"You're looking for death!" Seeing Lin Haoming dare to swallow the Qi-Circulating Pill right in front of him, Li Haiying was furious.
As Li Haiying's temper flared, Lin Haoming immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Manager Hai! Li Haiying is trying to rob me of my medicinal pills! You have to do something!"
Hai Futong hadn't expected Lin Haoming to actually call him over. The shout was so loud that everyone heard it; if he remained indifferent, he would truly lose face. Although he was leaving soon, he still had a month left on his watch.
Reluctantly walking over, Hai Futong watched as Lin Haoming hurried up to him. "Manager Hai, look at this Li Haiying. Not only did he used to curse you behind your back, but now he's trying to ride roughshod over you before you've even left! This is simply outrageous!"
Li Haiying was also stunned. How had the previously mouse-like Lin Haoming suddenly become so bold that he dared to lodge a complaint right to his face?
In truth, Hai Futong didn't really want to get involved, but for the sake of his reputation—and because he was annoyed that Li Haiying was jumping the gun before he had even departed—he barked at him, "Li Haiying! I haven't left yet. As long as I'm here, the rules are followed according to my word. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Manager Hai. Rest assured, I won't cause trouble before you leave!" Having been a manager for several years, Hai Futong had accumulated quite a bit of prestige, and with his superior cultivation, Li Haiying could only nod in agreement. However, as he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on Lin Haoming, a clear warning in his gaze.
Lin Haoming understood the subtext: I won't cause trouble until he leaves, but once he's gone, you're dead.
Noticing the mocking or sympathetic looks from the other disciples, Lin Haoming felt he might have been a bit impulsive. But even if he could do it again, he wouldn't bow his head. He wasn't that previous coward. Growing up as an orphan, he had his own principles. There are times to lower one's head, but once you lower it in certain situations, you might never be able to lift it again for the rest of your life.
"Haoming, you're too foolish. Li Haiying made his intent clear; why bother crossing him?" After the leaders left, a fat man approached with a bitter sigh.
This was Li Shuntian, formerly a prince of a mortal kingdom. After discovering he had immortal potential, he followed a cultivator to join a sect. But upon entering the Blood Refining Sect, his royal ego had clashed with reality, leading him to offend many people before ending up in this miserable position.
Having been here for a few years, Li Shuntian had learned to live with his tail between his legs. His cultivation had reached the 6th level of Qi Refining.
Lin Haoming didn't take the former prince's words to heart. Even knowing a crackdown was coming in a month, he held a firm conviction: he'd rather die standing than live kneeling!
---
The Grotto of Slaughter
The group of twenty-odd people walked through a massive tunnel into a cavern filled with a pungent, metallic stench of blood. The ground was stained crimson—not with human blood, but with the blood of Mountain Armored Beasts.
The Mountain Armored Beast is a Grade 1 Spirit Beast. It looks like a pangolin but is much larger; including the tail, it's about the length of two adult men.
Every part of this beast is a treasure: its scales are materials for artifacts, its claws can be forged into weapons, and most importantly, its inner core is a primary ingredient for Qi-Circulating and Qi-Gathering pills. Even its meat can be cooked into spiritual food, and its refined blood is used for making talismans. The Blood Refining Sect raises tens of thousands of them. Lin Haoming's job was to slaughter two of them a day.
These beasts were brought in drugged; they were conscious but their limbs were weak, leaving them completely at the mercy of the butchers.
As a former medical student specializing in surgery, Lin Haoming wasn't afraid of a little blood. Having studied under old professors, his hands were steady, precise, and ruthless—even when facing spirit beasts.
However, perhaps feeling moved by his own situation, Lin Haoming didn't strike immediately. He looked at the row of helpless beasts and sighed.
Stroking the head of the beast in front of him, he whispered with genuine melancholy, "Little beast, little beast... It's not that I want to kill you, but such is the Heavenly Dao. You are a spirit beast, I am a cultivator. The strong prey on the weak. But don't worry, I won't let you suffer. It'll be over in a flash. I only hope that in your next life, you are born human, or at least no longer as something to be slaughtered."
It was a mere emotional outburst, but to Lin Haoming's shock, after he finished speaking, the beast's eyes actually welled with tears.
Mountain Armored Beasts have little intelligence, and Lin Haoming found it strange. Can it understand me? He shook the thought off, assuming it was just a natural reaction.
He picked up a blood-red long blade. This was a low-grade artifact—nothing special other than being extremely sharp. To Lin Haoming, however, it was a marvel. Compared to the scalpels he used to use, this Blood Blade was in a different league.
With a single, swift thrust, he pierced the beast's heart. It died instantly. He had kept his promise: it didn't suffer.
As he pulled the blade out, he suddenly felt a searing heat against his chest. He reached in and felt the prayer beads. The heat intensified, and the beads felt as though they were trying to embed themselves into his skin!
Startled, he yanked his collar open, but his chest was clear. There was nothing there—the beads had vanished.
Lin Haoming immediately sank his consciousness—his Divine Sense—into his body. He quickly found the object: the string of prayer beads was now sitting right in his Dantian.
Stunned, he tried to probe the beads with his Divine Sense. The moment they touched, a sharp pain shot through his head. It felt like information was being violently shoved into his brain. He collapsed to the ground.
"Haoming! Are you okay?"
Li Shuntian's voice pulled him back. Lin Haoming looked around at the curious stares and quickly stood up. "I'm fine!"
"Good. I thought someone had ambushed you," Li Shuntian whispered.
Ambushed? Lin Haoming thought. I certainly was, but by these beads.
---
The Secret of the Beads
He now understood what the beads were. According to the information flooded into his mind, they were called Merit Beads. By doing good deeds and accumulating Merit, he could undo the seals on the beads and gain benefits.
By granting the Mountain Armored Beast a quick death and wishing for its reincarnation, the beast's gratitude had counted as a tiny portion of Merit. Because of this, the first layer of the seal on the first bead had been broken.
The first bead was called the Spirit Accumulation Bead. It had the power to gather spiritual energy. Now that the first seal was broken, it could finally function.
Eager to test it, Lin Haoming quickly processed the first beast. He tried saying the same words to the second beast before killing it, but the Merit Beads didn't react. He wasn't sure if the merit wasn't enough for a second level-up or if it just didn't count the second time.
He finished his work and sprinted back to his stone chamber. He even spent one of his precious spirit stones to activate the protective formation of his room.
Sitting cross-legged, he willed the beads into his hand. One of the white, jade-like beads now had a single golden thread running through it.
As he attempted to draw energy from it, his eyes widened. It felt exactly like holding a Spirit Stone! Cultivating with a Spirit Stone is at least ten times faster than normal meditation, especially in a place with thin natural Qi like this.
He was ecstatic. This was his chance! If he could absorb Qi like this every day, breaking through would no longer be a dream despite his poor aptitude. And this was only the first seal of the first bead—there were nine seals per bead!
After two hours of cultivation, he felt his progress jump. But suddenly, the flow of energy stopped.
What? he thought, frustrated. Does one seal only give me the equivalent of a third of a spirit stone?
After some studying, he realized that after a short wait, the bead began to refill itself. The Spirit Accumulation Bead was like a rechargeable battery; it absorbed ambient Qi from the world and stored it for him to use. Currently, it could hold the equivalent of one low-grade spirit stone.
I need to unlock the second seal as soon as possible, he thought.