'Spirit Beast Garden... working for others...'
'Do they mean having those spirit beasts work for them?'
Su Ling'er couldn't help but think of the spirit beasts in the herb gardens of the Hundred Herbs Valley. Were they really just there to guard the gardens?
As the two walked on, the mist ahead dissipated, revealing the silhouette of a massive courtyard. The roars of beasts echoed out from time to time.
"Junior Sister, look. This is the Guixi Sect's Spirit Beast Garden. It's close to the sect's Spirit Stone Vein, making it easy to manage. It's also adjacent to the herb gardens, so it's convenient for employers to dispatch them to the Hundred Herbs Valley to tend to their gardens."
Lin Qingfeng explained, "The Spirit Beast Garden is divided into the East and West Compounds. The East Compound is mainly for taming, while the West Compound manages labor. Further inside is the Beast Taming House."
'In the stories and plays, places with names like that are never good.'
The closer she got, the heavier her heart became.
Before them lay a wide, open field.
Several deep mine shafts stood open, their entrances laid with crude tracks. With a CREAK... CREAK..., heavy mine carts were slowly pushed forward.
And pulling the carts were dozens of demon beasts—or perhaps spirit beasts—of all different sizes.
Their fur was dull, their eyes numb.
On a high platform, a disciple in Guixi Sect robes sat cross-legged, supervising.
He was a player specializing in beast taming. To grind his skill proficiency, he was personally overseeing the spirit beasts' work, constantly forming hand seals for his Techniques to raise his beast-taming skill.
Lin Qingfeng seemed to notice Su Ling'er's confusion and explained, "These are all spirit servants entrusted to the Beast Taming House by disciples of the sect."
"Spirit beasts have low intelligence and are prone to laziness, but centralized management ensures they work without stopping. And with their labor, their masters can receive a fixed supply of Spirit Stones each day, allowing them to focus on their cultivation."
"This, too, is a form of cultivation. Do you understand?"
'Spirit beasts?'
Su Ling'er couldn't comprehend it. She had never even seen spirit beasts on this scale.
She had seen a few demon beasts, but the spirit beasts she knew of were like the white ape in the Sect Leader's back mountains, who was respectfully called "Brother Ape." They were fellow Daoists, companions.
The spirit beasts here... no, they should be called spirit servants.
They were nothing more than a group of tireless laborers, toiling day and night, their lives even more bitter than her own had been at Qingxu Temple.
The outer disciples at Qingxu Temple at least had fixed times for rest and cultivation each day, and the chores were just simple things like sweeping floors and carrying water.
But the spirit beasts before her were completely devoid of life.
"BANG!"
With a dull thud, a second-rank pangolin hauling ore in the distance collapsed, unable to rise again.
The supervising disciple floated down, inspected it for a moment, and shook his head.
"This one's done for. It's cheaper to buy a new one than to save it. It's old, too. We'll just have to optimize it away."
'Optimize? What's that? Does it mean making it stronger?'
Su Ling'er didn't understand this term, which had a different meaning in another world. She could only watch helplessly as a rope was looped around the still-breathing pangolin and it was dragged away into the distance.
"Junior Sister, all things are born and all things must perish. They fulfilled their duty with their lives. Dust to dust, earth to earth. This, too, is in accordance with the Great Dao."
Treating it was less cost-effective than spending a few Spirit Stones to get a new one. After all, for low-level demon beasts, as long as you were willing to spend money, there was an endless supply ready to take its place.
This also let many players experience the joy of being a boss, exploiting and "optimizing" employees from a different perspective.
Seeing the look on Su Ling'er's face as she watched the spirit servants, Lin Qingfeng assumed his junior sister wanted a spirit pet for companionship, so he suggested, "Ling'er, if you want to raise a spirit pet, you don't need to look at these low-level spirit servants used for labor."
"You can first save up some Spirit Stones and buy one or two spirit servants to keep here, managed on your behalf by your senior brothers."
"The income from their mining will soon allow you to buy a spirit pet to your liking. You could also use it to buy Spirit Plants, or elixirs and Magical Artifacts. Think of it as a stable source of income for you in the sect."
"The spirit pets that make good companions are mostly small, cute, and beautiful. Of course, combat-type spirit pets will cost more Spirit Stones."
"You can also hunt demon beasts in the wild and spend some Spirit Stones to have them tamed in the Beast Taming House up ahead. There are many disciples there who specialize in beast taming. For a small fee, they will help you tame any demon beast you take a liking to."
'What a "managed on your behalf"! What a "stable income"!'
Su Ling'er sneered inwardly.
'Is he teaching me how to become one of them, a link in this chain of exploitation?'
'They exploit the low-level disciples, who then exploit these spirit beasts? Are they trying to assimilate me?!'
But she didn't dare show any extreme reaction right now. She could only answer in a low voice, "Thank you for your guidance, Eldest Senior Brother."
Su Ling'er's gaze was then drawn to an enclosure in the corner.
Inside was a strange, sad-faced creature, curled up in a daze. Opposite it, a disciple also sat cross-legged, staring blankly at the spirit beast, face to face.
Lin Qingfeng recognized him as Wang Xian, a famously "slacker" player in the sect, and his self-bred "Grievance Beast."
This beast was naturally listless and seemed incapable and unwilling to do anything.
Wang Xian felt it was a kindred spirit and would often sit opposite it, slacking off together.
Su Ling'er's gaze met that of the Grievance Beast.
The moment their eyes met, she saw in its numb and hopeless gaze someone else trapped in this demon's den, with no idea when they might be free...
Her own reflection.
The Sorrow Flower in her arms seemed to sense this, and the sorrowful face on its petals grew even more melancholic.
Just then, Lin Qingfeng spoke up. "Junior Sister, don't mind them... uh... being such slackers. They're actually quite strong."
"And this Beast Taming House has many other interesting functions. When you have time in the future, you can go take a look inside."
...
They left the Beast Taming House under a blue sky dotted with white clouds.
But in Su Ling'er's eyes, it all seemed fake and fragile.
To help his new junior sister integrate into the sect faster, Lin Qingfeng continued leading her to the next core location—the Transmission Hall.
The hall was magnificent, its interior clearly divided into left and right sides.
On the left, a Mr. Qian sat bolt upright, the stone wall before him covered in jade slips. Countless disciples vied to step forward and accept their missions.
On the right side of the hall was the teaching NPC, Mr. Qian, the one who once had his socks stolen. At this hour, he wasn't out wandering around.
She personally saw a disciple offer up a large amount of Spirit Stones. That Mr. Qian merely pointed a finger, and a streak of black light entered the disciple's body. The disciple's face immediately twisted with either ecstasy or despair.
Su Ling'er wanted to ask Lin Qingfeng about it, but he just gave a mysterious smile and didn't answer, even remarking that she would be a frequent visitor here in the future.
After Lin Qingfeng gave her a quick tour of the place, only four locations were left on his quest progress bar.
[Sect Orientation Quest: Guide new disciple Su Ling'er and familiarize her with the sect.]
[Current Progress: Dining Pavilion (Completed), Elixir Furnace Pavilion (Completed), Artifact Refining Pavilion (Completed), Spirit Beast Garden (Completed), Transmission Hall (Completed)...]
[Remaining Areas: Cultivation Abode, Demon-Locking Tower, Asking Dao Ladder, Sword Mound.]
Only four last places to go.
'These four are all great places!'
'Once we visit them all, this orientation quest will be perfectly complete, and I can unlock the preliminary stage for the next sect promotion!'
He stopped and turned to look at Su Ling'er.
"Ling'er, what you've seen and heard today must have been a great shock to you, but you must remember that the path of the Great Dao is, by its very nature, a cultivation of breaking down to build anew."
"Contemplation is a good thing, but contemplation alone is not enough."
A mysterious smile touched his face, like an elder's care and expectation for a junior.
"As your Eldest Senior Brother, I have prepared a small gift for you."
"I will take you to get it when we reach the next location."
'A gift?'
Su Ling'er looked up, meeting his "gentle" eyes.
'In this demon's den where life is treated as raw material, a 'gift' from my Eldest Senior Brother...'
'What could it be?'
'A Magical Artifact that can monitor my thoughts? A 'spirit servant' tamed from birth to watch over me?'
'Or perhaps... some kind of... tool... that could better 'realize her value'?'