Chapter 186: The Contribution Hall

"Agh, who are you? Why are you doing this?!"

In a city far to the east, the burning halls of the Yellow Leaf Sect cracked and splintered, showing signs of collapse. There were corpses of the disciples and elders everywhere, cut up and mutilated ruthlessly. Within the main hall, there was only one still alive but barely breathing. Laying on the floor whilst the banner that carried the name of his sect burned away.

He was none other than the sect master, a powerful expert whose cultivation was in the beginning stages of the Sky Realm. He must've been somewhere in his sixties, with messy hair and wrinkes on his face. His clothes were tattered and painted red with the blood of his disicples. The short saber that was his had laid on the ground, cracked and bent.

Years of work burned away before his eyes as a masked figure stood before him.

"Why?" he asked, "Why have you done this? We should have no emnity between us, please tell me the reason!"

He could not fathom the reason for such an attack. What sort of reason must this attacker have for the sect to be utterly destroyed like this?

The masked figure said nothing and instead stabbed the sect master in the heart. Seeing the blood spill out and the sect master choking on his own blood, the figure removed the blade and cleaned the blood off with his sleeves.

"Too weak."

He uttered two words before leaving the blazing sect halls that once housed the Yellow Leaf Sect. Now it burned away, ransacked of their treasures and with no chance to be revived. It took the full night to douse the fire and the next day, all that was left was blackened wood, callapsed beams, anf burnt corpses. The city was in uproar.

News of this incident travelled like lightning, it was like a warning to all of the sects and martial institutions out there. Bounties were set out and many started the hunt for this masked criminal. Expert or not, this was a massacre of hundreds, such a thing could not be ignored.

Those at Heaven's Gate were not any different. The Contribution Hall was packed with people as posters were distributed and details were announced. There were at least a hundred cultivators gathered around the Mission Counter, listening in and studying the poster.

Meanwhile, Ming Yue stood by the Exchange Counter, where Administrator Hui counted the bandages she had given in. Just a week before, she was in the Ren Huan Battlefield and now she had returned to her usual routine.

Both Anqing and Xukun had entered closed door cultivation. The former needed time to perfect her poison body and the latter needed to absorb the Metal Dao root. Both of them had much to do with what they've gained.

Ming Yue returned but did not follow the same actions as the others. Instead, she had been training with the Elder Xiang, focusing on refining her techniques. She had planned on taking missions but instead the elder had instructed her to come and learn. However, the last few days she came, he was nowhere to be found. Thus, she decided to organize her gains and exhange them.

With the words "Administrator" on the back of his uniform, Administrator Hui focused on the bandages, paying no attention to the crowd of people by him.

"Alright, let's see here. There are a hundred of these Bone Setting Bandages. So that would be a 150 points which will be distributed as usual, yes?"

Wearing his monocle, the middle aged man looked at the bandages before putting them away. He looked at Ming Yue, expecting her to nod as always but such a thing did not pass.

"I'd like to exchange these things as well."

Grabbing from her spatial ring, she removed several piles of medicinal plants from it and plaved them on the counter.

"This is all from the Ren Huan Battlefield Expedition, to the Ninth Flower Garden. I would've exchanged this earlier if not for the lines from everyone else", she explained.

"That was a good choice. Being one of the bigger events, me and the other administrators have been very busy. You know, someone came in with the corpse of a Diving Dragonfly? The innards were quite damged but the shell was still usable. After that, they've managed enough achievements to reach the Elite rank."

Administrator Hui chatted with her as he sifted through the items.

Ming Yue knew that it was Li Baojun that he spoke of but decided against speaking out.

Even if she or the others had revealed Li Baojun's true face and spoke of his shameless actions, chances were people would not believe it. It was their word against his and with his reputation as one of the strongest of the Saber Hall, revealing these things would not do them justice.

Ming Yue thought about asking Elder Xiang to vouch for them but she doubted that he would do such a thing. After all, it would probably not be as entertaining to him as battling it out at the Heavenly Gate Tournament.

She was dismayed by her options but pushed those thoughts aside. She watched and waited as the Administrator worked through the things on the counter.

"You sure collected a lot. How deep did you travel into the garden?"

He was quite surprised at the variety and rarity of the items he saw.

"Oh, I managed to reach the last zone but I had been thrown there after encountering a Luminous Ink Crow."

She spoke quietly, just loud enough for him to hear but that was enough for the administrator to feel shock.

"The fifth zone? A Luminous Ink Crow? That's insane. How did you survive?"

He did not doubt her words as she was not the type to lie but he still found it hard to believe.

"I was half dead after that. I hid in a cave to recuperate and called for the Elder to rescue me."

"Oh my, I suppose that explains how you managed to get some of these treasures. In any case, all of this in total is 40,940 points and added to what you have saved, that is 45,090 points. A fair number of these are at the thousand year age range and they are all undamaged."

He counted with a impressed look.

"This is quite the haul you've kept. Is there anything else you need?"

Ming Yue nodded her head and passed the elder her badge for the point transfer.

She watched as the number of contribution points jumped by a digit and recieved her updated badge.

As she turned to leave, Ming Yue stopped and looked back.

"Do you know what Li Baojun did with points he recieved from the Diving Dragonfly?" she asked.

This was a good chance for her to find some information about him.

"Hmm, let me see here."

Administrator Hui pulled out a rather fat book, flipping through the pages before stopping near the middle.

"Ah, Li Baojun, Elite Disciple. He exchanged the Diving Dragonfly for 12,660 points due to its condition. With the amount he had saved, he exchanged over a hundred thousand points for a lower-divine ranked Jade Emperor Saber. Oh yes, I remember now! He had been flaunting it to everyone before leaving."

"A lower-divine ranked saber?" Ming Yue was a bit surprised.

That was equal to her Parting Sun Blade. As for her current blade, Forgelord Qin had told her that Drifting Sky was equal to a peak-divine sword so it was stronger than his saber. She felt reassurance from that fact and said her farewells to the administrator.

Her next destination would be the Blade Hall, to see if Elder Xiang was there. If not, she would return to work on medicine and do her daily training. If he was there, she could finally start the training that he had told her.

As Ming Yue walked down the halls, she noticed a black blur and quickly caught up, finding Hei Yue running around.

"Why are you here? Where's Xiao Yin?" she asked the black-furred fox.

Hei Yue seemed to understand her questions and quickly led her to his destination. Upon reaching it, she found that they were all going to the Blade hall, where the elder was finally present for once. He sat on the dueling ring, which stood at the center of the Sword Hall.