A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

This despicable method is foolproof; it always works.

No one dared not pay.

Because if those photos were leaked, they would die—a social death.

At that point, everyone will probably have to find a crooked tree to cosplay as Emperor Chongzhen.

Therefore, they had no choice but to obediently hand over the money.

Zhou Langchen knocked on the door of almost every aristocratic family in the Han Dynasty.

From south to north, from east to west, not a single one was missed.

He even created a ranking list to record which aristocratic families were the most generous with their money and which were the most stingy.

The most satisfying thing is to tap less next time.

The stingiest one, I'll double the amount next time.

With that kind of business acumen, it's a real shame he's not in business.

Actually, it wasn't just the three of them.

Dog Grandpa, who was taking care of his child in Lion Camel Ridge of Ailao Mountain, also made a windfall.

Moreover, the amount of that windfall was almost more than what Shen Qianjie and his group brought back.

The day Shen Qianjie and the others returned, Dog Grandpa was squatting in the yard with a pile of shiny things in front of him.

Spiritual stones, jewels, and magical artifacts were all available, piled up like a small mountain.

Shen Qianjie stared at the pile of things, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Dog Master, where...where did you get this?"

Dog Lord raised his head, gave him a look that said, "What's the big deal?", and then slowly spoke:

"A wealthy fox spirit appeared halfway up Lion Camel Ridge."

"A foxy rich woman?"

"Yes. She said she liked the feng shui of the hillside and was planning to settle down there, so she gave me this pile of things as a gift."

Shen Qianjie: "..."

Chu Hengdao: "..."

Zhou Langchen: "..."

In short, everything is ready.

Elixirs, spiritual stones, and rare and precious materials are all available.

The strongest disciple training program has officially begun.

Shen Qianjie, Chu Hengdao, and Zhou Langchen stood in the courtyard, looking at the baby Ji Zuodao who was crying loudly in his swaddling clothes, their faces showing a complex expression.

There was anticipation, trepidation, excitement, and also a sense of curiosity about "what kind of thing we three evil cultivators can raise."

"What do you think this little debt collector will be like when he grows up?"

"He's definitely going to be a menace."

"Isn't that obvious? What good would we produce?"

The three of them looked at each other, and then laughed in unison.

The laughter was unrestrained and flamboyant, carrying an undisguised anticipation.

And so, countless rare and precious materials were poured in, and this went on for three years.

Three years later.

Ailao Mountain, Lion Camel Ridge.

Zhou Langchen sat on a rattan chair in the courtyard, looking at the little Ji Zuodao crawling all over the ground, feeling a bit of a headache.

This little one is already three years old this year.

He's three years old, but he still speaks haltingly, as if he has a walnut in his mouth, and it takes him a long time to come out a complete sentence.

And it can't walk yet, it crawls all over the place.

Its crawling posture was quite standard, using both hands and feet, wiggling its bottom, looking just like a little turtle.

Zhou Langchen spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of helplessness:

"Old Shen, he's three years old already, and he can't speak properly, can't walk, and just crawls around all day. If it weren't for his good talent for cultivation, I'd think he might be mentally challenged."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, life force is still leaking. The power of origin is indeed not so easy to replenish."

Those rare and precious herbs could prolong Xiao Ji Zuo Dao's life, but they couldn't make up for his congenital deficiencies.

That's a lack of the essence, a fundamental problem.

It's like a container with a hole at the bottom.

You pour water into it, and the water does fill the container temporarily. As time goes by, the water will gradually leak out through the hole until not a drop is left.

Life force is like this, and so is spiritual power.

The child's fate, coupled with his illness, further accelerated this process.

It can be said that Xiao Ji Zuo Dao was born unsuitable for cultivation.

No, I should say they're not suited to live there.

This is a living bottomless pit.

The three evil cultivators and the dog were aware of this, but they didn't care.

Anyway, those rare and precious materials were obtained through cheating and deception, so what's there to feel sorry about?

At worst, we can make Buddhism suffer, evil practitioners suffer, and those aristocratic families suffer.

Young people shouldn't suffer a bit.

Shen Qianjie remained silent for a while.

He squatted on the steps, watching Ji Zuodao chasing a butterfly in the yard, his eyes filled with a complex emotion.

"He's about the right age now, he should be able to understand what death feels like. Starting tomorrow, stop preparing rare and precious herbs for him."

"What?"

Zhou Langchen almost jumped off the rattan chair.

"Are you crazy? This kid needs to take a thousand-year-old elixir every seven days, or he'll kick the bucket the next day! If you don't give him it, aren't you killing him?"

"He should be left hungry."

Shen Qianjie's eyes were somewhat cold.

"I'm so hungry I'm desperate, so hungry I want to die."

Zhou Langchen was stunned.

"The endless supply of rare and precious materials, while prolonging his life, also deprived his body of the driving force for self-repair."

"That damaged origin is like a master who is used to being waited on hand and foot, and over time, he loses his ability to take care of himself."

"The more you supplement it, the more useless it becomes."

"Only when the internal organs are empty, the qi and blood are depleted, and the spirit is starving to the extreme, and a life-or-death crisis looms over him, will the dormant source within him actively gather the scattered Dao energy and forcibly mend the innate flaws. Using his own will to survive as fuel, he ignites the hidden life potential and accomplishes a self-replenishment that ordinary people cannot do."

"Only in this way can he truly overcome the fatal obstacle of his congenital deficiency."

After Shen Qian finished explaining, he looked at Zhou Langchen.

Zhou Langchen remained silent for a long while.

Then he spoke, a hint of worry in his voice: "Aren't you afraid this little debt collector will starve to death?"

"He has hands and feet, he won't starve."

Shen Qianjie's tone was very calm.

"The herb garden is right behind us; he can go and eat there. But it has to be limited. Every time he eats it, beat him up so he'll know his limits."

He turned his head again and looked at Dog Grandpa squatting in the corner:

"Dog Master, occasionally give him some demon beast meat, not too much, just enough to keep him alive. While you're at it, go and say hello to the goddess halfway up the mountain. Pretend to be poor and don't feed the little brat anything good, just some food that won't fill him up. Whether he survives this ordeal or not depends on his fate."

Doggy raised his head, looked at Shen Qianjie, and then at Xiao Ji Zuodao, who was chasing butterflies in the yard, with a hint of pity in his eyes.

"Is it really necessary? He's only three years old."

"This time, I'm on Lao Shen's side."

A muffled sound came from the corner.

Chu Hengdao was sitting there sharpening his knife, without even looking up.

"We can't protect him forever. So what if he's three? When I was three, I was already attacking people with a knife."

And so, the hard times for Xiao Ji Zuo Dao began.

He had three fathers—no, he changed his address. His three masters forbade him to call them fathers, saying that if word got out, people would think the three of them were gay.

In short, the three chefs suddenly stopped giving him food.

On the first day, Xiao Ji Zuodao was still confused, thinking that his masters had simply forgotten to cook for him.

He sat in the courtyard, waiting and waiting, from morning until noon, and from noon until night, his stomach growling, but no one brought him any food.

He started howling.

The cry, loud and high-pitched, carrying an angry "I'm hungry" tone, echoed across the sky above Lion Camel Ridge.

No one cares about him.

He howled for a while longer, but still no one paid him any attention.

He finally realized that his masters were serious and really weren't going to give him any food.