"What kind of reward does Junior Brother want?"
When Jiang Hao arrived, the first thing he heard was Mu Qi's questioning, almost like it was piercing his soul.
Jiang Hao wanted to answer with something plain, something typical. But, instead, he spoke against his heart:
"Whatever Senior Brother decides."
"Junior Brother, you're acting like you have no desires. You’ll end up losing out," Mu Qi said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
Jiang Hao stayed silent, knowing that pretending to be without desires was simply to avoid unnecessary troubles.
Apart from spiritual stones, he really didn’t need any more cultivation resources.
As long as he could mine and look after the Spirit Herb Garden, it was enough for him.
Yet, asking for mining as a reward seemed a bit inappropriate, especially since the mines weren't ready yet due to needing time to recover.
"In the rewards available, there is a pill suitable for those at the Gold Core stage.
By rights, half of it could be considered yours, but since you can’t split a pill and giving you the whole pill might not be a good thing, I thought I’d buy it from you at ten percent above market price and give you the spiritual stones instead. How does that sound?" Mu Qi asked.
For someone at the Foundation Establishment stage, holding onto a Gold Core pill wasn't a good idea.
Although Jiang Hao was at the Gold Core stage, he couldn’t show it. Between the pill and spiritual stones, he naturally preferred spiritual stones.
"Fine," he agreed readily.
"I see Junior Brother prefers spiritual stones," Mu Qi said, picking up on Jiang Hao’s eagerness, and continued:
"This pill, the Golden Dawn Pill, isn’t particularly expensive; it typically sells for nine hundred to a thousand spiritual stones. I’ll take it for a thousand, giving you six hundred in cash.
Plus I’ve obtained five hundred spiritual stones, giving you two hundred and fifty.
In total, eight hundred and fifty."
As he spoke, Mu Qi handed Jiang Hao eight hundred and fifty spiritual stones, then took out a bottle of pills:
"These are Purification Pills. They neutralize many poisons. There are ten pills, five are yours.
They’re not cheap on the market either.
Also, there’s a spirit sword suitable for those in the Foundation Establishment stage, I can give it directly to you."
Purification Pills were valuable, so Jiang Hao accepted them.
He had a pill or two like these, priced between seventy and a hundred, very precious.
Previously, he was also concerned about poisoning, so he kept one or two for emergencies.
Then his gaze fell upon the spirit sword. He hesitated briefly and asked:
"Can Senior Brother convert it into spiritual stones?"
Hearing this, Mu Qi burst into laughter:
"It seems Junior Brother truly likes spiritual stones.
This spirit sword’s appearance and craftsmanship are decent, typically priced just over a thousand. I’ll give you a thousand."
In the end, Jiang Hao received one thousand eight hundred fifty spiritual stones. With his own savings of over three hundred, he had about two thousand two hundred.
A fortune.
He had never seen so many spiritual stones before.
He could finally buy a better blade.
And some tea.
The Primordial Heaven Blade was too exceptional for him to treat as an ordinary weapon.
But he had to admire Mu Qi; the Gold Core rewards far surpassed anything he could receive as a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
If he were the one completing the task, the reward would be a fraction of that.
If he didn’t know that his Senior Brother had acquired some ancient heritage, Jiang Hao might suspect he was another undercover agent.
Yet being involved with the Candidate Saintess of the Heavenly Saint Sect wasn’t small news either.
He’d need to be cautious.
"In a few months, the sect’s competition will start. Junior Brother should prepare in advance," Mu Qi offered kindly.
Jiang Hao was puzzled. What was this competition about?
"This time, fetching treasures from Azure Sky Mountain brought back many great things. The sect will allocate some of these treasures to disciples at the Foundation Establishment, Gold Core, and Nascent Soul stages.
Each stage’s disciples will compete for these treasures. Only the top five will get the truly great prizes," Mu Qi explained seeing Jiang Hao’s confusion.
Hearing this, Jiang Hao lost interest. He wasn’t planning to join.
But Mu Qi’s following words forced him to reconsider:
"Because of Junior Brother’s great contributions at the mines, you’ll skip ahead to the final competition.
Normally, each branch would choose one or two people.
Now Junior Brother goes straight into the competition between the twelve main branches.
Rest assured, each stage only faces others from the same stage, no cross-stage battles unless you’re confident enough to try."
After Mu Qi left, Jiang Hao sighed, contemplating how to lose gracefully.
The merit gained from the Profound Heaven Sect had only brought troubles.
Being targeted by them made a mess, not to mention his near removal from the Law Enforcement Hall’s list.
Now he had to enter the competition.
"I wonder what the rewards are."
His curiosity led him to ask around.
By noon, Cheng Chou delivered a list of treasures to him at the Spirit Herb Garden.
"They’ve only finalized the Foundation Establishment items so far; the others aren’t ready yet," Cheng Chou said.
Jiang Hao then sought out the rabbit, feeling that spending time with it was more amusing.
Jiang Hao opened the list to examine it.
He found five listed items.
First was the Nine Suns Blade, forged with Nine Suns True Flame Stone, compatible with any technique, possessing formidable power with true fire attacks, suitable for all cultivators under the Return to Void stage.
Reading the description, Jiang Hao's first thought was the expense of this blade.
Suitable for all under Return to Void meant it was perfect for even Nascent Souls, maybe even somewhat useful for Returns to Void.
Selling it would fetch a colossal price.
Jiang Hao wanted it but sensed it wasn't realistic.
Second was a technique, the Heavenly Star Spirit Technique, for honing spiritual mind space.
Third was a spell, Nine Suns Departed Flame Technique, summoning sea of fire capable of devastating explosions and cross-stage power.
Fourth was a garment, allowing the wearer to fly, immune to water and fire, capable of resisting attacks from a higher stage.
Jiang Hao didn’t care much for anything except the blade.
He had the Nine Heavens Battle Armor for defense, no attraction to fire techniques, and the spirit technique seemed unnecessary since he could collect spirit daily.
Finally, he turned to the last item.
The fifth description puzzled Jiang Hao: a seed teeming with unusual aura, enhancing cultivation speed when carried and aiding in concentration cultivation.