The next day, daylight tore through the window paper.
Su Ling'er opened her eyes and stretched. A warm current welled up from her dantian, nourishing her entire body.
Her Spiritual Power was more abundant than ever before.
She had finally reached Qi Refining Great Perfection...!
This was a realm she had never even dared to dream of reaching back at Qing Xu Temple.
Under normal circumstances, even if she cultivated diligently, she would probably be well past seventy by the time she reached Qi Refining Great Perfection.
But now, she had gone from Qi Refining Level 3 to Qi Refining Great Perfection in just one day!
The Demonic Sect's foundations were truly unfathomable!
Yet the sticky, warm blood from yesterday seemed to spatter across her face all over again.
The unwilling wail of that disciple as he died, and that so-called "admiration," still circled through her mind.
Three days...
She sat up and clenched her fists. She had at most five days!
Before they threw her onto that forging platform to endure thousands upon thousands of hammer blows, she had to gather enough intelligence, send some of it back, and then... escape!
"Knock, knock, knock."
A knock came unexpectedly.
"Little Junior Sister, are you awake?"
"We've still got things to do today! Wake up, the sun's already shining on your butt!"
Lin Qingfeng's voice slipped in through the crack beneath the door.
Here he comes!
Su Ling'er took a deep breath. In an instant, she put on the look of someone still overcome with grief over yesterday's "Senior Brother dying because he admired her."
Her eyes held a hint of exhaustion and bewilderment, making her seem all the more pitiful.
She composed her expression and straightened her clothes before going to the door and opening the shabby wooden door.
She looked at Senior Disciple Brother standing outside...
She had already made the journey to the Transmission Hall once before.
Lin Qingfeng walked ahead, his dark robes fluttering, his back giving off an otherworldly air.
"Little Junior Sister, are you still upset over what happened to Junior Brother yesterday?"
Su Ling'er lowered her head. Her voice was heavy with sorrow, and she did not answer.
Lin Qingfeng sighed, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed at the sky as he spoke slowly:
"Alas... the cultivation world has always been this cruel. Life and death often hang on a single thought.
"When I struck yesterday, it was merely a normal defensive counterattack after we were attacked. It was also to help you see that relying on external objects is ultimately a misguided path.
"You heard what that Junior Brother said, too. If he had cultivated the Sword Refining Art, he wouldn't have died!
"It was because he was too fragile, unable to withstand even a single magical treasure, that he perished!
"The Sword Refining Art tempers the body until it is indestructible. Then you need not rely on external objects, and you need not fear powerful enemies!
"Your Dao heart is one in ten thousand. You're the perfect candidate to cultivate this art!"
Su Ling'er's steps faltered slightly.
What artful coaxing!
What a "good senior brother," thinking so far ahead for his junior sister's future!
If she hadn't watched him take a life while chatting and laughing, treating someone's death as a performance;
if she hadn't personally heard them loudly conspiring to tie her up and make her cultivate...
she might actually have believed him!
The Transmission Hall was still the same magnificent great hall.
A figure emerged from the depths of the hall. It was Elder Qian.
His steps were still stiff, and his eyes were still vacant.
Whenever Su Ling'er saw Elder Qian like this, her resolve to "eradicate the demonic path" grew a little firmer.
A senior of the Righteous Path had died only to be refined into a flesh-and-blood puppet, forced to serve the Demonic Sect forever. What a tragic and lamentable fate!
But when she remembered how she had previously received the Myriad Transformations Return to Origin True Manual through an infusion from Elder Qian, a glimmer of hope remained in her heart.
She hurried forward and bowed deeply to Elder Qian.
"Su Ling'er pays her respects to Elder Qian.
"This disciple has now reached Qi Refining Great Perfection and feels that a breakthrough is imminent, but she has yet to learn a protective art and is apprehensive.
"May I ask if the sect has any cultivation methods suited to this disciple, so that she may serve the sect better?"
Her actions were meant both to gather intelligence and uncover cultivation methods for Qing Xu Temple, and because she genuinely hoped to obtain another powerful art.
Elder Qian's utterly lifeless eyes finally settled on her.
After a moment, he spoke, his voice devoid of all emotion:
"You, Su Ling'er, have made no contribution to the sect."
"Without merit, you shall receive no reward."
"There are no suitable cultivation methods for you here."
"If you seek an immortal opportunity, first contribute to the sect."
Elder Qian turned his head toward the left side of the Transmission Hall.
"Inner hall. The Mission Elder's office. That is your path forward."
The Mission Elder's office was bustling with voices.
Hundreds of disciples crowded in front of a massive stone wall, chattering excitedly.
"Forming a team to challenge the seventy-fifth floor of the Monster Locking Tower! Anyone interested? We're still short a tank—any senior or junior brother or sister want to join?"
"Yesterday, I escorted Qian Buyu to a pavilion to look for an ancient book he'd forgotten, and that guy got stuck in a rock again!
"I failed the mission. Everyone, be careful with this awful task. If he gets stuck, all you can do is abandon it!"
More than a hundred jade slips on the stone wall glowed with varying brightness.
Su Ling'er's gaze swept across them.
[Slay the monsters on the twenty-fifth floor of the Monster Locking Tower fifteen times]
[Escort the designated Elder Qian to a pavilion to look for an ancient book]
[Help Elder Qian tend the Spirit Beast Garden]
[Go to Reflection Cliff and watch over disciples who have broken the rules]
Aside from the tasks involving Elder Qian, they all seemed fairly normal.
And these people didn't look as if they were being coerced. If anything, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Little Junior Sister, your turn.
"The tasks here are relatively simple since you've only just started taking them.
"But the more you complete, the better the rewards will get."
Rewards...
Su Ling'er thought of the spirit stones from the Monster Locking Tower and the gift from the Dao Seeking Ladder that had directly boosted her cultivation. A faint sense of anticipation stirred in her heart.
What kind of task would she get?
And what kind of reward would it bring?
She reached the Mission Elder, whose face was exactly the same as Elder Qian's. He regarded her coldly.
He held out a jade slip, the dimmest one of them all.
Su Ling'er took it. Two lines of ancient text slowly appeared on its surface.
[Sweep up the sect's fallen leaves]
[Draw water and fill the nine water jars on the back mountain]
Su Ling'er: "..."
The world fell silent.
She stared at the two lines, her mind going blank.
Had she read it wrong?
Sweep leaves?
Draw water and fill jars?
She raised her head and looked at the tasks on the stone wall—"slay monsters," "escort an elder"—then lowered her gaze and felt the unceasing surge of Spiritual Power in her dantian.
That power told her loud and clear that she, Su Ling'er, was a cultivator at Qi Refining Great Perfection!
She was just one step away from Foundation Establishment!
Back at Qing Xu Temple, anyone her age who reached Qi Refining Great Perfection would surely be one of the finest inner disciples!
And now that she had reached Qi Refining Great Perfection, they were making her do menial chores?!
Weren't these the sort of odd jobs meant for outer disciples at Qi Refining Levels 1, 2, and 3?!
Was Gui Xi Sect trying to humiliate her this way?!
Were they trying to subject her to a complete ordeal of mental torture?!
They meant to wear down her resolve and destroy her dignity like this, paving the way for the torture to come!
But... fortunately.
If she were merely a young girl who had just entered the Immortal Sect, this might have shaken her Dao heart.
But who was she?
She was Su Ling'er, who had done countless odd jobs at Qing Xu Temple and worked tirelessly until the Sect Master took notice of her and entrusted her with this Undercover Mission!
This wasn't enough to break her.
Just then, a gale swept in from outside the hall.
A figure descended on a flying sword, exuding an astonishing aura.
A Foundation Establishment expert!
Su Ling'er's heart tightened.
The Foundation Establishment senior didn't so much as glance at anyone else. He went straight to the Mission Elder, expertly took an equally dim jade slip, then turned to leave.
Su Ling'er saw it clearly.
The jade slip had the same tasks on it: [Sweep up the sect's fallen leaves] and [Draw water and fill nine water jars]!
What was going on?!
She couldn't make sense of it.
Were even Foundation Establishment experts only fit for these menial chores, forced to suffer this kind of humiliation?!
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