Planting a Spiritual Root Brings Freedom, Breaking Free from the Head Cage Returns Liberty!

A day later.

Early morning.

The sound of clang~ clang~ rang throughout Spirit Manor.

Ning Zheng jolted awake from his sleep.

Had those blacksmiths come down the mountain?

Listening carefully, he realized it was the sound of gongs and drums outside, lively and bustling, with people setting off firecrackers.

Yes, there really were firecrackers.

For a hundred years, these people had maintained their living habits and daily routines from when they were alive. They could farm, raise pigs, and weave cloth, so why would they be forbidden from making firecrackers?

"It's New Year! It's New Year!"

Early in the morning, Ning Jiaojiao knocked on the door. "Aunt Li from next door told me the Yearly Market has opened. Let's go play at the Yearly Market."

Ning Zheng was momentarily dazed.

He had grown another year since coming to this world.

Those blacksmiths had arrived more than a week ago. They were a fierce, swift-moving bunch who had immediately dealt a heavy blow to the great scourge known as the crows. Now was the perfect time to celebrate an auspicious New Year.

The blacksmiths had left him utterly frazzled these past few days!

Fortunately, they were taking the day off today. They could have fun, enjoy themselves, and relax a little.

After thinking for a moment, Ning Zheng nodded. He dressed and washed up. "Let's go. We'll visit the Yearly Market and have a good time today."

Ning Jiaojiao was an Earthbound Spirit. Connected to her roots, she could not travel very far.

But the Yearly Market was in the neighboring village, so Ning Jiaojiao could still go there and move about.

"Jiaojiao, we're heading out."

After he spoke, Ning Zheng checked today's Luck Value.

His 500 Luck Value had suddenly risen to 527, while Ning Jiaojiao's 105 Luck Value had shot up to an astonishing 251.

"It's the New Year, and we've gotten off to a flying start. What an auspicious sign!"

Ning Zheng understood. This trip to the Yearly Market would not be dangerous. Instead, there would be some kind of opportunity.

He wondered which elder from the village was being so considerate.

With his 500 Luck Value, all kinds of minor lucky breaks happened constantly. That was normal.

Several years ago, when he had first visited the Yearly Market, he had successfully found a bargain and obtained basic Cultivation Methods. That was how he had stepped onto the path of cultivation.

To outsiders, it was a mighty Hundred Ghosts Night Parade—a march of ghost soldiers!

A traveler passing through the deep mountains and encountering it would have only a slim chance of survival!

But Ning Zheng was different. He had blended in among the elders and villagers, and after pretending to be dead for so long, he had developed quite a favorable impression of the ghost market.

A slim chance of survival?

My luck is good. As long as it isn't certain death, I'll be safe.

Instead, he felt that although the elders and villagers put on an "I'm very fierce" expression, they were fierce, adorable, and endearingly cute. They had even helped him save up a full 200,000 in starting capital.

After packing his bundle, he slung the Bronze Sword over his back and called Ning Jiaojiao before heading out.

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

They carried large and small bundles, seemingly preparing to visit the Yearly Market and join in the festivities.

Perhaps in outsiders' eyes, it was a horror film filled with people occasionally sticking out crooked tongues, eyeballs bursting, and heads tumbling off.

To Ning Zheng, it had long since become commonplace.

"Aunt Li, are you going to sell dried earthworms?"

Ning Zheng called out a greeting as he walked past.

The mountain road was easy enough to travel.

With nothing else to do, Ning Zheng and Ning Jiaojiao admired the scenery. Before long, they arrived at the Yearly Market.

When they reached the street, rows of shops stood on either side, and the surroundings were lively and bustling.

The ground was covered with stalls.

Many people wore minority ethnic clothing. Some men and women possessed Cultivation Levels and wore golden rice-blossom braids. From time to time, people performed lion dances and sang mountain songs.

Ning Jiaojiao was delighted. She took Magic Coins and bought things everywhere. After all, ordinary people rarely used Magic Coins, but they did not refuse to accept them.

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

"Candied hawthorn! Big, sweet candied hawthorn!"

"Would you like to try our rice-blossom wine? It's brewed from our daughter's rice-blossom braid, and every grain of Spirit Rice is plump and full."

"Fortune-telling! I can tell you an auspicious day!"

The sounds around them were exceptionally lively.

As for the things they sold?

They looked beautiful because the ghosts had clouded people's eyes.

A cultivator only needed to cover their eyes with spiritual energy to know what their candied hawthorn and baked cakes truly were.

Of course, a small portion of the goods were genuine.

Mud jars and bolts of cloth, for example, were truly made by people following the routines of their lives before death, then brought out for sale.

But dead people's goods tainted with yin energy were bad for the body.

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

"If you want one, go ahead. Remember to exchange the Magic Coins for silver," Ning Zheng casually replied as he followed behind her. One Magic Coin could be exchanged for quite a lot of silver, so its purchasing power was high.

Those pigs, chickens, and ducks would reveal themselves to be just as strange as the villagers once taken home. They were empty bubbles filled with a wisp of yin energy—the livestock that had died alongside the villagers.

The Earthbound Spirits of chickens, ducks, and pigs that had lived for a hundred years would even disperse on their own once they were taken far enough away.

Ning Zheng did not eat them.

Ning Jiaojiao, however, ate with gusto. She believed she was alive, and the pig believed it was alive too, so it really could be eaten!

But in the end, it was only a wisp of energy.

It had no nutrition and merely satisfied the appetite.

As ghosts, they still had to eat living creatures—ones with blood and flesh. It was instinct, which was why they preyed on the living.

Although Ning Zheng could greet the elders and villagers and coexist peacefully with them, that was only because they were old acquaintances. If someone else accidentally entered this ghost market, things would become interesting. Killing intent lurked everywhere!

It was extremely easy to provoke them.

For example, if you bought a pig, you had to offer yourself as payment.

If you refused, they would stuff all your flesh and blood into the pig's empty bubble, turning it into a real pig, then lead it home to slaughter and eat.

Yet in all these years, Ning Zheng had never seen many people accidentally wander in.

The only few were the slave blacksmiths on the mountain who had offended the Old Steward and been thrown down the mountain. They thought they were free and happily wandered around the streets, only to be stuffed into pigs by the pig seller and led away.

As for why Ning Zheng did not save them?

They had bullied him on the mountain. He was not some fool who repaid evil with kindness.

This place was so dangerous. What if bringing an enemy along got him implicated? What if they deliberately set him up?

Besides, he could barely eat his fill by fishing. Why bring along a burden?

It was best for Spirit Manor to have only one living person.

"Come on, let's look around over there." Ning Jiaojiao bought a beautiful hairpin at a stall, stood up, and headed for another stall.

At Sword Forging Manor.

"Look, fireworks!"

Several blacksmiths' eyes lit up in front of the Blacksmith Shop.

They had noticed that things below the mountain had grown increasingly lively and festive. It seemed a holiday was coming. Judging by this spectacle, the New Year really was approaching.

The main theme was festivity!

"The market has begun, and we don't have any time left!"

In the open space, Su Yu Niang said to everyone, "Everyone has been studying for several days. I believe all of you top students have gained extraordinary insights. Today, we'll illuminate our Original Hearts, open the Three Flowers, and change to the hidden class—Enchanting Master!"

"While people below the mountain set off fireworks, we'll make Three Flowers Bloom above our heads!"

"Someone has already reserved a stall at the market below the mountain. Any other blacksmiths who want to set up a street stall and do business, follow me!"

"Don't be afraid of death. After you die, you can just log in again, select a new race—the human race!"

Soon.

The first batch of more than thirty Money Boys and Money Girls sat cross-legged, their eyes tightly closed.

As they calmed their minds and cleared their thoughts, they began planting Spiritual Roots, opening the Heaven and Earth Bridge, and comprehending spiritual energy, seeking to become cultivators.

Boom!!

Before long, as they connected with Heaven and Earth, an enormous amount of heavenly and earthly information began surging into the three windows of their minds.

They could only grit their teeth and guard their Original Hearts.

Strands of ancient, lingering turbid energy in the air carried a vast amount of remnants from Heaven and Earth into their minds, causing them to grow frantic and lose control of their wills.

"Hahaha! So that's how it is! So that's how it is!"

Someone shouted. A delicate Void Flower bloomed atop his head, followed immediately by a second Void Flower.

When the third flower blossomed, his entire head rapidly melted away. He revealed a benevolent, peaceful smile, as if something had possessed him. His voice sank into a low, manic old man's rasp:

"The head is the shackles of the will."

"Reason is a prison cage for captives. Only madness grants freedom to one's true nature!!"

He threw back his head and unleashed a hoarse, frenzied howl that rang throughout the Mountain Villa, as if he were venting all the madness that had built up inside him.

"Your Daoist master has understood! I'm free!"

Crash.

His entire body went limp. His head opened like a blooming rose. He stood and staggered forward several steps in a daze before collapsing dead.

Beside him, another person sat cross-legged. Wisps of heavenly and earthly energy poured into the Three Flowers above his head, which were about to condense into the three flowers of essence, energy, and spirit.

The first flower formed.

The second flower formed.

The third flower suddenly shattered. Petals broke apart one after another as withered flames burned!

At that instant, this blacksmith also seemed to be possessed by something from Heaven and Earth, giving off the air of a down-and-out ancient scholar traveling to take the imperial examination.

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

"Planting a Spiritual Root brings freedom. Breaking free from the head cage returns liberty!!"

His face transformed into that of a scholar. He twisted it and burst into laughter, then suddenly tore his head open and collapsed dead. Even before death, he continued muttering, "The head cage~! The head cage!!~"

Several people beside him silently recorded everything, their brows drawing tighter and tighter:

"They no longer know who they are. When Three Flowers Bloom, they no longer know themselves."

Who would have thought that the first step into the immortal gate in this world would be even stranger and more treacherous than imagined?