Chapter 157 – Leaving Sect Mission
“Even if that is the case, this marriage was also agreed to by the other party’s father. Whatever the circumstances, the Bai Clan also has to take responsibility before resolving the matter.” Du Hai replied with a scoff.
“Based on Junior Bai’s current position in the sect, I am afraid that the whole Bai Clan is going to rely on him. As for whether this engagement is going to be broken off, it all falls on his words in the end. Moreover, speaking of this matter, I am actually the one who is greatly indebted to Junior Bai. After all, if I had not forcefully dragged him into Ming Zhu’s matters, he would not have been forced to leave the sect and prepare to temporarily avoid Gao Chong.” Mu Yunxian replied with a bitter smile on her face.
“What? Junior Bai wants to leave the sect?” This time, it was Du Hai’s turn to be shocked.
“That is correct. This small junior of ours is actually a smart person. Liu Ming knew that he was definitely unable to fight against Gao Chong once the latter advanced to become a Spirit Master. Only then did he prepare to distance himself from this place.” Mu Yunxian said with a hint of seriousness in her tone.
“That is also true, but as a result of that, Junior Bai might have to neglect his cultivation for awhile. He should have just achieved the later stage of Spirit Apostle not long ago. For him to cultivate to the stage where he could break through the Peak Spirit Apostle, I fear that it would only be possible in many years time.” Du Hai slowly spoke after the color of his face changed multiple times.
“Yes, I also think so. However, even if Junior Bai has cultivated enough, based on the qualifications of the Three Spiritual Pulse, the probability of becoming a Spirit Master is still extremely uncertain. If he fails to break through to the realm of a Spirit Master, Junior Bai cannot possibly wander outside his whole life and never return to the sect from then on. When it comes to that time, it will really be the worst of his times.” Mu Yunxian sighed.
“The state that Junior Bai is in definitely is not as optimistic as I thought it would be now that I’ve heard your words. No wonder you are not bothered about him breaking off the engagement. But this way, it would not have an effect on Mingzhu, right? If Junior Bai breaks off the engagement, will Gao Chong look for Mingzhu once he comes out of training?” Du Hai nodded and asked a question.
“You do not have to worry about this. I will urge Brother to immediately find another marriage partner for her if she does not get married to Junior Bai when she returns to the Bai Clan this time, so that she can be married off in the fastest time possible.”
“Gao Chong would not do something like stealing the wife of others after he becomes a Spirit Master, unless he really has no sense of shame.” Mu Yunxian suddenly said with a sneer after hearing what Du Hai had to say.
“So this is the idea that you have come up with. This is not all too bad. However, with that Gao Chong going into secluded cultivation this time, are the chance of him breaking through to the realm of Spirit Master really that great? Everyone thinks that after he is done with the cultivation, he will definitely advance into the realm of Liquid Level.” After Du Hai slightly pondered for a while, he suddenly retorted with a question.
“Disciples such as you and I cannot comprehend the frightful talent of an Earth Spiritual Pulse. Since the higher ups in the sect believe that it is so, most people would not doubt such authenticity. There should be at least more than a seventy-to-eighty-percent chance in his breakthrough.” After thinking about it, Mu Yunxian replied in this manner.
“A seventy-to-eighty-percent chance that he can become an advanced Liquid Level Spirit Master! Tsk tsk, if you and I are also able progress up to this point, our life expectancy will also immediately be greatly increased.” A color of envy could not help but flash across Du Hai’s face.
“Based on your qualifications, there might be a shred of possibility in the future. In my case, however, I have been stuck as a Middle Spirit Apostle for many years and there surely is no hope for me in this life.” Mu Yunxian listened, but her face turned gloomy.
Seeing this, Du Hai immediately regretted his words and quickly rushed forward to put his arm over Yunxian’s shoulder while streams of comforting words came from his mouth. Only then did Mu Yunxian feel a little better.
The duo continued to discuss a few things, and then proceeded to take flight, flying away from the forest.
……
Once Liu Ming returned to the Nine Infants Mountain, he landed in the area of his dwelling and entered his room, tearing open a Glyph.
A light immediately flashed and a layer of separating light barrier appeared once again.
Liu Ming sat down within the light barrier and started to quietly consider the contents of what Mu Yunxian had previously told him.
Once the Bai Clan knew that Liu Ming had become one of the top ten disciples of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, they even dared to establish the marriage between Liu Ming and Mu Mingzhu without even greeting them. Unless the head of the Bai Clan and that daughter of the head had a problem in their heads, something had to have happened to the Bai Clan that he did not know about, forcing the Bai Clan to do such reckless things under the circumstances. Especially thinking they could tie the knot between him and her.
Comparing both scenarios, he felt that the probability of the latter happening was slightly greater.
However, the matter was still quite simple. He believed that he could resolve any problem with the clan with his current abilities. He had already decided that he would completely resolve the matter with the Bai Clan after he left the sect this time, and the other party had merely given him a formidable excuse.
Liu Ming had already devised a strategy and pushed that matter to the back of his mind. Using one of his hands to reach into his sleeves, he took out a small bottle that was a few inches tall. He then stood up and went to the nearby corner to find a rather large wooden basin and pointed at the inside of the basin with a one-handed sign.
Small dots of blue light appeared in the basin as water balls poured out of thin air. They turned into half a basin’s worth of clear water.
Only now did Liu Ming remove the bottle cap and pour out a small ball of gray liquid from within. The moment it came in contact with the clear water inside the basin, a pungent smell was discharged. At the same time, the clear water turned strangely cloudy.
Seeing this, Liu Ming’s face conversely revealed a pleased expression.
Only now did Liu Ming pat his arm, once again taking out the Sumeru Conch. He then recited an incantation, directing his Fa Li into it.
After a moment, the Sumeru Conch flashed with a white light and a dragon scaled-hide armor immediately spiralled out, falling into the basin.
Liu Ming moved both his hands and shoved the hide armor deep into the turbid liquid. After that, he retracted his arm, closed his eyes and began cultivating at the side.
After six whole hours, Liu Ming opened his eyes and took the hide armor out of the wooden basin with one hand. His other hand made a hand seal and clumps of water appeared in the air, washing the hide armor clean of any impurities.
A strange scene appeared!
Following the disappearance of that pungent smell, the scales on the hide armor that radiated the Scarlet Dragon’s aura actually disappeared without a trace. It was if the aura had been washed away.
Under these kind of circumstances, even if there were people who had personally seen the hide armor, they would not be able to link this somewhat ugly and simple armor with dragon scales from the Scarlet Dragon.
Liu Ming was naturally ecstatic. Steaming hot gas was emitted from the hide armor after he directed a portion of Fa Li into it. The Fa Li actually dried the armor that was originally wet.
Liu Ming then shamelessly removed a few outer layers of clothing and wore the hide armor on his body. After that, he put his clothes on again and stood up, moving his limbs. Once he felt that there was nothing hindering his movement, he was immensely pleased with the result.
……
On the second day, Liu Ming went to the Duty Hall and spent a few Contribution Points to request to head out for a period of time. He then immediately left the sect quietly, heading for the nearest Wei Zhou Market.
Time passed from one day to the next in this manner.
After a month, Liu Ming returned to the sect after being worn out from his journey. The two unusable Totems in the Sumeru Conch had been turned into a few tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, only leaving behind the light blue token of unknown usage.
Meanwhile, the leather pouch at his waist, that had been initially used to temporarily store the Flying Head, had also been exchanged for an abnormally exquisite, black-colored leather pouch. On the whole, it appeared that there was a hint of black gas radiating from it, indicating it was obviously not a treasure lower in grade than the Cultivating Soul Pouch.
There were even more Glyphs, Pills, and other consumables in his arms and in the Sumeru Conch. These items had nearly cost him more than ten thousand Spirit Stones.
This time, when Liu Ming returned to his residence, he rested for multiple days. After resting, he went to the Duty Hall one morning.
Liu Ming stood under the crystal mission monument located in the large hall on the second floor. He seemed to be undecided as his gaze constantly scanned the bottom ten or so missions that seemed to have been there for a long time.
Even though he had purposely picked a very early time to come, there were still seven or eight disciples here to receive their missions. In fact, it was obvious that some people had recognized Liu Ming. His presence amazed them and they could not help but whisper to their nearby companions.
Soon after, all the disciples knew of Liu Ming’s identity. They looked at him with envious and awestruck expressions as well as different kinds of gazes, which all gathered on his body.
Liu Ming naturally felt these searing gazes. He suddenly turned around and he swept a glance over all of the disciple with a precise glow in his eyes.
Once these disciples came in contact with Liu Ming’s gaze, they suddenly felt a slight chill run down their spines. This greatly shocked them, and one by one, they averted their gazes.
Only then did Liu Ming once again turn his head around, still standing in front of the Crystal Monument as he pondered in silence.
Among the long-term missions offered and out of the ones that required him to leave the sect, he could only consider three of them.
One was that the Barbarian Ghost Sect had recently received a Spirit Stone mine from the Hall of Blood and needed a few inner sect disciples to guard it for a few years.
The other was that there was a temple on the border between the Kingdom of Xuan and the Black Water Country. The temple master was quickly approaching his life expectancy, and a new disciple needed to go over to take over the role as the master of the temple.
The last mission was in the capital of the Da Xuan Country. A supervising disciple representing the Barbarian Ghost Sect had suddenly disappeared and cut off all contact with the sect. Therefore they needed a new supervising disciple to take care of these duties and find the former’s whereabouts at the same time.
Among these three missions, the first mission was unquestionably the easiest.
Since the Hall of Blood had taken the initiative to hand over the Spirit Stone mine, they would naturally not send their men over to create a disturbance before the next competition. If he was to hold the position of a guard for the mine, the four years would pass by peacefully. If he made this decision, his plans of handling his own matters and accumulating Pure Aura Qi would mostly be crushed to smithereens.
Any Spirit Apostle disciple could assume this position.
However, the second mission was considered to be somewhat risky.
After all, the various sects in the Kingdom of Xuan and the sects in the Black Water Country have always been hostile to one another for a long time. Even though a large scale battle had yet to break out between both parties, the cultivators from both countries battling each other at the border was a common occurrence.
However, with risk came reward. If Liu Ming could become the temple master of the temple, he could be considered quite high ranked. As long as he carried the name of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, not only would he have a considerable amount of underlings, but even dominating that section of the country would not be a difficult mission. If he really secured the position of temple master, even Gao Chong would not be able to openly confront him for a long period of time, even if he became a Spirit Master.
Naturally, this position was very popular and the expectations for the disciple who held the post were also extremely high. Not only did it seem to accept only Late Spirit Apostles, but the disciple was also required to pay an enormous amount of Spirit Stones to the sect every year. Failure to do so would mean that the disciple would be unable to keep their position, on top of having to face severe punishment from the sect.
Finally coming to the last mission…
Once Liu Ming’s gaze fell on said mission, there was a thoughtful expression on his face.