Chapter Twenty-Seven: Breakthrough in Seclusion
The courtyard was quiet, with the array of light flowing around it, isolating it from all the noise and prying eyes of the outside world.
Fang Li sat cross-legged in the center of the room and carefully took out the Spirit Tempering Grass.
The emerald green grass leaves are crystal clear and shimmering with light, and the pure, vibrant energy of the wood permeates the air, making people feel refreshed and relaxed.
Without the slightest hesitation, she took it.
The Spirit-Refining Grass melted instantly upon entering her mouth, transforming into a powerful and pure spiritual energy that rushed into her entire body!
At first, it's a comfortable warmth, nourishing every meridian, like a gentle rain nourishing the earth.
But soon, the medicinal properties began to reveal their refined nature.
The warmth gradually turned scorching, as if countless tiny irons were rolling, squeezing, and grinding her spiritual power within her body.
A series of tearing, throbbing pains came from his meridians, and his dantian was in turmoil. His originally gentle spiritual energy was forcibly purified and compressed, a process that was extremely painful.
Fang Li's temples throbbed with veins, and cold sweat instantly soaked through her clothes, but she gritted her teeth and guided this power to cleanse her meridians and dantian again and again.
She knew that this was a crucial moment for refining her spiritual power and consolidating her foundation; only through patience could she achieve transformation.
Time slips away quietly amidst extreme pain and transformation.
After an unknown amount of time, when the immense medicinal power was finally fully absorbed and refined, and the last trace of spiritual energy merged into her dantian, Fang Li slowly opened her eyes.
call--!
She exhaled a long breath of turbid air, tinged with a faint grayish impurity.
She looked inward at herself.
The meridians have expanded to almost twice their previous size, are incredibly resilient, and shimmer with a warm, jade-like luster.
In the dantian, the spiritual energy that was originally somewhat ethereal has now condensed like mercury, thick and solid, radiating a shimmering, precious light.
His cultivation level remained steadily at the peak of the seventh level of Qi Refining, just one step away from the eighth level!
More importantly, the purity of her spiritual energy far surpasses that of other cultivators of the same level!
If the spiritual power of an ordinary Qi Refining Stage 7 cultivator is like murky stream water, then her spiritual power at this moment is like a deep pool in a mountain ravine, clear, profound, and containing powerful energy!
This laid an incredibly solid foundation for her subsequent breakthroughs!
Fang Li felt the condensed spiritual power flowing through her body, as if it were her own arm, and an unprecedented sense of power and control arose spontaneously.
"It was worth it!" Her eyes flashed with ecstasy.
This little bit of pain, in exchange for such a transformative change, is totally worth it!
She got up and stretched her limbs, her bones crackling softly, exuding a sense of power.
To her even greater surprise, her five senses seemed to have been greatly enhanced!
Outside the courtyard, the rustling of leaves in the wind, the sound of disciples practicing their swords in the distance, and even the slightest movement of ants crawling on the corner of the wall could be clearly heard.
As far as her eyes could see, she could vaguely sense the strength of the auras of the disciples passing by on the path outside the courtyard!
"The Spirit-Refining Grass truly lives up to its name!" Fang Li happily cast a cleansing spell on herself, washing away the grime and feeling refreshed and in better condition than ever before.
The increased confidence that came with her improved strength allowed her to temporarily put those unpleasant rumors behind her.
"My contribution points are almost gone again." Fang Li took stock of her possessions. She had used up all the Spirit Tempering Grass, used up a few Qi Condensation Pills, and had very few contribution points left.
Cultivation is like burning spirit stones! She needs to replenish her resources quickly!
Clear goals! Hall of Contribution!
Arriving once again at the bustling Hall of Contribution, Fang Li discreetly blended into the crowd, her gaze sweeping over the dazzling array of mission jade tablets.
Most of the tasks are fairly standard: collect a certain spiritual herb, hunt a specific monster, stand guard in a mine, or help an elder test medicine!
The contribution points are also clearly marked according to the difficulty level.
Fang Li was pondering which mission would be cost-effective and not too time-consuming when her gaze was suddenly drawn to a slightly yellowed mission scroll in the corner.
Task Title: Investigate the Frequent Child Disappearances in Qingshui Town
Task Level: Lower Grade D
Task Description: In the past month, seven children have mysteriously disappeared at night in Qingshui Town at the foot of the mountain. The town's garrison cultivators have been unable to find any clues and have reported the matter to the sect. Disciples are required to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause or provide any useful leads. Note: The disappearances may involve human trafficking, and there is a small chance that they may be caused by low-level demons. Please exercise caution.
Task Reward: 300 Contribution Points.
Lower-tier, Class D? Three hundred points?
Fang Li frowned slightly.
The lower-level tasks of the Ding rank are usually given to disciples in the early stages of Qi Refining to practice, such as cleaning a remote hall or weeding in the spirit field, and the reward is at most a few dozen points.
This investigation task is so low-level, but the contribution points it gives are so high? Almost seven or eight times that of a task of the same level!
Moreover, the description is very vague.
"Frequent disappearances", "mysterious", "investigation yielded no results", "low probability of being evil spirits".
Most importantly, if even the guardian cultivators couldn't find out the reason, why did the sect only issue the lowest-level task?
Is the only requirement to "find out the cause or provide clues"?
That's unreasonable! Absolutely unreasonable!
Fang Li's intuition told her that there might be something fishy going on behind this mission, and it was definitely not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
Either the person who posted the task got the level and reward wrong, or there's something fishy going on here.
She was hesitating whether to get involved in this troublesome "fishing mission" when she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye.
Xie Chen.
He had arrived at the task list at some point, leisurely waving his jade-bone folding fan as his gaze slowly swept over the rows of tasks.
As his gaze swept over the mission scroll titled "Children Missing in Qingshui Town," Fang Li keenly noticed that his fan-waving motion seemed to pause almost imperceptibly for a moment!
Although it was only a brief moment, so fast it seemed like an illusion, Fang Li's newly enhanced senses and keen intuition made her absolutely certain!
He also noticed the task! And seemed somewhat interested?
Fang Li's heart skipped a beat.
Xie Chen is such a scheming man; anything he's interested in is bound to be bad news!
Should we avoid this obviously tricky task, or...?
Fang Li's gaze fell on the three hundred contribution points again, and her heart skipped a beat.
Three hundred points! That's enough for her to exchange for a bottle of top-quality Qi Gathering Pills in the alchemy room, or to choose a decent auxiliary cultivation technique in the scripture pavilion!
Her strength has increased significantly, and she needs resources to consolidate and enhance it!
Fortune favors the bold! Besides, this mission is in a small town, far from the sect, so I shouldn't run into those senior brothers again, right?
As long as she acts quickly enough, goes alone, investigates discreetly, and resolves the matter swiftly!
"Let's do it!" Fang Li gritted her teeth and made up her mind. She couldn't avoid the rumors, but the resources were real! Weren't spirit stones appealing?!
Without further hesitation, she strode forward and, under Xie Chen's meaningful gaze, decisively reached out and peeled off the mission scroll titled "Children Missing in Qingshui Town"!
"Rank D, Lower Level. Investigate the missing persons case in Qingshui Town. Contribution points: 300. Mission accepted. Disciple: Fang Li."
The disciple in charge of registration glanced at her with some surprise, then looked at the scroll, seemingly also thinking that the reward was ridiculously high, but still quickly registered her.
After receiving the temporary jade token that represented the mission credentials, Fang Li felt somewhat at ease.
She didn't look in Xie Chen's direction again, turned around and quickly left the Hall of Contribution.
Back in the courtyard, Fang Li immediately began preparations.
He changed into the most inconspicuous gray disciple's robe, checked the talismans, took healing pills and a small amount of dry food and water, and carefully kept his identity jade token and mission jade token close to his body.
This time, she decided to go alone.
Avoid all possible encounters and troubles, and return quickly!
After everything was tidied up, it was just beginning to get light.
Fang Li pushed open the courtyard gate, took one last look at her small courtyard, took a deep breath of the cool morning air, and without further hesitation, she moved swiftly and quietly headed down the mountain.
Her figure quickly blended into the misty mountain path and disappeared.
However, she was unaware that news of her accepting the mission and descending the mountain alone was quietly reaching the ears of certain people through various means.
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