Skinning Peak

Jiang Miao summoned a paper crane and carried Fang Huai toward the Outer Sect Hall.

The paper crane soared a hundred zhang above the ground, moving at incredible speed. The wind stung his skin as it whipped past. Looking down, the cultivators on the ground had become blurry little dots.

It was the first time Fang Huai had flown so high above the ground. His stomach churned, and he couldn't help closing his eyes.

"Junior Brother, don't tell me you're sulking?"

Seeing Fang Huai close his eyes, Jiang Miao said, "The moment a human puppet enters the Human Puppet Hall, it's already doomed to die."

She turned her neck a hundred and eighty degrees to face Fang Huai. "I slept badly last night and got a crick in my neck. Junior Brother, help me twist it back."

Fang Huai was startled. He hadn't expected her bones to be so flexible. It seemed that the more profound a person's cultivation, the stranger their body became—and the harder they were to kill by ordinary means.

"Crack—"

Fang Huai used all his strength to twist her head back into place.

With her neck feeling better, Jiang Miao continued, "The Corpse Sha Sect has been at war for years and has many enemies. Most human puppets are captured in the territories of rival sects.

"Leave the Human Puppet Room, and you'll die. Stay in the Human Puppet Room, and you'll wish you were dead."

"So," Jiang Miao twisted her neck around again, "are you still blaming Senior Brother?"

Fang Huai said nothing. He simply twisted her neck back into place again.

"Why did you save me?"

"I told you. The Corpse Sha Sect needs people like you."

"Then why did you kill those two guards?"

"Those two? I killed five hundred human puppets, so I have to pay tens of thousands of Contribution Points. If I hadn't killed those two guards, would you have paid the Contribution Points for me?"

"..."

After chatting with Jiang Miao for a while, Fang Huai got a preliminary sense of her personality. One word summed it up: twisted.

She seemed like a kindhearted, pretty, adorable little girl who talked a little too much, but deep down she was a pure-blooded demonic cultivator.

She disregarded life, was mercurial and violently obsessive, and could carry out acts of madness beyond ordinary people's imagination just to improve her cultivation. She was also utterly loyal to the Corpse Sha Sect.

Talent Peak was a great distance from the Outer Sect Hall. The paper crane flew for a full half-hour before reaching its vicinity.

Seeing that they had arrived, Jiang Miao reminded him, "Don't worry. Just say you lost your Identity Token. They'll issue you a replacement."

"Thank—"

Before Fang Huai could finish, the paper crane plunged toward the ground at breakneck speed. Just before touching down, it flipped over and sent him tumbling off.

Fang Huai received a blank token and dripped his blood onto it. In the blink of an eye, the replacement token was ready.

As he held the token, his information appeared in his sea of consciousness:

[Fang Huai]

[Identity: Servant (Probationary Outer Sect)]

[Residence: Ding 1-3127 (Pending Change)]

[Contribution Points: 207]

He let out a long breath. Thankfully, his Contribution Points hadn't been reset. Otherwise, all his hard work in Servant Valley would have been for nothing.

A long line stretched outside the Outer Sect Hall. At the head of each line stood a late-stage Qi Refining disciple temporarily assigned from one of the peaks to conduct Spirit Root tests.

The disciples conducting the tests had a say in assigning people to peaks. To prevent cultivation lineages or newly initiated disciples from seeking them out ahead of time to pull strings or offer gifts, the personnel were not fixed.

At regular intervals, the sect randomly selected disciples from its various peaks to handle this task.

At the head of Fang Huai's line stood a seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivator from Spirit Treasure Peak.

He stared intently at the Spirit Testing Stone for a long time and finally began to understand how it worked.

Cultivators could possess several Spirit Roots, but the Spirit Testing Stone could only reveal which one was strongest and how powerful it was.

For example, if the Spirit Testing Stone turned red, that meant the cultivator's main Spirit Root was Fire. If it turned green, their main Spirit Root was Wood.

As for its strength, one only had to look at the color: the deeper the color, the stronger the Spirit Root, and the better the cultivator's talent.

Most people in line were descendants of Corpse Sha Sect disciples or members of nearby Rogue Cultivator families. Someone like Fang Huai, who had risen from servant status, was exceedingly rare.

So when the disciple conducting the test saw Fang Huai's ragged clothes and malnourished appearance, he stared for a moment in surprise.

"Is there a peak you'd like to join?"

Meng Yi had also fought his way into the Outer Sect from among countless servants. Understanding how difficult that had been, he couldn't help feeling sympathy for Fang Huai.

Fang Huai bowed. "This disciple doesn't know where I'd be suited. I'll leave it to Senior Brother to decide."

Meng Yi nodded slightly. "Hold the Spirit Testing Stone."

When the Spirit Testing Stone showed no reaction at all, Fang Huai's heart sank to the bottom.

He'd wondered why he couldn't sense qi. Now that he thought about it, it was probably because he had no Spirit Root.

"You've probably guessed already."

Meng Yi swept his hand, and a soundproof barrier enveloped them both. "You have no Spirit Root, so you can't resonate with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

"But don't lose heart. Even without a Spirit Root, you managed to break through to the First Layer of Qi Refining. That means fortune favors you.

"All you need to do is cultivate diligently and pile up heavenly treasures. Once you reach the fourth layer of Qi Refining, you'll naturally develop an acquired Spirit Root to aid your cultivation."

"An acquired Spirit Root?" Fang Huai's eyes lit up.

"A Spirit Root doesn't have to be something you're born with!"

Meng Yi explained that one of the main reasons the Corpse Sha Sect could attract so many Rogue Cultivator families to its territory despite being a demonic sect was that cultivating the Hundred Sha Technique could form an acquired Spirit Root.

Cultivating the Hundred Sha Technique required Killing Intent as an aid. Over time, when a cultivator reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining, they would develop an acquired Sha Spirit Root.

From then on, even those without Spirit Roots could absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi on their own.

"Go to Skinning Peak. There, hard work always brings rewards. If your aptitude isn't enough, use Contribution Points to pile up spirit herbs and pills."

"..."

After lowering the soundproof barrier, Fang Huai bowed respectfully to Meng Yi and turned to walk toward the disciple guiding newcomers to Skinning Peak.

For other disciples without Spirit Roots, breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining was extremely difficult. But for Fang Huai, it was only a matter of time.

Meng Yi sighed. He had no Spirit Root either.

He still remembered the wild joy of finding a spirit herb by chance in Miasma Valley and breaking through to the first layer of Qi Refining. He remembered, too, the confusion and helplessness he felt upon first joining the Outer Sect, and the excitement when he finally learned of this method after asking around.

For years, he had scraped together Contribution Points, fighting against Heaven and Earth and competing with his fellow disciples, until at last he broke through to the middle stage of Qi Refining and developed a Sha Spirit Root.

He'd thought he was Heaven's chosen one.

But a Sha Spirit Root was an acquired Spirit Root after all, and its quality was poor. There were ways to improve it, but doing so was as difficult as scaling the heavens.

Though he had exhausted every scheme and enjoyed astonishing fortune, he had still stalled at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

He had nearly given up hope, but Fang Huai's appearance had let him see his former self.

"You're luckier than I was. No one gave me any guidance, but at least you've taken the first step in the right direction."

The senior disciple guiding newcomers to Skinning Peak was named Guo Chunxiao. A fifth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, he looked at the motley crew before him and sighed deeply.

At Skinning Peak, as long as you worked diligently, earning Contribution Points was easy. But compared with the other peaks, Skinning Peak had very few Sha Arts to pass down and served more as a logistics department.

The Corpse Sha Sect had a rule: disciples could not privately learn the Sha Arts of other peaks, and they could not change peaks before reaching Foundation Establishment.

As a result, disciples with good talent and powerful backgrounds would give the stewards gifts to secure a peak with a better inheritance.

Those with poor aptitude and no prospects were all kicked over to Skinning Peak.

What left him speechless was that among these newly initiated disciples, there was actually one with no Spirit Root.

Could someone like that really cultivate?

"Come along, Junior Brothers."

Although he looked down on them, he still kept smiling.

If one of them managed to advance their cultivation in the future, perhaps they would remember the kindness of the senior brother who had guided them here.

Guo Chunxiao slapped his Storage Bag, and a gigantic beast hide appeared before them.

Though it had been stripped of its flesh, sinews, and bones, its lingering might remained. The Killing Intent it exuded startled everyone into retreating again and again.