"Now that you're here, don't ask any questions. Just raise the Spirit Cuisine properly for the immortals, and there'll be plenty of benefits for you! Perhaps one day you'll even become an outer sect steward like me."
"Yes, yes, I understand."
"Mm, take this bundle. It'll help you raise these beasts properly. I'll come to inspect them in half a month. If you've done a poor job, don't blame me for holding you accountable."
"Understood. Thank you for looking after me, Steward Li. This is a small token of my appreciation..."
"Mm, you know how things work. All right, I'll be off..."
"Of course. Take care, Steward Li."
Wang Ba watched with the utmost deference as the fat-headed, big-eared Steward Li gradually disappeared into the valley. The smile on his face slowly vanished as well.
In its place came a trace of melancholy and bitterness.
"So it's come to this in the end!"
"But who can I blame for my poor aptitude and rotten luck?"
"What a disgrace to transmigrators I am."
Wang Ba's eyes were filled with unwillingness and helplessness.
When he arrived in this world, he had thought he would have a chance to seek immortality and pursue the Dao, to live long and endure through the ages.
Unfortunately, after going to great lengths to find the nearest immortal sect, he had been told his aptitude was inadequate. They would not even admit him into the outer sect.
He refused to accept it. He tried every possible means and spent eight whole years, yet gained nothing.
Having exhausted almost his entire fortune, he no longer had any way back.
Left with no alternative, he finally abandoned his unrealistic fantasies and used his last remaining funds to find someone who could connect him with Steward Li of the immortal Eastern Saint Sect's outer sect.
After taking his money, Steward Li did put some effort into the matter and arranged for him to come here.
A Mountain Manor that raised Spirit Cuisine for the immortals.
But to Wang Ba, "Chicken farm" seemed a more fitting name.
For everywhere he looked, the entire Mountain Manor was filled with large, free-ranging roosters and hens.
Every one of them was robust, brimming with vitality.
There was a distinct intelligence in the way they glanced about.
They were vastly different from chickens raised in the mortal world.
These chickens wandered leisurely around Mountain Manor, with people to provide them with fine feed and spirit insects.
And their final destination, once they had grown plump and strong, was the immortals' kitchens, where they would be made into Spirit Cuisine rich in spiritual power.
Steward Li had told him all this before he came.
Apart from him, there was only one elderly man in the entire Mountain Manor.
The old man looked seventy or eighty, his face covered in age spots. When Wang Ba arrived, he simply carried over a folding stool and sat beneath the eaves to bask in the sun.
"Greetings, sir. My name is Wang Ba. I'll be working alongside you from now on, senior, and I hope you'll look after me."
Wang Ba put on his habitual smile and greeted him politely.
The old man turned his head and glanced at him, an inscrutable hint in his gaze. Only after a long while did he slowly say:
"My surname is Sun."
"That fellow Li sent you here? Seems you didn't give him enough."
Wang Ba froze at his words, then forced out a smile.
"Ha ha, you jest, Old Sun. What could I possibly have to give him..."
"Heh!"
The old man merely snorted and turned away without another word.
Seeing that the other man seemed to have no desire to say anything more.
Wang Ba also felt somewhat awkward, so he cupped his hands in acknowledgment and went to his bedroom.
The room was terribly cramped, containing only a narrow bed three feet wide and a battered wardrobe.
The moment he pushed open the door, the smell of mildew assailed his nose, and cobwebs filled his vision.
It seemed no one had lived here for a very long time.
Wang Ba, however, paid none of this any mind.
After a quick wipe-down, he eagerly opened the bundle Steward Li had left him.
A sheet of yellow paper, a Daoist robe, and a handwritten book.
Wang Ba picked up the yellow paper and skimmed it. It was all precautions for raising chickens.
He casually tucked it into his robe.
Then he passed over the Eastern Saint Sect's standard dark-blue Daoist robe and picked up the book at the very bottom.
The first thing he saw was a plain, unremarkable three-character title.
"Body-Strengthening Scripture."
"That's right! This is it!"
Wang Ba's eyes lit up.
This was his last hope.
When immortal sects accepted disciples, what they valued most was spiritual root aptitude.
Those with high aptitude naturally had nothing to worry about.
But most people did not even possess spiritual roots.
Wang Ba, for instance.
Fortunately, Heaven never sealed off every path.
The same held true for the path of immortal cultivation.
Only recently had he learned by chance that practicing the Eastern Saint Sect's exclusive Body-Strengthening Scripture offered an exceedingly slim hope of nurturing spiritual roots.
Though the spiritual roots nurtured this way were usually of such poor quality that even Rogue Cultivators would disdain them.
Yet to Wang Ba, it was still a hope.
And a cultivation method like the Body-Strengthening Scripture could only be practiced by those who had become part of the sect.
This was why Wang Ba had insisted on getting in, even if it meant raising chickens for the sect.
Now that the secret manual was in his hands, Wang Ba naturally could not wait to open it.
"The Body-Strengthening Scripture actually has thirteen levels..."
"Mastering each level increases your strength by dozens or even a hundred jin..."
"Just reaching the tenth level gives you a chance to nurture spiritual roots?"
"And reaching the thirteenth level can even yield Middle Grade spiritual roots!"
"Excellent! What an excellent cultivation method!"
The more Wang Ba read, the more delighted he became.
He had never expected the Body-Strengthening Scripture to possess such heaven-defying effects.
Though there were rather many levels to cultivate, he only needed to reach the Tenth Layer to have a chance of nurturing spiritual roots.
If he mastered it completely, he could even gain Middle Grade spiritual roots!
And the threshold for entering the Eastern Saint Sect's outer sect required only low-grade spiritual roots.
In other words, he only needed to reach around the eleventh or twelfth level to officially become an outer sect disciple of the Eastern Saint Sect!
From then on, the path to immortality would be within reach!
"Whew-calm down! Calm down!"
"Don't get carried away."
"A cultivation method with such miraculous effects must have demanding requirements."
"Let's take a look first."
Wang Ba drew a deep breath.
He settled his excitement.
Then he carefully turned to the following pages.
"Huh? This cultivation method actually has no requirements at all? It just takes some time?"
Wang Ba was utterly surprised.
He hurriedly read on.
"The first level takes only a year to master. In that case, I'll be forty or fifty before I can nurture spiritual roots. That's not too hard to accept..."
"Hmm? The second level takes two years, and the third takes four..."
As he read on, Wang Ba's expression gradually changed!
A geometric sequence!
Almost without thinking, the time required for the Tenth Layer immediately sprang into his mind.
512 years!
Unable to believe it, he hurriedly turned to the next page.
When he saw the number written there, he froze in place as though struck by lightning!
His guess was right!
The Tenth Layer really did require 512 years!
And the thirteenth level required an outrageous 4,096 years!
Such an immense span of time far exceeded even the immortals' lifespans!
Although the book also stated that those with exceptionally high aptitude could greatly shorten the time needed for cultivation.
Looking at that line, Wang Ba could only smile bitterly.
Going from the first level to the Tenth Layer required 1,023 years.
What sort of aptitude could bridge a gap of a thousand years?
He did not believe he could master it at all!
Even if he could master it within a few decades and nurture spiritual roots, what then?
A mortal's lifespan was only a hundred years!
What would he have left for Qi Refining, or for Foundation Establishment?
At this moment, it could not quite be said that all his hopes had turned to ashes.
But he finally gave up all hope.
He stood in a numb daze for a while.
Only after a long time did he let out a heavy breath.
As though trying to breathe out all his ambition and unwillingness.
He casually tossed the Body-Strengthening Scripture, which he had gone to such lengths to obtain, down at the foot of the bed.
In its place was the sheet of yellow paper listing precautions for raising chickens...
Before you continue