The Disciples Might Profit, but the Greenwood Sect Would Never Lose Out

[First day in the Ascension Hall.]

[Everyone received one copy of the Basic Qi Guiding Instruction, three Grain Avoidance Pills, and one straw mat.]

[Deacon Liu Cheng stood at the hall entrance.]

["The sect is merciful, providing three Grain Avoidance Pills free of charge. Each one can sustain you for ten days."]

["Starting in the second month, Grain Avoidance Pills must be purchased with Spirit Stones."]

["Those without enough Spirit Stones may take out another Cultivation Assistance Loan."]

[Someone spoke up cautiously.]

["Lord Deacon, haven't we already paid the entrance fee?"]

[Liu Cheng turned his head to look at him.]

["The entrance fee is the entrance fee."]

["Cultivation resources are cultivation resources."]

["You paid to enter the mountain. Did you expect the sect to feed you for free too?"]

[The man lowered his head, not daring to ask anything else.]

[You were assigned to cushion Number 97 in Zone C on the west side of the Ascension Hall.]

[A small formation core was carved beside the cushion.]

[The formation core gave off a faint warmth, continuously pouring Spiritual Qi into the body of whoever sat on the cushion.]

[You opened the "Greenwood Qi Guiding Instruction."]

[The cultivation method was not profound, but it was complete.]

[It was far more orthodox than your incomplete "Body Tempering Instruction."]

[This cultivation method required drawing Spiritual Qi into the body and converting Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into one's own spiritual power, breaking open the Dantian's Spirit Aperture and transforming it into a Dantian Qi cavity. All of one's spiritual power would be stored in the Qi cavity, completing the qualitative transformation from Body Tempering to Qi Refining.]

[You began cultivating the Qi Guiding Instruction.]

[When your Qi and Blood at Body Tempering Realm Completion came into contact with the violent Spiritual Qi, your meridians immediately swelled and ached.]

[You found it somewhat different. This cultivation was nothing like the gentle breathing exercises you had expected.]

[It was like... being forcibly infused.]

[On the first night, someone began a breakthrough. Then the breakthrough failed.]

[The person let out a scream, and blood blisters swelled across his skin. Three breaths later, the blisters burst.]

[The people around him scattered.]

[Then something bizarre happened. The blood blisters burst, but there was no grisly scene of blood spraying everywhere.]

[Instead, his entire body turned into a mass of Qi and Blood, which was swiftly absorbed by the formation patterns on the floor.]

[The entire Ascension Hall fell silent in an instant.]

[Liu Cheng stood at the hall entrance and spoke calmly.]

["His Dao heart was unsteady, and his affinity with immortality was shallow."]

[Two menial disciples came in and swept away the clothes and bone fragments on the floor, and the cushion was wiped clean.]

[You stared silently at the cushion.]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Lie low. Suppress your absorption rate and first observe the formation's patterns and the causes of the others' deaths.]

[B: Absorb the Ascension Hall's Spiritual Qi with all your might and break through to Qi Refining today! At worst, you'll turn into a brilliant blossom of blood and start over!]

[C: Apply to Deacon Liu Cheng for a transfer, saying you were better suited to handling Paid Water-Drinking in the dining hall.]

Reading the first half of option B, Lu Ping was actually a little tempted.

The Spiritual Qi in the Ascension Hall was dense, the "Greenwood Qi Guiding Instruction" was complete, and he also had the foundation of Body Tempering Realm Completion.

If he made an all-out push, he might really reach Qi Refining.

In the world of immortal cultivation, cultivation was the foundation of all confidence.

But the second half left Lu Ping at a loss for words.

Little B, if you're not sure, why the hell are you giving me advice?!

The forty years of his first simulation had taught Lu Ping that he was no genius.

An all-out push might leave him as the second cloud of blood mist.

Lying low and waiting for Traits was the way to go.

Lu Ping chose A.

[You chose A.]

[Salty Fish activated.]

[Your Dao heart was harder than gold and stronger than iron. Your cultivation efficiency was halved, and the rate at which Spiritual Qi poured into you fell accordingly.]

[You carefully observed the surroundings in the Ascension Hall.]

[On the first night, one person died.]

[On the third night, three people died.]

[On the fifth night, two people died.]

[...]

[By the tenth day, a total of seventeen disciples at Body Tempering Realm Completion had attempted to break through to Qi Refining.]

[One succeeded.]

[The meridians of the other sixteen burst, and they turned into blood mist. Their Qi and Blood were absorbed by the formation patterns on the floor.]

[The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the Ascension Hall increased.]

[The Greenwood Sect's Ascension Hall Grand Formation was not a simple Spirit Gathering Formation. It had a "Qi-and-Blood-to-Spirit Formation" layered over it.]

[It used cultivators' Qi and Blood and souls as fuel to increase the efficiency of Spiritual Qi conversion.]

[Watching all this, you felt a sense of absurdity rise in your heart.]

[You had thought the Black Tiger Gang was already black-hearted enough, treating people as slaves to mine ore and sending them to their deaths as expendables.]

[Only now did you understand: what the Black Tiger Gang practiced was barbarism; what the Greenwood Sect practiced was civilization.]

[The Black Tiger Gang robbed you of your money and your life. The Greenwood Sect made you willingly hand over your money, then took your life.]

[The youth who had successfully broken through was taken away by Liu Cheng.]

[Before leaving, he glanced back at everyone in the Ascension Hall. He raised his identity token as if by accident, but made sure everyone saw it.]

[Greenwood Sect Outer Sect Disciple!]

[A tall, thin youth spoke in a hushed voice.]

["Sixteen die for one to succeed."]

["This is an affinity with immortality?"]

[Beside him, a young man from a wealthy family bit into a Grain Avoidance Pill and glared fiercely at him.]

["What do you know? As long as someone succeeds, that's enough."]

["Didn't we come here to gamble with our lives?"]

[The tall, thin youth fell silent. He looked at the cushion on the floor that had just been wiped clean and instinctively edged back half an inch.]

Lu Ping sighed with emotion as he read the words.

The neutral ones were beginning to fear, while the fanatics were still gambling.

His boss in his previous life had liked employees like that too.

They could whip themselves into a frenzy and berate their coworkers for not working hard enough while they were at it.

[You finally discovered a pattern in the Ascension Hall's formation.]

[The formation cores intensified their infusion every day at midnight.]

[Those with good aptitude could use it to break through their bottlenecks.]

[Those with poor aptitude, weak Qi and Blood, and unsettled minds would be blown apart on the spot.]

[You also discovered that the Greenwood Sect did not test Spirit Roots because there really was no need.]

[A genius was bound to succeed within six months. Even trash who failed to break through could replenish the Ascension Hall Grand Formation.]

[Those who survived were naturally valuable, and those who didn't could still serve as materials.]

[Some of the Probationary Disciples might have profited. But the Greenwood Sect would never lose out.]

[You continued observing.]

[The successful ones had special channels in their bodies, through which Spiritual Qi was rapidly converted after entering.]

[The failures could only endure it by force. More and more Spiritual Qi poured in; their meridians swelled first, then their Dantians cracked, and finally they burst apart.]

[You understood. Those were Spirit Roots.]

[At the same time, you realized that your own Spirit Root was probably not very good.]

[You began cultivating cautiously.]

[With your foundation at Body Tempering Realm Completion, you were much stronger than ordinary Probationary Disciples.]

[But the "Greenwood Qi Guiding Instruction" differed greatly from the "Body Tempering Instruction."]

[Without Artisan Spirit equipped, you did not comprehend it very quickly.]

[Once again, you lamented that you didn't have enough Trait slots.]

[On the night of the nineteenth day.]

[The disciple on cushion Number 98 beside you suddenly began convulsing.]

[The Spiritual Qi inside him ran wild, and his body was on the verge of bursting.]

[After he died, the infusion intensity of the formation core in your Zone C would increase.]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Save him by interrupting his breathing exercise. This might expose the fact that you had seen through the formation.]

[B: Ignore him and continue observing. Death was commonplace in the Ascension Hall.]

[C: Cheer him on and shout, "Believe in yourself! You can go out with a louder bang!"]