Five Years

Five years flew by in the blink of an eye.

During that time, several batches of disciples came and went from the Skinning Room.

Some had died unexpectedly, some had pulled strings to get transferred to other Skinning Rooms, and others had advanced their cultivation and found different ways to earn Contribution Points.

Only Fang Huai stayed on the same two-point route.

By day, he worked in the Skinning Room; by night, he returned to his Outer Sect residence, showing no sign of complaint and never shirking his duties.

At first, it took him three hours to skin a First Layer of Qi Refining beast. He cut that down to two, and eventually could skin a Second Layer of Qi Refining beast in less than two hours.

In just five years, after deducting his expenses, he had saved sixty thousand Contribution Points.

Now Fang Huai stared at his panel, brows knitted tight.

[Hundred Sha Technique (Fragment) First Layer: 27/100]

[Body Forging Technique Third Layer: 100/100]

[Skinning Technique Proficient: 100/100]

The Body Forging Technique had reached the third layer, while his Skinning Technique had gone from beginner to practiced, then stalled at proficient.

He didn't much care that the Skinning Technique had plateaued, but the Body Forging Technique hitting a wall gave him a real headache.

That left him with no reason to stay in the Skinning Room beyond earning Contribution Points.

But no matter how many Contribution Points he amassed, if he couldn't improve his cultivation, he was nothing more than Wu Liu's personal money-printing machine.

As for Jin Xiaoxiao, his roommate, he had cultivated diligently and had decent talent. Half a year ago, he had already reached the peak of the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

That day, Fang Huai pushed open the door to his room and saw Jin Xiaoxiao sitting on his bed.

"Junior Sister Jin, you shouldn't be sitting there."

Jin Xiaoxiao said nothing, his eyes complicated. "Senior Brother Fang, I've applied to the Outer Sect Hall to leave the sect and shed my Mortal Skin."

Cultivating the Hundred Sha Technique involved three trials of shedding the mortal body during the Qi Refining Stage. They corresponded to the transformations needed to break through to the middle, late, and peak stages of Qi Refining.

The first threshold was the Mortal Skin, the shackle one had to cast off when breaking through from the early stage of Qi Refining to the middle stage.

To shed the Mortal Skin, one had to strip away their original skin, then go into seclusion somewhere thick with Killing Intent, where the Qi Sea would be stimulated to form a Sha Spirit Root. Finally, they would use Killing Intent as a foundation to reshape their skin.

The new skin would naturally be attuned to Killing Intent, improving one's ability to purify it and increasing the power of their Sha Arts.

But once this transformation began, it could not be interrupted midway.

For disciples with backing, shedding the mortal body under the protection of their sect or Lineage was little more than a matter of time.

But for low-level cultivators with no roots or support, it was a perilous ordeal with nine chances of death and only one of survival.

Whether they succeeded was entirely up to fate.

Fang Huai said nothing. He took out a Poison Heart Grass from his robe, pinched a leaf between his fingers, and chewed it slowly.

Jin Xiaoxiao broke the silence. "Senior Brother Fang, do you have any parting words for me before I leave the sect?"

"None," Fang Huai replied, his expression unreadable. "You've got more experience in cultivation than I do."

"Senior Brother Fang, there's something that's been troubling me. I want to ask you about it."

"Go ahead."

"If someone will stop at nothing to reach their goal, even sacrificing the thing they treasure most... is that contemptible?"

The bitter numbness of the Poison Heart Grass had spread across his tongue. Fang Huai paused, then slowly replied:

"A cultivator's life is brief as the morning dew. All we do is fight Heaven for our fate. There's no right or wrong in that, let alone anything contemptible."

Jin Xiaoxiao smiled in relief. "You're right, Senior Brother. This journey to shed my mortal body is a near-certain death. I've prepared as best I can, but there's one knot in my heart that only you can untie."

"Say whatever you need to."

Since Jin Xiaoxiao had reached the Third Layer of Qi Refining, there was little more Fang Huai could do for him.

On the contrary, Jin Xiaoxiao had stood up for him several times, helping him establish himself in the Skinning Room.

As long as it didn't put him in danger, he was willing to do what he could to help him.

Jin Xiaoxiao's face suddenly flushed bright red. He lowered his head and said:

"Since I was a child, I've hated to lose. Even when I lose, I make it spectacular. The only time in my life I ever lost miserably was that clash with you five years ago.

"Senior Brother, will you let me win once?"

At first, Fang Huai didn't catch the meaning behind his words. When he did, he couldn't help laughing. His gaze fell on Jin Xiaoxiao's cheeks, red as a monkey's rump, and he grinned.

"What if I say no?"

Jin Xiaoxiao suddenly pounced on Fang Huai and pinned him beneath himself.

With a deft flick of his fingers, he unfastened the buttons at Fang Huai's chest. Then he closed his jade-white teeth and bit hard into Fang Huai's neck.

"I'm at the Third Layer of Qi Refining now, and my cultivation is far above yours. You don't get a choice!"

After Jin Xiaoxiao left, Fang Huai continued working in the Skinning Room as he always had.

But the workload in the Skinning Room kept growing, and the rumors grew more and more frequent.

"A Curse Gu has appeared on the northern battlefield. It seems to target our Corpse Sha Sect. When it activates, little bugs crawl out all over the body, just like a Gu Human."

"This doesn't seem like the Mystic Sword Sect's style. Could they have joined forces with other sects?"

"I've never heard of any sect in the Chen Kingdom with a method like that."

"..."

As the disciples chattered among themselves, Wu Liu pushed open the door and announced a new sect rule:

Anyone who had been in the Outer Sect for at least a year had to be ready to be conscripted for sect missions at any time.

Anyone who refused a summons would be charged with the crime of betraying the sect.

"Betraying the sect?"

Everyone was shocked. That was a grave crime. The mildest punishment was having one's soul ripped out and body shattered; the worst could implicate one's entire Lineage.

Most of them didn't even know the simplest spells. Sending them on sect missions in their current state was no different from sending them to their deaths.

The disciples couldn't understand the sect's decision, but Fang Huai knew why the sect had made it.

When even those who should have been stationed in the rear were being pushed to the front lines, it meant the front was severely short on manpower.

Over the past five years, the Corpse Sha Sect had launched a massive offensive against the Mystic Sword Sect. Though it had seized large swaths of the enemy's territory, it had paid a terrible price.

The sect had suffered heavy losses among its mid- and late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators had fallen. Its backbone had been badly weakened.

The duties those people should have handled were now being pushed onto low-level cultivators.

At that thought, Fang Huai stood and left the Skinning Room.

He'd saved enough Contribution Points. It was time to put them to use.

Fang Huai sat in the reception hall of the Cultivation Room, carefully observing the disciples coming and going.

Almost every disciple showed [Spirit Absorption], but the label came in three colors: gray, white, and red.

Those at the same First Layer of Qi Refining as him had gray labels. Those at the Second through Sixth Layers had white labels, while those above the Sixth Layer had red ones.

After working out the pattern, Fang Huai focused his thoughts and exchanged labels with a disciple at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining. Then he stopped a Cultivation Room attendant who was hurrying past.

Because of the war, the Cultivation Room was seeing several times as many disciples as before, leaving the attendant frantic with work.

Seeing that the one who'd stopped him was a junior brother at the First Layer of Qi Refining, the attendant immediately grew irritated.

"If you just want to rent the lowest-grade Cultivation Room, go to Servant Valley. We're full here."

Fang Huai shook his head. "Find me a Grade A Cultivation Room. I want to rent it for two months."

"Grade A? For two months?"

The attendant's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

Grade A Cultivation Rooms were practically on par with Inner Sect Cultivation Rooms, but they were also expensive, costing five hundred Contribution Points a day.

Two months would cost Fang Huai thirty thousand Contribution Points.

The attendant's first thought was that Fang Huai must be the son of some Foundation Establishment uncle. But his clothes were plain, and he didn't look like someone from a wealthy family.

He suspected Fang Huai was messing with him, but Fang Huai's resolute expression didn't look like a joke.

"Junior Brother... Senior Brother, you can't rent a Cultivation Room on credit."

Fang Huai said nothing. He took out his Identity Token and channeled his spiritual power into it.

A line of information appeared on the token:

[Contribution Points: 60751]