Chapter 248: Chapter 47: The Fifth From the Last 3

These Foundation Establishment cultivators knew their mission from the very beginning, while the Qi Refining stage cultivators could only learn it from the former.

Upon hearing that the objective of this mission required passing through a region occupied by Incense-burning Dao Cultivators, all the cultivators’ expressions changed instantly.

In the crowd, a monk with mottled gray hair, who appeared to be quite honest and good-hearted, suddenly opened his mouth and said:

“This… Elder Wang, why don’t you go and talk to Elder Yue, see if we can get another task. I’m afraid this one is a bit too hard for us.”

“Yes, yes, Elder Wang, let’s change it, this one is just too hard, we can’t possibly complete it.”

With someone taking the lead, others quickly echoed the sentiment.

The complexion of Wang Ba darkened instantly, his eyes revealing a sliver of chilliness as he scanned the ones who had spoken, particularly the first elderly cultivator.

While these individuals seemed to be expressing their grievances, they concealed ill intentions.

In a time of war such as now, when orders came down from superiors, one could only obey. If one dared to question the orders, likely Yue Xiang would so far go to silence them as a warning to others.

If these people weren’t necessary for the setup of a formation, he’d have wished to kill them on the spot.

The scene made several cultivators suddenly feel a chill in their hearts, so they lowered their heads and dared not speak up again.

Wang Ba looked over the crowd with a cold gaze, and said frostily:

“Forget about changing the mission. If anyone mentions it again, don’t blame me for losing patience.”

Upon hearing this, You Wanli, the only Qi Refining Stage X cultivator in the place, wore a flash of disdain on his face.

But they were still in the garrison, so he dared not show his disrespect.

Under the pressure exerted by Wang Ba, the group reluctantly gathered together to discuss the itinerary, as well as how to deal with potential encounters with those from the Incense Fire Dao.

However, most cultivators remained silent, clearly showing their dissatisfaction with Wang Ba.

Hua Meng, one of the few people who Wang Ba could call a friend, was fairly cooperative and provided Wang Ba with a lot of advice.

The key message was rather simple: to hide their tracks as much as possible and avoid fighting with the incense-burning Dao Cultivators if they could.

The top priority was to lay down the formation and come back safe.

Clearly, Hua Meng, like the other cultivator, had low expectations for this venture due to Wang Ba’s low position on the power ranking list.

The main thought going through everyone’s minds was most likely how to escape at the first opportunity if they encountered any incense-burning Dao Cultivators.

Wang Ba rather agreed with Hua Meng’s suggestions.

He decided on the spot that they would follow Hua Meng’s proposed strategy.

This decision made the cultivators who had doubts about Wang Ba slightly more accepting of him.

“He might be a bit weak, but as long as he’s willing to listen to advice, there’s hope for him.”

“Well, that might be his only redeeming quality.”

A couple of cultivators secretly communicated.

Although Wang Ba didn’t know about these whispered discussions, he had a pretty good idea of what was being said.

But he wasn’t overly fazed by it.

With the Class II upper-grade magic tool’s flying speed, unless the other Foundation Establishment cultivators also had similar flying tools, they couldn’t catch up to him.

He would just fail the mission.

Although a mission failure would mean a deduction of a significant amount of merit points.

He didn’t care about it.

He didn’t have access to the Tianmen Cult’s treasury, so it wasn’t a big loss to him if he lost some merit points.

Moreover, in comparison to life, merit points mean nothing.

The only troubling part was, even if the mission failed, subsequent missions would still be assigned. There was no way to escape it.

He couldn’t possibly fail every time, could he?

Thinking of this, Wang Ba could only grudgingly lead the group of cultivators out of the East Saint’s garrison with helplessness.

Afterward, they started their journey towards the southeast, sticking to the ground as per Hua Meng’s suggestion.