Recruitment

He placed his Identity Token in the recess in the Cultivation Room wall, and the door opened automatically.

"I'll come out for some air every day. Don't worry about me, and don't let anyone disturb me."

Fang Huai's expression was cold as he warned the disciple assigned to watch over him.

Because of the tag's limited duration, he needed to leave the Cultivation Room once every six hours and exchange for another Qi Refining disciple's [Spirit Absorption].

"Rest assured, Senior Brother," the disciple vowed. "Your junior brother will see to it. If you have any other requests, just call for me!"

He had finally gotten hold of a big fish like Fang Huai, so naturally he wanted to maintain the relationship.

Fang Huai nodded and strode into the Cultivation Room amid the disciple's flattery.

Compared to the crude accommodations in Servant Valley, this Outer Sect Cultivation Room was far more respectable.

An attribute-free miniature Spirit Gathering Array had been set up inside. A mat woven from ice silkworm silk, which aided meditation, lay on the floor, and a calming incense burned in the censer.

The layout was exquisite, with a distinctly immortal air.

Feeling the rich spiritual energy, Fang Huai was extremely satisfied.

As expected, you got what you paid for. The spiritual energy here contained fewer impurities and was blended with White Sha, which removed toxicity and negative effects. It was perfectly suited to practicing the Hundred Sha Technique.

He sat cross-legged and entered the proper state within a few breaths.

After five years of skinning, he had handled countless living and dead demonic beasts. The Soul Banner in his Storage Bag had already collected the remnant souls of dozens of them.

This approach to cultivating the mind through slaughter had made his understanding of the Hundred Sha Technique increasingly clear and profound.

On the fifty-sixth day of cultivation, his sea of consciousness suddenly stabbed with pain, forcibly yanking him out of meditation.

The pain came from deep within his soul, as though some kind of bond had been forcibly triggered.

His face turned livid as he swiftly removed his Identity Token from the recess.

At that moment, the token grew warm and emitted a dark golden glow—

The sect was forcibly conscripting him.

He focused his thoughts on it, and several lines of mission information immediately appeared:

[Mission: Proceed to the affiliated Nanze Zheng Family to collect the annual tribute. The specific amount has been communicated separately to the leader.]

[Participants: Lin Qian, Wu Sanli, Liu Xiange, Fang Huai]

"I didn't expect the sect to forcibly conscript me so soon."

Fang Huai was glad that his cultivation over the past few days had improved his strength. "My luck seems pretty good. I wasn't conscripted to the front lines. I just don't know whether this Liu Xiange is the Liu Xiange I know."

The sect's forced missions were divided into four types, distinguished by color: white, gold, red, and black.

White missions were ordinary support tasks, usually involving errands, manual labor, or capturing mortals. They were relatively low-risk.

Gold missions were mostly related to cultivation families.

Red missions primarily involved hunting demonic beasts or hostile cultivators.

Black missions were battlefield conscriptions, with the highest mortality rate.

[Hundred Sha Technique (Incomplete) Third Layer 92/100]

"Fortunately, I'm only eight points away from the perfection of the third Qi Refining layer. I'll make up the remaining progress with Spirit Gathering Pills. Once this conscription is over, I'll immediately apply to leave the sect and find somewhere to shed my Mortal Skin."

Besides Spirit Gathering Pills, Fang Huai had exchanged for several low-grade Spirit Stones, some miscellaneous items, and three practical techniques—

Soul Pulling Technique: Control the souls inside the Soul Banner to assist in battle;

Light Body Technique: Channel spiritual energy into the legs to increase agility;

Yin Underworld Claw: Condense Poison Sha to attack an opponent. It wasn't particularly powerful, but when used for a sneak attack, it often brought unexpected rewards.

It wasn't that Fang Huai didn't want to exchange for the Skinning Room's inherited Sha Arts; the cost ran to hundreds of thousands of Contribution Points, which he simply couldn't afford.

In the Skinning Room, Wu Liu had been fretting over Fang Huai's two-month absence. The moment she saw him push open the door, her face lit up with joy.

When she heard he had been conscripted, Wu Liu cursed the sect for its foolishness, complaining that they had sent a First Layer of Qi Refining disciple out on a mission.

Fang Huai didn't explain. After exchanging for the techniques, he had spent spiritual energy to master all three, but afterward, he hadn't used any Spirit Stones to replenish it.

As a result, the spiritual energy within him was now only at about the level of a First Layer of Qi Refining disciple.

"You're at the Third Layer of Qi Refining?" Wu Liu finally noticed something was off.

Wu Liu, who was at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, hadn't seen through his cultivation at first glance. Fang Huai found that somewhat surprising.

But when he thought about it, it made sense. With no Spirit Root and his spiritual energy concealed, he couldn't automatically absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to replenish it after using it up. It was only natural for her to mistake his cultivation level.

It seemed having no Spirit Root wasn't entirely a bad thing. At the very least, it was like having unknowingly cultivated an extremely crude concealment technique.

Three days later, Fang Huai arrived at the Outer Sect Hall.

"Senior Brother Fang, over here!"

As soon as he stepped through the hall doors, a familiar voice called out.

"Junior Sister Liu."

A carved stone hairpin held her black hair in a bun, and a red centipede's head peeked out from it. It was Liu Xiange, whom Fang Huai knew.

Several years had passed, and she was already at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. She must have had quite an opportunity.

Two male cultivators already stood beside Liu Xiange: Lin Qian and Wu Sanli.

One was at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, the other at the Fifth.

"Junior Sister Liu, you know him?" Wu Sanli's face had been fairly amiable at first, but the moment he saw Fang Huai, it turned cold.

His cultivation was far too low, barely reaching the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

Someone like that had no business being here. He was just there to make up the numbers.

Liu Xiange was just about to explain when Lin Qian spoke up. "You have the lowest cultivation and arrived the latest. You've got an even bigger ego than a Foundation Establishment uncle-master."

"I was making a few preparations and got delayed. Please forgive me, Senior Brother." Fang Huai bowed in apology.

Lin Qian nodded and let the matter drop.

As the leader and the one with the highest cultivation, it was only natural that he had the most say.

With a sweeping gesture, he sent a massive bird brimming with Killing Intent flying out of the Spirit Beast Bag.

"This Corpse Sha Bird was refined from a Wind-Assisting Bird demonic beast at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. Although it has lost its soul, it still retains some of its former abilities and can travel thirteen hundred li in a day.

"It'll take just three days to carry all four of us to the Nanze Zheng Family."

"As expected of a Senior Brother from Corpse Refining Peak! To possess such a treasure!"

As soon as Lin Qian finished speaking, Wu Sanli hastened to flatter him.

Corpse Refining Peak was the main peak of the Corpse Sha Sect. Aside from the lineage directly under the sect master, it held the greatest authority and possessed the richest inheritance.

At the same time, however, it had extremely strict requirements for its disciples' aptitude and family background.

"With Senior Brother here, we'll complete this mission in no time," Wu Sanli continued to flatter him.

"This mission will depend entirely on Senior Brother Lin leading the way."

"Lin Qian is unworthy of such praise. You flatter me!"

"..."

Fang Huai, however, frowned and said nothing.

With the war growing more intense, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator like Lin Qian ought to have been assigned a more important mission.

Sending him to collect annual tribute from a cultivation family seemed like a gross waste of talent.

What Fang Huai didn't know was that Lin Qian was actually afraid of death. He had spent a great deal of Spirit Stones to secure a mission that would keep him off the front lines.

He planned to make a killing on this trip to the Nanze Zheng Family.

Wu Sanli already disliked Fang Huai because of his low cultivation. Seeing him stay silent, he sneered, "Your cultivation's weak, and you don't know how to behave. You're clinging to Senior Brother Lin's coattails, yet you don't even know to thank him."

"Senior Brother Wu, Senior Brother Fang—"

Fang Huai stopped Liu Xiange from continuing, then bowed to Lin Qian and Wu Sanli.

"Your junior brother knows his cultivation is weak and that he's unfit for an important role. I'm willing to take care of all the miscellaneous tasks on this trip.

"Whatever you two Senior Brothers ask of me, I'll carry out without fail."

Having low strength wasn't entirely without its advantages.

If they ran into danger, he would have a good excuse to stay behind and avoid the brunt of it.

As for Wu Sanli's mockery, Fang Huai couldn't be bothered to take it to heart.

If he really wanted to deal with someone like that, he had ten thousand ways hidden up his sleeve.