Diligence

At first light, a peculiar stench already hung over the valley of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, a mixture of decay, medicinal fumes, and blood.

Several enormous carts, pulled by puppet oxen empowered with spiritual energy, rumbled slowly into the valley. They dumped the Scrap collected from all over the Sect into designated areas, sending thunderous crashes echoing through the air.

Every Chore Disciple mechanically picked up their tools and began another day's work, keeping company with poisons and death.

Who knew how many people would collapse from poisoning today because they handled something improperly, or be blown to pieces by some unstable Scrap?

Yet among the gray, despairing crowd, one figure seemed completely out of place.

Zhou Xuan stood before Trash Mountain. Not only was he not the least bit afraid, he even looked eager to get started.

His utterly different expression stood in stark contrast to the other Chore Disciples, whose faces were practically written over with misery.

"Time to get to work! Let's go!"

Zhou Xuan cheered himself on inwardly and rubbed his hands together. Without waiting for the overseer to assign tasks, he charged forward first.

His actions made some of the more timid Chore Disciples around him shrink their necks. They looked at him as if he were a lunatic.

"Did this guy get such a shock that he's completely stopped caring if he lives or dies?"

"Ugh, he's probably trying to make one last desperate push in these three months. Too bad a Waste Spirit Root is still a Waste Spirit Root, no matter how hard you push yourself..."

"Stay away from him. I don't want him setting something off and splattering us with blood."

Zhou Xuan paid no attention to the whispers around him.

He didn't touch the discarded Dharma Artifacts and Alchemy Furnace fragments that looked obviously dangerous and glowed with an eerie light. Instead, he went straight to the piles of medicinal dregs heaped like mountains on the outermost edge.

Most of what had been dumped directly on the outskirts was Scrap produced after finished pills had been refined.

There was far more of it than anything else. Though it contained only a trace of Spiritual Energy, there was plenty of it to make up for that.

Most importantly, unlike Waste Pills that could explode at any moment and were extremely poisonous, medicinal dregs weren't necessarily toxic. Even when they were, their poison was relatively mild. This was the most basic and safest work area in the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

Zhou Xuan plunged into the heap of medicinal dregs and began rummaging frantically with both hands.

On the surface, he was sorting the dregs and packing them into bags. In secret, every time his palm brushed over the blackened scraps, he silently chanted in his heart:

"System, absorb!"

[ Ding! Low-grade Spirit Medicine residue detected. Absorption successful. Metal Touch Value +0.3! ]

[ Ding! Low-grade Spirit Medicine residue detected. Absorption successful. Metal Touch Value +0.2! ]

[ Ding! Low-grade Spirit Medicine residue detected. Absorption successful. Metal Touch Value +0.4! ]

A steady stream of insignificant notification sounds kept scrolling through his mind.

The Gold Touch Value he gained each time was pitifully small, but there was an enormous amount of medicinal dregs here!

Zhou Xuan was like a tireless perpetual-motion machine, turning over a pile of dregs as big as a small hill until he'd dug through every last bit. When he straightened up, the area under his responsibility was spotless.

His Gold Touch Value balance had soared from 530 points to 602!

It had shot up by 72 points in just one morning!

"Sweet!" Zhou Xuan exulted inwardly.

And during the process of absorbing the scraps, he'd also discovered an unexpected bonus.

For medicinal dregs that had completely rotted and mixed with the soil, the system gave him a new notification.

[ Corrupted medicinal soil containing trace Spiritual Energy detected. It can be enlightened and upgraded to low-grade First-Rank Spirit Soil. Cost: 5 Gold Touch Value. ]

Spirit Soil!

Zhou Xuan's eyes lit up at once.

Any plant grown in such soil would gain spirituality. Even ordinary mortal seeds would produce fruit far superior to Mortal Grade.

If used to grow Spirit Medicine, it could greatly shorten their growing cycle and improve their medicinal properties.

This stuff was sold by the ounce in the Marketplace, and it wasn't cheap!

"I can't use it for now, but I'll keep it in mind. Maybe one day I can carve out a little Herb Garden and become a great landowner in the Cultivation World."

Zhou Xuan thought happily, making a mental note of the discovery.

The commotion he'd made also caught the attention of the other Chore Disciples.

"Huh? Look at Zhou Xuan's medicinal dregs. Don't they seem especially clean?"

One Chore Disciple exclaimed in surprise.

Another leaned closer to sniff them, wearing a puzzled expression too. "That's strange. The medicinal dregs don't seem to smell much today. Their toxicity is pitifully weak, too."

"Yeah, it's the same over here. The work feels a lot easier."

Everyone murmured among themselves, agreeing that today's Scrap seemed far milder than usual.

They had no idea why, but it was a good thing all the same. At least they had a better chance of staying alive.

How could they know that Zhou Xuan, a human-shaped water pump, had sucked every last trace of Spiritual Energy and toxicity out of the medicinal dregs?

After finishing with the medicinal dregs, Zhou Xuan turned his attention to the Domestic Waste Zone on the other side.

The things here were even more varied: torn clothes, leftover Spirit Beast Bones, and even mortal utensils broken by Inner Sect Disciples.

In other people's eyes, these things were truly garbage. But under Zhou Xuan's system scan, he could always find some overlooked item containing a faint trace of Spiritual Energy.

He searched patiently, like a seasoned scavenger.

Suddenly, his fingers touched something small, cold, and hard.

He instinctively pinched it up and held it before his eyes. His pupils contracted sharply!

It was a tiny metal fragment, no bigger than a fingernail, with an antique, rusty-green sheen!

Green Copper!

Its material, color, and aura were almost identical to those of the mysterious copper fragment he'd found in the waste pile at the Myriad Things Pavilion—the one he'd needed a thousand Gold Touch Value to repair!

Zhou Xuan's heart skipped a beat!

How had this thing ended up in the Domestic Waste Zone?

That meant some disciple had probably mistaken it for genuine garbage and tossed it out without a second thought!

Zhou Xuan forcibly suppressed his joy and pretended nothing was amiss. Without drawing attention, he slipped the tiny piece of Green Copper into his sleeve, then quickly transferred it to his Universe Bag when no one was looking.

Only after he'd done all that did he let out a long breath.

He was about to continue searching through this treasure trove, hoping to uncover another earth-shattering find.

"Ah!"

Just then, a piercing scream suddenly came from the Hazardous Waste Zone on the other side of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, its shrill sound slicing through the valley's quiet!

All the Chore Disciples bent over their work—including Zhou Xuan—stopped abruptly and turned in unison toward the sound.

Over there, a Chore Disciple lay on the ground as a pool of black liquid ate into their body at a visible speed. In the blink of an eye, they had melted into a puddle of bloody sludge, without even a bone left behind.

The Chore Disciples nearby were scared out of their wits and scrambled backward.

But before everyone could recover from the horrifying sight—

Whoosh!

A sharp, ear-piercing whistle suddenly rang out, approaching from far away!

Everyone looked up. A streak of white light shot toward them at astonishing speed from the direction of the Inner Sect peaks!

It was a figure riding a green Flying Sword, white robes snapping in the wind—a bona fide Inner Sect Disciple!

The Inner Sect Disciple flew over the valley in just a few breaths.

He seemed terribly anxious. He could barely control the Flying Sword, and his figure swayed unsteadily as he landed right in the middle of the valley, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He looked to be just over twenty, with handsome features. But at that moment, his face was deathly pale and his eyes bloodshot, filled with panic and terror.

He didn't pay the trembling Chore Disciples around him any mind. The moment he landed, he went at it like a madman.

Ignoring the stench and danger, he charged straight toward the few carts of Domestic Waste that had just been dumped. He muttered to himself in a frantic, twitching voice:

"Where is it? Where's my thing? It definitely fell here just now. How could it be gone?"

As he shouted, he sent spiritual energy surging through the heaps of garbage, flinging them aside while frantically searching for something.

Watching how frantic he was, and thinking of where he'd come from and where he was searching—

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Zhou Xuan silently touched the Universe Bag against his chest. His expression turned indescribably strange.