Task Rewards Are Too Weak!

Task Rewards Are Too Weak!

Ye Weiming rode back to Tokyo Bianliang City in a carriage with Sanyue. Along the way, he bought the Four Treasures of the Study, a jar of paste, and a pair of scissors. After bringing Sanyue into the Divine Constable Bureau, Ye Weiming returned directly to his room.

The Divine Constable Bureau's benefits were actually quite good. Aside from free work uniforms, he had even been assigned an apartment. Although the room was small enough to fit only a table, chair, and bed, it was at least a private space where he could return and rest whenever he was tired from grinding monsters and doing quests.

After entering the room and opening the window, Ye Weiming used the "Internal Skill Insights" dropped by Chou Ba. His Breathing Technique happened to rise by one level.

Afterward, Ye Weiming took out the beginner lightness skill called "Eight-Step Toad Leap." Once used, the manual turned into a streak of white light and vanished, adding another entry to Ye Weiming's Skill Panel.

Eight-Step Toad Leap (Beginner)

Level: 1

Proficiency: 0/250

A widely circulated ground-level lightness skill in the martial world. It could greatly increase movement speed.

Agility +20

Without hesitation, Ye Weiming used the cultivation he had gained from killing Chou Ba and completing the quest to raise "Eight-Step Toad Leap" to Level 3.

Cultivation was a good thing. It could be converted into proficiency for any martial art, making it equivalent to universal proficiency. However, it was difficult to obtain. Even after exceeding the quest requirements and killing a Level 25 BOSS above his own level, Ye Weiming had only gained 800 points.

After all that, Ye Weiming's attributes underwent another major change.

Ye Weiming

Level: 13

Health: 680/680

Internal Energy: 530/530

Physique: 66

Arm Strength: 66

Agility: 131

Reaction: 66

Aptitude: 25

Comprehension: 28

Breathing Technique (Low-grade)

Level: 6

Proficiency: 32/3200

Health +300, Internal Energy +300

Physique +30, Arm Strength +30, Agility +30, Reaction +30

Moon Maiden Swordplay (Low-grade)

Level: 6

Eight-Step Toad Leap (Beginner)

Level: 3

Proficiency: 0/1000

Agility +60

Beginner techniques really were powerful. At last, one of Ye Weiming's four core attributes had exceeded one hundred.

After converting today's gains into strength, Ye Weiming took out his biggest haul of the day, the "Strange Wooden Block."

No matter how he looked at it, its structure resembled a third-order Rubik's Cube. However, a normal third-order Rubik's Cube used different colors to distinguish its faces, while this "Strange Wooden Block" had no color differences at all. Instead, it was covered in carvings that were impossible to understand.

But that did not stump Ye Weiming.

Taking out the Four Treasures of the Study he had bought earlier, Ye Weiming first copied all the patterns on the cube's six faces. Then, he used the scissors to cut out the pattern on each individual piece. He reassembled them like a jigsaw puzzle and pasted them onto the same sheet of paper. Only then did he discover that the special cube was carved with five landscape paintings and a poem.

The five landscape paintings depicted Mount Tai Sunrise, Jade Plate of Cloud Sea, Sunset Glow, Golden Belt of the Yellow Sea—the four great wonders of Mount Tai—as well as a distant view of Eighteen Bends.

The final face bore the ever-changing Poet Sage's "Looking at Mount Tai":

How is Mount Tai? The green of Qi and Lu is endless.

Nature's creation has gathered its wonders, Yin and yang divide dusk and dawn.

Clouds rise from my heart, My eyes strain to follow the returning birds.

I will ascend to the summit, And see all mountains dwarfed below.

It was not hard to infer from the poem and paintings that the secret hidden within this Rubik's Cube was definitely connected to Mount Tai.

Ye Weiming pressed on and, following the arrangement of the poem and paintings, marked all fifty-four pieces of the cube.

The preparations took him a full hour.

Looking at the results of his hour's work, Ye Weiming finally revealed a satisfied smile. After briefly studying the structure of the marked cube, he began twisting it rapidly.

Back when Ye Weiming was still in school, interesting fads would occasionally sweep through the campus. Besides useless skills like spinning pens and books, there were also puzzle games such as Rubik's Cubes and Chinese ring puzzles.

"Click, click, click..."

Amid a series of crisp sounds, the cube's six faces gradually returned to their proper positions.

About thirty seconds later...

"Snap!"

With Ye Weiming's final twist of the top face, aligning all six sides, a different sound immediately came from within the cube. Then, the face engraved with "Looking at Mount Tai" popped entirely out of the cube, revealing a tiny hidden compartment inside. A paper ball the size of a marble rolled out.

Speaking of which, couldn't he get whatever was hidden this way just by smashing the cube?

Shaking his head, Ye Weiming still felt that idea was too risky. Since Old Man Li had dared use it to hide a secret, he must have left some sort of safeguard. If Ye Weiming really did that, there was a ninety percent chance that the little paper ball would be destroyed along with the cube.

Picking up the paper ball from the table, he carefully unfolded it and saw several lines of cursive writing. Old Man Li truly deserved to be called a senior martial arts master. His handwriting was excellent, but Ye Weiming could not recognize more than a few characters.

The handwriting was simply too cursive!

Just as Ye Weiming was considering whether to ask Zhan Zhao for help translating it, a notification suddenly popped up in the system interface.

Ding! You have uncovered the secret of the "Strange Wooden Block" and obtained a treasure clue: I obtained the Taishan Sect's strongest sword technique, but achieved no results after training bitterly for ten years. After retiring from the martial world, I could not bear to discard it, so I hid it within the Underground Palace beneath Leifeng Pagoda. The specific location of the treasure and necessary precautions are as follows: ...

Turning the paper over, he found a simple map marking the manual's exact location.

Leifeng Pagoda?

In other words, Old Man Li had first studied martial arts in the Taishan Sect, then retired to Dukang Village. After failing to comprehend that so-called strongest sword technique of the Taishan Sect even after retirement, he had run all the way to Hangzhou to hide it?

Martial artists really knew how to make trouble!

Although he inwardly scorned Old Man Li's pointless running around, the temptation of a Martial Arts Manual still made Ye Weiming decide to make the trip himself. Before that, however, he needed to take a few quests of the same level near Hangzhou from Zhan Zhao.

What Ye Weiming had not expected was that Zhan Zhao was not around today. The NPC issuing quests had been replaced by the iron-masked man, You Jin.

"If you're going to Hangzhou, I do have a very good quest to recommend." After learning why Ye Weiming had come, You Jin proactively recommended a quest to him.

Dragon Gate Escort Agency

Quest Level: Five Stars

The Dragon Gate Escort Agency in Hangzhou faces the danger of annihilation. As a lawful martial-world organization that pays its taxes according to regulations, the Divine Constable Bureau is obligated to provide it with protection. Go to the Dragon Gate Escort Agency, uncover the truth, and report the real situation back to the Divine Constable Bureau by carrier pigeon. Protect the Dragon Gate Escort Agency's entire household.

Quest Reward: 5,000 experience, 500 cultivation, 100 gold.

After reading the quest, Ye Weiming politely stated, "I'm not taking it!"

You Jin fell silent for several seconds. It was impossible to see how his expression changed beneath the black iron mask. Only after several seconds did he ask, "Why?"

"This subordinate lacks the strength and fears delaying important matters. I ask Lord You to find someone more capable." Though he claimed that he lacked sufficient strength, the real reason Ye Weiming refused the quest was...

The quest rewards were too weak!