90: Chapter 90 Accepting the Mission

As Spirit Stones dwindled, Yun Song had been in the Sect for fifteen years.

His bone age was thirty-five, but due to Cultivating, his face remained in his early twenties—like a branch forgotten by time, yet concealing the resilience forged by the passing years.

For fifteen years, he had spent almost all his time Cultivating.

The token gifted by the Man in Bamboo Hat and the resources periodically distributed by the Sect had been the stepping stones supporting his progress over these fifteen years.

But he knew clearly that if he relied solely on the meager resources the Sect provided in its routine, it would not be enough to satisfy the bottomless pit of his desire to Cultivate.

"I must find another way out."

For a Sect Cultivator to earn Spirit Stones, the most common path was to go to the Contribution Hall to take on missions.

He arrived at the Contribution Hall once again and walked straight toward the mission wall, which was already surrounded by many Disciples.

Someone reached out to tear a slip of paper from the wall and turned to walk toward Steward Lu.

Someone handed a slip to Steward Lu, their face showing the relaxation of having completed a mission.

Others smiled as they took items from their Storage Pouch to hand over to Steward Lu, their movements practiced and familiar.

He watched from the side for a while and figured out the rules.

To post a mission, one had to write the details and the reward clearly on a slip of paper, then give Steward Lu some Spirit Stones as a guarantee; only then was the mission successfully posted.

To take a mission, one simply tore off the slip and registered it.

His gaze swept across the slips of paper, looking for a suitable mission.

"Alchemy, patrolling the mountains, forging, planting herbs, serving as an attendant—these missions are all based on a yearly unit."

He calculated in his mind and felt that these jobs were either too tiring or required solid skills; if he did not do them well, he would be criticized.

He shook his head and continued reading down the list.

"Finding hundred-year-old Ice Heart Grass, collecting the magic core of a third-rank Phantom Demon Wolf, hunting a fifth-rank Gale-Splitting Mysterious Tiger to obtain its beast core..."

"These missions are either in forbidden zones or dangerous areas; although the rewards are high, few people dare to take them."

After comparing them, he felt that serving as an attendant at the Tianbao Pavilion was the safest option.

One thousand contribution points a year, and the work was easy.

"Forget it, I'll take that one. Although it's a bit low, at least it's safe."

Thinking this, he reached out to tear off the attendant mission slip.

Before his hand could touch it, Steward Lu walked over and posted three new slips on the wall.

Yun Song's gaze swept over the newly posted mission slips.

"Strange incidents have occurred in Nanshan Town. Reward: five hundred contribution points."

His eyes lit up, and his outstretched hand turned toward the new mission, tearing one off without hesitation.

Fearing he might be a step too slow and have it snatched away by someone else, he gripped the slip with his fingertips, feeling a secret joy in his heart.

"Strange incidents?"

He mused, "Is it murder for money, or is it a plague? This kind of mission seems tailor-made for me."

"Huh?"

He was slightly stunned.

He held one in his hand, and there were actually two identical ones left on the wall.

"Could it be that this mission requires three people to go together? Five hundred contribution points for three people is too little."

His gaze fell back onto the slip, studying it carefully. In the bottom right corner of the slip was a line of small print: "Three days later, morning, gather at the Sect gate."

Holding the slip, with confusion in his eyes, he walked up to Steward Lu.

"For this mission, do the three people split these five hundred contribution points?"

Steward Lu glanced at the slip, his face breaking into a smile, and explained, "It is five hundred per person."

"Give me your identity token to register, and after completing the mission, just come to me to redeem it."

"Is this mission dangerous, requiring three people to travel together?"

Yun Song frowned slightly, a look of worry appearing on his face, as if he were weighing whether the mission was worth it.

"I am not clear on the specific details; this mission was just posted recently."

Steward Lu spoke patiently, as if coaxing his own child, "But you can rest assured about the authenticity of the mission; the background of the poster is recorded."

"After completion, it still requires the poster's nod to claim the contribution points."

"If there is a dispute, the Sect will send someone to investigate; they will never wrong a good person."

He paused and added, "Team missions are generally less dangerous, and the contribution points come quickly."

"If you feel it's inappropriate, it does not matter if you do not take it; I can just post the slip back up."

"In my opinion, given your cultivation, taking this one is just right."

Yun Song pondered for a moment and felt that Steward Lu's words made sense.

He took his identity token from his Storage Pouch, registered it properly, and then left the Contribution Hall, his figure disappearing into the crowd.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The sky was not yet fully bright, the evening dew had not yet dried, and the eastern sky was already tinged with a blush of red.

Yun Song arrived at the Sect gate on time.

Not far away, a man and a woman were standing.

The woman wore a yellow dress that was eye-catching but not gaudy.

The man wore simple gray clothes; his figure was rather thin, his features delicate and pretty, and his skin was as white as high-quality rice paper, exuding an air of refinement, like a scholar rather than a Cultivator.

By the looks of it, they must be the companions who had taken the Nanshan Town mission.

Yun Song tried to probe their cultivation, but it was like looking through a layer of thick fog—he could not see clearly, which indicated that both of their cultivations were above his.

He stepped forward, cupped his hands in a salute, and said in a calm voice, "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, may I ask if you two have taken the Nanshan Town mission?"

"Yes." The woman in the yellow dress let her gaze drift, looked toward the inside of the Sect, and said in a faint tone, "Let's wait a bit longer; there should be one more person."

Upon hearing this, the man only glanced at Yun Song, nodded slightly in acknowledgment, and then shifted his gaze elsewhere, as if looking at the clouds on the horizon, or perhaps looking at nothing at all.

Doubts welled up in Yun Song's heart, and his brows furrowed as well.

"In the Contribution Hall, there were clearly only three mission slips, and now there are already three of us here; why wait?"

"Could it be that this mission actually requires four people?"

Just as he was filled with suspicion, he looked up into the distance.

In the distance, a slightly chubby figure in white came rushing over like a meteor, whipping up a gust of wind, and arrived before them in the blink of an eye.

The newcomer had an apologetic look on his face, cupped his hands, and said, "I am Yu Yang. I am truly sorry to have kept everyone waiting."

The woman in the yellow dress was like an iceberg; she raised her willow-leaf eyebrows slightly, and her eyes instantly turned cold, like a frozen lake surface.

She raised her right arm slightly, her movements elegant, and tapped her right hand against the Storage Pouch at her waist.

"Hiss—"

Dense white mist suddenly drifted out, rolling and expanding in front of her like a tuft of blown-up cotton wool.

Amidst the surging white mist, the outline of an ancient wooden boat gradually became clear.

The mist dispersed, and the boat appeared.

The ancient yellow wooden boat was about a zhang long, its bow slightly raised, carrying the vicissitudes forged by the years, as if it had sailed from a thousand years ago.

"Get on the boat."

The woman in the yellow dress's voice had no warmth, "I will tell you the details of the mission on the way."

The four of them followed instructions and boarded the wooden boat one after another.

The woman in the yellow dress reached into her Storage Pouch, and dozens of Spirit Stones suddenly appeared in her palm. She moved with light steps and walked to the bow of the boat.

Across the bow lay a T-shaped rudder handle, and below it were thirty grooves, like neatly arranged teeth.

She bent down slightly and embedded the Spirit Stones into the grooves one by one, her movements neither hurried nor slow.

After finishing those under the rudder handle, she took the remaining Spirit Stones and placed them one by one along the grooves on the gunwale.

Yun Song stared at all of this and only then realized with surprise that the entire boat, including the grooves under the rudder handle, had a total of fifty-six.

The moment the last Spirit Stone was placed into the groove, the boat body emitted a strange tremor, like a sleeping giant beast being awakened.

Immediately following, the entire boat lit up with a layer of transparent barrier, thin as a cicada's wing.

The woman in the yellow dress placed her slender hand on the T-shaped rudder handle, gripped it gently with her five fingers, and then exerted force with her wrist, shaking it up and down several times.

Following her movements, the ancient wooden boat emitted a slight hum and slowly rose from the ground, ascending toward the high sky.

When the wooden boat had steadily risen into the high sky and stood side by side with the clouds and mist, the woman in the yellow dress turned her head slightly and swung her hands left and right on the rudder handle several times.

The bow of the boat, as if guided by an invisible hand, slowly turned its direction toward Nanshan Town.

Before everyone could recover, the woman in the yellow dress exerted sudden force and pressed the rudder handle down hard.

In an instant, the light around the wooden boat became several times brighter than before, like a lit torch, and it sped off into the distance.