Disappointment And The Mission

Hidden within the Earth-Shattering Continent existed a deep and mysterious chasm that stretched on into an infinite darkness.

If one dared to enter this strange chasm, they would not find treasures but death, as ghostly apparitions in the forms of dragons roared throughout the darkness, swallowing anything they could find- even one another.

Deeper within the chasm were thousands of hands reaching out, pulling in lost souls that had ventured past the haunting of the dragons.

And finally, at the very bottom of the chasm sat a behemoth sized palace made from unique black stone that released a sinister, murky qi.

Kneeling before this palace were thousands of individuals draped in black cloaks, chanting in an unknown language.

The air seemed to vibrate violently with every word they spoke, and the spiritual energy around the palace was thick, visible and red in colour.

The palace itself was highly decorated- not with ornaments or with marble, but with skeletons belonging to countless different species.

There was a massive collection of skeletons, ranging from those belonging to rats and rodents to massive wyrms, hundreds of meters long that spiralled around the pillars that were holding up the palace.

It was truly a spectacle to behold, a feast for the eyes.

Sitting upon a throne in the main hall was the Ancestor, draped in a long black and red royal-like cloak with black hair falling down his back.

His eyes were dull and grey in colour, and there was a single black horn jutting out of the top left side of his forehead.

He listened to the chanting of his fanatic followers with a smile on his face. That expression quickly changed though as black and red ink formed below his throne and transformed into the shape of the Devil Wyrm.

He kneeled before the Ancestor, a forlorn look on his face. His arm was no reattached, and he appeared in perfect condition.

"Devil Wyrm," the Ancestor spoke, his voice rumbling throughout the palace.

"Yes, master," Devil Wyrm bowed his head more, and beads of sweat began to form on his face.

"You had one mission, yet you failed it so miserably on your first day," he spoke in a disappointed manner with a frown on his face.

"It was merely their luck, master. The Elder was there at the wrong time, next time I shall be more careful—"

"There will be no next time. The Skyward Sect is on high alert now, there's no way they won't notice you again next time. Luckily that old geezer hasn't come out from seclusion, otherwise you'd be long dead by now."

The Devil Wyrm gulped and didn't dare to refute.

"Just like your brothers and sisters."

There was a moment of silence, and the Devil Wyrm's aura flared up with anger for a few moments before he calmed himself.

"I understand, my master."

"Good. We need to weaken the Skyward sect even further in order to obtain what I've longed for over the last thousands of years… An earth wyrm has recently appeared in the eastern mountains. You know what to do."

Devil Wyrm's heart stung, but he didn't dare speak up about his true feelings. "Yes, master."

"Go."

The Devil Wyrm's form quickly vanished into thin air as he warped away.

The Ancestor grinned and leaned forwards in excitement. "So close, yet so far, indeed…"

--

Li Zian walked through the outer sect quietly. Li Shen had only left a few hours prior, and Li Zian had taken quite a while to process everything and make some plans.

The sect revolved around a mission system, like many others- disciples would receive 'sect tokens' from partaking in and completing missions, which they could then spend on goods.

These goods ranged from weapons and spiritual artefacts to pills and spirit beasts. Anything they wanted; they could buy, if they had the sect tokens. Within reason, of course.

Li Zian had no sect tokens as he had only entered the sect yesterday.

So, to take his mind off the events earlier that day, he decided to take his first mission.

He arrived at a three-story tall pagoda, with countless disciples roaming throughout it.

There were several wooden boards put up all throughout the first floor with dozens of pieces of parchment pinned onto each one of them.

On these pieces of parchment were the details of missions written in ink, with the number of sect tokens rewarded written at the bottom.

He inspected a few of these missions.

'Round up a mortal's escaped chickens…'

'Give a foot massage to Inner Disciple Peng Zihao…'

'Defeat the Boar Spirit Beast…'

Most of the missions were to do with collecting items- finding spirit herbs for certain disciples who needed them or for families who were paying the sect to put up their missions.

Most of them gave very little points, but a few caught his eye.

These were the elimination missions, involving slaying certain spirit beasts that were ravaging towns and cities.

The sect forbade pointlessly slaughtering spirit beasts, as they were part of the natural world. Without them, many people would suffer, even if they were dangerous.

However, some spirit beasts obviously caused problems. As was the case for the mission Li Zian decided on choosing.

'Slay the Low Qi Condensing Realm Wolf pack attacking the farm animals around Xiaomai Town.

Reward: 100 Sect Tokens'

Li Zian thought for a moment.

'I'm the seventh layer of Qi Condensing, and my technique is quite powerful. I should be able to take on this wolf pack, but I should be careful as I do it.'

He observed the rewards. He didn't know the price of items in the sect, but a hundred sect tokens seemed to be the highest amount on the first floor.

He wondered about the second floor and made his way up there.

The missions there were all for Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, it seemed. He couldn't accept anything.

He wanted to go up to the third floor, but it was off limits. Apparently it was a place for the elders to work behind the scenes so everyone got the correct rewards.

Obviously the ten great elders wouldn't be doing this work, but the newer elders who were simply getting started in their positions of authority.

Li Zian accepted the mission to slay the wolf pack, tearing it off of the board just like many other disciples did.

Suddenly a thread of qi burst out from the paper. He hadn't detected it before, because he didn't feel the need to. The thread of qi entered his head.

He assumed that was the method for the elders to know which disciple accepted which mission.

He wondered how Li Shen would eliminate the mission qi in his body. Would it track him? He hoped not.

Li Zian turned around and left the Mission Hall, heading to the mountain gate at the start of the valley that had a teleportation array underneath it.

He focused and poured his qi into the array. Blue light burst out from the stone-carved inscriptions, and then he vanished.