Chapter 28: The ‘Great Demon King’s’ Scheme: Bullying Through Food and Work

“Uh…” Luo Bingli uttered, her perfect figure trembling slightly as she gazed at the ‘Great Demon King’ who seemed to have transformed into an embodiment of evil.

Honestly, in her previous life, what she feared most were the cafeteria aunties. It was particularly noticeable when they served her favorite dishes, like braised pork or *Guo Bao Rou*. The aunties’ hands would tremble as if afflicted with a terminal case of Parkinson’s, shaking so violently one might fear their arms would detach.

However, when it came to serving cabbage, radish, or tofu, the aunties’ ‘Parkinson’s’ would miraculously disappear, as if completely cured. It was enough to make one sigh in wonder, truly a medical miracle!

‘A miracle, my foot!’ It was clearly a specialized skill honed under the oppression of black-hearted cafeteria bosses, simply because the aunties didn’t want to lose their jobs.

Even with this suppression, Luo Bingli felt profoundly uncomfortable.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. She turned to Wang Qiu’er and said, “Here’s what you do: tell the cafeteria auntie to act out of concern…”

Wang Qiu’er listened, growing increasingly excited, as if utterly awestruck by Luo Bingli’s words. Inwardly, however, she rolled her eyes, thinking, ‘As expected, my Saintess must have feelings for that Ye Xiaozi.’

Having finished her explanation regarding diet, Luo Bingli then prompted her to elaborate on the next step.

“For the second step, we’ll bully them through work.”

“Work?” Luo Bingli asked, quite bewildered.

“It’s like this: the mine where Ye Xiaozi works is a small spiritual stone vein, Mine No. 81. Since the mine doesn’t produce much, and it’s within the sect’s territory, only one Foundation Establishment stage disciple guards it year-round. Besides that, there are eighty-one mining areas, each managed by a late-stage Qi Refinement disciple. Ye Xiaozi is in Mining Area No. 61.”

“Oh… so even a small mine has so many disciples busy at work!” Luo Bingli couldn’t help but frown. She only knew a few rules, and those she had learned from the Mission Hall.

“Precisely. Mining Area No. 61 has eight people, including Ye Xiaozi. Although No. 61 isn’t a prime mining area, the amount of spiritual stones produced varies by location. We can bribe the leading late-stage Qi Refinement disciple, then collude with a few mid-stage Qi Refinement disciples to collectively suppress Ye Xiaozi. For instance, we could make them dig in a spot that yields no spiritual stones for half a month.”

Luo Bingli pondered this for a moment, feeling that the plan had some flaws. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she leaned close to Wang Qiu’er’s ear, whispering a few words: “You should do it this way…”

“I see! As expected of the Saintess. This way, Ye Xiaozi will truly be trapped in this mining area.” Although Wang Qiu’er said this, at this moment, she was even more certain that the Saintess harbored intentions toward Ye Xiaozi.

“Alright, continue! What else is there?”

“Additionally, I’ve noticed that with Ye Xiaozi’s changes, several new leaders in the nearby residential areas have started paying attention to them. These new leaders typically break through to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement within about three months. They interacted with Ye Xiaozi last night, but the conversation wasn’t pleasant. Perhaps we can exploit the competition between factions to bully Ye Xiaozi.” Originally, Wang Qiu’er had planned to simply hire a Core Formation or Nascent Soul stage senior sister to bully Ye Xiaozi. Of course, ‘bullying’ here merely meant snatching their cultivation resources.

Aside from other considerations, the Saintess’s name alone was enough to make many junior sisters take risks. Moreover, since it was only about seizing resources and not harming the newcomer, it exploited a loophole. Even if discovered, the punishment, though present, wouldn’t be severe. Plus, as long as they weren’t caught, who would believe a Nascent Soul senior would be so maliciously bored as to steal a few spiritual stones from a Qi Refinement cultivator?

With that time, merely completing a random mission could yield thousands of spiritual stones. Squabbling over cultivation resources with a Qi Refinement junior sister? That would be pure insanity. Therefore, without evidence, virtually no one would assume a Nascent Soul cultivator would stoop to snatching Qi Refinement resources, for this was the cultivation world, not some mundane folk tale.

After all, some tales even dared to depict a junior sister in the Qi Refinement stage slandering a Mahayana-stage senior brother, accusing him of stealing her Foundation Establishment Pill. And in that entire sect, the highest cultivation apart from this senior brother was a Soul Transformation Patriarch. Yet, this Soul Transformation Patriarch still allowed the Tribulation Transcendent senior to have their cultivation crippled and be expelled from the sect.

Such plots could only be conceived by those with a hole in their brains or pure thrill-seekers.

After all, Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation stage sect patriarchs were old monsters who had lived for hundreds of years. They wouldn’t suddenly suffer from senile dementia and truly ‘uphold justice impartially,’ would they?

Upon hearing this, Luo Bingli’s eyes instantly lit up, and she couldn’t help but be surprised by Wang Qiu’er’s cleverness.

After all, the sect strictly forbade attacking newcomers, even for the Saintess herself. She recalled that three years later in the original plot, a new disciple arrived at the Hundred Flowers Palace. At that time, the Luo Bingli in the story had already devoured countless fairies. Seeing a plump lamb arrive, she naturally went to consume it directly. However, she never expected the other party to have an Integration stage sister and a Tribulation Transcendent stage mother. Luo Bingli was instantly subjected to a combined beating from the sister and mother, taking three months to recover.

Luo Bingli had originally thought Wang Qiu’er would find a Nascent Soul or Core Formation cultivator to bully the newcomer. Now, it seemed this tactic of ‘driving a wolf to swallow a tiger’ was ingenious. With this thought, Luo Bingli unreservedly encouraged Wang Qiu’er, patting her shoulder as she said, “Excellent, excellent, truly excellent. I was right about you. What else do you have to say?”

Wang Qiu’er was now absolutely certain that the Saintess intended to act against Ye Xiaozi, and was being considerate in every way. Thus, her previous plans naturally needed to be discarded and re-evaluated. However, she couldn’t say that directly. Thinking this, Wang Qiu’er replied, “Saintess, some things can only be concluded after a certain period of observation. The three methods I mentioned can be executed without arousing suspicion. If we do too much, they might become suspicious. Of course, I will continue to follow up on this matter, and if we can manage it without them suspecting us, I will propose new bullying schemes.”

“Is that so? In that case, let’s proceed with these three for now! Begin preparations starting today!”

“Alright, I’ll go right away! Saintess, just await my good news!” With that, Wang Qiu’er, like a loyal and capable subordinate, immediately departed to execute her mission.

Seeing this, Luo Bingli secretly nodded. Although Wang Qiu’er sometimes caused her trouble, her work ethic was undeniably excellent.