[ For the last two months, strange disappearances keep happening in the Pine town, an area under the direct jurisdiction of the Crimson Snow sect. The local authorities has failed again and again to find any trails regarding these incidents and the townsfolk are restless. Certain clues suggest that the disappearances may be influenced by demonic cultivators or at least some organisations with dangerous individuals who cannot be caught by mere mortals. The local authorities request the help of the sect to solve this issue.

Estimated Danger level- 2 ( shouldn't exceed opponents with strength higher than the seventh layer of physique transformation realm)

Payment- 100 - 150 spirit stones based on rate of completion.

Credit- 25-40 ]

Xuhan read the leaflet Mu Ran had handed him a few moments ago. It was apparently the task he had found to be suitable for them to tackle at the moment. It offered good money, with a danger level Mu Ran could handle. The only problem was...

"Boss, what about me? I can't fight against anyone at the seventh layer of physique transformation realm. How do you expect me to be of any help? Heck, I could die or get fatally injured! Are you gonna be responsible for my death?"

"I'll be there, don't worry. Even if you die, I'll just find your next incarnation after rebirth after I become more powerful and crack open your memory seal."

"What the-?"

"Did I say something illogical?"

"What if I reincarnated into another world, another realm?"

"Then I can find you when I become even more stronger!"

"How are you so sure that you'll become that powerful?"

"Why would I not? Is there any particular reason for me to NOT become powerful?"

"...I-what if I reincarnate into an ant or something?"

"Then I'll just 'let you die' so that you reincarnate again!"

"You know, I'd be touched if your disregard for my life wasn't so blatant, boss."

"I know, sigh...I'm just too charismatic."

" You know what? Forget I ever complained. What the hell is this credit thing again?"

Xuhan gave up halfway through his complaints and decided to change the subject.

"It was mentioned in the rulebook, right? Somebody said it was. Check yours and see what it says."

"Didn't you read your- no, never mind. I doubt you even bothered to touch the rulebook. Let me see..."

Xuhan rummaged through his hut and came back with the thick book, carefully studying the index.

"Found it. Whoa! If we can rake up to five thousand credits, we can get promoted to the inner court!"

Mu Ran's interest was piqued. Inner court disciples received not only higher status, but also fixed amount of payments, free lessons and resources regularly. Any outer court disciple would be tempted by these perks.

"Then we'll have to try our best, Xuhan! Start preparing, we're gonna wipe the floor with those demonic cultivators!"

Carefully storing the mission token and their identity badges as disciples of the Crimson Snow sect, Xuhan and Mu Ran packed up for a few days outside the sect and bade farewell to their fellow disciples of the black sheep mountain peak.

Surprisingly, their sudden act of bravery as the first disciples to take up such missions among their batch didnt raise any particular commotion.

Xuhan probed an older disciple he was familiar with regarding this, unable to understand the lack of reaction from them.

"Junior, we all are the disciples of black sheep mountain peak. What's there to hide? One of the few common traits of the disciples here is sheer stupidity. In every generation of disciples, some of these stupid ones always try to take the mantle. It's nothing new. Is cultivating inside your hut peacefully so difficult?

No, not at all! But you still want to go catch demonic cultivators, criminals whom you have no idea about, just because of the monetary reward...aren't you actively seeking death?"

Xuhan was stumped by this answer. It was true that neither he nor Mu Ran had any idea about how to catch those criminals. But as far as he remembered from xianxia novels, demonic cultivators were usually just overpowered serial killers with some shady cultivation techniques that required dead bodies or something similarly gory and disgusting.

He wasn't sure if real demonic cultivators would be something similar to those creeps. But even after asking around, the definitions of demonic cultivators he got was quite vague. Outer court disciples rarely handled such cases, not to mention, his source of information were the trashy disciples of his own mountain peak.

Caught in a bind, Han Xuhan decided to pay a visit to his master, elder Daheng. Suspiciously enough, his boss seemed to have vanished from his hut in the meantime, nowhere to be found. Xuhan wondered what kind of preparation a protagonist would take for a mission like this as he walked alone to the elder's palace on top of the peak.

Elder Daheng always turned out to be busy cultivating inside his palace. Unlike most elders, he didn't have any particular duty to attend to, and neither did he seem motivated to go out of the sect to seek fortuitous opportunities. He was like the shut in NEET of the family, always cooped up inside his room.

Noticing Xuhan, he gestured for him to enter his room and take a seat. After the pleasantries, Xuhan moved to the real topic.

"Master, what are demonic cultivators?"

"Ah, I'm not sure, really. I've never met one in my life."

"...Are they that rare?"

"I suppose so. Not many have actually encountered a true demonic cultivator even in this sect. Usually, the so called demonic cultivators we hear about are just one or two crazy criminals who veer off the traditional paths and commit atrocities to fuel their cultivation techniques. The source of such techniques are never clear. But you can blame shady markets and gatherings among rogue cultivators for that. These sort of criminals are just scary in name. They might practice demonic techniques, but calling them demonic cultivators is a bit too much of a stretch."

"Then master, have you never even heard of a true demonic cultivator?"

"I have. But none of those descriptions left any particularly strong impression. Most of the informations I've heard about demonic cultivators seem to be rumours and lies. A true demonic cultivator is something everyone should avoid, and take note, I said 'something', not 'someone'. The few demonic cultivators I've heard of couldn't even be considered human anymore from the descriptions. The techniques they cultivate may not be seen as good, but their power far surpasses the normal techniques we cultivators practice. "

"But master, I've heard that demonic cultivators have unstable cultivation bases because most of their techniques rely on evil deeds and such. They also have fatal backlashes too."

Xuhan tried to recall the bits and pieces of information he had read about typical demonic cultivators in his previous life and probed his master.

"Backlashes? Unstable cultivation base?"

Elder Daheng started laughing, shaking his head.

"Xuhan, do you think that it's possible to evade, hide and toy with the investigation forces and spies of dozens of reputable sects around the seven mountains with such horrible cultivation techniques? I know for a fact that our sect master himself, along with five other sect masters close in terms of cultivation base, tried to locate the headquarters of the demonic cultivators. They all returned empty handed. Can you imagine that? A whole sect that can hide from them? True demonic cultivators aren't opponents you can fight, kid, not with your measly cultivation base. Why are you so curious about them, anyway?"

"...Because martial brother Mu Ran and I accepted a mission that may lead to a scuffle with low level demonic cultivators."

"And the dumbass of the year award goes to you, my disciple. With your second layer cultivation base, you want to beat demonic cultivators? The sect wouldn't issue such dangerous missions to outer court disciples. It's probably just some exaggerated details about some shady rogue cultivators. If you insist on going, I suggest you try your best not to start a fight. Leave the action to Mu Ran..."

Xuhan nodded obediently. That was the original plan anyway. Afterwards, he made some small talk with the elder before returning to his own hut for a last minute check. Little Zhanxian, the skeleton he had cultivated, would accompany them as well. Xuhan now had enough control over the skeletal monarch technique to actively summon and de-summon Zhanxian. He couldn't wait to use his cultivation technique in an actual battle and see the results. Even though the technique was deemed useless, it would still have some effect, right?

How many otakus and chunni kids dream of such an opportunity? To shout out an intimidating name of a technique and wreak havoc over their opponents while making cool poses...

It was a disgustingly cool daydream.