At three in the morning the next day, before dawn had broken, Chen Lin was called out of bed by Chen Hongbo.
After washing up, Chen Lin followed Chen Hongbo through the starry night toward the slaughterhouse in the south of the city.
Limited by the level of social productivity, slaughterhouses in this world generally slaughtered livestock during the Hour of the Tiger, then hauled the meat to the market for sale during the Hour of the Rabbit.
The slaughterhouse where Chen Lin's father worked was property of the Chen Clan Patriarch's family.
Back when Chen Lin had been found to possess talent for martial arts, the Chen Clan Patriarch had not only arranged a new residence for Chen Lin's family, but also found Chen Hongbo a job to support the household. At the same time, he provided the Chen family with a monthly subsidy of five taels of silver. It could be said that he had considered every angle.
Of course, none of this was free. These arrangements were made on the condition that once Chen Lin became a Demon Slayer Envoy or a powerful martial artist, he would repay the Lineage.
If Chen Lin failed to achieve success in cultivation or become a respected Demon Slayer Envoy, then his entire family would have to become servants and labor for the Lineage to repay their debt—unless Chen Lin suddenly came into a large sum of silver, enough to cover the expenses the Lineage had spent on him over the years.
Faced with such a coercive arrangement, no matter how unwilling Chen Lin's family was, they had no choice but to hold their noses and accept it.
One reason was that martial arts training truly consumed enormous amounts of money, something an ordinary family simply could not afford. The other was that these were the Lineage's rules. Every household had to obey them. They could not refuse, nor did they have the strength to do so.
Before long, Chen Lin followed his father to the slaughterhouse beside the city wall.
Because of the slaughterhouse's particular nature, and in order to minimize its impact on nearby residents, slaughterhouses were generally located on the city's outskirts near the walls.
The moment Chen Lin entered the slaughterhouse, a thick, rank stench stabbed into his nostrils, making his stomach churn with nausea.
Forcing down the urge to vomit, Chen Lin looked up. In the broad yard, seventeen or eighteen rough men were bustling about in full swing.
Livestock after livestock was pinned down, bled, and dismembered. Dull, miserable howls echoed endlessly through the grounds, making Chen Lin's scalp tingle.
Chen Hongbo led Chen Lin beneath a small shed and cupped his hands toward a burly man, fat and brawny, dressed in a coarse linen shirt. "Master Dong, this is my son, Chen Lin. He's recently hit a bottleneck in his martial training and wants to work slaughtering livestock here for a while. I hope Master Dong can make an exception for him."
The man Chen Hongbo called Master Dong was named Dong Wu. He was the head butcher who managed the slaughterhouse. Although greedy by nature, he handled matters fairly. That was the fundamental reason Chen Hongbo had agreed without the slightest hesitation after hearing Chen Lin's request.
After speaking, Chen Hongbo discreetly placed a small pouch of silver on the tea table beside Dong Wu, then waited for his response with a fawning expression.
Watching everything his father did, Chen Lin felt somewhat stifled, but he did not childishly stop him.
Dong Wu casually weighed the money pouch Chen Hongbo had placed on the table. Then delight immediately appeared on his face as he said politely, "Since he's Old Brother Chen's child, how could I possibly refuse such a small request? Leave it to me, little brother. Wait here a moment. I'll have Old Li come over and take my nephew to familiarize himself with the slaughterhouse."
After speaking, Dong Wu shouted at several burly men working in the distance, "Old Li, come here! I need to talk to you!"
Among the busy workers, a muscular man with a bare upper body immediately stopped what he was doing upon hearing this. With a flattering expression, he strode toward the three of them and called from afar, "Brother Dong, what are your orders?"
"This is our nephew. Take him around the slaughterhouse, and teach him how to slaughter livestock while you're at it. He's a martial artist, so there's no need to teach him step by step. Teach him whichever way is fastest, and get him started as soon as possible!" Dong Wu pointed at Chen Lin and gave the order loudly.
"Sure! That's easy. I, Old Li, guarantee our nephew will learn to slaughter livestock in a single day!" Old Li immediately understood and thumped his chest with a bang as he made his loud promise.
"Go on!" Dong Wu waved his hand, signaling Chen Lin to follow Old Li.
Chen Lin glanced at Chen Hongbo. After his father nodded, he followed Old Li toward the area where the slaughtering was underway.
Old Li first led Chen Lin around the place. After explaining some basic knowledge about slaughtering livestock, he handed Chen Lin a slaughtering knife and pointed at a row of cages holding chickens and ducks. "Nephew, you've never slaughtered livestock before. Since it's your first time today, start with chickens and ducks. Once you get familiar with it, I'll let you try slaughtering pigs and sheep. What do you think?"
Chen Lin nodded. "All right!"
"Mm, good. Give it a try first. If you have any questions, ask me anytime!" After saying that, Old Li turned and left, as though afraid Chen Lin might change his mind.
Chen Lin did not care about Old Li's perfunctory attitude. He had not come to the slaughterhouse to learn a trade or earn money, but to earn Slaughter Points. As long as they let him kill, he could overlook everything else.
Beside the well, Chen Lin reached out and grabbed a chicken. He skillfully held its legs and wings with both hands, plucked the down from its neck, gripped its throat, and lightly drew the slaughtering knife across it.
"Pfft, pfft..."
Chicken blood spurted like a column of water into a large brown vat, sending faint ripples across its surface.
[Slaughter Points +0.05]
Slaughter Points!
Chen Lin's eyes widened. After the notification of gaining Slaughter Points flashed through his mind, secret delight welled up within him.
Although he had already suspected it before, seeing that slaughtering chickens truly could earn Slaughter Points still sent waves of joy through his heart.
He had never expected the Slaughter Points he had yearned for day and night to be so easily obtained. His confidence in passing the Demon Slayer Envoy examination a month later rose considerably.
Wait. One chicken gave 0.05. If he killed all of these, wouldn't he gain more than a dozen Slaughter Points? And if he killed pigs and sheep larger than chickens, wouldn't he gain even more Slaughter Points?
At that thought, Chen Lin's eyes blazed, and his chicken-killing movements became much more nimble.
By the end of the day, Chen Lin had slaughtered a total of 150 chickens and 120 ducks, gaining 13.5 Slaughter Points in all.
It left Chen Lin exhausted, yet happy.
Near evening, after finishing the day's work, Chen Lin had barely returned home before he rushed impatiently into the kitchen to boil water.
After spending an entire day in the slaughterhouse, the nausea and retching had lessened considerably, but the reek of sweat and blood on his body had grown much stronger.
For Chen Lin, who had always loved cleanliness, it was simply unbearable.
Seeing Chen Lin clumsily scampering about like a little monkey, Chen Hongbo shook his head with a bitter smile but did not utter a single word of reproach.
Because when he had first gone to work at the slaughterhouse, he had not performed much better than Chen Lin.
Soaking in the bath barrel, Chen Lin rested his head against the rim, so comfortable that even his tailbone felt slightly numb.
With a thought from Chen Lin, the jade book slowly opened.
[Host: Chen Lin] [Realm: Late Martial Disciple] [Soul: 25] [True Qi: 0] [Physical Strength: 62] [Slaughter Points: 13.5] [Techniques: Soul Strengthening Technique Level 1 (1/10), Basic Body Tempering Method Level 2 (12/20)] [Martial Skills: Basic Swordplay Level 3 (8/30), Basic Movement Technique Level 2 (8/20)]
Seeing that the Body Tempering Method was closest to leveling up, Chen Lin focused his attention on the transparent little plus sign after Basic Body Tempering Method.
With a thought, the number 12 in the original (12/20) gave a slight jump as Chen Lin added a point, turning into 13, while his Slaughter Points dropped from 13.5 to 12.5.
Seeing that adding points truly worked, Chen Lin could not resist adding eight Slaughter Points to the Basic Body Tempering Technique in one breath.
Before you continue