Chapter 16: Accepting a Sect Mission!

Gu Yang reached out to take the spirit stones.

To his surprise, Ding Hao hesitated, still clutching the pouch tightly.

“Hand it over, will you?”

Gu Yang didn’t bother being polite and yanked the pouch from his grip.

“And they call you a prodigy of the inner sect? Why are you so stingy? It’s just ten low-grade spirit stones.”

With that jab, Gu Yang strode out of the battle arena with flair.

Around them, several inner sect disciples cast strange looks in Ding Hao’s direction.

Feeling those stares, Ding Hao was so mortified he could practically cough up blood.

Not only had he lost the spirit stones, but he’d also lost all face.

Like losing your wife and your army—completely disastrous!

He was practically fuming!

As for Gu Yang, he didn’t spare a second thought for the Ding brothers.

He took stock of his winnings from the arena.

Not bad—fifteen low-grade spirit stones in total.

Adding that to what he had before…

That made thirty-two low-grade spirit stones altogether.

Enough to sustain his cultivation for a while.

Before long, Gu Yang returned to his private courtyard.

He sat down cross-legged right away, took out a spirit stone, and began cultivating.

When cultivating without any external aids, absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth was the slowest method.

But with spirit stones on hand, the process sped up by four or five times at least.

If one added rare spiritual herbs or elixirs into the mix, the speed could increase even more.

Of course, spirit stones, herbs, and elixirs were all considered supplementary resources—precious and limited.

Once used, they were gone.

Naturally, they had to be used sparingly.

Ordinary Qi Condensation–level rogue cultivators only used such items when trying to break through bottlenecks. They treasured them immensely.

But Gu Yang?

He had no intention of being frugal.

After fully draining the spiritual energy from one low-grade spirit stone, he tossed the now-dull stone aside and pulled out another to continue his cultivation.

It was, to put it mildly, an extravagant move!

And because of that…

In just half a month…

All thirty-two spirit stones were completely absorbed by Gu Yang!

Inside the courtyard…

Gu Yang absorbed the last trace of energy from the final stone.

Then, he let out a long breath.

“Phew…”

“Finally done cultivating.”

Looking at the pile of dull, spent stones next to him, a smile tugged at Gu Yang’s lips.

The next moment, a surge of true energy erupted from his body.

A powerful aura expanded all around him.

“Peak of Qi Condensation, Second Layer. I’m just half a step away from the third.”

Gu Yang’s smile deepened.

The results of this session were honestly impressive.

Thirty-two spirit stones boosting his cultivation by nearly two entire minor realms—that was a solid return.

After all, they were only low-grade spirit stones.

Of course, not many people could afford to use them the way he did.

Most inner sect disciples used spirit stones only as auxiliary aids.

Their primary method was still absorbing ambient spiritual energy from nature.

They rarely tapped deeply into the stones.

But Gu Yang was different.

He didn’t absorb natural energy at all—he solely relied on the rich, condensed energy inside the spirit stones!

If word got out, it would surely cause a stir.

People might even call me a spoiled brat!

Who cultivates like this? Isn’t this just wasteful?

But Gu Yang didn’t care in the slightest.

And his reason was simple.

He picked up one of the spent spirit stones and smiled faintly.

Time alteration.

Target: thirty-two depleted spirit stones.

Date: two months ago!

Whoosh!

The moment the alteration was confirmed…

The thirty-two dull spirit stones began to change!

In an instant, thick spiritual energy surged back into them, as if conjured from thin air, refilling them completely.

Moments later…

The thirty-two spirit stones were as good as new. In fact, the spiritual energy within them now seemed even richer.

Seeing this, Gu Yang’s grin widened.

“This is amazing! Use them once, change the time, and I can use them all over again.”

He couldn’t help but marvel.

But he made no move to continue cultivating.

He had already reached the peak of Qi Condensation, Second Layer.

To break into the third required just one more push—but that final step would be a hard one.

After all, breaking through bottlenecks required a fortuitous opportunity. Even with spirit stones, the success rate wasn’t great.

So…

Better to save them.

Not to mention, these spirit stones had already been altered once. If used again, they couldn’t be altered a second time.

It’s better to keep them for emergencies—or maybe use them to buy items that aid in cultivation.

If Gu Yang wanted to improve his cultivation quickly now, he needed rare treasures or pills that could help him break through.

And at the same time, he needed to earn more fresh spirit stones.

With that in mind…

Gu Yang stood and stretched a little.

Maybe because of his improved strength, he felt completely refreshed—no fatigue at all.

“If I want to earn more spirit stones, the battle arena’s not a bad place. But I doubt anyone would challenge me now. Earning stones that way might be a bit difficult.”

Thinking back on what happened half a month ago, Gu Yang felt slightly helpless.

He had worked so hard to act his part.

Who knew he’d still be found out?

What a pity…

I could’ve made so much more spirit stones.

“If the arena’s no good… then I guess I’ll have to take a sect mission after all.”

The Flowing Cloud Sect operated on a contribution point system.

Put simply, disciples earned points by completing missions or contributing to the sect.

These contribution points could be exchanged for all sorts of cultivation resources within the sect.

Spirit stones, cultivation techniques, martial skills—even weapons… The source of this content ɪs novel·fire.net

Everything could be bought with contribution points.

Even rare medicinal herbs that were scarce in the outside world—if the sect had them, they were available for purchase.

And now, with no better way to earn spirit stones…

For Gu Yang, the easiest option was to take on sect missions.

“Come to think of it, I’ve been in the inner sect for a while now but never checked out what kind of missions are actually available.”

With that thought, Gu Yang walked out of his courtyard.

And headed straight for the Mission Hall.

The Mission Hall was easily the most crowded place in the inner sect.

After all, cultivation required resources.

And the main way to get those resources was by completing sect missions.

Once inside, Gu Yang didn’t even glance at the low-difficulty mission area.

He walked straight toward the high-difficulty mission section.