Hidden Quest

Zhenjiang City.

As the prefectural capital of Zhenjiang Prefecture, its grandeur was naturally beyond anything Yuanshan City could compare to.

Though he was still some distance away, Lu Qingshan could already see Zhenjiang City in the distance.

Its towering walls stood before him like a majestic mountain range.

Built from Darksteel Rock, the city walls were pitch-black throughout, exuding a cold metallic gleam.

A familiar feeling rose in Lu Qingshan's heart.

Zhenjiang City—memories from long ago.

Unfortunately, even such a magnificent city had still failed to stop the underworld.

Lu Qingshan quickly entered the city.

The first thing he did after entering was head to the Monster Hunter Alliance within Zhenjiang City to settle his mission.

If he did not settle it, that unfinished mission would remain displayed on his mission record.

In the western part of Zhenjiang City stood an enormous residence.

Within it were countless pavilions, towers, and terraces, with groups of arrogant servants and maidservants everywhere.

As the prefectural capital, every inch of land in Zhenjiang City was worth its weight in gold. Anyone who could own such an extravagant mansion within the city was clearly no ordinary person.

And that was indeed the case.

The owner of this residence was none other than one of Zhenjiang City's stewards, the Foundation Establishment cultivator Cai Heng, Daoist Cai.

"Household Head." An ordinary-looking middle-aged man hurried to the study, stopped outside the door, and called respectfully.

"Mhm. What is it?" A man's voice came from within the study.

"Reporting to the Household Head, a young cultivator outside wishes to see you." The middle-aged man probed cautiously.

For some unknown reason, the Household Head had become somewhat moody and unpredictable recently.

Thus, all the servants had been treading on eggshells these days, afraid of provoking him.

"Hm? Who is this visitor?" The person inside sounded slightly surprised.

A young cultivator?

"That cultivator did not reveal his name."

"However, he said he could resolve the matter currently troubling the Household Head. This servant did not dare make the decision himself, so I hurried here to seek your instructions."

The person inside did not answer. After a long silence,

he finally made his decision.

"Go invite him in. Bring him to the study to see me."

"Yes, this subordinate understands."

The middle-aged man walked to the main gate.

A young cultivator was waiting outside.

It was Lu Qingshan.

"Young master, please follow me."

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

The middle-aged man brought Lu Qingshan outside the study and respectfully reported within, "Household Head, the man has arrived."

"Come in."

Lu Qingshan pushed open the door and entered.

Inside the study stood a paulownia wood desk, piled with Jade Slips. From the looks of it, the master of this place had been handling official affairs.

Seated there was an elderly cultivator with graying hair. His ash-white locks were combed impeccably, not a strand out of place. He sat straight-backed, like a verdant pine.

The elderly cultivator sized Lu Qingshan up for a while before finally speaking. "You said you can resolve the matter troubling me?"

Lu Qingshan looked at Steward Cai, who was already nearing the end of his lifespan, nodded, and slowly said, "Yes. Steward Cai, you wish to find your only descendant, who is living somewhere beyond your reach, don't you?"

Several months from now, Zhenjiang City would become a living hell.

At this very moment, one could imagine how many underworld Demon Cultivators were hidden within the city.

Why, then, had Lu Qingshan risked coming to such a dangerous place?

Knowing there was a tiger on the mountain, yet insisting on heading straight for Tiger Mountain?

Lu Qingshan was not that hardheaded.

He had two reasons why he absolutely had to come to Zhenjiang City.

First, he had already accumulated enough experience points to break through to Foundation Establishment at any time.

But to become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he still needed a Foundation Establishment Cultivation Method.

Back when he was at the Qi Refining realm, circumstances had been urgent. Left with no other choice, he could only choose the commonplace Qi Guiding Technique as his Qi Refining cultivation method.

Fortunately, Qi Refining cultivation methods did not have much impact.

But he could not be so careless with his Foundation Establishment Cultivation Method.

For him right now, only Zhenjiang City could provide a high-grade Foundation Establishment Cultivation Method suited to his wishes.

Another extremely important point was this.

Lu Qingshan needed to build a combat system specifically for battle.

He needed to learn new skills and diversify his methods.

"Nine Heavens" imposed no limit on the number of skills players could learn.

But players' experience points were limited. They had to be used to raise levels and upgrade skills, while Sword Cultivators even needed them to nurture their natal swords.

Knowing every trade was worse than mastering one.

Thus, under normal circumstances, players needed to control the number of skills they learned and do their utmost to increase their skill levels.

The skills available in small commandery cities like Yuanshan City simply could not meet his demands.

Only a major human city like Zhenjiang City offered the chance to learn powerful skills.

And this Steward Cai before him was tied to a hidden quest, whose reward was a Secret Sword Technique!

In his previous life, he had only heard of this quest and had never obtained this opportunity.

Now that there were no competitors, the quest reward naturally belonged to Lu Qingshan—who else could it be but him?

The quest's background was not complicated:

Steward Cai's lifespan was nearing its end, yet publicly, he had no Cultivation Partner and no descendants.

But Lu Qingshan knew that Steward Cai had actually experienced a romance in his youth.

At the time, Steward Cai had become Cultivation Partners with a woman from a small lineage. It had originally been a happy match.

Later, an Evil Cultivator violated Great Xia's prohibition, wantonly slaughtered innocent civilians, and refined evil Spirit Artifacts.

At the time, Steward Cai was a member of Great Xia's Pacification Department. He led cultivators to encircle and kill the Evil Cultivator.

Who could have expected that, through a moment of carelessness, he would allow the Evil Cultivator to escape?

The escaped Evil Cultivator nursed a grudge. Finding an opportunity, he slaughtered Steward Cai's Cultivation Partner's entire lineage without leaving a single survivor.

His Cultivation Partner, who was already pregnant at the time, had fortunately gone into the city to find Steward Cai and narrowly escaped the calamity of her household's destruction.

When she learned that her entire household had been massacred because of Steward Cai, grief tore through her heart. Unable to accept it, and even less able to face Steward Cai, she simply concealed her name and vanished.

Later, although Steward Cai personally killed that Evil Cultivator, the fate of a scattered wife and separated child could no longer be changed.

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

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

Recently, Steward Cai had vaguely sensed that his days were numbered.

When a man was nearing death, his greatest wish was now to see the Cultivation Partner and descendant who had been lost to him.

In his previous life, a Sword Cultivator player had run through dozens of stages of complicated quests before finally finding Steward Cai's descendant.

Naturally, a quest of such immense difficulty offered no ordinary reward.

The Secret Sword Technique awarded at the end of the quest could be called a divine skill.

With that Secret Sword Technique, that Sword Cultivator player had basked in glory for quite some time.

Unlike that Sword Cultivator player, Lu Qingshan did not need to complete that exceedingly cumbersome and time-consuming chain quest.

—From the very beginning, he knew who Steward Cai's descendant was and where he was at this moment.

Steward Cai's hidden quest was a competitive quest. Although there was no limit on how many people could accept it, only one person could receive the reward.

Once someone completed the quest, it would disappear forever.

Therefore, after completing the quest in his previous life, that Sword Cultivator player had generously posted his quest process on the forum.

After so much time, Lu Qingshan no longer remembered the specific details very clearly.

But he remembered the answer to the quest with perfect clarity.