Chapter 17 - A Baited Hunt

"Well, what should i do today?" he pondered.

"No need to rush, I've got a month to complete the task." he muttered under his breath before stepping out of his weathered hut.

Outside, the breeze brushed against his face.

"The weather's nice today." He thought, walking towards a certain direction.

The atmosphere was quite comparable to the day before, serene and pleasant. A beautiful day.....

Except for one thing.

"Look, isn't that the Little Mortal ?" a group of disciples spotted him from afar.

"Where is he going..." another murmured.

"That direction... Commission Hall ? .. Has he finally snapped his mind ? Kekeke.." one added, his voice laced with mockery.

Though they stood far off, Lao Xie could still heard them since his senses were sharpened after advancing to the Qi Refinement realm.

Unbothered, he maintained his usual calm.

"Everything was nice except those fools." He inwardly scoffed but didn't break stride.

He walked for about ten minutes before reaching his destination. It took him quite some time since his weathered hut was located quite far from the usual outer disciple dorms.

He stood before the Commission Hall. The building towered with solemn grandeur, its dark wooden frame reinforced with black stone pillars etched with seemingly ancient runes. A heavy plaque hung above the entrance, 'Commission Hall'. 

On the inside, disciples flowed in and out in steady streams, their expressions ranging from eager to grim. A truly bustling place with disciples discussing and deciding about what mission should they take on.

As its name suggested, Commission Hall was the sect's central hub for mission assignments. Disciples accepted tasks in exchange for rewards and merit points. The harder the mission, the greater the reward.

And merit, which could later be exchanged for resources at the Resource Pavilion.

As Lao Xie stepped into the Commission Hall, the buzz of chatter surrounded him. Disciples filled the space some crowding around in discussion, others standing in silence, reading with focused expressions.

His gaze swept across the hall until it landed on a wide, open area at the far wall.

There stood an enormous mission board, framed with ironwood and reinforced with spirit runes to prevent tampering. Countless flyers were pinned across its surface, some new and pristine, others crumpled from being handled too often.

Each flyer represented a different task. Starts with hunting beasts, escorting caravans, guarding resource fields and gathering herbs in dangerous regions.

Lao Xie approached quietly, his footsteps steady as the crowd naturally parted around him. Some outer disciples recognized and threw him confused or mocking glances, whispering behind his back.

"That person looks familiar?"

"Huh.."

"He's just here to read, no way he's actually taking one…"

"Probably wants to feel included…" 

Lao Xie ignored them.

He stood before the board, scanning the sea of tasks. His eyes narrowed as he moved from one flyer to another, skimming their contents.

"Too weak."

"Too time-consuming."

"This one's clearly bait."

His fingers trailed over the edge of a flyer that caught his attention, a mid-tier hunting mission involving a low-ranked wild beast nesting near a waterfall in the outskirts of the sect territory.

[Sect Mission: Eliminate the Shadow-Furred Panther]

Description: Eliminate the Shadow-Furred Panther and deliver its corpse to the Alchemy Hall.

Rewards: 50 Spirit Stones, 1x Pill of your choice.

Bonus: An additional pill if the beast's core is intact.

Merit Points: 20

Note: Shadow-Furred Panther is a 3rd Stage Wild Beast. The corpse must be fresh and well-preserved, otherwise the rewards will be reduce.

"Found it"

"3rd Stage Wild Beast.. Perfect" Lao Xie Smirked.

He reached out, plucked the flyer from the board, and turned without a word. The whispers grew louder behind him, disbelief spreading among the nearby disciples.

"Is he crazy? That's a 3rd Stage Wild Beast…"

"Even if they're just normal beasts, it takes a whole team of outer disciples to even handle one."

"And wasn't he the one they called 'Little Mortal'? How's he going to survive out there?"

Ignoring their words, Lao Xie made his way to the front of the hall, where an elder sat behind a stone counter. The elder wore simple grey robes, his eyes sharp and experienced.

As Lao Xie approached, the man's gaze dropped to the flyer in his hand, and a flicker of surprise crossed his expression.

"You wish to take this mission?" the elder asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lao Xie nodded calmly.

The elder gave him a second, longer look, then sighed. "But you…"

He didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he stamped a glowing seal onto the flyer and handed it back.

"Very well. You've got three days to complete it. Don't die."

"I don't plan to," Lao Xie replied calmly, already turning to leave.

"And I'll finish it by today." he added before leaving the Commission Hall.

He exited without looking back, his steps steady and unhurried as he made his way toward the sect's gate. The sun had only just climbed past the mountain peaks, casting long shadows across the stone paths.

He passed by a few disciples along the way, some cast him glances while others sneered.

Soon, the gates of the sect came into view. Finished with the usual procedures, Lao Xie made his way out and disappeared into the wilderness beyond.

The path to the waterfall wasn't difficult, but it was deep in the forest, deeper than his previous spot where he encountered the demonic wolf. It's far enough that most disciples avoided it unless they traveled in groups.

The air grew cooler as the dense canopy blocked more sunlight, and the terrain gradually shifted from packed dirt to rocky cliffs.

...

After nearly an hour of travel, the distant sound of falling water reached his ears.

"There it is."

He stepped into the rocky clearing, the roar of water growing louder as he approached the base of the waterfall. Mist clung to the air, and the ground beneath his feet was damp from the constant spray.

Lao Xie narrowed his eyes as he scanned the clearing. The waterfall thundered down from the cliffside, sending ripples across the shallow pool below. The air was thick with moisture, and the sound masked most background noise, but he remained alert.

He crouched near the water's edge, his fingers brushing across the damp soil. A faint depression in the mud caught his attention, wide and padded, unmistakably a large feline's track.

"Fresh," he murmured, eyes narrowing. He stood and moved toward the underbrush along the treeline, where the dense vegetation pressed against the rock face.

There, claw marks etched into the bark of a thick tree, three deep grooves carved at shoulder height.

"It was here."

But there was no sign of the beast now. No rustling, no low growls, no glowing eyes watching from the shadows.

"Out hunting, most likely," he muttered. "A predator doesn't linger near its nest when hungry."

His gaze swept the area one last time before he found a relatively flat patch of ground partially sheltered by a large boulder. From there, he could observe both the waterfall and the treeline.