This time, the silver book in his system panel, titled- [ Secondary Storylines ] opened up in response to the quest's initiation.
However, unlike the golden book, the first page didn't get linked with the quest. Han Xuhan began counting the numbers as the pages were flipped automatically.
Finally, on the seventh page, the silver mist overlapped with the quest's data.
.
[ Quest name: Xuanyuan Zhou's Debt ]
[ Quest Description: The easiest way to make a superior party bow down to you is to lend them what they need. You are not qualified right now to lend Xuanyuan Zhou anything. But you may come across hidden opportunities to make her indebted to you. ]
[ Quest Difficulty: Easy ]
[ Quest Reward: 10 Survival Points ]
"Gege? Are you listening? He looks so dazed! Senior Jun, do we have any healers nearby?"
Xuanyuan Zhou's loud words brought Han Xuhan back to the present situation. He tried to form a coherent response while assessing the new quest. In the back of his mind, both chains of thought ran simultaneously.
The quest wasn't too outlandish compared to the previous one. The difficulty level was graded as [ Easy ], which logically fell between his first quest, graded [ Very Easy ], and the second quest, graded [ Moderate ].
For the first quest, he hadn't needed to do much except feign helplessness and beg. For the second quest, he had worked a lot harder.
He argued with old man Lao Jun, who seemed to have a long-standing position in the Crimson Snow Sect.
He had infuriated the man till he got his way.
He had manipulated a mob of two hundred resourceful youths, many of whom were cultivators.
Granted, the essence of his work was not that tough, in hindsight. He had only given everything a little push in a flexible direction.
An inference could be made from this retrospection. The fresh quest he was facing right now would be somewhat easier to complete than the moderate-grade one.
He only needed to look out for the right time and opportunity. The problem was, why did Xuanyuan Zhou's attitude towards him seem a bit off?
He had already noticed some details earlier; the way she glanced at him, the way she addressed him and spoke to him, and even now, the concern she was showing...
Han Xuhan was confident about his appearance, but he wasn't delusional enough to think that it had charmed her into giving him special treatment.
Lao Jun was almost convinced by her to go call for a healer. Han Xuhan didn't want to face powerful cultivators so quickly, fearing it could affect the range of activities he could get away with. So he had to speak up.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It wasn't really a fight; more of a push, really. The armor absorbed its lethality."
Xuanyuan Zhou looked relieved, a little too dramatically so, in fact. Many faces in the crowd were exchanging suspicious looks among themselves, noticing the obvious details.
She was even patting her chest like a wife watching her husband come out of a duel unscathed. Where was this tender behavior when she was toying with the previous six contenders?
"Then can you answer my question, gege? Why are you challenging me despite so many easy pickings earlier? I thought you weren't interested in joining Crimson Snow Sect."
Han Xuhan processed her question for a moment, looking for opportunities like the system had hinted about. But he couldn't find an opening.
So he could only clarify the situation and save his skin.
"Sister Zhou, you're misunderstanding something. I don't want to challenge you at all! Someone in the crowd kicked me a little too hard. I'll just go back—"
Just as he turned to leave, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. This wasn't the same soft palm that had helped him stand up.
Feeling his stomach drop, Han Xuhan cranked his neck around and discovered Lao Jun's aged face grinning at him rather maliciously.
"Young man, it seems like you have some fate with our sect. You've made me bend the rules and accept a few disciples who wouldn't have been selected otherwise; all because you were indignant about qualified participants being shunned.
"So why don't you show us how qualified you are yourself? We want to see what made you feel so indignant in the first place!"
Han Xuhan tried to twist his shoulder out of the man's grasp, but he knew it would be futile. This guy had lived for over a hundred years. He was surely a cultivator.
"Senior Jun, you're being irrational here. Can't I be indignant on behalf of my peers? I don't have any special skills myself! I can't compete with Sister Zhou!"
Lao Jun's gaze took on a scary gleam. "Are you trying to hide your origins, boy? I did feel suspicious seeing how enthusiastic you were about riling up public opinion against this sect. You were here purely to make trouble, weren't you?"
Han Xuhan really wanted to curse this old geezer. How did he reach that extreme conclusion with no real clues? This was just pure vindictive targeting!
"You are going to challenge her with your best skill, boy. Otherwise, I will have to conclude that you came across that sponsorship token by dishonest means.
"After all, why would any of our sect members sponsor you if you had no specialty?" Lao Jun explained his reasons loudly enough for the whole crowd.
"And if you insist on not competing, I'll have to call over a disciplinarian Elder and hand you over for proper investigation. Would you like to be exposed that way?"
Han Xuhan couldn't see a way out. If he actually knew about any of his latent talents, he would have challenged the girl already.
But Ming Zi hadn't told him why he thought Han Xuhan would be selected by Crimson Snow Sect. Did that grandpa have any idea what made him special?
"What? You don't feel very talkative now? That's fine!" Lao Jun grinned, as if Xuhan's silence had handed him a weapon.
"I can decide for you! Let's do a very simple ancestry test! Not only can we compare who's the better one between you and Xuanyuan Zhou, it will also give us an idea of your real origins!
"As long as it's clear which family or clan you're from, I don't have to call for a deeper investigation, do I?"
Now it made sense why this old fart wanted him to challenge Xuanyuan Zhou! Han Xuhan's confusion turned into a mixture of fear and respect as he met Lao Jun's gaze.
This guy couldn't be any ordinary side character in the main storyline! He was too good at scheming!
As long as Lao Jun could figure out his origins, a threat of 'Slaughtering all of Xuhan's eighteen generations' would be very effective!
One way or another, Lao Jun was making sure that Han Xuhan couldn't leave this place without leaving behind a weapon to be used against him!