The person who came to stop them appeared to be a newly promoted outer sect disciple at the third level of Qi Refining. His aura and distinctive clothing immediately made Lin Hao's heart skip a beat, and he stopped his violent assault on Yan Heng.
"Although the sect encourages competition among disciples," the outer sect disciple said coldly, "we do not wish for someone to be so badly injured that they cannot work. With these injuries, Yan Heng will likely be unable to mine for some time. You will need to make up for the missing spiritual iron."
"Yes, Senior Brother," Lin Hao replied, not daring to refuse. He clasped his hands and respectfully bowed to the outer sect disciple.
"Hmph, disperse! Go eat your meal. If you're late for work in the afternoon, it will not be good," the outer sect disciple snorted, swiftly taking the bloodied Yan Heng away.
"Boss, you're amazing! You actually defeated Yan Heng!" Wang Fu, who had been forced to kneel earlier, climbed to his feet and asked with concern, "Boss, you're not hurt, are you?"
"It's just a minor injury," Lin Hao replied. His body was covered in blood, making him look quite terrifying, but his injuries weren't serious. The only damage was a scrape on his fist from the continuous punching. Most of the blood on him was from Yan Heng.
He started walking towards the dining hall, and the surrounding disciples looked at him with awe.
"Yes, Boss." Wang Fu followed behind, standing straighter than before. The fat boy felt that with such a powerful leader, at least for the next half-year in the Newcomer Area, no one would dare bully him.
"Senior Brother, two bowls of spirit porridge, please," Lin Hao said, handing over two meal tokens to exchange for two large bowls of steaming porridge. He gave one to Wang Fu, who was extremely touched.
"Thank you, Boss," Wang Fu said with excitement, receiving the porridge.
"You've helped me a lot over the past half-month, so this porridge is well-deserved," Lin Hao said with a smile.
"I... I didn't help much," Wang Fu replied, feeling a bit embarrassed.
The two of them found a seat and began to wolf down their food.
Soon, Lin Hao finished his bowl of porridge, and he habitually licked the bottom of the bowl for a while before reluctantly setting it down.
Today, there was no Yan Heng causing trouble in the dining hall for the spirit porridge. The other new disciples who had gotten their porridge didn't dare to start eating right away. They were not used to having no one steal their porridge, and they sat restlessly.
"Senior Brother Lin," one tall newcomer disciple suddenly stood up and hesitantly walked over with his bowl of porridge, offering half of it to Lin Hao. "I... I want to give you half of my porridge."
Lin Hao's gaze fell on him, and he hesitated. Stealing someone’s porridge seemed wrong.
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However, in the Newcomer Area of the sect, the most important resource was the spirit porridge, which contained spiritual energy. The more porridge one ate, the faster they could cultivate.
Cultivation was all about survival, fighting for resources, partners, and territory.
Spirit porridge was one of those resources!
"With my Five Elements Spirit Root, I need a lot of spiritual energy to break through. Since I’ve already offended Yan Heng, he will definitely try to get revenge later," Lin Hao thought. "In Xuan Yue Sect and the entire cultivation world, if I want to avoid being bullied, I have to become strong enough."
After thinking for a while, Lin Hao decided that since the newcomer disciple was offering the porridge of his own will, it wasn't considered stealing.
He smiled and said, "Junior Brother, just give me three-tenths of your porridge."
"Thank you, Senior Brother Lin!" the tall newcomer disciple said with gratitude, relieved that Lin Hao was not asking for all of it.
Compared to Yan Heng, who used to dominate the Newcomer Area and forcefully take half of everyone’s porridge, Lin Hao's demand for only three-tenths seemed quite fair.
Soon, the tall disciple poured the best portion of his porridge into Lin Hao's bowl.
"Glug, glug, glug!"
Lin Hao wasted no time and gulped it down. In no time, his bowl was empty, and he looked as though he hadn’t had enough.
He was used to the heavy physical labor of mining, and if he had seven or eight bowls of spirit porridge, it still wouldn't be enough to satisfy him.
The other newcomer disciples saw what the tall disciple had done and hesitated. Fearing that if they didn't give Lin Hao their porridge, he might beat them up too, they stood up and said, "Senior Brother Lin, we’ll give you some of our porridge as well."
"Three-tenths is fine," Lin Hao said indifferently.
The six newcomer disciples from the Newcomer Area all voluntarily gave him some of their porridge. Each one handed over three-tenths, which amounted to nearly two full bowls.
Lin Hao ended up having about three bowls of spirit porridge, and he could feel the spiritual energy flowing into his meridians, nourishing his body.
After finishing his meal, he briefly returned to his wooden cabin and began circulating his Five Elements Long Life Technique.
Soon, Lin Hao's face lit up with joy. With the extra porridge from others and the one he had earned from mining, plus the assistance from the Eternal Life Tower, he was able to absorb the spiritual energy without any loss. His cultivation speed had increased significantly.
He estimated that, at his current pace, while it wasn't as fast as the Sect Master’s disciple, Liu Qinghan, who had a five-element wood spirit root, it was certainly faster than Wang Fu’s two-element gold spirit root.
"Earn more spirit porridge and break through to the third level of Qi Refining as soon as possible, so I can become an outer sect disciple of Xuan Yue Sect," Lin Hao thought. He was motivated by the prospect of receiving two low-grade spirit stones each month if he became an outer sect disciple.
With those spirit stones, he could use the Eternal Life Tower's ability to turn waste into treasure to upgrade weapons and pills.
After practicing for a while, Lin Hao was in a good mood as he left the wooden cabin and headed back to the mines.
For the next few days, Yan Heng, who had once tried to bully Lin Hao, was nowhere to be seen in the mining area.
Fearing retaliation from Lin Hao, Yan Heng had applied to transfer to the older disciples' mining area, a decision made after being frightened nearly to death by Lin Hao’s berserk attack.
Thus, Lin Hao had firmly secured his position as the leader of the tenth team in the Newcomer Area of the mining district. No one dared to challenge his authority. He was enjoying the perks of being the boss, and he was making good progress in his cultivation.
He was drinking plenty of spirit porridge every day, and his once-slim physique was visibly gaining weight.
He was starting to look almost as plump as Wang Fu.
However, rumors began to spread among the disciple areas.
They said that Lin Hao, with his so-called "useless" Five Elements Spirit Root, was wasting the sect’s cultivation resources by eating so much spirit porridge.