Rewards and the First Mission

After Huo Lian left, Xu Yang immediately entered his pavilion. Inside the Spirit Gathering Array on the second floor, Xu Yang took out the Qiankun Bag given to him by Huo Lian. He sent his divine sense inside to inspect it, finding a mid-grade flying sword, a bottle of Huiyuan Pills for healing, a bottle of Peiyuan Pills for cultivation, and a talisman.

Looking closely, the quality of the flying sword was far superior to the one he had obtained from Old Man Tianjue. It had a fire-attribute spell inscribed upon it, which could be activated by channeling internal energy without requiring any specific elemental affinity.

There were ten pills each of the Huiyuan Pills and Peiyuan Pills, though they were all of low-grade quality. What Xu Yang truly cared about was the talisman. This talisman was called the Earth-Queen Talisman, a defensive item, which was exactly what Xu Yang needed most urgently.

With his level of third-layer Qi Refining, he could barely manage to activate one flying sword. His other talismans were all for offense or recovery; he lacked any defensive treasures, so the appearance of this Earth-Queen Talisman was perfectly timed.

As for his physical strength, Xu Yang did not want to expose it unless absolutely necessary; it was his trump card. After examining the contents, Xu Yang moved all the treasures into Old Man Tianjue's Qiankun Bag, as it had the largest space and the best quality.

After organizing his belongings, Xu Yang took out the Treasure Appraisal Catalog to study it for a while. He saw all sorts of rare flowers, exotic herbs, heavenly materials, strange insects, and monstrous beasts, leaving him dazzled. It wasn't until noon that Xu Yang put the catalog away, stepped out of the pavilion, and wandered around the sect.

Most of the disciples within the sect were in the Qi Refining Realm; cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm and above had their own caves and did not live here. They only appeared in the sect when they encountered bottlenecks in their cultivation. Most of the tasks posted in the External Affairs Hall were issued by cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm or higher.

These tasks greatly saved the energy of the Foundation Establishment cultivators, allowing them to focus more intently on their cultivation. They only needed to offer some spirit stones or pills as rewards, which, given the wealth of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was merely a drop in the bucket.

Thinking of the tasks, Xu Yang turned and headed toward the External Affairs Hall. On the way, Xu Yang noticed many Qi Refining disciples heading in the same direction. It seems the tasks posted by the External Affairs Hall are very attractive to the disciples in the sect, Xu Yang thought to himself.

After a short while, Xu Yang followed the other disciples into the main hall of the External Affairs Hall. Looking around, the hall was bustling with people, and the staff were busy at work. Many people were gathered in front of a large board, upon which information flickered from time to time.

Xu Yang walked up and looked up at the board. He saw the board glowing, and lines of text emerged—these were the various tasks, with the rewards for completion listed beside them.

"Seeking three stalks of 'Flame Sun Grass', location in Yunyi Mountain in the south of the sect, guarded by fire-type demonic beasts, reward: two spirit stones. Purchasing one Water Mist Stone, those interested please contact immediately, reward: one mid-grade Peiyuan Pill. Purchasing materials from demonic beasts, quantity unlimited, those interested please contact the External Affairs Hall staff, generous rewards," these tasks flashed before Xu Yang's eyes one by one.

Seeing the rewards for these tasks, Xu Yang was overjoyed. As long as he could complete these tasks, his cultivation speed would greatly increase. However, to complete the tasks, his own strength had to be sufficient; otherwise, one mistake could cost him his life.

Thinking of this, Xu Yang calmed himself and carefully studied the task board. A moment later, he selected a task and walked to a counter. He took out his token and said to the woman sitting behind it, "Senior Sister, I would like to accept the task of searching for the Ice Soul Root. Please help me process it."

The woman behind the counter took the token, cast a beam of light onto it, and returned it to Xu Yang, saying, "Alright, you have accepted the task. Come back to me when you have completed it!" Xu Yang took the token and said respectfully, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

Xu Yang had no choice but to be respectful. The staff in every hall of the sect were descendants of the sect's seniors; who knew which one of them had a powerful figure backing them? If he offended someone inadvertently, his future days would be miserable.

Having accepted the task, Xu Yang immediately left the External Affairs Hall. The Ice Soul Root was an ice-attribute treasure that could only be found near the sea. Fortunately, the headquarters of the Bailian Pavilion was in the Haicheng Prefecture of the Wu Kingdom, which happened to be near the sea.

Currently, his master and senior brother were both in seclusion, so there was no need to report to them. Without returning to his residence, Xu Yang headed straight for the sect gate. Upon arriving at the gate, Xu Yang saw two cultivators guarding the entrance.

He immediately stepped forward and took out his token, saying, "Two Senior Brothers, this Junior Brother needs to leave the sect to complete a task, please let me pass." One of them took the token to inspect it and said, "True, you have indeed accepted a task, but you cannot leave now. You must wait three months before you can leave."

Xu Yang's expression changed, and just as he was about to speak, the other cultivator standing nearby spoke up, "Liu Peng, let this little brother go! There is no need to say more about this!"

Liu Peng, who was standing to the side, changed his expression and looked at his companion. Seeing his companion wink at him, he immediately returned the token to Xu Yang, stepped aside, and cleared the path.

Xu Yang took the token, glanced at the cultivator who had helped him, and seeing him nod and smile at him, he felt secretly puzzled. Shaking his head, Xu Yang bowed to the man and stepped out of the gate, heading outward.

After Xu Yang had gone far away, Liu Peng asked his companion with a puzzled look, "Zhao Yuan, what is going on? You just let him go like that? He just joined the sect, and according to the rules, he can only leave the gate after three months." Zhao Yuan said to Liu Peng helplessly, "The rule does exist, but rules are dead while people are alive; one must be flexible! He is the new disciple taken in by Elder Qing Yuanzi."

"What? Really? That's impossible!" Liu Peng said with a pale face. "Of course it's true. I saw Senior Huo Lian taking him to report to the Internal Affairs Hall yesterday with my own eyes," Zhao Yuan replied with an envious look.

As for Xu Yang, after leaving the gate, he immediately took out his flying sword and tried to activate it. He saw the flying sword shake in his hand and slowly fly up. Under Xu Yang's control, the flying sword quickly grew larger. He stood on it with excitement, and the flying sword rose into the air bit by bit, carrying Xu Yang away into the sky.

Riding the wind and controlling the sword, ridding the world of demons—it was naturally incredibly dashing, and Xu Yang should have been happy. But at this moment, Xu Yang couldn't feel happy at all, because the internal energy in his body was flowing away like water from an opened sluice. In just a moment, he had already consumed half of his internal energy.

Seeing this, Xu Yang was shocked and immediately controlled the flying sword to land on the ground in a wobbly manner. He put away the flying sword and was shocked to find that the internal energy in his body was almost exhausted.

Without thinking too much, Xu Yang immediately sat cross-legged and practiced to recover his internal energy. Half an hour later, he finally let out a long breath and recovered his strength. He hadn't expected that flying on a sword would consume so much energy; next time, unless absolutely necessary, he must never do this again.

Standing up, Xu Yang looked around and found that he was not far from the seaside. He was overjoyed; although flying on a sword consumed a huge amount of energy, its speed was truly fast—in less than half a quarter of an hour, he was already close to his destination.

Xu Yang immediately used his light-body technique and headed toward the seaside. As he ran, he thought, the mid-grade flying sword consumes a lot of internal energy; perhaps I should find a low-grade flying sword to try, which might slow down the consumption of internal energy.

Just as he was thinking, Xu Yang's eyes caught sight of the blue seawater. A vast ocean appeared before him; the sea was filled with endless green waves, the surges were magnificent, and there was even broken ice in some places, which broadened Xu Yang's mind.

The Ice Soul Root was introduced in the Treasure Appraisal Catalog; it was an auxiliary ingredient for pills and the favorite food of the Mystic Ice Turtle. Generally, where there are Mystic Ice Turtles, there will be Ice Soul Roots. It was currently the cold winter season, which happened to be the time when Mystic Ice Turtles were most active.

The Mystic Ice Turtle was a gregarious demonic beast. Its strength was not very high, only at the second layer of Qi Refining. With his third-layer Qi Refining cultivation, as long as he planned properly, it shouldn't be difficult.

Thinking of this, Xu Yang began to scan the surroundings. To his surprise, there was nothing around. One had to know that the number of Mystic Ice Turtles was not small, yet not a single one had appeared, which was truly strange.

Seeing this, Xu Yang immediately became vigilant. He reached out and took the Earth-Queen Talisman in his hand, searching the surroundings with light steps. After about a quarter of an hour, he found nothing, and Xu Yang's heart grew heavier.

His keen perception told him that there was danger here. Fortunately, this sense of danger was not very strong; otherwise, Xu Yang would have turned around and left long ago. Suddenly, a huge pit appeared in front of him. Xu Yang was startled and walked up carefully to check it.

He saw that the hole was three meters in diameter, bottomless, with very smooth walls, and pitch black inside. Xu Yang squatted down and touched the edge of the hole, feeling shocked again. This was a sandy beach by the sea; logically, it should be all sand, and this sand should have fallen into the hole, but now it was blocked by an invisible force.

Fortunately, this force was not strong, and Xu Yang's sense of danger did not intensify. After some thought, he decided to enter the hole to investigate. Having made his decision, Xu Yang did not hesitate. Holding the Earth-Queen Talisman in one hand and the flying sword in the other, he leaped into the hole.