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“Young man, why did you come here?” Seeing that the youth in front of him seemed to be ordinary and only at the second layer of Spirit Condensation, the old man stared at Lin Xuan coldly.
Lin Xuan clearly saw his expression and sneered at the old man in his head, but none of this showed on his face as he responded:
“Senior, I came here to ask for a simple job to do.”
As mentioned previously, cultivation was difficult, and even with Spiritual Roots, most people have limited success in their lives as cultivators.
Some people end up discouraged, and rather than enduring the hardships, decide to stop cultivating, and take on some light jobs in the sect to live out the rest of their lives relaxedly.
The old man in front of Lin Xuan was one such person.
After hearing Lin Xuan’s words, the old man assumed that Lin Xuan was also such a person, and reacted just as Lin Xuan wanted him to.
“That’s not so easy to do,” The old man began to frown, revealing an awkward appearance. “Although there are a lot of odd jobs that need to be done around Red Dawn Mountain, at this moment, all the positions are filled, we are not short of manpower. I really want to help you, but unfortunately, I am unable to.”
“Humph, this sly fox,” Lin Xuan cursed in his head. He has planned out his actions beforehand, how could he not know that a little while ago, there was a vacant spot at Red Dawn Mountain? This old man was intentionally making it hard for him.
However, this situation was also expected by Lin Xuan. In fact, cultivators were also very corrupt, and as such the old man was trying to get the most out of the situation, he was just demanding a bribe, something Lin Xuan had already planned for.
Sneering in his head, the old man’s intentions were very clear to Lin Xuan, but on the surface, Lin Xuan still put out the appearance of a rookie, stammering, “Senior… Please help this poor child who has no Spiritual Roots. Cultivation is too difficult for me, and I wish to live carefreely working here. If you are willing to help, I will be forever grateful.”
Having said that, Lin Xuan pulled out a package, covered in layers of cloth, and quietly placed it in front of the old man.
“What’s this?” Lin Xuan deliberately acted in a secretive manner, successfully attracting the old man’s attention.
As the layers of cloth were pulled away, it slowly revealed a sparkling object, although it was just a glimpse and did not directly see the whole object, the old man still could not help but lean forward, “Spirit Stone?”
Spirit Stones were stones that were rich in Spiritual Qi, and whether it was for cultivation or trading, the role of Spirit Stones was irreplaceable. It was treated as the main currency to cultivators.
However, the number of Spirit Stones mined was low, and most of those that were mined were taken by other seniors and masters. So low-level cultivators might only occasionally see one, let alone to obtain any.
How can this boy at the second layer of Spirit Condensation actually own something like this?
However, after all the cloth was removed, the old man’s expression became somewhat disappointed, as the package was filled not with a Spirit Stone, but Spirit Stone fragments, about half of a full Spirit Stone.
When Spirit Stones get fragmented, they lose a lot of spirit power, and the fragments here were worth less than half. After deducting the missing fragments as well as the lost Spiritual Qi, the amount contained in the package was only about one-quarter of a full Spirit Stone.
“These are the Spirit Stone fragments that I accidentally obtained, if you are willing to grant me the post of a steward, I will give it to you.”
The old man suddenly changed his mind. Although it was only Spirit Stone fragments, he was only a low-level cultivator. It can be said that this was a great amount of wealth. Isn’t just a steward position, giving such a position to him would be a piece of cake, and I get all this too.
After pretending to think about it for a moment, he said, “Well, since you’re being so sincere, how could I not show my benevolence?”
He pulled out a book, “The trash pill storage department lacks a steward, you can go work there.”
Lin Xuan was overjoyed, everything really went according to plan. Although on the surface he only showed an awkward expression, “Trash pill storage, this…”
Seeing the awkward expression on his face, the old man hastily replied, “Junior, the steward of the trash pill storage is the easiest job. There is nothing for you to do other than sitting back and relax, I am really helping you out by giving you this job.”
“Really?” Although Lin Xuan knew it to be a lie, he still played into the old man’s words, and he certainly won’t argue. He pretended to believe him, “I see, I always thought trash pills were a waste, well, thank you senior.”
“Oh, don’t mention it, junior.” As the old man gathered up the Spirit Stone fragments into his arms, he called out to the boy, “This young man is now the steward of the trash pill storage. Go take him to receive his number and identification plate.”
“Yes!”
As Lin Xuan walked away, the old man had a proud smile on his face, “Working in the trash pill storage is really easy, and has no requirements. How can such a trash disciple also obtain spirit stone fragments without even understanding anything…”
The old man thought that this was a big win-win for him, but didn’t know that the person who truly benefited from this the most was Lin Xuan. Everything that happened was exactly as he had planned.
Every word, every expression, was planned out beforehand.
Before coming, he had done his research and found out that this Steward Feng was a greedy old man that wouldn’t do anything unless it benefited him.
Originally, he had nothing to give him other than the Spirit Stone he got from Zhou Yan and Zhang Yu. And although Lin Xuan could be considered to be very rich, since he was a Spirit Condensation disciple, having a Spirit Stone would be too suspicious. If he was not careful, it would attract the attention of others. So Lin Xuan deliberately smashed a spirit stone into fragments, then gave the old man half of the fragments, saving the rest for himself later.
Secondly, by pretending that he knew nothing, the steward was able to take his bribe, and by pretending to be honest, he managed to give the worst job over to Lin Xuan thinking he was a fool.
After his investigation, Lin Xuan knew that because no one needs trash pills, the storage room would seldom be used. Since no one ever visited it, it was indeed considered the worst job available.
Steward Feng, being the unscrupulous person he was, would certainly lie to Lin Xuan and send him there.
It also worked out for Lin Xuan, because he was being “cheated” to go there, rather than asking for the position, so no one would think twice of him working there.
Steward Feng thought he was being very smart, but he didn’t realize that he was being led by the nose by Lin Xuan, who ended up gaining the biggest benefit from this situation.
Translated by: James1kd2
Edited by: UnderTheMoon