WDMJST 20

Chapter 20

The “Blessings” of the Spirit Beasts

The Spirit Beast Garden…

Laboring for others…

Did they mean to have those spirit beasts work for them?

Su Ling’er couldn’t help recalling the beasts in the Hundred Herbs Valley — were they also used to tend the medicine fields?

As the two walked forward, the fog gradually thinned, and the outline of a vast courtyard appeared ahead.

From within came the occasional, low, oppressive roar of beasts.

“Junior Sister, look — this is our Gui Xi Sect’s Spirit Beast Garden,” Lin Qingfeng introduced warmly.

“It’s near the sect’s spirit stone mines, which makes management convenient.

“And since it’s close to the medicine fields, employers can easily send their spirit beasts to help manage their herb gardens in the Hundred Herbs Valley.”

“The garden is divided into the East and West Yards. The East focuses on training and breeding; the West oversees labor.

“Further inside is the Beast Control Hall.”

In storybooks, places with names like that were rarely pleasant ones.

The closer she got, the heavier Su Ling’er’s heart grew.

What lay before her wasn’t a place of elegant pavilions or flowing streams, but a bleak open field.

Several deep mine tunnels gaped open, their entrances lined with crude rails.

With a creaking sound, heavy ore carts were slowly pushed along — dragged by dozens of beasts, each of different shapes and sizes.

Their fur was dull, their eyes lifeless.

Up on a raised platform sat a Gui Xi Sect disciple cross-legged, overseeing them like a foreman.

He was a beast-taming player.

To improve his skill proficiency, he personally supervised the spirit beasts’ labor while forming hand seals, refining his own Beast Control technique.

Noticing Su Ling’er’s puzzlement, Lin Qingfeng patiently explained:

“These are spirit servants entrusted to the Beast Control Hall by fellow disciples.

“Spirit beasts have low intelligence and are easily lazy, so unified management ensures continuous labor.

“And with their work, their masters can receive a fixed amount of spirit stones each day — allowing them to cultivate in peace.”

“This too, is a form of cultivation. Do you understand?”

Spirit beasts?

Su Ling’er didn’t understand. She had never seen such “spirit beasts” before.

She had met some demonic beasts, yes — but in her mind, a spirit beast was something like that white ape behind the sect master’s mountain — “Brother Ape,” a peer and companion on the path.

But here… these weren’t companions.

No — they should be called spirit slaves.

A group of tireless creatures, laboring day and night like beasts of burden.

Worse off than she had been at Qingxu Temple.

Even outer disciples there had fixed hours for rest and cultivation; they swept floors, fetched water — simple chores.

But these spirit beasts showed no spark of life in their eyes.

“Bang!”

A muffled thud broke her thoughts. Not far away, a second-rank pangolin hauling ore collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

The overseeing disciple floated down, checked it briefly, and shook his head.

“This one’s done. It’d be cheaper to buy another than to save it. Too old — might as well optimize it.”

Optimize?

What did that mean?

Would it make it stronger?

Su Ling’er didn’t understand this term from another world.

She could only watch helplessly as the still-breathing pangolin was roped and dragged away.

“Junior Sister,” Lin Qingfeng said softly, “all living beings have birth and death.”

“They fulfill their role, return to dust, to earth — this too follows the Dao.”

It wasn’t worth healing it when a few spirit stones could buy a new one. For low-tier beasts, you could always just pay — there were plenty more waiting to replace it.

Many players found it… satisfying, to experience what it felt like to be the boss — to exploit, to ‘optimize’ their workers.

Seeing Su Ling’er’s expression as she looked toward the spirit slaves, Lin Qingfeng misunderstood her thoughts.

He assumed his junior sister wanted a pet companion, so he smiled and suggested:

“Ling’er, if you wish to raise spirit pets, there’s no need to start with these labor beasts.”

“You could save some spirit stones, buy one or two low-tier spirit servants, and have the sect help you manage them here.”

“The profit from their mining could help you afford a true spirit pet later — or buy spirit herbs, pills, or artifacts. It’s a stable source of income within the sect.”

“Those meant as companions are usually small, cute, and beautifully colored.

“Of course, battle-type pets cost far more spirit stones.

“You can also capture a wild beast and bring it to the Beast Control Hall up ahead — pay a fee, and the beast-taming disciples there will domesticate it for you.”

What a nice way to say it — “delegated management,” “stable income.”

Su Ling’er sneered silently.

Was he teaching her how to become one of them?

To join this chain of exploitation?

They squeezed the lower disciples — and now taught the lower disciples to squeeze the beasts beneath them?

Was this… an attempt to assimilate her?

But she didn’t dare show any sign of anger.

She only lowered her head and murmured, “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother.”

Her gaze then drifted to a small enclosure in the corner.

Inside sat a strange creature, face full of melancholy, curled up and dazed.

Opposite it sat a disciple, also cross-legged, staring blankly into space.

Lin Qingfeng recognized them: Wang Xian, a notorious “slacker” in the sect, and his self-raised “Grieving Beast.”

That creature was born radiating despair — seemingly incapable and unwilling to do anything.

Wang Xian thought they were kindred spirits, and often sat with it doing absolutely nothing.

Su Ling’er’s eyes met the Grieving Beast’s.

And in that moment —

In those dull, hopeless eyes — she saw herself.

Another soul trapped in this demonic den, with no idea when, or if, it would ever be free.

The sorrow blossom in her arms trembled faintly, its petal-face deepening into an even sadder frown.

At that moment, Lin Qingfeng spoke again: “Junior Sister, don’t mind those two slackers.”

“They’re actually quite strong.”

“And the Beast Control Hall has many other interesting uses — you can check it out later when you have time.”

…

Leaving the Beast Control Hall, Su Ling’er breathed in the open air — but it couldn’t wash away the heaviness in her chest.

The sky was blue, the clouds white —

Yet to her eyes, everything felt false, fragile.

To help his junior sister integrate faster into the sect, Lin Qingfeng didn’t let her dwell on it. He quickly led her onward to the next core site — the Hall of Transmission.

The hall was magnificent, and clearly divided in two.

On the left, Elder Qian sat sternly at his seat, behind a wall covered with jade slips. Numerous disciples crowded forward, eager to claim tasks.

On the right stood the other Elder Qian — the one whose socks had once been stolen — not wandering this time.

Su Ling’er saw a disciple present a pile of spirit stones.

Elder Qian merely gestured casually — a streak of black light shot into the disciple’s body, and the disciple’s expression twisted between elation and dismay.

For what reason, she didn’t know.

When she asked Lin Qingfeng, he only smiled mysteriously and said nothing.

He even mentioned he would be coming here often.

After this quick visit, their guide quest’s progress bar had almost filled up:

【Sect Orientation Quest: Guide new disciple Su Ling’er through the sect.】
【Progress: Dining Hall (Completed), Alchemy Pavilion (Completed), Smithing Hall (Completed), Spirit Beast Garden (Completed), Hall of Transmission (Completed)…】
【Remaining locations: Cultivation Caves, Demon-Sealing Tower, Dao Ladder, Sword Tomb.】

Just four more places.

And they were all important ones!

Once all were visited, this guidance mission would end perfectly — unlocking the next phase for sect promotion.

Lin Qingfeng stopped and turned toward Su Ling’er.

“Ling’er, what you’ve seen today must have been shocking.”

“But remember — the road to the Dao is a journey of breaking and rebuilding.”

“Reflection is good — but reflection alone isn’t enough.”

A mysterious smile crept across his face — the kind of smile an elder gives a younger with gentle “affection.”

“As your senior brother, I’ve prepared a small gift for you.”

“When we reach our next destination, I’ll take you to receive it.”

A gift?

Su Ling’er lifted her head, meeting those “kind” eyes.

In this place — a sect that treated lives as raw material — a gift from her senior brother…

What could it possibly be?

A spiritual artifact to monitor her mind?

A tamed “spirit slave” trained to watch her?

Or perhaps… something to help her “reach her full potential” more efficiently?

…

【In the Real World】

News Archive: New Subsidiary Established

Jintian Group has announced the creation of a new, fully independent game studio: “Mortal Simulation.”

According to the official statement, the studio will focus on developing “ultra-realistic societal sandbox simulations.”

Their upcoming projects, it said, will not primarily serve as “entertainment,”
but rather as “unprecedented digital laboratories for research in sociology and economics.”