Unit 2

The next day.

At the beginning of the Hour of the Rabbit.

The second day after arriving at the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect and becoming a spirit slave.

Before dawn had broken, the bars at the door were opened. Wang Yu rose punctually and followed the stream of people to the Bluestone Plaza before the Stone House Area.

At that moment, twenty cultivators stood atop a small platform, gazing down at the crowd with indifference.

Besides the batch from Stone Lake City who had arrived yesterday, the plaza held many people from other places with Mixed Spiritual Roots or Useless Spiritual Roots. At a glance, there were no fewer than several thousand.

Wang Yu did not know how great the differences were between the Tai Lake and Red Kite regions, but the Stone House Area was by no means home to all the Inverse Spirit Blood Sect's spirit slaves. There were likely batches being raised beneath each of the Nine Peaks.

Quite a few spirit slaves had graying hair and aged faces. They were all their seniors...

The overturned cart before was the warning to the cart behind. He absolutely could not fall to such a state!

The twenty Inverse Spirit Blood Sect Outer Disciples wasted no time and immediately began explaining the principles of cultivation.

There was no need to understand the Blood Burning Art in detail. They only needed to explain the principles of Spirit Qi, meridians, and the Circulation of the Heavenly Cycle, enough for these spirit slaves to comprehend the cultivation method.

As for the illiterate spirit slaves, they had to listen first. Only after the hour-long lecture ended would there be a question-and-answer session, with five cultivators assigned specifically to teach literacy.

Not everyone would get the chance to have their doubts answered. They had to fight for it, scramble for it!

Though they were all fellow townsmen from Stone Lake City, Wang Yu noticed that several impoverished farm boys deliberately refrained from stepping forward to learn how to read and write, trying to be clever.

They could not understand the two booklets handed out yesterday, which meant they would not know the rules here. If they could still produce benefits, that was still good. If not, their fate was self-evident.

Death would still be good. A fate worse than death was the true torment.

Only by creating value far beyond themselves could they hope to earn the release of death.

The two-hour lecture came to an end.

Everyone returned to their stone houses one after another. No one made a racket, no one spoke, and still less did anyone take the chance to flee. Everything felt oppressive and silent.

Wang Yu returned to Stone House No. 83. He had barely sat down when a cloth bag was tossed in through the window. Inside were water and food, the same as yesterday.

However, there was one extra item.

"A note?"

Upon unfolding it, Wang Yu was both surprised and unsurprised. Wherever there were people, there was society; wherever there were differences in status, there were distinctions between close and distant, and tangled interests.

All the more so for spirit slaves like them, who could generate profit yet possessed no autonomy.

The Inverse Spirit Blood Sect's Third Peak was named [Cold Blood Peak].

The wealth created by spirit slaves belonged to the sect's public coffers. Assuming there were three thousand of them, with each producing twelve spirit stones per year, that would be 360,000 Low Grade Spirit Stones over ten years. That was no small sum.

Such abundant profit meant the shadows were filled with struggles and scheming. The note had been delivered by Steward Duan, who was responsible for managing the spirit slaves. The Stone House Area did not have only one steward.

There were three in total, each representing the interests of a different faction within Cold Blood Peak. Besides displaying his backing, the note mainly dangled a carrot before Wang Yu and instructed him—

After breaking through to the Qi Refining Stage, he was to turn in one tael and four qian of Spirit Sand to Steward Duan every month. The extra four qian would be recorded, and could be exchanged through Steward Duan for spirit pills, spells, and medicinal soups to nourish the body.

Once one had spent a certain amount, one could even obtain an Outer Disciple quota in advance.

With such a carrot dropped onto his head, even Wang Yu, tempered by modern society, felt somewhat dazed. Wouldn't everyone else desperately refine Spirit Sand?!!

The Demonic Path truly understood human nature. Profit and desire had always been the roots that drove people to strive. Want it? Then work harder—risk your life to fulfill a spirit slave's duties.

He set the note aside and was still deep in thought.

When a change suddenly occurred within his body. A strand of Spirit Qi unlike any before abruptly appeared inside him.

"Is this Qi Refining Stage spiritual power?"

Wang Yu sensed that distinct, gentle force and guided it out from his dantian. Wherever it passed, his limbs and bones became pleasantly warm, his mind refreshed, and his Qi and Strength surged!

Under normal circumstances, it should first travel through the meridians before reaching the dantian. Wang Yu's situation was the reverse. Due to the Placement Slot's special nature, this strand of spiritual power had appeared directly within his dantian.

It skipped the process of forcing open his dantian, spreading from a point to a surface rather than the normal progression from surface to point.

The sensation was incomparably marvelous.

Qi Refining First Layer, achieved!

There were no cumbersome preliminary steps, not even much need to understand the cultivation method. He had broken through directly. It was truly absurd.

With the aptitude of Useless Spiritual Roots, sensing Spirit Qi, circulating the cultivation method, refining Spirit Qi... every step was a hurdle. Taking three to five years was perfectly normal, yet now he had skipped all of it.

The Placement Slot ensured that he could absorb a strand of Spirit Qi every half hour. This was the first time it had truly been transmitted and refined into spiritual power, assisting him in breaking through to the Qi Refining First Layer.

According to the Blood Burning Art's description of the Qi Refining realm.

So long as he accumulated ten strands of spiritual power, he could break through to the Qi Refining Second Layer, open up more cultivation-method nodes within his body, and refine more spiritual power of greater purity!

Even if the strand of spiritual power currently in his body was expended, it could recover on its own. It belonged to him completely.

If he refined it into Spirit Sand, however, it would be a permanent loss. Naturally, he could not bear to do that.

"At the normal pace, even with someone answering questions, my breakthrough speed is still too fast—unless I use the Blood Burning Art's special effect."

Wang Yu was unwilling to damage his lifespan, yet he also worried that he could not conceal his cultivation realm. If the note spoke true, he had to exchange for a spell that could hide his realm.

"No. For a mere spirit slave to exchange for such a spell—wouldn't that be tantamount to giving myself away?"

If he damaged his own cultivation, shaving off realms that defied common sense and storing them as tangible Spirit Sand, that kind of operation would be enough to give anyone a cerebral thrombosis.

Wang Yu knew perfectly well that strength was the only way for him to change his circumstances. The higher his realm, the greater his chances of becoming an Outer Disciple.

In truth, he had only one path: activate the Blood Burning Art's effect as a cover. He did not need to use much—he only needed to look the same as the other Spirit Slaves on the surface. Only then could he explain the abnormalities in his cultivation and the amount of Spirit Sand he possessed.

Only by spending his life could he advance quickly. Only then would it make sense.

He had no choice but to cultivate.

Just as Wang Yu was about to have his true body begin cultivating by burning its lifespan, he suddenly discovered that the cheat had Changed. Perhaps it was because he had broken through Qi Refining First Layer, shedding his mortal state and becoming a cultivator.

[Placement Slot 1: Blood Burning Art]

[Placement Slot 2: None]

"This—"

Wang Yu's eyes shifted. For Now, he did not know whether this had been caused by his breakthrough in realm or some other reason. Once he broke through to Qi Refining Second Layer, he would obtain part of the answer.

Unfortunately, he had nothing else in hand that could be placed.

After letting out a long sigh, another flash of inspiration crossed his mind. He tried placing the Blood Burning Art into Unit 2.

"Success!"

[Placement Slot 2: Blood Burning Art]

"Blood Burning Art (1/100): Forty-eight cultivation sessions a day; mastery in one year."

Although the description had not changed, the progress on both sides was shared.