10 days later, 1:03 PM (Afternoon)

Over the course of a week, using the jade Wang Wei gave her out of pity, she managed to fund her own body cultivation without having to chop vegetables.

Sitting idly, 100 Jade was gone, just like that... Mei was heartbroken. Though, admittedly, if she bought more of the soup, it would have been used up sooner. But even without it, her body cultivation had reached the 3rd layer in such a short time. Wasn't body cultivation supposed to be slow and tedious according to Luye?

The past days had been quite relaxing for her. In the morning, after breakfast, she would head to the body elder's residence to refine her body, and well, that was pretty much the end of it. She would spend the rest of the day however she wanted, which meant slouching in her room and reading. And maybe spending some time with Su Qing occasionally.

Though lately, she found something amiss. The elders in the sect, they seemed rather... absent, as of late. Even the weapon elders who trained them routinely told them they were dismissed. Not that she was complaining. Even when she decided to pay the spirit elder's residence a visit, she found that Li Xuan's lessons were on hold.

It was odd, but Mei didn't think much of it.

But today, it seemed like a wrench had been thrown into her "plans". She looked into her bag and took out a small pouch, looking into it. 5 pieces of white Jade. That was all she had. She could only sigh as she dropped it back into her bag.

The task pavilion saw an unusual guest today. A rather unhappy girl stood in the queue before it, a stack of vegetable buns in hand, munching them to pass the time.

Mei felt rather resigned as she waited. The queue was taking forever... Sadly, Wang Wei wasn't conveniently in front to help her skip it this time. She really was rather lucky then.

Now that she thought of it, she really wished she had asked one of her friends for advice earlier. They would probably know what jobs were more profitable, being much more diligent than her. Especially the ever reliable Xiuying.

Wang Wei would probably have an idea too, but she didn't want to have to rely on him, especially after the pity jade. It really was sad how much more capable he was, despite only being 10...

20 minutes passed.

The long wait over, Mei rushed into the pavilion, shoving past the idly chatting people and climbing up a flight of stairs. A few of the helpful spirits flying around asked if she needed help, but she declined as politely as she could.

Finally finding an available interface, she tapped on the wooden board and registered herself alone, before scrolling through the list of tasks. The same old boring chores as before... it didn't seem like reaching the 9th level of qi gathering opened up many new ones. The board was able to detect her improved cultivation... right?

Hm?

A familiar task caught her eye. Herb Picking! Previously, Wang Wei wanted to participate, but it wasn't available, so he stormed off angrily. Something about not overstraining the ecosystem or whatever.

A task even that rich boy was interested in... Though, admittedly, back then he wasn't filthy rich with Jade yet.

Mei tapped on it and looked through the details, somewhat excited.

[Herb Picking]

The herbs on Qiulan Peaks have regenerated, after a year of inactivity.

For a short period of time, disciples will be allowed to gather the herbs there. Rewards are based on the gathered herbs.

A Jade Slip will be provided after accepting the task. Please refer to it, so as to not harm the source plant while harvesting.

If any spirit beasts are guarding the desired herbs, please do not argue with them and present your jade slip to request portions.

----

17 / 50 Positions left

Only 50 people? Yikes... she quickly accepted.

If she had been a little later, Mei was sure she would have missed it.

Looking at the details, she was a little speechless. From the wording, Mei was willing to bet a hundred jade Qiulan Peaks was sect territory! And here she thought she would be going into the "wilds". No wonder the sustainability of the herbs there was a concern.

It seemed like the spirit beasts on the mountain were warned by elders not to attack the disciples wantonly nabbing the herbs. And even the herbs that they had personally grown were even subject to a "tax". Those poor beasties. Hah. Mei would not hesitate to abuse her "authority" to grab portions of what was sure to be super valuable herbs. She was in dire need of Jade, after all.

After a short wait, a little blue spirit flew over, dropping a green jade slip into her hands. The characters "秋藍" were carved neatly onto it, along with stylised mountains. It was very pretty.

She really was getting a lot of jade slips, huh? She had barely been in the sect for 2 months, and already, she had 3. At this rate, she was going to need little boxes to sort all the slips in just a few years... Shouldn't these be pretty valuable?

"Hello, I am Tian Lan, if you remember me. I trust you have read the instructions carefully, but I must stress this: please remember to follow the harvesting guidelines strictly."

"Yeah, I read it."

"That is good." Tian Lan conveyed approval. "I should mention that since you have now accepted it, you may immediately head to the mountains."

"So soon?" Mei was surprised.

"Indeed. The task will close by the end of the week, however, so there's no need to rush. Directions to the mountain are listed within the slip."

"Okay, thanks."

Tian Lan started to float away, before coming back.

"You seem a lot more polite now," it said.

"Huh? We've barely talked!" Mei felt a little offended.

"Well, the first time you were here, you told me you didn't need my help for obvious things."

"...you're still upset about that?"

"I'm not upset about that!"

"Yeah whatever," she said, walking off.