Chapter 277: 277, [Beginning of The Mutation]
Translator: 549690339
Lu Xun glanced at Mr. Wang, who was snoring on the table, knowing that he couldn’t manage to serve the Demon Sect disciples now.
Furthermore, piqued by curiosity, he decided to take the initiative. He rose and left the backyard, heading towards the tavern.
As soon as Lu Xun appeared, he attracted the gaze of everyone present.
Elegant and polite, with a charming demeanor, he flashed a gentle smile, and then showed his Inner Sect Deacon’s token to the multitude of Demon Sect disciples.
He had deliberately acquired this earlier when he went back to the Sect and requested it from Shen Yan.
Shen Yan gave it to him without any hesitation, knowing that Lu Xun, under the identity of a Young Elder from the Demon Sect, could face certain inconveniences in his dealings. Possessing a new identity was a good thing.
The status of an Inner Sect Deacon stood below the elders within the Demon Sect. It was not a high-ranking position in the Demon Sect, but it was considered a middle-ranking role.
The role suited him perfectly,
Among these people, the leader was a disciple from the Inner Sect of the Demon Sect, with the remaining ten or so being disciples from the Outer Sect, naturally, they all had to respect Lu Xun.
Although they were puzzled, this Deacon did not look familiar in terms of either appearance or demeanor. Then, why couldn’t they remember him?
The reason was simple; none in this group were players, and since Lu Xun had mainly interacted with players under the guise of the White Emperor, it was not surprising that most of the Disciples from the Demon Sect found him unfamiliar.
The leader of the squad, an Inner Sect Disciple, was named Wang Tao, a very common name.
His Cultivation Base was up to the Third Realm, about the same level as Murong Yan.
This level was considered quite average among the Inner Sect of the Demon Sect.
When Lu Xun looked around the squad, he noticed a few familiar faces of Outer Sect Disciples, including Xu Zhongcheng, who had been defeated by Ji Li in the Outer Sect competition.
Lu Xun asked about their purpose at the Lai Fu Restaurant, and it turned out they were preparing to explore an Ancient Relic, and they were here to gather some food and daily necessities.
Regarding the so-called Ancient Relics, Lu Xun presently hadn’t much interest.
Despite the grandiose name, anything left over from the Ancient Times was referred to as an Ancient Relic.
Moreover, all major relics up until now have been well explored, leaving primarily smaller ones.
Some were intentionally set aside for disciples to test themselves, like the “Ghost’s Grief” on Boundless Mountain, which was modified from an Ancient Relic.
Others were newly discovered and still awaiting exploration.
The Ancient Relic that Wang Tao’s squad intended to explore was precisely one of these smaller relics awaiting development.
Some time ago, a relic of an ancient sect was discovered within the Demon Sect’s territory. This sect was quite famous in Ancient Times and presumably perished in the cataclysm.
Yue Heshan, who personally led the exploration, managed to acquire numerous precious items from this relic.
Despite his seeming penchant for losing when gambling, similar to a Charitable Gambling King, Yue Heshan was actually quite lucky in other areas, making him a figure of good fortune.
If he hadn’t come from a wealthy background, he wouldn’t have been able to afford his habitual losses.
Simultaneously, most Ancient Relics are rather fragile and can easily be destroyed if mishandled. Yue Heshan, however, had a unique intuition in this matter, making him the ideal candidate to handle such precarious tasks.
Having explored the major relic, he discovered a minor one not far from there, believed to belong to a minor sect affiliated with the major sect. It was unknown but deemed relatively safe, and thus deliberately left untouched for disciples to experience.
Wang Tao’s squad was now heading to this minor relic.
“No wonder they all looked so excited. It turns out they are going treasure hunting,” Lu Xun said to himself.
Generally, unless the item was extremely valuable and needed to be handed over to the Sect in exchange for rewards, anything else the disciples found belonged to them.
This weren’t the case in other Sects where relics were considered sect properties, simply allowed to be explored, not exploited.
However, the Demon Sect was more easygoing. Whatever you could secure was your own; they wouldn’t intervene in such matters.
Upon hearing that it was a small relic, Lu Xun lost even more interest.
He was, after all, their senior, and seniors should act like seniors. He didn’t need to compete for resources with these poor juniors.
With this spare time, he would rather go to the players and earn some more Experience Points.
With such a “compassionate” attitude, Lu Xun surprisingly triggered a task.
“[Ding! You’ve triggered a task: Escort the Expedition.]”
He paused for a moment, choosing to accept, then looked at the task description.
The task was simple. If they encountered any dangers during their exploration of the relic that they could not handle, he was to rush over and provide support.
If they were able to successfully complete their exploration, then the task would be void.
The task reward was 10,000 experience points.
Such tasks were quite common in the game “Heavenly Dust”.
For example, if a group of Demon Sect disciples encountered dangers nearby, a sudden faction task for you to rush to their aid might pop up, provided you were not too far away.
“Damn game, with this kind of task rule, most players would be secretly hoping these guys would get in trouble,” Lu Xun grumbled to himself.
But he was different, he didn’t value the 10,000 experience points and hoped they would complete their trial smoothly.
All Lu Xun was thinking about right now was progressing steadily, reaching level 30, and then going to complete his promotion task.
“Tell me the exact location of where you’re headed,” Lu Xun said to Wang Tao.
Given that the guy was an Inner Sect Deacon with an utterly reliable and trustworthy appearance, Wang Tao quickly disclosed their destination.
Lu Xun could have located it through the task interface, but he thought it was better to ask personally.
After a few more exchanges, Lu Xun returned to the backyard and continued drinking.
He still had a half-jar of spiritual wine left. It would be a waste not to finish it.
After making their preparations, Wang Tao’s group came to the backyard to notify Lu Xun. They solemnly paid their respects before leaving the Lai Fu Restaurant.
There was no choice—it was his celestial and Daoist persona coupled with his unfamiliarity that added an element of mystery. It gave people the illusion that he was a wise elder.
At this moment, the spirit crow on Lu Xun’s shoulder landed on the table. It peered in the direction of the wine jar, then looked at Lu Xun, seemingly asking, “Can I have some?”
Finding it amusing that a spirit crow would want to drink alcohol, he untied the cloth around its mouth.
Oddly enough, the spirit crow didn’t utter any obscenities today.
This crow, which usually cussed words like “chicken”, “Gan Linliang”, “knock, are you there?”, was now silent.
“Strange, has it suddenly learnt manners?” Lu Xun mulled to himself.
He chuckled and said, “Go on, drink up.”
The spirit crow immediately clasped the jar in its beak, lifted it, and began guzzling the wine.
A crow guzzling wine was, regardless of how you looked at it, an absurd sight.
Before Lu Xun could react, it had polished off half a jar of spiritual wine.
“Dammit!” Startled, Lu Xun grabbed the crow for a closer look.
The spirit crow was too weak. Downing half a jar of spiritual wine given its constitution, something was bound to happen!
After all, spiritual wine, brewed from spiritual medicine, was highly potent.
Mr. Wang had only consumed two small cups and was already dead drunk. Would this spirit crow drink itself to death?
“I’ve refrained from stewing you all this time; I hope I won’t have to tearfully dine on you tonight,” Lu Xun thought to himself.
Spiritual wine duck, or should I say, spiritual wine crow?
But after looking it over, the spirit crow was completely fine. It still had that goofy look on its face. It was far from being tipsy.
“This goes against common sense.” Lu Xun found it perplexing.
But the strangest occurrence was yet to come.
(PS: Book recommendation “Questioning the Red Dust” by Ji Cha! An extremely popular Xianxia novel that I’m also reading myself. It’s going to be published soon. If you’re interested, go ahead and take a look. It’s pretty lengthy too.)
