The line for accepting missions moved painfully slowly, inching forward only a short distance after what felt like half a day.
It was nearly noon before it was finally Chu Ran’s turn.
The disciple responsible for distributing missions was a menial disciple at the third level of Qi Refinement. He sat behind a large stone table, which was piled high with jade slips of all kinds.
When he saw that Chu Ran was covered in blood, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. It quickly vanished, however, and he resumed his strictly businesslike expression. Following the usual procedure, he handed over a jade slip.
“All the missions currently available are listed inside. Senior Brother, please inspect them yourself.”
Chu Ran accepted the jade slip and placed it against his brow. A stream of information surged into his mind.
“Clean the Heart-Nourishing Hall for two months. Mission reward: one spirit stone. Requirements: none.”
“Raise spirit beasts at the Spirit Beast Hall for half a month. Mission reward: one spirit stone. Requirement: fourth level of Qi Refinement.”
“Assist an alchemist with tending the pill furnace for one day. Mission reward: two spirit stones. Requirement: third level of Qi Refinement or above. Knowledge of fire-based spells preferred.”
“...”
The higher the reward, the more stringent the requirements and the greater the difficulty.
But the rewards were simply too meager, and the missions took too long. Chu Ran had no interest in them.
Without stopping in the middle, he pulled the information directly to the very bottom.
“Feed the Face-Blood Demon Flower once. Mission reward: ten spirit stones. Requirement: Minor Completion of the Qi Refinement chapter of the Heavenly Demon Heart Method.”
This was the one!
Chu Ran removed the jade slip from his brow and returned it to the mission-hall disciple.
“Junior Brother, I’d like to accept the mission to feed the Face-Blood Demon Flower.”
“Oh? Are you sure?” The mission-hall disciple raised his eyes again. His gaze swept over Chu Ran’s bloodstained robes, and he could not help reminding him, “With the amount of blood you’ve lost, are you really up to it?”
“Junior Brother, just help me register. I know my own limits.”
The disciple did not try to dissuade him any further. He bent over the table and fiddled with something for a while before taking a new jade slip from beneath it and tossing it to Chu Ran.
“Use this as proof of acceptance and go to the Spirit Herb Hall. The Spirit Herb Hall will issue your reward directly; it won’t pass through the Mission Hall. Let me remind Senior Brother of one more thing: once you accept this mission, you cannot abandon it. You must also ensure that your blood remains pure. If anything happens to the Face-Blood Demon Flower, you’ll have to pay for it with your life. If you don’t want to accept it, you can still give up now.”
“Thank you for the reminder, Junior Brother.”
Chu Ran accepted the jade slip and politely cupped his fists.
Although this Mission Hall disciple’s cultivation was low—only the third level of Qi Refinement—anyone who could land such a lucrative position in the Mission Hall had some sort of backing.
Among the disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect, the mission to feed the Face-Blood Demon Flower had a private nickname:
Selling blood.
The reason the mission reward was as high as ten spirit stones was that the task was essentially trading one’s life for money.
To feed the flower, one had to water the sinister plant with one’s own blood. A single feeding drained nearly half the blood in the body.
If an ordinary person lost that much blood, they would have died long ago.
Even though cultivators possessed powerful bodies and tenacious vitality, losing half their blood would leave them weak for an entire month.
More importantly, blood contained essence blood.
Ordinary blood was easy to replenish, but essence blood was difficult to restore.
Essence blood was the essence of a cultivator’s qi and blood, closely connected to their cultivation foundation. Once essence blood was lost, one’s combat strength would plummet, and one’s cultivation progress would slow dramatically.
To recover completely, one either had to consume heavenly treasures or precious pills capable of replenishing qi and blood—items expensive enough to bankrupt an ordinary disciple—or obediently wait one or two years for the body to recover on its own.
The price of the loss was far greater than the reward of ten spirit stones.
Therefore, unless they had no other choice, disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect would never accept this mission.
Chu Ran did not care. After all, he would be able to refresh it the next day.
Having accepted the mission, Chu Ran was in no hurry. He wandered around the sect for a while.
It was not until the sun neared the western mountains, when the disciples traveling outside gradually became fewer, that Chu Ran finally made his leisurely way toward the Spirit Herb Hall.
By the time the bright moon hung high in the sky, Chu Ran had finally arrived at the Spirit Herb Hall.
The Spirit Herb Hall occupied a specially cultivated stretch of level ground within the Heavenly Demon Sect.
The fertile spiritual soil covered a full hundred mu. It was dark brown and gave off a faint spiritual glow.
The entire spirit field was enclosed beneath a semitransparent formation barrier, cutting off everything coming in or going out.
Through the semitransparent barrier, one could see spirit herbs of every color growing throughout the fields. Even through the formation, the surging medicinal power could still be felt.
Chu Ran stopped before the entrance to the formation. Holding the jade slip in both hands, he bowed slightly toward the barrier and spoke respectfully.
“Disciple Chu Ran accepted a mission from the Mission Hall and has come to feed the Face-Blood Demon Flower.”
Chu Ran remained in his bow for quite some time before a lazy voice finally came from within.
“You came this late?”
As the voice sounded, the jade slip in Chu Ran’s hands rose into the air on its own, passed through the formation barrier, and disappeared into the night.
“Disciple was delayed by something, which is why I arrived late. I hope Senior will forgive me.”
Chu Ran quickly came up with an excuse.
“Your qi and blood are decent enough. Come in.”
At the entrance to the formation, a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through opened up. A visible stream of azure spiritual power extended from the entrance, seemingly guiding Chu Ran onward.
Chu Ran followed the azure spiritual power through one spirit field after another, surrounded on all sides by medicinal herbs.
He did not dare look around carelessly. Following the guidance of the azure spiritual power, he finally arrived before an enormous red flower.
The flower stood nearly half a person tall. Its five vivid-red petals spread wide, each one roughly the size of a human face.
At the center, more than a hundred stamens were densely intertwined. From a distance, they seemed to form a blurry human face.
The voice sounded again.
“Cut open your palm and place it over the stamens.”
Chu Ran did as instructed. He drew his right fingernail across the palm of his left hand, and blood immediately gushed forth.
He placed the cut over the stamens. It was as though countless greedy little mouths had simultaneously latched onto his wound and begun sucking frantically.
Chu Ran could clearly feel all the blood in his body rushing toward his palm.
His complexion rapidly changed from healthy and ruddy to as pale as paper, while waves of dizziness washed over his head.
These were signs of severe blood loss. If he had been an ordinary person, he would have already passed out.
In a mere ten breaths, half the blood in his body had been absorbed.
“That’s enough!”
Chu Ran hurriedly withdrew his hand. The Face-Blood Demon Flower, now filled with fresh blood, radiated an eerie red glow.
“This is your mission reward.”
As the voice fell, ten spirit stones materialized in front of Chu Ran.
He reached out with his pale hand and tucked the spirit stones into his sleeve.
“Thank you, Senior.”
There was no reply.
The azure spiritual power appeared once more, and Chu Ran followed it out of the formation.
After leaving the Spirit Herb Hall, Chu Ran did not remain there to meditate and recover. He hurried down the mountain.
If midnight passed and the people inside the Spirit Herb Hall discovered him, he would definitely be captured and examined.
He was certain that the person in the Spirit Herb Hall was absolutely a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Fortunately, there was still plenty of time before midnight. When Chu Ran returned to his cave dwelling, half an hour remained before midnight.
The cave dwelling Chu Ran had opened was rather secluded, with no one living within half a li of it.
Moving through the darkness, Chu Ran stealthily made his way to the entrance of his cave.
After confirming that no one was around and that it was safe, Chu Ran walked up to the entrance. He had just reached out to open the door when his hand suddenly stopped in midair.
“No, that’s not right. There’s someone inside my cave dwelling.”