Chapter 12 : Xie Huoji

Picking up the Golden Mission, Jian Zheng hurried to skip through the details. After reading everything he now knows what the mission is all about.

Apparently the youngest prince of the Cloud Empire wishes to obtain a fruit known as the Nourish Fruit, a fruit meant to improve the amount of spiritual energy that can be absorbed into ones body that can also tempering the body and fixing whatever damage in the body that cannot be healed using normal means.

From Jian Zheng perspective this fruit should be a legendary fruit but in reality its merely a rare fruit. 

There are many different types of fruits that are ranked as Normal, Rare, Legendary and Empyrean. Any fruit above that can be considered a god like fruit for there's records that whoever eat those fruits will become true gods. 

Normal fruits are simply just fruits that commoners bring to their tables. As for the ones above that, they are used to help a person in their cultivation, comprehension or to improve the body. 

All in all, fruits are meant to help a cultivator in different ways, they are very beneficial. 

"Elder, I will like to take this mission!" Getting back to the main reason he came here, Jian Zheng bowed respectfully to the elder then immediately claimed the mission as his own. 

"Young man I am afraid I cannot give this mission to you. Only those on the top ten are qualified to go on this mission." The elder shook his head at Jian Zheng request making him anxious, "This mission involves the safety of the young prince, there will be many people who will target him and with your cultivation at the Huotian fifth stage there's not much you can do to assist him." The elder wasn't looking down on Jian Zheng as he could tell that he was only fifteen years old. With his talent the elder believe that in two years Jian Zheng could make it into the inner court if he lay low in the sect. 

"Gu Lingran greets elder." Just when Jian Zheng felt hopeless, Gu Lingran assured him with a smile then bowed slightly to the elder, "Elder, have you not heard of the news yet? My Junior Brother have managed to defeat Qiang Shi who have reached the pinnacle of the tenth stage with one move." When the elder heard this shock could be seen all over his face.

"Is this true?" The Elder did not believe that Jian Zheng whose only at the fifth stage could defeat someone who is a whole five stages above him. Not to mention that Qiang Shi wasn't any ordinary disciple.

 The Elder turned to the crowd who gathered at the Mission Hall and looked at them with a sharp gaze as if telling them to only speak the truth. The disciples seeing this gaze didn't dare to speak lies, they immediately nodded their heads making the elder even more surprised. 

"This..." With the disciples agreeing that Jian Zheng defeated Qiang Shi with one move, the elder didn't know what to say. He still believe that Jian Zheng wouldn't be able to help the young prince which made Jian Zheng extremely impatient.

"Elder why don't you take a look at our top ten." Gu Lingran could tell that the elder was hesitating to give Jian Zheng the mission so she asked him to look at the current top ten on the Outer Court Leaderboard.

"That's a good idea, I shall go take a look." Nodding his head, the elder walked over to the leaderboard in which everyone else including Jian Zheng and Gu Lingran walked along. Jian Zheng was especially curious to know the name of the person who occupy the number 1 spot. 

Fifteen minutes later, the crowd came to a stop at a board that list a hundred individuals. Jian Zheng came to the front of the crowd and saw that his name shining brightly on the number 10 spot with Qiang Shi below him. 

 6. Lu Cangfu - 5,300 pts

 7. Gu Lingran - 4,678 pts 

 8. Chu Gong - 3,412 pts

 9. Long Yun - 2,567 pts

10. Jian Zheng - 1,012 pts 

11. Qiang Shi - 1,012 pts

Previously Qiang Shi owned 2,024 points but since he lost to Jian Zheng half of his points were giving to Jian Zheng whilst replacing his position as number 10.

Seeing Gu Lingran name at the top 7 Jian Zheng was filled with admiration, 'As expected of my big sister."

On top of the leaderboard was the name Zhuang Yi with 10,250 points. This number was shocking for Jian Zheng for if he ever wanted to obtain that much points he would at least need to defeat everyone on the leaderboard or complete more than five hundred missions. 

"Didn't this brat just recently join the sect? How is he already in the top ten!" 

"That isn't even the main point! He's only at the fifth stage!"

"Fifth stage? I thought he was at least at the ninth! This is madness!"

The outer court disciples shouted ridicules. They were naturally jealous of Jian Zheng. A new disciple entered the top ten in less than 24 hours? These disciples found it ridiculous. 

These disciples not only looked at Jian Zheng with jealous eyes but also looked at him as if he was fresh meat. They thought that since Jian Zheng was only at the fifth stage they could easily suppress him. 

Those disciples above the fifth stage released their auras above the fifth stage at Jian Zheng with the intentions of testing his capabilities. 

With hundreds of cultivations targeting Jian Zheng those below the fifth stage showed pleased expressions. As they hope that their seniors could help them humiliate Jian Zheng. They wouldn't even mind if he were to kneel on the ground. 

Gu Lingran seeing this expression turned extremely ugly. She couldn't believe that these disciples would dare to act this way to her Junior Brother when she was standing right next to him, 'Are these idiots ignoring my presences?' When she realized this her face turned burning red, not from embarrassment but because these disciples were looking down on her. 

With all these pressure coming down on him, Jian Zheng placed his hand on his sword. Sweat was starting to drip down his face as he had no way to deal with their auras. 

His face then became pale white and he felt like he couldn't feel his body, his mind slowly started going blank and blood came leaking out of his mouth. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to hold on, he was embraced by Gu Lingran who covered his entire body with her hands. 

Jian Zheng could smell the sweet fragrance coming off her body along with a woman scent that managed to bring him back to reality. 

"Enough!" At the same time, a loud roar rang out that forcefully disperse these disciples cultivation. Soon the ones that became pale white were those disciples. Forcefully suppressing their cultivation has caused injuries inside their bodies, injuries that would never heal and injuries that could result in their cultivation never increasing again. 

"Is this how you treat a fellow disciple who is new to the sect!" The Elder roared again which made these disciples feel ashamed. They were taken over by greed, a greed of defeating Jian Zheng and obtaining the quota of entering the inner sect that they never thought of the consequences of their actions. 

"As punishment for your actions all of you here will have 1,000 points taken away from you. And if you don't have a thousand then you will enter the negative zone!" The elder didn't end it there as he strictly plan to take away these disciples points. 

"Elder please! We're sorry and we apologize!" When the disciples heard this they began regretting their decision. Not only did the disciples who participate in humiliating Jian Zheng got their points taken away. but those who weren't involved. 

Those that weren't involved felt depressed. If they knew something like this would happen they would have never follow the crowd. 

"Junior Brother! We apologize, please accept my kowtow!" One of the disciples went on his knees and banged his head on the ground multiply times while holding Jian Zheng feet, begging him to persuade the elder to take back his decision. 

But Jian Zheng only looked at the disciple coldly, "Get your filthy hands off me." He said as he released his heavy intent at the second stage on the disciple without even realizing. 

"I said get OFF!" With his heavy intent pinging down the disciple, he was unable to move, basically inert to the floor. Feeling irritated and angry, Jian Zheng sent a kick to the disciple face which caused his entire face to cave in while throwing him off his feet.

Due to his weak body, all Jian Zheng could do was kick him back four steps, but his kick was done using his full strength and since the disciple didn't release his cultivation it resulted in his cheeks becoming red and his eyes to turn swollen. 

"You think you can take advantage of me just because my cultivation is lower than all of you?!" Stepping out of Gu Lingran embrace Jian Zheng continue looking at the disciples with cold eyes. His delicate face was twisted in a way that made him look scary as an murderous feeling came out of his body. Scarlett also responded to this murderous feeling by releasing her own murderous aura that was ten times denser than his. 

The disciples turned silent. They now know that Jian Zheng wasn't some navy young boy and now knew he isn't someone that could be easily taken advantage of or messed with. 

"If any of you dare to mess with me again I won't mind personally cutting off your filthy heads!" When the crowd heard this they became afraid. The murderous aura coming off him made them completely believe what he said. 

"Is that so? Then why don't you cut off my head?" Just when the crowd didn't know what to say a boy came in front of them. He was currently holding a great sword behind his shoulders while looking at Jian Zheng with an lackadaisical expression. 

"Xie Huoji is actually here!" 

"The youngest person to ever make it on the top ten has actually made an appearance!" 

"I heard he's currently fifteen years old and managed to get on the top 5 a year ago!" 

"A year ago he defeated Xue Ling who used to be on the number five with some strange aura. At that time he was only at the seventh stage while Xue Ling was already at the tenth! I wonder what his cultivation is now?"

The crowd went wild when they saw Xie Huoji. They were filled with excitement. If Jian Zheng is considered a rare genius then Xie Huoji would be an legendary genius in their eyes. 

"A top 5? Fine I'll just cut off your head to quench my anger." Jian Zheng said arrogantly with furious and murderous eyes. He unsheathed his sword and boundless sword aura explode out of him that was directed towards Xie Huoji. 

"Madman!"

"No wonder he's called the True Sword Madman!"

"This brat doesn't know the difference between heaven and earth!"

A minute ago the disciples were looking at Jian Zheng with fear but when Xie Huoji arrived their fear turned into disdain. As they thought that with Xie Huoji here, Jian Zheng wouldn't dare lay his hands on them.

"Look how pathetic these idiots are. This is why I hate the weak." Scarlett sneered, she truly hated these people for the way they treated Jian Zheng. If she could personally come out, then she would have given each one of these disciples a slap across the face.

"Is that so? Then I will like to see how capable you are." Xie Huoji merely smiled at Jian Zheng actions. His great sword fell from his shoulders and landed on the ground causing a small dent in the ground. That alone told everyone that the sword weigh a ton.

Xie Huoji then released his strange intent which when Jian Zheng looked carefully it resembled the heavy intent. This surprised him as he also release his heavy intent but soon saw that his heavy intent was slowly crumbling at the presence of Xie Huoji heavy intent. 

He then released his sharp intent that mixed with his heavy intent. But even still, his intent was on the verge of being destroyed. He wasn't bothered by this though as he also released his sword aura that strengthen his heavy and sharp intent.

The crowd watch as both of them used strange auras that clash in the air. At some point the auras became wider and spread towards these disciples. When the auras went inside their bodies they hacked up blood as they came to realize how terrifying they were.

They quickly moved back and circulated spiritual energy inside their body to quickly remove these auras before they cause any hidden danger to them. 

"Cough!" This clash lasted for a while until the elder made a sound. Hearing this, both Jian Zheng and Xie Huoji immediately retracted their auras, only looking at each other as if trying to figure out something. 

"Sigh! Young people these days." The elder shook his head feeling that times have changed and that things could no longer be solved using the ways of speech, "Since you are on the top ten then this mission naturally belongs to you. I also won't be unfair. Since you are the first to accept the mission then its yours. In two days a carriage will come to pick you up to carry you to the capital of the Cloud Empire."

The elder tossed the mission towards Jian Zheng in which he quickly grabbed it, "Thank you elder." He felt at ease when he finally got the mission. The murderous aura and his hatred for these disciples disappear as he return to his delicate personality. 

"Big Sister can you take me to my residence?" Jian Zheng asked Gu Lingran as he didn't want to risk losing this mission. He could tell there were people who still didn't learn their lesson and were looking at him with greed. 

Gu Lingran naturally agreed as she felt the same. Before leaving Jian Zheng took a glimpse at Xie Huoji only to see him smiling back at him with that lack of care attitude. 

'That guy isn't simply.' Jian Zheng said to himself as he walked along with Gu Lingran.