that. They only appeared in regions where the magnetic fields were extremely powerful like Magnetic Field mountain, and they would never leave the place either, which was why they were known as “earth fiend beasts”.
Earth fiend beasts had bodies made from rock and ore, and they fed off the magnetic field. They knew no pain, no exhaustion, and no fear, yet they attacked all living creatures indiscriminately. Normally, they only lived deep underground.
It was as if the intangible will of the heavens had discovered that the regular magnetic fields were unable to stop cultivators from exploring the boundaries of the world, so it specially set up some terrifying guards.
It was rumoured that the strongest earth fiend beast thrived with the earth, slumbering in the deepest depths, enough to even make True Immortals halt on their steps.
Magnetic Field mountain obviously did not have such a powerful earth fiend beast. Every single one of them was a moving magnetic field, and their bodies were indestructible. They were basically immune to all abilities and techniques, making them extremely difficult opponents.
In particular, in an environment like Magnetic Field mountain, even Human Sovereigns found them slightly troublesome to deal with. They were the greatest obstacle to mining magnetic ferrum, and they were endless too. They were a great deal of trouble.
The entrance tests of the Myriad sect that occurred once every decade had never been about some mysterious experience or some puzzling test question. As for their strength, moral alignment, personalities, and specialties, they cared even less about that. Cultivators were all so busy, so who had the spare time to closely examine the good and bad in a group of ants, let alone waste resources to specially set up a testing centre.
The objective of the test was extremely clear, which was to make these cultivators use their lives to exchange for precious resources that the sects required. Those who succeeded would be accepted into the sect, becoming a part of the overall system, while the failures would become cannon fodder. No one would care how many people died as long as they had nothing to do with each other anyway.
As the person in charge this time, Le Tian had simply turned the test into an exciting gamble based on that, preparing to make a fortune off this. Who survived and who emerged victorious in the end did not matter at all. All was fine as long as the dark horse he had wagered on was fine. However, the situation was taking a rapid turn for the worst, such that even he became a little restless.
He roared at the Map of All-seeing and All-hearing, “Shut your mouth!” He did not care whether Li Qingshan could hear him or not. He was like a regular gambler who had lost a fortune and was desperately yelling at the dice to give him what he needed.
Li Qingshan obviously could not hear him. Even if he could, he would not shut up. He obviously understood that the earth fiend beasts were the most dangerous part of the test. They had no sense of sight, smell, taste, or touch. Only their sense of hearing was particularly sensitive, so it was most important to remain quiet in Magnetic Field mountain.
Li Qingshan did the opposite, intentionally singing at the top of his voice—because yelling out constantly was far too stupid—so that he could lure over earth fiend beasts, as earth fiend beasts definitely possessed extremely pure magnetic ferrum in their bodies.
However, that would be risking his life!
Ren Aoyou smiled. “Junior brother Le, looks like your dark horse is about to die soon. You won’t be able to continue with your gamble with junior sister Ruan. You can only call it a draw.”
Le Tian clutched his head and pulled at his hair. “I was wrong. I only managed to tell that he’s a wicked person. I didn’t realise there was something wrong with his head! I’m willing to bet that he’s never seen an earth fiend beast before!”
Once Li Qingshan had been finished off by earth fiend beasts, then it would be his loss regardless of who won.
“No, he’s not a wicked person!”
Ruan Yaozhu recalled the final warning that Li Qingshan had given. If you continue to follow me, you will die! She had already realised what he was doing.
“It’s not that he doesn’t understand the dangers involved. If he refuses to rob others and still wants to place first, this is the only way. He was not getting rid of a deadweight earlier either but preparing to risk his life. He told him to go somewhere much safer. That’s out of kindness.”
“He would rather face life-threatening danger than harm someone else. He would rather be misunderstood and resented than send someone to their death. No matter what, I can’t admit that someone like this is a wicked person.”
Pi Yangqiu clapped his hands and said, “Well said, junior sister Ruan! A certain person is even going to lose his underpants this time! It’s just a pity for this good person. Tsktsk, sure enough, good people don’t live for long!”
“Hehe, we all have it! Gazing at the sky the entire way, never to lower our heads!”
As Li Qingshan sang away resoundingly, Le Tian raised a clamour, rolling around on the back of the three-legged golden toad. “Junior sister, oh junior sister! How vicious of you! This is all I have!”
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Ruan Yaozhu waved her hand in a hurry. “Senior brother, I don’t want to win against you. Let’s just call it a draw.” Then she said rather awkwardly, “I do have a request!”
“No!”
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Le Tian suddenly rose up and said firmly, recovering the same mask-like smile as if his behaviour earlier was all an act.
“I know you want me to go in and save this kid. That’s quite rare of you to violate the sect rules for him. If this were a regular test, then even directly passing him is fine with me. However, this is a gamble, my gamble. I hope you can respect me, junior sister!”
Leng Yuan, who had remained silent the entire time, said, “Junior sister, as long as I’m around, the sect rules will not be broken. This is my job after all!”
The entrance test of the Myriad sect obviously could not allow for any interference, but this mere trifle was of absolutely no importance at all to direct disciples. Perhaps only Ruan Yaozhu would feel awkward. She could not just watch helplessly as a good person was killed before her.
Le Tian said, “If he just dies like this, then I admit defeat, and both of these gambles will count as my defeat. However, as long as he’s still breathing, the gamble will continue. Hehe, now a gamble like this is interesting!”
At this moment, Li Qingshan finished singing the song, so he started off with another one. His deep and magnetic voice echoed through the caves.
“Who begs who? Even the seasons only listen to the heavens… Don’t gamble! Fate will always triumph!”
TL: This song is from the television adaption of another Chinese novel, A Step into the Past. You can hear it here.
Le Tian let out a croak and collapsed on the ground. “That’s a bad sign, a bad sign!”
