Alchemy Quest: The Alchemy Hall lacks a diligent apprentice alchemist. The requirements are honesty, capability, diligence, and eagerness to learn. The task is considered difficult, rated four stars, and offers forty-five contribution points per month.
...
The sect missions listed above are varied and numerous, encompassing all sorts of tasks.
However, most of them are rated one to three stars and are exclusively internal, tedious, and convoluted assignments within the Taiyi Immortal Sect.
...
Yet, the simpler missions at the beginning had not caught Wu Tao's attention.
It was only when his gaze swept over the four-star and five-star missions at the very bottom that a glint flashed in his eyes.
These missions were all considered near-death experiences, tasks that required every ounce of effort to possibly complete.
Naturally, these missions offered substantial contribution points and were very quick to finish, making them well worth attempting.
Assassination Mission: Eliminate the Thousand Bone Demon!
Evil Deeds: Crafting magical artifacts using the bones of a thousand mortals, a bloodthirsty fiend!
Strength Analysis: Has remained at the Qi Condensation realm for over fifty years, possessing far superior techniques to a typical peak Qi Condensation Great Perfection cultivator.
Mission Difficulty: Four stars.
Mission Reward: Three hundred contribution points.
Recommendation: To be undertaken by two peak Qi Condensation cultivators or one highly skilled expert. It is not recommended for outer disciples of ordinary Qi Condensation realm to go and die.
Slaughter Mission: Exterminate a bandit gang at the Qi Condensation realm.
Evil Deeds: Within the vast territory of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, they have committed murder and robbery in a mountain range, plundering lone cultivators, violating female cultivators, and killing isolated outer disciples. Their crimes are heinous!
Strength Analysis: The bandit group's leader is a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, as are the second and third leaders. They command thirty to forty cultivators.
Mission Difficulty: Five stars.
Mission Reward: Four hundred and fifty contribution points.
Recommendation: To be completed by several disciples who have reached the peak of the Qi Condensation realm. The possibility of a single person completing it is exceedingly slim.
Punishment Mission: Exterminate a disreputable family at the Qi Condensation realm.
Reason: Secretly colluding with the Demonic Cultivation Sect, they have frequently leaked information about the Taiyi Immortal Sect to the Demonic Cultivation Sect!
Strength Analysis: The family head and four elders are all peak Qi Condensation cultivators. The family has over fifty cultivator disciples and several thousand mortal descendants.
Mission Difficulty: Five stars.
Mission Reward: Five hundred and fifty contribution points.
Recommendation: To be completed by several disciples who have reached the peak of the Qi Condensation realm.
In the world of cultivation, immortal cultivation families are divided into several tiers: disreputable, small, medium, and large.
Disreputable immortal cultivation families are self-explanatory. A group of ten-odd lone Qi Condensation cultivators can form such a family.
For a disreputable immortal cultivation family to become a small immortal cultivation family, it must meet one criterion: the family must have a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator presiding over it.
For a small immortal cultivation family to advance to a medium immortal cultivation family, it must also meet one criterion: it must have a Core Formation realm cultivator presiding over it.
And for a medium immortal cultivation family to overcome the hurdle of becoming a large immortal cultivation family, it must have a Nascent Soul realm cultivator presiding over it.
After contemplating for a while, Wu Tao stroked his chin. Although the four and five-star missions were all very difficult, they were extremely short in duration and offered exceptionally generous rewards. For someone like him, who desperately needed contribution points, they were very important.
After a brief period of hesitation, Wu Tao ultimately accepted the five-star punishment mission: to exterminate a disreputable family at the Qi Condensation realm.
Qinggang Steel Town is a remote town near the Qinggang Mountain Range.
The town is not large and lacks tall buildings, but it is surrounded by high stone walls. Their purpose is undoubtedly to defend against sneak attacks from low-level demonic beasts, as it is located in the mountains and is a remote location.
...
The primary reason this family chose to establish their ancestral stronghold in such a desolate and spiritually thin area as the Qinggang Mountain Range is because the Qinggang Mountain Range is rich in Qinggang Steel.
Qinggang Steel is a widely used ore essential for crafting many low-level magical artifacts. Although Qinggang Steel is not highly valuable, it can still be sold for a certain number of spirit stones. This disreputable family derives most of its annual income from the mining of this Qinggang Steel.
Since occupying the Qinggang Mountain Range and outwardly aligning themselves with the Taiyi Immortal Sect while secretly attaching themselves to the Demonic Cultivation Sect, this disreputable family has thrived in recent years.
They cater to both the righteous and demonic paths, acting as opportunists, and have become the sole power in the Qinggang Mountain Range region. They have even built this town for their disciples to reside in, truly flourishing.
This disreputable family, which originally lacked even a peak Qi Condensation cultivator, now boasts five peak Qi Condensation cultivators after a few years.
If it weren't for the lack of Foundation Establishment Pills and high-grade cultivation techniques, this originally disreputable family would have had a Foundation Establishment cultivator presiding over them long ago.
In the central core of the town reside the cultivator disciples, who are the family's greatest asset. They naturally enjoy the best resources, which is also evident in their residences.
The outer areas are like ordinary mortal towns, filled with residences for commoners and various shops, bustling with people.
Most of the residents here are family members without spiritual roots. Although they have no hope of pursuing the immortal path, living here at least ensures their safety. Should one of their descendants possess spiritual roots in the future, they might yet move to the central core area and live a life of ease.
In addition, the outer areas of the town also serve as resting and trading places for lone cultivators. Those who need Qinggang Steel are typically the most common low-level Qi Condensation lone cultivators, or other disreputable families.
Although this disreputable family lacks a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they have a large number of people and the prestige of the Taiyi Immortal Sect as a front. Bullying weaker lone cultivators in the vicinity is not an issue for them.
The environment in the outer parts of the town is not good, with roads made of pitted mud slabs. The shops on either side look old and seem to have not been repaired for a long time. Compared to the central core area of the town, this place is like a village, completely on a different level.
The ground in the central core area of the town is paved with marble slabs. The residential buildings within are extremely luxurious, with many three- or four-story houses, all constructed with glazed tiles and rosewood.
In contrast, the houses outside the town center are built with rotten thatch and a few broken wooden planks. This is the difference between heaven and earth.
Of course, Wu Tao was not surprised. Since ancient times, within large families, the status and resource gap between legitimate and illegitimate offspring has always been vast.
In the unique environment of the cultivation world, this is even more so. The gap between ordinary family disciples and cultivator disciples, due to the immense difference in power, reaches a terrifying level.
As for Wu Tao's purpose for coming here today, it is to obey the decree of the Taiyi Immortal Sect's higher authorities and eliminate all the cultivator disciples of this family.
As for the mortals, the Taiyi Immortal Sect is, after all, one of the top ten orthodox sects recognized by the Nine Provinces. Although at times their methods are as ruthless as those of demonic sects, they will not lay hands on ordinary mortals unless absolutely necessary.
...
Currently, within the town center, lanterns are hung high, and the atmosphere is exceptionally noisy.
Moreover, in just this brief moment, several streams of light have flashed by one after another, continuously. Clearly, lone cultivators from the surrounding mountains have come to offer their congratulations.
The sounds of guests offering blessings and family disciples maintaining order mingled together, creating a joyous and lively scene.
Seeing this spectacle, Wu Tao stroked his chin, lost in thought.
He hadn't originally taken the task of eradicating this disreputable family very seriously. He would simply deal with them one by one through sneak attacks. How dare a mere Zhang family betray the Taiyi Immortal Sect? Weren't they courting death!
Originally, his plan was to find a dark and windy night and eliminate them all one by one. However, now it seemed there was a better option.
The current liveliness of the town clearly indicates a grand occasion that has drawn so many lone cultivators from the vicinity to offer their felicitations. In that case, the elite core members of the Zhang family will all be present. It would be perfect to capture them all in one go, saving him the trouble of searching for them later.