Outskirts of Ling City.
On a small plot of farmland, the middle-aged man with a grin on his face strutted forward with his chest puffed and hands behind his back.
This was Manager Qin, reaching level seven in Qi-refining, a proper late-stage Qi-refinent cultivator.
Leading his group of new workers, he stopped in front of so shabby, thatched huts, many with holes and in need of repairs.
"This will be your ho in the future. If you need anything, I'm sure you'll be... resourceful enough to find a way yourself. als will be provided for those who work hard. Now, get ready to till the land and plant the seeds tomorrow. I don't want my harvest to be delayed or none of us will be able to bear the wrath from above…"
After his short speech, Manager Qin glanced at WeiWei who had her head bowed. "Oh, and everyone, do find so ti to clean yourselves. I do prefer a not so... dirty sight."
"Yes, Manager Qin," ca their weak response.
Manager Qin left with a grin, leaving a group of n in coarse and ragged clothes, most of them showing an ugly, black face.
The exception was WeiWei, whose deanor radiated so despair, and Bubai with a dirty face who still had a silly, honest smile on his face. But this was only an act because inwardly, Bubai was also cursing.
The reason was their mortal employnt contract.
Although there were minor variations between each of them, their conditions weren't much different.
For Fang Bubai: 70% was taken by the landlord, 20% was allocated to the field Manager Qin, 5% was to be used for taxes, leaving only 5% of the harvest left.
The conditions were akin to slavery. With just 5% of the harvest, he might not even be able to sell it for enough to buy mortal food for himself, let alone cultivate. This was pure exploitation, even worse than his tenure in the sect!
In the sect, farming was a common task, and as a handyman disciple, Bubai did no less. There was also exploitation layer by layer there, but they still left so leeway for the handyman disciple, allowing so resources to flow out to avoid offending prospective disciples.
But out here, during their term of service, even their life and death were all in the hands of the employer.
Of course, the bigger fist makes the rules, and a mortal contract was just a piece of paper with no binding effect on the strong.
But for mortals with no power, this paper could sentence them to doom at any given mont.
Well, even without the contract, their death would at most be a bit more troubleso to handle, but it certainly wouldn't gander much attention.
This was the tragedy of being a mortal, but it is also because they were mortals that they were chosen to farm the fields. Mortals are the easiest to exploit, and the more destitute one looks, the heavier the exploitation…
This was the reason why those with a shabby appearance had a higher probability of being the chosen ones. They were more desperate, agreeing to worse conditions because they had no backer.
Thud. The wooden door of one of the better-thatched huts suddenly slamd shut, clearly chosen by one of the stronger, muscular males in the batch.
The remaining muscular one sneered as he walked to another hut, glaring at the rest of the scrawny fellows, "I hope none of you drag down when working or I, Tie San, will make your life worse than death."
Then, his door creaked shut, shutting out the ugly faces of the remaining workers.
One of the older workers with a monkey-face stepped forward, declaring with a sly face, "Don't mind them. We will all be fellows from now on. Everyone can call Old Liu. If there is any problem, you can co to ."
After bidding for so goodwill from the small group, Old Liu then stepped into the final hut with a better condition, claiming the last hut that didn't need repairs.
Waking up from their stupor, cursing slightly, the rest of the group quickly scrambled for the remaining huts, eventually leaving only two at the edge, the most shabby of the bunch.
Bubai, with an honest smile on his face, walked into the one on the edge without a single complaint.
Staring at the gaping hole in the wall, he saw WeiWei in the hut on the other side, a similar hole in her wall. Unlucky. He shouldn't have waited.
Noticing his gaze, the young lady panicked for a bit. With a dumb smile, Bubai honestly waved before he walked over and sat down on the pile of hay in the corner, hidden from his neighbor's sight.
"Broom, bucket, hoe, but… there's not even a single intact furnishing here, let alone a bed… even worse than the conditions when I was a handyman..."
His life had definitely taken a dark turn. However, the facade had to be maintained for now.
Hearing WeiWei sweeping the dirt floor of her thatched hut, Bubai joined in, pretending to be absorbed in the task.
Ti tapped away as they cleaned, the ambient, discontented mumbles of the other laborers serving as the backdrop to their first dance...
When Bubai went to fetch water, he saw one man, whose face was particularly dark with soot, grumbling to another, "This is worse than being a beggar on the streets."
Another, his clothes in tatters, nodded in agreent. "At least as a beggar, I didn't have to sell my life… no wonder those from the Beggar gang avoided signing up for this job…"
The discontent murmurs faded into reluctant agreent, and they continued their tasks, each one secretly plotting how to make the best of a bad situation.
Nearby, Old Liu approached the "honest" Bubai with a sly grin, "If I rember correctly… Chen Bubai, right? You seem like a good-natured fellow. Tell what you think?"
Chen Bubai – his new pseudonym after leaving the Cloud Sword Sect.
Bubai, still smiling stupidly, scratched his dirty hair, "It's not so bad. At least we get a roof over our heads."
"Haha…" Old Liu grinned, "Good lad! I like honest fellas like you. Stick close to , and I might be able to help you out here and there."
Bubai, still wearing his innocent grin, nodded appreciatively. "Sure thing, Old Liu."
"Smart lad. Just rember, in this world, it's better to make friends than enemies." Old Liu chuckled, patting Bubai on the shoulder. "Help fetch so water. My place needs so cleaning."
Old Liu gave Bubai a "you understand" look before pretentiously walking away.
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows over the dilapidated huts.
Bubai wearily shut the door to his hut. Turning around, he was greeted by the sight of his unclean hut, dimly lit by the light filtering through the hut's cracks.
Plopping himself down on his makeshift hay bed, he couldn't help but feel the weight of his situation.
The mortal world was unforgiving, and even the simple act of choosing a hut beca a subtle display of power dynamics.
"Treating like a pushover…" Bubai's dark eyes glinted dangerously before he suppressed it, "Just bear with it. I've managed to deal with it for so many years in the sect… and this is the best thod to reduce my suspicion in the future."
Thinking about his sche, Bubai grinned. He then closed his eyes, this ti, not delving into the mysterious space.
Instead, through his mysterious connection with the seed in the mysterious space, Bubai directly transferred his senses to another small, cubic white space!
Inside, Bubai noticed his set of clean handyn disciple clothes folded neatly, laying in a corner of the space.
It wasn't a ga-like inventory, but it was clear what this was!
He initially thought his golden finger only provided him a hidden space for storing Qi, but after spending so ti exploring, he discovered this smaller inner space – unknowingly opened up within the seed itself during its birth.
Unlike the external space that could only store Qi, this place can store physical items from the real world!
Now, abilities like these were what a true golden finger should entail!
"So, the inner space is basically a storage space, and the outer space is… my spiritual sea?"
Unfortunately, there was no way for Bubai to confirm this.
Based on the cultivation novels he read in his past life, Bubai speculated he won't be able to learn about the matters regarding the spiritual sea unless he at least reaches… probably the Nascent Soul stage.
Of course, being soone who didn't even manage to enter Qi refining level one back in the sect, he had no authority to touch on any of these topics.
He only knew that his external space was akin to his dantian and his inner space was more like the spatial storage pouches that many of the Foundation Establishnt disciples had, which were rumored to be a couple of cubic ters in size.
However, he estimated his space's dinsions to be around one ter or less, enough to fit smaller objects and clothes.
As for how to grow both of these spaces… who knows.
"A step at a ti, don't bite off more than I can chew. Once I grow strong enough, everything will gradually beco clear."
With a thought, Bubai reactivated the Qi gathering formation and watched strands of Qi being sucked into the mysterious space once more, converting into green wisps of Qi by the seed.
Outside, the night settled over the desolate farmland, and the moon cast a pale glow on the makeshift huts. The wind rustled through the dry leaves, carrying with it a sense of loneliness, resignation, and undercurrents.
Ti passed, and the night deepened. Bubai, who was silently cultivating in silence, was suddenly disturbed by the angry growl coming from next door.
Opening his eyes in the dark, Bubai's gaze locked onto the wooden planks patching the hole in the wall, a dim, faint light spilling through the gaps into his hut.
He heard the suppressed cries of the lady next door.
The familiar voice of Manager Qin interrupted her sobs, "Don't think you can escape just by not cleaning yourself. There are many ways to have fun, today, let's start with this."
"No, please- mmph-" WeiWei's voice was abruptly muffled as a disturbing sound echoed from the neighboring room.
It was a familiar sound – one Bubai recalled hearing in many of the cultural materials he studied in his past life.
"If you dare to bite… Kakaka, see how I clean you up."
Hearing these words, Bubai closed his eyes, sneering inwardly, "Tsk, it has only been the first day. He can't even wait. Truly, a sha to us, cultivators."
In this situation, a proper protagonist would jump out to beat the old man eating tender grass, serving justice and winning over the beauty, but Bubai didn't make any moves to offer help.
It wasn't because Bubai didn't want a beauty. How could he not? It was a fantasy for most transmigrators.
It was just because Bubai was being realistic.
Being only at Qi-refining level two, he was not going to make an enemy out of a Qi-refining level seven cultivator. Even if he doesn't consider the fact that Manager Qin is his employer for the coming months and perhaps years, Bubai still had to recognize the cold reality: he could not beat the man.
Leapfrog and cross-rank killing isn't a normality. This was the cruelty and true reality of the cultivation world.
Despite the disturbing distraction, Bubai treated it as training for his ntal resistance, doing his best to focus on his cultivation.
It was unknown how long later, but the groan of Manager Qin was heard, "Comfortable! I didn't see it wrong… Kakaka! Good girl, you did good to hide yourself until this age, ripe for my picking!"
As the sound of gagging and choking was heard, Manager Qin continued to praise, "My dear WeiWei, rember to wash up tomorrow. I don't want to wait too long or you will understand the consequences."
The creak of the door was heard. Soon the light and footsteps faded away, leaving the sobbing voice of a budding evil in the night, akin to a weeping female ghost.
"The journey to greatness often began with the courage to face the darkest nights." Fang Bubai let out a soft sigh, causing the crying to pause slightly before continuing, a bit more suppressed.
Closing his eyes, Bubai fird his own will, now more resolute than ever.
Cultivate. Only when he is strong enough can he hold his own fate in his own hands.
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