Zhao Yunxiao left his residence with a heavy heart – his mood apparent to all from his footsteps that were just as heavy.
He did not walk far before stopping, lifting his head to look up at the beautiful night sky above.
All that excitement... all that preparation... only to once again end up with nothing to show for.
The countless stars twinkled brightly overhead, dazzling yet unreachable. From their lofty position high up above, they seemed to be looking down on the masses below – at the rocks on the ground that would have to struggle just to remain on the surface of the earth, fighting against their eventual fate of being buried deep underground by the passing of time.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao let out a deep sigh before continuing to walk into the night – towards the Outer Disciple Hall.
Now that his potential ticket to acquiring a faster cultivation rate had essentially been robbed from him, he decided that he might as well go take on a sect mission and leave Purple Plum Mountain for a breath of fresh air. Not only could it help take his mind off of things, but it would also help him earn back some of those precious sect points that he had squandered today!
At least, that was his initial intention... until he scanned through the list of available sect missions.
What he did not expect was to come across a mission that instantly drew his attention.
It was a newly posted mission to look into an allegedly cursed play. This play told the story of three friends who had stepped forward to confront a cruel and powerful demon. Though the trio succeeded in defeating the demon and saving the masses who had been terrorised for ages, the leader of the group ended up sacrificing himself in the process, becoming a martyr of their city.
According to the mission description, the actor who took the role of the martyr would always end up losing his mind after a while, causing him to hurt both himself and others. It was one thing for this to happen to one particular actor, but this exact same condition had already surfaced several times in the past, afflicting multiple actors in a row. This naturally led to the conclusion that the play itself was cursed.
With a single glance, Zhao Yunxiao could tell that either spirits or curses had to be the cause of the problem, which meant that this was essentially a sect mission for exorcism.
Zhao Yunxiao might not be able to call himself an expert in this field, but he did know a thing or two about it as well.
Of course, that alone was secondary. After all, there were other missions on the list that he had far greater confidence in completing.
What made this mission the most eye-catching to him was still its posted reward – a metal emerald!
Metal emerald and wood amethyst – those were the two remaining elemental gemstones that he needed to complete the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd. With the completion of that weapon, his combat capabilities would surely experience a significant boost!
It would appear that while the heavens might favour the chosen, it did not seek to completely crush all hopes of the commoners either. When one door closes, another will open!
Now, the question was whether he could truly handle this mission.
The good thing was that the mission had only just been posted, so most people had yet to come across it. But this also meant that if he hesitated too long, someone else might come along and claim it for themselves.
Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation, quickly recounting the various exorcism and soul-ferrying techniques in his arsenal.
Could he do this?
Well, there was no reason not to at least give it a try!
From the sound of it, there had not been a physical manifestation of any sort that could interact directly with the material world. This meant that, be it a spirit or a curse, it was likely to be of a lower level.
Take it!
Zhao Yunxiao quickly claimed the mission as his own before leaving the Outer Disciples Hall, heading straight back to the Outer Disciples' Quarters.
However, he did not immediately return to his residence. After all, he was not the only one who was feeling down at the moment, so he might as well bring his comrade-in-depression along with him for a breath of fresh air as well!
But on his way to Nie Hanchang's residence, Zhao Yunxiao suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Why only bring Nie Hanchang along?
With Lu Zhiying's monstrous talent in perception and adaptability, he should be exposing Lu Zhiying to all sorts of scenarios for her to grow to her greatest potential.
Similarly, his presence might have caused Gu Qiansi to rely too much on him, resulting in her slowly growing more anti-social. To alleviate this issue, he had to bring her out more instead of leaving her in her comfort zone within Purple Plum Mountain.
That's decided then. If the three of them were willing, he would bring them along for this mission!
Since that was the case, there was no need to visit them one by one tonight.
Zhao Yunxiao turned around and headed back to his residence, where he began to take stock of his inventory before popping a Winterwarmth Pill for his daily meditation.
***
"Senior Martial Brother Zhao! You finally appeared after being missing in action all day yesterday!" Lu Zhiying waved excitedly when she saw Zhao Yunxiao waiting beneath the Lightwind Pavilion.
Beside her, Gu Qiansi frowned suspiciously the moment she saw both Zhao Yunxiao and Nie Hanchang.
Seeing Zhao Yunxiao was not too surprising, but Nie Hanchang had a fixed schedule that he strictly adhered to. By this time of the day, he should already be done eating and in the midst of his hunts.
For the both of them to be waiting there in such a leisurely manner, there must be something going on!
"What do you mean missing? I was just in the library all day," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. "You should visit there more often as well!"
"Bleah!" Lu Zhiying stuck out her tongue in response.
"What's with that look? Did all your crops die or something?" Zhao Yunxiao remarked upon sensing Gu Qiansi's suspicious glance.
"My crops won't die even if yours do!" Gu Qiansi snapped back. "Out with it, what are you two up to this time?"
"Hmm?" Lu Zhiying looked curiously at Zhao Yunxiao. "Is there something wrong?"
"Of course, there's nothing wrong," Zhao Yunxiao smirked. "It's just that we are thinking of going on a sect mission tomorrow. Are you interested in joining us?"
"A sect mission?" Gu Qiansi raised an eyebrow. "What is the mission?"
"A sect mission!" Lu Zhiying's eyes lit up in excitement. "What is the mission!"
The exact same words came from the two of them, but the underlying tone differed completely.
Zhao Yunxiao patiently repeated what he had told Nie Hanchang about the mission just a bit earlier, and how it would likely involve either the exorcism of spirits or the removal of curses.
"Demonfall City is approximately two weeks away on horseback," Zhao Yunxiao explained. "This means that while the mission itself is unlikely to take long, the journey to and fro would still take a month in total. On top of that, I need the posted reward for this mission, so I would have to compensate you with sect points instead."
"A month is fine! We can just get the others to help take care of our garden plots!" Lu Zhiying suggested. "Let's join as well, Senior Martial Sister Gu!"
"This... all right," Gu Qiansi let out a helpless sigh. "But would it be dangerous?"
"Minimally so," Zhao Yunxiao answered. "Since there haven't been any records of materialisation for the spirit or curse, we can probably just deal with it directly instead of having to extract it from its medium first. I will confirm this before we head out tomorrow."
"...Wait, tomorrow?"
"Wait, tomorrow?!"
Again, there was a huge contrast in their tones.
"What's the hurry?" Gu Qiansi asked with a frown. "Why not take some time to prepare further? Are you that confident?"
"Tsk! Have you already forgotten what's happening next month?" Zhao Yunxiao clicked his tongue in frustration.
"What's going on? Why don't you just spit it out instead of beating about the bush?" Gu Qiansi rolled her eyes.
"Senior Martial Sister Mu's wedding," Nie Hanchang answered from the side. "She would be getting married in just over a month, and I would like to be back to attend in person if possible. My apologies for any inconvenience caused."
"O-Oh! Right..." Gu Qiansi's irritation was dispelled in an instant. "No, don't worry about it. Setting off tomorrow is good with me. I will hand over the tasks to the others later."
"Yay! We are going tomorrow then!" Lu Zhiying cheered. "But who is this Senior Martial Sister Mu?"
"Good, it's decided then. Let's meet at Clear Thoughts Pavilion early tomorrow morning!" Zhao Yunxiao quickly changed the topic. "If there's nothing else, I would be going to get the final preparations done!"
"Yes, we need to eat quickly and go get the handover completed too, Junior Martial Sister Lu," Gu Qiansi followed up immediately. "Otherwise, we might not make it in time to join them tomorrow."
"What? Okay, okay! I will eat fast!" Lu Zhiying nodded excitedly.
Nie Hanchang let out a wry smile, but did not say anything. How could he not see how carefully the duo was treading around him?
As embarrassed as he was about inconveniencing them, he was also thankful that they were being this conscious about his feelings. In the entire sect, they were probably the only ones who even cared.
While he believed that he had mostly gotten over the fact that his childhood crush Mu Manyu would be getting married, he did not see the point in telling the two of them that right now.
Even if he did say it, would these two believe him?
Rather than insisting that he was fine, he would just have to prove it through actions instead!
***
With the departure confirmed for the next morning, it was naturally going to be a busy day ahead for Zhao Yunxiao.
Fixing his equipment and replenishing his throwing daggers at the Forge.
Restocking on his pills, poisons and talismans at the Alchemy Chamber.
Checking in on his crops at his garden plot.
And finally, brushing up on his exorcism and soul-ferrying knowledge at the Sect Library.
If not for the fact that he could split the work with his earthen clone, it would be nigh impossible to complete all of that within the span of a single day. And even with that, the sky was already dark by the time he was done.
Zhao Yunxiao sat in his meditation room, his fingers lightly tracing the surface of the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd that was resting on his lap.
Of the five surfaces of the pentagon-shaped joint, three had already been inscribed with an archaic character.
[Explode]
[Disperse]
[Weight]
Now, only two surfaces remained for inscription. And if tomorrow's mission turned out successful, there would be only one left.
When he first forged the halberd according to Lou Yuan's blueprint, he had done so while fully accepting the fact that he would have to make do with just the fire ruby and water sapphire for a long while.
Who would have known that in that same year- no, not even that. In the span of three months, he would already have the opportunity to obtain the fourth elemental gemstone?
Once all five inscriptions had been made, he would finally be able to exhibit the true strength of the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd.
A weapon personally designed by a disciple of the famous Wushuang... just how strong would it be?
Excitement filled his heart as he looked forward to the arrival of such a day in the future. He just hoped that it would not take too many years until then!