Ning Cheng immediately fished out the two jade cards from inside his storage ring, and found out one of those jade cards really had a detailed descriptions of all the basic things, while the other one was a blank jade card, with the words ‘Contribution Points’ written on top of it.
Damn
, Ning Cheng couldn’t help but pull at his hair; he had mainly come to the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect for cultivating in the Small Spiritual Domain. After he found the information regarding his immortal cave, he simply did not care about the rest of the information on the jade card; he had even thought that it was the academy’s most basic cultivation methods for cultivation. Later when Xun Hanrui and Liang Kexin came over, he had ended up getting three months’ worth of cultivation jade cards for the Small Spiritual Domain, as such he was no longer in the mood to even look at the so called academy’s most basic and lower levelled cultivation method.
But what he had not thought that rather than it containing the academy’s most basic cultivation method for cultivating in, it would turn out to be a jade card for contribution points.
“I really want to go to the Small Spiritual Domain to cultivate, just how many contribution points would it even require for being able to cultivate in there for a month?” Ning Cheng quickly asked.
Jin Liangan simply shook his head and spoke, “Who here doesn’t want to go into the Small Spiritual Domain to cultivate? Wanting to use contribution points to exchange for cultivation time, although it is possible but is extremely difficult. Unless you undertake the very difficult assignments released by the academy’s Assignments Hall, it would be really difficult, nearly borderline impossible for you to trade for it. There are many difficult assignments here, some even with a reward containing cultivation jade cards, like the 9th assignment pertaining to tracking down Lei Junfeng; if you were able to accomplish them then you simply would not have to trade in your cultivation points. Take the last one; if you had gone to the Great Liang True Country, then you would have been directly awarded a month’s time of cultivation in the Small Spiritual Domain. But it can also be considered that you were quite lucky for not going……”
Ning Cheng quickly asked, “You spoke something about the 9th Assignment, I have a question that I want to ask you, that Lei Junfeng has been labelled as a traitor to the academy, in the end just what did he do to earn such an ire? How is the reward for just tracking him down so high? One year of cultivation time in the Small Spiritual Domain, it simply too incredible to even think straight about it.”
“No, don’t put it like that; rather it would be better to not be envious about this assignment. Not only is the difficulty of this assignment too high, moreover how can anybody even know where he had disappeared? And this Lei Junfeng is also someone extremely powerful, when he was in the late stages of Soul Essence Realm, he could easily battle an early stage Soul Sculpting Cultivation to a standstill and even escape without any problems. I heard that he was able to advance to the Soul Sculpting Realm, as such with his ability, if one did not have the cultivation of Sea Opening Realm, then it would be better if they did not think of taking him head on.”
Jin Liangan speaking until here suddenly lowered his voice before continuing to speak with Ning Cheng, “Do you know what Lei Junfeng is being persecuted for? He raped the academy’s Deputy Academy Head Dan Wenyao’s Dao Companion, Bei Xialan; you tell me if this kind of person’s courage is not higher than the heavens……”
Jin Liangan suddenly remembered that Ning Cheng was also quite a bold person, and did not continue with his words, instead laughed embarrassingly.
Ning Cheng stunned for a good long while,
this, this was simply too preposterous right?
This person even dared to sleep with the wife of the Vice Academy Head. No wonder this assignment posed such a high level of difficulty, not to mention that no one even knew where Lei Junfeng was hidden, even if one was aware of it, just what kind of a person would be required to capture him.
“Junior Apprentice Brother Jin, didn’t you also say that I was lucky that I did not go to the Great Liang True Country, why is that?” Ning Cheng suddenly remembered the last part of the sentence that Jin Liangan spoke previously.
Jin Liangan lips pursed before he spoke up, “If you looked at the 17th assignment you would come to know about it. Three months ago, a few of the True Inheriting Disciples along with a few Core Disciples were dispatched to the Great Liang True Country and the North Shang True Country’s battlefield, as a part of the assignment. As such, no one expected anything out of ordinary from this assignment. But not only did the disciples that were dispatched not come back, but there was not even a shred of news about them.”
“A bit later, the 17th assignment was once again opened, and a few more disciples were sent, but once again, not a single one came back, and neither did any news about them was received. At this moment, the 17th assignment is actually opened for the third time, even if the rewards this time is even higher than before, who would even dare to take up this assignment?”
Ning Cheng then saw that there were a number of rewards written below the 17th assignment, but the most attractive among them for Ning Cheng was the years’ worth of cultivation time in the Small Spiritual Domain. Not only that, it even awarded one million contribution point as a part of the reward.
My goodness, the rewards on this assignment was simply too lucrative to pass up on.
At the same time, Ning Cheng also couldn’t help but think of Liang Kexin and Xun Hanrui, the two of them could be considered as his friends, and had gone missing while undertaking the academy’s assignments, as such, he was quite worried about them.
“Junior Apprentice Brother Jin, since there are so many disciples who have gone missing, why did the academy’s Elders and other senior experts not go? Also why would they re-release this assignment once again?” Ning Cheng asked in a puzzling manner.
Jin Liangan spoke in an even lower voice, “How could they have not gone, many Crucible Transformation Experts were dispatched, but even though there were many Crucible Transformation Experts dispatched, there simply was no result at all, nor could they even find out what the problem was. Only cultivators at the level of Soul Essence Realm or below could go in, only to suddenly go missing. And it’s not just the Rainbow Fall Sword Sect, it’s the same with the True Inheriting Disciples and Core Disciples from the other academies too, and are also similarly missing.”
Hu You – The characters for Hu You () literally translate to ‘To Con / To Rob’.←
Chapter 0273 – Taking Up The Assignment
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“Let me go and ask to see if it’s still available.” Ning Cheng patted Jin Liangan’s shoulder and then went to Announcement Office of the Academy’s Assignment Hall.
“Can I ask…..”
Ning Cheng had not yet spoken his request yet, when he was immediately interrupted by a female cultivator inside, “Give me your identity jade card and the assignment number you want to apply for, I don’t want any other nonsense.”
Ning Cheng helplessly spoke up, “I want to apply for the 17th Assignment…..”
An impatient look flashed past that female cultivator’s face as she heard Ning Cheng’s words as if she was annoyed with it, she looked up at him as if she could not believe what he was saying and once again repeated the words, “You said you want to apply for the 17th Assignment?”
“I would have explained it to you if you had allowed me to explain, so I directly spoke what I wanted to apply for.” Ning Cheng spoke up in a somewhat depressed tone.
The female cultivator unexpectedly did not verbally attack him, but rather frowned a little before speaking up, “Up till now, our Rainbow Fall
Sword Sect included, all the people with the cultivation of Soul Essence Realm, who applied for the 17th Assignment, or the disciples who followed the ones with the Soul Essence Cultivation there, none of them have returned, nor is there any message from them. Are you sure you want to apply for this 17th Assignment?”
Ning Cheng already knew this, so he just asked, “I would only like to ask one thing, if I was not able to complete the assignment, and return halfway, will I be punished for it?”
“No, participating in this assignment is completely voluntary.” The female cultivator spoke up, without any hesitation.
Ning Cheng after confirming the words once again, immediately spoke up, “Ok then I will apply for this 17th Assignment.”
At worst, if he ended up finding it to be too dangerous, then he would simply not go ahead with it. In case he hit the jackpot, and found out even a few clues of what the academy was looking for, then the academy’s reward was enough for him to cultivate in the Small Spiritual Domain for more than a year.
The female cultivator also did not try to persuade Ning Cheng anymore, as she nodded and spoke up, “This time there are a few changes to the 17th Assignment, there will be disciples from the other academies participating alongside you, after you reach there, the elders stationed there will tell you more about what has to be accomplished. Here is the jade card pertaining the details of the assignment and also a map. Take it, and good luck.”
Ning Cheng came out of the Assignment Hall’s Announcement Room, and found Jin Liangan and several other Profound Core Cultivators huddled together discussing something. It seems that they were discussing about what assignments that they would be able to undertake together. Ning Cheng gave a casual greeting to Jin Liangan and the others and immediately left the Assignments Hall.
Not even going back to his residence for some preparations, Ning Cheng directly headed out to the Great Liang True Country and North Shang True Country’s battleground of the Great War. He still had some worry about the Liang Kexin duo.
As to what happened to the two true countries due to the Great War, the jade strip was quite vague about it, and only had a general idea about what had transpired.
It seems that a few years ago, at the border between the Great Liang True Country and the Northern Shang True Country, an ancient immortal cave had appeared unexpectedly. The Norther Shang True Country was the first to learn of this news, as such was the first to make a move to occupy that area, in order to explore this suddenly unexpected appearance of the ancient immortal cave.
But shortly afterwards, the Great Liang True Country also found out that there was an ancient immortal cave that appeared within its borders, so of course it would definitely allow the Northern Shang True Country to occupy it. Using this as an excuse against the Northern Shang True Country, the Great Liang True Country immediately moved to abduct the princess of the Northern Shang True Country, with the condition that if they wanted the Great Liang True Country to give back the princess then they would have to cede that territory to them as compensation.
Because of this incident, the two countries ended up going through years of great wars. Resulting in almost countless casualties. Finally, this news ended up being exposed to the world, causing some of the academies to get involved in this matter. At this moment, this matter has already spiralled out of control, and was something that neither the Great Liang True Country nor the Norther Shang True Country would be able to control.
Once the ancient immortal cave was exposed to the outside world, the war between the two countries came to a temporary halt. This ancient immortal cave was not only extremely old but was also seemingly extremely vast from the inside, and only the cultivators at the Soul Essence Realm or below the Soul Essence Realm could enter. There were even rumours that the deepest part of the cave was extremely rich in spiritual qi, however only cultivators at the Profound Congealing Realm or below can enter that place.
As such when some of the Soul Essence Cultivators came to explore out this immortal cave, they would also bring one or two Profound Congealing Cultivators with them, because once they all reached that place, there would be no way for them to enter it.
But this matter started to get strange from this point on, these academy disciples on reaching the battlefield between the two countries, although were able to go into the ancient immortal cave, but unfortunately had ended up gone missing. When even the last person that went in was not able to make it back, there was simply no way to figure out as to how all of these people went missing in the first place.
At the very beginning, this immortal cave only had a single entrance, which was still visible, but for those who arrived later, the ancient immortal cave started to gradually disappear. Even as this ancient immortal cave disappeared completely, whether it were the Soul Essence Realm cultivators or the cultivators following those Soul Essence Cultivators, there were simply no signs of any of them appearing at the position of the immortal cave.
All these disciples, who had come here to complete their assignments, were all elites of the influential and long standing academies and sects, causing the Crucible Transformation Cultivators of their respective sects and academies to not be able to sit still. Some of the Crucible Transformation Cultivators even headed out to investigate, however not one of these Crucible Transformation Cultivators were able to find out even a single clue. Fortunately, although these Crucible Transformation Cultivators were not able to find any clues, nevertheless they did not give up on the disciples who went missing on this assignment.
But still, it caused this matter to turn into a mystery, with more and more disciples going missing, some of the rogue cultivators were also roped in to take up the academy assignment. But it still ended up in them going missing like the other people. In this manner, the disciples wanting to take up this assignment were also growing fewer in number.
In order to find the truth of this mystery, it was necessary for at least a few cultivators below the Soul Essence Realm to take up the assignment to find at least a few clues, allowing the Crucible Transformation Cultivators to also act accordingly towards the missing cultivators.
Ning Cheng put away the jade strip. In his heart, he was very clear that if someone wanted to pick up this assignment, then these people would simply be playing the role of either cannon fodder, or taking over the job of a mouse.
Ning Cheng was also aware of his own situation, since he had already experienced cultivating inside the Small Spiritual Domain. As such, in the future, if there were no Small Spiritual Domain, it would simply be too difficult for him to advance. In order to get that years’ worth of cultivation time in the Small Spiritual Domain, he had no choice but to take it up. Besides, he was also not a person without any escape methods, if the worst came to worst, he could simply crush the talisman given to him by that skeleton, and once again re-enter the bottom of the Blood River.
Ning Cheng simply took out a flight type magical weapon, which was a medium grade spiritual artefact, and in order to arrive early, Ning Cheng not only fully stimulated the flight type magical weapon, he also used his Twin Wings of the Heavenly Cloud to aid in his speed. Even if that was the case, it was only after ten days, that he reached the location marked on the map in the jade strip.
The place in front of him seemed to be an endless desolated area, which was filled with potholes as far as the eyes could see, with pieces of broken weapons and even debris from lower levelled magical weapons strewn about everywhere. There were even many places where the soil had turned dark red; apparently, it was because too much blood had seeped into it.
Within the range of Ning Cheng spiritual consciousness, there was nothing other than a dark grey building.
According to the brief on the jade strip, Ning Cheng knew that this dark grey building was the temporary set up for anyone wanting to undertake this assignment. They had to first come to this grey building, and then listen to the instructions of the Academy Elders stationed there.
Ning Cheng put
away his flight type magical weapon, and had just arrived at the door of this huge grey building, when he was stopped by two cultivators, “Which Academy?”
My goodness,
the two gatekeepers in front of him were cultivators in the Soul Sculpting Realm.
“This junior is Rainbow Fall Sword Sect’s Inner Sect Disciple Ning Cheng, and has come here this time to specifically undertake this assignment.” Ning Cheng quickly cupped his fists and replied in a polite manner.
The Soul Sculpting Cultivator on the left nodded and spoke, “The Rainbow Fall Sword Sect is on the left side of the third floor.”
“Many thanks.” Ning Cheng once again thanked the two of them before he sped up the staircase inside the building.
“Alas, a month ago there were groups of Soul Essence Cultivators that were assigned to this assignment, now just look at what kind of people come here, even a Profound Core 1st Level Cultivator came here to take up this assignment.” The other Soul Sculpting Realm Cultivator seeing Ning Cheng dash off, couldn’t help but shake his head and speak out with a sigh.
The Soul Sculpting Cultivator, who replied to Ning Cheng, spoke disapprovingly toward the other Soul Sculpting Cultivator, “He is the third person today, during these several days, there is simply no one who want to even apply for this assignment. I guess that this place will soon be forgotten, although there were a lot of disciple that have disappeared here, but even until now there has not been a single clue regarding this.”
“This kind of thing is not something that we would be able to manage…..”
Although Ning Cheng had already entered the building, he was still able to hear the words exchanged between the two Soul Sculpting Realm Cultivators.
“Come in.” Ning Cheng had just arrived at the door of the third floor of the building, when a voice suddenly entered his ears.
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