A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Zhou Ping took out the Blood Emperor Grass seeds that he had deliberately set aside and planted them together with other spiritual herbs. These would be one of the key herbs he would cultivate in the future, so naturally, the faster they were cultivated, the better.

Looking at the various spiritual plants that occupied most of the empty space in the house, he nodded in satisfaction. These spiritual plants were very important to him, as almost every one of them was closely related to his future cultivation.

Even now, Zhou Ping still feels somewhat dazed at the fact that he was able to gather all the spiritual herbs he desperately needed.

......

Inside the Hall of Merit of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, it was midday, and many disciples of the sect were coming and going, most of them with smiling faces.

The reason is simple: apart from the Qinglian disciples who are away on missions, most of the rest are people who have come here to collect merit points after completing the missions assigned by the sect.

These low-ranking disciples worked hard to complete the tasks assigned by the sect, and they were naturally happy and excited at the thought of receiving a considerable amount of merit points soon.

This naturally included Zhou Ping, who had just returned. Looking at the dozens of merit points that had increased in his disciple token, he secretly marveled at the generous rewards of this mission.

It's important to know that a typical sect mission usually only yields a dozen or so merit points, and most disciples accumulate at most twenty or thirty points a year.

Someone like him, who can gain 58 merit points in a single mission, is one of the very few among the Qi Refining stage disciples of the entire Qinglian Xuanzong sect.

In the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, merit points are worth much more than low-grade spirit stones. In other words, the fifty-eight merit points that Zhou Ping obtained are almost equivalent to eighty or ninety low-grade spirit stones. Such a generous reward will surely make other disciples who know about this extremely envious.

Others might not understand how Zhou Ping could receive such a large amount of merit points as a reward, but as the person involved, he knew exactly what was going on.

Based on his understanding of that escort mission, even if its rewards were more generous than those of other missions, they certainly wouldn't be this many merit points higher.

The trick behind this must be thanks to that bottle of second-level fox-crow spirit blood. Back in the Spirit Mountain Realm, Uncle Yun personally promised him and Qin Changqing that he would reward them extra for the merit of the spirit blood.

Now it seems that the reason for these extra merit points lies in this spiritual blood.

Although Zhou Ping's guess was almost entirely correct, he was unaware that there was another important figure who played a crucial role in the matter. Without this person, even with the addition of the spiritual blood merit, the merit points he obtained would never have reached as many as 58.

This person was none other than the Foundation Establishment stage senior, Uncle Song, who had entrusted him with the task and was passionate about the art of talisman making.

Even the task of procuring fox-crow spirit blood was issued on short notice.

After receiving the level-two spirit blood brought back by Qin Changqing, Uncle Song was overjoyed and immediately raised the rewards for the two of them to an astonishing level.

"Junior Brother Ma, are you sure that person went towards Tianxing Peak?"

Inside the Hall of Merit, Qin Lang stared at a short young man with a gloomy expression and asked, word by word.

"It can't be wrong, Senior Brother Qin. It just so happens that it was my turn to be on duty today. I saw with my own eyes when that person put the token on the sensor plate, and it gave him a full fifty-eight merit points! It must be that kid named Zhou Ping! The last time someone got such a generous reward was Senior Brother Qin Changqing half a year ago! Didn't he take on the same mission as Senior Brother Qin? Who else could it be but him?"

The short young man spoke with absolute certainty, his face still showing disbelief.

"Brother Qin's mission was completed almost half a year ago, and I thought this kid had deserted at the last minute out of fear... I never expected him to suddenly jump out now and collect so many merit points, exactly the same as Brother Qin's. How is this possible!?"

Qin Lang raised his hand and rubbed his throbbing temples, his tone filled with doubt, unwilling to believe that it was all true.

The short young man stood silently to the side, watching Qin Lang's face filled with jealousy and confusion. After a while, he suddenly looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Just say what you have to say! Stop beating around the bush."

After catching a glimpse of his expression, Qin Lang muttered something in annoyed.

"Senior Brother Qin, I've been thinking about this, do you think it might be like this?"

The short young man's eyes darted around, and after slightly tiptoeing, he whispered in the other's ear,

"Could it be that this kid took advantage of some loophole in this mission, getting a huge benefit by following Senior Brother Qin without contributing much himself? Only Senior Brother Qin Changqing knows the inside story, while no one in the sect knows. That's why he rushed to Tianxing Peak after receiving his merit points, his purpose being to apologize to Senior Brother Qin and hope that he wouldn't expose this matter?"

"Given Senior Brother Qin Changqing's status and his easygoing nature, he might not really bother with these things!"

After listening to the short young man's analysis, Qin Lang immediately showed great agreement on his face, and his eyes rekindled with schadenfreude. He hurriedly walked towards the outside of the Hall of Merit.

"Let's go! We'll catch up with him! Even if Brother Qin doesn't hold it against him when we get to Tianxing Peak, we'll report it to the sect and make sure he suffers the consequences!"

.......

Tianxing Peak, Wangya Terrace.

Zhou Ping stood atop the cliff, watching the departing puppet with curiosity, a look of surprise on his face.

As soon as Zhou Ping arrived at Wangya Terrace, the puppet immediately came to greet him and handed him a communication talisman.

Even after Zhou Ping clearly explained his intentions, he went back to report on his own initiative, which was truly miraculous.

"What a novel thing! It has saved the owner of this place a lot of trouble."

As Zhou Ping sighed inwardly, he gained a new understanding of the art of puppetry.

Not long after, a lotus leaf flying boat appeared from the direction he came from, and in the blink of an eye, it landed on the cliff platform. There stood two figures, one tall and one short. As soon as they arrived, they stared at Zhou Ping with hostile eyes.

Unexpectedly, before Zhou Ping could even see the person he was supposed to pay his respects to, two uninvited guests arrived instead.

"Zhou... what's wrong with you? Hehehe, Junior Brother Zhou? Is it really you!?"

After Qin Lang jumped off the flying boat, he first raised an eyebrow and looked at the only figure on the platform. However, after seeing the other person's appearance, his expression suddenly became strange, and his tone even carried a hint of gloating laughter.

After Zhou Ping recognized the people who had come, he merely glanced at them coldly before turning his head away and ignoring them.

His appearance had changed dramatically since then, and he naturally understood why Qin Lang was so happy to see him.

Zhou Ping couldn't be bothered with such a petty person; he regarded him as nothing more than a buzzing fly.