Chapter 598: What Is the Dao Source?

That night.

Inside the Xiang Jianzong's inner sect, a certain cave dwelling.

The door to the meditation chamber, used for seated contemplation, opened, and Zhou Kongming stepped out slowly, his aura calm and solid.

Spiritual light surged in his eyes, only to vanish the next instant.

He walked to the side, poured himself a cup of water, then sat by the window with the cup in hand.

Gazing out the window, Zhou Kongming took a sip, then placed the cup on the table before him:

"Finally adapted."

After several hours of adjustment, he had finally alleviated the discomfort he felt during the mission and re-adapted to the dense, heavy laws of the Central Continent of the Xuan Realm.

Tap tap!

He tapped the table with his fingers, hesitated briefly, then finally pulled out his phone.

Even if he ignored everything else, he still had to check in with Xiao Ling…

By now, she should be back, right?

Thinking this, he prepared to send a message—but his phone had barely lit up when a message popped up ahead of him.

Xiao Ling: "You there?"

The avatar was a molten great hammer atop an anvil.

Xiao Ling was back!

Looking at the message from Qi Ling, a faint smile appeared on Zhou Kongming's face.

Kongming: "Here."

Xiao Ling: "How many Ascension Points?"

Kongming: "Not many. This mission was poorly planned."

Xiao Ling: "I got 189."

Kongming: "…"

Kongming: "I got 159."

After all, one was a weaponsmith, the other a sword cultivator specializing in sword arrays—so their chat was naturally plain and straightforward.

Xiao Ling: "?"

【Xiao Ling retracted a message】

Xiao Ling: "This mission type really isn't favorable for sword cultivators."

Xiao Ling: "So one failure doesn't mean anything."

"…"

Why did this consolation sound so odd?

Afterwards, the two chatted for a while about their experiences during the mission, the difficulties they encountered while carrying it out, and so on.

Of course, Zhou Kongming omitted some irrelevant details, like teaching the "Yin-Yang Qi Absorption and Union Marvelous Art" and similar trivial matters…

Cough cough!

He also marveled at the convenience of the Xuan Immortal Net and the wonders of its various auxiliary modules.

Finally, Zhou Kongming and Qi Ling brought up the matter of crafting a physical foundation for "Heng," and set a time.

As for compensation…

Qi Ling initially refused, since crafting a physical foundation for a Jin Dan-level artifact spirit was hardly a challenge.

But after hearing Zhou Kongming's offer…

She accepted.

A single strand of "Civilization Fire," unique to Task World 1, originating from the dawn of pre-Qixing civilization.

As a weaponsmith, she simply could not refuse.

Xiao Ling: "If you have more, you can sell a strand to Senior Daoist Gao at a high price."

Qi Ling added a reminder.

Kongming: "Nah, not worth it."

He wasn't short on Spirit Coins anyway…

In comparison, Ascension Points, which could be exchanged for countless rare entities, were truly precious.

Each point had to be used with utmost care.

Seeing this message, Qi Ling finally realized: Zhou Kongming was simply looking for an excuse to give her the "Civilization Fire."

Xiao Ling: "How many Ascension Points?"

Zhou Kongming paused, then sighed with a wry smile.

Kongming: "Not much—just 0.1."

After sending this message, he seemed to think of something else.

Kongming: "I'll organize the exchange items and send them to you—see if there's anything you need."

No!

Kongming: "I can just post it in the group."

Xiao Ling: "I can just post it in the group."

Their messages were sent at nearly the same moment.

Since everyone's exchange items differed, why not open the Exchange Center's contents to all? That way, there'd be more choices!

At that moment.

Ding dong!

Two messages popped up from the top of the screen, both from the group 'Whoever Grinds Is a Fool*Use Real Names Only'.

Gao Wuwang: "@everyone"

Gao Wuwang: "How long did everyone take to max out the Ascension Points on this mission?"

The two messages made Zhou Kongming's eye twitch.

This guy actually popped up to show off this fast...

But...

What surprised Zhou Kongming was that Gao Wuwang had actually maxed out all the Ascension Points on a mission of this difficulty?!

Ignore him for now!

Zhou Kongming silently made up his mind.

Gao Wuwang: "No way! Why is no one saying anything"

Gao Wuwang: "Don't tell me not a single person is back yet"

Gao Wuwang: "@Chen Xuanqing"

Gao Wuwang: "@Zhou Kongming"

Gao Wuwang: "I saw your two's group messages, hurry up and come out!"

After grinding away for twenty whole years, half-dead tired, he finally maxed out all the Ascension Points.

If he didn't show off a little here, it would be even more unbearable than killing him!

The others who saw the messages all felt secretly relieved they hadn't posted in the group after getting back, or else they'd inevitably get mocked in the face by this guy...

Chen Xuanqing: "/Your daddy's here"

Chen Xuanqing: "Yap yap yap! What are you yapping about!"

Chen Xuanqing: "Anyone who didn't know would think you already reached Dao Merging"

emm...

Zhou Kongming silently exited the chat interface and set his account status to 'Invisible'.

He was an easygoing and mature cultivator, and didn't take part in such childish things.

The matter of exchanging the redemption list could wait a while longer.

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

The third batch of Ascension Envoys was about to set out on their mission.

At the same time, the final round of the 'Xian Sect Special Recruitment' was also about to begin.

Relatively speaking though, the third batch of Ascension Envoys would still depart a bit earlier.

Regarding this point, Chi Jiuyu was somewhat helpless.

Originally she had still wanted to watch Little Ye's performance in the 'Xian Sect Special Recruitment', but now it seemed there was no chance...

Xiang Jianzong, Outer Gate.

Chi Jiuyu was seeing Lin Xuanxuan off.

The third batch of Ascension Envoys' mission was about to begin,

"If I'd known earlier that Senior Sister Jiuyu's talisman Dao had already reached such a high level, I wouldn't have made a special trip to the Xiang Jianzong."

Lin Xuanxuan looked at a storage ring in her hand, inside which were the 'Sword Qi Talismans' Chi Jiuyu had prepared for her.

There were ones of all three grades — Jin Dan, Nascent Soul, and Soul Transformation — and in terms of quality they were quite a bit better than same-grade 'Sword Qi Talismans' bought on the market.

After all, Chi Jiuyu's attainments in the Sword Dao...

Do you have any idea what it means to cultivate the 'Classic of Registers Sword Scripture' to Great Completion in a single night?!

Lin Xuanxuan even felt she couldn't block the lowest grade, that is, Jin Dan grade 'Sword Qi Talismans'.