Chapter 436 - 417: I’ve Never Seen Such a Shameless Person
After who knows how many more runs.
"Not bad. It seems you all know how to respect your elders and the teachings! Since you're all so strong-willed, let's make that will even stronger. I'll reward you with a few more rounds!"
Su Ling'er didn't waste any words. She once again slapped the mission jade slip, already warm to the touch, onto the stone table in front of Mr. Qian.
"Again."
The dozen or so remaining people all swayed on their feet.
'Again?'
'Reward my ass! This is pure torture!'
Even Lu Ping, who had been keeping a low profile and slacking off, couldn't help but tighten his grip on his iron sword.
'How many times has it been now?'
They had been fighting from high noon until sunset, and then from sunset until the moon hung high in the sky.
For an entire day, they had done nothing but swing their swords, rush from place to place, and watch their Spirit Stones get confiscated.
The few remaining disciples looked at each other, all reading the same emotion on one another's faces—they wanted to die.
This wasn't some demonic sect trial; this was clearly treating people like tireless puppets.
Even the illegal mines in the mortal world would at least give you a bite to eat and a sip of water.
But this Miss Su? She didn't even give them water. They were running on nothing but a single breath of immortal qi.
"What? Can't move already?"
Su Ling'er turned, her gaze sweeping over the group of stubborn individuals who were about to collapse.
She was puzzled herself.
'What are these people after?'
'They're getting nothing out of this and are as tired as dead dogs, so why don't they just get lost already?'
'Is the allure of the demonic path really that strong for them?'
'So strong that they're willing to die for it?'
(The undercover agents: We don't have a choice either!!!)
'No.'
'The more they persist, the more it proves how deep their greed is. It shows that their desire for the demonic path has reached a pathological level.'
'If people like this remain, they will definitely become a great disaster for all life under heaven!'
'I have to get rid of them!'
"If you can't move, it's not too late to go down the mountain now." Su Ling'er pointed toward the sect gate. "Once you're out that gate, you can lie on a soft couch in your own home, eating and drinking whatever you please, instead of suffering this living hell here."
But at this moment, no one dared to move.
They were honestly too lazy to move, and they didn't dare make any rash moves that might displease this guide from the demonic sect. They were afraid she'd turn around and refine them into blood sacrifices on the spot. At least being alive now proved they still had some use.
The undercover agents were miserable.
They were bound by their sects' orders and restrictive seals. If they were to just slink back in failure, they might not even make it home before the seals activated and made them self-destruct.
It was a choice between two evils, and they had to choose the lesser.
"Very good." Su Ling'er nodded, her tone turning heavy. "Since you don't want to leave, then crawl to your feet and enter the tower."
She turned first and stepped through the black portal, a sight that now made everyone feel physically nauseous.
The others could only drag their leaden legs and follow her.
Lu Ping walked at the very back. He glanced at Su Ling'er's retreating figure, then at the other new disciples on the verge of collapse, and began to calculate in his mind.
'What is this woman's goal, exactly?'
'Simple torture?'
'Or is she just greedy?'
'She certainly seems greedy. She's faster than anyone when it comes to collecting the Spirit Stones.'
'Either way, as long as I don't expose myself and don't trigger the restrictive seals, this bit of hardship is nothing.'
...
They emerged from the tower once more.
This time, even Su Ling'er felt a bit tired. Although she was just the supervisor and guide and didn't have to kill monsters herself, watching others work and having to shout a few philosophical lines from time to time was still hard on her throat.
She rubbed her slightly sore wrists and looked at the bag of Spirit Stones that had appeared on the stone table again.
Since the only ones left were the top cultivators among the new recruits (all of whom were undercover agents), Su Ling'er had also "thoughtfully" increased the difficulty a little.
Mr. Qian still had that dead man's expression on his face as he announced the number: "A total of three hundred and fifteen Spirit Stones this time."
Then, Mr. Qian tossed out the Spirit Stones they had earned from the mission.
And Su Ling'er, with extreme proficiency, reached out, grabbed the Spirit Stones, and stuffed them into her storage pouch.
CLANG—!
A crisp sound rang out.
It was the sound of the Spirit Stones dropping into her pouch, and also the sound of the undercover agents' hearts shattering.
Su Ling'er's movements were perfectly fluid, without the slightest pause. She was smoother than an old shopkeeper in the mortal world who had been counting money for thirty years. She was becoming a master of this particular step.
The dozen or so people below didn't even glance at the pouch of money.
They were numb.
Completely numb.
It wasn't for them anyway. Looking too much would just give them a heart attack.
"Miss Su…"
One of the undercover agents from a righteous sect finally couldn't take it anymore. His voice was hoarse. "Are we… going to continue?"
He really was at his limit.
He felt the world spinning before his eyes. After such repetitive, monotonous labor, he was now running purely on willpower.
If he kept fighting like this, he felt he would become the first cultivator in history to die of exhaustion while working undercover. That would be the joke of the century.
Seeing his half-dead appearance, Su Ling'er was secretly delighted.
'Looking like that, it must be soon!'
'Is this the last straw?!'
'If I just push them a little harder, will they finally break?!'
"Continue?" Su Ling'er sneered. "We've barely gotten started. You think you've reached your limit already?"
"The physical body is a boat, and the will is its sail. Cultivation itself is a struggle across a bitter sea. If you can't even break through the shackles of your mortal flesh, then what's the point of cultivating immortality? What's the point of seeking the Dao?"
"I am helping you temper your Dao hearts and sever your mortal attachments!"
"Only when you can kill as you please without your hands shaking, when you can face Mount Tai collapsing before you without your heart wavering, and when you can view thousands of Spirit Stones as nothing more than passing clouds or roadside rubble, only then will you have truly stepped through the gates of cultivation."
She delivered these words with such awe-inspiring righteousness.
The group of undercover agents listening to her just wanted to curse her mother.
'Temper our Dao hearts?'
'Since when does tempering Dao hearts mean working people like donkeys on a collective farm?'
'And view Spirit Stones as passing clouds?'
'You're the greediest one here!'
'You're the one inhaling all the "passing clouds," while you leave us to cultivate with rubble?'
'I've never met such a shameless person!'
Even the undercover agents from the demonic sects were speechless at this point.
They had thought that their own demonic sects' Gu-style training—pitting disciples against each other until only the strongest survived—was already cruel and merciless enough.
They never expected the Guixi Sect to be even more vicious. It was a righteous sect in name, but its actions were darker than those of the demonic path!
They squeezed every last drop of value out of a person and then gave it a noble-sounding name.
No wonder the Guixi Sect had so few members. With this kind of training method, anyone who survived wouldn't be human—they'd be livestock!
"Don't let your Heart Demons take advantage of your weakness." Su Ling'er had no intention of giving them a moment to breathe. "Get up. Comfort is for the dead! Continue!"
Everyone: "..."
'This is a sin!'
'This isn't cultivation or undercover work, this is serving a prison sentence!'
...
「At the same time.」
Above the sea of clouds over the Guixi Sect.
A figure was riding the wind toward them.
Lin Qingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, looking every bit the transcendent immortal, full of style.
He had just returned from the game's official lottery page, and he was in an excellent mood.
Although he didn't know the results of the lottery yet, that didn't stop him from being full of anticipation for what he might have won.
'After all, if there isn't even a pity prize, then the system must be rigged. Whether it's true or not, I'll report it first! Maybe I can even get them to optimize the game's features!'
Then, Lin Qingfeng habitually checked the sect map and found that the dot of light representing his Junior Sister Su Ling'er was lingering near the Demon-Locking Tower, and it was flickering slightly.
A thought struck Lin Qingfeng.
'Huh? Isn't Junior Sister done with the tour and resting yet?'
'She's only just now showing the new recruits the Demon-Locking Tower?'
'Hmm, not bad. That girl is quite diligent and responsible. She probably wants to show off her combat power, or maybe tell the new recruits about the sect's history, do some team-building, or perhaps test their strength?'
Without a second thought, Lin Qingfeng flew directly toward the Demon-Locking Tower. In the blink of an eye, he broke through the clouds and landed in the plaza in front of the Transmission Hall.
The scene before him made him freeze on the spot.
Where there should have been a bustling crowd of people, there were now only a dozen or so figures standing scattered about.
These dozen or so people were in tattered clothes, their hair as messy as a chicken's nest. Each one was pale-faced with sunken eyes, looking as if they had just crawled out of a pile of corpses.
They leaned on their swords, their bodies swaying unsteadily.
And in front of them…
Stood his own Junior Sister, Su Ling'er, dressed in her red robes.
She expertly snatched a bag of Spirit Stones from the stone table in front of Mr. Qian and, without a second glance, stuffed it into her already bulging storage pouch.
"Done."
Su Ling'er's voice was flat, yet it carried a chilling excitement.
"Rest for ten breaths. Prepare to continue."
As soon as she said this, the dozen or so "refugees" let out a collective wail, and one even went weak in the knees and collapsed to the ground.
"Senior Sister… please let us rest!"
"This isn't cultivation… this is a slaughterhouse…"
Even the few undercover agents who had been gritting their teeth and holding on couldn't help but start cursing under their breath.
Lin Qingfeng stood a short distance away, watching this scene with his mind completely blank.
'Weren't there over three hundred people before?!'
'How are there only a dozen left? What happened to the other two hundred-plus people? Did she eat them?!'
'And from the looks of it, these last dozen survivors are about to be broken too!'
'Seriously, Junior Sister, what in the world did you do to them?!'
Just then, Su Ling'er noticed her Senior Brother's arrival.
The moment she turned and saw Lin Qingfeng, the icy frost on her face instantly melted away, replaced by an incredibly radiant smile.
It was a smile filled with the smug pride of someone seeking praise for their achievements.
"Senior Brother!"
Su Ling'er walked over quickly, her steps light.
"Junior Sister has not failed the mission!"
"Senior Brother! I've almost completed the task you assigned me!"
Lin Qingfeng: "!!!"
'Me?'
'What task did I assign?! Didn't I just ask you to be a guide?'
'How could she misunderstand that?!'
Lin Qingfeng looked at his junior sister, whose face was begging for praise, then at the group of "survivors" in the distance who were casting pleading gazes his way.
He felt a chill run down his spine.
He tried his best to remember, desperately digging through his memories for whatever foolish thing he might have said.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck.
'It couldn't be… that one thing I blurted out offhandedly, could it?!'