News of a death

"They're actually fine?"

Wang Ba frowned, somewhat surprised.

It wasn't that he wanted the Precious Chickens to roll around on the ground in pain.

Rather, he was worried that the Tendon-Cutting Nematodes weren't working.

Without any effect, a bloodline breakthrough would be even further out of reach.

He watched for a while, but there was still no change. The male Precious Chicken even grew somewhat impatient with their staring contest and prepared to wander off.

After some thought, Wang Ba stopped the Precious Chicken and placed a Spirit Stone in front of its nose.

The male Precious Chicken couldn't resist taking a bite.

The Tendon-Cutting Nematode didn't emerge from its mouth or nostrils.

Instead... it shot out of the cloaca at its rear.

Its pitch-black body bore a trace of chicken-dropping brown.

Wang Ba found it disgusting, but he could clearly see that the Tendon-Cutting Nematode's body had grown a section shorter.

"It worked!"

Wang Ba immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

As Tendon-Cutting Nematodes gnawed at the meridians and acupoints, they would continually dissolve into the body, ultimately opening up the meridians.

Since the Tendon-Cutting Nematode had grown shorter, that meant it had already taken effect.

So Wang Ba didn't hesitate. He mixed a portion of Spirit Stone Powder into the chicken feed, along with one tael of ground Chicken Gizzard Lining, and fed it to this rooster separately.

For convenience, he had already begun restricting these twenty Precious Chickens' food intake yesterday.

So when this male Precious Chicken saw the feed, its eyes immediately lit up, and it raced over to peck at it.

Before long, it had eaten the entire trough of feed clean.

After eating, however, the Precious Chicken behaved unlike its usual self, finding a corner, standing on one leg, and tucking its head beneath its wing.

It looked just like an ostrich.

Wang Ba watched for a while, and once he was certain it wasn't sick, he left it alone.

He simply used the powder from the two remaining Spirit Stones together with the Tendon-Cutting Nematodes on two more Precious Chickens, marking them separately.

Like the first one, both Precious Chickens huddled up motionlessly after eating their feed.

They all looked somewhat sickly.

In the days that followed, Wang Ba became caught up in work.

During the day, he fermented feed, fed the chickens, cleaned, and collected eggs... in his spare time, apart from the named Jia One through Jia Six, he worked hard at eating the other Spirit Chickens.

Finally, after eating six Spirit Chickens and visualizing the Yin God immediately afterward, the drop of Yin Spirit Power in his Yin Spirit Mansion returned to the size of a peanut.

"Looks like one drop of Yin Spirit Power is roughly equivalent to eating seven or eight Spirit Chickens."

Wang Ba recorded the changes in his Yin Spirit Power, looking thoughtful.

He casually tossed a Discarded Spirit Insect into the mouth of Jia Five, who was wandering nearby.

Jia Five fluttered his wings happily, and after eating the insect, he rubbed against Wang Ba's thigh.

He was very affectionate.

Compared with all the other Precious Chickens and Spirit Chickens, Jia Five seemed a little more intelligent. When Wang Ba was busy, he would often squat nearby, watching with his head tilted.

Wang Ba didn't chase him away, letting him wander around beside him.

He had raised Jia Five himself and had grown somewhat attached.

In his spare time, Wang Ba would also train Jia Five, teaching him simple gestures or spoken commands, such as come here, lie down, and fly up. He would even obey commands to run obediently back to Old Sun's room and hide.

He was quite a match for a clever, docile puppy.

His only flaw was that he shat a lot.

Far more than the other Precious Chickens and Spirit Chickens.

So Wang Ba gave him another name: Shit King.

This was about the only pleasure Wang Ba had in the manor.

After seven or eight busy days, he finally finished feeding all twenty Precious Chickens Spirit Stone Powder and implanting them with Tendon-Cutting Nematodes.

Whether it was because the Spiritual Qi in the Spirit Stones was too abundant for the Precious Chickens, he didn't know, but after eating the Spirit Stone Powder, all of them stopped eating.

Nothing worked, no matter how Wang Ba tried to feed them.

The manor's demand for chicken feed plummeted, leaving even Old Hou somewhat worried for him.

"Brother Wang, why not ask Mister Xu from the Mountain-Cleansing Office to take a look? He's an old hand at treating illnesses. Of the hundred-odd manors under Dingzi Manor, most go to Mister Xu when there's a problem."

"Thanks. I'll ask him when I get the chance."

Wang Ba replied with a look of shared concern.

Old Hou would always chat with Wang Ba for a bit after delivering the chicken feed.

This was also one of Wang Ba's few channels for news of the outside world.

That day, after making his delivery, Old Hou was in no hurry to leave, as usual. Wearing his usual secretive expression, he lowered his voice.

"Speaking of which, yours isn't the only manor around Dingzi Manor having trouble."

"Oh? Tell me about it, Old Hou."

Wang Ba looked interested.

Seeing this, Old Hou immediately perked up.

"I heard Ding Fifty-Four Manor had an outbreak of Chicken Plague. A lot died! And at Ding Sixteen Manor, I heard a Spirit Beast raised by an outer sect elder escaped and ate one or two hundred Precious Chickens in one go!"

"That many!"

Even Wang Ba's heart ached at the news. If those had been given to him, he could have exchanged them for over a thousand years of lifespan!

Unfortunately, they belonged to Ding Sixteen Manor and had nothing to do with him.

"Chicken Plague is one thing, but if an elder's Spirit Beast ate them, wouldn't the elder have to compensate them?"

Wang Ba asked curiously.

"Of course he would. Dingzi Zhuang raises chickens for the Ten Thousand Beasts Office, after all. I heard even that elder didn't dare brush it aside and specially sent a disciple to Sixteen Zhuang with compensation. Guess what it was?"

Old Hou tried to keep him in suspense, but before Wang Ba could ask, he couldn't help blurting it out himself. He raised one finger, utterly excited.

"A whole hundred Spirit Stones!"

"A hundred! Good heavens, I've never seen that many in my life!"

Wang Ba took it relatively well. Though he wore a thoroughly shocked expression, inwardly, he wasn't greatly stirred.

After all, he had once possessed more than forty Spirit Stones himself, and if he were willing to take risks, he could have far more than that.

After marveling for a while, Old Hou spoke with a trace of jealousy amid his envy.

"Song Lun of Sixteen Zhuang really turned disaster into a blessing this time!"

"He's buying Precious Chickens everywhere now to fill the gaps in his manor!"

"But even if he buys another two hundred, he'll still have plenty left over. That elder was generous!"

"Tsk, tsk! He might even come buy a few from you in a few days! Don't forget to fleece him when he does!"

Wang Ba waved his hands repeatedly. "Mine are all sick. How could they catch his eye?"

That was what he said.

Yet, unexpectedly, just a few days later, Song Lun from Ding Sixteen Manor really did come to visit.

"Brother Wang, I'm sure you know why I've come. If you have any Precious Chickens to spare, I'm willing to buy them at a high price."

Song Lun, who was over fifty but smartly dressed, raised his hands in greeting, looking quite sincere.

Wang Ba said apologetically, "Brother Song, it's not that I'm unwilling to sell. I really don't have any Precious Chickens to spare."

Song Lun frowned slightly.

But when he saw the listless-looking Precious Chickens behind Wang Ba, his brow relaxed. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he left in disappointment.

A few more days passed, and the day to submit the tribute arrived.

Steward Li arrived on schedule as always, but this time, he also brought news that somewhat surprised and shocked Wang Ba.

"Old Sun is dead?"