Chapter 2

"Hey! A good-for-nothing is getting angry? What, you want to hit me? Do you dare? Haha..." Wang Yuanzhi, the leader of the group, glanced at Gu Fei, who was clenching his fists, and walked up to him with a chest puffed out, looking like he was asking for a beating.

His provocative and arrogant words made the other disciples passing by frown.

Wang Yuanzhi, at the fifth level of the Awakening Realm, was a member of the Wang family, a cultivation family in the State of Qi. When he entered the sect, he spent a lot of time making friends with his fellow disciples, and with the support of his family, he gradually became arrogant among the lower-ranking disciples of Tai Xuan Sect.

Most disciples from noble families had a common flaw: they were young and arrogant. Wang Yuanzhi was one of these noble family disciples.

Gu Fei stared intently at Wang Yuanzhi, his face full of anger, but soon his anger subsided, and he loosened his fists.

He wanted to punch this despicable guy in the face, making him bleed from the nose, but Gu Fei knew that if he fought Wang Yuanzhi now, he had no chance of winning.

At the fifth level of the Awakening Realm against the third level, the outcome was predictable. Gu Fei forcibly suppressed his anger and chose to endure.

He gave Wang Yuanzhi a contemptuous glance and turned to leave, completely ignoring Wang Yuanzhi, whose face had turned ashen.

"He... He actually looked at me like that! Kid, you've got some guts!" Wang Yuanzhi was thoroughly enraged by Gu Fei's disdainful glance.

"Senior Brother Wang, why bother with such a good-for-nothing? Let's hurry to Hualin Pavilion to receive today's task!" A young man beside Wang Yuanzhi said.

Every sect had many affairs to handle, and Tai Xuan Sect was no exception. Disciples who had been in the sect for less than ten years had to take on miscellaneous tasks, while only the elite disciples could focus on cultivation on the mountain without doing any chores.

Tai Xuan Sect only opened its gates to the secular world every ten years to recruit new disciples. Before new disciples entered, all the miscellaneous tasks in Tai Xuan Sect were handled by the disciples at the foot of the mountain.

"Alright! I'll definitely deal with him when I get the chance. He's so arrogant despite having no skills, he's asking for it!" Wang Yuanzhi looked at Gu Fei, who had disappeared down the pine forest path, with a fierce expression in his eyes.

This guy was not a good person, and he was the type who would seek revenge for the slightest provocation.

Gu Fei turned around a rock, and the view ahead suddenly opened up. At the end of the path, a graceful pavilion was hidden among the trees.

This was Hualin Pavilion. Hualin Pavilion was where Tai Xuan Sect managed the miscellaneous tasks of the sect, and it was responsible for the young disciples who had been in the sect for less than ten years.

When Gu Fei arrived at Hualin Pavilion, many white-robed young men were already entering and exiting the pavilion, each holding a jade token in their hands.

As he walked into Hualin Pavilion, Gu Fei looked up and saw a girl with eyes like autumn water and a face like white jade walking towards him.

"Senior Brother Gu!" The beautiful girl saw Gu Fei and immediately greeted him with a smile. Her voice was as clear and pleasant as a bird's song.

This girl was also wearing a white robe, with a slender and graceful figure, small and delicate, her hair flowing over her shoulders, and her features finely drawn, making her a classical beauty.

"Junior Sister Zhao!" Gu Fei nodded indifferently to the girl and continued walking.

As they passed each other, Gu Fei caught a faint, yet elegant and pleasant fragrance, which made him feel intoxicated.

The girl named Zhao suddenly turned to look at the lonely figure behind her, her lively eyes showing a hint of sympathy, and then she turned and left Hualin Pavilion.

"Hey, isn't that Junior Sister Zhao..." Gu Fei faintly heard Wang Yuanzhi's annoying voice from behind.

Gu Fei glanced around the hall and saw that several young disciples were in front of a jade wall, taking down palm-sized jade tokens hanging on it. The jade tokens were crystal clear, faintly emitting a milky white glow, clearly not ordinary objects.

Next to the jade wall was a table, behind which sat a middle-aged man in a green Daoist robe. His eyes seemed to be always half-closed, and he was dozing off, propping his cheek with one hand.

His hair was not tied up, and it fell loosely behind his head, somewhat messy. His Daoist robe looked as if it had been put on carelessly.

This middle-aged Daoist gave the impression of always being half-asleep, lazy, and unkempt.

The hall of Hualin Pavilion was simply furnished, not luxurious but not shabby. One by one, white-robed young men entered and took down jade tokens from the jade wall.

Those who took down the jade tokens used their divine sense to scan them, their faces showing either joy or worry.

Gu Fei came to the jade wall and saw that there were still twenty to thirty jade tokens left. He seemed to be one of the early arrivals. Disciples who had been in the sect for less than ten years were all fourth-generation disciples of Tai Xuan Sect.

One of the three major Daoist sects on Tenglong Continent, Tai Xuan Sect, had only four generations of disciples. The generation of the sect leader, of course, was the first generation, and no matter how many sect leaders there were, the sect leader was always the first. The generations decreased from there, ending at the fourth.

This was the hierarchical system of Tai Xuan Sect.

"Let's see what today's task is!" Gu Fei's face remained calm, and it was hard to detect any expression on it.

As he reached out, his hand seemed to pass through a thin film before touching the jade token, causing a few barely noticeable ripples in the air.

This was a restriction to block divine sense, preventing the young disciples from using their divine sense to check the content of the jade tokens. This was fair, like drawing lots, and no one could complain about the outcome, whether good or bad.

Each jade token contained a corresponding piece of information, and the disciples could only use their divine sense to check the information once the token was taken from the jade wall.

Gu Fei took down a jade token and scanned it with his divine sense. A line of text appeared in his mind.

"Hmm! Today's task is quite easy!" Gu Fei's face remained indifferent, and the jade token showed that he had to go to the Immortal Herb Valley, fifty miles away, to pick ten hundred-year-old Spirit Pearl Grass.

"The ten-year period is almost over, and the sect is going to start the furnace to refine the Condensing Essence Pill again, isn't it?" Gu Fei held the jade token and turned to leave the pavilion.

Just as he reached the door, he encountered Wang Yuanzhi and two other young men. Gu Fei completely ignored Wang Yuanzhi's killing gaze and walked past him without even looking at him.

"That guy!" Wang Yuanzhi was furious, but he glanced at the dozing green-robed Daoist and suppressed the anger that was rising in his chest.

Hualin Pavilion was not a place for him to act recklessly. Even if Wang Yuanzhi was bold, he dared not be disrespectful in front of this unkempt senior.

After leaving Hualin Pavilion, Gu Fei walked through the pine forest path and turned onto a gravel path. At the end of this path was a large area of houses.

This was where the fourth-generation disciples of Tai Xuan Sect lived. There were a few such living areas on the mountain. Of course, the living area for female disciples was on the other side of the mountain.

The houses were arranged in a crescent shape, with a courtyard in the middle. In the courtyard stood a large tree that several people could barely encircle. The tree's branches and leaves were lush, almost covering half of the courtyard.

Gu Fei entered the courtyard, returned to his living quarters, and after eating some fruits he had picked from the mountains, he changed into a clean set of clothes and left the house.

"Gu Fei, where are you in such a hurry to go?" A low voice came as soon as Gu Fei stepped out of his house.

The words were filled with hostility, making Gu Fei frown. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man with clear features but a fierce expression leaning against the large tree in the courtyard, looking at him with ill intent.

Beside this young man stood two other white-robed young men. Who else could they be but Wang Yuanzhi and his group?

"Wang Yuanzhi, what do you want!" Gu Fei's expression turned cold, and he said in a deep voice.

"Hmph! I don't want anything, I just want to see the jade token in your hand!" Wang Yuanzhi said slowly as he walked towards Gu Fei.

The three young men formed a loose encirclement around Gu Fei, blocking him in front of his house. Their contemptuous looks and sneering smiles greatly irritated Gu Fei.

In Gu Fei's mind, there was only one word—anger!