“Alright, I understand,” Leng Cui Huan said quietly to the two men before she turned to leave.

　　Under the dawning light, her face seemed a bit disheveled.

　　She initially wanted to discuss with Shi Mu regarding the next general election of Qinglan. She did not expect him to be absent.

　　At the same time, she was also somewhat worried.

　　In the beginning, Shi Mu promised to keep her safe for ten years, and now she was finally out in the real world after five years. She hoped nothing would happen or her efforts would be wasted. After all, Shi Mu was not present to support and protect her if Zhao Shenlei were to appear.

　　A dim expression flashed across Cui Huan’s face. She immediately turned around and flew back toward her chambers. With a loud bang, the door closed tight behind her.

　　An array of light illuminated and her retreat was now shrouded.

　　Shi Mu’s spiritual land, the fire-attribute fountain where it was located, together with the red light emitted from Cai’s body created a formation of red light.

　　The flames gathered together and merged into the light.

　　“Damn that Shi Mu for leaving me alone here. I’m so bored I might as well use the time I have to meditate…” Cai muttered and swallowed the flames ignited by the fire-attribute fountain.

　　…

　　Time flew in the blink of an eye and years passed by.

　　In the northern part of Qinglan City, at the entrance to the ice cave of Shi Mu’s retreat, the collapsed mountain wall was by now covered with thick snow. It seemed like no one had been there for a long time.

　　Then, with a loud bang, the whole mountain suddenly trembled and the rock at the entrance flew away. It shot toward the surrounding area and hit a nearby mountain wall. It sounded like tiny raindrops from afar.

　　The buried ice cave entrance had finally been revealed.

　　A young man’s figure came out of the ice cave. It was none other than Shi Mu.

　　His clothes were unkempt and his chin was unshaven, but his eyes were very bright.

　　He slowly lifted his right arm and it looked pale white.

　　As soon as he forced a little strength into his arm, a layer of faint black light appeared on it, making the surrounding temperature drop sharply.

　　The snowflakes fluttering around suddenly froze into ice, while retaining their shape. White ice fell to the ground like rain and formed a layer outside.

　　Anyone would be surprised to see such power.

　　Shi Mu sighed and slammed out.

　　The black light on his right arm was released in a column that hit a sword-shaped mountain several hundred feet high.

　　A muffling sound echoed through the area!

　　The surface of the mountain flashed and was instantly covered in a thick layer of ice crystals. Several deep cracks appeared on the peak and spread across the mountain.

　　Shi Mu waved his right arm and the black light dissipated.

　　He looked at the sword-shaped mountain peak and his eyes flashed with satisfaction.

　　After eight years of isolation, training with the extreme yin material, and integrating the baize blood essence, he had finally mastered the second phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art to its peak.

　　The second phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious was a power of extreme yin. Now that it was at its peak, and combined with the energy of his left arm, Shi Mu’s power could now reach a radius of a dozen miles of thin ice.

　　The Real Qi flowed within Shi Mu, and his brows wrinkled slightly as a layer of red light shrouded his entire body.

　　Although he had successfully learned the second phase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, his cultivation did not improve as much as he thought.

　　After a while, the red light dissipated and his body had already returned to its previous appearance. The worn-out green robe had been changed as well.

　　He did not stay there any longer and waved his hand to summon the Green-winged Flying Carriage. Upon boarding it, he departed for Qinglan City.

　　Half a month later, in the first layer of the Holy Land of Qinglan, a green light flew from a distance and landed at the cave residence.

　　Before Shi Mu could even stand firm on his feet, a colorful shadow flew over to his shoulder. It was none other than Cai.

　　“Hey Shi Mu, you’re finally back!”

　　“I haven’t been here for quite some time. How’re things going?” Shi Mu smiled softly and gently stroked Cai’s feathers.

　　“With me here, how can there be any problem! Anyhow, that prick Zhao Shenlei came over once or thrice looking for you but they were all sent away by Qi Feng under my orders!” Cai said in frustration.

　　“Oh. Aside from him, was there anyone else?”

　　“Well, there was Ma Long, Zi Ling, Qing Zhangtian… There was also an ugly man named Lu Jing.”

　　“I see then. Please bring Qi Feng to talk to me,” Shi Mu nodded and walked toward his residence.

　　After a while, in the cave…

　　“Young master, finally you’re back!” Qi Feng saw Shi Mu and his eyes looked a little excited.

　　Shi Mu nodded. He turned and a figure came to his side. It was none other than Cui Huan.

　　“Young master, I’m at your service,” Cui Huan went toward Shi Mu and bowed to him respectfully.

　　“It’s no big deal. You’re in your retreat as well. It was surprising that within such a short period of time, you’ve already reached your mid-level. Impressive,” Shi Mu said.

　　“It was all thanks to the environment that young master provided me with. All the cultivation resources… Oh, I almost forgot. Young master, will you be leaving again any time soon?”

　　“I’m back now and have no intention of leaving for the time being. Qi Feng, please tell me about the spiritual harvest in the years I was gone.”

　　“Young master, here are the income and expenditure bills of the harvest for the past few years,” Qi Feng quickly took out a jade slip and a storage ring from his arms and handed them over.

　　Shi Mu glanced at it. He was happy with the result and nodded in satisfaction.

　　“Not bad.”

　　In the past nine years, in addition to the rewards given to the attendants, the total income was almost at 73 pieces of the top-quality spirit stones. To think that the land Shi Mu possessed was once one of the poorest among all the spirit lands, it was now one of the best with one of the highest income. It was not a surprise that so many people broke their heads, wanting to join the Holy Land of Qinglan.

　　“There is one more thing I need to report to you,” Qi Feng said again.

　　“What’s it about?”

　　“It’s been less than a year since the ten-year ratio. If the young master does not participate in this championship, you’ll have forfeited the qualifications for a disciple of the Holy Land and be forced to leave… In accordance with the rules, to participate, one would have to meet the requirements of completing ten tasks in ten years. Young master would have to head over to the Convention Pavilion to take on tasks. Since young master hasn’t taken part in any, they sent some men to the residence to urge young master’s participation.”

　　“Yes, I’m aware of this. That’s what I’m back for. I can handle trivial matters like this on my own. If there aren’t any issues left, you may be dismissed for now,” Shi Mu smiled and said.

　　Qi Feng loosened up his emotions and nodded before he turned around and walked away.

　　“Cui Huan, what’s the matter? Let’s talk,” Shi Mu turned his gaze toward Cui Huan who was standing in the corner.

　　“Young Master, the ten-year contract is approaching and I intended to sign up for the trials. I hope young master could act as my guarantor.”

　　“No problem. In addition, during this period, if Zhao Shenlei comes looking for you again, don’t be afraid to tell me.”

　　“Thank you, young master,” Cui Huan said and bowed to Shi Mu one more time before leaving.

　　Shi Mu stood with his eyes looking far off. His expression seemed somewhat disturbed. It was unclear what was on his mind.

　　“Hey Shi Mu, there’s only less than a year left. Are you really sure you can complete the ten martial missions? I heard those tasks aren’t easy,” Cai said.

　　“Why? Don’t you have any confidence in me?”

　　“Hey, I have full confidence in you. It’s just that you’ve been gone for so long, almost eight years. Why couldn’t you have come back earlier?”

　　“I’ll tell you about this matter soon,” Shi Mu smiled as he said. He immediately left the residence and departed for Xuanling Tower.

　　After half an hour, at the Convention Pavilion of the Holy Land…

　　It was the first time he was here.

　　The Conventional Pavilion was a very large palace with a lot of space inside.

　　There was not much decoration in the hall; only a temple that had a blue stone pillar on both sides with some beautiful reliefs on it, which made an impressive sight.

　　In the middle of the main hall stood a huge green stone wall. As the light above flashed, small lines of words would appear. Each line represented a task or mission.

　　This jade was the task list of the Conventional Pavilion. At this moment, there were dozens of disciples in the Holy Land wearing green robes. Looking up at the task list, they all discussed among themselves in groups on which tasks they would prefer to take.

　　In addition to the centuries-old disciple with a green leaf on the chest, there were several millennial disciples with two green leaves. They all looked alone.

　　Near the green stone wall was a stone platform. The deacons of Qinglan sat inside with their eyes half-closed as if they were resting.

　　Shi Mu also walked under the stone wall and looked up.

　　The text on the stone wall was flickering. There were hundreds of articles and the content was diverse. There were many high-level beasts, scarce ore hunts, spirit herbs, and even some charm spells or alchemy-related tasks. None of them were easy to complete.

　　At the moment, a man in a huge blue robe unleashed his Xuanling Wall and waved at the stone wall.

　　A task on the stone wall suddenly turned into a streamer and flew into his Xuanling Wall.

　　The man turned and walked out. Not far away were several disciples waiting for him. All of them walked out of the Conventional Pavilion together.

　　Shi Mu saw this and his eyes glanced around.

　　Although there were many disciples Qinglan in the main hall, they all stood together. It was obvious they had assembled into teams amongst themselves.

　　A young man with pointy lips named Hou Tong walked over to Shi Mu. Based on the clothes he was wearing, he appeared to be a century-old disciple.

　　“Oh, it seems our fellow brother is here to pick up a task? I haven’t seen your face before. May I know your name?”

　　Shi Mu’s brows slightly wrinkled at the strangeness but he still disclosed his name.

　　“My name’s Shi Mu.”

　　“Ah, Shi Mu. It’s fortunate of me to meet you,” Hou Tong sighed and smiled. His eyes glanced at the mark of the upper disciple on Shi Mu with joy.

　　“What’s your business here?” Shi Mu asked.

　　“Oh, by the looks of fellow brother, you must be here to pick up a task? Though you’re an upper disciple, the tasks given by the Conventional Pavilion aren’t easy to complete. Strength alone isn’t enough. Do you have any means of joining our group? With help and teamwork, we’ll be able to complete the tasks in a shorter period of time.”

　　There were a few people standing behind him not far behind, their eyes locked on Shi Mu and Hou Tong.

　　“Brother Shi Mu!”

　　A crisp female voice rang and a few girls in green robes quickly came over.