Zao Ning is sweating as he enters the Missions building. Managing to escape the rantings of someone a whole Realm above you isn't exactly easy.
WHY WAS SHE SO INSISTENT ON TELLING ME HER WHOLE LOVE LIFE? LIKE I GIVE A SHIT!
The dragon inside of Zao Ning is screaming in anger as he was forced to listen to Yu Yan's sob story of a love life. Of course, on the outside Zao Ning just looked slightly irritated and no one could who the internal roaring going inside of Zao's mind.
Zao looks around the Missions building while catching his breath and the place is surprisingly simple. Different types of missions are ranked by the different Mortal Realms. Missions range from the 3rd Mortal Realm in difficulty, all the way up to the 6th Mortal Realm.
Zao Ning immediately walks over to the 5th Mortal Realm section on the wall of the building and begins to look at the missions.
Many different types of missions catch Zao's eye, from being a guard to a noble, to going out and hunting a monster for certain parts of their body. Zao mainly shows interest in the mission involving exterminating monsters or hunting monsters for their parts.
So basically any type of mission involving murder. Zao knows he can survive within the lower echelons of the 5th Mortal Realm even though he is only in the 4th Mortal Realm, but he also knows that if worst comes to worst, Zao can kill a peak 5th Mortal Realm monster.
Slay 40 Mantis insectoids, slay a certain pack of Forest wolves, exterminate a Direwolf and bring back a tooth for proof. All of these are underwhelming. Maybe there will be something better at peak 5th Mortal Realm.
Deciding that regular 5th Mortal Realm isn't enough, Zao decides to look into peak 5th Mortal Realm, which is more dangerous.
It is here that a certain mission catches Zao's eye.
'Exterminate a winged tiger and bring back a tooth as proof. Reward: 200 heavenly points.' the note on the wall reads.
Zao begins to laugh and then pulls out the tooth of the tiger he killed last night from his pocket storage. Grabbing the quest from the wall, Zao takes it up to the counter.
Sitting behind to counter to the Missions building is an old man who is cultivating. The man looks like he could croak and die at any minute but Zao does not dare underestimate him due to the man being 7th Mortal Realm.
At least on the outside Zao doesn't. On the inside, Zao is full of disdain and has many thoughts about the situation.
To accept such a weak quest from such a weak man. Disgraceful.
Ones like these. Putting the quest on the counter, Zao barely manages to smile at the man but it is obviously forced. The old man simply raises his eyebrows and looks at the quest Zao handed over.
The old man then looks at Zao...
Then the paper.
Then Zao...
Then the paper, then Zao, then the paper, then Zao, then the-.
"HEY OLD MAN, IS THERE A PROBLEM HERE?" Zao yells after getting impatient with the man. The old man pauses for a second and takes a quick look at the paper again before looking at Zao again.
Zao is grinding his teeth back and forth and his eyes are full of bloodlust. The old man then shrugs his and stamps the paper with a seal that is similar with the insignia on Zao's shoulder.
"Show your insignia." the old man says with a raspy voice. Zao rolls his eyes and shows the now stained red insignia on his shoulder. The old man's eyes open wide when he recognizes what power is Zao's master and then finally the Old man has a face of understanding.
"I see... So Chi's new disciple is an idiot."
"I WILL ACTUALLY END YOU! JUST GIVE ME THE QUEST ALREADY!"
The old man begins to laugh hardily and then smiles at Zao. The old man heard about Zao from Grand Elder Chi and is now able to understand how Zao has confidence in taking this quest. In truth, the whole sect in Xi'an has high hopes for the reincarnated dragon. That doesn't mean that the old man can't tease the boy though.
Zao snatches away the quest paper and sighs at the old man's provocations. It isn't a second later though that Zao hands back the quest with his tiger's tooth wrapped inside of it. The old man is suspicious at first and unwraps the large tiger tooth.
Without even having to take a few seconds to look at the tooth, the old man can tell it is that of Flying Tiger. The old's mans gaze turns sharp and investigates Zao a little closer. Zao doesn't stand down and stares back into the eyes of the old man.
The old man sighs and then accept the tiger tooth from Zao, completing the quest in a record time of 3 seconds. The old man then sends out a small speck of golden light that is gluttonously absorbed by Zao's insignia, meaning he was awarded the 200 heavenly points.
"You truly are interesting. My name is Elder Lu. You have acquired my interest young one."
That is all the old man Elder Lu says before closing his eyes and going into meditation. Zao harrumphes and then leaves the Missions building, heading straight for the Techniques hall.
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As Zao walks through the streets of the Heaven's Pavilion Sect's base, he is gazed upon by fellow disciples and Elder's alike. With everyone's robes being spotless and pure white, Zao's crimson robe makes him stand out anywhere within the Heaven's Pavilion Sect's parameters.
Soon, right before Zao makes it to the Technique's hall, he is stopped by a group of 3 teenage boys.
"Hey, it is quite disrespectful of you to be shaming our Sect with that filthy color, how about you take off that robe and leave the Sect and maybe we will forgive you."
The one who says this seems to be the leader of the three and is a 5th Mortal Realm, but he is lowly ranked compared to the other 5th Mortal Realms. The other two are simply 4th Mortal Realms and are encouraging the teenager by shouting "Yeah!" or, "You tell him big bro!".
"Move."
Zao Ning has no time to play with children like these and wants to buy some body strengthening skills and some cultivation techniques for his mother.
The 5th Mortal Realm takes offense to Zao treating him like a fly and gets really close to Zao's face.
"What if I said no young boy? What would you do?" the teenage boy says in disdain. Zao laughs for a second and the Lightning Ki within the area becomes excited and starts to tremble. The teenage boy can sense an immense amount of danger from Zao Ning and tries to run backwards.
Slipping and now having his back to Zao, Zao takes the chance and uses his speed to catch the boy's head before it fell onto the ground.
Of course this wasn't to help the boy, Zao sends the boy's head straight into the ground with an extreme amount of force and the sound of the boy's nose breaking and being shoved into dirt echoes throughout the air.
Everyone around Zao is stunned and stares at the boy like he is a demon as a 4th Mortal Realm is letting off such a dangerous aura and even caused a 5th Mortal Realm to try to run away, causing him to get his nose shoved into the dirt.
The once gloating and disdainful boy is now laying in the ground, in the dirt where Zao left him. Zao steps over the boy and ignores the two others who were pushing the boy to taunt Zao.
Zao's infamy is now beginning to spread as everyone's first impression of him is not that best one.
Not like Zao cares anyway.
Making his way into the Techniques hall, Zao is greeted by another plain and simple building. Varying ranges of techniques cover the walls and signs to guide disciples to their desired destinations hang from the ceiling.
Zao looks left to right and then makes his way towards the section with a sign saying "Body Strengthening Techniques". Making his way there, Zao is met with the biggest selection of Body Strengthening Techniques in the whole town of Xi'an, a glorious sight to any Mortal Realm cultivator.
Pssh, it's so small.
Of course Zao isn't impressed. Seeing the rows of hundreds of books, Zao's sharp eyes are able to sort them all quickly and he is also able to identify which would work best with Zao's current strengths.
Ones that make Zao slower are do not link well with Zao's current abilities, so Zao is mainly looking for ones that can make himself faster and have an evasion skill.
After an hour of searching, Zao manages to find the top 5 abilities that match his preference and can fall within his budget.
Shadow's Embrace, Flashing Sparrow, Quick Fox, Sizzling Wolf, and finally Fast Hare. At least all of these don't have dumb names.
Having the top 5 chosen, Zao is hard pressed on which one he wishes to choose. Speed wise, Fast Hare is the best. Flashing Sparrow is the best when running away from something. Sizzling Wolf increases both power of attacks and speed. Quick Fox is the best one when it comes to evasion skills. Finally, Shadow's Embrace is has the best combat ability.
Looking at all of his choices, Zao decides to purchase Shadow's Embrace for 125 Heavenly Points and it is a Middle Tier Mortal Realm ability.
The main reason Zao chose this one is because it is the beginning stage to a much more powerful skill called Shadow's Blessing, which is a Peak Tier Spirit Realm ability. The main problem with going with Shadow's Embrace is that it is much too profound for anyone at the Mortal Realm but too useless for someone in the Spirit Realm.
Once one reaches the Spirit Realm they can just skip Shadow's Embrace and learn Shadow's Blessing, but if Zao starts now then he can have a head start in Shadow's Blessing. Plus he has the mental capacity to easily learn both versions to begin with due to his former memories.
Zao then walks over to the Cultivating Techniques and manages to find his mother a cultivating technique that is called Nature's Vine.
It costs 75 heavenly points but Zao doesn't mind going back to 0 points if it is for his mother's well being.
Buying both techniques, Zao is not with a sassy old man but a young lady who seems to be very happy to be able to help Zao Ning. Zao Ning smiles at the young lady and causes the lady to blush. Just because he is wearing a sinister looking robe does not mean that Zao is very attractive to the ladies.
Making his way outside with the two books he had just purchased inside of his pocket dimension, Zao is met with an powerful aura hitting him directly in the face. Zao is blasted back into the Techniques hall and flies straight into a book shelf.
Coughing up a mouthful of blood due to the impact, Zao is put into a daze.
"You insolent youth hurting my disciple, who do you think you are!" the man yells. The aura of a 6th Mortal Realm being fills the Techniques hall and Zao finally escapes from his dazes. People in the Techniques hall look towards the commotion and they see the newly appointed Elder in the clan fighting a very young youth.
The middle aged man walks up to Zao Ning and stands over him, with an angry expression on his face. Zao Ning grunts for a second before thinking of a response.
Lightning begins to vibrate and Zao's body lets out sparks of lightning. The newly appointed Elder had let his guard down and Zao fused his body with Lightning Ki. Before the man who hit him could react anymore, Zao shoots upwards and sends out his palm.
"Shocking Bare Palm and Rock Cracking Thrust!"
Lightning wraps itself around Zao's palms and Zao sends that electrified palm directly into the face of the Elder. The Elder was first caught off guard by the fact that Lightning Ki was fused by Zao's body but now the Elder is surprised by the fact he is being sent out the door of the Technique Hall while also a tooth flies out of his mouth.
Having just reached 6th Mortal Realm a month ago and taking in 3 random disciples, Elder Mo is ranked bottom of all the Elder's and hasn't even seen someone fuse themselves with Ki yet, let alone know how much of an advantage it gives the cultivator.
Tumbling around the street until flying a few disciples walking down the street, Elder Mo is nearly put unconscious.
"Wanna know who I am? I am Zao Ning, someone you should NOT fuck with." Zao Ning says confidently. Zao can tell Elder Mo advanced through the Mortal Realms using herbs and medicines, meaning he was only 6th Mortal Realm technically, not actually.
Many cultivators who get stuck at one Realm for a long time do this and causes their foundations to be unstable and flimsy. The only reason the Elder even got a hit out of Zao was because Zao didn't expect to suddenly get surprise attacked.
Zao Ning walks out of the Techniques hall, pissed and looking ready to kill.
"Now may I ask, who the fuck are you?!"
Elder Mo has eyes of hatred as he was just sent flying by someone two Mortal Realms below him in public, surely Elder Mo would lose fame because of this. Elder Mo gets up with an ugly expression and stares at Zao Ning intensely.
"Not only do you attack my disciples but you dare attack an Elder! Shameless! You need more disciplining, and I, Elder Mo will be delivering the punishment." Elder Mo tries to turn the situation around on Zao Ning but Zao Ning simply smiles like the devil while his hair becomes more and more spiky due to the Lightning Ki emitting from his body.