The Master of Beasts-Chapter 533 - 124: Part 2

"Normal?" Chen Jiuge questioned.

Shuibing leaned closer, whispering by Chen Jiuge’s ear: "As long as a steward hasn’t offended anyone, there won’t be missions regarding these spiritual beasts. After all, a steward’s faction is still quite strong within the sect."

A gentle fragrance lingered around his nose, Chen Jiuge took two steps back and asked, "What do you mean by this?"

Shuibing felt a bit disappointed; this steward wasn’t swayed by beauty. Yet, her expression remained unchanged as she said, "Some materials must be gathered from these endangered spiritual beasts, but they are not irreplaceable. In fact, the materials from these spiritual beasts themselves are substitutes."

"The key is these endangered spiritual beasts are inherently very valuable. Those that issue such missions are either elders or powerful disciples. Most of these disciples have families behind them; they can’t solely rely on the sect’s Spiritual Beast Garden."

Chen Jiuge understood, the True Realm was vast, and the heavenly materials and earthly treasures it possessed were immeasurable. Finding a substitute wasn’t a difficult task.

Though the number of endangered spiritual beasts is small, each one is of great value. If a disciple is truly determined to issue a mission, it would likely only be one or two beasts, which wouldn’t really affect Chen Jiuge.

Those who could issue large numbers of missions are either powerful elders or disciples with influential family backing. Such people would certainly know the state of the sect’s Spiritual Beast Garden and wouldn’t waste time issuing tasks for substitutes, which are easy for them to find.

Understanding this relation, Chen Jiuge smiled and said, "Understood. By the way, Ah Bing, what position did the sect assign to you?"

Shuibing paused and replied, "Vice Director of Zone Three Garden, steward level. However, my salary and benefits are at the Great Steward level."

"I see." Chen Jiuge finally understood why the Water Steward was transferred here to be a deputy; the benefits had improved.

The benefits at the Great Steward level are not just additional resources, but the opportunity for a Secret Realm cultivation every ten years, which holds incomparable allure for someone like Shuibing, trapped at the Little Heavenly Immortal level and unable to break through.

After gaining a rough understanding of the garden’s issues, Chen Jiuge happily handed over the authority to Shuibing, not wanting to let these minor matters delay him.

As the newly appointed director of Zone Three Garden, Chen Jiuge only wanted to resolve the endangered spiritual beasts issue and then utilize the heavenly materials and earthly treasures from the warehouse to cultivate spiritual beasts, receive feedback, and improve his cultivation. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"By the way, I need to bring over Black Eye and Yue Li, they could help with managing the spiritual beasts later. Red Moon should be able to handle matters over at the tree house."

"Let’s leave Bali with Red Moon. Since Red Moon’s cultivation is a bit low, Bali’s fully activated Ba Snake bloodline should be able to suppress the spiritual beasts at the tree house."

"We also have to assign the spiritual beast transfer tasks to Red Moon; otherwise, Jiang Xueyao’s caravan won’t be sustainable, and we can’t afford to sever this connection."

With everything arranged sparsely, Chen Jiuge rolled up his sleeves, prepared to start handling the endangered spiritual beast missions of Zone Three Garden.

"Beep, beep, beep."

"Huh, a task has arrived?" Chen Jiuge looked in surprise at the sound coming from the Heart of All Things.

"Deliver a hundred Qingming Fish to the Spirit Hall, time limit three days, ordered by Zi Ao, reward one thousand contribution points upon completion."

"Qingming Fish! Zi Ao!"

Chen Jiuge’s eyes widened, instantly noticing something amiss. His expression turned somewhat grim as he said, "The ones who forcibly demanded our senior brother hand over the Heavenly Realm coordinates were indeed the Zi family. These people are targeting me?"

Though rarely calculating, Chen Jiuge had cultivated for so many years that he couldn’t overlook such matters.

"Knock, knock, knock."

An urgent knock sounded, as Shuibing rudely pushed the door open, her expression anxious, "Steward, what should we do?"

As the vice director, Shuibing had access to a sub-component of the Heart of All Things. Although it didn’t have as much authority as Chen Jiuge’s, tasks could still be viewed.

"It should be targeted at me." Chen Jiuge did not hide the truth; such matters could be easily known with a little inquiry.

Shuibing shook her head, "That’s not important. Steward, the most crucial thing now is how to complete the mission. The sect’s rules regarding missions are extremely strict."

Chen Jiuge was also a bit vexed; if the Chaos Pearl in his Sea of Consciousness could, like before, draw out bloodlines, completing this mission would be very easy. But now it can only cause mutations, and this posed a real problem.

Seeing Chen Jiuge silent, pacing back and forth, Shuibing stomped her foot and said, "Steward, how should we handle this! If really impossible, we can only refuse the task and lose contribution points."

"It’s not yet time for that, Ah Bing. Do you know which spiritual fish has the closest bloodline to the Qingming Fish?" Chen Jiuge wanted to give it a try.

"Closest bloodline?" Shuibing suddenly recalled the rare spiritual beasts from previous auctions, her eyes showing a glimmer of hope.

"It’s the Green Fish!"

"Do we have any in our garden?"

"We do, all lakes ranked twenty and beyond are mixed with these common spiritual fish; Green Fish are plentiful." Shuibing quickly replied.

"Good, Ah Bing, have the Jade Clan send over a batch of Green Fish, and also check for other spiritual fish with a similar bloodline to Qingming Fish and send them all over to me!" Chen Jiuge instructed.

"Alright!"

.......

The previously quiet Zone Three Garden began bustling.

Shuibing moved swiftly, gathering the best group of Jade Clan with the strongest water affinity and highest cultivation.

"Green Fish, remember your target is Green Fish, catch as many as you can get!" Shuibing coldly said, looking at the brawny Jade Clan members, each at least True Immortal Tenth Layer Heaven and above.

Although entering lakes to catch fish carries some risk, while spiritual beasts of the garden may not casually harm staff, this limitation differs. For figures like Chen Jiuge and Shuibing, no matter the spiritual beast’s cultivation unless they’ve reached Golden Immortal stage, they couldn’t act against them.

But for the Jade Clan, it’s different; they are staff in name but slaves in reality. Spiritual beasts may not kill them, but can seriously injure.

Moreover, each lake was formed by gathering Spiritual Liquid, and the spiritual beasts living there wouldn’t have low cultivation. Even lakes past twenty presented significant risks.

"Steward, isn’t this too dangerous?" The largest and strongest Jade Clan balked slightly.

"Yu Heshan, I know you, the clan leader of this group of Jade Clan; I’m telling you, this is a mission, and as slaves to the Five Elements Sect, there’s no choice for you." Shuibing said coldly.

Yu Heshan’s face grew more somber; the previous steward cared little for Jade Clan’s lives, resulting in their population remaining stagnant over the years in Zone Three Garden.

Shuibing abruptly paused and amended her tone: "This task is dangerous, but it’s not without reward. For every ten Green Fish caught, you’ll get one contribution point!"

Upon hearing this, the Jade Clan’s faces changed: "Is this true!"

"Hmph, this is a direct order from the Great Steward; would the Great Steward deceive you over mere contribution points?" Shuibing mocked.

The Jade Clan present cared little for Shuibing’s mocking tone and quickly dashed toward the lakes where Green Fish thrived.

Contribution points are the most valuable currency within the Five Elements Sect; even a single point is significant, especially for the Jade Clan.

Once not a small alien race, the Jade Clan was conquered by the Five Elements Sect countless years ago, transforming all clansmen into slaves, losing all previous cultivation methods.

This led to the Jade Clan’s current cultivation relying on self-devised, mediocre spells, barring them from surpassing Heavenly Immortal. But with contribution points, everything changes; they can redeem their former cultivation method—a temptation the Jade Clan cannot resist.

"Honestly, Great Steward, why offer these slaves contribution points? Ten Green Fish for one, I’m tempted myself!" Shuibing lamented.

Driven by the allure of contribution points, the Jade Clan burst with unparalleled enthusiasm, capturing hundreds of Green Fish within an hour and delivering them to Chen Jiuge’s cave mansion.

Seeing the Green Fish, each at least a yard long and lively, Chen Jiuge felt a sting of pain: "Thankfully, the previous task awarded a hundred contribution points."

As Great Steward, Chen Jiuge is perhaps the poorest within the Five Elements Sect.

"Whew, now to see whether it can work!" Chen Jiuge took a deep breath.

Long ago, Chen Jiuge speculated on the mutation process in spiritual beasts, attempting control to direct mutations to his will, with Fairy Beast and golden toad as test results.

"It’s a pity only two kinds have been mastered so far; hopefully, this time will succeed too."

Chen Jiuge sighed, lacking high hopes this time around.