CH 17.2

[outer sect mission class a: guard the steward of the clearwater hall in the honored treasure pavilion and participate in a transaction with the wang residence in huaming city.]

[client: clearwater sub-hall of the honored treasure pavilion.]

on the second day, lin shuang and zhao keran were called to the steward’s office by senior brother xu rui through a voice transmission.

when they arrived, they found zhou xuanwu waiting with a cold expression.

senior brother xu rui turned his head, pretending not to notice the unenthusiastic expressions of the three.

“this mission was directly issued by the inner sect’s honored treasure pavilion. you should know that the honored treasure pavilion has provided a lot of convenience for our clearwater hall’s spiritual artifact transactions in recent years. their prices are not high, and they have a wide variety.”

senior brother xu rui pointed to the mission scroll in his hand.

“in the past, tasks issued by the honored treasure pavilion were quite generous.”

“this time is no exception.”

the three, who were fanatics about their schedules, closed-door cultivation, and blowing bubbles, reluctantly looked at the mission rewards.

[upon completion of the mission, disciples can choose one of the following three options:

1. ten percent discount on the rental price of inner sect cave residences;

2. buy ten, get one free on items from the inner sect’s honored treasure pavilion;

3. a free choice of one spiritual artifact from the honored treasure pavilion’s land grid category.]

upon hearing this, the three lethargic figures suddenly felt invigorated.

a spiritual artifact from the land grid category costs around 2,000 spirit stones.

they weren’t particularly fond of money.

well, it’s just 2,000, how could they break their good habits of following their daily schedules, enjoying solitude, and following senior sister?

however, a discount of ten percent on the rent of an inner sect cave dwelling…

—to enter the inner sect and start closed-door cultivation, one needed a remote, undisturbed cave residence…

zhou xuanwu’s eyes flickered.

—when senior sister enters the inner sect, she’ll need one too. then, the two of them will share one. they’ll need a spacious cave residence…

a rosy hue appeared on zhao keran’s round face.

—the inner sect? it might not be immediate, but prepare in advance with a property that is conveniently close to the inner sect’s transmission hall, library, cafeteria, steward’s office, and the mountain gate…

lin shuang blinked her eyes.

“unlike the outer sect, disciples in the inner sect have to compete for their places of cultivation and rest.”

senior brother xu rui looked at them

“the annual rental fees for cave residences in the inner sect are enough to make inner sect disciples work tirelessly…”

“senior brother, can we go now?” the three of them spoke in unison.

“…”

***

the three of them flew on their swords towards huaming city. zhou xuanwu stood on his sword, appearing quite aloof.

however, when he turned to look at his senior sisters, his eyes twitched quickly.

beside his flying sword, about ten steps away… lin shuang’s two broadswords and zhao keran’s accompanying flying sword were arranged end-to-end like a long table, with a red and white checkered cloth draped over them.

and on this red and white checkered cloth, there were purple sand tea sets, paper and pens, inkstones, fresh fruit platters, candied fruit dishes, and a stack of books.

the topmost book was the latest volume, “i’m the mother of four immortal realm bigshots.”

at this moment, both senior sisters sat cross-legged on the soft cloth of red and white squares.

lin shuang wore a wide-brimmed curtain hat to shield herself from the sunlight.

beside her, zhao keran held a teapot and prepared tea. on both sides, there were open books.

it seemed as if they were not flying on their swords but rather, enjoying tea together in a room.

compared to their previous trip to the desolate wilderness where lin shuang collapsed on her broadsword and chatted all the way, this was even more absurd!

zhou xuanwu pressed his temples.

“oh, you mean last time?”

lin shuang slowly raised her curtain hat a bit, looked at zhou xuanwu through the translucent gauze, and nodded. “yes, that was a three-day vacation to relax, just sightseeing and chatting.”

“so, i didn’t bring my usual travel kit for cultivation.”

“this time on a business trip, i’ve brought everything with me.”

no, what do your books, teapot, candied fruit platter, and regular cultivation have to do with each other?

this is called a travel kit for cultivation.”?!

zhou xuanwu suppressed his words and didn’t say anything.

“in any case, for the next two days, don’t take it lightly. you should maintain your cultivation state as if you were in the sect,” lin shuang earnestly advised.

zhao keran nodded seriously. “understood, senior sister!”

zhou xuanwu turned his head away. after all, he had to swallow his irritation. she only spent minimal effort, which was completely different from the state when she sparred with senior brother…

meanwhile, zhao keran opened the mission scroll and cleared her throat, “senior sister, we estimate it will take another four hours to reach huaming city. shall we hold a mobilization meeting now?”

zhou xuanwu turned his head in bewilderment, what was this about?

“in the wang mansion, prince cheng has always aspired to pursue longevity, but his aptitude for cultivation is mediocre. therefore, he constantly seeks elixirs for body strengthening and cultivation treasures that low-level qi cultivators can use.”

after saying this, she looked at her senior sister with expectant eyes.

sure enough, lin shuang praised her and clapped her hands approvingly. she nodded with satisfaction.

“not bad, junior sister, you’ve improved.”

“being well-prepared before taking action can save you a lot of effort and increase efficiency in the future. well done.”

zhao keran puffed up her chest happily and continued, “therefore, the items we’ll be guarding in this trade are most likely first-level magical treasures or elixirs, at most second-level. this matches the difficulty level of tasks assigned to us outer sect disciples by honored treasure pavilion.”

zhao keran quickly concluded. “the estimated strength of our opponents this time should be in the range of qi cultivation stages five to grand perfection of qi cultivation. considering the difficulty of the grade a mission and doubling the number of participants, there may be around six to seven enemies.”

zhou xuanwu nodded.

what kind of meeting was this? it seemed to be somewhat useful.

hua ming city inn.

today, bai yu wore a white robe as usual. he bowed respectfully to the man sitting in the chair, who was currently wiping the red fox fur on his body.

“master, the task to abduct you tomorrow has been posted in the annihilation pavilion.”

“considering that zhou xuanwu, lin shuang, and liu ba were able to win in their fight, the request is for the assassins to be at the foundation establishment stage, with a total of three.”

the vivid crimson fox fur set off the man’s pale neck, giving it a faint pink hue.

“hmm.”

***

“senior brother, i’ve finished my cultivation!”

xiao qi from the shanhai sect finally completed his three-day devilish training in learning the memory pyramid and the forgetting curve, and he came out of seclusion.

but he couldn’t see his senior brother, zhao ming, anywhere.

“senior brother has something to do and will be gone for four days. don’t worry – zhao ming.”

xiao qi sighed. “why does senior brother always appear and disappear mysteriously?”

but when he excitedly opened lin shuang’s communication channel, he only heard an automatic reply message.

“i have temporarily postponed the next two fat burning sessions. i have something to attend to and will be gone for four days. i will handle the fat burning matters on my own while i’m away. i will find you when i return – lin shuang left.”

xiao qi: “?”

why is it four days again?

at the same time, a disheveled figure, who had just kicked over a table, meng zi, touched the two masks on his face and headed westward.

“ten thousand spirit stones.”

“cough, senior brother huangfu, honored treasure pavilion’s steward, don’t blame me… i’ll release you after a day. my apologies for the inconvenience.”

…

near huaming city.

on the broadsword, lin shuang looked up at the sky and pressed her temple.

hmm, why is her eyelid twitching again?

author’s note:

lin shuang: hmm, eyelid twitching, my luck seems to be bad again.

zhou xuanwu: no, it’s bad for someone else. i hope you understand.

lin shuang: …

[excerpt from the notes of the 134th generation sect master of the clearwater sect]: “although senior brother zhou doesn’t speak much, every word he says is to the point. for some time, i was afraid to talk to him (absolutely not because of his later annotations on my notes).”

zhou xuanwu annotated the last sentence: “talking too much brings disaster, i’m going into seclusion.”

senior brother xu rui’s annotation: … the outer sect is beyond saving.