My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 671 Omissions

Half a month later, in the Sixteenth Alley of Exorcism, at the Xin Si Courtyard.

Inside a partitioned room with walls on three sides and one side wide open.

A short, stout, and muscular man dressed in a brown shirt looked Chen Mu up and down.

"Just arrived?"

"Manager Wu has a good eye." Chen Mu respectfully clasped his hands in a fist and palm salute.

“Talking nonsense is useless.” Manager Wu said expressionlessly, “You only have half an hour to skin you alive and dismember you.”

As he spoke, he threw a two-meter-long white jade snake with an eagle's beak onto the stone table in front of Chen Mu.

Chen Mu clasped his hands in a fist salute again, grabbed the forearm-length dagger from beside the table, and immediately began to act.

The Three Yin Demon-Slaying Technique was quietly activated, and emerald light enveloped the blade.

Slip.

Like a hot knife slicing through solidified butter, the aura on the white jade snake's body was instantly penetrated.

The slender, sharp knife pierced the inside of the eagle's beak, and with a deft twist of the wrist, the blade moved slowly and steadily under the snakeskin.

In a short while, Chen Mu put down the dagger and, using both hands, easily peeled off the entire scales from the head of the eagle-beak white jade snake.

The manager surnamed Wu, who had been standing to the side, raised an eyebrow and nodded in satisfaction.

The head structure of the white jade snake is the most complex and prone to errors. Once the head is completed, the rest will be much simpler.

Sure enough, in less than a quarter of an hour, Chen Mu easily peeled off the entire snakeskin.

Then he took the sharp knife and began to carve the flesh from the snake's exposed, scarlet flesh.

He hadn't learned the butcher's knife technique for carving meat, but he had practiced quite a bit of knife techniques for cutting people. At the beginning of his training, he practiced more than one kind of physical training technique.

Using his supernatural ability to discern the structure of the bones and muscles, Chen Mu deftly sliced ​​through the blood-red flesh with his longsword. In less than a quarter of an hour, he had removed a snow-white snake bone.

"It's alright." Manager Wu smiled slightly.

"I happen to need someone to handle the white jade snake, so keep it."

"Thank you for taking me in, Manager Wu." Chen Mu bowed with a happy expression.

After that, under the guidance of Manager Wu, he completed the onboarding procedures such as registration and receiving special tools.

Half an hour later, Chen Mu returned to the cubicle where he had just been tested.

Around the courtyard, there were many similar cubicles. Inside, a number of people wearing leather aprons were busy skinning and dismembering animals.

Chen Mu glanced at the somewhat greasy and dirty little house, then looked at the stone table stained with mottled purplish-black blood, pursed his lips, but then nodded.

"The working environment is indeed not great, but it's enough to handle the Thousand Machine Sect."

With the Jade Cicada Manual in hand, he wanted to stay in his room and focus on cultivation, but unfortunately the Thousand Machines Sect wouldn't allow it.

Once the Dao-Bing contract is signed, one must serve the Thousand Machine Sect.

If you don't actively find something to do, the Thousand Machine Sect will forcibly assign you tasks.

In order to cultivate in peace, Chen Mu paid special attention when listening to lectures on demon-dispelling techniques.

He selected his current job at the Shin-Si Institute by using his supernatural ability of listening to hear.

"It only takes ten eagle-beak white jade snakes a day. With the Three Yin Demon-Slaying Technique, it won't even take a quarter of an hour."

"The remaining time can be used to reshape the jade seed."

"As long as you pretend to be genuine and don't let others find out, it'll be fine."

……

In the days that followed, Chen Mu's life became regular again.

Every day I would get up early and go to Shinji-in to report for duty.

When someone passed by, he busied himself with processing the eagle-beaked white jade snake. When no one was paying attention, he would slack off and cultivate his spiritual practice.

In the evening, I went home with the other butchers.

Instead of going to Tianguan City for entertainment, he went straight back to his residence and continued to refine the innate energy to reshape the jade seed.

As the days went by, the golden patterns on the jade continued to expand, and the experience gained from the secret manual increased rapidly.

……

That day, Chen Mu was sitting on a high stool, tidying up the white jade snake, as usual.

He leaned forward, holding a slender, sharp knife, his movements as light as if he were embroidering. Completely absorbed in his work, he didn't even have time to wipe the large beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

Manager Wu, who was watching from a distance, nodded in satisfaction, put his hands behind his back, and turned to leave.

Chen Mu slightly raised his eyelids, glanced at the short, stout figure that disappeared around the corner, and immediately straightened up.

A thin, eerie green blade of energy darted into the mouth of the white jade snake with a whoosh.

He pinched the snake's tail and gave it a shake. With a whoosh, the white jade snake's entire body slid out of its mouth without any resistance. A whole, intact snakeskin was easily peeled off.

With a thought, dozens of tiny air blades, each the length of a fingernail, danced around the scarlet muscles.

In just a few breaths, he easily removed a snow-white snake bone without a trace of blood.

"I never thought my meat-cutting skills from when I was barbecuing would come in handy here. Not bad, not bad..." Chen Mu nodded with a smile. He swept the stinking, bloody flesh into a specially made wooden barrel next to the table to isolate the smell. He used his listening ability to scan the surroundings and, to make sure no one was paying attention, he focused his mind on the jade seed.

Skillfully reversing the River Chariot Divine Aperture, he created nine streams of innate Qi.

Next, the jade was reshaped according to the Jade Cicada Dao Foundation Diagram.

Nine streams of primordial energy drilled into the inner wall of the jade, instantly expanding the golden patterns on it.

Looking at the golden patterns that covered almost a third of the inner wall of the jade, Chen Mu felt extremely satisfied.

As I was admiring it, a complex set of feelings suddenly welled up in my mind.

Chen Mu was taken aback for a moment, then a smile appeared on his lips.

A gray wall came into view, and he looked at one of the columns.

Jade Cicada Secret Manual: 2/10000/Second Tier;

"My month of relentless, day-and-night arduous training has not been in vain." Chen Mu chuckled as he carefully examined and refined his insights.

The more I looked, the wider his smile became.

He discovered that the insights reflected by the gray wall were slightly different from the inner Dao foundation diagram of the Jade Cicada Secret Manual.

"That's right, but there's a leak? Meng Qingchan really did plant a hidden danger." Chen Mu realized.

Just like with his first edition of the secret manual, the second edition of the manual still removed a lot of details.

"Trying to use these oversights to manipulate me?"

"hehe!"

……

at dusk.

Chen Mu hummed a little tune and strolled back to Yangdufang Jiwei Courtyard.

But at the entrance, they encountered a burly man who was two meters tall.

The other person was clearly burly and strong, yet his face was pale and his lips were blue. He walked with a light, unsteady gait, as if he were frail and weak.

"Fellow Daoist Zhong?" Chen Mu greeted him with a surprised look, "Why do you look so haggard after just a few days?"

This man's name was Zhong Qing, and he was his neighbor. He lived in room number 17 in the east wing, right next to Zhong Qing's.

The two lived very close to each other and had met before, exchanging names.

"It's Fellow Daoist Chen." Zhong Qing came to his senses, his reaction somewhat slow.

"Making money through Taoist practices is really hard," he said, shaking his head with a bitter expression.

"They consume fasting pills, which produce magic power that seals magic. Even if you drain your magic power five times a day, you only get three Daoist merits."

"I feel like I am a living magical artifact."

Is Tiangongfang really exploiting people so ruthlessly?

Thank goodness I didn't go!

Chen Mu felt fortunate.

“When you were fighting demons in Haizhou, Fellow Daoist Zhong should have earned some Dao merit.”

"Adding the merits accumulated over the past month or so, there should be at least five or six hundred merits."

"This is enough to hire an experienced Taoist soldier to teach you personally for more than a month."

“There are already quite a few people in our courtyard who have gone to study. Why are you…” Chen Mu walked along, looking curiously at Zhong Qing beside him.

Upon hearing this, the other person's expression grew even more bitter.

"At that time, I accidentally injured my leg and only followed the elders of the Thousand Machines Sect for a little over half a month before being forced to return to the sect. I didn't accumulate much Dao cultivation at all!"

Tsk tsk.

That's a bit tragic.

Chen Mu looked at him with sympathy.

"Fellow Daoist Zhong, don't push yourself too hard. You need to rest when you need to," Chen Mu advised.

"Thank you for your kind offer, Fellow Daoist Chen." Zhong Qing clasped his hands in thanks. "I do indeed intend to rest for a day."

"Fellow Daoist Chen, you should also take care of your health. If you damage your vital energy, it may affect your subsequent cultivation."

After saying that, he took his leave and went back to his room.

Damaged vital energy, take care of your health?

Are you talking about me?

Chen Mu was taken aback.

Even after closing the door, activating the Absolute Sound, and sitting on the low couch to prepare for his daily practice, he was still completely bewildered.

Just as he was about to continue his cultivation, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of himself reflected in the jade window.

Chen Mu was stunned.

Pale-faced, with dark circles under my eyes, this... this is me?

When did I become so haggard?!

(End of this chapter)