The path to the back mountain was secluded and deserted, overgrown with weeds. It was clearly seldom traveled.
Song Xunzhen followed the route from her memory, proceeding with caution.
The deeper she went, the more humid the air became, and she could faintly hear the rushing sound of water.
Her heart couldn’t help but beat a little faster, hoping that the patch of moss was still there and hadn’t been discovered by anyone else.
She rounded a dense thicket of bushes, and the view before her suddenly opened up.
A waterfall, not particularly wide but with a swift current, cascaded down a cliff into the pool below, splashing up countless water droplets that refracted into tiny rainbows in the morning sun.
The mist filled the air, bringing with it a wave of coolness.
Song Xunzhen’s gaze eagerly swept across the moss-covered rock faces on either side of the waterfall.
Soon, on the left side of the waterfall, in a spot where the mountain was slightly concave and could avoid the direct impact of the current, she saw a large patch of moss shimmering with a faint silvery-white luster.
It was Moonlight Moss!
And judging by its size, it was even larger than she remembered.
“This is great!”
Song Xunzhen couldn’t help but exclaim softly, her joy evident on her face.
She quickly walked to the base of that rock wall and observed it carefully.
The moss grew very densely, like patches of silver velvet, cool and soft to the touch.
The mission required it to be perfectly intact, so she had to be extremely careful and not tear it off violently.
She squatted down, placed the small wooden box to one side, took a deep breath, held it, and focused her mind. Extending two fingers, she used the gentlest force possible and carefully began to peel the moss from the rock wall, starting from the edges.
This process required patience and concentration. Fortunately, although the original owner’s cultivation was low, as a cultivator, her control over the strength in her fingers far surpassed that of an ordinary person.
Time ticked by. The sun gradually rose higher, and the birds in the forest chirped away.
Song Xunzhen was completely engrossed in her gathering work, not even bothering to wipe away the fine beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead.
Her movements became more and more practiced, and she peeled off more and more pieces of moss, which she gently placed into the wooden box.
She only stopped when her back began to ache and there was very little Moonlight Moss left.
Looking at the neatly layered, perfectly preserved silver moss in the box, she did a rough count. There were at least seventy or eighty pieces.
That meant seventy or eighty Low-grade Spirit Crystals.
The immense sense of accomplishment washed away her fatigue, and the first genuine smile since she had transmigrated appeared on Song Xunzhen’s face.
She carefully closed the lid of the wooden box and held it in her arms as if it were a rare treasure.
Not daring to linger, she immediately headed back the way she came.
The wooden box in her arms felt heavy, and her heart was filled with anticipation.
By the time she returned to the vicinity of the Mission Hall, it was already noon, and there were noticeably more disciples around.
Many people saw Song Xunzhen returning from the direction of the back mountain, holding a wooden box, and couldn’t help but cast curious glances and whisper among themselves.
“Look, it’s Song Xunzhen!”
“What’s she holding?”
“Coming back from the back mountain? What was she doing there?”
“Who knows? How could we possibly guess the thoughts of these young ladies from noble families.”
Song Xunzhen paid them no mind, walking straight towards the Hundred Herbs Pavilion located in the Marketplace area.
Her mind was now completely filled with thoughts of Spirit Crystals and gacha draws.
The Hundred Herbs Pavilion was a small shop that specialized in buying and selling various low-level spirit grasses and medicinal materials.
There were no customers in the shop at the moment, only a middle-aged man with a goatee, dressed in a manager’s uniform, dozing off at the counter.
Song Xunzhen walked into the shop and tapped lightly on the counter.
Manager Zhao groggily raised his head. Seeing a young girl in an Outer Sect Disciple’s uniform, he asked lazily, “Buying or selling?”
When his gaze fell on Song Xunzhen’s face, he seemed to find her somewhat familiar. He paused for a moment, his drowsiness instantly vanishing as a trace of surprise and uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
Evidently, he had also heard certain rumors.
Song Xunzhen placed the wooden box on the counter and opened the lid. “Manager Zhao, I’m here to turn in a mission. To gather Moonlight Moss.”
When Manager Zhao saw the box full of perfectly preserved, silvery-white moss, his eyes immediately lit up.
He examined it carefully and nodded repeatedly. “Not bad, not bad at all. It’s been preserved extremely well, and its spiritual energy hasn’t dissipated. All freshly picked, I assume?”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but size up Song Xunzhen a few more times, seemingly unable to comprehend why this young lady with a profound background would personally do such menial work, and do it so well.
“Yes.”
Song Xunzhen didn’t want to say much, only asking, “Excuse me, how many pieces are there in total? The mission description says one Spirit Crystal per piece.”
“Right, right, one Spirit Crystal per piece.”
Manager Zhao nodded hastily, his attitude becoming much more courteous.
He began to count carefully. “One, two, three… seventy-eight pieces! That’s right, seventy-eight pieces!”
He took out a small cloth bag, counted out seventy-eight Low-grade Spirit Crystals from the cash box under the counter, put them inside, and handed it to Song Xunzhen. “Martial Niece Song, please count them.”
Song Xunzhen took the bag; its heavy weight made her feel much more at ease.
She swept it briefly with her spiritual sense. The number was correct.
“Thank you, Manager.”
She put away the bag of Spirit Crystals and turned to leave without any dawdling.
Manager Zhao watched her back disappear through the doorway, stroking his goatee and muttering to himself, “Strange, truly strange. Do disciples from the great families all handle their training so personally?”
Song Xunzhen was in a wonderful mood. She now had seventy-eight Spirit Crystals, and adding the fifteen she originally had, she had a total of ninety-three Low-grade Spirit Crystals.
She was only seven away from one hundred.
Just a little more, just a little bit more!
Excitement and urgency spurred her on.
She walked quickly down the Marketplace street, her eyes scanning the stalls on both sides.
All she needed now was to get another seven Spirit Crystals, and she could immediately perform her next gacha draw.
She saw a stall buying a common type of iron ore for five Spirit Crystals a basket.
She immediately ran over and sold the few pieces of low-grade iron ore she had in her Storage Pouch, getting five Spirit Crystals in return.
Ninety-eight. Two more to go.
Song Xunzhen started to get anxious. Her gaze roamed the Marketplace, finally landing on a medicine stall that was buying fresh Rabbit-tail Grass.
Rabbit-tail Grass was the lowest-grade Spirit Grass. There was plenty of it on the back mountain, but because the quality requirements were extremely high and it wasn’t worth much, people usually didn’t bother to gather it.
She gritted her teeth, cast aside her reservations, and immediately ran back to the entrance of the back mountain. She carefully searched for a handful of decent-quality Rabbit-tail Grass, then ran back to the medicine stall.
“Senior Brother, are you buying this?” she asked, panting.
The stall owner was a young disciple. He recognized her, paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I am. Two qualifying stalks for one Spirit Crystal.”
Song Xunzhen handed over the Rabbit-tail Grass in her hand. The stall owner picked through it carefully. “Hmm, six complete ones. I’ll give you three Spirit Crystals.”
When the last three Spirit Crystals fell into her bag, Song Xunzhen let out a long sigh of relief.
One hundred and one. A full one hundred and one Low-grade Spirit Crystals!
She couldn’t wait another moment. Without even bothering to return to her dormitory, she found a deserted, quiet corner in the Marketplace, focused her mind, and called out to the system.
“System, exchange for one gacha draw!”
[Detecting that the host possesses 101 Low-grade Spirit Crystals. Exchange for one gacha draw?]
“Yes, exchange. Draw immediately.” Song Xunzhen’s heart was in her throat. She prayed frantically, hoping that this time it wouldn’t be another one-time trial card. Please let it be something permanent, or something she could exchange for money.
[Exchange successful. Gacha draw in progress…]
The card pool in her consciousness once again shone brightly, the cards flashing by at high speed.
Song Xunzhen held her breath, her eyes fixed on it without blinking.
The light gradually faded, and a card slowly materialized.
The card had a faint green border, and its face depicted a round, white elixir.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining an N-rank item card—Supreme-grade Qi Condensing Pill x1.]
[Supreme-grade Qi Condensing Pill: A low-level elixir that can assist Qi Refining Stage cultivators in condensing spiritual energy, slightly increasing cultivation speed. Its quality far surpasses that of ordinary Qi Condensing Pills.]
An N-card? An item card? A Qi Condensing Pill?
Song Xunzhen stared at the card, stunned for a moment.
Not a character card, just a single elixir, and the lowest N-rank at that?
A huge wave of disappointment instantly washed over her, almost making her unable to catch her breath.
She had invested all her assets, risked herself and toiled for half a day, only to get a single, lowest-grade elixir in return?!
How much could this thing possibly be worth?
Could it help her maintain her persona?
Could it help her deal with the upcoming crisis?
However, just as she was at the height of her disappointment, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
Wait, a Supreme-grade Qi Condensing Pill?
In the original owner’s memory, the Sect would distribute one ordinary Low-grade Qi Condensing Pill to Outer Sect Disciples every month, and its effect was average.
A Mid-grade Qi Condensing Pill was worth about ten Low-grade Spirit Crystals.
High-grade ones were rarer, valued at twenty to thirty Spirit Crystals.
Then what about a supreme-grade one?
Song Xunzhen’s heart began to pound violently again. This elixir might be worth far more than she had imagined.