Content, Preparations

After the Shangqing Mountain grand cultivator finished speaking, he turned into a streak of light and flew toward the horizon.

At the same time, the densely packed names on the Golden Ranking began to fade, leaving it blank once more.

After the grand cultivator departed, the plaza erupted into commotion as the disciples pondered his words.

"Level-one missions, three Grade A Ratings, and a five-month deadline?"

"This is somewhat similar to the first assessment."

"Similar is one thing, but the final assessment definitely won't be simple. We need to know what level-one missions entail and what level of cultivation is needed to complete them."

"But there's one thing to note. That expert said the missions would be fully open for us to exchange for resources. In other words, resources may be the key to this assessment."

"No matter what, let's first find out the requirements for level-one missions."

"What do you think, Brother Bai?"

In a corner of the plaza, Xu Shan asked Bai Jing.

He felt that following Bai Jing's lead could not go wrong.

"Let's look at the mission requirements first, then make plans," Bai Jing said.

There was really nothing else to discuss. If there was difficulty, it would lie in the missions themselves.

"Let's go!" Xu Shan nodded, but when he turned and saw the sea of people, he stopped in his tracks.

"Let's wait." He sighed. There were too many disciples; they probably could not get into the Ascension Tower right now.

"We likely won't be able to enter anytime soon. How about we wait over a meal at the cafeteria?" Bai Jing suggested.

The two then left the plaza and headed to the immortal cafeteria.

"One serving of beef, one serving of mutton."

At the window selling Spiritual Meat, Bai Jing ordered two plates for himself, then looked at Xu Shan. "What will you have, Brother Xu?"

"My treat!" Xu Shan took out Ascension Coins with a smile.

But Bai Jing refused him this time.

"Actually, neither of us has many Ascension Coins. We still need to prepare for the assessment. Since that's the case, let's each pay our own bill. When either you or I completes a mission someday, we can treat the other. How about it?"

"Alright." At the mention of the assessment, Xu Shan turned serious and felt that this made sense.

The two took their Spiritual Meat, found a table at random, and dug in with great gusto.

Bai Jing swallowed mouthfuls of Spiritual Meat, feeling the qi and blood within him steadily increase.

But now that his cultivation had reached the Fifth Stage of Qi and Blood, the help provided by Spiritual Meat was truly limited.

"Or I could buy higher-grade Spiritual Meat." He looked toward a window deeper inside the cafeteria.

Spiritual Meat was sold there as well, but the prices were exorbitant—ten Ascension Coins per plate!

"I should try Shangqing Mountain's Qi Replenishing Pills first." Bai Jing planned to buy a few bottles of pills later.

He had not cultivated for a month and was beginning to miss the feeling of his cultivation rising. Especially now, when he had a decent amount of Ascension Coins, he should first raise his cultivation to Perfection of the Five Viscera.

The two remained in the cafeteria for over an hour before leaving, full and satisfied.

Not long afterward, they arrived at the Ascension Tower.

"There aren't too many people. It's not bad." Xu Shan looked at the assessment disciples coming and going.

"Let's go in." Bai Jing stepped directly into the Ascension Tower and soon arrived at the spacious Mission Hall.

There were not many people in the hall at this point. Everyone was first checking the contents of the level-one missions before making a decision.

"They really have opened everything up. There are even missions for the Third Stage of Qi and Blood, and ones for the First Stage too. The rewards are all three Ascension Coins."

Xu Shan came before an enormous mission pillar, casually picked up two Bounty Notices, and spoke in surprise.

Bai Jing looked at the pillar in front of him, picked up a Bounty Notice, gave it a brief glance, then put it back. This was a mission with the difficulty of the Fifth Stage of Qi and Blood.

The two continued examining the notices until they reached several pillars at the very back.

"Level-one missions!" Xu Shan picked one up first and found that it was exactly what they had been looking for.

Bai Jing picked one up as well and began reading:

"To the Immortal Masters of Shangqing Mountain: The patriarch of a Rogue Cultivator family, Wang Yunsheng, seized the Spiritual Fields passed down by my ancestors and slaughtered one hundred and seventy-three members of my clan, sparing neither old nor young. I fought desperately and with great difficulty, only then...

Target: Kill the Rogue Cultivator family patriarch, Wang Yunsheng

Cultivation: Seventh Stage of Qi and Blood

Location: Sea-Heaven County, Yunzhou

Assessment: Previously participated in Shangqing Mountain's assessment"

After reading it, Bai Jing's expression changed slightly.

He put down this Bounty Notice that was also a letter begging for help, then picked up another. Without exception, all the targets were Qi and Blood cultivators. More importantly, all of them had once participated in Shangqing Mountain's assessment.

"Brother Bai, these level-one missions are far from simple." On the other side, Xu Shan, who had roughly gone through many Bounty Notices, hurried over with a grave expression.

"You noticed?" Bai Jing asked.

"Mhm." Xu Shan nodded and said in a deep voice, "The people we have to kill aren't ordinary monsters or demons, but people who once took Shangqing Mountain's assessment."

"Since these people participated in the assessment, they naturally learned quite a few of Shangqing Mountain's methods. Everything we're encountering now is familiar territory to them!"

That made things difficult. Those targets definitely possessed real ability. Though they had been eliminated, they had more experience than Bai Jing and Xu Shan.

"Brother Bai, how do you think we should proceed?" Xu Shan asked.

"Have you noticed something else?"

"What?"

"The locations of these missions aren't limited to Yunzhou!" Bai Jing handed him the Bounty Notice in his hand.

Xu Shan fixed his eyes on it and said in shock, "Lingzhou? That's very far from Yunzhou."

"Brother Bai, are you saying these level-one missions aren't all in Yunzhou?"

"Far from it." Bai Jing shook his head, glanced at the mission pillars, and said seriously, "I suspect these Bounty Notices cover the entire Southern Territory!"

"In other words, carrying out these missions will require traveling extremely far!!"

"Completing one will probably take ten days to half a month."

"So, to complete these missions, we should strive to finish one mission and obtain one Grade A Rating!"

"One Grade A Rating per mission? That sounds rather difficult." Xu Shan's expression grew solemn after hearing Bai Jing's words.

"Brother Xu, when you completed that Fifth Stage mission before, how did you go about it?" Bai Jing asked.

"I bulldozed my way through it. If the journey hadn't been so far, I could have done it just like you, Brother Bai." Xu Shan said proudly. Then his expression abruptly changed, and he said in surprise, "Brother Bai, don't tell me you mean we should kill the people on these Bounty Notices the same way?"

Bai Jing smiled faintly. "There's no need to go that far. Otherwise, there wouldn't be many people in the entire stronghold who could manage it."

Xu Shan nodded, relieved. If that were the case, he would have no confidence at all.

After thinking for a moment, he looked at Bai Jing expectantly.

"Brother Bai, what preparations do you think we should make?"

Bai Jing glanced at him and said calmly, "In my view, if the target is at the Seventh Stage of Qi and Blood, I would only take the mission after reaching the Eighth Stage, or even the Ninth Stage."

"Brother Bai, you mean our cultivation should be at least one stage higher than the mission target's?" Xu Shan pondered.

"Correct." Bai Jing nodded, then added, "That's only the first point."

"Huh?"

"If it were me," he continued, "I would also need to learn an extremely profound ultimate art, at least one that those targets would have difficulty accessing."

"What kind of ultimate art would count as profound enough that those who took the assessment couldn't access it?" Xu Shan asked doubtfully.

Bai Jing smiled. "That's simple. The more expensive it is, the less likely they are to have encountered it!"

"That makes sense."

"Third."

"There's a third??" Xu Shan's mouth fell open, leaving him looking utterly dumbfounded.

"Of course." Bai Jing nodded. "Most importantly, you need to learn an unmatched movement technique for escaping. If you encounter some major unforeseen change, you'll at least have a few more chances of surviving."

"..." Xu Shan looked at him with a complicated expression. "Those people are only disciples who failed the assessment. No matter how strong they are, they can't be that strong, can they?"

Bai Jing glanced at him, shook his head, and said seriously, "These are only my preliminary thoughts. If we truly take action, we should also bring pills to replenish qi and blood and heal injuries, as well as all kinds of offensive talismans and magic artifacts. Better yet, we should keep one trump card in reserve."

"Brother Bai!" Xu Shan could not help interrupting his eloquent stream of words. "Isn't that being a little too cautious? Besides, we only have five months. We probably won't have time to prepare so many things."

Of course, he committed all those words to memory. They might come in handy someday.

Bai Jing was briefly stunned, then nodded. "That's true."

"What is the most urgent thing for us to do right now?" Xu Shan asked one final question.

"Raise our cultivation!"

Thanks to 'Book Friend 20230607213648957' for the 100-point donation, thanks to 'Jiangnan 20191026' for the 200-point donation, thanks to 'Maple Leaf Blue' for the two monthly tickets, and thanks to everyone else for the recommendation votes. Thank you all.

Oh, and don't stockpile chapters during the new book period—you'll kill the book that way. (wry smile)