Qiu Ming waited for Liou Yuan’s words for a full month, and upon hearing them, he howled excitedly: "Aaaaah, I’ve been suffocating!"

His deep voice echoed through the early morning of Xiaopei Mountain, startling the disciples who were still immersed in cultivation.

Each of them secretly cursed Qiu Ming, but no one came out to scold him.

The disciples of Xiaopei Mountain had long been accustomed to this.

Especially Xie Miaobo and Fu Xueping, who didn’t even bother to open their eyes.

There was no need for Liou Yuan to urge further, as Qiu Ming, after howling, turned back into the house, shouldered the giant axe he bought at the Artifact Refining Pavilion a few days ago, and energetically followed Liou Yuan out the door.

The two headed straight for Shoushan Tower.

By the time they reached the entrance of Shoushan Tower, it was bright daylight.

Liou Yuan thought they had arrived early enough, but to his surprise, a large group of disciples had already gathered in front of Shoushan Tower.

Liou Yuan’s eyes swept over them, and with a flash of Evil Eyes, he could see their general cultivation level clearly.

Most of them were new disciples at the Qi Cultivation Second or Third Layer.

Only a small portion were Outer Sect disciples with cultivation above the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer.

The new disciples were all crowded outside Shoushan Tower.

Outside hung densely packed palm-sized wooden plaques, all small tasks within the sect.

Most did not have high cultivation requirements, just tedious and time-consuming.

Very suitable for these new disciples to take on.

Liou Yuan had heard Qiu Ming and the others mention these, and as he passed by the plaques, he took a few extra glances.

Sure enough, they were tasks like planting spirit fields, nurturing spirit rice, and herb collection— all time-consuming and laborious chores.

Liou Yuan also saw the task that Qiu Ming and his group took for nurturing spirit medicine, which made him chuckle and point it out to Qiu Ming, saying, "Look, this task is still hanging here."

"I’ll never take these outside chores again in this lifetime," Qiu Ming’s face darkened at the words, but he didn’t slow down and strode into Shoushan Tower first.

He said as he walked, "The real tasks are inside Shoushan Tower."

Indeed, those chores are usually placed outside Shoushan Tower.

Only the tasks with higher difficulty levels deserve to be placed inside Shoushan Tower.

And those with higher cultivation levels typically head straight inside Shoushan Tower.

Inside Shoushan Tower, there were also many wooden plaques hanging, but fewer compared to outside.

And these tasks were distinguished by different-colored wooden plaques.

As Liou Yuan’s eyes scanned each wooden plaque, Qiu Ming’s voice timely sounded in his ear.

"Different colors represent different difficulty levels."

"White plaques are generally difficult, suitable for cultivators at Qi Cultivation Fourth to Fifth Layer."

"Green plaques are slightly harder, needing disciples at Qi Cultivation Sixth to Seventh Layer."

"Blue plaques are the most difficult in Shoushan Tower, requiring Qi Cultivation Eighth to Ninth Layer."

"Hehe, it’s quite detailed," Liou Yuan chuckled at the words.

He and Qiu Ming were only at Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer, so taking a white plaque task would suffice.

Though higher difficulty means more merit points, you need to be alive to claim them.

In the center of Shoushan Tower, there were three or so Outer Sect disciples responsible for registration, and occasionally someone would bring a chosen plaque there.

After showing their waist token and registering, they could leave the mountain.

"Let’s split up and take a look, preferably a beast-hunting task," Liou Yuan whispered to Qiu Ming.

The latter immediately nodded, knowing that Liou Yuan planned to collect spirit materials for making talisman brushes this trip.

Fortunately, there were many such tasks within Shoushan Tower as well.

Five Extremes Mountain, located in this ancient mountain range with abundant star energy, is beneficial not only for cultivators’ cultivation but also for animals and birds in the mountains to evolve into spiritual beasts. These animals are called monsters, distinguished from Star Evil.

Many monsters, accustomed to raw meat and blood, will also attack nearby towns and travelers after gaining some cultivation, becoming ferocious beasts.

Once a ferocious beast tastes human blood, it won’t stop, and it develops a distinct bloody scent only after consuming people.

These are the hunting targets for the disciples of Five Extremes Mountain.

Of course, there are those who don’t eat people and remain reclusive, known as Spirit Beasts.

Generally, they can coexist peacefully with cultivators.

Of course, that’s in general; if you provoke these Spirit Beasts, they won’t hold back.

Liou Yuan’s eyes scanned over the white wooden plaques, quickly locking onto two tasks after roughly browsing through them.

One task was to hunt a ferocious beast known as the Blood Feathered Eagle.

According to the plaque description, the Blood Feathered Eagle had repeatedly attacked several villages near Five Extremes Mountain.

More than thirty villagers died at its hands.

Its cultivation was estimated to be not high, around the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer.

But it’s just too fast and can fly in the sky, making it hard to catch.

There was a reward of up to ten merit points.

Seeing this, Liou Yuan shook his head and dismissed it, thinking, "In the Qi Cultivation Realm, without the ability to fly, hunting such an aerial beast is too difficult and unrewarding."

Then he looked at another white wooden card, which read:

Yongquan Town has frequent occurrences of missing children and infants, with more than a dozen missing.

It may be the Baby-eating Mink that specializes in sucking children’s brain marrow causing trouble.

This mink’s whereabouts are mysterious, coming unseen and leaving traceless, its cultivation hard to gauge, but presumably not exceeding Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer. Disciples skilled in tracking are needed to hunt it.

Those who bring back its body and head to the sect will be rewarded with ten merit points.

"Disciples skilled in tracking, isn’t that talking about me?" Liou Yuan saw this, a smile emerging at the corner of his mouth, as he reached out to remove the card from the wall.

He had the Fixed Star Compass, and anything with spiritual traits in the world could hardly escape its detection.

Similarly, a fierce beast with cultivation should also be unable to evade the tracking of the Fixed Star Compass.

Moreover, the Evil Eyes, which can observe the flow of Spiritual Qi and Spiritual Power, might offer some clues on the trace of that demon beast.

And a reward of ten merit points is considered relatively high among the white wooden cards.

He would split them equally with Qiu Ming, giving each person five points.

Of course, this was just a tentative option; the specifics would depend on how well Qiu Ming could spot them.

The reason Liou Yuan held it in his hand was to prevent other disciples from snatching it.

Then Liou Yuan began to scrutinize the white wooden cards on the wall.

After a brief pause, Qiu Ming came over excitedly holding a white wooden card and exclaimed, "Liou Yuan, how about this one?"

Liou Yuan glanced at the card and shook his head: "It’s too far, that Pingyi City is already within Jin Dynasty’s borders. Not to mention the time for hunting the beast, going back and forth would take ten days to half a month."

Qiu Ming’s task was also good, but the distance made it unacceptable to Liou Yuan.

Time, after all, was cost.

Then Liou Yuan shook the card for hunting the Baby-eating Mink in front of Qiu Ming and said, "Let’s do this one."

Qiu Ming took a look and frowned as well.

"This Baby-eating Mink is not easy to catch, it’s really cunning."

"I have a way." Liou Yuan smiled confidently, then took the card and walked towards the disciple responsible for registration.

Seeing Liou Yuan’s confidence, Qiu Ming didn’t say much but happily followed, secretly thinking: "Liou Yuan indeed has some tricks."

This was also why Qiu Ming was so adamant about coming to Shoushan Tower with Liou Yuan.

Having a strong teammate makes everything easier.

The disciple responsible for registering the Baby-eating Mink task was a female, looking about ten years older than Liou Yuan, around twenty-six or seven.

Right at the age when feminine charm is strongest, a beauty mark at the corner of her mouth added to her mature allure, with a cultivation at Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer, she should be a veteran disciple.

Holding the wooden task card for the Baby-eating Mink, she looked at Liou Yuan and Qiu Ming with suspicion.

"Just the two of you?"

She could tell they were new disciples.

Although they had reached Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer, the difficulty of this task was quite high for new disciples.

Disciples responsible for registering tasks would assess the difficulty level and ensure sect disciples don’t lose their lives pointlessly.

Having casualties would affect her performance.

Thus, upon hearing her speak, Liou Yuan immediately knew what she was thinking, his eyes subtly turning as he hastily pointed to Qiu Ming beside him and said: "This is Qiu Ming, one of the seven Five-Star Acupoint geniuses recruited by our sect this year."

"Rest assured, Senior Sister. With Mr. Qiu’s strength, capturing the Baby-eating Mink is a breeze."

There’s no better time to leverage Qiu Ming’s name.

Qiu Ming was unaware that Liou Yuan was using him as leverage, but after Liou Yuan spoke, he arrogantly raised his head and replied in a low voice: "It’s me!"

It must be said, having a big reputation has its advantages.

After checking Qiu Ming’s identity token, the Senior Sister indeed showed less suspicion in her gaze, accompanied by a bright smile: "So it’s Junior Qiu Ming, I’ve heard much about you."

While speaking, the Senior Sister cast flirtatious glances, intentionally or otherwise, making Qiu Ming’s eyes freeze.

Her hands worked efficiently, completing the registration for both of them.

The changes in their expressions were all captured by Liou Yuan, who smiled with a tinge of amusement and insultingly thought: "Such seductive fragrance, so nauseating."

So after confirming the registration was complete, Liou Yuan said a word of thanks and dragged Qiu Ming out, not giving her too much time to interact with Qiu Ming.

The Senior Sister glanced at Qiu Ming with intentional or unintentional eye contact before leaving, stirring his feelings of longing.

Qiu Ming, naive and rash, couldn’t resist the temptation, glancing back repeatedly as he left, only pulled out of Shoushan Tower by Liou Yuan.

After leaving Shoushan Tower, Liou Yuan hurriedly scolded: "Are you stupid? Obviously, she’s eyeing your Five-Star Earth Acupoint’s Pure Yang, giving that seductive woman what she wants would be greatly beneficial."

Having lived two lives, Liou Yuan wasn’t easily fooled, realizing the seductive intent of the Senior Sister towards Qiu Ming right away.

Before coming to Five Extremes Mountain, Liou Zhen sternly warned Liou Yuan not to lose his Primordial Yang.

Clearly, Primordial Yang is crucial for the future Dao path.

And some female cultivators practice the Yang Collection Skill, using Primordial Yang for cultivation.

Of course, some male cultivators collect Yin too.

Qiu Ming casually shrugged, "You’re so dull, I was just looking."

"Losing your virginity may be enjoyable for a moment, but regrettable afterward." Liou Yuan didn’t bother to continue arguing, leaving that comment behind, and headed downhill.

Qiu Ming lingered looking at Shoushan Tower but eventually followed Liou Yuan.