Suppression? I Choose Hauling Water!

Chen Huai'an had done chopping firewood and carrying water back in Huai Tree Village too.

This task was tiring, but not unbearably so.

If Chen Huai'an had been an ordinary newcomer who had yet to break through the first level of the Body Tempering Realm, tasks like carrying water and chopping firewood would have counted as the hardest work.

The water had to be carried from the foot of the mountain up to the mountain. It was an extremely demanding job.

A single Servant Peak housed several thousand people, and the water for those thousands depended on a handful of servant disciples hauling it up from below.

After spending the day hauling water until they were exhausted as dogs, who would have any spare time left to cultivate at night?

That was why many people did not want such miserable assignments.

Yet such miserable assignments were precisely the treatment reserved for those receiving special attention and care from the sect.

There was no need to guess. This task had definitely been arranged for him by that bastard Zhang Hu.

Could Chen Huai'an refuse?

He did not dare imagine the consequences of refusing, nor did he wish to.

"I choose hauling water." Chen Huai'an did not hesitate for long. Between chopping firewood and hauling water, he chose the latter.

The firewood-chopping assignment might have been easier, but only for ordinary people.

Chen Huai'an wanted to haul water because he would not be carrying ordinary stream water from the foot of the mountain, but the sect's Spirit Spring Water.

Ordinary river water could evolve into Spirit Spring Water after entering the Purple-Skinned Gourd space. If the water was Spirit Spring Water from the start, then even if its spiritual energy was weak, placing it inside the gourd space would certainly evolve it into an even higher-grade spring water.

Chen Huai'an would be a fool not to take advantage of such an opportunity.

"Fine. You chose this yourself, so don't blame your senior brother for not giving you a chance." The managing disciple had not expected Chen Huai'an to be so ungrateful, and he felt rather unlucky himself.

According to the information he had gathered, Chen Huai'an had opened thirty meridians. Someone like that could not possibly lack backing. He had thought he had found a fat sheep. So long as Chen Huai'an wanted to switch assignments, he could arrange a cushy post for him. He had already prepared such lucrative jobs as tending spirit fields or raising spirit beasts, requiring only a token gesture of appreciation.

But this bastard had turned a blind eye to his hints. In that case, he could not blame him for assigning Chen Huai'an the most grueling work.

"Thank you, Senior Brother. I will surely work hard and never disappoint the sect's expectations." Chen Huai'an clasped his hands and replied with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Chen Huai'an was not an idiot. How could he have failed to understand the other man's hint? On his way here, he had heard that giving the managing senior brother a little something would let one choose a better assignment.

However, everything Chen Huai'an possessed was valuable. He was afraid that taking anything out would draw the man's attention.

This person was part of the sect's management. Could he have obtained such a position within the sect without some connections?

Being targeted by someone like him would be far more troublesome than being targeted by a bully like Zhang Hu.

Chen Huai'an had already made up his mind about Zhang Hu. If he got the chance, he would definitely kill him. But this managing disciple's cultivation was far beyond Zhang Hu's, and his status was not something a minor cultivator like Chen Huai'an could challenge at present.

After Chen Huai'an accepted his assignment and headed to report to the dining hall, the managing disciple spat viciously. "Pah! I thought he was a fat sheep, but he turned out to be a pauper. Didn't even get a single tael of silver out of him. Trash like that is only fit for menial labor."

Chen Huai'an heard the man's curses. His body paused slightly before he quickly walked away.

The weak had no say. He should obediently go work and avoid causing needless trouble.

Before long, Chen Huai'an arrived at the dining hall.

Chen Huai'an had come to the dining hall to eat before, but this time he was headed to the rear kitchen, the backyard of the dining hall's kitchen.

Someone was already waiting there. Several servant disciples stood nearby, while a reclining chair sat in the corner against the wall. A fat middle-aged man in a Daoist robe lay on it. His robe gleamed with grease, and a palm-leaf fan covered his face, obscuring his features. Hearing footsteps enter the courtyard, he spoke.

"Everyone here?"

"Reporting to Manager Wu, everyone is here."

Chen Huai'an did not know what to say. Like the several half-grown youths nearby with faces drawn as bitter as gourds, he stood there blankly.

Manager Wu rose with his greasy belly jutting out and walked over to the group.

"You lot will be responsible for the dining hall's water, and you lot will chop firewood. If you delay the masters' cooking, I'll skin you alive."

Only then did Chen Huai'an examine the companions around him. Four newcomers had come to report this time. The others were all older than him, and one looked to be fifty or sixty, as though he had one foot in the grave.

"Boss Wu, two newcomers have finally come to take over for us. At this rate, we'll never break through to the Qi Refining Realm for the rest of our lives." The gaunt old man looked at Chen Huai'an and another youth behind him, then grinned, exposing two rows of huge yellow teeth. The sight was deeply unsettling.

Even Chen Huai'an and the youths felt a sense of foreboding upon hearing that.

Being assigned to haul water for the dining hall apparently was not a good job either.

Furthermore, these people were dressed like disciples of Qingyun Sect's Servant Peak, yet something about them felt strangely out of place.

An old man in his fifties or sixties was still working as a servant in the sect. Had they not broken through to the Qi Refining Realm?

Such an old man could have been Chen Huai'an's grandfather, yet he had to haul water too?

From the looks of it, they had been hauling water for half their lives in the Servant Peak dining hall.

"Old Li, these youngsters are yours now. I don't care what method you use, but keep these water vats full every day," Manager Wu said coldly.

Everyone assigned here was an unlucky bastard. There was no profit to be had from any of them.

"To save time hauling water, you'll live in this courtyard. There's a spirit spring three li downhill from the dining hall. Your job is to fill these water vats. This is also a form of training. Once you break through to the middle stage of the Body Tempering Realm, you'll understand the benefits." Manager Wu lay back down in his reclining chair, while the gaunt old man led Chen Huai'an and the others away to haul water.

Three li meant six li for a round trip. This was a massive undertaking.

As he left, Chen Huai'an saw the eighteen large water vats in the courtyard. There were eight of them, and each person was responsible for two large vats. With only wooden buckets, they would need dozens of trips a day to fill them.

"Three li? That far? Why not build a water channel to divert the water up the mountain?" After hearing Old Li's words, one youth could not help crying out in alarm.

Even though they were immortal masters of the Body Tempering Realm, three li was no small challenge.

With so much time wasted hauling water, how were they supposed to cultivate? When would they ever break through the Body Tempering Realm?

"Build a water channel? Dream on. A high-level cultivator could summon clouds and rain with a single spell. If they were willing to act, you wouldn't need to haul water at all." Old Li rolled his eyes.

Hauling water was both an assignment and training, though the training was rather grueling. Once one broke through to the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm, one naturally would not need to haul water here anymore.

As for them, they had remained in Qingyun Sect for decades without obtaining the immortal fortune needed to break through to the late stage of the Body Tempering Realm. They could either keep stubbornly struggling on or apply to leave the sect and enjoy their remaining years in peace. But they truly were unwilling to leave just like that.

So they had kept applying to the sect for more servant disciples to haul water, allowing them time to cultivate and break through.

"Wouldn't that waste a great deal of manpower and resources?" Chen Huai'an was somewhat puzzled.

Why did they need low-level cultivators like them to waste so much manpower and resources on such pointless labor when high-level cultivators could resolve it with a single spell?