If someone had done something, at least let me see some sign of it!
Then at least let me see some trace of what you've done to this place!
This is terrifying, okay?!
It was making her feel like she'd run into ghosts. Had she come to a Demonic Sect or a ghost sect?!
She thought back to some of the fellow disciples she'd encountered along the way.
They were doing the same basic chores as she was, yet not one of them had any expression on their face.
Their eyes were vacant, their movements stiff, and they repeated the work in their hands without ever tiring.
Thinking it over, even that Foundation Establishment senior seemed the same.
Why was that?
Just as Su Ling'er's thoughts were growing deeper, she looked up and saw a streak of sword light hovering not far away.
The light faded, revealing the very same Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He seemed to be near the courtyard where she'd been cleaning for the sixty-fourth time. He pointed toward the mountain stream below.
With a roar, nine water dragons surged into the air, arcing down below.
Since Su Ling'er was still cleaning the courtyard, she couldn't see where the water dragons finally landed, but she had a pretty good idea.
They must have landed in the nine copper vats she'd once filled herself.
He was using profound water-control techniques to repeat the work she'd once done, and that courtyard was one of the places she'd cleaned before.
It had taken no more than two or three breaths.
Then the Foundation Establishment powerhouse led with a sword gesture, turned into a streak of light, and vanished from Su Ling'er's sight.
Even a Foundation Establishment powerhouse had to do this work, and he was cleaning even faster than she was!
Before she could recover, another golden streak of light appeared in the sky, moving at an incredible speed.
It flashed past, then darted back and forth through the air, so fast that only afterimages remained.
Those afterimages drew countless straight golden lines across the sky.
And the places those lines passed through were, astonishingly, the courtyards she'd worked so hard to clean!
Could that be... a False Core Realm powerhouse?
Or perhaps a Core Formation Realm expert like the Sect Master?!
But... even powerhouses of that level were trapped in this endless cleaning labor?!
After thinking it over for a moment, she understood!
The sect's true higher-ups must be hiding behind Elder Qian's puppet. They were using this method to subject their disciples to utterly inhumane psychological control!
They deliberately messed up the courtyards the disciples had cleaned and deliberately dumped out every full water vat, all to test their obedience and endurance!
Then they wore down your will and crushed your spirit, until you could only become a "tool" fit to serve the sect.
Those fellow disciples with their numb eyes.
The disciple who had thrown himself into the Medicinal Soup and melted into blood to help someone forge a sword.
And that senior brother who'd let the Senior Disciple Brother stab him to death just so he could put on a show of persuading her to cultivate the Sword Refining Art...
All of it, all of it made sense now!
So that was it. That was it!
Those people were warnings of what lay ahead for her!
They were the possible future awaiting every new disciple of the Gui Xi Sect!
No wonder they'd willingly given their lives to help others create magical treasures and pills!
No wonder they'd gladly let themselves be stabbed through just to complete the Senior Disciple Brother's task, even reciting an unbearably awkward line before they died.
Even disciples at Foundation Establishment, or those whose cultivation far surpassed hers, were still forced to do chores like cleaning courtyards.
This was the sect's "extraction" technique!
They weren't raising disciples at all. They were using high-intensity, meaningless labor to systematically drain every newcomer of their spirit and value!
Once your mind was completely worn down and you could no longer make progress on your path of cultivation, you'd accept your fate and willingly become "fuel" for the sect's operations!
By then, whether you jumped into a pill furnace or lay on a forging platform, you'd think it was the sect's reward and salvation!
These repetitive tasks formed a carefully designed assembly line.
They processed one living cultivator after another into "raw materials" they could use whenever they pleased!
How terrifying!
This demonic Evil Sect truly deserved to be destroyed by everyone!
The two hundred and seventy-fourth time.
Sweat soaked through her clothes, sticking to her skin and making Su Ling'er feel so irritated she could have retched.
She'd used up more than half the Spiritual Power in her dantian, but the mental exhaustion was even worse.
After hauling water and sweeping leaves over and over, her mind was filled with nothing but water vats, fallen leaves, water vats, fallen leaves, water vats, fallen leaves.
She felt like she couldn't take it much longer...
No wonder the disciples who came to clean had such vacant eyes.
They must have been mentally exhausted by this repetitive labor, then gradually had all their spirit ground away through these sect missions, until they became mindless tools of the sect.
It all made sense now.
But she was about to reach her limit, too...
She leaned against an old tree, gasping for breath. Her ink-black hair clung to her pale cheeks, and sweat trickled from her temples into the dirt.
She couldn't go on. She really couldn't.
If this continued, she'd be drained dry!
There was no need to wait for the Senior Disciple Brother to do anything. She'd turn into a puppet that did nothing but work all on her own!
Just then, footsteps came from outside the courtyard.
She looked up and saw a familiar figure at the end of the path.
Was that her Senior Disciple Brother, Lin Qingfeng?
Had he been watching her from the shadows this whole time?
She'd actually missed her chance to slack off!!!
Still, this time the Senior Disciple Brother hadn't suddenly popped up behind her.
But he hadn't come alone, either.
More than a dozen disciples followed behind him, men and women alike, each with a steady aura.
They stood in two rows, without a word.
What a spectacle...
What were they going to do?
Lin Qingfeng looked at his little junior sister's pitiful state and couldn't help shaking his head.
Little junior sister, oh, little junior sister. Where's your willpower?!
Already slacking off!!
How lazy!!!
I only left for a little while. How come you've stopped working already?!
This is nothing. It's just repetitive labor, and you're already crushed by it?
Sigh, looks like I'll have to rescue you, as your Senior Disciple Brother.
Too bad I couldn't give her pills, and she couldn't use spirit servants. If she did, she wouldn't get Contribution Points, which would make all her work pointless.
Who knows what this game's designers were thinking. It was one thing not to let anyone help, but they wouldn't even let you pay to fix the problem.'
He couldn't help her materially, but he could give her the greatest support emotionally!
He turned and gave the group of "hype crew" disciples he'd hastily rounded up a signal:
Ready? Let's go!
Su Ling'er's heart tightened as she watched them stop nearby.
She looked at the Senior Disciple Brother. His expression was still gentle, and there was even a hint of encouragement in his eyes.
Could it be...
Had the Senior Disciple Brother finally had a change of heart and brought these senior brothers and sisters to help her?
Could her hard days finally be over?!
Could there really be someone in this Demon Den who still had a conscience?
After hundreds of repetitions, Su Ling'er looked at these Evil Cultivators and felt a glimmer of hope she shouldn't have had...
Before you continue