Where's the Water? Where's My Huge Tank of Water?

She blinked, doubting if what she saw was just an illusion.

She looked at the jade slip again, and it was correct.

She closed her eyes again, then opened them again, still no mistake, not a single character out of place!

Why?!

She raised her head and looked at the quest elder, wanting to ask, but not knowing where to start.

"Little Junior Sister, why are you stunned?"

Lin Qingfeng's voice sounded behind her again from who knows when.

"You can't get stuck!

You're the only proper NPC in our sect. At this critical moment of sect upgrade, you can't delay your contribution to the sect!"

Su Ling'er's heart skipped a beat.

Senior Disciple Brother, can you stop appearing behind me every time?

It's seriously creepy!

She complained madly in her heart, but clutched the jade slip and hesitantly asked:

"Senior Disciple Brother... these quests... why are they still these two?"

"Didn't we just finish cleaning?"

Lin Qingfeng raised an eyebrow.

"It can't be helped. Other daily sect quests can only be unlocked when the NPC's comprehensive contribution reaches 500.

Right now, the sect only has Little Junior Sister as an NPC.

So before she can grind her own comprehensive contribution to 500, she can only make do with these quests."

He pondered how to make Little Junior Sister willingly continue, rummaged through his mind for some cool-sounding phrases, and then looked at her again.

"Naturally, it is so."

"Little Junior Sister, do you know why sword cultivators practice their sword, day after day, repeating the same motions of drawing and swinging their sword?"

Su Ling'er was stunned.

"Because the path of cultivation is not about how many sights you see, but whether your foundation is firm.

Swing your sword ten thousand times to grasp its essence.

Sweeping leaves and carrying water are the same principle."

"The sect having you repeat these two tasks is not to make you do useless work, but to test your perseverance and patience.

Only when you can do the most tedious and ordinary things without a ripple in your heart, when you can see them as cultivation itself, will your Dao Foundation be truly stable."

"All newly promoted disciples are like this.

This is the 'Foundation Establishment Method' of our Gui Xi Sect."

He looked at Su Ling'er and smiled gently.

"Go, Little Junior Sister."

"Don't overthink it, experience it with your heart, the 'true meaning' within."

"Your brother will always be watching you!!!!!"

Su Ling'er stared blankly at him, at his face filled with the air of an "enlightened master."

Foundation Establishment Method?

Testing perseverance?

I don't believe you, you old devil, you're very bad!

Can you stop emphasizing that you're always watching me!

You clearly just want to see that the moment I show any dissatisfaction, a more terrifying punishment will descend!

And you'll stand there, admiring how your poor Little Junior Sister is forced to submit!

Vile!

Malicious!

Pah!

Su Ling'er dared not ask further, nor did she dare to hesitate any longer.

"Senior Disciple Brother, it is my fault for almost ruining the sect's painstaking efforts. I will go now!"

After speaking, she didn't linger, turning to walk back the way she had come.

However, she always felt that gaze fixed on her back, as if an endless abyss was watching her.

For the third time, it was the same quest.

The fifth time, it was still the same task.

The tenth time...

The fifteenth time...

When she accepted the twenty-seventh task and stepped onto the bluestone path leading to her destination, her footsteps couldn't help but slow down.

This path...

The ancient trees on both sides, the moss patterns on the flagstones, even the strangely shaped rock at the corner...

Why did it all feel so inexplicably familiar?

She frowned, a strange feeling rising in her heart.

Was it an illusion?

Or was it that the scenery of many secluded paths in the sect was largely the same?

She suppressed her doubts and continued forward.

However, when the outline of the familiar courtyard finally appeared completely at the end of the path, she stopped dead in her tracks.

This is it!

This... is the courtyard she had cleaned the fourth time!

She wouldn't forget!

The pagoda tree at the entrance and the few weeds in the corner were exactly the same as in her memory!

But it was impossible!

She had just cleaned the place spotless!

Why was she being sent here again?

Although she hurried into the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, fallen leaves still covered the bluestone path, just as it had been when she first arrived.

The wind blew, rolling up a few leaves that landed by her feet.

The smile that had initially formed from completing the task with ease turned stiff.

She quickly walked to the corner, where the pile of fallen leaves had already disappeared.

She turned and ran towards the back mountain, where nine bronze vats stood silently.

In the sunlight, the dry vat walls gleamed with a bronze luster, and inside... they were empty!

Completely empty!

How could this be?!

The nine large vats of water she had personally filled were gone, not a drop left!

The wind blew her hair, but she felt no coolness.

Something was wrong, definitely wrong!

What had happened?

Why were there fallen leaves everywhere and the vats empty again after not much time had passed?

Su Ling'er investigated for a long time but couldn't find any clues.

Senior Disciple Brother did not appear to explain, so in her helplessness, she could only continue to sweep the fallen leaves and fill the water vats.

Whenever she wanted to stop and rest, Senior Disciple Brother would inexplicably appear behind her.

Just as he had said before, he was watching her the entire time.

As soon as she slacked off even a little, he would suddenly appear, urging her to continue contributing to the sect, saying, "Just a little longer, and it won't be this task anymore."

She had heard this sentence dozens of times.

By the seventy-second time, Su Ling'er's movements had become somewhat stiff.

She continued to wave her hand, a whirlwind sweeping up the fallen leaves; she continued to form hand seals, a water dragon filling the bronze vats.

Then, she accepted another task and arrived at a new mission location.

This was a courtyard she had visited for the forty-third time.

She didn't understand why this sect, which only occupied one mountain peak, had so many empty courtyards.

It was as if their existence was solely for being cleaned and having water poured into them.

And here, as expected, there were fallen leaves everywhere and the vats were empty.

She continued to repeat this tedious labor. Although she possessed Spiritual Power and it wasn't exactly tiring, this endless repetition still made her mentally exhausted.

You guys, a Demonic Sect that kills people, refines pills, and forges with living people, have nothing better to do?!

To have such a perverted obsession with the cleanliness of the sect's environment!

And if you're going to clean, why not clean the courtyards where people live!

These courtyards are empty, with no one in the family and no one in the back mountains. Who are you cleaning for?

For ghosts?!

Did these fallen leaves grow legs on their own?

One wave is swept, and another grows!

Is this tree an old Yao that's lived for eight hundred years?

It drops eight hundred years' worth of leaves in a single day!

And this water tank, is anyone drinking from it?

Or did you take it to feed the spirit beasts?

What exactly has happened here?