Ten Thousand Years in Seclusion

The monthly stipend for an inner disciple was only thirty spirit stones. There was no way to pay off two hundred and fifty contribution points with that alone.

If one wanted to earn spirit stones or contribution points, there was only one way: take missions from the Mission Hall.

So Qi Tian went to the Mission Hall.

The Formation Hall was relatively laid-back, and Elder Li had yet to assign him any regular duties.

The Mission Hall was an open stone hall, more than ten times livelier than the Internal Affairs Hall.

The moment Qi Tian stepped inside, he was met by a cacophony of voices.

Huge mission boards stood throughout the hall, some against the walls, others arranged in rows through the center. Every board was covered with wooden plaques bearing mission details, packed so tightly together that barely any space remained between them.

Disciples streamed in and out without end. Some stopped before the mission boards, picking through the available tasks, while others lined up at the registration desk to sign up for missions.

The entire hall was noisy and bustling.

Qi Tian stood at the entrance, looking left and right. For a moment, he had no idea where to begin.

As he hesitated, a voice suddenly called out beside him.

"Eh? Senior Brother Qi? You’re here to take a mission too?"

Qi Tian turned his head.

It was an ordinary-looking young man with an inner disciple’s jade token hanging from his waist.

Qi Tian nodded.

"Yes. It’s my first time here. I’m not really familiar with how things work."

"Come on. I’ll show you around and explain the rules while I’m at it."

The disciple waved enthusiastically and headed into the hall.

"Oh, right. I’m Chen Er. Hope we can look out for each other from now on."

The two soon arrived before one of the mission boards.

A crowd was already packed around it, leaving barely enough room to squeeze through.

Chen Er raised his voice.

"Make way! Senior Brother Qi needs to take a mission!"

Most of the disciples gathered there were outer disciples. Seeing the inner disciple jade tokens hanging from the two men’s waists, they quickly stepped aside.

A few even forced out ingratiating smiles and called, "Greetings, Senior Brothers," clearly hoping to make a good impression.

The two stopped at the front.

Chen Er turned to Qi Tian and explained,

"Senior Brother Qi, the sect has a rule. Under normal circumstances, disciples who have been in the sect for less than a month aren’t allowed to leave the mountain. So for now, you can only take missions within the sect."

Qi Tian raised his head and scanned the mission board.

The wooden plaques listed the missions one after another.

"Clean the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion — one contribution point."

"Feed the spirit cranes for one month — two contribution points."

"Guard the spirit herb garden for three days — three contribution points."

He quickly scanned the list, his brows furrowing slightly.

The rewards for these chores were pitifully low. Even the highest-paying mission offered only five contribution points.

At this rate, it would take him until the end of time to pay off his debt.

"Is there really no way for me to take a mission that requires leaving the mountain?" Qi Tian asked.

"There is."

Chen Er blinked.

"As long as you team up with a senior disciple who has been in the sect for at least three years, you can take missions outside the mountain."

He paused, then looked at Qi Tian.

"How about it, Senior Brother Qi? Want to team up with me? I’ve been in the sect for five years."

Qi Tian thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure."

Chen Er immediately brightened.

He raised a hand and pointed to the left.

"That side has the outer disciples’ missions. They’re generally pretty easy."

Then he pointed in another direction.

"That side is for inner disciples. We can take missions from there."

Qi Tian followed his finger, then looked toward the deepest part of the hall.

The mission boards there were different.

They weren’t covered with wooden plaques, but jade plaques instead. And unlike the other areas, only a handful of disciples stood before them, scattered loosely across the space.

"What about over there?"

Chen Er followed his gaze.

His voice dropped.

"That’s the elite mission area. You need to be a personal disciple, or meet a specific cultivation requirement, to take those missions. We..."

"Let’s go take a look first."

"Sure."

Chen Er didn’t ask any further questions.

"If Senior Brother Qi wants to see them, then let’s go have a look."

The two of them walked up to the mission board.

A petite figure standing at the front heard the commotion and turned around.

"Eh? Junior Brother Qi, what brings you here?"

It was Zhuang Lili.

Qi Tian smiled.

"I blew up the Talisman Chamber. I don’t have the spirit stones to pay for it."

Then she slapped Qi Tian on the shoulder and threw her head back laughing.

"Good! Good! I didn’t think you’d be one of my kind!" She laughed so hard her eyes watered. "But—you’re way more ruthless than me. At least on my first day in the Formation Hall, I didn’t cause anything this big."

Qi Tian ignored her and looked up at the few mission jade plaques hanging at the very top of the board.

The highest-paying ones all required teams, without exception, and at least one ninth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator.

Zhuang Lili followed his gaze and waved a hand.

"Don’t bother with those. Look at this one."

She pointed to a jade plaque near the very bottom.

"This one can be taken by anyone at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation. But you need at least three people on the team. You two—want to team up with me?"

Qi Tian didn’t bother reading the details. He only glanced at the reward.

One hundred contribution points.

But split three ways...

Still far too little.

As he pondered, a Mission Hall disciple on duty hurried over, carrying a brand-new mission jade plaque. He hung it at the very top of the board.

"Oh?" Zhuang Lili’s eyes lit up. "A new mission."

Qi Tian looked up.

It was a commission from the Hundred Herbs Hall to the Falling Cloud Sect.

[Commission from the Hundred Herbs Hall]

[Spirit Herb Mountain lies in the far eastern reaches of the Qingming Mountain Range, approximately four hundred kilometers from Mount Qingyun. A Crimson-Scaled Beast, suspected to have recently broken through to the second rank, has appeared in the mountains. It has repeatedly attacked those who venture uphill, preventing the herb gatherers from collecting spirit herbs.]

[Mission Requirement: A team of at least four. A ninth-layer Qi Condensation disciple must lead the team.]

[Mission Reward: Five hundred contribution points.]

"This one..." Zhuang Lili clicked her tongue. "We can’t take it."

Qi Tian, however, kept his eyes on the "five hundred contribution points," wondering who he could ask for help—

"If you don’t mind, you can team up with me."

A voice came from behind them.

Qi Tian turned around.

The newcomer was Cai Zhenyu.

One of the top inner disciples who had always competed with Sima Feng for Tianyi, yet hadn’t dared to make a move against Qi Tian the night before.

Qi Tian had no idea what Cai Zhenyu was up to, but he didn’t give it a second thought.

Whatever his intentions were, they didn’t matter.

As long as they could take the mission.

Qi Tian smiled.

"Sure."

He paused, then added leisurely,

"But—I want two hundred and fifty contribution points from the reward."

He couldn’t be bothered to split it evenly with anyone.

One mission, and he could clear his debt in one go.

Much simpler.

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