Li Changshou guided from the shadows while Xiong Lingli ran at full speed above ground, quickly reaching another concealed location.

Since they couldn’t stay at the edge, they could only make a strategic advance.

With two waves of monster beasts charging toward his position, Li Changshou deduced that if it wasn’t someone’s deliberate action, it must be a punishment mechanism for hiding at the edges.

Under so many watchful eyes, tampering with the scroll’s inner workings wouldn’t be easy;

Most likely, this was one of the hidden rules of this gathering…

[Senior Yunzhong Zi has indeed thought things through quite thoroughly.]

Relying on his far-reaching divine sense, Li Changshou activated the Wind Speech Spell, prepared spider silk nets, and used earth escape techniques to follow behind Xiong Lingli.

Soon, Xiong Lingli ran to the banks of a great river, finding a large cave carved out by water on a riverside slope, where they both hid.

Li Changshou set up two layers of low-level illusions and continued observing the surrounding five hundred li with his divine sense.

This time, they were within the active range of many Qi practitioners, not at the edge.

For this level of Qi practitioner duels, there was no need to expose his trump cards or draw attention.

Xiong Lingli curled up in the corner, looking down at Li Changshou. “Cousin Brother, are we going to keep hiding?”

“We’ll see,” Li Changshou smiled and said, suddenly hearing thunderous rumbling from Xiong Lingli’s armor.

Xiong Lingli scratched her head embarrassedly, “Watching those two monster beasts made me hungry.”

“Those two can’t be eaten,” Li Changshou took out a bottle of pills, “eat one of these when you’re hungry…

Shouldn’t you have abstained from food by now?”

“Well, I won’t starve to death now if I don’t eat, but if I don’t eat meat, I don’t have much strength.”

Xiong Lingli said somewhat embarrassedly. She often went hungry on the mountain, since everyone who had abstained from food rarely ate anything…

Li Changshou nodded, roughly understanding the shaman-human physique.

Just as he was about to inquire further, his divine sense suddenly detected three monster birds flying out from the edge area, speeding toward him and Xiong Lingli.

Li Changshou raised an eyebrow, immediately ruling out his previous [edge punishment mechanism] theory.

Among the remaining possibilities, [someone deliberately causing trouble] and [shaman blood-attracting monster beasts] had the highest probability.

“Lingli, you often hunt, have you hunted birds?”

Xiong Lingli immediately nodded, happily answering:

“Of course!

Everyone in our village hunts and fishes, everyone knows how to hunt birds and catch fish!

But when hunting birds, we usually throw forks, and I didn’t bring any…”

“I’ll make some for you,” Li Changshou casually gestured outside, and streams of riverbed sand surged forth, quickly condensing between his hands into several earth-yellow three-pronged long forks.

For each fork, Li Changshou deliberately made them thicker and heavier, with uniform texture and excellent grip.

Xiong Lingli watched excitedly from the side…

The Sea God was performing miracles before her eyes!

Li Changshou handed the bundle of long forks to Xiong Lingli, saying seriously:

“Several large birds are flying this way, it’s up to you.

Don’t feel pressured, if you can’t handle it, I’ll naturally step in.”

Xiong Lingli pressed her lips together, her big eyes full of brightness, nodding heavily to Li Changshou and saying softly:

“Cousin Brother! I will protect you well!”

Li Changshou showed a slight smile and waved his hand. Xiong Lingli hugged the bundle of long forks and rushed out of their hiding place.

Moments later, urgent whistling sounds came from outside, followed immediately by the monster birds’ miserable cries…

Li Changshou put away the porcelain bottle in the earth cave, his divine sense detecting that the dozen or so Qi practitioners who had been chasing those monster birds had all scattered…

Three colorfully feathered monster birds crashed into the forest a thousand feet away;

Xiong Lingli stared blankly at these monster birds for a while, wiped the drool from her mouth, and obediently turned around, preparing to return to the cave.

Then she heard a voice transmission:

“Go cut off the left bird’s wings, we’ll find another place where I’ll roast them for you to eat.

These birds are called Rainbow Feather Grand Golden Pheasants, their wings are a rare delicacy.”

Xiong Lingli immediately rushed forward joyfully, skillfully grabbing the wing of the monster bird with a thirty-zhang wingspan, stepping on its corpse and pulling hard, monster blood splashing…

Shortly after, Xiong Lingli tucked two ten-zhang-long ‘chicken wings’ under her arms and ran fiercely.

The Three Schools’ Qi practitioners who saw her along the way all kept their distance, most staring blankly, not daring to suggest even half a word about sparring…

In such circumstances, naturally, no one dared to sneak attack;

Everyone had to show gentlemanly conduct and courtesy. Even when fighting for treasures, they had to announce their intentions beforehand…

Half an hour later, in a forest clearing, Xiong Lingli sat obediently behind a narrow fire, her left hand holding a thirty-zhang earth fork strung with two over-ten-zhang… Primordial Realm Special? Super-sized chicken wings!

This wasn’t ordinary fire but ‘Forging Light True Flame’ that Li Changshou occasionally used in pill refining, of medium power.

Li Changshou was hiding in a large tree nearby, quietly observing the surroundings, and pondering his previous encounters…

Xiong Lingli took out some salt and seasonings she had prepared, her large hands sprinkling freely, her movements very practiced.

She kept licking her lips while happily humming the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect’s song:

“Green grass by the river bank, turtle runs on shore, why so slow? Green grass grows on its head~”

If others heard this song, they would surely think the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect’s internal atmosphere was quite chaotic!

But Li Changshou was different;

He frowned slightly as he listened, considering how there were several powerful beings outside related to turtles, including the Termination School’s Turtle Spirit Sacred Mother.

Such details that could be noticed naturally needed much attention.

Li Changshou said: “Hum a different song.”

“Oh,” Xiong Lingli shrank her neck, obediently agreeing, originally not daring to speak, but then thinking perhaps the Sea God wanted to hear her sing.

Soon, she found another tune and began humming the Xiaoyao Immortal Sect’s second song…

…

Outside the scroll, in the clouds, the Grand Scripture Master temporarily stopped influencing the scroll’s inner workings.

He wasn’t intentionally making things difficult for Changshou, just planning to help Li Changshou become famous and distinguished at the Three Schools Origin Conference, paving the way for his entry into the Doulu Palace.

At this time, this Human School Big Senior Brother had begun pondering another question…

‘What is causing Li Changshou to be so cautious, constantly hiding?’

Could it be that someone was secretly coercing our Human School disciple?

The Grand Scripture Master’s gaze remained very calm as he sat there calculating with his fingers.

Little Changshou had his master’s interference obscuring the heavenly secrets, so he couldn’t calculate much about him directly, but he could freely divine about his Du Xian Sect…

By circumventing Li Changshou and observing his short life from the side, some answers could be obtained.

At present, Xuandu concentrated his mind and spirit, his fingers moving as the shadow of a Taiji diagram flowed in his palm.

Then the heavenly secrets revealed:

The Du Xian Sect’s only tribulation in three hundred years was when that Western School expert secretly plotted, using puppets to attack the mountain gate.

‘Could this matter have such a great influence on him?’

The Grand Scripture Master pondered briefly in his heart, quickly deciding to continue testing, though his methods would no longer be as simple as before.

He wanted to conduct a comprehensive examination of Li Changshou.

At this point, the Grand Scripture Master quickly formulated one script after another in his mind, secretly beginning…

The ‘Human School’s highest level’ small test!

First wave:

Several Termination School Qi practitioners were jointly attacking a monster beast that had a purple divine hammer wrapped in lightning on its back, while the beast itself was already at death’s door.

These Qi practitioners had already entered the surface courtesy phase, saying “you take it,” “you take it.”

Suddenly thunder crashed, the purple divine hammer merged into the monster beast’s body, and its monster power instantly exploded!

Seeing this, these Qi practitioners reacted quickly, immediately fleeing for their lives. They heard a blurry voice transmission in their ears, guiding them toward Li Changshou and Xiong Lingli’s hiding place.

Li Changshou had been observing this situation and immediately switched from wood escape to earth escape technique, transmitting to Xiong Lingli;

Having just finished two super-sized chicken wings, Xiong Lingli immediately stood up holding her earth fork, following Li Changshou’s instructions to hide in the nearby forest, ready for battle!

Soon, several figures rushed past, the monster beast charging in for the kill, when a colorless and odorless sleeping drug entered its monster soul, instantly stunning it!

At this moment, Xiong Lingli, who had entered hunting mode, let out a light shout, raising her earth fork and leaping up, her movements precise and fierce, her expression calm, both hands gripping the fork as she directly pierced the monster beast’s vital neck point!

Monster blood sprayed forth as Xiong Lingli gripped the earth fork and twisted hard, the monster beast didn’t even grunt before its legs went stiff!

The pursued Termination School disciples looked back to see only that blood-soaked mighty figure standing there…

A female Qi practitioner’s eyes immediately became dreamy, her face reddening as she said softly: “Fellow Daoist…”

“Hm? Were you calling me, Fellow Daoist?”

Xiong Lingli turned to look, her face three degrees more cute and delicate than the female Qi practitioner’s, instantly causing the latter to close her soft lips.

Li Changshou transmitted something to Xiong Lingli, who blinked her big eyes and asked them: “There’s a hammer in here, do you want the hammer?”

“Fellow Daoists saved our lives, how could we take such a treasure?”

“These are some thank-you gifts, please accept them, Fellow Daoist.”

At this point, those Termination School disciples each took out some spirit stones and pills, pushed them over with spiritual power, and then hurriedly bid farewell.

Xiong Lingli was somewhat puzzled but following the Sea God’s divine instructions, first put these things away, then pulled out the hammer from the monster beast’s body, exclaiming in surprise:

“Cousin Brother, why is this hammer so small but so heavy!”

Li Changshou said: “Follow my instructions to refine it, take this spirit treasure for self-defense in the future.”

“Oh!” Xiong Lingli agreed, gripping the hammer and infusing it with spiritual power, quickly completing the initial refinement.

This thunder hammer, worthy of being crafted by the refining master Yunzhong Zi, had powerful might and many tricks;

The moment Xiong Lingli refined it, the thunder hammer transformed to five zhang in length, perfect for her grip.

“Let’s go,” Li Changshou transmitted, “continue changing locations.”

Xiong Lingli agreed, shouldered the hammer, and continued running.

Outside the scroll, in the clouds, that lonely figure smiled with satisfaction and continued with the next examination…

In the following three hours, Li Changshou continuously encountered various strange events.

There was an unconscious female Qi practitioner injured by monster beasts who fell into a small lake, completely soaked;

Two monster beasts killed each other by coincidence not far ahead of Li Changshou, with several Qi practitioners rushing over…

All sorts of various situations.

Li Changshou didn’t act deliberately, his own behavior always following the principle of ‘avoiding karmic ties’, hiding when possible, and skillfully using his newly acquired ‘treasure person’ when hiding was impossible…

The only difference from his usual self was that normally he wouldn’t get involved in others’ troubles;

But in this scroll, if it took minimal effort, he would give others a hand, but quickly leave, doing good deeds without leaving his name.

If he knew someone was using this method to test his character, Li Changshou would surely return the word ‘boring’ in his heart, then display the persona of an ordinary ‘modest gentleman’.

The results of this series of tests gradually crystallized in the Grand Scripture Master’s mind into a single large character—

Steady.

The Grand Scripture Master finally understood;

This feeling was very mysterious, something that could only be understood but not explained.

At this point, the Grand Scripture Master had become interested and deployed his trump card, flicking his finger at the scroll.

Li Changshou, who was slowly advancing through a stream using water escape techniques, suddenly felt an ‘enlightenment’ in his heart, as if there were words about to burst forth.

These insights gradually condensed into four large characters:

[Human], [School], [Display], [Might].

Li Changshou immediately frowned but quickly manifested in the water and bowed toward the sky.

A ‘Primordial Realm survival tip’ just learned from the Termination School’s Twelve Golden Immortals: seize opportunities to bow to the Sage Lords.

Was his task here to display might?

But this… didn’t align with Human School teachings…

Could it be the Grand Scripture Master?