Ch 10 - Mission

It was the next day.

The cold air brushed up against Xu Ming's face as he sat on the porch outside, all alone in the surroundings of his cave abode. The blue skies were just on the verge of revealing themselves, and the sun's ray slowly creeped up from beyond the hills.

At this moment, Xu Ming held his tea in his hands, using it to warm his hands. He had been cultivating for the past two hours, and although it felt like labour, and it was indeed quite lonesome, he had to admit there was a sort of tranquil quality to it. Xu Ming didn't feel like the time passed slowly at all, and he only stopped when he felt like it was enough.

There were now 7 small strands of Qi in his Dantian. This was the fruit of his labour, and he spent a bit of time playing around with it and figuring out how to use it. To his surprise, he could even operate a spatial ring without any difficulties, and it didn't take up much of his Qi.

"Silver Tier Battle Technique - Five Ghost Steps.", Xu Ming muttered as he summoned a book from the ring and looked at it.

Xu Ming also took out a bottle of pills that read, "Qi Convergence Pills", on its cover. From the sect manual, he'd discovered that this pill bottle had about 20 pills in it, and it was especially useful in the early stages of cultivation for aiding in cultivation. Each cultivator received one bottle every quadrant, that is every three months, and it is considered to be quite precious.

"Finally, I can see what's inside.", Xu Ming said as he took out a space ring from inside his robe.

This was the space ring that the Councillor had given Xu Ming, and even warned him not to use casually. Suppressing his curiosity, Xu Ming looked inside with this Qi.

It was about 5 large room's worth of storage, which was gigantic by usual standards in spatial rings. There was a single black spear, a torn manual, a wooden chest, and a small collection of what appeared to be the so called "Spirit Stones" that he'd heard about, and there were 50 of them, Xu Ming counted at a glance.

Xu Ming retrieved the spear and tried to hold it in his hands, but almost fell flat on the floor as the spear fell with an enormous thud.

Xu Ming looked at the sleek, ornamented black steel spear that must have weighed over 100 kilograms at minimum, and tried to pick it up with all his might, but could only get it to stand.

"I'll name you Black Reaper.", Xu Ming looked with pride as he held what was his first official weapon that wasn't a cheap knockoff.

Xu Ming reluctantly put it back in his space ring and then retrieved the other item, the manual, and held it in his hands.

"Royal Vajra Temper - Supreme Cultivation.", Xu Ming saw on the cover.

Slowly flipping through the book, Xu Ming understood what type of manual this was, and was shocked at the generosity of the Councillor.

The manual was a body cultivation art, and one of the better ones at that. Good body cultivation arts were rare, and most cultivators could only afford to cultivate a few levels of the most common body cultivation arts before they felt like it was enough. After all, Qi could also protect the body similar to Body Cultivation, and so most people did not feel a need to cultivate two disciplines at the same time.

Besides, body cultivation was often only for the people that couldn't cultivate. Under those conditions, who would spend time away from cultivation to cultivate their body?

However, since Xu Ming received the opportunity, he wouldn't give it up. He had to make sure he would give Body Cultivation a fair chance.

Flipping through the introduction, he read the first chapter.

"The beginning of the supreme method of Body Cultivation - Royal Vajra Art, Mortal Phase.

Respect the land, respect the sky, and respect your body. Here lies the first manual of the mortal temper.

Initiate flesh tempering by inoculating your mortal coil with a concoction of the following materials - 2 stalks of a distinct yang herb, at least 20 years old, three spiral patterns on its leaves. 3 stalks of a golden Qi attribute root, at least 15 years old, with 7 apex branches on....."

There were a list of herbs listed on the manual, and the method to create the concoction required for cultivating the first realm of Body Cultivation. Xu Ming closed the book after memorizing the herbs required.

Xu Ming then took out the last item in the ring, which was a small chest made of wood.

Opening the chest, Xu Ming saw a small collection of herbs that seemed to resemble the herbs mentioned by the book. Xu Ming silently thanked the Councillor who seemed to have thought it all out.

Xu Ming glanced at the time, and started making his way towards the Peak Hall.

It wasn't very far away from the residence peaks, and Xu Ming walked steadily as he took on the majestic view. Xu Ming even saw a senior brother riding on a strange beast that looked like a hybrid between a rhino and a lizard.

The Senior Brother looked at Xu Ming and nodded with a smile, and Xu Ming also greeted him.

"You must be new here, Junior Brother. My name's Cao Feng. I'm an outer sect disciple who's been here for about 3 years now. You look quite young, so don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it."

Xu Ming cupped his fists at Cao Feng and said, "Much appreciated, Senior Brother. I'm Xu Ming, a new cultivator of this Peak."

Smiling, Cao Feng said, "Well, don't mind me. I'm just taking out this sect beast for a morning walk, so that it can feed. It may not look like it, but this Rock-Scaled Lizard is actually a herbivore. I have to feed it in the morning or it makes a big stink at the peak stables."

Xu Ming said, "Ah. So that's why Senior Brother is riding it around."

Cao Feng nodded and said, "Well, I have no choice. We have to earn Peak Contribution Points one way or another. We Longevity Peak disciples aren't big fighters so we don't often go out for missions, so we're stuck doing logistics and what not."

Suddenly, Cao Feng looked at his beast, who was straying further away from him.

"Ahh...Junior Brother, would you look at that? I have to go look after that beast now. I'll catch up with you later."

Xu Ming thought to himself as he watched the Senior Brother run after his hybrid beast, "Seems like the people of this peak are actually quite polite and cool."

Xu Ming didn't take much longer to get to the Peak Hall, which was much more populated than yesterday.

Xu Ming greeted a pretty senior sister at the hall who was working the main counter, who said, "Oh is this Junior Brother Xu Ming? I heard you were young, but I didn't expect you to be this young! My name is Xia Lingyue, by the way."

Xu Ming replied, "Greetings, Senior Sister Xia."

Senior Sister Xia said, "Well, since you're a new cultivator, I'll explain what the yearly responsibility is. You'll get a quadrant ration every 3 months from the sect so that your cultivation can be continued without any delays. But other than that, you also have 1 yearly responsibility that you have to fulfill if you want to continue getting these rations."

Xia Lingyue took a breath before continuing, "It may be in the form of helping around with logistics, feeding the Sect Beasts, going out for sect duties, guard duties, accepting mercenary work, and so on. We have a list of yearly responsibilities on the big board over there, so please choose one that you can handle and bring it over to Senior Sister, and I'll handle the rest."

Senior Sister Xia also said, "I'll add that the yearly responsibilities is only for those of the Longevity Peak, and other Peak Disciples have to do at least 4-5 Sect Missions a year."

Xu Ming thanked the senior sister and made his way over to the board, where he saw a couple dozen requests written in paper, stuck on the board.

---

"Mission: Clean the Sect Stables.

Introduction: The sect stables have to be cleaned in....

Reward: Yearly Quota + 2 Bottles of Qi Convergence Pills.

Time Period: Once every week, for 1 year."

---

"Mission: Manage the Peak Library.

Introduction: The sect library requires 5 assistant librarians to assist in....

Reward: Yearly Quota + 3 Bottles of Qi Convergence Pills.

Time Period: Two hours a day, for 1 year."

---

Xu Ming took his time and read through the entire list before coming across a certain task.

---

"Mission: Assist Elder Qin in his alchemy.

Introduction: Elder Qin requires one assistant to help in his alchemy. Preferably someone who isn't established in alchemy beforehand, willing to work at least 5 years with Elder Qin. Will be responsible for Ingredient Management, Herb Cultivation, and Alchemy Assisting.

Yearly Reward: Yearly Quota + 3 Bottles of Qi Convergence Pills + Elder Qin's rewards.

Time Period: Two hours a day, for a minimum of 5 years. Certain days off may be permitted with the permission of Elder Qin."

---

Xu Ming took the request, and brought it to the main counter, where he handed in the request.

"Oh hey Junior Brother, have you decided which task you want to take? Oh, it's this one, huh?"

Senior Sister Xia said, "This one wasn't fulfilled for a while since not many people were willing to work in alchemy, and nobody was willing to work for 5 years, especially when the cultivators of the peak aren't the most proactive people. Are you sure you want to take this task?"

Xu Ming nodded and said, "I'm willing to take this mission, Senior Sister."

Senior Sister Xia nodded and recorded it on a small letter, and then whistled.

The next minute, a small red fledgling bird came towards her, and perched right on her arms.

"Good girl. Please take this letter to the Main Hall, and this one to Elder Qin's residence. Thank you.", Senior Sister Xia said to the red bird, who tweeted and took off.

"Please head to Elder Xia's residence tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning. He'll inform you about what to do. Good luck, Junior Brother! I'm here if you need me!", Senior Sister Xia smiled at Xu Ming.

Thanking Senior Sister Xia, Xu Ming made his way towards his cave abode and started a cycle of cultivation.

This time, he took a pill of Qi Convergence, and felt the difference almost immediately.

One cycle of the Eternal Script only took about 20 minutes this time, and Xu Ming wasn't tired at all, and started another cycle of cultivation immediately. More importantly, there wasn't a shortage of Qi for another 3 cycles, by which point the effects of the pills ran out.

Xu Ming now had 9 strands of Qi in his Dantian. He felt stronger than ever, and even his body felt light. Seizing the moment, Xu Ming took another pill and immediately went into cultivating again.