Chapter 27: The Worst Mission
That day, when Qin Yun finished his morning classes and came out of the Embracing Moon Building, he found that Qin Mingzhu was actually waiting for him.
It's been a few days since we last met, and the young girl seems to have lost some weight, but her spirit is extremely good. A pair of autumn water-like eyes are shining with joyful light.
"Brother Qin, I've successfully refined the Prenatal Qi Pill!" She told Qin Yun a piece of good news.
After getting dozens of Biye Grass from Qin Yun's hands, Qin Mingzhu had enough materials to practice and refine her Dan-making skills.
However, she was also very aware that these materials were hard to come by, so she was extra cautious and careful, and didn't dare to take action without being sure.
The dozen or so books on alchemy that Qin Yun gave her were of great help, the experience and skills recorded in these books helped her far more than the medicinal materials themselves.
After several failures, Qin Mingzhu successfully refined a furnace of low-grade Qi-cultivation pills two days ago.
She then opened three furnaces in one breath, and surprisingly succeeded every time. One of them even refined a middle-grade Qi-cultivating pill, earning her the praise and reward of the Dan Medicine Hall's master.
With this achievement, Qin Mingzhu's position in the Dan Medicine Hall was solidified. As long as he didn't make any mistakes, he would definitely be able to become an inner disciple next year.
She originally thought that she had no talent for alchemy, but through these few successes, her confidence suddenly soared, and she also gained a stronger interest in refining elixirs.
She didn't forget the person who dug the well when drinking water, so she came over to express her gratitude to Qin Yun.
This is indeed good news!
Seeing the girl's joyful smile, Qin Yun also felt happy for her: "Then we must celebrate properly, let's go to Longqing Wine House at noon, I'll treat!"
The entrance of the Moon-Embracing Building was bustling with people coming and going, while a pair of individuals whispering to each other on the side attracted many strange glances.
Curiosity, admiration, jealousy... and even envy, the female disciples of Dan Yao Tang are extremely popular in Wu Yang Dao.
No matter whether it's the Martial Hall, Foreign Affairs Hall, Guest Minister Hall or Punishment Hall and so on, which young masters don't hope to have a sweetheart in the Dan Medicine Hall?
Tang Kou distributes some dan medicine to his disciples every month, but the quantity is small and the quality is average. If you want to get better ones, you can only exchange them with family merits.
But if your girlfriend or wife is a dan shi, then it's equivalent to having a stable and reliable source of dan medicine.
Everyone knows that relying on elixirs to quickly boost their powers is not good, but few people can resist the temptation of taking shortcuts. Even those who insist on diligent practice are not averse to using some elixirs as an aid in their daily lives.
So in Dan Yao Tang, apart from a few female disciples who looked particularly unpresentable, the rest of them had one or even several young men pursuing them openly or secretly.
Although Qin Mingzhu's talent was not outstanding in the Dan Medicine Hall, her appearance was absolutely one of the best. Now that she and Qin Yun were having an intimate conversation, why wouldn't some people with ulterior motives feel jealous?
Among many gazes, one gaze is exceptionally venomous.
Qin Jun stood in the shadow of a corner on one side of the corridor, staring intently at Qin Yun and Qin Mingzhu not far away.
He clenched his fists with a force that made the joints crackle, and his originally handsome face twisted into a ferocious expression.
Qin Yun...
Among the pursuers of Qin Mingzhu, Qin Jun is undoubtedly the most dedicated. In order to get close to the girl, he even won over Qin Mingzhu's elder cousin, Qin Haiming.
But no matter how hard he tried, Qin Mingzhu didn't have the slightest good impression of him. During this period, she even hid in Dan Yao Tang and refused to come out, making him repeatedly eat a closed-door rebuff.
Today I heard that Qin Mingzhu finally came out. He hurriedly went to find him, wanting to invite the other party to go out of town for a stroll, but learned that Qin Mingzhu had gone to the Foreign Affairs Hall.
Witnessing this scene before his eyes, Qin Jun's heart was as if bitten by a venomous snake, and he couldn't help but rush up to chop Qin Yun into minced meat.
However, as a member of the Jin family, he was well aware of the consequences of attacking his own kind without reason, so he gritted his teeth and suppressed his impulse.
"Just you wait, let's see how long you can keep laughing!"
He suddenly thought of something and his eyes lit up.
She stared at Qin Yun for another moment before quietly slipping away.
Qin Yun's heart skipped a beat as she chatted and laughed with Qin Mingzhu at the door, but when she turned her head to look around, she didn't notice anything.
After having a pleasant lunch with Qin Mingzhu at Longqing Building, Qin Yun went to Xiaogushan to practice sword for two hours and then returned to the manor.
In five days, he successfully opened up two acupoints on both legs, and the fierce heart method also showed signs of another breakthrough.
In the absence of any external elixir, such progress is astonishing. Apart from Qin Yun's innate talent and hard work, having a solid foundation is the most important reason.
The next morning, Qin Yun did not go to the Embracing Moon Building but instead went up to the Weekday Building.
The day has come for the fixed tasks assigned by the Foreign Affairs Department.
Hundreds of disciples were gathered in an orderly manner, each receiving their respective tasks. This is a responsibility that every member of the hall must fulfill every month.
Many young people cried out in sorrow when they saw their new task, because this time's task was exactly the same as last time, which was also to collect Bileaf Grass.
Last time's task ten apprentices had eight or nine of them failed to complete, newcomers all knew that going to Manglong Mountain to collect medicine was absolutely not an easy thing.
However, they also have no other choice. Unless you are willing to leave the hall, the tasks assigned by the lower levels must be completed. If not, punishment will be accepted.
When it was Qin Yun's turn, the god in charge of assigning tasks had a somewhat strange expression.
He handed the task paper to Qin Yun: "Qin Yun, your task this time is a bit special, take a closer look, if you don't understand anything, ask me."
Qin Yun was stunned for a moment, took over the scroll and unfolded it to take a look.
This time his mission from the Hall of Justice was actually to guard a mine!
Among the many tasks in charge of Foreign Affairs Hall, if a list of the most unpopular tasks is made, guarding the mine field will definitely be at the top.
Qian Chao City is backed by the vast Longshan Mountains, as the saying goes, "rely on the mountain and eat the mountain". The endless resources and products in the mountains are naturally the interests pursued by the wealthy families and giant merchants in the city.
As one of the four major clans in Guiyang, the Qin clan has opened up many mines in the mountains, extracting large quantities of copper, iron and coal every year to meet the needs of the Zhongying Tao's Foundry Hall.
The mine is an important source of wealth for the Qin family, but most mines are deep in the mountains, often attacked by wild beasts and opponents, and if unlucky, even attacked by the northern witch tribe.
Therefore, the Qin family had to send some people every year to take care of the mine.
The task of guarding the mine has a long duration and harsh conditions, although the reward is high, but the danger is not low, so few young people are willing to do it, so it becomes one of the designated tasks of the Foreign Affairs Hall.
Normally speaking, as a newly admitted disciple, Qin Yun shouldn't have been assigned such a task.
Qin Yun is now assigned not only to guard the mine but also a special one.
Manglong Mountain is snowed in for three months every year, and the mines on the mountain are closed during this period. All miners and mining supervisors must withdraw before the heavy snow arrives, leaving only one or two people to keep watch.
He is going to take over as a guard at an iron ore mine in the north and won't be able to return until next spring when the snow melts!
This means Qin Yun has to guard the mine alone in the deep mountains during the harsh winter and cannot return for three months.
Such tasks are usually used to punish the young masters of the Tang family who have made big mistakes!
Your mistake was offending someone you shouldn't have!
The manager looked at Qin Yun with a hint of sympathy and said, "If you can take good care of the mine and prevent any losses, when you return, the Tang family will record a merit for you. The three months' worth of rations can be given to you in advance, and you will be exempt from other assigned tasks."
In his heart, Guan Shi also felt indignant for Qin Yun, what kind of reason is there to send a new outsider to guard the winter mine.
For these three months, Qin Yun couldn't go to the Moon Embracing Building to attend classes. Without anyone guiding him in his cultivation, he would definitely fall far behind the other young masters of the sect.
Not to mention the harsh conditions in the mountains and the potential dangers.
It's just that this matter was specially assigned by the top, and he, a small manager, only had the duty to execute orders, and even if he sympathized with Qin Yun, he was powerless.
"Guarding the mine, at this time, haha!"
"It's okay, I'm just going to pick some wild celery."
"That's also too unfair!"
"Fair? This is what happens when you offend him, three months in the mountains, some people have it good!"
The crowd around whispered, some sympathized with Qin Yun, but more were gloating and enjoying the show.
"I understand!" Qin Yun calmly put away the scroll.
He's no fool, how can't he see that someone is trying to make things difficult for him through this task, maybe even secretly watching and waiting for him to oppose and make a fuss.
Guarding the mine is just guarding the mine. Qin Yun isn't someone who hasn't suffered before, and he doesn't think that without anyone to guide him, he can't cultivate for these three months on his own.
With three months' worth of rations in hand, Qin Yun left under the gaze of everyone's curious eyes.
He went to the first floor and accepted the task of collecting Bileaf Grass.
The task on the first floor is open to all members of the entire Moyang Dao, and the Bileicao task can be accepted by anyone, with no time or quantity restrictions. The reward will be calculated based on how much is collected.
Since we're going to stay in Manglong Mountain for three months, there's plenty of time to complete this task. The family's meritorious service, Qin Yun, will absolutely not be too much.
Leaving Rokuyo-ro, Qin Yun went to the library of Sakuyobana-ro.
"Granny Sun, I'd like to buy a book on qigong exercises." He said respectfully to the silver-haired old woman in front of him.
"Qing Shen Ti Zong Shu..." Madam Sun frowned and glanced at Qin Yun's legs, saying: "Your lower body is not agile enough, and you haven't opened up the twelve meridian acupoints. What's the point of practicing Qing Shen Ti Zong Shu?"
"You young people shouldn't be too ambitious, wait until you reach the second heaven of the Refining Qi realm before coming!"
"Grandma Sun, I'm going to Manglong Mountain to guard the mine." Qin Yun said with a bitter smile: "This trip will take three months, so I want to make preparations in advance."
"What?"
"Sun Auntie's eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes showed a displeased expression: 'You are a new member of the family, how could you be assigned to guard the mine in winter?'"
