Patrol Mission

Not long after.

[Your Dao Technique "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame" has self-evolved a cloning technique.]

The next second, the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame flew out from within Chen Xuan, immediately splitting into two distinct flames.

Although it had divided in two, neither flame weakened significantly; the main fire lost no strength, and the sub-fire retained seventy percent of the main flame's power.

"Awesome."

Chen Xuan looked at the two flames before him and sighed in admiration.

You little guy, to go out and roam, you actually learned how to clone yourself.

[Wuhu, I can go out and keep getting stronger!]

"Don't be impatient. We're in the sect right now; if you fly out like this, it'll draw too much attention. Wait until I find an opportunity to leave the sect, then you can head out."

Chen Xuan quickly cautioned.

[Fine then.]

The Purple Imperial Dragon Flame stopped being impatient. Since it could clone itself now, it wasn't worried that Chen Xuan wouldn't let it out.

After all, this was a great opportunity to get stronger while practicing alchemy at the same time.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

During this period, Chen Xuan had already sent the sub-fire of the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame out.

Both the main fire and the sub-fire were controlled by the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame; when the sub-fire devoured other flames, the entire Purple Imperial Dragon Flame grew stronger.

Therefore, it made no difference which flame went out, so he released the slightly weaker sub-fire.

He kept the main fire inside his body so that if he encountered any enemies, he would be ready to defend himself.

Furthermore, over these three months, Chen Xuan's Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art had improved significantly. He had condensed three hundred Dragon Marks, and his physical cultivation had initially stepped into the late stage of the third realm.

Additionally, regarding Purple Qi Comes from the East, after three months of transformation by the purple qi, he was only one step away from condensing his spirit body.

Chen Xuan grew increasingly expectant.

The spirit body that could be condensed through Purple Qi Comes from the East was known as the Purple Origin Spirit Body. Its characteristic was that a cultivator's spiritual power would become more vast and powerful, and it also possessed remarkable restraint against evil spirits and the like.

Among countless spirit bodies, it was definitely ranked near the top.

Cloud Sea Peak, Mission Hall.

Chen Xuan arrived at the Mission Hall today; the patrol mission was about to begin.

After Chen Xuan arrived, an elder from the Mission Hall was waiting for him.

Soon, the several people who had accepted the patrol mission had all gathered.

In total, seven Dao Foundation Realm disciples had accepted this patrol mission, and they would need to visit three Heavenly Dao Secret Realms in succession to inspect them.

Truth be told, all three Heavenly Dao Secret Realms had branch sects stationed at them, yet the Cloud Sea Sect still chose not to entrust the patrol mission to those branches, opting instead to find disciples from the main sect to complete the task.

There was no other reason; the main purpose was to prevent the branch sects from stealing from the very places they were meant to guard.

If the Heavenly Dao Secret Realms were handed over entirely to the branch sects, there was no guarantee the branches wouldn't develop ulterior motives.

Therefore, they directly avoided letting the branch sects have full control over the Heavenly Dao Secret Realms.

The branches could have convenience, but they could not have complete dominion.

The entrances to the Heavenly Dao Secret Realms were all under restrictions set by the Cloud Sea Sect; without a specially crafted warrant, no cultivator above the Spirit Sea Realm could enter at all.

This was to prevent cultivators above the Spirit Sea Realm from the branch sects from going in to sweep the place clean, and also to prevent outsiders above the Spirit Sea Realm from sneaking in.

The Mission Hall elder saw that everyone had arrived.

He took out seven warrants, which flew into the hands of the group: "Wu Xun, you will lead the team for this patrol mission."

As the elder finished speaking.

A young man among the seven cupped his hands and replied: "Understood, Elder."

Immediately following, the elder took out a Flying Boat dharma treasure and handed it to Wu Xun.

"Alright, go."

The elder nodded slightly, said nothing more, and left.

In fact, for missions like this, an elder usually didn't need to show up.

The mission was neither difficult nor dangerous.

It was only because the patrol mission required the use of the warrants, which were held by the Mission Hall elders, that he had to appear.

After the elder left.

Wu Xun looked at the others and introduced himself with a smile: "I am a disciple of Divine Firmament Peak, Wu Xun."

"I am Lu Yu, a disciple of Jade Firmament Peak."

"Purple Firmament, Bai Su."

"Grand Firmament..."

The group introduced themselves one by one.

Chen Xuan was no exception, announcing himself as Chen Xuan of Cinnabar Firmament.

"Everyone, I hope we can cooperate well in the time to come."

Wu Xun cupped his hands and spoke once more.

"Of course, Senior Brother Wu."

The others all agreed in turn.

It was just a single mission; none of them had any messy thoughts about vying for power.

They only wanted to complete the task as quickly as possible.

Without further delay, Wu Xun released the Flying Boat dharma treasure given to him by the elder of the Mission Hall.

Although it was only a low-grade dharma treasure, its speed was far superior to that of a magical tool.

This patrol mission was actually quite decent, as the sect even provided a Flying Boat dharma treasure for their travel.

The group immediately boarded the Flying Boat.

Following that, Wu Xun steered the vessel toward the location of the Green Spirit Sect.

Regarding the three Heavenly Dao Secret Realms, they naturally followed the principle of proximity.

Therefore, their first destination was the Green Spirit Secret Realm.

Chen Xuan stood at the edge of the Flying Boat, gazing in the direction of the Green Spirit Secret Realm. He pondered whether, having just obtained a wisp of Heavenly Dao Qi from that very place, he might be able to "see" information regarding another wisp of Heavenly Dao Qi this time around.

Now that his cultivation had advanced further, "viewing" the Heavenly Dao Qi would surely be easier and more effortless than before.

Furthermore, having searched for Heavenly Dao Qi once, his Cloud Sea Heaven-Observing Technique had accumulated experience, which would be helpful for finding more.

It would take some time to reach the secret realm.

Aboard the Flying Boat, the group began to chat idly.

The others actually knew each other to some extent, or at the very least, had heard of or seen one another.

As for Chen Xuan, they were truly quite unfamiliar with him.

Either Chen Xuan had always kept a very low profile, or he had entered the sect quite recently and had only just reached Foundation Establishment.

That was why none of them had heard of or seen him before.

"When did Brother Chen reach Foundation Establishment?"

Lu Yu looked at Chen Xuan and asked.

The other six were also rather curious.

"Not long ago, less than a year," Chen Xuan replied.

The others wore expressions that suggested as much.

That explained why they hadn't seen him before.

"Junior Brother took this mission voluntarily, didn't you? For a junior brother like you, this can be considered a good task. While the rewards aren't much, it is a fact that the mission isn't difficult," Wu Xun said with a smile.

Voluntarily?

Chen Xuan was taken aback by these words and asked, "Are there instances where this mission is not taken voluntarily?"

"This mission is one that few people are willing to take. Often, the patrol deadline approaches without enough disciples having accepted the task. When that happens, the Mission Hall will directly distribute the mission to the various peaks, requiring them to send disciples over," Wu Xun explained with a nod.

Then, Wu Xun and the other four remarked that they had been sent there.

It turned out that, apart from Chen Xuan and the Senior Sister from Jade Firmament, Lu Yu, the other five had all been sent; they hadn't taken the mission themselves.

After all, the rewards were too meager; even some newly Foundation Established disciples looked down on this mission to some extent.

"Senior Sister Lu, then why did you take this mission?"

Chen Xuan looked at Lu Yu and asked with curiosity.