Wan Lei's comment was quickly swallowed by the tide. He put down the spiritual slip, sighed with a life-weary air,
"I am not mighty, please return 'mighty' to Da Zhuang. I do not deserve the title of 'mighty'!"
Shouldn't these people be focusing on how he bullied the Water Hall Master? Or how a mere Tai Xu realm disciple dared to bully a Saint?
Alas, the onlookers only cared about gossip that could ignite their excitement, not the truth of the matter.
A male disciple of the Tai Xu realm bullying a female Saint was itself enough to ignite the passions of all males, satisfying their ugly desires for conquest and possession.
Seeing Wan Lei looking as if life had lost all meaning, slumped on the ground, Xiao Jin felt a great deal of sympathy.
What was his fault? He was just a child in his twenties, yet he had to endure so much pressure and hardship.
Even though this child merely wanted to honestly break someone out of prison.
"After much thought, I'll just honestly do the mission. Sigh, five hundred merit points."
Wan Lei's despair ended, and he continued to study Qi Tian Da Sheng.
"Brother Wan, why do you seem to be in such desperate need of merit points?"
"Who wouldn't want merit points? I heard that the magic treasures, divine abilities, and elixirs of the Five Elements Hall cannot be bought with spirit stones; they all need to be exchanged with merit points. Don't tell me you don't need them."
Wan Lei told a lie.
Xiao Jin sighed, lit a cigarette, and after finishing it, a flash of inspiration struck him.
"Brother Wan, I suddenly have an opportunity for you to quickly earn merit points. This wave alone can earn over ten thousand merit points!"
Wan Lei's spirits immediately lifted.
"Over ten thousand merit points? Are you kidding?"
"Certainly, and there's no danger to life!"
Xiao Jin nodded affirmatively.
"Quick, tell me, tell me."
"Brother Wan, this method can only be used by you. That is, accept challenge letters!"
"Challenge letters earn merit points?"
"Yes, our challenge letter mechanism is like this: for example, if I send you a challenge letter, I need to pay one merit point, and you, upon accepting it, also need to pay one. Then we fight, and if you defeat me, those two merit points are yours.
Now, there are over ten thousand people challenging you. According to the rules, disciples of the same realm can challenge each other, and lower-level disciples can challenge higher-level disciples, but higher-level disciples cannot challenge lower-level disciples. This is to protect the lower-level disciples.
Those who can send you challenge letters must be disciples of the Tai Xu realm.
With your strength and combat power, you can defeat at least one thousand out of these ten thousand people.
Let's say you fight ten matches a day; in a thousand days, you'll have ten thousand merit points. This is much faster than doing missions."
Wan Lei's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"And you can even provoke them, forcing them to pay more merit points. Although the limit is ten, this can greatly increase efficiency."
Wan Lei became more and more excited as he listened. He slapped his thigh hard.
"I'm extremely good at fighting! Normally, I wouldn't be able to earn merit points this way; people might not accept my challenge letters. But this time, so many people are challenging me, I can just pick and choose as I please. I can earn as much as I want."
"Indeed, who would have thought that going to bully the Saint would also turn out to be a blessing in disguise."
Xiao Jin also smiled.
"Since there's a good way now, I won't risk my life doing missions. This mission can be rejected. Hall Master Huo wants to trick me? Not a chance."
Saying this, Wan Lei picked up the spiritual slip again.
He wasn't afraid of death, but that didn't mean he wanted to die. He still had people to save and couldn't just go and die in vain.
Then, he flipped to the mission page and clicked reject.
Immediately, a red box popped up below.
[Rejection failed. Rejecting a mission requires deducting half of the reward merit points. Your balance is insufficient.]
Wan Lei was somewhat stunned and looked at Xiao Jin.
Xiao Jin rubbed his chin and muttered,
"I only knew that mission failure meant no merit point rewards, but I didn't know rejecting a mission would deduct half of the corresponding amount. You don't have any merit points now, so it can't be deducted."
"So, I must accept this mission?"
"Not necessarily. You can go to the Martial Duelling Arena first and accumulate two hundred and fifty merit points, then you can reject it?"
"That makes sense. You're really quick-witted."
Wan Lei nodded, then flipped to the challenge letter page and randomly selected a disciple from the back ranks on the first level of the Creation Pagoda.
Who knew someone with this strength had the confidence to challenge him.
Then, he clicked, accept.
[Accepting challenge letter failed. You currently have no merit points and cannot pay the fee.]
Wan Lei was stunned for the second time.
"Can't I just owe it for now?"
He was now facing an awkward predicament: to reject the mission, he had no merit points; to accept the challenge letter, he still had no merit points. All avenues were blocked!
"There must be a way. The path is never completely blocked. Let me think of another way..."
People pushed to the brink can always unleash astonishing wisdom. Wan Lei immediately thought of a solution.
"Xiao Jin, you have merit points, right? Lend me one. I'll return it after I win."
Xiao Jin gave Wan Lei a helpless look.
"Sorry, Brother Wan, I do have merit points, but I can't give them to you.
According to sect regulations, new disciples cannot trade merit points, nor can they transfer them to others, nor can they accept transfers from others within one year of their entry."
Wan Lei was stunned for the third time. Why were all the roads blocked?
"Why is there such an unreasonable regulation?"
"Not at all, this regulation is very reasonable.
No trading is to prevent others from tricking new disciples with worthless items for their merit points, especially since new disciples are new and know nothing.
Not allowing transfers to others is to prevent new disciples from being bullied or extorted by elder disciples.
It's all to protect the new disciples."
"Then what about the last part, not accepting transfers from others?"
For Wan Lei, this was the key point.
"That's to prevent new disciples from bullying others."
Xiao Jin, smoking, glanced deeply at Wan Lei.
What did that look mean? Am I that kind of person?
"So, currently, because I have no merit points, I cannot reject the mission, I cannot accept a challenge letter, and I cannot borrow or buy them.
The only option left for me is to accept the mission, right?"
Wan Lei was making a last-ditch effort.
"Not exactly. You could also run away."
"...Running away is impossible. I finally managed to enter the Five Elements Hall, how could I leave so easily?
I certainly won't easily bow to evil forces, nor will I yield to those Hall Masters and disciples of the Water Hall!"
Seeing Wan Lei's spirited demeanor, Xiao Jin rolled his eyes.
"Brother, you were the one who bullied them first. You're the evil force here, aren't you."
Too lazy to bother with Xiao Jin, Wan Lei looked at the jade slip again and muttered to himself,
"It seems I really have to go and meet that monkey."