Chicken Soup Is Here!

The 499th time.

Su Ling'er felt like she had become an empty shell, a walking corpse.

She had stopped wondering why the fallen leaves never seemed to end or why the water jars were always empty again.

Her mind seemed to have stopped working. Amid the endless clamor, she mechanically repeated the same actions as before, walking to the next courtyard and doing it all over again.

When she trudged into the Transmission Hall for the five-hundredth time, the numbness radiating from her made some of the disciples chatting nearby instinctively move away.

Lin Qingfeng stood beneath a stone pillar inside the hall, staring at the sect panel that only players could see.

[ Sect Information ]

[ Sect Contribution Points (NPC): 500/500000 ]

Seeing the number finally rise from 0 to 500, Lin Qingfeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

All right, 500 Contribution Points had unlocked some other daily tasks. At last, Junior Sister could do something else.

If she kept sweeping like this, he was genuinely afraid that he'd completely broken the sect's NPC, who was already a little dim-witted to begin with.

If she ended up like Qian Buyu, it would hardly be worth it.

Su Ling'er placed the jade slip on the stone counter in front of the mission elder, no longer expecting anything.

She waited for the elder to hand her another jade slip, just as he had hundreds of times before, and send her into the next cycle.

But this time, the mission elder's hollow eye sockets seemed to twitch.

He took the jade slip, then removed a brand-new one from the stone wall.

It had a slightly brighter sheen than the dull ones before it.

Su Ling'er's heart skipped half a beat.

Had she finally reached five hundred times?

She watched as the jade slip was pushed toward her. A warmth rose from her dantian and surged into her heart.

Was she finally going to escape this endless cycle?

Would she finally stop having to face those eerie courtyards and the water jars in the back mountain that never stayed full?

Was it finally over!!!

With trembling hands, she took the jade slip and probed it with her spiritual sense.

[ Sweep the fallen leaves around the sect ]

[ Fetch water to fill the nine jars in the back mountain ]

At the sight of the first two options, the hope that had just stirred in Junior Sister's heart sank right back to the bottom.

Why were these two still here?!

Then her gaze slid down.

[ Chop one hundred loads of firewood in the back mountain ]

[ Till three mu of medicinal fields in Hundred Herbs Valley ]

[ Cut one hundred stalks of green bamboo in the bamboo grove ]

This time, there were five tasks.

At the very bottom was a line of small print.

Choose one, or accept them all.

Su Ling'er's eyes locked onto the last three lines:

Chop firewood, till the fields, cut bamboo.

She had been tormented by endless sweeping and fetching water for so long that seeing these three chores made her want to cry.

How long would this next cycle last?

Whatever. It didn't matter anymore!

As long as she didn't have to face endless fallen leaves and water jars that never stayed full, she'd do any chore!

She was truly at her limit. Her mind was nearly incapable of thought!

The other disciples in the sect also knew that Junior Sister had reached the required Contribution Points.

After all, she was the only native NPC in the sect, so everyone had been keeping an eye on her quest progress.

So, at Senior Disciple Brother's prior arrangement, they began another round of "cheering."

"Junior Sister! You've unlocked new tasks!"

"I knew it! Five hundred times of perseverance, a steadfast Dao heart! The sect finally recognizes you!"

"An unyielding Dao heart! Relentless effort! Junior Sister, your future is bright!"

The bunch behind her had started their incessant cheering again. Their shouts had nearly numbed Su Ling'er's ears.

So annoying.

Was this how you treated someone who had just joined an Immortal Sect for the first time?!

Did you people have even the tiniest bit of conscience?!

As expected, Evil Cultivators of the demonic path were utterly depraved!!!

She reached out and swiped across the jade slip, accepting all three of the last tasks.

As for the first two, she ignored them completely. Even glancing at them again made her head spin.

She checked herself. When she looked inward, she found that she had very little Spiritual Power left.

But she had to see what rewards the new tasks would bring before her Spiritual Power ran out completely.

Otherwise, she felt she'd die with regrets.

Without looking back, she walked out of the Transmission Hall, as if she had made up her mind.

At one of the logging sites in the back mountain.

Su Ling'er stood before a pile of firewood.

Senior Disciple Brother and his support squad still didn't come forward to help. They only shouted their usual encouraging slogans.

"Junior Sister, this may be ordinary wood, but every swing of the axe is a chance to examine your own strength!"

"Keep it up! Chop away the distractions in your heart along with the wood chips!"

Su Ling'er closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Still, though this task wasn't anything unusual and was about as difficult as sweeping or fetching water, there was one difference: it was finally a new task.

She no longer felt like a figure born to do nothing but sweep and fetch water.

If only it weren't for that incessant racket...

The task was simple. She easily split all the firewood with her wooden sword, then went and cut down a hundred stalks of green bamboo in the bamboo grove.

She couldn't understand it. The wooden sword looked no different from ordinary wood, and it wasn't even made of iron.

So why was it so effective at chopping things apart?

Was it because her cultivation was too low to tell?

But if only someone with a higher cultivation could tell, why give these swords to new disciples for free?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the support squad's shouts.

"Green bamboo bends, but the Dao heart stays firm! Junior Sister fells bamboo, reaching for the heavens!"

"One, two, three! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Don't keep Senior Disciple Brother waiting!"

Su Ling'er turned her head away and rolled her eyes.

She didn't want to listen or look.

And weren't they embarrassed?

Just let it all end.

Hurry up.

On the path to Hundred Herbs Valley, Su Ling'er's Spiritual Power had not recovered, but she was in much better spirits, and even her steps had grown lighter.

At last, only this one task remained.

Tending the medicinal fields meant little more than pulling weeds and turning the soil.

She wondered what the reward would be this time. She could use the opportunity to take a good look around Hundred Herbs Valley.

She still remembered her last visit, when Lin Qingfeng had tried to test her with an evil flower that reflected one's inner self. She had even received a Worry Flower.

Sigh. Just thinking about it made Su Ling'er's heart sink again.

Everywhere in this place was a trap. She hoped she wouldn't run into Senior Brother Shen Nong, with his strange muttering, again.

Before long, a medicinal field came into view.

There seemed to be someone tending the field beside it, too.

And then the people who had blasted her ears with their demonic noise that day started up again.

"That's right! Tending the fields may seem ordinary, but it's really a conversation with heaven and earth!"

"Junior Sister, use your patience and sweat to understand life's cycles of growth and decline!"

Su Ling'er's eyelid twitched.

She looked at the squad, who deftly unfurled their banners and waved their glowstones, apparently never growing tired of it.

Looking closely, she saw that their eyes were rather vacant.

She really wanted to ask them something.

Weren't they tired?

Didn't they have cultivation of their own to work on?

Did they really have so much free time?

Did they spend every day following her around?

Hadn't they noticed how vacant their expressions had become?!

Sigh. They must have been deeply brainwashed by this Demonic Sect...

This evil demonic sect really was wicked beyond belief!

In truth, the players had long since logged off and set their characters to "auto-follow" and "motion memory" mode.

Their characters automatically followed Junior Sister, repeating their cheering gestures and slogans.

At that moment, Lin Qingfeng walked out of the crowd again with his hands behind his back.

He looked at Junior Sister and gave her that familiar smile.

It seemed it was time to serve Junior Sister another helping of motivational chicken soup!

And while the reward for finishing this task of tending the medicinal garden wasn't particularly great, it was still much better than the initial daily quests!

Besides, he had just brushed up on some inspiring words.

When else would he use them if not now?

Chicken soup, coming right up!

The update schedule is changing to midnight and noon.