A girl was quickly walking down a long hallway in a rhythmic beat. If Jiang Chen was currently here, he would have identified the girl as the same one that flicked the crystal at him and left. The girl pushed open the doors and shouted

"Father, why must I be married off to the despicable Bai Ming!"

A middle-aged man was standing at the center of the room. He slowly walked toward the girl and had an apologetic look on his face.

"Fen-er, when you grow up, you will understand that what I'm doing is for your own good."

"This is not for my own good! You're just using me as a line to pull the Ming family closer to you!"

"This is not what I wanted when I arranged the marriage."

"You should go screw off!"

Fen Tang stormed out of the room and went up to her bedroom.

"Come here, Lang."

A shadow descended to the window and kneeled.

"Yes, Miss Tang!"

Being the daughter of a lord of a city, she had access to a private force of cultivators that can be dispatched at any moment.

"I want you to put up posters saying that there will be a tournament held in Tang City. Whoever wins will get to marry me, however, that will only happen if they can defeat Bai Ming first."

"I will carry out this command with haste."

The shadow of this person disappeared from sight. Posters can be seen appearing all over the city and beyond the city boundaries.

In the morning, Jiang Chen woke up to some ruckus coming from the first floor. He went down to the first floor and saw people discussing really loudly.

"Did you see the princess of the Tang family is holding a tournament and whoever wins gets the chance to marry her."

"The poster might be fake. Maybe someone trying to stir up trouble."

"You must be new. The Tang family symbol at the bottom can't be replicated by anyone that is not in the Tang family main branch."

"I have no chance at winning anyway. Geniuses from all over will be gathering. Plus, even if I did win, I would have to fight against Bai Ming."

Jiang Chen glanced at the poster and thought to himself.

"Is this related to the mission? The deadline and the end of the tournament is similar. Whatever the date to sign up is 10 days later so I have time."

"h.e.l.lo, I want a bowl of congee and a side of radish."

Jiang Chen called over a waitress and ordered.

"Your dish will be on its way."

Jiang Chen went up to his room after his breakfast and sat on the bed.

"System, open inventory."

[Inventory: F-Rank Reward Bag]

"Open F-Rank reward bag."

[Obtained Life-Saving Talisman]

[Life-Saving Talisman - A Talisman Forged With The Blood Of A Mad Rhino. Allows User To Survive A Fatal Hit From A Qi-Gathering Cultivator]

Jiang Chen pulled out the Life Talisman from the inventory and looked at it.

"Hopefully this can save me one day."

Jiang Chen packed up and went out. He walked out of Tang City and into a dense forest next. The forest was going to be his training spot for the next couple of days. A demonic beast that looks like a boar appeared with the cultivation of Body-Tempering Stage 1 in front of Jiang Chen. This is his first battle coming here, so he quickly became serious.

The demonic beast punched onto Jiang Chen and he stepped to the side. Jiang Chen shot his fist up into the demonic beast's eyes. The demonic beast let out a blood-curdling scream and rammed Jiang Chen with the side of its body. Jiang Chen was thrown into a tree causing the tree to fall down. The demonic beast drew its last breath and collapsed onto the ground.

Ding!

[1 Credit Earned]

Jiang Chen dug out the core and ventured deeper into the forest.

"This can be my spot for the next few days."

Jiang Chen choose a cave hidden behind a waterfall that was well hidden. Jiang Chen sat there and started to sense the Qi around him. Qi started to become active and shot toward Jiang Chen's pores. The entire time, His meridians were preparing for the flow of Qi inside of his body. Boom! Jiang Chen who wields the knowledge of cultivation was able to quickly and easily breakthrough to the next stage. Impurities gushed out from Jiang Chen's pores and stained his clothing.

"Good thing that I'm near a waterfall."

The very next day, Jiang Chen was awoken by a loud sound right next to his cave. When Jiang Chen peered outside, he saw two different demonic beasts fighting. Both of them were Qi-Gathering Stage 7 and look like they were about to collapse.

"Maybe I can be a janitor today."

Jiang Chen waited for one of the beasts to be killed until he swooped out and pounce the other beast. The beast was surprised and caught off guard. Jiang Chen threw a punch at the beast's wound and the beast died.

Ding!

[700 Credit Earned]

"Roar!"

The second beast who was faking his death jumped up and took a swipe at Jiang Chen.

Ding!

[Life-Saving Talisman Used]

A barrier formed around Jiang Chen and blocked the demonic beast's attack. The beast finally succ.u.mbed to its injuries.

"Dam, I was thinking that I can preserve the talisman for later. Who would have thought that a demonic beast can play dead? I don't even get the credit after it died!?!"

Jiang Chen dragged the 2 bodies into his cave and extracted the cores. He then sat in a lotus position and used the 3 cores one by one to help him cultivate for the next few days.