After meeting with Sect Master Won Feng of the Swirling Poison Corrupting Sect, they had come to a realisation in which they had no idea where the commission board was - in fact, they had no idea where anything was. When they walked out of the main hall, they had managed to end up in another part of the Sect from where they had supposedly walked in.
When Julong decided to mention the predicament, he merely laughed at them and pointed at his Disciple. The all too well known Xiao Dai was smiling at both of them, though there was something off about it. It was a cheeky and playful smile.
It was then that he realised that Won Feng wanted her to tour them around the Sect.
The Sect was small but at the same time impressive and incredibly serene. Beauty laced it, unlike the large town that had been built around it. Complex structures and pavilions laced its landscape with culture. This was still negligent of the wall that surrounded the Sect's territory, which was the most interesting part. The wall seemed to stretch endlessly, almost as if they had walked into a different space. Julong was assuming that this was thanks to the Genesis Runes he had priorly spotted on the wall. Unfortunately, he could not properly identify them because he was not strong enough, but he had a pretty good idea of what they were.
"And here we are."
Xiao Dai's soft voice filled Julong's distracted ears as she spoke to the two Cangxuan Sect Disciples. Whenever she looked at them Julong had managed to notice a newfound sort of respect in her eyes. With every glance, her eyes seemed to twinkle. As he got more accustomed to her, the more it seemed as though whoever he had met the day before did not exist.
"This is the Commission board of the Sect. Townsfolk are able to hand their commissions to the Sect members at the various entrances to the Sect and have them hung here."
Qingchan looked curiously at the board filled to the brim with small sheets of paper detailing small missions.
"Why is it not in the town, are only the people in the Sect Cultivators?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, most of the people in this town have little to no talent in the art of Cultivation. Despite the Genesis Qi around here being incredibly strong - of course not comparable to the Sacred Sects on the Shengzhou Continent mind you - only very few people are able to move into the Qi Nourishing Realm and beyond."
Her words seemed to strike an accord with Julong.
"That's the reason the Sacred Palace treats this place the way it does, isn't it? Because the people here in a lack of better terms are useless."
While his words were harsh, Xiao Dai and Qingchan knew they were true, prompting them to sadly lower their heads.
"Yes... it is because of their connections to the Sacred Race."
Julong nodded.
"I'm well aware. The Sacred Race only value the strong and treat humans as livestock. Of course, weak humans would be treated as nothing but a source of food or sadistic entertainment. This holds true for their followers, the Sacred Palace, obviously minus the food example." A scowl took over his lips. His hate for the Sacred Race and Sacred Palace seemed to only grow as time went on. "This Sacred Palace is incredibly troublesome and needs to be destroyed in some way in the future. If not, who knows what could happen."
Silence took over momentarily. It was safe to say they all shared the same opinion, but it was not something that mere Alpha-Origin Experts could realistically talk about. Though it gave insight into the hatred Julong displayed for the Sacred Race and Sacred Palace.
"Julong, why is it that you hate them so much?"
Xiao Dai was the one to ask, though it was soft with a hint of sadness lacing her words. It was almost as if she was also recollecting her reasons for hating them.
"I'd prefer to not say too much, but I hail from the Hunyuan Heaven and have a powerful Master who has had first-hand experience with the Sacred Race. Those are where most of my opinions come from; the stories she has told me."
His words were somewhat elusive but told them what they needed to know. Just saying he was from the Hunyuan Heaven was enough. That Heaven was the first line of defence from the Sacred Race. They had the strongest Heaven Prides of all the human race.
Suddenly Julong's incredible talent somewhat made sense.
"Though enough about that, I feel as though I have sullied the mood. How about you tell us about the commission system a bit more."
Xiao Dai seemed to clear her throat as though starting fresh.
"Of course."
She tapped her chin trying to figure out where to begin.
"As I said before, all the commissions from the town are stored here on the commission board. The reward obviously depends on how dangerous the commission is. In that sense, the commissions have their own rating which is on each piece of paper. They rank from 1-3 stars, 3 being the most dangerous and most rewarding. If you are looking for them, they should be in the top right corner. Alongside this, the name and organisation of the person who issued the commission should also be beneath the stars."
While Xiao Dai was speaking, Julong decided to take a single piece of paper off of the commission board. Looking to the top right of the commission, there were 2.5 stars and the name of the Sect they were currently standing inside of labelled underneath it. From what Xiao Dai had said, it should mean that it was one of the more dangerous commissions on the board and that it was issued by the Swirling Poison Corrupting Sect. Beneath the stars was an outline of a mission and how to prove it was complete, then right at the bottom, an outline of how you would be rewarded for completing the commission. But that brought about one question:
"How do we claim the rewards?"
Xiao Dai knew that question was coming and immediately answered.
"When someone hands in the commission, it undergoes a reviewal process, in which we receive the payment and hold it until someone finishes the commission. In this process, they pay a small amount of interest so the Sect can make some profit too. If no one completes the commission the payment is returned to the issuer of the commission, as is the interest they paid."
Julong nodded in understanding before he quickly straightened himself. He turned around and approached Xiao Dai, holding out the commission he had grabbed earlier and one more.
"What do I need to do to undertake these two commissions?"
Xiao Dai looked at the commissions in his hand. The previous 2.5 star commission sat in his left hand, but in his right was the only 3 star on the board.
Her eyes widened a little as she looked up at his face. She was surprised to find that he was dead serious. It should be known that not even she would dare to take a commission above around 2.3 stars, and this Wan Julong granted he had a Chosen with him, had just taken two of the most dangerous commissions on the board without a second thought. It wasn't like he didn't know this either, she had watched him read the information on the pieces of paper.
She sighed exasperatedly before looking back down.
"Are you sure?"
Qingchan with a disapproving head shake could only watch as Julong smirked at Xiao Dai. When he set his eyes on something it was rather difficult to deter him.
"What could go wrong?"