Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 63: Mission?

Chapter 63: Mission?

Xu Disheng opened his eyes. A month had passed by, and he had long since gotten used to the scenery. The palace room he was in wasn’t that big, but it was cozy and elegant. The door wasn’t closed completely. Sunlight danced naughtily through the crack, stealing into the room and painting the floor with light.

He walked out of the palace room, squinting his eyes from the sunlight that was shining down unobstructed through the layer of clouds. He narrowed his eyes and spotted two people outside the gate, in the middle of a conversation. When they saw Xu Disheng come out, one of them smiled and said, “I was just about to send Junior Brother Xu a message jade slip, but it looks like you came out on your own.”

The person who spoke was Li Dan, and the other person accompanying him was another person from their group who joined the Morning Dew Peak with them a month ago, whose name was Xi Jingshan. He usually didn’t say much, so Xu Disheng didn’t have much of an impression of him.

As it turned out, this entire large courtyard of palace rooms belonged to Bai Zhehua’s father. This mysterious Dao Foundation stage powerhouse was considered quite good among those of Morning Dew Peak. Because Xu Disheng and the others had all joined the Peak at the same time, their palace room courtyards were all arranged in the same neighborhood.

In the last month, Xu Disheng hadn’t left his residence. He nodded at the two fellow disciples and said, “What have you come here for, Senior Martial Brothers?”

Xi Jingshan didn’t say anything, remaining habitually taciturn. Li Dan carefully sized up Xu Disheng and replied with a smile, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, your profound qi seems to have improved even more in the last month. As the ones being called Senior Martial Brothers, we’re ashamed.”

Xu Disheng didn’t really like that when Li Dan spoke, he would always beat around the bush in a troublesome manner. But even though he thought that way inwardly, he didn’t show it on his face. He replied flatly, “It’s already been a month since coming to Morning Dew Peak after all. Can’t stay stuck without making progress forever.”

Li Dan laughed awkwardly. He was exactly one of those people, stuck without making progress. In the last month, he had hardly cultivated one bit, and had instead been busy making friends with the other Senior Martial Brothers and Sisters that belonged to the pedigree of Bai Zhehua’s father.

Xi Jingshan walked forward and said in a low tone, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, we actually came to look for you about something.”

“Go ahead,” Xu Disheng replied.

Xi Jingshan glanced at Li Dan. Seeing that he wasn’t going to speak, he continued, “One of our Senior Martial Brothers, Chen Xingzhou, accepted a small-scale mission from Sect Affairs Hall. He needs the assistance of about a dozen or so Sea of Qi stage disciples, and is currently recruiting disciples from the Peak. The two of us are planning to participate, so we came to ask if you wanted to come too. After all, with only four spirit stones a month, it just isn’t enough. Senior Martial Brother Chen has already said that after the mission is successfully completed, each disciple will be rewarded 10 spirit stones.”

Xu Disheng didn’t agree immediately. Instead, he asked, “What about Senior Martial Brother Ma Zhenghao? Why didn’t he come with the two of you?”

A month ago, Bai Zhehua had brought four people with him to Morning Dew Peak. Aside from Xu Disheng, there were these two, and then Ma Zhenghao.

Xu Disheng had only casually asked this question, but the expressions of the two of them slightly changed. Li Dan scoffed and said, “We only heard about this yesterday, but half a month ago, Junior Martial Brother Ma went alone and accepted an extremely dangerous 3-day time limit mission, and has yet to return. Senior Martial Brother Bai said that he probably won’t be coming back.”

Xi Jingshan’s face was solemn. They had come together from the Outer Region, and he had been a martial brother who took the examination at the same time as them. But in just the span of one month, they had already lost someone. Although they weren’t that emotionally attached to Ma Zhenghao, they still felt a sympathetic sense of grief from losing someone who was in similar circumstances as them.

For some reason, Li Dan was angry. “Ma Zhenghao, you brainless fool! You didn’t even take a good look at yourself before going on a sect mission alone? Even if you did have the skills, your death wouldn’t be undeserved!”

Beneath Li Dan’s outburst, Xu Disheng could tell that he was scared and was actually putting up a strong front.

Xi Jingshan looked at Xu Disheng and said, “Small-scale missions are different from ordinary sect missions, and usually require many people to complete. It is necessary for the person who accepted the small-scale mission to recruit people themselves. The best benefit for us is that if we successfully complete the mission, it counts towards our quota of missions that we need to complete each year.”

After a Sea of Qi stage disciple entered a Peak, they were required to complete at least 5 missions a year. This was the reason why Xi Jingshan and Li Dan were so keen on taking part in Chen Xingzhou’s small-scale mission.

On the other hand, Xu Disheng’s thoughts weren’t so simple. For this Chen Xingzhou person to accept a small-scale mission like this, he certainly wasn’t an idiot. If this random gathering of people could complete a mission just by messing around, why would Chen Xingzhou have to give each of them a reward of 10 spirit stones?

However, there wasn’t much time left for him to go out. There were only several months remaining until the Grand Inner Disciple Tournament. In the last month, he had been stabilizing his cultivation of all of the cultivation methods and techniques he knew. He only had a few dozen spirit stones remaining, and it definitely wouldn’t be enough for him to support his future cultivation.

Having thought to this point, Xu Disheng nodded his head and said, “Senior Martial Brother Xi, I’ll go with you two. But what kind of person is this Senior Martial Brother Chen?”

Xi Jingshan replied, “Chen Xingzhou is also from Morning Dew Peak. He’s at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage, and he’s just a bit away from being at the half-step Dao Foundation stage. Senior Martial Brother Chen is among the ranks of the elite Sea of Qi stage disciples, and it was said that he accepted this small-scale mission and put up a recruitment at the Morning Dew Peak’s Errands Office to help out newcomer disciples like us. All of the people who went to sign up this time are newcomer disciples who joined the Peak within the last 3 years.”

Li Dan was also a bit excited and chimed in, “10 spirit stones for each person! Senior Martial Brother Chen takes such good care of his juniors. We’re really fortunate.”

Inwardly, Xu Disheng’s doubts only increased. If Chen Xingzhou really wanted to complete a mission, it wouldn’t have been hard for him to just find a few peak Sea of Qi stage disciples who he was familiar with.

What exactly was Chen Xingzhou’s intention with giving out a reward of 10 spirit stones per person to recruit newcomer disciples who joined the Peak in the last few years?

Li Dan and Xi Jingshan could only see the 10 spirit stones and the free sect mission completion in their minds. The words that Bai Zhehua said to them about the nature of the forces of other pedigrees when they first joined the Peak had long been forgotten.

But Xu Disheng still remembered Bai Zhehua’s words clearly. When these two came to find Xu Disheng to ask him to join the small-scale mission, they presumably hadn’t gone to tell Bai Zhehua yet.

Expression unchanging, Xu Disheng used his jade identity tablet to restore the protective barrier around his palace room before following the two towards the Errands Office of Morning Dew Peak.

The Errands Office wasn’t large, and it was currently bustling with activity. Most of the people standing around were experienced disciples, who were standing around and pointing the way. In front of the gate, there was a youth in a white Daoist robe, who would occasionally talk to the people coming up to him.

Li Dan brought along the two of them through the crowd, arriving at the front of the gate. He stepped forward with a somewhat ingratiating smile and said, “Senior Martial Brother Chen, the three of us just joined the Peak about a month ago. We were wondering if we could join this time’s mission?”

Chen Xingzhou’s complexion was handsome and bright. He had straight sword-like eyebrows and bright, star-like eyes. And yet, his gaze was mild, which allowed others to easily form a good impression about him. He smiled and replied, “No problem. This time’s mission is just a quick trip out of the sect, and there won’t be much danger involved. About one month will be enough to complete the mission.” He roughly sized up Li Dan and the other two, noting that the three of them were at the early Sea of Qi stage. He nodded and continued, “You three can come with us. With you guys included, we will have enough for this time’s small-scale mission.”

There were two attendants standing behind Chen Xingzhou at a relatively close distance. Among them was one called Wang Jun, and when he saw how noisy the crowd was becoming, he shouted loudly, “Move along now! Senior Martial Brother Chen already has enough people for the small-scale mission, so you can all go back.”

After that, he turned around to check the numbers. Taking into account Xu Disheng and the others, there were 14 people in total. Wang Jun went one by one and recorded each person’s jade identity tablet, then handed the record to Chen Xingzhou.

Xu Disheng noticed that aside from Chen Xingzhou and his two attendants, the other people who were participating in the mission were all early Sea of Qi stage disciples. Although they had all entered the Sea of Qi stage already, they were whispering amongst each other, and their expressions revealed their inexperience and lack of composure. It was easy to see at a glance that they were all newcomer disciples who had just joined in the last few years.

The more seasoned disciples were standing around the outskirts, watching the bustling crowd. From time to time, there were strange looks in their eyes as they stood there and watched these 11 people, but none of them opened their mouths to say anything. As they saw the dissipating crowd of people that were like bees swarming around honey, the sound of snide remarks and strange laughter could be heard.

Chen Xingzhou’s gaze turned cold, and he swept an eye over those veteran disciples. They immediately quieted down and scattered.

After all, Chen Xingzhou was at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage and was one of the elite disciples of the Peak. He had great prospects of reaching the Dao Foundation stage, so almost no one dared to offend him.

In front of the Errands Office, only the 11 recruited disciples for the mission remained. There were several newcomer disciples who weren’t picked that were standing off to the side, looking upset and unwilling.

Chen Xingzhou turned around, his expression becoming warm. He smiled and said, “Everyone, you can go back and make preparations. After two hours, we will meet here.”

All of the people nodded in understanding.

At Chen Xingzhou’s side, Wang Jun had a face full of haughty pride. “Senior Martial Brother Chen is supporting you all with this opportunity to earn spirit stones. You better not be late!”

The other attendant just stood behind Chen Xingzhou, not saying a word.

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