Last night the progress bar was still at 0%, and today it’s already at 2%. The only thing Qin Yu did last night was cultivate.

It’s pretty clear that the progress bar is linked to cultivation.

Qin Yu thought to himself,

‘Last night, I wasted a lot of time and wasn’t very familiar with the cultivation method, so my efficiency was low.’

‘If I had been cultivating at normal speed, I could’ve increased it by 5% overnight. In about 20 days, I should reach 100% and get a chance to copy a talent.’

Qin Yu couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

‘I wonder what kind of talent I’ll get next time I copy one?’

After a quick wash, Qin Yu headed towards his work location.

He hadn’t felt hungry at all since taking a pill of the "Fasting Elixir" last night.

With a broom in hand, Qin Yu quickly arrived at the Mingyue Square.

As expected, Mingyue Square was a small plaza, about the size of a basketball court, surrounded by a few small trees. The area was very quiet, with only a few leaves scattered on the ground.

This place was fairly isolated, so no one passed by, making it easy to clean.

Before long, Qin Yu had the square spotless.

‘This is the easiest job in the entire sect, and I, Qin Yu, got it!’ Qin Yu thought happily.

With nothing else to do, Qin Yu decided to go see the Maple Leaf Square, where Li Zhengtong was assigned.

Maple Leaf Square wasn’t far from Mingyue Square, only about a 25-minute walk.

As the name suggested, Maple Leaf Square was full of maple trees.

Since it was early autumn and the mountain's temperature was low, the maple leaves had turned bright red—right in the middle of the best time to see them.

A gust of wind blew through, and a large number of leaves fluttered down like butterflies.

Anyone who saw this scene would open their mouth and exclaim, “So beautiful!”

However!

If you want to stand there and quietly enjoy the view, you probably won’t get the chance, because you’ll hear someone grumbling nonstop.

The grumbling was coming from none other than Li Zhengtong, who was responsible for the sanitation of this area.

At this moment, Li Zhengtong had his head down, bending over, struggling to sweep up a whole pile of fallen leaves.

Just as he managed to gather them, another gust of wind blew through, scattering all the leaves again, making all his effort useless. He had to start over.

"Xiao Tong, this is too miserable. You’re never going to finish this job in one day!"

Li Zhengtong laboriously raised his head, his face drenched with sweat.

A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy, who had always been pampered at home and never had to do much work, now found himself facing such a tiring job right after joining the sect.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

This made Li Zhengtong feel hopeless.

He could never finish. Never.

Li Zhengtong plopped down on the ground, his face full of frustration as he looked at Qin Yu.

“Yuge, my luck is just too bad!”

Qin Yu patted Li Zhengtong on the shoulder, adopting the tone of a seasoned elder to comfort him.

“Xiao Tong, you’ve got to learn to adapt. There’ll be more bad things coming your way in the future.”

Li Zhengtong’s heart sank even further.

Seeing his disciple so dejected, Qin Yu felt that he had to pull out some ultimate advice.

“Li Zhengtong!” Qin Yu said seriously.

“Today, I’ll teach you the 'Twelve Ways of Slacking Off for Workers,' to help you escape this predicament.”

Li Zhengtong immediately perked up, ears pricked, ready to listen closely.

Although he had no idea what Yuge was about to say, he knew it must be something important.

Qin Yu extended a finger and began slowly.

“First, we workers are humans, not the donkeys of a collective farm. We need to know how to rest.”

“When can you rest? When no one's around, when there's no inspection, or when you need to use the restroom…”

“Second, how do you make others think you’ve been working hard even if you haven’t?”

“Take cleaning as an example. You need to make sure that the inspector can see what you’ve done. Put the results of your work on display.”

Li Zhengtong humbly asked, “Yuge, how should I do that?”

“It’s simple. Just pile up the leaves, the more the better. Don’t just move a little bit to the trash pile. Move a tiny bit each time.”

“Why?” Li Zhengtong was confused.

“Why are you so slow-witted? If you move the leaves to the trash pile, no one will see it. If the inspector comes by and sees all the leaves on the ground, they’ll think you haven’t done any work.”

“But if you leave the leaves right here, the inspector will know you didn’t fail to do your job, but rather there’s just too many leaves to handle. It’s not your fault!”

Li Zhengtong’s eyes lit up.

“Yuge, you’re so smart, I never thought of that!”

Qin Yu lifted his chin and smiled.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg of my wisdom. Let me teach you the third way: How to look busy without doing anything!”

“...”

By the time Qin Yu had finished imparting all twelve strategies, an hour had passed.

He patted Li Zhengtong on the back.

“Work hard, I’m heading back now!”

“Farewell, Yuge!”

Li Zhengtong’s voice was respectful and filled with gratitude.

If it weren’t for Yuge’s timely intervention, he might’ve collapsed there from exhaustion.

On the way back, Qin Yu couldn’t help but sigh.

‘This talent, 'Refined by Fire,' seems to be starting to take effect. There are so many positions, and I got stuck with Maple Leaf Square. It’s just bad luck.’

Thinking of the never-ending leaves that kept falling, Qin Yu’s head ached. How would he ever finish sweeping?

‘Truly, if I hadn’t compared myself to others, I wouldn’t have realized how lucky I am!’

Qin Yu made a decision. From now on, he’d use any spare time during the day to cultivate.

In that way, he’d only need ten days to reach 100% on the progress bar.

Copying a top-tier talent and reaching the Foundation Establishment stage faster than inner disciples, he’d definitely shock all the elders in the sect.

This would be the beginning of Qin Yu’s path to glory.

Thinking about this, Qin Yu couldn’t help but smile, his mouth curving into a mischievous grin, making a "hehe" sound.

However, when he returned to Mingyue Square and saw the mess in front of him, his smile instantly froze.

“That damned, shameless person, peeing and pooping everywhere! I curse you to never have a son who can sit down!” Qin Yu angrily cursed the air.

In the center of the square was a pile of filth, as high as half a person, with other smaller piles scattered around.

They were all different colors, different shapes, but the smell was the same, indicating they were from different creatures.

Although Qin Yu cursed, he had no choice but to clean the square before the inspection.

If it didn’t pass, all his contribution points for the month would be deducted.

Contribution points were the currency of the sect. They could be used to buy pills, magical techniques, and more. They were extremely important to the disciples of the Xuantian Sect.

Qin Yu found a small cart and a shovel, plugged his nose with tissues, and stared at the mess, ready to get to work.

Suddenly, he started to miss Li Zhengtong’s Maple Leaf Square.

The joke was on him!