Chapter 2

"Are you looking for death!" Seeing Lin Haoming dare to swallow the Qi Circulation Pill right in front of him, Li Haiying was furious.

Lin Haoming, seeing his anger, immediately shouted, "Steward Hai, Li Haiying is trying to rob my pills, you must do something about it!"

Hai Futong did not expect Lin Haoming to call on him to handle the matter. His voice was so loud that everyone could hear. If he did nothing, he would lose face, even though he was about to leave in a month.

Reluctantly, he walked over, and Lin Haoming immediately approached, saying, "Steward Hai, you see, Li Haiying not only used to secretly insult you, but now he wants to step on you even before you leave. It's really outrageous!"

Li Haiying did not expect the once timid Lin Haoming to suddenly become so bold, daring to complain to Hai Futong right in front of him.

Hai Futong actually did not want to get involved, but for the sake of his reputation and his anger at Li Haiying's impatience, he still shouted at Li Haiying, "Li Haiying, I haven't left yet. As long as I'm here, the rules still apply. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Steward Hai. I won't cause any trouble before you leave!" Hai Futong had been a steward for several years, accumulating considerable authority and high cultivation. Li Haiying could only nod in agreement, but his eyes were fixed on Lin Haoming, as if warning him.

Seeing the mocking or sympathetic looks from others, Lin Haoming realized he had acted impulsively, but even if he had to do it again, he would not back down. He was not a waste, having grown up as an orphan, he had his own principles. Sometimes he could back down, but other times, once he backed down, he might never be able to stand up again.

"Haoming, you're too foolish. Li Haiying has already explained everything, why do you have to argue with him!" After Hai Futong and Li Haiying left, a fat man came over and sighed.

This fat man was named Li Shun Tian, originally a prince from a mortal kingdom. Later, he heard that he had the potential to become a immortal, so he followed an immortal to cultivate. However, after entering the Blood Refinement Sect, his princely attitude could not change, so he offended many people and ended up here.

Of course, after coming here, Li Shun Tian learned to be more cautious. Over the years, his cultivation reached the Sixth Layer of Qi Refinement.

Seeing the former prince say these things to him, Lin Haoming did not take it to heart. Although he knew he might face retaliation in a month, he had his own convictions, preferring to stand and die rather than kneel and live!

About twenty people walked in pairs toward a passage. After passing through a tunnel at least ten zhang wide and a hundred zhang long, they arrived at a cave.

The cave was filled with a pungent smell of blood. The entire cave floor was stained red, but it was not human blood, but the blood of a creature called the Mountain Armor Beast.

The Mountain Armor Beast is a first-stage spirit beast, resembling a pangolin but much larger, with a length of about two adult men when including the tail.

The armor on the Mountain Armor Beast's back is extremely hard, used as a material for forging. Its two front claws are incredibly sharp, suitable for making magical weapons. Most importantly, its inner core is a primary material for refining Qi Circulation Pills and Qi Gathering Pills. Additionally, its meat can be cooked into spirit food, and its blood, after refinement, can be used for talisman making. In short, the Mountain Armor Beast is a treasure, and the Blood Refinement Sect raises tens of thousands of them. Lin Haoming and the other twenty people's job is to slaughter the Mountain Armor Beasts, with each person required to kill two per day.

The Mountain Armor Beasts are incredibly strong, but the ones delivered here have been drugged, so although they are still conscious, their limbs are weak, making them easy to slaughter.

Lin Haoming had been here for three days, and in the first two days, he had helped slaughter four Mountain Armor Beasts.

As a graduate student in surgery, Lin Haoming was not afraid of a little blood. He had learned a lot from his professor over the years, and although he was dealing with a spirit beast, his movements were still steady, accurate, and ruthless.

However, perhaps due to the events of the day, Lin Haoming did not immediately act. Instead, he looked at the Mountain Armor Beasts lying on the ground, sighing deeply at their helpless state.

Reaching out to stroke the head of the Mountain Armor Beast in front of him, Lin Haoming said with genuine sadness, "Mountain Armor Beast, Mountain Armor Beast! It's not that I want to kill you, but the way of the heavens is such. You are a spirit beast, and I am a cultivator. The strong prey on the weak, that's the way of the heavens. But don't worry, I won't let you suffer too much. I'll end it quickly. I hope you have a chance to be reborn as a human in your next life, or at least not be slaughtered again!"

Lin Haoming was just expressing his feelings, but to his surprise, the Mountain Armor Beast's eyes started to tear up after he finished speaking.

The Mountain Armor Beast had little intelligence, and Lin Haoming found it strange that it seemed to understand him. He thought it might just be the Mountain Armor Beast's natural reaction.

Lin Haoming then picked up a blood-red long knife. This knife was a magical weapon, but the lowest grade, with only its sharpness as an advantage. A cultivator's magical weapon is not just about being sharp.

Of course, this was only in this world. When Lin Haoming first touched the blood knife, he was amazed at how sharp it was. Compared to the surgical knives he used before, this blood knife was like a piece of trash.

Lin Haoming stabbed the Mountain Armor Beast's heart with one swift motion, killing it instantly. He had indeed made its death as painless as possible.

When he pulled the knife out, Lin Haoming suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest. He touched the area and found the string of prayer beads. As he tried to touch them to see what was happening, he felt an intense heat, and the prayer beads seemed to want to embed themselves in his body.

This situation startled Lin Haoming. He quickly opened his shirt, but found nothing, not even the prayer beads.

Lin Haoming immediately focused his mind and discovered that the prayer beads were now in his dantian.

This surprising situation made Lin Haoming use his mind to probe the prayer beads. As soon as his mind touched the beads, he felt a severe headache, as if something was forcibly injected into his brain, causing him to collapse.

"Haoming, are you okay?"

Li Shun Tian's voice brought Lin Haoming back to his senses. Seeing many people looking at him, he quickly said, "I'm fine!"

"That's good. I thought someone had ambushed you!" Li Shun Tian whispered.

Ambushed, hearing this, Lin Haoming realized he had indeed been ambushed, but not by a person, by the prayer beads.

Although he had been ambushed by the prayer beads, he now understood what they were.

According to the information the prayer beads had implanted in his mind, they were actually called Merit Beads. By accumulating good deeds and enough merit, the seals on the Merit Beads would be unlocked, granting benefits.

When he had helped the Mountain Armor Beast to be reborn, the Mountain Armor Beast thanked him, which counted as a good deed. Because of this good deed, the first seal on the first bead of the Merit Beads was unlocked.

The first bead of the Merit Beads is called the Spirit Gathering Bead, which has the ability to gather spiritual energy. With the first seal unlocked, it could already function to some extent.

Although Lin Haoming did not know the full extent of its power, he knew that if the Merit Beads could bring him to this world, they were not ordinary.

Eager to check the effects of the Merit Beads, Lin Haoming quickly finished the first Mountain Armor Beast and repeated the same words to the second one before killing it. Unfortunately, the Merit Beads showed no reaction, possibly because the merit was not enough to unlock the second seal or because no merit was gained.

However, Lin Haoming did not have time to worry about it. After finishing the second Mountain Armor Beast, he quickly ran back to his stone room.

The stone room had a magical array, but activating it required spirit stones. Lin Haoming received one spirit stone every three months, and half of it had to be given to Hai Futong, leaving him with very few. Nevertheless, he placed a spirit stone in the array's core and activated it.

Sitting cross-legged, he focused his mind, and the prayer beads magically appeared in his hand. Looking at the beads, which were originally like white jade, he noticed a golden thread on one of them. Lin Haoming believed this golden thread was the mark left by the first seal being unlocked.

Holding the prayer beads, Lin Haoming tried to absorb spiritual energy from them and found that it felt like holding a spirit stone and absorbing its energy.

Absorbing energy from a spirit stone is much faster than meditating. Generally, using a spirit stone for cultivation is at least ten times faster than meditating, especially in a place with sparse spiritual energy.

Realizing this, Lin Haoming felt extremely excited. He knew his opportunity had come. If he could absorb spiritual energy like this every day, even with his average talent, breaking through in cultivation would no longer be a dream. This was just the first bead and the first seal. Each bead has nine seals.

After cultivating for two hours, Lin Haoming clearly felt his cultivation increase. However, he then discovered that he could no longer absorb spiritual energy from the Merit Beads.

This result made Lin Haoming feel frustrated. Could it be that unlocking one seal only allowed him to absorb the equivalent of one-third of a spirit stone's energy?

After some research, Lin Haoming found that after a while, the Spirit Gathering Bead could again provide energy for him to absorb, but only for a short time before it ran out again.

At this point, Lin Haoming understood that the Spirit Gathering Bead was like a battery that needed to be recharged.

Understanding this, Lin Haoming let the Spirit Gathering Bead continuously absorb spiritual energy. However, he found that it could only store the equivalent of one low-grade spirit stone, which was not enough. Lin Haoming decided he needed to unlock the second seal as soon as possible.

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