Chapter 523: Ascension Mission Begins

Several minutes later.

Chi Jiuyu, having completed a series of procedures, arrived at the door of the starship control room.

As she entered the control room, the voice of the ship spirit Xiao Xue sounded.

"Welcome, Captain."

Chi Jiuyu grinned, dragging her half-amputated leg back to her seat, but no sooner had she sat down than she sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.

Although her internal injuries had nearly healed after taking pills and spirit liquids, some external wounds still hadn't healed…

But they were just minor injuries, not serious at all; she planned to get them treated after returning to the sect.

After all, every mission required a post-mission physical examination.

After eating a slice of fruit freshly cut by her sentient blade and brought over, Chi Jiuyu set the jump coordinates as she had done before.

Once the starship left the transit space station and the jump report was uploaded, the jump engine began to warm up…

She pressed the button beside her seat, and a desktop made of metal panels appeared before her.

She took out the artifact previously used to receive signals from micro-spirit satellites and placed it before her.

The screen lit up, then switched to another interface.

Chi Jiuyu's expression turned solemn.

She was about to begin writing her mission report!

Staring at the blank screen, she solemnly typed several large characters—

Regarding the Thirty-Seventh Planet System of Guiling, Mediation of Alien Conflicts…

Write the content first, then correct the format later.

Chi Jiuyu felt line after line of text surging endlessly in her mind.

She had performed so brilliantly, wisely, intelligently, resourcefully, courageous and strategic…

Every detail of the process must be written down meticulously.

When she eventually became Sect Master, future generations could learn from this mission report the supreme elegance of her, Jiuyu Laozu!

Hehe!

Thinking of this, Chi Jiuyu grew even more energized, feeling as if guided by divine inspiration—her perfect mission report was about to be born!

Twenty minutes later…

【The abdomen of the Phantom Silk Worm contains abundant spirit energy, with a concentration of…】

Chi Jiuyu leaned back in her chair, lazily gazing at her phone screen, like a salted fish.

On the screen, a Hehuan Sect charm cultivator influencer, dressed in practical attire and carrying a backpack, was demonstrating how to survive and replenish magic power on a hostile planet.

"Faking it!"

Chi Jiuyu scoffed inwardly.

Then she tapped her finger and switched to the next video, casually picking up a slice of cut fruit from the table.

At this moment, the emerald-gold longsword had wandered through the living quarters, found nothing needing cleaning, and returned to the control room with another plate of freshly cut fruit.

Seeing her master's state, she paused.

Then she drifted over to take a look—and discovered that Chi Jiuyu's mission report contained only a few short lines, even less than a hundred characters…

(Д)

Didn't Master just seem so full of energy?

How could she have written so little?

At this moment, Chi Jiuyu noticed her sentient blade, cleared her throat, and put away her phone.

The woman and the sword stared at each other for a moment.

"Exposing their conspiracy used up too much mental energy, so I decided to rest a bit before continuing," Chi Jiuyu said seriously.

Supreme wisdom needs rest and care too!

"Alright, alright, I'll nap for a bit—I'll write after I wake up!"

Saying this, she lowered the seat, turned to her side, and prepared to sleep.

But she accidentally pressed her injured leg.

Sss~!

After a grimace, she quickly rolled to the other side.

Less than half a minute after closing her eyes, she truly fell asleep.

The emerald-gold longsword: "…"

It seems Master is truly exhausted.

After thinking for a moment, she used her own permissions to activate the protective device, ensuring Chi Jiuyu's sleep wouldn't be disturbed by the jump.

Ever since confirming her sentience had matured, Chi Jiuyu had delegated starship permissions to her.

After completing this, she drifted to the artifact's glowing screen and gazed at the few lines of text.

…

…

Central Continent.

Xiang Jianzong, Inner Sect.

Deep within the Xiang Jianzong Hall, in a training ground flickering with firelight.

Because Bie Xuening had arrived and the first batch of Ascension Envoys required attention, Li Ke had departed.

Now only Xu Xing and Bie Xuening remained.

"All the Yuanjun's years of planning have paid off—results exceeded expectations," Xu Xing praised.

This web of karma and calamity had been laid out many years ago.

Yet the frontlines were guarded by numerous Dongzhen and Tongxuan cultivators; without Xuan's intervention, breaking through and entering was already extremely difficult.

So even after all these years, this web of karma and calamity had been triggered for the first time.

"Mm." Bie Xuening responded faintly.

To be fair, Xiang Yuanjun's skill in weaving her own calamities and karmic threads into a net was truly impressive.

If it were her, she certainly could not have done it.

"Too bad, now that Xuan has tested this and learned of the net's existence, its effectiveness has greatly diminished."

Such tactics work best when they catch the enemy off guard.

To use it on a traitor from the human race…

To be honest, even using it on Huang Qi during the previous Alliance of the Righteous Path would have been less of a waste.

Huang Qi was at least a Dongzhen.

Xu Xing shook his head slightly:

"No matter. Treat it as one layer of defense."

There are still many methods against the Cang race.

Remember, the Cang race is humanity's greatest adversary; they barely managed to defeat them back then.

So since the Cang race fully departed from the Central Continent, they have been preparing—how could they lack sufficient countermeasures now?

This web of karma and calamity is merely one part of them.

Bie Xuening had wanted to say more, but paused, glanced outside the meditation hall…

"Younger brother, I'll return first."

"Mm, sister, take care on your way."

With a slight nod, Bie Xuening rose and vanished.

Shortly after she left, a figure walked in through the hall's entrance.

The newcomer wore dark, fitted attire, his hair bound with a bamboo crown, his face weathered, his eyes tinged with guilt.

Xu Xing rose and smiled: "Younger brother Jieye, long time no see."

Indeed, the man was Jieye, the first Silutangtang of the Xiang Jianzong and Yi Feng's master.

"..." Jieye's face twisted into a bitter smile. "I truly have no face to meet Elder Brother Xu."

"Why speak so, younger brother? In those events of the past, I too failed to consider many things…"

"How can one ever account for every matter in this world?" Jieye sighed as he stepped forward. "I have personally interrogated Yi Feng, but obtained little useful information."

"Younger brother, please bear your grief."

Previously, to pursue Yi Feng, Jieye had repeatedly requested transfer to the frontlines as a Star Domain Warden.

But Xu Xing, fearing he would cross beyond the starry expanse, suppressed those requests.

Now, at last, his long-held wish has been fulfilled.

"If so, then Yi Feng…"

Yi Feng must be killed—this is unchangeable.

"Alas~ Elder Brother Xu, don't blame me—Yi Feng was still my former disciple…"

"I understand."

After all, Yi Feng was the disciple Jieye treated like his own son; asking him to carry out the execution himself would be too cruel.

So Xu Xing planned to do it himself, granting him a swift end.

"Let him be burned by Thunder and Fire Punishment for a hundred years—as atonement." As he spoke, Jieye's once-straight posture seemed to hunch slightly.

The crimes of that traitor—soul extraction, spirit refining, lamp-lighting for ten thousand years—would still be insufficient.

But seeing that traitor's desperate wailing, he ultimately softened.

Xu Xing: "..."

This…

"Then, as younger brother says."

After all, this is between master and disciple—better not interfere.

…

…

Outer Gate of the Xiang Jianzong, Ascension Hall.

【Tai Xuan Immortal Net (Beta Version)】

【Name: Zhou Kongming】

【Age: 576】

【Realm: Void Return, Perfect】

【Profession: Sword Cultivator】

【Affiliation: Xiang Jianzong】

【Foundation Technique: Grand Void Sword Scripture (Supreme)】

【Spiritual Abilities, Spells, Sword Arts: Grand Void Sword Dash·Mastery (Supreme), Grand Void Penetrating Gold Eye·Mastery (Supreme), Grand Void Sword Array·Mastery (Supreme)…】

【Permission: Ascension Envoy·Type I (Active)】

【Waymark: Xiang Jianzong Ascension Platform Core】

【Auxiliary Modules: None】

【Ascension Points: 0】

"Hoo~"

Under the watchful eyes of Sect Master Du Ruoheng and the many Tongxuan Grand Elders of the Xiang Jianzong,

Zhou Kongming stood tall and straight, looked at the personal interface before him, and gently exhaled a breath, easing the trace of tension rising in his heart.

Compared to before, the permissions column had been fully unlocked.

And there were also a 'Dao Marker' and a new column—

【Auxiliary Module Loading Area (Not Activated)】

'Ascension Mission...'

His gaze lingered on those three missions, thoughts flying.

After exchanging with Xiao Ling and the others during this period, they had discovered that everyone's Ascension Mission was different.

For instance, the first mission, 'Initiate the Revival of the Spiritual Tide,' only he had.

While Xiao Ling's first Ascension Mission was—'Prevent the World's Destruction.'

Without a doubt, just hearing the mission title, Xiao Ling's first Ascension Mission was far more difficult than his.

Even the Ascension Points rewarded were several times his, 25 points.

Lin Xingyue, that brute, had the mission—'Halt the Erosion of the Other World,' rewarding 15 Ascension Points.

And among the first batch of Ascension Envoys, the one with the highest Ascension Points reward was Old Gao of the Jishi Valley, with a full 80 Ascension Points.

His first mission was—

'Guide the Human Race of the Mission World, causing them to return to their original life form.'

A mission that sounded utterly freaking absurd.

So during this period, Old Gao had been so worried he was practically possessed, frantically flipping through all sorts of materials in the Jishi Valley every day.

Besides that, there was also Master Xiao Yu's 'Purify the Polluted World Will of the Mission World,' and so on...

In short, for this first Ascension Mission, none of them in this first batch of Ascension Envoys had the same one, and his mission reward was the lowest.

Obviously, the Ascension Points rewarded were set according to the mission's difficulty.

As for the latter two missions, the contents were all more or less the same.

All were guiding cultivation, and ensuring the Human Race held a dominant position.

Whoosh!

A streak of sword light whistled in from outside the hall and stopped at the highest point of the Ascension Hall.

As the sword light around her gradually dissipated, everyone in the Ascension Hall bowed respectfully.

"Greetings, Sword Master Cangfeng!"

That's right, this person was none other than Li Ke!

Although recently she was often suppressed single-handedly by Bie Xuening for saying the wrong thing, as a Dongzhen-realm sword cultivator and one of the rare 'Sword Master'-level existences in the world, she was still very dignified outside!

She was seen sweeping her sharp gaze across the surroundings, then saying coolly:

"Don't delay, begin directly."

"Yes!"

Du Ruoheng nodded, then stepped forward, landing lightly on the central hub of the central Ascension Platform, and looked at Zhou Kongming.

"Get ready."

Zhou Kongming took a deep breath:

"This disciple is ready."

Hum~!

Accompanied by a gorgeous halo like a galaxy spreading outward, Zhou Kongming only felt solemn, majestic, and infinitely mysterious echoes coming from beside his ears.

The rarely changing personal interface was now rapidly scrolling through lines of text.

【Connecting to Dao Marker... Connection successful!】

【Mission Item · Ascension Platform, has been placed in personal storage space. Please deploy after the total completion progress of the three Ascension Missions reaches 70%】

Ascension Platform?

The kind seen during the Three Heaven Realm trial before?

【Current Mission World: Unnamed World No. 1 (Return to Void)】

【Current Mission World Type: Starry Universe】

Unnamed World No. 1?

No!

Could you be any more casual!

But the type of this mission world was quite rare, and he didn't know what types of mission worlds Xiao Ling and the others had.

Starry Universe...

It seemed that this time, the Leap-level Sword Art should be able to play quite a significant role.

【Immortal Net power injected, coordinate calculation complete, activating Cross-Chaos Sea · World-Seeking Program!】

【Please note! This mission's time limit is ninety days of the Central Continent of the Grand Xuan Realm, converted to mission world time as 21 years (without using time-space type auxiliary modules). Upon expiration, mission progress will be calculated directly!】

Twenty-one years?!

A mission where one has to execute it oneself for twenty-one years?

From the start of his cultivation to now, the longest mission he had was no more than two months...

Zhou Kongming's thoughts flew.

Although he was very confident in himself, he did not dare to underestimate this mission.

After all, the Ascension Points rewarded for the latter two missions of others were all 1~20, at most 1~60, but his was 1~100...

【3, 2, 1, Cross-Dimension Initiated!】

His vision blurred, as if shifting countless times, and before he knew it, he had been swept across an immeasurable distance by an unknown force.

Yet within a fraction of an亿亿th of a second, the scene stabilized again.

Even Zhou Kongming, at the peak of his Void Return realm, could not perceive what had transpired.

Before him lay only profound darkness, and so it was in every direction—up, down, left, right.

【Arrived at mission world. Mission item · Seed of Spiritual Source has been issued.】

【Seed of Spiritual Source: A spiritual aggregate capable of permeating rules and triggering the revival of spiritual tides. Burying it within the world will awaken the spiritual tide.】

Already here?

He couldn't help but feel dazed.

But immediately, a terrifying pull surged from all directions, snapping him back to awareness!

The heavy magic power flowing through his body, the brilliant luminous soul, even his transcendent physical form—all seemed on the verge of being drained and extracted, transformed into pure spiritual energy.

This was the world's hunger!

Zhou Kongming's expression changed.

He could feel the surrounding space was incredibly fragile, as if a mere flick of his hand could tear it open.

Yet not a single trace of spiritual energy stirred.

Even the so-called Spirit-Dead Zones of the Tai Xuan Realm paled in comparison—here, they would seem "abundant with spiritual vitality"!

This was my…

Mission world? (End of Chapter)