Level-One Mission

Southern Territory, Qizhou.

Before a prosperous city, a young man in brocade robes stood tall, followed by more than a dozen burly men.

"Young Master, you've been standing here for over two hours. Should we go back and wait?" A servant came to the young man's side and asked with a fawning smile.

The young man glanced at him, unmoved. "What do you know?"

"Yun Hai mentioned in his letter that the person coming was an extraordinary genius among Shangqing Mountain's assessment disciples. Though he is only running an errand for Yun Hai and delivering something to me today, we must receive him in the most proper manner."

"Yun Hai is my childhood friend, and we still keep in touch now. But in the future, it will be these fellow disciples who stay by his side. We absolutely cannot neglect them."

"Young Master's lesson is right." The servant nodded and withdrew.

Before long, beneath the lingering glow of the setting sun, a handsome youth on horseback approached from afar.

The waiting young man's eyes lit up. The other party's gaze was calm, and he carried an aloof, chilly air that seemed detached from the mortal world, giving one the illusion that he did not partake of worldly smoke and fire.

There could be no mistake. He had to be from Shangqing Mountain.

At once, he went forward, a smile piling across his face as he called out while walking, "Could you be Immortal Master Chen Ping?"

The youth on horseback stopped and looked down at the young man. "You are Yun Hai's childhood friend, Zhao Yi?"

"Yes, yes, that is indeed me." Zhao Yi nodded excitedly.

Then this young master, whose ten fingers had never touched spring water, personally took hold of Chen Ping's reins, leaving the servants staring in shock.

Chen Ping's face remained expressionless, though a hint of satisfaction rose within him. This was how mortals ought to behave when meeting an Immortal Master.

He then took out two jade bottles and handed them to Zhao Yi. "Yun Hai asked me to bring these to you."

"Immortal Master, what are these?" Zhao Yi was delighted. Though his childhood friend had mentioned them in his letter, he had not explained exactly what they were.

"Didn't you say you had been stuck at the Third Stage of Qi and Blood and unable to break through? Take one a day. You should break through within half a month."

"Really?" Zhao Yi could not conceal his delight. He had been stuck at the Third Stage of Qi and Blood for nearly half a year.

"Immortal Master, please stay for a few more days. My younger sister is getting married the day after tomorrow, and there will be a grand wedding feast."

Inside the Ascension Tower in the base's inner district.

In the Mission Hall, Bai Jing took down a Bounty Notice posted on a pillar, glanced at it, then put it back.

"The Eighth Stage of Qi and Blood is beyond me."

He picked up another one to examine, then shook his head. "Two Seventh Stage of Qi and Blood cultivators in one household, with a reward of eighty Ascension Coins. It nearly matches the difficulty of an Eighth Stage mission. Mm, I'll leave it for disciples who need it."

Bai Jing then headed farther inside.

"There seem to be very few missions left within Yunzhou." He searched again and again.

Naturally, the first choice for missions was somewhere as close as possible, to save time.

But it seemed the easier ones had all been taken. The remaining missions in Yunzhou were all of Eighth or Ninth Stage difficulty, with Ninth Stage missions being especially numerous.

"What about Lingzhou?" Bai Jing began looking through his second choice.

He picked up a bloodstained plea for help from Lingzhou.

"To the Immortal Masters of Shangqing Mountain:

There is a demonic cultivator.

Target: Kill the demonic-path Rogue Cultivator Tie Sheng.

Cultivation: Seventh Stage of Qi and Blood.

Assessment: Has participated in Shangqing Mountain's assessment.

Note: Taken twice but not resolved. Reward increased by thirty Ascension Coins."

"Assessment disciples have gone out twice in succession without killing him. It seems this demonic cultivator will be difficult to kill. Though his crimes are monstrous, this mission is not for me."

Bai Jing shook his head again and put it back, leaving it for those Violet Cauldron Geniuses to complete.

"Qizhou?" He picked up a Bounty Notice, his brow furrowing slightly.

"This place is quite far away. Even by Immortal Boat, a round trip would take a day and a night."

"But the one consolation is that the target's location lies right along the route, so I won't need to travel farther. It will do."

Bai Jing made his decision. Rather than putting the Bounty Notice back, he took it out of the Mission Hall and went to the main hall to register.

"I still need to find Ling Qinghe once more. I wonder whether she will agree."

After leaving the Ascension Tower, he lowered his head in thought and murmured to himself.

Half an hour later.

"You want my Method of Scrutiny?" At the entrance to Outer District One, Ling Qinghe scrutinized the youth before her, somewhat surprised.

Then she gave a cold smile. "Didn't Daoist Brother say that my scrutiny was not the proper path and should be discarded?"

"Daoist Ling remembers clearly. What I said was not that it should be discarded, but that it should be used reasonably—certainly not to probe acquaintances at will."

"Fine, you're right about everything." Ling Qinghe shrugged and held up five fingers. "This much."

"Five Ascension Coins? That's rather cheap." As he spoke, Bai Jing reached into his robes to take out Ascension Coins.

But Ling Qinghe hurriedly stopped him. "Friend, you should seek someone else. My method of scrutiny is not worthy of your five Ascension Coins."

Bai Jing gave a wry smile, having heard the mockery in her words.

Ling Qinghe rolled her eyes repeatedly. "This is an authentic Minor Divine Ability: Dharma Eye of Shangqing Mountain. Forget fifty—even five hundred would be far from enough to exchange for it. Yet you want to obtain this technique for five Ascension Coins."

"..." Bai Jing seemed to have underestimated the value of this Method of Scrutiny.

"See you around!" He left without looking back.

He had originally wanted to use the Method of Scrutiny to investigate his enemies' strength while carrying out missions, but the price she had quoted had truly startled him.

The next day.

After finishing his morning cultivation, Bai Jing boarded an Immortal Boat bound for Qizhou.

"Five Ascension Coins?" Seeing the Shangqing Mountain senior brother hold up five fingers, Bai Jing was slightly stunned. Fortunately, it was the five coins he had expected.

"It all began forty years ago.

"My Zhao Clan was a sovereign presence in Nanqiu City, all because my grandfather took risks in his youth and obtained a fragmentary pill formula. He was already a renowned grandmaster of the martial world. With the aid of that pill formula, he ascended to the rank of grandmaster and laid the foundation for the rise of our Zhao family.

"Forty years ago, a refugee fled to Nanqiu City. Seeing that he was young and pitiful, my grandfather brought him home, adopted him, gave him a surname and name, and made him a young servant. Though he was a servant, my grandfather had no children at the time, and the boy was clever and sensible. Thus, he was deeply favored by my grandfather. He bore the name of a servant but lived as a young master, taught to read, write, and practice martial arts."

"This person was Zhao Tianyang?" Bai Jing sat upright at the tea table and asked, looking at the youth opposite him, whose face was filled with resentment.

"Immortal Master is correct. It was him." The youth nodded, his eyes red as he gritted his teeth.

"Only a few years later, my grandfather finally had children—my father and my younger aunt, one after the other. After having children, my grandfather did not slight or neglect Zhao Tianyang. Instead, he removed him from servitude and accepted him as an adopted son."

"For the first ten years after he was adopted, my father and younger aunt were extremely close to him. Grandfather even intended to marry my aunt to him."

"Later, Shangqing Mountain recruited disciples in Yunzhou. My father was not selected, but Zhao Tianyang entered the assessment.

"Of course, if he had become a disciple of Shangqing Mountain, there would have been no later events. Yet less than a year later, he was eliminated and returned.

"Even after being eliminated, he was no longer like an ordinary person. He had learned Shangqing Mountain's supreme arts, and in just a few months, he became the greatest expert in all of Nanqiu City aside from my grandfather."