Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

Lu Qian immediately understood that training missions like this might not have any deliberate ranking system, but the battle merit list was a blatant display of benefits.

If you can know more information in advance, you can use this inside information to gain more battle merits and exchange for more items. However, there are only so many good items. Once someone has exchanged for them, the rest of you will not be able to exchange for them. This is a very direct competitive relationship.

On a larger scale, if someone redeems a treasure they desperately need, making it impossible for others to redeem it, then that's completely obstructing the way!

It may not yet escalate to hatred, but it's conceivable that such incidents have occurred quite frequently in previous years, so people are now more aware of the need for prevention.

Apart from those you've agreed to team up with, everyone else is an opponent. While you might be expected to fight side-by-side on a general level, in reality, it's best if you gain more battle merits than others, so that they can't hinder you.

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with calling others competitors.

Lu Qian is currently only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining and doesn't have an urgent need for Foundation Establishment spiritual items, so he is unaware of these things.

Mu Dong, however, has already reached the late stage of Qi Refining and should be considering Foundation Establishment. He might even be planning to desperately accumulate battle merits to exchange for Foundation Establishment spiritual items. It's normal that his awareness of defense is stronger than Lu Qian's.

Mu Xue raised an eyebrow in displeasure. "Brother, stop keeping me in suspense! Once everyone arrives, there won't be time to tell you!"

Mu Dong glanced at Mu Xue and sighed, "Weren't you two teaming up for missions? How come you didn't have a chance?"

He felt helpless. These things would actually be more effective if Mu Xue said them, especially when it came to doing missions. He was sure Lu Qian would pay attention to Mu Xue and take good care of her.

However, Mu Xue's current personality is too naive, and she is not the kind of person who would do such a thing.

Mu Dong took a few steps closer to Lu Qian and lowered his voice, saying, "This mission should be to wipe out the Three Azure Water Sects! The Three Azure Water Sects colluded with the Heart Demon Sect, not only helping the Heart Demon Sect transport spiritual materials but also sending them immortal seedlings, which is a grave offense. That's why the Holy Land plans to encircle and annihilate them!"

The Heart Demon Sect has a strong ability to turn people into puppets. The key is that they can turn people into puppets without anyone noticing, making them virtually impossible to defend against.

As long as the Heart Demon Sect is willing, no matter how tight the organizational structure is, it is impossible to prevent the Heart Demon Sect from infiltrating. Therefore, the Canglan Holy Land is in great pain. The Heart Demon Sect has turned too many forces to deal with them.

Under these circumstances, it's impossible for the Canglan Holy Land to completely wipe out all the forces that the Heart Demon Sect has turned against them. If they did that, it's estimated that a large portion of the cultivation world in the East Sea would be vacated, and the Canglan Holy Land wouldn't have the spare capacity to do anything else.

Therefore, after the initial strong counterattack, the Canglan Holy Land now turns a blind eye to those sects that flirt with the Heart Demon Sect, intending to deal with the more unscrupulous ones first, and then deal with the rest slowly.

The three sects of Biyue were among the most unscrupulous, actually sending immortal seedlings to the Heart Demon Sect, which was a grave taboo!

No matter what kind of sect it is, it needs new blood. The Canglan Holy Land has high standards and doesn't look down on ordinary seedlings. It can be said that it only takes geniuses. But even so, the fact that the three sects of Biyue dared to send seedlings to the enemy still angered the Holy Land!

Those immortal seedlings might not be of much use if left in the East Sea cultivation world, but sending them to the Heart Demon Sect would blatantly weaken the potential of the East Sea cultivation world and even aid the enemy.

In short, that's how it is. There is also human trafficking in the cultivation world of the East Sea, and slaves are auctioned at some auctions. The Holy Land can turn a blind eye to these things, but sending a large number of immortal seedlings to the Heart Demon Sect is absolutely unacceptable!

However, no matter how terrible the cultivation world in the East Sea may be, it is still a paradise compared to the Demonic Sect.

Within the Demonic Sect, it is a blatant case of the strong preying on the weak. The sect rules can only restrain the lower levels, not the upper levels. The sect treats its members as expendable resources, cultivating disciples like raising poisonous insects. It is far more cruel than the cultivation world of the East Sea.

In places like the Western Continent, witchcraft and sorcery are prevalent, and evil sects are the mainstream. Blood sacrifices and the use of human beings as materials are common occurrences, all originating from the Heart Demon Sect.

For ordinary immortal seedlings, entering the Heart Demon Sect might be an opportunity, but it is more likely that they will become spellcasting materials for the disciples of the demonic sect.

Mu Dong continued, "Among the three sects of Biyue, there are Golden Core cultivators, but it's not our place to deal with them. Our assigned task is to eliminate their strongholds outside the sects. Although it's somewhat dangerous, it's not much."

"After all, they are just ordinary cultivators. Even if they are at the same cultivation level as the disciples from our holy land, their combat strength is far inferior. You'll understand once you experience it for yourself!"

Lu Qian roughly understood what was going on, but he was more interested in another matter: "How were our tasks assigned? Were they arranged by someone, or did we choose them ourselves?"

"There should be both scenarios! For those of us in the later stages of Qi Refining, we'll probably be given specific tasks, but that will only provide a general direction. How we actually do it will definitely depend on ourselves."

Mu Dong smiled faintly, seemingly with a sigh, "If you want to gain more battle merits, it's definitely better to achieve more results. And you don't need to worry about anyone fraudulently claiming missions; there should be someone watching secretly!"

These things are easy to understand once you've heard them just once.

But for someone like Lu Qian, who had never participated in any training missions and had no prior knowledge of the situation, he would probably have been completely clueless if Mu Dong hadn't revealed these things.

He had played games in his previous life and knew very well the importance of minimaps and quest hints. If he were completely clueless, he might die dozens of times before the story even started.

Lu Qian has now built a small map in his mind based on Mu Dong's description. He just needs to adapt to the situation as it arises, and there shouldn't be any major problems.

"Don't be careless! Don't trust strangers too easily!"

Mu Dong suddenly lowered his voice, his expression solemn, "Normally, it's fine as long as there's no conflict of interest and everyone can live in peace. But in these kinds of training missions, anything can happen in order to seize merits."

"While they're unlikely to attack directly, it's quite possible they'll try to shift the blame or deliberately give you false information to send you to your deaths! Many deaths and injuries in past training missions have been caused by this, so be careful!"

Lu Qian nodded calmly. "Don't worry! I'll be careful!"

Even if Mu Dong hadn't said these things, Lu Qian would have been able to figure them out. How could he not understand the wickedness of people's hearts?

Mu Xue, on the other hand, seemed to understand but not quite, as if she was still a little confused.

At this point, the effect of the soundproofing talisman disappeared, and Mu Dong made a shushing gesture and stopped talking.