HPMC Chapter 29

Bonus chapter(4/5)

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The windows outside the duty hall were for receiving subsidies, while the interior was reserved for official business. Yu Tianze had come here before to receive his disciple’s token, but because it had been nighttime, the windows had been closed, and there hadn’t been many people around. Now that it was broad daylight, the atmosphere felt quite different.

But that had nothing to do with him. He simply found the senior steward who had issued him his disciple’s certificate the last time and knocked on the table in front of him. The senior manager was writing a work report when he looked up and immediately recognized the new disciple. Even in the Zhenggang Immortal Sect, which was full of talented people, Yu Tianze was considered to have a special temperament and first-class appearance, so he had made a deep impression.

Seeing this, the steward quickly stood up: “So it’s Senior Yu, congratulations on your breakthrough! May I ask if there’s anything you need to tell me, Senior Yu?”

Yu Tianze pushed Mu Zirun forward a bit: “I’ve taken on a personal disciple; can you process an identity for him ?”

The senior manager glanced at Mu Zirun, a hint of envy mixed with surprise: “Isn’t this the one who came with you before…”

Yu Tianze frowned: “It’s him. Just give him my auxiliary token!” After saying that, he threw his own disciple token over.

The senior steward’s envy instantly turned into jealousy. However, he could also tell that this Soul Transformation cultivator had a bad temper, so he didn’t dare to be negligent. He quickly accepted Yu Tianze’s disciple token and then took out an additional token for an inner disciple of the Zhenggang Immortal Sect. He placed it against the disciple token and then had Mu Zirun infuse a bit of his aura into it. The token that served as both an inner disciple token and a Soul Transformation auxiliary token was thus completed.

In the sect, there was a significant difference between the ordinary inner disciple token and a token that also served as a deputy token. The former was just an ordinary token received by anyone entering the inner sect, while the latter essentially proclaimed, “I am the master’s most beloved personal disciple.”

In other words, even if many powerful cultivators took on disciples, not every disciple could obtain a secondary token. In fact, a disciple token could only have one secondary token, which showed how precious it was. It also meant that disciples with deputy tokens shared an exceptionally close relationship with their masters. If such a disciple were to betray the sect, he or she would be despised by everyone. After all, the benefits of having a deputy token were extraordinary; they gained priority access to resources and could communicate with their masters for protection. If they held such great benefits and were still ungrateful, wouldn’t they be asking for scorn?

Most disciples would have been flattered to receive a deputy order, and Mu Zirun was no exception. His master was always like this; whenever Mu Zirun felt that his master had been exceptionally good to him, the other party would do something even better, making him feel almost inferior in his gratitude. He wondered if this continued, when he would ever be able to take care of his master in return. Mu Zirun thought to himself that if things progressed this way, he would feel that even if his master said he wanted to eat his flesh, he would happily cut it off, cook it, and serve it to him.

Seeing that Mu Zirun had put away the deputy order, Yu Tianze thought for a moment and realized that he had probably wasted some time earlier. He should have processed the disciple order first and then had his disciple collect both of their monthly stipends together. However, there was still time now. He prepared to head out with Mu Zirun. Before they had gone more than a few steps, another manager came over from the other side.

“Senior, senior!” the person called out as they jogged along, sounding quite anxious.

Yu Tianze stopped in his tracks: “What is it?”

The steward bowed and asked, “Is this Senior Yu Tianze?”

Yu Tianze hummed in agreement.

The steward immediately explained, “It’s like this: Senior Yu came to our Zhenggang Immortal Sect to cultivate in seclusion five years ago. Disciples in seclusion are considered inner disciples of our sect, so they also have to complete tasks periodically. A few years ago, Senior Yu was in seclusion, and we didn’t want to disturb him, but now that he has emerged, this task…”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence; the implication was already clear. Yu Tianze recalled that the jade slip did indeed state there was a mission every three years. It had been five years since he arrived, so he did owe one. Since he was cultivating in someone else’s sect, he naturally had to abide by the rules, so he waved his hand and said, “Bring me the task list so I can choose one!”

The manager was initially pleased to see that he was so easy to talk to, but after hearing Yu Tianze’s words, his expression became somewhat troubled: “Senior Yu, this task… because you arrived late, it has already been assigned.”

Yu Tianze glanced at him, his expression unchanged, which made the steward tremble slightly. The steward’s voice wavered: “Really, really! Senior Yu, I won’t lie to you, that’s just how the sect’s rules are—first come, first served. Please don’t take offense…”

He was about to say more when Yu Tianze interrupted him, saying, “Alright, let’s just do what needs to be done!”

The steward breathed a sigh of relief and immediately opened a large book with a gold cover. Each page contained a task. Some pages that had turned black meant someone had already accepted the task, while the gold pages meant the task was still vacant. All the tasks were in the range of Nascent Soul to Soul Transformation stages.

After quickly flipping through many pages, he revealed a golden page to Yu Tianze: “Senior, please take a look. In the past few years, only you have arrived… relatively late, so this is the only one left.”

Yu Tianze glanced at the paper, his eyes shifted, and his expression turned cold. The manager shrank back, feeling a little creeped out. However, Yu Tianze did nothing to him; he only snorted coldly and then walked out with Mu Zirun. Only after the two figures had completely disappeared did the steward straighten up. At this moment, another young cultivator who had been handling business on the other side casually put down what he was holding and walked over with a strange expression.

Manager Tian, who had been in charge of receiving Yu Tianze, immediately went over and fawned over the young cultivator: “Senior Zhou, I have done as you instructed, and Yu Tianze has accepted the task!”

The cultivator surnamed Zhou nodded arrogantly: “You did well. I’ll mention that request from last time to my father. If this Yu fellow really suffers a great misfortune in the Tao Wang Secret Realm, then you’ll have accomplished everything.”

Manager Tian was overjoyed and lowered his posture even further: “Senior Zhou, please rest assured! For missions like this, it’s already extremely rare for seven or eight out of ten people to return each time. No matter how powerful Yu Tianze is, he has only just broken through to the Soul Transformation stage. How could he possibly compare to the others in our sect? Even if he doesn’t die, he will definitely be seriously injured!”

The cultivator surnamed Zhou nodded in satisfaction. He thought to himself: Who told you to offend my junior sister’s future brother-in-law? I’ll kill you so my junior sister can curry favor with Brother Wu. Then let’s see how those other bitches will compete with her! The cultivator surnamed Zhou chuckled and stepped out the door, heading in a completely different direction toward the cave dwelling of a Nascent Soul cultivator, where someone was already waiting for him.

After Yu Tianze walked out the door, his cold expression remained unchanged, but Mu Zirun felt that his master wasn’t actually unhappy. This was a bit strange. Generally speaking, those who were chosen last were given the worst options. Both the steward and his master had behaved as if this were a disaster. But now, it seemed that wasn’t the case. There was clearly something Mu Zirun was overlooking, but he lacked the information to figure it out.

Not long after, the two returned to the Thunderfire Palace. After thinking about it, Mu Zirun decided to be more frank with his master—his master probably preferred that. So he asked, “Master, what kind of mission is this? Are you confident?”

Yu Tianze curled his lips into a smile that was surprisingly not sarcastic: “They want me to explore a secret realm… I wonder who gave me such a good job; they probably want me to die in there.”

Mu Zirun was startled but quickly composed himself: “Master, can’t you refuse?”

Yu Tianze coldly replied, “Why should I refuse?”

Mu Zirun paused, carefully observed his master’s expression, and then fell silent. At this moment, Yu Tianze’s gaze became subtle. In the world of cultivation, new secret realms, ruins, or hidden realms were discovered periodically. Within these places lay all sorts of opportunities and dangers. Generally speaking, those who entered a secret realm for the first time found the greatest opportunity but also faced the greatest risk. The opportunities belonged to the sect’s favorites who possessed protective treasures, while the dangers belonged to the ordinary cultivators assigned to exploration missions to draw maps as cannon fodder.

Undoubtedly, Yu Tianze had been placed in the latter position. However, even cannon fodder could save themselves. As a reborn individual who had defied the heavens, Yu Tianze already knew about the existence of the Tao Wang Secret Realm from his previous life.

He also knew that among the nine immortal sects, anyone unlucky enough to accept this mission could normally redeem themselves with a large amount of resources, find disciples from lower-level sects to take their place for a fee, or hire powerful rogue cultivators as substitutes. However, Yu Tianze had not been reminded of these three methods by the steward; instead, he had been told that this was a task he had to accept. As a cultivator from a smaller sect, if Yu Tianze had not been reborn, he would not have known these alternatives existed and would not have doubted the steward.

But now he knew someone wanted to make him suffer. Even knowing this, Yu Tianze was prepared to go there himself. He was not unaware of the dangers; he knew that after the secret place was opened this time, the vast majority of people inside died—especially the high-level cultivators and the “chosen ones” who went in to reap the benefits. Roughly 90% of them perished!

However, there had been one inconspicuous person who obtained an extraordinary treasure and emerged unharmed. Yu Tianze knew this because that person was later betrayed by the woman he wanted as a Daoist partner and was ultimately killed by someone she had invited. At the time, the matter had caused a huge uproar throughout the entire cultivation world.

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