Chapter 133 – Mission Quite Possible

Zhao Ren’s first real task for the Azure Mountains Sect was a testament to excessive caution. On the third day of visiting the Resource Hall for a suitable mission, Ren encountered a newly posted task. And knowing just how rare it was for a task to be so suited to him, Ren had leapt to accept it before anybody else. It was only afterwards that it sank in just what a troublesome burden he had foisted on himself. A mission to slay an early stage core formation spirit plant, more commonly called a Plant Tyrant.

As a late stage foundation establishment realm cultivator, he knew just how difficult a task he had accepted. Defeating foes of a higher realm was no simple undertaking. It was a qualitative leap in strength to cross an intermediary stage much less an entire realm. But he felt in his bones that it was a task not beyond his means. Thus the excessive precautions.

Ren reluctantly parted with some of his hard-earned wealth to rent an alchemy station. His lessons had imparted to him just how crucial it was to have a suitable cauldron, a flame-controlling array, and security against explosions from failures in pill formation. It was well worth the cost he paid to create the best herbicidal pill he could, following a common recipe but modifying it for more potent ingredients. Without the rental stations stabilizing arrays, he doubted he could have paired the competing elements of death and fire.

His recent practical experiences had taught him just because the essences he extracted from ingredients conflicted didn't necessarily mean he was without recourse. He carefully laid his qi as a barrier, wrapping the two core essences until he needed them to mingle, with the in-built arrays inside the alchemy cauldron assisting him in his endeavor. The unparalleled rush of pleasure he felt at successfully forming the pill with just his second set of ingredients reminded him yet again why he persevered at a profession he wasn’t particularly talented in. Sometimes, the sheer outcome was worth all the effort he put into it.

With his other precautions in place, Ren embarked on the mission. It took him two days, even on the second fastest mode of his flying sword, to reach the glade of flowers. The tree-sized flower in the middle of the glade starkly stood out. He landed at a distance and kept out of the Plant Tyrant’s range of sensing. He took his time observing and formulating a suitable course of action. In the end, the amount of time he spent studying that species of Plant Tyrant and its habits was well worth it.

With a hand on his chin, Ren organized his thoughts. “It disguised itself as a regular Brilliant Frost Camellia until it broke through. The outer sect members that tend and harvest from this field were deceived for years. But now that it’s revealed itself, it has lost its greatest advantage. Now my main concern is to eliminate it without ruining the surrounding field of flowers.”

Instead of rushing in headfirst, he took an entire day to map out the buried roots of the Plant Tyrant. He waited with a hunter’s patience until noon the next day, when the ice attribute plant was at its weakest before making his move. To minimize collateral damage, Ren intended to overwhelm the Plant Tyrant with one tightly ordered sequence.

A quick and relentless bombardment played to his strengths. With his opening move, tens of his bamboo sword array were embedded deep into the ground, pinning the largest roots. The shock and pain roused the spirit plant as the flower head furled open, exposing toothy green fangs at its center. Ren had been waiting for just that opening, and the herbicidal pill he had prepared was hurled down its maw.

The ground started to churn as its roots tried to rip themselves free from the swords, but the flame attribute poison coating them delayed their reaction. Naturally, Ren had used the leftover time in his rented alchemy station to make a rudimentary elemental poison. It was enough, as the herbicidal pill soon began to take effect. The death attribute countered the abundant vitality that most Plant Tyrants possessed, and the fire qi burned it from within, preventing it from absorbing the surrounding flowers in a desperate defense.

Ren placed the plant core onto the desk as proof of successfully accomplishing his task. He might have been flush from his victory, but to the attendant sitting behind that desk, it was nothing special, as he perfunctorily checked the core and Ren’s identity token before marking it complete. And just like that, Ren suddenly possessed 10 contribution points. Valued at 1000 low-grade spirit stones for each point, Ren found it incredible that a single mission had earned him the equivalent of 100 mid-grade spirit stones.

All the herbs he grew over months on his abode and the array repair work he performed within the sect while he studied together barely compared. Granted, he had slain an early core formation entity, a remarkably dangerous venture, but it still put into perspective just how slowly he had been crawling forward in safety when the alternative rewarded him so thoroughly.

He had to stop and remind himself not to act hastily. He could already envision his next few heart cultivation sessions and the visions of temptations that the burning of the demonic thumb's cast-offs would surely grant him. Those visions would surely tempt him to take on more risky missions, with the delectable bait of quick and impressive rewards.

Braced though he was for it, Ren still found it taxing to endure the visions of riches and effortless victories. It was only after reminding himself of the time and effort he put into it that he could withstand the temptations. The cost of the recipe and ingredients of the herbicidal pill, the renting of the alchemy station, and the time spent studying, travelling, and hunting formed the basis of his success and not some casual and coincidental victory.

His heart cultivation kept progressing swiftly with each vision he withstood. He had already reached the 1st step, Cresent of Longing, and was moving quickly to the next step, Split Shadows of Desires. Moreover, the violet qi that remained from the immolation of the red threads inside his dantian sank into the walls, incrementally increasing his potential.

“Potential… Why do I find myself lingering on this subject so often?” Ren asked himself rhetorically as he concluded his meditation.

Ren had started to make a name for himself in certain circles of the outer sect but more importantly, among his own classmates from the various lessons he attended. Word had gotten around that not only did he dabble in multiple professions but also that he wasn’t incompetent at them. A few disciples had already started to reach out and ask for his advice, reminding him of his past as a popular senior brother.

Ren struggled so because he wanted to resume his practice of creating karmic connections with others. The only snag was the concept of potential. The Azure Mountains had some obscure method to calculate the potential of a disciple. How far one could walk on the path of cultivation was not a mystery, and only a rare and implausible occurrence could change one’s fate significantly enough.

Though he didn’t want to believe that one’s fate was all that permanent, he couldn't refute their millennia of records. Now, before he formed a connection with anyone, Ren wondered if he was tying himself down with a rock rather than someone who could lift him higher. No one advertised their results, but his classmates ultimately all belonged to the outer sect while he was in the inner sect. It was an unfortunate reality that Ren didn’t want to face or at the very least use as the basis to decide who he had fate with.

After months of struggling with this line of thought, Ren followed his heart in the end. He was not one to rebel for the sake of it, but recent visions tempting him to abandon good people while trying to force connections with heaven’s chosen had made him distraught. In this particular case, Ren didn’t want to be that kind of person who weighed others as an advantage or disadvantage before interacting with them.

“I’m about to reach the peak of the foundation establishment realm any day now. My next great hurdle will be breaking through and forming a core. Under no circumstance can I begin that step while harboring any heart demons.” This conclusion had taken many months to form, but once Ren made his decision, he felt unburdened.

With two weeks remaining until the four-month date, Ren stumbled into another mission. He didn’t usually enter the discipline hall, but an odd series of events led him there one morning. A small array repair task he had accepted for an acquaintance led him to subdue a culprit who had intentionally sabotaged it. When he brought the scoundrel to the Discipline Hall to seek justice, he happened to glance at their local mission board.

It was commonly known that they often posted such lesser missions for disciples to accept while reserving more essential tasks for those that had proved their ability in the past. Ren didn’t hastily accept this time and made inquiries first.

Apparently, the task was set by an outer sect elder, but their status meant that disciples didn’t want to risk offending them by failing at the unusual task. Thus, the task had been avoided until the elder escalated the priority and increased the offered reward. And now no one wanted to take it because more established disciples might desire it. As luck would have it, Ren was an inner sect disciple and thus immune from such complications to an extent.

Beyond the promised rewards, there was one particular aspect of the mission that had caught his attention. There had been a series of murders in the red light district, but the victims ostensibly had no connections. From working ladies to local residents, their faces commonly had similar twisted expressions of fear, and their bodies were unnaturally cold, even those found in the daytime. The addendum at the end of the mission listing stated that the culprit was likely a demonic cultivator or a ghost.

The naturally high prevalence of yin qi present in those districts made it likely that it truly was a ghost. And if it was indeed a ghost, then it was the perfect opportunity for Ren to test his recent theory.

Despite a frisson of fear running down his spine, Ren was resolved. ‘I need to understand why my instincts so strongly wanted to erase those ghosts from the Forbidden Region. If ghosts really are bound to this plane by karmic entanglements, then I am sure to learn something useful!’