1 New Mission From The Sect

"Quhiyn! Quhiyn! Wake the hell up!" A young man shouted, wrinkling his cheeks. Quhiyn continued to sleep as drool leaked out of his mouth.

"Ahhh! Wake up! The teacher is going to kill us! I have been trying for 10 minutes by now, ugly shit!" He yelled louder, pushing Quhiyn back and forth.

"Wha- what! Who is ugly?" Quhiyn's eyes quickly opened up and his yellow irises focused on the black eyes. He felt a little groggy.

"Finally! Calling you ugly always works," Niu laughed, pulling Quhiyn out of the bed whose short and dark-violet hair flew in the air.

"Niu, why didn't you try it at first then and waited 10 minutes," Quhiyn yawned and arranged his brown robe with a light red phoenix embroidered on his chest.

Niu started thinking and rubbed his chin with knitted eyebrows. Exactly, why didn't he say it earlier?

"Don't think so much, it's not good for your brain." Quhiyn elbowed Niu and got him back to reality.

"Let's go!"

"Ah, Right! Oh no! We are going to be late this time!" Niu shouted. They started running toward the disciple meeting area, Giant Summit. Because of their 5th Stage Intrinsic-Energy strength, their movements were swift and Niu pushed through without much difficultly. Quhiyn could have run faster but he kept up with Niu.

"What will this meeting be about? Do you know anything?" Quhiyn huffed, feeling invigorated by the warm and gentle wind.

"Apparently, they will give out special missions and you can get rare resources from fulfilling them but I heard, they will be extremely hard." Niu thoughtfully said, his breathing was loud.

"Rare resources hah! I want them." Quhiyn's eyes looked determined and greedy. "Run faster!"

They ran with much more intensity, passing by other disciples running toward the meeting area.

"Who dares?! oh..." A disciple shouted after getting pushed from two sides.

"ah no! These Greedy Bastards!" Another disciple cursed, he was panting, already tired from running so much.

Niu gazed back after hearing and turned to run toward the person who cursed him, his face paled seeing Niu coming towards him.

"Who did you call greedy!" Niu yelled and spat few times on the disciple's face before running to the waiting Quhiyn who laughed. The disciple had almost leaked his pants. He held onto his breath until Niu left, even wiping off the spit.

"Let's go!" Niu growled.

"You are too kind." A cold glint passed through Quhiyn's eyes before they ran with even more ferocity.

"Unlike you, I don't like touching men without a reason," Niu chuckled.

"You don't touch girls either," Quhiyn smiled. Niu choked on his breath and glared at Quhiyn.

"Soon! Soon, I will have girls lining up for my favors!" He announced and laughed.

"Alright, now get your mind out of the dirt and focus ahead. We are close to the Giant Summit."

Soon, they arrived behind a crowd of disciples chattering. Their bodies sweated from the scorching sun and they panted for air. The stronger disciples were in front and mostly unfazed.

"Make way," Quhiyn said in a low voice and they moved through the repulsive smell coming from the nearby disciples.

"O Heavens! You chose the worst bunch! Did you not see the female disciples meters away!" Niu said to Quhiyn. He elbowed back and said, "The smell is coming from you. Stop blaming others for your trashy hygiene."

Niu was bewildered. How was that possible! He showered once a week. How could this be? He smelled his armpits and almost puked.

"God! I need to increase the number of times I take baths." His face grimaced. He didn't like the touch of water.

"Good." Quhiyn sighed. At least, Niu had this thought in mind but Quhiyn knew he would most likely forget.

After arriving closer to the front, amidst the 5th Stage Intrinsic-Energy disciples, they waited in silence. Their gaze stayed on the platform meters away from them. Disciples were mumbling to each other.

Half an hour later, while most of the disciples were drenched in sweat and gasping for air, an old man landed on the platform. He had a long grey beard with thin white hair. His gaze was sharp and scrutinized the disciples.

"Silence." The old man's voice resounded. Everyone quickly closed their mouth and intently gazed at the old man.

He nodded. "I am Elder Meifa from the Inner Court."

Cold sweat ran down their backs. It was rare to see an Inner Court Elder in the Outer Court. This matter must be of great significance. They swallowed and awaited with intense anticipation.

"Today, I am here to announce the opening of the Arcane Land. It's a place owned by us, the Scarlet Phoenix Sect. From now on, disciples will go there every year for 3 months to train and gain experience. Keep in mind that It's filled with strong beasts and priceless treasures so only the disciples with courage come forward to get your token.

There will be two of each with a single number. After getting your token, find the other disciple with the same number." Elder Meifa explained in a clear voice. Many got excited while some shivered thinking about the challenges they had to face.

He waved his arm and 10 containers of tokens arrived a meter in front of the platform. The 10 containers represented the 10 Stages of the Intrinsic-Energy Realm. A single-stage had an Upper Layer and a Lower Layer.

"One by one, come get your token." He said and watched.

Disciples at the front went ahead and started picking up their tokens. No one from them could go back or else they would be throwing their face into the mud. Some disciples from the back slipped out, they cared for their lives more than this and they also didn't have much strength. Most being at the 2nd Stage.

"Quhiyn, are you going to participate?" Niu asked with a pondering expression. He hoped they could go together or at least was paired with a girl.

"I will. If you don't take some risks, fortune won't be knocking on your doors." Quhiyn said. He didn't mind if who he was going to be paired with. He wanted someone on equal footing, Upper Layer 5th Stage.

Soon, their turns came. Niu advanced with a nervous gaze and took out a token from the container and waited. Quhiyn went forward with a confident smile and took out a token then got back to Niu.

"What's your number?" Niu asked with a tense voice.

"453. Yours?" Quhiyn was calm.

Niua released an irritated sigh and said, "682. I hope I don't have to deal with a male disciple."

"Un. We need to be quick. I will see you later then." Quhiyn said. He wanted to quickly go inside this Arcane Land. Niu nodded and both went their separate ways. He started with shouting his number like many others.

It had only been a minute and the place was already chaotic. Elder Meifa looked with a narrow gaze and shook his head.

Quhiyn thought for few moments and looked around. He went to pick up two sticks and brought out a brown piece of clothing and stuck green leaves with tiny sticks to represent his number.

He held it up like a flag and waited.

"I will do that too." Quhiyn heard a disciple say after looking at his number flag. It didn't take even a minute before more and more disciples around his cultivation stage followed suit. He also noticed few eyes filled with disdain, coming from the stronger bunch. That only brightened his smile, he didn't have to fear when there was an elder present.