章節 5: Mission Hall
About a minute of silence after Wu Long left the group exploded with reactions.
"Who was that guy? He's so handsome!"
"So cool, there is something otherworldly about him!"
The female disciples immediately began giggling with dreamy expressions.
"Damn, who is that arrogant fucker?"
"To be so obnoxious while being only at Body Transformation Realm, he doesn't know how high the heavens are!"
The male disciples were in stong contrast, annoyed and unnerved both by Wu Long's attitude and the reactions from the female disciples.
"How is it even possible for someone at the 3rd level of Body Transformation Realm to be a disciple?" someone asked and suddenly this question puzzled everyone there.
A few moments later, one of the disciples there suddenly made an enlightened face as if he recalled something.
"I remember him! He is Wu Long, the only disciple who got accepted with a cultivation lower than sect standards." he said.
"Oh, now that you mention him, I remember there was a commotion about it, it is rumored that his background must be quite something, but it never got confirmed."
"Tch, I guess having great background does give great benefits. He can even be so arrogant while being so weak." one of the disciples said, his voice thick with envy.
Background sometimes could be even more important than personal strength, but that of course was limited to the case where personal strength of the opponent was not higher than the strength of one's background.
Thus they all dismissed his behavior to his background, while the female disciples, albeit with some reluctance, lost most of the interest as he posed essentially no value in terms of dual cultivation partner.
Only the male disciple who met that terrifying gaze knew that they were wrong, but he didn't bother correcting them. Since they did not experience what he has they would most likely not believe him, he would only risk becoming even more of a laughingstock.
---
Meanwhile, Wu Long walked towards the Mission Hall, as receiving a mission was currently the only way he would be allowed to go outside the sect.
While he could try to get that Scarlet Fire Ginseng from the Treasure Hall, it would take too much time to earn that many points, and it would be much more efficient to rely on his experience and knowledge to find natural treasures that could be of use to him outside.
He went to the Treasury Hall mostly for reference, to confirm the level of medicines and treasures there so he could vaguely judge the overall environment, and knew what to anticipate.
Moreover, when he was free to roam, he could continuously find and consume any suitable medicinal ingredients, improving his strength along with his chances of finding more valuable medicines.
The Mission Hall was relatively simple, it only had boards with missions posted on them, and a few counters where the disciples registered for their missions.
Wu Long casually looked through the board of missions for Outer Court disciples below the Qi Gathering Realm, which were mostly medicinal ingredient gathering missions. He then chose one with the reward of 5 points to bring 10 stalks of a low-level medicinal ingredient called White Spirit Grass.
It did not really matter to him which mission he took as long as he could go outside of the sect without much suspicion.
He looked towards the registering counters taking a few moments to concentrate on each of the people working there and then approached one of the counters with a man in his forties with a cultivation base at the 7th level of Qi Gathering Realm who looked quite listless. This man wore robes similar to disciples, but with distinct red lining and a red symbol "retainer" stitched on his chest, which indicated that he was a Sect Retainer.
There were disciples of sects whose potential stopped very early, mostly a realm higher than new Sect Disciples, and who could not breakthrough to higher levels for a considerable time, indicating that they most likely reached the peak of their potential.
This was the majority of disciples accepted into any sect, as the proportion of people to breakthrough into the next realm would be narrower the higher it was.
They would then have to retire as disciples and be forced to decide, to either leave the sect or work in the sect in return for a peaceful and comfortable life.
Those who decided to leave were in the majority, sometimes to try and find a lucky chance to breakthrough by finding a rare natural treasure that can help them break their limits but mostly just to live out their lives outside the sect, free of the restrictions being in the sect entails.
The small part who decided to stay and work in the sect would then be called Sect Retainers. They would be manning the registration counters in various halls such as this mission hall, and doing other miscellaneous tasks. Most of them chose this life because of the sense of security one would have by working in a sect, since as long as the sect was prospering they would never have to worry about finding work, food, and shelter. Some also stayed because of the sense of belonging they have gained and strengthened during the time when they were active disciples.
There were also long-term missions for active disciples to do these jobs, as this was also one of the ways for less experienced disciples to earn achievements. But they would usually only occupy less important positions such as information counters and receiving applications without actually processing them.
"Disciple badge?"
When the man asked apathetically, Wu Long gave him his disciple badge.
"Which number?" the man then asked seeing that Wu Long did not bring the mission notice, which meant that he was here for one of the missions that was permanently on the board as it was possible to take it as many times as possible.
"Number 134"
"10 stalks of White Spirit Grass, 1st tier mission. You will get 5 points per every 10 stalks, if you bring an incomplete batch it will be recorded and included the next time you take this mission, do you have any questions?" the retainer behind the counter spoke in a monotonous voice as if stating words that he knew so well that he could recite them even while asleep.
"No"
The man nodded and recorded the information, took out a fresh scroll where he wrote a few sentences. He then stamped it with a few different stamps and gave it to Wu Long along with the disciple badge.
"This is your mission permit, show this to the guards at the entrance so that you will be allowed to leave, it also proves that you are on a mission while you are outside, so don't lose it. Do you have your own gear?" he then asked.
"No"
The retainer then took a wooden token with "1st tier" carved on it and stamped it with a seal. The seal glowed, and a glowing mark appeared on top of the token.
"You can go to the Armoury Hall with this token, the spiritual seal on it will naturally dissipate in about a day so you have until tomorrow noon to use it."
Wu Long nodded and left the place while the retainer turned and beckoned the next person to approach with the same listless face.
---
About an hour after Wu Long left the Mission Hall, a middle-aged man in blue robes indicating a Sect Elder walked in from the depths of the building with a retainer leading the way.
They approached the counter where Wu Long had registered his mission.
"Disciple greets Elder Chen", the retainer behind the counter's expression immediately lost its listless appearance as he stood up and saluted toward the blue-robed man.
He was one of the elders in charge of the Mission Hall. Because sect elders needed their own time to cultivate, they would usually take turns to oversee whatever they were in charge of. There of course would be a senior elder who was above them, but they rarely managed in person and only received reports from and relayed instructions to the elders under them.
The blue-robed man nodded to him and asked "Did disciple Wu Long appear here?"
The retainer then searched through his records, as he rarely remembered the hundreds of missions he registered in a day, and then respectfully relayed the details of Wu Long's registration. Hearing the details, Elder Chen slightly furrowed his brows. The retainer who led the elder here also looked nervous.
"It seems you have a bad memory, does the name Wu Long not remind you of anything?" he then said in a slightly low but dissatisfied voice to the registering retainer.
The retainer first looked puzzled, as he could not comprehend what mistake he had made, and then suddenly came to a realization. About five months ago, all people working in the Mission Hall were told that if a disciple under the name Wu Long came to register for a mission, an elder must approve of it before the mission could be confirmed. He, then quickly lowered his head, with a bead of sweat going down his forehead.
"My apologies, Elder Chen, this little one never saw disciple Wu before, so I have not recognized him. I was told by others that he usually comes with Elder Hai so he is easy to spot..." he spoke visibly shaken.
"Hmm", Elder Chen touched his chin, seemingly pondering something. In fact, he also did not expect Wu Long to come here and take a mission without anyone accompanying him, as this has not happened even once in the five months he was here.
"Forget it, Elder Hai probably had something to do while he registered, so he sent him alone, I will take responsibility if this becomes a problem, just be more watchful with your work." He told the retainers. In fact, he also had no clue about Wu Long's circumstances, he and the other elders in the Mission Hall were just asked to keep an eye on him by Elder Hai. Since Wu Long has never taken the initiative to take missions or even leave his own living quarters in all of his time in the sect, they also gradually weakened their vigilance.
He could not really blame the retainer since keeping in mind one of the thousands of disciples registering for missions and immediately recognizing him was not something usually required of the ones occupying this position. He himself had long forgotten about Wu Long until the retainer who came with him informed him of his appearance in the hall.
And like he said out loud, he believed that elder Hai probably just sent him alone to teach him a little of self-reliance, and was waiting outside the hall. But even if it wasn't like that, the situation already happened, and judging by the amount of time that went by, Wu Long is probably long gone from the sect territory.
Regardless, Elder Hai did not have a particularly high standing in the sect, so in his view even if something goes wrong he could just apologize or compensate.
The retainer sighed with relief when he heard the elder's voice. He then vengefully looked at the retainer who brought Elder Chen along. If he told about Wu Long to him, he could have stopped him from leaving or at least reported this personally so that he would not look so bad in the elder's eyes.
The other retainer simply sighed with relief to know it wasn't a big deal since he was genuinely concerned that there could have been a problem when he noticed Wu Long leaving the counter with a token. He previously have registered him once, so he knew his appearance.
He also thought that Elder Hai was probably nearby as there was no way that timid disciple who always looked lost would come here without anyone accompanying him, so he hesitated for a long time, but in the end, he could not take it off his mind as he could potentially be punished if this whole situation went out of control, so he went to Elder Chen who was in charge today.
In fact, this whole situation was anticipated to a certain extent by Wu Long. He purposefully and carefully chose the person to register him on the mission as he did not want to waste time with people preventing him from leaving the sect gates.
The previous 'him' would usually be taken to the Mission Hall by Elder Hai. He also suspected that Elder Hai secretly followed him during the missions outside, but he was not certain since the previous Wu Long did not have that high of a perception to notice someone tailing him.
What he knew for certain, is that he would always be encouraged to take group missions, with a few other disciples to gather larger quantities of ingredients a bit further outside than solo missions.
Wu Long knew that he was an odd existence within the sect, and that there were secrets related to his origin, and Elder Hai who brought him in was most likely not doing it of his own accord as he noticed a seal on his memories that contained the part prior to arriving to the sect. He currently was not able to investigate it because even with his knowledge and abilities, he needed to at least be in the Qi Manifestation Realm to be able to use Spiritual Qi outside of the body and undo the seal.
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