Growth Talent

In her daze, Zhou Ling was jolted awake by a piercing howl.

With great effort, he opened his eyes and saw two Black Fur Wolf corpses sprawled on a rocky shore not far away, blood pooling across the ground.

He stared blankly at the scene before him, terrified senseless by the bloody sight, and hurriedly squeezed his eyes shut.

He thought he was having a nightmare.

But then a soft hand landed on his bottom, and he opened his mouth wide, bursting into loud tears.

"Thank goodness, he's alive!"

Hearing his cries, Li Ru heaved a sigh of relief. A reassured smile appeared on her pale face. It was good enough that he was alive.

In his daze, something seemed to clang inside Zhou Ling's mind.

Activated talent [Stronger from Adversity].

Achieved [Naturally Malnourished], Comprehension +1, Physique +2.

At once, Zhou Ling stopped crying, and his tightly shut eyes opened again.

He curiously surveyed this world, and the sight before him became clear once more.

That was right. There truly were two black wolf corpses lying not far away.

"Husband, it's a boy! What do you think we should name him?"

Li Ru asked the young man standing some distance away. His face was pale, but he had a burly build and a handsome, honest-looking face.

"Let's call him Zhou Ling. I hope that when he grows up, he'll have ambitions that soar into the clouds, unlike us husband and wife, who have to risk our lives entering the mountains to gather herbs!"

The man gazed at the infant in Li Ru's arms and spoke gently.

The outer garment he wore was already worn through, with several patches of blood on it. Most of it was probably black wolf blood, though some might have been his own.

Only then did Zhou Ling suddenly realize that he had transmigrated—and had even become a newborn baby. The woman and man before him were his parents.

Something about the scene before him felt off, but for the moment, his mind was blank and hazy.

Yet a speck of blue light flickered, and then a panel appeared.

[Name]: Zhou Ling

[Spiritual Root]: Five Elements Low-grade 2/100

[Physical Quality]: Comprehension (Mediocre 1/100), Physique (At Deaths Door 2/100)

[Unique Talent]: Stronger from Adversity

[Growth Talent]: Naturally Malnourished

[Cultivation Method]: None

[Skill]: None

Zhou Ling felt that he had gained some ability to think and could observe his surroundings. Opening his eyes, he looked at his mother and father and seemed able to sense their anxiety.

Both of them were pale-faced, their bodies covered in bloodstains.

Then he looked again at the two black wolf corpses in the distance.

Zhou Ling's scalp tingled, and he wanted only to leave this place as quickly as possible.

Instinctively, he began wailing at the top of his lungs.

"The child is probably hungry. Ru'er, hurry and feed him. Don't attract any other Demon Beasts. With our injuries, we won't be able to deal with them."

The man spoke hurriedly.

"Ah, Ling'er has suffered enough. Mother will feed you now."

Li Ru said softly.

The next moment, Zhou Ling felt something soft stuffed into his mouth, and he instinctively began to suck.

But after sucking for a long while, nothing came out.

He could not help bursting into tears.

Hm?

[Growth Talent, No Mother's Milk Feeding: Consuming other foods containing spiritual energy or essence blood grants double growth value. Requirement: Suckle mother's milk twenty times in total.]

"This..."

Zhou Ling cried bitterly in his heart. This was a complete hell-mode opening. Leaving aside the danger all around him, he could not even get a warm mouthful of food!

"Is this the system's main function? Obtaining Growth Talents? As long as I complete the prompted tasks, I can obtain the corresponding Growth Talents?"

Although he had not sucked any fresh milk, Zhou Ling continued sucking.

He had no choice but to suck!

He had to achieve this No Mother's Milk Feeding Growth Talent as soon as possible, or he feared he would starve to death!

"Husband, I was injured just now. I don't have any milk for our son!"

Although the child's biting hurt a little, Li Ru spoke with a face full of guilt.

Zhou Shan could not help getting to his feet. His gaze swept across the surroundings, and his face was full of anxiety.

Then he looked at the Black Fur Wolf corpses and walked over.

He took a Clay Bowl from his Storage Pouch.

The knife in his hand skillfully sliced across the Black Fur Wolf's body.

Before long, a bowl of wolf blood still giving off steam was brought before Zhou Ling.

"Our son was just born. Is it all right to give him this?"

Looking at the half-bowl of wolf blood, Li Ru froze. Her pale face showed that she did not want her child drinking wolf blood.

"We can't worry about that now. If more Black Fur Wolves come later, we'll be in trouble!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Shan said helplessly with a grave expression, then began feeding Zhou Ling the wolf blood.

[You have suckled mother's milk twenty times!]

[Effect: Suckled mother's milk twenty times in total.]

[No Mother's Milk Feeding Talent achieved!]

By then, Zhou Ling was so hungry that his vision had gone black. He did not care what was in the bowl and impatiently began sucking it down like mad.

A scorching, rich stench of blood rushed down his throat.

[Physique +1, Physique +1...]

[At Deaths Door 8/100.]

After finishing the small bowl of wolf blood, Zhou Ling was still not satisfied and licked his lips.

He could feel his stamina and strength improve somewhat. He was no longer as weak as before, with that feeling of being at death's door.

But it was only a slight improvement. It could not make him much stronger. At heart, he was still an infant with Insufficient Blood Qi and needed a long time to grow.

"Good boy, you take after me. Tough as nails!"

Zhou Shan's voice was hoarse with exhaustion, but when he saw the infant's little mouth covered in blood, he still laughed heartily.

"Husband, let's put away the Demon Beast corpses and hurry back to camp!"

Li Ru looked at the child, her eyes filled with pity and self-blame. Reaching out, she gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and spoke weakly.

Zhou Shan nodded.

Ten days later, they left the wilderness camp and returned to an immortal city called Lingxia City.

Over those ten days, Li Ru's injuries had been serious, and she had never produced any milk.

Therefore, Zhou Ling drank Demon Beast Essence Blood for ten days.

He thoroughly cast off his At Deaths Door state.

His status had also changed to Insufficient Blood Qi 6/1000.

At the same time, because they were in the wilderness camp and he heard Demon Beast howls every night,

Zhou Ling activated another new Growth Talent: [Crisis Reaction], which allowed him to sense danger in the shortest possible time.

Each use consumed a great deal of mental energy.

Perhaps because he had transmigrated, Zhou Ling's mental energy was comparatively stronger.

At present, he could barely use this Crisis Reaction Talent, though only within a very limited range.

Yet in this perilous world, this talent skill was undoubtedly extremely practical.

Over these brief ten days, Zhou Ling also encountered danger several times.

For example, once Zhou Shan obtained fresh Demon Beast blood from other Monster Hunters in the camp, but the blood had been contaminated by Miasma Poison. If Zhou Ling drank it, the outcome would likely have been grim indeed.

Another time, a Poison Scorpion crawled into the camp in the middle of the night.

His parents were exhausted, and their injuries had yet to recover, so they slept deeply.

Zhou Ling could only rely on instinct and wail loudly, waking the two of them so they could kill the Poison Scorpion.

After his Physique leveled up, consuming Demon Beast Essence Blood no longer improved his Physique as quickly as before.

But because his mother had disturbed the fetal qi when killing the Black Fur Wolves, causing him to be born prematurely,

he still showed obvious malnutrition.

Had he not activated a Growth Talent and gained doubled growth value from consuming Demon Beast Essence Blood, he would likely have died long ago.

Over these days, through conversations between his parents and the other Herb Seekers, he also gained a rough understanding of the world he had transmigrated into.

This was a cultivation world.

The ones who now ruled this vast and boundless cultivation world were the so-called Dao Alliance.

The Dao Alliance governed countless human immortal cities.

But that had little to do with low-level cultivators.

Low-level Rogue Cultivators still lived difficult lives, struggling bitterly in pursuit of the Dao.

Take Zhou Shan, for example. He was a Body Cultivator at the Mid First-Tier.

His wife, Li Ru, was at the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation.

The couple had no particular skills, so they had no choice but to choose the dangerous profession of Herb Seeker.

Every month, they had to form teams with other Rogue Cultivators and enter the Wild Domain to search for spirit herbs.

They exchanged spirit herbs for Spirit Stones to maintain the couple's daily cultivation and survive in Lingxia Immortal City.

But searching for spirit herbs in the Wild Domain was exceedingly dangerous. Demon Beasts were everywhere in the Wild Domain, and encountering one meant nine chances of death for every one chance of life.

Yet the exorbitant cost of living in Lingxia Immortal City left them with no other choice.

Within Lingxia Immortal City, the overwhelming majority of Rogue Cultivators lacked inheritances. They busied themselves every day earning Spirit Stones, and for their entire lives, most could only remain cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm.

Qi Refining Cultivators were merely the lowest, most humble existences under the Dao Alliance's rule.

Still, no matter what, Zhou Ling felt it had to be better than his previous life of miserable 996 work hours and endless mortgage payments every day!

In the blink of an eye, more than three months passed.

After developing over these days, Zhou Ling gradually grew sturdier.

He also gradually mastered how to use his Golden Finger.

He learned that it was an achievement-oriented Golden Finger. Every time it triggered a task, completing it would allow him to condense a Growth Talent.

Over these days, he activated another new talent.

[Growth Talent, Physique Evolution: Physical strength gained through exertion increases by multiples. Requirement: Move the body one thousand times.]

[Total movements: 988/1000]

Zhou Ling glanced at the talent progress on the panel and continued crawling back and forth across the wooden bed.

"Cough, cough. Son, instead of sleeping properly, you crawl around all day."

"Mother has work to do. I don't have that much time to look after you."

Li Ru wore plain cloth clothes. Her face was graceful and beautiful as she sat by the bed, narrowing her eyes slightly while sorting herbs in a bamboo winnowing basket.

The room was not brightly lit.

Zhou Ling's home was on a secluded street at the edge of the West Side of Lingxia Immortal City. The house was rather old, with two rooms and a small hall, as well as a small open space in front, enough for a family of three.

But the rent was not cheap either—six Low-grade Spirit Stones every month.

Most of the nearby residents were low-level Rogue Cultivators like Zhou Shan, who made a living by searching for spirit herbs in the wilderness or doing odd jobs.

When she saw Zhou Ling crawl to the edge of the wooden bed, Li Ru's eyes brimmed with affection. She could not help getting up and carrying him back to the middle of the bed.

At the same time, she murmured doubtfully, "My son clearly still has Insufficient Blood Qi, so why is he this active?"

"He can crawl for so long at just over three months old?"

"Could it be because his father is a Body Cultivator?"

Seeing Zhou Ling sit down only to restlessly wave his hands again and again, she smiled and said softly, "Ling'er, are you hungry? Mother will make you some porridge!"

Because the injuries within her body had yet to fully recover, she had never produced milk.

After returning to Lingxia City, she no longer fed Zhou Ling beast blood and instead switched to Spirit Rice Porridge.

"Don't move around!"

Li Ru reminded him before heading toward the small Kitchen outside.

Zhou Ling looked at the panel, stretched out his little hands again, and continued crawling.

There was no other way. Crawling was the only effective method available to him now.

[You are crawling. Arm strength +1, leg strength +1, Physique +1.]

[Effect: Crawled 1001 times in total.]

[Growth Talent Physique Evolution achieved.]

[Total movements: 1001/10,000.]

Zhou Ling crawled back and forth across the wooden bed as he watched the prompts emerge on the panel.

His heart surged with excitement.

After all this time, he had finally activated his fourth Growth Talent.

Especially since his current physical condition was still malnourished.

From now on, as long as he performed some simple exercise every day, he could improve his Physique.

Of course, the only things he could do now were wave his hands and crawl around.

"Ling'er, why have you crawled out again!"

At this moment, Li Ru came in carrying a Clay Bowl in her hands.

A faint fragrance of Spirit Rice spread through the room.

Li Ru was a skilled cook. Though it was only simple paste, she had added some Spirit Rice and spiritual herbs to it, making it both nourishing and delicious.

Sitting by the bed, she gently blew on the paste in the bowl. Once she felt it was no longer too hot, she picked up a spoon, scooped up a small spoonful, and began feeding Zhou Ling.

A bowl of Spirit Rice medicinal paste went down his throat.

[Physique +1, Insufficient Blood Qi 506/1000.]

After eating, Zhou Ling continued crawling.

"Ling'er, can't you rest for a while?" Li Ru said, her face brimming with doting affection.

Over the next month.

As the number of times he crawled increased, the strength in Zhou Ling's limbs steadily grew as well.

Not only did his crawling proficiency continuously rise, but he gradually became able to stand, though he still could not walk.

[You are crawling, Physique +1, arm and leg strength +1, crawling proficiency +1]

To increase his crawling efficiency, Zhou Ling was no longer content with the tiny wooden bed.

He climbed down from the bed and crawled back and forth around the small room.

Li Ru was busy gathering and drying herbs, and she also had to prepare several meals for him each day, so she did not pay much attention to him.

A month later, Zhou Ling learned how to walk as well.

[You are walking, Physique +1, body coordination +1, walking proficiency +1]

[Physique malnutrition 1/10000]

"After half a year of effort, this body can finally be said to be improving!"

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

From his parents' usual conversations with neighboring friends, he had also learned that the Physique of children in this world far surpassed that of Blue Star, where he had lived in his previous life.

Some children were even exceptionally gifted, able to absorb spiritual energy and cultivate before they were even a month old.

As for his own Physical Quality, it had already fallen far behind.

So from here on, he had to rise with all his strength and chase after them.

Zhou Ling swung his arms as he thought to himself.