“Ahhh, no, don’t come near me! I’m already done for, really done for!”
The next morning, a shrill scream came from the small courtyard where Lai Ren lived. Passing disciples stopped and peered inside. A moment later, they saw Lai Ren, clothes disheveled and hair a mess, rush out of his room and dive headfirst into the courtyard pond.
“What’s wrong with Elder Lai?”
“I don’t know, maybe he suffered Qi deviation during cultivation yesterday and lost his senses for a moment?”
“Then what did he mean by ‘I’m done for, really done for’?”
“Who knows, maybe he lost his spiritual power.”
“Hmph, I think it’s heavenly punishment. That guy has embezzled plenty of our pills.”
“Careful what you say, his uncle is an inner sect elder. We can’t afford to provoke him.”
After a few brief exchanges, the Servant Quarters disciples quickly scattered, afraid Lai Ren might trouble them.
At the same time, far away in a cave dwelling behind the mountain, Lin Yuan finally stopped his movements. He gathered all of his spiritual power onto the iron blade, then shot forward and slashed against the stone wall once again.
Three marks appeared just like before, but unlike earlier, each gash sank deep into the stone with astonishing force.
“After training for a whole night, I’ve reached minor completion in Shadow Pursuit. Thankfully fatigue can be transferred; otherwise, my results wouldn’t be this outstanding.”
He casually opened the panel, only to find Lai Ren’s health bar had dropped by more than half again, and above his portrait floated four large words: Heart of the Dao Shattered.
No way. Even if he’s a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, did he really get completely ruined in a single day?
Word was that Lai Ren’s cultivation was entirely built by swallowing pills, and now it seemed the rumors were true. He had to change the bound target.
He also needed to figure out how to bind more people. Letting one person bear all the side effects would destroy them too quickly. If he could spread them among several people, the effect should be much better.
…
Walking out of the cave, Lin Yuan headed straight toward the northern dense forest. He was still a Servant Quarters disciple.
Once the rest day ended, he had to return to work, and it was heavy labor like chopping spiritual wood. Spiritual wood was needed for building, forging, and alchemy.
Unless it was a rest day, he never had free time.
“In two months, during the Servant Quarters disciple assessment, I must take top three and become an outer sect disciple. Otherwise, I’ll never have time to cultivate normally!”
With this determination in mind, Lin Yuan arrived at the area where he usually chopped spiritual wood, only to find three people already waiting there.
They were also Servant Quarters disciples like him, but the three were normally responsible for cleaning the Ice Cave, something completely unrelated to him. Strange. Why were they here?
“Junior Brother, we have a great opportunity for you.”
The burly man leading them spoke bluntly.
Great opportunity? Lin Yuan’s mind stirred, and he instantly understood their intention.
The inside of the Ice Cave was freezing cold, so cold that ordinary Qi Refining Realm cultivators could hardly endure it.
Cleaning it once would, at best, leave one sick for days, and at worst damage one’s cultivation.
Servant Quarters disciples dreaded it. These three clearly wanted him to take their cleaning mission.
“Junior Brother, do you know the Ice Cave? Cleaning there for a single day is worth three days of hard work, and it even helps with cultivation. It is truly a holy cultivation land of the Immortal Gate Sect!”
Hearing this, Lin Yuan sneered inwardly.
Without the bitter cold, it truly would be a cultivation paradise. But… wait. The Ice Cave was perfect. He could just transfer the cold side effect to these three.
“Senior Brothers, this might not be good. I still have spiritual wood work to complete this month, so I really can’t go clean the Ice Cave.”
Hearing this, the three immediately smiled. Compared to the Ice Cave, chopping wood was nothing.
“That’s easy. Transfer your Servant Quarters mission to us, we’ll complete it for you.”
The burly man hurriedly took out his identity token, extremely excited.
Every Servant Quarters disciple had a token used to take and submit missions. If one did not want to do the mission, they could hand it to another person as long as the other party accepted. Whoever’s token carried the mission had to complete it. That was the iron rule.
“Then… thank you, Senior Brothers.”
Lin Yuan pretended to hesitate but still transferred his woodcutting mission to them while accepting the Ice Cave cleaning mission.
Seeing the three secretly laughing, he also sneered inwardly.
The next unlucky ones were them.
[Selected side-effect bearer: He Peng (Immortal Gate Sect Servant Quarters disciple, Blood Demon Sect outer sect disciple).]
Seeing the text appear before his eyes, Lin Yuan’s pupils tightened.
Without saying anything, he immediately canceled selecting He Peng and switched to the other two.
All three of them actually held dual identities, all Blood Demon Sect outer sect disciples.
The Blood Demon Sect’s strength matched the Immortal Gate Sect and was also one of the strongest demonic sects nearby.
He never expected their disciples to infiltrate the Immortal Gate Sect. If even Servant Quarters had infiltrators, who knew how many were lurking among the outer sect or perhaps even the inner sect.
His expression stayed calm as he clasped his hands and left without exposing them. Expose them?
Impossible. Lin Yuan didn’t hold deep feelings for the Immortal Gate Sect to begin with. Even if he exposed them, then what?
Who knew how many infiltrators existed?
If he exposed these three, he would probably die on the spot the next instant.
Leaving the forest, Lin Yuan went straight to the Ice Cave. After showing his identity token, he successfully entered. The outside spiritual Qi was warm and gentle, making one feel lazy when absorbing it. Inside the cave, however, the spiritual Qi carried a piercing chill, like breathing in a blast of winter wind.
[Entered Ice Cave. Side effect obtained: Extreme Cold.]
[Side effect has been transferred to He Peng.]
Without the cold bothering him, Lin Yuan’s cleaning speed skyrocketed. In less than half an hour, the cave was fully cleaned. Finding a secluded place, he simply sat cross-legged and began absorbing spiritual Qi.
The outside world’s spiritual Qi was thin, and even with effort, very little entered the body. But the Ice Cave was entirely different. The spiritual Qi here was unimaginably dense.
The moment he circulated his cultivation technique, he felt spiritual Qi surging madly toward him, scrambling to rush into his body.
“At this speed, I may reach another breakthrough within an hour and step into the 5th stage Qi Refining Realm. This Ice Cave is truly a cultivation holy land.”
He stopped thinking and focused on cultivating.
Meanwhile, on the other side, He Peng shivered violently and threw down his axe. Pulling his clothes tighter, he crouched in a sunny spot trembling all over. His two companions were stunned. They looked at each other, only to realize that their own clothes were wide open and completely soaked in sweat. That was what chopping trees should look like.
“Are you okay?”
Seeing He Peng’s lips turning blue and his face pale, they finally sensed something was wrong.
“I… I’m fine… just… just a little… cold…”
He Peng trembled so badly his teeth chattered, barely able to speak. The two looked up at the blazing sun, their expressions turning strange. It was this hot, yet he said he was cold. Was he in the Ice Cave or what?
“Is he sick? We should find a physician.”
One of them tried pulling He Peng away, but the other stopped him.
“Idiot, we can’t go to a physician. What if we get exposed?”
“Then what do we do?”
“Simple. Isn’t he cold? Burn the spiritual wood. Let’s see if he still feels cold then.”