Planting a Spiritual Root for Freedom, Breaking Free from the Cage!

One day later.

Early morning.

The sound of "Duang~Duang~" echoed throughout the spirit manor.

Ning Zheng was startled awake from his sleep.

Did those blacksmiths go down the mountain?

Upon listening closely, he realized it was the sound of gongs and drums outside, lively and festive, with people setting off firecrackers.

Yes, there were firecrackers.

For a hundred years, these people maintained their pre-death behaviors and daily lives, even farming, raising pigs, and weaving. Was it too much to ask for them to make firecrackers?

"It's New Year's, it's New Year's!"

Early in the morning, Ning Jiaojiao knocked on the door, "Aunt Li next door told me the annual market has opened, let's go have fun at the market this year."

Ning Zheng was dazed for a moment.

Coming to this world, I've gotten a year older.

That group of blacksmiths arrived a little over a week ago. They were decisive and powerful, immediately taking down the crows, a major pest. Now was the perfect time for a prosperous new year.

These past few days, the blacksmiths had given him a real headache!

Might as well take a day off today, enjoy himself, and relax.

Ning Zheng pondered for a moment, then nodded, got dressed, and washed up. "Let's go to the annual market, let's have fun today."

Ning Jiaojiao was a bound earth spirit, connected by roots, so it couldn't travel far.

However, the annual market was in the neighboring village, so Ning Jiaojiao could still go there to explore.

"Jiaojiao, we're going out."

As he spoke, Ning Zheng checked his luck for the day.

His 500 luck value suddenly rose to 527, and Ning Jiaojiao's 105 luck value jumped to an astonishing 251.

"This is the start of the new year, a strong start, a good omen!"

Ning Zheng understood. The trip to the annual market was not dangerous; instead, there was some kind of opportunity.

I wonder which of the fellow villagers is so kind?

With his 500 luck, he already experienced constant small strokes of good fortune, so this was within the realm of normal.

A few years ago, the first time he went to the annual market, he successfully found a hidden gem and obtained a basic cultivation method, which allowed him to enter the path of cultivation.

To outsiders, it was a grand hundred ghosts night parade! Ghost soldiers passing through!

Travelers who passed through the deep mountains and encountered it faced a one-in-nine chance of survival!

But Ning Zheng was different. He had blended in with the fellow villagers, pretending to be dead for so long, that he had developed a fondness for the ghost market.

A one-in-nine chance of survival?

My luck is good. As long as it's not a ten-in-ten chance of death, it's safe.

Instead, he felt that although the fellow villagers looked fierce, they also gave him luck and were fierce yet cute, allowing him to accumulate this starting capital of 200,000.

He packed his bag, slung his bronze sword over his shoulder, and called Ning Jiaojiao to head out.

There were more people in the village than usual, coming and going.

Carrying large bags and small packages, they seemed to be preparing to head to the annual market to join the festivities.

Perhaps to outsiders, it was an incomparably terrifying scene, with occasional tongue-lolling, bulging eyes, and severed heads – a horror movie perspective that Ning Zheng was accustomed to.

"Aunt Li, going to sell dried earthworms?"

Ning Zheng greeted her and walked along the way.

The mountain path was quite easy to walk.

Ning Zheng and Ning Jiaojiao enjoyed the scenery as they walked, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the annual market.

They entered the street, with shops lining both sides, and the surroundings were bustling with activity.

The ground was covered with stalls.

Many people were wearing ethnic minority clothing. Some men and women had cultivation, with golden rice-ear braids. Occasionally, people were performing lion dances and singing folk songs.

Ning Jiaojiao was very happy, using magic coins to buy things everywhere. After all, ordinary people rarely used magic coins, but they were not refused.

Live pigs, chickens, and ducks were also squawking in cages.

"Sugar-coated haws, big and sweet sugar-coated haws."

"Would you like to try our rice-ear wine? Brewed by my daughter with her rice-ear braids, the spiritual rice grains are plump."

"Fortune-telling, choosing auspicious days..."

The surrounding sounds were very lively.

As for the things they were selling?

It looks wonderful, but that's just the ghosts blinding you.

If cultivators cover their eyes with spiritual energy, they'll know what those candied hawthorns and baked flatbreads are really made of.

Of course, a small portion of the products are genuine.

For example, the clay pots and cloth. They are genuinely produced following the daily lives of the deceased, and then sold.

But anything that has been touched by Yin energy and belonged to the dead is bad for the body.

"I want to buy a chicken," Ning Jiaojiao said.

"Go ahead if you want to buy one, just remember to exchange your magic coins for silver," Ning Zheng followed along, casually agreeing. One magic coin could be exchanged for quite a bit of silver; their purchasing power was very high.

Those pigs, chickens, and ducks, when brought back, would be revealed to be the same as the villagers – they were ghouls, just empty husks, filled with Yin energy, and were the livestock that died along with the villagers.

The bound earth spirits of chickens, ducks, and pigs that had lived for a hundred years would dissipate on their own if they were too far away.

Ning Zheng didn't eat them.

Ning Jiaojiao, however, ate them with great relish. She thought she was alive, and the pigs thought they were alive, so they could actually be eaten!

But in the end, it was just an empty sensation.

There was no nutrition, only the gratification of the palate.

As ghouls, they still had to eat living things, with flesh and blood. This was instinct, which was why they harmed living people.

Even though Ning Zheng greeted the fellow villagers and got along fine, it was because they were old acquaintances. If someone else stumbled into this ghost market, it would be interesting – fraught with danger!

It was very easy to provoke them.

For example, if you wanted to buy a pig, you'd have to offer yourself as payment.

If you refused, they'd stuff your entire body's flesh and blood into the pig's empty husk, turning the pig into a corporeal being, and drag you home to slaughter and eat.

But in all these years, Ning Zheng hadn't seen many people accidentally wander in.

The few who did were slave blacksmiths from the mountain who had offended the old steward and were thrown down the mountain. They thought they were free and happily went shopping, only to be stuffed into pigs by the pig sellers and dragged away.

As for why Ning Zheng didn't save them?

They bullied him on the mountain, and he wasn't a fool who would repay evil with good.

It was so dangerous here; if he saved an enemy and kept them by his side, what if they implicated him or deliberately set a trap for him?

Besides, he couldn't even catch enough fish to eat, so why bring an extra burden?

In the spirit manor, it was best if he remained the only living person.

"Let's go, let's wander over there," Ning Jiaojiao bought a beautiful hairpin from a stall, stood up, and moved to another one.

At the Sword Forging Manor.

"Look quickly, fireworks!"

In front of the blacksmith shop, several blacksmiths' eyes lit up.

They had previously sensed that it was getting livelier and more festive down the mountain, thinking it might be a holiday. Seeing this display, it was indeed time for the Lunar New Year.

The main theme was festivity!

"The market has started, we're out of time!"

In the open space, Su Yu Niang said to everyone, "You've all been studying for a few days, and I believe all you top students have gained considerable insights. Today, we will clarify our true intentions, open the Three Flowers, and transfer to the hidden profession, Enchanter!"

"They're setting off fireworks down the mountain, and we're opening the Three Flowers above our heads!"

"Yan Hua has already reserved a spot to set up a stall at the market below. Other blacksmiths who want to set up stalls and do business, follow me!"

"Don't be afraid of death. If you die, you can just log back in and choose a new race, the Human race!"

Soon.

The first batch of over thirty Money Boys and Money Girls sat cross-legged, their eyes slightly closed.

In a state of calm and tranquility, they began to plant their spiritual roots, open the Heaven and Earth Bridge, sense spiritual energy, and aspire to become cultivators.

BOOM!!

In less than a moment, they connected heaven and earth, and vast amounts of information began to flood into the three windows of their minds.

They could only grit their teeth and hold onto their true intentions.

Streams of ancient, residual turbid energy from the air, mixed with a large amount of residual energy from heaven and earth, poured into their minds, causing them to become delirious and lose their will.

"Hahaha, so that's how it is, so that's how it is!"

Someone shouted, and a delicate, ethereal spirit flower bloomed above their head, followed by a second ethereal flower.

As the third flower bloomed, their entire head began to rapidly melt, revealing a kind and peaceful smile. It was as if they were possessed by something, and an old, deep, and frenzied voice emerged:

"The head is the shackle of the will."

"Reason is a cage that imprisons people; only through madness can one achieve the freedom of one's true nature!!"

They threw their heads back and let out a hoarse, wild roar that echoed throughout the manor, as if they were venting all their pent-up madness in this way.

"This Daoist Master has attained enlightenment! I am free!"

Splash.

The person's body went limp, their head blooming like a rose. They staggered a few steps forward in a daze before collapsing and dying.

Beside them, another person sat cross-legged, threads of heaven and earth energy surging into the three flowers atop their head. The process of condensing the three primordial flowers of essence, spirit, and mind was about to be completed.

The first flower formed.

The second flower formed.

The third flower suddenly collapsed, petals scattering, a withered flame burning!

At that very instant, this blacksmith seemed possessed by something from the heavens and earth. One could feel the aura of a down-on-his-luck ancient scholar rushing to take an imperial examination.

"Hahaha, I, Fan Zhijin, studied for thirty years! It's done, it's finally opened! The immortal gate has finally opened!!"

"Planting spiritual roots, enjoy freedom, break free from the cage and return to liberty!!"

His scholar's face contorted as he laughed wildly. He suddenly tore open his head and fell to the ground, dead. Even in death, he muttered, "The cage~! The cage!!~"

Several people nearby were silently taking notes, their brows furrowing deeper and deeper:

"They no longer know who they are after opening the three flowers. They don't know 'me' as 'me'."

Who would have thought that the first step to entering the immortal gate in this world would be more bizarre and dangerous than imagined.