Arriving in the Mortal Realm

Another fellow disciple nearby saw Wen Jingshu's dumbfounded expression and let out a laugh, saying:

“Junior Sister Fang forgot to find someone to look after her spirit beast before she left. Going to the mortal realm to recruit disciples will take at least two months. If she doesn't go back, her spirit beast will definitely die.”

“The rewards for the recruitment mission are quite generous. If you're free, Senior Brother, you might as well take it on.”

Logically speaking, once a disciple accepted a mission at the Mission Hall, they were required to complete it. If they failed to do so within the specified time, they would have to pay double the penalty.

However, there was another way, which was to transfer the mission to someone else.

Clearly, Wen Jingshu was now that "someone else."

Wen Jingshu: ...

There was a barrier between the cultivation world and the mortal realm that cultivators could not cross. Generally speaking, cultivators from the cultivation world who wanted to go to the mortal realm would use a specialized teleportation formation.

These teleportation formations were jointly managed and regulated by the Four Great Sects and the Eight Great Families. If a cultivator wanted to go to the mortal realm, they had to have a legitimate reason, and they could only use the formation after being approved by designated overseers.

Because the mortal realm was relatively fragile, a cultivator's cultivation would be suppressed to the second level of the Qi Refining stage upon arrival, and many heaven-defying magic treasures could not be used there either.

Therefore, recruiting disciples in the mortal realm was very safe and required little technical skill. The various major sects, families, and factions would usually assign these recruitment missions to outer sect disciples.

“My name is Ma Qian, an outer sect disciple at the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage. Here is a brief overview and detailed instructions for the mission. You might want to take a look first, Senior Brother.”

Wen Jingshu took the jade slip, thanked him, and said, “Wu Zhuang, a Hidden Star Peak outer sect disciple, seventh level of the Qi Refining stage.”

Generally speaking, outer sect disciples would not be assigned to any of the main peaks.

Of course, there were exceptions.

Some outer sect disciples who had a bit of luck might catch the eye of a Peak Master, or perhaps the Peak Master simply found them pleasing to the eye and wanted to look after them, so they would recruit them to their peak.

Once an outer sect disciple belonged to a peak, their monthly allowance would be matched to that peak's standards.

Although Hidden Star Peak was entirely composed of sword cultivators and lacked lucrative resources, the treatment was still significantly better than that of ordinary outer sect disciples.

Hearing Wen Jingshu's words, Ma Qian could not help but feel a surge of envy in his eyes.

So he was an outer sect disciple assigned to a peak. No wonder he looked so young yet his strength was already above his own.

Envious as he was, Ma Qian still had to perform the task at hand. According to their itinerary, they would arrive at Dingmi City in another half a day, after which they would use the teleportation formation to travel to the mortal realm.

Dingmi City, like Yundan City, was a city under the direct jurisdiction of the Qingyun Sect.

The Four Great Sects and the Eight Great Families each had a teleportation formation connected to the mortal realm.

These teleportation formations were open to the public, so they were not built inside the sects or families themselves. Instead, they were constructed nearby to make it convenient for rogue cultivators to use.

The territory of the mortal realm was nearly ninety percent smaller than that of the cultivation world. It was divided into five regions by the cultivation world: East, West, South, North, and Central.

Each of them was responsible for one region, and the map Wen Jingshu held in her hand was of the Central region.

Wen Jingshu scanned the jade slip. Once she understood the process, she closed her eyes to rest for a while.

Seeing that Wen Jingshu was an unfamiliar face and did not even greet them, the others felt somewhat disgruntled.

“He's just an outer sect disciple from Hidden Star Peak, what's he so arrogant about?”

“I only agreed to team up and take this mission because I heard Fang Chun was reliable. In the end, she ran off and left us with this big shot instead.”

“Shh, stop talking. Be careful, or Senior Brother Wu might teach us a lesson. After all, he's at the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage.”

Though they said this, the jealousy in their voices could not be hidden. In the end, it was Ma Qian who scolded them a bit before they finally behaved themselves.

But Wen Jingshu did not care at all.

They were merely insignificant fries she could instantly kill if she wanted to. Bothering with them would only lower her own status.

Three hours later, the flying boat arrived at Dingmi City. The group disembarked outside the city. Ma Qian took their identity tokens to register, and a cultivator soon led them to the teleportation formation.

“Fellow Daoists from other sects responsible for recruitment set off a few days ago and should have arrived at the first city by now. Here is the return token. Please keep it safe, Senior Brother Ma.”

Ma Qian nodded, not minding that others had gotten a head start.

With their sect's reputation, even if other sects found good prospects, those talents might not necessarily want to go with them.

This was the confidence of the number one sect.

The spiritual energy in the mortal realm was thin, and there were no good resources there. In addition, cultivators had to pay a high amount of spirit stones as a deposit to go to the mortal realm and pass through layers of vetting. The conditions were extremely strict.

Therefore, although cultivators from the cultivation world could go to the mortal realm, very few were willing to do so.

To them, going to the mortal realm was no different from being imprisoned in the Spiritless Cliff!

However, Wen Jingshu did not think so. Back when she was still the talisman cultivator Wen Jingshu, she had personally witnessed her maidservant's ancestral jade pendant turn into a Seventh-Grade Treasure Tool after being activated.

It was also thanks to that treasure tool that her maidservant ended up faring much better than her later on. Not only did she become a core disciple, but she would also look after Wen Jingshu from time to time.

Sigh, thinking back on it, it was just another tale of bitter tears...

Now that she had Zhaocai, she wanted to see if Zhaocai could find any hidden treasures covered in dust.

The five of them stood on the teleportation formation. As the formation runes gradually lit up, they successfully arrived in the mortal realm after a brief spell of dizziness.

Among the other four, only Ma Qian had spoken a few words to Wen Jingshu, and their relationship could be considered harmonious.

Upon arriving in the mortal realm, the other three left immediately. Only Ma Qian clasped his hands to Wen Jingshu and said, “Senior Brother Wu, see you in two months.”

Wen Jingshu returned the gesture and said with rare politeness, “If you encounter any trouble you can't resolve, you can come find me.”

No matter what, she was still a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator with various secret treasures on her person. She could protect them if needed.

Ma Qian did not believe anything could happen in the mortal realm, but he did not want to reject Wen Jingshu's goodwill either. Smiling in response, he took his map and headed toward the area he was responsible for.

Seeing that they had all departed, Wen Jingshu finally sensed her surroundings.

First, the most obvious thing was that the spiritual energy here was dreadfully thin. Second, her cultivation was suppressed by eighty percent, truly leaving her with only the strength of the second level of the Qi Refining stage.

However, basic sword flight was still not an issue.

Following the mission prompts, Wen Jingshu flew on her sword to the nearest town. Almost the moment she landed, someone stepped forward to greet her, saying:

“This lowly citizen, Luo Yang, greets the immortal!”

“The other immortals are already waiting at the square. We have specially come to welcome you.”

For them, the arrival of immortals to select talented disciples was a monumental event. Almost as soon as one selection ended, they would begin preparing for the next.

Wen Jingshu had also gone through a selection process before and generally knew the procedure. She gave a nod of acknowledgment and boarded the carriage they had prepared, heading toward the square.

Seeing this, Luo Yang quickly gestured for the massive crowd of people to follow behind Wen Jingshu.

Logically, they should have held a welcoming feast for the arriving immortals, but these immortals looked down on everything in the mortal world.

Over time, they no longer dared to take any unauthorized initiatives.