"You're trying to get rid of me!" the old man retorted, glaring fiercely. "Your master is planning to ascend to the Nascent Soul stage! I might even live a thousand years longer than you, young man!"
Seeing them bicker, Jin Bao'er couldn't help but smile. She knew they were using this method to reassure her, and a warm current always flowed through her heart.
After receiving their consent, the old man suggested Jin Bao'er go to the sect to collect her crystal stones for the past five years, to serve as her travel expenses after descending the mountain.
Those below the Golden Core stage, who had not yet achieved辟谷 (Bì gǔ - to abstain from grain/food), still needed to eat three meals a day, so money was essential.
Jin Bao'er nodded and went to the sect that afternoon. When she announced her name and peak, the disciple distributing crystal stones gave her a strange look before handing her a bag of low-grade stones.
Having experienced significant events, she knew the value of crystal stones. One hundred low-grade stones were equivalent to one mid-grade stone and also equaled a disciple's annual salary. Yet, she was only given this small amount for five years!
She harbored a subtle suspicion but showed nothing on her face. She didn't care for the crystal stones, but she wouldn't let others cheat her either.
"According to sect regulations, a Qi Refining stage cultivator receives an annual salary of one hundred low-grade crystal stones, and a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator receives one hundred and fifty low-grade crystal stones. I can forgo the rest, but the elder of the Law Enforcement Hall is quite friendly with me, and I imagine he'll be very curious about this matter!"
With that, she turned to leave, showing no intention of returning the stones. The disciple was startled. Before he could stop her, Jin Bao'er had already disappeared!
Realizing his mistake, he quickly took the crystal stones and chased after her to the Law Enforcement Hall, regretting his earlier dismissive behavior. He had thought the Jin Bao'er who had been in seclusion for five years wouldn't know anything, but it turned out she knew everything!
However, Jin Bao'er wasn't heading to the Law Enforcement Hall. She didn't have the time to cause a fuss over a few hundred low-grade crystal stones and went directly to the mission hall instead.
The Misty Sect's mission hall offered a wide variety of tasks, ranging from finding spirit herbs, demon beast cores, and hides to simpler chores like repairing doors, weeding, and feeding spirit pets.
Jin Bao'er had come to accept a mission to not only train her body, which had been inactive for five years, but also to consolidate her cultivation and receive generous rewards.
As she entered and was about to look for a mission, a disciple stopped her and whispered conspiratorially about knowing where to find Mu Ling Hua.
Mu Ling Hua! A top-tier spirit herb for repairing a damaged Golden Core, but it needed to be used with several other rare materials to be truly effective. It so happened that a cultivator whose Golden Core was damaged had all the other materials but was missing Mu Ling Hua, hence the mission.
However, cultivators with high cultivation lacked crystal stones, and low-level cultivators dared not risk their lives, so the mission remained unclaimed.
As a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, accepting this mission carried some risk. The disciple beside her, however, assumed she didn't understand the properties or risks of Mu Ling Hua and kept pushing it, making it sound very simple.
"Don't be afraid, junior sister. I've received reliable information that Mu Ling Hua is in Qian Bai Lin. I'm sure you'll find it once you go! If I weren't so lacking in offensive capabilities, I would have gone myself."
His words sounded plausible, but Jin Bao'er detected a plot.
"Oh? So you're sure I'm an offensive cultivator?"
The disciple faltered, his expression becoming somewhat unnatural. "Just guessing. After all, your demeanor suggests you're not a support-type cultivator."
Jin Bao'er looked up and saw the Golden Core stage mission listed on the board, an idea forming in her mind.
"Alright, I'll take this mission!"
With that, she unhesitatingly took the mission token and left under the disciple's delighted gaze.
She wasn't foolish. She recognized the malice in his eyes. In the Misty Sect, only Su Xianzhi, that daughter of fortune, could command such influence.
However... Qian Bai Lin, Mu Ling Hua did grow there!
The next day at noon, Jin Bao'er headed directly for Qian Bai Lin.
Three days later, a delicate youth in black male attire stood outside Qian Bai Lin, appearing travel-worn, clearly having just arrived.
As she prepared to enter, a demon beast roared and charged directly at her, filled with immense rage and killing intent!
The delicate youth quickly dodged, and at the same time, spotted a woman hiding behind a tree.
The demon beast seemed to realize it had charged the wrong person. Its nostrils flared slightly, and it quickly located its true target, charging furiously again. The red-clad girl behind the tree turned pale and hastily climbed a large tree. As the demon beast crashed into the tree, she leaped to the side of the delicate youth.
"Fellow Daoist, save me!"
With that, she hid directly behind the youth, unconcerned about whether he could defeat the demon beast.
Jin Bao'er frowned. She disliked strangers getting close, and seeing the fierce demon beast, she sensed the girl behind her intended to use her as a shield and escape on her own.
"What could make a demon beast so angry? Did you steal its cubs?"
Demon beasts, while not intelligent, were fiercely protective of their young. Otherwise, this woman must have killed its offspring.
Evidently, she was right. The red-clad woman's eyes darted away, clearly showing guilt.
"Fellow Daoist, if you help me deal with this demon beast, I can give you one of them!"
From her words, it seemed the red-clad woman had stolen more than one cub! No wonder the demon beast was so enraged.
"A half-step Golden Core Alchemy Beast. I can't defeat it!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Jin Bao'er charged directly towards Qian Bai Lin, showing no intention of helping.
The red-clad woman's body stiffened. Her spoiled face opened as if to say something, but she was immediately attacked by the approaching Alchemy Beast.
"Ah!!"
The screams from behind reached her ears, but Jin Bao'er remained unmoved. Stealing someone's child and then trying to kill them – such shameless cultivators. She wouldn't be an executioner!
Gazing at the boundless Qian Bai Lin, Jin Bao'er frowned. In her memory, Mu Ling Hua ripened around this time. The location... it seemed to be to the south!
The next second, a black figure vanished. Not long after, a woman in red also appeared, her gaze chillingly fixed in the direction Jin Bao'er had disappeared.
Recalling the desperate situation where she was forced to throw out a demon beast cub to escape, she gritted her teeth in hatred! That damned person, she swore she would make her regret it if she ever saw her again! She would let her know the might of a disciple of the Di Yun Sect!
Meanwhile, Jin Bao'er accelerated her pace. Even after using up her teleportation talismans, she still hadn't spotted the cliffs where Mu Ling Hua liked to grow, so she stopped to rest for a moment.
Just as she was contemplating if she had taken the wrong direction, a massive wild boar-like demon beast came charging towards her. In front of the beast, a young man with a panicked expression and panting heavily was desperately fleeing, his face extremely pale, clearly at the end of his endurance!
Having encountered the red-clad woman earlier, Jin Bao'er instinctively frowned. Another cultivator stealing a piglet?