An Ran!

Twenty days later.

Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, Task Hall.

On the vast Bluestone Square, countless people hurried back and forth.

A silver-haired girl in a black dress and veil stood still, a pitch-black longsword in her hand.

"The cultivation effects of the Seventh-level Spirit Gathering Array really are extraordinary."

Luo Li sighed with emotion. Five thousand Spiritual Value a day was actually quite affordable.

As for the Eighth-grade Spirit Gathering Array, she did not dare imagine what twenty days of cultivation there would do for her.

With Zhao Chen and Little Nine Netherbird's help, Luo Li had successfully refined the Luo River Divine Dragon's essence blood, advancing from the middle stage of the Transforming Heaven Realm to the Early Heaven-reaching Realm.

Though she had only reached the early stage, her foundation was stable.

As the effects of the divine beast's essence blood gradually dissipated, Luo Li's strength would continue to improve.

With twenty days of cultivation in the Seventh-level Spirit Gathering Array, Zhao Chen had also reached the Late Transforming Heaven Realm.

Although he still lagged somewhat behind Luo Li, it was foreseeable that Zhao Chen would soon surpass her.

Little Nine Netherbird had also taken this opportunity to recover some of her condition.

The hundred thousand Spiritual Value Dean Ta Cang had awarded Luo Li was consumed just like that.

They had no choice but to come to the Task Hall as soon as possible to accept missions and earn Spiritual Value.

"Little sister, is this your first time at the Task Hall?"

As Luo Li studied the towering hall before her, a cheerful voice like a songbird came from behind.

She turned her head and saw a cold, beautiful woman in a red dress.

Her figure was fiery and voluptuous, with full, proud curves and long jade-like legs.

"Yes."

Luo Li nodded and continued, "I've spent all my Spiritual Value, so I need to take on some missions."

The cold beauty in red immediately lit up.

Wonderful.

This was exactly the sort of talent she needed!

"Then, little sister, you can team up with me to complete a mission."

She extended her hand and introduced herself. "Nice to meet you. My name is An Ran."

An Ran?

That was a nice name.

"Luo Li."

After they shook hands, An Ran deliberately gave Luo Li another look. Even with a veil covering her face, Luo Li's beauty could not be concealed.

This was the first time An Ran had seen her in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. She had not even heard of her before. It was rather strange.

Of course, judging from Luo Li's reaction, she did not know who An Ran was either.

Within the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, An Ran considered herself rather well-known.

After all, among the countless beauties of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, she was among the finest.

In terms of strength, she had also entered the Three Heavens Realm.

After improving a little more, she should be able to challenge the Heavenly Ranking!

"You don't need to worry. The mission we'll complete as a team isn't very difficult."

An Ran extended her hand and passed Luo Li a jade pendant.

"It contains an introduction to the mission. We mainly need to explore some ruins and confirm whether the Dragon Demon Palace's traces are genuine before returning to report."

"The Spiritual Value reward for completing it is around two hundred thousand. We can split it equally. What do you think?"

Missions were divided into three tiers from high to low: Heaven Grade, Earth Grade, and Human Grade.

Each tier was further divided into lower, middle, and upper ranks.

There were many types of missions, including hunting criminals, Spirit Treasuries, and more.

A lower-rank Heaven Grade mission could reward over one million Spiritual Value upon completion.

Even the lowest Earth Grade mission offered one hundred thousand Spiritual Value.

Upper-rank Earth Grade missions could earn several hundred thousand Spiritual Value.

Those in the Divine Soul Stage could only accept Human Grade missions.

Only after entering the Three Heavens Realm would one be qualified to take on Earth Grade missions.

As for Heaven Grade missions, one had to enter the Heavenly Ranking!

The higher the grade of a Heaven Grade mission, the higher one's Heavenly Ranking placement had to be. One also needed experience completing multiple missions and had to form a team before attempting to accept and complete one.

An Ran was in the early Fusion Heavenly Realm and had only entered the Three Heavens Realm not long ago.

The mission she could accept was an upper-rank Human Grade mission.

Its main objective was to explore some ruins and verify the accuracy of information regarding a Spirit Treasury.

As for confirming whether the Dragon Demon Palace's traces were real, that was only a minor matter.

It could be said that these two hundred thousand Spiritual Value would be extremely easy to earn.

Unfortunately, it required a team of at least two people.

This forced An Ran to search for a partner and consider letting someone take a share of the reward.

Giving away one hundred thousand Spiritual Value was truly painful for her.

However, after seeing Luo Li, An Ran felt that losing half the mission reward did not seem so unacceptable.

At the very least, giving it to Luo Li was something she could accept.

Her gaze lingered briefly on the little black bird perched on Luo Li's shoulder.

In truth, apart from Luo Li herself, An Ran's attention was also focused on that delicate little black bird.

It was not simple.

Back in the Divine Soul Stage, An Ran had refined the spirit essence of a spirit beast called the Northern Nether Golden-Patterned Eagle.

The Northern Nether Golden-Patterned Eagle possessed an extremely cold attribute and ranked sixty-fifth on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beast Record.

Yet she sharply noticed that the Northern Nether Golden-Patterned Eagle she had refined was trembling uncontrollably when facing that black bird.

That was clearly pressure, a nobility originating from the deepest depths of its bloodline!

There were only so many Heavenly Beasts far stronger than the Northern Nether Golden-Patterned Eagle.

And among those fitting the characteristics of a black bird, there seemed to be very, very few.

An Ran was afraid she was imagining something too terrifying. How could anyone in the Divine Soul Stage or Three Heavens Realm refine one of the top twenty Super Heavenly Beasts?

Those were terrifying existences destined to become divine beasts!

And they would be among the finest even among divine beasts!

If this silver-haired girl possessed such an opportunity, why would she be at the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy?

The Five Great Academies were indeed renowned throughout the Great Thousand World, but they were merely among the best of the spiritual academy factions.

Before too many other powers, they were simply not worth mentioning.

"Splitting it equally is quite a good deal."

Luo Li froze for a moment, a slightly strange expression appearing on her face.

If she were a Divine Soul Stage freshman who had just enrolled, having such a kind senior sister lead her through a mission and effortlessly earn one hundred thousand Spiritual Value would have been unbelievably satisfying.

But she had just spent one hundred thousand Spiritual Value.

Moreover, she needed to earn far more than that, all so she could obtain the essence blood of the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's guardian divine beast.

Seven million Spiritual Value. With missions of this level alone, she would have to complete dozens of them.

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

"But I don't think I'm worthy."

Luo Li politely declined. This would waste too much time.

She preferred to directly accept bounty missions to kill members of the Dragon Demon Palace. There would surely be large Spiritual Value rewards for those.

"Not worthy?!"

An Ran blanked out, several traces of astonishment appearing on her cold, beautiful face.

She had never expected to be rejected.

This was clearly like a pie falling from the sky. Why would Luo Li refuse?

Could it be that she looked like a bad person?

What kind of bad person could have a chest as broad as hers!

"Yes, I'd only hold you back, Senior Sister."

Luo Li paused before saying,

"If there's nothing else, I'll go inside the Task Hall and take a look around?"

She was very interested in the bounty missions within the Task Hall.

"Junior Sister, don't be so modest."

An Ran gritted her silver teeth and immediately said, "I'll show you around. Maybe you'll change your mind."

After all, her mission was truly hard to come by.

At the time, many people had competed with her for it, but none of them had managed to take it from her.

"What kind of mission do you want to accept?"

As long as Luo Li understood how difficult missions were and how varied their rewards could be, she would surely realize just how kind An Ran was.

Luo Li hesitated for a moment, then softly asked in return,

"Can I accept a bounty mission to kill members of the Dragon Demon Palace?"

An Ran: "?"