The speed of the Juying Sword was over a hundred kilometers per hour, and with the additional acceleration from the fourth level of my Qingcheng Sword Technique, it took less than three hours to pass through the Gale Layer. From afar, I could already see Wanhua Mountain. By this time, I was tormented by the freezing cold to the point of feeling half-dead, and only then did I realize why this letter delivery task seemed so easy—turns out, all good things in the world come at a price.

Wanhua Mountain was quite scenic. The climate here was warm all year round, with almost no changes. Birds sang, flowers bloomed, the forest was lush, and everywhere was full of vibrant life. No wonder it was called the Changchun Immortal Mansion—it truly lived up to its name. A girl in red, about fourteen or fifteen years old, was standing on a platform on the mountain peak, looking out expectantly.

“What a beautiful girl! Too bad she’s an NPC, and besides, she already belongs to someone…” As my mind wandered, my whole body was covered in a layer of frost, and I shivered, sniffling and tearing up as I handed over the letter. Nancy Grant indeed cried out excitedly, “Thank you, junior brother, for delivering Yuan’er’s letter. I don’t have much to offer in return, but this Zihu Sword was a relic left behind by a senior that my parents obtained by chance in an ancient cave in Miao Mountain during their travels. I have no use for it, so I’ll give it to you as a token of thanks! I hope you won’t mind its roughness!”

Chapter Fifteen: Flying Side by Side

“Mind? I really do mind! But can you give me that Juying Sword instead?” This NPC was really something—no sooner had I landed than the Juying Sword, as if recognizing its owner, flew straight into her hand. Having completed the letter delivery task and received the Zihu Sword, I was about to take my leave when I heard Nancy Grant mutter to herself, “I haven’t seen William Hughes lately. I wonder if he’s finished his Wanhua Cooling Dew…”

“Huh! Could there be a follow-up to this quest?” My mind spun quickly, and I immediately chimed in, “Senior brother William Hughes has been training diligently lately and seems quite exhausted!”

Sure enough, Nancy Grant turned back anxiously and said, “The Wanhua Cooling Dew I brew here is refreshing and replenishes one’s energy. If you have time, junior brother, could you help me take it back to Qingcheng and deliver it to William Hughes?”

When the system popped up with “Do you accept Nancy Grant’s quest?” I secretly wiped a cold sweat. I had almost frozen to death just now—was I really going to suffer again? I was about to refuse when suddenly a piercing beep came from my communicator. My hand shook, and I accidentally clicked “Yes.”

“Damn it! Which bastard set me up?”

In Shushan, once you accept a quest, whether you fail or abandon it, there will be corresponding penalties. Isn’t this just making me suffer again? I didn’t even bother with the system prompt “You have accepted Princess Wanhua Nancy Grant’s request and received Wanhua Cooling Dew.” I opened the communicator and looked closely—it turned out Ivy Dance was looking for me.

Even if I’m not the most refined person, it’s not right to curse at a girl, so I suppressed my agitation and asked Ivy Dance what was so important that she had to disturb me at this moment. If she didn’t have a satisfactory answer, I’d put her on the blacklist first!

As I was thinking this viciously, Ivy Dance’s slightly excited voice came through my earpiece: “Blue Ox! Come find us! We’ve come across something fun—there seems to be a cave left behind by an ancient immortal!”

“What the—! At a time like this… What? A cave left by an ancient immortal?” How could I miss out on such a good thing? I immediately forgot all my frustrations and shouted, “You guys wait for me! I’m coming right now!”

I hurriedly left Wanhua Mountain and equipped the Zihu Sword. The stuff you get from sect quests is just subpar—even though the Zihu Sword was already the fastest of the three quest flying swords under Qingcheng, it was still a notch below the Juying Sword.

Following the coordinates given by Ivy Dance, it took me more than two hours to get there. The place was called the Wildman Temple, located on the road between Qingcheng Mountain and Emei Mountain.

When I arrived, I saw from a distance more than a dozen people floating in midair. I had thought that being level twenty-one and able to fly on a sword was already quite impressive, but now I realized there were plenty of experts around!

Ivy Dance, Moon God's Contractor, Forest Guardian, Hum Hum Ha Ha… all of them were friends I knew well from the forums. We’d joked and argued plenty in the past, but once in Shushan, we became comrades who shared weal and woe. When they saw me arrive, they greeted me, and Watering Chick came over to explain the situation in detail.

It turned out that during the closed beta, they had already discovered a quest to rescue one of the Three Fiends of Zhongnan, Samuel Price, and had figured out most of the key points. After the public beta reset everyone’s levels, they regrouped to tackle this lucrative quest again.

This Watering Chick was from Taiwan and was skilled at designing magic and martial arts moves. He had even served as a consultant for several fantasy authors, but ironically, no one ever paid attention to the books he wrote himself—every submission ended up a flop.

Samuel Price, one of the Three Fiends of Zhongnan, was a disciple of the rogue immortal Iron Drum Immortal. Because he made a mistake, his master suppressed him in the valley of the Evil Ghost Gorge. This Iron Drum Immortal was of even higher seniority than the founder of Emei, Master Changmei, and the Five Elements True Qi he cultivated was unique. It was the only powerful technique in Shushan that could rival the Emei Sect’s Supreme Pure Sword Qi of the Xuanmen.