Chapter 331

Chapter 331: The Gods Are Doing Well!

“Shepherd God?”

　　Ye Tianming was a little curious.

　　Qing Wanwan nodded, “Yes, that’s what the Records of the Gods calls it.”

　　Ye Tianming nodded, and glanced once more at the back of that Ancestral God.

　　In the time that followed, Qing Wanwan gave Ye Tianming and Qingyuan an overview of modern history — roughly that after the Great War of the Gods, the Divine Halls began to decline, because too many divine beings had fallen, and now only five true gods remained alive.

　　Beyond that, Qing Wanwan also introduced the two of them to the history of the Divine Academy. The Divine Academy had been founded by a supreme divine being long ago, and it was precisely because of this that the Divine Academy had been preserved through the Great Formation of the Gods and now held its special status.

　　Today, the Divine Academy is the highest institution of learning in the divine universe. The affiliated clans and clergy of the major divine halls all aspire to enter the Divine Academy, because here, certain special cultivation methods and various inheritances from the age of the gods are still preserved.

　　Qingyuan grew more and more excited as he listened, because for him, joining the Divine Academy was equivalent to defying fate itself.

　　After a long while, Qing Wanwan led Ye Tianming and Qingyuan to the Mission Hall. The place was packed with people, all either taking on missions or turning them in.

　　Qing Wanwan pointed to the star-light screens on the walls, “Do you see all those densely packed missions? Starting today, you’ll need to come here and take on missions to earn credits. Credits are extremely, extremely important to you — you’ll even need them just to eat. Also, there will be assessments every three months, and those require credits too. If you don’t have credits, you can be expelled.”

　　Expelled!

　　Qingyuan’s expression changed immediately. He hurriedly said, “Our cultivation is pretty weak, so these missions…….”

　　Qing Wanwan smiled, “It’s fine. If you’re weak, just take on lower-level missions — like helping someone clean, or cooking meals for people, things like that…….”

　　As she spoke, she pointed to a star-light screen nearby, “These are the lowest-level missions. None of them are particularly difficult, but the credits they give are very low.”

　　Ye Tianming followed where Qing Wanwan was pointing and looked toward the star-light screen on the right. It was filled with all kinds of missions — watering flowers, cooking meals, feeding spirit pets, repairing halls, and so on. All sorts of things, covering just about everything.

　　They really were all quite simple!

　　Of course, the credits earned were also very low — around one to ten points, barely enough to get by within the academy.

　　And if one wanted to obtain better cultivation techniques and divine skills, one would have to earn more credits. But to earn more credits, one had to take on higher-level missions, and higher-level missions meant danger.

　　Ye Tianming glanced over and noticed one mission that stood out above the rest — the credits it offered were staggering: ten million credits.

　　But the mission requirements were equally staggering: capture a former super-genius of the Divine Academy, and this super-genius was at the False God realm!

　　The False God realm!

　　Going after someone like that……. was no different from seeking death.

　　This mission had been posted for over three hundred years, and to this day, no one had accepted it, and no one had completed it.

　　At that moment, Qing Wanwan suddenly produced a jade token and walked up to one of the windows. She handed the jade token to the person inside and smiled, “Escort mission complete.”

　　The person inside glanced at Ye Tianming and Qingyuan, then took out a jade token and swiped it against Qing Wanwan’s academy token. A number immediately appeared on the token: thirty.

　　Thirty credits!

　　Qing Wanwan put away her token with a sweet smile.

　　Ye Tianming: “…….”

　　Qingyuan: “…….”

　　Qing Wanwan looked at Ye Tianming and Qingyuan and smiled, “Junior brothers, you have no credits right now. Not only can you not eat or bathe, you can’t even have your own place to stay…… Would you like to borrow some credits? I can lend you a little for now — borrow ten, pay back twelve; borrow a hundred, pay back a hundred and twenty……”

　　Ye Tianming and Qingyuan’s expressions stiffened.

　　Qing Wanwan said earnestly, “I’m already giving you a great deal, don’t worry. I know you just arrived and things are tough. You can pay me back in two months. But if you haven’t paid me back by then, interest will start accruing.”

　　The two of them fell silent.

　　Qing Wanwan added, “Of course, it’s fine if you don’t borrow. But right now, you’ll find a lot of things inconvenient, because everything inside the academy costs credits.”

　　Ye Tianming thought it over, then said, “I’ll borrow a hundred.”

　　Qing Wanwan’s eyes lit up. She quickly walked over to Ye Tianming, “Tianming, give me your academy token.”

　　Ye Tianming handed his jade token to Qing Wanwan. She pressed the two tokens together, and a number immediately appeared on Ye Tianming’s token: one hundred.

　　One hundred credits, secured!

　　Qing Wanwan returned Ye Tianming’s token to him, then looked over at Qingyuan. Qingyuan hesitated for a moment, then said, “Senior sister Wanwan, I’ll pass.”

　　Qing Wanwan blinked, “Really? If you don’t borrow, you won’t even have a place to sleep tonight.”

　　Qingyuan said seriously, “I think a man should embrace hardship. I’ll start taking on missions tonight. I can endure hardship — I can endure more than an ox or a horse, truly!”

　　Qing Wanwan: “…….”

　　Ye Tianming: “……..”

　　Seeing how resolute Qingyuan was, Qing Wanwan said nothing more. She smiled and said, “I’m also in the outer court. If there’s anything you don’t know in the future, or if you need help, feel free to come find me. Small things I’ll help with for free — big things will cost credits.”

　　Ye Tianming smiled, “Sounds good.”

　　Qing Wanwan waved her hand, “Do your best, junior brothers.”

　　With that, she turned and left.

　　After Qing Wanwan left, Qingyuan wasted no time and ran straight to the mission board to look it over.

　　Ye Tianming walked up beside him and smiled, “Brother Yuan, I’ll lend you fifty credits, no interest. Let’s work together…….”

　　Qingyuan quickly waved his hand, “No, no, Brother Ye, I can manage.”

　　With that, he picked up his jade token and accepted a low-level mission on the spot, then waved at Ye Tianming, “Brother Ye, I’m off to work.”

　　Watching Qingyuan dash off, Ye Tianming shook his head with a smile. He looked up at the mission boards above. He had originally planned to find a low-level mission to do, but soon, over at the high-level mission board, he spotted one particular mission: Organizing Ancient Texts!

　　Organizing ancient texts?

　　Ye Tianming was a little surprised, because this mission was worth three thousand eight hundred credits.

　　Three thousand eight hundred credits!

　　That was a small fortune.

　　Was organizing ancient texts really that hard?

　　Ye Tianming was curious. He thought it over and decided to give it a try.

　　Ye Tianming walked up to the window. When the young woman there saw that he wanted to accept this mission, she looked him over and asked, “Are you sure you want to take this mission? I should warn you — accepting a high-level mission requires a deposit of thirty credits upfront. If you fail to complete it, those thirty credits will be deducted directly.”

　　Ye Tianming asked, “Is it really that hard?”

　　The young woman said, “If it’s classified as a high-level mission, it definitely has its challenges. So please choose carefully.”

　　Ye Tianming thought for a moment and smiled, “I’ll give it a try.”

　　The young woman nodded, “Alright!”

　　With that, she took out a jade token and lightly pressed it against Ye Tianming’s token, then handed it back to him.

　　Ye Tianming took the token and looked at it — he only had seventy credits left.

　　After accepting the mission, he turned and left the Mission Hall. Following the mission directions stored in the jade token, he arrived at the top of a mountain peak. The summit was wreathed in swirling mist, and an ancient library tower stood at the very top, its walls built from green stone, solemn and dignified.

　　Ye Tianming walked up to the library tower. At that moment, an elderly man stepped out. The old man looked Ye Tianming over, “Here for a mission?”

　　Ye Tianming nodded, “Yes.”

　　The old man studied Ye Tianming for a moment, “Are you sure you’re up to it?”

　　Ye Tianming said, “I’d like to try.”

　　The old man nodded, “Follow me.”

　　With that, he led Ye Tianming into the library tower. The moment he stepped inside, Ye Tianming saw row upon row of bookshelves — easily tens of thousands of them, arranged in neat lines, filled with all manner of ancient texts in complete disarray.

　　The old man pointed to a row of shelves on the right, “You’ll be organizing these ten shelves.”

　　Ye Tianming said, “Is it just a matter of arranging the books neatly?”

　　The old man glanced at him, “What are you thinking? Wake up.”

　　Ye Tianming: “…….”

　　The old man continued, “The books up there have all been read by the senior sister. She made notes in them. What you need to do is go through the books she’s read and the notes she’s made, record and organize them. The books senior sister read are very complex, and the notes she left are even more so. Your job is to simplify all of that as much as possible, so that other students can understand it…….”

　　At that point, he suddenly looked at Ye Tianming, “Are you an outer court student or an inner court student?”

　　Ye Tianming said, “I’m an outer court student who just enrolled.”

　　”What on earth!”

　　The old man stared at Ye Tianming, looking somewhat annoyed, “Did you come here to fool around?”

　　Ye Tianming quickly said, “No, let me try first — would that be alright?”

　　The old man stared at Ye Tianming for a long moment, then said, “Fine, give it a try. If you organize it well enough, there will be bonus credits.”

　　Ye Tianming was immediately surprised, “There are bonus credits too?”

　　The old man nodded, “Yes, that depends on your ability. Take a look on your own first — I’ll come back a little later.”

　　With that, he turned and left the room.

　　Ye Tianming walked over to the bookshelves. He looked over the scattered texts, and soon his gaze landed on an ancient book lying half-open on one of the shelves. He picked it up — a jade hairpin was tucked inside as a bookmark.

　　Ye Tianming gently removed the jade hairpin, then looked at the text. The first line he saw was a question: Where does the future of all living beings lie?

　　Below it, written in elegant red characters: Living beings cannot see the future — yet in truth, they already have.

　　This was a note left by the senior sister.

　　After pondering for a long while, Ye Tianming picked up a brush and began to write: “Simply put, this means that having no future is the future of all living beings. Why is this so? Because resources are finite. Those who grow wealthy first gain an inherent advantage, and they begin by seizing all manner of resources, holding tightly to core power, and erecting barriers to obstruct those who come after.

　　Class solidifies. The offspring of oxen are oxen, the offspring of horses are horses, the offspring of oxen and horses are oxen and horses. The divine beings and the great clans that serve them drain the marrow from the bones of all living beings, generation after generation……”

　　At this point, Ye Tianming paused, thought it over, and crossed out everything he had written.

　　After the beating he had taken from the Yang family, he decided it was better to keep a low profile!

　　Stop dwelling on things that don’t concern you — living well is what truly matters.

　　After crossing it all out, he began to write again: The gods are benevolent, the sects and great clans are kind, and all living beings are happy.