Mortal: Starting with the Falling Cloud Sect, I proved my Dao through gacha pulls.

"What's this kid doing here?"

As soon as the bearded man finished speaking, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from his body, and his powerful divine sense crushed Han Li like Mount Tai.

Su Mu made no extra movements, simply standing with his hands behind his back, adopting a detached and indifferent attitude.

Under the pressure of the barbarian's divine sense, Han Li's face suddenly turned pale. Fortunately, the Great Evolution Technique was secretly activated to protect his body, which allowed him to barely stabilize his mind and quickly return to normal.

This scene, however, piqued the curiosity of the bearded man. Just as he was about to test the waters again, Su Mu spoke up first.

"This lad's spiritual sense is quite strong. I've noticed he's been following you closely; could he be your disciple?"

Upon hearing this, Ji Yin's expression changed slightly. He flashed forward and shielded Han Li behind him, then nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, this lad has only recently become my disciple. I hope you two fellow Daoists will be lenient and not make things difficult for him."

A playful and strange look flashed across the bearded man's face. His gaze swept back and forth among the group. When he met Qingyi Jushi's meaningful eyes, he raised an eyebrow and was certain that there was more to the story.

"Hahaha, Ji Yin, stop pretending in front of me. I want to see what secrets this kid is hiding."

Ji Yin's expression changed drastically. After a moment of silence, as if he had made up his mind, he immediately pulled Su Mu and the others aside.

He sighed inwardly, knowing that he could no longer keep the treasure for himself, so he used his divine sense to reveal Han Li's secret of possessing the Blood Jade Spider.

"What? This kid actually has a Blood Jade Spider on him! No wonder you suddenly took him as a disciple, so this was your plan all along!"

The bearded man, who had been full of suspicion, suddenly changed his expression after hearing the telepathic message, his eyes flashing with undisguised surprise.

Su Mu also showed a hint of shock, his eyes flashing with a sharp light.

"I never expected that this monster, which had long since disappeared from the Chaotic Star Sea, would still exist in the world. It's truly beyond my expectations. If the four of us join forces this time, we might actually be able to successfully retrieve the treasure."

The four exchanged glances, secretly agreed on the distribution of the treasures, and then turned to look at Han Li, their faces beaming with friendly smiles.

But in Han Li's eyes, the smiles of these four old demons were like those of hungry tigers eyeing a sheep, as if they wanted to devour him alive. He could only manage a stiff smile, while inwardly he was already groaning in despair.

"Including Xuan Gu, there are actually five demonic Nascent Soul cultivators targeting me. Am I truly cursed by some unlucky star?"

On the other side of the canyon, Wan Tianming and his group had just finished discussing their plan to use the golden silkworm to retrieve the cauldron when their gazes were all turned to Su Mu and his group, whose atmosphere was strangely harmonious.

"Sect Leader Wan, could you discern the origin of that Core Formation cultivator beside Barbarian Beard and the others? Those Nascent Soul elders were so polite to him; could he be some old demon faking his cultivation? I couldn't see through him at all!"

Tian Wuzi observed Su Mu from afar, his expression full of doubt.

Upon hearing this, Wan Tianming coldly glanced at the group of demonic cultivators, then let out a cold snort.

"For a Nascent Soul cultivator to treat someone with the respect due to an equal, this person must possess Nascent Soul level strength. Nine times out of ten, he is an old demon who has possessed another body and is now cultivating again. However, since he has not yet recovered to the Nascent Soul realm, he is not worth fearing."

After saying that, he scanned all the cultivators present, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

"Since Xiao Yan isn't here, could it be that he returned to the first level after gathering the spiritual herbs? If I had known this would happen, I should have captured him directly back then."

"Fine, we'll try to recruit him again once we leave this place. I hope this kid is sensible. If he still refuses to follow my righteous path, then he'd better never step out of Tianxing City again."

Tian Wuzi nodded in agreement and was about to speak when suddenly red and blue spiritual light burst forth from the direction of the giant mountain in the distance.

Near the canyon entrance, the mountain wall suddenly split open with two narrow passages amidst violent shaking, leading directly into the depths of the canyon.

At the entrances of the two passages, there stands a four-foot-high stone tablet, with the ancient characters "Mystic Crystal Path" and "Lava Road" engraved on it respectively.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators present rushed towards the two entrances to the passage.

Su Mu nodded slightly to Yuan Yao, who was not far away, and used his divine sense to signal her to go in first.

Yuan Yao was still completely bewildered, unable to understand why Su Mu could be on equal footing with several Nascent Soul stage monsters. However, she knew that now was not the time to ask questions. She immediately gripped the sub-fire in her hand, came to the entrance of the scorching lava road, and flashed in without hesitation.

Seeing Yuan Yao disappear, Su Mu turned to look at Han Li, only to see that he had taken out the Fire-Avoiding Armor, clearly intending to venture into the Lava Road.

Ji Yin immediately took out a white rhinoceros pendant with a blue glow from his storage bag and handed it to Han Li for protection. Then he looked at Man Hu Zi and gestured for him to also take out his treasure to help.

The bearded man snorted coldly, took out a smooth, white bead from his pocket, and stuffed it into Han Li's hand without saying a word.

"This Frost Bead is something I obtained from killing a Frost Carp years ago. You can borrow it for protection, kid."

As soon as he finished speaking, he and Ji Yin looked at Qingyi Jushi together, their meaning self-evident.

Qingyi Jushi's face froze instantly. His mind raced, and his gaze fell directly on Su Mu beside him.

Su Mu's face darkened upon seeing this. He had intended to sit back and watch the show, but he never expected that he himself would be taken advantage of.

He coughed lightly and took out a juicy red apple from his storage bag. Strangely, there was a human face on the surface of the apple, constantly changing various expressions.

[Scared Apple (Green)]

[Note: This product originates from the world of Toriko. When startled, the fruit's flesh becomes sweet and juicy. Consuming it can stabilize the mind and slightly enhance spiritual power.]

He had acquired this item many years ago, but because of its bizarre appearance, he had never been able to bring himself to eat it, and it was of no use to him now.

Amidst the strange looks from the crowd, Su Mu stuffed the apple directly into Han Li's arms and patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"Within the Lava Road, one must continuously circulate mana to resist the flames, which consumes a great deal of mana. When mana is depleted, consuming this fruit can restore some mana and also calm the mind."

Han Li forced a smile, but a chill ran down his spine. This old demon had actually refined a living soul into a spiritual fruit; if he were to eat it, wouldn't that be no different from consuming a living being raw?

Even Ji Yin, upon seeing the human-faced apple, fell silent for a moment, secretly sighing at what a ruthless and vicious demon he was.

Seeing this, Qingyi Jushi smiled awkwardly and quickly moved to Han Li's side to smooth things over.

"Excellent, excellent! With these treasures to your aid, you'll surely pass this test smoothly. Why don't you quickly thank your three masters and senior uncles?"

Han Li hurriedly bowed to Su Mu and the other two to express his gratitude, but in his heart he thought to himself that Qingyi Jushi, as a rogue cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, was indeed poor.

If Su Mu knew what he was thinking, he would definitely scoff. Old Man Qingyi had quite a few treasures on him, but most of them were stolen goods that couldn't be shown in public.

When Han Li eventually becomes the Old Demon Han, he will surely be able to empathize with this.