Chapter 3: This Mission Rewards 50 Points

Chapter 3 This Quest Rewards 50 Points

Xue Youtan followed the sound and saw Li Luoshu, who had already changed into a blue disciple robe, poking his head in through the doorway, timidly calling out, "Master."

With the dirt from earlier at the training ground wiped away, Li Luoshu was fair-skinned and clean-cut—a clean-cut kid.

But he wasn't Xue Youtan's type. He'd never liked the frail, bookish type—the kind that'd topple over with one push. Having one of those stand next to him as a lackey wouldn't fit his whole villainous-big-shot vibe.

"Hm." Xue Youtan responded lightly, keeping up his cold, aloof beauty persona. "What is it?"

Li Luoshu tugged at the hem of his robe, eyes cast down. "I've come to ask you to stamp my token, Master."

According to Cangya Mountain's rules, a newly accepted disciple must have their master bestow a seal on the lotus jade token before the bond is formed. Only after the bond is formed is the apprenticeship officially complete, and only then may the disciple freely pass through the mountain gates.

Xue Youtan extended his hand. "Hand me the token."

Li Luoshu pulled out the lotus jade token, carefully wrapped in cloth, from his chest and held it up over his head with both hands, offering it to Xue Youtan.

Xue Youtan took the token and was about to cast the sealing spell when the system's cold voice rang out in his mind: "Congratulations, host. You've triggered the main quest: Travel to the Withered Wood Forest and become Pei Zhi's master. This quest rewards 50 points and 300 prestige."

Are you freaking kidding me?! I can't escape this whole apprenticeship thing, can I?!

So I took those lightning strikes for nothing? He demanded an explanation for the earlier punishment—if he didn't get one, he was filing a complaint!

"Appeals regarding actions taken before the system upgrade are outside the scope of this system's jurisdiction."

All he got back was the system's flippant, official-sounding response.

Hey, 2484, you can't just bully people like this.

Xue Youtan was so pissed he was about to cry. His face was beyond sour, and his fingers unconsciously tightened around the token. Li Luoshu watched his token nervously, wanting to speak up but not daring to, not knowing what he'd done to piss off Xue Youtan.

Just then, a Cangya Mountain disciple burst through the door in a panic. "Bad news, Master! You need to come quickly! The senior disciple—something's happened to the senior disciple!"

"What happened?" Xue Youtan's mind was locked in a fierce internal battle, and he had no attention to spare for others.

Based on his experience from his past two lives, if he followed the quest and took Pei Zhi as his disciple, he wouldn't even make it to the final Golden Throne dungeon—he'd be dead for sure by the Qilin Lock arc. But if he didn't follow the quest, the mission would fail and he'd die immediately.

Either way, he was screwed.

This Pei Zhi was truly his nemesis—the kind that curses eighteen generations of your ancestors.

"The senior disciple got into a fight with that beast-eared kid, and now he's about to beat him to death."

Let him die, then. Everyone dies eventually—and he figured his own time was coming soon anyway.

Wait, did he just hear a keyword?

Xue Youtan turned his gaze to the disciple. "Who did you say is about to die?"

"It's the one with ears on his head—I think his name is Pei... oh, right, Pei Zhi!"

Xue Youtan had been totally bored at first, but the moment he heard Pei Zhi's name, his eyes instantly lit up.

If the male lead got into trouble before the quest even started, and he saved the guy, could he haggle with the system?

He grabbed the disciple who'd reported and demanded, "Where is he?"

"In the Withered Wood Forest."

Why was it the same as the quest location? There was no time to think it over. The moment the location was given, Li Luoshu felt a cold gust brush past him, and in the next second, Xue Youtan had vanished.

The Withered Wood Forest was a land of the dead, shrouded in an unbroken black miasma.

After teleporting to the entrance, Xue Youtan summoned his Spirit Butterfly. "Find Pei Zhi!"

Instantly, several butterflies formed from the spiritual power spilling from his fingertips fluttered their wings and flew off in the same direction. Xue Youtan followed close behind, and in a few quick strides, he was standing in front of Pei Zhi, kicking away the sword that was about to run him through.

"Who dares block me?!" The sword's owner roared furiously, but the moment he saw Xue Youtan, his anger turned to shock. "M-Master... it's you?!"

Xue Youtan didn't answer him. Instead, he looked down at Pei Zhi lying on the ground and frowned. "If you're not dead, make some noise."

"Cough, cough, cough..." The person on the ground coughed lightly. The beast ears nestled in his dark hair drooped, looking fragile but stubborn. He struggled to get up, his slender hands pressing into the ground, trying again and again but failing every time. In the end, he could only stay sprawled there, looking up at Xue Youtan.

The light in the Withered Wood Forest was dim, but Xue Youtan's immortal body radiated its own glow, making him dazzlingly bright.

The two of them really were—one in the heavens, one in the dirt.

Seeing the guy was still breathing, Xue Youtan finally turned his gaze to Xiao Yiheng beside him. "What happened?"

"Master, no one picked him in the martial duel. According to the rules, he should be expelled from Cangya Mountain." Xiao Yiheng sheathed his sword but didn't put it back into his divine sense—instead, he held it upright behind his back, as if ready to strike at any moment.

"But he refused to leave and started cursing me out. I lost my temper and acted. I only meant to teach him a small lesson—which clueless idiot went and bothered you over this?"

Xiao Yiheng glossed over the details, making it sound like Pei Zhi provoked him first and he was just defending himself.

But since when did a "small lesson" involve dragging someone into the Withered Wood Forest? Didn't he know this place was crawling with demonic energy and ferocious beasts?

Xue Youtan's face turned cold. "He won the duel. How could no one have selected him?"

At that, Xiao Yiheng gritted his teeth, even more pissed. "Two of the senior uncles did select him, but he rejected them both. The little shit even said he only wants to be your disciple, Master!"

"Oh?" That was an unexpected outcome.

Xue Youtan looked at Pei Zhi, curious. "Why?"

In terms of cultivation technique, he ranked dead last among Cangya Mountain's Three Altar Masters. If Pei Zhi wanted to improve his strength, there was no reason for him to hang his hopes on this particular tree.

In terms of charm—well, his face was indeed beautiful, but they'd only met once. Pei Zhi couldn't possibly have been that dazzled by his looks.

In terms of character—ahem, let's not go there for now.

As the saying goes, if something's too weird, there's gotta be something fishy going on.

"Pah—" Pei Zhi spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and explained casually, "No reason. You and I just hit it off."

Hit it off, my ass!

What kind of lame excuse was that? One look at the kid's eyes and you could tell he was up to no good.

"I think you're just asking for a beating!" Before Xue Youtan could say anything, Xiao Yiheng raised his sword first. Pei Zhi flinched, shrinking his neck, and took the opportunity to lean against Xue Youtan.

Pei Zhi was filthy—covered in both dust and blood. With him leaning like that, half of Xue Youtan's white altar master robe was stained, like a bright pearl tarnished by dust, the immortal aura around him dimming by two degrees.

Xue Youtan's brow furrowed slightly in disgust, but he didn't cast a spell to shove the boy away.

"Enough!" Xue Youtan raised his sleeve, and the sword in Xiao Yiheng's hand was forcibly pulled back into his sea of consciousness. "This isn't the place to talk. Let's leave first."

With that, Xue Youtan grabbed Pei Zhi by the back of his collar like a little chick and hauled him up from the ground. Then he summoned the Spirit Butterfly again to find the way out.

However, the path they'd come from was now shrouded in a mass of black mist. The butterfly fluttered its wings twice, and the moment it touched the black mist, it dissolved into nothing.