Loot Distribution

Mountain Wolf Stronghold.

"Xiao Wu, did you find anything?"

"Are these bandits this rich?! Damn, there's a pile of medicinal herbs, grain, and salt in this room."

"..."

They moved all their spoils into the main hall of Mountain Wolf Stronghold. While everyone marveled, they also understood that these were the goods from merchant caravans that had died off during this period.

"Sister Yan, these things... should we hand them in?" Qin Wu whispered to Ling Xueyan.

"Hand in what? These kinds of items are naturally distributed by the Patrol Envoys who take on the missions. I'm not a pedantic person."

"Besides, you all forgot Junior Brother Chen is here. The ownership of these items isn't entirely up to us to decide." As she spoke, Ling Xueyan's gaze fell upon Chen Qinglin.

Chen Qinglin didn't speak. Instead, he took out Shen Dingyuan's Storage Ring and removed everything inside.

Including the blood-colored longsword, there were nine Human Tier Low Grade weapons, over thirteen hundred Spirit Stones, more than fifty bottles of pills, and several martial arts manuals, mostly Mortal Tier Cultivation Methods, such as [Fierce Tiger Fist], [Soul Severing Saber], and [Stunning Spear].

Three Human Tier martial arts: the Human Tier High Grade [Bloodthirsty Art], and the Human Tier Low Grade [Blood Shadow Sword Art] and [Blazing Sun Art].

There were also some rare medicinal herbs, ores, gold, silver, and so on.

The pills were mostly Body Tempering Pills, along with some healing pills and Essence Replenishing Pills to increase True Qi.

Most importantly, there was a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills. Upon opening it, he found five pills.

Good heavens, this was probably most of the Shen family's fortune!

There were five people present: Chen Qinglin, Ling Xueyan, Lin Yi, Qin Wu, and Ding Cheng.

"[Bloodthirsty Art] must be destroyed. Such an evil art harms countless people; it cannot be kept. What do you think, Junior Brother Chen?" Ling Xueyan said to Chen Qinglin, holding the [Bloodthirsty Art].

"Then let's destroy it."

"Killing Junior Brother Shen Dingyuan is a great feat. These items will be split: fifty percent for you, Junior Brother, and fifty percent for the four of us. How about that?" Ling Xueyan said again after destroying the evil art in front of everyone.

"Without Senior Sister and the rest of you, I wouldn't have been able to complete the mission so easily."

As he spoke, Chen Qinglin took three Human Tier Low Grade weapons, including the blood-colored longsword, five hundred Spirit Stones, ten bottles of Body Tempering Pills, three bottles of the healing Blood Replenishing Pills, two bottles of Essence Replenishing Pills, and two Qi Gathering Pills.

He also took some medicinal herbs, ores, money, and other items, putting thirty percent of the income back into Shen Dingyuan's ring.

"I will shamelessly keep this Storage Ring. Do you have any objections to this distribution, Senior Sister?" Chen Qinglin said to the group.

"No objections. It's more like you're at a disadvantage, Junior Brother. Keeping the Storage Ring is some compensation." Ling Xueyan nodded. It seemed this Junior Brother had suffered a slight loss.

She then looked at Lin Yi and the others. "What do you think? A'Yi, Xiao Wu, A'Cheng."

"We have no objections. We relied on Junior Brother Chen and Sister Yan to kill that fierce person." Lin Yi and the others had even fewer objections. They had only gone through the motions and dealt with a bunch of minor thugs. It was mainly thanks to Ling Xueyan and this Junior Brother from Qingfeng Mountain that they completed the mission.

Having completed the mission, Ling Xueyan was not someone who would mistreat them.

"Alright, since Senior Brothers and Senior Sister have no objections, that's how it will be. Senior Sister will decide how to distribute the remaining items." With that, Chen Qinglin left the hall.

Ling Xueyan and the other three remained in the hall. Qin Wu and Ding Cheng stared enviously at the Qi Gathering Pills, their eyes fixed on Ling Xueyan...

"What are you looking at me for? You've been following me for over two years. Do you think I would mistreat you?"

"Xiao Wu and A'Cheng haven't broken through to the Inner Qi Realm yet. There are three Qi Gathering Pills left here. Each of you take one. As for Lin Yi, you..."

Leaving the main hall of Mountain Wolf Stronghold, Chen Qinglin didn't concern himself with how Ling Xueyan and the other four distributed the spoils. He found a clean room and went to rest.

The night was deep and the wind was high, rustling the leaves. Everyone, having gained something, had different expressions. Qin Wu and Ding Cheng were the most excited.

They scrambled around the stronghold, and because they were too loud, Ling Xueyan punished them by making them clean up the corpses and burn them.

At dawn, the sky had just begun to show a hint of white.

Blazing fires consumed the former Mountain Wolf Stronghold. Several figures stood watching from not far away.

"Brother Chen, are you returning to Qingfeng Mountain?" Qin Wu asked.

"Yes, the mission is complete, and it's time to return to the mountain."

"Let's part ways here. I'll leave the cleanup of this place to you all."

"Senior Sister Ling, Brother Lin, Brother Qin, Brother Ding, we'll meet again!" Chen Qinglin said, bidding farewell to the four. He leaped onto a treetop and quickly disappeared from their sight.

"I wonder if we'll ever see Junior Brother Chen again. This Junior Brother isn't old, yet his cultivation and swordsmanship are so formidable."

"Given time, he might become famous across the three prefectures. In a few years, we might hear his name."

"Yeah, why haven't we heard of this Junior Brother before..."

"Alright, let's pack up. We need to report back too." Ling Xueyan ended their conversation, retracting her gaze from where Chen Qinglin had disappeared.

She agreed with what they said, but she inexplicably had more confidence in Chen Qinglin. She believed he would have a place in the Great Xuan dynasty in the future.

Down the mountain.

Chen Qinglin let out a strange whistle. Soon, the Azure Scale Horse he had left in the woods yesterday appeared.

The Azure Scale Horse approached. Chen Qinglin petted it, mounted its back, and quickly disappeared into the forest.

The reason for this distribution, Chen Qinglin thought, was to maintain good relations with the government. If he were to carry out missions in Yunzhou in the future, he might be able to leverage the power of the Yunzhou government.

When he came to undertake this mission, a hundred Spirit Stones were almost all his savings, and even the sword he used was just a sharp sword from the mortal world.

If he were to clash head-on with Shen Dingyuan, he feared this sword would break in just a few moves. He had bought several more longswords as spares at the time.

During the previous allocation, he had received three weapons, all Human Tier Low Grade precious swords, which were sufficient for him at the moment.

Qingfeng Mountain.

After returning the Azure Scale Horse and submitting his mission at the Mission Hall, he didn't encounter Su Yuexing this time.

He returned to Qingyun Peak to rest for two days before continuing to accept missions and descend Qingfeng Mountain.

The Merit Points on Qingfeng Mountain were equivalent to Spirit Stones; one Merit Point could be exchanged for one Spirit Stone, but Spirit Stones could not be exchanged for Merit Points.

Merit Points could not only be used to exchange for martial arts in the Hidden Martial Pavilion but also to participate in the monthly lectures by the Elders.

Elders from each peak would hold a lecture once a month, imparting martial arts experience. This was also an opportunity for many Inner Disciples who had not taken a master.

Furthermore, one could exchange for elixirs, weapons, spirit plants, Spirit Beasts, and more within the Sect.

It could be said that Merit Points were the official currency of the entire Qingfeng Mountain, covering every trade and profession.

For the next month, Chen Qinglin spent his time on missions. Apart from the first mission involving Shen Dingyuan, all other targets were martial artists in the early Inner Qi Realm.

Without any complications, he completed these missions one by one.

His disciple jade token now showed 570 Merit Points. Excluding the mission with Shen Dingyuan, the rewards from other missions were not substantial.

This was the normal state of affairs. Such good fortune couldn't happen every time; he was being greedy.

As the fireball in the sky slowly sank, the afterglow of the setting sun bathed Qingfeng Mountain, making it appear soft and warm.

After submitting his mission again, Chen Qinglin walked out of the Mission Hall.

He planned to take a break for a while and focus on cultivation. In the past month, his combat experience had greatly improved, but his swordsmanship training had been severely lacking.

The twenty-third year of Great Xuan had passed, but the weather was not yet warm. Yesterday, for instance, the sky had been overcast.

He was fifteen years old now. He was born in spring. This time last year, he was still in Linhe Village.

He suddenly felt a sense of emotion, feeling that he had experienced more in the past year than in the previous fourteen years combined.

He looked up at the sunset and slowly returned to Qingyun Peak.