Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 48: Sect Affairs Hall

Chapter 48: Sect Affairs Hall

Xu Disheng lowered his head and looked at the spirit stone in his palm, which had already been exhausted of spiritual energy. His brows slightly furrowed, and with a slight clench of his fist, the spent spirit stone crumbled into a fine powder, falling through the cracks between his fingers.

He had used up three spirit stones in just 20 days, but the effects that they brought to his cultivation were considerable. Due to various contributing factors, the speed at which he was able to purify and compress profound qi in his Sea of Qi was greatly increased, and the Sea of Qi in Xu Disheng’s Jianggong meridian point had already begun to take a preliminary form. The Sea of Qi stage profound qi swirling and circulating around his Jianggong point was extremely refined.

However, outer disciples who hadn’t yet reached the Sea of Qi stage could only receive 1 spirit stone per month for cultivation resources, and he was going through spirit stones at a rate of one per every 7-8 days. Even if he received the year’s worth of cultivation resources in advance, it would only amount to 12 spirit stones, which was far from enough.

Once someone experienced the amazing cultivation speed that cultivating with spirit stones could provide, it was hard for them not to be disappointed when they tried to go back to absorbing spiritual energy and transforming it to profound qi the regular way. After all, there was a difference of several tens of times in cultivation speed.

Xu Disheng browsed through the key jade slip again. At the end of the “Sect Rules of the Shangqing Sacred Sect”, there was an appendix section with some simple information.

Outer disciples weren’t required to do any sect missions. They just had to focus on cultivating to the Sea of Qi stage and then participate in the Mountain Entry Examination. There were some who took over 10 years to reach the Sea of Qi stage, while there were others who were lacking in aptitude and resources, requiring several decades to reach the Sea of Qi stage. If they couldn’t pass the Mountain Entry Examination, they could only stay stuck in the Outer Region.

To this point, resources such as spirit stones were especially important. No matter how poor someone’s aptitude was, they could still quickly reach the Sea of Qi stage if they simply had enough spirit stones.

The information written in the appendix revealed that outer disciples could take the initiative to go to the Sect Affairs Palace Hall and apply for some sect missions if they wanted to obtain extra spirit stones.

However, even the most simplest and most basic sect missions required a Sea of Qi stage cultivation. The grand majority of the outer disciples had very elementary cultivation realms, and even the better ones among them were only at the Cleansed Meridians stage. Doing these missions was extremely dangerous. If there was even the slightest mishap, they would certainly disappear forever.

As a result, almost everyone was unwilling to go down the mountain, even despite the utter lack of spirit stones and slow cultivation speed. They just blindly cultivated, using time as a currency to reach the Sea of Qi stage. After all, once they reached the Sea of Qi stage, their lifespan would increase to 500 years, so they still had a long future ahead of them. There was no need to go out of their way to do the sect missions that only those disciples who had already joined a Peak would normally do, facing life-threatening danger in the process.

Xu Disheng didn’t want to put up with this slow cultivation speed caused by a lack of spirit stones. He stood up, taking the key jade slip with him, and walked out of the room into the courtyard.

The courtyard was as serene as always, and the surrounding courtyards were as silent and seemingly deserted as before. He looked up and gazed off into the distance at the edges of the terraced platforms, and caught sight of several human figures. Xu Disheng pondered for a moment, then walked out from the light barrier and made his way towards them.

Those people were currently sitting next to a massive boulder, talking amongst themselves. Upon seeing Xu Disheng approaching, their eyes lit up. Among them was a square-faced guy who said, “Senior Martial Brother, do you want to go down the mountain?”

Xu Disheng said, “I do want to go down the mountain, but… right now, I don’t have any spirit stones on me.”

In fact, the mountain path was located not far from Xu Disheng’s courtyard, but it was extremely steep. It extended perilously downwards through the clouds and mist as far as the eye could see.

It wasn’t that Xu Disheng hadn’t thought of taking the mountain path. It was just that there was almost no one on the path, and it was winding and precipitous, turning frequently every few hundred meters. With his Cleansed Meridian stage cultivation, he would end up dying a horrible death if he were to accidentally lose his footing even once.

A look of disappointment surfaced on the square-faced youth’s face, and he sat back down.

But another one among them, a young man with a pockmarked face, was a little quicker on the uptake. He said, “Senior Martial Brother, are you going to receive your spirit stones? In that case, I can first drop you off, and then regarding the fare… you can give it to me after you pick up your spirit stones.”

Xu Disheng sized up the several people in front of him. All of them were wearing Spirit Tool-class Daoist robes, so they were probably all Rank 6 Spiritual Root like him, and had a similar cultivation somewhere around the Cleansed Meridians stage. However, they were all wealthier than he was by far.

Xu Disheng nodded and replied, “That works.”

The youth with the pockmarked face revealed a smile. “Come aboard then. Once we get there you can pay me half a spirit stone.” He summoned his Spirit Cloud and got on first.

The youth with the pockmarked face was fairly talkative. On the way, Xu Disheng came to learn that his name was Zhao Yuan, and he originally came from a land under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Sect. When he first came to the sect several years ago, he hadn’t even reached the Cleansed Meridians stage yet. For the last several years, he had put up with the slow cultivation speed and saved up around a dozen spirit stones to buy a Spirit Cloud. Now, he usually chauffeured around new disciples and other disciples who couldn’t afford to buy a Spirit Cloud to go up and down the mountain, earning himself a profit in spirit stones.

The group of courtyards that Xu Disheng’s lived in was a middle-rank community, so the lowest there were Rank 6 Spiritual Roots, and there were even talents with Rank 5 Spiritual Roots. However, those talents only needed a few years to reach the Sea of Qi stage, and they would often be quickly scooped up by other powers in the sect. They wouldn’t end up staying in the Outer Region for long.

Eventually, Xu Disheng and Zhao Yuan arrived at Mountain Affairs Peak. Just as always, there were many people coming and going, and various travel-type Spirit Tools and beams of light colored the sky. The four palace halls towered impressively at dizzying heights.

Xu Disheng said, “I’m going to go to the Human Resources Hall to receive my spirit stones. You can wait here for me.”

Zhao Yuan smiled and replied, “That works for me. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

Xu Disheng nodded, then made his way to the Human Resources Hall. The Human Resources Hall and the Examination Hall were less frequented than the other two halls. In the hall, there was only one human resources disciple present, who was in the middle of making a record on a jade slip.

Xu Disheng saluted and said, “Senior Martial Brother, I would like to receive my share of spirit stones for the next year in advance.”

The human resources disciple continued making records in the jade slip, not bothering to raise his head as he replied, “Your jade identity tablet.”

Xu Disheng handed it over, and the human resources disciple sank his spiritual sense into it to check it. He tossed back the jade slip and recited, “Outer Disciple Xu Disheng, one year advance payment of 12 spirit stones, as recorded. You can go to the rear hall to receive them now.”

Xu Disheng thanked him before going to the rear hall to pick up the spirit stones. He set aside half a spirit stone and gave it to Zhao Yuan, then headed directly to the Sect Affairs Hall.

The Sect Affairs Hall was unlike the Human Resources Hall. It was extremely wide and over 100 meters tall, and even the palace gate stood at a grandiose height comparable to about 5 people standing on top of each other.

When Xu Disheng entered the palace hall, he saw an endless stream of people passing through, and almost every person that he saw was a Sea of Qi stage official disciple. There were even one or two amongst them that had boundlessly profound auras, and when Xu Disheng slightly sensed them, he discovered that they were actually formidable Dao Foundation stage powerhouses like Emperor Chu. Wherever those Dao Foundation stage powerhouses walked, disciples would go out of their way to make space for them, greeting them respectfully as they passed.

Mingxin Mountain had 300 Peaks, and each of them had a Peak Master and a Vice Peak Master. There was a good chance that these Dao Foundation stage powerhouses that occasionally passed by were one of these Peak Masters or Vice Peak Masters, so no one dared to be disrespectful.

Xu Disheng walked into the hall. There was a massive table with several hundred record jade slips laid out on top of it. From time to time, people would pick up the jade slips to accept the missions within, and the details would then be sent to their jade identity tablet.

He randomly picked one up, and dense clusters of information about several hundred missions appeared in his mind.

“Pick 10 Moonlight Flowers from Broken Moon Valley and turn them in at the Botany Hall’s branch on Mingxin Mountain. Reward of 40 spirit stones.”

“A half-transformed tiger monster was discovered 9,800 li to the east of Mingxin Mountain. It has developed spiritual awareness necessary for cultivation. Subjugate the monster and turn it in at the Monster Refining Hall’s branch on Mingxin Mountain. Reward of 60 spirit stones.”

“Act as an envoy on behalf of the Sacred Sect to go to the Anbei Province and protect the Liu Clan’s prosperity for 10 years. Reward of 100 spirit stones and one Spirit Tool sword. Note: Requires a cultivation of at least the peak of the Sea of Qi stage.”

“… …”

These missions were collected by the Affairs Hall’s Sect Affairs Division. Hundreds of disciples were always working day and night to collect these tasks or find abnormalities and strange treasures. Or, if someone were to put in a commission or request, these disciples would immediately record it as a mission and send it to the Sect Affairs Hall, where the completion rewards would be assessed. Disciples of all cultivation realms would perform these missions, thus ensuring the prosperity and vitality of the sect.