Stronger with Crimson Modifier-Chapter 73: Cemetery [1]

"Master, rest assured. I’ll consult with my juniors if anything comes up."

At this, her voice dropped.

"But if anyone is foolish enough to cause trouble for my Shexin Sect, I will make every last one of them regret being born..."

As she spoke.

A faint, blazing red light, like a raging fire, flickered around Helinta. A thick killing intent boiled and surged from her body.

Her originally cold and expressionless face twisted into a ferocious scowl.

"Hm?"

Jiang Zuo’s brows furrowed. His figure suddenly flashed in front of Helinta, and he reached out to tap a finger on the spot between her eyebrows.

In an instant.

It was as if an invisible force descended upon her.

Under this force.

The killing intent radiating from Helinta melted away like snow under the scorching sun.

Her expression gradually returned to calm.

"The Ghost Slaying Saber is powerful, but its drawbacks are just as severe.

To master it, you must cultivate your state of mind as you increase your strength.

Remember, no matter how powerful the Sword Technique, it is the person who controls the sword, not the other way around."

Jiang Zuo said in a deep voice.

"For the next few days, you will stay put at the academy. Recite Buddhist Scripture and Taoist Scripture, and avoid fighting with anyone until you have completely dispelled this killing intent!"

"Yes, Master!"

Helinta lowered her head, her voice slightly hoarse.

However, Jiang Zuo didn’t notice the imperceptible, strange light that flashed deep within Helinta’s eyes as she kept her head down.

...

Hu Qi was unaware of what had transpired after he left.

He didn’t wander around, heading straight back to his dorm.

He opened a browser on his provided computer, typed in a URL, and hit search.

A login ID box appeared.

After entering his ID and password and completing a facial recognition scan, he successfully logged in.

This was the exclusive website for Zhu Xi.

Across the top of the homepage were ten words in red text.

[Zhu Xi, from red to white, toils through summer and winter.]

Hu Qi had logged in out of curiosity and browsed a few times before, so he was reasonably familiar with the general layout.

The website was very simple, with no unnecessary ads.

The entire site was divided into three main sections: the Mission Hall, the Leaderboards, and the Discussion Forum.

Mission Hall: Displays various available missions, including descriptions, target information, payment, etc.

Leaderboards: Shows rankings for number of missions completed, success rate, and so on.

Discussion Forum: An area for Zhu Xi members to communicate and discuss topics.

Everyone here used their real-name authentication, so there weren’t any bizarre, flashy usernames.

Hu Qi clicked directly on the Mission Hall.

There, he saw rows of mission listings waiting to be addressed.

[Mission Target: Lingtiao City, Third Psychiatric Hospital. Psychiatric patients have been frequently disappearing, and searches have yielded no results.]

[Based on an expert’s investigation, a Blood Slave is the suspected culprit.]

[Mission Requirement: Find the hidden Black Blood Species, kill it, and bring back the corpse.]

[Recommended Personnel: Two or more people, with a minimum strength of Qi Blood Second Transformation.]

[Mission Reward: 160,000 yuan, 12 points.]

[Target: Blood Slaves have been frequently spotted in Qirong City recently. Investigate the specific cause or kill one Blood Slave.]

[Additional Information: A Lower-Rank Black Blood Species has been confirmed to be present. The target has already been severely wounded by a certain high-ranking member of Zhu Xi. Report immediately upon discovery.]

[Recommended Personnel: Three or more people, minimum strength of Qi Blood Third Transformation.]

[Mission Reward: Varies based on the degree of completion. For detailed reward information, please click the image below.]

...

Each mission had a simple description, and some special ones were even flagged.

The recommended number of people for these missions was at least two, as solo operations were prone to accidents, while a team of two was relatively safer.

Of course, this was only a recommendation, not a requirement.

Whether to go alone or as a pair was ultimately up to the Zhu Xi member accepting the mission.

After all, one more person meant splitting the reward in half. For some, this was a very bad deal.

As for the rewards, the money was self-explanatory. The points, however, were an internal currency within Zhu Xi. They could be used to exchange for weapons, Secret Medicines like the Spiritual Snake Ointment, Qi Blood Techniques, and even official positions within the Federation.

Hu Qi also saw the mission related to Qirong City.

The reward for this mission was quite generous and could even vary based on the specific outcome.

However, this mission was not within his consideration. He had to be aware that a Lower-Rank Black Blood Species was lurking there.

Even though this Lower-Rank Black Blood Species was severely wounded, he didn’t think he could fight it.

He knew that even a starved camel is bigger than a horse.

No matter how good the reward, you had to be alive to claim it.

Besides, what he needed wasn’t the mission reward, but real combat experience.

If he encountered a Lower-Rank Black Blood Species, it wouldn’t be combat experience—it would be suicide.

There were many missions; scrolling down, he saw there were over three hundred pages.

This number wasn’t fixed and would constantly fluctuate.

During this time, some missions were accepted and completed, while others had just been posted.

But while there seemed to be many, this list included missions from every region in the Federation.

Some were in Anshan City, while others were in cities thousands of kilometers away.

He also noticed something else.

The most difficult missions only involved the level of a Lower-Rank Black Blood Species; there were no requests to capture or kill one, nor were there any missions involving a Middle Black Blood Species.

The scarcity of Middle Black Blood Species might be one reason, but it was more likely that his clearance level wasn’t high enough.

Even if he saw them, it would be useless, as such missions wouldn’t be open to him anyway.

After all, this kind of information was considered classified intelligence.

Zhu Xi’s operational model was very flexible. To Hu Qi, it seemed more like a mercenary guild.

But on second thought, it made sense. Secret Martial Artists, beings who possessed immense power and were Extraordinary unto themselves, would never willingly submit to excessive restrictions.

This approach was undoubtedly the best choice.

Hu Qi’s gaze swept over the screen, searching for a suitable mission.

His objective was clear.

He needed to find a Blood Slave he could use for practice—preferably one that was nearby.

With a clear goal in mind, finding a mission was easy.

Hu Qi also saw a location filter on the side.

After clicking on it, a map that took up almost half of Earth Star appeared.

These were the territories of the Xia Federation, divided by various lines into shapes of different sizes, representing the Federation’s provinces.

Hu Qi quickly found his own province on the map—Donglin Province.

After he clicked it, the number of missions rapidly decreased, leaving only about twenty.

Hu Qi scanned the list.

He quickly locked onto a mission.

[Target: Anxin Cemetery.]

[Mission Description: Recently, a heavy rain caused a recently dug grave to show signs of collapse. During preparations for repairs, it was discovered that a recently interred body had vanished without a trace. An investigation of the scene suggests a connection to the Black Blood Species.]

[Mission Requirement: Kill or capture the grave robber and let the dead rest in peace.]

[Recommended Personnel: Two or more people.]

[Mission Reward: 100,000, 18 points.]

Seeing this, Hu Qi’s expression turned a little strange.

In this world, after death, people could choose between burial and cremation; neither was mandatory. Some even chose burial at sea.

However, most people still chose to be buried for peace in the afterlife.

’They probably never imagined when they were alive that they’d face another calamity after death.’

But, by comparison, the risk was undoubtedly smaller. At the very least, it proved the target probably wasn’t that strong.

A Lower-Rank Black Blood Species would never stoop to doing something like this.

With this in mind, he clicked on the location. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He found that it wasn’t far, located right in Anshan City, just in the western suburbs.

Hu Qi thought for a moment and clicked "Accept."

Instantly, a message popped up.

[Mission accepted successfully. Mission duration: 10 days. Please note! If this time limit is exceeded, you will need to accept the mission again.]

[Now, would you like to form a team or proceed alone?]

Below were three options.

[Let’s get some teammates, just to be safe...]

[Mere trash. I alone am enough!]

[Oops, I misclicked. Please give me another chance.]