When Damien reached out to grab the mission, he was met with another hand. As it turns out, someone else wanted it as well.
Turning to look at the owner of the hand, Damien was pleasantly surprised. "Who would've thought we'd run into each other like this."
When he thought about it, it actually wasn't so surprising that they would end up in this situation. There were very few missions meant for Core Expansion realm since most that reached this level already made their way to the inner court.
And even though neither Long Chen nor Damien was at the Core Expansion realm, their combat prowess made it so missions meant for Core Formation realm cultivators wouldn't pressure them the same way.
"Indeed," the black-haired man responded, "it seems fate continues to push us together."
Damien merely smiled at this. He still wasn't entirely convinced about the existence of such a thing as fate. "So? What are we going to do about this?" Damien asked, gesturing towards the mission.
"Hmm, our duel ended in a tie, so it's no use fighting over it. At the end of the day, it was meant to be taken on in groups, so why don't we do it together?"
In fact, Damien had the same idea. He just wanted to prod at Long Chen and see if he was of the same mind. He just hadn't expected Long Chen to be so forward with it.
"Alright then. I've been wanting some excitement, so this should be fun."
Damien grabbed the sheet of paper off the wall and the two of them headed towards the registration desk to see one of the elders.
When the mission hall elder saw the mission the two of them planned to take, he looked at them like they were a bunch of fools.
"You know this mission is well above your puny levels, right? If you go, you will inevitably die."
"It matters not." Long Chen said. "We chose this mission well aware of the risks. A warning now means nothing."
When the mission hall elder looked at Damien, he also nodded, expressing his agreement.
Sighing, the elder took out a stamp and pressed it onto the paper. "Alright then, I won't say anything else. The mission has been claimed by you and will remain that way for the next 6 months. If you haven't returned by that time, you will be declared dead."
Damien and Long Chen nodded at the elder before leaving the hall. The rest of the information they'd need would be directly transmitted to their disciple tokens.
"Oh, that reminds me. Did you end up finding a master?" Damien mentioned.
"Right. I did find myself a master. Her name is Elder Xiao Xun and she is a genius with the sword. I believe that under her guidance I will be able to learn much."
Damien nodded. Even from their first interaction, he could tell Long Chen's interest in the sword. Meanwhile, for him it was just a means to an end.
He never chose to be a sword cultivator. If the first weapon he found in the dungeon was a spear, that would have been his path instead.
But he didn't hate the sword. It had effective reach and also cutting power. It was basically the most balanced weapon. That's why it was also the most commonly used.
"Anyway, let's meet back up tomorrow in the same spot. After that, we can make our way to the Northern Continent."
Long Chen nodded before splitting up from Damien. He clearly wasn't a man of many words, and Damien respected that.
It wasn't like the two automatically became friends after a single duel. Both had their own pride and goals. It could be said that their relationship was more one of mutual respect, which was why they took the mission together.
After warping back to his dorm, Damien withdrew his disciple token to check the mission details.
Eradicate the wicked power, Beguiled Devil Sect, who has been terrorizing the Shentian province.
The Beguiled Devil Sect is a mid-sized power in the Western Region of the Northern continent. In recent months, they have been becoming more active, using their vile means to terrorize the Shentian province.
Their focus is devil arts, which consume the life force of others to grant them power. The art has a side effect of turning them into bloodthirsty beasts, struggling to retain their sanity if they do not consume life force.
It is suspected that this struggle has become more severe recently, causing the disciples of this sect to wantonly kill innocent civilians at a much more frequent rate for their life force.
The Shentian province is ruled by the Shen clan, whose strength is almost on par with the Beguiled Devil Sect, but if they move, they will lose too many experts in the crossfire.
The Shen Clan has hired help from the sects in the Central Continent to raid and demolish the wicked sect; putting an end to their deeds.
After that, some more information about the general power structure and strength of the Beguiled Devil Sect was listed, along with more information they would need when the time comes.
From this, Damien could grasp one thing with certainty. This world was truly ruled by strength. It was mentioned that the rate the Beguiled Devil Sect disciples were consuming the life force of the innocent had increased, not that it had started.
It was clear that the wicked sect had been plundering life force from the common populace of this region and others for quite some time, but the fact that they were generally indiscreet made it so the major powers didn't care much.
Everyone was selfish, and that selfishness was even more pronounced in the Cloud Plane. Now that the activities of the wicked power were brought to light, they were forced to deal with it. Otherwise, they'd lose credibility in the eyes of their people.
And in turn, this would make them lose face and power. These were the two most important concepts to cultivators, whose pride tended to be higher than the heavens.
But Damien wasn't any better. Although he understood that these righteous powers were only representatives of good on the surface, that wasn't his business. He cared for strength, and he cared for those close to him.
He was reminded of Rose at this moment. Ever since they separated, he hadn't been staying still at all. It was a part of his personality to constantly move, but perhaps he was also avoiding a certain feeling he recognized.
It was loneliness. He had gotten so used to sharing a bed with Rose and seeing her in the morning when he woke up. He had gotten used to the idle conversation they would always have.
Even if he had Zara, who he talked to and joked with frequently, it was different. Zara was closer to a little sister to him, while his bond with Rose was something more special.
He knew that pushing her away was his own decision, but that didn't mean he didn't regret it. He was running from his problems like he always did. That's all there was to it.
Shaking his head, Damien got rid of those depressing thoughts. Starting tomorrow, he would be on a new adventure. He just needed to put his focus on that.
