First Arrival

Wind and snow raged together.

Dusk.

A hunched figure appeared at the mouth of the alley, wiped the snow from his face, and pushed open the wooden gate of a dilapidated courtyard.

There were several rooms in the courtyard. He headed toward one of the inner rooms with practiced familiarity.

"Chen Lin, why did you go out in weather like this? Aren't you afraid of running into something uncanny?"

Apparently hearing the gate open, someone pushed open the window of another room, revealing a woman's sallow face.

"Oh, I ran out of rice, so I went out to buy some. I'm planning to go into seclusion for a while now."

Chen Lin pointed at the large bag in his hand as he answered.

The woman's eyes immediately lit up. She eagerly thrust her head out, shielding her forehead with one hand to keep snowflakes out of her eyes, and stared at the bag in Chen Lin's hand. "You managed to buy rice? Could you spare me some?"

"No!"

Chen Lin refused flatly and pulled open his door.

"I can trade something for it!"

The woman sounded even more desperate. She was about to run out of food.

"Do you still have anything valuable to trade?"

Chen Lin paused and looked at her doubtfully.

The woman opened her mouth, then suddenly gritted her teeth and thrust out her chest. "How about I spend a night with you?"

Bang!

His answer was the dull sound of the door shutting.

Disappointment appeared on the woman's face.

Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. She cast a sidelong glance and gave a strange, cold sneer. "Damn old bastard. You deserve to stay a bachelor! I curse you to eat and never shit again! Just wait until I break through to the mid Qi refinement realm. I'll make you pay!"

"Pah!"

She spat viciously before slamming her window shut.

Snowflakes as large as goose feathers instantly covered the footprints in the courtyard. The entire city lay shrouded in the blizzard.

Standing inside his room, Chen Lin silently watched the woman's face disappear through the window, then turned away.

He took off his hat, shook the snow from his clothes, and emptied the rice into the rice jar.

He found a few pieces of firewood and relit the extinguished stove. The room slowly warmed.

After staring blankly into the fire for a while, Chen Lin sighed, stood up, and began cooking.

He put the washed rice on the stove, then turned and walked over to a battered wooden table.

Once seated, he opened the drawer.

First, he took a stack of palm-sized yellow paper from his pocket, then brought out a silver writing brush.

Finally, he carefully pulled an ink-black bottle from his pocket and placed it on the table with the other items.

These were the talisman paper, talisman brush, and spirit ink used in talismancrafting.

Running out of rice was only part of the reason he had risked going outside this time. His main purpose had been to buy this spirit ink.

One tiny bottle cost several spirit stones, a price that made his heart bleed.

Glancing at the porridge simmering on the stove, Chen Lin drew a breath and laid out a sheet of talisman paper.

He saturated the silver talisman brush with spirit ink, adjusted his posture until it was just right, and grew solemn.

The tip of the brush touched down lightly. Fine lines shimmering with the glow of spirit ink appeared on the talisman paper, slowly forming one intricate runic inscription after another.

The drawing looked effortless, yet sweat began to bead on the tip of Chen Lin's nose, and his brush moved more and more slowly.

When the talisman was halfway finished, the runic inscriptions suddenly flickered twice in rapid succession, then burst with a bang.

Looking at the small scorched patch on the table before him, Chen Lin grimaced.

"A rank-one mid-grade talisman really is much harder than a Vigor Talisman. It also demands more mana. My cultivation at the second layer of Qi refining barely cuts it."

He shook his head and muttered to himself, then laid out another sheet of talisman paper.

The process repeated.

This time, he drew more of the runic lines than before, but he still could not escape the fate of failure. It exploded partway through.

Yet Chen Lin showed no discouragement. Calmly, he laid out another sheet of talisman paper.

Another failure.

He laid out another sheet.

Failure.

Another sheet.

Failure.

Like a robot, Chen Lin kept repeating the motions of drawing runic inscriptions.

And so it went.

He repeated it nine times in all.

Then came.

The tenth attempt.

His movements remained unchanged, and once again, the talisman began to flicker and rupture midway through.

But.

Just as the runic inscriptions flickered for a moment and were about to explode.

It was as though an unseen hand roughly gathered the energy that had already burst apart, then forcefully pressed it back into the talisman paper.

Immediately afterward.

The talisman paper flashed. The runic lines on it became clear and bright, then quickly settled down again.

A faint fireball pattern appeared on the talisman.

"Looks like my golden finger works for crafting rank-one mid-grade talismans too. That gives me another way to earn money. It's just a bit weak-only one success in ten attempts."

Chen Lin held the talisman in his hand, nodded, then shook his head.

As a transgressor, no matter how poor the identity he had acquired, he still received the essential perk.

It was just that this golden finger was something of a chicken rib-too meager to savor, yet too valuable to discard.

It was a talent ability he called "Ten Attempts One Hit."

Its full name could be: "When crafting any theoretically feasible item using the correct method, one out of every ten attempts is guaranteed to succeed."

Without the restriction of using the correct method, this ability would have been heaven-defying. With that restriction added, however, it was rather frustrating.

What counted as the correct method?

Suppose he wanted to refine a pill. First, he had to know its pill formula, become familiar with the refining steps, and possess a suitable Pill Cauldron and fire source. His cultivation also had to fall within a reasonable range.

Only then could he achieve one success in ten attempts.

"Forget it. It's better than nothing."

Chen Lin stopped complaining.

Having crossed into such a dangerous world with such a poor starting position, possessing an "ability" was already quite fortunate.

At least he could survive.

The fragrance of rice filled the room.

The porridge was ready.

Chen Lin put his thoughts aside, removed the pot from the stove, filled a bowl, and began slurping it down.

It might have been nothing more than rice porridge, but the rice was no ordinary rice. It was spirit rice. Not only did its flavor linger delightfully on the tongue, it also provided some benefit to his cultivation.

Naturally, it was not cheap: one spirit stone per catty.

Spirit stones were a type of ore containing spiritual power. Because they had many uses, they had become the currency of cultivators.

Their value naturally depended on how plentiful the mineral veins were.

From what he understood, there seemed to be quite a few spirit stone deposits here, so their purchasing power was only average. Most truly valuable goods were exchanged through the primitive method of barter.

Of course, however low the value of spirit stones might be, that was only relative. It did not mean they were easy to earn. The poor remained just as poor.

He normally would not dare indulge in such extravagance. This time, his cultivation had reached the peak of the second layer of Qi refining, and he wanted to see whether the energy in spirit rice could help him break through. Only then had he endured the pain of buying some.

He soon finished a bowl of porridge.

Gentle spiritual power began spreading from his stomach throughout his body.

It felt warm and very comfortable.

Unfortunately, there was too little spiritual power, and it soon disappeared.

Still craving more, Chen Lin was about to fill another bowl when a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Fellow Daoist Chen, it's me, Zhao Zhengyuan."

Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Lin quickly covered the porridge pot and set it aside. He also took out an Evil-Warding Talisman and held it concealed in his palm before walking over to open the door.

"What brings you here so late?"

After glancing at the honest-looking middle-aged man outside, Chen Lin showed no intention of inviting him in.

The man was also a tenant in this courtyard and had been on fairly good terms with the original owner of Chen Lin's body. Still, everything here was sinister, and he had to maintain the proper vigilance.

"Hehe, I could smell your spirit rice from my room. As it happens, I cooked my last piece of black-spotted tiger meat, and I've got a bottle of wine too. I thought I'd come over and have a drink with you."

The middle-aged man lifted the things in his hands and spoke with a cheerful smile.

Then, suddenly raising his head, he cast a sidelong glance and gave a strange, cold sneer.

The change was startlingly abrupt.

It was as though he had suddenly become someone else, his entire demeanor shifting with him. He had something of that sinister, unbridled arrogance spoken of in stories, and it was deeply unsettling.

But Chen Lin was no longer surprised.

Ever since arriving in this world, he had noticed that everyone here gave that same cold sneer from time to time.

For no apparent reason, at any time or place, they might suddenly do it.

After showing that smile, a person would instantly become utterly arrogant, refusing to bow to anyone.

Moreover, they themselves seemed completely unaware of it.

There was something wrong with everyone here.

Something terribly wrong!

Unfortunately, his cultivation was too weak for him to do anything. He could only bury his terror deep inside and slowly search for a way to unravel it.

And to avoid attracting attention, he occasionally mimicked the gesture himself.

Chen Lin cast a sidelong glance and sneered coldly. "Sure. Let's have a drink together."

As it happened, he had some things he wanted to ask the man, so he nodded in agreement.

Just then, the window of another room opened again, and the woman with the waxy-yellow face poked her head out.

Seeing the wine and meat, her eyes immediately shone with a piercing light.

"Zhao Zhengyuan, what's the point of drinking with a stingy man? Come over to my place! You can have wine and some soup too!"

At that, Chen Lin looked at the woman, then at Zhao Zhengyuan, a half-smile on his face.

Zhao Zhengyuan grimaced and walked straight inside.

With a bang, he shut the door behind him.

The woman's furious curses immediately sounded outside.

"You're another spineless bastard whose children will be born without assholes! Not one man is worth a damn! Once I break through, I'll throw you all into the wilderness to feed the monster beasts!"

The two men exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly.

Since his guest had brought wine and food, Chen Lin could only bring out the Spirit Rice Porridge he had hidden and fill two bowls.

They sliced the boiled black-spotted tiger meat, filled their cups with wine, and began drinking.

"The city's been getting more and more unsettled lately. Have you heard? The head of the Zhang Family vanished without a trace. No sign of him alive, no body if he's dead. And he was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator!"

Zhao Zhengyuan took a sip of wine and spoke in an astonished tone.

Chen Lin's eyes flickered slightly.

In this sinister place, forget one Foundation Establishment cultivator dying. Even if everyone in the city died overnight, it wouldn't be surprising.

Though he scoffed inwardly, he still wore an expression of wholehearted agreement.

"Yes. Even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator can vanish just like that. This city really is getting more chaotic."

With that, he drained his cup.

The refreshing, sweet liquid slid down his throat into his stomach.

First came a cool sensation, then waves of heat spread from his chest through every limb and bone, stirring the mana within his body.

The energy in this spirit wine was far stronger than that of the Spirit Rice Porridge!