Chapter 60 - Valley of the Dark River (1/2)

After leaving the Heavenly Maiden Peak, Jiang Xiaofan headed towards Xuanyang Pavilion to take up a task. Even without Ye Yuanxue by his side, he still had to venture outside and accumulate experiences. Not to mention, Lin Quan and Tang You needed the training more than he did. Their cultivation levels were still too low.

However, what exasperated him was that Qin Luo hadn’t left but instead followed him to the pavilion like an infatuated puppy. He repeatedly asked Jiang Xiaofan to teach him how to enter the Heavenly Maiden Peak since he wanted to see for himself what it was like up there.

However, Jiang Xiaofan could care less about him. You think that there’s a tactic to enter the Heavenly Maiden Peak? He then rubbed his chin. Well, there technically is one. Hm…. You need to first have a good moral character. Jiang Xiaofan glanced at Qin Luo, tsked, and shook his head in disapproval. This child has no hope.

He browsed through the list of available tasks. Lin Quan and Tang You desperately needed training. Because of their low-level cultivations, a yellow-grade task was ideal for them, such as one with the difficulty level of hunting one hundred Fire Bird gallbladders.

He had decided on another yellow-grade task, similar to the one that he had completed before. His assignment was to travel to the Mingyun Grottoes in search for a few pieces of Cangxue stones. These stones were a necessary ingredient for the refinement of a certain pill. Supposedly, there dwelled a good number of demons inside the grottoes, but their cultivation levels were no higher than the fifth heaven of Micro Realm.

This task would require plentiful engagement in combat, and combat was the easiest way of elevating their cultivations. It could also increase their combat experiences. Therefore, this task was suitable for Lin Quan and Tang You.

Although this was what he had in mind and wanted to take up, there was an annoying guy beside him who was causing mischief. Qin Luo snatched the jade scroll from his hands and took a look at it. Abruptly, he shook his head, threw it back, and selected another one. Satisfied with his choice, he remarked, “For you! This task is better. It has more rewards!”

Jiang Xiaofan was dubious but nonetheless looked over it. He immediately wanted to curse at Qin Luo and give him a few good kicks. This assignment was to explore a several-thousands-of-year-old tomb of a mighty cultivator and bring back the findings to the sect.

Fine, he’s right. Completion of the task would bring about numerous contribution points which were multiple times more than the points offered by the Cangxue stones task. But damn it! This is an earth-grade!

Earth-grade, huh? It wasn’t of much concern to Jiang Xiaofan. He could complete it despite the troubles that he would have to go through. However, there was no way that Lin Quan and Tang You could complete it. An earth-grade was designed for those with the cultivations at the fifth heaven of Realm of Dust and higher!

He wanted to exchange the earth-grade for the yellow-grade that he had chosen earlier. However, after a brief look around, he was stupefied. The hell?! Some other disciple had taken away the yellow-grade, and the only one left in all of the Xuanyang Pavilion was this earth-grade task.

He glowered at Qin Luo and fumed, “Look at what you have done!”

“Brother, relax. It’s my obligation after all!” As if Qin Luo hadn’t noticed Jiang Xiaofan’s look of murderous intent in his eyes, he beamed a sly grin at him and whispered, “So, how do I enter the Heavenly Maiden Peak?”

Jiang Xiaofan was utterly defeated by Qin Luo’s persistence. I don’t understand how this guy was able to the core disciple of the Heavenly Cloud Peak. No matter how I look at it, he just doesn’t seem like one. Is he really that strong? Jiang Xiaofan was extremely doubtful!

However, Qin Luo didn’t appear all that bad. At the very least, he wasn’t hateful.

Now that he thought about it, the earth-grade task wasn’t too terrible. Jiang Xiaofan began to rub his chin. If I go alone, I’d be somewhat handicapped. But….

He then set his sights on Qin Luo. Since Ning Meng had claimed that this guy was the Heavenly Cloud Peak’s core disciple, his cultivation shouldn’t be too shabby and at the very minimum, his level should be at Phantom Saint. Then, can I use his services for free? Hm, yes. In fact, it’s necessary that I do so!

Jiang Xiaofan cleared his throat and patted Qin Luo on the shoulder. “Qin Shixiong, do you have any busy matters that need attending to?”

Qin Luo had no clue that Jiang Xiaofan was setting him up and thought that Jiang Xiaofan was going to teach him how to enter the Heavenly Maiden Peak. Therefore, his eyes instantly lit up, aggressively shook his head, and replied, “No! Not busy one bit!”

Jiang Xiaofan inwardly cackled but maintained a fixed expression on his face. He lamented, “Brother Qin, did you know? I really wanted to take up that yellow-grade task, but you made me lose it and gave me this difficult earth-grade task instead. You might not care, but I don’t think that I can complete it. Would you mind lending me a helping hand?”

Since he had already taken this task, he did not consider giving it up. The contribution points were just too tempting. He had already made up his mind to drag Qin Luo with him.

Qin Luo shook his head. “I’m afraid that I cannot. I still have to collect data!”

Jiang Xiaofan wanted to give him two more kicks. Data my ass! That’s called peeping! You’re such a shameless peeping tom!

He then sighed again and gazed towards the Heavenly Maiden Peak. “By the way, those disciples at the Heavenly Maiden Peak sure are beautiful. They’re all so stunning and demure. Every time I go up there, I don’t even want to come back down.”

Afterward, they stood shoulder to shoulder beyond the gate of the Emperor’s Heaven Sect and observed the Heavenly Maiden Peak from afar once more.