Nine Dragons Saint Ancestor

”Naive!”

Xue Gong always looked for opportunities to make Yun Xiao uncomfortable. Even though he knew what Yun Xiao said was reasonable, he still snorted coldly. This attitude made Mo Qing, who was nearby, reveal a hint of displeasure in her beautiful eyes.

”Elder Brother Xue Gong, since you know those people might cause trouble, we should be even more united. We can’t afford to have internal conflicts at this time!”

Mo Qing’s eyebrows slightly furrowed. She had been silent until now, believing that it was necessary for Yun Xiao to be aware of the dangers of the journey to be more cautious.

But she didn’t understand what was wrong with Xue Gong; he always sought trouble with Yun Xiao. Subconsciously feeling uneasy, she finally couldn’t help but speak up.

”Junior Sister, I just wanted to make Brother Yun Xiao realize that he shouldn’t be so naively confident. Don’t take it to heart!”

Xue Gong said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. In fact, due to Mo Qing’s words, a tinge of jealousy had arisen in his heart. Why should a newcomer receive such protection from Mo Qing?

Creak!

While the group was conversing, a small door on the eastern wall of the Task Hall was pushed open from the inside, and an elder in a dark green robe stepped out.

Apart from the new Inner Sect Disciples like Yun Xiao who found the elder unfamiliar, the others, including Xue Gong and Yue Qi, instantly recognized him.

”Elder Mo Li!”

Mo Qing spoke in a cool, low voice, seemingly introducing the elder’s identity to Yun Xiao beside her. The latter instantly understood and felt a chill in his heart.

In fact, Yun Xiao had heard the name Mo Li before and knew that he was one of the Three Elders of the Jade Pot Sect, second only to Fu Du in the Poison Vein sect, and also the controller of the Task Hall.

However, Yun Xiao seemed to see Fu Du’s shadow in these Poison Vein elders, and subconsciously felt a sense of revulsion.

Truth be told, although Yun Xiao was once the Long Xiao Battle God in his past life, he was not simply a Medical Pulse Master. He had his own set of complex principles, and was thoroughly familiar with many of the methods used by Poison Vein Masters.

It wasn’t that all Poison Vein Masters were bad people. The path of lethal poison, although perilous, was very effective when used to kill extremely vicious individuals, much more effective than what Medical Pulse Masters could achieve.

But since Yun Xiao’s rebirth, all the Poison Vein Masters he had encountered were either vicious old men like Fu Du or narrow-minded and hypocritical people like Bi Luo and Yin Huan. He concluded that, at least within the Jade Pot Sect, there were no good Poison Vein Masters.

Under the intense gaze of everyone, Elder Mo Li walked slowly to the very center of the Task Wall in the north and saw him pass his hand over his Waist Storage. A task token, about a few feet long, was then hung in the area dedicated to Spiritual Rank Intermediate tasks.

After completing these actions, Mo Li turned around and shouted, ”A new Spiritual Rank Intermediate task is available for interested disciples to undertake!”

As his words fell, Mo Li’s gaze swept across both sides of the Task Hall. As the Elder and controller of the Task Hall, he was aware that even the outstanding young generation of Inner Sect Disciples like Mo Qing and Yue Qi were there for a reason.

Naturally, they were there for the Spiritual Rank Intermediate task he had just issued. Mo Li believed that their corresponding elders must have informed them in advance, prompting these youngsters to wait here early.

However, as Mo Li’s gaze passed by Mo Qing, he paused for a moment at Yun Xiao, who had been taken as a direct disciple by the Sect Leader. This was his first time meeting him, and he couldn’t help but feel a surge of curiosity.

To Mo Li, a mere youngster who had just broken through to the Meridian Rushing Realm Early Stage was not particularly interesting. If it weren’t for the Sect Leader taking Yun Xiao as a disciple out of the blue, he probably wouldn’t have paid attention to such an ordinary youth.

After Mo Li finished his task, he did not continue to pay attention to these Inner Sect Disciples, nor did he care who would take on the Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure task.

As the Task Hall Controller, Mo Li issued many tasks every month. It was just that this task was more special, which is why he personally issued it.

As Mo Li came and went swiftly, the Task Hall suddenly became somewhat quiet. But the next moment, those Inner Sect Disciples who had originally been in the low-level Spiritual Rank area all surged towards the Spiritual Rank Intermediate area.

Although these Inner Sect Disciples, who were in the early and middle stages of the Meridian Rushing Realm, knew they couldn’t take a Spiritual Rank Intermediate task, the task that had drawn Mo Qing and Yue Qi was incredibly intriguing to them.

”SPIRITUAL RANK INTERMEDIATE TASK: Enter the soon-to-be-opened Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure, and retrieve any Spiritual Rank Intermediate object. Return it to the Task Hall to complete the task. Successful completion rewards 5000 points, and failure results in a deduction of 1000 points!”

A somewhat sonorous voice read out loud, allowing those disciples who couldn’t see the details from the outside to hear everything clearly. They all gasped in amazement.

”It’s actually a Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure task!”

Almost all Inner Sect Disciples are familiar with this term, because Meridian Treasure tasks occasionally appear among the lower-ranked Spiritual Rank missions, and some have been completed in the past.

To reach the Meridian Treasure task of Spiritual Rank Intermediate, the Meridian Treasure’s owner must be at least a Meridian Union Realm powerhouse, or it must have been left by a Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Refining Master.

The heavenly materials, earthly treasures, Meridian Techniques, and Cultivation Techniques inside, many of which are likely to be of Spiritual Rank Intermediate, are considered extremely precious within the entire Jade Pot Sect.

Looking at the reward of five thousand points for successful completion of the task, many swallowed hard, but they still retained a bit of their sanity, knowing such a task was not for early or middle-staged Meridian Rushing Realm disciples to accept.

Even some disciples in the late stages and peak of the Meridian Rushing Realm had to weigh their options carefully; should a fifth rank Vein Demon or some Spiritual Rank Intermediate mechanical arrays appear within the Meridian Treasure, they might well lose their lives there.

”What are you all crowding around here for? Make way immediately!”

Just as the crowd was discussing the newly posted Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure task, a sharp rebuke suddenly came from behind them, sending shivers through their hearts and they immediately cleared a pathway.

Turns out, the voice belonged to none other than Yue Qi, the top talent of the Poison Vein lineage, who came today specifically for the Meridian Treasure task. These ant-like individuals were blocking his way, causing his impatience to show.

It must be said that Yue Qi’s deterrent power was indeed formidable; those Inner Sect Disciples who were originally gathered in front of the Spiritual Rank Intermediate mission wall scattered in a hurry when they saw him approaching, retreating several meters away.

It seemed as if a strong, deadly poison emanated from around Yue Qi’s body, and nobody dared to touch it for fear that a careless offense would cause them significant trouble.

Yue Qi didn’t care about the feelings of these lower-ranked disciples. He walked forward with poise, pressed a button under the Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure task token.

Snap!

A small task token fell out, which Yue Qi grabbed in his hand and infused it with Meridian Qi, thus successfully accepting this Spiritual Rank Intermediate task.

This Spiritual Rank Intermediate task rewarded a whopping five thousand points, but should the task fail, over a thousand points would be deducted, almost equivalent to half the reward points of a low-ranked Spiritual Rank mission.

Therefore, aside from a few well-prepared individuals, the other talented Inner Sect disciples didn’t take on this task. The difficulty of completing a Spiritual Rank Intermediate task was too high, and the penalty for failure was enough to cause significant distress.

”Hehe, such a task, I, Bi Luo, certainly do not want to miss!”

Following Yue Qi, Bi Luo immediately stepped forward, infusing his task token with Meridian Qi, signifying the acceptance of his mission—now there was no turning back.

What was strange was, that following the acceptance of the Spiritual Rank Intermediate task by Yue Qi and Bi Luo due to their formidable strength, the next few faces to accept were a bit perplexing.

First was Yin Huan, who was only at the middle stage of the Meridian Rushing Realm; theoretically, with his strength, he was completely unqualified for a task of such caliber as Spiritual Rank Intermediate, yet without any hesitation, he infused his Meridian Qi into the token.

If one could deduce that Yin Huan had accepted the task with hopes of relying on Yue Qi and Bi Luo’s assistance, the next three figures were even more baffling.

Xuan Zhi, Zhao Ningshu, and Cao Luo, all of whom were at most at the peak of the Meridian Gathering Realm, actually accepted the Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure task, which was utterly incomprehensible.

However, for those like Yun Xiao with a clear mind, they could infer some possibilities from these individuals’ actions and couldn’t help but speculate.

Before, when Xue Gong threatened Yun Xiao, he had mentioned that the opening of this Spiritual Rank Intermediate Meridian Treasure was not only known to the Jade Pot Sect, but many families in the Xuanyue Empire were probably aware of it.

The treasures within the newly opened Meridian Treasure are ownerless, up for grabs by whoever can seize them—perhaps even the Xuanyue Imperial Family wouldn’t miss out on this opportunity.

Xuan Zhi came from the Xuanyue Imperial Family, Zhao Ningshu from the Zhao Family of Ningfeng City, and Cao Luo from the Cao Family of Luoxing City; although the latter two families weren’t as powerful as the Royal Family, they still had some heritage, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been qualified to join the Jade Pot Sect.

Perhaps these three had received news from their families, which was why they peculiarly accepted this Spiritual Rank Intermediate task; relying not on their own strength, but on the power behind them.

”It’s our turn now!”

Seeing that Yue Qi had glanced at them and then silently left the Task Hall, Mo Qing’s beautiful eyes sparkled, and she took the lead toward the wall of the Spiritual Rank Intermediate tasks.

Xue Gong, Chang Qing, and Yun Xiao quickly followed behind her, and when people saw these few, especially the young man in coarse clothing walking at the back, they felt an inexplicable sensation in their hearts.