Mortal: Starting with the Seven Mysterious Sects, I proved my Dao through sacrifice.

After Murong Fan joined Huangfeng Valley, he kept a low profile as an outer disciple. Every day, apart from going to the Hall of Affairs to collect the miscellaneous tasks assigned by the sect, he would stay behind closed doors to cultivate. He never competed with his fellow disciples, nor did he participate in any factional activities.

The cave at the foot of Green Bamboo Peak was in a remote location, with relatively little spiritual energy compared to the other peaks in Yellow Maple Valley. However, this suited him perfectly—few people and many eyes could see him, making it easier for him to act in secret.

He kept only half of the ten low-grade spirit stones and three bottles of Qi Gathering Pills that the sect distributed each month for his own use, and offered the rest as sacrifices at the altar. At first, it was just a test, throwing a low-grade spirit stone into the altar, and the returned cultivation was negligible, almost imperceptible. But as the number of sacrifices increased, he gradually figured out the altar's tricks: the more items of the same grade there were, and the more frequently they were sacrificed, the higher the efficiency and quality of the returned cultivation.

"This is much safer than fighting alone to seize resources." Murong Fan sat cross-legged on the futon, holding three Qi Gathering Pills in his palm, communicating with the altar through his divine sense. A flash of golden light, the pills dissipated, and a warm spiritual energy surged into his meridians, completely different from what he had obtained through self-cultivation—this spiritual energy was incomparably pure, without any pill toxins remaining, and directly merged into his dantian, saving him the trouble of refining it.

He closed his eyes and looked inward, only to see that the vortex of spiritual energy in his dantian had become even more solid. The bottleneck of the twelfth level of Qi Refining might take ordinary cultivators several years to overcome, but with the help of the altar, he touched the threshold of the twelfth level in just one month.

But he was still not satisfied with this speed.

Huangfeng Valley has tens of thousands of outer disciples, hundreds of inner disciples, and only a few dozen core disciples. To climb up this pyramid, closed-door cultivation alone is far from enough. The sect has strict rules. If an outer disciple wants to be promoted to an inner disciple, they either need to rank among the top in the "small competition," accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for qualifications, or... be noticed by an elder and promoted exceptionally.

Murong Fan examined himself: "While his Heavenly Spiritual Root talent is dazzling, it is also a double-edged sword. If he attracts too much attention, he will inevitably attract suspicion and suppression; if he buries it too much, he will not receive the resources he deserves. He must find a balance, accumulate strength in a low-key manner, and make a name for himself at the crucial moment."

"Contribution points..." He flipped through the jade slip issued by the sect, checking the available tasks one by one: "Hunting demonic beasts, gathering spiritual herbs, guarding mines, escorting caravans..."

Their attention eventually settled on an inconspicuous task: tending the herb garden.

This task offered meager rewards, yielding only six contribution points and five spirit stones per month, and was time-consuming and laborious, making it unpopular among disciples. However, Murong Fan saw through the trick—the spirit herb garden was located in the heart of Yellow Maple Valley, rich in spiritual energy. More importantly, it was home to a large number of low-grade spirit herbs, which, despite being protected by an array, inevitably had some withered and damaged plants.

"Withered spiritual herbs fetch extremely low prices when recycled by sects, almost equivalent to being discarded." Murong Fan's lips curled slightly, but to him, they were excellent offerings.

The next day, he went to the Hall of Affairs to accept the task. The disciple in charge of registration looked up at him with a hint of surprise in his eyes, seemingly unable to understand why an outer disciple with a Heavenly Spiritual Root would stoop so low as to take on such a dead-end job.

"Junior Brother Murong, have you thought this through?" the disciple kindly reminded him. "The job at the Spirit Herb Garden is tedious and boring, and you have to be bossed around by the garden manager. It's not nearly as enjoyable as the demon-hunting mission."

"Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother." Murong Fan said calmly, "I am of dull talent and just wanted to use the quiet place of the Spirit Herb Garden to hone my foundation."

Upon hearing this, the disciple stopped trying to persuade him, shook his head, and registered the matter. The Heavenly Spiritual Root still claimed to have dull aptitude; if this got out, it would infuriate countless cultivators with mixed spiritual roots.

"Is this kid really an idiot? It's such a waste to have such a good talent." The disciple said with a mix of mockery and regret.

The Spirit Herb Garden is located on the mountainside of the third peak of Yellow Maple Valley, covering an area of ​​a thousand acres. It is divided into dozens of areas by arrays, where various spiritual herbs needed from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage are planted. After Murong Fan reported for duty, he was assigned to take care of the "Azure Vine Area", specializing in cultivating a low-level spiritual herb called "Azure Vine Flower".

The steward was a middle-aged cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment, surnamed Liu. He had a stern face and spoke indifferently. He only instructed Murong Fan on three daily responsibilities: watering the spiritual spring, removing weeds, and recording the growth status. Then he tossed Murong Fan a jade pass and ignored him.

This is exactly what Murong Fan wanted.

The Green Vine Area is located at the very edge of the Spirit Herb Garden, far removed from other areas. Aside from the monthly routine checks, it is almost never visited. Murong Fan spent three days familiarizing himself with the environment and understanding the growth habits of the Green Vine flowers before beginning to implement his plan.

Whenever he found withered or diseased Green Vine Flowers, he would put them into his storage bag under the pretext of "cleaning up the remnants," and then offer them as a sacrifice at the altar after returning to his cave at night. The altar's response to spiritual herbs varied significantly: a sacrifice of an ordinary ten-year-old remnant would only return a trace of weak spiritual power, roughly equivalent to the cultivation effect of half a low-grade spirit stone; a hundred-year-old Green Vine Flower, though withered, could still cause the altar's golden patterns to flow, returning cultivation comparable to half a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills, and also accompanied by a wisp of plant essence;

What's even more remarkable is that the altar seems to have a special fondness for offerings of spiritual herbs, often returning extra insights into the spirituality of plants. Although Murong Fan lacks talent in alchemy, these insights, integrated into his divine sense, have actually deepened his understanding of the medicinal properties of spiritual herbs, making him even more adept at caring for the Green Vine Flower.

Manager Liu visited twice and, seeing the lush greenery and well-organized records in the Green Vine Area, he was completely reassured and changed the inspection interval to once every two months.

"We did pick an honest and hardworking one," Manager Liu commented during a casual chat in the Hall of Affairs. "It's just that he's not very bright, like a complete idiot. He's wasting his Heavenly Spiritual Root by planting flowers in the Spirit Herb Garden."

When these words reached the ears of the other outer disciples, they drew a lot of ridicule. Some people even went out of their way to Qingluo District to see what this "idiot" looked like, but they only saw a young man in a green robe squatting in the flower field, intently pruning the branches and leaves, completely unaware of the stares around him.

That afternoon, Murong Fan was tending to a Green Vine Flower stalk infected with black spot disease when he suddenly heard a sneer behind him. Three outer sect disciples leaned against a bamboo fence, the triangular-eyed cultivator at the head toying with the dagger at his waist: "I heard that the idiots in this Green Vine District treat withered plants like treasures? How about we share a few with our brothers and exchange them for a pot of good wine?"

Murong Fan straightened up and patted the dirt off his hands: "According to sect rules, damaged plants must be registered and destroyed in a unified manner."

"Rules?" The man with the triangular eyes scoffed, leaping into the garden and stepping on the flower bushes. "What the brothers have their eyes on is the rule!" Seeing that the green vines were about to be trampled, Murong Fan flicked his finger, and three pebbles accurately hit the other man's ankle pressure points.

The man with the triangular eyes cried out in pain and collapsed. Just as the other two were about to make a move, they saw him take out a "Special Permit for the Processing of Spirit Herbs" issued by Steward Liu from his storage bag. This was a certificate he had obtained in advance from Steward Liu, anticipating trouble.

Half a month later, Steward Liu inspected the plants, but pointed at several green ivy plants with a gloomy face: "The leaves are turning yellow and the spiritual energy is being lost. Is this how you take care of them?" Murong Fan understood in his heart that it must have been those people who did something bad in secret.

He calmly took out a jade slip containing records: "Manager, please take a look. The water quality of the spiritual spring has been abnormal these past few days, with sulfur content exceeding the standard." As he spoke, a wisp of true fire condensed at his fingertips, causing the water sample to crackle and emit a pungent odor. Manager Liu's expression changed slightly; he knew that the spiritual spring pipeline passed near the residence of Triangle Eyes and the others.

That night, Murong Fan set a trap at the source of the spirit spring. Three days later, he "coincidentally" caught Triangle Eyes poisoning the water. Caught red-handed, Triangle Eyes and his accomplices were punished with three months of hard labor in the mine. After this incident, no one dared to covet the Green Vine District anymore. Although Steward Liu remained rigid, he approved an extra ten spirit stones for maintenance subsidies the following month.

"Pretending to be something you're not." Some people sneered, "He probably knows he's incapable of fighting demons and doesn't dare take on demon-hunting missions, so he can only hide here and be a flower farmer."

Murong Fan never offered any explanation, only smiled calmly.

He had done the math: his monthly sect stipend plus mission rewards amounted to about fifteen low-grade spirit stones; the sacrifice of withered green vine flowers was equivalent to about thirty spirit stones of cultivation; and with the occasional rewards of insights returned from the altar, his actual gains far exceeded those of his fellow disciples who risked their lives to hunt demonic beasts.

More importantly, it's risk-free.

The casualty rate for demon-hunting missions has remained around 30% for years, while the missions of gathering spiritual herbs often clash with rogue cultivators and evil cultivators. As for guarding mines and escorting caravans, these are dangerous and dangerous tasks. As an outer disciple at the eleventh level of Qi Refining, if he performs too well, he will inevitably be targeted; if he performs too poorly, he will not receive enough resources.

This moderate pace is just right.

Three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Murong Fan's cultivation level quietly broke through to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, but he still claimed to be at the tenth level. Under his care, the yield of Qingluo flowers in Qingluo District increased by 20%. Manager Liu was overjoyed and increased his monthly contribution points to eight, and also allowed him to receive a whole century-old Qingluo flower for his own use every month.

This green ivy flower naturally became one of the sources of the offerings.

"The altar's reaction to intact spiritual herbs is completely different from that to withered ones." Murong Fan recorded his insights in his cave. "Sacrificing intact spiritual herbs results in a much greater return of cultivation, and is often accompanied by a fortuitous gift. Last month, that three-hundred-year-old Green Vine Flower actually gave him half a fragment of the 'Herbal and Wood Manual,' which will be extremely useful for his future studies in alchemy."

……

Looking at the thriving green vines in the garden, Manager Liu recalled the triangular-eyed cultivator who had been captured by Murong Fan—the one who had sabotaged the green vines—and fell into deep thought: "This kid is no ordinary person. He's not some fool; he's clearly an excellent manager!"

Murong Fan had his own goals and didn't care about other people's opinions of him. At this moment, he only wanted to focus on preparing for the upcoming "mini competition" and see how he would show his prowess in it.