"You can stay." Chen Lin tapped his fingertips against the table.
Yun Sheng's eyes brightened slightly, and her tense body relaxed a little.
"But the rules here are simple." Chen Lin changed tack. "I don't keep freeloading guests. If you want to stay here and enjoy the Spirit-Gathering Formation, spirit spring ingredients, and high-grade pills, you'll have to take on a different role."
"What role?" Yun Sheng frowned slightly.
"An employee," Chen Lin said.
Yun Sheng froze. In all her hundred and fifty years, this was the first time she had heard this utterly unfamiliar term from the mortal world.
"Simply put, you'll work for me," Chen Lin explained. "Chen Family Village has been getting quite a few visitors lately. Leaders of the various Daoist Orders, cultivators from secluded blessed lands... more cultivators might come in the future."
"Changqingzi is a Nascent Soul cultivator, after all. Having him do this is a bit of a waste. And Lao Qing is mute."
Chen Lin looked at Yun Sheng.
"I need a senior Security Team Captain. You'll guard the gate, maintain order in Chen Family Village, and swat away any pests who don't know their place. What do you think?"
Yun Sheng's breath caught slightly.
Guard the gate? Security Team Captain?
She was a mighty late Core Formation cultivator! Fifty years ago, she had already been capable of turning the tables on an early Nascent Soul opponent and killing them!
And now he wanted her to be a hired thug guarding some mortal village?
Yun Sheng's expression darkened.
To a high-level cultivator, this job was nothing short of blatant humiliation.
"Fellow Daoist Chen." Yun Sheng's voice turned cold as she stood. "Though I have fallen on hard times, I still have the pride of a cultivator. If I cannot stay as a