Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

The people who came were from the sect's Punishment Hall.

The Punishment Hall primarily manages the distribution and use of contribution points, but this is only a secondary power of the Punishment Hall. The true function of the Punishment Hall is as an internal supervisory body of the Canghai Sect.

It can be said that in the Canghai Sect, sometimes the words of the Punishment Hall are more effective than those of the sect leader.

Because the sect leader is only responsible for making major strategic decisions, he cannot concern himself with trivial matters. If he wants to suppress any faction, he can only do so through relatively indirect and gentle means such as reducing the supply of resources.

Unlike other places, the Punishment Hall can immediately arrest and control anyone who violates the rules, or even directly use torture to imprison them, as long as evidence is found or signs are discovered. Therefore, the Punishment Hall is also known as the Punishment Hall.

However, minor matters are not something the Punishment Hall can handle; the sect's stewards can make decisions first. Only if the dispute is too great will the Punishment Hall be called upon.

In other words, anything that warrants the involvement of the Punishment Hall is no small matter.

Moreover, the members of the two halls within the sect, the Battle Immortal Hall and the Punishment Hall, are all extremely skilled fighters with outstanding combat power. It can be said that the most skilled cultivators of the Canghai Sect have been absorbed by the Battle Immortal Hall and the Punishment Hall, one for external affairs and the other for internal affairs.

Therefore, once you're targeted by the Hall of Punishment, it's very difficult to escape, and you can't fight back, which is a very desperate situation.

Many people trembled and broke out in a cold sweat when they heard that the people from the Punishment Hall had come. Of course, some people were full of doubt and didn't know what had happened.

Lu Qian remained very calm. He knew his own family was in the same boat and hadn't done anything wrong, so there was no need to worry too much.

There were several hundred people collecting pearls this time, many of whom were at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and there were also inner disciples. No matter how much the Punishment Hall hated evil, it was impossible to deal with so many disciples at once.

"Senior Brother Li, what brings you here? And with so many people from the Punishment Hall?"

While everyone else trembled with fear, Meng Lingjun remained completely unfazed. Upon seeing the young cultivator leading the Punishment Hall, she jogged over to greet him, asking, "Has someone committed a crime?"

Senior Brother Li's face was cold. He waved his hand sharply, signaling Meng Lingjun not to disturb him, and said icily, "The Punishment Hall is conducting official business. Those who are not involved should disperse and not disrupt official duties!"

But Meng Lingjun, an outsider, wasn't having any of it. Her face hardened, and she raised her head defiantly, "Li Jingchen, have you forgotten that you secretly begged me to buy more pills? Now you're finding me annoying?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jingchen immediately lost his composure. He quickly approached Meng Lingjun and lowered his voice, "Little Miss, I'm begging you, it really is important, please don't cause trouble!"

The other members of the Punishment Hall pursed their lips tightly, putting on a serious expression, but they couldn't help but chuckle when they thought of Li Jingchen's usual aloof demeanor and the fact that he would actually ask for favors in private.

Li Jingchen was also helpless. He was a sword genius who rarely interacted with people and always had a cold expression. But even a sword genius needs pills to rest. Meng Lingjun had an extraordinary status in the Pill Pavilion, so what was wrong with asking her for help in private? Was it wrong to want to buy more pills?

Some elixirs are not something you can just buy whenever you want; others may want to buy them, but they don't have the connections!

"I don't care, I want to see what's going on and how you guys are doing things."

No matter how Li Jingchen tried to persuade her, Meng Lingjun refused to leave. In the end, Li Jingchen could only ask Meng Lingjun not to cause trouble, "All of you, come with us and tell us everything you need to tell us. Don't force us to use any other means!"

Turning around, Li Jingchen coldly issued orders, and then people took the people off the flying boat.

Lu Qian was locked in a dark wooden house. He thought he would be interrogated, but no one came to interrogate him. He didn't have to do anything, and people even brought him spiritual food every day.

He was quite satisfied with this kind of life, so he decided to take this opportunity to cultivate. After all, he was idle anyway, and he couldn't waste his time.

Three days later, Lu Qian was released and saw the sunlight again, but as soon as he came out, he began to miss the life he had before where he was waited on hand and foot.

"Senior Brother Zhao is right. These things really have nothing to do with me. If he had been locked up, things might not be so simple."

After all, Zhao Qi had participated in many pearl-harvesting missions in the past, and given his status, he was bound to get a share of the spoils. When the Hall of Punishment arrives, he will definitely not be able to escape.

So sometimes being a nobody has its advantages, namely that you won't attract much attention and it's safer when nobody cares.

Along with Lu Qian, dozens of other people were released, including Senior Brother Mo. The person who had previously been hostile to Lu Qian had not yet been released.

But when Lu Qian did this calculation, he was shocked. There were at least two or three hundred people digging for pearls, but only a few dozen were released. Didn't that mean that the few who didn't embezzle were the minority?

But it's not hard to guess. After all, there's only so much space for pearl diving, and everyone sees each other all the time. It's almost impossible to do something secretly from others. The only safest way is to drag everyone down with you.

Lu Qian suspected that most of the people released this time were probably first-time pearl diggers who hadn't had a chance to be recruited. If they went a few more times, they might be accepted and could share in the profits.

Anyway, there's nothing new under the sun. Cultivators are human too, and they have their own desires. Of course, they've done plenty of things that harm the public for their own benefit.

Once back on the flying boat, many felt a sense of relief, but Lu Qian was somewhat troubled. Pearl harvesting was much easier than chopping wood. If he had never seen the light, he could endure the darkness, but now that he was asked to chop wood again, he was inevitably reluctant.

"Otherwise, I could try using spirit plants. There should be related quests. I don't want to go chopping wood again."

The main problem is that chopping wood is not only tiring, but also a huge waste of time. In the early stages, when you lack contribution points and need to buy pills, doing wood-chopping tasks is fine.

Now that Lu Qian's cultivation level is unlikely to change much in the short term, it's time to consider long-term plans. At this point, it's better to remain still than to take any action.

Not long after he returned, Zhao Qi came knocking on his door, seemingly a little anxious. "How are you? Nothing happened, right?"

The people who went to collect pearls did not return on time. Although some people did not pay attention to these things, Zhao Qi did. He immediately realized that something must have happened and was glad that he had asked Lu Qian to fill in for him beforehand, otherwise he would have been involved as well.

"No problem, no one even asked me."

Lu Qian spoke his mind without needing to complain. The fact that only a few dozen out of several hundred people who went there were enough to illustrate the danger of the matter. What more needed to be said?

"It's good that you're alright. Some things are better left unsaid."

Zhao Qi shook his head. "Those people are probably very sad. They may be exiled to an island to guard it, and I don't know when they will be able to come back."

"An island garrison? Like Lingbei Island?"

Lu Qian was worrying about what to do next when he heard Zhao Qi say this, and he couldn't help but feel curious.

Zhao Qi immediately laughed, "How could that be? If we were to guard Lingbei Island, everyone would be fighting tooth and nail for it. The island I'm talking about is the kind that's far from the sect. Although most of the time nothing will happen, if something does happen, it'll be hard to escape."

"My Canghai Sect is a major sect. Ordinary people really don't dare to provoke it, and those who do are not ordinary people either."