"With Fellow Daoist Baili here, I imagine all these cultivators have made this trip for nothing," Han Wuyou surveyed their surroundings and said through voice transmission, laughing.
"One shouldn't say that. Aside from the Cloudwater Model, there must be other opportunities within Cloudwater Palace." Sikong Yi remained calm, his gaze fixed on the increasingly spectacular phenomena in the sky.
"No matter how great those other opportunities are, they can't compare to the Cloudwater Model." Han Wuyou shook his head.
Sikong Yi glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
"Heh. Everyone is fixated on those hundred thousand contribution points. Blinded by them, they fail to see the true opportunity." Han Wuyou smiled faintly. "What matters most in cultivation? Background. Connections.
"In my view, the true value of the Cloudwater Model lies in using this as an occasion to befriend the senior who issued the task. Someone who can casually offer a bounty of a hundred thousand contribution points must be at the Spirit Transformation realm at minimum. If one could forge a connection with him, even exchange a few words, it would make a world of difference for an ordinary cultivator."
His voice dropped lower. "And if one could obtain a reliable way to contact him directly, it would change one's destiny entirely."
Sikong Yi fell into thoughtful silence. After a moment, he gave a slow nod.
While the three of them spoke, a sweep of blue light crossed the Congyun Sea, and the doors of Cloudwater Palace officially opened.
Sikong Yi, Baili Chen, and Han Wuyou followed the flow of cultivators inside. After a series of turns, they passed Qin Tang's trial without serious trouble.
But as they ventured deeper, the trio drew the attention of another group of cultivators, and a chaotic fight broke out. Their opponents were greater in number and stronger overall.
In the end, Han Wuyou fell to their ambush.
Sikong Yi, relying on the exceptional life-preserving abilities of the Heaven-Swapping Art, survived by sheer luck. He retreated toward the Taiyi Hall with a cold weight settling in his chest.
Truly, the world is unpredictable. A man like Fellow Daoist Han, with such a promising future ahead of him, died here like this.
Remembering the confident, eloquent figure from not long ago, Sikong Yi felt a hollow ache. They had only known each other a short while, yet he had already considered Han Wuyou a kindred spirit.
A pity that heaven envied the gifted.
His hand moved instinctively to a storage ring on his finger. He had snatched it from Han Wuyou's corpse the moment the man's head left his body.
Han Wuyou had not been poor. The ring held various array diagrams and artifacts, spirit stones worth roughly ten thousand contribution points, and most importantly, several dozen spirit talismans.
Connections. Background.
He repeated the words inwardly, and the grief in his eyes gradually faded.
Fellow Daoist Han, rest easy. I will live well, in your place.
After Fellow Daoist Han's sacrifice, the rest of the journey grew considerably smoother. Passing Daoist Chong's trial, Sikong Yi endured the excruciating agony of ten thousand swords tearing through him and arrived at the plaza before the Taiyi Hall.
All was silent. He was alone.
Suppressing the excitement rising in his chest, Sikong Yi controlled his avatar and activated the Sea-Calming Sword Art.
"I, Baili Chen, 165th generation direct disciple of Cloudwater Palace, seek an audience with Patriarch Taiyi!" he called out.
The ground trembled. In the end, he successfully deceived the maddened turtle-snake and obtained the Cloudwater Model.
When Sikong Yi was teleported out of Cloudwater Palace, he kept his face neutral and headed straight for Myriad Immortals Island. The journey was tense but uneventful, and he returned to the Tianxuan Mirror without incident.
His avatar, Baili Chen, submitted the completed task.
"Unable to verify the authenticity of the Cloudwater Model. Please wait."
The Tianxuan Mirror's response made Sikong Yi's heart lurch.
Even the Tianxuan Mirror can't tell? What use is this Cloudwater Model besides being a miniature?
Before he could dwell on it further, the next prompt shook him to his core.
"The task issuer requests to visit your space. Do you accept?"
He's here.
Sikong Yi went still for an instant, then his heart began to pound violently. His blood surged. Han Wuyou's words rose unbidden in his mind.
"The true opportunity lies in connections!"
Countless thoughts flashed through him in a single breath. He drew a deep breath, steadied himself, and said quietly, "Accept."
A moment later, an elderly man with graying hair and a kindly face stood before him.
Sikong Yi bowed stiffly, then presented the colorful model with both hands, his arms trembling slightly.
The old man took the Cloudwater Model and examined it with great care, visibly moved. His cloudy eyes shifted restlessly, as though he were seeing something from long ago.
"What is the current state of affairs within Cloudwater Palace?" he asked.
Sikong Yi swallowed and answered haltingly.
The old man seemed unbothered by his nervousness. He simply listened, nodding slightly from time to time.
When Sikong Yi finished, the Tianxuan Mirror space fell into a long silence. He watched the kindly old man standing motionless before him, lost somewhere in the past, and Han Wuyou's words rose again.
"In today's cultivation world, brute force and aggression will only carry you so far. You need backing. You need connections."
His heart beat faster and faster. In the end, he could not hold himself back.
He gathered his nerve and ventured, "Senior, is there anything else this junior can do to be of service?"
The Heavenly Physician looked up and glanced briefly at Sikong Yi.
In that instant, Sikong Yi felt as though a hand had closed around his heart and squeezed it still. His entire body froze. His mind went blank.
He had no sense of how much time passed before he heard the old man chuckle softly. "Very well. I do happen to have a matter that requires your assistance. Make another trip to Cloudwater Palace for me. Simply place this object there."
As he spoke, the old man produced a small white jade figurine and held it out.
Inwardly, Sikong Yi was ecstatic. He did not let a trace of it show, accepting the figurine with careful hands. Examining it closely, he found it unremarkable in every way except one: it was a perfect likeness of the old man standing before him.
"I will not fail your trust, Senior!" Sikong Yi stored the figurine away and said solemnly.
"As for the reward..." The old man studied him for a moment, then said slowly, "Let it be another one hundred thousand contribution points."
Even as he spoke, a notification arrived from the Tianxuan Mirror: two hundred thousand contribution points had been deposited into Sikong Yi's account.
His mind went utterly blank.
It was only long after the old man's figure had vanished from the Tianxuan Mirror that his thoughts began to move again.
Just a simple errand, and I receive another hundred thousand contribution points? That senior's cultivation must be far beyond the Spirit Transformation realm.
An opportunity. A true opportunity. If I had to accumulate a hundred thousand contribution points on my own, who knows how long it would take? But a few words from a great figure, and they fall into my hands just like that.
Fellow Daoist Han truly did not lead me astray.
His heart surging, Sikong Yi felt his future opening wide before him. He threw back his head and let out a long, triumphant roar.
When he had calmed himself, he set off again for Cloudwater Palace at once, unwilling to delay the white-haired elder's instructions for even a moment.
He placed the figurine as instructed. A flash of white light burst from it, shot upward into the high sky, dissolved, and was gone without a trace. Task complete, Sikong Yi let out a long breath, confirmed no one was watching, and quietly slipped away.
Not long after, a concealed figure materialized silently outside Cloudwater Palace.
It was Li Fan.
The Heavenly Physician.
Hmph.
He watched Sikong Yi's retreating figure and sneered coldly.