15: Death is hell.

After descending from the second floor, Su Ling glanced back, his brow slightly furrowed.

This 'Martial Uncle Li' definitely had problems.

Perhaps he even had some kind of connection with Chen Ping.

The other party was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; if he wanted to make a move on him...

"It seems I must leave as soon as possible."

Su Ling turned and went to the side hall of the Artifact Refining Hall, spending a large number of Spirit Stones to purchase a set of basic defensive Formation Plate, as well as various Talisman.

Originally, he had planned to at least Cultivate to the Tenth Level of Qi Refining before going out to accumulate resources to attempt Foundation Establishment.

But with this lingering doubt in his heart, he felt afraid to stay in the Sect.

Even though the Sect offered some protection to Disciples in the Qi Refinement Stage, even with perfect mechanisms, there were always people who could exploit loopholes.

The Xuanming Sect was, after all, a Demonic Path Sect.

Su Ling then went to the Pill Refining Room, spending several hundred Spirit Stones to buy numerous Medicinal Pill.

By now, the Spirit Stones he had previously earned were less than five hundred.

On the way back to the outer Disciple courtyard, Su Ling inadvertently glanced over and saw nearly a hundred Spirit Seed standing in the square on the outskirts of the Sect, silent as cicadas in winter.

Two headless corpses lay quietly there.

As a few Foundation Establishment Deacon began calling out names, the pale-faced Spirit Seed stepped forward one by one and followed them away in an orderly fashion.

"This is the Xuanming Sect's intimidation tactic."

Su Ling had witnessed this scene four years ago.

A Spirit Seed with a High Grade Fire Spiritual Root, not understanding the situation, had actually cried and made a scene, demanding to leave.

The result was self-evident; a Flying Sword sliced him directly in two.

His flesh was used for corpse refining, his bones for Artifact Refining, and his soul was collected into a beast soul banner to become nourishment for the beast soul inside.

If not for the lack of human souls in the underground, the Cultivator of the Xuanming Sect who were skilled in Soul Refining would mainly use beast soul banner.

Otherwise, that kid's soul would likely have been tortured for decades or even centuries.

At the time, Su Ling pretended to be trembling with fear, only to be sneered at by Li Weifeng, who came from a martial arts family.

Little did they know that Su Ling, who was a top assassin in his previous life, would not be afraid of such a scene.

Returning to the courtyard, he happened to meet one of the Foundation Establishment Deacon, who was bringing five nervous-looking Spirit Seed into the yard.

"This is where you will be staying from now on."

"After finishing your daily miscellaneous tasks, you may all Cultivate your Qi Refining technique here."

"There are many Forbidden Ground in the Sect. Aside from the main halls, it is best not to wander around. If you offend an Elder..."

The grey-robed Foundation Establishment Deacon curled his lips into a sinister smile, "You will understand that sometimes, death is the only Hell."

The chilling warning made the few Spirit Seed, who were only twelve or thirteen years old, tremble in fear.

"Junior Martial Uncle Zhao."

Su Ling stepped into the courtyard and bowed.

The reason he recognized him was that four years ago, it was this Foundation Establishment Deacon named Zhao Deyan who had brought Su Ling to this courtyard.

The same words were still fresh in his memory.

"Eighth Layer of Qi Refining. Disciple Su, your progress is gratifying."

Zhao Deyan sized up Su Ling, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

He was responsible for managing several nearby outer Disciple courtyards and still had an impression of Su Ling.

Because Su Ling had some talent in identifying Spirit Medicine, he was lucky enough to be assigned to the Pill Refining Room to do miscellaneous tasks.

Yet, after three years, this kid's Cultivation speed was not as fast as Zhong Er, who went to the herb garden to tend to the Spirit Medicine.

On the contrary, Zhong Er, Zhao Yan, and Li Weifeng had all died at the Seventh Level of Qi Refining.

Unexpectedly, Su Ling had been quietly accumulating strength over the past six months, advancing from the Sixth Level of Qi Refining to the Peak of the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining.

This couldn't help but make him take a second look.

"Disciple is ashamed. Half a year ago, I was lucky enough to complete a few Sect missions, which is why I have made this progress."

Su Ling replied humbly.

"Lucky?"

Zhao Deyan sneered, "In Cultivate, there is no such thing as luck..."

"Martial Uncle is right."

"Alright, you few should learn from Su Ling. Don't waste such good bodies."

Zhao Deyan gave a light instruction and turned to leave.

The five Spirit Seed looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Only Su Ling understood that what he was referring to was actually 'human resources'.

Compared to four years ago, Zhao Deyan's aura had become a bit stronger; it was highly likely that he was about to step into the Late Foundation Establishment Stage.

One more step, and it would be the Core Formation realm.

It was not an exaggeration to say 'don't waste the human resources' in advance.

The Xuanming Sect offered some protection to Disciples in the Qi Refinement Stage, but those in the Foundation Establishment Stage did not care so much.

After all, the Spiritual Qi and Physical Body of Qi Refinement Stage Disciples were not of as high a quality as those of Foundation Establishment Stage Disciples who had been tempered by magic power.

This was also something Su Ling had gradually figured out over the years.

Just in rumors alone, the number of Foundation Establishment Stage Disciples who had been refined into human puppet by Core Formation or Nascent Soul Stage Elders exceeded the number of fingers on two hands.

One of the two human puppet guards at the Sect entrance had once, like Zhao Deyan, been responsible for receiving the batch of Spirit Seed that included Su Ling.

Now, the shell remained, but the Divine Soul had been refined beyond recognition.

Respectfully seeing Zhao Deyan off, Su Ling couldn't be bothered to pay attention to these newly arrived fellow Disciples and went straight back to his room.

The five Spirit Seed had originally wanted to get closer to Su Ling, but seeing his attitude, they couldn't help but look at each other.

After a while, the five of them introduced themselves to each other, agreed to go listen to the Merit Hall Elder's lecture tomorrow, and then returned to their respective rooms.

Sitting on his bed and listening to their plans, Su Ling couldn't help but smile self-deprecatingly.

When they had first entered the courtyard, they had been the same.

But once it involved the distribution of benefits, the baser nature of humanity was exposed.

That was how the feud between Zhong Er and himself had started.

...

The light of the flaming sun grew brighter, signaling the beginning of a new day.

Su Ling packed his belongings and headed to the Merit Hall again.

At the entrance of the main hall, the Nascent Soul Stage expert Mo Jinghun was still lying lazily on his chair.

"Kid, you have good fortune, still alive."

Mo Jinghun glanced at Su Ling and said with a faint smile.

"Thanks to the Elder's blessing, Disciple was lucky."

Su Ling bowed and handed over his token.

"Go ahead."

"Thank you, Elder."

Walking into the hall, Su Ling went straight to the area containing the classics of the four Cultivate arts: Alchemy, Artifact Refining, formations, and Talisman.

The four Cultivate arts were auxiliary abilities. The classics on the first floor of the Merit Hall were all quite basic, and the cost to exchange for them was no more than ten contribution points.

Qi Refinement Stage Disciples almost never exchanged for these types of classics unless they were extremely gifted.

Otherwise, it was better to exchange for some Medicinal Pill to improve one's strength.

Su Ling had previously examined them and hadn't found any unusual classics.

He had come this time mainly because he considered that he would likely be away for a long time during this trip.

Therefore, he prepared to take some time to study them.

He still had over seven hundred contribution points, so he simply chose four basic classics to take with him.

For Qi Refining Cultivation Technique, he had the Nine Nether Secret Record, which could be Cultivated all the way to Core Formation.

In terms of Spell, he had Ghost Soul Arrow, Phantom Shadow Technique, and Flowing Wind Technique, plus the secretly practiced Wind Blade, Dark Poison Vine, Ice Thorn Technique, and Fire Cloud Sword.

It was sufficient for before Foundation Establishment.

The remaining contribution points could be saved, and he could exchange for Foundation Establishment Stage Spell after reaching Foundation Establishment.

After all, Cultivation Technique above Foundation Establishment started at one thousand contribution points.

After checking out at the entrance with Mo Jinghun, Su Ling went straight to the Artifact Hall, preparing to exchange for some items needed to practice the four arts.

"This kid has advanced from the Sixth Level of Qi Refining to the Peak of the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining in half a year, and a baleful blood aura is faintly visible around him."

"It seems he has quite a few lives on his hands."

Mo Jinghun, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them. A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes, "If this kid can reach Foundation Establishment within two years, it might be worth placing a bet on him."