Hidden Mission

Zhenjiang City.

As the prefectural capital of Zhenjiang Prefecture, its grandeur was naturally incomparable to Yuanshan City.

Still a considerable distance away, Lu Qingshan could already see Zhenjiang City in the distance.

The city walls were magnificent, like a towering mountain range blocking the way ahead.

Constructed from Black Steel Rock, the city walls were entirely black, exuding a cold, metallic sheen.

A sense of familiarity arose in Lu Qingshan's heart.

Zhenjiang City, a memory from a long time ago.

Unfortunately, such a grand and imposing city still couldn't stop the Underworld.

Lu Qingshan quickly entered the city.

The first thing he did after entering the city was to go to the Monster Hunter Alliance in Zhenjiang City to settle his mission.

If the mission wasn't settled, it would remain as an unfinished task on his mission record.

A vast mansion located in the western part of Zhenjiang City.

It contained countless pavilions and towers, with numerous servants and maids.

As the prefectural capital, every inch of land in Zhenjiang City was precious. To own such a lavish mansion within the city, the owner's status and position were clearly extraordinary.

This was indeed the case.

The owner of this mansion was none other than an executive of Zhenjiang City, the Foundation Establishment cultivator Cai Heng, also known as Daoist Cai.

"Patriarch," a middle-aged man of ordinary appearance said respectfully as he hurried to the study and stood outside the door.

"Hmm, what is it?" a male voice came from within the study.

"Reporting to the Patriarch, there is a young cultivator outside requesting an audience." The middle-aged man cautiously probed.

The Patriarch had been troubled by something lately, making him somewhat unpredictable.

Therefore, their servants had been acting with extreme caution recently, afraid of displeasing him.

"Hmm? Who is it?" the voice from inside the room revealed a hint of surprise.

A young cultivator?

"That cultivator did not reveal his name."

"However, he said he could resolve the matter that is currently troubling you. I dared not make a decision, so I rushed to seek your guidance, Patriarch."

The person inside the room did not reply. After a long silence.

Finally, the person inside the room made a decision.

"Go invite him in and bring him to my study."

"Yes, I understand."

The middle-aged man walked to the main entrance.

Outside the gate, a young cultivator was waiting.

It was Lu Qingshan.

"Please follow me, young master."

Led by the middle-aged man, Lu Qingshan strode into the Cai residence.

The middle-aged man brought Lu Qingshan to the outside of the study and respectfully reported, "Patriarch, the person has been brought here."

"Come in."

Lu Qingshan pushed open the door and walked in.

Inside the study, there was a sandalwood desk covered with jade slips. Judging by the scene, the owner of this place was likely handling official business.

Seated there was an elderly cultivator with white hair, his gray-white long hair neatly and meticulously combed. He sat upright, like a green pine tree.

The elderly cultivator sized up Lu Qingshan for a moment before finally speaking, "You say you can resolve my current troubles?"

Lu Qingshan looked at the executive Cai, who was nearing the end of his lifespan, and nodded, then slowly said, "Yes, Executive Cai, you wish to find your only child who is living out in the world."

Zhenjiang City would become a living hell a few months later.

And at this very moment, one could only imagine how many Demon Cultivators from the Underworld were hidden within the city.

Why would Lu Qingshan risk coming to such a dangerous place?

Was he intentionally walking into a tiger's den?

Lu Qingshan wasn't that foolish.

He had two reasons that necessitated his visit to Zhenjiang City.

Firstly, his experience points had accumulated enough, and he could break through to Foundation Establishment at any time.

And to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he needed a Foundation Establishment cultivation method.

During the Qi Refining stage, the situation was critical, and out of necessity, he could only choose the common Qi Guiding Technique as his Qi Refining cultivation method.

Fortunately, the impact of Qi Refining cultivation methods wasn't too significant.

However, for Foundation Establishment cultivation methods, he couldn't be so casual anymore.

For his current situation, only in Zhenjiang City could he find high-level Foundation Establishment cultivation methods that suited his needs.

Another very important point was this.

Lu Qingshan needed to construct a specialized combat system.

He needed to learn some new skills to enrich his repertoire.

Nine Heavens didn't limit the number of skills a player could learn.

However, players had a limited amount of experience points. Experience points were needed for leveling up, upgrading skills, and for Sword Cultivators, even for nurturing their life-bound sword.

Mastering many skills poorly was worse than mastering one skill well.

Therefore, normally, players needed to control the number of skills they learned and strive to improve their skill levels.

The skills available in smaller cities like Yuanshan City simply couldn't meet his requirements.

Only major human cities like Zhenjiang City offered access to powerful skills.

And the Steward Cai before him was tied to a hidden quest, the reward for which was a Secret Sword Technique!

In his previous life, he had only heard rumors of this quest and hadn't had the chance to obtain it.

Now that there were no competitors, the quest reward naturally belonged to Lu Qingshan.

The quest background wasn't complicated:

Steward Cai's lifespan was nearing its end, but publicly, Steward Cai had no cultivation partner and no children.

However, Lu Qingshan knew that in reality, Steward Cai had a romantic relationship in his youth.

At that time, Steward Cai had taken a woman from a small family as his cultivation partner, which was a beautiful union.

Later, an evil cultivator violated Great Xia's prohibition and indiscriminately slaughtered innocent civilians to refine evil spirit artifacts.

Steward Cai, as a member of Great Xia's Pacification Department, led cultivators to surround and eliminate the evil cultivator.

Unexpectedly, due to a moment's carelessness, the evil cultivator escaped.

The escaped evil cultivator, holding a grudge, found an opportunity and massacred Steward Cai's partner's entire family.

His cultivation partner, who was pregnant at the time and had gone into the city to find Steward Cai, luckily escaped the massacre.

Upon learning that her entire family was wiped out because of Steward Cai, his partner was overcome with grief. Unable to accept the reality or face Steward Cai, she eventually disappeared, changing her name to hide her identity.

Later, although Steward Cai personally killed that evil cultivator, the irreversible tragedy of losing his wife and child remained.

Steward Cai was now over one hundred and seventy years old.

Qi Refining cultivators lived for one hundred years, and Foundation Establishment cultivators lived for two hundred years.

Recently, Steward Cai had a premonition that his time was running out.

As a person approaches death, his greatest wish now was to see his estranged cultivation partner and child.

In his previous life, this quest was undertaken by a Sword Cultivator player who completed dozens of complex tasks before finally finding Steward Cai's child.

Of course, such a high-difficulty quest yielded an extraordinary reward.

The Secret Sword Technique awarded at the end of the quest was considered a divine skill.

With this Secret Sword Technique, that Sword Cultivator player enjoyed a period of fame.

Unlike that Sword Cultivator player, Lu Qingshan didn't need to undertake the extremely tedious and time-consuming chain of quests.

—He knew from the beginning who Steward Cai's child was and where they were currently located.

Steward Cai's hidden quest was a competitive quest. Although it didn't limit the number of people who could accept it, only one person could receive the reward.

Once someone completed the quest, it would disappear permanently.

Therefore, after completing the quest in his previous life, that Sword Cultivator player generously shared his quest walkthrough on the forum.

Lu Qingshan didn't remember the specific details of the process very clearly after so long.

However, Lu Qingshan clearly remembered the answer to the quest.