Chapter 37: Daily Tasks

Brother Ji Deng was far less enthusiastic than Brother Chen Taizhen. Ye Rong guessed it was because the other was the first disciple of Uncle Zhu Mei. It seemed the relationship between the two branches of Qingcheng was truly not very harmonious.

Since he had already become a disciple under Demon-Subduing True Lord Jiang Shu, at this time, he could only hope that this master was powerful enough and wouldn’t be outshone by Short Elder Zhu Mei.

There was a stone slab about ten feet large, with lines of tiny script indicating the daily tasks available for the day.

When Ye Rong touched a line, the specific task requirements would appear. Roughly, they were divided into two main categories: slaying demons and collecting materials. The former offered money rewards, while the latter increased Sect Contribution.

This was the treatment for Formal Disciples. If a Registered Disciple came to receive daily tasks, Ji Deng would simply throw a task at them, with no room for discussion.

Below the stone slab, there were a few daily tasks in a grayed-out state that couldn’t be taken. These required a certain amount of Sect Contribution. Ye Rong glanced at the task rewards; they were all extremely tempting items.

Among the available tasks, he chose one within his capabilities: kill eighty-eight Yellow Weasel Spirits, reward ten taels of patterned silver.

Ye Rong left White Cloud Temple and flew towards the outer area of Endless Forest Sea. While in the air, he remembered he hadn’t checked what grade the clothing and equipment on him were after the update.

All his clothing equipment—Blue Field Pearl, Crescent Necklace, Five Feather Brocade Robe—were all Third Rank. The rest were Second Rank; there wasn’t a single Fourth Rank item.

Flying Swords and Magic Treasures were only divided into nine ranks. Swords like Zijing and Qingsuo were considered beyond the standard ranks. Clothing equipment was divided into twelve grades, which showed how worthless low-grade clothing equipment was.

A Fifth or Sixth Rank daoist robe was less attractive and couldn’t fetch a higher price than a Third-Rank Flying Sword.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Rong placed Qingcheng Sword Art in the cultivation Dao Scrolls slot and set the experience distribution ratio to 60:40.

Neither Qingcheng Qi Refining Method nor Qingcheng Sword Art counted as profound Dao Scrolls in Far Shore; they were even inferior to the Chongxu True Scripture Ye Rong had obtained himself.

Regardless of the fact that Chongxu True Scripture required ten times the cultivation experience and an unknown amount of time to master, as a sect player, the level of cultivation in sect Dao Scrolls was also a very important assessment metric and couldn’t be neglected.

Take for example the two most legendary flying swords in Qingcheng Sect—Tiandu and Minghe—which were the personal swords of the two Supreme Elders Tiandu and Minghe. The prerequisite for equipping them was to have both Qingcheng Qi Refining Method and Qingcheng Sword Art fully mastered.

It was said that these two flying swords could be bestowed upon players after meeting several requirements. Although that day was far off, at least it gave people something to look forward to. Otherwise, the prestigious Qingcheng Sect would be embarrassed if it didn’t even have a single beyond-standard-rank flying sword.

Just like Emei’s twin swords Zijing and Qingsuo, trying to snatch such beyond-standard-rank treasures from their original owners was no less difficult than directly defeating a Level 200 Legendary Grade boss.

Since Qingcheng Sword Art didn’t require much experience anyway and could reach the first level soon, Ye Rong decided to cultivate it to at least the fifth or sixth level first. If the effects were poor, he could switch to other Dao Scrolls later.

The Yellow Weasel Spirit was one of the monsters in the outer area of Endless Forest Sea, Level 20, skilled in Earth Escape and Stinky Smoke Cloud.

Ye Rong descended his Sword Light from afar, holding Taixuan Ice Soul Sword in hand. Along the way, he encountered insects like earth beetles and locusts, which he killed with his sword.

These insects dropped materials like wings and insect carapaces. Ye Rong had seen tasks requiring these materials in the daily tasks, but they always needed hundreds of them.

Moreover, once he picked up these materials, his 20-slot Universe Pouch was immediately full, making him wish even more for a larger capacity Universe Pouch.

Currently, the largest known Universe Pouch had a capacity of 120 slots. That player only posted a screenshot of the Universe Pouch on the Forum without giving details about the task he completed.

Even though Ye Rong was envious, he couldn’t follow the same path.

“Darn it, this is real money!”

Ye Rong could only discard two types of materials that seemed less valuable, feeling extremely pained. Throwing these away was like throwing away his living expenses.

“Huh, so this is the Yellow Weasel Spirit. It looks quite cute.”

Just as Ye Rong was lamenting, he saw a monster squatting on a small mound ahead, covered in yellow fur with a round head and body. It was his task target, the Level 20 Yellow Weasel Spirit.

Pfft!

A grayish-yellow cloud of smoke shot out from the Yellow Weasel Spirit’s tail, forming a stinky odor that spread out.

Even though Ye Rong reacted quickly and held his breath, a nauseating stench still unavoidably entered his olfactory system. The Yellow Weasel Spirit actually had such a realistic spell designed for it, and the Stinky Smoke Cloud was deliberately made like biochemical poison gas, making Ye Rong want to curse the game designers in his heart.

“But it would be funny if a player could actually learn this spell. In battle, just let out a loud puff, injuring the enemy invisibly!”

Amid the grayish-yellow smoke, a cold Sword Light still pressed forward, but when the sword came down, it went ‘clang,’ hitting something hard.

“Crap! It’s Earth Escape!”

As the Stinky Smoke Cloud dissipated, only a few light yellow hairs of the Yellow Weasel Spirit remained on the ground, silently mocking.

The Yellow Weasel Spirit’s entire strength lay in these two spells: one to disgust and block vision, the other to escape underground. Combined, they made it very annoying for low-level players to deal with, often spending a lot of effort without killing a single Yellow Weasel Spirit.

Ye Rong knew the ten taels of patterned silver weren’t easy to obtain, so he didn’t get discouraged and kept trying. After smelling the biochemical poison gas many times, the damaging effect lessened a lot; he could endure it by bearing with it.

After several observations, Ye Rong finally figured out the trick to Earth Escape. Before using it, the Yellow Weasel Spirit’s body would flash with a yellowish light several times before it could burrow underground.

This process took about one to one and a half seconds. As long as he could attack the Yellow Weasel Spirit during this process, its Earth Escape would naturally stop.

Once he found the trick, dealing with Yellow Weasel Spirits became very simple. He swiftly moved through the Stinky Smoke Cloud, his Sword Light swirling to interrupt the Earth Escape, and then he could torment it as he pleased. This Level 20 monster was ridiculously weak. With Ye Rong deploying Qingcheng Sword Art, it couldn’t even get close to his body.

The Sword Light was clear and cold. After learning Qingcheng Sword Art, Ye Rong consciously incorporated its sword techniques into his own movements, making them smoother, more efficient, and more lethal.

After practicing Emei’s Purple Mansion Elixir Book technique, there was always a faint purple glow around him when using the flying sword. When he switched to Qingcheng Qi Refining Method, it became a touch of green light. As the technique level deepened, it would have unexpected power.

Ye Rong happily killed Yellow Weasel Spirits in this forest, completely unaware that players in the sect were fiercely arguing because of him, causing quite a stir.