A divine skill appeared
"What about the reward? What's the reward this time?"
The system's gentle, mature female voice said:
[There are two reward options this time. The first is the divine skill "Hand of Animation," and the second is an increase of two cultivation levels.]
An increase in cultivation was standard fare.
To think Xu Xinran could also give him an increase of two levels.
It seemed that when it came to stealing another man's love at swordpoint, the rewards really were higher when the flower already had an owner.
"Then if I choose the first one, can I get it in advance?"
Qin Yi was in no hurry to gain levels. His current cultivation at the Perfected Foundation Establishment Realm was enough for the time being.
By comparison, "Hand of Animation" sounded flashy just from its name.
Besides, levels and such could come slowly, but missing out on a divine skill like this would be a real shame.
[You can receive it in advance, but there is only a three-day trial period. If the mission fails, this divine skill will never appear again.]
He could get it in advance!
But he only had three days. If he failed to win Xu Xinran over within those three days, this divine skill would be forever beyond his reach.
"I can accept the mission a little later, right?"
[Yes.]
Qin Yi decided to make the most of those three days.
Right now, he and Xu Xinran had only just met, and he had yet to have a chance to interact with her, so he could accept this mission later.
In any case, this assignment would probably take several days.
"You bastard Qin, don't push me too far!"
Song Xianming suddenly shouted in fury, pointing at Qin Yi.
Qin Yi had actually flirted with his Dao companion, Xu Xinran, right in front of him.
"Pushing you too far? You were clearly the one picking a fight in the first place. How has it suddenly become me pushing you too far? Why don't you go back to the sect and tell on me?"
Tell on him?
They had already made an agreement before the fight. Whoever went to tell on the other now would probably never be able to hold his head high in the Famous Sword Sect again.
Besides, with Song Xianming's pride, there was no way he would take that step.
He suddenly snorted. "Fine. Your Emerald Bamboo Peak is so capable. In that case, go handle this assignment yourselves. I'm not interested anymore."
Having thrown out those words, he swept his sleeve and was about to leave with Xu Xinran.
Yet after following him for two steps, Xu Xinran stopped again. She bit her lip, wanting to speak but holding back.
"Aren't you coming?" Song Xianming called to her with a frown.
Xu Xinran hesitated, looking at him, then at Qin Yi.
Seeing her like this, Qin Yi guessed that she might need resources, and that this need was precisely why she had accepted the assignment.
But now, purely out of his own selfishness, Song Xianming wanted to abandon the assignment just because he was throwing a tantrum.
If they did not carry out this assignment, that would mean they would not be able to exchange for resources next month.
"If you want to leave, don't force someone else to go with you. Junior Sister Xu clearly doesn't want to leave with you. Can't you see that?" Qin Yi said.
Hearing his words, Song Xianming grew even angrier.
He had thought that his wedded Dao companion should stand on his side, yet now she actually remained silent.
Her silence was as good as slapping him in the face.
"Bitch, are you coming or not?"
As his anger surged, he actually lost his reason and blurted out the word "bitch."
Hearing him curse her like this, Xu Xinran, his wedded Dao companion, was immediately filled with a sense of grievance. She was on the verge of tears.
Gu Yiyi delivered a god-tier assist at this moment as well. Taking the woman's side, she stepped forward to speak up for Xu Xinran. "Song Xianming, who are you calling names? Sister Xu hasn't done anything wrong. Why are you cursing and yelling at her?"
In truth, Song Xianming had felt some regret as soon as the word "bitch" left his mouth.
He knew very well that Xu Xinran was a good woman and a good Dao companion. In the Famous Sword Sect, there might not be another woman as gentle and quiet as her.
But he could not help it. The gentler and quieter a woman was, the more he sometimes felt the urge to bully her a little.
And once he grew used to bullying her, it was easy to lose his sense of limits.
With so many people watching now, there was no way he would apologize to her.
Moreover, although everything Gu Yiyi said as she stood up for Xu Xinran was right, to Song Xianming, every word felt like a silver needle stabbing into his ears. The more he listened, the angrier he grew.
In his anger, he simply threw out a harsh ultimatum. "If you don't come, don't ever come looking for me again."
With that, he bounded away. A few leaps later, he disappeared from the mountain ridge.
Xu Xinran wanted to follow him, but after taking a few steps, she finally burst into tears.
This really was taking the bullying too far.
Gu Yiyi went over to comfort her. "Sister Xu, ignore him. He's the one who did something wrong, yet he's taking his anger out on you. A man like that is completely unreasonable."
Xu Xinran said through her tears, "I... it's not that I didn't want to listen to him... it's just... I'm stuck at the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining and need [Qi Gathering Pills], so I have to go out on assignments to gather medicinal herbs..."
Dao companions were not husband and wife in the ordinary sense.
Husband and wife lived together, helped and supported each other, and sustained each other through hardship.
Dao companions helped one another with the aim of improving their cultivation together.
Thus, marriage was for living, while Dao companionship was for cultivation.
Xu Xinran needed Qi Gathering Pills for her cultivation, yet Song Xianming cared only about throwing his tantrum, demanding that she give up this opportunity and slow her cultivation progress. Naturally, this made her resistant.
She's a simple-hearted woman too. From her behavior, Qin Yi could tell that her thoughts were very simple.
Despite being bullied like this by Song Xianming, she still felt she was partly at fault.
"If he won't go, then he won't go. It's not as if we have to take him along. Since he isn't going, we'll go ourselves," Gu Yiyi suggested.
Xu Xinran said, "But... we don't have enough people."
Gu Yiyi said, "We're only short one person. But Qin Yi is a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator who's stronger than Song Xianming. With him here, we'll be fine. Besides, our past assignments were all very simple, weren't they?"
Xu Xinran thought it over, and that did seem right.
Why did the sect require every team to have at least five people for an assignment? Because five people together could deploy the [Five Elements Sword Formation].
The [Five Elements Sword Formation] was a renowned sword formation of the Famous Sword Sect. As long as they could deploy it, they could generally avoid most dangers.
But with one person missing, the [Five Elements Sword Formation] could not take shape.
Still, this was not their first herb-gathering assignment. Although venturing out did carry some chance of encountering danger, such as demons and ferocious beasts.
Most of the time, however, they would not encounter any.
"Well, Junior Brother Miao, are you going?" Qin Yi asked Miao Xiufeng.
He did not particularly care himself. Even if it were just him and Gu Yiyi, he would not mind. In fact, that would be even better.
He would have plenty of opportunities to win Gu Yiyi over and get her affection to 100 points.
Miao Xiufeng pondered briefly, seemingly weighing the pros and cons, then said, "That depends on Senior Sister Xu. If she's going, then I'll go too."
If Xu Xinran did not go and there were only three of them, there was no need to consider it. Three people would face too much danger; it was not worth the risk.
But if there were four, although they would be one person short, with Qin Yi's cultivation so high, there probably would not be much of a problem as long as their team was a little careful.