Big Bodhi

“Senior Brother Ji.” The sound of Xu Xiao's greeting sounded in his ears.

To Ji Yuenian's surprise, this person had been waiting outside the gate of the Eclipsed Moon Peak, and had never left.

“You need not be polite.” He waved his hand and led Xu Xiao towards the direction of the stone platform.

“Senior Brother Ji, how are your preparations for entering the sect mission going?” Xu Xiao thought for a moment and spoke.

Ji Yuenian's eyes moved slightly, knowing that Xu Xiao was referring to the sect tasks that each disciple must complete within the specified time limit after entering the sect.

Among them, there were two single-person tasks, which must be completed within a year after entering the sect; and one multi-person task, which must be completed within two years after entering the sect.

By his expression, Xu Xiao knew that he had not yet prepared for the sect mission, and said with a smile: “I have a long-held multi-person mission, and I’d like to dedicate it to Senior Brother Ji.”

Ji Yuenian glanced at him sideways and asked, “Where does this mission come from?”

“I took up this task half a year ago from the Hall of Sect Affairs. Someone had offered 60 primeval stones to buy it, but I did not transfer it.” Taking the jade talisman from his sleeves, he handed it over to Ji Yuenian, while saying, “There is still half a year before the mission task ends.”

Taking over the talisman, Ji Yuenian probed it with a trace of Xuan Qi, and dense fragments of information emerged from it.

The Taoist temple, located in the deepest part of the Luoxia Mountains, was built by scattered cultivators in the wilderness. Among them, there are four people in the upper Nascent Xuan Realm, nine people in the beginning Nascent Xuan Realm, and dozens of ordinary martial artists.

The Luoxia Mountains belong to the Taiyu Holy Sect, and any creature that occupies them for private purposes is guilty of a capital crime.

Now the Hall of Sect Affairs ordered the disciples to go to temple and kill all the living beings there. The reward was 100 primeval stones.”

There was a map of the Luoxia Mountains inside the jade talisman, and a small, imperceptible light dot was located deep inside the map, flashing unceasingly.

Xu Xiao stepped forward and explained, “Senior Brother Ji, this kind of task is the most popular. The Hall of Sect Affairs only needs to kill the creatures, and there are a lot of things that can be obtained from the extermination of a complete Taoist lineage. The amount of the value to be obtained is unimaginable.”

Handing the jade talisman back to him, Ji Yuenian asked: “It's been half a year since you accepted this task, why haven't you completed it yet?”

Xu Xiao said frankly: “When I was looking for a mission in the Hall of Sect Affairs, I came across this task and I directly took it. It has been up for sale for the past six months. If someone offers 70 primeval stones, I'd be willing to sell it.”

Although Ji Yuenian had never done any sect missions, he also knew that the scope of the Luoxia Mountains was not only the hundreds of peaks of the Outer sect but also a wider territory in the depths. This was where there were demon spirits and ghosts dwelling, and scattered cultivation clans. In some respects, these creatures had been completely reduced to the task targets of the disciples of the Taiyu Holy Sect.

As for the crime of “invading the Luoxia Mountains”, it was even more illusory. In contrast to the Luoxia Mountains, which were vast, the Outer sect only comprised of only about a few hundreds of peaks.

The disciples in charge of the Hall of Sect Affairs had long been instructed to adopt a non-involvement like attitude towards the spirits in the Luoxia Mountains. And from time to time, select a few well-developed forces to add them to the clan task to hone the disciples.

If it weren’t for the detailed map annotation in the mission jade slip, finding a Taoist temple in the vast Luoxia Mountains was much more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

This kind of mission was highly sought after and was instantly snatched up the disciples who had managed to first see it.

If there was no sect mission, no disciple could strike at the spirits in the depths of the Luoxia Mountains at will, and this was also an extremely important consideration for the Hall of Sect Affairs.

This also gave those demon spirits and ghosts, wilderness scattered cultivators, a lot of fortuitous luck.

After all, the Luoxia Mountains could be regarded as a complete and huge common Qi meridian. The establishment of Taoist temple here has the effect of strengthening Qi for the living beings on hundreds of peaks which were located at the head of the Qi veins. Having eaten the meat clean, they were satisfied with some soup in the distance.

While talking, the two of them arrived at the court stone platform.

“Junior Brother Ji, this ‘Qingluan’ is really grumpy.” Pointing to the Luan bird that neighed lowly beside him Jiao Xiu Yu said, “Just now a disciple passed by, and he was almost caught up in its mouth.”

Ji Yuenian frowned slightly, looked at the Luan bird beside Jiao Xiutyu, who tilted its head and looked elsewhere. Then he took out the sapphire talisman and moved it a little closer to the bird, and it gradually became quiet.

“I was negligent about this matter,” Ji Yuenian's feet were filled with Yin Qi, and he stepped on Qingluan's back. “This jade talisman can't be too far from this Luan bird, otherwise there is a risk of losing control over it.”

Jiao Xiuyu nodded, “Then I'll retire to the courtyard first.”

“As you deem fit.”

The wings of Qingluan unfurled, as it flapped its wings the fierce wind howled and in an instant, it fled miles away from Eclipsed Moon Peak.

Ji Yuenian stood quietly on Qingluan's back. His black robes fluttered against the wind, while he stared at the majestic Luoxia Mountains between the clouds and mist. There were a few azure stars in his eyes.

Xing Yuan Peak

A lot of disciples could be seen outside the Astral Academy, all of whom wanted to meet Ji Yuenian.

The fact that Ji Yuenian served as a General Disciple of Xing Yuan Peak had long been passed down. The authority of the General Disciple was extremely powerful, and there was no shortage of temptations, so a lot of people followed suit.

“Brother Ji is back!”

“Brother Ji!”

An enormous shadow was cast. Qingluan slowly landed outside the Xing Yuan Courtyard. There was a faint icy blue halo covering the Luan bird, which was extremely beautiful.

“Is this blue-feathered Luan bird Senior brother Ji’s bird? It’s really of a supreme quality.”

“As soon as he entered the sect, he possesses a spiritual bird of True Dao Realm. Senior Brother Ji is indeed rich!”

“What do you know? This is reward from the sect, senior brother didn’t spend primeval stones to buy it.”

Standing on Qingluan's back, Ji Yuenian listened to the noisy discussions of disciples outside the Astral Academy, his brows furrowed slightly.

At a glance he could see, the disciples standing outside all had either Grade 7 or Grade 6 Heart Fire Sequence, and there were few with good qualifications.

Before he could open his mouth, Zhan Ming's voice came from afar: “Don't make noise here! In the future, those who come to the Astral Academy and cause a disturbance will be punished with two primeval stones.”

As soon as this statement came out, those disciples exploded in an instant, and many of them knew Zhan Ming, and one after another they began to refute: “Zhan Ming, you are a disciple of the Scattered Star Court (San Xing Ting), what does the matter of Forgotten Star Court (Wang Xing Ting) have to do with you?”

“A mere monster, why don't you hurry and get lost?”

“We’re here to see Senior Brother Ji, not you, so it’s none of your business.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hearing their voice Zhan Ming's complexion changed slightly, and he used his demon power in the upper realm of the Nascent Xuan Realm, and said loudly: “I am now a Deputy General by Senior Brother Ji's side. If there are people who don’t abide the rules, you can try facing the consequences!”

Hearing the word ‘Deputy General’, the riotous bunch quieted down a lot, but there was still doubt in their eyes.

Ji Yueniaodded and said softly from Qingluan's back: “Forgotten Star Court’s Lu Mingxi and Scattered Star Court’s Zhan Ming, these two are my Deputy Generals, and I give them the authority befitting a General Disciple.”

“What!?”

“Zhan Ming, this fellow … When did he climb up to Senior Brother Ji!”

Seeing the situation was not right, the two most ruthless disciples who had been clamoring paled, and they wanted to leave Xing Yuan Peak.

“Stop.” Seeing the moment Zhan Ming stepped forward to stop the two disciples, “Just now you said that I am a ‘merely monster’? And you …’?”

“Senior Brother Zhan, I didn't say that. It really wasn't me.” The disciple no longer had the arrogance of the past and anxiously explained.

The other disciple also went pale, unable to utter a single word.

Before, they dared to yell at Zhan Ming because he was just an ordinary disciple of the Scattered Star Court, and on top of that, he was a monster, so he couldn't do anything to them at all.

But now, with Ji Yuenian’s acknowledgement, Zhan Ming's status has changed a lot in an instant. It was very simple to toss two ordinary disciples who held no positions.

A cold light flashed across Zhan Ming's eyes, and he looked around among the disciples, and said, “If you wait for your first offense, you will not be held accountable. But these two have disturbed Senior Brother Ji's practice and disturbed the residence of the General Disciple, which is a heinous crime!”

“Brother Zhan! Please be more lenient!”

“Senior Brother Zhan, please don't demote me to a handyman disciple!”

The two directly knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.

The most awe-inspiring authority of the General Disciples was that they could directly relegate the Outer Sect Disciples to the handyman disciples!

Although this punishment was extremely severe for the Outer Sect disciples, it was extremely effective in facilitating the General Disciples to manage the mountain peaks.

Once the General Disciple has convicted a disciple of the Outer Sect Disciple, they would be reviewed by the peak master. If the review was passed, then the disciple would lose his status as an Outer Sect Disciple and became a lowly handyman disciple!

Ji Yuenian was at the Xing Yuan Peak now. If Zhan Ming used his name to demote these two to handyman disciples, there was no reason for Xing Yuan Peak's main hall to fail the review!

Zhan Ming looked at the two playfully, and said, “22 primeval stones per person, to atone for the guilt.”

Hearing this, one of them was very happy and directly pulled out a storage bag, and took out all the primeval stone in it and handed it to him. “Senior Brother Zhan.”

After handing 22 stones he only has 3 left. Apparently, the twenty-three primveal stones in the storage bag were the treasures he had saved for an unknown period of time.

The other disciple was a little unlucky and pleaded, “Senior Brother Zhan, I only have twelve primeval stones now, can I give you the remaining eight primeval stones in a year.”

Even though Zhan Ming was talking to the two, he had been paying attention to the expressions of the other disciples, seeing that the eyes of many of them have changed and knowing that the heat was almost over, he nodded and said: “Forget it, you two are also first offenders, so I will let you go once, so go down.”

“Yes, Senior Brother Zhan!”

By now, the disciples standing outside the Astral Academy didn’t dare stay any longer, after greeting Ji Yuenian, they left one after another.

Zhan Ming took out an empty storage bag, put the thirty-two primeval stones in it, hurried up to him, and handed it over: “Senior Brother Ji.”

Instead of picking up Ji Yuenian directly opened the formation of the Astral Academy and said, “Come in and talk.”

Zhan Ming followed him to the second floor and the two took their seats on the Star Gazing Jade Mat.

“Senior Brother Ji, is this appropriate?" Zhan Ming's expression was a little apprehensive.

Ji Yuenian was noncommittal and said, “Since you and Lu Ming are Deputy Generals, you have all the authority of a General Disciple. So you can make your own decision when you encounter something, you don't need to report everything to me.”

Zhan Ming nodded, secretly pondering the meaning of Ji Yuenian's words.

“Junior Brother Zhan, if I’m not mistaken, you must have the bloodline of a black-patterend demon tiger, right?”

Ji Yuenian's words fell on to his ears.