Chapter 606: First Mission
Hui Yue reached the Mission Tower and noticed that it was very crowded. There were people everywhere, and many were grouped together with four or five as they talked with one another.
The Mission Tower had not yet opened, so everyone was standing outside. Some had travel-worn clothes, and Hui Yue assumed these were the experts that had been out of the sect to do missions and had just come back. Other cultivators had clean, tidy clothes, and they were clearly here to choose a mission.
There were always countless missions on the mission board, and new missions would be arranged every day.
Some were simple missions like killing criminals in the Celestial Sword Sect World while others were to kill the enemies of the sect throughout the universe. Some missions were to look for cultivators who had gone missing, and some were to explore newly discovered places and realms. There were even missions to transport materials from the sect to faraway destinations. Some missions were about gathering information while others were about gathering materials.
Apart from the missions made by the sect, there were also missions submitted by members of the Celestial Sword Sect. These missions mainly consisted of creating pills, formations, or inscriptions in return for contribution points, but since other members had posted the missions the rewards were smaller than the ones from the sect.
There were even some missions which were requested every day, and they were bothersome things like picking herbs from herb gardens and other cumbersome tasks.
Hui Yue had a fairly good idea about which missions were available as he had visited the Mission Tower before and he had the memories of his previous life. He knew that there was especially one mission he had to have.
This mission was not so much about doing anything special for the sect, all it required was to defeat a member of the inner sect guard.
The inner sect guard were guards who patrolled the inner sect and ensured that no one broke sect rules. They were also the ones who kept an eye out for people fighting outside the training grounds or in any way caused disturbances.
A branch of these guards were stationed at the arena, and one could request them as sparring partners. Not many did so as they were truly terrifying opponents, but once a week it was possible to take a mission to defeat them.
Every week a lot of experts from within the sect would try their luck, yet only around twenty percent would win.
To become part of the inner sect guard, one needed to be an Immortal of Creation, and although the job did not sound very interesting, every guard was rewarded with a specific amount of contribution points daily. The benefits of being a guard were so outstanding that almost any Immortal of Creation wished to sign up for the position.
Unlike the outside guards, they were not changed once every hundred years, but instead once every ten years. One could not serve as a guard for more than ten years in a row, and those who had never been guards before had priority to become guards when the next batch of guards were chosen.
Coincidentally, the guards had changed just this year, and Hui Yue was confident that if he challenged one of the weakest experts, he would be able to defeat him.
"In the fight for contribution points, I will hold nothing back!" Hui Yue mumbled to himself. He was filled with confidence as he thought about how he had the benefits of the bloodline pressure of the Vermilion Bird alongside Lan Feng's three merged fire daos and the many other techniques and skills that he controlled.
Waiting for the doors to open, Hui Yue felt his fighting spirit rise. Today a whole bunch of experts would challenge the guards, but the only ones who were serious in their attempts were other Immortals of Creation. That a Primordial Immortal challenged them and won was simply something that did not happen.
Although one was not allowed to kill within the sect, everyone knew that accidents could happen, even more so if the strength of the two cultivators was vastly different. If death was not the result, severe injuries were something they saw all too often.
The Mission Tower finally opened as they had finished listing all the missions for the day, and everyone started to enter the building with their friends and comrades.
There were a total of ten counters inside. Five counters for those that came to turn in their missions and five for those that came to accept missions.
Hui Yue was in no rush to enter. He waited until the majority had entered the tower before he followed suit, and he stood politely in line like all the others.
Everyone had noticed him long ago, and many snuck glances at him trying to get a better understanding of him, but no matter how much they looked at him they were unable to discover anything special.
Everyone was curious about what kind of mission he was here to accept. No one was stupid. They all knew that the sect elders were currently split into two groups: those that approved of him and those that wanted him dead.
If he were to leave the sect, it was very likely that he would encounter some hidden danger and end up dying in a supposed accident. Obviously, this would be a great shame for those that had placed their hopes on the shoulders of this young man. Therefore, it was apparent to all that he would not be leaving the sect anytime soon.
The safer mission he could take were ones that had to do with crafting, forging, or creating things alongside the most boring and menial missions like doing chores for others within the sect. No one ever dreamed that Hui Yue might accept the mission to challenge an Immortal of Creation; he was after all a Primordial Immortal!
Hui Yue did not care about what others were thinking about him, and he sighed deeply as he waited for it to be his turn. He knew that his every move would be observed regardless of what he did, and he also knew that many greatly wanted to challenge him. Since this was the case, he had to show off at least some of his abilities to let them all understand that he was not just some pretty boy who had appeared out of nowhere. He needed to show them that the reason he had been allowed to live was that he was a true monster.
Many of those who had already accepted missions, or had already handed in their missions, stayed within the Mission Tower looking over descriptions of some of the missions up for grabs. This was not because they actually wanted to accept another one, nor was it because they were truly interested in them, no, the reason they stayed behind was that they wished to see what this new genius would choose.
Hui Yue knew what their agendas were, but did not care. The more fame he got from this fight, the better. He had to prove his strength to arouse some fighting will within the stronger experts and use their pressure to enhance his own growth. Not only that, but he also needed to establish his name within the sect as something more than the man who had just become the Second Judge of Hell.
Although being the Second Judge of Hell was in no way a bad title, it meant little in the Celestial Sword Sect. It was not his personal strength that was currently respected, but rather Diyu which he represented.
Hui Yue was not happy with this. He wanted to be respected because of his strength, and because of this, he decided to take on the mission to challenge an inner sect guard. He would prove to them all that he had what it took to stun the entire sect. He would do the impossible and beat an Immortal of Creation while only being a Primordial Immortal.
To do so, he would use almost all the abilities and techniques at his disposal. Although he was willing to go all out, he was not willing to use the power that he had as a Crowned Sovereign. Using that power would directly wound the world he had sworn to protect, and for something as simple as a challenge, it would be going way too far. If it were a true life and death battle, then it would have been different.
"What mission do you want?" The clerk asked sourly. It was clear that she was in a bad mood today, but as for why Hui Yue had no idea and he did not ask.
"I want to challenge the inner sect guard," he said calmly as he looked at the woman behind the counter, and as he stared at her, she looked back at him as if he were an idiot.
"You are not an Immortal of Creation yet," she said as if that was all there was to the discussion, but Hui Yue just shrugged his shoulders and placed his emblem on the counter.
"I know," he said casually as he looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at him with great interest. Some had a fire blazing in their eyes with a fighting spirit similar to Hui Yue's own, while others were looking at him with pity. Some had expressions of schadenfreude while others were curious as to where he got his courage from.
"I want the mission. I don't believe you have any reason to refuse me access to this mission," Hui Yue repeated, this time his voice was a little more firm than it had been before, and the woman jolted a little before she gave Hui Yue a long glance. After a second, she accepted the emblem and placed it on top of a book.
A golden light shone as the emblem copied the content of the book and she gave it back to Hui Yue.
"Your sect emblem has recorded the name and rank of every single member of the inner sect guard. The moment you beat one of them in a duel, it will be registered. Afterwards, you can come back and pick up your contribution points, should you win," the woman said unenthusiastically. Her voice was dry, and her eyes said that she did not believe that it was even a remote possibility. It was clear that she expected Hui Yue would not be able to win. However, the rules stated that she had to tell him these things and thus she did.
"Thank you very much," Hui Yue said politely as he accepted the token back and turned to leave.
Suddenly, as everyone realized he actually obtained the mission, a jolt ran through the Mission Tower and everyone inside. Whether they had already been at counters or not everyone started moving, and they followed right behind Hui Yue as he made his way towards the arena.
Many of the people around him had already chosen this mission as well, but no one seemed to be willing to step forward and be the first person to challenge a guard. Everyone patiently waited behind Hui Yue, curious to see if he would even be able to hold his own for three exchanges.
If he could hold on for three exchanges, wouldn’t that not already be quite the display of power? Everyone knew he was, after all, a Primordial Immortal, and that he was going up against an Immortal of Creation... Actually winning was simply an impossibility.
Hui Yue understood that he was not going to be able to see the other people fighting the guards, and thus be able to choose one of the weaker ones, so instead, he used his soulforce and used it to look at the guards in front of him.
Three of them had just reached the Immortal of Creation rank within the last year whereas the others had been at this rank for quite some time.
When digging deeper into the aura of these three new Immortals of Creation, Hui Yue found that all of them were proficient in the minor daos of the wind. One had a sharp, penetrating air to him and it was clear that he focused on using windblades to attack. Another had a feeling of speed to him, and it was clear he focused on agility while the last one had a volatile and chaotic aura around him. It was clear that this cultivator was specialized in the dao of the tornado or other destructive wind types.
Hui Yue had decided whom to fight.