Luochen peek into the mission hall. It is the busiest place as usual. Disciples going to see what’s available on the missions. The risks, the merit points, rewards and how much share they get from their mission. He scans one more time, Tianjiao is not here. Good. He waltzes in like he owns the place. Though no disciples take note of his appearance as he made himself invisible to cultivators below his stage. He checks the mission board. As usual, the green missions, the easiest ones, are stacked. No one wants to take them as not only the mission is boring but also the reward is small. Mostly its mundane stuff like escorting mortal royals through territory bordering spiritual beast lands, guarding spirit chicken farms, and so on.

  The yellow mission is the most popular, it gives a balanced amount of risk, reward, and share of the mission. Most are given by the sect to go to hunt for resources, spiritual beast parts, spirit herbs, guarding spirit stone mines. Though there are few others like dealing with some problem in the mortal side of things like dealing with a curse on the land, helping to cull spiritual beasts if they migrate too close to mortal lands, and something along the line. The former usually means mundane drought and a disciple can just fetch a talisman to call rain and that’s it though there’s also a chance it is due to spiritual beast doing or rogue cultivator shenanigans.

  “There’s no red mission.” Tianjiao suddenly appears behind him

  And indeed there’s no red missions. Those are quite rare and also the hardest. The mission usually entails exploring some hidden ruins found or dealing with a group of rogue cultivators. The former have been getting scarce over the last century as the surrounding sects go wild in looking at them to make up for the loss in the war. While the latter usually means more risk than reward. It is quite rare for rogue cultivators to have more than inner disciples of a good sect but if they form a group even they can become quite the menace. Rarely it also entails in getting rid of spiritual beast kings, those spirit beasts that have achieved Golden Core and can assume human form. Which made them more dangerous than ever as they are naturally more powerful than human cultivators of the same level but now also can use human cultivator’s techniques.

  “Why would I be looking for that?” Luochen feigning ignorance

  “There haven't been any red missions in the last three decades.” Tianjiao doesn’t entertain Luochen’s ignorance as he leads him inside

  “You still an elder here?” Luochen follows

  “And the Grand Library, Training Hall, and Treasury hall. One more century and maybe I will get a vacation.” Tianjiao feel pleased, the time where he take the responsibility of seven elder positions felt like a long time ago

  “Hah! You wish! The sect leader will find you something else to do or make up some more elder position to keep you.” Luochen sat on the guest seat first

  “And whose fault is that? A certain lunatic killed nine of their elders.” Tianjiao complaints

  Luochen just shrugs. It’s not like he keeps track of who he has killed during the war.

  “No wait, you are not the elder of Enforcement Hall anymore?” Luochen ask as he continue to read the mission board, looking for something he can throw to Danxing

  “Nope. Chizheng vied for his eldest disciple to take that position. But then your Hanhua killed his eldest disciple so now it's Duànhún’s granddaughter that takes the place. (斷魂|Severing Souls)” Tianjiao pulls out his snacks, there shouldn’t be anything that requires his direct attention at the moment

  “Haha!” Luochen then closed his mouth with his hand. Tianjiao glares at him from the side. He is now a changed man. He shouldn’t be this happy. But Chizheng did grate his patience to the point no one had ever gone before. To the point it is Hanhua that snapped first, challenged Chizheng’s eldest disciple and killed him in the arena.

  “Speaking of Chizheng, Danxing mauled him when he went overboard with his divine sense.” Luochen start bragging

  “Heh! If he’s not so petty and obsessed then he might be a Nascent Soul already and should be the next sect leader.” Tianjiao did not sugarcoat his words. Chizheng has the determination and talent to reach Nascent Soul and overcome the extreme heavenly tribulation for attempting to break through to that stage in a mortal realm. If only he can overcome his trauma. He gave the one sitting beside him a side eye, eating his snacks and bragging about his new adoptive son. Once Tianjiao was sent to deal with Luochen and the outcome cannot be determined. But then the war ends and Luochen just throws his sword away, switching careers to be a healer in which he sucks.

  “You haven’t told him?” Luochen knows what Tianjiao meant

  “No, I don’t want him to get big headed.”

  “Just pick the hardest yellow mission and throw your son at it.”

  But then an inner disciple passes by. Carrying a tray of red token and a new mission briefing to be put at the mission board. Immediately Luochen glides there and picks up everything. Tianjiao was late by half a second but he managed to grip his robe before he could get away.

  “Put that thing down!” Tianjiao tugs and pulls Luochen back. A red mission in after three decades usually means disaster and he need to check it first

  “Just be a bum and do nothing like you usually do!” Luochen tugs his robe back but is unable to do so, so he removes his outer robe. But Tianjiao managed to grip his shoulder.

  The inner disciple meanwhile can only watch in horror as two of the most powerful elders in the sect acting like a bunch of children and pulling at each other. Quietly he walks away. A mere accidental bump can kill him. Tianjiao manages to grab the mission brief but it is immediately torn in two, the other half in Luochen’s hand. At this point, none of the two do anything to hide their presence and can be seen clearly by the rest of the disciples present. Luochen moves to the side, Tianjiao follows. A hand whistled so fast to get the other half of the paper but slapped away. Creating a shockwave that throws Qi Refining disciple dozens meters away. This continues for a while. The inner disciples, as usual, are betting on who gets the other half of the paper.

  “Ehem.” The sect leader appear and clears his throat

  Immediately the two stopped. Sensing opportunity, both moves for the last time. Another tie. Finally both decided to put a stop to it. Coughing and clearing throats to save face. But then the group of inner disciples boo at them.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Get out of here!” Tianjiao kicked them out of the mission hall, “Bunch of lazy hooligans.”

  With the sect leader watching, Luochen and Tianjiao reluctantly put the two pieces together to read the brief. It reads:

  ‘The skull headed demonic deer is still not found. It is at least ten Chi tall (3.3 meter), with jet black fur and mane. Everything above the neck is only just a skull with demonic purple eyes. The last report of an attack on a rural village claims the demonic deer is now standing with the chance that it is slowly forming its Golden Core.’

  The first half is a report from other cultivators accepting the mission to hunt the demonic deer down. Tianjiao gives Luochen a side eye. Now knowing where he picked up Danxing. Luochen ignores him to read the second half.

  ‘Calamity is upon us! After the death of the West General, the entire population of our border province is gone. Then another province last week. I, the King of Jin, humbly beseech the immortals to send help for us to weather this calamity.’

  The second half is much shorter and has no detail. The usual plea for help from mortals that don't know what they are dealing with. Tianjiao let go of his half of the brief and Luochen took it.

  “You sure he should be taking this?” Tianjiao just asks, already knowing the answer

  “Of course. This is also his chance to resolve the karma of making his current body.” Luochen said and left

  “Luochen.” The sect master called and he stopped

  “There’s one thing I need your help with.”

  —

  Exiting the Education Hall, I am now face to face with a group of 5 outer disciples. The freaky haughty rich girl and the red haired girl are also here. The other three are boys, not the ones that I can recognize in a glance. Certainly not the one that sat at the edge of the class looking outside either. That was a prime main character material from what I read in japanese comics.

  “What is this?” I just ask

  “Aren’t senior… looking for servants?” One scrawny boy answer

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I take it, the five of you are applying?” To which he nods

  I fold my hand and rest my chin on my hand. I never thought I would be the one interviewing people but here I am.

  “Well, I just need two. So let’s start one by one.” Immediately one of the boys zoomed forward and kowtow in one motion

  “Senior! I have known of your greatness before but even I don’t know you are of Xuan family! I am hardworking and—” He do head bowing and everything

  “Eh no.” I interrupt

  First of all, the thing about recognizing my greatness or whatever is a lie. He has a way with flattery but it means he is a good bootlicker. Which also means he is manipulative and usually blames others for stuff. Most of the time anyway but I don’t care to see it otherwise. He gapes as I interrupt him, my hand gestures to him to move away before I rest my chin again. Immediately his emotional halo turns black in hate as he collects himself and leaves. Ah well, whatever.

  “Next.” The next boy pushes through the scrawny one

  “Greetings Senior! I am Xiān Wúchén (仙無塵|Immortal Dustless) and I believe I am the most suited to be your servant.” The one named Wuchen introduces himself confidently

  “How so?”

  “I am the fifth prince of Xian. While I may be lacking in terms of cultivation, I can teach you the culture, customs, and everything else regarding this world. As you say, you are not from this world. I am willing to do the labor expected of outer disciples.” He then adds

  Oh FUCK! He’s a fucking prince! I dunno where this Xian is but it would be like some prince from Rome arriving and willing to be my servant. There is no lie, either. But then there’s the problem if he’s a fucking diva. Let’s keep this one on maybe.

  “Let me hear the rest first.” To which he cup his head, bowed and make way for the rest

  The scrawny boy wants to move first but the haughty girl cuts in first. To be honest, I did not like her at all. She gives me the vibes of those women that like monster fucker porn novels. And good God they are a menace in the university. Once my friend who wanted to write a crime novel had a female friend who wrote a novel too. They both swapped drafts and let’s just say that he reads something very inappropriate. Many many inappropriate things in fact.

  “Greetings senior. I am Qīng Jiànwēi (卿劍薇|Noble Sword Violet). I also believe that I will be the best suited to be your servant too. After all, who’s better to follow someone from the great Xuan and Xian royal family than this noble self.” She goes on an on, about her noble pedigree, and I don’t follow anymore

  I know for a damn sure that she is a fucking diva. I looked at Wuchen, who slightly raised his eyebrow in judgement.

  “Pass.”

  “What?! Why!?” She demands answer

  “I think we won’t be very much compatible. Also, stop with all these pedigree talk. Don’t demean yourself.” To this, her halo flared in anger as she stomped away

  Guess she never got a refusal before. Then I look at Wuchen.

  “You won’t be like that if I refuse you right?” His anger flared but calmed down immediately, offended by my question

  “Of course not. Though I will harbor doubt of your sane judgement.” Again, no lie

  “That’s good then. Next.” Finally the scrawny boy gets his turn

  “Greetings senior,” Already his earlier confidence is gone. “I am MèngYǔ (孟雨|Eldest Rain) because I am the eldest and I was born when there’s rain. But my parents usually call me A’Meng. I might not be as amazing as the others, but I am willing to work more to compensate for my lack of value.”

  “But here you are. What made you want to be my servant?”

  “I uh— I saw that writing utensil you make. I mean, I am the son of a blacksmith and I always like making things. It writes so easily and-and…” And he bit his tongue, he immediately looks down, face all red

  Well, other than his nervousness, he is a keeper for sure. I might task Wuchen to mentor his confidence should I take both of them.

  “I see. Move over there, let’s hear the last one.” A’meng immediately move to the side

  Finally it's the red haired girl's turn. Between the five outer disciples, she is the oldest one. She steps forward but somehow hesitant. Different from where she express how the others are not supposed to mock me.

  “Greetings senior.” A brief pause,

  “My name is Sū Xiàlán (蘇夏嵐|Revive Summer Mist).” This is a lie

  The most bitter lie I ever tasted in my mouth. I look up and gag immediately. Fuck! What the fuck! Alright, something’s very wrong here.

  “I know I am late in my cultivation journey. But I am willing to be your servant and do all the expected labor.” She gave the most plain answer

  Alright. I will skip her. I don’t know why she needs to lie about her name. But that ain’t my problem and I don’t want it to be my problem. I noticed Wuchen’s emotion flaring a bit. Did he notice something?

  ‘Notice something?’ I ask Wuchen through telepathy

  ‘It's her name. But I don’t know for certain. Maybe it’s nothing.’ Wuchen also notices something wrong with her name but don’t know for certain

  Yea, I will skip her. But then another telepathy linked to me

  ‘Boy. keep the red haired girl as your servant.’ Came the old man’s voice

  ‘Why though?’

  ‘It's a favor for someone.’

  ‘I only have room for two servants.’

  Then there’s a brief pause.

  ‘You have room for three now.’

  He just told Senior Sister Zhaoxia to raise the mountain to make space again, didn't he.

  ‘Alright, fine. Do I get an explanation or what?’

  But then the telepathy link is immediately cut. Come on man, what’s with all the secrets? I already said yes to the old man so I get what I get.

  “Alright, the three of you are in. Come with me.”