Li Ran was, by his nature, a very lazy person, unless he is interested in something, the chance of him doing it would be minimal, it's something that he had acquired thanks to the lifestyle that he has in the modern world.
His life motto was: Be lenient with oneself, strict with others.
He didn't have any expectations for this group of rookies, and to be honest, as of right now, with the way they are chattering up around him, he even found them to be too annoying.
So, he let them do as they pleased the whole way, and unless it was absolutely necessary, he couldn't be bothered to take action.
However, this irresponsible attitude was seen by the newbie disciples as a "thoughtful effort to hone their combat abilities."
...
On the seventh day of the trial.
Due to Li Ran's laissez-faire approach, more and more disciples were getting injured, and everyone had some scars on their bodies to varying degrees.
But they had made significant progress.
Their gazes became resolute, their combat abilities had qualitatively improved, and their teamwork had become more synchronized.
Three of them even broke through to the late Qi Refinement stage during battles.
All these achievements were credited to Li Ran.
"Kill!"
The last demon beast fell in a pool of blood.
The outer ring of demon beasts wasn't very strong, mostly equivalent to the Qi Refinement stage. At this point, the disciples of the Hidden Gauze Palace could handle them independently as long as the group size wasn't too large.
"Holy Son, it's getting dark soon. Shouldn't we set up camp here by the water source, rest, and reorganize for the night?" Lu Xinran ran over and asked.
Li Ran turn his head up to the sky, and sure enough, the sky above them had started to turn dark, he nodded his head and said. "Sure, let's take a break here."
"Alright."
The disciples quickly set up their camp by the lake.
They lit a campfire and gathered around to eat grilled meat.
Only Li Ran sat alone on a treetop, watching the surrounding area, making sure no beast was trying to ambush the group.
His lone figure would make anyone that sees him feel that he is lonely..
"Holy Son always seems so aloof. He never eats with us," a female disciple said.
Lu Xinran shook her head. "You don't understand. Beneath the Holy Son's aloof appearance, he actually has a passionate heart. He's just not good at communicating with people. Back then..."
She talked about how Li Ran helped her breakthrough.
"Wow, the Holy Son is so warm~"
"Yeah, even though he acts like he despises us, he's actually been helping us!"
"Turns out behind those disdainful looks, there's deep affection!"
"Geniuses are always like this, they are not good at socializing!"
"Thinking about it, the Holy Son is so cute~"
...
Through everyone's imagination, Li Ran had become an aloof genius with a warm heart. Meanwhile, he was sitting on a treetop, happily eating Snow Ginseng Dumplings.
These were a delicacy that Ah Qin had carefully prepared, much better than the grilled meat that didn't even have salt...
"Holy Son, come down and eat with us!"
"Don't starve yourself!"
The female disciples called out with concern.
Li Ran rejected them without hesitation.
He got a hunch that should he go down there, he would need to share the food that Ah Qin made for him with them, and he doesn't want that.
...
Huff, huff~
Xiao Qingge gasped heavily, stumbling through the dense forest.
Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, her body covered in wounds, and her clothes torn to shreds.
This was her fifth day in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
She had been following the map, trying to avoid areas where demon beasts roamed as much as possible.
But even so, danger lurked everywhere, and she had brushed with death several times.
If it weren't for her astonishing willpower, she would have probably become a meal for the demons long ago.
"Because I don't have any cultivation, I can't use a storage ring... I've already run out of dry rations, but the secret realm is still dozens of miles away..."
Xiao Qingge's face turned pale.
A few days ago, she had unexpectedly learned that deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, a secret realm was rumored to open, containing the inheritance of an ancient immortal emperor.
Her intuition told her that this was the only chance for her to turn her life around.
So, she had disobeyed her father's orders, secretly copied the map, and ventured into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
All for that faint glimmer of immortal destiny.
But now, she hadn't even caught a glimpse of the secret realm, and she was on the verge of giving up.
"If I can't obtain even a shred of immortal destiny, the nightmares awaiting me when I return... I absolutely can't give up!"
"Even if I die, I must die on the path to immortality!"
Xiao Qingge's gaze gradually became determined.
Just as she was about to set off, the ground suddenly trembled violently.
Boom!
Roaring and the sound of trees collapsing echoed from far to near.
Her complexion changed.
"This is bad, it's coming in my direction!"
Xiao Qingge didn't dare to linger; she ran as fast as she could. However, the dense forest ahead hindered her speed.
The distance between her and the demon beast was rapidly closing.
Boom!
A colossal creature crashed down in front of her, and the tremendous shockwave almost sent her flying. A vast shadow shrouded the sky!
Xiao Qingge raised her head, her face filled with incredulous terror!
It was a massive black bear!
At this moment, it stood on two legs, its shiny black body reaching nearly ten meters in height, its blood-red eyes fixed on her, and drool dripped from its mouth.
"Such a huge bear demon?!" Xiao Qingge's eyes filled with despair.
Even if she still had her cultivation, she probably wouldn't be a match for this monster!
At that moment, she suddenly noticed the sound of flowing water not far away.
Her spirit immediately lifted!
If she could leap into the river, sink into the water, there might still be a glimmer of hope!
She didn't hesitate any longer, turned around, and dashed towards the source of the water!
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