The Ghost-Crying Field Would Not Let Him Go!

Tend the Ghost-Crying Field?!

Standing below the elders in the hall, Lin Mo instantly knitted his brows, but he did not voice a refusal.

Ever since he had heard the name "Elder Gou," he had known there was no escaping this assignment. Sooner or later, it would land on his shoulders.

Since that was the case, he might as well leave the three elders with a good impression and spare them the trouble of persuading him.

"Honored elders."

Having made up his mind, Lin Mo immediately cupped his hands. "I cannot promise success, but if the elders command it, I will spare no effort and will not refuse."

Oh?

The bushy-bearded Elder Yuan and the hunchbacked Elder Zhu exchanged glances, their expressions almost identical. Both looked quite surprised.

Cui Zhong had met Lin Mo before and still remembered him somewhat. Even he could not hide his surprise.

The Azure Cloud Sect's Ghost-Crying Field had a certain notoriety among cultivators within a thousand-mile radius.

Apparently, over a hundred years ago, the outer sect disciple responsible for that spirit field had failed to meet his spirit plant quota. The steward of the Spirit Plant Courtyard at the time had deliberately made a mountain out of a molehill and ultimately expelled him from the sect.

Just before leaving the sect, that outer sect disciple had suddenly dropped dead at the edge of the spirit field. His resentment had lingered ever since, and neither the Azure Cloud Sect's sect master nor its elders had been able to dispel it.

The disciples later assigned to that spirit field had either been scared into wetting and soiling themselves by ghostly wailing in the middle of the night, or contracted grave illnesses and eventually died despite treatment.

Over time, that spirit field had become a place of death whose very name made people pale. The Spirit Plant Courtyard had stopped assigning disciples there, and that had remained the case to this day.

"Do you know how the Ghost-Crying Field came to be?"

Cui Zhong had evidently misunderstood something. He shook his head at Lin Mo. "Never mind you-even the sect master can do nothing about that place of death."

"If you go there, you... may never come back alive."

It was that serious?

Lin Mo's heart tightened, but he cupped his hands again and said solemnly, "Whatever the danger, if the elders command it, I will not shrink back even if it means dying ten thousand deaths!"

Whew!

The three elders' expressions relaxed. Wang Qiuru, meanwhile, wore an inscrutable look, as though she had known all along that Lin Mo would agree.

He had the sect's only special constitution suited to cultivating spirit plants. Who could be better suited to restoring the Ghost-Crying Field?

Perhaps sending him to restore the Ghost-Crying Field had not been Elder Gou's idea at all, but the sect master's!

Once Lin Mo resolved the problem of the Ghost-Crying Field and rendered a great service to the sect, the sect master could naturally promote him to an inner sect disciple without exposing his special constitution.

Wang Qiuru, oh, Wang Qiuru, your talents were truly wasted in this steward's position. With wit like this, you could at least manage to become an outer elder!

Delighted by the thought, she could not help raising a hand to cover her mouth, nearly laughing aloud.

"Qiuru, what are you laughing at?"

Elder Yuan frowned and gave a low snort. "Do not lose your composure in front of a disciple. I will settle accounts with you later."

Once Wang Qiuru no longer dared to laugh, he turned back to Lin Mo, his tone softening slightly. "This is indeed a difficult assignment, but I will not treat you poorly."

"If you truly achieve something in the Ghost-Crying Field, I will give you a place in the grand tournament, so you have a chance to distinguish yourself before your fellow disciples."

"But if you fail... forget it. If you fail, there will be no need for me to punish you. The Ghost-Crying Field itself will be where your bones lie!"

With that, he rose straight away. He paused briefly as he reached Wang Qiuru's side, then turned and left.

Cui Zhong and Elder Zhu said nothing more either. Each handed Wang Qiuru a small Storage Bag, then hurried after Elder Yuan. The three left together.

Could it be...

At the sight, Lin Mo's mind sprang into motion, and he soon formed a guess.

The busybodies in the Spirit Plant Courtyard all said Wang Qiuru had powerful backing. From the looks of it, her relationship with Elder Yuan was clearly far from ordinary.

Perhaps the two had long since secretly become cultivation partners, but had never made it public for some unknown reason.

"Work hard. I have confidence in you."

Wang Qiuru had no idea what wild speculation was running through Lin Mo's mind.

Smiling broadly, she held out both Storage Bags the elders had given her and encouraged him. "Others may doubt you, but how could I not know better?"

"Since this is the sect master's arrangement, the outcome is bound to be good. You can set your mind at ease!"

The sect master?

Lin Mo froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly to himself.

Steward Wang, oh, Steward Wang, if you keep this up, I will be too embarrassed to keep deceiving you.

These two Storage Bags...

"Take them!"

Without allowing any argument, Wang Qiuru forced both Storage Bags into Lin Mo's hands. Only then did she say with a look of gratification, "All right, I will send people over right away to clear all the weeds out of the Ghost-Crying Field for you."

"You need not worry about your old spirit field anymore. I will make other arrangements for it. As for that servant disciple, Qin Sang Sang..."

Before Wang Qiuru could finish, Lin Mo hastily said, "Qin Sang Sang will not go to the Ghost-Crying Field. Let her keep my younger sister company. She does not need to go anywhere else."

"Huh?"

Wang Qiuru gave Lin Mo a slightly surprised look, then pursed her lips in a knowing smile. "Then I will have her tidy your courtyard from now on and assign someone else to the fieldwork..."

"Tsk, tsk. So young, yet you already know how to cherish someone, unlike that wretched man... hmph!"

The moment he heard that, Lin Mo knew Wang Qiuru had misunderstood again.

He wanted to explain, but felt there was little point. Without lingering any longer, he took his leave and hurried back to his own courtyard.

"One thousand spirit stones in total, all water-aligned."

Inside his bedroom.

Lin Mo shut the door and opened the Storage Bags. Gazing at the water-aligned spirit stones piled like little mountains inside, he could not keep the envy off his face.

It was wonderful to have someone backing you!

The three elders of the Spirit Plant Courtyard seemed to hold similar positions, but in reality, Elder Yuan clearly had the final say. He truly lived up to his position as head of the Spirit Plant Courtyard.

Cui Zhong and Elder Zhu had probably given Wang Qiuru those spirit stones at Elder Yuan's behest, or because they wanted a favor from him.

Whatever the case, the lie he had told back then had led Wang Qiuru to misunderstand. That move had stumbled into success!

"Brother?"

Outside the room, Lin Xiaohe suddenly knocked on the door and slipped a note through the gap. "While you were at the Spirit Plant Courtyard just now, a man came."

"When he saw you were not here, he wrote this note and told me to show it to you when you came back."

"I do not know many characters, and there are lots here I cannot read. What does it say?"

Hm?

Lin Mo quickly put away the spirit stones, rose to open the door, and took the note.

The ink on the note had long since dried. The strokes looked firm and forceful, with a sharp edge showing through every line.

"Junior Brother Lin Mo, if you do not wish to throw your life away in the Ghost-Crying Field, you might reconsider my earlier proposal."

Although there was no signature, Lin Mo could have guessed with his toes: it was definitely Xun Bin again!

"It says I should cultivate diligently and hurry up and improve my cultivation. He wants to spar with me. He is not a good person."

Without betraying anything, Lin Mo spun a lie, then pulled the paper apart with both hands.

Rrrip!

He tore the note Xun Bin had left into pieces!