46 Difficult Accessibility, Unfriendly Look, and Difficult Handling of Affairs (1/2)

“We should go on another experiential learning.”

Wen Bao was immediately stunned. “Experiential learning? Like the trip to the Small Clear Sky Peak? So that, while gaining experience there, we can make a breakthrough?”

Wang Lu sneered. “That’s mortal’s logic! There are usually three kinds of experiential learning. The first one is ordinary experiential learning, just like what those second or third rate sects usually do by sending their disciples to the wilderness and leaving them to fend for themselves. The second one is experiential learning of character building, which is what Yue Yun did as a team leader, wherein most situations he was in control; it’s scary but not dangerous. And the last one is the experiential learning that we are going to carry out: in addition to accumulating practical experience, the most important task is to actually earn the challenge points!”

Wen Bao was bewildered. “What is this challenge points?”

“What? You don’t know about this? Don’t they divulge this to ordinary Inner Court Disciples? Simply put, the Spirit Sword Sect encourage the disciples to constantly challenge their limits. If you challenge your limits, there will be rewards. As long as you can complete a difficult challenge, you can earn special points. This special point has a much bigger value than the sect’s credit that you get from finishing your daily tasks. Many rare magical tools and skills can only be exchanged using these challenge points. And more importantly, when you accumulate enough challenge points, you can exchange it for human resources.”

“Human resources?”

“Like making your Senior do the work for you such as escorting you to do a certain experiential learning, help you refine magical treasures and so on. Of course, the price would correspond with their cultivation level. If you want the help from a Yuanying Stage cultivator, for example, the price would be astronomical.”

Wen Bao was fascinated by this explanation. “So there is such a point. However, Senior Brother Lu, with your skill, you must have accumulated a lot of challenge points, right?”

Wang Lu smiled but did not answer.

Challenge points? He indeed had a lot of them - The title of Spirit Sword’s top student was not a joke. Passing one specialized course would only be rewarded with a couple of thousands common sect credit, but if this year he passed six specialized courses and gained the title of Erudite, he would get three thousand challenge points! The value of this challenge point was much higher than common sect credit; they could even be used to exchange with spiritual treasure!

However, for a moment, these challenge points were useless to him. So, rather than wasting them arbitrarily, he tried every possible way to continue to accumulate them. Although the challenge point from the cultural education was lucrative, after he earned the title of Erudite, there was no other promising challenge, so Wang Lu didn’t want to focus too much on that.

And while he was already at the peak of the Body Refining Stage, he still hadn’t officially stepped into the rank of Immortal Cultivators. Thus, his best course, for now, was to pick the sect’s experiential challenge.

“In simple terms, to complete this experiential challenge, the sect will put you in an overwhelmingly adverse condition. Based on the result, they will calculate the corresponding challenge points. For example, if we go to the Small Clear Sky Peak without a team leader and achieve the same result as the previous time, we would get around 100 to 200 challenge points.”

Wen Bao was startled. “Without a team leader and less team members? That’s a suicide mission! Moreover, we would only get about 100 to 200 challenge points for that!?”

“I told you the value of this challenge point is much higher than common sect credit. What do you think? Are you interested?”

Wen Bao seemed hesitant. “Senior Brother, I am indeed interested in this challenge point, but this experiential learning isn’t very realistic for me. Senior Brother, you’re so amazing, and surely, you can complete it alone, wouldn’t that be better?”

Wang Lu said, “Completing the challenge alone would indeed land me with additional bonus points. But if I am alone, at most, I would only pass this experiential learning with minimum points, that would be really boring. But if it’s with you, it would be different.”

The fatty trembled. “Senior Brother, you think too highly of me. A dull-witted person like me will only hold other people back, no one could expect me to carry my part…”

Wen Bao’s cowardly remark wasn’t a surprise to Wang Lu.

“By the way, two days ago, I met Junior Sister Yue Xinyao at the Carefree Peak.”

“What?” Upon hearing the name Yue Xinyao, the fatty’s eyes suddenly lit up, and his breathing accelerated.

Wang Lu casually said, “Because we rarely met, I chatted with her for quite some time.”

Wen Bao tremblingly asked, “Senior Brother, what did you talk about with Junior Sister Yue?”

“It’s nothing, just thanking me for my effort in the Small Clear Sky Peak to turn the tide and save all the people. She also told me she deeply admired my martial arts and was very curious about it, and so on… nothing serious. Though we rarely met, I also asked her about other things…”

Wen Bao was curious. “Other things…?”

Wang Lu said, “Yes. I asked her, Junior Sister, you’re an adult now, when will you start considering about marriage?”

“Pfft!”

Wen Bao spurted on the spot. “Junior Sister Yue is only fourteen years old, yet you told her that she’s already at marriageable age, wouldn’t that be a huge loss on her part?” However, with some trepidation, he asked, “I remember… Junior Sister Yue seems to come from a certain Immortal Cultivator’s Family in the Cloud Region. Maybe she had already been engaged or something?”

Wang Lu laughed. “No, she hasn’t been engaged yet. Junior Sister Yue told me that her family is quite liberal; the elders don’t interfere in the marriage much.”

Wen Bao had a beaming smile on his face as he said, “That’s right, freedom of marriage is to be encouraged. We should not be as ignorant as those mortals.”

Wang Lu said, “And then I asked, Junior Sister, do you have someone that you like?”

Wen Bao’s heart once again beat fast. “What did Junior Sister say?”

“She said that there’s no specific candidate. But she likes those who dare to take challenges, cultivators who break through their limits again and again on the long road to Immortality. She especially looked down on those who, when faced with trouble, become afraid to move forward.”

Wen Bao suddenly went silent.

After a very long time, the fatty put on a martyr’s expression as he said, “Senior Brother, if you take the experiential learning challenge, count me in!”

“Haha, he really believed it!”

——

After he had successfully handled Wen Bao, Wang Lu’s next step was to go to the Spirit Pool Peak to register their experiential learning.

Among the twelve Spirit Sword’s Peaks, Spirit Pool Peak was second only to the Stellar Peak in terms of its importance to the sect. Although there was no spiritual energy condensation there, nor was it a beautiful paradise to cultivate, nevertheless, it was the place where the sect elders and senior disciples handled sect affairs. In other words, it was the “government office district”.

Since the number of people in the Spirit Sword Sect had been steadily decreasing, most of the sect affairs were handled by the respective Peak’s owner. However, in recent years, the sect had been promoting management standardization. Thus, more affairs needed to be handled, which resulted in the increased importance of the Spirit Pool Peak.

Of course, for the moment, this thing had nothing to do with the new disciple that was still in the Body Refining Stage. After he had arrived at the Spirit Pool Peak, he walked all the way into a quaint courtyard. On the outside, there was a broken rectangular tablet hanging horizontally over a door with the inscription that said: Heavenly Policy Hall. Within the courtyard, there were four or five buildings. Inside the main building, a senior disciple in black and white was looking down on a record. When he noticed that Wang Lu had come in, he looked up, and the corner of his lips arched up, seemingly smiling. But under the backdrop of the quaint and solemn atmosphere, the smile appeared unbearably stiff.

“May I help you?”

Wang Lu said, “I want to register an experiential learning at the Small Clear Sky Peak.”

“Then please give me the relevant information.”

Wang Lu had long prepared for this, so he passed over a stack of paper.

That seemingly thirty or forty years old disciple slightly nodded, took the information and began to check them.

“Hmm, the place is at Small Clear Sky Peak. The time, it will start this afternoon and is expected to last for a week, the number of participants… Two people!? Only the two of you?” Before he read the rest of the information, the black and white disciple hastily put down the paper and glared at Wang Lu.

Being stared at by him, Wang Lu felt a bit of pressure.

This senior disciple in black and white, who handled affairs in the Heavenly Policy Hall, was called Mu Xiao. He had been in the sect for about thirty years. Although his status was still a disciple, he was able to oversee the Spirit Pool Peak because he was already in the Xudan Stage. Just now, he accidentally released his aura, which was enough to overwhelm a novice cultivator.

However, Wang Lu instead inwardly sniggered, “Is this how you demonstrate your authority? You’re really worthy to be a government officer!”

With his Non-Phase Sword Bone and his experience of living together with a genuine Jindan Stage expert for two years, Wang Lu easily brushed off this pressure; he just casually smiled. “Yeah, it’s just the two of us.”