Chapter 6: The Redemption Value increased by one percent upon opening the Secret Realm.

A bright crescent moon hung high in the night sky. The night wind blew away the last wisp of white mist, carrying a chill into the cave. The candlelight was soft, and Xiao Bumian, backlit, had his profile hidden in shadow, a slight smile on his lips, his eyes dark and unfathomable.

"What's wrong? Is something amiss?" he asked.

Mingjian regained consciousness and glanced at Xiao Bumian with a complicated expression.

What happened in such a short time that could give a great demon who wanted to destroy the world just a second ago one percent of salvation? That's really... not easy.

“Nothing much,” Mingjian feigned surprise, “You and Immortal Venerable Hanwei are quite destined for each other.”

"Is that so?" Xiao Bumian couldn't help but laugh out loud, half-jokingly saying, "Maybe I am the Immortal Venerable Hanwei."

Seeing Xiao Bumian remain silent, Ming Jian knew that if rushing forward would only lead to his death, he would have really wanted to beat him up.

Are you not going to act anymore?

He gave a dry laugh. "Isn't Immortal Venerable Hanwei still in seclusion? You must be confused."

“That’s true.” Xiao Bumian nodded in agreement.

Seemingly a little tired, Xiao Bumian stood up. "Since we've become friends, let's meet again sometime. I won't disturb Junior Brother Ming's rest today."

He slowly walked to the door, the last remaining crescent moon on the horizon swallowed by dark clouds, the wind howling. Mingjian turned to look and saw a tall, handsome young man in a white robe, his eyes smiling, his long, slender, white fingers twitching slightly. With a clang, the wooden door closed, and Xiao Bumian's presence vanished completely.

Mingjian felt the tension that had been building in his mind finally ease, and he breathed heavily, as if he had just escaped a disaster.

He almost died.

Unfortunately, the system in his mind seemed oblivious to his thoughts, continuing to say to itself: "Xiao Bumian must be fond of you, otherwise why would his redemption value drop to one percent after seeing you?"

The hour-long negotiation with Xiao Bumian had exhausted Mingjian. He was too lazy to listen to the system's nonsense anymore and sneered, "You think one percent is a lot?"

The system choked and shut up completely.

Mingjian ignored it; his most important task right now was cultivation. He cast a cleansing spell on himself, sat cross-legged on the bed, cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, and began to meditate.

When I woke up again, it was already half a month later.

The mirror in the cave reflected the boy's still somewhat immature face. The moon-white robes wrapped around his slender body, revealing large patches of fair skin underneath.

Mingjian opened his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly. The silent painting seemed to come alive, regaining its vibrancy. The light seemed to favor him, only daring to fall beside him, not daring to move forward.

Ming lowered his eyes, and a small ball of white mist condensed in his palm, indicating he was at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

A year has passed, and he has finally advanced from the fifth level of Qi Refining to the sixth level. Mingjian was in a very good mood, and his attitude towards the system improved considerably.

[Host, you can randomly obtain rewards when completing missions. There might be opportunities for enlightenment, or even high-level elixirs.]

The system is subtly tempting Mingjian again.

Mingjian said in a light tone, "We'll see."

He stood up and stretched, tidied up his belongings in the cave, and then carried his sword down the mountain. Because his cultivation had taken half a month, and three low-grade spirit stones could only be used for three days, he paid an additional twelve low-grade spirit stones when he returned the wooden plaque.

Mingjian sighed, thinking that he would go to the quest pool later to see if there were any quests he could take, so as to earn more spirit stones.

Unexpectedly, before he even arrived at the mission hall, he received a summons from the Spirit Mirror.

"Disciple Mingjian, come see me immediately!"

The overwhelming pressure from the Mahayana stage master caused the surrounding disciples to pause, all turning to look at Mingjian.

A sense of unease flashed through Ming's mind. He put away the Spirit Mirror and flew towards the Criminal Hall on his sword.

A quarter of an hour later, he stood in front of the Criminal Hall. There were many people in the Criminal Hall. Sitting in the head seat was Elder Jiang Zhen, the Grand Elder of the Criminal Hall. Two people sat on either side of him, both of whom were at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage. One was an elder from Yuqing Peak, and the other, although Ming Jian had never seen him before, could be seen to have some resemblance to Lu Heng.

Thinking this way, Mingjian quickly realized why he was being called.

Ming's expression remained unchanged as he bowed respectfully and asked, "Elders, is there something you need from me?"

Elder Jiangzhen didn't allow him to rise. In an instant, the oppressive aura of the Mahayana realm swept across the entire Criminal Hall. Only the two Nascent Soul cultivators seated could endure it, though their faces paled slightly. All the other cultivators were terrified; even the Foundation Establishment cultivators knelt on the ground, prostrate and afraid to raise their heads.

Mingjian didn't follow the example of those cultivators who stubbornly refused to kneel even when they arrived at the Hall of Criminal Justice. That would only damage their meridians. He wasn't that stupid. He knelt down extremely quickly, causing the expressions of the elders on the seats to change. They felt that this child truly lacked the backbone of a cultivator.

Elder Jiangzhen cleared his throat. "Mingjian, do you know your crime?"

Pretending not to know, he retorted firmly, "Elder, what wrong have I done?"

"The inner disciple of Jade Purity Peak who died half a month ago was named Lu Heng. Do you know him?"

"know."

"The monks who lived with him said that you and he had a disagreement that night, and he died that very night. You went into hiding the next day, is that right?"

Ming felt somewhat helpless. Xiao Bumian had killed someone, so why not clean things up more thoroughly? He didn't want to take the blame for him.

He lowered his eyes slightly, and when he looked up again, his bewitching eyes were filled with tears, making him look extremely aggrieved. "Elders, after Senior Brother Lu issued me the challenge that day, he left. All the outer disciples who lived with me can testify that what I said was true. After he left, I went back to my room to rest, and I only learned about this the next day. But at that time, I still did not know who the disciple who died was."

As soon as he said this, the outer disciples standing in the Criminal Hall all said, "We can testify for Junior Brother. It was Lu Heng who started the trouble for Junior Brother that day. We asked Junior Brother to confess to the elders, but Junior Brother was afraid that the elders would blame Lu Heng for it, so he insisted on concealing the matter."

"Yes, please investigate thoroughly, Elder!"

"We implore the elder to investigate!"

Soon, a noisy commotion arose in the criminal court.

"Since you're all in cahoots, you'll naturally all speak up for you. Then why did you leave the next day? If you didn't kill my disciple, then who did?" Jade Purity Immortal Venerable roared, his eyes red with anger.

Elder Jiangzhen quickly reassured him, "Immortal Lord Yuqing, the matter of your disciple's death is still unresolved. Please calm down."

This Jade Purity Immortal Venerable was known for being fiercely protective of his own, and given Lu Heng's considerable talent in cultivation, he was so enraged upon learning of his beloved disciple's untimely death that he coughed up blood.

"Elder Jiangzhen, Immortal Venerable Yuqing, my departure the next day was merely because I was about to break through and was going to my cave for secluded cultivation. If you don't believe me, you can ask the cultivator in charge of renting out caves. Besides, I am only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, so how could I possibly kill a cultivator at the third level of Foundation Establishment without anyone noticing?"

In fact, most people in the Criminal Investigation Department believed Mingjian's story. After all, such absurd talk of killing someone of a higher rank was extremely rare, let alone by a cultivator like Mingjian who only had rudimentary skills.

However, there was no trace of the demon, and for the past two weeks, the sect had been in a state of panic. The Lu family of Kunlun in the Southern Territory, having lost their beloved son, sent people over specifically to demand an explanation.

Huanming's visit was merely for show.

“Young Master Ling Yue,” Elder Jiang Zhen looked at the person on the other side who hadn’t said a word from beginning to end, and stammered, “What do you think… this is?”

Mingjian looked up upon hearing this and met a pair of calm, still eyes that seemed to care nothing for him, no matter what was happening around him.

Lu Lingyue?

This person was none other than Lu Lingyue. Mingjian quickly reviewed the man's information in his mind: the eldest son of the Lu family of Kunlun in the Southern Territory, who had entered the Tian Shou Sect to cultivate since childhood. He possessed a lightning spiritual root, an attribute other than metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Although his spiritual root was only of medium grade, his talent for cultivation was still outstanding. He broke through to the Golden Core stage at the age of twenty, formed the Nascent Soul stage at the age of one hundred, and now, at only two hundred years old, he had already reached the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage. Although not explicitly stated, many people had already tacitly agreed that he would be the next sect leader of the Tian Shou Sect.

Previously, Mingjian had often heard Lu Heng boast about how outstanding his brother was, but he had never taken it to heart. Now, seeing him in person, he was like a quiet epiphyllum blooming in the still night, truly a prodigy as rumored.

Lu Lingyue's emotions didn't fluctuate much. He said, "My disciples from the Tianmen Sect have been searching for this matter for several days, but we haven't found any clues. Why should we involve an innocent cultivator?"

Mingjian was stunned for a moment, wondering how there could be such a huge difference between people? They were born to the same parents, so how did Lu Heng grow up to look like this?

Elder Jiangzhen nodded, then looked at Immortal Venerable Yuqing, "I think what junior Lingyue said makes sense. What does Immortal Venerable Yuqing think?"

Jade Purity Immortal Venerable: "..."

What could he possibly think? His own brother had already said that, what else could he say?

His face was grim, and he said, word by word, "What you say makes sense."

"Thank you, elders," Mingjian bowed respectfully, then paused and added, "Thank you, Lord Lingyue."

Lu Lingyue stopped looking at him and instead gazed at the distant horizon, seemingly lost in thought.

Mingjian didn't bother them any longer and quickly flew away on his sword.

Thinking he should check the quest pool for available quests, Akira didn't head straight for the bamboo forest as usual after leaving the Criminal Investigation Department. Instead, he flew in the opposite direction, and after about fifteen minutes, he jumped off his sword.

Despite the name "Task Pool," it's not a real pool, but rather a building within a building. Tasks outside the building are available to all disciples, while those inside are only for inner disciples, and most are three-star or higher. Tasks outside are relatively simple, such as chopping bamboo, carrying water, and gathering herbs—one-star tasks. Three-star tasks often require several disciples to form a team to complete.

Of course, if an outer disciple wants to broaden their horizons, they can ask an inner disciple who has accepted a high-level mission to take them along. Perhaps it's to let the outer disciple charge into battle first, and inner disciples usually won't refuse.

The outer disciples are willing to go not only to broaden their horizons, but also because they hope to gain some advantages. There are many opportunities in the secret realms of those high-star missions, and with a bit of luck, it's not impossible to soar to great heights.

Examples like this abound in popular posts on Lingxijing.

The entire pavilion of the quest pool floated in a sea of ​​clouds, with jade steps. Mingjian pushed open the door and went inside, looking around to see if there were any suitable quests he could accept.

Suddenly, someone patted his shoulder.

Mingjian turned to look and saw that it was Song Yao. He exclaimed with delight, "Junior Brother, you've come out of seclusion?"

Mingjian nodded. "Senior Brother Song, what a coincidence."

Song Yao scratched his head sheepishly, "Junior Brother, are you here looking for a suitable mission?"

"Hmm." Mingjian seemed a little absent-minded, his mind preoccupied with what other medicinal herbs were needed for Foundation Establishment.

“Perfect timing,” Song Yao said, “Did you know that the Yunlai Immortal Abode opened ahead of schedule?”

A note from the author:

----------------------