Chương 391: Group mission

Within the outer peak, The head warden Bai Xingsheng was seated within the massive palace at the very summit of the mountain, meditating in silence. All of a sudden, the atmosphere shifted as the treasure palace seemed to creak under an unexplainable weight. Bai Xingsheng's brows furrowed as he opened his eyes, only to freeze. Standing mere meters away from him was a man in purple robes.

The man's presence commanded such an unquestionable authority that even the natural energy in the hall rushed to gather around him alone.

"L-lord Ao?!" Bai Xingsheng's expression turned incredibly respectful as he rose to his feet and bowed his head. At the same time, his heart couldn't help but shiver as he wondered what brought him here.

"He has entered the Inner peak?" Ao Zhentian's light voice echoed within the palace hall. Bai Xingsheng nodded his head repeatedly.

"Yes, senior."

"Mm. You did well." Ao Zhentian began, then glanced at Bai Xingsheng whose head was lowered.

"I heard about your nephews. You have my condolences." Bai Xingsheng's heart was filled with endless bitterness as he nodded heavily.

"Thank you, senior. My nephews will be excited to receive senior's greetings." The amount of emotions tumbling through his heart as he said this was extremely unhealthy.

"Find someone to replace you here, then head over to the Inner peak. Whoever questions you, mention my name. I have promoted you to a Deacon." Bai Xingsheng's heart began to beat several times faster as he lowered his head till he was in a perfect ninety degree bow.

"Thank you, my lord. This one is eternally grateful!" Unfortunately, he wasn't as excited as he would have been to hear this a few months ago. Instead, several thoughts began to whirl in his mind. Ao Zhentian continued without bothering about his words.

"If you are ever able to reach the peak Dao realm, you will become an inner elder. Watch over him in the inner peak." With a few casual words, he promoted him to a Deacon and promised him the rank of an elder even he reached the peak Dao realm… a rank that was otherwise only granted to true spirit realm masters. With the exception of the final line, Bai Xingsheng was truly overwhelmed with the promise. To become an inner elder… wasn't that something he had hoped for even in his dreams?

Unfortunately, that dream was coming to life in a way that left him with conflicting emotions. Closing his eyes, he clenched his fists tightly before muttering,"I will guard him… with my life, my lord."

Long Feng locked himself within his cave for a full day, preparing to refine the rock ape's blood essence and attempt to condense his first strands of true force from his flesh. After realizing more clearly the path that lay ahead of him, he realized that he could no longer suppress his cultivation.

Once his body reached the deity stage, he would be able to unleash a much greater amount of the true essence in the Dao heart, giving him power that wouldn't lose to Ren Ji, merely a step away from the refined mid deity stage. Of course, he wasn't going to rely on the Dao heart alone. It was still an external strength. He would directly focus on raising his cultivation after that and reach the peak Imperial realm within the shortest time possible.

Coupled with the true essence and his physical strength, he should have the combat power of a refined mid stage deity by then. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"At the same time, I'll complete get rid of my disadvantage in close combat due to my weak body. With my sword Dao, few others can beat me in close combat." He was nearly done with his preparations and was going to refine the blood, but something unexpected came up. His identity token suddenly emitted a shocking glow that drew his attention. He reached out and curiously sent his soul power into it. A message immediately appeared in his mind.

"What's this… a mission?" He stared at the token blankly, remembering that each disciple must complete a mission every month, and this was already the second month since he became an inner disciple. He sighed and massaged his brows as he read the details.

"Investigate the reason behind the mysterious annihilation of the Teng clan overnight. Mission difficulty, estimated to be three stars, possibly three and half stars." This detail caused him to frown deeply.

"Thee and half stars difficulty? … How did I end up with such a high difficulty mission?" He was only a new disciple, and his current strength was below even the refined early stage deities. A three and half stars mission was a mission that could only be cleared by a refined mid stage deity at least. It didn't make sense for the sect to give him such a ridiculous mission with his strength. Even if it was only a three star mission, it still wasn't something he should receive.

He continued reading and realized that it wasn't a solo mission but a group mission with four others. As for who those four were… Long Feng's eyes narrowed as he saw the other group members' names.

"Chen Zhaofeng, Hua Zhi, Zhou Zheng and the group leader… Ren Ji." He couldn't help but laugh lightly as he realized that he was being pulled into some elaborate scheme. The group looked normal, but… Zhou Zheng and Ren Ji were both filled with hatred towards Long Feng. They both wouldn't hesitate to kill him if they got the chance. Then there was Chen Zhaofeng and Hua Zhi… he didn't know them, which was exactly the problem. He was complaining isolated in this group, with no familiar faces.

"What a good mission…" he smiled coldly.

"But who will intentionally temper with my mission? I know for sure that Ren Ji and Zhou Zheng don't have that power. Only a Deacon should. But as a new disciple, I haven't drawn any attention to myself enough to make a Deacon pay such special attention to me." He pondered deeply but couldn't think of anyone in the inner peak whom he had offended and had enough power to interfere with his mission.

"I'll have to put that aside for now. This mission… the difficulty itself seems less dangerous compared to the group members. With what happened the last time between Ren Ji and I… I won't enjoy being in his team." He sighed helplessly. This mission had also put of his physical breakthrough. Refining the blood essence could take days, and the mission wouldn't wait. Unlike a solo mission which he could complete at any time within the month, a group mission would have a specific time.

And according to the mission, their group was to gather in two days and head out at dawn.

"This mission is going to be dangerous…" Zhou Zheng wasn't much of a worry, unless he could somehow become a refined early stage or a normal mid stage deity in such a short time. With his talent… that was very unlikely. Then there was Ren Ji, the group leader. He had the authority to command anyone in the group and even punish anyone who didn't follow his orders. Most especially, he was responsible for submitting the mission after completion and sharing the heaven runes between the team members.

That already made him a huge threat. When coupled with his cultivation that was close to the refined mid stage deity… He was arguably the biggest threat in this list.

"I need to know who these two others are, and whose side they're on. I don't need them on my side, as long as they're neutral. But if by any chance they're also against me somehow, then…" Tempering his body would have to be pushed aside till another time. With two days to prepare, Long Feng used a lot of his low grade essence stones to purchase several high mortal grade healing pills and detoxification pills.

After careful consideration, he also purchased a special artifact known as the thunder fire annihilation bead. It was specially crafted by blacksmiths and contained the explosive power of thunder and fire combined. When thrown, it could explode with enough force to severely injured a refined mid stage deity. Purchasing just three of it completely emptied Long Feng's reserve of essence stone and heaven runes, leaving him feeling a heartache.

On the second day, he asked Cheng Zhi about the two other members, Chen Zhaofeng and Hua Zhi.

"Oh? Hua Zhi? If I'm not mistaken, that should be Hua Zhen's younger brother. He's similar to Ren Ji, just a step away from his second refinement stage." Cheng Zhi explained.

"Why are you asking about him?" Long Feng stared at him blankly for a few seconds, lacking the words to explain his bitterness. Hua Zhen's younger brother? It might be a coincidence that he was also on the team, but Long Feng was unwilling to believe such a council existed. At the end, he shook his head and sighed.

"It's nothing." Cheng Zhi nodded.

"As for that Chen Zhaofeng, I don't have an impression of him. There are so many disciples and there are only so many of them I can recognize." After leaving Cheng Zhi's residence, Long Feng returned to his cave with a profound feeling of danger in his heart. One Ren Ji was terrifying enough… now there was Hua Zhi who was just as strong as the former. Whoever organized this team had gathered all those who had or might have a grudge against Long Feng in the inner peak.

This further convinced him that someone was behind all of these. Long Feng prepared as much as he could before the day they would set out. He strapped the mid mortal grade sword he received from Ren Ji and left his cave, heading towards the specified meeting point. He arrived just in time as the others. From a distance, he could see three figures standing together, but Ren Ji wasn't present yet. The moment he closed in, he sensed a sharp gaze filled with great hatred on him, and he glanced at Zhou Zheng.

A smirk appeared on his face as he lowered his gaze purposefully to measure up the empty sleeve where his left arm used to be. This act of his caused Zhou Zheng's rage to reach new heights, and some of his aura seeped out. Long Feng's smirk instantly froze as he stared speechlessly at Zhou Zheng.

"The hell? He really became a refined early stage deity in a month?" He couldn't believe it. Zhou Zheng wasn't even at the peak of the early stage deity realm yet, and he would need to reach the mid stages before taking a deity resurgence pill to refine his cultivation. Without any external help, it was impossible for him to achieve all these in the mere one month he had spent in the inner peak.

"This is ridiculous!" Long Feng murmured. He didn't expect his casual statement earlier would turn out to be true.

"Someone must've helped him to advance so much in a short time. As for the reason…" he smiled coldly.

"It's not hard to put it together. Now even Zhou Zheng would be able to pose a risk to my life. Whoever is behind all these is really good at this game." They were trying so hard to weave an inescapable trap for him. Zhou Zheng's expression calmed down as he remembered the exact orders he had received. He glared at Long Feng briefly before glancing away with a cold snort and withdrawing his aura.

"Damn it… I really should have killed him back then…" Long Feng sighed.