Took a Kickback

Th-this-this...

Wang Chen couldn't have been more familiar with it.

What he had just called forth into view was unmistakably the character panel from the mobile game "Cultivation" that he had grinded for a month!

Wang Chen's scalp went numb.

Could it be that he had transmigrated into the game?

He immediately shook his head.

The game's setting and storyline were vastly different from this world.

There was little basis for comparison.

But the Cultivation Panel truly existed.

Looking closely, Wang Chen discovered that his Cultivation Panel was a simplified version, missing much of its content.

It was just that...

Aside from Divine Soul, why were the Four Basic Attributes so low?!

Physique, Bone Root, Comprehension, and Divine Soul—the points for these four attributes had to be determined by rolling dice when creating a new account in "Cultivation."

Wang Chen had rolled countless times, and his total had never been below twenty-five points.

Now, they added up to only seventeen.

Bone Root and Comprehension in particular were so low it was outrageous.

Wang Chen finally understood.

As a "pseudo-Cultivator Second Generation," the original owner had begun tempering his body and laying his foundation from childhood.

Then he had spent a full five years in the Yunyang Sect outer sect.

Yet he was still only a minor cultivator at the third layer of Qi Condensation.

His Bone Root and Comprehension were simply too low!

Inferior Bone Root and low comprehension had an enormous impact on cultivation. Not only was it difficult to break through realms, but even the speed at which he practiced spells lagged far behind others.

All four skills the original owner had mastered were at the lowest Beginner Level.

He could be called a combat-power-five weakling!

But Wang Chen did not lose heart over this.

No matter how weak he was now, he was still a cultivator who had entered the immortal path. The future held infinite possibilities.

Moreover, Wang Chen vaguely felt that the Cultivation Panel would not be limited to displaying his own attributes.

After pondering it for a while, Wang Chen tried closing the Cultivation Panel.

He could study it slowly later. The pressing matter was that his stomach was empty and rumbling like thunder, urgently demanding that he worship the temple of his five viscera.

Entering the kitchen beside the main house, Wang Chen scooped a ladleful of Spirit Grain from the Rice Jar.

One ladleful of Spirit Grain was roughly a pound.

It was also the original owner's usual portion for a meal.

After putting it into the earthen stove's pot, he thought for a moment and added another half ladle.

Then he added three ladles of sweet, clear Mountain Spring Water.

He lit the fire and got the stove going.

As the pot came to a boil, white steam curled through the tiny kitchen.

It carried the distinctive fragrance of Grain Rice.

Sitting before the stove, Wang Chen drew in a long breath.

His stomach felt even hungrier!

Once the Spirit Grain was finally cooked, he impatiently lifted the lid and ladled the steaming Grain Rice into a heaping bowl.

Time to eat!

Though he was already starving beyond endurance, Wang Chen still followed the original owner's habit, chewing each mouthful of Grain Rice twenty-seven times on each side of his mouth.

He thoroughly crushed the hard Grain Husk, allowing the saliva in his mouth to fully mix with the rice mash.

Only then did he swallow it.

This was the Chewing Method passed down from ancient times, and it aided the digestion of the spiritual energy and nutrients contained in food.

It also prevented the Grain Husk from scratching his throat to the greatest extent possible.

Eating grain with its husks was not because Wang Chen was too lazy to pound the rice.

Spirit Food was hard to come by.

Not even the slightest bit could be wasted!

The ten mu of low-grade spirit fields Yunyang Sect had allotted him were planted with White Jade Rice.

White Jade Rice could be harvested twice a year, with a total yield of around six hundred jin per mu.

With favorable weather and no mishaps, he could harvest six thousand jin of spirit grain each year.

But Wang Chen also had to hand over four thousand five hundred jin of spirit grain to the sect.

A fixed quota of four thousand five hundred jin.

In other words, no matter how skilled Wang Chen was at farming, he had to give Yunyang Sect that much spirit grain every year.

If he failed to meet it, he could get lost.

Don't be fooled by the fact that spirit plant farmers did backbreaking work.

Beyond the sect gates, who knew how many Rogue Cultivators were dying for this "cushy job"!

Of course, if Wang Chen harvested more than six thousand jin of spirit grain, the surplus would all be his.

But that was practically impossible.

The spirit fields assigned to him lay at the outermost fringe of Yunyang Spirit Land, where the spiritual energy was thin and the soil ordinary.

To maintain an annual yield of six thousand jin, the original owner had already unleashed every last bit of his Primordial Power.

One small misstep, and the spirit grain left for his own household might not even be enough to eat.

And even if he received the full fifteen hundred jin of spirit grain for himself, the basic daily consumption of three jin could not be reduced.

Add to that the daily necessities he had to exchange for in Yunyang City—firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea—

As well as the resources essential for cultivation.

There was not much left to save.

How, under such tight circumstances, could he possibly "splurge" on dehusked spirit rice?

Spirit rice was certainly tastier than spirit grain.

But one jin of grain only yielded eight liang of rice. Wang Chen truly could not afford it!

Though grain husks were hard to swallow, they still contained a trace of spiritual energy.

And they filled the stomach easily.

Wang Chen polished off the entire big pot of cooked spirit grain with a small dish of pickles fermented under his own feet.

Not a scrap remained.

"Burp~"

Letting out a satisfied belch, Wang Chen cleaned up the pot, ladle, bowls, and chopsticks.

Then he went to the main room.

His house was very small.

The main room, around thirty square meters in size, was divided into a bedroom and a quiet room. Other than a bed, a cabinet, and a table with chairs, there was no decent furniture to speak of.

The quiet room contained only an old meditation cushion on the floor.

Wang Chen sat cross-legged on the cushion.

He began his thrice-daily technique cultivation.

After a meal was the best time to cultivate, allowing him to absorb and digest the spiritual energy and nutrients in the spirit grain to the fullest.

Nourishing his body and strengthening his Dantian.

Wang Chen was only at the third layer of Qi Condensation. He was still far from opening his top aperture and establishing his Purple Mansion.

If he cultivated by absorbing the scattered spiritual energy of the outside world, the efficiency would be far too low.

He could not afford pills or a Spirit Gathering Array, either.

So he could only rely on spirit food to sustain his daily cultivation.

Casting aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, Wang Chen sank his qi into his Dantian and silently circulated his technique, guiding a strand of pure mana upward through his hundred meridians.

It flowed endlessly through his limbs and bones.

The writhing of his stomach quietly sped up as the spiritual energy broken down from the spirit grain was refined bit by bit.

It transformed into mana and returned to his Dantian for storage.

The cycle repeated itself.

Five Elements Technique · Experience +1

The message that suddenly appeared in his field of vision startled Wang Chen awake from his deepest meditative state.

Only then did he realize that he had already completed this cultivation session.

Rubbing his chin, Wang Chen summoned the Cultivation Panel.

His attention focused on the technique section.

Five Elements Technique (Third Layer): 299/300

It hadn't changed at all!

Wang Chen's defenses instantly shattered.

If the Cultivation Panel had been a person, and Wang Chen had a gun in his hand—

he would definitely grab the other by the throat, press the gun to his head, and demand, "Don't tell me, you brat, skimmed off all the benefits the Huang Army gave me!"

He had eaten a pound and a half of Spirit Grain and cultivated for Twelve Heavenly Cycles.

Yet there had been no progress whatsoever.

Fine, no progress was one thing—but was the "Five Elements Technique · Experience +1" notification trying to toy with him?

Where had that +1 gone? Into the sea cucumber?

Damn it!

Wang Chen forced himself to calm down.

Following his memories, he formed a hand seal, and faint, clear Spiritual Light glimmered at his fingertips.

"Go!"

With a flick of his finger, the Spiritual Light scattered and danced, silently drifting into every corner of the quiet room.

The dust and ash in the room were swept away in an instant.

Spotless!

Cleanse Art · Experience +1

The moment Wang Chen saw the notification, he hurriedly summoned the Cultivation Panel again.

Cleanse Art (Beginner): 86/100

It had gone up by 1 point!

Wang Chen immediately understood.

It wasn't that the system had swallowed the benefits he deserved.

It was that this body was simply too weak and pathetic, stuck at the bottleneck and unable to break through in his cultivation technique!