Upon arriving in the front lobby downstairs, Xuan spotted a beautiful woman wearing some kind of high-class gown, along with two other younger girls beside her who wore similar, less grand clothing. Judging by their attire, they most likely belonged to the same sect. The common colors were white and shades of light blue, giving off the impression that they had something to do with… ice.
Upon spotting Xuan, the oldest woman's eyes seemed to light up, and she hurriedly bowed down politely.
"Ahem… greetings, honored young master. I am Elder Shuang from Glacial Heights Pavilion—I believe we met once already, but at the time, there was too much going on for me to properly introduce myself."
"Greetings," Xuan said in reply, lifting his hands in a first-time-meet gesture. "I heard from my senior sister that you were looking for me… I apologize, I was unconscious due to certain reasons."
He decided not to comment on how he was referred to as 'honored young master'. It made him quite uncomfortable, but he digressed.
"Don't worry, I have already heard everything from Grandmaster Dun," the woman replied. "There is no rush—I merely came here today with an invitation."
"An invitation…?"
Xuan tilted his head, still unsure of what this woman wanted with him.
"That's right. I want to invite you to come to our sect."
Xuan blinked. Then, he lifted a hand in front of his face in refusal.
"Sorry. I don't plan on joining any sects at the moment."
"N-No, you misunderstand, haha," the woman hurriedly corrected herself. "We are not asking you to join our sect… it is an all-female one anyway. It's just… our Ancestral Founder ordered all the subsidiary sects under Divine Ice Palace to look for someone matching your exact features…"
Immediately, Xuan's attitude changed.
"Divine Ice Palace…?"
And so did everyone else present.
"Divine Ice Palace?!" Zhi Ruo covered her mouth in shock. "One of the Eight Legendary Great Sects said to be from a higher realm?! They really exist?"
"Yes," Elder Shuang replied. "Glacial Heights Pavilion is one of the many sects under Divine Ice Palace's jurisdiction, and we are also their way of spreading their influence down here in this mortal realm. However, I'm afraid I am not allowed to into too much detail…"
"E-Eh? Why?" Zhi Ruo asked, eyes beaming with excitement. "I want to learn more about this upper world… this 'higher' realm…"
But Xuan stopped her.
"… Zhi Ruo, stop."
"H-Huh…?"
"There are some things in this world that cannot be said. That is all."
In this lower world of Asphodel, it was forbidden to reveal too much information about the other Two Great Realms, Elysium and Tartarus. That was one of the Ten Heavenly Laws, set in place by the Heavenly Way itself. If anyone were to break one, they would be horribly punished—not so different from accumulating a bunch of negative karma. Xuan had experienced that first-hand, and it was not anything a normal person could handle.
Of course, only people who already knew of Tartarus and Elysium knew of these ten rules. The commonfolk in Lower and Upper Asphodel had no idea.
At Xuan's words, Elder Shuang smiled. "Thank you, honored young master."
Xuan waved the gratitude off as if it were nothing, and instead continued. "Your Ancestral Founder… what is her name?"
"Er… that's…" Elder Shuang looked a bit at a loss for what to do here, and Xuan lifted an eyebrow in suspicion.
"What's the matter? You don't know?"
"No, no. It's just… if I say her full name, wouldn't that be disrespectful? I won't get smited by a bolt of lightning, will I?"
"Relax. She won't do anything to you as long as I'm here. Also, your sect's theme is ice, not lightning."
"R-Right…" She didn't exactly seem convinced and nor did she know what this man's relationship was with her Ancestral Founder, but given how insistent and confident Xuan looked on this matter, she had no choice but to give in. "Ahem… the Ancestral Founder's name is—Xue Xinyue."
Xuan smiled slightly.
"As expected…"
"Er… does that mean you accept visiting my sect?"
Xuan lapsed into thought for a brief moment.
"Hm… sure—if there are benefits for me there, that is."
'This man's greed knows no bounds!' Elder Shuang screamed in her head, but still made a polite appearance on the outside and rubbed her palms together.
"Er… about that, the Flaming Sands Field is about to open soon, and my sect can grant you a spot to enter, if you'd like…"
Xuan lifted an eyebrow. "Oh… Flaming Sands Field?"
"It's an event that happens once a year," Zhi Ruo explained. "Apparently, there are tons of good resources and items inside, and not only that, it's restricted only to those below the Origin Transformation realm—anyone at that stage or higher who tries to enter will be killed by unknown causes."
"Hm… interesting…"
Xuan narrowed his eyes. Now that he thought about it, there was something like that in his past life. No wonder the name had sounded so familiar. The first time the event rolled around, he hadn't been able to enter since he hadn't been part of a sect back then. After that time, however, he'd learnt his lesson and joined a major sect as an outer disciple, making his way up the ranks until he was granted a spot for the following year's Flaming Sands Field opening.
As such, he knew the inner workings of this restricted zone quite well—all the memories were flooding back to him now. He was going to take advantage of this opportunity, as best as he could.
Turning back to Elder Shuang, Xuan lifted his index and middle fingers.
"I want two spots."
*****
When the huntress finally came back to the alchemist guild after a long day of hard work and training, she spotted the annoying man known as Xuan waiting for her, leaning against the side of the door with his arms folded.
'Tch… look at that haughty look. I'll knock it off your face someday.'
In reality, Xuan was simply dozing off a bit with his eyes closed, but they did say that love could change one's perception of someone else. And if love could, why couldn't hate do the same?
Pausing in her tracks, the huntress suddenly got an idea. A mischievous smirk formed on her face, and dropping her luggage, she softened her footsteps and crept closer to Xuan, as lightly as possible—which, for her, was very light—almost inaudibly.
In her hand was a short twig, and near the tip of the twig was a red botch of what was most likely beast blood.
She drew close to Xuan, a smug grin on her face, and slowly brought the end of the stick closer to his face, ready to draw all sorts of goofy design-
"So, you're back."
"Wha-?!"
Leaping back in surprise, the huntress's hands instinctively went to her bow and quiver, and she narrowed her eyes.
"… How did you know? My footsteps were silent."
"Idiot. Hearing is not your only sense," Xuan replied, opening his eyes. Then, after a pause, "You smell vile."
At this, the huntress realized what had alerted Xuan, and looked down at her own clothing—it was smeared with blood and mud, just like pretty much the rest of her body.
She was a mess.
Her cheeks began heating up, and before she knew it, she was blushing furiously. Xuan, seeing this sight, let out a soft chuckle, and pointed to the right.
"Public shower and laundromats are both that way. Once you're done cleaning yourself up, come find me in my room. There's something I need to tell you."
With that, he left coldly, leaving the huntress alone once more. She glanced down at herself once more, and wanted to slap herself for being so stupid.
"… Damn it!"
*****
About half an hour later, Xuan's doors slid open with the force of a lion, and in came the huntress girl, now fully cleaned up.
"I'm here. You said you wanted to tell me something?"
Xuan sighed, closing up his System Director's Quests section. "How many times must I tell you to knock? This is not a treehouse."
"Nrgh… sorry."
She seemed mad for some reason, but at least she was apologizing. That was a start.
"Close the door. Then, we'll discuss."
The huntress obediently did as told, gently shutting the door, and walked over to where Xuan was and sat down on the floor.
"… So? Can you tell me now?"
Xuan nodded. "Mm. You've already reached the Eighth Layer of the Body Tempering stage… not bad."
"Uh… thanks?"
"Listen closely. In about a week's time, a place called the Flaming Sands Field will open. Bring up your System, and go to the Director screen."
The huntress, confused, pulled up the Director screen as told, and on it was a list of available quests, separated into a couple of different categories:
<Breakthrough Quests>
None available at this time.
<Side Quests>
☆ Infected Forest — A plague is spreading…
� Merchant's Envoy — A merchant is looking for a group of protectors to escort him back to Jade Commerce City.
⚠ Poison Extraction — A grotto has become poisoned due to unknown reasons. Stop it at its root before it becomes too late.
The Art of Beasttaming — Why fight yourself when you can summon pets to do it for you? Learn the art of Beast Taming, and what it takes to become a Beast Tamer.
<Commission Quests>
You have already completed the 4 Commission Quests for today!
<Public Events>
⚠ Flaming Sands Field — The annual opening of the Flaming Sands Field is almost here. Prepare accordingly.
"Public Events," Xuan instructed. "Last one."
The huntress tapped on the one labeled 'Flaming Sands Field', but she was confused. "What do all these symbols in front mean…?"
"Stars represent Heroic Quests—quests that are more difficult but yield better rewards. Exclamation marks mean you meet that quests's required cultivation level, but not the recommended one. Question marks mean whether or not you'll get the Quest is uncertain—in this case, because the merchant has to first approve of you."
"Oh." The girl blinked. "I see."
On the right half of her screen, the details of the Flaming Sands Field Quest appeared.
<Event: Flaming Sands Field>
<The annual opening of the blazing small world known as the Flaming Sands Field will be occurring soon. Inside, you will find treasure, artifacts, and the lost legacies of countless powerful cultivators. The only question is… will you be able to survive—both the dangers within and your own fellow cultivators?>
Time remaining before start: 5d, 8h
Requirements: Must be a high-ranking disciple from a major sect in Sky Province and under Origin Transformation stage to participate.
Guaranteed Rewards:
- 1,000 Credits
Possible Rewards:
- Saint Grade (& Below) Artifacts
- Saint Grade (& Below) Techniques
- Rich Cultivation Locations
<Track>
"… We're participating in this?" The girl asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"What, you don't want to? If not, I'll give my extra spot to someone else, and go with them instead."
"I-I never said that. But more importantly, why do you have an extra spot? Actually, now that you mention it, how did you even get a spot in the first place? It says here you have to be a high-ranking disciple from a major sect in… Sky Province?"
"The Xianxia Continent is split into seven main provinces, with a many smaller provinces in between," Xuan replied. "This is one of the smaller provinces—and also where we are right now. As for how I got the tickets, you don't need to know."
In reality, it was quite simple—Elder Shuang had hesitated to do so since each sect was only given a select number of spots every year by the provincial government, but after being informed by her sect matriarch via a communication artifact to 'comply with any and all requests the young man made', she agreed quite readily. Xuan just didn't see a point in telling the huntress all of this.
"So… are you coming?" Xuan asked, raising an eyebrow in inquiry. "If not, then I'm afraid this is where we part."
"I'm coming, okay?" The huntress rolled her eyes. "This is a 'heaven-sent opportunity', as you would say, right? My master told me to live, and to be strong. The first one is easy enough, but the second I'm still working on. This will help me achieve that goal, won't it?"
Xuan shrugged. "That depends on how good your luck is, and how smart you are. The weak will remain weak—while the strong will become stronger. That is the cold logic of this world. But if you want to come… then there is a goal you must first reach, if you don't want to die instantly upon entering the field."
"Huh?" The huntress narrowed her eyes. "Bring it on."
Xuan stared at her momentarily, then spoke.
"Reach the same cultivation level as I have right now within the next five days."
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