Before I Became an Immortal, I Was Quite Like You

Li Yingling looked at Zhang Miaoyu, whose expression was clearly a bit off. At this moment, she had the pitiful little look of a child yearning for praise, having finally received it after going through untold hardships.

Zhang Miaoyu's large, watery eyes stared straight at Li Yingling, the corners of her mouth twitching into a strange angle that seemed caught between a smile and a cry.

Li Yingling thought back carefully; other than her master and her junior martial brothers and sisters, she rarely praised anyone else, and she praised Zhang Miaoyu even less.

Over the years, the number of times could be counted on one hand.

It wasn't that Li Yingling was stingy with praise, but rather that the level of difficulty of the tasks they handled made it hard for her to give praise.

Doing them well was only to be expected, and messing them up meant they were truly incompetent.

It was the kind of situation where Li Yingling wouldn't even have the energy to scold them—after all, there was really no point in discussing with trash why they were trash.

Occasional praise was merely meant as an incentive, but due to her close relationship with Zhang Miaoyu, Li Yingling had somewhat subconsciously excluded her from such morale-boosting encouragement.

Looking at Zhang Miaoyu's current expression, Li Yingling pondered for a moment and decided to properly reward her.

As for the content of the reward...

Li Yingling thought about it, picked up a jade token, and passed it over with spiritual energy to Zhang Miaoyu, who was still looking deeply moved. Coughing lightly, she said,

"Given your excellent performance recently, here is a simple errand for you to handle."

"The three major sects have issued a joint order to track down the Heavenly Demon, setting up intelligence posts for ordinary cultivators everywhere. After all, the Divine Province is so vast; a wandering cultivator might just see something. Furthermore, it serves as a deterrent to the fleeing Heavenly Demon."

"The jade token indicates the location of one such intelligence-gathering post. I heard there's some news there. You can draw the spirit stones yourself; take a bit extra. Go over and distinguish the useful information, and hand out the appropriate rewards."

"How much to give and in what manner, you can decide for yourself."

As Li Yingling spoke, she raised an eyebrow at Zhang Miaoyu, hinting, "You are now an outer sect elder of our sect. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you are returning home in glory."

"Ah?" Zhang Miaoyu, who had been listening earnestly, froze. She looked in confusion at Li Yingling, who had just said something completely irrelevant.

Doing a mission... what did that have to do with returning home in glory?

Seeing Zhang Miaoyu's silly expression return, Li Yingling sighed softly and said straightforwardly, "Wasn't there a rumor before that you were beaten to death because of your big mouth? I wanted you to go clear it up last time, but you couldn't make it. This time, while you're handling the errand, you can clear up the rumor as well."

"Naturally, you should also show off your bearing as an outer sect elder of our sect, so that our sect's reputation can spread a bit further. While you're out, don't lose face, and don't let those wandering cultivators keep spouting nonsense about you being beaten to death."

Zhang Miaoyu nodded in sudden realization. "Understood."

With things spelled out so clearly, Zhang Miaoyu naturally understood Li Yingling's meaning—go show off a bit.

Zhang Miaoyu stood there for a moment, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What's wrong? Do you need more support?" Li Yingling raised an eyebrow at this. "There are cultivators from the three sects over there. Once you go, you can naturally take charge and command them. If a fight really breaks out, I've got your back."

Zhang Miaoyu quickly shook her head. "No, it's just that we've been staying hidden all the way here. If I swagger over there now, the news will definitely be noticed by those with ulterior motives... Won't this delay your plans, Leader?"

Li Yingling smiled. "Don't worry, it won't. The time has come, and we should play our cards openly to tell them that we are ready. This is also a form of deterrence."

Hearing this, Zhang Miaoyu slowly nodded, her hand gripping the jade token tightly.

Having walked a difficult path from being a lowly rogue cultivator, only Zhang Miaoyu herself knew the hardships involved.

She had truly risked her life to cultivate to the Golden Core realm.

In the past, she used to brag about how Daoist Yuyang was inferior to her, or how the disciples of the Eighteen Immortal Sects were nothing special, just propped up by a pile of resources.

In truth, the root cause was envy.

She envied that they could obtain resources without having to go through slaughter and life-and-death dangers.

She envied their formidable backgrounds, which made people look upon them with awe and feel an involuntary sense of fear.

Unlike her, a loner who didn't dare to trust anyone.

But now...

Zhang Miaoyu felt a sudden sense of surrealism—had she now become one of those envied cultivators from a major sect?

Did this mean... she had partially fulfilled the boasts she made back then?

Eastern Victory Divine Continent, Liusu Tower.

A calm river flowed slowly. The sun was setting in the west, reflecting a fiery red across the surface of the water.

Liusu Tower stood right in the center of the broad river.

Small boats drifted all around, but they stayed far away from Liusu Tower, not daring to approach.

For no other reason than this: while this tower was known as Liusu Tower among cultivators, its name among mortals was the Immortal Tower.

This tower was not open to mortals; it only received cultivators.

However, because the river here was calm, free from strong winds and great waves, and teeming with large fish, while its waters could also irrigate the surrounding rice paddies, it was a truly fertile land. Many mortals had lived here for generations.

Compared to the time since Liusu Tower was built, the mortals who made their living here had obviously been living in this place for much longer.

The cultivators who established this tower had not driven away the mortals who lived here for generations.

Therefore, Liusu Tower was probably the only immortal tower where the distance between immortals and mortals was the shortest.

Mortals naturally held the purest sense of fear towards cultivators who could summon the wind and call for rain.

Except for those fanciful youths who hoped they possessed extraordinary talent and tried to sneak in as mortals, seeking a great cultivator in the Immortal Tower to take them as disciples, normal people generally kept a respectful distance.

After all, the immortals of the Immortal Tower had fed living people to the fishes before, and not just a few times.

No one debated the right or wrong of it, for mortals had no way to reason with immortals.

For the normal mortals making a living here, the best thing to do was to stay as far away from the tower as possible.

When the immortals flew through the air, they shouldn't look up, but instead keep their heads down and look at the river.

There might have been mortals taken in as disciples by cultivators, but those were rare occurrences. There were even rumors that those taken as disciples were actually sucked dry of their bodies by the immortals the very next moment, turning into nourishment.

If you couldn't afford to provoke them, you could only hide.

Fishing boats sang into the evening; a lone skiff under the setting sun.

From time to time, immortals would tap the water to cross the river or soar into the sky.

Today, cultivators were coming to Liusu Tower with increasing frequency, as if some major event had occurred.

A dark-skinned young girl with freckles on her face held a punting pole in her hands. Her small boat, carrying fishing nets, was moored by the shore. She looked down at the water, watching the reflections of the immortals flying into the Immortal Tower.

She remembered the instructions—wait until all the immortals had flown past before going into the river to catch fish.

The next moment, the small boat suddenly rocked.

The dark-skinned girl's heart skipped a beat, and she looked back.

She saw an exquisitely beautiful woman dressed in luxurious clothes naturally taking a seat on her small boat. A gentle smile graced the woman's face as she looked the girl up and down.

"How much is the boat fare to that tower?"

Zhang Miaoyu asked with a smile.

The dark-skinned girl looked a bit nervous. After a moment of silence, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She wasn't stupid; she naturally understood that this extremely beautiful woman sitting on her boat was, in all likelihood, also an immortal.

Not daring to keep the gently smiling immortal waiting, she could only answer softly and tactfully:

"That place over there is an immortal realm where only immortals like you can go. It is not a place someone like me can go to."

Zhang Miaoyu looked at the dark-skinned girl and asked with a smile, "What is your name?"

"Ye Wanzhou..."

"A lovely name. Before I became an immortal... I was actually quite like you."