Chapter 61: Level 8 of the Qi-Refining Stage

“Does Jinyan Sect have lot of subordinate forces?” asked Ye Shang.

“Well, there are more than a dozen first-level forces and more than 30 second-level forces. The rest are some mediocre ones, but no one can underestimate them. They even got the second and third place last time, hence their forces only need to turn in one-tenth of their income and resource output from the last ten years.” Mo Chen introduced the situation.

“Which power got the first place and what place did our Medicine Valley get?” asked Ye Shang.

“The disciple from Jinyan Sect got the first place. We got the fifth and seventh places, so we have to turn in 30% of the resources. Are you wondering why we are ranked so low?” Mo Chen said.

“Yeah, we have so many disciples from the 12 peaks of Medicine Valley. How could we only get the fifth and seventh place?” Ye Shang did not believe that the strength of the Medicine Valley was so much worse than other forces.

“There is an age restriction. No one in Taixuan Peak participated in the regional contest last time, and the disciples under the age of 30 from the other peaks have no advantage over other forces. You might have to attend the competition next time.” Mo Chen said with a smile.

Ye Shang was silent and a little annoyed since he hated seeing others disregard Medicine Valley.

After dining, the two returned to the inn and went to cultivate after taking a bath.

In the room of another inn, Qin Zhan, Qin Hai and several disciples from Tianyue Peak were sitting on their seats with a middle-aged man.

“According to what you said, Ye Shang from Taixuan Peak might have cultivated a Second-Rank combat skill. He is naturally talented. This time I brought you the Cloud Sword and the Fire Mace, both top tier Second-Rank combat skills. Cultivate hard and defeat Ye Shang in the Preliminary Trials.” The middle-aged man took out two books and put them on the table.

Qin Hai and the other disciple took a look at one another, both of them were outer disciples of Tianyue Peak, but they both had entered Soul-Condensation stage.

Qin Zhan spent his own sect contribution points and exchanged them for a qi pill and three core pills and gave them to Qin Hai, which was also the reason why Qin Hai could enter the Soul-Condensation stage so quickly.

Core pill was a medicinal herb that quickly improved strength during the Soul-Condensation stage, and it allowed a cultivator to advance one stage, just like the Gathering Pill in the Qi-Refining stage.

“All of you have three core pills each, which were given by Martial Brother Luo, in order to score a good result in the upcoming Preliminary Trials. Since Taixuan Peak recruited new disciples this time? Make sure you defeat them in the Preliminary Trials.” The middle-aged man took out another bottle of remedy.

“Thank you, Martial Uncle.” Qin Zhan clasped hands towards the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was Chen Fu, the enforcer of the meritorious hall in Tianyue Peak, and Luo Daoyuan arranged him to send Qin Hai and the other outer disciple, Kong Jun, some resources.

“It’s not a big deal. As long as you don’t let us down. I heard that Ye Shang will be the last disciple of the Taixuan Peak’s Peak Leader. If you can defeat him as a third-generation disciple, they will lose face. Work harder.” Chen Fu got up and left the room.

“You now have core pills to improve your cultivation base. For the time being, you don’t have to pay attention to the cultivation of Qi. Do more tasks from Tianji Tower. Stabilize your cultivation base, take a core pill, and then start training. You must defeat Ye Shang.” Thinking of Ye Shang, Qin Zhan became furious since he was still a third-generation disciple after staying in the Medicine Valley for almost 10 years, hence he felt that Ye Shang getting accepted as a second-generation disciple was unfair.

“If I get a chance, I will kill him.” Qin Hai said indifferently.

“Well, go to Tianji Tower and do some tasks.” Qin Zhan stood up and walked out of the inn.

After cultivating for 2 days, Ye Shang and Mo Chen set off to do the tasks and practice for actual battle experience.

Half a month later, Ye Shang had completed the tasks four times, two at a time, and all were completed.

At the same time, he also made his cultivation base completely stable.

When he couldn’t find good tasks, he would take a Gathering Pill and work on cultivation.

Mo Chen carefully sized Ye Shang up and found that his foundation was stable.

Gathering Pills were the best medicine herbs in the Qi-Refining stage since it provided a steady stream of energy for refining.

After taking a Bigu Pill, Ye Shang adjusted his body, and then took a Gathering Pill and began to cultivate.

In another inn, Qin Hai was a bit irritated. “All the black-iron-level tasks with higher points have been completed. Now the rest left are all bad, like escorting the merchants or guarding the mansion.”

“There were quite a lot of tasks, but all have been completed by the time we came back.” Kong Jun said with a bit of depression.

“If there is no suitable task, wait for the next month, you should first stabilize your cultivation base.” Qin Zhan said.

In fact, not only Qin Hai and Kong Jun were depressed, many black iron token holders in Danding City were very depressed as they had no tasks to do.

Tianji Tower also understood the situation, but Enforcer Dong couldn’t do anything since they only released new tasks from their superiors once every month, and there were not many local tasks.

Ye Shang kept cultivating, and he kept taking medicinal herbs when the efficacy of Bigu Pill disappeared.

It only took 6 days for him to refine the efficacy of the Gathering Pill, and also attain the peak of Level 8 of the Qi-Refining stage.

“How do you feel?” Seeing Ye Shang coming out of the room, Mo Chen asked.

“I’ve reached the peak of Level 8 of the Qi-refining stage, and my strength has improved a lot.” Ye Shang clenched his fist and said.

“Well, tomorrow will be the beginning of a new month, so we can continue to do the tasks.” Mo Chen handed the cup of tea to Ye Shang.

Tianji Tower released new task at the beginning of every month, and Mo Chen knew very well about it since he was a bronze token holder.

After a restful night, Ye Shang and Mo Chen came to Tianji Tower early.

When they entered the building, they saw Sikong, who was dressed in an elegant skirt.

“Well, come with me!” Sikong led Ye Shang and Mo Chen into an elegant room.

“I want to do the black iron tasks” Ye Shang told her.

Sikong shook her arms, several pieces of animal parchments of different colors suddenly appeared in her hands, and she picked out some black ones, handing them to Ye Shang.

Ye Shang understood that Sikong had a very high status in Tianji Tower because other staff only had black task parchments when he came earlier.

“There aren’t many black iron tasks.” Sikong reminded Ye Shang.

“Thank you. This, this……and this!” Ye Shang looked at the task drawings and kept choosing tasks.

As long as there was no time limitation, and the tasks provided with high task points, Ye Shang received them if he felt that he could complete them.

“So many? Can you do them all?” Sikong kindly reminded Ye Shang, she didn’t expect that he would accept so many tasks.