Chapter 79 Flowing Clouds 1 Descending the Mountain Again
The Myriad Manifestations Ranking is located in the Chongming Hall of the Thousand Machine Academy. In addition to the tasks issued by the Jade Cloud Sect cultivators, the ranking also includes some tasks that connect to the Immortal Alliance, allowing cultivators to accept tasks issued by other sects in the human realm. Generally, these tasks are quite difficult, and low-level cultivators rarely get involved.
Slaying demonic beasts, searching for rare and precious materials, escorting disciples on their training journeys...
Countless mission messages were scrolling across the light screen in the main hall. Xu Xing was overwhelmed by them. As long as his gaze lingered on one of them, he could receive the specific mission details in his mind.
If a cultivator's spiritual sense were not strong enough to receive so much information instantly, they would surely be dizzy and disoriented.
All the main hall missions were issued by the Jade Cloud Sect cultivators. Shen Du glanced at them briefly and, seeing that none were particularly suitable, led Xu Xing to the side hall.
"A demonic beast uprising has broken out at the Flowing Cloud Sect in the Northern Lands. We are now issuing a widespread call for aid from all major sects in the human realm..."
Xu Xing followed Shen Du's gaze and saw such a task. She read it aloud softly, and halfway through, she suddenly realized that it sounded familiar. "Liuyun Sect? I think I heard Linglan mention it. A while ago, Senior Brother Xiang went down the mountain to seek an opportunity to advance to the Golden Core stage. It seems that he went to Liuyun Sect. But that was two months ago."
Shen Du nodded. "This was indeed a mission issued more than two months ago. The fact that the mission hasn't disappeared means that the demonic calamity has not yet been resolved."
He pointed to a line of small print below the mission and explained to Xu Xing, "Forty-seven cultivators have already accepted the mission."
"So many?" Xu Xing wasn't familiar with the training missions and thought forty-seven was already a lot, so he couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Can't so many cultivators working together eliminate the demonic beasts?"
"The northern lands are close to the wilderness, and monster tides are frequent. Once a monster uprising breaks out, it may take a year or two to completely resolve the situation. The mission mentions that the highest level of the monsters attacking this time is the fifth rank, which is not particularly high, but there are too many low-rank monsters. The Flowing Cloud Sect is a small sect with only about a hundred people, which is difficult to deal with. Even if there were another fifty or so cultivators, it probably wouldn't be enough."
Xu Xing understood Shen Du's meaning. "Senior brother, do you want to take on this mission?"
The mission has been posted for two months, but only 47 people have accepted it. Besides the high difficulty, the main reason is that the reward is not good. Liuyun Sect is too small and can't offer anything good.
"good."
Shen Du's purpose in descending the mountain this time was to hone his sword intent in battle. He didn't care about the reward. The mission of clearing out the demonic beasts from Liuyun Sect was perfect for him.
"I'll take it too! Come to think of it, I've never even seen a Warcraft before."
Xu Xing and Shen Du accepted the mission together. Two points of spiritual light emanated from the light screen and attached to their disciple tokens respectively. The next moment, the small characters recording the number of people changed to "forty-nine".
After the two turned and left, the small print on the screen flickered slightly, and "forty-nine" instantly turned into "thirty-one".
The disciples in the side hall came and went in a hurry, and no one noticed the change that occurred in that instant...
Li Shuangfeng.
"The Flowing Cloud Sect?"
After hearing her disciples explain the mission details, Fu Shuang wasn't surprised that Shen Du chose this mission. Liu Yun Sect was a sword-cultivation sect, and if Shen Du could discuss the Dao with other sword cultivators in addition to slaying magical beasts, it wouldn't be bad. Moreover, Liu Yun Sect was located in the eastern part of the Northern Lands. Although it was close to the Wilderness, it was tens of thousands of miles away from the Abyss of Eclipse, which was located to the west of the Wilderness. She didn't need to worry that Shen Du would be affected by the chaos of the Abyss of Eclipse and embark on a destined death.
When do we set off?
"Three days later."
Shen Du could leave at any time, but Xu Xing needed to make sure everything at the shop was in order before he could leave with peace of mind.
Fu Shuang nodded slightly and asked no further questions.
With a flick of her fingertips, she separated two strands of her icy sword intent, which entered between the two men's brows. She whispered, "Be careful when you're out and about."
Hearing her apprentice turn and leave the courtyard, Fu Shuang paused, feeling that the courtyard, where she had lived for over two hundred years, suddenly became exceptionally empty.
Xu Xing followed his senior brother to the courtyard gate, and for some reason suddenly turned back to look at his master, who was sitting alone at the ice table drinking tea.
"Senior brother, you should go back first."
Xu Xing turned and ran back into the courtyard, hugging Fu Shuang's arm affectionately. She noticed that the place she was hugging had almost instantly turned from cold to warm. She smiled and said, "How about I sleep with Master tonight?"
If it really is as her senior brother said, it will take a year and a half to complete the mission. She will not see her master for a long time. After five years of living together day and night, Xu Xing has long regarded her master as family. Now that she is about to leave the mountain, she is quite reluctant to part with him.
Fu Shuang never sleeps.
But now that Xu Xing was holding her, she put down her teacup, looked down at the little snake whose face had lost its childishness, and her clear voice softened a bit, "Okay."
At night, the two lay on the couch. Xu Xing tossed and turned, unable to sleep, both looking forward to adventuring with his senior brother and reluctant to part with his master.
Looking at the starry sky outside the window, she turned to face Fu Shuang and asked curiously, "Master, have you ever been to the Northern Lands?"
Fu Shuang lay flat on her back with her hands folded over her abdomen. "Of course I've been there. The North has many mines, and the art of weapon forging is prevalent. You'll like it."
Xu Xing smiled, realizing that her master truly understood her.
Her [Gold Mining] skill hadn't had much of a chance to level up, but going to the Northland would give her an opportunity to mine and gain experience.
"Master..."
They chatted idly, and after a moment's hesitation, Xu Xing asked, looking at the white silk covering Fu Shuang's eyes, "Is there any way to cure your eyes?"
For cultivators, an injury to a part of the body is not a big deal; the Vitality and Muscle Regeneration Pill can make the wound regenerate flesh and blood. Even without a physical body, there are evil cultivators who can possess others with their souls. Under these circumstances, the fact that Master's eyes are unable to see indicates that this is no ordinary injury.
Xu Xing was quite concerned about this; she wanted to heal her master.
Eye……
Fu Shuang's long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and her eyes, hidden beneath the white silk, slowly opened, revealing only emptiness, with only a faint, lingering golden light within.
Her spiritual sense was so powerful that she could "see" anything without eyes, and her disciple was still worried about her even though he knew that having eyes or not made no difference.
Fu Shuang didn't answer directly, but instead softly told a story, "Many years ago, a demon said that once her alchemy skills reached the ninth level, she could heal my eyes..."
Xu Xing held her breath; she knew that the demon must be Wei Shengyue.
"...Later she really did become a ninth-level alchemist, and she never mentioned this matter again."
Master's voice was very calm, without any fluctuation in tone, but Xu Xing inexplicably felt that Master must have been very sad at that time.
She moved closer and hugged her master, saying, "I will definitely become a ninth-level alchemist too, Master, wait for me!"
If only becoming a ninth-level alchemist can heal her master's eyes, then she definitely can.
The room remained quiet for a long time, so long that Xu Xing had already fallen asleep. Only then did Fu Shuang finally reach out and pat the shoulder of the person in her arms, gently humming in agreement.
As Shen Du said, she is indeed a miracle, and nothing is surprising about her.
...
"This trip will take so long..."
Wang Lianhua accepted the pills left by Xu Xing with some reluctance, but she didn't say much. Cultivators have long lifespans, and it's common for them to go into seclusion for decades. Going down the mountain for a year or two is nothing.
Wang Lianhua carefully examined the fair and delicate face in front of her. Xu Xing's features had fully developed. When she was young, she resembled Doctor Xu in some ways, but now she could no longer see any trace of Doctor Xu. She had grown up.
"Go ahead without worry, we'll take care of things at the shop."
After settling things at the shop, Xu Xing began preparing the things he would need for his trip down the mountain, making sure that the situation he had encountered a few years ago when he had run out of magical artifacts in the Exploration Realm would not happen again.
In the past five years, in addition to providing the shop with pills and magical artifacts for sale, Xu Xing has also accumulated a lot of her own. She is now officially a third-level alchemist and artifact refiner, but in fact, with the help of auxiliary magic arrays, it is not difficult for her to refine fourth-level items. Although she consumes more spirit stones, she earns even more.
Now, Xu Xing's savings allow her to buy anything without worrying about the price.
In the process of constantly refining pills and crafting weapons, her skill level has changed dramatically compared to five years ago:
Gold mining level 8
Herb gathering level 37
Forging Level 35
Medical skill level 52
Cooking Level 54
Sewing Level 23
After reaching level 50 in medical skills, the progress becomes increasingly slow. However, the higher the level, the less spiritual energy Xu Xing needs to consume to refine pills. Therefore, pill refining remains Xu Xing's most frequent activity.
Seeing the incongruous gold mining level, Xu Xing made up his mind to hollow out a mine in the North!
Since unlocking the recipe for [Forging] two years ago, Xu Xing has forged many magical artifacts of low quality but with strange and wonderful effects, such as shields that can automatically refill with spirit stones, jade pillows that can instantly put people to sleep, storage bags with built-in bewitching effects, and array plates that can randomly teleport...
They don't seem very useful? Oh well, I'll take them all!
As for these pills with all sorts of weird and wonderful effects—detoxifying, poisoning, replenishing spirit, dispersing spirit…
Regardless of the consequences, Xu Xing stuffed everything into his backpack!
Oh right, there are also tools for maintaining the Crescent Moon Sword, and toys that the pets like...
Bring them all!
After all that tidying up, Xu Xing's cave was mostly empty.
After storing the three beast pets and Nan Ye in his spatial storage and confirming that nothing was missing, Xu Xingchang breathed a sigh of relief. "Senior brother, let's go!"
Where are we going?
Zuo Qiuxu's voice drifted over.
"Uh, Senior Brother Zuoqiu, what brings you here?"
"You're going to the North to find Senior Brother Xiang, why didn't you take me with you?"
Zuo Qiuxu looked resentful. He had a friend who worked at the Thousand Machine Institute and happened to see Chen Du and Xu Xing accept the mission from the North. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known.
"Me too!" Wen Yao had also arrived at Xuanjian Peak at some point, waving her disciple token, which glowed with a green light and represented a mission, in her hand. "We agreed to go on the next training trip together!"
Xu Xing asked in surprise, "You also accepted a mission from the Flowing Cloud Sect?"
“That’s right, killing magical beasts is a good way to gain experience, of course I’m going.”
"Since we've accepted, let's do it together."
Shen Du didn't object; anyone could take on the mission, but that meant he wouldn't be able to be alone with his junior sister anymore...
Xu Xing hadn't forgotten Zhao Linglan. "What about Linglan? Senior Brother Zuoqiu, did you ask Linglan?"
“Junior Sister Linglan will be visiting the Taiyan Sect with Master next month, so she won’t be with us this time.”
Thus, the four-person training team was formed.
They bid farewell to their master and crossed the Ten Thousand Mountains that stretched between the North and the East, finally arriving near the Sumeru Mountains where the Flowing Cloud Sect was located.
Having traveled for a month straight, Zuoqiu Xu shook off his fatigue and said excitedly, "I've heard that the North is rich in spirit ore and is a pilgrimage site for many weapon refiners. This time, I'm here to buy some magic..."
"No! We've run out of spirit stones!"
"Huh?" Startled by a shout, Zuo Qiuxu was taken aback. He realized a beat later that the voice that interrupted him actually came from the other side of the woods.
Is this your attitude of asking for help?
The sounds grew closer, seemingly coming from two groups of people.
"This is outrageous! Do you think our Flowing Cloud Sect is easy to bully?"
Flowing Cloud Sect?
Having captured the crucial information, Xu Xing immediately made a "shh" gesture, releasing an invisibility shield that enveloped the four of them.
-----------------------
Author's note: I didn't have enough time today, I'll add more tomorrow!
-
Thank you to Blue Feather Tears, Salty Fish Taro Soup, Acha, Icher, Yan Jia Xiaoqi, 50258931, Ling Shaoning, Cat, Lychee Without Peel, Too Many Bugs, 65053565, Ruby_, and Fanma Hanma for the nutrient solution~ [kiss]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
