Mission

After lunch.

Chen Cheng visited two more different pharmacies and bought a bottle of Blood-Boosting Powder from each.

He first took some from one of the bottles and consumed it.

The next day, he tested the other bottle as well.

After comparing them overall, Shen Family Pharmacy's product still came out slightly stronger in medicinal potency.

Chen Cheng made up his mind. From then on, he would buy exclusively from Shen Family Pharmacy and no longer waste time comparing.

At the same time, he made a rough estimate.

At his current, nearly self-torturous training intensity, so long as he had enough Blood-Boosting Powder and Venison Medicinal Meal, he should be able to condense his third wisp of Blood Qi within a month.

Though each additional wisp of Blood Qi he condensed would increase the difficulty by leaps and bounds.

Even so, condensing the third wisp within a month would still be an utterly shocking rate of progress.

Even those Inner Hall disciples blessed with abundant resources or superior talent might not be able to achieve it.

By then, he could enter the Inner Hall openly and properly, raising both his status and treatment another step.

That noon.

The small vermilion-lacquered door of the Inner Hall slowly opened, and five young people emerged one after another.

Their steps were steady and weighty, their auras utterly different from those of the Outer Hall disciples.

They were Eldest Senior Brother Chu Meng, Second Senior Brother Zhu Mingyuan, Third Senior Sister Ye Qiluo, Fifth Senior Brother Lu Changning, and Xiao Yi, who ranked last in the Inner Hall.

"Xiao Yi."

Without even shifting his gaze, Chu Meng gave the order in a calm voice.

"Go gather all the Outer Hall disciples."

"Yes, Eldest Senior Brother!"

Xiao Yi immediately bowed to accept the order, then quickly headed toward the various parts of the training yard.

In the instant it took to turn his head, all the respectfulness Xiao Yi had displayed before the Inner Hall senior brothers and sisters vanished without a trace.

He straightened his back, swept his cold gaze over the Outer Hall disciples, and undisguised aloofness and superiority surfaced in his eyes.

"Stop, stop, stop! Quit training, all of you! Get over there and gather up, now! Hurry! You there... I'm talking to you! Are you deaf? Get over there and gather!"

He shouted and cursed all the way through the yard.

Even though quite a few Outer Hall disciples had higher cultivation and longer seniority than him, he did not take any of them seriously.

In his view, anyone unable to enter the Inner Hall lacked in physique, potential, or temperament. They were fated to go no higher on the heavenly stairway of martial arts.

As for him, Xiao Yi, though he had only recently condensed his second wisp of Blood Qi, Master Ye had made an exception and accepted him into the Inner Hall.

He was confident that he could form his third wisp of Blood Qi within half a year and touch upon the threshold of the fourth within a year...

And that was precisely the foundation of his current contempt for the Outer Hall.

With him leading the charge, Luo Boqing and the others clustered around him, throwing their weight about and looking immensely imposing.

"Lin Fengxiao! Are you fucking deaf? Or was the beating last time too light for you to remember it?"

Xiao Yi's voice suddenly rose as he strode quickly toward Lin Fengxiao, whose punching form had not paused in the distance.

All the White Badge disciples who knew Lin Fengxiao were aware that he had an extremely stubborn rule when practicing his fists: until he finished one complete set, even if the sky came crashing down, he would not stop midway.

Yet in Xiao Yi's eyes, Lin Fengxiao's unbroken training was blatant, public provocation.

Some disciples could not understand why Lin Fengxiao had to be so inflexible and bring suffering upon himself.

But other disciples who knew a little of Lin Fengxiao's past understood clearly that his family had gone from prosperous and well-off to destroyed overnight, all because of one reckless impulse of his.

What outsiders saw as his stubborn obsession with martial arts was, in truth, the tangible manifestation of regret in his heart.

From the moment he signed the Death-Pledge Contract and became a White Badge disciple, he had already looked lightly upon life and death.

Either he would achieve greatness in martial arts and avenge his family's blood-soaked hatred, or he would wear out this rotten life completely and redeem himself through death.

Beyond that, he could find no third path, nor did he wish to seek one.

"You bastard! I told you to stop!"

With Chu Meng, Zhu Mingyuan, and the others watching from afar, Xiao Yi ultimately did not dare strike directly.

But he had already rushed up to Lin Fengxiao with Luo Boqing and the others, cursing at the top of his lungs.

Spittle mixed with the stench of tobacco and alcohol sprayed over him like a storm. Their gazes were so vicious that they looked ready to tear Lin Fengxiao alive the next moment.

Anyone could see that Lin Fengxiao had truly enraged Xiao Yi and the others this time. Retribution would surely come for him later.

In the distance.

Chen Cheng watched coldly, an unusual glint flashing through his eyes before vanishing unnoticed.

By the small door of the Inner Hall.

Chu Meng had little patience. Without caring that some disciples had yet to arrive, he began speaking on his own.

"Tomorrow, there will be a combat mission. Junior Brother Zhu, Junior Sister Ye, Junior Brother Lu, and I will each lead a team. Those interested in participating should register at the General Affairs Room before nightfall."

He paused briefly, then added with emphasis.

"This is a combat mission, and the risks are not small. What exactly you will be doing and what rewards there will be shall be explained before departure tomorrow morning. Think it through carefully before registering."

After saying that, he walked off to one side.

The other three Inner Hall disciples also dispersed separately.

Each had their own faction in the Outer Hall. Before long, batches of Outer Hall disciples familiar with them or wishing to attach themselves to them gathered nearby, speaking in low voices amid varying atmospheres.

Xiao Yi and the others hurried over to Third Senior Sister Ye Qiluo, once again putting on respectful, ingratiating expressions.

The reason Xiao Yi had chosen Ye Qiluo's faction was that this pretty-browed, long-legged young woman was not only an Inner Hall disciple, but also Master Ye's only daughter.

In Xiao Yi's eyes, that connection was far more worth clinging to than mere strength or seniority.

Having climbed step by step from the bottom, Xiao Yi had never doubted his own judgment.

Elsewhere.

Chen Cheng retreated to the edge of the training yard and continued tempering his Crouching Dragon Fist, utterly unconcerned with the gathering and discussion in the distance.

Although Chu Meng had not stated the nature of tomorrow's mission outright, Chen Cheng had long since understood it.

It was nothing more than the major martial halls of South Outer City sending out disciples to cooperate with the authorities in their purge of Red Moon Nunnery. They could earn prestige and expand their martial halls' influence while giving their disciples a chance at practical combat experience.

Chen Cheng had already weighed the matter clearly in his heart.

If the target of the purge were an ordinary force, he might have gone along to take a look and gain some experience.

But if it was Red Moon Nunnery, a place steeped in sinister strangeness and beyond the scope of his knowledge and experience, then there was truly no need to take such a risk.

In his view, what mattered most now was still steadily increasing his strength, waiting for the right moment, and dealing with Zhao Chuan, this immediate threat, rather than stepping into that quagmire shrouded in mist, where fortune and disaster were impossible to foresee.

In the distance.

Xiao Yi and the others had all completed their registration.

Luo Boqing glanced, seemingly casually, in Chen Cheng's direction and lowered his voice.

"Senior Brother Xiao, that kid Chen Cheng doesn't seem to be planning to join tomorrow's mission..."

"Chen Cheng?"

Xiao Yi froze for a moment and looked over there as well, only then realizing who he meant.

"You mean him? He's just an insignificant little fish. What does it matter whether he goes or not?"

"This..."

Luo Boqing gave an embarrassed smile.

"I thought Senior Brother might take the opportunity to give him a little lesson while we're out tomorrow."

"Hah, is he worthy of me personally making a move?"

Xiao Yi sneered and completely withdrew his gaze, finding even one more look at Chen Cheng a needless bother.

Ye Qiluo, standing not far away, seemed to have heard their conversation. She slightly turned her head and cast a distant glance toward Chen Cheng.