The following day, Edrick went out to get a better idea of the area and to pinpoint his location. After all, it was useless to have a map if you couldn’t even tell where you stood. The map given by his family, in particular, bore many points of interest that were supposed to hold some of the resources he had to gather. The things that he was supposed to mine for were, of course, the most prominent, as they couldn’t exactly move from where they were.

Meanwhile, Yin was busy with a mission of her own. Namely, to mislead Shu further. So instead of her, Anoteros was accompanied by another pretty girl from Yin's and Hui's friend group.

Currently, Edrick was in the company of Lihua, an inner disciple sporting dark brown hair tied into a ponytail, light blue eyes, attractive features, and a height of one meter and sixty-six centimeters.

Anoteros had grown fairly familiar with her and the other two thanks to his connection with Yin and Hui. Both of his wives had been telling him that he should definitely take in their friends as maids, but until now, the occasion to rope them in had not quite presented itself. But most of the groundwork had already been laid by Hui.

Killing multiple birds with one stone was always welcome. So, whilst he was within the realm, he thought that it would be a good time to get to know those three girls… Physically, of course.

“Alright, I believe that just ahead, there should be an opening in the side of that mountain, leading to a deposit of Tarkin White Iron” he said. This particular material was not exactly precious, but it was in high demand as it was well-known to be as good as regular iron, and also for being much easier for tool refiners to work with. Specifically, it was mostly in usage by beginners of that craft who lacked experience and practical skills.

With Tarkin White Iron, even if the tool refiner was untalented and committed mistakes, they were still likely to produce something passable that could be sold at a low price. However, its fame had led to over-exploitation, and thus, to a price increase. But since no good alternative had been found, and no one wanted junior tool refiners to waste good material, it remained the primary choice.

Either Edrick’s family wanted to secure some for their own refiners without cost, or they were planning on making profit. In either case, it was at the top of the list, so Anoteros was planning on gathering a whole lot of it.

He had even brought multiple pickaxes, just in case.

As he finished speaking, he glanced over to the young woman walking beside him and casually put his hand on her shoulder, making Lihua jump up in fright.

“Is something the matter?”

“Ah… It’s nothing, just a little bit nervous… We don’t know if disciples from other sects could decide to try and attack us… Not to mention the Underwood Elves and beasts of this realm…” she replied, walking a bit stiffly, clearly prepared to summon her weapon at the slightest sign of danger.

As nervous as she may be, Lihua was far from incompetent. After all, Yin made sure that her friends were prepared and were doing their best to become stronger. Except for Hui, the entire friend group was on the higher end of inner disciples.

Yin already had the qualifications to be a core disciple, and her three friends were not that far behind. Even if not in possession of the same level of talent as the blonde tomboy since they each could only practise a single cultivation technique at a time.

“Stay on your guard, but do not worry too much. We are amongst righteous cultivation sects after all, aren’t we? It should be difficult for large groups of disciples to all be bad apples. So the ones willing to stoop so low… They are probably acting alone or in very small groups” said Edrick. What he said made sense. Unless some of those supposedly righteous sects were corrupt to the bone, their disciples should all be taught how to behave.

This should only leave a handful who might think that they could get away with murder inside the secret realm. If the climate within their sects was truly righteous, then they wouldn’t dare speak of such things to their fellows. As such, even if multiple fools were willing to act like bandits, they were likely not to be aware of one another.

“As far as I am aware, all the righteous sects participating in the secret realm have good reputations, do they not?”

Lihua nodded, but her gaze flickered from side to side.

“For the most part, yes… But I have been hearing rumours that Seclusion Underground has been having some problems lately. Many more disciples than normal have been turning to foul cultivation techniques and practices… This began after one of their elders went mad as well…” she whispered, as though afraid that someone else might hear her in the vast plains they were currently walking through.

“I see… So we should avoid trusting them?”

“That’s what I would personally do. Preferably, we should try to meet with disciples from Bright Sword Peak. They have ways to ensure that disciples don't go down the wrong path there, and they should be led by Chang Sheng! The candidate sword saint will definitely be willing to team up” she explained, Edrick nodding along.

As they walked and spoke, both suddenly came to a halt as a portion of the ground before them suddenly moved. A patch of grass that was suspiciously shorter than the rest, and lacking in flowers, was seemingly rising out of the soil.

“An Earth-Carrying Boar” said Edrick, recognising the beast at a glance, not that it was too complicated, just knowing the name would be enough to guess, considering that the boar-like creature was literally carrying earth right now.

This particular beast wasn’t much different from a regular boar. It was just bigger, and its affinity for the earth element granted it increased strength when its hooves were in contact with the ground.

As a result, its flesh, blood, and inner organs were rich with the earth element, making for a great meal for cultivators, and especially those practising techniques that were aligned with the element in question.

Instantly, Lihua summoned her weapon out of thin air, brandishing her dagger-axe at the beast.

Meanwhile, Edrick had also moved, an arrow already nocked in his longbow, the string pulled back to its limit.

Of bad temper, the boar charged fearlessly…