Ye Xiwen returned from the back mountain of Green Peak Mountain to the Yi Yuan Sect and arrived at the Hall of Merit. There, besides exchanging things like Demon Cores and medicinal herbs for points, one could also exchange points for such items. Tasks could also be accepted within the Hall of Merit.
Some of these tasks were issued by people outside the sect; others came from disciples within the sect, or even elders. The rewards offered were a wild jumble of strange and varied things, but Low-Grade Spirit Stones were the main currency. That was why Ye Xiwen had come here. If he wanted to earn Spirit Stones, aside from hunting demon beasts, he could only take on these tasks.
The rewards varied entirely according to the difficulty.
These tasks were also divided into four ranks: Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, and Grade D, corresponding respectively to elders, Core Disciples, Inner Disciples, and Outer Gate Disciples. The higher the rank, the greater the difficulty—and the greater the reward.
Now that Ye Xiwen was a Core Disciple, he could accept Grade B tasks and above.
Compared to the bustling crowds before the Grade C and Grade D tasks, there were very few disciples on the Grade B side, only a sparse handful. Core Disciples were few to begin with, and most of them were out traveling and gaining experience.
Ye Xiwen swept his gaze over the posted tasks. Compared with the Grade C and Grade D tasks, which were frequently replaced, Grade B tasks were updated far less often.
"Seeking Heavenly Cold Grass from the depths of Green Peak Mountain... Reward: three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"
"Seeking one Blood Wolf King Crystalline Core... Reward: five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"
Ye Xiwen looked through them one by one. These tasks varied in difficulty, with rewards ranging from one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones to more than a thousand. To Inner Disciples, such amounts were astronomical; even for ordinary Core Disciples, they were no small sum. After all, their monthly stipend was only three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
Yet the difficulty of these tasks rose one after another. Take the Blood Wolf King, for instance—it was a terrifying demon beast at the peak of the Houtian Eighth Stage. Worse still, it was constantly surrounded by a pack of blood wolves ranging from the Houtian Fifth Stage to the Houtian Seventh Stage. The vast majority of Core Disciples absolutely could not complete this task.
Ye Xiwen continued looking down when he suddenly caught sight of a task that had only been added today.
"Escort a batch of medicinal herbs from Qingfeng Trading Company to Tian Yuan City... Reward: three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones! Requirement: Houtian Seventh Stage or above!"
Ye Xiwen's eyes immediately lit up. Three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones—if he could obtain that many, it would undoubtedly resolve his pressing crisis. He could even cultivate the Crescent Moon Slash to great mastery and further advance his cultivation.
Yet an ordinary escort task was offering an astonishing reward of three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Even a Core Disciple would need nearly a year to save up that many Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
Although its requirement was extremely high—disciples above the Houtian Seventh Stage were considered experts even among Core Disciples—it still seemed rather abrupt.
The Yi Yuan Sect stood atop Green Peak Mountain, while Qingfeng Trading Company was the largest trading company in Qingfeng Town at the foot of the mountain. It usually dealt mainly in medicinal herbs. Tian Yuan City was the nearest city to Green Peak Mountain, only about half a day's journey away. If one set out in the morning, one could arrive by evening.
There were many such escort tasks among Grade C and Grade D tasks, but seeing someone offer three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones in one breath was absolutely rare.
No matter what, Ye Xiwen was desperately short of Spirit Stones right now. He could only accept it first and see what happened.
After accepting the task, Ye Xiwen learned from a steward that he was to gather at the entrance of Qingfeng Trading Company in Qingfeng Town at the foot of the mountain early tomorrow morning.
Once he had confirmed the details, Ye Xiwen did not linger long in the Hall of Merit. He returned directly to his small courtyard and continued his secluded cultivation.
Within the special space, Ye Xiwen's figure darted and shifted without cease. Often, in just a few steps, he could appear somewhere extremely far away. The power of the high-grade technique, Heavenly Immortal Steps, was displayed in full, and Ye Xiwen had already cultivated it to great mastery.
Yet Ye Xiwen had always felt that this was still far from its limit. It was as though he had reached a bottleneck, but not the end.
Ye Xiwen knew that the Heavenly Immortal Steps was actually a Xiantian-level technique, but its latter portion had been damaged, leaving it only capable of being cultivated to the level of a high-grade technique. Under normal circumstances, if this was all there was, he should already have cultivated it to its peak—unless he could obtain the latter portion of the Heavenly Immortal Steps.
But after cultivating it, Ye Xiwen discovered that this was not the case. After reaching great mastery, he continued cultivating and found that he could actually go further. Moreover, information and insights that had never existed in the Heavenly Immortal Steps before surged into his mind, touching upon matters both profound and mysterious.
This left Ye Xiwen utterly astonished. Could it be that this special space could not only accelerate the cultivation of martial arts, but even derive portions that had originally been missing?
If that were true, it would be wonderful. Ye Xiwen would gain another Xiantian-level technique for free. Together with the Cold Moon Slash and the Ming Yu Gong, he would possess three Xiantian-level techniques. If he could cultivate them all to great mastery, the effect would be terrifying.
Quite a few Xiantian-level experts did not even have three Xiantian-level techniques to cultivate.
When that time came, Ye Xiwen's strength would leap up another level!
But clearly, deriving the latter parts of a technique also required a huge number of Spirit Stones. And right now, what Ye Xiwen needed most was Spirit Stones.
That made this mission all the more something he had to win.
Soon, dawn broke. Ye Xiwen left the Yi Yuan Sect and followed the mountain road down the mountain. This was the first time he had gone down the mountain since transmigrating. After transmigrating, he had been lost and confused; once that period passed, he had thrown himself into improving his strength. Only now did he have the chance to come down and take a look.
Qingfeng Town at the foot of Green Peak Mountain was called a town, but its population exceeded ten thousand. Warriors came and went everywhere—some from the Yi Yuan Sect, some independent cultivators, and some warriors from other places. Because Green Peak Mountain contained many demon beasts, many warriors came here to hunt them.
Over time, this place had gradually become an exceptionally prosperous little town.
According to the memories of his predecessor, he had gone down the mountain several times before and knew where Qingfeng Trading Company was. The town was not that large, and Ye Xiwen easily found Qingfeng Trading Company.
A servant at the entrance of the trading company saw Ye Xiwen approach and stepped forward to ask, "Excuse me, are you the outstanding disciple of the Yi Yuan Sect who accepted our trading company's escort mission?"
The Yi Yuan Sect enjoyed lofty prestige throughout the surrounding region.
"Yes." Ye Xiwen nodded.
"Then please come with me," the servant said.
Brothers, can you give Xiao Chen a hand and push this up?
Before you continue