Translator: Alsey
Editor: Chrissy
The next day at Yunyue Sect’s Affairs Hall.
The sky had just brightened. Many disciples were already gathered inside the great palace where the Sect’s Affairs Hall was located.
“The mission list is updated…”
The crowd of disciples looked expectant as they simultaneously glanced at the wall, where the list of missions was just posted on.
The sect’s Affairs Hall was part of Yunyue Sect’s mechanism of announcing all sorts of missions.
According to usual practice, every morning, the mission list in the sect’s Affairs Hall would be updated.
Today was not an exception either.
“Number one on the Kill List is still the ‘Fiendish Clown’. Surprisingly, the contribution points for this mission has actually risen to 28,000!”
Some of the outer sect disciples clicked their tongues in wonder.
“This ‘Fiendish Clown’ is not someone we can provoke. I heard that this demon once massacred a small city and the number of Connective Meridian disciples and inner sect disciples that died at his hands wasn’t little.”
“This demon’s ruthlessness is renowned throughout the state of Chu. Regardless of whether they were male, female, young or old, every enemy that fell into his hands met merciless murder. Such devastation…”
The veteran disciples present became pale after hearing this and shook their heads one after another.
At this time, a young man with quite an adolescent appearance ran into the sect’s Affairs Hall.
The young man was dressed in the standard green robes of an outer sect disciple. He didn’t look at all extraordinary, but his eyes were clear and bright as his steps were steady.
This newcomer was Chen Yu.
“The Kill List is not something I can handle right now.”
Chen Yu’s gaze swept across each and every one of the horrendous names on the Kill List.
The Fiendish Clown was in first place. It went without saying that it involved 28000 contribution points as well, as other kinds of rewards.
One should know that the medium-leveled martial art that Chen Yu was desperate to obtain only required 1000 contribution points in exchange.
The second place, the ‘Timeless Bandit’, and the third place, the ‘Bloody King of Wolves’, were likewise famed with bad names. Each were either tyrannical or deceitful, so much so that they were wanted targets all throughout the state of Chu.
For instance, the ‘Timeless Bandit’ was a rapist who targeted noble ladies and daughters of great prestigious families in particular.
His greatest achievement was infiltrating an overseas palace and obscenely toying with the state of Chu’s princess consort, as well as the princess.
Killing this bandit gave 26000 contribution points!
The top 20 on the Kill List gave rewards of at least 10000 contribution points.
The rewards from the Kill List were ample, but given Chen Yu’s current cultivation, he would just become cannon fooder when encountering such individuals.
Only after breaking through the Connective Meridian Stage could he attempt some of the targets at the bottom of the Kill List.
Chen Yu’s gaze moved from the Kill List as he started to search for other mission lists.
Aside from the Kill List, which was the most dangerous, missions that tackled harvesting from arduous areas were more common. Of course, these included hunting ferocious beasts, as well as obtaining materials.
The simplest missions out of these were running errands and delivering letters. These included going to the common customs and resolving trivial matters.
These simple missions either had pitifully small rewards, with contribution points in the single digits, or were incomparably complicated where one would waste a great deal of time and energy.
In the past, Chen Yu could only select these simple, hazard-free missions. He would complete several in a year. The rewards were extremely little.
But this time, Chen Yu planned to do some missions with higher rewards.
Correspondingly, these missions would have higher levels of risk.
Nonetheless, Chen Yu had a certain confidence in his own strength now. He should have no problem defending himself during ordinary missions.
Soon after, Chen Yu found a suitable mission among the lists.
“To kill the ‘Metal Brown Bear’: obtain the bear’s gall, bear’s claws, and other materials. Examining the Metal Brown Bear’s grade, one bear gall is rewarded with 20 to 60 contribution points, along with one to five substandard Metastones. One bear paw gives 5 to 20 contribution points.”
Chen Yu’s eyes glimmered upon seeing this mission.
Not only were the contribution points for this mission pretty good, he could also obtain Metastones from obtaining bear galls.
Metastones were the currency used within the sect world.
Metastones themselves were crystals condensed from the vigor of heaven and earth. They could speed up the rate of cultivation and replenish one’s vigor. They could also be traded for all kinds of cultivating resources. Their uses were pretty broad.
Chen Yu had stayed in the sect for so long, but did not possess a single Metastone.
This was because, at the moment, he was still in the outer sect’s observation period. He was not yet a true outer sect disciple, otherwise, as an official outer sect disciple, he could collect three substandard Metastones each month.
“Metal Brown Bear…”
The gaze of several outer sect disciples paused on this mission, but they quickly shook their heads.
Chen Yu could not help but show contemplation after seeing their reactions.
This mission’s reward could be considered as somewhat generous. Although the Metal Brown Bear was thick, rough-skinned and had slightly intrepid strength, its speed and agility was apparently quite so-so.
It was reasonable to say that there should be many people accepting a mission of this kind.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. It seemed that this mission wasn’t as simple as he imagined.
“Our team for the Metal Brown Bear mission lacks one more person.”
It was at this moment that Chen Yu heard a voice amongst the noisy crowd.
This voice came from outside the business hall.
Following the voice, Chen Yu walked towards three men and a woman outside the hall.
The person who had been shouting was a ‘triangular eyed man’. He was in his early twenties and looked like a veteran ‘Connective Meridian’ disciple.
Having stayed in the outer sects for almost three years, Chen Yu recognized most of the people in the sect.
This triangular eyed man was named ‘Ding Jiuhui’. He was an old fox within the outer sect, his abilities being no less than Wang Lingyun’s.
The remaining two men and the woman consisted of a pockmarked youngster, a slender young lady, and a horse-faced young man.
Chen Yu had some impressions of the former two, but couldn’t recall their names.
The last horse-faced young man was actually looking at Chen Yu with contempt. He was in fact, an old acquaintance.
“Chen Yu.”
The horse-faced young man grinded his teeth slightly. He clenched his fists, his complexion being rather foreboding.
It turned out that this person was Feng De. Several days ago, Chen Yu sent him flying with three moves, suppressing his defeated opponent.
“I recognize you, you young fellow…”
The leader, Ding Jiuhui, stared at Chen Yu stangely with his triangular eyes.
“You’re that Chen Yu?”
The pockmarked youngster and the slender young woman suddenly looked at Chen Yu as though they were familiar with him.
“Am I really that famous?”
Chen Yu couldn’t help but rub his chin.
Then again, it seemed that although these people recognized him, their gaze were full of despise and the intent of poking fun.
“Indeed, Brother Chen’s reputation of ‘living off of women’ is spread wide throughout the outer sect. It is quite envious that you could even get your hands on a great beauty such as ‘Mu Xueqing’…”
The pockmarked youngster had a vulgar look on his face. He indeed look as though he was admiring him.
Living off of women?
Chen Yu almost stumbled under the bewildering gazes of those around him.
It was very obvious that many people had witnessed Chen Yu and Mu Xueqing walking out of the dining hall ‘hand in hand’ that day.
“Ah! Since we’re all acquainted, then things are easy to deal with. I humbly intend to join your team to hunt the ‘Metal Brown Bear’.”
Chen Yu was uncomfortable due to their gazes and hurriedly got to the point.
“Hunt the Metal Brown Bear? You?”
Those present, with Ding Jiuhui as the leader, were first shocked before laughing one after the other.
Aside from Feng De, the three remaining people showed disapproving and questioning expressions.
“Everyone, what doubts do you have?”
Chen Yu was finally aware that they were looking down on his reputation of living off of women.
“You do not fit our requirements!”
Ding Jiuhui shot an indifferent glance at Chen Yu with his triangular eyes as he spoke in a blunt manner.
As a veteran outer sect disciple, he didn’t give Chen Yu any face, rejecting him heartlessly.
“Haha! Senior Chen, that ‘Metal Brown Bear’ can be classified as an existence on the rank of ‘ferocious beasts’. It’s really not as easy to defeat as you’d imagine. The one with the lowest cultivation amongst us has even reached the peak of Body Tempering. Moreover, one’s abilities must be top tier amongst those of the Connective Meridian Stage.”
The pockmarked youngster hurried to dissolve the situation.
Through his words, he expressed how content he was with his own strength.
“Ah, is that so…”
Chen Yu was disheartened. The mission to kill the Metal Brown Bear was indeed rather complicated.
But with Feng De among them, he reckoned that they were quite weak, despite the lowest cultivation among them being the peak of the Body Tempering Stage.
“It’s good that you understand.”
Ding Jiuhui curled his lips in a ‘good that you know your place’ manner.
“Of course. If this is the case, then I acknowledge that I don’t yet have the seniority to participate…”
Chen Yu said word by word.
What!?
Ding Jiuhui’s face fell in an instant. The intangible aura emitted by the Connective Meridian Stage made those present breathe deeply.
The pockmarked youngster and the slender young lady looked at Chen Yu with shock.
“After all…there is a defeated opponent of mine amongst the four of you.”
Chen Yu remained unmoved.
His gaze intentionally, or perhaps subconsciously, drifted towards Feng De.
“Chen Yu! How dare you be unbridled?!”
Feng De’s face turned into the color of a pig’s liver as he became extremely embarrassed.
Even though that was the case, he couldn’t deny this reality. In fact, in the innermost portions of his heart, he was fearful of Chen Yu.
Among the members of this mission team, his strength could be considered to be at the bottom. He only managed to join because of his relations with Ding Jiuhui.
“Oh?”
Ding Jiuhui looked at Feng De pensively.
Feng De had suffered a crushing defeat with intense embarrassment, so naturally, he didn’t make it public. In addition, the short confrontation in the dining hall that day was small-scale, quite common in the sect. Only a small group of people knew about it.
Contrary to that skirmish, everyone was aware of Chen Yu and Mu Xueqing ‘leaving hand in hand’. News of it had passed quickly from mouth to mouth.
“Hehe, young fellow. Looks like I’ve underestimated you. How about this, you can act as the second-in-command. You only have to pass my ‘one-finger’ check to be approved.”
There was a hint of amusement in Ding Jiuhui’s triangular eyes as he took another look at Chen Yu.
He was already certain that Chen Yu’s strength was probably greater than Feng De’s. Hence, he had the suitability to be the last member of the team.
However, Chen Yu had just made him lose face. Furthermore, his relations with Feng De was pretty good, so he should at least avenge his friend.
One finger?
On the other, side the pockmarked youngster and the slender young lady’s faces became pale upon hearing this.
Their hearts shook. They knew that Ding Jiuhui was going to deliberately make things difficult for Chen Yu, even using methods to teach the other a lesson.
“Alright then.”
Chen Yu’s complexion was indifferent, seemingly unable to comprehend Ding Jiuhui’s malice.
“Good!”
Ding Jiuhui smiled in a sly manner. He stuck out a flabby finger, to which he pointed delicately at Chen Yu.
The finger gave the impression that it had no strength at all, with only a glimpse of oppressive airflow around the finger.
“This is the medium-leveled martial art [Willow Nether Finger]!”
Those in the vicinity paled one after another.
This [Willow Nether Finger] was a gentle and reserved martial art. It looked as though willows were brushing against your face, but in reality, there was a great and implicit danger.
Chen Yu could just about feel a whiff of a soft yet intangible aura. The menace brought on by the enemy’s delicate fingertip, which was ‘holding it in without release’, was in fact slightly stronger than Wang Lingyun’s [Metal Cloud Claw].
[Metal Cloud Claw]’s menace was evident, but the malice from the [Willow Nether Finger] was contained and hidden.
“Break!”
Chen Yu didn’t retreat at all. He brandished his fist, his heart pulsating with vigor as startling and swelling vitality and energy poured out.
Hu!
In the instant the fist came brandishing, there was a strong gale, which was followed faintly by a thunderstorm.
Peng-pah!
In a split second, the fist and the finger collided in midair. An invisible wave of qi exploded.
Those spectuating from the side could only feel a cold air stinging their faces as they could not help but take a few steps back.