A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

The people in the courtyard waited for a long time, but instead of the new official's three fires upon taking office, they received this sentence.

Several old handymen quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The young handyman standing in the back row had a plan.

If we do things the same way we did before, won't no one be in charge?

A tall, thin man tentatively took half a step back.

Zhou Lingxuan held his teacup without looking up.

"Did I let you leave?"

The tall, thin man froze.

"Manager Zhou, I still have a truckload of junk that hasn't been unloaded yet, and I'm afraid it will delay the time."

"Which batch was delivered?"

"Qitang".

When will it be delivered?

"This morning."

Who is the recipient?

The tall, thin man stammered for a long time, unable to answer.

The old handyman next to him whispered a reminder.

"The equipment shop didn't deliver anything this morning; they just delivered a batch yesterday evening."

The courtyard fell silent immediately.

The tall, thin man turned pale and quickly knelt down.

"Manager Zhou, I made a mistake!"

"You might not have understood what I just said."

Zhou Lingxuan put down the coarse porcelain bowl.

"I won't cause trouble, provided that I do all the work I'm supposed to do. There's no use keeping someone who receives a stipend from the abandoned hall, lives in an abandoned hall's house, and can't even explain what they've done."

The tall, thin man immediately kowtowed.

"I'll do it! I'll go do it right now!"

Zhou Lingxuan ignored him and waved to the old, gray-haired servant who had spoken earlier.

"What's your name?"

The old handyman quickly stepped forward.

"Reporting to the steward, my surname is Sun, and everyone usually calls me Old Sun. I've been working at the abandoned hall for twenty-seven years."

"Twenty-seven years?"

"Yes."

"What have you done?"

"I registered discarded items, inventoried the warehouse, transported waste materials, repaired the roof, and guarded the perimeter of the underground fire pit. I did everything I could in the abandoned hall."

"Can you keep accounts?"

"She can recognize some characters and keep simple accounts."

Zhou Lingxuan pushed the list of tasks on the table over.

"Find his name."

Old Sun took the roster, flipped through a few pages, and then stopped.

"Zhao Si was punished and confined to the abandoned hall half a year ago for illegally keeping sect property. He is usually responsible for cleaning the west storeroom twice a day."

Zhou Lingxuan looked at Zhao Si, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Has the west warehouse been swept today?"

Zhao Si pressed his forehead to the ground, not daring to speak.

The answer is already here.

Zhou Lingxuan then looked at the crowd.

"Does anyone else think that in the past, you just worked when you felt like it and rested when you didn't?"

No one responded.

Lei Yang stood at the back, holding the Wind and Thunder Sword, and couldn't help but glance at Zhou Lingxuan a few more times.

The old man sat there, not even raising his voice. But the dozens of people who had been plotting their own schemes just moments before didn't dare to move an inch.

Zhou Lingxuan pushed the roster into Old Sun's arms.

"You take attendance."

Old Sun's hands trembled.

"I?"

"Is there another person with the surname Sun in this abandoned hall?"

"No...no."

"Then let's order."

Old Sun hugged the roster tightly and called out the names one by one.

Of the more than forty servants in the abandoned hall, thirty-seven were present today. Of the remaining few, two were out transporting discarded items, three were injured and bedridden, and the whereabouts of two others were unknown.

Zhou Lingxuan did not rush to assign tasks, but only asked everyone to report the tasks they were originally responsible for.

Some people were responsible for moving things, some for guarding the warehouse, some for counting scrap metal, and some for dismantling broken ritual implements.

After asking around, the problems quickly became clear.

The hardest work was left undone, while the easiest tasks were crowded with seven or eight people.

The ledger lists areas to be cleaned daily, but in reality, no one has visited them for half a month. Waste materials delivered from various halls are often piled up haphazardly; whoever pays a bribe gets their things processed first. Those without bribes leave their things lying around for ten days or half a month without anyone bothering to check.

Old Sun became more and more nervous as he read.

"Manager, these accounts... don't add up in quite a few places."

"It's not that the accounts don't match, it's that the people don't match."

Zhou Lingxuan raised his hand.

"Those standing on the east side, stay. The rest of you, step back."

No one dared to delay, and they quickly parted ways.

There were six people standing on the east side, the ones who usually had the lightest workload.

Three of them were dressed cleaner than ordinary servants, and they even had cloth bags hanging from their waists, a style usually reserved for outer disciples. Though worthless, they were quite conspicuous in the abandoned hall.

Zhou Lingxuan flipped through the roster.

"You three, you've only been in the abandoned hall for less than a month?"

The three looked at each other, and the one in front answered with a forced smile.

"Yes."

Why were you punished?

"A mistake was made while working at the outer gate."

"What went wrong?"

"He offended the deacon."

Old Sun hesitated for a moment before moving closer to Zhou Lingxuan.

"Manager, they originally worked for the people from Earth Sword Peak. I heard that they got into a fight with the disciples of the Affairs Office while relaying a message for Senior Brother Zhang Qian, which is why they were punished and sent to the Abandoned Hall."

The three of them turned pale.

"Old man, don't talk nonsense!"

"We have nothing to do with Senior Brother Zhang!"

"I just happened to be helping out with a delivery that day!"

Upon hearing Zhang Qian's name, Lei Yang placed his fingers on the hilt of his sword.

Electricity crackled from within the Wind and Thunder Sword.

The three of them immediately shut up.

Zhou Lingxuan flipped through their records after they entered the abandoned hall.

These three men had been there for over twenty days, and had only moved scrap wood twice. All the other tasks were delegated to elderly laborers.

One of them even used Zhang Qian's name to intimidate others.

Zhou Lingxuan closed the register.

"Since you've been punished and sent here, you'll be in charge of Fire Pit Number Three."

The three of them suddenly looked up.

"Manager Zhou, the No. 3 fire pit hasn't been cleaned for years; it could spew fire at any moment!"

"That's where the most waste is piled up; even the three of us wouldn't be able to move it all by next year!"

"You can't deliberately kill us just because we know Senior Brother Zhang!"

After listening, Zhou Lingxuan pointed to the courtyard gate.

"If you're afraid of dying, you can leave."

The three of them were taken aback.

"Where are we going?"

"Leave the abandoned hall. As for how to deal with those who have left the place of punishment without authorization, go to the Enforcement Hall to ask."

The three of them fell silent instantly.

Being punished by being confined to the abandoned hall at least means receiving the sect's odd jobs allowance. Leaving without permission, on the other hand, could result in the loss of one's cultivation or, in severe cases, expulsion from the sect.

They had assumed that Zhang Qian would soon send someone to bail them out.

Now that Triangle Eyes and the others have been taken to the Enforcement Hall by Chen Baichuan, Zhang Qian hasn't even sent a message. Zhou Lingxuan has become the manager again, and if they continue to oppose him, they will only suffer.

The man standing in the middle gritted his teeth.

"How long will it take?"

Three years.

"What?"

"After three years, I will write your performance evaluation and release you from the abandoned hall."

The three of them were stunned for a moment.

The steward in charge of punishing errand boys has the right to give evaluations based on their daily performance. As long as the evaluation is satisfactory, they can return to the outer gate, at least they won't be stuck here for life.

This approach is far more reliable than waiting for Zhang Qian to bail someone out.

"Are you really going to let us go?"

"If the accounts are clear, and there has been no slacking off or leaking information about the abolition of the hall within three years, then I will write it down."

Zhou Lingxuan put the roster back on the table.

"If you dare to slack off, you'll stay in that fire pit for life."

The three men, who had previously shown strong resistance, now knelt down in unison.

"Thank you, Manager Zhou!"

"We'll definitely do our best!"

"From this day forward, the third fire pit is ours!"

Zhou Lingxuan pointed outside the door.

"First, move the toxic materials piled outside downstairs."

The three of them got up and ran, and no one dared to pick up the cloth bag that fell from their waists.

They've figured it out.

Zhang Qian only needed a few handymen he could easily find. Zhou Lingxuan held the opportunity for them to leave the abandoned hall.

It's not hard to choose who is more worth listening to.