Lu Guijiu had an open and upright disposition and had never been particularly afraid of anything. But after learning that killing the beasts here would yield Fire Spirit Crystals, he would sometimes deliberately imagine some beasts. When they appeared, he would slay them and take the Fire Spirit Crystals.

After doing this five or six times, Lu Guijiu had no choice but to stop, because he found that the monsters he summoned were getting stronger each time. The last time, he was even fiercely clawed by the beast, nearly losing an arm.

Having been injured so many times, Lu Guijiu also knew that taking advantage of his seniors was not so easy. He could only temporarily give up on this idea, calm his mind, and continue climbing the mountain with a focused heart.

Lu Guijiu had indeed taken a big advantage, because the disciples who generally entered this formation were only at the early fifth level and would not so easily kill the beasts formed from the spiritual energy of the formation.

But Lu Guijiu, relying on his mid fifth level cultivation and the extreme yang spiritual energy from the Blood Hell Heaven Scripture, had easily slain five or six beasts before tasting the bitter consequences. If Zhang Jingmo learned of this, he would probably be angry for a while, because when he entered the Xuanwu Conference back then, he couldn't even kill a single beast and was chased by a giant python until his spiritual energy was exhausted, nearly being eliminated early.

Monsters like Lu Guijiu were really rare. So on the way up the mountain, a large number of disciples crushed their wooden tablets and chose to give up.

Some of these disciples had unstable states of mind, imagining beasts that were more and more terrifying. Others lacked strength and not only couldn't kill the beasts, but couldn't even escape.

Lu Guijiu didn't know that in just half a month, half the people in the mountain were already gone.

During this half month, Lu Guijiu also encountered some sect brothers in the mountains, but in most cases, he discovered them first. Not knowing if they were friend or foe and not wanting to waste extra energy on the journey, Lu Guijiu would usually hide first.

Lu Guijiu traveled day and night, only thinking of reaching the mountain peak as soon as possible.

However, the weather was not cooperating. After half a month, it started to rain heavily in the mountains. The rainwater was extremely cold, and when it fell on the skin, it made people feel like the cold had seeped into their bones.

Lu Guijiu was not afraid. He had cultivated the extreme yang spiritual energy to begin with, and the colder the environment, the more suitable it was for his cultivation. The cold rain falling from the sky now actually gave him a bit more motivation.

Walking and stopping like this, just as Lu Guijiu thought he was about to reach the mountain peak, he encountered the familiar twins he had seen at the mountain gate.

When Lu Guijiu discovered them, the two were standing under a tree eating dry rations, looking like they had just stopped to rest. The two of them were neatly dressed, and there was no sign of fatigue in their expressions. It seemed they had not encountered any fierce battles. In contrast, Lu Guijiu's right arm was injured because of the spirit beasts, and although it was only an external injury, his clothing appeared a bit tattered.

The atmosphere was quiet for a moment, when one of the twins suddenly spoke, "Come out."

Lu Guijiu didn't move.

The person spoke again, "Don't hide anymore, I can smell your stench from so far away." He said with a disgusted look on his face.

The other twin coldly spat out a sentence, "Come out."

But Lu Guijiu still didn't move.

Gong Huaiyu, the more short-tempered younger brother of the twins, took something out of his sleeve and threw it directly towards Lu Guijiu. Lu Guijiu's body tensed up and was about to get up, but saw a person fly out not far from him and catch what Gong Huaiyu had thrown.

That person was a beautiful young woman, looking only seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a set of white clothes, and smiling very sweetly. She said, "Brother Huaiyu, don't be so fierce."

Gong Huaiyu sneered and said, "You're looking for death."

The woman said, "Since you've helped people for so long, can't you help me a little longer?"

Gong Huaiyu scoffed and said, "Do you want me to really send you to the afterlife?"

The woman seemed unwilling and acted coquettishly again, but Gong Huaiyu only responded with sarcasm, while Gong Yujin was too lazy to even say a word.

Seeing this situation, the woman also knew that she couldn't get any benefit. After a moment, her eyes were filled with tears. Before Gong Huaiyu could shout, he heard the woman cry out, "So many wolves, so scary!" After saying that, she put her hand in her sleeve, crushed the wooden tablet for participating in the conference, and disappeared in front of the three.

Gong Huaiyu: "..."

The most terrible thing in the world is not a villain, but an unreasonable woman. A villain still wants to profit, but if that unreasonable woman gets angry, she doesn't care about anything.

After the woman disappeared, the three heard the howling of wolves one after another.

Lu Guijiu, who was originally just a spectator, was inexplicably involved in this matter, and naturally was not in a good mood.

Gong Huaiyu was also quite angry with the woman. He said, "Brother, why did you let her follow us? Look what happened now."

Gong Yujin said coldly, "Have you forgotten what your master instructed you?"

Hearing this, Gong Huaiyu deflated a bit. He said, "Then what should we do now?" As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the howling of wolves getting closer and closer. "There must be twenty or thirty wolves in this pack."

Gong Yujin sighed, "What else can we do? Run." After saying that, he used his spiritual energy to run, looking like he had no intention of fighting the wolf pack head-on.

Gong Huaiyu also quickly followed behind Gong Yujin and ran up the mountain.

Lu Guijiu had no choice but to also use his magic techniques and ran away on another path.

As a result, the higher they went up the mountain, the fewer paths there were. After running frantically for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, not only did the three not shake off the wolf pack, they met again at the next intersection.

Lu Guijiu was naturally not surprised, but Gong Huaiyu and Gong Yujin didn't expect to encounter Lu Guijiu here. Lu Guijiu looked at the two, and they all saw the wary look in each other's eyes.

However, the howling of the wolves behind them did not give the three a chance to say much. The three quickly reached a consensus in their gaze to shake off the wolves first before talking.

So the three started running frantically on the small path. Lu Guijiu deliberately suppressed his speed and ran at the very back, putting on an appearance of being exhausted and barely escaping.

Seeing this, Gong Huaiyu and Gong Yujin relaxed a little. In their eyes, Lu Guijiu's cultivation was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and he must have consumed some spiritual power before. Now that he was running away, he was probably not far from exhaustion.

Gong Huaiyu and Gong Yujin didn't mind having one less opponent.

Originally, Gong Huaiyu and Gong Yujin thought that Lu Guijiu would be caught up by the wolf pack and forced to crush his wooden tablet, but they didn't expect that although this kid was already panting heavily, his footsteps unsteady, and his face pale, his speed still did not slow down. Instead, the sound of the wolf pack gradually grew fainter, as it was obvious the three were shaking them off.

Gong Huaiyu and Gong Yujin looked at each other, and very tacitly slowed down their speed, not knowing what they were thinking.

When the three stopped, Lu Guijiu was already covered in sweat. He sat on the ground without caring about his image, gasping for breath, and stuffing elixirs into his mouth, obviously almost out of strength.

Gong Huaiyu said, "What's your name?"

Lu Guijiu said, "My name is Lu Guijiu."

Hearing this, Gong Huaiyu seemed a little unhappy. He said, "You are Lu Guijiu?"

Lu Guijiu nodded.

Gong Huaiyu said displeased, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Lu Guijiu said, "If I said it earlier, what would happen?"

Gong Huaiyu suddenly laughed again. "If you had said it earlier, we would have helped you"—to leave this bitter sea early.