Chapter 499 : Request Denied
499: Request Denied
There's a saying that goes, "Since you're already here..."
Although none of these powerhouses had come for Jiang Mo's challenge and originally had no intention of accepting her seemingly frivolous challenge, now that they had stayed to watch, they found it difficult to refuse when Jiang Mo turned to challenge them.
Especially since Jiang Mo was quite cunning—after fleecing Sect Leader Zhu, she immediately turned her attention to her other mother-in-law. Being family and having shared dangerous trials together, there was a certain level of understanding and goodwill. Peak Master Qingyu thus agreed to Jiang Mo's challenge. Although she was three degrees more fierce in her attack than Sect Leader Zhu, she still allowed Jiang Mo to successfully claim the mission reward in the end.
With one beginning, then another cooperating, things progressed much more smoothly.
Before nightfall, Jiang Mo finally finished challenging everyone except her Senior Sister. This included four at the Great Achievement stage and seven at the Fusion stage. Even those at the Fusion stage who could participate in discussions at Lingyun Hall represented level-exceeding challenges for Jiang Mo. After fleecing all this wool, Jiang Mo undoubtedly gained another substantial income.
Jiang Mo didn't calculate the rewards provided by each person individually, but took a moment to open her status panel for another look:
[Host: Jiang Mo
Race: White Tiger
Profession: Divine Beast
Level: 75
Combat Power: 96,580
Experience: 38,970/300,000
Points: 3,160
Potential: ∞
Skills: Advanced Spirit Energy Utilization, Blood Inheritance Pressure, Sharp Metal Force, Way of Transformation...]
Jiang Mo calculated that this batch of powerhouses had earned her around 27,000 experience points plus 2,700 combat power. It seemed like a lot, but after a day of hard farming, she had only gathered about one-tenth of the experience needed to level up. And as her level increased later, the number of people she could challenge would decrease, meaning she would earn less and less experience, while the experience required for leveling up would only increase.
Thinking this through, Jiang Mo's heart sank further, as she realized that even if she were to challenge Divine Lord Zhiming every day, a month's time wouldn't be enough to raise her cultivation by 10 levels. The goal she had set for herself was simply impossible to achieve, and the timed mission issued by the system was far from as beneficial as she had imagined.
Noticing Jiang Mo's sudden low spirits, Yun Qingyue approached and asked: "What's wrong?"
Jiang Mo pressed her lips together and shook her head, but her gaze toward her Senior Sister inexplicably conveyed a hint of grievance.
In fact, before challenging these people, Jiang Mo had already thought it through. She could rely on her status to ask the Sect Leader for help once, but couldn't expect him to detain all the powerful cultivators to "play along" with her every day. So if she wanted to continue this challenge, she would need to show results.
For instance, if after a day of challenges, her cultivation suddenly rose significantly—although three game levels equaled one minor realm advancement, each game level increase would result in a noticeable improvement in all attributes, a breakthrough that would be visible—with such tangible benefits, Jiang Mo could continue making "unreasonable requests," and others might be more willing to cooperate.
Of course, the idea was good, but Jiang Mo knew that leveling up in a single day would be difficult. She had therefore slightly lowered her expectations—seeing results in two or three days would be acceptable too. But now reality was telling her that her ideas were nothing but fantasies.
A salted fish rarely tries to flip itself over, and after the little tiger had put aside her pride and gone through all this trouble, only to receive such results, it was truly disappointing.
Yun Qingyue, meeting her aggrieved little gaze, though not understanding the reason, still felt sympathetic. She raised her hand to squeeze the little tiger's nape, saying gently: "What's wrong? If there's something making you unhappy or feeling wronged, you can tell me."
By now, the area in front of Lingyun Hall had emptied, with everyone who needed to leave having already gone. Apart from Peak Master Qingyu waiting for her disciple, even Sect Leader Zhu had reluctantly departed.
But even with only her master present, Jiang Mo couldn't voice her disappointment—she had shamelessly troubled so many people, and the timed mission was indeed useful, just not as effective as she had hoped. How could she complain about this to others? Moreover, even if she disregarded everything else and revealed the details, in a month's time she might gain three levels, equivalent to one minor realm advancement, which would certainly be considered miraculous speed for cultivators.
The little tiger was dejected, the little tiger didn't know how to express herself, and in the end, she just tugged at her Senior Sister's sleeve and said: "Never mind, it's nothing. Senior Sister, let's go back." After a pause, she glanced at her master who was still waiting for her disciple, and suddenly felt even more aggrieved: "Senior Sister, are you going back to Mount Mingxia with Master, or back to Purple Cloud Peak with me?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Jiang Mo herself felt awkward, as if she were asking whether the other would choose a daughter-in-law or a mother.
Fortunately, Yun Qingyue didn't think so deeply. She merely glanced at her master, then patted the little tiger's head: "Wait for me here, I'll go speak with Master first."
Jiang Mo reluctantly let go, and Yun Qingyue added, "Wait for me," before walking over to her master.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. After careful calculation, Jiang Mo discovered that this timed mission was simply insufficient to make her stronger. So while her Senior Sister went to speak with her master, she approached the system again.
Actually, before Jiang Mo even raised her concerns, the silently observing system, seeing the rewards the host had gained from successful challenges, also felt that these rewards were far too meager to help the host become stronger. So before the host could approach it, it had already sent an inquiry to the main system, but the main system's response was completely different from the advice the system had previously given to the host.
Jiang Mo questioned the system: "System, I think there's an issue with the rewards for this timed mission. I now need 300,000 experience points to level up once, but your rewards are still in the hundreds. Even with level-exceeding challenges doubling the rewards, the investment and return are completely disproportionate. Do you know how difficult it is for cultivators to challenge those above their level? Yet the extra reward is only that little bit more."
The system thought about it and agreed. Previously it had only seen that level-exceeding challenges doubled rewards, but after calculating the actual rewards received, it suddenly realized that even if the host successfully challenged someone like Divine Lord Zhiming, a max-level powerhouse, the reward would only be 128 times greater—128 times 500 experience points was just 64,000 experience points. Based on the host's current experience requirements for leveling up, it would still take five days to gain one level.
And that was only now—later, as the host's level increased, the multiplier would decrease while the required experience would increase, making five days insufficient for a single level up.
This was far from meeting the host's expectations, and it was also too difficult—not just because of the difficulty of level-exceeding challenges, but even if she could get Divine Lord Zhiming to hold back, persuading such a powerhouse for such meager rewards seemed not worth it.
Fortunately, the system was prepared this time and immediately told the host: "Host, if quality, isn't enough, quantity, can make up for it."
Truthfully, in the cultivation world, the gap between cultivation levels was like a chasm—for example, a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't defeat a single Nascent Soul cultivator. Similarly, as cultivation levels increased, this gap widened; a hundred Fusion stage cultivators couldn't defeat a single peak Tribulation Crossing cultivator. By this logic, for Jiang Mo to challenge Divine Lord Zhiming, it truly wouldn't be as effective as challenging a hundred cultivators at her own level.
How could Jiang Mo not understand this principle? In fact, she had thought of it even before the system's suggestion. However, the problem was that her current cultivation level was already quite high—while she might not dominate the cultivation world completely, there weren't many in the cultivation world with levels higher than hers.
If Jiang Mo had encountered this mission during her Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages, she could have dragged people from the Xuanqing Sect to farm points until the system crashed. But the current problem was that she couldn't find enough people to farm from—the Xuanqing Sect simply didn't have that many cultivators with higher cultivation than hers. Moreover, with the restriction of challenging each person only once per day, she had no way to farm points freely.
Jiang Mo's tone was displeased: "As if I didn't know that? But the Xuanqing Sect only has so many people with higher cultivation than me. Even if I went to all of them and they all let me win, I still wouldn't gain many levels in a month."
Hearing this, the system paused again, calculating the number of powerhouses in the Xuanqing Sect, and realized it was indeed the case.
For a moment, the system even suspected that the main system might have something against its host, being so stingy with rewards. So it gathered its courage and said to the host: "Then, I'll apply, to the main system, to increase, the rewards?"
Hearing this, Jiang Mo's furrowed brow finally relaxed, and she urged: "Hurry, hurry! These rewards are really too little; you can't blame me for not being enthusiastic about doing missions."
The system fell silent, presumably going to report to the main system.
Meanwhile, her Senior Sister had finished speaking with Master—Peak Master Qingyu had already left. She walked back, took Jiang Mo's hand, and said: "Let's go back. After all the exertion today, and so many matches, you must be tired. Let's return early and rest early."
Her Senior Sister's hand was still slightly cool, but holding it made Jiang Mo feel warmth in her heart. Especially when her Senior Sister said "let's go back," which to her sounded like "let's go home," instantly dispelling the disappointment and dejection in her heart.
The two returned to Purple Cloud Peak, and even after being away for more than two months, the protective formations on the peak remained unchanged.
They moved back into the small house they had built with their own hands. At night, lying on the same bed, Jiang Mo inhaled her Senior Sister's scent and fell asleep with a sense of contentment. Until midnight, in a half-asleep state, she suddenly heard the system's mechanical voice in her mind.
"Host, the main system, has rejected, the request."