Zhao Chun knew the person who had arrived. Among the one hundred third-level Qi Refinement disciples of the Thirty-ninth Courtyard, he was the most famous one, named Feng Sanchu. His background was rather complex.
He was originally a scion of a small cultivation family in the Drifting Clouds World, but for some unknown reason, he had ended up adrift in a small world and was only found when he was fourteen or fifteen.
His parents, feeling indebted to him, used the family fortune they had accumulated over half their lives to buy him a quota to enter the True Spirit Sect. Although it was the private property of Feng Sanchu's parents, the Feng Family still felt it was too wasteful to spend on someone with almost no visible future.
Thus, on the grounds of disrespecting the clan, they kicked the three of them out. However, the turn of events was also quite dramatic. Feng Sanchu staged a comeback.
After entering the sect at fifteen, he broke through to the third level of Qi Refinement within three years with his four-element spiritual root aptitude. He was just one final step away from becoming an official disciple. He was a warm-hearted, righteous, and free-spirited person.
Many disciples in the Thirty-ninth Courtyard had received his help or care. Because of this, Feng Sanchu's reputation among them was excellent, and he was loved and respected, faintly showing a tendency to become the leader of the disciples of the Thirty-ninth Courtyard.
After Zhao Chun broke through to the second level of Qi Refinement, he had also shown some goodwill, but they were far from familiar enough to be called friends. She did not know why he had come to her door today.
Feng Sanchu drank his tea and said amicably, "I recently heard that Junior Sister Zhao has been inquiring about ways to make money. I entered the sect a few years before you and was also hard-up for a time at the beginning. It's much better now."
Zhao Chun raised an eyebrow and said, "Then I must ask Senior Brother to clear up my confusion."
"I wouldn't dare say I'm clearing up any confusion, I just hope to be of some small help to Junior Sister."
He gently pressed his thumb on the lidded tea bowl, his eyes squinting as he revealed a set of white teeth.
"There is a dual-spiritual root disciple in the True Spirit Sect. He was brought into the sect by a traveling elder at the age of thirty-three. In his youth, he worked as a traveling merchant and earned a vast fortune.
Later, relying on his network, he set up a Recruitment Board. Cultivators or even mortals from outside the sect can post bounties on the board, and the disciples can then pick up suitable ones. Both parties get what they need, which is also a fine thing.
As it happens, I have a suitable one here, and I wish to invite Junior Sister to go with me, to add a helping hand."
After all, he was showing courtesy for no apparent reason. Zhao Chun remained a little cautious and said, "Senior Brother overestimates me. I am only at the second level of Qi Refinement, what strength do I have to help?"
Feng Sanchu stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point, "Junior Sister is a young talent. Given time, you will surely achieve great things, which is why I took the liberty of visiting you today! For this bounty, an official outer sect disciple, Senior Brother Meng Han, is in the team.
His cultivation has already reached the late stage of Qi Refinement, and it is difficult to find an opponent for him below Foundation Establishment. We just need to accompany him and wait to collect the reward!" Zhao Chun was puzzled and asked, "This Senior Brother Meng's cultivation is profound.
The bounty must not be difficult for him, so why does he need to call on others?"
"Junior Sister may not know, but Senior Brother Meng once received a kindness from my parents, so he takes great care of me in the sect. I was the one who originally accepted this bounty. The person who posted it requested five third-level Qi Refinement disciples.
I've already found two others. As it happens, Senior Brother Meng is leaving the sect on business and is heading the same way as us, so he joined the team. With Senior Brother Meng's help, the cultivation of the remaining spots is not so important.
After the four of us discussed it, we decided to give it to a newly promoted disciple in the sect with outstanding talent, as a favor that costs us little. At that time, I thought of you, Junior Sister Zhao."
A young three-element spiritual root cultivator, who was also tenacious and could endure the loneliness of ascetic cultivation—Feng Sanchu and the others had long held Zhao Chun in high praise. It was a good thing to be able to form a good connection through this quota.
Even if Zhao Chun failed to achieve great things, it would have no impact on them, so why not do it? Zhao Chun could find almost no reason to refuse. In addition, she was truly very poor.
After a moment of thought, she said, "Then I must thank Senior Brother!" Seeing her agree, Feng Sanchu was also very happy. He explained some more details to Zhao Chun and finally took his leave, saying, "With this, I can consider my mission accomplished.
In five days, at the sect gate, I will wait for Junior Sister to arrive!" It was truly a case of someone sending a pillow just as one was getting sleepy. A problem that had troubled her for months now had a solution, and Zhao Chun's heart felt a little lighter.
Even if she hadn't agreed to go with them today, she would have learned from Feng Sanchu's words that there was a place in the sect called the Recruitment Board where one could earn some Essence Stones. This is how to be a person, Zhao Chun sighed with emotion.
To be so tactful and sophisticated, she really could never hope to compare! When a sect disciple wanted to go on a long trip, they first had to go to the Disciple Residence to write down when they were leaving and approximately when they would return.
If they did not return within a year of the registered time, they would be treated as deceased. Feng Sanchu said that this trip would take five or six days to go back and forth, with a stopover of about ten days in the middle.
Giving some leeway, Zhao Chun wrote that she would return in a month, which would allow her to still catch the major class. Ever since arriving in the Drifting Clouds World, she had been in the True Spirit Sect; this was her first time going outside the sect.
Zhou Pianran was somewhat wistful, saying, "I've been here for so long and have never been out. I wonder how different it is from the State of Chu. A'Chun, you must take a good look, and you'd best tell me a thing or two when you get back!"
Flying Gourd was the name the Drifting Clouds World had given to the place where the State of Chu was located. Zhou Pianran only ever said she was born in the Flying Gourd Minor World to outsiders, but never referred to it that way in private.
The State of Chu, a place as unfamiliar to Zhao Chun as the Drifting Clouds World, was a homeland that Zhou Pianran could not part with.
"If I can, I'll bring you back some special trinkets."
The destination this time was Ji City, a relatively large city, and Zhao Chun also had a mind to broaden her horizons. Upon learning that she was going on a long trip, her three senior sisters nagged her incessantly. Cui Lan'e was the most extreme, reminding her a thousand times and instructing her a million times.
Before she left, she even made Zhao Chun check her cloth bag again, afraid she might have left something behind.
"I'll be back in a month. You don't need to worry, and you must take care of yourselves."
After Zhao Chun said her goodbyes, she took a Smoke Boat toward the sect gate. Lian Jing's sharp voice still rang in her ears, "Don't linger after the matter is finished, come back early. And don't be dazzled by the things outside.
Those with bad intentions specifically target little country bumpkins like you to cheat!" She was habitually unforgiving with her words, but Zhao Chun knew her heart was good and was willing to accept her kindness, nodding in agreement and promising to return early. At the sect gate, Feng Sanchu and the others had not yet arrived.
Zhao Chun's cultivation was the lowest, and she was also a junior, so it was not right to make others wait for her. Thus, she arrived early. Fortunately, she did not wait long before the four of them arrived together.
The man in the lead was extremely tall, with slightly dark skin and a pair of piercing tiger-like eyes. Feng Sanchu followed behind him, looking like a young man who had not yet fully grown. This must be Meng Han!
The other two were familiar faces to Zhao Chun from the Thirty-ninth Courtyard, Liao Duanyi and his sister, Liao Xiaoyi. The two had similar faces, and even their figures were not much different.
"To think Junior Sister arrived first!"
Feng Sanchu greeted her with a smile and introduced, "This is the Junior Sister Zhao Chun we mentioned before."
"Junior Sister, this is Senior Brother Meng."
As Meng Han approached, Zhao Chun felt a sense of pressure. He was excessively tall, with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear. His shadow fell before Zhao Chun like a small black mountain.
"Probationary Disciple Zhao Chun greets Senior Brother Meng."
In Meng Han's eyes, Zhao Chun was just a little girl who hadn't fully grown, pitifully small. However, Feng Sanchu seemed to think highly of her. Thinking of this, Meng Han felt he had to give his junior brother some face, so he reined in his aura and forced a somewhat amiable smile, saying, "Ah, hello Junior Sister!
Hello Junior Sister!" He was not a person who liked to smile, and his face was extremely fierce. The smile he made looked even more out of place, leaving Zhao Chun at a loss for how to reply.
It was the Liao siblings who stepped forward and started talking to her, breaking the awkward situation.
(End of this chapter)