Leaving Black Wind Stronghold and passing by Ironwood Town, Shen Mo saw the townspeople shivering at the entrance, next to several ox carts.
The ox carts were piled high with various goods.
There was grain, dried meat, and valuables.
These were all the hard-earned savings of the townspeople.
At this moment, some parents were tearfully bidding farewell to their daughters, as if they were sending them into a fire pit from which they would never return.
Shen Mo's dark green disciple robe was quite eye-catching, immediately drawing the attention of many townspeople.
An elderly man, leaning on a cane, hobbled over in a hurry.
His frail appearance made Shen Mo feel as though he might fall apart at any moment.
The old man urgently asked, "Im- Immortal, are you a disciple of the Qingxuan Sect?"
Shen Mo nodded slightly.
With a thud, the old man knelt before Shen Mo, "Please, Immortal, save our Ironwood Town. The Black Wind Stronghold bandits have been ravaging us for years, yet no one from Qingxuan Sect has come to purge them. We can no longer provide food for the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold..."
"If this continues, people in the town will starve to death..."
As the old man finished speaking, the emaciated townspeople behind him also knelt down with a thud.
Each one was sobbing uncontrollably.
It was clear they had suffered enough from the bandits' harassment.
Shen Mo's heart tightened.
No matter the world, the ones who suffer the most are always the common folk.
The bandits of Black Wind Stronghold were easy for him to deal with.
But these bandits had inflicted long-lasting harm on the people of Ironwood Town.
They had torn families apart and ruined lives.
A young man rushed over, trying to pull the old man up.
"Grandpa, don't kneel to him!"
"Black Wind Stronghold has been entrenched for six years, and we've never seen anyone from Qingxuan Sect come to clear them out. Why kneel to him?"
The young man glared fiercely at Shen Mo.
Shen Mo helped the old man up. He did not blame the young man.
If he were in the young man's shoes, he would be just as angry.
Shen Mo said loudly, "Black Wind Stronghold is no more. You can all rest easy."
The old man was stunned, and the townspeople were also shocked.
The old man exclaimed, "Really? Immortal, did you really destroy Black Wind Stronghold?"
At that moment, Shen Mo waved his hand and left, "The warehouse in Black Wind Stronghold is full of food. Help yourselves."
He had more important matters to attend to.
The young man watched Shen Mo's swiftly disappearing figure and snorted, "Impossible. He's just boasting! How could one person destroy so many bandits at Black Wind Stronghold?"
The old man, both astonished and doubtful, said, "We'll see if it's true. A few young men, go check out Black Wind Stronghold!"
The young man raised his hand, "I'll go!"
Soon, five men volunteered. The five ran to Black Wind Stronghold.
When they returned, their eyes were red.
"Grandpa, Black Wind Stronghold has truly been destroyed!" The young man was the first to return, filled with joy.
The old man's eyes welled up with tears. He knelt tremblingly in the direction Shen Mo had left, prostrating himself.
Using all his strength, he shouted, "Thank you, Immortal!"
Behind him, the people of Ironwood Town also knelt from the bottom of their hearts, "Thank you, Immortal!"
The young man, too, knelt with the others, feeling deeply ashamed of his previous words.
...
At this moment, Shen Mo had already returned to the Qingxuan Sect.
"The wood foundation is in place; now I need the other four elements."
He nodded slightly.
The Fiery Sun Flowing Fire Essence he had obtained earlier was a heaven-grade treasure and had already fused with his body, making it unsuitable as a foundation for his Dao platform.
"It's time to cultivate, to break through to the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm as soon as possible. In the Qi Condensation Realm, I will be invincible."
Shen Mo sat down cross-legged, following the Flame Hell Destruction Manual to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
As for pills, he still had dozens of Qi Condensation Pills given to him by Murong Yue in his storage ring.
Even if he consumed the Qi Condensation Pills like beans, he could reach the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.
With such diligent and hardworking cultivation, three days passed in the blink of an eye.
In three days, he consumed ten bottles of Qi Condensation Pills, a total of thirty pills.
With such rigorous and diligent cultivation, his realm immediately broke through to the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm effortlessly!
Shen Mo opened his eyes, feeling the immense aura surging from within him, and felt a surge of joy.
"It's time to submit my tasks to the Mission Pavilion."
Every task had a deadline, with a maximum of seven days.
If a task wasn't completed within seven days, not only would there be no reward, but there would also be consequences.
Although Shen Mo didn't really need the rewards from these two tasks, he didn't want to face any repercussions either.
At the Task Pavilion.
Shen Mo once again arrived there.
He was greeted by the same round-faced girl who liked to doze off.
He tapped the table lightly, "Senior Sister Deacon, I'm here to submit my tasks."
As he spoke, he took out two tokens.
Submitting tasks required tokens as proof; it couldn't be done by mere words alone.
The token for killing the Green Forest Python was its green fang, which was hard to forge and could only be extracted from the python's mouth.
The token for clearing out Black Wind Stronghold was the stronghold's flag.
The round-faced girl nodded sleepily and handed the rewards to Shen Mo.
Shen Mo took the spirit stones and left the Task Pavilion, ready to intercept Liu Yunxuan's opportunity for the Xuan Yin Ice Marrow.
At that moment, he noticed the martial arts field was crowded with disciples.
Moreover, there were few outer disciples; most of them were inner disciples.
They were noisily discussing something.
High above, there was an elderly woman in a green and white robe, who seemed to be an inner sect elder in charge of supervision.
Shen Mo found her somewhat familiar. It seemed that she was the one who had been responsible for investigating when his previous self had been poisoned.
Shen Mo didn't know what was happening, so he casually pulled aside a disciple to inquire about the situation.
The disciple was initially impatient but, upon seeing it was Shen Mo, quickly recognized him as the newly promoted inner disciple who had recently defeated Lei Xiaojun in a public duel.
His attitude softened immediately, and he hurriedly replied, "The four true disciples are recruiting inner disciples."
Shen Mo frowned, "How come I didn't hear about this?"
The disciple scratched his head, "This was announced two days ago. The four true disciples would be personally present, and any inner disciple joining them would receive Qi Condensation Pills, mid-grade spirit stones, and other rewards. That's why so many disciples have gathered..."
Shen Mo suddenly understood.
He had been refining the heart of the Dragon Blood Tree for the past three days, so he was unaware of the outside developments.
However, the open recruitment of inner disciples by the four true disciples would likely exacerbate the factional divisions within Qingxuan Sect.
Why would Murong Yue agree to this?
Shen Mo shook his head, uninterested in getting involved in these matters, and was about to leave.
However, he had barely taken a few steps when two female disciples' eyes lit up and they blocked his way.
"Junior Brother, you must be the one who defeated Lei Xiaojun recently... Shen Mo, right?" the girl on the left smiled.
Shen Mo shook his head, "You've got the wrong person. My name is Zhang Yide."
The smile on the girl's face froze.
The girl on the right gave an awkward smile, "Junior Brother Shen, there's no need for that. I recognize you."
Shen Mo frowned, "What do you want?"
The girl on the right quickly said, "Naturally, we're inviting you to join Senior Brother Song Junjie's faction!"
"Our Senior Brother Song's father is Grand Elder Song Chaofeng. He has amazing potential and great strength, having already achieved minor achievement in the Foundation Establishment Realm. He will certainly become a Core Formation Realm cultivator in the future."
"Junior Brother Shen, your strength is remarkable. If you're willing to join Senior Brother Song's faction, you'll receive three Qi Condensation Pills and a mid-grade spirit stone for free. What do you think?"
Shen Mo remained silent.
Anger flared within him. They wanted him to be a subordinate and were offering such meager rewards.
It was truly insulting.
Shen Mo naturally looked down on these offerings.
Not to mention, he still had dozens of bottles of Qi Condensation Pills given to him by Murong Yue in his storage ring.
It was laughable; he couldn't possibly use them all.