Techniques, incantations—those were all just empty talk. They cost practically nothing to exchange.
But artifacts, blood, and things like that were completely different.
So if he wanted to exchange for tangible objects and bring them into the Great Zhou World, he would inevitably have to pay a much higher price.
"From this, we can see... the Main God Hall is still in the early stages of turning a spiritual space into a material one... There's a long road ahead..."
Wu Ming glanced at his status:
[Reincarnator Number: Gengshen 69] [Name: Wu Ming] [Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm, Fifth Level True Qi] [Equipment: None] [Title: Main God Apostle]
"Now that's what you call a blank slate..."
Wu Ming sighed, then raised his voice. "Main God Hall, pay one hundred minor merits to exchange for one chance to attain enlightenment in the Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique!"
[Ding! Detected that the Reincarnator possesses the Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique. Requirements met! One hundred minor merits consumed. Enlightenment commencing!]
A white pillar of light descended, enveloping Wu Ming.
Almost in an instant, he realized that seven hundred and fifty of his minor merits had been deducted, leaving him with only six hundred and fifty.
Of course, the pang of regret lasted only a moment. Then Wu Ming's consciousness turned hazy, as if he had arrived in the primeval wilderness of ancient times.
By a great river, trees and plants towered up to the clouds, blotting out the sun and moon. Every single thing around him was so enormous that it felt as if he had entered a land of giants.
Then, in a hollow by the riverbank, a small, shell-shaped mountain suddenly began to tremble, letting out a roar like a dragon's and an elephant's!
Rumble! Rumble!
As rocks tumbled, swaths of moss fell away, revealing the distinctive patterns of a turtle shell. Four immensely thick legs, covered in scales, webbed between the toes and tipped with sharp claws, stretched out. The little mountain suddenly rose to its feet, transforming into a primeval divine beast!
"This... the patterns on its back resemble a Soaring Serpent coiling around it, water and fire in harmony, sun and moon united... This is an Ancient Mystic Turtle!"
Wu Ming was shaken to the core, etching the sight deeply into his mind.
In the next instant, he returned to the Main God Space, and understood that everything he had just seen had been an illusion!
But that single glimpse was enough to make him remember forever the ancient, desolate aura of that primeval age.
"Though the divine turtle lives a long life, its days must still come to an end. Though the Soaring Serpent rides the mist, it will ultimately turn to dust..."
Wu Ming murmured the words. A wave of sorrow surged through him, filling him with the sense that life was fleeting. This in turn stirred feelings that the mortal world was like a dream, along with a great awakening: he must seek transcendence!
Amid this state of mind, the Qi Aura in his body shifted without his noticing. The Turtle Breath Technique's original path of circulating energy took a turn, becoming deeper and more mysterious, imbued with an air of true stillness.
Stillness amid nothingness, serenity born of nature; the spirit dwelling unseen within the unknowing—this was true stillness!
At this point, the Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique had not only been thoroughly mastered, but had also entered a state so profound it was difficult to describe.
[Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique (Initiated)]
After who knew how long, Wu Ming looked at the prompt that had appeared in his personal status. A note of feeling showed in his eyes. "Wu Qing said this Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique was derived from Daoist cultivation methods. It really does have something to it... The Main God Hall doesn't cheat its customers, either!"
Given his aptitude, even if he had devoted himself to cultivating the Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique, mastering it would not have happened overnight.
After all, simply identifying the acupoints and directing Qi through the meridians required the utmost care! There was no room for the slightest mistake. Anyone else—even a peerless genius—would have to proceed cautiously, working out every detail before daring to practice.
At this pace, even though Wu Ming had previously cultivated the closely related Turtle Breath Technique, it would still have taken him at least a hundred days to barely get started.
But now?
After a single bout of enlightenment, Wu Ming felt that the True Qi in his body had been completely transformed. What's more, his breathing was long and steady, faint as a whisper, seeming to stop and start; it had become almost instinctive, a sign that the technique had entered his body and flowed as naturally as a well-practiced skill!
"This one step has saved me at least half a year!"
Wu Ming was quite pleased. He looked through the dazzling exchange list again, especially the section on sorcery and Daoist arts, and couldn't help feeling a pang of regret.
"Since Wu Qing said she'd see about getting me into the Dao Academy, and she still seems confident despite my having been rejected once before... I can't practice techniques from other categories. It'd be bad enough if my aura were impure when they tested me; if they mistake me for a spy from another sect, I'd never be able to wash away the stain, even if I jumped into the Yellow River..."
What he could get from the Great Zhou World, he wouldn't trouble the Main God Hall for. That was the general rule Wu Ming had set for himself.
Take this time, for instance. He had received the Spirit Turtle Qi Cultivation Technique from Wu Qing, as well as a low-grade artifact, the Black Gold Ring—a haul worth nearly a thousand minor merits.
"I still have to save my merits. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I mustn't touch them before a dungeon mission, or before everything else is ready!"
Wu Ming browsed through the exchange list.
He had True Sight, so he didn't even look at the items marked as missing. Even so, the Main God Hall had more than enough to satisfy him at present.
"With a weapon like this in hand, what Dao couldn't I cultivate?"
The more Wu Ming browsed, the more confident he became.
"The poor study literature; the rich practice martial arts; cultivating magic arts can ruin a family! To practice sorcery, wealth, companions, techniques, and a suitable place are all indispensable. Of those, wealth is the most important!"
Though he couldn't exchange for them directly, Wu Ming still browsed extensively, and came to understand a few things.
Even to master the lowest-level spell techniques, the materials required were bizarre and varied.
Iron cores, golden essence, and silver amber were child's play. The materials for some obscure spells were enough to make anyone's head ache.
Take the Yin Binding Rope, for example. To practice that Daoist art alone, you had to collect the fetal hair of baby girls born in the yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour—and damn it, you needed hair from forty-nine different baby girls!
Then there was the Death Gate Nail, which required an iron nail from a locust-wood coffin buried in a yin place for over a hundred years. It even specified the coffin owner's cause of death, fate, and birth date!
Not to mention the finest cinnabar, talisman paper prepared over six or seven years, and spirit herbs that were decades or centuries old.
In short, there was nothing in cultivation that you could imagine needing that it didn't require!
Some of these materials couldn't be bought with money alone. You needed both wealth and influence!
"No wonder Wu Qing wants to enter the Dao Academy. Never mind the Daoist arts they teach; just the sheer variety of materials and equipment... isn't something a small Wu family could provide..."
Wu Ming rubbed his eyes. "But... the Main God Hall has all these materials. As long as you have enough merits, you can exchange for as many as you want! With such an enormous convenience right here, I'd be a fool not to plan carefully... But..."
Wu Ming thought of another troubling matter.
Since the Main God Hall charged to bring items in, there was no reason it wouldn't charge to take them out.
Given its greedy, twice-over way of squeezing merits from every exchange, it would be absurd if it didn't charge on both sides this time!
In other words, the items he exchanged for could at most be used within the Main God Space. If he wanted to take them outside to make a killing in trade? Heh... the taxes alone would leave him bleeding money!
"A pity... What a pity..."
Wu Ming was immediately dejected. "If my clearance let me bypass this layer of exploitation, I could make a fortune just by reselling goods..."
"...A madman whets his blade beneath the night; the imperial star wavers as Mars climbs high. Heaven and earth turn upside down from this day forth; why spare the strength of one's hand when killing..."
In the study, Wu Ming held a book, his expression dazed.
On the title page of the ancient book, the words "Historical Essays and Talks, Vol. 7" stood out in black and white.
Since he had come to the Great Zhou, he couldn't afford not to know its history. The Wu family was at least a wealthy household, and though the previous young wastrel had been good for nothing, there were still a few books in the study to decorate the place.
They had all fallen into Wu Ming's hands now.
"...After Great Xia came Great Shang. The last Shang emperor was tyrannical, and then the Great Zhou Grand Founder rose with the tide and established himself as ruler of the Central Plains. It has been two hundred and seventy years since..."
"In the seventh year of the Yongping era, Emperor Ling was on the throne. A great drought struck the capital region, leaving a thousand miles of scorched earth. A rebel named Huang Jie seized the opportunity and ravaged the capital region, forcing Emperor Ling to move the capital. Before long, he died of fear and worry... It took seventeen years to put Huang Jie down. This was known as the Rebellion of Yongping... From that point onward, the Great Zhou's fortunes declined day by day. Several emperors ascended the throne and died in succession within three years, until the current ruler took the throne and adopted the era name Ping'an. Sadly, he's no more than a boy of ten or so..."
Wu Ming closed the book and sighed. "With no mature ruler, the nation declines by the day. There are powerful ministers within, and Vassal Lords, military governors, and Military Governors without... The Hundred Schools of Thought are on the rise. This really is the prelude to a world in chaos... No wonder I have to live in a fortified manor..."
"But whether the world's in chaos or not has little to do with a nobody like me. What matters most is, why does Huang Jie's rebel poem sound so familiar?"
Wu Ming knocked on his head, then put the book down helplessly and headed for the training ground.
It still sounds familiar... Are there lots of transmigrators in this world?
Wu Ming's eyes went blank, and suddenly his chest jolted.
"Ouch!"
A girl's cry of pain rang out, followed by the sound of cups and saucers hitting the floor.
"This servant deserves to die! This servant deserves to die!" The girl in a lotus-green jacket and skirt apologized in a panic. Wu Ming, however, froze for a moment.
"Hmm? Miss Xiuyun, it's you!"
Wu Ming recognized her. The girl in front of him was none other than Li Xiuyun, the one from last time.
Back then, he had been afraid to see her and had hidden in the study. But later, when Wu Qing returned, she hadn't been polite to Li Xiuyun at all. She had driven her out of Wu Ming's bedroom and reclaimed Wu Ming's "territory."
After that, Wu Ming had rarely seen her, and he had no idea where she'd been assigned.
Now that he saw her, her circumstances didn't seem very good.
"Get up!"
Wu Ming reached out to help her, but when he saw her gaze, as wary as a startled fawn's, he awkwardly drew back his hand.
"Miss Xiuyun... I'm sorry. I'll have someone take you home right away!"
Knowing that she had been deliberately avoiding him and was terrified of him, Wu Ming said this.
"No! No! I won't go back. Young Master Ming, spare me! This servant is willing to do anything. Please don't send me away!"
Who knew that upon hearing he would send her home, Li Xiuyun would only grow more frightened? She was even trembling all over.
Wu Ming almost suspected she would throw herself at his legs the next moment. Curiosity stirred in him. "What exactly is going on? Just tell me!"
Before you continue