Ge Xian heard the call and hurried toward the battlefield, a scene of utter devastation, strewn with blood and flesh.
Along the way, he passed the seven or eight villagers who had eaten the Mutated Flesh and Blood. Their bellies had been cut open, yet they still wailed in agony.
As pity stirred in his heart, he also pondered the words the Two Ghosts had blurted out in their haste earlier.
The meaning of those few words—and even the secret behind them—wasn't hard for Ge Xian to guess.
"First, they stopped feeding the county folk those obviously tainted Taisui Grains. Then they told us to keep the Outsiders' flesh and blood pure."
"Heh. Contaminated humans don't sell well, do they?"
"Whether it's the Ghost Clan, the Dragon Nest, or some other buyer, I bet they all have the same requirement: the flesh and blood must be pure."
By the time he finished guessing, he had reached the Two Ghosts and the Evil Cultivators.
He kept a humble smile on his face and bowed to the two powerful possessed ghosts and the dozens of Evil Cultivators from the city's wealthy families.
As he moved, he also quietly released a trace of his utterly insignificant "charm" aura.
That's right!
Ge Huolang was using underhanded tricks again.
After his earlier experiences with Yelü Yuyan and the Fox Whore called Chun Niang, Ge Xian had learned that his Awakened Talent truly had its uses.
Used forcefully, it could turn the tables and kill his way out of danger.
Used lightly, it could win nearly any creature's favor without them noticing.
It reminded Ge Xian of the so-called "Charm Value" from certain online games in his previous life. The two were quite similar.
Sure enough, after he finished bowing, he could clearly sense that at least half of the hostile gazes among the Evil Cultivators had gradually faded. For some inexplicable reason, they had all decided to stop begrudging this peddler for taking a share of their spoils.
The Two Ghosts, who had already decided to make use of Ge Xian and keep him under their wing, seemed almost guilty. Each of them even offered him a word of advice:
"Boy, we managed to slaughter these Aquatic Monsters without a single injury this time, and you deserve the most credit. We'll let you choose one of the spoils first."
"That [Clam Pearl] is the rarest of the lot. It contains Water Yin Qi that the Clam Spirit accumulated over a long time, and Wei Dashou later cultivated and refined it, infusing it with Essence and Blood Qi. A strand of Black Water Yin Qi has already emerged inside. If you get it and take it into your body, you can enter the Dao and begin cultivating tonight—as long as you survive the [repulsion] stage. I can also give you that page of the Blackwater Fragment."
"The repulsion stage isn't easy to get through. Most people who try to enter the Dao die there. If you don't want to risk it for now, you can pick that spear instead. That dog Wei Dashou somehow got his hands on a West Sea Whale Horn and forged it into a spear. It's a powerful weapon; it punched several holes in the two of us. You can take it for protection."
Hearing this, Ge Xian immediately figured it out.
These Two Ghosts weren't good ghosts.
They spoke one way and meant another. They weren't sincerely offering advice at all.
Anyone with a little sense could tell that those two items were clearly the ones they had their eyes on.
The other Evil Cultivators glanced over the spoils and quietly chose their own items, deliberately avoiding those two treasures.
Naturally, Ge Xian wasn't about to provoke them. Besides, he hadn't planned to pick the Clam Pearl or the Whale Spear anyway.
As he approached the heap of bloodied, jumbled "spoils," the Supernatural Perception he kept active inside him throbbed frantically, alerting him to which item among the many odds and ends was truly the most precious.
With that guidance, Ge Xian had settled on his target from the very beginning.
Even though he didn't yet know what made the item so precious, he was determined to choose it.
He pretended to inspect the items with his eyes, then spoke:
"I really don't dare take up cultivation lightly. I have no confidence in surviving the [repulsion] stage. I've heard plenty of bold souls died trying."
"But that [Whale Spear] looks so heavy. It'd be a struggle just to lift it. How would I use it to protect myself?"
"I think this thing would suit me."
With that, Ge Xian leaned forward and took a strange Scarlet Turtle Shell, heedless of the blood and filth.
Of course, it could just as well be called a turtle carcass, since a great deal of mushy turtle flesh still clung to it.
Among the many spoils, it was thoroughly inconspicuous.
Seeing him being so "sensible," the Two Ghosts and the Evil Cultivators all nodded approvingly.
Among the Evil Cultivators, the Wang Family Eldest Daughter-in-law—who seemed to have cultivated the bizarre martial art Bone-Melting Palm—offered him genuine advice:
"Young brother, you have a good eye. This monster is called a [Winnowing Basket Turtle]. It has no head, no tail, and no limbs. It's muddle-headed and utterly lacking in intelligence, with only hundreds of tiny mouths for sucking blood. If someone falls into the water, it instinctively swims over and can drain all the blood from an adult human in just a few breaths."
"Take the shell back to the city, spend a little money and grain to have someone polish it, and you can use it as protective armor."
"Thank you for the advice, Sister. I'll remember your kindness."
Ge Xian wasn't just good at charming people and practicing Cai Bu; he was also sweet-tongued.
A few words were all it took to make the Wang Family Eldest Daughter-in-law, who cultivated an Evil Skill, beam with delight.
Meanwhile, the Two Ghosts and the Evil Cultivators divided up the spoils without a hitch. Each had reaped a fine haul, and they were all in high spirits.
The party, which had been stalled for quite a while, set off for the city again.
Ge Xian had traveled with the peddler caravan on the way out, but on the return journey, he had no choice but to mingle with the Guard Team.
The reason was simple: people didn't resent having too little so much as seeing others get more.
They had all been peddlers ordered to give speeches. Why should Ge Xian be the only one to earn great merit and receive a reward? And on top of that, this Young Peddler had dared to mix with the possessed ghosts and Evil Cultivators. The peddlers and traveling merchants all regarded him as an oddity. They didn't dare openly resent him or gossip about him, but keeping their distance was inevitable.
Ge Xian put on a hurt expression, but inwardly he chuckled. "I never thought that even though my career as a two-faced spy selling information had collapsed halfway through, I'd still end up infiltrating the enemy camp by sheer chance."
Once the thought crossed his mind, Ge Huolang unhesitatingly continued using underhanded tricks.
Taking advantage of the Charm Value that could make people lower their guard and feel favorably disposed toward him, Ge Xian seized the opportunity to ask the Evil Cultivators—and even the two possessed ghost generals—about all sorts of basic cultivation knowledge.
As for using this Young Peddler, who possessed a rare perception talent, to complete their mission, the Two Ghosts had already informed the other cultivators in advance.
Seeing that he was sincerely asking for guidance, they didn't hold back, answering quite a few of his questions, though they picked and chose what to tell him.
For a time, Ge Xian's knowledge grew considerably.
Compared with Hong Buyi, the Beggar Sect's Five-Bag Elder, the two possessed ghost generals here and the cultivators raised by the city's wealthy families all held far higher positions in the Cultivation World. They naturally knew more, and their conclusions were more authoritative and reliable.
Every so often, Ge Xian felt as if a window had opened in his mind, and another part of the Cultivation World's mysterious veil had been lifted.
He knew when to be sensible and stop while he was ahead. He didn't butt in again, though just before falling silent, he quietly steered the conversation.
As expected, the Two Ghosts and the Evil Cultivators grew more and more eager to talk. Before long, they were exchanging opinions on the affairs of the world and all manner of Cultivation World secrets.
The more Ge Xian heard, the heavier the gloom in his heart became.
It wasn't hard to learn from them that the Dayuan Dynasty was in a truly wretched state.
The land was rife with flames of war and Rebel Armies, and on top of that, countless Evil God Dharma Lineages—such as the Eternal Life Cult and the Pure Land Cult—were running rampant.
Besides that, every major province was plagued by frequent natural disasters and calamities.
"Dynasty's final years!"
Those four words couldn't have described it better.
As he listened, some of the conclusions Ge Xian had previously reached on his own were gradually confirmed:
"First: the world's Cultivation Paths, from the Dao Entry Realm onward, almost all involve cultivating toward becoming inhuman... The less human one becomes, the more powerful one grows."
"Second: I don't know about the dynasties before it, but the Dayuan Dynasty is an empire of monstrous fiends. From the emperor and prime minister to Border Governors, down to minor officials like county magistrates, they're all monsters who have cultivated successfully—or at least reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, where they can transform into monstrous bodies... In the Dayuan Dynasty, you could say that no one who isn't a monster can become an official."
"Of course, that's an extreme way to put it. Even among officials who have become inhuman, not all are as greedy and cruel as Lu Hualong. At least the Myriad Laws Sect has plenty of friendly spirits and gods, such as the Myriad Laws Celestial Pivot Prime Minister, who's known to be all-knowing and is suspected to be Bai Ze."
"So perhaps the proper way to put it is: if your cultivation isn't powerful enough, you can neither become an official nor stage a rebellion."
Besides that, Ge Xian also heard a few interesting tales.
In fact, two or three of those stories were about the Evil Cultivators right there beside him.
For instance, the Wang Family Eldest Daughter-in-law, whom Ge Xian had sweetly called "Sister" all along the way: on the very night she married into the family, her husband had died suddenly of an illness. She should have been condemned to a lonely life, but unexpectedly awakened a talent. The Wang Family took notice of her and sent her to the secretive, low-profile Ancient Tomb Sect. She returned after learning the Bone-Melting Palm.
Or take the handsome Evil Cultivator called Xu Bai Lian. He was the young master of the wealthy Xu Family in the city, and a striking beauty. A powerful female cultivator from the provincial capital had taken an interest in him. She was rumored to have reached the Spirit Connection Realm and to follow the Nine-Headed Witch God, a branch of the Flesh God lineage in the Myriad Laws Sect. Her cultivation was said to be formidable.
Xu Bai Lian had willingly served as her lover for three days. Not only had he easily survived the repulsion stage, he'd also received many benefits. Among the Evil Cultivators, his cultivation ranked in the top three.
Compared to the ordeal on the way out of the city, the returning party had swelled dozens of times in size, yet the journey was unexpectedly smooth.
The Qiantang County yamen had received word early and prepared thin porridge at the city gates, along with sack after sack of grain, land deeds, money, and other goods. At a glance, it was clear they were sincerely welcoming the refugees.
When the surviving villagers of Jiudao Village saw this, they froze at first, then broke into a collective cheer.
Led by the old village chief, they even bowed toward Lu Hualong's residence, shouting, "Long live!"
At the rear of the party, Ge Xian watched it all with mixed feelings and sighed inwardly:
"In this world, it's impossible to say whether fortune or misfortune will prevail."
"The human condition is arduous!"
As Ge Xian sighed,
the Propaganda Team was ordered to disband and report back at the same time tomorrow.
The cultivators and possessed ghost generals from the Guard Team, meanwhile, all went to the county yamen to claim their rewards, their faces alight with joy.
There was nothing for Ge Xian there. They also half-threatened and half-advised him to behave himself and not entertain any improper ambitions.
Even though they'd all called him "young brother" earlier,
they had tacitly hidden him from the reward proceedings, unwilling to let him take any credit. Even the Sister Wang he'd called "sister" all the way there was no exception.
Ge Xian had expected this and was even glad of it. He didn't want to meet Lu Hualong, get swallowed by that bastard and spat back out as a possessed ghost at his beck and call.
More importantly, Ge Xian could hardly hold back any longer. He needed to test the gains he'd made on this trip.
He hurried home!
The house was just as tidy as when he had left. Since it was still daytime, the Broom Spirit was obediently asleep in her Soul Residence, hanging from the Peddler's Pole without making a sound.
Ge Xian couldn't be bothered to call her. He simply used his Supernatural Perception to confirm that nothing was amiss nearby, then took the blood-smeared "Scarlet Turtle Shell" from his bundle.
According to the Wang Family Eldest Daughter-in-law, the shell was only useful for making a piece of protective armor.
Of course, since the strange red turtle was an evil spirit and monster with the power to suck blood,
that meant Ge Xian could gain the power to suck blood by using Cai Bu on it.
But this item was what his own spiritual intuition had pointed him toward.
Ge Xian naturally didn't believe that this was all it could do. It surely held a hidden secret.
Ignoring the grime, he picked it up and turned it over, examining it closely. When he found nothing, he took a small knife, scraped away the rotten flesh, washed off the blood, and followed the feeling in his heart, searching every inch of it, inside and out.
It didn't take long for Ge Xian's eyes to light up, as though he had figured something out. He actually began prying off the plates that covered the shell.
At once, several hundred crooked but still vaguely legible characters appeared. He didn't know what kind of pigment had been used to write them, but they too were scarlet red, eaten deep into the bone.
Ge Xian quickly examined them and soon realized that this was a fragmentary page of something called the Dragon Transformation Scripture. It contained no other divine abilities or spells, only a few hundred words of "Dragon Transformation Essentials."
"So the two possessed ghost generals and all those cultivators were wrong earlier."
"Though Wei Dashou wasn't accepted by the Qiantang Dragon Clan and couldn't cultivate the Dragon Clan Great Law, he somehow obtained a page from the Dragon Transformation Scripture... He must not have come by it through proper means, or he wouldn't have hidden it so deeply. If I hadn't been there, this fragment would probably never have seen the light of day again after Wei Dashou's death."
"These Dragon Transformation Essentials are part of the Dragon Clan Great Law. They say that anyone who has awakened the [Call Wind Summon Rain] talent and obtained some Dragon Essence Blood Items can cultivate the Dragon Transformation Chapter and gain Dragon Transformation Power... Hmm?"
The moment the thought reached that point,
Ge Xian's face instantly lit up with wild delight, and his heart began to pound violently.
He had Call Wind Summon Rain.
He had Dragon Essence Blood.
And the Dragon Transformation Chapter was in his hands.
In other words, as long as these "Dragon Transformation Essentials" weren't lying, Ge Xian could start cultivating right now and obtain Dragon Transformation Power.
But that wasn't the only thing that left Ge Xian so excited.
The moment he laid eyes on the Dragon Transformation Chapter, whether it was his sharp instincts or a sudden stroke of inspiration, he clearly sensed that it contained a Heaven-Reaching Great Dao truly belonging to him alone.
"The ordinary people of this world have no chance of cultivating—not because the repulsion stage is so perilous, but because... of talent."
"The ironclad rule of the Cultivation World: only those who have awakened a talent can enter the Dao."
"Ordinary cultivators can awaken one talent in their lifetime, and use it as the foundation to cultivate a technique suited to that talent."
"More gifted cultivators may be able to awaken two talents, making their Dao Path smoother."
"Those at the prodigy level have powerful talents, or two, three, or even more of them."
"And what I'm about to test is whether the strange powers and bloodlines I've gained through Cai Bu count as my talents."
"If they do, wouldn't that mean I can accumulate talents without limit... and that I could cultivate any of the world's myriad laws, as long as I gathered the necessary conditions?"
P.S. I'm planning to write a really long story, and I've put a lot of detail into the power system. You'll understand as you read on.
Before you continue