Chapter 158 – Supervising Disciple
The risk with the last mission was the largest.
This was because Xuanjing was a place where every kind of person was present. In addition, the various sects had an agreement with the royal family of the Da Xuan Country where no sect would control Xuanjing, the capital of the Da Xuan Country. As well as another agreement that stated, any cultivators above the Liquid Level were not allowed to step within the city.
In order to ensure that these rules were enforced, each sect would leave a supervising disciple that would keep other sects in check and find out if any of the rules were broken.
With these rules, Xuanjing became the perfect place for Loose Practitioners and cultivators from other sects. Even some Demonic Cultivators and cultivators that had run away from their sects would change their identity to enter Xuanjing. In addition, they would form groups and conceal themselves within the city.
Thus, the supervising disciples of the sects were seen as a threat to them and would frequently experience things such as assassinations or mob attacks. They were so bad at one point that quite a few of the supervising disciples of the sects died in just a single year.
Things like this caused the sects to be extremely angry and join together to comb through the entire city of Xuanjing quite a few times. Although they were able to kill all of the Demonic Cultivators and killers, the supervising disciples did not dare to flagrantly appear within Xuanjing. They also changed their identities and concealed themselves within Xuanjing.
By taking precautions, the supervising disciple of each sect naturally insured their life.
However, even like this, the supervising disciples of Xuanjing were still in a very dangerous position. It was natural for a disciple to die every one or two years, and there were very few people that could last all four years of the position to return to the sect unharmed.
Of course, with such a dangerous mission, the rewards from the sect were also quite plentiful. As long as one finished his or her four year tenure, one would get over ten thousand Contribution Points, enough to exchange for a portion of Pure Aura Qi.
Furthermore, a requirement for this position was that the disciple had to have a cultivation of at least a Middle Spirit Apostle.
After all, the main purpose of the supervising disciple was not to fight with others, and instead was meant to observe the movements in Xuanjing.
The main reason that Liu Ming was tempted by this mission was because the location of the mission actually corresponded with the secret place that he needed to explore. Also, once he entered Xuanjing as a supervising disciple, not only would he have freedom of movement, but all sect influences on him would disappear so he would have absolute secrecy in what he did.
Although Xuanjing was full of Demonic Cultivators, the most famous illegal market and some extremely private auctions of the entire Da Xuan Country were situated within the city because of people like that. There would often be treasures that would make the hearts of Spirit Masters beat faster. There might even be the Pure Aura Qi that Liu Ming coveted.
As for the danger of being the supervising disciple, Liu Ming trusted that as long as he changed his identity again and was slightly more careful, he would not be in danger of becoming the target of others…
Plus, as long as his opponent wasn’t a Spirit Master, there weren’t many cultivators that could defeat him with his current strength.
As for the first and second mission, the restrictions on them were slightly too large and would hinder his future plans.
Liu Ming quickly thought through things and weighed the pros and cons of the missions before finally deciding. He immediately walked to the stone desk to accept the mission.
“What, Junior Bai wants to take the four year Xuanjing supervising disciple mission!” The Enforcer behind the stone desk knew Liu Ming, and after hearing what Liu Ming wanted, his mouth opened wide. At the same time, his face was full of shock.
“What, can I not meet the requirements?” Liu Ming smiled as he asked.
“It’s not that. However, with Junior Bai’s current status, why would you need to take such a mission? Although Junior is powerful, if you really go to Xuanjing, it will still be extremely dangerous.” The middle-aged Enforcer could not help but remind Liu Ming.
“The danger of this mission has been outlined on the mission monument. It is alright, I think that I can handle these things.” Liu Ming would not back down because of such words, and he insisted with light words.
“If Junior Bai really wants to pick this mission, I naturally cannot stop you from doing so. However, the position of supervising disciple is not a normal position. Once Junior takes this mission, you must also go meet Martial Uncle Lei from the Heaven’s Secret Faction. Martial Uncle Lei is the person who specializes in being responsible for the supervising disciples in each region. If he feels that you are not fit, then Junior will still not be able to take this mission. In addition, information about the previous supervising disciple and the token that represents your status will be given to you by Martial Uncle Lei.” The middle-aged Enforcer said this and took Liu Ming’s nameplate. He then tapped it lightly a couple of times with a short stick and handed it back to Liu Ming.
“Thank you Senior for your reminder. I’ll go to Martial Uncle Lei right now.” Liu Ming took back his nameplate and thanked the Enforcer.
In the following time, Liu Ming left the Duty Hall, and summoned a gray cloud to rush to Heaven’s Secret Mountain.
In a little while, Liu Ming appeared at the bottom of Heaven’s Secret Mountain and was stopped by two disciples that were patroling the mountain.
“Junior Bai wants to meet Martial Uncle Lei?” The two disciples were both Spirit Apostles with not bad cultivations that obviously participated in the Large Competition. Immediately, they recognized Liu Ming, and after hearing the request, they showed a difficult expression.
“What, is Master Lei not on the mountain?” Liu Ming asked with confusion.
“That’s not it. Recently, Master Lei has not been in a good mood and would not easily entertain guests.” A Heaven’s Secret disciple paused for a second before he responded.
“Oh, if that’s the case, could I trouble you two seniors to go tell Master Lei. Just say that I have recently taken the supervising disciple mission, which is why I’ve come to meet Master Lei.” Liu Ming’s heart slightly dropped after hearing that and was still extremely courteous in his words.
“Hehe, if it was someone else, we would not dare to take the risk of offending Master Lei. However, Junior Bai has made a large contribution to the sect and Master Lei might make an exception.” The two Heaven’s Secret disciples looked at each other and one of the disciples immediately smiled as he replied.
Hearing this, Liu Ming voiced his thanks.
Thus, a Heaven’s Secret disciple flew to the peak of the mountain while the other started chatting with Liu Ming about what happened in the Secret Realm.
Liu Ming naturally gave half-truths as to the things that he had found in the Secret Realm and left the Heaven’s Secret disciple quite interested.
In the end, the disciple that flew up the mountain came back down after the time it took to drink a cup of tea and replied with a smile toward Liu Ming, “Junior Bai has quite large face. When Master Lei heard that it was Junior coming, he quickly accepted.”
Hearing this, Liu Ming was extremely happy.
In the following time, Liu Ming followed this Heaven’s Secret disciple and flew to the mountain top.
Heaven’s Secret Mountain was much steeper compared to the Nine Infant Mountain with many areas full of steep cliffs. Normal paths didn’t work and Outer Sect disciples could only scale the mountain with ropes.
Liu Ming curiously watched these Outer Sect disciples before looking to the peak of the mountain.
In moments, he and the Heaven’s Secret disciple landed before a silver hall at the peak of the mountain.
Directly above the door of the hall was a large plaque which had the golden ancient words of “Heaven’s Secret.”
Beyond the silver hall, there were quite a few towers of varying size that were vaguely visible.
“Master Lei is already inside. All Junior Bai needs to do is enter. I still need to patrol the mountain and won’t be accompanying you.” At this point, the Heaven’s Secret disciple turned around as he spoke with a smile.
“Thank you very much. Senior can go back to your work.” Liu Ming slightly bowed and once again thanked the disciple that brought him.
As the Heaven’s Secret disciple went back down the mountain, Liu Ming tidied himself and walked through the doorway with a calm expression.
The entire hall was fifty to sixty feet wide, and at the end of it was a chair. A man wearing a colorful robe currently had his back to Liu Ming and was watching a huge silver sword that was used for decoration purposes. His unmoving body actually gave people a feeling of a strong and solid mountain.
“Disciple Bai Chongtian greets Martial Uncle Lei.” Liu Ming walked close and made a deep bow as he greeted his Martial Uncle.
However, the colorful-robed person simply kept watching the huge sword on the wall as if he didn’t hear anything.
Liu Ming secretly opened his mouth as he maintained his bow with a respectful expression kept on his face.
Time slowly passed by and the two of them stayed still as if they were statues. The whole hall kept quiet also.
In the time it took to eat a meal, the colorful-robed male’s shoulders lightly twitched as he finally turned around. It was that “Martial Uncle Lei.”
However, after Spirit Master Lei took a couple of glances at Liu Ming, he sat down and lightly said, “Not bad, no wonder you are one of the disciples that was able to rise above within the trials. As expected, your state of mind is quite good. However, with only a good state of mind, it probably wasn’t enough to walk out of the Secret Realm.”
“Martial Uncle Lei is correct. My luck was also quite good to have been able to safely leave the Secret Realm.” When Liu Ming heard Martial Uncle Lei’s tone being faintly ill-willed, his heart skipped a beat. However, he still kept a reverent attitude.
“Your luck is quite good! Are you saying that my nephew Lei Zhen’s luck is not good? That’s the reason why he was not able to walk out of the Secret Realm?” When Spirit Master Lei heard this, his face immediately darkened.
“Of course not, I would never dare to think that way.” Liu Ming sighed in his heart. On the surface he kept his humble demeanor.
“Hmph, if it was only strength, then my nephew’s lightning attribute cultivation method does not lose to any of the top ten disciples. However, the five people that walked out of the Secret Realm did not include him. I’m very curious, as the Nine Infant Mountain’s disciple who has the highest praises in the sect, how much strength do you have?” Spirit Master Lei narrowed his eyes as he coldly said.
“Martial Uncle Lei’s meaning is…” Liu Ming slightly furrowed his brow as he carefully asked.
“It’s very simple. My mood during these past few days has been quite bad, and I need to find someone to test my attacks. I don’t care why you have come to find me. If you cannot take my next attack, run back to wherever you came from!” Spirit Master Lei displayed a violent expression on his face as he roared out.
When Liu Ming heard this, his face immediately changed. After a couple of seconds, he gave a bitter smile as he said, “Martial Uncle must be joking with me. With Martial Uncle’s cultivation, I could never take a single hit.”