Chapter 31: Chapter 30: Secret Realm and Quest

The three of them chatted as they walked, soon arriving at the courtyard where Niu Yuanshan lived.

After all those two rounds of drama, Chu Huaixu finally remembered that he and Han Shuangjiang had originally set off to buy groceries and cook, and they still hadn’t tasted anything hot.

—Since things have come to this, let’s eat first.

Upon hearing that the two were starving, Old Niu immediately ordered the servants in the courtyard to bring some food.

Through his recounting, Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang roughly pieced together the situation.

Liu Tianfeng came across the Pill King Token by chance, and for certain reasons, only three stewards in the Outer Sect know about it—Old Niu is one of them.

Back then, Liu Tianfeng spent a ton of effort to get that token, even asked Old Niu for help.

As the Outer Sect’s universally acknowledged nice guy, he gets asked for favors nonstop.

Generally speaking, most secret realms are in the Inner Sect; the Outer Sect doesn’t have many at all.

So, this Pill King Token is even more precious.

On the whole, the Daoist Sect’s attitude towards secret realms is simple: those with fate obtain them.

Because that was the Dao Ancestor’s original intention.

All the later seniors who imitated the Dao Ancestor followed the same principle.

Maybe, to them, that’s what makes a cultivator truly charismatic.

As for inner-sect strife, murder and treasure snatching, that’s simply not allowed—at least not openly!

Secret realms are the wishes left behind by the deceased.

You must have basic respect for them.

Of course, the Daoist Sect’s officials are happy to recycle treasures you obtain. If you get something in a secret realm, you can sell it for Sect Contribution Points.

Contribution Points can be exchanged for money, cultivation techniques, spirit pills…

Pretty much any resource for cultivation can be traded!

Chu Huaixu remembered from playing Borrowed Sword that among East Continent Mirror Country’s Four Great Sects, the Daoist Sect values fate most of all.

So, in players’ minds, this sect runs on luck—great for lottery winners, bad luckers can just log off.

After the meal, Niu Yuanshan said, “Ah, I forgot to mention—the Jade Token Fragment comes in ten pieces, so up to ten people can enter together.”

“The secret realm is deep inside a Cold Pool. Even with my cultivation, I can’t normally withstand that special coldness.”

“If you Acupoint Opening folks go in, you’re doomed for sure.”

“But in the past two months, the cold seems to have faded a lot.”

“So you’ve timed this right, and the gate to this inheritance secret realm might be about to open.”

Chu Huaixu nodded. “So that’s how it is.”

Niu Yuanshan looked off into the distance and chuckled, “Steward Liu cares deeply about this secret realm because his son, Liu Chengqi, possesses an Upper Grade Spiritual Embryo—a Blazing Fire Spiritual Embryo.”

“But due to an accident, the embryo was damaged, and his cultivation stalled out—never recovered.”

“This secret realm has something to do with the Pill King, so perhaps he hopes to find a method to heal the damaged embryo inside.”

Chu Huaixu, hearing this, remembered an Upper Grade Spirit Pill—the Profound Celestial Fetal Breath Pill.

Wanting to fish out more info, he played dumb: “Steward Niu, damaged spiritual embryos can actually be healed?”

Niu Yuanshan smiled gently, full of patience: “Of course, though it’s very difficult. Different problems call for different solutions—you have to find the right cure.”

“Steward Liu hasn’t found a proper way yet.”

“But, there is an Upper Grade Spirit Pill called the Profound Celestial Fetal Breath Pill, invented by the Pill King. Legend says, so long as the spiritual embryo isn’t totally destroyed, taking the pill can restore it completely.”

“If your innate embryo is just Lower Grade, taking this pill—there’s a high chance it’ll advance to a higher grade.”

“They say, after the Pill King invented this pill formula, he refined one for every official disciple.”

“If this deceased senior never took the pill while alive, nor sold it off, there’s a good chance it’s waiting in the secret realm for someone with fate.”

Chu Huaixu and Han Shuangjiang exchanged a look, now fully understanding why Liu Tianfeng was so heartbroken and Liu Chengqi so desperate earlier.

Niu Yuanshan seemed to want to give them a few pointers, so he switched to a kindly, guiding tone:

“Since we’re talking about the Profound Celestial Fetal Breath Pill, which can improve natural talent, allow me the privilege of an old man—let me say a couple words.”

“Let me ask you two: in your opinion, which is more important—talent or effort?”

Chu Huaixu didn’t answer his own belief directly, but said, “I’ve heard it said: ’Effort determines your floor; talent determines your ceiling. But most people never reach their ceiling.’”

Niu Yuanshan looked at the young man and smiled, “There’s some truth to that. But the cultivation realm is different.”

“Because here, talent—the so-called innate ability—can be changed.”

“It can be improved with spirit pills, with fate, with heaven’s blessings!”

“I haven’t tested your blood to examine your spiritual embryos, but seeing you both open two acupoints in such a short time, I suspect you’re both gifted.”

“If you were in some other sects, you’d probably be trained by the whole organization, straight to the top as direct disciples.”

“But when you got to the Daoist Sect, you had to start as registered disciples, no special treatment—do you feel a gap in your hearts?”

Han Shuangjiang shook her head at that—she’d never dwelled on stuff like that.

Chu Huaixu shook his head too—since she shook her head, damn it, he wasn’t about to nod.

Niu Yuanshan grinned, heart comforted. “If you don’t feel that gap, that’s good.”

“In East Continent, over a thousand years, sects rise and fall everywhere.”

“Only the Daoist Sect has stood firm for a millennium, still one of the most top-tier sects in the world.”

“Just think: in those thousand years, prodigies are as common as carp crossing the river—nothing special to the Daoist Sect.”

It’s like telling someone, you’re your city’s top scorer? A Tsinghua-Peking grad? Sorry, our company already has plenty of those.

“Besides, in my experience, flowers raised in a hothouse wilt more easily.”

“Many minor sects train their disciples with everything they’ve got, but their temperament is weak. They can’t grow up—go down the mountain for training and never return; falling into demonhood is all too common.”

“But some with excellent hearts, even if their talent is plain, just need a stroke of fate to ride the clouds—and their names might go down in history.” Old Niu sighed.

To Chu Huaixu, it’s kind of like some people graduate from top schools and achieve great things, but others rise up from nothing, catch a lucky break, and build a legacy.

How could anyone see life’s journey at a glance?

The Profound Yellow Realm has its own underdog genre!

Niu Yuanshan continued, “The Daoist Sect has a thousand years’ heritage, tons of resources—enough for the Sect Leader and elders to cultivate many people, even to reverse fate for them.”

“But first, you have to be able to clear layer after layer and stand in front of them.”

After all that buildup, he started hammering his point home.

“I know you two were brought up the mountain by Sixth Elder—no other Outer Sect disciples get that.”

“I don’t know what’s behind that, but—since Sixth Elder chose to start you out as registered disciples, that’s an attitude. I bet he wants you to train harder, and I hope you understand that.”

“At the same time, I hope you live up to the Elder’s expectations.”

At this, Steward Niu looked first at Han Shuangjiang.

This world’s main character—the one who got the big female protagonist script in Borrowed Sword—her gaze was gradually turning resolute.

Then, Niu Yuanshan turned to Chu Huaixu.

Chu Huaixu had been taking the day’s conversation as heartfelt advice from an elder.

But suddenly he caught on: “Old Niu’s actually undercover!”

As a member of the Moon Country organization, would he be genuinely wishing for talent to blossom in the Daoist Sect?

You thick-browed big-eyed bastard—you’re a double agent, aren’t you!

Chu Huaixu quickly realized, this was Niu Yuanshan, my superior in the organization, giving me a quest as a new recruit.

He’s hinting that I should climb up from registered disciple all the way into the Daoist Sect’s core circle!

“Old Niu, you really think highly of me,” he muttered inside.

But after thinking it over, Chu Huaixu said, “Let me express my loyalty: To me as a disciple, it was Sixth Elder and the Daoist Sect that gave me a chance to cultivate, so I’ll do my utmost and repay the sect!”

When that reached Niu Yuanshan’s ears, this “sensitive type” instantly picked out the special phrasing.

So, Chu Huaixu’s words auto-translated to something else in his head.

Old Niu smiled warmly at Chu Huaixu—he could tell this clever young man had gotten his hint.

They locked eyes, silently exchanging signals.

In the silence, it was as if two words thundered out!

—”Loyalty!”

Only Han Shuangjiang sat on the side, listening to Chu Huaixu mouth off, her soft lips under the veil twitching with mild exasperation.

Talkative bastard!

But neither Niu Yuanshan nor Han Shuangjiang noticed Chu Huaixu duck his head slightly, a flash of puzzlement in his eyes.

Having studied the task system, he realized that he and Old Niu, as NPC, had chatted enough to trigger the “infiltrate Daoist Sect core circle” organization quest.

Logically, the Organization-related side quest should have popped up 100%.

Yet oddly enough, the task system stayed totally silent!

…

(ps: Woke up from a nap and wondered—how the hell did I end up here? Turns out we shot up to 24th on the monthly ticket leaderboard…

We’re only at seventy-something thousand words! Makes me laugh when someone probably comes in, thinks it’s 700k, clicks, and finishes it all at once. You devils, hehehe!

Also, we’re almost single-day monthly ticket champs—just a few hundred votes off. Begging for tickets here, vote within seven days to join the raffle for 100 prizes of 5,000 Starting Point Coins each.

If we manage to take single-day champ with just 70k words… Hehehe, you devils, go vote!)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep