How Do You Know I'm Not Up to the Task?

Bai Lan rubbed her forehead. "How old are you?"

"Five months old!" the system said with a serious expression.

Bai Lan: "..."

She had nearly forgotten—the system was a newborn system, only born five months ago.

Waving a hand, Bai Lan sighed helplessly. "Forget it. You two go play."

Over the next few months, Bai Ling would begin closed-door cultivation under True Person Qing Xuan's guidance, while Long Aotian next door would be encountering new female romantic interests.

For the time being, neither of them needed her attention. She needed to find a way to earn Spirit Stones.

Cultivating with one Spirit Stone a day was far too slow. She needed more Spirit Stones to aid her cultivation.

Other people cultivated immortality by cultivating immortality.

When she cultivated immortality, it was like playing a pay-to-win game—she had to wildly spend Spirit Stones to advance.

Leaving the miscellaneous workers' small courtyard, Bai Lan headed straight for the Outer Sect Mission Hall. Seeing this, the system stopped bothering the Artifact Spirit and shouted as it followed her.

"Host, what are you going to do? Take me with you!"

The system and the Artifact Spirit floated after her, one to the left and one to the right.

Bai Lan halted and looked around. Seeing no one nearby, she backhandedly shoved the Artifact Spirit back into the Black Stone Space.

The system could hide itself like an intelligent AI, but the Artifact Spirit truly existed.

"Your identity is special. It'll be easy for others to notice something amiss. Without my permission, don't come out lightly in the future," Bai Lan instructed in a low voice.

The Void Stone contained a universe within it, concealing an entire world.

This thing was far more eye-catching than Bai Ling's White Jade Bracelet Space.

Those old monsters at the Nascent Soul and Divinity Transformation Stages would not merely be interested in it—they would even stop at nothing to seize it.

If the White Jade Bracelet Space was related to ancient cultivators, then the Void Stone was connected to immortals and gods, ascension, and even the laws of creation.

She still wanted to live a few more years.

For her own safety, the Artifact Spirit's existence absolutely could not be exposed.

"But! But..." The Artifact Spirit wanted to refuse, yet hesitated.

It had once held no interest whatsoever in the outside world because it had been born from darkness. Having never seen light, it had assumed the world outside was the same.

But after seeing the outside world, returning to the Void Stone made the contrast painfully clear.

Bai Lan quickly understood. After a moment of silence, she comforted the Artifact Spirit. "Don't panic. I won't let the Void Stone remain dark forever. In a while, I'll buy some luminous pearls or other lighting items. Then there'll be a source of light inside the Void Stone."

The Void Stone had already formed a complete connection with her. Her consciousness was like the laws of the world inside it, freely controlling every object within the Void Stone.

Within it stood a world of its own, with her consciousness as its laws.

It truly was ingenious.

Who hadn't played a home-building simulation game before? Wasn't it just building a world of one's own in a realm of nothingness?

Building houses, farming fields, developing an ecosystem.

From a small courtyard, expanding into a city, a country, even a continent...

That was the joy of building and nurturing.

But the prerequisite for everything was Spirit Stones.

The Outer Sect Mission Hall stood at the foot of the Outer Sect's main peak. Upon entering, one could see countless jade plaques hanging densely across all four walls.

Sweeping them with divine sense revealed the information recorded within the jade plaques.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you don't lose it next time.

--Elder Qin of Pill Peak urgently needs one pill attendant. Those familiar with the properties of spirit herbs will be prioritized. Ten sect Contribution Points per day.

--Long-term recruitment: disciples to tend spirit fields on the outer peaks. Those who know the Rainfall Spell may apply.

--Only one position available: processing demon beast materials. Contribution Points settled daily, ten Contribution Points per day.

--Do you have a Dao companion? Gender and cultivation level irrelevant. If not, I'll come ask again next time.

--Purchasing demon beast materials at high prices. Interested parties, seek Wu Gang of Iron Refining Peak.

With merely a stretch of divine sense, all this information appeared clearly before her eyes.

However, with her early Qi Refining cultivation, the number of jade plaques she could see was limited. At present, she could only see one-tenth of them. The remaining plaques seemed to be under restrictions, visible and available only to disciples with higher cultivation.

Ten Contribution Points exchanged for one Spirit Stone.

She urgently needed Spirit Stones, yet most of the tasks on these jade plaques did not suit her.

Those simple tasks commonly taken by low-level disciples were not only time-consuming, but also poorly rewarded.

Bai Lan was very interested in the notice saying, "purchasing demon beast materials at high prices."

Purchasing at high prices should mean plenty of Contribution Points or Spirit Stones, right?

But the strength of a low-level demon beast was basically equivalent to that of a human cultivator at the middle Qi Refining Stage.

But...

A thread of spiritual energy formed in her hand, and Bai Lan removed the wooden plaque offering high prices for demon beast materials.

The moment the plaque landed in her hand, it hummed and transmitted a voice.

"Mission accepted."

"Connecting you to the client."

Similar voices sounded all around, coming from the plaques held by many Qi Refining stage disciples who had removed them.

After a while, a young man's voice came from Bai Lan's plaque, with plenty of noise in the background. "Has someone accepted the demon beast hunting mission? I'm Wu Gang of Iron Refining Peak, and I'm urgently in need of demon beast materials."

"That's me. Let's discuss the price first." Bai Lan went straight to the point.

"May I ask which peak Junior Sister belongs to, and what your current cultivation is?"

"A disciple of the Menial Peak, Qi Refining level two." Bai Lan answered crisply.

The other side fell silent for a long while.

"Are you here to make a fool of me?" Wu Gang finally asked in a muffled voice.

Bai Lan chuckled. "And how do you know I'm not up to the task?"

For ordinary Qi Refining level two disciples, they were still toiling away at cultivation with their heads down, practicing again and again the low-grade Mystical Techniques they had painstakingly exchanged for through sect missions.

But Bai Lan had already committed every low-grade Mystical Technique in the outer sect's Library Pavilion to memory, and she had the cheat ability to reload saves.

Even if low-grade demon beasts were difficult and troublesome to kill, as long as she killed one a hundred times, even at Qi Refining level two, she could kill it in return.

Back when she played games, she had loved challenging bosses alone without taking a single hit.

She only needed to repeatedly figure out a demon beast's attack patterns and combat logic, evade its attacks, strike at its weaknesses, and avoid all damage to successfully hunt it.

Wu Gang spoke awkwardly. "It's not that I'm looking down on you, Junior Sister. The last person to take my mission was a senior brother from Sword Peak, at Qi Refining level six. He went to the Hundred Thousand Mountains for half a month and got chased all over the mountains by a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast. By the time he made it back to the sect alive, he was already so badly injured he couldn't get back up."

Wu Gang took a drink of water as he spoke. "If he hadn't been seriously injured and cut off my supply of artifact-refining materials, I wouldn't have posted another sect mission."

"No need to say more. Just tell me what demon beast you need. I'll kill a few and show you." Bai Lan's tone was calm.

Wu Gang coughed lightly. "Then... all right. A first-rank Whirlwind Tortoise. They often dwell in shallow shoals, and their shells are excellent artifact-refining materials. Junior Sister, be careful not to damage the shell when hunting them, or their value will be greatly reduced."