The Quest for Immortality

The steward called another servant and instructed, ”Take this boy to tidy up, and teach him some rules.”

”Yesterday, two slaves died, and we need manpower to fill in...”

When someone above the rank of deacon dies and people immediately come to apply, the steward would suspect a little.

But for the miscellaneous chores and slaves in the Qi-refining Realm, they were too lowly, if they died, they died.

People come, just fill in directly, not worth taking to heart.

Having given these instructions, the steward left; he had many things to manage and had to serve various ”distinguished people,” staying very busy.

After the steward left, the other servant led Mo Hua deeper into the Monster Fighting Arena.

”Here, they provide food and shelter.”

”The food is not good, but not to the point of starving to death.”

”The lodging is also poor, but not to the point of sleeping on the streets.”

”Beyond that, just do your assigned tasks. I don’t have much more to advise you.”

”If you stay obedient, I need not advise much. If you aren’t obedient, you’ll die sooner or later, and my advice will be wasted.”

”Miscellaneous workers and slaves are pretty much the same, like dogs on the roadside, dying without anyone caring.”

”Anyway, now that you’re here, hope for your own fortune...”

This servant’s voice was indifferent and somewhat numb, leading Mo Hua into a narrow and shabby stone chamber, saying:

”This room initially housed two people.”

”But the two before both died, now you’ll live alone.”

Mo Hua nodded, ”Alright.”

After the servant finished speaking, he left coldly.

Mo Hua simply tidied up the room and settled in, thereafter beginning his life as a ’servant’ in the Monster Fighting Arena, or rather half a ’slave.’

During the day, labor vigorously, doing various chores and heavy work, feeding monster beasts, cleaning cages, sweeping the Monster Fighting Arena, and clearing out the flesh of battle-dead monster beasts from the field...

Night sleep is short, occasionally needing night watch, lest monster beasts gnaw through their chains and cause disturbances.

The deacons and stewards showed no kindness to these servants and slaves, frequently beating and scolding.

But the servants and slaves offered no resistance.

Mo Hua quickly discovered that here in the Great Wilderness was markedly different from the Nine State governed by the Taoist Court.

This was something he hadn’t considered before.

In Qian State and Li State, even in the poorest and most desolate places, living though difficult still retained a sense of being ’human.’

But in Great Desert City, it was distinctly different.

These servants and slaves toiled without complaint, bore beatings and scolding regardless of treatment, with little temper.

As if they themselves regarded themselves as domesticated ’livestock,’ not as ’humans.’

Mo Hua wasn’t sure if this was the custom and tradition of the Great Wilderness.

And this Great Desert City was just at the edge of the Great Wilderness, even under the jurisdiction of both the Tao Court and the directly controlled Great Wilderness Sect, still showcasing such behavior.

Then what about the depths of the Great Wilderness?

Would there be more of these Tao cultivating ’slaves’ who weren’t regarded as human nor regarded themselves as human?

Mo Hua’s expression was somewhat grave.

However, now he too was a ’slave,’ unable to change anything.

Besides, he had a more urgent task at hand.

That was to find his ”Big Tiger.”

If the Big Tiger is indeed captured in this Monster Fighting Arena, it means it would surely appear in the arena, fighting other monster beasts to the death as entertainment for the upper cultivators, becoming tools for the distinguished people’s gambling.

Such monster beast battles are brutal; if not careful, one could die from disembowelment.

If performing poorly and causing a ”distinguished person” to lose, it might even be bought off by Flower Spirit Stone via ”Demon Slaying Order” for execution out of spite.

Mo Hua was worried about the Big Tiger, so whenever there was a chance, he would search intentionally or unintentionally in the prisons of the Monster Fighting Arena for the Big Tiger’s shape.

But after a long search, he still hadn’t found it.

There were a few tiger demons found in the prison, but their size and color were incorrect.

Deeper within the prison were a few secret cells.

The formations outside the secret cells were watertight, and Mo Hua, new here, dared not recklessly trigger these formations.

If detected, all stealth efforts would be wasted.

If by chance the secret cells housed some stronger monster beast, a berserk incident could yield equally disastrous outcomes.

Mo Hua secretly used the Demon Bone Divination Skill.

The divination revealed a connection to this Monster Fighting Arena, but couldn’t disclose finer details.

It seemed this matter was complicated by many people and things, making divination highly challenging.

The place’s dead spirits from beasts and people, chaotic energies, also hindered divination of the causes.

The situation temporarily remained at a stalemate.

Mo Hua was anxious, but at this moment, having no better solution, he could only patiently wait for an opportunity.

And indeed, the opportunity arose three days later.

The steward gathered a group of servants, sweeping a piercing gaze around, and said plainly:

”A servant from the inner arena accidentally broke a cup and was beaten to death by a distinguished person, need to replace one.”

All the servants and slaves lowered their heads.

The Monster Fighting Arena was divided into inner and outer arenas.

The outer arena handled miscellaneous tasks, feeding monster beasts, dirty, exhausting, and tough, poor in provisions.

The inner arena served the distinguished, serving tea and water, seemingly glamorous but equally perilous.

”The distinguished” held exalted status, capricious in temperament, sometimes even more brutal than monster beasts.

Monster beasts were at least caged, but the distinguished were not.

A slight mistake offending a distinguished person and discontenting them would result in a dire death.

Thus, many servants preferred staying in the dirty and exhausting outer arena, dealing with fierce monster beasts, than entering the inner arena, serving the distinguished.