Chapter 7: Mission Down the Mountain, Departing for Luoyang City

After leaving Feng Hua’s cave residence,

Gu Fan made his way back home while feeling emotional.

The ancients did not deceive him!

“A man cannot grow rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot grow fat without night grazing!”

Those words could not have been more true.

A newly inducted outer sect disciple only received one spirit stone per month.

Those above the fifth layer of Qi Gathering received two per month.

But Gu Fan had just made off with over eighty spirit stones in one sweep!

That was equivalent to several years’ worth of benefits for outer disciples!

However, there was still a problem at hand.

Originally, Gu Fan had not paid it much attention.

But today, judging from the reactions of the two people, he suddenly became alarmed.

Everyone knew he cultivated the Soul Devouring Technique; without living souls, it was simply impossible to condense a Soul Puppet.

Yet according to the sect’s records, he had never once gone down the mountain since joining!

So where had those living souls come from?

More importantly, the longer he stayed in the zombie world, the heavier the terrifying baleful aura on him became.

This aura was generated by his continuous slaughter of zombies and devouring of living souls.

That was something he simply could not explain away.

If the sect took notice and casually asked, the suspicious points would immediately surface.

No one within the sect had died, and he had never gone down the mountain to kill.

How could that be explained?

No…

He had to find a reason to go down the mountain!

Gu Fan quickly formulated a plan.

While few people had seen him yet, he had to act fast!

After pondering for a moment,

Gu Fan decided to head to the Mission Hall for a look.

He just needed to find a task that required going down the mountain, then wander around outside for a while.

Once he returned, the strength he now possessed could be explained logically.

As for whether anyone believed it—who would be so idle to doubt it?

With the plan set, Gu Fan picked up speed.

He headed straight toward the Mission Hall halfway up the mountain.

…

A short while later,

Gu Fan walked out of the Mission Hall with satisfaction.

After some searching, he had finally found a mission that required him to go down the mountain.

And it wasn’t even close by!

The mission was: Go to a small city called Luoyang City on the border of the Heavenly Evil Sect’s territory and investigate why the city had not submitted its immortal tribute or immortal seedlings for the past year!

Before accepting the task, Gu Fan had made some inquiries.

This Luoyang City sat at the border between the Heavenly Evil Sect and the Shangqing Sect.

One side was the leader of the Six Demonic Paths, the other was the head of the righteous sects.

However, the two great sects had coexisted peacefully for several centuries.

Luoyang City had likewise enjoyed nearly a hundred years of peace under such conditions.

Only in the past year had strange things begun to happen—the immortal tribute had not been paid, and not a single immortal seedling had been sent.

One must know that in previous years, they would have been eager to stuff even more immortal seedlings into the Heavenly Evil Sect to train.

Something so unusual must hide deeper troubles.

The Heavenly Evil Sect had therefore issued a mission hoping some disciple would investigate.

Unfortunately, the location was remote, the mission vague, and the rewards low.

Many stronger disciples were unwilling to go, while those weaker found the journey too dangerous.

Until now, when Gu Fan took it up—the mission had been posted for half a year already.

But Gu Fan liked it.

The remote distance meant it would be harder to verify anything later.

The unclear mission meant he only needed to show his face and slack off.

As long as he returned with enough justification, that would suffice.

Whether there were any rewards or not did not matter—it was not the main objective.

Gu Fan’s goal was to rationalize his own strength!

…

Outside the Heavenly Evil Sect’s mountain gate,

Gu Fan gazed at the endless green landscape below and the azure sky in the distance.

For a moment, a surge of ambition rose in his chest.

Having lived in this world for so many years, he had finally stepped onto the path of cultivation.

“From now on, the sea is wide for the fish to leap, the sky is high for the birds to fly!”

Gu Fan exclaimed with emotion.

He knew he was not a good man, and he was glad he wasn’t.

This world of cultivation was no better than the one in his previous life.

It was just another world where people devoured each other.

And if he was going to do it, then he would be the worst of the worst!

He would become the ultimate evil in this world!

Having thought all this through, Gu Fan felt an immense sense of relief.

He then quickly made his way toward the Immortal Boat registration office at the foot of the mountain.

Because this was an official sect mission, with the Heavenly Evil Sect’s mission token, he could ride the Immortal Boat for free to the nearest major city to Luoyang.

Otherwise, traveling entirely on foot would take at least a week.

…

Not long after Gu Fan left the sect,

Feng Hua, who had been gravely injured in his own cave residence, was discovered and rescued in time by his subordinates.

Afterward, someone extracted the full account of the incident from Feng Hua’s own words.

Then, this information was transmitted to the inner sect through a special method!

Within the Inner Sect’s core martial arena,

Qin Shaokong read the report in his hand with a sinister gaze.

Then he rubbed his fingers together—the paper strip instantly turned to dust.

“Outer sect disciple Gu Fan… A tiger that hasn’t roared in ages is now letting even monkeys call themselves kings!”

“Junior Brother Qin, what’s troubling you?”

A charming and alluring voice rang out, instantly sweeping away Qin Shaokong’s irritation.

“It’s nothing, Senior Sister Liu. Just some vermin affecting my mood. I’ll find time to crush it underfoot.”

The woman was born seductive. Though she wore a thin veil over her face, her eyes alone seemed capable of ensnaring one’s soul.

“So long as it’s nothing serious. Master has summoned us.”

“Alright!”

…

At the same time, in Luoyang City at the border of the Heavenly Evil Sect’s territory, within the City Lord’s Mansion, all the heads of the various local clans had gathered.

The City Lord, seated in the main position, spoke solemnly:

“We’ve received news that a disciple from the Heavenly Evil Sect is coming to investigate our Luoyang City. What are your thoughts?”

A man dressed in ornate ceremonial robes, somewhat plump in figure, scoffed disdainfully:

“Just a greenhorn. Probably only fifth-layer Qi Gathering at best. If he’s uncooperative, we’ll help him ascend to immortality!”

“Unwise!”

A wealthy-looking man on the other side retorted.

“Patriarch Ye, your words are mistaken! You must not let personal grudges jeopardize the bigger picture!”

The first speaker—Ye Yuan, Patriarch of the Ye family—let out a cold laugh and shot back,

“Then what does Patriarch Lin Yang of the Lin family suggest?”

Lin Yang pondered briefly before offering a suggestion:

“We are only half a year away from success. In my view, we should stabilize this disciple, deceive him a bit, and send him on his way.”

“Agreed. My Xiao family supports Patriarch Lin’s view. Now is not the time to stir up trouble. If we kill the disciple and the Heavenly Evil Sect sends an inner sect member, we’d lose everything!”

“Exactly. My Fang family also advises against taking risks. We’ve prepared for so long—we can’t ruin the City Lord’s great undertaking over a mere outer sect disciple.”

At this moment, the City Lord raised his hand to indicate he had something to say.

“That’s not quite right—this is not just for me alone. Once I succeed, you all will share in the blessings!”

Hearing this, the Fang family head immediately laughed and said:

“I misspoke. It’s all for the benefit of everyone in Luoyang City!”

His words drew hearty laughter from the gathered crowd.

After a moment, the City Lord slowly said,

“What all of you said makes sense, but indeed, we cannot allow trouble to arise right now. I suggest everyone do their best to cover up everything. When the Heavenly Evil Sect disciple arrives, we’ll welcome him together.”

“Do your utmost to satisfy him. So long as the requests don’t threaten our foundations, grant them all. Get him to leave as soon as possible!”

“As for you, Patriarch Ye, I understand your hatred toward the Heavenly Evil Sect’s disciples, but for now, we must prioritize the greater cause!”

With the City Lord’s words, none of the clan heads dared to object any further, and they all nodded in agreement.

“We shall obey City Lord Shi’s instructions!”

“In that case, everyone should return and make preparations.”

After the crowd dispersed, the City Lord, Shi Xuan, slowly walked to his back garden.

The ground here seemed to be covered with some kind of mystical material, etched with crisscrossing lines.

It looked very much like some kind of formation.

And at the convergence point of all the lines, there was a small pond only a few square meters in size.

Within it, a single purple lotus shimmered with radiant brilliance!

…

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