Too Much

Half an hour later, the Exquisite Bamboo was cut down.

Rumble!

The Exquisite Bamboo before him crashed to the ground.

Looking at the fallen Exquisite Bamboo, Fang Chen felt an intense sense of conquest rise within him.

He reached into his robes and pulled out his identity plaque. It was carved from a special kind of wood, with a small azure sword on the back. The front bore the three characters "Dragon Tiger Mountain," along with Fang Chen's name and his handyman number.

The wooden plaque felt icy and heavy in his hand, its surface engraved with mysterious runic patterns.

Fang Chen rapidly rubbed it with his hand.

After rubbing it for a while, Fang Chen seemed to remember something and immediately stopped.

"No, I can't call the steward over so soon!"

Fang Chen's gaze narrowed slightly. His strength was already weak, and with such a pathetic tool on top of that, there was no way he could cut down an Exquisite Bamboo within an hour.

If he called the steward over now, the steward would definitely grow suspicious.

None of the handymen at Dragon Tiger Mountain, including Steward Cao Bin, had good intentions.

For the sake of safety, Fang Chen had no choice but to be careful.

In this perilous world, rife with deception and schemes, even the slightest oversight could bring about his death.

He had to be cautious, cautious, and cautious again.

He turned and went over to the large boulder, raising his sword to chop at it.

Two hours later.

"That should be enough!"

Fang Chen stopped, put away the Heavenly Remnant Sword, and took out his identity plaque again before rubbing it.

If he had been a Qi Refining Realm cultivator, activating the identity plaque would have been simple. He would only need to channel a strand of True Qi into it.

After rubbing it for a while, the runic patterns on the identity plaque began to emit a faint white glow.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, two people arrived where Fang Chen was. One was Cao Bin, the handyman steward of Dragon Tiger Mountain; the other was Tian Hu, a senior handyman of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Tian Hu possessed a Spiritual Root. Although it was only a four-element Mixed Spiritual Root, he could at least cultivate. Compared to trash like Fang Chen, who did not even have a Spiritual Root, he was far superior.

Spiritual Roots were most commonly of the five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Besides those, there were also Lightning Spiritual Roots, Dark Spiritual Roots, and Ice Spiritual Roots.

Ice Spiritual Roots were a mutated variety of Water Spiritual Roots and, strictly speaking, were also considered Water Spiritual Roots.

There were two main categories of Spiritual Roots: True Spiritual Roots and Mixed Spiritual Roots.

A True Spiritual Root referred to a Spiritual Root of a single attribute.

A Mixed Spiritual Root, on the other hand, referred to one with two or more attributes.

In terms of cultivation efficiency, True Spiritual Roots were the best.

Dual-attribute Spiritual Roots came next.

Those with three-attribute Spiritual Roots were practically fated to miss out on becoming Inner Disciples of the great immortal sects. Most became handymen or Outer Sect Disciples.

Four-attribute Spiritual Roots were also known as useless Spiritual Roots.

Beyond that, there were Spiritual Roots with five attributes, or even six or seven. Those were the useless among useless Spiritual Roots.

Theoretically, the more attributes a Spiritual Root had, the better. After all, the more people, the greater the strength; one could cultivate spells of many different attributes.

But reality was nothing of the sort.

A single-attribute Spiritual Root was like one person eating their fill, with no family left hungry. Its cultivation efficiency was simply top-notch.

A dual-attribute Spiritual Root meant there were two mouths at home, and their tastes were completely different. Every meal required two dishes. Neither mouth could be left hungry; both had to be fed, making it time-consuming and laborious.

A three-attribute Spiritual Root meant there were three people in the household, and everyone had different tastes as well.

As for four-attribute, five-attribute, or even six-attribute Spiritual Roots, there was no need to elaborate.

Spiritual Roots were innate and intimately connected to the human body.

Multi-attribute Spiritual Roots could not be separated and had to be cultivated simultaneously. Once they fell out of balance, one might suffer qi deviation in mild cases, or Spiritual Root backlash and explode to death in severe ones.

Thus, given the same amount of time and the same allocation of resources, the fewer attributes a Spiritual Root had, the higher the efficiency. Cultivation would progress faster, and one's cultivation level would rise more quickly.

Among True Spiritual Roots, they were further divided into grades one through nine according to their affinity with spiritual energy, from low to high. Above grade nine were Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Heavenly Spiritual Roots were exceedingly rare, something that could be encountered but never sought. Those who possessed them were, more often than not, great powers who had reincarnated.

Fang Chen immediately gave Cao Bin a slight bow. With a respectful expression, he called out, "Steward Cao," then took out his identity plaque and placed it on the Exquisite Bamboo, waiting for Cao Bin to mark it with a Spirit Pen.

A Spirit Pen was made from special materials. Its marks could only be washed away with a special kind of water, yet Qi Refining Realm cultivators could see them clearly with a sweep of their Spiritual Sense.

When marking the line, the Spirit Pen was drawn directly across the identity plaque, leaving a unique mark on both the plaque and the Exquisite Bamboo, making later tallying more convenient.

Tian Hu walked up to Fang Chen and said, "Get the hell out of my way!"

After saying that, he kicked Fang Chen squarely in the chest.

Bang!

Fang Chen was kicked to the ground by Tian Hu.

Clutching his chest, the searing pain twisted the muscles in his face.

Tian Hu walked over to the Exquisite Bamboo, placed his identity plaque on it, then raised his head and said to Cao Bin with a fawning grin, "Steward, please!"

Fang Chen had not expected Tian Hu to try and steal his bamboo as well. He looked up at Tian Hu and cursed, "Tian Hu, I cut this bamboo down. Don't push people too far!"

"Pah! I am pushing you too far—what can you do about it? Keep yapping and see if I don't knock every tooth out of your mouth!"

Tian Hu spat at Fang Chen and glared at him like a vicious demon.

Fang Chen looked up at Cao Bin, hoping that Cao Bin would uphold justice for him.

Cao Bin looked at Fang Chen, his eyes filled with disgust.

Fang Chen was the worst Handyman on all of Dragon Tiger Mountain. Skinny as a rake, he looked like a sickly cat, yet he could eat like nobody's business. Because of Fang Chen, Dragon Tiger Mountain's overall efficiency had been dragged down.

Dragon Tiger Mountain's main business was mining, and they had to pay money to those above them according to their headcount. Because of Fang Chen, Cao Bin had lost out on a great deal of money.

Every time he saw Fang Chen, anger rose in his heart, and he wished he could throw Fang Chen out of Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Tian Hu, on the other hand, was the finest Handyman on Dragon Tiger Mountain. He might even break through to the Qi Refining Realm and become an Outer Sect Disciple.

Once Tian Hu became an Outer Sect Disciple, Cao Bin, as the Handyman steward of Dragon Tiger Mountain, would receive a large reward from the sect.

The sect did this to encourage stewards to actively cultivate the Handymen under them, thereby bringing fresh blood into the sect.

That was why he treated Tian Hu so well.

Cao Bin walked over to the Exquisite Bamboo and used the Spirit Pen to mark both the bamboo and Tian Hu's identity plaque.

"You've gone too far!"

At the sight of this, Fang Chen trembled with rage from head to toe, but there was nothing he could do.

"Fuck your mother!"

Tian Hu put away his identity plaque, walked up to Fang Chen, and kicked him again, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Cao Bin looked at Fang Chen and said coldly, "Before nightfall, you must cut down two more Exquisite Bamboos. Otherwise, you'll be sorry!"

With that, he turned and left with Tian Hu.