Around them, those with sharp ears immediately felt a surge of excitement.
This meant that if they went to work, they wouldn't have to worry about losing their life span due to the absence of spiritual energy.
Yuan Jinsheng had made it clear: as long as they remained confined in Fanlong Courtyard, they would continue to experience a lack of spiritual energy.
The imprisoned cultivators had already realized how sturdy this Fanlong Courtyard was. It was a place where over ten thousand cultivators, led by a Nascent Soul cultivator, could not break free. The strength of this place was unparalleled, rivaling the strongest city barriers in the southern and northern spiritual domains. More impressively, this place could control the flow of spiritual energy and even cut it off entirely at will.
Spiritual energy, after all, was a naturally occurring element in the world. Even when high-level cultivators depleted it in an area, it would always gradually return. Unless it was a place like the Dead Spirit Zone, which formed naturally in this world, maintaining a large space devoid of spiritual energy through artificial means was incredibly difficult and resource-intensive.
Therefore, many of the imprisoned cultivators no longer believed that some unexpected event would occur before the rescue from their headquarters arrived. They had mentally prepared themselves for the possibility of enduring six harsh years of confinement here.
Now, someone was telling them they could ease their hardships by going to work in a place where there would be spiritual energy. How could that not tempt them?
It was just manual labor, after all, something laughably easy for cultivators.
Before they were sent to the mortal realm, they had done all sorts of dirty and difficult tasks for the sake of gathering intelligence or searching for ruins. What hard labor hadn't they endured in the past?
Sure, once they arrived in the mortal realm, they didn't need to be as cautious or polite toward the local cultivators. Life had been relatively comfortable for a while, but now the situation had changed.
Adaptability was one of their strong suits.
Before long, Yuan Jinsheng had received numerous registrations from cultivators eager to start working.
Even many Golden Core cultivators came forward to sign up after hearing the news.
Looking at the ever-growing list of volunteers, Yuan Jinsheng was more than satisfied.
With this many cultivators, the sect would soon be able to cultivate a large expanse of fertile land. And with such abundant labor, there would be no shortage of workers for future farming needs.
Of course, they could have recruited a large number of disciples, but at this point, Lingxian Sect wasn't ready for such a move.
After all, training disciples was very different from hiring workers.
In the latter case, it was a simple employment relationship: Lingxian Sect paid them, and the workers provided their labor.
But training disciples was far more complex.
Disciples required clothing, food, shelter, education, cultivation resources, and guidance. Their lives, futures, and most of their relationships would revolve around the sect. Before they could contribute meaningfully, they would need a substantial amount of resources and effort invested in them, something Lingxian Sect couldn't afford to do on a large scale just yet. Nor did they want to lower their standards.
If they were to train disciples at the level of other mortal realm sects, it would add to the already countless cultivators raised in that manner. Lingxian Sect wanted to offer something better.
As the recruitment in Fanlong Courtyard's square was in full swing, in a nearby high-rise building, Gui Jia Zun Zhe sat with an old Golden Core cultivator, watching the scene unfold.
"Who would've thought that even Gui Shisan would go and sign up... Zun Zhe, are you really not going?" the old Golden Core cultivator asked.
Sitting in the seat of honor, Gui Jia Zun Zhe observed his subordinates scrambling to sign up for the work. His fingers drummed against the armrest, a clear sign of his agitation. He replied irritably, "Go where? To open up farmland for these mortal realm ants?"
"Ants? You should really consider what kind of power it takes to imprison us in a place like this. Can you break out of here?" The old Golden Core cultivator, who had connections back at headquarters, was not afraid of Gui Jia Zun Zhe's temper and retorted sharply when his courteous question was met with such a rude tone.
Gui Jia Zun Zhe's face briefly twisted with anger. He quickly remembered the old man had significant backing at headquarters and controlled his response, though his frustration was still evident. "I just can't stand these people. First, they capture us, leave us with nothing, and now they suddenly expect us to work the fields for them. It's ridiculous."
The old Golden Core cultivator snorted. Glancing at the bustling square below, he replied coolly, "This group may have some significant backing. Just look at their ability to manipulate spiritual energy. Could it be that the Ascending Immortal Domain is involved?"
"What? Ascending Immortal Domain? That's impossible." Gui Jia Zun Zhe was stunned.
Although he acknowledged how formidable the methods used to imprison them were, he had never considered the involvement of the Ascending Immortal Domain.
The old Golden Core cultivator shot him a glance and continued, "I may be ignorant of much, but I've never heard of any techniques like this existing in the southern and northern spiritual domains, or any of the surrounding ones."
"It's that powerful?" Gui Jia Zun Zhe was astonished.
He knew that the old Golden Core cultivator was not one to exaggerate. This man had once been a disciple of a Spirit Lord at headquarters. When the old cultivator was young, his extraordinary potential had caught the Spirit Lord's eye, and he had been taken under his wing for careful training. Unfortunately, the old cultivator had suffered severe injuries during a mission and had remained stuck at the Golden Core stage ever since. He was sent to the mortal realm to live out his remaining years, and part of his purpose here was to monitor and balance the power of Gui Jia Zun Zhe.
Despite being part of Wanwantong, a highly informed organization, Gui Jia Zun Zhe mainly dealt with intelligence from the southern and northern spiritual domains, along with some nearby areas. But when it came to the Ascending Immortal Domain, he knew next to nothing.
All he knew was that the Ascending Immortal Domain was the most formidable existence in the entire cultivation world.
It wasn't just the cultivators of the Ascending Immortal Domain that were powerful, but everything in that realm—the environment, the creatures, and the mysteries—was terrifying and unknown.
Beyond that, he had no further knowledge. To most cultivators in the wider cultivation world, the Ascending Immortal Domain was more like a legend—something distant, unfathomable, and often dismissed as myth.
The Ascending Immortal Domain was the stuff of cultivation world myths.
Naturally, this Golden Core elder, as the former disciple of a Spirit Lord, was far more knowledgeable and experienced than Gui Jia Zun Zhe. Hearing the old cultivator's words, Gui Jia Zun Zhe found himself half-believing it.
The old cultivator continued, his expression slightly mysterious, "I could be wrong, but it's just a theory. Whatever the truth may be, it's clear that the forces we're up against are far beyond our capabilities."