"Lu Yan! Go get the talisman paper from the warehouse, and remember to use the Dust-removal Talisman to clean it thoroughly."
"Lu Yan! Why is the amount of talismanic vermilion short by 20% today? I pay you one Spirit Stone a month, is it just for you to slack off?"
"This piece of talisman paper is actually damaged, what the hell are you doing? I'll dock half a Spirit Stone to compensate for the loss!"
In the Spirit Talisman Workshop, the corpulent Shopkeeper Chu Hao continuously berated the only clerk in the shop.
The clerk looked to be about twenty years old, with a slender build and handsome features carrying a scholarly air, but his coarse cloth and hemp garment undermined his demeanor.
He merely lowered his head, silently following Shopkeeper Chu Hao's orders to organize materials and blend vermilion.
It was already evening, and there were not many cultivators purchasing spiritual objects at the marketplace, so Shopkeeper Chu Hao's reprimands immediately drew the attention of the shopkeepers and clerks from nearby stores.
One shopkeeper couldn't bear to listen anymore and urged:
"Shopkeeper Chu, say a few less words! I think this young fellow Lu Yan is diligent and honest. If you really scold him away, where will you find such a suitable clerk?"
The corpulent Shopkeeper Chu heard this, glared, and replied loudly without courtesy:
"Three-legged toads are hard to find, but aren't two-legged people everywhere? If he doesn't work, there are plenty of others who will!"
"Moreover, these mortals are all ungrateful wretches, sooner or later they'll find a way to flee.
Do I really have to let him become like those other heartless clerks, treated well with food and drink only to eventually steal away my family Cultivation Technique and Spirit Stones?"
After Shopkeeper Chu spoke these words, everyone around fell silent.
Bamboo Forest Marketplace isn't very large, and everyone had heard about what happened to Shopkeeper Chu.
A few years ago, Shopkeeper Chu recruited a clerk with cultivation talent, intending to groom him as an heir by not only providing cultivation techniques but also personally teaching the art of drawing Spirit Talismans.
As a result, shortly after that clerk entered the Qi Cultivation Stage, he took advantage of Shopkeeper Chu's absence to steal away the Cultivation Technique and Spirit Stones from the Spirit Talisman Workshop, causing Shopkeeper Chu significant losses.
Since then, Shopkeeper Chu has been full of distrust towards the clerks he hired, often reprimanding them at will.
In just four or five years, more than twenty clerks had come and gone, with some staying as briefly as just half a month.
Thinking of this, the rest of the shopkeepers at the marketplace could only shake their heads and disperse.
Standing at the entrance, Shopkeeper Chu glanced up at the dull sky outside, threw out a parting remark, and hurriedly left the shop.
Inside the Spirit Talisman Workshop, only Lu Yan remained, tidying up the shop.
Three months prior, Lu Yan had been brought into the Spirit Talisman Workshop by Shopkeeper Chu, working meticulously every day yet constantly being nitpicked.
The round-bellied Shopkeeper Chu spoke of a monthly wage of one Spirit Stone, but in reality, barely three days of work would see that Spirit Stone completely deducted.
If any warehouse talisman paper is damaged, Spirit Stones are docked; if the vermilion quality is poor, Spirit Stones are docked; if the shop's business is bad, Spirit Stones are docked; even if customers haggle, Lu Yan's Spirit Stones are docked...
After three months, Lu Yan was in debt to the Spirit Talisman Workshop for twenty-seven Spirit Stones.
This quantity of Spirit Stones was more than most early Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators' entire possessions; compared to Shopkeeper Chu, even capitalists seemed generous and lavish.
"No, it's twenty-seven and a half,"
Lu Yan silently added in his heart while organizing the talisman paper.
To outsiders, Lu Yan seemed like a clerk randomly picked by Shopkeeper Chu from a Mortal City, but only Lu Yan knew that he did not belong to this world.
Lu Yan came from Earth, a world only he was aware of. His soul had traversed space and time to land in someone with the same name here.
Initially, the world Lu Yan witnessed was a bustling metropolis whose level of technology and cultural development bore almost no difference to Earth's 21st century.
Until three months ago, Lu Yan experienced a version upgrade.
At that moment, Lu Yan realized the truth of the entire world.
It was as if a supreme force turned the world into a game, transforming directly from an urban version to an Immortal World version.
In just an instant, the once-flourishing metropolis vanished, replaced by an ancient and authentic Immortal World.
The complex and exquisite technological creations disappeared, and the original order was erased in an instant, with cultivators who could travel the nine heavens becoming the dominators of this Immortal World version.
In this groundbreaking transformation, all creatures seemed oblivious, merely drifting along instinctively.
Even the urban power holders and high above cultivators could only follow the cycle of world version changes.
In this drastically changing world, only Lu Yan, an outsider, became a being independent of the world version updates.
He personally witnessed skyscrapers turning into low-rise houses, prosperous cities becoming Mortal Cities, and countless familiar faces disappearing; even if one or two familiar faces remained, their identities had changed.
In the transformation of all things, only Lu Yan himself remained an eternal constant, able to retain memories of different versions and keep items from the previous version.
This was indeed a good thing, but having just undergone a version update, Lu Yan hadn't even had the chance to adapt when he was chosen by Shopkeeper Chu who had come to the Mortal City to select a clerk.
Shopkeeper Chu forcefully brought Lu Yan to Bamboo Forest Marketplace, thrusting him into endless laborious toil without respite.
In the early days of the version update, Lu Yan still harbored fantasies about so-called Cultivation Skills and the Immortal World.
But as Shopkeeper Chu relentlessly exploited him, leaving him to sleep on cold, hard boards and eat scarcely edible food, most of Lu Yan's fantasies had already dissipated.
Even if there truly was a carefree immortal cultivation life, it wasn't for someone like him, the lowest-tier clerk in the marketplace.
Harsh living conditions and difficult life were still secondary; most importantly, this Immortal World version had no stable order.
Even in the urban version, despite the disparities in power and wealth, everyone was just human; a gun or a knife could level all differences.
But in the Immortal World version, mortals and cultivators had become completely different life forms, with disparities that couldn't even be quantified.
This was a world that consumed people!
This wasn't capitalist exploitation; it was literal cannibalism.
Mere silence couldn't ensure one's survival; the only way not to be consumed was to rise and fight back.
Placing the last stack of talisman paper on the shelf, Lu Yan walked over to the counter, taking the remaining thirteen Spirit Stones and the few completed Spirit Talismans from the drawer.
Then, under the astonished gazes of nearby shops, Lu Yan closed the doors of the Spirit Talisman Workshop and headed toward the back courtyard of the shop.
Before Lu Yan's eyes appeared a string of illusory text.
[Current Version: Immortal World
Version Update Progress: 99.3%]