When Lu Qing emerged from the Netherworld Palace's stronghold, he had already collected all the mission rewards.
His assassination skill level has also reached Level C.
After he left, the old man with cloudy eyes became serious.
"In less than a month, he completed ten D-level missions and was promoted to C-level assassin. No wonder he was able to kill Cang Jue. I wonder what purpose such an anomaly has in entering our Netherworld Palace."
As a figure of considerable status in the Netherworld Palace, the old man was already aware of Lu Qing's performance in the trial space not long ago.
However, he did not expect that Lu Qing would complete ten D-level missions in one month, pushing his assassination level to C-level in one go.
"Why are you in such a hurry to improve your assassination skills? What is your purpose?"
The old man pondered for a while, but still couldn't figure it out.
In the end, he chose to report this. This masked kid clearly had someone backing him, and his involvement was very significant.
He's just a minor second-stage Nascent Soul cultivator; it's best not to get too involved.
Let the elders at the top worry about whatever it is.
On the other hand, after leaving the small building, Lu Qing did not rush to accept a Class C mission.
Instead, they went to a deep mountain, chose a spacious cave, and set up an array to conceal their presence.
"Ah Qing, the way that old man was shocked that you completed ten tasks in a month was so funny!"
Xiao Li popped out of Lu Qing's hood, jumped to the ground, and said happily.
"That old man is a Nascent Soul Realm expert, and he's from the Netherworld Palace. Maybe his surprise is just an act."
Lu Qing, however, showed no sign of smugness.
Although the old man looked like a decrepit old man, his true identity could not be hidden under his supernatural abilities.
Therefore, Lu Qing naturally knew his true background and some of the old man's past, as he had once been a powerful assassin in the Netherworld Palace.
Assassins are masters of disguise; who knows whether the old man's displayed emotions were intentional?
"I see, Ah Qing, are you going to take on a Class C mission next?"
"Don't rush to accept the mission; let's make some preparations first."
According to the Netherworld Palace's difficulty classification of missions, most level C missions require the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm to have any hope of completion.
Although Lu Qing's current strength is not afraid of ordinary people in the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, the person he wants to assassinate next is no ordinary person.
So let's focus on strengthening our capabilities first.
"Now I have accumulated quite a few spirit stones, which I can use to improve my strength."
The bounty for completing ten Rank D missions, plus the three thousand mid-grade spirit stones awarded by the Netherworld Palace after passing the previous trial.
In addition, there were some gains made in the process of completing the task over the past month.
Now, Lu Qing's spirit stones have exceeded ten thousand.
It might not be enough to break through the limits and reach a realm above the ninth level.
However, it was more than enough to help him cultivate the art of witchcraft to the level of Golden Witch Perfection.
With that in mind, Lu Qing no longer hesitated and took out a batch of mid-grade spirit stones to set up a spirit-gathering array.
As the formation activated, an incredibly rich spiritual energy instantly filled the entire cave.
Lu Qing activated the 【Eternal Heavenly Witch Body】, and his body instantly transformed into a bottomless pit, frantically absorbing spiritual energy.
As for Xiao Li, it was also lying on the other side of the cave, silently cultivating its 【True Dragon Nine Transformations】.
With Lu Qing's current cultivation level, his efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy is terrifying.
Not long after, with a soft sound, the spirit stones in the spirit gathering array shattered one after another.
However, its spiritual essence has been exhausted, rendering it worthless.
Lu Qing remained expressionless and casually waved his hand, sending out another batch of mid-grade spirit stones that landed in the spirit-gathering array.
And so, as Lu Qing changed the spirit stones from time to time, his physical strength, which had been stagnant for a long time, began to increase again.
Time always flies when you're practicing.
Soon, half a month had passed.
On this day, Lu Qing's body suddenly trembled and he stopped absorbing spiritual energy.
An aura of completeness and harmony emanated from him.
Above the physical body, a layer of rich but not dazzling, gentle yet incredibly resilient golden light appeared.
It enveloped his entire body, making him appear like a golden war god.
"Aqing broke through?"
This change immediately startled Xiao Li, who was cultivating on the other side.
Looking at Lu Qing, whose body was radiating golden light, it felt an overwhelming sense of oppression.
Although Lu Qing's figure had not changed, it felt as if he had transformed into a golden giant, sitting cross-legged between heaven and earth.
"Ah Qing is getting more and more amazing." Xiao Li was a little astonished.
After it cultivated the 【Nine Transformations of the True Dragon】, its physical body also strengthened every day.
However, compared to Lu Qing, he is still far inferior.
It could sense that even if it used all its strength, it probably wouldn't be able to withstand a single slap from Lu Qing.
Under Xiao Li's gaze, Lu Qing's golden light and aura suddenly subsided, and he became as gentle as usual.
"Ah Qing, have you broken through?" Xiao Li asked immediately.
"Yes, I've finally broken through." Lu Qing nodded.
At the same time, he also felt a little sad, realizing that the cultivation of this path of witchcraft also consumes a lot of resources.
He had only cultivated his witch body from the Great Perfection of Golden Witch to the Perfection, and almost half of the spirit stones in his possession had already been used up.
Fortunately, all these expenses were worthwhile.
He sensed that his current magical power, physical body, and spiritual power had all reached the perfect state of the Golden Core realm.
With the perfect golden elixir as the central hub, it connects the physical body and the spirit, allowing them to complement and generate each other, achieving perfect harmony.
His condition was better than ever before, and his strength had reached its peak since he began cultivating.
"Although I only cultivated my physical body to the Golden Witch Perfection level, with all three aspects now at perfection, my strength has increased by at least 20-30% compared to before."
Lu Qing clenched his fist, feeling the boundless power surging within him, and silently estimated its magnitude.
Although it was only a small breakthrough in physical strength, the resulting increase in power truly surprised him.
Furthermore, after his magical power, physical body, and soul all reached the perfection of the Golden Core stage, he also clearly felt the barrier at the limit of the Golden Core stage.
To break through that barrier, one must unite one's spirit, energy, and willpower, and then persevere with great determination and willpower.
However, after estimating his remaining spirit stones, he gave up his plan to break through the barrier now.
He now has less than ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones left.
It took him thousands of mid-grade spirit stones just to break through his physical body from the Great Perfection of the Golden Witch realm to the Perfection realm.
The remaining spirit stones would certainly not be enough to support him in breaking through his limits and reaching a realm above the ninth level.
"There's no other way but to keep accumulating spirit stones."
Lu Qing sighed, took out the Netherworld Jade Token, and probed it with a wisp of divine soul power.
The next moment, his mind should follow the array within the Netherworld Jade Talisman and enter a strange space.
The soul space was unchanged from when Lu Qing last entered.
It was still the same bustling scene with people coming and going.
This made Lu Qing sigh once again at the profound foundation of the Netherworld Palace.
He already knew that this soul space was only used for communication among the assassins of the Netherworld Palace in the Tianyuan Great World, but the number of them was already quite considerable.
It should be noted that those who can pass the outer member trials of the Netherworld Palace are at least experts at the Golden Core Realm.
Such a large number of Golden Core Realm experts constitute an extremely powerful force.
Once it's put to use, I doubt any sect or force could withstand it.
And this is only a small part of the Netherworld Palace's power.
Upon arriving at the mission hall again, Lu Qing first went to the wall displaying various missions to see what suitable bounty missions were available.
Although he had already made up his mind to accept the bounty for assassinating Gongshu Lian.
But I still want to see if there are any other tasks that I can complete while I'm at it.
After all, time is still very precious to him.
This time, Lu Qing focused his main attention on the Class C mission.
Although level D missions are easy to complete, the rewards are not very high.
Most of the time, even a few hundred mid-grade spirit stones, were insufficient to meet his goals and were not worth his time to complete.
After watching for a while, Lu Qing suddenly spotted a bounty mission in a secluded spot.
【Qiao Rong: After killing him, you can claim 10,000 mid-grade spirit stones with his head.】
Lu Qing wasn't particularly interested in the mission at first, but when he saw the description of the woman named "Qiao Rong" under the mission, he paused and slowly read it.
Then, a look of understanding appeared in his eyes.
"So that's how it is. This woman named Qiao Rong is actually the head wife of the third branch of the Gongshu family, and also Gongshu Yu's mother."
Lu Qing finally remembered that not long after he entered the Tianyuan Great World, a bounty was publicly placed on his head in the Netherworld Palace.
The person behind it all seems to be Gongshu Yu's mother.
The Canglan City Lord, Nangong Yuanwu, who led him into the Tianyuan Great World, was later assassinated by assassins from the Youming Palace, suffering severe injuries and nearly dying.
The person who issued the bounty was also the wife of the Gongshu family.
When she issued the bounty, she didn't hide her background in order to vent her hatred; she wanted everyone to know that she was seeking revenge for her son.
"Didn't they say that the Gongshu family and the Nangong family reached a reconciliation through the mediation of the Holy Alliance and withdrew the bounty in the Netherworld Palace? Then who secretly issued this bounty mission? Nangong Yuanwu, or another enemy of the Gongshu family?"
Lu Qing glanced at it and saw that the person who posted the bounty had chosen to conceal their origins.
It's unclear whether Nangong Yuanwu was harboring resentment and secretly issued the assassination mission to seek revenge, or whether it was issued by someone else who had a grudge against Qiao Rong.
Or perhaps a third party is deliberately stirring up trouble, sowing discord, and continuing to incite hatred between the Gongshu family and the Nangong family.
However, none of this affected Lu Qing.
Looking at the task, he thought to himself, "Lord City Lord, regardless of whether you issued the bounty, let me avenge you. It will also repay the favor of you for bringing me up here."
Lu Qing had heard that Nangong Yuanwu was assassinated back then. Although he did not die, he was severely injured and there was even a possibility that his cultivation would be completely destroyed.
I wonder if his strength has recovered over the years.
Since he was on his way to assassinate Gongshu Lian, and it was on the way anyway, he might as well take care of Qiao Rong as well.
Having made up her mind, Lu Qing walked towards the counter.
He was greeted by the same woman wearing the rabbit mask.
"Senior, are you sure you want to take on these two assassination missions?"
After seeing the two tasks Lu Qing was to accept, the woman in the rabbit mask couldn't help but ask.
"Not bad, why not? Both of these missions are Class C missions. I'm already a Class C assassin, so I should be able to accept them."
Lu Qing frowned slightly. Had something gone wrong again?
"No, no, senior's assassination level has been upgraded, so naturally you can take on these two missions."
Sensing Lu Qing's tone, the woman in the rabbit mask quickly replied.
Within the Divine Soul Space, assassins cannot discern the identities and origins of others, but these internal personnel of the Netherworld Palace are able to identify Lu Qing and his companions' Netherworld Jade Tokens.
Therefore, she was able to recognize that the person in front of her was the senior who had recently taken on ten D-level missions and completed them all within a month.
"I wonder what grudge this senior has against the Gongshu family," the woman in the rabbit mask couldn't help but think to herself.
She hadn't forgotten that when Lu Qing first entered the Divine Soul Space, the mission he was tasked with was to assassinate Gongshu Lian.
After learning that only Class C assassins could perform this mission, he took on ten Class D missions in one go, raising his assassination level to Class C.
Now, as a Class C assassin, his first mission is still to assassinate Gongshu Lian, and he has also taken on the mission of assassinating a direct descendant of the Gongshu family.
To go to such lengths, she absolutely refused to believe there wasn't some immense hatred involved.
While her mind was racing with gossip, the woman in the rabbit mask worked quickly and soon registered Lu Qing.
"That's enough, senior. You should know the rules, right?"
"If the task cannot be completed within a year, will task points be deducted?"
Lu Qing already knew that because the difficulty of a Class C mission was much higher, the time limit for completing the mission was also greatly increased.
"That's right, but I should also tell you, senior, that each Class C mission is worth ten points."
If you fail to complete one task, you will be deducted ten points.
If neither of these two tasks is completed within the specified time, your score will be reduced to negative ten points.
At that time, your identity as an external member of our Netherworld Palace will be revealed.
The woman in the rabbit mask spoke in a serious tone.
"It's alright, I know what I'm doing," Lu Qing said nonchalantly.
"It's good that the senior knows what's going on."
The woman in the rabbit mask also sensed Lu Qing's strong confidence, but she hesitated when she thought about his feat of completing ten D-level missions in just one month.
Clearly, this person's strength has already surpassed the Golden Core realm, so their confidence is understandable.
However, the Gongshu family is one of the thirty-six superior clans, with many experts among its members, and is protected by an extremely powerful formation.
It remains to be seen whether this mysterious senior will succeed.
The woman in the rabbit mask couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation.
