Ning made his way toward the Mission Hall.
Now that he had reached the third stage of Qi Condensation, his next goal was naturally the fourth. He still had more than five months remaining, and if he managed to break through into mid-stage Qi Condensation before then, the sect would reward him with a Cleansing Pill.
After asking around, Ning had learned just how valuable that pill actually was. Even the cheapest ones sold for more than a thousand spirit stones.
A thousand.
Even if he had no use for the pill himself, selling it would be enough to wipe out his debts in one go.
"Truly, human desire is endless," Ning muttered.
A few months ago, reaching the third stage had been his grand goal. He had finally achieved it, and rather than being satisfied, his first thought had immediately become,
Alright, now how do I reach the fourth?
Such was life.
Unfortunately, ambition alone didn't make one's cultivation rise. Pills cost spirit stones. Cultivation resources cost spirit stones. Almost everything useful in this damned world cost spirit stones.
Hence, the Mission Hall.
Like most of the Pure Qi Sect's major buildings, the Mission Hall was an imposing multi-storied pagoda with sweeping tiled roofs and enough space inside to accommodate hundreds of disciples. Ning had barely stepped through the entrance when he noticed that a sizable crowd had gathered around one of the counters.
Rather than squeeze himself into the commotion, he walked over to a relatively deserted counter nearby.
"Senior Sister, what's going on over there?" Ning asked the attendant. "Is something happening today?"
"Hm?" The outer sect senior sister behind the counter barely looked away from the crowd. "Looks like there's going to be a fight. Keep your voice down for a bit. I don't want to miss the good part."
Ning stared at her for a moment.
Then, curious despite himself, he followed her gaze toward the center of the commotion.
Almost immediately, he spotted a familiar face.
Xiao Fan.
Of course it was Xiao Fan.
Ning sighed. He really should have known the moment someone mentioned a fight.
As if following some ancient law of the cultivation world, several disciples had already gathered around Xiao Fan and were openly mocking him.
"That trash is actually accepting that mission? Even someone at the fourth stage of Qi Condensation would struggle with it. Has he finally decided to kill himself?"
Ning looked toward the speaker, then toward the several others happily joining in.
His expression slowly became strange.
Why the hell is everyone so braindead around this guy?
At this point, Ning was beginning to seriously suspect that the protagonist halo came with some sort of intelligence-reduction field.
The situation was painfully familiar. Xiao Fan would accept a mission supposedly far beyond his abilities. Everyone would mock him for overestimating himself. Then, a week or two later, he would return after completing it, face slapping all the haters.
Ning could practically see the arc forming in real time.
Xiao Fan, however, seemed completely uninterested in playing along. Either he didn't care about the mockery or, more likely, he'd simply grown used to it by now. He handed over his mission form, ignored the jeers around him, and walked away without so much as acknowledging them.
The disciples who had been hoping for a confrontation watched him leave before gradually dispersing.
"Eh? That's it?" The senior sister behind the counter visibly deflated. "No fight? I thought we'd at least get some blood."
Ning looked at her.
She seemed to belong firmly to the ancient and respected school of
not my problem, therefore entertaining.
She was one of my people fr.
A moment later, she finally remembered that Ning existed. "Wait, you're still here? I thought you'd join that line."
"Line?"
Ning followed her gaze and discovered that the counter Xiao Fan had just left already had another queue forming in front of it. Within moments, it had grown long enough to rival a bank on payday.
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"Is there something special about that counter, Senior Sister?"
"Hoho." Her expression immediately turned smug, as though Ning had just asked exactly the question she'd been waiting for. "Glad you asked. That counter is handled by none other than Senior Sister Qi Xia."
Ning blinked. "Qi Xia? One of the Ten Beauties of the Outer Sect?"
Cultivation societies really did love ranking everything.
Strongest disciples, greatest geniuses, most promising talents and, naturally, the most beautiful women.
The Ten Beauties were essentially a leaderboard for the most attractive female cultivators in the outer sect. Of course, there was also a corresponding ranking for men-The Ten Gentlemen-but that one received considerably less attention.
Ning generally avoided getting too involved in sect gossip, mostly because sect gossip had an alarming tendency to become sect drama, and sect drama had an even more alarming tendency to end with someone drawing a sword. Still, he made sure to know the important names.
Information was information.
"That's right." The senior sister nodded happily. "She's been stationed here for almost a month. Half the male disciples in the outer sect suddenly discovered that they have missions to accept every day."
Ning glanced toward the line again.
That explained a lot.
"Even that commotion earlier started because Senior Sister Qi Xia gave that junior brother a protective talisman," she added. Then she leaned forward with a lazy grin. "So? Want to join the line? If everyone goes over there, I can slack off in peace."
"I'm only here to accept a mission," Ning replied politely. "I'll leave the queue to those who need it more."
He glanced once more at the absurd line.
Seriously, where did these people find the time?
Ning was out here calculating how many cultivation cycles he could squeeze into a day, while these people were apparently willing to spend an afternoon standing in line for the privilege of exchanging three sentences with a beautiful senior sister.
Truly, simps were a powerful species in any world, sustained entirely by imagination and unreasonable optimism.
Naturally, Ning kept that observation to himself.
He might have common sense, but that common sense also told him that insulting an entire line of people would result in him getting a beating.
"Also, Junior Brother..." The senior sister suddenly sniffed the air, her attention shifting away from the crowd. "Did you bring food? I smell something good."
Ning blinked.
What kind of nose did this woman have?
"It's my lunch, Senior Sister." He hesitated for a moment before an idea occurred to him. "Actually, this is my first time taking a mission. If Senior Sister wouldn't mind explaining how things work here, I'd be happy to share some."
Her eyes immediately brightened, only for her expression to turn serious a moment later. "Junior Brother, are you trying to bribe an attendant of the Mission Hall? We're not supposed to accept gifts, you know."
Ning smiled innocently. "How could it be a bribe? This is merely a junior showing appreciation for a hardworking senior sister who has been standing behind this counter all day."
She stared at him.
Ning stared back.
Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "Well, when you put it like that, refusing would almost be rude."
Ning nodded seriously. "Exactly."
"You're quite good with words, Junior Brother." She happily accepted the offered food.
And so, having absolutely
not
accepted a bribe, the senior sister happily began explaining the Mission Hall while Ning brought out his lunch.
"Missions are divided into five colors: green, yellow, red, purple, and black. The color generally represents the danger involved." She took the egg sandwich Ning offered her and pointed toward the mission boards. "Green missions are the safest. Most are inside the sect: maintenance work, deliveries, helping different halls, that sort of thing. Repairing the martial arenas is a common one."
"The martial arenas?"
"They get destroyed constantly." She took a bite of the sandwich. "Permit two cultivators to fight and the one to suffer the most would always be the arena. We hire Earth-attribute cultivators to repair them."
Ning nodded. That sounded about right for a cultivation sect.
"Yellow missions usually take you outside the sect, but they're still relatively safe. Red missions involve real danger and often combat. Some can keep you away for months." She raised another finger. "Purple and black missions are generally restricted to Foundation Establishment cultivators and above. Those are also where you start seeing merit points among the rewards. Anything below that usually pays in spirit stones."
"I see." Ning nodded thoughtfully. "I'm still a first-year spiritual farmer, so I can't leave the sect for long. I have fields to take care of every day. Would Senior Sister happen to know of any missions suitable for me?"
The senior sister stopped chewing and gave him a knowing look.
"So this was your real objective."
"Senior Sister misunderstands me." Ning's expression remained perfectly sincere. "This junior is merely seeking guidance from someone far more experienced."
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes and reached for the jade tablet beside her. "Who told me to eat your food?"
That was exactly what Ning had been hoping for.
Ordinary disciples had to search through the available missions themselves, but the attendants had access to mission jades that could quickly filter through the listings according to a disciple's requirements.
The senior sister tapped the jade a few times. "Since you're a spiritual farmer, what's your level in the Small Cloud Rain Technique?"
"Minor Accomplishment."
Her hand paused.
"Already?" She gave him a more careful look before nodding appreciatively. "Not bad, Junior Brother. No wonder you're already looking for extra work. Most new spiritual farmers spend their first year just getting themselves established."
A few moments later, she pulled out two mission slips and placed them before him.
[An outer sect senior brother is leaving the sect for an extended mission. Maintain his spiritual garden using the Small Cloud Rain Technique.
Duration: Three months.
Reward: 105 spirit stones.]
[An inner sect senior sister is leaving the sect for an extended mission. Maintain her spiritual garden using the Small Cloud Rain Technique.
Duration: Three months.
Reward: 100 spirit stones.]
Ning looked between the two slips. The work was practically identical, the duration was the same, and the difference in payment was only five spirit stones.
"If you can't decide, take the second one," the senior sister said between bites of his sandwich.
Ning glanced up. "Even though it pays less?"
"Five spirit stones less." She waved dismissively. "The inner sect residences have much denser spiritual qi, and her garden has its own gathering formation. As long as you finish your work properly, nobody cares if you cultivate there afterward. You'll make up those five stones easily."
Ning's eyes shifted back to the mission slip.
Now
that
was useful information.
"I see. Thank you for the advice, Senior Sister."
"Don't mention it." She reached for another piece of his lunch.
Ning watched it disappear into her mouth.
He didn't mind losing his lunch. Not at all.
Anyone claiming otherwise was a liar.
Still, information was valuable, and the lunch had already been sacrificed to the greater cause. He might as well get his spirit stones' worth out of it.
"Then please register me for the inner sect mission, Senior Sister."
...
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