In the second year after Qin Yu's departure, Meng Bai was twenty-eight years old.
Over the past two years, apart from going to the Taixu Market to sell sword talismans, Meng Bai had hardly stepped out and spent all his time cultivating in his dreams.
Of course, he occasionally took the time to see Qin Pianran and wrote a few letters to Qin Yu.
Although Qin Yu had left over the past two years, their correspondence continued on and off.
From the letters, he learned that Qin Yu was doing well in Mingyun City.
In the dream world, the scene had changed once again to the small courtyard in the middle of the lake.
However, the calm lake surface was brimming with sword rhythm, and Meng Bai had concealed his entire Sword Domain at the bottom of the lake.
That day, a disciple from the Law Enforcement Hall knocked on the door of Meng Bai's small cabin.
Meng Bai asked with perplexity, "Junior Brother, is there something I can help you with?"
The Law Enforcement Hall disciple said, "Junior Brother, you haven't performed a sect mission for five years. Sect regulations dictate that outer disciples must complete at least one sect mission every five years unless there are special circumstances."
Meng Bai was startled, wondering how he could have forgotten about this matter, and hastily said, "Junior Brother is terribly sorry. With all my recent preoccupation with cultivation, it completely slipped my mind."
With that, Meng Bai quietly slipped ten spirit stones to the Law Enforcement Hall disciple.
The Law Enforcement Hall disciple smiled faintly and said, "I came specifically to remind you today, Junior Brother. Make sure you don't forget again."
"What you say is true, Senior Brother. I will certainly not forget."
If an outer disciple failed to complete a sect mission within five years, there would be penalties—ranging from the suspension of that year's monthly stipend at best, to being forced to carry out dangerous missions at worst.
At noon,
Meng Bai arrived at the Mission Hall.
During his years as an outer disciple, the number of times Meng Bai had come to the Mission Hall could be counted on one hand—even fewer times than he had visited the Merit Hall.
Arriving at the mission reception desk, he looked at the dense array of tasks on the board, preparing to find a suitable one to undertake.
After browsing for a long time, he spotted a garrison assignment.
Stationed at Qingquan Village on the Mingyue border for five years; merit reward: 500 points.
The Mingyue border was located at the northernmost reaches of the Taixu Sect's territory, a barren place with extremely poor cultivation conditions.
Few disciples were willing to undertake garrison duties in such remote places with harsh cultivation environments and long durations, even though the merit reward for this mission was quite decent.
However, for Meng Bai, equipped with the bonuses of the dream world, none of this posed any problem.
Furthermore, after completing a five-year garrison assignment of this nature, a disciple would be exempt from mandatory sect missions for ten years upon return.
Naturally, very few disciples avoided performing sect missions for extended periods, because all cultivation required resources, and relying solely on the sect's monthly stipend could not satisfy a normal disciple's cultivation needs.
In a sense, Meng Bai could also be considered an anomaly.
"Senior Brother, I want to take the mission to garrison Qingquan Village."
The Mission Hall senior brother looked at Meng Bai in surprise and said, "Junior Brother, have you thought this through? Garrisoning Qingquan Village is no picnic."
"Senior Brother, I have considered this thoroughly."
Finding it difficult to dissuade him, the Mission Hall senior brother assigned the task to Meng Bai.
Before setting out, Meng Bai met with Qin Pianran once.
However, having been in the Taixu Sect for a mere five years, the young girl was now at Level 5 Foundation Establishment, already surpassing Meng Bai.
This could not help but make Meng Bai marvel at just how freakish Qin Pianran's cultivation talent truly was.
Of course, Meng Bai felt no jealousy; he could only sigh in wonder.
If she did not encounter a bottleneck, Meng Bai estimated that Qin Pianran could promote to the Spirit Nourishing Realm in ten years at the fastest, or thirty years at the slowest.
"Senior Brother Meng, are you sure you won't reconsider? Going to Qingquan Village is no different from being exiled," Qin Pianran said with concern.
Meng Bai laughed heartily and said, "No need to persuade me. My mind is made up."
Qin Pianran said, "Then take care of yourself, Senior Brother."
Even though Qin Pianran's cultivation had now surpassed Meng Bai's, she still respected him as her senior brother.
"With both your sister and me away, take good care of yourself."
Qin Pianran smiled faintly: "Senior Brother Meng, I am already at Mid Foundation Establishment now; I am no longer a child."
Meng Bai gave a bold laugh.
.......
One day later,
Meng Bai arrived at Qingquan Village via the thousand-li teleportation array.
Qingquan Village was located at the northernmost edge of the Taixu Sect, and moving any further forward would lead straight into the spiritless zone.
In the spiritless zone, not only were there no cultivators, but there weren't even any mortals. It was practically barren and devoid of human presence.
Therefore, whether Qingquan Village had a garrison or not made no difference to the Taixu Sect.
The previous garrison stationed at Qingquan Village was 300 years ago.
Qingquan Village was a small mortal village where, due to the meager spiritual energy, not a single practitioner existed.
The nearest town was a thousand li away.
Over the past century, the villagers had almost forgotten about the existence of practitioners.
Few people even knew that their village fell under the jurisdiction of the Taixu Sect.
After his arrival, Meng Bai did not reveal his identity.
Garrison personnel were generally there to monitor local immortal-cultivating clans to ensure they did not harm the sect's interests, and to protect the local people within the limits of their abilities.
After all, many of the sect's disciples came from the mortal world, which served as one of the primary sources of sect disciples; thus, the common folk were also considered a resource.
However, Qingquan Village was a special case. The purpose of garrisoning Qingquan Village was not to protect the local villagers, but to observe whether there were any abnormal movements in the spiritless zone.
Moreover, displaying one's identity here offered no advantages whatsoever. In other places, one could collect tribute from immortal-cultivating families, but here there wasn't even a single practitioner—how could anything be collected?
As long as he remained within Qingquan Village, the sect token would register his location.
Fortunately, Qingquan Village was not xenophobic, and Meng Bai easily built a small cabin in the village to live in.
Through a few days of observation, he saw that the villagers of Qingquan Village either made their living by hunting or farmed the land themselves, entirely free from the exploitation of bailiffs and the tyranny of wealthy landlords.
Living here would be a decent choice for any ordinary mortal.
Upon arriving here, Meng Bai also took on the role of a hunter.
In his spare time, he went into the mountains to hunt game, spending the rest of his time cultivating in his dreams.
Just like that, Meng Bai spent a comfortable year in Qingquan Village.
"Brother Meng! Brother Meng!"
Meng Bai's door was knocked upon by a boy in his early teens.
The visitor was Huzi, the child of the hunter family at the entrance of the village.
Meng Bai smiled slightly and said, "Huzi."
"Brother Meng, are you going hunting today? Can you take me along?" Huzi asked.
Meng Bai asked, "What is it? Do you want to be a hunter?"
Huzi's father was a hunter, but he had accidentally broken his leg while hunting in the mountains a month ago and could now only recuperate at home.
His father's injury drastically reduced the family's grain income. While they were not yet facing starvation, the family's surplus grain was gradually running out, so Huzi wanted to shoulder some of the burden for his family as soon as possible.
Huzi said, "Being a hunter is great! Once I become a hunter, my family will be able to eat meat."
Meng Bai rubbed Huzi's head and smiled, "Alright. As long as your parents agree, I will take you up the mountain."