After leaving the Forbidden Arts Hall, Chu Ran returned the jade slip to the inner disciple.
The inner disciple took it, tossed it onto the table, and glanced up at Chu Ran.
Chu Ran’s expression remained unchanged. He cupped his fists, thanked him, and turned to leave.
Now that he possessed the Essence-Burning Art, his strength had firmly placed him among the strongest of the outer disciples.
“My cultivation has improved, but against someone at the sixth level of Qi Refining, I have no magic weapon, pills, or talismans. Relying on a single forbidden art alone, I’d still be at a serious disadvantage in a real fight.”
“I have to find a way to earn some spirit stones.”
There were only two ways to earn spirit stones in the Heavenly Demon Sect.
The first was to do business like Lin Gu—buy low and sell high, earning the difference. But that required capital, connections, and good judgment. At present, Chu Ran had none of the three.
Besides, doing business took time and effort, which would inevitably interfere with his cultivation.
The second was to accept missions from the Mission Hall and receive a certain number of spirit stones upon completion.
The greater the risk of a mission, the greater the reward.
Chu Ran did not hesitate. He changed direction and hurried toward the Mission Hall.
After traveling swiftly for half an hour, he arrived at the entrance to the outer sect’s Mission Hall.
It was called a “hall,” but in reality, it was a stone palace built against the mountainside. The palace stood roughly three zhang tall, and five large characters—“Outer Sect Mission Hall”—were carved into the lintel.
It was deep into the night, and the Mission Hall’s doors were tightly shut. They would not open until dawn.
Even so, a long line had already formed outside.
More than a hundred people stretched from the entrance down the stone steps.
Everyone wanted to get inside early and claim the missions that offered plenty of spirit stones while being relatively easy. Unfortunately, such missions were always in short supply. Arrive even one step too late, and there would not be so much as a drop left.
Chu Ran took his place at the back of the line. He had already decided which mission he wanted to accept.
It was the kind of mission ordinary people would not take unless they were desperately short of spirit stones.
Unwilling to waste any time that could be spent cultivating, Chu Ran simply sat down cross-legged on the ground and began meditating with his eyes closed.
He did not know how much time had passed when a familiar voice reached his ears, dripping with undisguised mockery and malice.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Chu Ran the Simp. Instead of quietly waiting to die, you’ve come here to take on a mission?”
Chu Ran knew who it was without even looking.
His voice turned cold and grim. “Lin Zuoyuan, are you looking for another fight?”
Lin Zuoyuan, like Chu Ran, was at the fourth level of Qi Refining.
Before Liu Mei entered the inner sect and became the disciple of a Golden Core Elder, Lin Zuoyuan had constantly harassed her, wanting her to become his Dao companion.
To protect Liu Mei, Chu Ran had once sought Lin Zuoyuan out for a life-and-death battle.
Their cultivation levels were the same, and their strength was fairly evenly matched.
However, Chu Ran was decisive and ruthless. His fighting style was always based on trading injury for injury.
After several encounters, Lin Zuoyuan had been beaten into submission. He no longer dared to harass Liu Mei and would even go out of his way to avoid Chu Ran whenever they met.
After Liu Mei entered the inner sect, Lin Zuoyuan had spent three full years living in fear, terrified that she might kill him.
Fortunately, Liu Mei had never even looked at him properly, much less remembered him.
Then he learned that Chu Ran had been poisoned by a snake while searching for Wind Spirit Grass for Liu Mei, only to be heartlessly abandoned by her afterward. The pent-up resentment he had carried for three years finally found an outlet.
So when he saw Chu Ran lining up outside the Mission Hall today, he could not resist coming over to taunt him.
Lin Zuoyuan walked a few steps closer, a vicious smile on his face.
“Chu Ran, how about giving me your spirit stones before you die? I’ll find you a nice grave. It’ll be better than dying in some woman’s arms, getting thrown out, and rotting in the mud.”
The disciples nearby turned to look when they heard the commotion. Some recognized the two men and began whispering among themselves.
Chu Ran slowly opened his eyes.
“If you’re looking to die, I don’t mind taking you with me.”
In the past, Lin Zuoyuan would have turned and run the moment he heard those words. But this time, he was not afraid in the slightest. He walked to within three zhang of Chu Ran.
“You think I’m still afraid of you? Everyone knows you traded all your magic weapons for talismans.”
Chu Ran did not answer. He rose to his feet and walked straight toward Lin Zuoyuan.
The servant disciples and outer disciples nearby felt the tense atmosphere between them and hurriedly backed away, clearing a patch of open ground.
“What are you trying to do?” Lin Zuoyuan asked.
As Chu Ran advanced step by step, Lin Zuoyuan could not help but panic and instinctively retreated half a step.
But he quickly came to his senses. The snake venom had entered Chu Ran’s body, suppressing his spiritual power, and he no longer possessed any magic weapons. What was there to fear?
He reached to his waist and drew a dagger, holding it in front of him.
Though the dagger was not a magic weapon, its edge was sharp enough to slice through the flesh of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.
Chu Ran continued walking straight toward him without changing his pace. He did not even look at the dagger.
He walked directly toward the blade.
“If you take another step, don’t blame me for showing you no mercy!” Lin Zuoyuan’s voice trembled slightly. He could not understand what Chu Ran was trying to do.
Lin Zuoyuan hardened his heart, turned his wrist, and thrust the dagger toward Chu Ran’s left shoulder.
“Pfft!”
The dagger pierced through Chu Ran’s robe and sank into his flesh, entering through his left shoulder and protruding from his back.
Blood poured along the blade, instantly staining half his robe crimson.
The reason Lin Zuoyuan had not driven the dagger into Chu Ran’s left chest was that the Heavenly Demon Sect forbade disciples from killing one another.
Even if Chu Ran had deliberately thrown himself onto the blade, Lin Zuoyuan had been the one to provoke him first. With so many witnesses present, if the matter reached the sect’s Law Enforcement Hall, he would still receive severe punishment.
That was why he had deliberately raised the dagger and avoided Chu Ran’s heart.
“You…” Lin Zuoyuan stared in stupefaction, completely unable to understand what Chu Ran was doing.
While Lin Zuoyuan was still frozen in shock, Chu Ran swung up his right hand, curled his fingers into a claw, and slapped it against Lin Zuoyuan’s face.
He seized Lin Zuoyuan’s left ear and yanked with all his strength.
Blood sprayed into the air.
He tore the entire ear off at the root and held it in his hand, dripping with blood. A thin strip of skin still clung to the edge of the ear.
“Ahhh!!!”
Lin Zuoyuan let out a shrill, agonized scream. He released the dagger and clutched the left side of his face, where his ear had been, stumbling backward.
Chu Ran raised his foot and kicked him hard in the abdomen.
Lin Zuoyuan’s entire body flew backward and rolled seven or eight zhang before finally coming to a stop.
Chu Ran casually tossed away the bloody ear, pulled out the dagger, and used his spiritual power to seal the wound. Then he began walking toward Lin Zuoyuan one step at a time.
The surrounding disciples fell utterly silent. Without realizing it, they all retreated several more steps.
Lin Zuoyuan’s courage had long since shattered. He knew Chu Ran was ruthless, but he had never imagined he could be this vicious.
In their previous fights, Chu Ran had traded injury for injury, but it had still been within the bounds of a fight.
Today, however, he had been fighting as if he intended to stake his life on it.
Lin Zuoyuan did not think twice. He scrambled to his feet and ran.
Chu Ran was on the verge of death. What could someone who was about to die possibly have to fear?
But Lin Zuoyuan was not dying. He still had a bright future ahead of him on the path to immortality.
Seeing Lin Zuoyuan flee, Chu Ran did not pursue him. He merely spat to the side.
“Useless!”
Chu Ran knew that if you did not swat away flies like this at least once, they would harass you endlessly.
The Heavenly Demon Sect disciples watching from nearby felt a chill in their hearts. They had never seen anyone so ruthless toward himself. One after another, they began whispering, wondering who this person was.
Ignoring their discussion, Chu Ran held up the dagger.
“This dagger costs one spirit stone. Who wants it?”
Although this dagger was not a magical artifact, it was still a sharp weapon forged from refined iron. In the hands of an outer disciple who was still unable to use magical artifacts, it was considered quite decent.
Buying it for a single spirit stone was definitely worth it.
Perhaps the ruthless display just now had been too shocking. For a moment, no one dared to say a word.
But one delicate-looking female disciple still raised her hand. “Senior Brother, I’ll take it.”
Chu Ran immediately tossed the bloodstained dagger to the disciple who had spoken.
She did not seem to mind the blood. She took out a spirit stone and tossed it to Chu Ran as well.
“Not bad,” Chu Ran thought.
In the past, an injury like having his left shoulder stabbed through would have cost far more than a single spirit stone to treat. But now that he had his cheat ability, it would automatically recover once midnight passed—meaning he had earned a spirit stone for free.
As for the pain, it was nothing worth mentioning.
Chu Ran tore a strip of cloth from his clothes, gave the wound a simple bandage, and joined the line again.
The people standing before and behind him unconsciously shifted to the side, keeping a distance of roughly ten feet from him.
Just then, three more people approached him and gave him a slight cupping of the fists.
“My name is Xue Zhi. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Chu.”