The next day.
It was the second day since Wang Yu arrived at the Blood Reversal Sect to become a Spirit Slave.
Before dawn, the railing by the door was opened. Wang Yu got up on time and followed the crowd to the bluestone square in front of the stone housing area.
At that moment, twenty cultivators were standing on a small platform, coldly watching the gathered crowd.
In addition to the batch from Stone Lake City who had arrived yesterday, there were many others from different places. All of them had mixed or wasted spiritual roots. At a glance, there were at least several thousand people.
Wang Yu didn’t know the specific difference between the Taihu and Crimson Kite domains, but he was sure the stone housing area did not represent all of the Spirit Slaves in the Blood Reversal Sect. Underneath the nine peaks, each likely had its own batch of slaves.
Among them were many Spirit Slaves with gray-mixed hair and aged appearances, these were their seniors...
Learn from those before you. Do not fall to that level.
The twenty outer sect disciples of the Blood Reversal Sect wasted no time and directly began to explain the basics of cultivation.
As for the illiterate Spirit Slaves, they were instructed to listen first. After the one-hour explanation, a Q&A session would begin, with five cultivators assigned to teach reading and writing.
Not everyone would get the chance to ask questions, they had to fight for it, had to seize it.
Wang Yu noticed a few fellow townsmen from Stone Lake City, born to poor farming families, who deliberately did not come forward to learn literacy. Trying to act clever.
They couldn’t read the two booklets handed out yesterday, so they wouldn’t know the rules here. If they managed to produce results, fine. If not, the consequences were obvious.
If they died, it would be better. A fate worse than death was the real torture.
Only by creating value far beyond their own lives could they hope for the relief of death.
Two hours later, the lesson ended.
Everyone returned to their respective stone houses in turn. No one made noise, no one spoke, and no one tried to escape. Everything felt repressed and quiet.
Wang Yu returned to Stone House No. 83. Just after sitting down, a cloth pouch was thrown in through the window. Inside were water and food, the same as yesterday’s.
But there was something new.
“A note?”
He unfolded it and was both surprised and unsurprised. Wherever there are people, there is a society, with hierarchy, favoritism, and power struggles.
Let alone a group like Spirit Slaves who can generate profit but hold no sovereignty.
The third peak of the Blood Reversal Sect is called Cold Blood Peak.
The wealth created by the Spirit Slaves belongs to the sect’s communal property. Assuming there are 3,000 people, each producing 12 low-grade spirit stones per year, in ten years that’s 360,000 low-grade spirit stones. Not a small number.
Such immense benefit inevitably gives rise to scheming and infighting. The note came from Steward Duan, who manages the Spirit Slaves. The stone house area wasn’t overseen by just one steward.
There were three in total, each representing the interests of a different faction within Cold Blood Peak. The note, aside from laying out background information, mainly tried to bait Wang Yu and gave him specific instructions.
Once he broke through to the Qi Refining stage, he was to hand over one tael and four qian of Spirit Sand each month to Steward Duan. The extra four qian would be recorded and could be exchanged for spirit pills, spells, or nourishing medicinal decoctions from him.
[TL Note - traditional Chinese units of weight, roughly 50 grams for a tael and 5 grams for a qian]
If he spent enough, he could even earn an outer sect disciple quota in advance.
This promise hit like a pie from the sky. Even someone like Wang Yu, hardened by modern society, felt a bit dizzy. How could the others not go all out to refine Spirit Sand?
The demonic path truly understands human nature. Profit and desire are forever the roots of motivation. Want something? Then work harder. Fight to fulfill your role as a Spirit Slave.
He put the note aside, deep in thought.
Then, something inside his body changed. A strand of spiritual qi unlike anything before suddenly appeared within him.
“Is this Qi Refining-stage spiritual power?”
Wang Yu felt this strand of gentle and distinct energy, directing it to flow out from his dantian. Wherever it passed, his limbs and bones were filled with warmth. His spirit was refreshed and his strength surged.
Normally, spiritual qi would first flow through the meridians and then gather in the dantian. But Wang Yu’s case was reversed. Due to the special nature of the idle slot, this strand of spiritual power appeared directly within the dantian.
The process of breaking open the dantian was skipped, starting from a point to a surface, rather than the normal progression from surface to point.
The sensation was incredibly strange.
Qi Refining, First Layer: Achieved.
There were no complicated preliminary steps, not even much comprehension of the cultivation technique. He simply broke through, which was utterly absurd.
With Wasted Spiritual Roots, sensing spiritual energy, circulating the technique, refining spiritual energy—each step is a difficult hurdle. Taking three to five years would be completely normal, but all of it had now been skipped.
The idle slot ensured he could absorb a wisp of spiritual energy every half hour. This was the first time it had truly been refined and converted into spiritual power, helping him break through to the First Layer of Qi Refining.
According to Blood Reversal Sutra’s description of the Qi Refining Realm:
As long as ten wisps of spiritual power are accumulated, one can break through to the Second Layer of Qi Refining, open more technique nodes within the body, and refine more abundant and purer spiritual power.
Even if the current wisp of spiritual power in his body was consumed, it could regenerate on its own. It fully belonged to him now.
If it were condensed into Spirit Sand, it would cause permanent loss, so naturally, he was reluctant.
“At normal speed, even with someone to guide me, this rate of breakthrough would still be too fast, unless I use the special effect of the Blood-Burning Technique.”
Wang Yu felt unwilling. He did not want to harm his lifespan, yet he also worried that his cultivation realm would be too conspicuous. If what the slip of paper said was true, he would have to switch to a technique that could conceal his realm.
“No, exchanging such a technique for a mere Spirit Slave would be as good as giving myself away.”
If he damaged his own cultivation and suppressed his unreasonable realm, turning it into actual Spirit Sand and storing it, that kind of operation was essentially suicidal.
Wang Yu knew very well that power was his only way to change his fate. The higher his realm, the greater the chance he had of being promoted to an outer sect disciple.
In reality, he had only one path: use the Blood-Burning Technique for concealment effect. He didn’t need to use much, just enough to make his appearance seem like any other Spirit Slave. That would explain his unusual cultivation and amount of Spirit Sand.
Only by sacrificing lifespan could one progress this quickly. That was the only logic that made sense.
Not cultivating was not an option.
Just as he was preparing to activate the true body's Blood-for-Longevity cultivation, Wang Yu suddenly discovered that his cheat had changed, possibly due to breaking through the First Layer of Qi Refining and transforming from a mortal to a cultivator.
[Idle Slot 1: Blood-Burning Technique]
[Idle Slot 2: Empty]
"This—"
Wang Yu's eyes shifted. For now, he did not know whether it was the breakthrough in realm that caused this, or something else. When he reached the Second Layer of Qi Refining, he would get part of the answer.
Unfortunately, he had nothing else to put into the second slot.
Letting out a long sigh, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. He tried placing the Blood-Burning Technique into Slot 2.
"Success!"
[Idle Slot 2: Blood-Burning Technique]
Blood-Burning Technique (1/100): Forty-eight sessions of training per day. One year to master.
The description had not changed, but the progress was shared between the two slots.