Five men were forced to wail in high pitch. They can't help it even if they try, as the disciplinary tools used to punish them were made out of a special material that enhances the pain receptor by a hundredfold.

It was obvious that the beating was done intentionally.

After all, the mistake Jiang Sheng and the group made was far from what needed to be disciplined publically, nor serious enough to be warranted for such a treatment.

But these were an occasional entertainment for those who had already been here for over a decade.

"Look at them... Tender and white... No wonder Wu lusts after their shameful appearance," said a bystander. "These guys are obviously newcomers that recently arrived." he added.

"Yeah, yeah... With how charming they look, how can they escape from Wu's clutch? They could only blame it on their bad luck and appearance to catch the attention of that person," another bystander beside the first guy whispered. And soon, more whispers could heard around them.

Jiang Sheng soon understands why they were treated this way on arrival.

This was something like a welcome party for the newcomers. And the one who organized it is no other than Yang Wu, an individual everyone in Western Spirit Vein disdained. She had several monikers, such as "Illegitimate Heir," "Owner of Western Spirit Vein," Queen of Shame," and so on.

But one thing for sure was her status as the daughter of the High Heaven Sect Leader, Yang Xiao. With a status like that on her title, Wu obviously could summon the wind and rain within this Western Spirit Vein.

In addition, there won't be a single person who dares to snitch or foil her fun. This means giving the newcomer a prior warning is useless unless they wish to be publicly shamed for the second time.

It would be pointless even if they did because, as the one who owns this Western Spirit Vein in name, Yang Wu can create any reason to justify her course of action.

The wound on Jiang Sheng and the rest is hardly noticeable, but the shame imposed on them was great.

(It will never be too late for a gentleman's revenge to come a decade or two later... Wu... Here, I vow I will surely return this shame to you by a hundredfold...)

Jiang Sheng felt that a layer of the presence he had built so far had been broken by Yang Wu. He might not be the most prideful among the ascended, but he still had it ingrained into his flesh and bones.

Furthermore, which of these ancestor-like individuals weren't prideful?

After all, they were the pinnacle of humanity in their respective Lesser Realm. This was especially true for Jiang Sheng, who had witnessed the rise and fall of nine dynasties, eighteen generations of his clans, the rise and decline of three world-level sects, and the cleansing of a continent.

With this slightly unaccustomed shame-coated shell, Jiang Sheng and his group members forced themselves back inside the Contribution Pavilion. But Yang Wu's presence had already disappeared from the building.

She might have lost interest in them or is preoccupied with shaming someone else. But that doesn't mean that the rest of her workers in the pavilion shared the same thought.

After all, a dog usually behaves the same as their master. And, to make it worse, a dog that's literate and has a bit of power.

"I would like to fulfill my daily quota today." the group discussed briefly and decided to go for one of the counters they felt comfortable with. But unsure of the outcome, they only sent one person to test the water.

"Newcomer Hu Lingfei, isit? A daily quota of five Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals. If you fulfill the quota three days at once, the pavilion will reward you with twice the points. If you miss the next delivery, your daily quota will be doubled for the remaining days of the week. Do you wish to continue?" the staff said.

The offer was utterly ridiculous.

Instead of delivering the Qi Crystals daily, he had to fulfill three days or fifteen crystals at once to be qualified for the double Contribution Points. And he had to keep up with the delivery for the rest of the days until the start of a new week.

Taking today as an example, there are four more days to go until the weekend. This means Hu Lingfei would have to deliver five days' worth of Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals, or seventy-five, to be rewarded with a hundred and fifty Contribution Points.

But failure to do so the next day means Hu Lingfei would have to deliver twice the number of Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals by the weekend, which is a hundred and twenty.

These offers were no different from choosing between two wild cards, which would bring you wealth or falling into a debt trap. The offers sounded ridiculous, but at the same time, rewarding if successfully completed.

After hearing the staff's offer, Hu Lingfei turns to Jiang Sheng for advice.

"What do you all think?" with the clock ticking, they only have several minutes to decide.

Choosing to go with this offer means all the Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals they mined for the next few days would have to be allocated to this quota. If they accomplish this as a group, each will receive 30 Contribution Points as a reward.

Given that Hu Lingfei was trustworthy.

Plenty of smaller groups are formed in a hurry and still fail to accomplish their task. The reason is all because of trust and dispute in the profit allocation.

The other three stared at Hu Lingfei for a while and nodded at Jiang Sheng. Their response signifies that they'll go along with his choice, whether good or bad.

"Brother Hu! Agreed to the request and deliver these fifteen Qi Crystals for today's quota." Jiang Sheng handed eight more Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals to Hu Lingfei's hand. This was all the crystals he had mined over the few days.

"Go and get today's portion of Contribution Points first. We'll talk about the rest afterward." Jiang Sheng added. He believes bringing out the remaining crystal they needed would be a great way to convince everyone to follow his lead.

After all, with five people working together, each person is only required to contribute fifteen Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals. And the return would be thirty sweet Contribution Points. Of course, they could also complete this request independently, but the risk is obviously much higher.

Hu Lingfei handed the Qi Crystals to fulfill the quota for today and entered the path of no return in case he failed to accomplish the four remaining quotas. In return, the worker responded by placing thirty "Heaven" tokens on the counter.

These are the Contribution Points everyone has been lusting for. The Heaven Token might have no other usages except as a local currency inside this Western Spirit Vein. And inside this place, these tokens are everything.

You could even buy a person's life with enough Heaven Tokens.

Hu Lingfei kept the Heaven Tokens safely and hurriedly left the counter. As soon as he came to Jiang Sheng's side, the first thing he did was split the token into two portions. One with fourteen and the other portion with sixteen tokens.

"Big brother Jiang. This is your part of sixteen Contribution Points." said Hu Lingfei. He was someone who hated to take advantage of others. Even being put in that situation would cause him to feel discomfort.

"No. This is not an equal distribution. Pass the rest to me and let us look for a proper place to continue this conversation." Jiang Sheng replied to Hu Lingfei. A misunderstanding would surely happen if someone else said such a sentence.

Luckily, the one before them was Jiang Sheng, the person responsible for putting them together as a team. Of the five, Jiang Sheng had the highest reputation and trustworthiness out of everyone else.

A while later, the five arrive at a considerably casual spot to continue their conversation.

"What would you like to tell us, Big brother Jiang?" Yi Xuanming asked after comfortably relaxing on a willow tree.

"From this moment onward, let us distribute the Contribution Points evenly. As for anything extra, we will note them down accordingly in our account book. I suggest we develop a dual system, one for individual and another for a collective account." Jiang Sheng said.

"Oh?" the suggestion quickly attracted Hu Lingfei, Yi Xuanming, and Pang Tong. Mang She was less concerned, as arithmetics are boring to him. As long he felt it was equally distributed, he would have no comment about how it works.

"Heh... Looks like our big brother already had things on its track long ago. I know I didn't follow the wrong boss!" Yi Xuanming chuckled and slapped his palm with the folded paper fan. As someone who know social and business the best, he naturally knew what Jiang Sheng had in mind.

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