Chapter 6: Missions
“Hmm?” Song Yan’s mind focused as he projected a strand of divine sense to meet the fourth falling monolith, yet his gaze remained fixed on those glowing small rings.
The fourth ring lit up…
The fifth…
The sixth…
…
Until the twelfth small ring lit up, Song Yan’s consciousness within this space had already begun to blur, and his divine sense could no longer split further.
He allowed the thirteenth black monolith to fall, blasting him out of the space.
“Phew…”
Song Yan panted slightly. Even after experiencing this feeling of death a second time, it was still difficult to remain calm.
However, compared to the first time, the sensation was much more bearable.
Seventeen points of light in total, corresponding to seventeen monoliths?
He sat cross-legged in meditation, slowly recovering his spiritual energy while pondering ceaselessly.
If he could consecutively cleave through all seventeen monoliths, would something happen?
“But why seventeen…” he muttered to himself, fingering the stone bead in his hand. “How strange…”
However, with insufficient cultivation realm, overthinking was futile. Better to cultivate diligently.
This year Song Yan was sixteen, not yet having reached his birthday.
Although his spiritual root aptitude was mediocre, fortunately he had not entered the path of immortal cultivation too late. Now at the fifth level of Qi Refining, he was already at the mid-stage of the Qi Refining realm. At this pace, he estimated he could reach Qi Refining perfection around forty or fifty years of age.
The Qi Refining realm’s first three levels were relatively easy to cultivate, and the mid-stage three levels were not difficult either.
For ordinary aptitude, with some small fortune or sufficient cultivation resources, advancing to the sixth level of Qi Refining within three to five years was not considered fast.
But the sixth and seventh levels of Qi Refining represented a massive hurdle.
Countless cultivators with mediocre aptitudes wasted their entire lives at the late-stage of Qi Refining.
They exhausted their lifespan and vitality, losing the heart to seek the Dao.
“Cultivation resources are a major problem…”
According to the few sporadic lectures from elders for outer disciples, combined with Song Yan’s own knowledge, the Qi Refining realm comprised ten levels in total.
The first three levels were called early-stage Qi Refining, levels four through six were mid-stage Qi Refining, and levels seven through nine were late-stage Qi Refining.
The tenth level of Qi Refining signified that one had achieved perfection in the Qi Refining realm and could establish a Foundation.
“Foundation Establishment…”
Establishing a Foundation meant truly transcending the realm of mortals, possessing vast spiritual energy and the ability to fly on objects.
One no longer needed worldly sustenance, and even remaining permanently at early Foundation Establishment granted over two hundred years of lifespan.
Song Yan shook his head. Why think so far ahead?
“I still have four spirit stones…”
“My pills… the Qi Nourishing Pills’ effectiveness has become negligible, useful only for recovering spiritual energy.”
Song Yan was planning ahead, already mapping out his mission half a year away.
“The immortal cultivation world operates on the law of the jungle, even more dangerous than the mortal realm. Better to prepare thoroughly.”
Since entering the world of immortal cultivation, Song Yan had very little experience fighting others. He had only participated once in a joint hunt against a low-rank demonic beast that had gone berserk within the sect, shortly after reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining.
“Magical artifacts…”
Within Song Yan’s Cosmos Bag was a small peach wood sword edged with gold, one of the standard-issue weapons distributed to outer disciples by the sect.
Its appearance was decent, but it could barely qualify as a low-rank magical artifact, practically useless.
In battles within the vast Qi Refining realm, unless it was late-stage versus early-stage, when spiritual energy reserves were roughly equal, these magical artifacts and talismans were the decisive factors in determining the outcome.
Unfortunately…
Song Yan was completely destitute. Where would he get resources?
Magical artifacts were the sect’s minimum provision. Talismans…
Sigh, he would just have to try his luck at Fire Workshop Stronghold when the time came.
“If this continues, scavenging might just become a habit…”
Song Yan smiled bitterly.
“Hummm—”
Just as Song Yan was frowning over how to improve his combat strength, a gentle yet penetrating voice came from outside his cave dwelling.
It was the sound of a voice transmission talisman.
Huh?
Song Yan was slightly stunned. Voice transmission talismans were typically only used when missions were dispatched, a rare occurrence for outer disciples like them.
The last time someone had used a voice transmission talisman to contact him, an outer disciple, was during the sect’s induction ceremony.
He walked out of his cave dwelling and plucked the voice transmission talisman from the air.
“Junior Brother Song, today the Outer Disciple Affairs Hall received a distress letter. It seems some wandering cultivators have appeared in Stone Beam Town.”
From the talisman came Senior Brother Lin Qing’s gentle voice.
“It should have been me handling this down the mountain, but I know you’re from Stone Beam, Junior Brother. Those wandering cultivators are all at early-stage Qi Refining and won’t cause much trouble.”
“Why don’t I hand this mission over to you, Junior Brother? You can take this opportunity to visit home. For details, come see me before you leave the sect, and I will give you the jade slip.”
“Lin Qing, out.”
Song Yan’s eyes brightened.
Dongyuan Sect’s missions were of many types. The Outer Disciple Affairs Hall oversaw outer disciples, handling tasks like tending spirit plants or cleaning the sect grounds, which usually didn’t require leaving the sect.
That was why they were called “chores,” rather than the inner sect’s “sect missions” or “commissions.”
Occasionally, outer disciple duties involved descending the mountain, usually when something sinister occurred in the sect’s affiliated families or towns, or as with this mission, when purposeless, rule-ignorant outside cultivators needed to be identified and sent away.
For outer disciples like them, this opportunity was incredibly rare.
Song Yan had originally thought he would need to wait half a year for an official departure mission led by inner disciples before he could descend the mountain to visit home.
“Senior Brother Lin truly takes great care of me. I must thank him properly when we meet.”
Song Yan tidied his belongings briefly…
After looking around, he found there was nothing much to pack. The guy was utterly destitute.
He walked out of his cave dwelling and headed toward the Spirit Plant Hall.
Speaking of which, Senior Brother Lin Qing had been staying in the outer sect for many years. With his current strength at the eighth level of Qi Refining, he long qualified for entry into the inner sect.
Yet for some unknown reason, he remained in the outer sect, serving as an assistant steward of the Outer Disciple Affairs Hall.
He oversaw matters like welcoming new disciples and arranging chores—the two had first met when Lin Qing had guided Song Yan into the sect.
Senior Brother Lin Qing lived near the Outer Disciple Spirit Plant Hall.
Now that spring had arrived, the crops within the Spirit Plant Hall were growing splendidly, and the surrounding spiritual qi was abundant. No wonder Senior Brother Lin was willing to live here.
“Senior Brother Lin!”
“Oh? Junior Brother Song, you’ve come so quickly?”
Senior Brother Lin Qing emerged from his cave dwelling, his smile warm, already holding a green jade slip in his hand.
“I just happened to emerge from seclusion. I came immediately upon receiving Senior Brother Lin’s voice transmission talisman.”
“Hmm? Junior Brother… you’ve broken through?”
Lin Qing had not used his divine sense to probe, but since Song Yan had stepped into the fifth level of Qi Refining, his breathing was deep and measured, his complexion ruddy, his bearing markedly different from before.
The word “breakthrough” was written all over his face.
“It drained every last resource I had.”
“Haha… congratulations, congratulations.”
Lin Qing laughed heartily. “Here, this is the mission jade slip, along with some things that might prove useful for this mission. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anytime, or send me a voice transmission.”
Song Yan also had three voice transmission talismans, distributed when he joined the sect. He had never used any of them.
“Good. Thank you, Senior Brother Lin.”
“Don’t mention it.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries and expressing his gratitude, Song Yan departed.
He had no financial means to repay the other party, so that matter would have to be discussed another day.
Lin Qing watched Song Yan’s retreating figure. The gentle smile on his face gradually faded, returning to calm. He murmured thoughtfully, “Song Yan…”
“Song Yesheng…”
He turned and reentered his cave dwelling.
In some corner of the cave, a scattered pile of bamboo tokens lay about, each engraved with different names.
Most of the names had been crossed out with a deep slash.
“Gu Qingqing…”
“Meng Die Zhou…”
“Lu Ziye…”
…
He paid those tokens no mind, pacing to the wall and gazing at the two names hanging beneath the label for inner disciples.
Song Yan.
Shao Sizhao.
“I would never misremember…”
He drew a deep breath, his eyes narrowing as a sharp gleam flashed through them.
“In my previous life, within our sect…”
“There were never these two people.”