83: Not a scam

As soon as the disciples heard that they had to cut off their hands, they all started to make excuses to leave, but Ning was the only one who stayed. He wasn't worried about losing his arm, so he planned to finish quickly.

The others weren't suitable for him.

"Even if you learn all this, will you still join?" the girl asked.

"Okay, thank you," Ning said.

"Very good. Give me your identification, and I'll register you," the girl said, a strange look in her eyes. She quickly registered him, then said with a cunning smile, "Congratulations. You just got the easiest job in this sect."

"Easiest? What?" Ning was bewildered. "How can such a dangerous task be easy? Uh... Sister?" Ning asked.

"Her name is Soria. Regiel will tell you the rest; go with him," Soria said.

"Alright..." Ning said and started following Regiel.

"Haha, it's great that you didn't run away, brother. You got the easiest job in this sect," Regiel said.

"What do you mean by easy? Isn't it very difficult? Are you lying?" Ning asked.

"Hehe, of course, brother. You're new, right?" Regiel asked.

"Yes," Ning said.

"You might not know, but every month, the sect gives each department a small budget to do their work. Our budget is the lowest of the three. So, ever since Sister Soria took over this place a few years ago and started scaring away any newcomers from joining, every member of the Beast Feeding team has gotten paid more."

Regiel said, "Although our budget is low and we have few people working with us, we actually earn more than most of the seniors here. Haha, you really did well not to run away."

"Wait, so it's really not dangerous? Then what about your arm?" Ning asked.

"This?" Regiel said, taking out his severed limb again, and said, "Hahaha, I was born with this. Now Sister Soria uses it to scare disciples."

"So, the claim about the beasts being dangerous when hungry is also a lie?" Ning asked.

"Kind of. When they're hungry, they're more irritable than usual, but that doesn't mean they'll directly attack us. Even if they're very hungry, they're usually docile. After all, the Beast Care and Beast Training sections do a good job," Regiel said.

Ning was shocked by the scam going on here.

"What's our budget for the Beast Feeding Department?" he asked.

"About 1200 gold coins a month. After spending about 500 gold coins to feed the beasts, the people here usually have 120 gold coins left. Well, since you've joined us too, it'll be 100 gold coins," Regiel added.

"No, not a scam. This is a genuine business I'm involved in now." Ning changed his mind as soon as he heard about earning money within a month.

There was about 500 million energy worth of gold there, and he really didn't want to waste energy on things he didn't want.

"So, when do I start working?" Ning asked.

"Hmm... let's see. Since we only have 6 people actually responsible for feeding, and Sister Soria stays outside to trick others, some of us have to repeat days."

"Why don't you come in 5 days? You'll work on the 5th and 6th days. Although I said you'd work 2 days, it's more like you have to come here around 7 AM, 2 PM, and 8 PM."

Regiel said, "Feeding the entire group of beasts takes about an hour, so as long as you spend 3 hours per person over 2 days, you'll be done."

"Wait, so I don't have any tasks right now?" Ning asked in surprise.

Regiel said, "No. See you in 5 days. However, be sure to remember to come. If you miss any feeding time, we'll deduct 10 coins."

"Of course, of course, I won't forget." Ning finished speaking and left the place. He said goodbye to Sister Soria at the front desk and returned to his room in the outer sect.

The next 4 days were the same. Every Night, he would cultivate his Qi, getting closer and closer to a breakthrough. At the same time, he would exhaust his mental strength to make it stronger.

Night would stay outside at Night and do whatever it wanted. Ning would usually tell it not to do anything inside the sect, then let it leave through the window.

Night would go into the forest to find food for itself. Since Ning stopped making snake skin with his energy, he needed to give Night some other food from the sect.

Unfortunately, he was broke now. Fortunately, Night could eat by itself. Night flew at an astonishing speed, and he wasn't worried about anyone noticing it flying around.

In the morning, he would go to practice the Sun God's Morning Cleansing Technique to further strengthen himself. However, this process was very slow, and he would soon need to improve.

"After the hat doubles, I'll get everything," Ning thought, and once again he had to let go of some things so he could focus on the hat.

After that, he returned to his room and cultivated again. 4 days passed, and today was the 5th day. Since last Night, he hadn't felt the surrounding Qi when he cultivated.

This meant that a breakthrough was imminent. He forced his body to cultivate, even though it could no longer gather Qi. Finally, there was a loud bang inside him, and he felt himself break through.

Finally, after more than 164 years, he reached the Third Stage of Qi Condensation.