ragginovel Chapter 83 Spirit Testing Mission
Chapter 83 Spirit Testing Mission
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Xiao Ming has been living in the cave for a year.
On this day, Xiao Ming, who was cultivating, opened his eyes.
A communication jade slip was hovering outside the formation. Xiao Ming opened a corner of the formation and guided the jade slip into his hand. He probed it with his divine sense and quickly learned the whole story.
"So it was Tianlu Pavilion asking me if I wanted to do a mission."
Foundation Establishment Stewards must complete the tasks assigned by the sect every year. Of course, if they are unable to complete the tasks due to personal reasons, they can postpone them for one year, and at most for three years.
"Alright, I've spent almost all my contribution points this year, so I'll go out for a walk." Xiao Ming stood up, stretched his limbs, then turned and walked out of the cave, flying towards Tian Shu Peak.
Upon arriving at Tianlu Pavilion, Xiao Ming did not linger on the first floor but instead turned and headed to the second floor.
Compared to the first floor, where some Qi Refining disciples were coming to accept missions, the second floor was much quieter, with only a middle-aged man with a long beard sitting by the window, drinking tea and reading a book.
Upon seeing Xiao Ming come up, the middle-aged man with a long beard put down his book, got up, and walked over.
"This must be Junior Brother Xiao. I am Ma Zishan, a steward of Tianlu Pavilion."
"Greetings, Senior Brother Ma."
"Junior Brother Xiao, you're here to do a mission, right? Then I won't waste any more words. Please follow me." Ma Zishan led Xiao Ming to the counter and handed him a booklet, which listed the missions that sect members could choose to perform once they reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
"Border Garrison: Serving on the southern border for five years will earn you 2,000 contribution points. After completing this task, you will no longer be assigned sect tasks for ten years."
"Sect Trial Selection: Follow the sect's spaceship down the mountain, serve as an examiner for the trial, select outer sect disciples, and you will receive 200 contribution points. After completing this task, no more sect tasks will be assigned for one year."
"Collecting Thunder Crystals: Elder Chi Huo of Burning Cloud Peak urgently needs a large quantity of Thunder Crystals. Price negotiable. This quest is ongoing..."
Xiao Ming was flipping through the various tasks in the booklet when his gaze suddenly stopped.
"Spiritual Root Selection: Go down the mountain to conduct spiritual root selection for mortals and select disciples with outstanding spiritual root aptitude. You will receive 300 contribution points. After completing this task, you will not be assigned any sect tasks for three years."
······
After skimming through the tasks in the booklet, Xiao Ming finally settled on the task of testing the spirits of mortals.
Although this task is a bit tedious, it is not very dangerous, and the reward is quite generous.
"Senior Brother Ma, I choose this mission."
"That's wonderful that you chose this mission." Ma Zishan's expression brightened with joy.
Although the spirit selection mission is not difficult and the reward is not small, it is very troublesome, requiring one to stay in various mortal cities, which is quite tedious.
In comparison, the selection process for the Ascending Trial is much simpler and easier.
However, this spirit-testing task is extremely important. If a sect selects disciples solely through family recommendations and sect trials, thus missing out on the vast majority of ordinary people, it is highly likely to miss out on some talented disciples.
It is important to know that a cultivator with dual spiritual roots or a unique spiritual root has a high probability of becoming a Core Formation cultivator and a pillar of the sect if they grow up.
If one were to encounter a genius with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, it would be unimaginable. Such geniuses might even alarm the Nascent Soul patriarch of the sect to personally emerge from seclusion. The reason is simple: cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Roots not only cultivate at an extremely fast pace, but they also break through to the Core Formation stage without encountering any bottlenecks. With dedicated nurturing, they have the potential to reach the Nascent Soul stage.
Rumor has it that the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator of the Beast Spirit Sect, Yan Yang Zhenren, possessed a fire-type Heavenly Spirit Root. He was born into a wealthy merchant family in Tianshui County, which was originally under the jurisdiction of the Gu Spirit Sect. However, the Beast Spirit Sect discovered him ahead of time and took him away, which enraged the sect's patriarch, who almost killed that generation's sect leader with a single palm strike.
From then on, successive sect leaders dared not take the spirit-testing task lightly.
This spirit-testing ceremony is usually held every three years, but due to the events at the Eagle Gorge secret realm a few years ago, it consumed a lot of the sect's resources. As a result, this year's spirit-testing ceremony has been delayed for half a year.
"Junior Brother Xiao, you don't need to do everything yourself for this spirit testing mission. I will arrange three inner disciples equipped with spirit testing orbs. Let them handle the specific tasks, and you can just oversee the operation. In addition, there are three nomination slots for miscellaneous disciples for this trip down the mountain. You can choose whichever you prefer."
"Choose for yourself?" Xiao Ming looked at Ma Zishan with a puzzled expression, but the middle-aged man just smiled and didn't say anything, making a counting money gesture with his hand.
"Junior brother, it's settled then. Just come to Tianlu Pavilion at this time tomorrow."
Seemingly afraid that Xiao Ming would regret it, Ma Zishan quickly finalized the matter.
Having chosen his mission, Xiao Ming didn't linger and returned to his cave.
After quickly packing his belongings, Xiao Ming left the room and went to the animal pen area to examine the monster egg.
It's been a year already, and the hatching of this monster egg is incredibly slow.
Xiao Ming stroked the monster egg and immediately felt a burning sensation from the shell.
"Hopefully, this monster will hatch by the time I return from the mission," Xiao Ming muttered to himself before walking out of the animal pen.
The next morning, Xiao Ming went to the second floor of Tianlu Pavilion again.
This time, besides Senior Brother Ma, there were three more Qi Refining inner disciples on the second floor: two men and one woman. The two young men were both at the peak of Qi Refining, talking to the woman, with a hint of hostility between them.
The woman simply smiled and answered the two men in a casual manner until she saw Xiao Ming walk in, at which point the three of them stopped talking.
"Junior Brother Xiao, you've come at the right time. This is the person I chose for you. Please introduce yourself." Ma Zishan, along with three others, warmly greeted Xiao Ming.
"Wu Yi, an inner disciple of Tian Shu Peak."
"Zhuang Cheng, an inner disciple of Jieyao Peak."
"Su Dongxuan, an inner disciple of Xuanyuan Peak."
"Greetings, Uncle-Master Xiao!" The three bowed in unison, their faces full of respect.
"No need for formalities, I'm not one for formalities," Xiao Ming said with a smile and a nod.
"Junior Brother Xiao, the place you need to go is marked on this jade slip." Ma Zishan handed over a jade slip.
"Thank you, Senior Brother. Then I will set off with my fellow disciples." Xiao Ming walked out onto the balcony, patted his storage bag, and a three-zhang-long white jade spaceship appeared.
"This is a magical artifact from the spirit boat."
The two young men, who were about to summon their flying swords, looked at the floating spirit boat with envy. The female cultivator in the Qi Refining stage, on the other hand, had eyes that gleamed with admiration.
"My three junior disciples, please board the ship." Xiao Ming took a step forward and landed lightly on the bow of the ship.
"Junior brother, may you rest in peace."
Ma Zishan stood smiling on the balcony, watching the jade spirit boat disappear into the horizon, before casually stroking his beard.
"This Junior Brother Xiao is so young, yet he has already broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage and possesses a flying magic artifact like a spirit boat. He is truly remarkable."