"It's a dragon!"
Ye Xuan looked up at the golden dragon in the sky. This creature of myth had now appeared, alive and real, in the heavens.
The golden dragon stretched tens of thousands of zhang, blotting out the sky and sun, its end nowhere in sight.
Its imposing presence was even more terrifying. Had the Dao Sect's protective formation not been fully activated, countless people within the sect would probably have been knocked unconscious.
"Tearing space apart-just how powerful a cultivation base does that take?"
Ye Xuan looked at the spatial rift behind the golden dragon, his heart filled with shock.
"Ao Jin, in service to the Immortal Alliance. I ask the sect master of the Azure Feather Dao Sect to come out and meet me."
The booming voice rang out above the Dao Sect.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures appeared before Ao Jin, looking utterly tiny compared to him.
"Greetings, Senior. May I ask what brings you here?"
Ling Ziling cupped her fists in greeting. Neither Ao Jin before her nor the Immortal Alliance behind him was something the Azure Feather Dao Sect could stand against.
Void Penetration Realm!
Ling Ziling understood, while also feeling curious about Ao Jin's purpose in coming.
Only forty years had passed since the Immortal Alliance's last recruitment order. By past practice, the Immortal Alliance issued one only every five hundred years.
The Immortal Alliance was actually quite unfamiliar to Ling Ziling. She knew only that all the sects in the Southern Region had originated from it, bore a mission, and were under its jurisdiction.
Every five hundred years, the Immortal Alliance would issue a recruitment order, summoning cultivators throughout the Southern Region at the Spirit Transformation Realm and above. None of those summoned had ever returned. Ling Ziling's father had answered the summons forty years ago and perished over a decade ago.
"By order of the Immortal Alliance, cultivators from the Southern Region of Northern Yan Province have rendered great service. The cultivators of the Southern Region are therefore rewarded with one entry into the Spirit Medicine Realm. Please consult the jade slip for the details. I must deliver the message to other sects, so I shall take my leave."
Ao Jin spat out a jade slip, which landed in Ling Ziling's hand, then withdrew into the rift. Soon, the spatial rift closed.
Ling Ziling sank her consciousness into the jade slip and studied it carefully.
Its contents included information about the Spirit Medicine Realm, the specific timing, the limit on how many people from the Azure Feather Dao Sect could enter, and so on.
After reading everything in the jade slip, Ling Ziling took a deep breath and looked solemnly at the assembled elders.
"We need to move faster."
Ao Jin and Ling Ziling's conversation had been confined to the sky. No one else knew why the Immortal Alliance had come.
Yet from that day onward, the entire Azure Feather Dao Sect heard enemies in every gust of wind and cry of a crane. The Law Enforcement Hall mobilized more frequently, once even killing an outer sect steward right in front of Ye Xuan.
Ye Xuan learned from other outer sect disciples that the Dao Sect was purging demonic sect spies.
This continued for several days before the Law Enforcement Hall finally quieted down.
To Ye Xuan's surprise, Hu Yi and Xu Li, who had previously clashed with him, had actually been demonic sect spies too, and had been killed on the spot by the Law Enforcement Hall.
Perhaps because too many people had been purged this time, noticeably fewer outer sect disciples attended Dao Preaching Peak this time-only a fifth as many as at Wu Yuehua's last lecture.
The speaker was an outer sect elder, and the subject was a Qi Refinement cultivation method, leaving Ye Xuan rather unenthused.
"System, check in!"
[Ding!] [Check-in successful!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained ten years of cultivation!] [Claim the check-in reward now?]
"Claim!"
Ye Xuan was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected to gain cultivation from listening to a lecture as well. However, the Spiritual Qi he needed to break through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage was even more staggering, and ten years of cultivation was nowhere near enough for a breakthrough.
I'll visit the Mission Hall and see what missions I can take.
Ye Xuan had exhausted his spirit stones. Over these past days, he had been refining various antidote pills to prevent himself from being poisoned when he later refined poison pills.
He could now begin refining poison pills, but he no longer had any spirit stones to buy medicinal ingredients.
Alas, it's a shame the system's check-ins don't reward spirit stones. Or have I just not triggered a check-in scenario that gives spirit stones?
When he arrived at the Mission Hall, it was as bustling as ever, with countless servant disciples searching for missions through which they could earn spirit stones.
Now that Ye Xuan was an outer sect disciple, the missions on the first floor no longer held much meaning for him.
So he headed straight for the second floor.
Wearing an outer sect disciple's blue robe and displaying his outer sect disciple token, Ye Xuan successfully entered the Mission Hall's second floor.
The second floor was somewhat smaller than the first, with far fewer people.
There were already some sect-issued missions on the second floor for outer sect disciples to accept. Among them were pill-refining missions, precisely what Ye Xuan had come for.
Refine ten Qi Gathering Pills for one low-grade spirit stone? Isn't that way too stingy?
Ye Xuan grumbled inwardly as he looked over the missions.
Refining one batch of Qi Gathering Pills took an hour. Even assuming ten pills per batch, working day and night without rest would earn him only twenty-four low-grade spirit stones a day, and that still included wear and consumption from the pill furnace and its fire.
Of course, with the same ingredients, Ye Xuan produced more pills of higher quality, so he could earn somewhat more spirit stones.
But after making a circuit, Ye Xuan found that this was the mission best suited to him.
All the pill-refining missions required applicants to refine the corresponding pills on-site. Only after the pills passed inspection could they accept the corresponding mission and materials.
At present, Ye Xuan knew only the pill formula for Qi Gathering Pills. He would have to buy any other pill formulas, yet he didn't have a single spirit stone...
Just as Ye Xuan was about to accept the mission to refine Qi Gathering Pills, he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind. Looking back, he found it was actually Ji Fenghe, whose cultivation had already reached Qi Refinement Peak. He could establish his foundation at any time.
"Senior Brother Ji, it's been a while."
Ye Xuan cupped his hands in greeting.
"It certainly has. Congratulations! I didn't expect you to be an outer sect disciple already."
Ji Fenghe looked at Ye Xuan with a smile, gently waving the feather fan in his hand, then asked,
"Junior Brother, are you short on spirit stones and looking to take a mission to refine Qi Gathering Pills?"
"That's right!"
"Hehe, then you've come to the wrong place, Junior Brother. If you want to earn spirit stones, taking sect missions is too slow. You'd be better off going straight to Wood Moon Peak and finding a steward of the Spirit Pill Pavilion."
Ji Fenghe spoke with a smile, then changed the subject.
"I see you're quite interested in pill refining, Junior Brother. I intend to devote myself to pill refining for a while and happen to need an assistant. Would you be interested? Besides five spirit stones a day, I won't hold anything back when it comes to pill refining techniques."
"Of course, if you're not interested, I can introduce you to a Spirit Pill Pavilion steward instead. You can earn at least three times as many spirit stones as you would from sect missions."
Ye Xuan's last mission had left a deep impression on Ji Fenghe, especially his final handling of the pill furnace's heat. After turning it over in his mind, Ji Fenghe had concluded that the odds of coincidence were too low, and that Ye Xuan very likely had a talent for pill refining. Thus, encountering him this time, he wanted to give Ye Xuan a helping hand.
Go up Wood Spirit Mountain again?
A sharp gleam flashed through Ye Xuan's eyes. His last check-in on Wood Spirit Mountain had given him a high-grade wood spirit root and the Pill Refining Technique. Checking in at a higher-grade spirit field would probably improve his wood spirit root even further, perhaps even turning it into a top-grade wood spirit root.
Moreover, working with Ji Fenghe would let him raise his Pill Refining Technique level and obtain pill formulas for free. This left Ye Xuan with no reason to refuse.
"Thank you, Senior Brother. I'm willing!"