Chapter 694: Dai Bufan: Giving You Two a Task

"Your use of solar energy to produce light and heat sounds familiar. This Immortal has done something similar before," the Immortal Fairy said with a giggle on the way back, stretching her arms quite comfortably.

She had been cultivating in bed by sleeping to recover her strength, and now that she was awake, it signaled a temporary pause in her cultivation.

"You've had a hard sleep, Fairy. Did you use solar energy back in the ancient era too?"

"Well, I haven't heard of solar energy, but the usage should be about the same."

"How did you use it?"

"There was a time when I quite liked reading. I'd read during the day and keep reading at night. Though this Immortal has excellent eyesight and can see perfectly clearly even in places without light, doing it that way lacked atmosphere."

"So, this Immortal invited a Golden Crow over. During the day, I let it conserve its energy and not emit light, and when night came, I had it shine to provide illumination for this Immortal. Let me tell you, it was as bright as day."

"Sometimes when I was cooking and the fire wasn't hot enough, this Immortal would invite a Golden Crow over to help blow fire and heat things up. Of course, this Immortal wouldn't let it help for free; I'd always keep it for a meal."

"…… I don't think the utilization of solar power to produce light and heat we are talking about is the same thing."

"Is that so? This Immortal thinks it's pretty much the same. Look, didn't this Immortal store the solar power first?"

"Yes."

"And after storing it, didn't I release the solar power again?"

"Yes."

The Immortal Fairy clapped her hands. "There you have it, then. It's exactly the same."

Lu Yang patiently tried to differentiate the two for the Immortal Fairy. "The solar energy I'm talking about can be used not only to produce light and heat, but also to heat water, and it can replace horses to make carriages run."

"This Immortal's solar power can do that too. Just have the Golden Crow boil water, or pull this Immortal around through the air and such."

Lu Yang fell silent.

Having successfully fooled the two cult leaders according to plan, the members of the Heavenly Court Sect made their way back to the Dao Seeking Sect.

Lu Yang was trying his best to explain to the Immortal Fairy that solar energy was not what she imagined.

Meng Jingzhou, on the other hand, was looking at the cultivation manual presented by the Radiant Sun Cult, learning how to absorb solar power to the maximum extent.

In the manual, a stark-naked man faced the sun with open arms, letting the sunlight touch every inch of his skin. The illustration was vivid, lifelike, and easy to understand.

In the blank margins, the Radiant Sun Cult had explicitly annotated that one must strip entirely naked, leaving not a single piece of cloth, especially around the crotch area, for there was no such thing as shame in the matter of cultivation.

The reasoning provided was also quite substantial: if you cultivate every other part of your body, does the crotch not need to be cultivated?

Apart from that, various poses for sunbathing were listed.

The Radiant Sun Cult was thorough; besides the male version, the manual also included a female version.

Meng Jingzhou stared at the two books in his hands, speechless.

On the cover of the second book was a stark-naked woman in a seductive posture, looking as though she were aroused by the sunbathing. He was currently debating whether he should open it.

No wonder no one learns the cultivation methods of your cult. Are these even proper manuals?

The four Guardian Heavenly Kings dropped Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou off at the sect entrance and returned to their respective peaks.

"Do you get the feeling that there are fewer people in our sect?" Lu Yang remarked. Whether on the way back or at the Mission Hall, there were fewer sect disciples than usual.

"Now that you mention it, that really seems to be the case."

The two went to the Mission Hall to report the outcome of their operation to Dai Bufan.

"Senior Brother Dai, that is the overall situation of our contact with the two cults…… Senior Brother Dai?"

After Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou finished their report, they noticed that Dai Bufan seemed a bit distracted, as if his mind were on other matters.

Dai Bufan snapped out of his reverie. "Ah, right. You two did well. The money and wealth the two cults used to bribe you were obtained through your own abilities to deceive, so there's no need to hand them over to the sect."

Following this, Dai Bufan looked at the two of them with a conflicted expression, as if an internal battle were raging within him. He hesitated repeatedly, but finally gritted his teeth and made a major decision. "You two came at just the right time. I happen to have a task here that needs you to complete."

"A task?"

Dai Bufan pushed a small booklet in front of the two. The booklet recorded information on several mortals, none of them very old.

"These people are……"

"These people are a few candidates for the sect's upcoming recruitment. The plan is to observe their character and conduct before the recruitment begins, to see if they can cultivate immortality and if they meet our sect's standards. If they do, we will invite them to take the sect's entrance examination on the second day of the second lunar month next year."

Except for the disciples who were at critical junctures of their cultivation, executing other missions, staying behind to keep the sect running, or currently in the Void Refining Stage, most of the Dao Seeking Sect disciples had been sent out by Dai Bufan to observe the candidates' conduct.

Observing someone's conduct was not something that yielded results in a day or two. The shortest would take a month, while the longest could take up to half a year. Therefore, the people sent out might not necessarily have the time to execute a second observation mission.

It was truly because they were short-staffed that Dai Bufan was forced to let Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou go observe the candidates' conduct as well.

This was precisely what he had been agonizing over.

If he weren't tied down himself, he would rather do the mission personally than ask Lu Yang and the other to do it.

Who knew what kind of trouble they might stir up.

"So that's how it is." Lu Yang flashed a confident smile, patting his chest as he guaranteed, "Rest assured, Senior Brother Dai. Don't you know the two of us by now? We will definitely complete the task!"

Dai Bufan sighed, giving his customary reminder before their departure. "If you discover anyone outside the list who also meets our sect's recruitment criteria, you may recommend them to me as well."

"No problem."

"By the way, do you know our sect's requirements regarding character and conduct for recruitment?" Dai Bufan was still not entirely at ease.

"To live as an honest and dutiful person."

"To cultivate with feet firmly on the ground."

Dai Bufan nodded, feeling slightly relieved. "As long as you know. Go on."

Inside the carriage, the two flipped through the information in the booklet. There were three mortals in total, all around fifteen years of age.

"Let's go to Nine Dragons City in Youzhou first. It's the closest to us."

Meng Jingzhou pointed at the mortal on the first page of the booklet and said.

The mortal on the first page was a young youth named Xie An. A certain senior brother had discovered him while executing a mission in Nine Dragons City.

It had been a mission to eradicate a malicious red-clothed specter. The red-clothed specter had committed numerous atrocities. After a carpet search, that senior brother finally located the specter's whereabouts. Seeing that it was no match for the senior brother and noticing that the senior brother dared not unleash his full power in a place crowded with mortals, the red-clothed specter concluded that the senior brother cared for the mortals. It then used a mortal's life as leverage to bargain for a way out.

And the person used as leverage was Xie An.

At that critical juncture, Xie An displayed an exceptionally steady psychological resilience. Even when held hostage by the red-clothed specter, he did not panic. He even used words to provoke the specter. In its fury, the red-clothed specter revealed a flaw and was slain by the senior brother.

At that time, Xie An was still young and had not reached the age to test his spiritual roots, so his skeletal and constitutional potential remained unknown.

"Looking at it this way, this kid named Xie An is quite a good seed for cultivation," Lu Yang said with a smile. Remaining calm in the face of danger was something many cultivators failed to achieve. When confronting peril, only with this kind of psychological resilience would there be a chance of survival.

He and Old Meng possessed exactly this kind of psychological resilience.