Chapter 1974 - Three Missions

A cold shout cut in from beyond the courtyard before the eleven disciples could strike. Elder Gui walked through the entrance, his hands clasped behind his back. The three newcomers had never seen him before, but the Immortal King Realm aura rolling off him made his authority unmistakable. They bowed without delay.

The other eight disciples rushed to greet him. As an outer sect elder in the Immortal King Realm, Elder Gui was chiefly responsible for the affairs of outer disciples.

Elder Kong and the other nine examiners occupied a different tier of authority. They stood among the Azure Jade Palace's upper echelons and rarely concerned themselves with the business of individual peaks. An inner sect elder had to rank among the Immortal Lords at the very least, while authority over elite disciples required cultivation at the Immortal Venerable Realm.

True disciples enjoyed considerably more freedom. Elders at the higher levels of the Immortal Venerable Realm or the Quasi-Immortal Regnant Realm generally supervised them without imposing the same degree of oversight.

Saints held a status nearly equal to that of the elders and even possessed the authority to participate in the sect’s internal affairs.

With long strides, Elder Gui advanced into the courtyard, his gaze passing over all eleven disciples.

"Our respects, Elder Gui," the eight disciples said, bowing in unison. Most business on the Sixty-Ninth Peak fell under his authority, including resource allocation. To offend him was to antagonize the very person who held their livelihoods in his hands. Not one of them dared overstep.

"I need a word with him. The rest of you, out," Elder Gui said, dismissing them.

"Yes, Elder!" The eight disciples retreated hastily, and the three newcomers followed. Outer disciples had no standing to challenge an elder at the Immortal King Realm, and none of them possessed the nerve to try.

"My respects, Elder Gui," Liu Wuxie said, bowing after the eleven had departed. The reason for this visit remained a mystery, but courtesy would cost him nothing.

"The Azure Jade Palace does things differently from other sects. Whatever missions you choose to undertake, you must also complete any mission the sect assigns to you directly. Your admission handbook explains that clearly. I trust you're aware of the requirement?" Elder Gui asked, apparently pleased with Liu Wuxie's respectful manner.

Liu Wuxie answered with a nod. The deacon had already explained the arrangement during their journey here. He had spent the previous night entirely absorbed in his breakthrough and hadn't yet read the handbook.

Disciples could select missions from the Contribution Hall and earn the rewards. Alongside those voluntary undertakings, the Azure Jade Palace issued compulsory assignments to specific disciples. Refusal was not an option, though the rewards frequently offered ample compensation.

There was a reason for that generosity. A mission that required the sect to force someone's hand usually had no willing takers. With no one volunteering, the sect could only raise the reward and choose a disciple to carry it out.

Some assignments had languished for years, others for decades. Eventually, the sect had little choice but to make someone accept them.

According to Huang Zechang, danger was not necessarily the obstacle with such missions. The real difficulty lay in their pitiful prospects of success.

"The sect has assigned these missions to you. Complete them within the stated deadlines. You'll find the rewards listed as well. Miss those deadlines, and the sect will reassess your standing. You could even lose your place as an outer disciple and become a miscellaneous disciple," Elder Gui said, passing over three mission sheets.

Liu Wuxie accepted the sheets with a frown. Huang Zechang had told him that new disciples had their first few months free of compulsory assignments so they could settle into the sect. Receiving such missions the day after his admission was anything but normal.

"Elder Gui, I joined the sect yesterday. Why am I receiving compulsory assignments today?" Liu Wuxie asked, looking up before he had even glanced at the sheets. He wanted an answer.

First came his unexplained placement on the Sixty-Ninth Peak. Now, these missions. He got the sense that someone was arranging each step from the shadows. His thoughts went straight to the woman who had spoken with Elder Kong.

She had only been an Immortal Lord. What could possibly account for the respect Elder Kong had shown her? The question had troubled Liu Wuxie throughout the night, yet he could find no answer.

"That information is not for you. You're a disciple of the Azure Jade Palace now, and you'll abide by its rules. There's a teleportation array within the sect that leads to Mulberry Sea City. You may use it for the return journey as well," Elder Gui said, then walked out of the courtyard.

The Azure Jade Palace's disciples could reach Mulberry Sea City directly through that teleportation array. Liu Wuxie had enjoyed no such privilege before joining. Instead, he had spent twenty days covering the distance on foot.

Connections to major cities through teleportation arrays were common among powerful sects, and the Azure Jade Palace maintained its own network. Mulberry Sea City represented just one of its many destinations.

"Is Ji Pei behind this? No. He could simply send disciples to deal with me. Why go to such lengths?" Liu Wuxie murmured, watching Elder Gui depart as the crease between his brows deepened.

He weighed the possibility, then shook his head. Other than Ji Pei, no one came to mind who would want him dead. An attack aimed at stealing his immortal roots would have been easy enough to understand. These assignments, however, made no sense.

He considered the possibilities but found no useful clue. At last, he put the question aside and returned to his room to study the missions and work out his next move. Whatever approach he chose, completing all three within a month promised to be difficult.

With Blackie keeping watch, Liu Wuxie retrieved the box that had been issued to him upon admission. It measured only about thirty centimeters in length. Two sets of outer disciple robes lay neatly folded inside, along with an interspatial pouch holding a hundred thousand immortal stones and three books.

After transferring the immortal stones into his interspatial ring, he donned the robes and took out the books.

"The Spirit Fallenfrost Sword, the Azure Empyrean Scripture, and the Azure Jade Regulations!" Liu Wuxie read aloud.

One volume taught a sword technique, another a cultivation technique, and the last introduced the Azure Jade Palace and explained its rules. Ten breaths were all Liu Wuxie needed to read them from beginning to end.

Immortal Empress Shui Yao had created the cultivation technique, and her work was impressive. His copy covered only the introductory section. The intermediate and advanced sections became available to elite disciples, while true disciples could practice the complete scripture. Beyond even that, the saints could study the ultimate scripture.

This progression of access served as a safeguard. The higher sections remained out of reach until a disciple rose through the ranks, helping the Azure Jade Palace prevent its cultivation technique from spreading beyond the sect.

Anyone who reached the position of saint would have developed deep-rooted loyalty. By then, the disciple and the Azure Jade Palace would be all but inseparable.

Liu Wuxie kept the cultivation technique aside without the slightest intention of practicing it. The Azure Empyrean Scripture paled in comparison to the Desolate Devouring Art. Even complete mastery would carry him no further than the Immortal Emperor Realm.

The Desolate Devouring Art had already brought him face-to-face with things he could not explain. Those encounters had led him to suspect that the Immortal Emperor Realm didn't mark the end of cultivation at all. If nothing lay beyond it, what explanation could there be for the phantom figure buried deep within his soul sea?

He placed all three books in his interspatial ring, then turned his attention to Elder Gui's mission sheets.

"Recover the Chai Clan's outstanding tribute to the Azure Jade Palace. The clan is ten years in arrears, totaling 5,000 catties of immortal rice and ten million immortal stones. Complete the mission within one month to receive a Nine Firmament Pill."

"Recover the Mountain Guardian Sect's outstanding tribute to the Azure Jade Palace. The clan is fifteen years in arrears, totaling 3,500 catties of immortal rice and 5,000 immortal talismans. Complete the mission within a month to receive an Azure Profound Treasure Leaf."

"Recover the Tigerwood Blacksmith Pavilion's debt of twenty million immortal stones and three thousand artifacts. Complete the mission within a month to receive an Indigo Yang Truegold."

Liu Wuxie stared at the three sheets in disbelief. He had anticipated missions involving gathering materials or escorting shipments. His cultivation was no secret, and everyone could see his limits. How could anyone expect him to carry out assignments that even they couldn't complete?

"They want me to collect debts?" Liu Wuxie murmured, going over the sheets once more in case he had misread them. Not just any debts, either. The Azure Jade Palace expected him to recover payments that had remained outstanding for at least a decade.

These forces had withheld payment year after year. What could a Profound Immortal like him possibly accomplish when so much time had changed nothing? The assignments left him no apparent path to success.

Countless forces lived under the Azure Jade Palace's protection. They paid an annual tribute in return for the right to call upon this superpower when trouble came. Debts stretching back so many years therefore hinted at complications beyond the figures on the page. A force that dared withhold tribute either had nothing left to pay or had found another patron powerful enough to support its defiance.

Neither possibility offered Liu Wuxie much hope of recovering the debts. The Tigerwood Blacksmith Pavilion presented a particularly troublesome case. For a long time, it had supplied the Azure Jade Palace with substantial quantities of artifacts every year. Two decades ago, however, it had taken payment and failed to deliver. Since then, one excuse had followed another, each pushing delivery further away.

Two decades of stalling had passed, and the Azure Jade Palace still had no resolution.

Logically, a superpower should have needed only to send an Immortal Venerable to demand payment. How would these forces dare refuse?

Liu Wuxie had examined their backgrounds. The Chai Clan ranked as a mere third-tier clan, with a Great Golden Immortal serving as its patriarch. The Mountain Guardian Sect possessed no greater strength. Only the Tigerwood Blacksmith Pavilion presented a more formidable prospect, as its sect master was an Immortal Lord.

"A fortune in rewards means nothing unless I can bring back what they're owed," Liu Wuxie murmured. Even so, greed lit his eyes as he studied the promised treasures. Each of them held enough value to stir a Golden Immortal's desire. Yet all the attempts made over the years had only led to failure.

He put the sheets away. Before making a plan, he needed to consider his options carefully.

"Those rewards alone make these missions worth pursuing. Each treasure could raise my cultivation by one level. Complete all three, and I could reach the eighth-level Profound Immortal Realm," Liu Wuxie said, a faint smile touching his lips.

In any case, these were direct assignments from the Azure Jade Palace. He couldn't turn them down. The question was no longer whether he would undertake them, but how he would complete them successfully.

An ordinary mission for outer disciples paid only a few thousand points. Even after a full month's work, a disciple could expect little more than ten thousand points at best. By contrast, a single Nine Firmament Pill required hundreds of thousands of points, roughly an entire year's earnings for an outer disciple.

The sect's command was hardly necessary. Those rewards would have drawn him in all on their own.