He Qingge focused all of his hearing on the creature on the tall tree outside the Spirit Beast Garden.
He could clearly hear the strong breathing, strong heartbeat, and the reverberation of sound waves. The appearance of the creature appeared in He Qingge's mind. This discovery made him overjoyed.
This ability was similar to that of a bat's, but it was even more powerful. He could sense the sound waves of living things and directly visualize them.
He Qingge directly modeled the creature in his mind and marked out all kinds of sensory data.
There was a bird crouching on a tall tree outside. From its appearance, it looked like a Tissot bird. From the rhythm of its breathing and heartbeat, he could roughly sense that its strength was at the sixth level of the Qi Training Realm. He Qingge's heart was solemn. He was being targeted.
Tian Xuan Sect was a huge sect with strict rules. It was impossible for a spirit beast to fly around without a master. This Tissot bird must be a man-made spirit beast.
The first thing He Qingge thought of was the Zhang family. After all, he had never encountered anything like this bird before their arrival. Of course, it was also possible that he did not have such strong hearing before and could not detect it.
Overall, the Zhang family was the most suspicious.
After a while, He Qingge could not take it anymore. His head hurt a little, and his spiritual power was exhausted. He pulled back Hearing. Now, he could use Hearing at full power for about 15 minutes.
He Qingge was not too worried that there were people watching him from the outside. As long as he did not go out, there would not be any problems. Besides the Peak Master, no one could kill people in the Tian Xuan Sect.
But if one provoked Old Peng Ci, one would not be able to escape no matter what.
With the pressure, He Qingge prepared to enter seclusion to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement.
After activating Spirit Gathering, He Qingge felt that there was a small amount of spirit gathering ability. He also drank a lot of high-quality Hundred Beast Milk, which contained sufficient nutrition and a little spiritual power.
Just like that, four months passed. He Qingge had broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement. "My spiritual root purity has increased, and my efficiency in cultivation has increased significantly."
Every day, He Qingge realized that the speed of his cultivation of Berating had increased significantly. Perhaps it was because of his sensitivity to sound, which allowed him to control spells like sound with ease.
His proficiency in Berating had increased greatly. In just four months, his Berating had advanced from proficient to grandmaster. It was obvious that there was a qualitative leap.
(Proficiency levels: Beginner, skilled, proficient, master, grandmaster, superb, near-dao.)
Berating could shock the opponent's mind, and the sound waves could damage their hearing and affect their brain.
It was only one of the most basic spells, but when it reached the grandmaster level, even the Golden Jade White Tiger at the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm would be affected and even shocked. It was quite powerful.
He Qingge could now use all his words to berate people, and the effect was extraordinary. If he used it well, he could even kill people of a higher level. After all, the body of a cultivator in the Qi Refinement Realm was not that strong. What was powerful was all kinds of methods.
He Qingge was in a good mood after his strength had increased. As long as he could pass the Imperial Beast Peak's selection four months later, his future path would be much easier.
...
"What do you mean he hasn't left the house for four months?" Zhang Jianchi said sternly.
"It's true, Young Master," Zhang Lingmu said respectfully.
"Doesn't he need to do missions? He's the steward of the Spirit Beast Garden. He needs to provide beast milk every day!" Zhang Jianchi was puzzled.
Zhang Lingmu said, "He applied for a closed-door cultivation breakthrough for a month. He also brought out the beast milk in advance to offset the amount for the next two months. In the last month, someone went to his Spirit Beast Garden to get milk every day, and he never showed up."
"Idiot, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Zhang Jianchi was furious. He had a bad temper to begin with, and now his mood was even worse. This subordinate had done the task he ordered so badly.
"I thought he wouldn't be in seclusion for such a long time as a level four Qi Refinement cultivator," Zhang Lingmu said. "I'm afraid that too violent a method will make him suspicious."
"Why are you being reasonable?" Zhang Jianchi's eyes turned cold.
Zhang Lingmu quickly knelt down and groveled. "I don't dare. I'm too stupid."
"Did you send someone over?" Zhang Jianchi asked.
"Other than the milkmen of the Imperial Beast Peak, he won't meet anyone else. With the defensive array of the Spirit Beast Garden, it's impossible to barge in." Zhang Lingmu's entire body trembled.
"Trash!" Zhang Jianchi roared.
For four whole months, no information was learned. There was nothing useful at all!
"Since he doesn't want to go out, get him out. I don't think I need to teach you how to do this!" Zhang Jianchi looked at Zhang Lingmu coldly.
Zhang Lingmu's eyes flashed with joy.
Disciples of the Tian Xuan Sect usually only needed to participate in the missions of their own peak, but the servant disciples and outer sect disciples had to participate in the sect missions every three years.
In the past, He Qingge had always bribed people to have him be selected for a safe mission within the sect. Moreover, he had chosen those missions that were safe but not of much value, so he did not need to bribe too much. He wanted to avoid being envied by others. After all, his strength was not high, so it was always right to be careful.
He entered the sect at the age of six and had completed six sect missions. Now that he was almost 27 years old, he did not have much time left. It was time for the next sect mission. He made preparations as usual.
"Senior, do you have a mission that doesn't require me to leave the sect?" He Qingge asked as he handed over a spirit stone.
The originally somewhat impatient disciple of the Merit Room put the spirit stone into his pocket and instantly smiled. "Yes, yes. Look at these."
He directly handed the selected missions to He Qingge. There was a price marked behind each mission. He Qingge was used to seeing this.
The task of selecting and guiding new disciples lasted for three months. Guiding them to familiarize themselves with the sect and their cultivation was not difficult or rewarding. The sect would not directly give the new disciples cultivation resources, so there was not much profit.
It was to prevent them from taking advantage of the sect. At the same time, it was also to test the temperament and talent of the new disciples.
He Qingge had been relying on his talent to stay in Tian Xuan Sect. After living a life full of hard work in his previous life, he would naturally seize every opportunity that he saw.
"Identity token."
He Qingge handed the token over.
The disciple of the Merit Room verified it, and his expression changed. "Your name is He Qingge?"
"Yes."
"Change to another mission! This mission has been temporarily reserved by someone else," the disciple of the Merit Room said coldly.
He Qingge frowned and knew that it was not simple. The mission book that he had seen before was a magic treasure. Of course, it was a sub-body of the magic treasure. The Hall of Punishment and the Pill Cauldron Room also had mission books.
According to legend, the main body was in the hands of the sect master.
The missions displayed on it were missions that nobody had chosen.
"Then I'll choose to guard the Purgatory Devil's Nest." He Qingge remained calm. Most people would not choose this mission.
"That's unavailable."
He Qingge took out another spirit stone.
A strange look flashed across the eyes of the disciple from the Merit Room. After putting it away, his voice became even colder. "There are only missions outside of the sect."
He Qingge was conflicted and took out another spirit stone.
The disciple of the Merit Room said indifferently, "There'll only be internal sect missions next year."
"Thank you for telling me, Senior. I'll go back and consider it." He Qingge looked at the options.
"I wonder if I can avoid this calamity?"
The disciple of the Merit Room shook his head slightly. Just now, he was reminding the other party on account of his understanding.
He Qingge knew that he had been targeted, and the Zhang family was the first suspect.
There was clearly no problem with their previous transaction, so why were they targeting him?
He could not wait for a year to accept the mission. His three-year period was almost up. If he did not accept a mission within three years, he would automatically be forced to accept one.
It seemed that he needed to prepare some backup plans.