Chapter Three: That's Right, It's Me.

[The cultivation system in this novel is adapted from "Sword Comes," though some modifications have been made for the sake of the story.]

...

The Notorious Quest Board, which Jiang Lin usually called the NPC Task Board, offered a wide array of missions, from snatching a little girl’s lollipop on the street to staging a fake accident in public—everything imaginable, refreshed weekly. Now, with the latest update just posted by the Rewards and Punishments Hall, a crowd had already gathered before the board...

“Excuse me, please make way! Sorry, could you step aside? Thank you, just a moment.”

Finally squeezing his way to the front, Jiang Lin looked up at the very top of the board, where the “Sabotage the Daoist Sect Tournament” mission was prominently pinned.

[Sabotage the Daoist Sect Tournament]
[Age: Minimum eight years old, no upper limit.]
[Required Cultivation: Dao Palace realm cultivators and above.]
[Mission Brief: As stated, anyone from the Demonic Sect may disrupt the Daoist Sect Tournament. You might inflate local prices to sow panic, flirt with the noble ladies of the sect to shake their resolve, or even seduce celestial couples right before their peers, driving them to helpless fury.]
[Rewards: Determined by the extent to which the tournament is disrupted.]
[Number of Participants: Unlimited. PS: Teaming up with two or more is recommended for better cooperation.]

“This is it!” Jiang Lin was overjoyed. According to the system, Senior Sister Lin would, after several bloody battles at this Daoist tournament, attain enlightenment through hardship and break through her inner barriers, ultimately coming to hate the Demonic Sect. As long as he could participate in the tournament by taking this mission, he’d have the chance to reach her and personally resolve her inner struggles, saving her from a twisted fate.

As for how to resolve those struggles, Jiang Lin already had countless ideas, each one seeming perfectly feasible.

Without hesitation, Jiang Lin dashed to the Rewards and Punishments Hall.

“Young Jiang, what’s the rush?” greeted Fang Ruo at the reception desk. She was a senior at the first level of the Nascent Soul realm—beautiful and shapely, always attracting a stream of petitioners eager to catch a glimpse of the mountain’s finest view.

“Sister Fang, I want to take the mission to sabotage the sect tournament.”

“Oh? Didn’t you just get back from Longmen Sect? Aren’t you going to rest? Your recent exploits could keep the Twin Pearl Peak at the top for at least four years, you know.”

“Well… It’s a long story. But please, Sister Fang, don’t tell my silly, naïve master about the dragon vein incident.”

“That’s no problem. But you owe me a favor, little Jiang.”

“I’ll bring you an ice cream cake.”

“Wonderful! It’s a deal.” Fang Ruo clapped her hands and handed him an application form. “Just fill this out. By the way, where’s your teammate? Didn’t he come with you?”

“Teammate? It’s just me.”

“That won’t do. Sabotaging the sect tournament is high risk. You need a partner for support.”

“But the task board just says ‘teaming up is recommended,’ doesn’t it?”

“It’s been changed. The document on the board will be updated soon. Even if you beg me, little Jiang, I can’t break the rules. I’m doing this for your own good.”

Jiang Lin felt a wave of despair...

With less than ten days until the tournament, where was he supposed to find a reliable teammate? After all, a bad teammate could be more dangerous than a formidable opponent.

Should he take his master, Jiang Yuni, along?

Better not…

Before her drastic change in temperament, it might have worked. But now, his master would get upset even if he jaywalked.

Just as Jiang Lin was considering posting his information on the Hall’s team-up board, a man suddenly strode over.

“I want to take the mission to sabotage the Daoist Sect tournament!”

His voice was rough, and for some reason, Jiang Lin felt a strange sense of discord.

He turned to look, and his eyes lit up the moment he saw the newcomer!

He knew this man—or rather, hardly anyone in the Sun and Moon Sect didn’t know him.

In this world, cultivators were divided into several types, the main ones being Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist cultivators, along with others like the School of Soldiers, Legalists, and Agriculturalists—collectively referred to as one class. The second main class was sword cultivators, known for their unrivaled lethality, decisiveness, and the highest entry threshold. The third was martial artists, who, strictly speaking, weren’t true cultivators but pure warriors devoted to physical training.

Of course, there were also battle mages practicing both arts and body, but their achievements were usually limited, since true qi and spiritual energy tended to conflict; at higher levels, one had to choose.

Cultivator realms were divided into fifteen stages:
The Lower Five Realms: Copper Skin, Grassroot, Willow Tendon, Bone Spirit, Cottage Builder.
The Middle Five Realms: Dao Palace, Sea Gazer, Dragon Gate, Golden Core, Nascent Soul (Earth Immortal).
The Upper Five Realms: Jade Pupil, Immortal, Ascendant, and two lost realms.

Martial artists had ten realms—rumored to be eleven but such tales were mere legend. The ten were:
Three Body-Tempering Realms: Clay Embryo, Wooden Fetus, Quicksilver.
Three Qi-Refining Realms: Hero, Iron Will, Martial Courage.
Three Spirit-Refining Realms: Golden Body, Feathered Transformation, Summit.
Tenth Realm: Martial God (with three levels).

And this man—he was Chen Jia, the Martial Fanatic! Not yet twenty, he’d already reached the sixth realm of pure martial cultivation—a prodigy who relished exchanging blows with all comers. Rumor even had it that he liked to wrestle bears bare-chested in winter, a true embodiment of the warrior tradition.

What made Chen Jia truly famous, however, was not just his martial prowess, but his astonishingly fair and delicate appearance—features like blossoms, skin like snow, brows like willow, bones like jade, lips naturally red, brows dark as if painted. A single glance could topple a city; a second, a nation.

Alas… he was a man. And he absolutely hated being called feminine—once, when a fellow demon sect member made the mistake of calling him girlish, the man spent five months in bed.

Jiang Lin had once wondered if he was a woman in disguise, but after witnessing his flat chest and watching him slay a bear with his bare hands, Jiang Lin abandoned the idea forever...

“Chen… Young Master… you’re taking the sect tournament sabotage mission, too?” Fang Ruo’s lips parted in surprise, as if she were about to eat a hot dog.

“Why not?”

“It’s not that you can’t, but what about your elders?”

“I’ll speak to them myself. Just process the paperwork.”

“Do you have a teammate?”

“Teammate?”

“Yes, the rules have changed. Now it takes two.”

Chen Jia’s brows, delicate as willow, drew together in a surprisingly sweet frown. “I don’t have a teammate. I don’t need one!”

“No, you do!”

Before Chen Jia could finish, Jiang Lin swept his fringe aside with a flourish.

“My good sir! I am Jiang Lin, outer disciple and chief disciple of Twin Pearl Peak. If this strapping hero—mighty as a bear, fists like gales, able to fell a grizzly with one kick—doesn’t mind, would you care to partner with me?”

“You?”

“That’s right, yours truly.”

Jiang Lin straightened up, his heart pounding with excitement as he made his pitch.