Chapter One: The Disciples of the Outer Gate

  "Ice Heart Jade Mine six pieces, Sky Blue Grass eight strains, is a lower-grade item, worth fourteen points; Hundred Wraps Silk one piece, is a mid-grade item, worth two points; Calamity Sea Flower one blossom, Dragon Flame Ginseng two roots, Corpse Wasp five corpses, is an upper-grade item, worth twenty-four points. Hmm, total forty contribution points... Ah, Fang Tian Nan, take a look and see if there's any mistake?" Behind the counter, an old man wearing a cyan long robe, with a plump body and a face full of smiles, casually checked the items on the counter, then raised his head to glance at the young man in front of him, and asked kindly.

  "No need, it's just as I calculated. That's all." The young man's face had a few hints of fatigue, and his entire person looked travel-worn, precisely Fang Tian Nan.

  "Heh, …" The old man smiled lightly and looked at Fang Tian Nan with a cunning gaze. "If I'm not mistaken, even if you add these 40 contribution points, your total contribution points still haven't reached 1,000, right?"

  "Yes." Fang Tian Nan calmly nodded. In his heart, he had calculated many times the contribution points he had accumulated so far, and naturally knew that they only reached 941 points, still 59 points away from 1,000. Since coming to Qing Yun Sect three years ago, every exchange transaction Fang Tian Nan made was with this plump Dream Pavilion's shopkeeper in front of him, and both parties were quite familiar with each other.

  Perhaps seeing Fang Tian Nan's calm demeanor, the old man behind the counter, Meng Zhanggui, slightly nodded his head and looked at him with a profound gaze, saying: "According to your bone age assessment, in another half month, you'll be eighteen years old... With only half a month left, wanting to complete the task of fifty-nine contribution points, it's a bit difficult for someone of your abilities."

  As they spoke, Meng Zhanggui also showed a somewhat worried expression on his face.

  To know that whether it's Fang Tiannan or Meng Zhanggui, they both belong to the Qingyun Sect. Of course, at present, Fang Tiannan still has the opportunity to re-choose for himself. Because Fang Tiannan's contribution points in the Qingyun Sect are less than a thousand, he can't be considered a formal disciple of the sect. However, among the regular sects in the world, the conditions for selecting disciples are mostly similar, unless your talent is outstanding enough among people of the same age, you will be selected by the high-level members of the sect. Otherwise, it can only be like Fang Tiannan, working hard step by step.

  The formal disciples of Qingyun Sect are divided into inner door disciples and outer door disciples.

  But to become an outer door disciple is the first step in integrating into the entire sect. All young people who are determined to join the Qingyun Sect, as long as you enter the Huajing realm before the age of twenty, can exceptionally become an outer door disciple. And for a martial artist, their martial arts cultivation progresses from Mingjing, Anjing, and then to Huajing. Without the sect's special training, relying solely on one's own efforts, it is extremely difficult to make any progress.

  So, for ordinary boys without a family background, the Qingyun Sect also stipulated that as long as they exchanged more than 1,000 contribution points before the age of eighteen in the Qingyun Sect, they could also be promoted to become an outer disciple of the sect.

  If it weren't for this rule, Fang Tian Nan understood that with his own mediocre talent, he should have no hope of joining a major sect in this life.

  Even so, Fang Tian Nan left the village three years ago and came to this place, working hard until now, and only managed to accumulate over 900 contribution points. From the initial dozen or so contribution points per month, to the current thirty or fifty contribution points per month, it was a gradual accumulation, a gradual growth. But once you exceed eighteen years old, even if you complete the task of one thousand contribution points, it is all in vain.

  At this thought, Fang Tian Nan's face couldn't help but darken slightly.

  。。。。。。

  "Judging from your usual habits, every time you venture into the Youming Mountains, it takes about a month to search for herbs and such. The value of the items you obtain is usually around 30 to 50 contribution points. Dream Shopkeeper looked at Fang Tian Nan and said, "Now that the deadline for 18-year-olds is approaching, I've been very curious - with your abilities, shouldn't you have already entered the Dark Power stage? Why don't you try forming a team with others and go searching for gains?"

  One person's power is limited after all. When multiple people team up, they can borrow the collective power to eliminate demonic beasts that are higher in rank than themselves. After all, there are many young masters who want to enter Qingyun Sect.

  In the region where Fang Tian Nan is located, there are only three larger forces, in addition to Qing Yun Sect, there are Bi Hai Sect and Tai Hang Gang. The conditions for each sect and gang to choose young disciples are also basically the same. It's just that Bi Hai Sect specializes in refining weapons, and new people who want to join generally look for materials that are biased towards refining equipment, which can get more contribution points. Need to involve challenging more demon beasts, finding special minerals and so on, with high risk.

  Taihang Bang is relatively focused on adult martial artists. The entire gang has many factions and complex personnel.

  For Fang Tian Nan, who has no foundation at all, a sect like Qing Yun Sect, which is relatively balanced in terms of martial skills, equipment refinement, and alchemy development, is more suitable. Moreover, when calculating the contribution points for new disciples, Qing Yun Sect is mostly very fair.

  It is entirely based on the item's rank and completeness to determine the contribution points for exchange.

  This was also the reason why Fang Tian Nan chose to join Qing Yun Sect three years ago. It's like a first-class low-grade item is worth one contribution point, a first-class mid-grade item is worth two points, and a first-class high-grade item is worth three points. Whether it's herbs, minerals, or beast materials, they all work the same way.

  If it is a second-order item, start calculating contribution points from ten contribution points.

  Fang Tiannan knew that he didn't have a high innate talent for cultivation, on the contrary, it was extremely poor, and could be said to be progressing very slowly. All of his growth had been achieved through his own exploration and hard work. Moreover, due to his physical condition since childhood, Fang Tiannan was weaker than others in terms of both strength and speed among martial artists of the same level.

  If you want to team up with others, it's basically based on your strength level for the final harvest. Fang Tiannan's performance can be said to be completely inconsistent with his strength level. Therefore, in three years, very few people will team up with Fang Tiannan to explore the Youming Mountains.

  Fang Tian Nan was also used to being alone.

  。。。。。。

  In response to Meng Zhanggui's inquiry, Fang Tiannan could only smile helplessly and spread his hands.

  Fang Tian Nan has always been exchanging his items for contribution points on the Dream Pavilion's side. As for Fang Tian Nan's situation, the Dream Pavilion understands it quite well. Especially since every time Fang Tian Nan exchanges an item, it basically never exceeds his actual strength level, giving the Dream Pavilion the impression that he is a steady and down-to-earth person with a rather resolute temperament.

  "Alright, I know you're not very popular. But you little guy, you've got a lot of guts." Meng Zhangguan said to Fang Tian Nan, "If it wasn't for having complete confidence in being able to exchange the accumulated 1,000 contribution points, I think this time's trial wouldn't have made you choose to come back at this time. You would definitely wait until the final half month deadline..."

  Meng Zhanggui intentionally or unintentionally glanced at the package behind Fang Tiannan and said, "If there's something good, hurry up and take it out. Can I still cheat you?"

  "Heh heh...". Fang Tian Nan casually placed the bundle behind him onto the counter, smiling and saying "I knew I couldn't deceive your discerning eye."

  Fang Tian Nan has always insisted on working hard to become an outer disciple of the Qing Yun Sect. Since he chose to return half a month early, he naturally made thorough preparations. Fang Tian Nan did not want his three years of effort to go down the drain. As long as there was still a glimmer of hope, with Fang Tian Nan's temperament, he would definitely make his last effort in the You Ming Mountains.

  "Huh?......" Meng Zhanggui opened the package, took a glance and said in surprise, "It's actually the tail bone of a third-grade demon beast, Di Long, along with a small piece of beast skin from its tail. Not bad, not bad at all..."

  A third-tier demonic beast, its strength is comparable to that of a human martial artist's highest level. Especially the third-tier demonic beast, Di Long, its strength ranking belongs to the top grade among third-tier demonic beasts. Judging from Fang Tian Nan's displayed abilities, even if there were ten Fang Tian Nans, they might not be able to be Di Long's opponent, let alone hunt and kill it.

  As the shopkeeper of Qingyun Sect, Meng Zhanggui mainly deals with young disciples who want to join the sect and exchange contribution points for items in the pavilion. Most of the time, he faces martial artists at the Mingjin or Anjin level, and rarely encounters third-grade or higher items.

  "But you must have been lucky to pick it up?" Meng Zhanggui said, carefully examining the dragon's tail bone in his hand. "The fracture surface of the broken bone is very neat, absolutely a high-quality weapon, cut off by one sword. This small piece of beast skin should also be peeled off from the broken dragon's tail, hmm, just a little smaller, otherwise... what a pity, what a pity..."

  For Meng Zhanggui's muttering, Fang Tiannan maintained a surface silence. In his heart, however, a ripple of excitement flashed by. It can be said that Meng Zhanggui's analysis was basically true. Fang Tiannan indeed picked up this section of the dragon's tail by chance. Only, the process was still extremely perilous.

  Now, Fang Tian Nan was more looking forward to the contribution points that Meng Zhanggui could exchange. After all, this thing was taken from a third-grade upper-tier demon beast, and it was worth more than those first and second-grade items.

  Once this opportunity is missed, within the remaining half-month deadline, Fang Tian Nan wants to make up for the shortage of more than 50 contribution points, which is undoubtedly very difficult.

  This is something that will affect Fang Tian Nan's whole life.

  Fang Tian Nan's gaze towards Meng Zhu Ge also gradually became filled with anticipation.

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