Scum Of The Demonic Sect

Chapter Thirty-Two: Merits, Great and Small

Although Lin Haoming was excited, he didn't show it on his face. He even deliberately frowned and whispered, "Junior Brother Lin, let me ask you a question: do you know how much difference there is between a high-grade spirit stone's waste spirit stone and a low-grade spirit stone's waste spirit stone?"

"This..."

A waste spirit stone is a waste spirit stone. Lin Feiyang, who had dealt with waste spirit stones for many years, naturally understood that there wasn't much difference between the two. Although he had heard that high-grade waste spirit stones were usually stuffed into the spiritual eyes where spiritual energy gathered in spirit stone mines, they were really useless to a cultivator like himself.

Faced with this situation, Lin Feiyang immediately took out a cloth bag and poured out a bag full of spirit stones in front of Lin Haoming, saying, "Senior Brother Lin, this is all my possessions, one hundred and thirty-two spirit stones. I really don't have any more. How about this, Manager Lin, you give me the magic weapon first, and I'll pay you back later!"

Lin Haoming sighed helplessly at Lin Feiyang's actions, then quickly put all the spirit stones into his storage bag, saying, "Junior Brother Lin, forget it. How about this, just give me all the useless spirit stones you brought with you, and I'll consider it a full payment!"

"Senior Brother Lin, you...you've really helped me a lot!" Hearing Lin Haoming unexpectedly offer such generous terms, Lin Feiyang was extremely excited.

Although he was now a manager and would have more income in the future, he still needed to use that money for other things, so having some left over now was extremely important to him.

Lin Haoming sensed a significant reaction from the Merit Bead, knowing Lin Feiyang was expressing his gratitude again. However, he was surprised to find that the Merit Bead was actually indicating he could unseal the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead's seal.

This was likely the result of accumulating a certain amount of merit. However, Lin Haoming knew very well that the golden thread on the Spirit Gathering Bead was still very faint. Although he had gained a lot of merit this time, it was definitely not enough to unseal it. This meant that the merit required to unseal the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead was much less than that required to unseal the fourth layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead.

Lin Haoming carefully considered the merit he had earned over the past few days. Since Bao Wenliang arrived, he had made fewer public appearances, only occasionally seeking out regular customers like Lin Feiyang to earn merit. If calculated this way, the accumulated merit from unsealing the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead was roughly the same as unsealing the third layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead.

If this calculation is correct, the Merit Bead should give him a choice after accumulating enough merit: to unseal the fourth layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead or the third layer of the Demon Gathering Bead.

Thinking this, Lin Haoming had a general understanding of the merit required by the Merit Bead. It was just a pity that he could only see the degree of condensation of the golden lines, not the exact amount of merit needed to unseal it; otherwise, he could collect merit more easily.

Just as Lin Haoming was thinking this, he suddenly noticed a startling change when he observed the Merit Bead with his divine sense. He saw that in the center of the string of Merit Beads, where there had been nothing before, a seemingly pure white light spot had appeared.

Furthermore, this light spot could be moved with his divine sense. When Lin Haoming let it enter the Spirit Gathering Bead, the golden lines became more solid. After withdrawing it, he let it enter the Demon Gathering Bead, and the golden lines of the Demon Gathering Bead became almost completely solid.

Seeing this, Lin Haoming knew that the speck of light was likely the merit gathered within the Merit Bead.

After guessing this, something else suddenly occurred to Lin Haoming. He immediately understood that this small speck of light represented a complete unit of merit, but only a small one. Unsealing the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead only required one small unit of merit.

Upon further investigating the fourth layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead, Lin Haoming discovered that it required nine small units of merit.

With small merit, there was naturally a greater merit, and one great unit of merit required a total of eighty-one small units of merit.

Lin Haoming didn't know how many good deeds he would have to do, or how many people he would have to be grateful to, to accumulate one great unit of merit.

However, the direct appearance of the merit allowed Lin Haoming to more accurately grasp the quantity, which greatly satisfied him.

After seeing off the excited Lin Feiyang...

Lin Haoming entered his stone chamber with the bag of discarded spirit stones he had left behind.

Spirit stones are special minerals formed from the convergence of spiritual energy from heaven and earth. Regardless of their spiritual energy content, spirit stones are generally hexagonal stones, about an inch square. They resemble jade, but are not. Those containing spiritual energy emit a faint halo, while discarded spirit stones are duller.

High-grade discarded spirit stones are similar, only appearing more translucent than low-grade ones.

Lin Feiyang had given him thirty high-grade discarded spirit stones and about one hundred mid-grade ones. Lin Haoming took out a Spirit Gathering Pearl and placed it directly on a high-grade discarded spirit stone. He quickly discovered that even high-grade discarded spirit stones could be replenished with spiritual energy by the Spirit Gathering Pearl. However, one high-grade spirit stone was equivalent to ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. Replenishing the spiritual energy of one high-grade spirit stone would take ten thousand hours, roughly two years, which was quite a headache for Lin Haoming.

Lin Haoming, naturally, wouldn't waste so much time. Having found it effective, he stopped trying and focused on preparing for his trip to the spirit stone mine in three months.

A few days later, a scruffy-looking Qi Refining cultivator arrived at the third level of the Blood Refining Sect. This somewhat disheveled young Qi Refining cultivator was none other than Lin Haoming.

After several days of experimentation and preparation, he used the token Ling Shengjie had given him to descend alone to the third level of the Demon Cave.

This level was the sect's designated residence and cultivation area for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Upon entering, looking at the thousand-zhang (approximately 333 meters) gap between the ground and the ceiling, gazing at the distant, hundreds-zhang-high hills, and a wide river flowing through the mountains, Lin Haoming marveled at the wonders of this underground world.

According to the sect's records, the widest part of the third underground level was definitely over ten thousand li (approximately 5,000 kilometers), and even the narrowest part was nearly ten thousand li. It was probably about three times the size of China on Earth.

This vast area contains the cave dwellings of thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators; from here onward, it truly marks the core of the sect.

Lin Haoming's target is the third-level market; this is crucial to whether he will receive a reward from the sect soon.

PS: The grinding is still fierce; Old Jing needs everyone's support!