Immortality begins with becoming a master weapon refiner

Chapter 156 Support Mission
With a surge of magical power, the Azure Cloud Tower materialized in his palm, spinning rapidly.

The Guhuoniao moved a little closer and asked in surprise.

"A treasure from a celestial cave?"

"Indeed, this treasure has just been refined and still needs some setup. I'll leave this task to you, and the egg incubation can also be carried out at Qingyun Tower."

"Qingyun Tower, I understand."

After handing the treasure over to the other party for arrangement, Gu Qing turned and left his residence, heading to the military supply depot at Tianlao Pass, where he could exchange merit points for any item.

In addition, they can also accept missions issued by the military.

Once a disciple of Baiyue Mountain breaks through to the eighth rank, they can form a team to accept sect missions, travel the world, and slay demons and monsters.

Through years of tacit understanding, even if they cannot join elite squads like the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches after arriving at the frontier, they can form their own teams, similar to demon-hunting squads, without joining the legion. They can be affiliated with the military system and share the merit system.

However, this approach doesn't grant military rank or the opportunity for promotion within the military system, but it does offer more freedom, so it's a trade-off.

When Gu Qing arrived, there were several demon-hunting teams selecting missions. The scene was not lively, and there were no shouts or calls to recruit people.

Instead, there was complete silence, and communication was mostly done in hushed tones.

Tianlao Pass was in the midst of the cleanup work following a major battle. The Golden-Backed Eagle clan suffered heavy losses, and their demon army was scattered across the border after being defeated.

This is precisely when the workload is surging.

It seemed a bit strange that Gu Qing came to accept the task alone, but no one chatted with him; everyone was busy.

Come to the counter.

"Take a look at the current Class A missions for me."

"immediately."

The Quartermaster Department issues many types of missions, which are divided into A, B, C, and D difficulty levels. The requirement for accepting an A-level mission is at least a seventh-rank cultivator, which is considered the highest difficulty level in the border region.

Those involving sixth-rank cultivators are generally not issued directly, but are instead transferred to the ancestral master guarding the Heavenly Gate.

After a brief tour.

Gu Qing quickly found a goal to break through the first battle for promotion.

This is a support mission.

A demon-hunting team is trapped in the demon territory and is evading the demons' search. They need someone to pick them up.

This task is only considered low-level among Class A tasks; the difficulty lies in avoiding the eyes and ears of the demon race.

The highest level of merit is 400 points.

The reward is quite generous, considering that a single Fahua Pill is only worth a little over a thousand merit points. At this rate, three Rank A missions could be exchanged for a Rank 7 breakthrough pill.

The value of merit is even slightly higher than that of spirit stones.

"That's it."

"Okay, what name should I use to register?"

"Gu Qing."

The monk in charge of processing the records was rather aloof and only offered a brief explanation.

"The timeframe is within one month; act as quickly as possible."

After saying that, he looked at the other person behind Gu Qing. This system has been developed for many years and knows what types of tasks they can take on. It is rare to find someone who is so unwise as to overestimate their abilities and harm themselves and others.

Even if Gu Qing comes alone, he doesn't need any qualification certification or anything like that. He just needs to show the new token he got from the weapon refining department.

His achievements were all spent on breakthroughs. Accepting missions was not only preparation for future explorations, but also a way to test his combat strength. Only by having a clear understanding of his capabilities could he confidently venture into the depths of the demon realm.

After leaving the quartermaster department, Gu Qing set off directly.

The Southern Wilderness covers a vast area, with the overall map resembling a "凸" shape. The Southern Yue Kingdom occupies the lower right corner, approximately one-third of the area.
No one knows where the fifty mortal kingdoms are located. After all, they are just wild and desolate places with scarce spiritual energy. Spiritual objects are rare and it is difficult to achieve the Great Dao. It is okay for low-level cultivators, but for high-level cultivators, staying in such a place for a long time would be a huge stroke of luck if their cultivation did not regress, let alone improve.

There are only five such places in the southern wilderness where Baiyue Mountain is located.

It is quite difficult to find.

The concave-convex area at the very top of the Southern Wilderness is the ancestral court of the Demon Emperor, which is also the private territory of the Sky-Piercing Eagle Clan. It is inherited from the ancient Demon Court era and is the place where the Demon Emperor of the Southern Wilderness passed on his legacy.

Since being occupied by the Eagle Clan, the Powerful Emperor has become the Lord Emperor.

After the ancient demon emperor abdicated, a variety of geniuses and monsters emerged, including dragons, phoenixes, bull demons, and tree demons. Eight thousand years ago, the Sky-Soaring Eagle ascended to the throne and was crowned emperor, and subsequent generations were all Eagle Emperors.

By conquering the territories of various tribes, the Eagle Clan gained immense benefits and spawned ten Eagle King clans, further solidifying their position.

This also led to the gradual extinction of various exotic beasts, not because environmental changes made them unsuitable for survival, but because persecution by those in power resulted in their extinction.

The Eagle Clan are not human!
This is also one of the most important reasons why, even though the top forces of Baiyue Mountain were missing after the ascension of the Baiyue Immortal Lord and his generation of predecessors, they were still able to resist the demon race!

Over thousands of years, it gradually recovered its vitality.

They've just gotten used to a defensive posture and haven't had time to change their mindset.

At the current level of top experts, Gu Qing felt that Baiyue Mountain was actually no less powerful than the Southern Wilderness Demon Clan.

After all, there are already more than thirty ancestral masters in the ancestral hall.

The map of the demon race's territory has been almost entirely explored, except for some forbidden areas and vast, uninhabited wilderness.

Gu Qing's destination was the Twin-Headed Lion Clan, which bordered Tianlao Pass. They were renowned for their metal-elemental power and were staunch supporters of the Golden-Backed Eagle Clan, much like retainers.

After the defeat at Tianlao Pass, the Golden-Backed Eagle King was seriously injured.

The demon army was routed.

Large numbers of elite demon-hunting teams invaded the demon territory, plundering rare and precious materials. This was a reward for winning the battle, but sometimes being too greedy could come at a price.

The rescue target was someone who had ventured deep into the Twin-Headed Lion Clan's gilded mine in an attempt to plunder the mineral resource [Taiyi Xuanjin Iron], and was thus severely injured and trapped in the mine.

Left with no other choice, he used his own merit points and a special treasure to notify Tianlaoguan and issue a rescue mission.

This treasure is extremely valuable, called the "Heaven-Penetrating Earth-Clearing Talisman," worth around 300 merit points. It is one of the unique skills of the sixteen patriarchs of Baiyue Mountain, and it established a geomantic detection system covering the entire southern Yue region.

It can receive talisman messages from anywhere in the world.

Ordinary shielding methods are ineffective; of course, the closer one is to Nanyue, the better the effect of this talisman.

Gu Qing wanted to switch to another one so that he would have an extra backup plan if he encountered life-threatening danger. After all, with the entire Baiyue Mountain as a backup, as long as he could hide, he could wait for rescue, which was still worthwhile.

The gold mine is located in the south of the Twin-Headed Lion territory, quite close to the Rift Abyss, so distance is not an issue.

They crossed the abyss a second time using iron chains.

The rising black mist seemed even colder, its malevolent aura astonishing. Perhaps it was because the great battle had just ended, but Gu Qing felt a chill run through his body as he passed through it.

This shows how dangerous the bottom of the abyss is.

I don't know how the Guhuoniao got down there. It just flew down like that, and its wings were about to freeze into zombie flesh.

Concealed by the protective canopy of the Senluo clan, Gu Qing skillfully navigated the sensory network woven by the Vine Wolf clan, officially stepping into the territory of the Two-Headed Lion clan.

(End of this chapter)