Edited by Ea

Qi Feiqing’s knees were soft and he was about to kneel again, but his elbow was firmly held up by a strong force. There were stars in front of his eyes, but he could still see Qi Ruwang’s handsome face. He couldn’t wait to faint immediately.

Gu Ruyu secretly propped up his forehead and felt that Yan Tianhen was really a loyal friend.

Qi Feiqing said emotionally, “Dage, listen to me. It’s not what you think.”

Qi Ruwang turned to take Qi Feiqing’s collar and was too lazy to listen to his nonsense. He turned to Lin Xuanzhi. “Huarong Sword Immortal, you should go back and think about today’s matters first. I still have some things to deal with, so I will go ahead for the time being.”

Lin Xuanzhi smiled subtly and said, “Your brother is also naive, but he shares similar interests with Ah Hen. After all, he is a member of our sect, so there is a need to save some face. Please be merciful to him.”

Qi Ruwang said faintly, “Don’t worry, I always hit people without hitting their faces. I won’t make things difficult for Huarong Sword Immortal.”

With that, Qi Ruwang was like carrying a chicken as he took Qi Feiqing, who even forgot to ask for help, to leave here. Gu Ruyu couldn’t help but sweat for his good friend.

Looking at the side, Yan Tianhen obediently let Lin Xuanzhi wipe his face and even asked softly, “Dage, is Feiqing going to be spanked?”

Lin Xuanzhi wiped his face, looked at his flushed appearance, and felt his heart moved. He resisted the urge to kiss him on the lips and smiled. “Probably, who let him drink so much wine?”

Yan Tianhen coquettishly encircled Lin Xuanzhi’s neck and didn’t let him leave straight away. “I drank too. Dage won’t spank me, will he?”

Lin Xuanzhi picked him up and whispered a few words into his ear with a smile.

Yan Tianhen immediately buried his face in Lin Xuanzhi’s neck and said, “I can’t wait. This is no punishment. If you don’t touch me and ignore me, that would be the real torture for me.”

Lin Xuanzhi laughed.

Ever since he found Yan Tianhen, he had always been laughing.

And he was laughing sincerely too, just like the spring breeze blowing over the withered grass and turning it green, a summer cicada broke through its shell and was reborn.

Fortunately, Lin Xuanzhi was a very decent person. Knowing that the occasion was not right, he didn’t say anything stimulating. Instead, he said to Gu Ruyu, “Although there is no restriction on travel these days, try not to travel at night and return to the sect as soon as possible.”

Gu Ruyu nodded, gave a bow, and said, “Huarong Sword Immortal, don’t worry. I will go back once I’ve sobered up.”

Lin Xuanzhi nodded slightly. He put his robe on Yan Tianhen’s body, held him and left the restaurant. He zoomed away on his sword and soon disappeared. Gu Ruyu, at this time, suddenly understood a sentence — there was no harm if there was no contrast.

There were some things which couldn’t be concealed or faked. Gazes, expressions, and subtle actions were all evidence to show the truth.

Gu Ruyu really wanted to ask, Can you swear to protect him all his life, regardless of the overturning of the world and the vicissitudes of life? However, he couldn’t ask, and he knew that there were many things in this world that words couldn’t guarantee.

Just as he had promised his mother that he would take care of his younger brother, he still lost his family’s Ah Ning somewhere.

Gu Ruyu hit the willow tree beside him with one punch.

“Young Master Gu, why abuse a willow tree?” A somewhat teasing voice came not far away.

When Gu Ruyu turned around, he saw Yin Nian squatting on an eave not far away. “I can’t believe that a heavy-eyed guy like you would vent on a dumb willow tree. Are you not afraid of being laughed at?”

Yin Nian held a puppet doll with a slightly ugly appearance, though the entire appearance was somewhat cute.

Gu Ruyu didn’t want to pay attention to him, but he didn’t know why he responded, “What are you doing so high up?”

Yin Nian said with a smile, “Climbing up can help you look far.”

Gu Ruyu asked, “What do you want to see?”

Yin Nian stood up and looked into the distance. “Watching other people’s love affairs. Did Huarong Sword Immortal just leave with Little Prince Yan in his arms? Oh right, don’t tell me that you got angry and hit an innocent tree because you saw the scene just now?”

Gu Ruyu had no fluctuations in his heart, saying, “You think too much, and you are more exposed. Are you going to continue to squat on the wall to see the scenery, or are you going back?”

“Neither.” Yin Nian jumped down and landed beside Gu Ruyu. He jutted his chin toward the strip of road behind him. “Someone asked me for a duel. Unfortunately, this young master always advocates for peace and doesn’t like fighting. So I’ll have to ask you to solve it for me.”

Gu Ruyu saw Gu Ning, who was carrying a sword, walking slowly towards them.

Because Gu Ning saw Gu Ruyu and Yin Nian standing together, his footsteps subconsciously slowed slightly, and then he stepped up and stood beside Gu Ruyu.

“Dage.” Gu Ning lowered his head, hiding his gaze.

Gu Ruyu asked, “What are you doing here?”

Gu Ning looked at Yin Nian quickly, saying, “He asked me to meet here tonight, saying there was something he wanted to tell me.”

Yin Nian was stunned. He raised his brows and said, “Hey, how can you be a dirty liar? Clearly, you asked me to come here to fight. How come it became me asking you to come here?”

Gu Ning’s eyes flashed and sank for a moment. He immediately looked at Gu Ruyu and said, “Dage, I really didn’t know.”

Gu Ruyu looked at the two of them who were pushing the blame on each other. He felt somewhat impatient. “You guys can talk slowly, I’ll go back first.”

“Dage!” Gu Ning grabbed Gu Ruyu’s sleeve. “I will go back with big brother.”

Gu Ruyu took a look at him and saw Gu Ning’s white face. There were three-tenths consideration, three-tenths flattery, three-tenths uneasiness, and the remaining one-tenth was longing.

What was he longing for?

Gu Ruyu didn’t know, and he wouldn’t waste his energy to explore it. He just suddenly felt that the image of the little beggar he had brought home in his arms vaguely overlapped with the man in front of him.

“If you have nothing to do, then let’s go together,” Gu Ruyu said.

He was not Gu Feiyang; Gu Ruyu would not treat Gu Ning mercilessly just because he was not his real brother. Gu Ning’s eyes narrowed happily and, without looking at Yin Nian, he followed as Gu Ruyu walked away. Yin Nian touched his chin and smiled with unknown meaning.

***********

Five days later, the assessment of the new disciples came to an end.

The two disciples who took the Dao Division’s exam as alchemists both passed the examination, and they could officially go to Beauty Hall to accept missions.

Beauty Hall was the place in Myriad Dao Academy where missions were specially assigned. Twenty-four pillars stood inside, on which all kinds of tasks were written in golden symbols, from simple to difficult, and missions with all kinds of difficulty levels were available.

Among them, half of them were evil spirit arrays.

There were many people who chose evil spirit arrays. When the new disciples were allowed to step into this hall for the first time, they were naturally excited, and everything they saw was very novel.

“In the back, only those who have reached a certain level of cultivation can see the golden words on it.” Steward Ruan took East Courtyard’s disciples around and explained, “Most of them are on the last eight pillars. In this academy, only the disciples who have reached Profound Realm’s Return Origin Stage can see it. If you want to pick them, you can let the disciples at Return Origin Stage take you with them, or go with the teachers.”

The disciples made a sound of understanding.

“Some of the missions ahead can be completed by many people, some by multiple teams, some with long time limits, and some with short time limits. In terms of rewards, those who finish the mission first will naturally get the most contribution points and rewards.” Steward Ruan very patiently explained.

Yan Tianhen flipped through the pamphlet and summed up some important information.

First, missions were hung on different pillars according to their difficulty level, and different missions had different requirements for cultivation level. However, when accepting a mission, the pillar would only identify the cultivation realm of the person taking the mission.

In short, as long as the person who led the mission was qualified in terms of cultivation, other people would never be kicked out by the mission pillar, even if they were courting death.

Second, these missions had limits on the number of people and teams. There were three, five, seven, and nine people missions. The rule was that the more people you needed, the more difficult the mission would be. Of course, the mission pillar did not force each team to reach the maximum member limit. It was also possible for the strong to do the mission alone.

However, the mission pillar had requirements for the cultivation paths. For example, most missions required that at least one alchemist or array master be brought with them. On the one hand, this was to protect the Dao Division disciples and help them when they encounter difficulties. On the other hand, it was also to force the Alchemy Division’s disciples to go out for training.

Many alchemy disciples liked to make pills in a comfortable alchemy room without contact with the outside world, feeling it was safe.

However, a truly excellent alchemist must be able to refine pills steadily on the battlefield where the blood was flowing and horses were neighing.

Third, different levels of missions gave different stars.

The so-called star was a sign of recording the completion progress of missions. More stars meant that the person had completed many missions or difficult missions. The academy required its disciples to complete at least one hundred stars every three years, otherwise they would be deprived of the right to accept missions.

Yan Tianhen looked at the number of stars in various missions, and couldn’t help but whisper, “The simplest task will take at least three days to complete, yet it only gives half a star. It doesn’t seem worthwhile.”

Gu Ruyu said, “So the academy is encouraging its disciples to choose difficult missions as much as possible to complete. You can see that the mission of finding a Hundred Sacred Gardenia is 50 stars.”

Yan Tianhen interrupted, “This is for sure. The Hundred Sacred Gardenia grows alone in the Huitian Valley in the South Land. I don’t know how many poisonous insects are in Huitian Valley. If you want to find the Hundred Sacred Gardenia, it would take half a year. Maybe it will cost half your life.”

Gu Ruyu smiled. “This is the original intention of the sect. When cultivating immortality and the Dao, if you are only content with your present and don’t push yourself, it is equivalent to abandoning your path. Even if your cultivation is high, it still won’t help.”

Yan Tianhen felt that what he said was very reasonable, so he turned to look for missions related to the Northeast Land.

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