Solitary Peak.

Inside a dilapidated courtyard filled with weeds.

There stood a wooden hut that was half-collapsed. It looked no different to a dreary-looking abandoned wooden hut in the mountains.

"Junior, our immortal sect has been recruiting disciples recently, so all the places have been pre-arranged for them. Settle down here for now. Once those recruits fail their assessments, their rooms will become available, and I will immediately arrange a new place for you," said the disciple who led Maxwell to Solitary Peak.

Maxwell waved his hand and said, "It doesn’t matter; this place is quite good already."

Quite good?!

Gold Immortal Sect has fallen to the point where they don’t have any spare rooms? Most likely, it was the Sect Leader and the Elders in the main hall that specially arranged this.

Maxwell didn’t mind.

He had a reason for coming to the Gold Immortal Sect, so it didn’t matter if he had to stay at a poorer accommodation.

Seeing how Maxwell didn’t mind, Arnold’s mind relaxed a bit. He had received the Grand Elder’s secret voice transmission to bring Maxwell to this house. In reality, there were still plenty of empty houses in the Gold Immortal Sect. He guessed that the Elders wanted to make things difficult for Maxwell so that he would quit on his own accord.

He had heard most of the conversation inside the main hall.

Maxwell gave Arnold a very special feeling. His body was crippled, so he couldn’t cultivate further, but Maxwell still managed to reach the Ancestor rank at such an age. This was truly a special individual.

There’s also his arrogance.

But inside Arnold’s heart, Maxwell was a bit overly arrogant when he actually killed the Atlas envoy. This was something a dumbass idiot wouldn’t even do.

The Gold Immortal Sect will definitely suffer suppression from the Atlas Immortal Sect if Maxwell becomes a disciple. Their life here wasn’t easy already, and will become even worse. Thinking of all these things, Arnold was also hoping Maxwell would leave the Gold Immortal Sect.

Atlas Immortal Sect was a place they couldn’t afford to provoke.

But...

He didn’t show these hopes and faintly said with a smile, "Junior, you can tell me if you have any requests in the future. I will do my best to help you out."

Maxwell smiled in response and asked: "Thank you. Can I ask what senior’s name is?"

Arnold replied: "Arnold."

Maxwell cupped his fists and said, "Senior Arnold, can you tell me what this place is called?"

When Maxwell arrived at Solitary Peak, he could feel that the mana in this peak was the weakest of all the other peaks. The entire area was overgrown with weeds, and he wouldn’t even call it a mountain peak; it was more like the top of a large hill. The living things here, imbued with spiritual energy, were at a rather pitiful level.

This was very strange.

According to logic, the mountain peaks in the same area should be rich with mana. But this single hilltop was very weak in it, which went against reason.

Arnold replied: "This place is called Solitary Peak."

"Solitary Peak?"

Maxwell’s gaze fluctuated with a brief sign of shock before a flash of light gleamed in his eyes. He didn’t continue asking any further questions.

Arnold didn’t stay here. "You should get some rest. I am busy, so I will head out first."

"Please go ahead, senior."

When Arnold left...

Maxwell had nothing to do, so he started cleaning up the weeds from the courtyard. He was thinking while cleaning: "Solitary Peak... based on what Joshua mentioned, this place should be the top of the ancient battlefield, right?"

"This mountain’s mana is weak and depleted. It should have been most likely absorbed by the ancient battlefield below, right?"

"Sigh..."

"Thinking of these questions is killing me. It looks like I’m not a main character who can figure out everything just by using my brains." Maxwell mocked himself. Compared to using his brain, he enjoyed using his fists more because it was more satisfying.

It was already approaching evening hours when the courtyard was cleaned up.

No one came by to deliver his meal.

Maxwell also didn’t know where to eat.

There was no one in the area, so he couldn’t even ask if he wanted to.

Maxwell chuckled bitterly before saying to himself, "What unfair treatment... forget it, I will continue enduring!"

A night of silence.

Early morning.

Arnold came by bright and early.

"Junior, Sect Leader says he needs to discuss something with you and wants you to head over," said Arnold.

Maxwell replied: "Please lead the way."

Half an hour later.

The main hall was filled with the same Elders as yesterday, but their gaze was even colder than yesterday’s, with a face like "we are especially annoyed today." Each of them was annoyed with Maxwell and wanted him to scram out of their sect.

Since Joshua wasn’t present, the expressions on their faces were much clearer, reflecting their thoughts.

Venerable Terrance faintly coughed before asking: "Are you getting used to living at Solitary Peak?"

Maxwell smiled faintly and replied: "It’s not bad. There’s a mountain and water, and one can watch the night sky while lying on the bed. This kind of house at my previous place would probably sell for tens of thousands per square meter."

Venerable Terrance faintly smiled and said, "It looks like you rested quite well last night and must have thought things through. Do you think that you should continue staying here with a crippled body and be unable to cultivate? Our Gold Immortal Sect really cannot help you, so I feel that you should leave on your own."

Maxwell didn’t hesitate to reply: "My body being crippled is my personal matter. As to how I’m going to cultivate? It has no relation to you guys at all. I also don’t plan on your Gold Immortal Sect helping me by coming here. If it weren’t for Venerable Joshua begging me, I really wouldn’t have come to this place. However, I am going to stay here because this is what I promised him. I won’t be leaving, so you guys can drop that thought."

His tone of voice contained a trace of overbearingness.

This was caused by the flames of anger he had been trying to suppress.

If it weren’t for Venerable Joshua, Maxwell really would’ve left this place.

Since Joshua didn’t hesitate to bring out his family’s treasure, Gold’s Divine Token, Maxwell was moved by it.

Of course...

Even without Venerable Joshua present, Maxwell still wouldn’t leave. He has always been a person who would walk a path all the way to the end, and no one can stop him from doing so.

All the Elders had unhappy looks on their faces.

Venerable Terrance was the same as he asked: "Why bother torturing yourself like that?"

The Grand Elder Venerable Bjorn interrupted: "Kid, staying at my Gold Immortal Sect after killing the Atlas envoy will only bring my sect down a hopeless situation. We shall give you twenty top-grade upgrade elements so quickly that you can leave this place."

"That’s right!"

"I really don’t understand why you insist on staying here?"

"You can forget about furthering your cultivation with a crippled body. Even if you can cultivate, you can forget about getting any resources from our Gold Immortal Sect with your talents, let alone immortal techniques."

"Sect Leader, just directly kick him out."

The Elders all started criticising him.

Maxwell had a calm look, but he was internally suppressing his flames of anger. His voice was raised as he said, "I said I won’t leave. Sect Leader, you’ve received the Gold’s Divine Token, so you should fulfil the promise."

Venerable Terrance’s expression turned gloomy.

All the Elders had extremely ugly looks on their faces.

No one dared to ignore the Gold’s Divine Token.

The Grand Elder glanced at Venerable Terrance, and Terrance nodded back, understanding the hidden message. He then said: "What you’ve said is correct – Gold’s Divine Token is something our ancestors left for us, so we must fulfil the promise. But the rules of our Gold Immortal Sect have also been left behind by our ancestors. Maxwell, you can stay in our Gold Immortal Sect, but you need to pass an assessment. You can naturally stay after passing the assessment. But if you fail it, we can only drive you off our mountain based on the rules established by our ancestors."

All the Elders started smiling faintly.

It was a very smug smile.

In their eyes, Maxwell was a star of calamity and could not stay in their sect.

At the same time...

Maxwell couldn’t pass the assessment.

Maxwell faintly smiled and said to himself, "As expected!"

Immediately after...

Maxwell revealed an interested smile. He swept his glance past everyone and said, "Fine! I will participate in the assessment."