Though October had arrived, the stifling heat remained.
Outside the city, the atmosphere in the part of the Shack District where Du En and the others lived had grown somewhat tense over the past few days.
The reason was that, apart from their regular daytime labor, members of the Blood Eagle Gang had begun gathering and mobilizing abnormally at night.
This quickly put the opposing Iron Hand Gang on guard. As time passed, the two sides began confronting each other, each insisting on its own version of events. Clearly, they were rubbing their fists and itching for a fight, and the air reeked of gunpowder.
The other unrelated people from the Underlying Layer grew uneasy, afraid the flames would reach them.
Overall, however, since the gang members and hall leaders still had to work during the day, things remained only at the stage of brewing omens.
Du En kept watch on the situation. Every night, he would go out and observe for a while, but he did not overdo it.
His daily rhythm remained the same: sweating as he buried corpses during the day, searching for herbs and cooking meals in the evening, and diligently practicing Liver Training at night.
[Age: 18/91] [Spiritual Root: Low-grade] [Cultivation: Early Qi Refining (15/100)] [Technique: Yellow Earth Technique (Initial Glimpse 7/20)] [Spell: Earth Bullet Technique (Initial Glimpse 1/20)] [Divine Ability: None] [Hundred Arts: Herb Gathering and Appraisal (Beginner's Practice 4/10), Culinary Arts (Beginner's Practice 1/10)]
Ten days had passed since he began cooking spirit food.
Every day, Du En would find a way to catch a Strange Owl, gather and identify three kinds of herbs, then cook a serving of spirit food to promote his diligent cultivation of the technique.
While observing the Blood Eagle Gang's movements each night, he would also practice his spell for a while, wasting not even a moment.
Seeing how Du En had become completely addicted to cooking Strange Owls, actively catching them and treating them as food, the other corpse buriers could not help muttering among themselves.
Wei Ming even began to wonder whether Du En had truly come up with something.
At the very least, judging by the smell of the finished product, it was clearly better than before.
Du En was not stingy about it, either. Seeing Wei Ming's interest, he asked whether he wanted some.
As for the result, Wei Ming no longer dared to trust this strange notion. At the time, he shook his head like a rattle drum.
In the end, the others merely thought that Du En had finally been unable to stand the Strange Owls' rancid, rotten stench and was trying every possible way to improve it.
After all, those ordinary herbs did have some use—but only a little.
They could gather some, dry them, and keep them for rainy days, when they could boil them in water or cook them into porridge to dispel the damp chill.
Beyond that, they truly had not experienced anything else.
Surely adding one more bizarre, wilted, stinking Strange Owl could not turn it into some miraculous elixir, could it?
Du En did not waste his breath on the matter.
Today, as they rose early and went to work as usual, Ning Caize brought up a topic not long after they left.
"Du En, when are you planning to go claim this month's wages?"
Claim the wages.
Those four words immediately made the atmosphere oppressive.
Wei Ming, standing nearby, found it strange. When he looked at the other seniors, he saw that their expressions were just as odd, their mouths opening and closing as if they wanted to speak, their eyes flickering.
What was going on?
Du En had already considered this matter and calmly answered, "After the fifteenth. We can pool Wei Ming's share as well. Considering Steward He's temperament, it would actually be best to wait until the end of the month."
"I see. That makes sense. Otherwise, Little Wei would have worked for nothing last month. Besides, we're still fairly well-off right now and can endure this period."
Ning Caize analyzed the situation in this way.
He had brought up the topic himself because he was considering Du En's interests.
The other three still had some different thoughts, but seeing that one of them had already made a decision and the most senior among them had agreed, they all nodded in approval and raised no objections.
Only then did Wei Ming finally react.
"Huh? You're talking about wages? Do we actually have to claim the wages ourselves?"
He was deeply puzzled.
Wasn't it supposed to be paid out on schedule?
The Luoyu Immortal Sect was, at the very least, one of the overlords of the world. Even if the border city in the Southern Border was far inferior to the sect's core region, surely it would not do something petty and undignified over a few Low-grade Spirit Stones.
"Little Wei, you're still too green!"
Seeing Wei Ming's naked astonishment, someone immediately began pouring out his grievances. "Indeed, Steward He isn't shameless enough to pocket our few Low-grade Spirit Stones. But he never pays them out on his own. We have to send someone to claim them, and then endure his malicious obstruction, whether light or heavy!"
"What?"
Wei Ming was startled and blurted out, "How could it be like that?"
"Ahem... Why wouldn't it be? Just look—the stewards and overseers all indulge those gangs in acting viciously and committing evil. Isn't it only natural that things would turn out this way?"
Ning Caize explained with a sigh, his eyes filled with bitterness.
He had worked as a corpse burier for a whole year, yet when all was said and done, he had received only six months' wages.
Many newcomers could often endure the first month, but because they never received their wages, they were driven into desperate straits. They still had to keep working, and in the end, they died miserable deaths!
"That... That makes sense too."
Wei Ming had not been completely oblivious. He simply had not dared believe that things could truly be this way, and had clung to a sliver of hope that those great figures would not go so far.
"Then what should we do? Steward He is a Great Cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm..."
Such malicious obstruction from a steward was visibly unbearable for low-level cultivators like them in the Early Qi Refining stage!
However, seeing that Du En remained calm and unhurried, Wei Ming felt a glimmer of hope. "Boss, by the way, you should have successfully claimed the wages last month. Could there be some trick to it?"
Hearing this, even the other old hands could not help turning their eyes toward Du En.
If there really was a trick, they wanted to learn it too!
Naturally, they hoped their hard work would be rewarded. The month that had just passed had also been a relatively comfortable one for them.
Everyone had received their wages, and the Blood Eagle Gang had not taken them away. They could set aside their differences, purchase supplies in bulk, and take turns paying the Spirit Stones.
They found the rules Du En had established acceptable and wanted to keep things going.
But to do that, they needed to receive Spirit Stones every month. Thus, they hoped their leader, Du En, would step forward once more.
As for the timing, naturally, the sooner the better.
Yet their hard-earned wages should have been theirs by right. Having to face such circumstances in the end left them furious, while powerless to change anything.
Thinking of this, Ning Caize's gaze dimmed.
Du En shook his head slightly and spoke even more bluntly. "There's no trick. Steward He always does this. The first time, he seems fairly mild. Then, once you lower your guard, he suddenly strikes from the shadows."
Among the corpse buriers, the leader was responsible for claiming the wages.
The previous boss had always delayed as long as possible because he feared this matter.
After all, even if they managed to claim the Spirit Stones, they would still have to suffer the Blood Eagle Gang's exploitation in the end. There was therefore no need to take the risk.
Unless everyone had already run out of food, or the Blood Eagle Gang was pressing them too hard.
After Du En had investigated the situation last month and gone to claim the wages, the position of leader had automatically yielded to him.
After that, the former boss met with an accident while burying corpses and died.
Wei Ming had come over to fill the vacancy he left behind.
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