25: Chapter 25 Trying to use a vicious scheme against me? I'll wipe out your entire base in a flash.
Suppressing the ecstasy in his heart—as if he had just drawn a hidden variant from a blind box—Shen Xiao did not let the shivering old remnant soul in his Sea of Consciousness off the hook.
"Stop sighing and groaning there. Give me the bottom line: what is the trigger mechanism for this Devilish Seal?"
Xuan Chenzi was choked up by his bandit-like tone and had no choice but to explain reluctantly.
"The insidious thing about this gadget is that it remains completely invisible during normal times, just like a dormant Trojan virus."
"It only fully activates when the host comes into contact with high-concentration Devilish Qi or is directly struck by specific Demonic Path Cultivation Technique."
"Once activated, a living, dark purple devilish pattern will appear on Lin Yun's forehead. That is ironclad evidence that even the Heavenly King himself couldn't cover up."
"By then, any righteous Sect Disciple with eyes will recognize at a glance that this is a bona fide remnant of the Demonic Path."
Shen Xiao rubbed his chin, his fingertips tracing the rough edge of the teacup.
This meant that the initiative to detonate this time bomb was entirely in his own hands.
Whenever he wanted to see Lin Yun experience social death, he just needed to stimulate him with some Devilish Qi.
"Then what if I don't want to get close and get tainted by the mess? Is there any way to remote control it?"
"There is, actually."
Xuan Chenzi sighed. "In my lifetime, I studied a Remote Devil-Commanding Array that can trigger the resonance of Devilish Qi from thousands of miles away."
"But that is a bottomless pit that burns money. Just the Top-Grade Spirit Stone required to set up the array would be enough to empty half of your Qingming Sect's Outer Sect treasury."
No money.
These two words popped into Shen Xiao's mind instantly.
His pockets were cleaner than his face right now; never mind Top-Grade Spirit Stone, he even had to calculate his food expenses for next month carefully.
Making money—or rather, getting money—had become the most pressing necessity right now.
The next morning, Shen Xiao was woken up by the chirping of a few formation-breaking birds outside the window.
He yawned, grabbed the cold steamed bun left over from last night, and took two bites. The dry texture made him roll his eyes.
After taking a sip of cold water to wash it down, he pushed the door open and headed straight for the Sect's Mission Hall.
The Mission Hall in the early morning was filled with a strange odor, a mixture of sweaty acidity and cheap incense.
Shen Xiao squeezed among the Outer Sect Disciples who were emitting various body odors, his gaze scanning the huge bounty light screen like a searchlight.
His goal was clear: high pay, little work, and preferably something off the beaten path.
Soon, a mission hanging in the corner, flickering with an eerie yellow light, caught his eye.
"Take over the Spirit Medicine field in Area Bing-7. Monthly salary: 300 Low-Grade Spirit Stone."
Below it followed a row of dense, small text: "The medicine field is located at the extreme northern edge of the Sect. The soil is barren, the Spiritual Qi is chaotic year-round, and the output is extremely unstable. The person who takes the mission must bear the risk of compensation for reduced yield."
300 Low-Grade Spirit Stone—this was triple the pay of a normal medicine field mission.
When things go against the norm, there must be a demon afoot.
Shen Xiao narrowed his eyes, his gaze landing on the signature of the mission issuer: Outer Sect Deacon, Deacon Sun Fugui.
The original owner's memories flooded into Shen Xiao's mind immediately.
This Deacon Sun Fugui had been a manager who nodded and bowed to everyone just a few months ago. Ever since Lin Yun began to shine in the Inner Sect, this old guy had kowtowed at light speed and became the most loyal, number-one lackey under Lin Yun.
The original owner had often been given a hard time by this Deacon Sun Fugui because of Lin Yun.
As soon as Lin Yun was half-dead in the Scripture Pavilion, his dog couldn't wait to throw out such a high-paying but poisonous bait.
This wasn't paying a salary; this was clearly a mass grave he was digging for himself.
Want to use a contract trap to screw me over?
A cold sneer curled the corner of Shen Xiao's mouth.
This kind of obvious scam, normally, people would avoid it in time.
But who was Shen Xiao?
Not shearing the wool delivered to his doorstep would be disrespectful to the Heavens.
He abruptly squeezed out of the crowd and, amidst the looks from other Disciples who thought he was an idiot, tore off the mission jade tablet.
"I'll take this job."
An hour later, Shen Xiao stood outside the fence of the Area Bing-7 medicine field.
The wind blowing against his face was mixed with the smell of dry, muddy earth. Looking out, a few acres of thin fields were sparsely covered with low-level spirit plants that looked like withered grass, appearing as if they were about to kick the bucket at any moment.
In the corner of the medicine field, a thin, small figure in coarse linen clothes was squatting, struggling to loosen the soil with a broken iron hoe.
Shen Xiao walked a few steps closer and saw a somewhat aged wooden identity tag hanging from the girl's waist, with two words crookedly carved on it: Xiao Wu.
The girl didn't even lift her head, as if she were completely unaware of Shen Xiao, the newly appointed supervisor, only focusing on battling the stubborn clod of dirt in the field.
Shen Xiao didn't bother with her either, walking along the ridge with his hands behind his back, acting the part, while silently chanting in his heart: System, scan for me.
Within his line of sight, the desolate scene of the medicine field was instantly covered with a layer of data stream.
Immediately after, a glaring crimson alarm flashed crazily, directly marking several patches of soil deep in the medicine field in blood red.
"Ding! High-density dormant insect eggs detected three feet underground."
"Species: Spirit-Eating Iron Mechanical Beetle."
"Characteristics: Specializes in eating spirit plant roots, gregarious, reproduces extremely fast."
"Once hatched, they can devour a hundred acres of medicine fields overnight, with a 100% crop failure rate."
Good grief, Shen Xiao looked at the soil under his feet and almost laughed in anger.
Deacon Sun Fugui, this old dog, is vicious. On the surface, he's hiring with high pay, but in reality, he's making someone take the fall.
Once these bugs hatch, the medicine field will yield nothing. According to the mission contract, not only would he not get a single cent, but he'd also have to pay until he was ruined, and be thrown into the black jail by the Law Enforcement Hall to mine for the rest of his life.
This is literally coming for my life.
However, just as he was preparing to figure out how to pin this pot back on Deacon Sun Fugui, a line of inconspicuous small green text appeared at the bottom of the System panel.
"Hidden Advanced route: If baimai grass is used as the sole feed for the larvae, it can induce a trace of ancient Bloodline mutation within them."
"After the insect sheds its shell, it will metamorphose into a mutated spirit insect, the Golden Silk Gu."
"Medicinal value: The Golden Silk Gu is the core main ingredient for refining the Fourth-Grade Top-Grade Barrier-Breaking Pill. The market price is extremely high, and it is priceless."
Shen Xiao's breathing paused for half a beat.
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across this desolate medicine field like a radar.
Although this broken place couldn't grow any Advanced goods, because the Spiritual Qi in the soil was mottled, the low-level spirit plants that grew most lushly everywhere like weeds were exactly baimai grass.
A gust of hot wind blew by, rolling up a few withered leaves of baimai grass.
Shen Xiao stood in the wind, looking at the insect eggs in the ground marked as deadly danger, his eyes gradually changing.
This wasn't some deadly time bomb; this was clearly a gold mine waiting to be developed.
Deacon Sun, you old dog, you wanted to use a scorched-earth policy to make me go bankrupt, but I have to thank you for giving me a natural, Advanced Gu-breeding base for free.
Shen Xiao licked his dry lips, the greed of a capitalist seeing a field of leeks surging in the depths of his eyes.
Since you insist on playing dirty, don't blame me for turning around and squeezing your bottom line dry.