This King Is Hungry!

He had to spend three years as a beast of burden before he could even earn the right to cultivate?

By contrast, the others behind him looked merely disappointed, not particularly surprised. Clearly, they had already braced themselves for this.

Bai Jin'er continued.

"During these three years, you can work hard and trade with Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters from the Outer Sect and Inner Sect for spirit stone fragments or pills."

"Remember, don't keep money on you."

"As soon as you have any money, go to the Merit Hall and buy pills that strengthen your body. Get yourselves into good physical condition."

"That way, once you receive the Qi Refinement Manual after three years, you'll have a chance of drawing qi into your bodies quickly. Once you reach the first level of Qi Refinement, you'll have a chance to pass the assessment and become Outer Sect disciples."

"Thank you for your guidance, senior sister!" After hearing this, everyone cupped their hands and bowed to her gratefully.

They all understood that Bai Jin'er's words were as precious as gold and jade.

To put it bluntly, Odd-Job Disciples were the sect's lowest-ranking laborers. Not only was their status low, but they were also the weakest.

They needed to spend their money quickly, before those slippery old hands among their Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters robbed them of it.

With that said, Bai Jin'er offered no further explanation and led everyone onward.

They walked for nearly half a day.

It was almost dark, and they still hadn't arrived.

For fuck's sake, it was just a sect! Why build it deep in these mountains and forests, where even birds wouldn't bother taking a shit?

Chun Xiaobai was starting to think he didn't want to go.

He'd only be a fucking beast of burden anyway. Better to run off now, find some mountain, plant a flag, and return to his old trade as a bandit king! That would be far more enjoyable!

With a little luck, he could rob some fat sheep traveling alone of a Qi Refinement Manual in half a day!

Just as Chun Xiaobai began beating the drum of retreat in his heart, Bai Jin'er's clear voice rang out.

"We're here."

Chun Xiaobai squeezed to the front and looked. At the foot of the mountain ahead, rows of shabby thatched huts stood scattered about.

The sight sent a chill through his heart.

"Fuck!"

These living conditions weren't even as good as the latrine at his Black Wind Stronghold!

As she spoke, Bai Jin'er flipped her hand, and a small cloth pouch appeared in her palm. She tipped out a pile of black iron Command Tokens bearing numbers but no names and distributed them to everyone.

"Take these. They're your identity tokens."

"Remember to bring them whenever you go down the mountain. If you encounter the Sect Enforcement Team and can't prove your identity, you'll be treated as spies from another sect and executed on the spot!"

"So this mountain is a little dangerous, then?"

Chun Xiaobai took his Command Token and toyed with it while looking around. Apart from voices coming from the thatched huts ahead, he didn't see a single immortal soaring through the sky or burrowing through the earth.

After handing out the Command Tokens, Bai Jin'er turned and headed toward the Outer Sect area up the mountain.

She had only taken a few steps when someone grabbed her arm.

She looked back. It was that annoying fellow again.

"Um... little lady, this Great King is hungry. Where's the dining hall?"

Bai Jin'er froze. Great King?

Was this fellow a bandit from some mountain who had come here for Immortal Cultivation?

She shook her arm, only to find his large hand clamped around it like iron pincers, utterly unmoving.

"You... let go of me!"

Chun Xiaobai hurriedly released her.

He hadn't had a proper meal in two whole days, and she had led him over mountain after mountain. He was starting to see double.

He had left in a hurry and hadn't brought any dry rations.

Only his sturdy constitution had kept him going. An ordinary person would have starved to death by now.

"Odd-Job Disciples, the sect doesn't provide food for you. You have to feed yourselves."

"What???"

Didn't that mean Odd-Job Disciples were treated worse than beasts of burden?

At least oxen and horses got fed!

Chun Xiaobai was dumbfounded.

Bai Jin'er looked at him. "Feeding yourselves is only the first hurdle."

"First, you need to find somewhere to live. Then find an empty plot, clear it yourselves, and grow your own rice and vegetables."

There was something else she didn't say... in previous years, quite a few Odd-Job Disciples had starved to death before getting all that done.

Seeing Chun Xiaobai's face on the verge of crumpling, Bai Jin'er couldn't quite bear it. She flipped her hand again, and several dry, hard flatbreads appeared.

"Here, eat these. Once you're done, find somewhere to live as soon as possible. Whether you rent a plot or clear one yourself, get your vegetable garden ready early."

Chun Xiaobai snatched them up, stuffed one into his mouth, and immediately began wolfing it down.

Then his gaze settled on the dainty little pouch at her waist.

Could that be the legendary storage pouch that could hold anything?

"What are you looking at?!" Bai Jin'er immediately covered the storage pouch at her waist, watching him warily as though guarding against a thief.

"Nothing, nothing. Just curious." Chun Xiaobai hurriedly waved his hand.

Even thieves had a code. This little lady had been his guide, after all, and now she had practically saved his life. That debt of gratitude towered higher than the heavens.

He could rob anyone, but not her.

"All right, once you've eaten, hurry up and find somewhere to stay. Don't freeze to death before you get the chance to starve!"

Bai Jin'er made to leave again, only for Chun Xiaobai to grab her once more.

"Little lady, how many disciples does our sect have?"

This was what Chun Xiaobai cared about most.

If there were too few people, or they were too poor, he always felt it wouldn't be good for his prospects.

"So many questions! Can't you ask them all at once?" Bai Jin'er said bluntly. "I don't know about the others. I only know that the disciples of the Outer Sect's thirty-six peaks total around five hundred thousand."

"What?" Chun Xiaobai stared in shock, a piece of flatbread caught at the corner of his mouth.

"Holy shit, the Outer Sect alone has five hundred thousand Outer Sect Disciples? With the Inner Sect added in, wouldn't that make one or two million?"

When he tried to ask another question, he found Bai Jin'er running up the mountain as though fleeing.

Bai Jin'er glanced back at him.

She couldn't shake the feeling that this fellow called Chun Xiaobai wasn't a good person. Especially those shifty eyes of his, constantly darting about-he seemed to be appraising the price of everything he saw, making her skin crawl.

By the time Chun Xiaobai had eaten and drunk his fill, a crescent moon had quietly climbed above the treetops.

He walked down the slope.

Everything around him was silent. There wasn't even a campfire burning.

Clearly, the new Odd-Job Disciples had come prepared with plenty of dry rations. After eating and drinking their fill, they had long since found places to lie down and sleep.

Feeling his way through the darkness, Chun Xiaobai reached the foot of the mountain and pushed at the doors of the thatched huts one by one, only to find them all occupied.

Fortunately, when he reached the stream, he found an unoccupied thatched hut on the verge of falling apart and plunged straight inside.

The moment he touched the straw mat, thunderous snores began rolling out of the hut.

The next day, dawn had barely broken.

Bang!

Someone kicked the bamboo door of his ramshackle hut clean off.

"Still fucking sleeping in? Think this is your house? Get your ass up and get to work!"

A broad-shouldered, thick-waisted middle-aged man, also dressed in Odd-Job Disciple robes, stood in the doorway and roared.

He found that the figure on the tattered mat hadn't moved an inch.

His name was Wang Fan, and he too was an Odd-Job Disciple. After grinding away for twenty years, he had finally secured a modest position as an Odd-Job Disciple overseer.

He waved to someone beside him.

A scrawny Odd-Job Disciple immediately took the hint, rushed into the thatched hut, and shook Chun Xiaobai, who was still lost in his dreams.

"Senior brother, get up! It's time to work!"

"Stop fussing... let this Great King sleep a little longer. You lot go down the mountain and rob..."