Jiang Li threw this dead fish that was already smelly into a small river outside the Scripture Storage Valley and found Yan Hong, who was stationed in the trading area.

He asked Yan Hong to let two disciples make a trip to the Immortal Ascension Pavilion.

Other than buying some basic spirit pills and talismans that the Scripture Storage Valley did not have, they could inquire about the current situation of the White Scaled Demon and the location of the Scaled Demon tribe.

Jiang Li had no intention of testing the spiritual root seed personally. He could only do this for the time being and put the damaged and shriveled spiritual root seed into the coffin.

Yan Hong was still the same chubby and naive-looking man. However, it was said that his business had been doing quite well recently. He had already made a name for himself in the outer sect and was starting to have a stable income of spirit stones.

Of course, it was not much.

After readily agreeing to Jiang Li's request, Yan Hong suddenly pulled him to the side and said softly in a serious tone.

"Jiang Li, did you and Yu Banxia receive a lot of spirit stones for this mission?"

"It can't be completely considered a mission. There were some unexpected situations and it was an external reward given by the sect," Jiang Li answered.

After all, they had all received those spirit stones from the outer sect's affairs hall and had not gone through the process of the outer sect mission area. It could be said that these were rewards of the sect and not from the mission.

As for that mission, it was hard to say if it was completed by them.

"Sigh, you guys were too careless. Someone saw you collecting the spirit stones!"

Yan Hong squeezed his round face together, looking very worried.

"So what if we're seen? There are so many people coming and going every day in the Outer Sect Affairs Hall. It's hard for us not to be seen."

Jiang Li acted very indifferent. It could not be that some Golden Core big shot wanted to kill him for these few hundred spirit stones, right?

"Sigh, you don't know. Now, the entire outer sect has spread the news that you guys were lucky enough to obtain a windfall. It's said that you have a few thousand spirit stones. There are many people who are green with envy."

When he heard Yan Hong's words, Jiang Li suddenly recalled that there seemed to be many people discussing similar topics along the way. However, he did not pay attention to it at that time.

Now, he was shocked. It had only been a few hours, how could such trivial news spread so quickly?

"Jealous? Together, we did indeed earn two thousand spirit stones. But what can they do to us? New disciples are protected by the sect in their first year."

Seeing that Jiang Li was still unmoved, Yan Hong became even more anxious.

"Why aren't you worried? For some reason, another 2,000 new disciples suddenly joined the outer sect today. Many people say that we, the current batch of disciples, are already senior disciples and the sect won't take care of us anymore."

"Even if they don't dare to attack openly now, what about in a year? Don't we still have to stay in the outer sect?"

Only then did Jiang Li recall that Yan Hong had yet to break through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm.

For an ordinary high-grade spiritual root, staying in the outer sect for three to five years was normal. It was understandable for him to be worried now.

"I forgot to tell you. I'm already at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm. I'll join the inner sect during the outer sect competition in two months. I'll protect you in the future."

Jiang Li had only exposed his breakthrough to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm when he was out on a mission. Therefore, Yan Hong did not know about it yet.

"Alright, alright, alright. You have to protect me. You have to be careful of one person in the future. He has only recently broken through to the late-stage Qi Refinement realm and is worrying about not having a target to exploit. We are all… Wait, what did you say just now?"

Yan Hong obviously did not listen to Jiang Li at first. He only suddenly reacted as he spoke.

"You're at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm!? Who's the one with a high-grade spiritual root, you or me? I…"

Even when Jiang Li left, Yan Hong was still in disbelief, doubting his life. He had even forgotten about the threat of a certain outer sect senior brother.

Thinking about it, the devastating blow of this "my friend ranked among the top" could make him work harder in his cultivation in the future.

To be honest, Yan Hong's help previously saved Jiang Li a lot of trouble.

Jiang Li actually hoped that Yan Hong could continue to help him in the future.

Even though as a businessman, he did not need much cultivation and strength.

But just like in his previous life, salespersons called themselves sales managers. Without a certain status, it was difficult for others to listen to you seriously.

In the cultivation world, cultivation was the first measure of status.

Take Fu Zhong from the Immortal Ascension Pavilion for example. In the Great Mountain Branch, everything was handled by him alone. He was excellent and experienced in managing the business and was worshiped by Yan Hong every day.

However, because he was at the Foundation Establishment realm, the highest he could become was a deacon. He would never be able to take the place of the Pavilion Master even if the position was often switched among the various higher-ups.

At the very least, Yan Hong had to reach the Core Formation realm or something in the future. Otherwise, he would not be able to become a proper businessman.

As for the threat of whoever Yan Hong mentioned, he really did not take it to heart. If he wanted to cause trouble for Jiang Li, he had to be strong enough first.

What made him happy was that Yan Hong did not borrow any spirit stones from him in the end.

Although it was not a big issue, it directly reflected Yan Hong's character.

He was currently on the rise in his development. It was impossible for him to not need more spirit stones and be able to resist the urge to take a share of the loot. This was very important for their future interactions as friends.

...

After leaving the trading area, Jiang Li headed straight for the inner sect.

After showing the command token in his hand, Jiang Li headed to the Scripture Storage Pavilion once more.

This token was the reward given to him by Elder Weng Sanqi.

It was said that this concerned the founding of the sect and was an extremely rare opportunity.

Although all inner sect disciples would obtain such a token when they first entered the sect, it was only one-time use. If they wanted to obtain it, they could only accumulate a large number of sect contribution points before exchanging for it.

Jiang Li chose to give up on directly joining the inner sect and chose this token instead because he wanted to enjoy this benefit again in the future.

He arrived at the Scripture Storage Pavilion with ease. Elder Li was sitting at the entrance, holding a jar of wine and enjoying life.

"Elder Li," Jiang Li stepped forward and bowed as he cupped his hands.

"Hmm, as usual, go in and look for cultivation methods and spell techniques yourself."

The working attitude of this Scripture Storage Pavilion's Elder Li was always so unrestrained. He basically made the Scripture Storage Pavilion into a buffet. As long as one paid enough spirit stones, they could do as they pleased.

"Elder, I want to go to the Scripture Imparting Hall!"

Jiang Li had another request this time. He opened his hand and placed the small token in his palm to show the other party.

Elder Li finally raised his drooping eyelids and looked at the token.

With a wave of his hand, the command token automatically flew into the other party's hand. Elder Li used a secret technique to carefully inspect it for a long time before nodding.

"That's right, it's the token for the Scripture Imparting Hall. Hehe, kid, your luck is pretty good. It's rare for outer sect disciples to obtain this thing. Follow me."

Elder Li had clearly forgotten who Jiang Li was long ago. After glancing at his outer sect disciple uniform, he was slightly surprised.

However, he didn't say anything else and brought Jiang Li into the Scripture Storage Pavilion. After he opened a hidden door, a stone staircase appeared on the ground.

In the faint light, they descended.

As they went deeper, the air gradually carried an ancient smell.

The stone walls of the passage were crisscrossed with sword slashes and ravines, as if someone had once fought a great battle here.

Finally, at the end of the passageway, his field of vision opened up once more. Jiang Li was already able to see a damaged hall towering in the vast underground space under the dim glow of the luminous pearls.