Although the Golden Dragon Branch Altar had been established not long ago and was short of manpower, the Book Collection Tower had been built early on.
Inside the Book Collection Tower were not only various cultivation techniques and secret technique classics brought from the main temple but also various materials summarizing the exploration of the Wasteland Territory by the Dragon Transformation Sect.
To practice the cultivation techniques and secret art classics, one had to pay contribution points within the sect; however, the general knowledge materials were freely accessible to missionary envoys like Zhou Chun.
After entering the Book Collection Tower, Zhou Chun stayed inside for two days.
When he came out, he had gained a much better understanding of the Wasteland Territory and had taken with him a rudimentary map of the area surrounding the Golden Dragon Branch Altar.
With half a day's time left, he hurried to the Internal Affairs Hall within the Branch Temple Gate and sought an audience with Envoy Yu, who had escorted him to his residence on the first day, to inquire about the common missions of the Golden Dragon Hall envoys.
Since Guan Cheng openly favored Zhou Chun, Envoy Yu was very enthusiastic and immediately shared with him everything he knew.
It turned out that with the current shortage of manpower in the Golden Dragon Hall, the missions laid upon the envoys were far from light.
The most common missions involved clearing out Demon Beasts around the branch altar, prospecting for resources, and some envoys were sent out to recruit new sect members.
Zhou Chun knew that the task of recruiting new sect members would definitely not fall on him for now.
Most likely, what he needed to do involved fighting and killing.
As expected, after the three-day period elapsed, he received a mission from Great Protector Guan Cheng to accompany another envoy in sweeping a Spirit Mountain and capturing the Spirit Grass guarded by Demon Beasts.
After accepting the mission, he did not dare delay and quickly went to the assembly point near the gate to meet with the others.
By the time he reached the outside of a stone pavilion, he saw a middle-aged man with a pale face and wearing a silver vestment robe seated inside, a cultivator in the midst of Foundation Establishment.
Upon seeing him arrive, the pale-faced man immediately put away the book in his hand and greeted him with a fist-and-palm salute, "You must be Envoy Zhou Yuanyang. I am Qian Wenlong, and I have been waiting for Envoy Zhou for quite some time."
"Indeed, I am Zhou. I apologize for making Envoy Qian wait," Zhou Chun replied, returning the salute before speaking softly, "This is my first mission since joining the sect, and if there is anything inappropriate in my conduct, I hope Envoy Qian will offer guidance."
Hearing this, Envoy Qian gave a faint smile and responded, "Envoy Zhou is too polite. Aside from the sect rules, our sect does not have any messy regulations. As long as the mission is accomplished, the protector lords usually don't care about the details!"
The implication was that they only cared about the results, not the process.
Zhou Chun had actually already learned about this from Envoy Yu; he was merely using it to probe Envoy Qian now.
The result of the probe was quite satisfactory; at least Envoy Qian showed the basic goodwill for cooperation, so the mission should not be difficult to complete.
After briefly discussing a few mission-related topics, the two of them went to the Beast Garden inside the Branch Temple Gate, collected a Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrow as their mount, and rode together to the location of the mission.
The Dragon Transformation Sect tamed a variety of Flood Dragons, naturally breeding many Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts.
The Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrow was one of them.
This flying Demon Beast was enormous and could carry three or four people for thousands of li, making it an excellent means of transportation.
Generally, when the envoys of the Dragon Transformation Sect left the branch altar for missions, they would ride the Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrows to save their mana.
The destination for Zhou Chun and his mission was about seven hundred li from the Golden Dragon Branch Altar. With a rest on the way, the Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrow could take them directly there.
However, the journey was not peaceful.
The Wasteland Territory was full of Demon Beasts, and many powerful ones did not like other creatures flying over their heads, let alone human cultivators.
Some flying Demon Beasts that regarded the sky as their territory would treat Demon Beasts and cultivators entering their airspace as invaders and attack them fiercely.
Therefore, Zhou Chun and Qian Wenlong were forced to act many times along the way, consuming a lot of their mana.
By the time they truly reached their destination, both of them had only about seventy percent of their mana left.
Atop a mountain peak, the Red-Eyed Dragon Sparrow landed smoothly under Qian Wenlong's control.
Then Qian Wenlong fed it several large chunks of fresh meat before storing it inside a Spirit Beast Pouch.
He then said to Zhou Chun, "The target of this mission is a second-grade intermediate Demon Beast, the Golden Sword Tiger. It resides outside a tiger den where grows a Blood Spirit Grass that has lived for over nine hundred years. We must transplant it back to the Branch Temple Gate intact!"
"Although you, Envoy Zhou, have a cultivation level slightly lower than mine by a single minor realm, your strength is indeed stronger than mine. I suggest you lure the Golden Sword Tiger out of its den, and then I will transplant the Spirit Grass," proposed Qian Wenlong.
The truth was that Qian Wenlong had initially discovered the Blood Spirit Grass.
However, he lacked the strength to seize it alone and had been unsuccessful multiple times.
And if he privately asked someone for help, then there would be the problem of how to divide the gains.
So he reported the matter to Great Protector Guan Cheng and offered the grass to the sect.
After learning about it, Guan Cheng wanted to transplant the Blood Spirit Grass back to the Branch Temple Gate first and then harvest it once it developed into a thousand-year Spirit Grass.
And this mission fell upon Zhou Chun and Qian Wenlong.
Hearing Qian Wenlong's words, Zhou Chun gazed at him, pondered briefly, and then nodded lightly, saying, "Very well, let's do as Envoy Qian suggests."