"Hah… We are already quite late now, and the mission hall should already be filled up with disciples by this time…"

Sighing loudly, Yang Meng made his way towards the mission hall together with Sofie, who was quietly following him from behind. Trying to make sure she did not cause any more trouble than she already had.

…

The mission hall, was indeed as Yang Meng had expected, completely packed with disciple hurrying to and from the mission hall at all times. Ensuring a stable flow of people going in and out of the mission hall at all times.

"… At least there are less than last time…?"

Putting up a not so convincing smile, Sofie tried to cheer up the constantly sinking mood of Yang Meng.

"Haaaaaaah… It doesn't matter. Let's get going."

Letting out the possibly longest sigh in history, Yang Meng grabbed hold of Sofie's hand and entered the stream of people entering the mission hall.

Upon entering, Sofie held tightly onto Yang Meng's hand as she didn't want to get lost again. This time, there might not be a kind old man showing her the way to the area for qi gathering realm disciples.

Thinking of this, Sofie could not help but s.h.i.+ver a little at the thought of getting lost in such a big crowd of people.

Would she even be able to find her way back alone if she got lost?

Luckily this time, Sofie did not get lost as she spent all her attention focusing on Yang Meng's hand. Making sure she didn't release it.

Yang Meng also felt the unwavering attention on him and started to feel a little uncomfortable. Maybe he had been a little too angry at her and she bore a grudge against him?

…

As both Yang Meng and Sofie were worrying about two entirely different things, they finally managed to make their way up to the area designated for the disciples at the qi gathering realm and even though it was still busy to some degree. Compared to the crowd on the floor bellow, it was way better.

One of the reasons for this was also that there were way fewer disciple at the qi gathering realm compared to the qi condensation realm.

"Where do we go to complete the mission?"

Upon entering the relatively calm floor above, Sofie asked Yang Meng with a curious look on her face.

"We just need to go to one of the desks over there and show the moon flower and the mission that we took. After that we will get the reward from handing in the moon flower either from the sect, if it is a mission issued by the sect or we have to go and give the moon flower to the disciple or elder who issued the mission to get the reward."

Yang Meng had a proud look on his face as he explained how they got their reward to Sofie.

"I-I see… Then what kind of mission do we have? Is it issued by the sect, an elder or maybe another disciple?

Looking interested in finding out where the mission they went on came from, Sofie asked Yang Meng with a sparkling look in her eyes.

"I don't know… But if I'm not wrong, it should be issued by another disciple. Most likely a senior brother or sister practicing alchemy as a low or mid mortal grade moon flower is too low a rank to be useful to elders and most of the missions issued by the sect wouldn't give so good rewards for a low mortal grade moon flower!"

Taking what Yang Meng said to be the truth, Sofie heard a term she had never heard before.

"Alchemy? What is alchemy?"

"…"

Speechless for a long while, Yang Meng remembered Sofie was new to the cultivation world… But… Alchemy was also used by normal people who didn't cultivate… Just what kind of hole did Sofie crawl out of to not even know what alchemy is!?

Thinking a few rude things about Sofie, Yang Meng Soon calmed down and explained alchemy in the simplest way he could possibly think of.

"Alchemy is taking a bunch of spirit herbs, mixing them together and boom, you got a spirit pill. Spirit pills are used to replenish lost qi, heal wounds, make cultivating easier or faster and more."

Listing to the explanation, Sofie could only get one image of alchemy into her mind and that was some old man in black robes, locked away in a completely dark room. Grabbing a handful of random herbs and throwing them into a bowl. Following this he poured water into the bowl and put it over the fire. This caused the herbs to dissolve and the water to harden. Chanting words like 'harden' 'round shape' 'be round like a ball'. The hardened liquid would slowly form a small pill.

Explaining what she imagined alchemy to be, Yang Meng quickly hit her over the head and started scolding her.

Yang Meng honestly thought Sofie's discerption was accurate to some degree, but refused to acknowledge it as Sofie's description really made alchemists look bad… And Yang Meng's grandfather was a high-ranking alchemist.

How should he react if his grandfather was descripted as someone who chanted weird things alone in a locked off room, while wearing some dark robes.

His grandfather was not some sort of weird cultist! Okay!?

"Let's get the reward for the mission…"

Not knowing what to do after having scolded Sofie, Yang Meng turned the focus back to the mission they came for in the first place.

"Okay…"

Not daring to say anything, Sofie answered obediently as she really didn't want to be scolded again. Even thought it was just Yang Meng scolding her, he would suddenly embarra.s.sed about something before suddenly starting to scold her even more about how awesome alchemists are.

More than a scolding, Sofie didn't really understand what Yang Meng talked about and had just nodded to whatever he had said…

…

"h.e.l.lo, what can I do for you two?"

Smiling softly at Sofie and Yang Meng, the lady behind the desk looked down towards both of them. Waiting for an answer.

"Ah, we want to turn in a mission, it is this one."

Taking out the paper with the mission written on it, Yang Meng handed both the paper and a small box over the lady.

"Hm… Everything seems to be in order… Please head to this location and turn over the flower to the disciple who posted the mission to get your reward, if anything happens or the disciple refuses to give the reward written on the mission. Please do return here as soon as possible, so we can get it figured out."

Checking the paper with the mission written on it and the contents of the box, the lady handed wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it over to Yang Meng.

"If that is all, I hope to see you again."

Waving goodbye to the lady, Sofie and Yang Meng made their way out of the mission hall.

…

"Is the address of the disciple written on the paper?"

Curious about the piece of paper that got handed over to Yang Meng, Sofie asked in a curious voice.

"Yes, and it is not so far away, so let's get going!"

Saying so, Yang Meng made his way towards the house of the disciple who put up the moon flower mission with Sofie following closely behind him.