Chapter 128

After making one round, he returned to his cell. Zhan Chen looked at the familiar dark environment and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He sighed at the many disasters that had befallen him.

However, he didn't regret refusing to submit to Yin Meiru. He only blamed himself for being too agitated. He didn't remember his master's warning to "hide one's weapon." Otherwise, his situation would be much better than it was now.

"It seems that I'll have to stay in this cell for a long time after I rejected that demoness. Fortunately, I'm still alive. I believe there must be a way to get out of here. I need to think about it!" He closed his eyes and thought quietly.

However, the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor interrupted his thoughts. Zhan Chen couldn't help but stand up. He looked at the dark door and was filled with hope. "Who will come this time?"

Not long after, a tall figure appeared at the door. He recognized the person at first glance. It was the head jailer.

The head jailer went straight to his cell and opened the door key. "Zhan Chen, follow me."

Zhan Chen was full of doubts. However, he still stood up and followed behind the head jailer. They walked out of the cell and toward the exit of the prison.

"Could it be that he wants me to get out of prison?" Zhan Chen felt his heart beating faster. However, he thought again, "That can't be right. I just offended that demoness yesterday. Based on her narrow-mindedness, will she let me out today?"

When they arrived at the prison gate, the head jailer turned around and said to Zhan Chen, "Zhan Chen, you can go out now!"

Only then did he realize that all of this was real! However, he began to hesitate again. "I can't be too optimistic! My crimes haven't been pardoned yet. Otherwise, they would have taken off my shackles. "

"Zhan Chen, why aren't you leaving?" At this time, the head jailer's voice came again.

"Oh." Zhan Chen replied and walked out of the gate. When he saw the bright sun again, he felt a sense of loss.

Suddenly, a familiar and sweet female voice came from the side. "Zhan Chen, come with me."

He hurriedly looked in the direction of the voice and saw An Ru standing on the side shouting at him.

"Director An, what's going on?" Zhan Chen dragged the shackles towards her.

An Ru replied, "The Saintess wants to summon you. Come with me." Then, she turned around and left. Zhan Chen hurriedly followed her.

Along the way, he heard An Ru say, "Zhan Chen, you! This time, you went to the gates of hell. It was because of your arrogance that you suffered such a disaster.

Zhan Chen said shamefully, "Chief Steward An is right. I will definitely pay attention in the future."

"But you're lucky. Things have taken a turn for the better. The Saintess is willing to see you, which means there's still room for negotiation. But you'd better be careful what you say when you see the Saintess!"

Zhan Chen thanked him, "Thank you for your teachings, Lord Steward. I understand."

The two of them went straight to the main hall and found that Yin Meiru and a group of servant girls were already waiting there.

After the ceremony, An Ru stepped forward and reported, "Your Highness, the person has been brought here."

"Very well. You may stand to the side."

"Yes!" An Ru retreated to the side.

Yin Meiru crossed her legs again and looked down at Zhan Chen. "Zhan Chen, you killed this palace's spiritual medicine. According to the law, you should be executed. However, considering that this is your first offense, I can spare your life."

Zhan Chen saw that she had finally taken a step back and thought to himself, Now that the demoness is powerful, I'll give in to her for the time being. If I want to gain a foothold in Holy Maiden Peak in the future, I'll probably have to deal with her.

Thus, he stopped being stubborn and replied, "I know I was wrong. I will be more careful next time!"

When Yin Meiru saw that Zhan Chen was finally willing to lower his head to her, she couldn't help but smile. However, she immediately realized that she was overjoyed and quickly hid her smile. She put on her arrogant expression and said, "Since you've already admitted your mistake, this palace will pardon all of your crimes. You don't need to worry about the compensation for the spiritual medicine.

"Not only that, this palace will be especially generous and allow your application for seclusion!"

"What?" Zhan Chen suspected that he had misheard! The surprise came too suddenly and he was at a loss.

An Ru couldn't help but remind him, "Zhan Chen, hurry up and thank this palace!"

He finally reacted and kowtowed. "Thank you, Saintess, for your kindness!"

"Alright. Zhan Chen, you may leave. An Ru, make arrangements for Zhan Chen's seclusion."

"As you command!" An Ru cupped her hands and replied.

Thus, Zhan Chen was able to smoothly return to his dormitory. Once the news spread, it caused a sensation in the entire Holy Maiden Peak.

That night, his door was knocked open by Ma Shun. The moment he entered, he glared at Zhan Chen and exclaimed, "Brat, your luck really makes people jealous!"

Zhan Chen smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Ma Shun, don't push me. For this, I almost lost my life!"

"Hehe! You won't die! "Ma Shun laughed proudly.

"Oh? Why is that? "

"If I wanted to die, I would've died long ago. In the past, if we herb slaves killed spiritual medicine, we wouldn't be able to live past the next day without any compensation! But you, brat, have created a miracle! "

Zhan Chen asked curiously, "If that's the case, why are you still willing to stay at Holy Maiden Peak?"

Ma Shun's expression changed and he replied, "Brother, you don't understand. The competition at the other peaks is even more cruel and bloody. Holy Maiden Peak has the lowest mortality rate."

Hearing him say this, Zhan Chen could imagine how difficult it was to survive in the Devil Sect.

"Let's not talk about idle talk. Do you know what everyone is talking about you?"

"I don't know."

"Everyone says that you are someone that the Holy Maiden values."

Zhan Chen smiled bitterly and said, "I'm a plaything that she has her eyes on. I almost lost my life because of this."

"A plaything is good too! You have to take advantage of the fact that the Holy Maiden's interest in you hasn't diminished and climb up one more rank. Then you can rest easy. "

"Climb up?" Zhan Chen laughed involuntarily. 'I have no interest in this.'

"Don't be anxious! Listen to me first. "Ma Shun saw that he was not in a good mood and hurriedly persuaded.

"En, go ahead."

"Do you know? Just take our small spiritual field as an example. There are many tricks hidden in it! "

"You have to know that we are only the smallest herb slaves. We work hard every day and have almost no time to cultivate. In exchange, we only get a few merit points."

Zhan Chen couldn't help but nod in agreement. Being an herb slave was indeed very difficult. He had experienced it firsthand. No matter how much he increased his work efficiency, he still had to spend most of his time taking care of the spiritual field. There was not much time for cultivation.

"But you have to know that our superiors are called stewards. Their workload is very small, but the merit points they get are many times more than us herb slaves!"

"A steward only gets one thousand merit points every month, which is no different from us. However, the profit comes from the spiritual field. Let me ask you, what is a steward's daily work?"

Zhan Chen pondered for a moment and answered, "Mainly responsible for patrolling the spiritual field once or twice a month. They also collect the matured spiritual herbs, record them, and hand them over to the supervisor at the end of the month."

When he said this, Ma Shun suddenly asked, "Brother Zhan, do you know what the key point is?"

Zhan Chen thought for a moment, and his eyes flashed as if he had comprehended something.

"Yes, it is in this account. As long as the numbers in this account are slightly changed … Hey! Hehehe. "Ma Shun smacked his thigh proudly and revealed a wretched smile.

Zhan Chen thought for a moment and asked, "Isn't it easier to be discovered this way?"

"Hehe, Brother Zhan, as long as we work together, how can we be discovered?"

"You mean the supervisor and the steward conspired to hide it from the higher-ups?"

"That's right! Moreover, the amount of spiritual herbs that were embezzled is not small. It accounts for nearly thirty percent of the spiritual field's output. Twenty percent is given to the supervisor, and the remaining ten percent is given to the steward. A steward is usually responsible for twenty mu of spiritual field. Just ten percent is already very impressive! "

"How can there be so many? What if we give ourselves away? "

"Hehe, Brother Zhan, you worry too much. In fact, the one who benefits the most is Steward An Ru. The Saint doesn't care about these things at all!"

At this point in the conversation, Zhan Chen finally understood what it meant by "all crows in the world are black". Regardless of whether it was the orthodox sects or the demonic sects, there was always an invisible chain of interest that manipulated everything in the dark.

"Brother, you can use the Saint's favor and directly apply to An Ru to be the steward of the herb fields. I believe she wouldn't dare to reject you. That way, you can get whatever spiritual herbs you want, right?"

Zhan Chen's eyes lit up when he heard this. If that was really the case, then all the conditions for alchemy would be met. The "Basics of Alchemy in the Jade Room", the cauldron, and the spiritual herbs. Then, he would be able to refine a large number of fourth and fifth grade pills and use the pills to rapidly increase his cultivation.

Suddenly, he thought of another important point and asked, "But it's not that easy to become a steward, right?"

"No, as long as you have the cultivation of a Martial Honor, you can become a steward. However, we have many Martial Honors here, so the stewards' cultivation is usually at least a high-level Martial Honor. Aren't you going into seclusion? You can make use of this breakthrough to become the youngest steward in our spiritual field! "

Zhan Chen thanked him sincerely, "Brother Zhan, thank you for telling me all this. If this succeeds, I won't forget about you."

"Hehe, Brother Zhan, I've been waiting for you to say that!"

"Brother Zhan, please forgive me for not being able to keep you company. I have to go into seclusion immediately to break through to a Martial Honor."