Chapter 28

Su Jiu returned to the sect and turned in her missions first, earning eighty-five spirit stones in total. After putting them away, she went to the Mission Token to pick up more work, only to find that the missions she had completed had been posted again.

Su Jiu asked the young boy beside the Mission Token, "Can these missions all be completed more than once?"

The boy smiled. "Of course. Missions like gathering blood-staunching herb can be turned in repeatedly. Most people hand in a hundred plants at a time, which earns them ten times the reward in one go. You finished your missions quite quickly, though. You're back after only three days. For a mission like gathering Biyi grass, people usually need at least seven days to find all ten plants. That's why the reward for Biyi grass is a little higher, too."

Su Jiu nodded and thanked the boy without saying anything more. After all, she had not gone out on the first day, and she had spent the second browsing the market. Strictly speaking, she had only worked on her missions on the third day, but there was no need to tell an outsider that. She accepted the Biyi grass and Civet Beast missions again, then turned them in as soon as they were registered.

She handed over her remaining Civet Beast and fifty stalks of Biyi grass. Seeing Su Jiu produce so much Biyi grass, the boy registering the missions could not help looking a little surprised. "Did you come across a whole patch of Biyi grass?"

"I was just lucky."

The boy said no more and handed Su Jiu two hundred spirit stones.

I've got a modest little fortune now, Su Jiu thought.

The missions were posted again. Remembering how difficult Biyi grass and Civet Beasts were to find, Su Jiu did not accept those two again and instead looked through the other missions.

Two youths nearby had been watching Su Jiu for quite some time.

"She looks way too young."

"There are older ones, sure, but have you seen their cultivation?"

"But younger kids bring more trouble."

"Not necessarily. Didn't you see her turn in the Civet Beast mission on her own? Usually, only seniors at the eighth level of qi refining or above dare accept that one. Even I'm not confident I could do it."

"How do you know she didn't have a senior at the late qi refining stage helping her?"

"Do you think the cultivation world is a charity hall?" The youth curled his lips in disdain.

"If you want to invite her, fine. But if anything happens to that little sprout, you're taking full responsibility."

The youth was not entirely confident either. "Forget it. Let's keep looking," he muttered.

In the end, Su Jiu accepted two missions, one of which was to kill Windfang Rabbits. She wondered whether Yu Yin's former Dao companion had completed it or given up.

The other was also a mission to hunt Demon Beasts. This time, the beasts were called Mushroom Beasts. Judging by the mission description, they should be roughly as strong as Civet Beasts. Su Jiu had accepted it because their location was specified in the mission, so she would not have to search the entire mountain range.

Meanwhile, the small courtyard where Su Jiu lived with seven others was nearly filled with people.

Most had blue patterns on their cuffs, while their leader's were embroidered with purple designs. They all had one thing in common: a black dragon-shaped totem marked their left shoulders.

Six qi refining disciples stood opposite them when Su Jiu appeared at the entrance.

The leader glanced her way and frowned. "You're the last one, aren't you? Come stand with the others."

They were from the Enforcement Hall.

Su Jiu pressed her lips together. These lower-ranking members were just as arrogant as they had been in her previous life. She had no idea how Xia Jue was managing them.

The six girls were her courtyard roommates. Everyone was there except Qian Ling.

No one spoke. The courtyard was utterly silent.

One Enforcement Hall member smiled. "Who would have thought the youngest among you would have the highest cultivation?"

Su Jiu felt there was something lurking beneath his words, but her circumstances were not what they had been back then. She remained silent.

When Su Jiu ignored him, the man found it rather dull.

The leader shot the disciple who had spoken a glare. He immediately straightened and clamped his mouth shut.

"You should already know that Qian Ling, who lived in this courtyard, died three days ago."

His gaze swept over the seven of them one by one. "She died in her own room."

Sun Wei looked rather ill. To be honest, she was currently the most suspicious person here.

Su Jiu was lost in thought. She died three days ago? That was the day I accepted the missions. I hadn't left the sect yet, so why didn't I hear so much as a whisper about it?

"Who reported it?"

Remaining silent like this would get them nowhere. They had to find an opening.

The leader seemed surprised that the youngest girl had been the first to speak. He raised an eyebrow and looked toward Sun Wei.

Sun Wei waved her hands in panic. "Don't ask me. I really don't know. She wasn't breathing when I found her. She was just sitting there. You all know that meditating for three days straight is nothing unusual for a cultivator."

"Then how-how did you discover today that she wasn't breathing?"

Sun Wei seemed afraid of the Enforcement Hall cultivators before her. She swallowed. "Before I went out, I asked to borrow some spirit stones from her. She didn't answer me. I got annoyed and wanted to give her a shove, and then she fell over."

Before joining the Azure Tide Sect, Sun Wei had been a rogue cultivator and had always been strapped for resources. After Qian Ling arrived, she had a little more to spare, but Qian Ling was no fool waiting to be fleeced. She would refuse when Sun Wei asked for too much. Qian Ling helped Sun Wei materially, while Sun Wei offered her some guidance in return. Overall, the two had a good relationship. Even the closest friends occasionally had their disagreements, so such minor friction should not have constituted a motive for murder.

Besides, even if Sun Wei had killed her, she probably would not have chosen to do it in their room. They were often together, after all, so she would have had plenty of other places to choose from.

These were the findings of the Enforcement Hall's investigation, and they were enough to largely rule out Sun Wei as a suspect.

But the leader said nothing. He needed more evidence to point the way.

The reason he had waited for everyone to arrive before beginning his inquiries was that all seven of them had been in this courtyard three days ago.

Su Jiu did not understand. Xia Jue's investigations never used to be this troublesome. Couldn't they just summon the dead woman's soul and ask her?

Shouldn't every minor leader in the Enforcement Hall have one of those soul-summoning magical artifacts? Su Jiu seemingly glanced casually at the soul-summoning artifact hanging from the leader's waist.

Noticing her gaze, the leader raised an eyebrow. "You recognize this Soul-Summoning Bowl? Qian Ling's soul has disappeared."

Su Jiu froze. She clearly had not considered that possibility. Generally, if a soul could not be found with a soul-summoning magical artifact, the only remaining option was the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror. But the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror was the Azure Tide Sect's sect-guarding treasure. How could they possibly activate it merely to investigate the death of an Outer Gate disciple? Besides, even within the Enforcement Hall, only Xia Jue had the authority to use it.

The first possibility Su Jiu thought of was a soul-devouring demonic artifact. The second was that Qian Ling's soul had left her body for some unknown reason, only for someone to strike it until it scattered into oblivion.

With no other recourse, the leader could only record what each of them had done that day.

The conclusion remained the same: no one except Sun Wei had entered or left that room.

At the same time, inside a cave on a certain mountain, an old man wore a black cloak as black energy spread ceaselessly around him. With his murky eyes half-lidded, he looked toward the Azure Tide Sect and snarled, "Useless thing. They noticed so quickly."