Chapter 3582 — Mission Registration
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Meng Jueming did hold the qualification of an inner-door disciple, but he was an inner-door disciple of Azure Cloud Pavilion, the most wretched of the Three Pavilions. Even among all the inner-door disciples of Azure Cloud Pavilion, few were qualified to enter the inner street!
Only disciples ranked high in the Three Pavilions' contests were entitled to enter.
After a circuit of the market, Meng Jueming led them straight back to the Welcome Pavilion, yet did not dismiss them at once.
This outing to the market seemed to have kindled the newcomers' ambitions. Compared with their stiff nervousness upon first arriving, they now appeared markedly more lively and at ease, as though gradually recovering the confidence of experts of the Heaven Tier. Even facing a domineering steward senior brother like Meng Jueming, they dared to voice their questions, no longer keeping silent as they had at the start.
After all, no one who could cultivate to the late Heaven Tier or beyond was truly weak. The likes of Brother Kubi, forever meek and submissive year in and year out, were exceedingly rare. The great majority of the newcomers present, though assigned to Azure Cloud Pavilion—that dumping ground for the useless—still harbored ambitions of their own.
And this outing to the market, while opening their eyes, had also at last made clear the most basic prerequisite for fulfilling those ambitions: spirit jade.
On Cloud-Tier Island, without spirit jade, all was empty talk. One could buy no martial techniques, no pills or elixirs, no rare treasures of heaven and earth. And without such external aids, relying solely on one's own solitary cultivation, the great majority present could cultivate unto death and still never reach the Foundation Establishment stage, let alone the higher realms beyond.
A single coin can bring a hero low; a single spirit jade can likewise bring these Heaven Tier experts low. Without spirit jade, one could not take a single step in the days to come.
"Senior Brother Meng, how can we obtain more spirit jade?" someone asked, voicing what was in everyone's heart, and in an instant a host of burning gazes fixed upon Meng Jueming.
"A good question," Meng Jueming said with a smile, a flicker of smugness passing through his eyes.
As steward senior brother, his foremost power was the distribution of spirit jade, and this was precisely the root of why all respected him, courted him, and even feared him. He did not fear that the crowd harbored ambitions—rather, he feared that they did not!
With ambition, they would crave spirit jade, and so they would obediently heed him. But without ambition, they would stand firm through having no desires, and then he would find them hard to discipline.
So in taking these newcomers on a trip to the market, beyond familiarizing them with their surroundings, Meng Jueming had another, more important aim: to stir their desires. So long as they had desires and ambitions, he need never worry that they would defy him in days to come!
Taking in the eager looks of all the newcomers, Meng Jueming drawled in a lofty tone, "No reward without effort. Aside from the one spirit jade the Welcome Pavilion issues you by regular monthly allotment, there is only one way to obtain more—come to me and take on missions. Do the missions, and only then is there pay!"
"May I ask, Senior Brother Meng, what sort of missions?" someone asked urgently.
"Very simple—mining in the low-grade spirit jade lode. Mine a full hundred pieces, and you earn one spirit jade as your reward! Anyone who wants to go can come to me and sign up right now!" Meng Jueming announced in a loud voice.
The moment the words were out, the newcomers' breathing grew heavy, and only after a moment did they come to their senses one after another. RS