Lin Haoming hadn't expected the benefits to come so quickly. Even better, the Spirit Accumulation Bead's charging speed for spirit stones had increased tenfold. Previously, it took a full day to refill one stone; now, it only took an hour.
With this discovery, a bold plan began to take shape in his mind.
The next day, Lin Haoming returned to the slaughterhouse. As soon as he arrived, Li Shuntian hurried over with a troubled expression. "Manager Lin," he whispered, "you... you put Bao Wenliang in charge of things here too?"
Lin Haoming noted that when he had first given Li Shuntian authority, he hadn't received any Merit from the fat prince. Clearly, the guy wasn't sincerely grateful. Lin Haoming patted his shoulder. "Shuntian, you know I have seven or eight late-stage Qi Refining cultivators under me. You're a bit weak; I was afraid you couldn't suppress them alone, so I had Junior Brother Bao help you."
Li Shuntian's face fell. He realized Lin Haoming was intentionally elevating Bao Wenliang. Feeling his status as the closest confidant being threatened, he grew anxious and competitive.
Lin Haoming didn't actually want to cast him aside. After all, Shuntian was the only one who stood by him when he was at his lowest. He smiled and patted him again. "Don't be upset. Remember, you are my true confidant. I have a special task for you: go ask everyone if they have any spent spirit stones—the ones with no Qi left. Collect as many as you can for me."
Hearing this, Li Shuntian's spirits soared. He felt revitalized, his energy even higher than before.
At that moment, Lin Haoming felt a surge of Merit enter the beads. He inwardly cursed: I was nice to him and got nothing. Now I threaten his position and give him a chore, and he's suddenly grateful? Even for a former prince, this guy is a total glutton for punishment!
But he learned a valuable lesson: In this sect, helping people for free earns no respect. Only the stick and carrot method produced results.
---
The "Bribe" Economy
Lin Haoming officially announced Bao Wenliang as the second-in-command. The workers were shocked by Bao's sudden rise from a disgraced lackey to a manager's favorite.
Bao Wenliang, knowing he needed allies to balance out Li Shuntian, pulled aside a few friends. He discreetly informed them that Manager Lin hadn't refused their stipends because he was being nice—he was waiting for them to show their loyalty proactively. Bao claimed he was promoted because he was the first to offer his loyalty.
The rumor spread like wildfire. By the time Lin Haoming finished his shift, Bao Wenliang ran up with a beaming smile and a cloth bag. It was stuffed with Qi-Circulating Pills.
"It's a gift from everyone, Manager!" Bao explained.
Lin Haoming remembered how ungrateful they were the day before and didn't hesitate to take the bag. "Tell them," Lin instructed, "that whatever the rules were when Hai Futong was here, that's how they'll stay."
"Understood!" Bao scurried off happily.
As Lin Haoming walked back to his cave, he felt a wave of Merit hit the beads. The fourth golden thread began to flicker into existence. He cursed under his breath again. These idiots. They could have kept their pills for free, but they insisted on paying for the privilege of being managed. Truly a bunch of masochists.
---
The Spirit Stone Machine
Three days later, Li Shuntian delivered over three hundred spent spirit stones.
Lin Haoming looked at the bag and sighed. Outer disciples were truly poor; they wouldn't even throw away a useless rock. The only use for spent stones was to sell them back to the sect to be reseeded in the mines—it took a hundred spent stones just to buy one pill.
But for Lin Haoming, this was a gold mine. At twelve stones a day (one per hour), he now had a steady daily income of twelve spirit stones.
He also refined his cultivation setup. He laid out five different elemental stones to create a small Five Elements Spirit-Gathering Array. With this, his cultivation speed was twenty times faster than normal meditation. One day of training now equaled twenty days in the past; two months of this was equivalent to three years of bitter toil for a normal cultivator.
However, Lin Haoming's aptitude was truly mediocre. Even with this massive boost, he estimated it would take another six months to reach the 8th level of Qi Refining.
The duel with Guo Xin was only days away. Lin Haoming stopped his seclusion. He now had over three hundred freshly charged spirit stones in his pocket, and it was time to go shopping for some insurance for the upcoming fight.