Mission

A short while later.

Cheng Buzheng stepped into the hall of the Command Token Pavilion and swept his gaze across the room.

He noticed that even now, many senior brothers and sisters were still staring at the lines of text currently displayed on the Jade Wall hanging on the north wall.

No matter the hour, there were always senior brothers and sisters waiting here, much like a train station in his past life; whether it was one in the morning or twelve noon, there would always be people waiting.

Cheng Buzheng looked toward the west with a calm expression and discovered that of the two senior sisters behind the counter, one was currently processing a mission acceptance for a burly senior brother.

Seeing this.

He did not waste any time and went straight to the counter of the slightly bored senior sister. She had a petite figure and a pure, innocent face, appearing as friendly and cute as the girl next door from his past life.

Although she looked approachable, the powerful Spirit Pressure radiating from her delicate body made it clear to Cheng Buzheng that this woman was definitely an expert in the Late Qi Refining Stage, though he could not determine her exact level.

However, she could crush him as easily as a father disciplining a son—simple, brutal, and leaving no room for resistance.

Cheng Buzheng always treated the strong with respect, unless it involved his own interests, blocked his path to immortality, or ruined his grand ambition of eternal life.

Of course, if he couldn't beat them, he wouldn't seek death or go out of his way to offer them an opportunity to cut the weeds and eliminate the roots. Instead, he would continue to lie low until he had absolute certainty to kill them with a single, thunderous strike!

Cheng Buzheng kept his expression calm and cupped his hands in a salute:

"Greetings, Senior Sister. I would like to take on a mining mission. I wonder which mine currently has a vacancy?"

Upon hearing this.

The delicate-featured senior sister looked up at him, surprised that a youth who looked like a little brother actually wanted to take on a mining mission.

With her cultivation, she naturally knew the cultivation level of the junior brother before her, and she guessed that he must have been part of the batch that joined the sect over half a year ago.

"My name is Wang Mei, you can call me Senior Sister Wang!" Fearing that Cheng Buzheng did not understand the arduous nature of mining missions, she continued:

"Let me explain the difficulty of mining missions in detail, so you don't regret it later!

Mining not only requires you to stay underground all day, never seeing the sun for years on end, but the minimum duration for accepting a mining mission is one year."

Through the senior sister's explanation, he learned the differences between mining various spirit ores.

Overall, however, they were not much different; all were hundreds or even thousands of feet underground, devoid of sunlight all day long, and one would only return to the surface to rest for a day or two when supplies were replenished periodically.

The difficulty of extracting different spirit ores also varied. The most arduous was the Spirit Stone Mine; not only was the surrounding layer hard, but the surrounding rocks were equally tough.

Next were the raw ores for various refining materials. Although they were slightly better than the Spirit Stone Mine, they were not much better. Given a choice, most cultivators would choose something simpler.

"Senior Sister Wang, the missions currently on the Jade Wall, given my current cultivation, cannot satisfy my normal cultivation needs. Is there really no other way?"

A look of helplessness appeared on Cheng Buzheng's face.

Although he said it that way, he knew in his heart that the primary reason was to replenish Small Plate's Spiritual Power Value, followed by quietly developing his strength, and finally, to temper his state of mind along the way.

If this were his past life, a poor state of mind wouldn't be a big deal; almost no one cared about such things.

But this world was a world of immortal cultivation. His state of mind definitely needed tempering; otherwise, how could he face enemy cultivators? How could he remain calm while locked in a life-and-death struggle without being affected by external factors?

Once his emotions were manipulated by an enemy cultivator, the moment of his death and soul dissipation would likely not be far off.

Therefore, he needed to cultivate a state of mind where he could remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Wang stopped trying to persuade him. She simply looked at this youth who had just entered the sect, unaware of the arduous nature of this task. If it had been a fellow disciple who had been in the sect for a long time, she certainly wouldn't have said another word.

"Junior Brother, all the spirit mines currently need people. The Spirit Stone Mine offers the most generous rewards, while the Green Iron Mine is the easiest, but its rewards are also the lowest!"

Then, Senior Sister Wang added another sentence.

"Junior Brother... you must consider this carefully. The minimum duration for a mining task is one year... This is a summary of all mining tasks!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Senior Sister Wang took a Jade Slip from behind the counter and handed it to Cheng Buzheng.

"Many thanks for the reminder, Senior Sister Wang. I understand!"

Cheng Buzheng said as he took the Jade Slip.

Picking up the Jade Slip, Cheng Buzheng began to examine it carefully.

Not long after.

Cheng Buzheng had finished reviewing all the mining tasks within the Jade Slip and handed it back to Senior Sister Wang.

"Many thanks for your help, Senior Sister Wang. I accept. The Spirit Stone Mine, task duration: two years!" He said, his face filled with determination.

Senior Sister Wang glanced at Cheng Buzheng and spoke slowly:

"Are you sure, Junior Brother?

Once accepted... you are not permitted to give up halfway!"

Cheng Buzheng nodded:

"Yes! Senior Sister, I am sure!"

Seeing this.

Senior Sister Wang said nothing more and took out a token, handing it to him.

"This token is your mission voucher. In two years, go to the Stipend Pavilion to hand in your task!"

Cheng Buzheng took the Mission Token and examined it. The appearance of this token was not much different from the command tokens used by officials in the mortal world to oversee the execution of criminals. That token was made of wood, whereas this Mission Token was crafted from Spirit Jade.

Intricate patterns were carved onto it. On the front, the three characters "White Cloud Sect" were engraved in relief, while on the back, "Spirit Stone Mine" was carved in intaglio in the center, with "Outer Sect Disciple, Cheng Buzheng accepted" inscribed below.

Cheng Buzheng put the command token away. He roughly guessed the origin of the Command Token Pavilion's name; it was likely named after the command tokens used for task handovers.

Seeing that his goal was achieved, he thanked Senior Sister Wang and took his leave.

After exiting the Command Token Pavilion, Cheng Buzheng walked along the side of the road.

Unsurprisingly, he did not bump into any senior brothers or sisters, and soon arrived before the Ring Mountain Stairs.

"Bang!" A sonic boom rang out.

In the blink of an eye, Cheng Buzheng had vanished. Looking down from Immortal Spring Peak, a white shockwave spread rapidly along the Ring Mountain Stairs, and before long, its source had already cleared the stairs.

Returning to his house in the canyon basin.

Cheng Buzheng prepared to bid farewell to his four teammates before heading off to perform the mining task.

Otherwise, if he left without a word, they would likely have excluded him from the team two years later, which would contradict his purpose for joining the team in the first place.

He had joined the team initially for the sake of resource exchange and information sharing.

Moreover, the team leader, Nan Ye, was a social expert who maintained connections with many other team leaders; he was definitely well-informed. As for resource exchange, he could not deny the value of that.

What good spiritual items could a few early-stage Qi Refining cultivators have now? It was hard to say for the future, but at the very least, he needed to maintain his status as a team member.

For him, this was merely a trivial effort that required no extra thought. Who knew, he might gain something in the future! Opportunities were things no one could ever predict.

Cheng Buzheng weighed the pros and cons in his mind while pondering if he had overlooked anything, as he would be leaving the sect for two years.