Chapter Seven: Accepting the Mission

  In the depths of the academy, the two were reporting to an old man about Xu Hua's situation.

  After hearing the two men's words, the old man suddenly opened his eyes and burst out with a powerful aura. The two were caught off guard by this strong aura and were left gasping for air. "Are you certain that what you said is true?"

  "The governor, every word is true!" The two men blushed and spoke out, only then did the old man realize his own loss of composure, and withdrew his imposing aura. Only then did the two relax, their hearts filled with inexplicable shock: just how strong was the governor!

  After a moment of contemplation, the old man sent the two away and muttered to himself, "Xu Hua? In his late 18th year as the Martial King, he seemed even stronger than I was back then. Could you be my hope?"

  ……

  The next day, Xu Hua was refreshed after a night of rest and full of energy. Today marks the official start of his life in the academy, and the first thing he needs to do is to gain a deeper understanding of the academy. However, as an inner disciple, Xu Hua does not have a dedicated teacher to guide him, and only elite disciples are qualified to apply for a mentor's guidance. Therefore, Xu Hua can only go to the academy's library to search for materials on his own.

  The library of Tiān Nán Fǔ is divided into three buildings. The first building can be entered by any student of the academy to view basic materials and Huang Jie martial arts. The second building requires inner door students to enter, and the third building can only be entered by the strongest warriors, regardless of whether they are teachers or students.

  As for the students of the Academy, they are also divided into several levels. Xu Hua learned from the two people yesterday that the students of Tian Nan Academy are divided into outer door students, inner door students, elite students and core students.

  Outer door students also need the strength of a martial artist, because the recruitment standard of Tiān Nán Fǔ is young people above the level of martial artist under the age of thirty. Outer door students are not actually considered real Tiān Nán Fǔ students, but can only be considered as reserve students, everything needs to rely on oneself.

  Inner door disciples need the strength of the pre-Wu Wang period, and are already considered true disciples of the Tiān Nán Fǔ. They can enjoy some benefits, such as being able to go to some instructors' places to listen in.

  Elite disciples need at least mid-Wu Wang's strength, enjoy more privileges in the academy, and can apply for their own mentors.

  The core disciple needs at least the strength of the late Wu Wang, and every student who becomes a core disciple is the most outstanding student in each session. The school rewards core students with some resources every month. Most importantly, only by becoming a core student can one form their own group within the school.

  Originally, with Xu Hua's strength, he was qualified to become a core student, but becoming an elite student and a core student both required a large number of points. In the school, everything relied on points. To become an elite student, apart from having mid-term Wu Wang's strength, one also needed 1000 points; to become a core student, one needed 10,000 points.

  In the school, valuable things can be exchanged for points, and of course, the most common ones are demon beast materials. The school is located in the Taihang Mountains, where students go out to hunt and kill demons outside the school gate, not only can they obtain points to exchange for the resources they need, but also temper their own combat skills.

  Now Xu Hua is about to go to the Task Pavilion to receive some tasks and earn enough points to become a core disciple, so that Xu Hua can build his own power. With Xu Hua's current strength, how could he be willing to submit to others? Xu Hua passed by all the busy students, no one noticed this new student. Walking into the Task Pavilion, it was indeed very lively, and there was even a small teahouse inside where students could wait for tasks. Xu Hua slowly approached and saw a large list in front of him, which was a part of the tasks after careful examination.

  Five-star mission --- The single horn of a fourth-order solitary dragon lizard, reward 300,000 points.

  Five-star mission --- Kill any one of the seven great protectors of the Tower of Pursuit, reward 200,000 points.

  Four-star mission - Slaughter Wu Wang's late-stage high-handed butcher, reward 50,000 points.

  ……

  Mission: Three Stars - Successfully escort the Kongming Mountain Villa merchant caravan, reward 1000 points.

  ……

  From top to bottom, there are five-star tasks with rewards of up to 300,000 points, and one-star tasks that require finding some rare medicinal materials. For Xu Hua, the points for four-star tasks and below were too low, and with his strength, he could complete most four-star tasks, after all, four-star tasks would not exceed the level of a Martial King.

  Xu Hua thought for a long time and decided to take on the four-star mission of that bloodthirsty butcher first, so Xu Hua walked towards the reception desk.

  Xu Hua looked at the beautiful young girl in front of him, with a stunning face and a fiery figure, and thought to himself: She's really pretty, not half as bad as Xuan Ziyin.

  "Miss, I'll take on the mission to assassinate the Blood Butcher!"

  The girl was looking down at the documents in her hand and upon hearing a voice, subconsciously said: "ID card!"

  Xu Hua instinctively pulled out his own ID token from his pocket and placed it in front of the girl.

  As she picked up Xu Hua's ID token, she slowly recalled what Xu Hua had just said. She raised her head to see Xu Hua's completely unfamiliar face and exclaimed in shock: "You're talking about the... Blood Butcher's mission?"

  Looking at the girl's slightly open pink small mouth, Xu Hua nodded. The girl looked at the token she had just received in her hand.

  Inner Gate Disciple --- Xu Hua

  The girl raised her head and glared at Xu Hua, "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? A ordinary disciple taking on a four-star mission? And it's not just any four-star mission, but one that involves killing the Blood Butcher, which is extremely difficult even for core disciples. Not many of them dare to take it on. Are you new here?"

  As they listened to the girl's voice, people around them began to discuss and point at Xu Hua.

  "Did I hear that right? This kid is going to take on the Blood Butcher's task, which is extremely tricky! Not only are his methods brutal, but he's also a master of escape and concealment. He won't be easy to kill!"

  "Just by looking, he's a country bumpkin. The previous leaders of Jianmen and Qiangtang also took on this task, but after three months of searching, they still couldn't find that person. In the end, they got tired of wasting their time and declared the mission a failure. Can this kid be stronger than those two?"

  "Are you kidding me?! They both successfully passed the Thunder Tribulation half a year ago and became Martial Emperors, they are geniuses that can only be seen once in a hundred years at the Academy, not some ordinary Tom, Dick or Harry!"

  "Isn't this silly boy taking a liking to Miss Feng Fei and trying to get close to her!"

  "He's asking for trouble! Miss Feng Fei is the younger sister of Li Mu, the master of Dan Tang Hall. Doesn't he know his own place?"

  "Hehe, I heard that recently, the master of Qiang Tang, Xu Ning, is pursuing Miss Feng Fei! If Old Master Xu finds out, this kid has his eyes on Miss Feng Fei, what do you think will happen to him!"

  The girl in front of Xu Hua was called Li Fengfei, who was the precious younger sister of Dan Tang's master. At this time, Li Fengfei naturally heard those whispers, especially when she heard the sentence "Could it be that the silly boy has taken a liking to Miss Fengfei", Li Fengfei's delicate face couldn't help but flush red, and she secretly took a look at Xu Hua, only to find his expression very serious. Fengfei suddenly thought to herself: Could it be that this kid doesn't have feelings for me? How is that possible? At the same time, she felt a slight anger in her heart: How could you not like me!

  Xu Hua listened to the voices of the crowd with a stunned expression, what's going on! Isn't it just about taking on a task? Why are they thinking so much! Although this girl is very beautiful, he himself isn't that infatuated, it seems that indeed it's a place where the strong are respected, if you don't show enough strength, you'll be bullied even if you keep quiet! It seems that he should also quickly reveal his own strength!

  "I'm new here, but I'm sure I can take on this task, or is it that newcomers aren't allowed to?"

  Listening to Xu Hua's words, Feng Fei's anger in her heart dissipated, and she felt incredulous about her previous thoughts. However, she still responded to Xu Hua: "This isn't it, it's just that this task is too difficult..."

  Not finished speaking, was interrupted by Xu Hua, Feng Fei's heart was angry again: Good intentions to help you, you don't appreciate it, that's fine, but with this expression, I won't help you, even if you die, it has nothing to do with me.

  "Alright, I've taken note of it. The bloodthirsty butcher appeared in Wu Feng Town half a month ago. This is his portrait."

  Xu Hua quickly left without regard for the crowd's attitude after receiving the portrait.

  After leaving the Task Pavilion, Xu Hua quickly left Tiannan Prefecture. He planned to go to Zhunameng Lou, another major force in Dacang Ridge, to inquire about the whereabouts of Xue Xian. Although the Task Pavilion had already provided information on Xue Xian's whereabouts, that was half a month ago, so Xu Hua still wanted to visit Zhunameng Lou to learn more about Xue Xian's latest news.

  Although Zhui Ming Lou and Tian Nan Fu are enemies, Xu Hua has only been a disciple of Tian Nan Fu for one day, so it's unlikely that Zhui Ming Lou would have discovered his identity so quickly.

  The name "Life-Extinguishing Building" sounds ominous, as if it's going to take one's life. In reality, the Life-Extinguishing Building is a place where various information is bought and sold. It's the fastest place in the entire Grand Desolate Canyon to obtain the latest news. Nobody knows how many hidden tricks the Life-Extinguishing Building has up its sleeve, so many warriors are willing to go there to purchase information.

  Xu Hua spent half a day traveling from Tian Nan Fu to a branch hall of Zhui Ming Lou.

  Although the Zhui Ming Lou and Tian Nan Fu are in a hostile relationship, yet Tian Nan Fu seems to have no intention of dealing with Zhui Ming Lou, otherwise Zhui Ming Lou would not have established a branch temple near Tian Nan Fu.

  The branch hall of the Life and Death Building looks ordinary from the outside. Like a tavern or teahouse, above the main entrance of the Life and Death Building are carved three large characters "Life and Death Building" in a flying dragon and dancing phoenix pattern, below which are two inconspicuous small characters "Branch Hall".

  The only thing that was special was that there were no guards at the gate, and as he slowly approached, Xu Hua activated his "Life Detection Technique" to sense the life auras around him. As he reached the entrance, he discovered that there were eight powerful life auras inside, which meant that these eight people were either Martial Emperors or had cultivated their bodies to the Bone Forging stage. However, body cultivators were extremely rare, and apart from Bei Chengtang, himself, and Luo Cheng's group, Xu Hua hadn't seen any other body-refining martial artists.

  Perhaps there was no strong person here who made Xu Hua feel helpless, Xu Hua stepped in lightly, without any pressure.