After crossing the border of Xuan Qin State, the temperature became higher the closer they got to where Xu Zhixie was. By the time the two riders and three people reached the planned inn, the air temperature had soared to over fifty degrees.
The name of the inn is Jianlai Inn. It is located in a small town called Zhujian Town. It is less than ten miles away from the volcano outside the Hengduan Mountains. The volcano is called Liben Mountain, an active volcano. On Liben Mountain, there lives a sword-making master named Xu Zhixie.
Why is the temperature getting higher and higher? Because Kieran and the others are walking towards the volcano.
The master and the disciple dismounted in front of the Jianlai Inn. Qin Ran held the snake demon Long Qiqi and walked into the inn with Li Shiyin.
When they got to the counter, there was a shopkeeper who looked to be about 60 years old. Qin Ran said, "I want two upper rooms."
Li Shiyin looked at Long Qiqi in Qin Ran's arms and quickly objected: "Three rooms."
Qin Ran looked at her and said nothing.
The old shopkeeper took out the account book, flipped through it, and replied, "Whether it's three or two rooms, the upper rooms are gone, and there are two lower-class rooms. Do you want them?"
Are there so many people staying in the hotel? Qin Ran turned around and looked at the lobby. There were indeed quite a few people in the hall, most of them were cultivators, and their cultivation was not low. He pondered for a moment and said to the shopkeeper, "Okay, two lower-class rooms."
"How long will you stay?" asked the old shopkeeper.
Qin Ran handed over two spirit stones.
The old shopkeeper understood.
“Master…” Li Shiyin whispered in dissatisfaction.
Qin Ran glared at her and didn't bother to pay attention to her.
The shopkeeper took the spirit stones, wrote down the bill, and called a servant to bring the horse.
“The horse is a fairy horse, so please take good care of it.” Qin Ran reminded.
The old shopkeeper took the key from under the counter and said with a smile, "Is the fairy horse so amazing? Everyone who comes here wants Master Xu to forge a sword. Who is not a fairy master? Whose mount is not a spiritual beast? Fairy horse?"
He shook his head and led the way.
Qin Ran explained, "Fairy spirit horses are gentle in nature, so be careful not to be bullied by other spirit beasts."
The shopkeeper led the way, turning a few corners, and finally arrived at a door. He opened the door, motioned Qin Ran to go in and check, and said:
"As I said earlier, all those who come here are monks who come to forge swords. So I want to emphasize that fighting is not allowed in this inn. If you violate this rule, you will bear the consequences yourself!"
Qin Ran went into the room to check. The room was small and simple, but clean. He nodded and said, "We are all serious monks and don't like fighting. Don't worry, boss."
"It would be better this way."
The shopkeeper said as he opened the door of the next room and waited for Qin Ran to go in and check. He then said:
"My friend, you have come a long way, so you must be tired. Take a close look at the room. If you are satisfied, you can rest. I will not disturb you. If you have any questions, you can come to the counter to find me."
"Boss, please get busy!" Qin Ran replied.
The shopkeeper left, and Qin Ran looked at his back with an uncertain expression.
"What's wrong, Master?" Li Shiyin asked.
“The shopkeeper calls us fellow Taoists…” Qin Ran said.
"Then what?" Li Shiyin didn't understand.
“The shopkeeper is also a cultivator with a high level of cultivation. I can’t understand what he is saying.” Qin Ran replied.
"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded, "That old man is also a cultivator."
It was still early today. After Qin Ran checked both rooms, he left Long Qiqi in the room and took Li Shiyin out, going directly to Liben Mountain to meet the sword-making master Xu Zhixie.
Xu Zhixie lived on the volcano in order to intercept Li Benshan's earth core fire sword, but the environment on the volcano was imaginable. Those who came here to seek the sword either had magic weapons to cool off or were highly skilled and not afraid of the volcanic heat.
Qin Ran’s cultivation was not high, so he naturally belonged to the type of person who carried magic weapons. Qin Ran had prepared magic weapons in advance. He was worried about another thing...
He has water spiritual roots!
In this environment, he would be thankful if he could perform at half of his usual strength.
Handing a fire-proof bead to Li Shiyin, he emphasized to her, "Shiyin, this journey is dangerous and unpredictable, but my strength has been greatly suppressed by the volcano, so... you have to be fully alert and be ready to fight or escape at any time."
Seeing the master's serious expression, Li Shiyin also became serious. She nodded and said, "Don't worry, master. I will definitely protect you."
Although Li Shiyin was serious, Qin Ran still felt it was not enough.
In addition to the fact that he was rather timid, another reason was that the last time he came to see Xu Zhixie, it was his master Wang Yuanyi who brought him here to refine his own magical weapon for him, and he was the one being protected, but this time, he was asked to protect his disciple.
He felt that Li Shiyin didn't know the seriousness of the problem, so he said again: "Shiyin, when a villain in the mortal world commits a crime, there will be laws, systems, and morality to punish him. But in the world of immortal cultivation...
"The cultivators are powerful and have long lifespans. No one will follow the legal system or moral standards. The world of cultivation is a world where people can do whatever they want. It is an extremely chaotic world, a world where the strong prey on the weak! So the evil people in the world of cultivation... No, if people in the world of cultivation commit crimes, no one will come to
Sanction and punish him.
"If a powerful cultivator of the Spiritualization Stage or the Hedao Stage appears now and kills us, he will not pay the slightest price. We are dead and that's it. The world of immortal cultivation is such a world. Do you really understand?"
“Ah? Really?” In fact, when Li Shiyin first became an apprentice, she had thought that she would face such a world as Qin Ran described. However, her master was Qin Ran, and Qin Ran was too good to her. After one month of cultivating immortals, she believed that the world was fairy-like and beautiful.
Now that Qin Ran had explained it in detail, her concept changed again. She nodded once more and replied, "Master, I understand."
Seeing that Li Shiyin finally had this awareness, Qin Ran felt relieved.
As for whether the world of immortal cultivation is as dangerous as Qin Ran said
Actually, there was. Qin Ran just exaggerated it a little. What he exaggerated was not the viciousness of the monks, but the degree of danger. Because there were too few high-level monks, they were too lazy to kill people if there was no sufficient benefit.
After leaving the town, about eight kilometers away from the volcano, Qin Ran saw that there was no one around, so he ran to the rocky beach on the side of the road, took out the formation plate, and set up a formation as quickly as possible.
"Master, what are you doing?" Li Shiyin followed and asked curiously.
"Set up the formation."
"What formation?"
Qin Ran thought for a moment and replied, "If we are really chased here, it means we have no way to deal with the enemy and can only escape. So this is a teleportation formation. Once activated, it will randomly teleport a distance of 100 kilometers."
"Unsure of direction?"
“No direction…” Qin Ran said, “Since we are being chased, we naturally have to run in a route we don’t even know.”
Continuing to walk towards the volcano, Qin Ran would set up a formation every two kilometers. After each formation, he would explain to Li Shiyin: "This is the killing formation, this is the shape-changing formation, this is the illusion formation, this is the poison killing formation..."
After setting up the poison array at the foot of the mountain, they were ready to go up the mountain. Qin Ran looked at Li Shiyin's red face and said, "We'll go up the mountain soon. Finally, check if the pills and talismans in the Qiankun bag are intact, and then look inside the body and the state of the mana, and also check if the Qingxing Sword can be used normally..."
After Li Shiyin had checked everything, Qin Ran handed her another pill and asked her to take it. "This is the Hundred Poison Pill. I developed it based on the working principles of various poisons. It can dissolve most toxins."
Li Shiyin took it and followed Qin Ran up the volcano. She looked at Qin Ran’s back and exclaimed in admiration:
"Master is really exaggerating!"