The Covetousness of Chief Steward Wang

"Just because you lot are trash, you think everyone else is the same?"

Chief Steward Wang stood up slowly, his obese frame casting a massive shadow that brought with it a suffocating sense of pressure.

He walked over to Zhou Xuan and patted the puppet's solid chest with a hand like a palm-leaf fan, producing a dull thud, before extending a fat index finger to point at the calm-faced Zhou Xuan.

His squinted eyes swept across the crowd, and he announced in an unquestionable tone, enunciating every word: "Test result: Body Forging level five, qualified! He passes!"

As his voice fell, he ignored the ghost-seeing expressions on everyone's faces, his mouth instead curling into a strange arc.

He let out a chuckle and uttered a sentence that nearly made everyone's eyeballs pop out of their sockets.

"Furthermore, I'm in a good mood today, so I've decided to make an exception and let him participate in this afternoon's competition!"

"What?"

This time, it wasn't just the unqualified chore servants.

Even the dozen or so experts who had already secured their spots in the competition, all of whom had reached at least Body Forging level seven, were completely stunned.

A Body Forging level five going to compete against those at level seven and above?

Isn't that just sticking your face out to be slapped?

Chief Steward Wang seemed to relish the heaven-collapsing shock in everyone's eyes.

He cleared his throat, stood with his hands behind his back and his belly thrust out, and began his high-sounding rhetoric: "You lot don't know a damn thing! What kind of spirit root does Zhou Xuan have? He has the one-in-a-million Five Elements Waste Spirit Root of our Spirit Sword Pavilion!"

"The difficulty of cultivating with this kind of spirit root is more than ten times higher than your trash spirit roots!"

"He was able to reach Body Forging level five in such a short time with a Five Elements Waste Spirit Root—what does that tell you?"

Chief Steward Wang answered his own question, his voice rising sharply, filled with incitement.

"It shows that his willpower, his temperament, and the effort he has put in far exceed all of you!"

"For someone like him, how can his true combat power be measured by a simple realm?"

"In my opinion, his actual combat ability is at least equivalent to Body Forging level seven!"

These words were spoken with great passion and righteous indignation.

But everyone present, to the last person, was stunned into silence.

Can you even calculate it like that? This twisted logic is absurd to the extreme!

Yet, the person saying it was Chief Steward Wang, the absolute ruler of the Chore Servant Courtyard.

What he said was the rule!

Zhou Xuan's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

What exactly is this old fox up to?

He had worked so hard to hide his strength precisely to keep a low profile and avoid drawing attention.

And yet, in just a few words, he had pushed him right into the eye of the storm!

And making an exception for the competition?

This is clearly an attempt to use those Body Forging level seven and eight experts to further probe his bottom line during the matches!

He is forcing him to reveal his true strength!

Thoughts raced through Zhou Xuan's mind.

He certainly couldn't refute it.

He couldn't very well say in front of everyone: "Chief Steward Wang, you calculated wrong; my spirit root has actually upgraded, and my cultivation isn't that difficult."

Wouldn't that be courting death?

An innocent man is guilty only because of his treasure.

The secret of being able to improve one's spirit root aptitude would be enough to drive the entire sect mad, and by then, he probably wouldn't even have his bones left.

In the world of cultivation, "laying low" is the true essence of survival.

Forget it.

Zhou Xuan quickly made up his mind.

It's just a competition, right? I'll go.

At worst, when the time comes, I'll walk onto the stage, cup my hands to my opponent, say a clean and crisp "I concede," and walk right back down.

In any case, his goal is just to pass the assessment and not be kicked out of the sect. As for those damn competition rewards, he really doesn't care for them right now.

Just as Zhou Xuan was calculating, he keenly sensed that the gazes around him had changed.

The chore servant experts who were already confirmed for the afternoon competition no longer looked at him with shock or confusion.

Those gazes were like hungry wolves discovering prey, filled with undisguised mockery, greed, and malice.

In their eyes, this guy Zhou Xuan, who had been granted an exception to compete, was no longer a person.

He was a walking, free advancement slot.

Whoever drew him in the first round this afternoon would be effectively getting a bye, entering the next round without the slightest bit of effort.

In an instant, Zhou Xuan felt as if he had become a piece of fatty meat on a chopping block, stared at intently by a pack of hungry wolves.

Regarding the wolf-like gazes surrounding him, Zhou Xuan merely narrowed his eyes slightly, a flicker of cold, icy light flashing deep within his pupils.

Fatty meat on a chopping block? A mobile promotion quota?

He sneered inwardly.

These guys really took him for a soft persimmon.

Originally, he had indeed planned to go up and concede immediately—why invite trouble when he could avoid it? He intended to carry out the Art of Survival to the very end.

But now, he suddenly felt that revealing a bit of his strength and giving these self-righteous fellows a hard slap in the face might also be a decent choice.

The moment this thought arose, he temporarily suppressed it.

No rush, let's wait and see.

As Zhou Xuan pondered, the morning's cultivation test gradually drew to a close.

"Next, Zhou Ye!"

When Chief Steward Wang called out this name, not many people were paying attention anymore.

Most people's focus was either still lingering on the shock brought about by Zhou Xuan, or they had already begun calculating the afternoon's matches.

Zhou Ye took a deep breath, his withered face full of nervousness. He walked up to the puppet and, imitating Zhou Xuan's posture, gathered all his strength into a single punch.

"Hah!"

Bang!

Another muffled thud echoed. The crystal on the puppet's chest flickered a few times, and finally, a clear number six appeared.

"Body Forging level six, qualified!"

Chief Steward Wang's voice remained listless, but a small commotion broke out in the crowd.

"Another one? Isn't this Zhou Ye the guy who was stuck at Body Forging level four for years, half-dead and useless? How did he break through too?"

"It's truly bizarre today. First, the perennial last-place Zhou Xuan reached Body Forging level five, and now even this medicine jar has reached level six?"

"Haven't those two been hanging out a lot lately? Could it be..."

People's gazes swept back and forth between Zhou Xuan and Zhou Ye, filled with suspicion and speculation.

Zhou Ye, however, paid them no mind. Looking at that number six, his entire body trembled with excitement.

He had succeeded! Not only had he passed the assessment, but he had even reached Body Forging level six!

This was a height he had never even dared to imagine before!

He turned his head abruptly to look at Zhou Xuan in the corner of the crowd, his eyes filled with endless gratitude and fervor.

He knew that all of this had been bestowed upon him by Brother Xuan!

Zhou Xuan nodded slightly at him, signaling him to calm down.

The morning assessment ended there, leaving some joyful and others sorrowful.

The eliminated servants were gathered together, wailing and lamenting, but they were quickly taken away by force, awaiting their fate of returning to the mundane world.

During the short lunch break, Zhou Ye found Zhou Xuan immediately, his face full of irrepressible worry.

"Brother Xuan!"

He lowered his voice and said urgently.

"That Chief Steward Wang is clearly putting you on the fire to roast!"

"He's making you participate in the matches, but those guys at Body Forging levels seven and eight—which one of them isn't ruthless and vicious? You absolutely must not go up on that stage this afternoon!"

He was now absolutely loyal to Zhou Xuan and naturally did not want any accidents to befall him.

"It's fine."

Zhou Xuan's expression remained calm as he handed Zhou Ye a steamed bun.

"When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, earth covers it. If he wants to watch, I'll let him watch."

"But..."

Zhou Ye was still uneasy, sweat breaking out on his forehead from anxiety.

"That old thing clearly has bad intentions. He must suspect you've obtained some treasure and wants to force you to expose it!"

"I understand."

Zhou Xuan smiled faintly and took a bite of the bun.

"My speed of progress is indeed too fast, fast to the point of being unreasonable. Being targeted by a greedy person like him was only a matter of time; there is no hiding from it."

He looked at the few servant experts in the distance who were rubbing their palms and fists, casting provocative glances his way from time to time, and the corners of his mouth curled upward slightly.

Then let them come!