Chapter 14

The crowd kept growing. Some naive new disciples wanted to stand up for Bai Su, but the senior disciples around them talked them out of it.

"You'd better not stick your nose into this. If those people set their sights on you, you're finished." A young woman held a boy back. Judging by their faces, they were probably brother and sister. The boy frowned, feeling indignant on Bai Su's behalf, but he heeded his sister's warning and did not step forward.

The disciples beating her were notorious "bullies" in the Outer Gate. Their ringleader's uncle was one of the Outer Gate's stewards, and they specialized in bullying newcomers and stealing their resources. With so many people in the Outer Gate, supervision was nowhere near as strict as in the inner sect. Even when disciples without backing were extorted by these bullies, they had nowhere to seek justice and could only swallow the bitter fruit themselves.

Su Jiu pieced together the situation from the disciples whispering nearby. "This has been happening all along, and no one does anything?"

Han Jia glanced at Su Jiu and nodded. "The Outer Gate is enormous, with a huge number of people. Robbing a few disciples without backing won't cause much of a ripple. After all, most Outer Gate disciples still have to make their living under the Outer Gate Steward."

Su Jiu frowned and pressed her lips together. So this was what the bottom rung of the Azure Tide Sect was really like.

She certainly disliked Bai Su, but she disliked this atmosphere in the Outer Gate even more.

"Let's go." Su Jiu pulled Han Jia into the dining hall. Han Jia looked disappointed that she would miss the rest of the spectacle.

The Azure Tide Sect had nine great peaks in all. Apart from the central main peak where the Outer Gate disciples lived, there were the Five Elements Peaks, Purgatory Peak, Mist Peak, and Ice Veil Peak.

Purgatory Peak was where the Azure Tide Sect imprisoned its offenders, while Mist Peak was the dwelling place of successive generations of ancestors above the sect master. Concealed by formations, it had always remained hidden from view.

The most unusual of them was probably Ice Veil Peak.

Although Ice Veil Peak also had formations that prevented other disciples from coming and going at will, its outline was still visible from outside.

Quite a few people had visited Ice Veil Peak, but almost no one could remain there indefinitely.

Zhao Yingzhi was a disciple who had joined that year. Although he was already well past sixteen, he had reached the third level of Qi Refining while living as a rogue cultivator, so the sect had made an exception and admitted him.

Naturally, his reason for joining the sect was resources. In the Azure Tide Sect, he could exchange contribution points for all the resources he lacked. He had learned this from fellow rogue cultivators.

On his first day at the sect, Zhao Yingzhi had read about ways to earn points in the Outer Gate disciple handbook. The most common method was completing missions. There were other ways, of course, such as making a major contribution to the sect, which could also earn a large number of points. But as a mere cultivator at the Third Level of Qi Refining, he was not capable of anything like that yet.

Following the instructions in the Outer Gate disciple handbook, Zhao Yingzhi easily found the Steward Hall. At its very center stood a huge wall covered in wooden plaques, each representing a mission. The reward was marked beneath each plaque.

As Zhao Yingzhi looked through them, he could not help marveling. The Azure Tide Sect truly deserved its place among the seven great sects. The generous mission rewards alone were far better than anything he had earned in the Rogue Cultivator Alliance.

The missions he had taken in the Rogue Cultivator Alliance had almost all paid in Spirit Pearls. Here, even the lowest-paying missions generally offered one Lower-Grade Spirit Stone.

Missions involving hunting Demon Beasts generally paid more than five spirit stones.

One Lower-Grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for a hundred Spirit Pearls, while a lower-grade Spirit-Gathering Pill cost only one spirit stone. At the market, a bottle containing ten Spirit-Gathering Pills could sell for ten Lower-Grade Spirit Stones.

At the rate he earned spirit stones, it would take him roughly two months to buy a bottle. But now the sect's monthly allotment for Outer Gate disciples included a bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills, and he could also earn spirit stones himself to buy more.

Zhao Yingzhi finally understood why sect disciples traveling outside were all so wealthy. A bitter ache stirred in his heart. He, too, had three spiritual roots, with both his earth and fire spiritual roots reaching the sixth tier. Yet without a powerful aristocratic clan behind him, he had been forced to spend several years as a rogue cultivator, wasting the most important years of his early cultivation.

Now he asked for little. Reaching Foundation Establishment would be enough.

Zhao Yingzhi browsed the missions, lost in thought, until his gaze finally settled on one.

A mission to water a Spirit Garden for a month actually offered ten Lower-Grade Spirit Stones? Whoever had posted it was practically a child god scattering wealth.

Zhao Yingzhi accepted the mission without hesitation.

Zhao Yingzhi handed the mission plaque to the boy registering missions. At the sight of the Mission Token, the boy's right hand paused with its brush. His lips pulled into something that was not quite a smile. "New here?"

The strange smile on the boy's face sent a chill down Zhao Yingzhi's spine, but he still nodded.

"You know the penalty for failing a mission, right?" the boy asked casually.

Zhao Yingzhi had already read about this in the Outer Gate handbook. Anyone who failed to complete a mission accepted at the Steward Hall had to pay a fine equal to ten percent of its original reward.

In other words, if he failed this mission, he would have to pay the Steward Hall one spirit stone instead.

But how could he possibly fail a watering mission?

Zhao Yingzhi took the boy's words as a kindly reminder to a new disciple and did not give much thought to what might be wrong with the mission.

The boy tossed him a jade token. "Before entering Ice Veil Peak, insert the jade token into the Recess by the gate. The formation will open on its own. Once you're inside, the Spirit Garden is on your right."

"Thank you!" Zhao Yingzhi said, bowing with his hands clasped.

The boy raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Don't get too curious when you're on Ice Veil Peak. Just keep your head down and water the Spirit Garden." Of course, that's only if you can hold out.

The boy did not voice that last part.

Once the registration was complete, Zhao Yingzhi turned to leave.

As he made his way out, a few disciples kept giving him strange looks. Although most of those accepting missions showed nothing unusual, his heart still gave an involuntary jolt.

The mission site was on Ice Veil Peak. Following the directions on the Mission Token, he soon reached its gate.

Unlike the other peaks, whose gates were guarded by disciples, Ice Veil Peak had only a bare entrance. The ground before it was slightly damp. Following the boy's instructions, Zhao Yingzhi placed the jade token in the Recess, and his hand brushed the jade platform beside it.

A bone-piercing chill struck him instantly.

"So cold!" Zhao Yingzhi immediately snatched his hand back.

Yet the cold lingered inside him, refusing to disperse.

By rights, having reached the third level of Qi Refining, he could already withstand ordinary cold. Even if he could not resist it, he should never have feared it as intensely as a mortal would. Yet that brief touch of the jade platform had truly made him feel as though he had become his mortal self again.

That cold could seep swiftly into him, straight into his marrow. Zhao Yingzhi had a premonition that if he touched the jade platform for too long, he might die-freeze to death.

After Zhao Yingzhi entered Ice Veil Peak, the first thing he saw was a palace made of ice. It was not large, but its design was magnificent and imposing.

A small beast resembling a deer lay before the palace. Its entire body was ice blue, its color clear and bright, and it was exceptionally beautiful. Perhaps sensing Zhao Yingzhi's arrival, it lazily opened its eyes, glanced at him, and closed them again.

Zhao Yingzhi could not shake the feeling that he had been looked down upon. Still, he had always been good-tempered, and as a cultivator at the Third Level of Qi Refining, he had no grounds to throw his weight around anyway. He did not even need to think to know that a little beast capable of surviving on Ice Veil Peak was no ordinary spirit beast.

Zhao Yingzhi soon put the little beast out of his mind and headed toward the Spirit Garden. But the farther he went, the lower the surrounding temperature became. Perhaps because he had been near the gate earlier, he had barely noticed it then. Now he felt as though his whole body was about to stiffen.