Inside the Mission Pavilion of the Infinite Dao Sect, hundreds of disciples were scattered around, staring at the mission board.
The mission board was a simple hologram made of spiritual energy and formations.
It was a basic and temporary solution. When the sect acquired more materials, Aotian planned to create something better.
At the moment, there were no specific missions listed, only general ones such as mine management, ruin exploration, hunting fierce beasts, and others.
According to the external elders present at the Mission Pavilion, those were merely previews showing estimated average point rewards. There were no actual missions yet—only examples of the types that would become available—so disciples could start planning and organizing their teams. Specific missions would be posted in about an hour.
The disciples watched the board intensely.
Among them was Xiao Ling, carefully analyzing the missions.
'I need to earn enough sect contribution points to acquire the Foundation Establishment technique and the breakthrough pill. With those, I should be able to break through to Foundation Establishment quickly—and go even further.'
While she was thinking, eyes burning with determination, someone walked up beside her.
"Did any catch your interest?" the person asked, curious.
Xiao Ling looked to the side and was startled.
"Elder Bao!" she quickly greeted him and bowed respectfully to the powerful elder in Foundation Establishment.
"Mm." Bao Hui smiled and motioned for her to rise.
"Responding to Elder Bao, I'm still reviewing them," she answered his question seriously.
"Well, that's good. I won't keep interrupting you." Bao Hui smiled and prepared to continue on his way.
"Wait, Elder Bao!" she called out anxiously as he was about to leave, calling his name.
"Hmm?" Bao Hui turned, looking at her inquisitively.
"I-I just wanted to thank you!" she said, a bit nervous.
"Thank me?" He tilted his head, confused.
"Yes… about that day, when we met, when you…" she began but couldn't finish. Her face turned red with embarrassment at what she was about to say.
Bao Hui's mouth twitched, as the scene was witnessed by nearby disciples, who began whispering, their thoughts growing increasingly wild.
Her words and actions were leading to many misunderstandings.
So, helplessly, he had to say aloud what she was too shy to explain.
"When I improperly acquired that young master's storage pouch?" he said out loud, but with resignation.
He wasn't sure if he was saving his reputation or ruining it. The best he could do was dress it up a bit and avoid saying "stole" outright.
"T-that's right…" she nodded, embarrassed, confirming it.
The surrounding disciples had calmed down somewhat, but still gave Elder Bao curious looks as he openly admitted to stealing from others.
Some still believed they were just trying to change the subject.
Bao Hui began to sweat coldly.
'Girl, why are you doing this to this poor avatar?!' Aotian thought, both embarrassed and nervous about the situation.
"That day, that young master tried to hunt me down and force himself on me. But thanks to him losing his items, I was able to fight back and kill him. But that was later discovered by his master, and I became a wanted person. That's how I ended up hiding until I reached this sect. That's why I wanted to thank you… if not for your actions, I might've faced a fate worse than death that day."
She spoke with a trembling voice, bowing deeply in gratitude.
Some tears of anguish even fell from her eyes at the thought of what could've happened that day.
'Looks like she's still traumatized by what happened.' Aotian reflected, feeling a bit pained for the poor girl.
He patted her on the shoulder, offering comfort.
"It's all right. Now that you've joined the sect, something like that will never happen to you again. The sect will be your strongest support," he said sincerely, consoling her.
If it were in his previous world, he might've given her a hug for comfort, but in this world, boundaries between men and women were very clear.
He was only able to pat her shoulder because he was an elder—otherwise, even that could have been considered inappropriate.
Although misogyny wasn't particularly strong among cultivators, the preservation of purity and the separation between genders were still very strict in this world.
This applied to both men and women.
Male cultivators also often preserved themselves, and many died virgins if they never found a partner.
The exception to this rule were young masters.
Born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they often acted above societal norms and became promiscuous—something that earned a terrible reputation.
If it were an average man, he might never find a wife with such a reputation. But thanks to their status and influence, young masters didn't worry about finding a partner.
For young ladies, such situations were rarer, since every woman in this world possessed something called Pure Yin, which was lost after the first consummation of a relationship.
Men didn't have this situation. While they had Pure Yang, it wasn't lost through such acts, as it wasn't as delicate or vital as Pure Yin.
Yang was more associated with the physical, while Yin was spiritual. This little fact made Yin delicate, important, and something to be preserved—both for the partner and the woman herself.
Returning to the present, Xiao Ling stood up, wiped away her tears, and bowed once more.
"I understand, elder… I just wanted to thank you. If Ling'er can ever be of help, please don't hesitate to ask," she said solemnly, then stood and smiled at Bao Hui.
"Good. If you ever have trouble, you can come to me or any elder in the sect. Our sect doesn't hesitate to help its disciples. That goes for all of you!" Bao Hui smiled back, then added seriously to her and all the eavesdropping disciples nearby.
After that and receiving nods from Xiao Ling and the others, he turned and walked away.
"The sect is really good, isn't it?" a voice chimed beside Xiao Ling, drawing her attention.
She looked over and recognized the speaker.
It was the little girl who had asked Elder Zhao about the marrow cleansing pills.
"Yes, it is," Xiao Ling smiled and agreed.
She then returned to analyzing the missions while the little canary, who had introduced herself as Lin Xiaoxue, chatted animatedly beside her without stopping.
But Xiao Ling didn't mind the company of the cheerful, honest little girl.
…
At the back of the mission pavilion, all the internal elders were gathered, along with ten more external elders.
The sect leader stood at the head of a large table with a map, and Elder Bao Wuji was marking important points on it.
Ren Shiming, the new internal elder of the Mission Pavilion, approached with several jade slips in hand.
[Name: Rèn Shǐmìng (Meaning: The One Appointed with Purpose)
Position: Elder of the Mission Pavilion
Cultivation: 7th Level of Foundation Establishment (1 Major Realm above the Host)
Position Skill: Danger Intuition
Position Bonus: Analytical Mind (Mental Processing Speed increased by 3x)]
"Ancestor, Leader," he greeted respectfully.
Bao Wuji only grunted, staying focused on the markings.
Tian Zhu gave a silent nod, waiting for him to speak.
"Leader, I will begin composing the sect's missions based on the resource points Ancestor Bao has marked," Ren Shiming stated solemnly.
"Proceed," Tian Zhu responded directly.
"Good!" He nodded and began composing a mission based on the first strategic resource point.
The mission followed the format:
[Mission: Guard and manage the extraction of spiritual ores.
Fixed Contribution Points: 5000 per person.
Description: Escort, manage, and protect the miners during the extraction of ores in mine code: 000001.
Required Cultivation Level: Mid-stage Qi Refinement or higher.
Required Number of Participants: —
Danger Level: —
Note: The number of contribution points may increase based on performance. Poor performance may result in penalties or annulled contributions.]
After compiling the mission, he left some fields blank.
Aotian had already tested this elder's skill before, which is why he confidently told the disciples through his Zhao avatar that there shouldn't be any real danger involved in the mission.
'Good thing I had the sense not to just throw a knife at Elder Ren Shiming's head.' Aotian chuckled at the thought.
When he saw Ren Shiming's position skill, Danger Intuition, Aotian immediately thought of a certain friendly neighborhood someone and actually considered tossing a knife at him to test it.
But he stopped himself and followed a simple line of reasoning.
'So far, the avatars' skills have all been tied to their sect roles. So why would an elder of the mission pavilion—a mostly administrative role—have a combat-based skill like danger intuition?'
With that in mind, he shifted his perspective, and everything became clearer.
After all, what does the mission pavilion do besides issue missions? With that, it was easy to deduce the purpose of the skill.
Holding the mission, Ren Shiming adjusted the number of people to 6 and activated Danger Intuition.
Suddenly, his energy stirred in a complex pattern and the skill was triggered.
His eyes narrowed as the information appeared in his mind.
[Mission: Guard and manage the extraction of spiritual ores.
Fixed Contribution Points: 5000 per person.
Description: Escort, manage, and protect the miners during the extraction of ores in mine code: 000001.
Required Cultivation Level: Mid-stage Qi Refinement or higher.
Required Number of Participants: 6
Danger Level: Safe]
He then changed the number of participants to 4 and activated the skill again.
[Danger Level: Slightly Dangerous]
Finally, he tested with only one person.
[Danger Level: Fatal]
'Even though I only receive the danger level and not the exact causes, I can still speculate. Since it's a spiritual mine, if there's only one person watching, the hired miners might get greedy and attack the lone disciple to take control of the mine. If I change the mission variables, the danger levels change too. For example, if I assign one of my avatars—even if they're only at the second level of Qi Refinement—the danger level is still considered safe. Maybe because they're an elder and respected among the miners, or simply because of my combat ability.' Aotian pondered.
He continued defining missions, implementing what he believed would be most efficient for disciple management.
Aotian decided it was better to assign a larger number of weaker disciples to simpler tasks and leave the more powerful ones focused on truly important missions.
He set the danger level as slightly dangerous for all tasks so that disciples would gain some experience without facing real risks.
'It's not like I really need them to go through life-or-death situations to grow. With the sect's resources, they can still cultivate smoothly for quite a while. For now, let them accumulate experience with less dangerous tasks. When the time comes, I can assign higher difficulty missions.'
With that thought, Aotian proceeded with allocating the sect's tasks.
Of course, there could still be bigger risks during missions caused by the disciples' own incompetence or problems they brought upon themselves. The sect couldn't guarantee everything or treat them like delicate flowers in a greenhouse.
They needed to face their own challenges.