Zhou Xuan descended the rugged mountain path and set foot once more in the Chore Servant Courtyard.
The air here was still oppressive, thick with the stink of sweat, dust, and despair.
The moment he entered the courtyard, several chore servants chatting together spotted him, and their expressions changed instantly.
One fellow who had dared to sneer at him just a few days earlier now looked like a mouse that had seen a cat. He hurriedly lowered his head and bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, Steward Zhou."
His voice was quiet, but it trembled unmistakably.
The other chore servants nearby followed suit, all ducking their heads and not daring to breathe too loudly.
Zhou Xuan walked past them without so much as a sidelong glance, his heart utterly unmoved.
He knew exactly why they had changed their tune.
First, the cultivation he now displayed to outsiders had reached the peak of the Ninth Layer of Body Forging. He was just one step away from attempting to break through to Qi Refining.
In a Chore Servant Courtyard where most people had only reached the fifth layer of Body Forging, that made him an absolute powerhouse—a force to be reckoned with.
Second, and most important, he was now a steward.
At the very bottom of the rigid hierarchy in the Chore Servant Courtyard, the title of steward meant he had escaped the ranks that could be bullied at will. He was now aboard the management's ship.
Even if he was in charge of nothing more than a Desolate Mountain no one wanted, in the eyes of these chore servants, he no longer belonged to their world.
Zhou Xuan ignored their fawning and headed straight for Zhou Ye's quarters.
But his keen senses picked up on something strange about the Chore Servant Courtyard today.
It