"May I ask your names, brothers?"
"Whether or not you get to stay in the Spirit Taming Sect, little brother, it was fate that brought us brothers out to meet you today. This here is Sweet Potato Boy. As for me, just call me Brother Bazì."
The speaker was a tall, thin fellow called Xi Bazì, as slender and lanky as his name suggested. His two tufts of a mustache bobbed and swayed as he spoke, making him a festive, lively sight. Sweet Potato Boy, on the other hand, was a short, plump young man who came up to waist height. Dressed in a red jacket and looking rather wooden, he was the very image of a red sweet potato.
Both were only second-level Soul Cultivators.
Mu Bai greeted them in turn, thinking, Does everyone in the Spirit Taming Sect have such distinctive looks?
Aboard the Flying Soul Weapon, Mu Bai picked up threads of conversation with the two Spirit Taming Sect disciples, making a particular point of asking about the Hundred-Day Bone-Shattering Pill. Neither Xi Bazì nor Sweet Potato Boy had heard of it, however. As he brooded over this, Mu Bai looked up and saw clouds and mist wreathing the summit of a nearby peak, with countless jade palaces faintly visible among them.
"These are the sect's restricted grounds. Once you're inside, you must follow the rules. Don't go gawking or speaking out of turn!"
"I understand..."
When they reached the sect entrance, magnificent pillars towered before them in imposing grandeur, and the three characters for "Spirit Taming Sect" appeared and vanished among the clouds. Several thousand steps led straight upward, as though each step carried one toward ascension. Within the sect, countless flowers vied in beauty, white cranes wandered, and milu deer drank from the waters. It was truly a blessed paradise beyond the mortal world.
There were countless disciples within the sect. Seeing Mu Bai's strange clothes, they could not help stopping to look. Mu Bai had no idea what they were looking at. They all looked fairly presentable themselves, unlike the two distinctive fellows before him. Surely it could not be that they had never seen a handsome youth before...
Ignoring the strange looks around him, Mu Bai followed Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy for some time before finally reaching a magnificent building. A huge redwood plaque hung above its entrance, bearing the words "Spirit Command Hall" in strokes like soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes. Outside the doors stood several dozen powerful third-level Soul Cultivators on either side, their presence commanding awe without any show of anger.
Good heavens, third-level experts were actually just guarding the doors.
"Little brother, the sect master has been waiting for some time. We cannot enter the hall. Please go in..."
With that, Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy bowed and withdrew to one side of the steps. Mu Bai straightened himself up, pulled his white wolf-fur coat tight around him, and stepped into the great hall.
"Good heavens, it's so vast inside. Like a Mustard Seed Bag, it actually holds a world within."
Mu Bai looked around and saw magpie bridges over flowing water, shaded by fruit trees. Floral fragrance filled the air, and all around grew wondrous medicinal herbs he had only ever seen in the Compendium of Pills and Herbs.
He climbed the steps, and after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he saw a pavilion half hidden among flowers and trees halfway up the hillside. The song of orioles and chatter of swallows drifted over from afar.
"Beyond green mountains lie more green mountains; beyond lofty towers stand more towers. The sights of a great sect truly are unlike any other."
Marveling inwardly, Mu Bai walked toward the pavilion. Even from a distance, he could see dozens of naked women playing music and dancing, a scene of alluring beauty.
Closer up, he saw a huge couch in the center of the pavilion. Seven or eight women laughed and played upon it, serving fruit and pouring wine. Reclining in its center was a potbellied middle-aged man with a bristling beard and broad muscles. His mouth was open as he gulped the fine wine a woman beside him poured, while both hands toyed with the beauties within reach.
"Is this really an important place within the sect?"
Mu Bai was aghast. His face flushed, and he promptly closed his eyes, not daring to look any longer. He stopped where he stood, at a loss.
Before long, a woman approached him in a waft of fragrance.
"The sect master invites you over..."
Mu Bai smiled awkwardly and steeled himself to follow her toward the pavilion.
"Little brother, have you brought what I wanted?"
At the question, Mu Bai hurriedly took out the brocade box the Man in Green had entrusted to him, only to catch sight once again of that scene that made his ears burn and heart race.
Without any visible movement from the so-called sect master, the brocade box in Mu Bai's hands seemed to come alive, suddenly appearing before the man and opening on its own.
Mu Bai stared, dumbfounded. Is this the power of a Dao Zun?
The burly man reached out and took the object from the box, satisfaction appearing on his face. "Excellent, excellent. It is indeed the fourth-rank Silver-Winged Giant Tiger's organ. This is a tremendous tonic for me. Hahahaha..."
Mu Bai had never imagined that the brocade box he had tried every means to open, all in vain, contained the Silver-Winged Giant Tiger's private treasure. To think he had traveled seventy thousand li day and night to deliver it-and that it had even cost a mighty fourth-level Xiu Zun his life in the wilderness!
"Little brother, in recognition of your delivery, speak freely if you have any requests."
"I was given your sect's Hundred-Day Bone-Shattering Pill. All I ask is the antidote..."
"Haha, no matter. That was a boon Qing Chang gave you. It tempers the bones and grants rebirth."
"It isn't poisonous?"
"Indeed not. He merely deceived you before he died."
"Well, Xiu Zun Qing Mao entrusted me with a message: 'Please look after the members of his family line.'"
"Easily done. You can manage Qing Mao's several hundred widows and offspring. His Elder Token will be yours as well."
Mu Bai naturally knew what an Elder Token was, but what was this about several hundred widows and offspring... How was he supposed to manage them?
"Anything else to say?"
"A lady named Mu Lan in Spirit Command City asked me to tell you, 'Spring remains as before, the figure has grown thin, red traces of tears soak through the merfolk silk.'"
"Mu Lan? Is there such a person? Very well. Now that you've said your piece, you may leave."
With that, the burly man leaned back against a beauty, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth. The lovely woman beside him immediately took the hint and filled his mouth with fine wine.
This is actually a true Dao Zun cultivator?
Mu Bai found it inconceivable. His ears burning and heart pounding, he stepped out of the great hall.
Outside, Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy were still waiting by the doors.
"Little brother, did the sect master leave any instructions?"
Seeing Mu Bai emerge from the hall, Xi Bazì hurried over.
"Well, he just gave me Qing Mao's Elder Token."
Mu Bai took out the White Jade Token, then spread his hands and shrugged to show his disappointment. How was this any different from receiving no reward? Forget a boon-he had not gotten a damn thing, only a household of wives, children, old and young to clean up after...
"Oh! Oh! Greetings, Elder Mu."
Xi Bazì hurriedly dropped to his knees before Mu Bai, not forgetting to pull Sweet Potato Boy down with him.
"Greetings, Elder Mu."
Sweet Potato Boy spoke in a muffled rumble. Kneeling, he looked even more like a red sweet potato.
"Oh, Brother Bazì, Brother Sweet Potato, you mustn't! You'll shorten my life with such honors..."
"Not at all, not at all. Since the sect master bestowed the Elder Token upon you, you are an elder of our sect. You have your own cave abode, several hundred wives and concubines, and a monthly allowance of two thousand Soul Crystals..."
"Brother Bazì, what did you say? You really aren't lying to me? It really is two thousand Soul Crystals a month?"
The talk of cave abodes, wives, and concubines went in one ear and out the other. Only the words "Soul Crystals," especially "two thousand," struck Mu Bai like five thunderbolts crashing onto his head. Two thousand! That was the largest sum Mu Bai had heard of in his life. Luckily, he had not refused the Elder Token. It really was a treasure!
"Of course. I wouldn't dare deceive you, Elder..."
As he spoke, Xi Bazì thought, So this elder who got his position so cheaply is actually that obsessed with Soul Crystals. I have a few thousand myself. I should see whether a suitable opportunity comes up to curry favor.
"Elders have to go out on missions. They often die out there and never return..."
Sweet Potato Boy added this in his muffled rumble.
"What do you know, you blockhead! Can't you tell? Elder Mu is an Alchemist! Alchemists naturally don't need to go out on missions. If you don't know how to talk, keep your mouth shut..."
"Oh? Brother Bazì, how could you tell I'm an Alchemist?"
Greatly surprised, Mu Bai helped Xi Bazì and Sweet Potato Boy to their feet, thinking that Xi Bazì was no ordinary fellow either.
Hearing Mu Bai continue to call him "Brother Bazì," Xi Bazì was in no hurry to correct him. Instead, he secretly rejoiced. Ha, even a sect elder calls me Brother Bazì. Who in the sect will dare mock that title now?
At the thought, Xi Bazì beamed. "Reporting to you, Elder, Mu Lan of the Blue Flower Pavilion in Spirit Command City-that seductive woman who leads them-discovered, discovered your Soul Mark while she was tugging back and forth with you. She explained it when she sent her voice transmission..." As Xi Bazì spoke, his smile grew awkward. "Actually, it was only because you're an Alchemist that the sect sent us to fetch you. If it had been anyone else, presumably..."
At this point, Xi Bazì drew a hand across his neck, making a beheading gesture.
Mu Bai thought to himself, The world really is perilous. I must be exceedingly careful in everything. I nearly lost my life before I even entered the sect.
Before you continue