Eight Heavenly Origin Forms

"Defensive spirit talisman? Damn it!"

The young man in the distance changed expression and hurriedly sped up the spell in his hands.

"Wang Chang?"

At the same time, Zhou Changwang spotted the figure in the distance. Fury rose in his heart, and he drew a flying sword as thin as a feather, activating it instantly.

Ssh!

In a flash, the flying sword pierced straight through Wang Chang's head in the distance.

Wang Chang died instantly.

Zhou Changwang glanced at the Golden Light Shield around himself, which was on the verge of collapsing, lingering fear filling his heart.

Everything just now had happened far too quickly and suddenly.

If he had not remained vigilant and activated the spirit talisman in time, he would have been pierced through by that Earth Spike Talisman.

At this point, he also understood that Wang Chang had likely only decided to target him after seeing him emerge from Heavenly Fragrance House.

After all, spirit farmers were notoriously weak in combat within the cultivation world.

And in Wang Chang's eyes, Zhou Changwang had been carrying a large sum of money and was frequently entering and leaving the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall of Six Directions Pavilion...

It seems I need to be even more meticulous in the future.

Even if I cannot change my face through disguise, I still need to conceal myself somehow.

Zhou Changwang remained alert, but he also knew this was not a place to linger. Before anyone noticed, he hurried over to Wang Chang.

He first picked up his Magical Flying Sword. After searching briefly, he found a black cloth bag in Wang Chang's robes. Finally, he took a small bottle from his Storage Bag, opened it, and aimed it at Wang Chang's wounds.

In an instant, Wang Chang's corpse rapidly corroded until it no longer resembled a human body.

Only then did Zhou Changwang leave in haste.

Fortunately, the rest of the journey went smoothly, and Zhou Changwang returned directly home.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw his father practicing martial arts there.

Though the path ahead in martial arts had been cut off, Zhou Qiankun had not become despondent. Whenever he had time, he continued to practice.

What he was practicing now was a peculiar fist technique. Its movements were extremely slow, somewhat like the elderly men performing tai chi Zhou Changwang had seen in his previous life. Every gesture carried a certain charm.

But upon closer inspection, he realized the two were entirely different.

He could clearly see that although his father's movements were slow, every move seemed extraordinarily strenuous, as though a great millstone stood before him and he had to push it forward with great difficulty.

In only a short while, he was already drenched in sweat.

Yet when he saw Zhou Changwang return, he immediately stopped and asked, "How did it go? Did everything go smoothly? Have you rented a house?"

"I bought everything I needed, but the houses in the inner district of the market are still too expensive. I haven't found a suitable one yet."

Zhou Changwang did not mention the attempted ambush, lest his father worry. He merely shook his head helplessly.

"This is an important matter. It cannot be rushed. If it doesn't work out, make a few more trips."

Zhou Qiankun nodded and comforted him.

"I know."

Naturally, Zhou Changwang understood. Then, somewhat curiously, he asked, "Father, the martial art you were practicing just now seemed a little different. What kind of martial art was it?"

Deep down, he was still rather curious about martial arts.

"Eight Heavenly Origin Forms.

"But this is not a martial art. It is a body cultivation technique.

"It is also the only set of techniques I have discovered over all these years that ordinary people can practice.

"I do not know whether it is truly useful, but after practicing it for several years, I have indeed felt my physique grow much stronger."

As he said this, a smile could not help appearing on Zhou Qiankun's face.

For a martial artist whose road ahead had been severed, even the slightest bit of progress was enough to bring joy.

Moreover, Zhou Qiankun believed that his improvement had not been small.

Zhou Changwang nodded. He wanted to learn it, but when he considered his current circumstances, he could only suppress the thought for the time being.

He needed to turn the spells he had purchased from Six Directions Pavilion into actual strength as soon as possible.

He had no time to learn any martial arts.

Afterward, Zhou Changwang returned to his room and immediately opened the black bag he had taken from Wang Chang.

Earlier, he had been in too much of a hurry to leave to inspect what was inside. Now that he opened it, disappointment was hard to conceal on his face.

Three Low-Grade Spirit Stones, forty-five Spirit Fragments, two jade slips, and a land deed document.

"One battle cost me a Golden Light Shield Talisman, yet I only gained three Low-Grade Spirit Stones. I didn't even recover my losses..."

Zhou Changwang compared the figures silently and shook his head helplessly.

He could only hope that the contents recorded in those two jade slips were worth some Spirit Stones.

As for the land deed document, he took one look at it before burning it with Fireball Art.

It was a Spirit Field lease contract Wang Chang had signed with the Spirit Plant Hall. Wang Chang's financial resources had indeed once been fairly substantial. He had rented fifteen mu of Spirit Fields at thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu. Of course, he had purchased them on credit at the time, owing ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu, with an agreement to pay an additional fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu when the Spirit Fields matured.

Zhou Changwang had a similar land deed document himself, though he normally did not carry it with him.

"But something is not right.

"With his yield of only two or three hundred jin of Spirit Rice per mu, how did he repay the fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones per mu that he owed for all fifteen mu?"

Doubt immediately arose in Zhou Changwang's heart. He had seen the words indicating that the lease debt had been repaid on the land deed document, along with Manager Chen's signature beneath them.

Judging from how Wang Chang visited Heavenly Fragrance House every few days, he should have run out of Spirit Stones long ago.

But when Zhou Changwang remembered that Wang Chang had attacked him, it was clear this was not Wang Chang's first time doing such a thing. The answer suddenly became apparent.

Then, he turned his gaze toward the two jade slips.

"Breath-Concealing Art, Spirit Farmer's Manual."

Zhou Changwang's eyes brightened slightly.

He had long heard of the Breath-Concealing Art.

It was a spell capable of concealing one's aura and hiding one's figure.

The fact that Wang Chang had gone unnoticed despite Zhou Changwang's vigilance was partly due to this spell.

"This spell is still quite useful. It is priced at ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones in Six Directions Pavilion. At least I did not lose out completely."

Zhou Changwang secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then shifted his gaze to the Spirit Farmer's Manual.

Only after a long while did he withdraw his consciousness from the jade slip, his heart filled with emotion.

This so-called Spirit Farmer's Manual—who knew where Wang Chang had obtained it? It was actually a jade slip recording nearly a century of Spirit Field cultivation experience from a spirit farmer named Wan He.

Over the course of his life, Wan He had not only cultivated nearly ten kinds of Spirit Rice, including Spirit Grain Rice, Crescent Rice, and Blood-Spirit Rice, but had also grown many exotic flowers, unusual herbs, spiritual medicines, and spiritual materials.

It contained detailed records and answers regarding the many problems he had encountered while cultivating them, as well as the methods for resolving those problems.

What was more, Zhou Changwang found several methods for cultivating Spirit Soil within it. If used properly, they could increase the yield per mu of a Spirit Field by several tenths.

"Good stuff. This is truly good stuff.

"No wonder Wang Chang could harvest seven hundred jin of Spirit Grain Rice per mu. The Spirit Soil Cultivation Method in this manual deserves immense credit."

Zhou Changwang sighed in admiration. Naturally, he understood just how valuable this Spirit Farmer's Manual was.

The accumulated experience of a veteran farmer over a hundred years was beyond measure in value.