It was 11:30 at night.
Manager Xu Ming notified everyone on the third floor to assemble, ready to begin today's energy guide work.
Li Yi awoke from meditation, feeling spirited and without a trace of sleepiness.
This was one of the benefits for Cultivators, for during meditation the body and brain were already in a semi-rested state. Coupled with physical evolution and transformation, most of the time Cultivators were full of energy, showing no signs of fatigue or weariness.
As he stepped out of his room, the others had already appeared in the corridor.
To Li Yi's surprise, he saw Wu Zhen standing at the door as well; despite his swollen face and bruises, his eyes bloodshot, he seemed to be in fairly good condition, still able to move freely with no lingering effects.
It had to be said, the physique and recovery capabilities of a Cultivator were indeed extraordinary.
A normal person would have been in the hospital bed by now, unable to get up for a week.
"Did I go too easy on him? Or is it that against Cultivators, ordinary punches and kicks no longer have much of an effect?" Li Yi silently pondered.
This Wu Zhen, even without activating the Spirit Medium, had such a capacity to withstand blows. If dealing with even stronger Cultivators, wouldn't physical attacks become a joke? Would they have to resort to firearms to stand a chance against Cultivators?
As he was contemplating this, Wu Zhen was also staring at Li Yi from afar.
He had a bellyful of anger, as anyone suffering such a great defeat could not stay silent.
But Wu Zhen didn't dare show it; he knew Li Yi was a formidable character, and if a conflict arose again, it might actually lead to fatalities.
"In the future, just you wait. If I catch an opportunity, I won't let you off," he could only vow silently in his heart, wondering if he could ever retaliate.
"All guides, follow me. This time, the guiding work will take place on the top floor," manager Xu Ming said. "The previous batch of guides will finish in twenty-five minutes, so you all have roughly twenty minutes to prepare. During these twenty minutes, you must enter meditation and start channeling cosmic energy."
"There's another batch of guides? Just who is this employer, to be so incredibly wealthy?" Zhang Gao remarked with surprise.
Manager Xu Ming replied, "Not just one more, we've hired four batches of guides, each working for six hours, ensuring a twenty-four-hour uninterrupted supply of cosmic energy. You are responsible for the night shift, so you won't see the other two batches of guides during the day."
"However, that does not concern you. All you need to do is perform your guiding duties well. Now, please follow me and take this dedicated elevator to the top floor."
Quickly,
they took a wide and comfortable dedicated elevator straight to the top floor.
The entire top floor was filled with extravagantly crafted Cultivation equipment. There, Li Yi saw top-level medical cabins, goldish-yellow nutrient fluid, and even within some tempered glass showcases, many antique and old-fashioned weapons, including swords, spears, and halberds.
In the middle of the building, an enormous hemispherical "egg" was placed.
"That half-egg... is it a Cultivation Cabin? Good heavens, I've only seen it on the news, never in person. It's said that, once activated, it can isolate the world's pollution, keeping the energy inside pure. If combined with a sufficient number of guides, it's like artificially creating a pure energy field, and practicing inside is comparable to possessing a Mysterious Object," someone exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.
"Comparable to practicing with a Mysterious Object? Isn't that just cheating?" Zhang Gao was also startled.
The other person said, "Pshaw, what 'cheating'? This is the power of technology, no, the power of money—you wouldn't understand."
"New guides, please keep quiet." Suddenly, a cool voice came through.
Though not loud, it resonated in their ears, carrying an inexplicable force of deterrence.
Li Yi's face changed as he looked towards the source of the voice.
It came from a man in his thirties, wearing a black robe, sitting with his eyes closed. Though he was merely sitting there, he exuded an indescribable sense of danger.
"This person is highly advanced in Cultivation. Is he a bodyguard?" Li Yi glanced briefly, not daring to stare too long, and quickly withdrew his gaze.
The others also sensed the danger from this person and immediately fell silent.
Li Yi then turned his attention to the surroundings of the Cultivation Cabin.
At that moment, around the Cultivation Cabin sat eight Cultivators, both men and women, all placing their hands on specific spots on the cabin, continuously channeling pure cosmic energy into it, having sustained this state for nearly six hours.
"Truly fearsome. Seven or eight guides in one batch, four batches in total, a continuous twenty-four-hour flow of cosmic energy, and on top of that, a Cultivation Cabin and top-tier nutrient fluid... What kind of Cultivator are they trying to develop?"
Li Yi inwardly marveled.
Looking at other people's Cultivation, then at that of ordinary people.
No wonder ordinary people, even if they practiced Cultivation, could not turn their fates around and could only work as guides for a living.
The gap between the wealthy and the poor in Cultivation was not simply something that could be bridged by Cultivation Values. Unless everyone was like Li Yi, lucky enough to risk their lives in the Ruined District to pick up a Mysterious Object.
But even with a Mysterious Object, one might only be equivalent to someone else's single Cultivation Cabin.
The remaining gap was still irremediable.
Surprise notwithstanding, the work still needed to continue.
After a brief overview by manager Xu Ming, the others began to sit in succession around the Cultivation Cabin.
On the cabin was a palm-sized circular area that appeared amber and semi-transparent, made of an unknown material. By touching it with their hands, the guides could permeate it with pure cosmic energy, preventing contaminated cosmic energy from entering the cabin.
This was peculiar.
But precisely because of this peculiarity, the cost of a Cultivation Cabin was astonishingly high.
Li Yi had just sat down when his supervisor, Xu Ming, found him, "Li Yi, the contract you signed is the second type, paying you based on the amount of cosmic energy you guide. Later, when you're channeling energy, you don't need to worry about anything else. This cultivation cabin will calculate the cosmic energy input at each position separately, and you won't be shortchanged a penny."
"There's such a function? I got it," Li Yi nodded in understanding.
"Everyone can start working now."
After Xu Ming finished explaining the situation, he left.
Soon.
Seven people began to adjust their state and enter meditation to commence the cultivation state.
At this time, the previous batch of guides also woke up from meditation.
They were all familiar with the workflow; without saying a word after awakening, they left together while supervisor Xu Ming took them to eat and also settle their pay for the day.
Li Yi, now in his state, was rather cautious.
He didn't start by channeling a large amount of cosmic power into the cultivation cabin but slowly captured some of the surrounding cosmic energy and guided it in.
Li Yi didn't want to reveal the fact that he possessed incomplete wonders, so he planned to progress gradually, controlling a certain amount of energy while also cultivating himself during this time.
Gradually.
Everyone entered their working state, and the surroundings became unusually quiet.
Six hours of meditation, which cannot be interrupted, or the salary would be cut in half.
However, for the experienced cultivators, this was not difficult to achieve, as their usual cultivation sessions were at least seven to eight hours long, if not dozens of hours.
But for Wu Zhen, today posed a bit of a challenge.
He was injured, and the pain persisted, causing him to wake from meditation after just two hours.
"Damn it," Wu Zhen cursed under his breath, feeling very upset, knowing that today he would only earn a salary of 4,500 per hour.
He didn't have time to resent Li Yi now; he had to adjust his state and continue working.
Luckily, this job paid daily, so as long as he recovered by tomorrow, his salary would be restored.
Meanwhile, Li Yi felt that the timing was about right and began stealthily guiding the cosmic energy from the Sword Coin into the cultivation cabin.
As he was doing this, the cosmic energy value for position six on the computer monitor next to him was soaring rapidly.
Thirty-five... seventy... ninety... one hundred and one, the value was still climbing.
In a short time, Li Yi had channeled over one hundred units of cosmic energy, indicating that he had earned ten thousand yuan during this brief period.
But he dared not raise the value too high, so after a while, he stopped.
Then, after waiting for two hours, Li Yi repeated the operation.
He did this to simulate an energy outburst from a wormhole.
If he consistently and in large quantities channeled cosmic energy, the employer in the cultivation cabin would immediately notice something amiss about him.
But a short burst wouldn't raise any suspicions.
Everyone was positioned differently, and the number of wormholes nearby and the amount of leaking cosmic energy varied as well.
Even a meter apart could mean a world of difference.
Thus, nobody could prove there was anything wrong with Li Yi.
Unbeknownst to them, it was already six o'clock in the morning.
The first day of energy guidance was over.
When Li Yi opened his eyes, he found several unfamiliar cultivators sitting beside him.
They had just begun meditation, clearly the next group of guides coming to take over the shift.
Supervisor Xu Ming arrived again, gesturing to Li Yi, Zhao Xiaoxiao, Zhang Gao, and others that they could leave.
Without a word, they silently took the elevator to the cafeteria in the building to eat.
"The work is pretty easy; the six hours flew by," Zhang Gao said with a happy smile. "They even provide a meal, which is great. It's just a pity that the employer doesn't hire long-term, otherwise I'd really hate to leave."
"That cultivation cabin is truly amazing, able to isolate contaminated cosmic energy. I wonder how they manage that," someone said curiously on the side.
Zhao Xiaoxiao, however, said, "The most amazing thing is that glass; pure cosmic energy can penetrate, but contaminated cosmic energy cannot."
"That's not glass; it's a scale," Xu Ming suddenly clarified.
"An animal scale? What kind of animal? A fish?" Zhang Gao asked eagerly.
Li Yi thought for a moment then said, "If that's a scale, it definitely can't be from a fish; Earth's fish don't have scales that large, nor the ability to isolate polluted energy. Could it be from a transcendent creature?"
Xu Ming said, "Precisely, that's a Qiu Scale."