Spirit Beast Garden.
Working for Others
Could they mean having the spirit beasts work for them?
Su Ling'er couldn't help thinking of the spirit beasts in the medicine gardens of Hundred Herbs Valley. Could it be that they really were being used to guard the gardens?
As the two walked, the mist ahead dispersed, revealing the outline of a huge compound.
Occasional, muffled roars echoed from within.
"Junior Sister, look. This is our Gui Xi Sect's Spirit Beast Garden.
It's close to the sect's spirit stone mine, which makes it easier to manage.
It's also near the medicine gardens, so their owners can send the beasts to Hundred Herbs Valley to tend their plots."
"The Spirit Beast Garden is divided into eastern and western yards. The eastern yard is mainly for training them, while the western yard handles labor.
The Beast-Taming Hall is farther inside."
In the stories and plays she'd heard, places with names like that were usually no good.
The closer she got, the heavier her heart grew.
What appeared before her wasn't a hall of pavilions, but a wide-open stretch of ground.
Several gloomy mine shafts stood open, with crude rails laid out in front of them.
Amid the creaking and groaning, heavy mine carts rolled slowly forward. Pulling them were dozens of beasts of all shapes and sizes, either demon beasts or spirit beasts.
Their fur was dull, and their eyes were vacant.
On a raised platform, a disciple dressed in Gui Xi Sect robes sat cross-legged, supervising the workers.
He was a player who specialized in beast taming.
To raise his skill proficiency, he personally supervised the spirit beasts as they worked, constantly forming hand seals to improve his beast-taming skills.
Lin Qingfeng seemed to notice Su Ling'er's confusion and explained,
"These are all spirit servants entrusted to the Beast-Taming Hall by the sect's disciples for safekeeping.
Spirit beasts have low intelligence and are prone to slacking off, but managing them together ensures they keep working.
And thanks to their labor, their owners can receive a fixed amount of spirit stones each day, allowing them to focus on their cultivation."
"This, too, is a form of cultivation. Do you understand?"
Spirit beasts?
Su Ling'er didn't understand. She'd never even seen spirit beasts like these.
She had seen some demon beasts.
But the spirit beasts she knew were like the white ape at the Sect Master's back mountain, respectfully called "Brother Ape"—they were fellow cultivators, companions.
The spirit beasts here... No, they should be called spirit servants.
They were nothing but a bunch of tireless beasts, laboring day and night.
They had it even worse than she did at Qing Xu Temple.
At least the outer disciples of Qing Xu Temple had regular time to rest and cultivate each day, and their chores were no more than sweeping and carrying water.
But these spirit beasts before her were lifeless, their eyes dull.
"Thud!"
A second-rank pangolin transporting ore collapsed nearby and didn't get back up.
The supervising disciple drifted down and examined it, then shook his head.
"This one's done for. Buying a new one would cost less than saving it. It's old, too. We'll just have to optimize it away."
Optimize?
What did that mean?
Would they make it stronger?
Su Ling'er didn't understand that the word had a different meaning in another world.
All she could do was watch as they looped a rope around the still-breathing pangolin and dragged it away.
"Junior Sister, all things are born, and all things pass away."
"They fulfill their duties with their bodies. Dust returns to dust, earth to earth. This, too, is in accordance with the Great Dao."
Rather than waste spirit stones treating it, they could just spend them on a new one and grind up another. After all, they were low-level demon beasts. As long as you paid, there'd always be someone else willing to do the job.
This also let many players enjoy, from a different perspective, the pleasures of being a boss—squeezing their employees dry and then optimizing them away.
Seeing the look on Su Ling'er's face as she gazed at the spirit servants, Lin Qingfeng assumed his junior sister wanted a spirit pet for company, so he suggested,
"Junior Sister Ling'er, if you want a spirit pet, you don't need to consider these low-level spirit servants used for labor.
You can save up some spirit stones and buy one or two spirit servants to keep here, where your senior and junior brothers can supervise them for you.
The income from their mining will soon let you buy a spirit pet to your liking. You could also use it to buy spirit plants, pills, or artifacts. It'd be a steady source of income for you within the sect."
"Most spirit pets suited for companionship are small and adorable, with beautiful coats.
Of course, combat spirit pets cost more spirit stones to raise.
You can also hunt demon beasts outside and bring them to the Beast-Taming Hall up ahead to be trained for a fee.
There are plenty of disciples there who specialize in beast taming.
All you need to do is pay a small fee, and they'll train whichever demon beast you choose."
What a nice way to "supervise them." What a "steady source of income."
Su Ling'er sneered inwardly.
Was he teaching her how to become one of them, another link in the chain of exploitation?
They exploited the low-ranking disciples, who then exploited the spirit beasts?
Were they trying to make her one of them?!
But she didn't dare react too strongly, so she could only reply softly,
"Thank you for the guidance, Senior Disciple Brother."
Su Ling'er's gaze was then drawn to a small enclosure in the corner.
Inside, a strange creature sat curled up, looking miserable as it stared blankly into space.
Across from it, a disciple sat cross-legged, staring blankly right back at the spirit beast.
Lin Qingfeng recognized the disciple as Wang Xian, the sect's well-known "slacker" player, and the creature as the "Melancholy Beast" he'd raised himself.
The beast had a gloomy air about it by nature and seemed unable to do anything—or willing to do anything.
Wang Xian thought of it as a kindred spirit and would often sit across from it, slacking off together.
Su Ling'er's gaze met the Melancholy Beast's.
The moment she looked into those eyes,
in their numbness and despair, she saw someone else trapped in this Demon Den, with no idea when she might be freed...
Her own reflection...
The Worry Flower in her arms seemed to sense it, too. The sorrowful face on its petals appeared even more melancholy.
Just then, Lin Qingfeng spoke. "Junior Sister, don't mind those two... They're, um... pretty lazy."
"They're actually quite strong."
"And the Beast-Taming Hall has lots of other interesting uses. If you have time in the future, you can come take a look."
After leaving the Beast-Taming Hall, fresh air filled her lungs, but it did nothing to ease the misery in her heart.
Blue skies and white clouds.
But to Su Ling'er, it all seemed false and fragile.
To help his junior sister fit into the sect sooner, Lin Qingfeng didn't let her brood for long. Instead, he continued leading her to the next core area of the sect—the Transmission Hall.
The grand hall was immense, its interior sharply divided into left and right sides.
On the left, Elder Qian sat upright. Jade slips covered the stone wall in front of him, and countless disciples crowded forward to take on missions.
On the right side of the hall sat the teaching NPC Elder Qian, the one whose socks had once been stolen. At this hour, he hadn't gone out wandering.
She watched as a disciple presented him with a large quantity of spirit stones.
Elder Qian merely pointed at random. A streak of black light entered the disciple's body, and the disciple's face immediately showed either delight or dismay.
She had no idea why.
When she asked Lin Qingfeng, he only smiled mysteriously and said nothing.
He even said he would be coming here often in the future.
After Lin Qingfeng gave her a quick tour of the place, only four areas remained on the quest progress bar.
[Guidance Quest: Show new disciple Su Ling'er around the sect.] [Current Progress: Food Pavilion (Complete), Pill Cauldron Pavilion (Complete), Artifact Refining Pavilion (Complete), Spirit Beast Garden (Complete), Transmission Hall (Complete)...] [Remaining Areas: Cultivation Caves, Monster Locking Tower, Dao Seeking Ladder, Sword Mound.]
Just four places left.
And all four were great places!
Once they'd visited them all, this guidance quest would be perfectly complete, unlocking the preliminary stage of the sect promotion questline.
He stopped and turned to look at Su Ling'er.
"Junior Sister Ling'er, what you've seen and heard today must have shaken you deeply."
"But remember, the path of the Great Dao is itself a process of breaking down and then rebuilding."
"Reflection is good, but reflection alone isn't enough."
A mysterious smile appeared on his face, like an elder showing care and expectation toward a junior.
"As your Senior Disciple Brother, I've prepared a small gift for you."
"I'll take you to get it at our next stop."
A gift?
Su Ling'er raised her head and met his "gentle" eyes.
In this Demon Den, where life was treated as raw material, a "gift" from the Senior Disciple Brother...
What could it be?
An artifact that could monitor her thoughts?
A "spirit servant" trained from birth to spy on her?
Or perhaps... some kind of tool to help her "make better use of her value"?
Before you continue