Earth Dragon Exotic Insect

Inner Disciple Mission Hall.

After more than three years, Li Gan had returned here once again, preparing to accept an inner disciple mission.

His gaze fell upon the mission wall; the number of extermination missions had indeed decreased significantly.

As for other missions, there were none left; they had long since been snatched up by others.

He did not go to take a mission from the wall.

This was because the mission hall had already assigned him an inner disciple mission. The missions on the wall were merely for those inner disciples who had already completed their mandatory tasks to choose from.

Li Gan arrived at the service window and took out the wooden token that represented his identity.

It did not take long before a staff member handed Li Gan a mission plaque and a small mission booklet.

Li Gan flipped through it and was quite surprised, as this mission was relatively simple for him now.

He guessed that because he had just broken through to the xiantian realm, the assigned mission was comparatively easier.

In a mine located in Ye City of Xuan Prefecture, an earth dragon exotic insect had appeared, and he was required to go and eliminate it.

"Earth dragon exotic insect."

Li Gan felt a bit curious.

Exotic beasts, exotic insects, and exotic birds were primarily creatures that had undergone mutation. Their danger levels varied. As for the cause of these mutations, it was said to be related to heaven and earth origin qi, special minerals, and spirit herbs or fruits.

However, these were wild exotic beasts.

Great martial arts sects like the Divine Sword Sect even specialized in raising exotic beasts.

The importance of such exotic beast husbandry techniques could be considered a foundation of a sect.

The exotic beast jerky that Li Gan ate was provided by these raised exotic beasts.

If they had to rely on hunting wild exotic beasts, there would be no way to satisfy the needs of the massive Divine Sword Sect.

The mission he had accepted offered two types of rewards. One was to kill the earth dragon exotic insect, which rewarded five thousand contribution points.

Capturing the earth dragon exotic insect alive rewarded twenty thousand contribution points.

That was four times as much.

After all, killing was easy, while the difficulty of capturing something alive increased exponentially.

According to the mission description, this earth dragon exotic insect had likely not been mutated for very long; anyone at the postnatal realm seventh layer or above should be able to handle it.

The only issue was that this earth dragon exotic insect could burrow underground, making it very difficult to lock onto.

This was also the reason why it was assigned to him, a xiantian martial artist.

If it were any other ground-dwelling exotic beast of the same level, sending a few high-level postnatal realm martial artists would have been enough to complete the mission.

As for the mission time, the faster, the better.

Li Gan did not delay. He immediately mounted a fast horse and left the Divine Sword Sect.

The sooner he left, the sooner he would return.

For every extra day he spent outside, he would miss out on a day of ringing the bell.

The fast horses of the Divine Sword Sect were all raised on medicinal meals.

They possessed immense stamina and could travel a thousand li in a single day.

Furthermore, the Divine Sword Sect had specifically developed horse-travel pills to feed these horses.

Feeding them just a few pills a day was enough to keep them full of energy without the need for regular food.

To save time, Li Gan naturally traveled day and night.

He remembered that a few years ago, when he escorted Lady Lin to Ye City in Xuan Prefecture, it had taken them over ten days to arrive.

But this time, by riding a fast horse and traveling through the night without rest, he had entered the territory of Ye City in just one day and one night.

Xiwu Mine.

As one of the premier large-scale mines within Ye City, the number of miners working here was immense. When combined with the various overseers, smelters, and others, the population was no less than several tens of thousands.

The area surrounding the mine was covered in a vast expanse of wooden sheds.

These were the places where the miners and other workers rested, ate, and slept.

Recently, however, the atmosphere within the mine had been one of panic.

Because a terrifying earth dragon exotic insect had appeared in the mine tunnels, and in less than half a month, at least dozens of people had been devoured by it.

Although the mine had martial artists stationed there, they were completely unable to cope with the threat.

What's more, the earth dragon exotic insect was elusive and unpredictable; even the inner disciple of the Divine Sword Sect stationed in Ye City was at his wit's end.

On the outskirts of the mine stood a cluster of well-ordered houses.

Those who lived here were undoubtedly the mid-to-high-level management of the mine and the guard martial artists.

"Master Ling, when will your sect be able to send someone over?"

Inside the room, a tall, imposing man couldn't help but ask.

He is the head steward of this mine, responsible for the management of the entire facility.

The owner behind this mine is the Ming family, one of the three great families of Ye City. Beyond this Xiwu mine, they possess countless other industries, including various mines and smelting workshops of all sizes.

The Ming family's ability to control so many industries is inextricably linked to the Divine Sword Sect.

Members of the Ming family are currently training within the Divine Sword Sect.

"Steward He, it should be within these next few days. Besides, being anxious won't help."

Sitting opposite him is a man in tight-fitting martial attire, a sword resting by his side.

He sips his tea, speaking with a calm expression.

"Sigh, how can I not be anxious? Every day the mine stops, who knows how much we lose."

Steward He sighs.

Those lowly miners, if they die, they die; at most, it costs a little pocket change in compensation.

But the loss from a massive mining operation shutting down for a single day is immense.

If not for the fact that too many people had died over the past two days, forcing his hand under pressure, combined with the miners stirring up trouble and refusing to go down into the pits, he wouldn't want to stop work either.

At this moment, a guard suddenly runs in and says to the Divine Sword Sect inner disciple Ling Xingfeng, "Senior Brother Ling, the sect has sent someone to deal with the earth dragon exotic insect."

"That's great."

Upon hearing this, Senior Brother Ling immediately says, "Steward He, hurry and come out with me to welcome them."

Whoever the sect sends to deal with an earth dragon exotic insect must be a xiantian martial artist.

In the Divine Sword Sect, xiantian martial artists are at the very least core disciples of the main peaks, each backed by elders and possessing formidable backgrounds—far beyond what a named disciple like him can compare to.

Generally speaking, when elders take on personal disciples, they must possess the potential to become xiantian martial artists.

Otherwise, at most, they are merely named disciples.

Ling Xingfeng's aptitude is average, but thanks to his willingness to fight and years of bitter cultivation, he broke through to the postnatal realm ninth layer.

However, he is already over thirty. Wanting to break through to the xiantian realm based on his own potential is nothing but a pipe dream.

His greatest wish now is to accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for a xiantian pill and step into the xiantian realm.

Even if it is only a half-step xiantian.

It would still be far stronger than a postnatal martial artist.

Many Divine Sword Sect inner disciples, if they see no hope of breaking through or if they only reach the half-step xiantian level, mostly choose to return to their hometowns to establish their own family businesses.

Many inner disciples who leave the sect maintain contact with the Divine Sword Sect, effectively becoming the sect's latent strength in the outside world.

"They're here, that's great."

Steward He was overjoyed upon hearing this; his savior had finally arrived.

He and Ling Xingfeng hurriedly stepped out of the house to welcome the innate expert sent by the Divine Sword Sect.

Soon, an inner disciple of the Divine Sword Sect approached, accompanied by a young man in grey robes leading a swift horse.

This grey-robed youth was naturally Li Gan.

He had followed the map and arrived at the Xiwu Mine as quickly as possible.

The mine was filled with mining pits everywhere and appeared extremely desolate. Even the vegetation was sparse, having been destroyed by the mining operations.

"I am Ling Xingfeng, a named disciple of Dishui Peak. Greetings, Senior Brother."

Seeing the youth brought over by his fellow disciple, Ling Xingfeng was stunned for a moment before reacting and quickly stepping forward to salute.

Steward He, standing to the side, was also puzzled. Why was he so young?

However, he kept his silence and merely watched from the sidelines.

"You can just call me Senior Brother Li."

Li Gan didn't waste any words and tossed out a mission token.

After taking a glance at it, Ling Xingfeng hurriedly returned the token with both hands. "Senior Brother Li, this is Steward He of the Xiwu Mine, who is in charge of all affairs at the mine."

He searched his memory for core disciples of the inner sect with the surname Li. There seemed to be many, but none appeared to match the person before him.

Nevertheless, he dared not underestimate him and remained incredibly respectful.

Although Steward He was a burly man, he was sharp-minded and skilled at reading people; otherwise, he would never have attained the position of head steward at the Xiwu Mine.

From the expression and actions of Master Ling, he could tell that this grey-robed youth must have a very significant background.

He immediately bowed slightly and said respectfully, "I am He Wufang. Greetings, Master Li."

He kept his posture very low.

While he was the head steward at the Xiwu Mine and a person of status even in Ye City, he was nothing in front of an innate expert from such a major sect.

Even for inner disciples of the Divine Sword Sect like Ling Xingfeng, he usually provided the best food and drink, never daring to offend them in the slightest.