Chapter 308 : Diminishing Returns
The Nine Abyss Sect had always been ambitious, but undeniably, they often moved one step ahead of others—whether in the Canglán Secret Realm years ago or this recent incident at the Southern Sea Merperson Island, they had made advance preparations. This could hardly be explained by mere skill in divination; at least in most people's eyes, they must have some special information channel!
Having been beaten to the punch twice before, now hearing early that the Nine Abyss Sect was planning another major move, not only were the disciples feeling unsettled, but even Zhu Baiyi and Qingyu couldn't help generating some thoughts of their own...
Zhu Baiyi pondered for a moment before saying, "We said we'd stay one night, so we can't linger here. This inn is somewhat conspicuous. If the innkeeper notices something amiss and passes on information, it might bring unnecessary trouble. As for staying behind to gather intelligence, we don't need everyone here—too many people would only create vulnerabilities."
Large sects like the Nine Abyss Sect had tens of thousands of disciples at minimum, naturally not everyone would recognize each other. But as cultivation levels increased, numbers naturally dwindled. For instance, a sect might have fifty thousand Qi Refinement cultivators, ten thousand at Foundation Establishment, several thousand at Golden Core, hundreds at Nascent Soul, and even fewer at Void Crossing and Spirit Division, until reaching the rank of Elder where people had names and reputations—if not recognized by all, at least their names would be known.
Pretending to be a nameless nobody in another sect to fish in troubled waters wasn't difficult, but impersonating those at the top of the pyramid would easily be exposed. Not to mention they were a group.
Everyone understood to some extent that not all of them were suited to stay behind and take risks—most of the party would need to be sent away!
Jiang Mo had no interest in getting involved; she wasn't well-adapted to life among demonic cultivators, and she especially didn't want her Senior Sister to stay behind and take risks. However, the system clearly wouldn't let her off, as the task notification sound rang at the opportune moment—
"Ding! Congratulations, host, you've triggered Main Quest Three: The Nine Abyss Secret"
"Since their reappearance eighty years ago, the Nine Abyss Sect has rapidly expanded with great ambition. The peaceful situation has been disrupted as these ambitious individuals attempt to dominate and control the entire cultivation world... The Canglán Secret Realm, the Southern Sea Merperson Island—their traces are everywhere. Where do these people get their information from, and what are they planning next? Filled with curiosity, you're determined to investigate..."
Jiang Mo's expression remained blank as she addressed the system in her consciousness: "No, I'm not curious, and I don't want to investigate."
The system seemed to choke for a moment before reluctantly saying: "Host, this is a quest with rewards."
Jiang Mo was blunt: "The rewards don't cover the expenses. It's fine to skip this quest."
The system was momentarily stunned by her words, then mentally calculated and discovered the host was actually right—during the previous Main Quest Two, the host had gone to the Merperson Island, and excluding Senior Sister's formation-breaking pearl, she had spent 4,000 points just on disposable pearls, while the entire quest only earned her 3,000 points when she found the merpeople. Saying it was a net loss wasn't an exaggeration at all.
Honestly, spending money to work was truly absurd—even the system felt it wasn't worth it for the host. But this was the most important main quest, the host's primary growth path! How could she abandon it?!
The system felt troubled and attempted to persuade the host to complete the quest and develop according to the system's plan.
However, the host mercilessly retorted: "Without your main quests, I've already reached maturity at the Fusion stage. If I continue, I'll eventually reach the Tribulation Crossing realm like Divine Lord Zhiming. It doesn't matter if the process is slower—I can advance alongside Senior Sister, and we'll ascend together as absolute life winners... So what use are your main quest plans?"
The system was stumped again, thinking about it and realizing it was indeed true—divine beasts cultivated easily and had incredible fortune. For instance, in the Canglán Secret Realm, though the Nine Abyss Sect had discovered and looted it early, the host had still found spirit crystals and unearthed dragon bones upon entering, with incredibly fortuitous results.
Afterward, when the system checked the mall prices for spirit crystals and dragon bones, it became envious—compared to these, the main quest rewards had absolutely no competitive advantage! If the system were the host, just randomly exploring a secret realm might yield better rewards than the main quests, without requiring mental or physical exertion.
The system found it couldn't even convince itself to persuade the host to do the quests.
The system agonized over this for a long time, still unable to find a reason to persuade the host, and finally had no choice but to write up a report and send it to the main system for help—not asking the main system to help craft persuasive arguments, but requesting increased quest rewards. At the very least, you had to dangle a carrot in front of the donkey to make it move forward, right?
However, Jiang Mo knew nothing about this. After retorting to the system and seeing no response, she assumed it was either embarrassed or had tacitly agreed. Just as she was feeling pleased, she suddenly heard Yun Qingyue say: "Master, my cultivation is adequate, I wish to stay and offer assistance."
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Yun Qingyue had been away from the sect for eighty years. Though she claimed to be traveling the world, she had mostly spent her time causing trouble for the Nine Abyss Sect. Her dislike for the Nine Abyss Sect and desire for revenge was one aspect; another was using combat to temper herself—otherwise, her cultivation wouldn't have advanced so rapidly in these years. In other words, apart from making trouble for the Nine Abyss Sect, she had no other plans.
Now that the Nine Abyss Sect was causing problems again and her master couldn't stay uninvolved, she naturally wanted to stay and help.
Of course, besides these noble reasons, there was another motive not fit to share with others—after spending time together, she wasn't blind; first, she had seen through Sect Leader Zhu's disguise, and second, she had noticed the strange atmosphere between her birth mother and her master!
In fact, this situation was quite bizarre. Zhu Baiyi, as a Sect Leader, was the most powerful cultivator in the Crimson Blood Sect. Unlike the righteous path, on the demonic path, the Sect Leader typically remained at the sect to oversee matters, or would only be mobilized for crucial events like major battles between righteous and demonic paths. Taking disciples out for training shouldn't have concerned her, and she shouldn't have abandoned her responsibilities to leave.
Yet in reality, Sect Leader Zhu had not only left but was wandering around under an alias. Even worse, she seemed to have attached herself to her master! The atmosphere between them couldn't be called intimate, but their occasional gestures always suggested a deep relationship.
One from the righteous path, one from the demonic path—even though Zhu Baiyi was currently disguised, her disguise was still that of a demonic sect elder!
Under these circumstances, if word got out, it wouldn't harm Zhu Baiyi, but for righteous cultivators with their obsession with moral purity, they would likely target Peak Master Qingyu—first for taking in and raising the Crimson Blood Sect Leader's daughter as her senior disciple, and now for entangling with a Crimson Blood Sect elder. Everyone would suspect her of having connections to the Crimson Blood Sect.
Setting everything else aside, just the damage to her master's reputation was enough for Yun Qingyue to feel she couldn't allow this to continue.
So she wanted to stay, firstly to help her master, and secondly to keep an eye on her birth mother to prevent her from misbehaving... as for what kind of "misbehaving," she didn't know and dared not imagine.
Yun Qingyue's attitude was firm, and her cultivation level wasn't low—Spirit Division cultivation was certainly respectable within the sect.
Qingyu glanced at her disciple, perhaps feeling she could be helpful, or perhaps due to other complex thoughts wanting to keep her around for a while. After brief consideration, she nodded: "Very well."
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue's expression brightened. She deliberately positioned herself beside her master, intentionally or not creating a barrier between her and Sect Leader Zhu.
Zhu Baiyi seemed to notice this and didn't know what to say to her convenient daughter. With an almost imperceptible twist of her lips, she turned her gaze toward Jiang Mo and asked: "Jianbing's cultivation is not low, would you like to join us?"
Jiang Mo had just refused the system's quest over insufficient funds, and now faced with this situation, her feelings were quite complicated. She secretly glanced at her Senior Sister a couple of times, seeing her determined expression to stay. What else could she do? She could only be thankful others didn't know about her conversation with the system, forcing a smile as she agreed: "Of course, it's my duty."
Sect Leader Zhu thus felt reassured. She had observed how clingy this Little White Tiger was, and with her sticking around, Qingyue would surely have less time to hover around Qingyu.
With it decided that the four of them would stay to investigate while the remaining disciples quickly departed from the Nine Abyss Sect's territory according to plan.
Meanwhile, Jiang Mo should be grateful the system had acted quickly enough, submitting the raise request to the main system before her Senior Sister proposed staying. By the time everything was settled, the response from the main system had arrived.
The system, having just been rendered speechless, was now eagerly awaiting the main system's reply and hadn't been paying attention to what was happening. Upon receiving the satisfactory response, it immediately rushed excitedly to the host: "Host, host, look! The raise request I just submitted for you has been approved by the main system. From now on, your quest reward points will be doubled!"
Well, that's acceptable—even a mosquito's leg is still meat...
Jiang Mo hadn't expected such results from a casual complaint and found herself thoughtful. However, she didn't let the system see through her, nor did she let it know she had already agreed to the quest. She only responded with restraint: "Fine then, I'll accept this quest. If the points still don't exceed the necessary expenses this time, I won't do any more quests in the future."