Chapter 7

"Truly, this is all merit!" Lin Haoming looked at the mountain armor beasts and muttered to himself with excitement.

Thinking of his current position as a manager, he had no more reservations and said directly, "Brothers, I, Lin, am not very capable, but I have been entrusted with an important task by Senior Brother Situ. I promised him to do things well, so from today on, all the mountain armor beasts will be killed by me! After I finish, you can handle the rest?"

"Ah?" Hearing Lin Haoming's instructions, everyone was taken aback, but since the manager had spoken, they couldn't disobey. Besides, it was just about killing mountain armor beasts, not themselves, so no one complained.

Seeing no one object, Lin Haoming smiled and said, "Junior Brother Li, you will handle the specific arrangements from now on. If I'm not around, just call me at my cave!"

"Yes, Manager Lin!" Hearing Lin Haoming's words, Li Shun Tian knew he was now the second-in-command here. Although he didn't have an official title, it still felt like being second to none, and he felt his stature rise a bit.

As a prince, he had endured much in this sect, but today he finally felt a glimmer of hope.

Lin Haoming didn't care much about it, picked up a blood-stained knife, and walked up to a mountain armor beast. He then muttered to the beast and swiftly cut it down.

Next, he moved to another mountain armor beast, repeated the process, and again cut it down.

After killing many mountain armor beasts, Lin Haoming gained some insight into the merit bead. If he absorbed merit, the bead would react, and the greater the merit, the stronger the reaction. If he carefully observed the bead with his divine sense, he would see a golden thread becoming more solid. Once it fully emerged, it indicated that another seal had been broken.

The merit from liberating the mountain armor beasts was weak, but he could still feel it. However, after killing over twenty mountain armor beasts, he found that he only gained merit from about a third of them, indicating that not every mountain armor beast wanted to be liberated.

Despite this, Lin Haoming continued to kill mountain armor beasts every day.

Other managers, once they became managers, rarely did the actual killing themselves, but Lin Haoming went to his slaughterhouse every day, killing mountain armor beasts. In a month, he killed over a thousand, but the third seal remained unbroken. The golden thread was getting thicker but hadn't fully solidified, which disappointed Lin Haoming.

On the day of the salary distribution, Lin Haoming knew he had to go to Manager Ma to collect the salary first and then distribute it.

Since it was a small month, he only needed to collect the elixirs.

Walking to Manager Ma's cave, he hadn't even entered when he heard Guo Xin's shrill voice, "Oh, our butcher Lin has arrived. Have you heard? This butcher is killing mountain armor beasts in his own field every day to prepare for the next competition. He killed over a thousand in a month, truly fierce!"

"Killing over a thousand first-grade superior spirit beasts in a month, he lives up to his name as a butcher!" Another person named Li沧 (Cang) laughed along.

At this moment, Tang Gaojun also walked in. Hearing their ridicule, he said with a displeased look, "Lin Haoming, are you so full that you can't focus on cultivation and run around killing mountain armor beasts every day?"

"Ha ha, Senior Brother Tang, maybe Junior Brother Lin is cultivating a powerful technique that requires killing aura, so he kills mountain armor beasts to condense it!" Li Cang didn't wait for Lin Haoming to explain and started ridiculing him.

"I haven't heard that killing dazed spirit beasts can condense killing aura. If there is such a method, Junior Brother Lin, why don't you teach me? I'll go kill a few fire rhinoceroses in my field!" Guo Xin continued to ridicule.

Lin Haoming looked at Guo Xin's mocking face and said coldly, "Senior Brother Guo, since you look down on me, why don't we increase the bet?"

"Huh? What do you mean, kid?" Guo Xin narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin Haoming warily.

"Of course, increase the bet. I'm willing to bet all my possessions, thirty spirit stones. Senior Brother Guo, do you dare to bet with me?" Lin Haoming challenged.

"Ha ha, good kid, you have some courage, but I'm afraid you'll end up a pauper after this bet!" Guo Xin, facing someone with lower cultivation, naturally wouldn't back down.

"Good, Junior Brother Lin, you have courage. Even if you lose this time, we won't blame you!" Tang Gaojun, seeing Lin Haoming bet all his possessions, looked at him differently.

Lin Haoming felt Tang Gaojun's gaze change and knew that in this demonic sect, they valued who was more ruthless. By pushing himself to the brink, he made Tang Gaojun and others see him differently.

"Junior Brother Lin, go ahead and compete. Even if you lose this time, I, Old Niu, will help you win it back!" Niu Wu patted Lin Haoming's shoulder, as if they were close friends.

Lin Haoming smiled, accepting their good intentions, but didn't say much, collected a bottle of elixirs, and left.

As a manager, he received more elixirs and spirit stones each month.

According to the Blood Refinement Sect's rules, late-stage Qi Cultivators receive four Qi Circulation Pills each month and one spirit stone every two months. However, managers receive two Qi Gathering Pills and one spirit stone each month.

One Qi Gathering Pill is equivalent to three Qi Circulation Pills, so two Qi Gathering Pills equal six Qi Circulation Pills. However, Qi Circulation Pills have much less effect on late-stage Qi Cultivators. Even three pills have only half the effect of one Qi Gathering Pill. Therefore, four Qi Circulation Pills can only be exchanged for one Qi Gathering Pill, meaning Lin Haoming's income doubled.

Of course, Lin Haoming didn't really care about this income; he had much greater ambitions.

He went to his original cave and called out his twenty subordinates.

According to the rules, everyone had to offer him one Qi Circulation Pill, but Lin Haoming walked up to Li Shun Tian and directly poured three Qi Circulation Pills into his hand.

As the second-in-command, receiving a full quota of elixirs was normal. However, the second person, Han Xiao, also a seventh-layer Qi Cultivator, received four Qi Circulation Pills from Lin Haoming, even though he had no connection to him.

Han Xiao looked at the elixirs in his hand and said in surprise, "Manager Lin, these elixirs..."

Lin Haoming knew what he was going to say and smiled, "Everyone, don't be surprised. I, Lin, am different from others. As long as I'm here, I won't withhold your elixirs and spirit stones!"

"Ah!" Hearing Lin Haoming's words, everyone was surprised, and their eyes showed caution.

When Lin Haoming arrived, he had planned to exempt them from tribute, thinking they would be grateful, and thus merit would come. However, when he announced it, expecting a flood of merit, the merit bead showed no reaction.

Lin Haoming didn't believe he wouldn't receive merit for doing good. The only explanation was that these people didn't appreciate him.

Thinking about this, Lin Haoming felt a bit frustrated. He had given them a significant benefit, but they didn't reciprocate. Were these people even human?

What Lin Haoming didn't know was that in the past, these people received protection in exchange for elixirs. Now that Lin Haoming didn't take elixirs, it might mean he couldn't protect them, so they had no reason to be grateful.

However, Lin Haoming had already made his promise and couldn't go back on it, so he gritted his teeth and distributed the elixirs, though his face showed his displeasure.

Next, he went to his slaughterhouse. Perhaps influenced by his mood, he killed fifty mountain armor beasts but felt no merit, which made him even more frustrated.

He put down the blood-stained knife, preparing to return to his cave to get more spirit stones. At that moment, he saw someone running out from behind.

Lin Haoming recognized the person as Bao Wenliang.

This guy hadn't bullied him much in the past, so Lin Haoming didn't move, waiting to see what he would do.

Seeing Lin Haoming waiting for him, Bao Wenliang immediately put on a smile and said, "Manager Lin, I was foolish in the past and followed Li Haiying, that scoundrel, doing many wrong things. You haven't caused me trouble despite being in charge for so long, showing your magnanimity. I feel ashamed. Here is a small token of my apology, please accept it, Manager."

Lin Haoming looked at what Bao Wenliang offered and saw three spirit stones, which was half a year's income for him. His face brightened, and he said, "Junior Brother Bao, your words touch my heart. I always thought you were capable. Recently, I noticed Junior Brother Li's cultivation is weak. How about this, from now on, you help me manage my subordinates!"

Hearing this, Bao Wenliang was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Thank you, Manager Lin, for your kindness. From now on, I will do anything you ask, even if it means climbing a mountain of knives or diving into a sea of fire!"

Lin Haoming, feeling a significant blow today and knowing that the Lin Haoming he had bullied wasn't him, casually gave him a benefit. To his surprise, he suddenly felt a surge of merit, not less than what he had received from helping Feng Ping and Jian Wei.

After a month of liberating mountain armor beasts and this one act, the accumulated merit finally reached the amount needed to unseal the Spirit Gathering Bead. Lin Haoming was overjoyed and looked at Bao Wenliang more favorably.

He immediately returned to his cave, activated the array, and quickly took out the Spirit Gathering Bead.

Sure enough, the third golden thread had solidified.

He placed it in his hand and tried to absorb the spirit energy inside. As he ran his cultivation technique, he felt a powerful surge of spirit energy enter his body, making him feel as if he were absorbing the energy from a mid-grade spirit stone while next to the patriarch.

A mid-grade spirit stone contains a hundred times more spirit energy than a low-grade one. However, the most important part is that the absorption speed is twice as fast for Qi Cultivators, four times for Foundation Establishment cultivators, and six times for Golden Core cultivators.

Thus, a mid-grade spirit stone is officially exchanged for a hundred low-grade ones, but in reality, it's worth at least five more. For Lin Haoming, this was a pleasant surprise far beyond his expectations.