Chief Steward Wang's tone grew somewhat irritable.
"Who else but those high-and-mighty big shots up top could've cooked up this mess?"
It was as though he'd found an outlet. He began pouring out his grievances. "A while back, Medicine Peak was running some kind of Spirit Rice cultivation experiment. It all went completely wrong!"
"The Spirit Rice they grew went berserk. The spiritual energy in every grain was violent and impure. It couldn't be eaten, and eating it would cause serious problems!"
“Now the Herb Garden says the stuff has Corruption and will ruin their medicinal fields, so they're refusing to grow it, no matter what.”
"And this rotten mess got passed down, layer by layer, until it finally landed in our Chore Servant Courtyard!"
Chief Steward Wang cursed with a sour look. "Damn it, we never get the good jobs. But this kind of thankless cleanup work? They keep shoving it down our throats!"
After venting for a while, Chief Steward Wang seemed to feel a little better. He glanced at Zhou Xuan and continued, "The Sect's idea is for our Chore Servant Courtyard to open up another Desolate Mountain, specifically to deal with this batch of Mutated Spirit Rice and see if we can find a way to fix it."
His fat face practically spelled out three words: I can't be bothered.
"Like I have the time to keep an eye on a whole mountain every day. Besides, it's obviously a trap. Anyone who touches it is bound to have bad luck."
As he spoke, he fixed his gaze on Zhou Xuan, a crafty smile creeping across his face.
"Zhou Xuan, you seem sharp, and you're steady in your work. So I'll leave this whole matter in your hands!"
"Starting today, that newly opened Desolate Mountain will be