[E-elite?]
Everyone was perplexed. Weren’t they the lowest rung in the sect? Were they to be divided again into elites and common laborers?
Zhuo Fan ignored the clamor, letting them get it out of their system while also stirring their curiosity. He signaled for attention after a moment.
“Everyone, this is the Labor Office, you can’t get any lower than this in the sect. Everyone here is punished or cast out, never to see the light of day. The fortunate ones like Kui Lang and Yue Ling who return to the inner sect or become executives are too few. While the vast majority will live their last days here, fated to find their end as materials for the higher ups’ training. You’re lower than ants, so how can you hope for survival when death is set in stone?”
Zhuo Fan’s words caught their undivided attention.
[Yeah, we’re only guinea pigs for others, raised for the right moment to take our lives.]
They were truly poor souls and would be better off dying than live such a wretched life.
Sorrow consumed them and some even sobbed in despair.
Zhuo Fan hid a grin as he stated, “Everyone knows I am special since I got here. Without so much as a test, they put me here even though I didn’t commit any crime. Why, you ask? Envious of my talent!”
Zhuo Fan roared, “You must’ve heard of Kui Lang and Yue Ling’s situation. And you’ve seen with your own eyes what a dark pit the inner sect is. It’s those elders and venerables who are envious of talents that landed me in this place from which I can never escape. Even if I do, I will never wash away this stain of being a laborer, always beneath them.”
Zhuo Fan’s rage would not be denied.
Kui Gang flinched and rolled his eyes.
He saw with his own eyes how Sect Leader came to Zhuo Fan for help in this plan. With Sect Leader’s cover, no oldie was going to come for him.
Those two were enacting a devious and hidden plot out of the masses’ eyes.
Yet now his master had twisted it into playing the victim. [Master sure knows how to spin it.]
Little did he know that Zhuo Fan was attacking their morale, using the art of war to get them on his side. By living alongside the laborers in the Labor Office, they related to one another and allowed them listen to his ideas and follow him.
Many were filled with grief at Zhuo Fan’s speech, recalling their own bitter experiences.
Some were trapped and forced here while others were thrown like trash, earning the stigma of being laborers. No matter how they got out, they would still be the targets of ridicule and shame.
Labor Office’s disciples united their hearts with Zhuo Fan’s, in their grief and anger.
Elder Yuan nodded inside. [That’s how you rule. Kui Lang and Yue Ling were boors with their rough tactics. No matter if the others feared them, they saw the two with hatred and denial more than anything.]
[While Steward Zhuo is a smooth operator all while leading them to their deaths.]
[Ha-ha-ha, his status as steward on the outside wasn’t just for show.]
Elder Yuan smiled…
“Since they’ve dumped me in the Labor Office, I’ve decided to take it over and never leave this damn place again! Screw being an executive! They want me to bear a stigma all my life? Humph, I will bear it like a badge of honor!”
Zhuo Fan clenched his fists, “I will make Labor Office be the greatest place in the sect, its pride so high that any laborer who walks out will go with his head held high under the envy of the rest. From now on, Labor Office has no waste, but elites. Let those other disciples watch you in jealousy, fighting to get into the Labor Office no matter how futile their attempts are!”
Zhuo Fan’s speech lit a fire under their asses.
But a cold snort came to pour water on their spirits, “Just a pipe dream! The sect’s resources are fixed, mainly for elites and those elders and venerables. Then come the inner disciples and executives and lastly outer disciples. As for the Labor Office, it gets nothing. Even if you divide the Labor Office, everyone will cultivate based on their talents. Without resources, all your words are worth nothing! “
Waking up from Zhuo Fan’s beautiful dream, everyone felt an overwhelming sadness gripping their hearts.
[In the end, it’s only a dream. The sect won’t give us anything to achieve it.]
It was more like it couldn’t grant wastes any resources because there was no point. Even wastrels that end up here with huge backings wouldn’t receive much from those oldies.
Because this place was the sect’s dumping ground for broken things. Left here to rot.
Zhuo Fan’s eyes met the young man’s cold eyes and the overwhelming despair they hid.
His power was at peak Profound Heaven Stage, so close and yet so far from entering Radiant Stage.
“Uh, who is he? I’ve never seen him before.” Zhuo Fan asked Elder Yuan.
Elder Yuan scanned the roster and said, “Uh, Steward Zhuo, he is Tie Ying, having his shoulder blades run through for peeping on his senior sisters’ while bathing three years ago and has been locked ever since. He just got released and was thrown here. He has yet to hear of your illustrious name.”
“Peeping in the girl’s bath? That’s nothing. And you can see it from his eyes, he isn’t someone to lower himself by doing such crass acts.” Zhuo Fan said.
Elder Yuan scratched his head, “I do not know the whole story. All I know is that he peeped on 7th elder’s granddaughter.”
“Granddaughter?”
Raising an eyebrow, Zhuo Fan mocked, “Kid, who played you?”
Tie Ying’s face was a mask of rage and hatred, “You’re something to see through my sentence with one look.”
“He-he-he, of course, commoners can’t compete with the wealthy as the wealthy can’t compete with officials. Anyone with a brain can see peeping isn’t a death sentence. That only leaves falling for someone’s trap.”
“Ha-ha-ha, the wealthy can’t compete with the officials. Good one. Even the people from Labor Office understand it. But then why did no elder or venerable want to hear my explanation?” Tie Ying was crestfallen.
Zhuo Fan rolled his eyes, reprimanding, “Dumbass, since they want to bury you, they’ll never give you any chance to escape. Who do you think you are? If someone wants to deal with you, he’s not going to let you talk back and shame him.”
Tie Ying’s eyelid twitched and he sighed.
He knew it as well, but he was angry for justice and fairness, no matter how hopeless it was…
But then he pointed at Zhuo Fan, “Boy, you just spoke a pack of lies with your speech, to control Labor Office and take even those scraps from them. Every boss of Labor Office has done this and you’re no different, even if weaker. So what is an 8th layer of Profound Heaven cultivator doing, showing off in the Labor Office? “
Tie Ying’s challenge only earned looks of pity from everyone.
[Ah, newbie, even in the Profound Heaven Stage, he can wipe the floor with Radiant Stage experts. Or do you think you’re a much better fit as the Labor Office’s boss?]
Zhuo Fan frowned, then smiled, pointing at his disciple, “Boy, do you not see that my disciples are in the Radiant Stage. Am I not worthy of ruling the Labor Office?”
“Humph, Radiant Stage experts having a Profound Heaven master is the biggest joke I’ve ever heard.” Tie Ying squinted and spat, “I bet you’re some oldie’s son, in here for some crime and dumped here with bodyguards. I’ve seen it before. Humph, using connections…”
Tie Ying snorted, filled with mockery. Zhuo Fan shook his head.
[He must’ve been had by a wastrel to feel such rancor and must despise any wastrel he sees.]
But his mockery got cut short by a reverberating shout, “Since when did the great top outer disciple Tie Ying get reduced to being petty and nitpicking? You’re nothing but a nagging hag…”
