Familiar Tactics!

What is the principle behind the system's Enlightenment?

It is turning waste into treasure!

It only requires a foundation that can be identified as an item to perform an Enlightenment upgrade.

Then why on earth was he insisting on using that damn beast blood, which was both expensive and difficult to control?

Couldn't he just use cinnabar to draw instead?

Using the most ordinary cinnabar on the most ordinary talisman paper, he could draw the shape of a talisman to create a completely useless scrap of paper that contained not a shred of spiritual energy.

Then, he could let the system perform the Enlightenment and inject the spiritual energy for him!

As soon as this thought appeared, it was like a bolt of lightning, instantly clearing away all the fog in Zhou Xuan's mind!

"I'm such a damn idiot!"

Zhou Xuan slapped his thigh hard. Why hadn't he thought of this from the very beginning?

All that effort reinforcing spiritual power and controlling beast blood—it was like taking off his pants just to fart; completely unnecessary!

"What a massive loss. Those talisman papers and my spiritual power from just now... what a waste!"

Zhou Xuan winced in pain, but he felt even more excitement and ecstasy.

He immediately threw away the bottle of beast blood, mixed the cinnabar with plain water, picked up his brush, and began to frantically print onto the talisman paper.

This time, there were no obstacles whatsoever.

Swish, swish, swish!

One after another, talisman papers covered in red, scribbled nonsense were rapidly produced.

Although they were still ugly, the speed was more than a hundred times faster than before!

After an hour of work, a pile of over a dozen useless talismans lay before Zhou Xuan.

He picked one up and recited silently in his heart.

[Useless scribbled talisman paper, can be Enlightened into a Tier 1 Sharp Metal Talisman, requires 1 Gold Touch Value.]

It worked!

Zhou Xuan was ecstatic. Looking at that pile of useless talismans, it was as if he were looking at a pile of glittering Gold Touch Value.

Just as he was preparing to strike while the iron was hot, finish drawing the remaining several dozen sheets of paper, Enlighten them all in one go, and head to the market tomorrow to make a fortune...

"Everyone out! Get out here, all of you!"

Outside the room, a sudden clamor erupted, followed by the sharp, grating, duck-like voice of Steward Wang.

Zhou Xuan's heart tightened. Almost subconsciously, with a flick of his mind, he instantly stored everything on the floor into his Universe Bag.

Only after doing all this did he straighten his clothes, put on a look of confusion, and open the door.

He saw that a dense crowd of chore disciples had already gathered in the small square outside, everyone wearing expressions of panic and unease.

Steward Wang of the Chore Servant Courtyard was standing arrogantly on top of a large rock.

With his hands on his hips, he scanned the crowd below with his triangular eyes, his face full of pettiness and schadenfreude.

"Listen up!"

Steward Wang cleared his throat and announced in a shrill voice: "By order of the superiors, our Spirit Sword Pavilion is a righteous sect of cultivation; we do not keep idlers, and we do not keep useless people!"

"Starting today, the Chore Servant Courtyard will be clearing out a portion of its disciples!"

"Anyone over the age of thirty who has yet to break through to the fifth level of Body Forging, anyone suffering from pill toxins with no hope of recovery, anyone who has suffered severe injuries and become crippled, and those who have been determined to have ruined spiritual roots with no future in cultivation!"

"All of you will be expelled from the sect!"

Steward Wang's words exploded over the heads of all the chore disciples like a thunderclap!

In an instant, the crowd erupted into total chaos.

"What? They want to drive us off the mountain?"

"Steward Wang, please don't! I've done chores for the sect for ten years; even if I haven't achieved anything, I've put in the hard work!"

"I'm poisoned, but I can still work! I beg you, Steward, have mercy!"

Cries, pleas, and desperate curses rang out in a chorus.

For these bottom-tier disciples who viewed the sect as their only reliance, being expelled from the mountain was equivalent to a death sentence.

Zhou Xuan stood in the corner of the crowd, watching this scene of hell on earth with cold eyes, his heart feeling like ice.

His gaze swept over Zhou Ye, who looked ashen-faced in the crowd, and over those familiar faces wailing in despair.

Finally, in his mind, he saw the cold, beautiful face of Liu Ruyan from Yunlai Market not long ago, and heard her words: "Why haven't you left yet?"

Clearing out the useless?

This policy—why did it come now, of all times?

And it specifically pointed out those with ruined spiritual roots and no future in cultivation.

Wasn't this tailor-made specifically for him, Zhou Xuan?

Zhou Xuan slowly narrowed his eyes, a bone-chilling cold rising from the depths of his heart.

Liu Ruyan, you really are fast and ruthless when you make your move!

Wang Fugui stood on high ground, watching the group of mourning chore servants below, the pleasure in his heart nearly overflowing.

"Shut your mouths, all of you!"

Wang Fugui shrieked, using spiritual energy to amplify his voice, instantly drowning out all the wailing and crying.

"Is the decision of the sect something you trash can question?"

He paused, looking at the terrified expressions of the crowd, the mean-spirited smile on his face deepening.

"However, the sect isn't without mercy; we are giving you a chance."

He slowly held up three fingers.

"The sect is giving you three months!"

"Three months from now, anyone in the Chore Servant Courtyard over the age of thirty who hasn't reached the fifth level of Body Forging, get out!"

"Those suffering from pill toxins who cannot resolve them within three months and are affecting their work, get out!"

"Those who are severely injured and crippled, get out as well!"

As he spoke, his gaze swept across the crowd like a venomous snake, finally landing, intentionally or otherwise, in the direction of Zhou Xuan.

"As for those whom the elders have determined to have ruined spiritual roots..."

Wang Fugui deliberately drew out his tone, his schadenfreude undisguised.

"Needless to say, such trash who are purely wasting the sect's food will be the first to get out!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd fell into a deathly silence.

If it had only been a commotion before, now it was absolute, total despair.

Break through to the fifth level of Body Forging in three months?

For those young people in their teens or twenties who still had a bit of talent, there might be a glimmer of hope.

But for those old men who were nearing thirty and had wasted over a decade in the Chore Servant Courtyard, this was simply impossible!

Not to mention those unlucky souls in the Miscellaneous Affairs Department suffering from pill toxins or those injured elsewhere.

This order wasn't a chance at all; it was a clear and unambiguous death sentence!

Zhou Xuan stood in the corner of the crowd, watching everything with an expressionless face.

He saw the face of Zhou Ye, already withered, now as gray and lifeless as a corpse.

He also saw several other familiar chore servants; some collapsed to the ground, others stared with vacant eyes.

Some were clenching their fists so tightly that their nails dug into their palms, yet they couldn't muster even a shred of courage to resist.

This was the tragedy of the ants at the bottom of the hierarchy.

However, if one thought about this policy carefully, Zhou Xuan slowly narrowed his eyes, and an absurdly familiar feeling rose from the depths of his heart.

This method, it was fucking familiar!

Clearing out the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled; elimination of the bottom performers.

Isn't this...

Zhou Xuan's pupils contracted sharply!

Isn't this the exact same shit I used to play with back in the day?