“As long as we want to, there’s always a way to benefit!”

This loud slogan made Qi Rong silent for a while before he asked, “So, how do we benefit?”

Seeing Qin Ruqing slowly turning her face toward him, Qi Rong imitated her style and asked earnestly, “How can we turn this useless graveyard into a useful training ground?”

Qin Ruqing was momentarily caught off guard.

She widened her eyes, looked Qi Rong up and down as if seeing him for the first time, and said, “Qi Rong, have you become bad? Whatever happened to the pure and innocent boy you used to be? Now you both have this scheming look!”

Qi Rong remained calm, glanced around to ensure their safety, and then, sitting cross-legged like Qin Ruqing, replied casually, “I learned it all from my sister.”

It was strange to stay around someone like Qin Ruqing—who was reckless, selfish, and petty—and not be influenced at all.

She had her own strange, unreasonable logic that was oddly persuasive.

After spending so much time with her, both Qi Rong and Lu Wei had been somewhat affected by her, changing in ways they hadn’t anticipated.

Remembering how Qi Rong used to follow her around calling her “sister,” Qin Ruqing felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at the now slender, handsome man who seemed harmless but had a sharp glint in his eyes.

She muttered, “Why do you always learn the bad things? You could have learned from all my good qualities instead.”

Qi Rong nodded. “Such as?”

“… Such as my cleverness, wisdom, honesty, decisiveness, perseverance, and all my other countless virtues.”

“Forget about it, sister. How can you even claim to have honesty as one of your virtues?”

Qin Ruqing’s mouth was a trap, always getting them into trouble.

She shifted her gaze and quickly changed the topic, “Never mind those irrelevant things. Let’s get back to our plan.”

“As for the plan, it’s a long-term project. We need to think about it carefully.”

“We don’t know the method yet, but at least we should be aware of it! Also, about the time…”

Qin Ruqing pondered for a moment and remembered something, “No wonder the examiner mentioned there would be another test after entering the cave. It was to make us consider time management.”

“We’ve already passed two tests quickly, but they took nearly a whole day. This means for the final test, we should reserve at least half a day to be safe. So, we’ll have at most a day and a half to kill the vengeful spirits in the cave!”

Since the entire test period was only three days.

When discussing the serious matter, Qi Rong’s expression became serious, “But that’s the ideal situation. In reality, we might not last that long. Killing vengeful spirits will result in strong backlash, and staying here too long will only make the resentment worse.”

Qin Ruqing sighed and stood up, “We need to find a way to reduce or eliminate the impact of the resentment. But such a method can’t be figured out just by thinking; we need to explore it in practice. Let’s start by trying to kill some vengeful spirits.”

And then, think about how to make the most of this opportunity.

Qirong nodded.

After confirming their next steps, the two of them began to act.

Outside, Dan Qing had gone through great efforts to finally locate the so-called Heart Soul Island.

He was a practitioner from the northern region and wasn’t familiar with the sea.

While he wasn’t likely to get lost at sea, finding an unnamed small island in the vast, scattered islands was extremely difficult.

Moreover, as a sword practitioner, he lacked the powerful spiritual senses and secretive techniques of someone like Qin Ruqing.

After spending several hours—by then it was already midnight—Dan Qing finally set foot on Heart Soul Island and met the old woman in plain clothes.

Upon learning the rules and preparing to enter, Dan Qing suddenly asked, “Excuse me, Examiner, did anyone enter before me?”

The old woman opened her eyes, thought for a moment, and said calmly, “Before you, there were two others. You should know who they are.”

Two people.

Dan Qing showed an expression of expected understanding, mixed with complexity and a sigh.

The top of the golden list, Qin Ruqing, truly led the way.

He asked again, “Do you know when they entered?”

“Before dark,” the old woman closed her eyes, seemingly unwilling to answer any more questions from Dan Qing.

Fortunately, Dan Qing had already asked all he wanted to.

Without hesitation, he pushed open the heavy stone door and entered the Heart Soul Cave.

Not long after Dan Qing entered—almost immediately— the beautiful Ming Ying arrived on the island.

Her delay was not because she spent time finding Heart Soul Island.

As a practitioner from a prestigious family skilled in magical methods, she had her own ways to find it.

She was simply delayed by the previous test.

At this moment, as she looked at Heart Soul Island, determination burned in her eyes.

Ming Ying knew that Heart Soul Island was the most crucial part of this examination.

According to information passed down from her clan, there was a cave on the island that simulated an ancient battlefield ruin.

Performance in this test would directly affect the chance to enter the ruins.

If she performed poorly, even if she barely made it into the top ten of the competition, she wouldn’t get into the ruins.

Ming Ying had already set her sights on securing a spot in the ruins, and she wasn’t going to let a test affect her bright future.

She resolved to give her all in the Heart Soul Island test.

Her goal was to secure at least fourth place and fight for the second!

As for the first place? Ming Ying didn’t even consider those far-off, extraordinary people.

After Ming Ying entered, a long time later, a bright light descended onto the island.

It was, of course, the Light Source Buddha’s Disciple.

As one chosen by the True Buddha, he was naturally born with an aura of light.

The Light Source Buddha’s Disciple was not only bright in the head but also all around him.

Of course, only he knew how much of that was true light and how much was artificial effects.

The Light Source Buddha’s Disciple illuminated half the sky on the dark island.

He moved forward calmly, murmuring to himself:

“Falling behind in rank due to cultivation isn’t good. If I fall behind, I won’t be able to enter the ruins, and without entering the ruins, I won’t see the True Buddha. I need to compete.”

“Also, why haven’t I had a chance to talk to Fairy Ruqing? Now, on Heart Soul Island, I should be able to see her. When I do, I’ll make sure to have a good conversation with her.”

“Let’s talk about the Buddha’s true teachings and try to get her to join the sect!”

The glowing light moved quickly towards the center of the island and soon disappeared completely, leaving the area around the Soul Heart Island quiet again.

After some time, a faint sound of footsteps was heard on the shore.

The visitor, dressed in gold and silver with an imposing presence, looked fearsome and suited the island’s eerie atmosphere like a horror movie protagonist.

It was Fang Zhiming.

He arrived late because he had suffered a major setback in the previous illusion cave.

Fang Zhiming regretted choosing the nightmare mode.

He had barely managed to finish it and fainted just outside the exit due to excessive mental strain.

When he woke up, it was already completely dark, so he hurried to the island.

Fang Zhiming didn’t waste time searching for Soul Heart Island.

Thanks to his family’s connections, he already knew its exact location.

Of course, it wasn’t that Fang’s family knew the details of the test; it was because they, being a prestigious family, were aware of the mysterious Soul Heart Island.

The island was secretly controlled by a celestial family and was known for producing a rare mineral called Soul Source Stone.

It was said that burning the Soul Source Stone could create a special magnetic field suitable for soul bodies.

However, its most significant effect was directly providing a small amount of soul power to replenish one’s spirit.

Since the spirit was profound and could only be enhanced by specific training methods or rare materials, Soul Source Stones were highly valuable.

Seeing that the test location was Soul Heart Island, Fang Zhiming suspected it might be related to Soul Source Stones.

Participating in this test might lead him to clues about the stones or even acquire some directly.

“Those annoying Qin family members probably went in already. It’s fine; I can confront them inside if there’s a chance…”

Fang Zhiming thought as he disappeared from the spot.

The last person to arrive at Soul Heart Island was a young woman in pink, Xiao Fenhua. (Previously called Hong Hua, Changing her name to Fenhua!)

She was the head of the Rui family and had come alone.

Her two clan members hadn’t finished their tests yet, so Xiao Fenhua decided to go ahead.

Currently, Xiao Fenhua was ranked fifteenth on the Hero List.

This was a safe ranking; people only paid attention to the top ten, or at most the next few positions.

Being fifteenth meant she was noticed but not the focus of much attention.

As Xiao Fenhua walked on the island, she appeared silent and steady, a stark contrast to her usual delicate and charming appearance.

This was more like Xiao Fenhua’s true self.

She looked ahead calmly and said, “You’re strong, but I’m not bad either. And now, this position is just right…”

With that, she quickly disappeared from sight.

By now, most of the notable figures on the Hero List had gathered on the island.

At the outer part of the core area of the Soul Heart Cave, Qin Ruqing was trying to figure out how to make the most of the situation, but with no immediate success.

Above them, dozens of vengeful spirits were flying around.

Qin Ruqing was handling most of them on her own, leaving some to Qi Rong.

Two golden lotus flowers in the sky transformed into cages, each binding a vengeful spirit on the left and right.

The red-clad female immortal engaged with the remaining spirits.

A slightly smaller vengeful spirit lunged at her, but she dodged sideways.

After repelling another spirit with golden mist flames, she bound the last one, which had been waiting its turn because its companions had attacked first.

The saying “fall behind and get beaten” seemed to apply here, so this spirit ended up bound by Qin Ruqing.

Despite having many opportunities to defeat the vengeful spirits, the red-clad female immortal seemed intent on capturing them alive.

The golden lotus fire had unknowingly bound all the gray soul mists.

Qin Ruqing gathered them together like balloons and then sat down cross-legged.

Looking at the snarling, ghastly spirits, Qin Ruqing sighed deeply.

“Killing you is cumbersome, and not killing you isn’t an option. Why can’t these dark-faced creatures be useful to me?”

“In terms of waste classification, you all fall into the non-recyclable or hazardous waste categories.”

Since entering this Heart Soul Cave, Qin Ruqing had been trying various methods to handle the spirits.

She had tried burning them.

However, her fire, a blend of heavenly fire and innate divine fire, seemed to directly harm the soul bodies.

So, killing these vengeful spirits was too easy for her.

The real challenge was the backlash from the resentment after killing the spirits.

Her fire could alleviate some of it, but after killing too many, even the fire became less effective, leading to a tendency to go mad.

Qin Ruqing had to take breaks to manage the accumulated resentment, wasting a lot of time.

Moreover, this method only suppressed the resentment temporarily, and when she killed more spirits later, the backlash became even stronger.

She guessed that when the resentment accumulated to a certain level, it might become uncontrollable and lead to a major outbreak.

Of course, Qin Ruqing had also considered the gray crystal core.

She thought, why not just take it out and not crush it?

Initially, Qin Ruqing had this idea and even tested it.

She found that attacking the spirits wasn’t like fighting zombies; the crystal was essentially the spirit itself.

In other words, wherever the crystal was, the spirit was, and the spirit would not perish as long as the crystal remained.

Collecting and preserving the gray crystals would only create a mobile spirit factory.

“Ugh!” She sighed again with frustration. “Could my record of flawless success be ruined by these dark-faced creatures?”

“So annoying, so frustrating!”

As she sighed, a tall, slender youth suddenly appeared before her.

He was thin but not scrawny, and his deep blue robe highlighted his muscular build.

His handsome features were complemented by rosy lips and white teeth, but his expression was somewhat unsettling, with a slightly sickly and sinister smile.

Qin Ruqing sighed silently: Trouble.