The First Monthly Card After Transmigration

The matter must be traced back to over two months ago.

Ever since Wu Ming and Third Young Master Liu set the schedule for the Moli Immortal Mansion at the Sect Leader Temple that day... everything at the Gujian Sect had returned to normal.

The mobilization of the Jiangshi Squad at Wuting would still take time, and the Qingluan Post Station could not be completed in the short term. Third Young Master Liu was preoccupied with family affairs, barely able to attend to himself, and could only occasionally send letters to Wu Ming to express his admiration and closeness.

As for Wu Ming, aside from continuing to grind the scripts, there was really nothing else to do.

Although he was eager to set off for the Moli Immortal Mansion immediately, his cultivation level was insufficient; anything he said would be in vain.

Thus, he practiced the Green Pine Stance, Spring Encounter Book, and Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art in the morning. At noon, he tempered his physique with the Root Stance and Green Pine Stance. In the evening, he studied the Human Emperor Scroll and drafted study materials for Senior Sister Ling Xi...

Repeating this cycle, two months passed in the blink of an eye.

His cultivation progress was methodical: the Human Dao Seal had accumulated to the seventeenth layer, the fourth layer of Qi refinement for the Spring Encounter Book was imminent, and he could perform nine consecutive steps of the Root Stance. After being tempered several times, his physique had improved, and his physical strength had increased by more than thirty percent.

Then, he had gathered four thousand eight hundred Spirit Crystal stones, just enough for three ten-pulls.

Added to the twenty pulls he had previously cushioned, a total of fifty pulls was enough to stir the depths of one's heart and make one eager to give it a try.

For his first ten-pull after transmigrating, Wu Ming had obtained the Human Emperor Scroll. Its refinement benefits were truly substantial, and it could be said that it directly helped him anchor a Taiyi Immortal destiny.

So, what would the second golden light bring?

The Root Stance, Spring Encounter Book, Green Pine Stance, Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art... refining any one of these could potentially trigger earth-shattering changes in his overall cultivation.

Or perhaps, that mysterious golden light would bring an unexpected surprise?

Everything awaited the arrival of the right moment.

Early that morning, Wu Ming stood atop an ancient tree on Yan Mountain in the Green Pine Stance. From afar, he saw a rainbow light speeding toward him from the western horizon.

That was the Lingguang Path. After two months of work, the Jiangshi Squad of Wuting had finally laid the Lingguang Path from a prefecture city a thousand miles away to Yan Mountain.

The moment he saw the Qingluan Lingguang, Wu Ming's heart skipped a beat, as if he had received some divine guidance or encouragement from the void.

Without hesitation, he poured all his accumulations from the past two months into the Star Vortex.

Twenty-six blue lights slightly improved his base stats.

Three purple lights, combined with months of Root Stance tempering, raised his Wood Spirit Root to the seventh grade.

Finally, that golden light arrived as expected.

Since his transmigration, over three months had passed, and Wu Ming had finally obtained his second golden light.

In terms of the accumulation efficiency of gacha resources, this Nine Provinces Online was stingy to the point of insanity... but considering the time and years one had to experience in this world, which would likely be far longer than those online live-service games, a gold pull every few months was acceptable on a path of immortal cultivation measured in centuries.

What he couldn't quite accept was that the gacha pool had given him a "useless" gold.

This time, it felt as if some mysterious guidance was deliberately teasing him. After the golden light dissipated and merged into his body... only a single line of unfamiliar text appeared in the mind of Wu Ming.

[Wuting Divine Craft Manual]

Following that, Wu Ming naturally understood the meaning of these words.

The Wuting Divine Craft Manual was a collection of cultivation practices accumulated over five hundred years by the Jiangshi Squad of Luohuang Mountain. It included a total of fifty-nine techniques, such as the Lightness Technique and the Jade Carving Manual—all of which were the crafts that the artisans of Wuting relied upon to make a living.

So...

What on earth did this Wuting Divine Craft Manual have to do with his current cultivation?

This sudden acquisition of life-skill techniques seemed to be... two parallel lines that would never intersect with Wu Ming's cultivation plan.

Therefore, this Wuting Divine Craft Manual could seemingly be summed up as: a pity pull.

Months of hard work living a scripted life, only to have the golden light go to waste—this was undoubtedly a tragic event that would make anyone want to scream and claw at the walls. However, Wu Ming only froze for a moment before calmly accepting the result.

In the world of gacha, who doesn't get a pity pull? Having played games for many years, this wasn't his first time—or rather, when it came to pity pulls, he was also a professional.

As a professional, the thing to consider was always how to make the best use of the limited resources at hand.

Moreover, whether this Wuting Divine Craft Manual could truly be considered a "pity pull" was still up for debate.

On one hand, the moment Wu Ming saw the Lingguang Path, his heart had fluttered, and then he pulled the Divine Craft Manual, which was directly related to the Lingguang Path. It was hard to attribute this to mere coincidence; it felt more like he had triggered the rate-up mechanism of the gacha pool.

In fact, his first gold from the beginner pool had also come right before he arrived at Dinghuang Prefecture, while he was contemplating the Human Emperor Scroll.

Now, his second gold had come just as he was gazing at the Lingguang Path, having had a moment of insight. Perhaps it wasn't hard to deduce: the gacha rate-up was determined by the feng shui and timing at the moment of the pull.

In this way, as long as his cultivation progressed and his knowledge grew in the future, he could find more auspicious locations and pull more powerful gold cards from the pool. The Sanqing Immortal Sect, ancient Immortal Mansions—there were as many feng shui treasure troves worth exploring as he could want. Perhaps he could even pull some heaven-defying technique right on the spot!

As long as the gacha didn't go to waste, he would never suffer the tragedy of being in the Spirit Transformation Realm and receiving yet another Root Stance.

Furthermore, even without considering his grasp of the gacha's patterns, the Divine Craft Manual itself was actually worth the price.

Because after the golden light flashed, what Wu Ming received wasn't just a blank manual, but actual knowledge and memories... It was as if countless master craftsmen had poured their life's work into him, passing down their teachings through direct infusion.

The experience was quite similar to the Fire Inheritance Book Ash of his master, yet it was even gentler and more natural, with almost no side effects. In the blink of an eye, Wu Ming could immediately put the fifty-nine unique skills of the Wuting Jiangshi Squad into practice!

Although limited by his cultivation level, he couldn't yet rival the skilled workers of Wuting, but the principles and practical details of every technique were already etched into his mind. He might be lacking when it came to actual practice, but if he were to debate with others, he could instantly transform into a top-tier cloud artisan, invincible in any argument.

Of course, as an expert in clearing the first stage who advocated for civilization and new trends, Wu Ming was never obsessed with bickering with others. He quickly put this high-level theoretical expertise to use in the right place—teaching.

His second senior sister, Zheng Lingxi, was his best student.

Discovering Zheng Lingxi's talent was purely accidental.

At the time, Wu Ming and Zheng Lingxi had gone down the mountain together to deliver water to the craftsmen. They discovered that one of the masters had been careless, carving a Wutong jade branch into the wrong shape. Wu Ming offered a casual reminder, only to be met with insolence and malicious bickering from the man.

Wu Ming, naturally, was not one to indulge such behavior. He immediately unleashed his skills as a top-tier cloud craftsman, refuting the man until he was left speechless. And once a contrarian can no longer win an argument, they typically move to the next stage: rolling on the ground and shouting, "If you're so good, why don't you do it yourself?"

Wu Ming was limited by his Qi Refining cultivation and truly couldn't do it himself, but he happened to have a senior sister with Foundation Establishment cultivation right beside him. The conclusion was simple.

"I choose you, Senior Sister Lingxi!"

"??"

Afterward, facing Zheng Lingxi's bewildered expression, Wu Ming provided on-the-spot instruction, tailoring his teaching to her aptitude by passing on a crash course version of the Jade Carving Manual.

To everyone's surprise, Zheng Lingxi proved remarkably capable. Relying on the advantage of her Foundation Establishment cultivation and her unique insight into the art of jade carving, she learned seven or eight parts of it on the spot. She picked up the carving knife and hammer, corrected the mistake the lazy craftsman had made, and achieved results even better than the original design.

What followed was the inevitable cliché: the contrarian was mocked by the crowd, the fellow workers expressed their awe, and the foreman stepped forward to apologize... However, in Wu Ming's eyes, these trivialities were not worth mentioning.

Because the moment Zheng Lingxi mastered the Jade Carving Manual, an incredibly pleasant system notification rang out in Wu Ming's mind.

Jade Carving Manual teaching strategy completed. Received 50 Spirit Crystal creation incentives...

In an instant, Wu Ming understood everything.

The correct way to use the Wuting Divine Craft Manual was not for him to practice it himself, but to open a class and teach others!

The student's progress was directly related to the creation incentives—which was, in fact, the original intent of the incentives.

If a strategy wasn't written for others to read, what value did it have!?

Once he realized this, the next steps were a matter of course.

Senior Sister Lingxi's cultivation had always been the most relaxed and leisurely in the Gujian Sect—after all, local resources were limited, and even if she wanted to cultivate diligently, there was often nothing to cultivate with. So, rather than letting her run wild across the mountains all day looking for "big brothers" among the wild beasts to befriend, it was better to have her learn a trade from her junior brother!

Fortunately, although Zheng Lingxi was idle in her daily life, she was not lazy; she possessed a childlike curiosity about everything. The Wuting Divine Craft Manual, along with the small construction site at the foot of the mountain, happened to be exactly where her interests lay!

To this day, Wu Ming had trained his second senior sister into a stable "monthly subscription," providing a steady income of several dozen to over a hundred Spirit Crystals almost every day. In just over half a month, he had already recouped nearly a third of his investment!

Now, after Zheng Lingxi had delicately carved a few stubborn stones and brought them to life, Wu Ming had once again received a creation incentive, as expected.

However, there wasn't much left that Wu Ming could continue to teach her. Although the Wuting Divine Craft Manual was vast, not every item had immediate instructional value. And Zheng Lingxi truly possessed a "holy body for construction," digesting lessons even faster than he had anticipated. So...

Who should he find next to renew the "monthly subscription"?

He didn't even need to consider his master. The old man was advanced in years and had seen the vicissitudes of life; squeezing Spirit Crystals out of him would be as inhumane as a thirty-four-year-old taking the civil service exam full-time. Moreover, Wu Ming highly suspected that this master, who hid his true depth, might actually have a higher attainment in the way of construction than he did.

The eldest senior sister was also not a good choice. Compared to the leisurely Zheng Lingxi, Zhu Ying's cultivation schedule was akin to that of an ox or a horse. Especially after returning from the demon hunt and breaking through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, her required coursework had increased significantly; she barely slept all day.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a commotion from the craftsmen not far away.

"It's here, it's here! The Azure Phoenix is here!"

As the post station neared completion, an Azure Phoenix had set off from the prefecture city, flying directly along the route to test the efficacy of the Lingguang Path.

The phoenix used for the test flight was merely a fledgling, about three meters in length, with a young man sprawled across its back.

The youth wore a gold-woven Daoist robe, surrounded by a faint spiritual glow that accentuated his tall, heroic stature and exceptionally handsome features. He was none other than the employer of the Wuting Jiangshi Squad, the sworn brother of Wu Ming, Third Young Master Liu, Liu Qi!

A moment later, the Azure Phoenix landed on the treetop of a parasol tree. Liu Qi leaped down from the heights, landing lightly on the ground, and bowed to Wu Ming with a smile.

"Brother Wu, long time no see!"

Wu Ming revealed a sincere smile. "Brother Liu, do you want to learn a trade (become my monthly subscriber)?"

"...?" After a brief moment of bewilderment, Liu Sanlang wisely chose to change the subject.

"Brother Wu, our trip to the Moli Immortal Mansion might be able to be moved up!"