Yuan Shuchun was depressed.
In the Gracious Sword Sect, she knew almost every in-out secret or happenings. Half of the Elders worked under her, the Grand Elder was her butler, and the whole male disciple populace was at her feet.
Yet, today, she was feeling depressed.
Not because she failed in a scheme or anything, but because of one single disciple.
This disciple wasn't even more powerful than her, nor was his talent enough for her to pay much attention to him.
Yet this disciple's bugging her.
If this were any other time, this disciple would have been long dead.
But this situation was pretty weird.
This disciple was wooing her.
Yes. He dared to woo her.
It's not that there weren't disciples who tried to impress her, but him?
This guy was hell-bent on taking him as his wife!
'Who does he think he is..huh?'
This was what flashed in her mind a month ago.
'Who the hell does he think he is!'
This flashed in her mind a few minutes ago.
But there was a huge difference in these two questions - the first one was said in pure irritation and disdain, but the second one? It was full of intrigue and a tinge of blush.
Blush!?
That's something that never existed in Yuan Shuchun's dictionary.
But why the hell was this happening to her?
'I can't distract myself!' She shook her head and turned to the side.
But that disciple still didn't get out of her mind.
'I should just kill him off.'
Just as this flashed in her mind, she immediately shook her head, 'No-no, I can't.'
'Goddamnit, who in the hell does he think he is? Why can't I get him out of my mind?'
Yuan Shuchun let out a sigh and laid back on her seat.
She was quite tired too.
Tired of thinking about him.
Massaging her forehead, Yuan Shuchun tried to distract herself by picking up the few reports in front of her.
[Classified]
She frowned at the huge stamp on the first page of the report.
Turning the pages, she soon found out the reason.
This wasn't a report.
It was a mission letter sent by the Sect Leader himself.
There was going to be a secret mission to the Southern Province of the Kingdom, so secret that the other enlisted disciples were unknown to her. This was the first time such a thing happened.
One interesting thing was that she was going to be the head of this mission.
'Why me?'
This was the question that flashed in her mind before she even turned the page to see the contents of the mission.
Yuan Shuchun knew very well that Sect Leader Su didn't like her.
In fact, sometimes, she got the feeling that he hated her guts.
Honestly, she had no problem with him.
She didn't come to the Lower Heavens to be in the good books of Sect Leader Su, nor did she even care about what Sect Leader Su thought of her.
She came to the Gracious Sword Sect for a mission.
And she would leave once her objective was finished.
But the question still arose as to why Sect Leader Su chose her to be the one to lead the mission? And a top-secret mission on top of that.
Doing a secret mission wasn't as cool as it sounded, but it had a very distinct point - it gave the disciples something called 'Merits'.
Merits were a reward given to all the Sect's disciples, but one thing interesting about it - it was actually a secret.
The disciples knew nothing about the merit point system.
They didn't know that everything they did, be it bullying or accomplishing top ranks in an event, everything was counted and taken note of.
When it reached a considerable point, the sect then rewarded or created trouble for that disciple.
The easiest example of this system was the reward a disciple got last month.
'What was his name? Uh... ah, yes, Fang Chen.'
Fang Chen. Ranked First in the Inner Court Entrance Hunt and played a major role in helping the sect in defeating the Sleeper Cell attack.
These two were enough to grant him one of the most prestigious and lucrative rewards in the Gracious Sword Sect - having a chance to cultivate in the Sword Stele.
'I think he got it for about a month… that's a lot.'
Even for Yuan Shuchun, this was not something she could think lightly of.
Not many people knew about the Sword Stele; only a few core disciples and the core elders knew its existence. But all of them understood its importance.
This was why Yuan Shuchun was also quite looking forward to the result of Fang Chen's one-month cultivation in the Sword Stele.
This was going to be a big boost for Fang Chen's cultivation prowess - especially if she included the other power that Fang Chen had.
His Sword Intent.
Yuan Shuchun hadn't forgotten about what had happened in the Heaven's Banquet a month ago.
It was just for an instant, but Yuan Shuchun felt it.
She felt the power and presence of that power in Fang Chen's Sword Intent.
This was enough for her to include him in the 'must pay attention to' disciple list.
But leaving this aside, one needs to look at the benefits Fang Chen got from the very two things he achieved in the sect.
Ranking first and helping the sect stop the sleeper cell attack.
Staring at the report in front of her, Yuan Shuchun couldn't help but smile.
A mission of [Classified] category grants ten times more merit points than Fang Chen had accumulated from his two achievements.
This showed how valuable this mission was and why she had a big suspicion and question about why she was chosen for this mission?
'Let's see what actually is in this mission.'
Just as Yuan Shuchun put her hands to turn the page, she heard footsteps.
"Is Yuan Shuchun here?" A faint voice entered her ears.