After turning the matter over in his mind, Xu Xuan finally set his sights on his authority as a steward.
Drawing on his familiarity with the herb garden's affairs, he began "optimizing" the material allocations for refining certain low-grade pills.
Without affecting the finished pills' efficacy, he saved a few scraps here and there.
He tried mixing these scraps with other inexpensive herbs to refine an "inferior pill" that was slightly less effective but extremely cheap to produce.
Though this pill was beneath standard, its advantage lay in its low price.
It could meet the basic needs of the lowest-ranking menial workers and some outer disciples.
Using public resources for private gain naturally could not be done openly.
He dared not sell them within the sect.
He could only work through Xu An and others to contact some low-ranking disciples who frequently traveled to nearby gathering places for rogue cultivators.
He quietly sold the pills at extremely low prices in exchange for spirit stones.
The venture carried considerable risk, but Xu Xuan kept it exceedingly secret.
He never sold much at a time and never appeared in person, so he had not drawn any trouble.
As the proceeds accumulated, he earned quite a few spirit stones.
At the same time, he paid closer attention to sect missions.
Ordinary missions offered paltry contribution points and were of no significance to him.
The missions he accepted were mostly those involving exploration, identification, or specialized skills.
For instance, there was one occasion.
The Mission Hall posted a mission.
It required identifying a batch of damaged ancient talisman patterns.
The mission offered considerable contribution points, yet no one could solve it.
Drawing on what he had learned across two lives and some lingering memories from his previous life, Xu Xuan actually identified more than half of them and earned a substantial sum of contribution points.
This incident brought him to the attention of the Mission Hall's elders as well.
He also began deliberately cultivating friendships with well-informed inner disciples who often carried out missions outside the sect.
Under the pretext of seeking advice on cultivation difficulties, he frequently offered low-grade spiritual tea and spiritual fruit produced in the herb garden.
In exchange, he obtained information about secret realms, ruins, or regions outside where qi of Heaven and Earth might exist.
"I heard that deep within the Black Marsh, there's a place called the Yin Sha Pool. Every few decades, a wisp of profound yin killing intent escapes from it. Though its nature is cold and yin, it's still a kind of qi of Heaven and Earth..."
An inner disciple who had received favors from him divulged this after drinking.
"At Fallen Star Lake on the sect's outskirts, there's supposedly starlight sunken gold at the bottom. If you can find it and refine an artifact with it, you might draw forth a faint trace of stellar power. That would count as brushing against qi of Heaven and Earth..."
Another person said this.
Xu Xuan noted down each piece of information and carefully assessed it.
The Black Marsh was dangerous, and there were traces of demonic cultivators there; he could not go for now.
Perhaps he could find an opportunity to explore Fallen Star Lake.
One day, Li Jiangping came to visit, his expression grave.
"Brother Wang, demonic activity has become increasingly frequent lately. The sect has decided to intensify its efforts to root them out."
"The Mission Hall will soon post a series of demon-suppression missions with extremely high contribution rewards. They might even... award Sha Condensing Pills!"
"Sha Condensing Pills?"
Xu Xuan's gaze sharpened.
These pills did not directly provide qi of Heaven and Earth.
But they could help cultivators refine qi of earth sha and improve their chances of success, making them quite valuable.
"That's right."
"It seems the sect is determined to pull out these nails."
Li Jiangping sighed. "The risks are great, but the opportunities are considerable too."
"If you're interested, Brother Wang, you could give it a try."
After seeing Li Jiangping off, Xu Xuan pondered in silence.
Demon-suppression missions of this sort were exceedingly dangerous, and one could easily lose one's life.
But the rewards were indeed enticing.
A Sha Condensing Pill, along with a large sum of contribution points.
Perhaps they could secure him a chance to obtain qi of Heaven and Earth.
"My strength... is still insufficient."
Feeling the early Yellow Court stage spiritual power within him, he shook his head slightly.
He would need to reach at least the late Yellow Court stage to have some ability to protect himself.
He suppressed the restlessness in his heart and continued burying himself in the herb garden's affairs, quietly accumulating resources and laying plans in secret.
Xu Xuan knew full well that obtaining qi of Heaven and Earth was not the work of a single day.
In the Azure Wood Sect's outer sect, mountain rain was looming.
The demon-suppression order issued by the Steward Hall was like a great boulder cast into a lake, stirring up a thousand waves.
The contribution rewards were generous, and treasures that aided the Dao Path, such as Sha Condensing Pills, were offered as the highest rewards.
Countless outer disciples and even some inner disciples rubbed their fists and palms in eager anticipation.
Crowds thronged before the Mission Hall every day.
Yet Xu Xuan's small courtyard remained peaceful.
He did not rush to accept those dangerous missions; instead, he devoted himself even more fully to the herb garden's affairs and his own cultivation.
Five-element spiritual power slowly cycled within his Yellow Court.
His cultivation advanced slowly, but his foundation grew more solid by the day.
He knew full well that however good an opportunity might be, one needed to stay alive to enjoy it.
Demonic cultivators were savage and cunning, by no means easy opponents.
He could not venture out rashly.
Yet the tree wished for stillness while the wind would not cease.
Not much time passed.
One day, he was inspecting the herb garden.
He suddenly saw Li Jiangping approaching with an arrogant-looking young man dressed in an inner disciple's robes.
The young man stood tall and straight, with a sharp gaze, and his aura was unmistakably at the Qi Refining stage.
A longsword shimmering with flowing colors hung at his waist.
"Brother Wang, this is Senior Brother Zhao Qian from the inner sect's Law Enforcement Hall."
Li Jiangping introduced him, his tone carrying a measure of respect.
Xu Xuan cupped his hands. "Greetings, Senior Brother Zhao."
Zhao Qian nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over Xu Xuan like lightning, carrying a scrutinizing air.
"You're Wang Tong?"
"I hear you have considerable expertise in managing the herb garden and also rendered meritorious service during the last demonic attack."
"You flatter me, Senior Brother. I merely did my duty." Xu Xuan's expression did not change.
Zhao Qian dispensed with further pleasantries and stated his purpose directly.
"This demon-suppression campaign requires large quantities of healing and spiritual-power-restoring pills."
"The herb garden must do everything possible to ensure the supply, especially of blood crystal grass, mind-calming flowers, and the like. There must be no mistakes."
"Furthermore." He changed tack, his tone turning cold.
"Our investigation indicates that demonic spies have infiltrated the outer sect. They may even be hiding among the herb garden's menial workers."
"As a steward, you must investigate rigorously. If anything is suspicious, report it to our Law Enforcement Hall immediately!"
Xu Xuan's heart tightened, but he assented respectfully.
"Yes, Senior Brother Zhao."
"I will certainly do my utmost."
Zhao Qian gave a few more instructions, then left with Li Jiangping.
They were evidently going to inspect other important locations.
Once the two had gone far away, Xu Xuan's brows furrowed slightly.
Zhao Qian's appearance signified the importance the sect placed on this demon-suppression campaign and also foretold coming turmoil.
The possibility that demonic spies were lurking nearby made him all the more vigilant.
The herb garden was now the foundation on which he stood, and nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
He returned to his courtyard and immediately summoned Xu An.
"Has anything unusual happened among the menial workers lately?"
Xu An said quietly, "Clan Elder, something does seem amiss."
"That new menial worker who arrived a few days ago, the one called Black Three, has been moving about furtively. Someone saw him lingering around the outside of the storehouse late at night."
"Also, Old Wu, who was responsible for disposing of waste materials, disappeared without explanation the day before yesterday and still hasn't returned."
Xu Xuan's gaze turned cold.
Black Three?
Old Wu disappeared?
Taken together with Zhao Qian's words, this was probably no coincidence.
"Assign more people to watch Black Three closely in secret, but be sure not to stir the grass and alert the snake."
"Report Old Wu's disappearance to Manager Zhao immediately and handle it according to the rules."
Xu Xuan instructed, "Also, notify our people to be careful in everything they do for the time being. They must not go out unless necessary, and especially must avoid the areas covered by the demon-suppression missions."
"Yes." Xu An accepted the orders and left.
Wang Tong pondered for a moment, then took out a blank jade slip and used his spiritual sense to briefly record the recent irregularities in the herb garden and Zhao Qian's visit. He prepared to send it back to Hundred Fragrance Valley through a secret channel so Xu Ziyu could take precautions.
Then he rose and went to the Steward Hall to consult the recent records of incoming and outgoing supplies.
In particular, he examined where scarce resources such as blood crystal grass had gone.
He had a vague feeling that the demonic cultivators' objective this time might not be mere destruction.
More likely, they wanted to take advantage of the chaos to plunder this batch of urgently needed pill-refining materials.
Sure enough, after carefully cross-checking the records, he found suspicious points in several entries for small withdrawals of blood crystal grass.
Though the recipients' names were registered, his secret inquiries confirmed that none of those people had withdrawn such supplies recently.
Theft by those entrusted with guarding it? Or was someone impersonating them?
Xu Xuan sneered inwardly and silently noted down the suspicious points without raising an alarm.
Exposing the matter now would only stir the grass and alert the snake.
He also visited the Mission Hall to examine the details of the demon-suppression missions.
There were several types of missions: patrol and watch duty, clearing out outlying strongholds, and searching for traces of demonic cultivators, each offering different contribution rewards.
As for the missions that rewarded Sha Condensing Pills.
They required killing or capturing demonic cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, or providing crucial intelligence of major importance.
"Qi Refining stage demonic cultivators..." Xu Xuan's gaze sharpened slightly.
With his current early Yellow Court stage cultivation, his chances of victory against someone at the Qi Refining stage were slim.
This path was not feasible for now.
Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard a commotion outside the hall.
Several disciples carried in a mangled corpse and cried out through their tears.
"Steward! We were patrolling West Mountain when demonic cultivators ambushed us. Junior Brother Zhang... has fallen!"