Data-Driven Daoist
Chapter 90: Taking Stock

Huang Niuniu successfully levelled up. She had an extra skip to her step on the way back.

"Did you know? There are tiny bugs in the water, as small as a water drop, that can give off light," the girl said.

"Phytoplanktons." Yu Han cleared the overgrown foliage by the abandoned trail with his halberd. If they needed to come here again, it would be easier.

"Fei Tou... what?"

"Think of them as one of the smallest forms of life. They get their own energy from light, and they form the base of the food chain in oceans, rivers, and lakes. Some of these phytoplanktons can glow—they’re wisps. Like dinoflagellates and other protists. There are small algae that can glow too, smaller than the smallest insect. There are bacteria that emit light, illuminating hundreds of thousands of square kilometres at sea, but they aren't phytoplanktons since they can't produce their own energy."

"I see." Huang Niuniu nodded. "Indeed. I thought so too."

Yu Han gave her a shove, and she giggled.

"Can you explain all this to me in simpler terms later?" Huang Niuniu turned, hand behind her back as she walked backwards. Her Dexterity stat must have been high, with how easily she navigated the muddy, rocky, root-infested trail. "The more I know about wisps, the more I can do with them. I think most of my trials will involve wisps. Communicating with them, nurturing them, consuming them"—she smiled—"becoming them. But not in a way lie my mother. The Ocean Gu, River Gu, Lake Gu book doesn't know as much as you."

"Of course it doesn't." Yu Han stuck his chest out.

"I'll keep everything a secret." Huang Niuniu twirled around. Her hair spun, the tips glowing blue and yellow. “You don’t have to tell me how you know all this.”

With an eyeroll, Yu Han said, "that's why I trust you."

They returned to find Li Yao and Fang Zhao in a good mood.

"Tubs!" Li Yao called out. "Sima Yan wants us to fix his outhouse." The guy had a huge grin on his face. "Poor sod probably didn't poop in his own home for days."

"Did you tell him to shove it?" Yu Han asked.

"Almost shoved shit on him from the cart." Li Yao gave him a fist-bump. "He's screaming about how his cousin's going to hear of our insolent refusal to do our job."

"Night Soil Collectors collect night soil from the dead remains of Filth Eating Ghouls," Yu Han said. "Fixing outhouses isn't our job."

"Brother Yu," Fang Zhao whispered. "I cleaned up all the nodules before dumping them in the gorge."

That was keyword for cleaning up all the Lanterns of the Blue-Veined Underspores. They might have to them for healing in the Hidden Realm. Having them shit-stained would do nothing to make them appetizing, and if they somehow got infected because of it, that would be the worst.

Sepsis is no joke.

"I'll submit the mission," Yu Han said. "Let's meet in a bit. Niu'er, stop glaring at Fang Zhao."

"He's probably Level 3 or 4 in all those Martial Arts already.” The girl pouted. "What talent grade did you have? You awakened when you were, what, ten? It has to be higher than Profound."

Fang Zhao scratched his head with an uneasy laugh.

Yu Han left them to argue. The girl was 21, an adult. If she wanted to be jealous, let her.

"Senior Brother Wen, we've made our choice!=." Yu Han pushed out a parchment. "It's a simple gathering mission. It should be safe enough."

"Lesser Nurturing Bloodferns?" Wen Liujie raised an eyebrow. "They're rare. Mostly growing on corpses, places soaked in blood after two stampedes of beasts clash, and other sites of massacre." The senior disciple, still covered in bandages, let out an annoyed snort. "Can't say it's the safest plant to harvest, either."

"We assumed it’s safer than directly targeting monsters," Yu Han said, defending their choice. “We only need to hand five fronds and one crown over as tax at our level. Anything else we get is ours, and they’re great for tempering the body. It says here that most beings over the Body Tempering Realm aren’t attracted to it, so the highest monster we might face will be Level 10. My accorded Spirit Beast, Fei Rui, can detect such a monster before it can detect us.”

“You’re sure about that?” Wen Liujie looked sceptical.

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“He’s the one who detected the stalkers,” Yu Han said. Wen Liujie, of course, knew why they were staying in the Night Alchemist's Yard. "Senior Tan said they might have been using some manner of stealth talisman to mask their presence, but Fei Rui detected them. I can't imagine a monster using a talisman, even at Level 10."

"Never underestimate these imitations of life." Wen Liujie knitted his brows together. "They might have innate abilities, like our Trait-granted Bloodline Arts, that changes the whole game. Why, I know of a previous Night Soil Collector who went to the Hidden Realm with a mission to gather Moonlit Spirit Silk from a well-known ruin. The silkworms and silkmoths were usual affairs, Level 1 to 3 creatures that could only attack with their spikes, mandibles, and claws. But then he met exploding moths."

"What?" Yu Han's eyes boggled.

"Suicide bombing moths that flew like arrows towards my poor friend." Wen Liujie tried his hardest to hold in tears. "They would hit him from all directions and explode their monster cores. Each with the power of a Mortal Grade Level 1 to 3 Fireburst Talisman. Not only did the fire burn off all the silk he could have harvested, but he would have died if not for his Coverall. Barely made it out otherwise. If not for his helmet, he would be bald now."

"W-What happened to that senior?"

"Oh, he decided that the Hidden Realm wasn't for him. He diligently worked as a Night Soil Collector in the Outer Sect for a few years, then moved to Great Barrier City, eventually becoming an Outer Sect steward of the Night Soil Collectors there. He's got a family now, and will soon take a Pioneering Village Mission with hundreds of late-bloomers." Wen Liujie lightly tapped the floor with his feet. He looked like would have slammed the table, were his arms not broken. "The point is: Hidden Realm bad, stable job in the Sect good. You'll have plenty of chances at external missions after the year is over. You should recon—"

"No."

Wen Liujie sighed. He signed off on the mission. "Take what you need from the Night Alchemists' Yard vault. Elder Chang already authorised it."

Yu Han met with the others and headed over to the vault. Well, it was called a vault, but the actual structure was a sealed room in one of the wings. They needed Wen Liujie to open the door with his token first.

It was a room lined with shelves. Various herbs, plants, vials, and jars lined one side. The other had stacks of note-sized paper. There were some tools and artefacts too, but mostly those helpful in their line of Night Soil collecting work. Not for external missions.

“We get a monthly supply. They’ll go to waste if no one uses them,” Wen Liujie said. He ran a finger on a shelf, leaving a line through the thick dust cover. “They’re mostly meant for fighting Filth-Eating Ghouls and dealing with the aftermath.”

After going over their options, Yu Han and team decided to take a mix of talismans, pills, salves, and incense.

Yu Han had expected Wen Liujie to complain when they took just up to the limit of how much was allowed, but the Senior Brother didn't bat an eyelid. He did nag at them to be careful before leaving.

At the sleeping quarters, they took stock of what they had.

"Two each of the Elite Grade protective, concealment, and stone arrow attack talismans for each of us," Fang Zhao listed. Yu Han wrote it down. The red-eyed boy continued, "We also get one poison-detecting jade, alongside four Elite Grade glow rocks that shine longer. Then a vial of Mortal Grade blood-stopping, blood-replenishing, and Elite Grade poison-curing pills for each of us. Each vial has five pills. Finally, we have a pack of ten beast-repelling and ten beast-calling incense balls. Is that all?"

Yu Han nodded, biting his lips. "Elder Chang gave us four Beaconing Talismans. We have one Healing Potion of the Blue Waved Waters each, and of course the Rot-Negating Body Tempering elixirs. Fang Zhao and Huang Niuniu have ten contribution points each, while Li Yao and I have five."

He had written down 108 lanterns of the blue-veined underspores in English. A safety measure in case someone gets their hands on the notepad later. It wasn’t an unbreakable cypher, but Yu Han would take his chances.

"We have around 300 Filth-Eating Ghoul monster cores," Yu Han said. "That's about 30 spirit stones. And 765 spirit stones from Fang Zhao's thousand. We haven't been eating any of the Spites recently. The total number of spirit stones is 812, including the unspent stipends and other incomes. Do we spend it all before heading over to the Hidden Realm?"

"I'm against it," Li Yao said. "We have more resources than is normal for our levels. I know Xiao Zhuzi's group has less than a quarter of us, not even counting the goodies from Elder Chang and the Night Alchemists’ Yard. If we suddenly spend make big purchases, that's a deadass giveaway to the Mad Bloodhounds that we're heading out."

"Do you think they'll try anything this time?" Yu Han asked.

"Hard to say." Li Yao pursed his lips. "Word around the sect is, after their stunt with Sima Yan's group, the noble folks have been harassing them for a bit. I think the Liang son-in-law stepped in? The Law-Enforcement Hall have their eyes on the situation, and they were suspects of previous disappearance cases"—Li Yao turned to Huang Niuniu—"both of which involved people with wisp-type bloodlines."

Huang Niuniu shifted, her hands going for the whips. Fei Rui clicked his claws, though he didn't understand what Li Yao had said.

"I'd say we have better chances with your crab." Li Yao grinned. "You're both Level 2 now?"

Yu Han nodded, followed by Huang Niuniu. She shot a triumphant grin at Fang Zhao. Yu Han hit her on the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Huang Niuniu cried.

"Be nice," Yu Han said. "Why do you like rubbing salt in wounds so much?"

"I-I didn't—"

"No excuses—" Yu Han stopped himself. Why the hell did he want Huang Niuniu to be nice? Johan would have joined her in the teasing—Oh, right. Team cohesion.

He forced Huang Niuniu to apologise, but Fang Zhao took it in stride.

"Sister Huang doesn't mean anything," Fang Zhao said. "Even if I can't level up this time, I have a way to fight and a direction to follow. So don't worry. I'll leave her in the dust in no time."

What followed was a spat between two immature kids.

The night passed quietly. Sometimes the monkeys would wander the halls, but no interlopers.

The next morning, they headed off to the Outer Sect jetty. But just as they left the Night Alchemists' Yard, Tan Ruoxian of the Law Enforcement Hall appeared.

"Good news," She beamed. "We have apprehended the Three Leaves Two Branches Courtyard. They are the perpetrators behind the many trap talismans planted around the Nest of Storm-like Heroes. They acted on one corrupt Inner Sect Disciple's behest, they claim."

Yu Han's face fell. “Who?”