a journey into immortal cultivation

Chapter 29: A Visit

Before the man could speak, someone beside him snapped, “Zhao Little-Second, you were the one who cursed the loudest back then. Senior Brother Wang, don’t listen to him—his insults were the nastiest of the lot.”

“I’m your older brother, Zhao Little-Third! You ungrateful wretch—just wait till we’re back in the room and see how I deal with you!” Zhao Little-Second’s face changed; he sputtered in fury.

“This is called righteousness before family,” Zhao Little-Third said primly. “Senior Brother Wang, have a kind heart and give me something easier to do.”

“Senior Brother Wang, don’t listen to those two. They’re best at playing off each other and have tricked who knows how many registered disciples. Truly, I’m the only good person here who never said a single bad word about you from beginning to end.”

“Senior Brother Wang,” a reasonably pretty female registered disciple said, looking pitiful, “I’ve been frail since childhood and can’t do heavy work. How about I come every evening to knead your shoulders and pound your back?”

Among the Hengyue Sect’s registered disciples, women were few—less than a tenth. In the perseverance tests, men still had the edge.

With so few women, they were naturally fawned over like stars circling the moon; some even won the favor of inner disciples on talent and looks alone.

Another female registered disciple batted her eyes at Wang Lin and cooed, “Senior Brother, Senior Brother Liu never made us do heavy work. We only had to come serve him at night. I’m familiar with several of the sisters among the registered disciples—how about I bring them along this evening to pay our respects together?”

Voices rose from all sides; everyone was desperate to convince Wang Lin they hadn’t bad-mouthed him. After listening for a while, Wang Lin grew impatient and barked, “All of you, shut up! What a mess!”

He pointed at one man. “You—water carrying. Twenty vats a day! If you’re not happy, go see the elders!”

The man’s body trembled. He opened his mouth and stammered for a long moment; seeing Wang Lin’s growing impatience, he forced a smile and nodded rapidly.

“You—laundry. Five hundred jin a day. Remember, if you’re not happy, go see the elders!” The chosen man swallowed hard, his vision going black as he nearly fainted. He muttered, “Five hundred jin… that’s practically the whole sect’s clothes put together…”

“You—sanitation. The entire sect is yours to clean! Same thing: if you’re not happy, go see the elders!”

“You—latrines. If I see a single fly in there, you can move in permanently.”

“You—herb gathering. Five hundred jin a day. Bring me weeds to pad the weight and I’ll break your legs and expel you from the sect! All of you, listen up: if you’re not happy, go see the elders!”

The others, though the workload was heavy, swallowed it down. But the last man he pointed at went weak at the knees and collapsed in a faint.

All the registered disciples wore looks of sympathy. Five hundred jin of medicinal herbs—there probably weren’t that many in the entire Hengyue mountain forests.

…

Going by memory of every face that had mocked him, Wang Lin pointed them out one by one and assigned tasks at random, tireless in his pettiness. In short order he finished the list. He hesitated, thinking: They’ll never finish these jobs. Their only way out is to appeal to the elders. But if the uncles and elders above still won’t budge, that’ll be a headache. To be safe, I need to make an even bigger scene—let everyone know that keeping me in charge of the chores is a colossal mistake!

With that in mind, he pointed at an unfamiliar face. “You’re lucky. Simple job: collect gifts for me. Make a proper ledger—who brought what, on what date—dump it all with you, then haul it to me once a month. If you get greedy, you’re out of the sect!”

Delighted, the man dropped to his knees and kowtowed, promising again and again he wouldn’t record a single thing wrong, not a hair’s breadth of error.

The registered disciples all stared, dumbfounded. The old Liu had kept this sort of thing under the table; Wang Lin was brazenly demanding bribes to their faces.

One registered disciple suddenly stepped forward, pulled three home-leave talisman slips from his chest, and presented them with both hands, fawning: “Senior Brother Wang, a small tribute for your esteemed self.”

Wang Lin grunted through his nose, took them and tucked them away. “What did I assign you just now?”

“Water carrying—twenty vats a day!” the man blurted, eyes nervous.

“Make it five a day,” Wang Lin said unhurriedly.

The man lit up with joy and thanked him again and again.

With someone breaking the ice, the rest began to stir and move forward, but Wang Lin rose lazily to his feet and said, “That’s enough. Dismissed. If you’re bringing gifts, follow the rules—write down your current job and the job you want, and send it to the person I designated. We rotate every ten days.”

He turned and went into his room, slamming the door.

In the courtyard, they sighed one after another. Some glared resentfully, cursing Wang Lin in their hearts, but none dared say it aloud. Faces sagging, they drifted away.

Once they were gone, Wang Lin came out and searched the entire chores compound carefully. Behind the door of a secluded room, he found a small storeroom.

It wasn’t large. Wang Lin looked it over; not ideal, but it was the most hidden spot here. He cleared a patch of space, locked the door from the inside, sat cross-legged, and entered the dream space.

Sun and moon wheeled; time flew. In the blink of an eye, Wang Lin had been the chores overseer for two months. Beyond the first few days spent assigning duties, he devoted everything to cultivation. As for the registered disciples’ work, he simply ignored it. If someone failed to finish, he’d snort coldly and the fellow would obediently offer up talisman slips.

These two months left Wang Lin vexed; cultivation was constantly interrupted by registered disciples dropping by. He couldn’t fathom what the uncles and elders were thinking. He’d already gone this far—yet they still hadn’t replaced him.