Surviving in the Demonic Sect, one begins cultivation by retrieving corpses.

On the body retrieval boat.

The stableman approached Gu Zhao mysteriously and whispered, "Brother Zhao, it's my treat today."

"Let's go to Sui Nanfeng's Shuiyuanju restaurant for a nice meal."

Judging from his expression, Gu Zhao knew that this "first time" was definitely not proper.

It's definitely not as simple as just having a meal.

The menial work quarters were already arduous and tedious; if there were no other places to pass the time, these people would have been complaining long ago.

He had heard of Shuiyuanju before; it was an entertainment venue that combined a restaurant, a KTV, and a foot massage parlor.

The price wasn't expensive, making it perfect for the servants to pass the time.

The stables are being so generous today simply because they just received the reward of eight hundred coins.

Gu Zhao didn't refuse. Receiving the [A Wisp of Jade Pivot Thunderous True Qi] would take five hours, which was plenty of time.

"Brother Ma, there's no need to treat us. We can split the money. A meal at Shuiyuanju isn't a small expense."

Upon hearing this, the stableman wanted to refuse, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Well... we clearly agreed last time that I, your brother, would treat you."

Gu Zhao smiled and said, "One thing at a time, no need to dwell on it."

afternoon.

Cen Pan finished work half an hour early and left in a hurry.

Gu Zhao saw this and secretly guessed that he was probably going to pass on the news he had heard from Gong Yuzhou to a few familiar stewards.

The stableman, however, was in high spirits. "Brother Zhao, we have to hurry. Shuiyuanju's location is always in high demand. Especially since a new batch of tea has just arrived, it'll be gone if we're late."

"New tea?"

Gu Zhao was slightly taken aback. "I have never liked drinking tea."

The stableman waved his hand anxiously, saying, "Brother Zhao, you'll see when you get there. This tastes better than tea."

Gu Zhao had no choice but to quicken his pace.

About half an hour later, the two arrived at Sui Nanfeng.

Gu Zhao carefully observed the surroundings along the way:

At the foot of the mountain, rows of courtyards and sheds were built according to the terrain, housing three or four hundred servants. It was a servants' settlement outside of the large tenement.

Further south, there are stilted houses built against the mountainside, hanging between cliffs. Most of them are taverns and restaurants, catering to the servants.

The stables, however, did not stop and continued up the mountain path.

Before long, a plaque with shimmering light came into Gu Zhao's view, radiating a blue and purple halo.

It is the source of the water.

Gu Zhao narrowed his eyes, and the scene before him gave him a strange sense of familiarity.

There used to be small shops like these around the night market.

At that time, he was timid and dared not go alone.

I never expected that coming to this cultivation world would be my first time.

The stableman, familiar with the place, led Gu Zhao into the Water Source Residence.

Downstairs is a proper restaurant layout, with square dining tables where people can order food and eat.

The shop was already filled with servants and disciples, the air thick with the aroma of food and the lively sounds of chatter filling the air.

The servants in the thirty-six rooms of the lower courtyard all did hard and arduous tasks. Except for the sewing room, which was slightly better, the corpse retrieval room, the quenching room, the bone grinding room, and so on, were all people with miserable jobs.

The laborers in the quenching room spend all day tending to the roaring furnace; their skin is dry and red, and their eyes are bloodshot.

The servants in the bone-grinding room had to blow on the magic donkey all year round to activate their skills, and most of them had swollen cheeks, resembling toads.

There were hardly any easy jobs in this courtyard, so much so that most of the servants could be identified by their appearance and physical characteristics at a glance.

The stable had been soaking in the Yinshui River all day, and its muscles and bones were already weak and its face was pale.

He found a place to sit down.

"Zhao-ge, eat first. There's a rule at Yuanshuiju: you can't go up to the second floor if you're not eating."

"The second floor!?"

Gu Zhao never expected that there was a second floor in the cultivation world.

The stableman tapped on the table, calling out.

"Don't you see? Are there two distinguished guests?"

"Bring a table full of good wine and food! And two bowls of spirit rice. Just make it substantial, don't try to fool us with inferior ingredients!"

When the stableman mentioned "two bowls of spirit rice," he unconsciously puffed out his chest, his tone carrying a rare air of extravagance, which immediately drew sidelong glances from many of the servants around him.

The waiter hurried forward, his face beaming, "Alright! I'll prepare it for you two Taoist masters right away!"

His tone was very respectful.

Gu Zhao observed from the sidelines, understanding in his heart that among the servants, being able to generously offer two bowls of spirit rice was already considered a rather respectable privilege.

Looking at the other tables, most of the food consisted of ordinary grains. Even if there was plenty of fish and meat, it was nothing more than coarse food to fill the stomachs of cultivators.

The stableman laughed, "In this Water Source Residence, it's one of the few places in the lower courtyard where you can finish a bowl of spirit rice and get a refill."

After Gu Zhao transmigrated, he never ate spirit rice.

Just smelling its aroma on the riverbank is enough to make one linger.

Not long after.

Then a waiter brought over fish, shrimp, pork ribs, braised beef, and warm yellow wine.

The most eye-catching items were two bowls of spirit rice served on separate clean plates, their aroma filling the air.

Gu Zhao examined it for a moment and saw that it was no different from ordinary white rice, except that it had a faint fragrance and a slight spiritual aura.

The stable was already impatient; it picked up its bowl and began to eat heartily, without caring about its image.

Gu Zhao, who had been working hard all day, was already very hungry, so he picked up his bowl and chopsticks and ate a few bites.

The moment it enters your mouth, you'll feel its extraordinary quality; after just one bite of the spiritual rice, all the other delicacies on the table seem to lose their flavor.

In a short while, he noticed a faint trace of internal energy slowly rising within his body and flowing into his dantian.

"It turns out it also has nourishing and restorative effects."

Gu Zhao is now at the fourth stage of fetal movement, while Ma Fang is at the fifth stage. Both of them have truly embarked on cultivation, and their need for spiritual nourishment is already extremely high.

Before practicing Qi, the physical body needs to be nourished.

The daily meditation and breathing exercises are simply circulating the Qi throughout the body, guiding it to all parts of the body, and cleansing away impurities.

Their aptitude for cultivation was already poor, and relying solely on their own efforts without the aid of spiritual rice or rare treasures, it was extremely difficult for them to improve their cultivation level simply by sitting and practicing.

Moreover, the servants work hard every day, taking up most of their time, and by the time they get back, they are exhausted and can hardly even meditate.

Whether a servant has a powerful family background or not, a bowl of spirit rice costs three hundred magic coins.

This was the only spiritual object that the servants could touch and reach, and they could only eat it once a month.

This is why the stables value a bowl of spirit rice so much.

After eating a bowl of steaming hot spirit rice, the effect was comparable to several days of meditation and breath control. One could feel the pores of the body slightly open and the body feel much lighter.

Gu Zhao absorbed the Taihua Yuanjing Dew yesterday, and the feeling was truly heavenly.

He broke through a level in one night.

Compared to Lingmi, it is far inferior.

"That feels so good!"

The stableman let out a satisfied burp and gestured to the waiter, "Another bowl of spirit rice, please!"

He turned to Gu Zhao and smiled, "Brother Zhao, don't be so polite. Only regular customers like us know that we can replenish spirit rice here."

Gu Zhao also added a bowl to his bowl.

This time, the stableman didn't wolf down his food like before. He slowly picked up a few bites of food, filled two cups with warmed yellow wine, and pushed one cup towards Gu Zhao.

He tilted his head back and gulped down half a glass, smacked his lips, and sighed:

"I've heard that the outer sect has several kinds of spirit wines, brewed from several kinds of spiritual herbs. The taste is so good that it makes you want to swallow your tongue."

"But the price... it'll probably be five or six thousand magic coins, which is equivalent to two whole months' wages for us corpse retrievers."

"Sigh, I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to taste it in my lifetime. I have no confidence in myself."