The Chasm

His luck was only average that night, so Wang Ba had no choice but to visit a few more manors.

At the farthest one, he had nearly reached the sect's boundary.

He vaguely spotted what seemed to be Outer Sect disciples patrolling the boundary, and there seemed to be quite a few of them. Startled, he hurried back.

Fortunately, he ultimately collected nearly seven hundred sick chickens and gained almost 1,400 years of lifespan.

But Wang Ba also noticed that fewer and fewer manors could supply so many sick chickens.

The sick chickens at many manors had already been hauled away by the Mountain-Cleansing Office, while some had flowed into the market.

Only a few chicken-raising servant disciples still clung to a sliver of hope and secretly concealed theirs.

Wang Ba ended up reaping the benefits.

But he reckoned he would not be able to keep taking advantage of this for much longer.

On his way back to Dingbaqi Manor, Wang Ba passed a mountain hollow and, as though led by ghosts, walked inside.

By moonlight, his extraordinary senses picked out several footprints and a patch of flattened grass. Someone seemed to have sat there for a long time.

After a brief silence, Wang Ba carefully restored the area to how it had looked before his arrival and returned to the manor.

After a busy night, the bright moon was gradually dimming, and the night was sinking into darkness.

This was the darkest hour of the day.

Finally feeling somewhat tired, Wang Ba lay in bed without the slightest desire to sleep. His tossing and turning disturbed Jia Seven, who was nestled asleep beside the bed.

"Cluck, cluck."

Jia Seven lifted her sleepy little eyelids and looked at him in utter bewilderment.

"Go back to sleep."

Wang Ba casually stroked Jia Seven's head, then opened the panel. After a moment's hesitation, he chose to expend his lifespan.

[Current lifespan: -2,304 years]

The ninth layer of the Body-Strengthening Scripture was complete.

At last, I've mastered the ninth layer!

Feeling the power surging through his body, Wang Ba could not help marveling inwardly.

In nearly a year since arriving at the sect, he had been cautious and humble at every turn, doing his utmost to stay far from any disputes.

And now, the tenth layer of the Body-Strengthening Scripture, which had once seemed beyond reach, was finally right before his eyes.

Once he mastered the tenth layer, he would develop a Spiritual Root, enter the world of cultivators, and truly gain the qualification to pursue longevity.

Yet only now did he finally understand what Steward Li had told him back then.

If you ever get the chance to reach the ninth layer, you'll understand...

Now he truly did understand.

At this moment, every meridian and acupoint in his body had been opened.

In the mortal world, he could be considered a one-in-ten-thousand martial prodigy whose conception and governing vessels had been opened.

But that also meant the method ordinary people used-relying on various grades of Meridian-Passing Grass Seeds to open their meridians and rapidly advance in the Body-Strengthening Scripture-no longer worked.

Everyone returned to the same starting point. They could only rely on their own talent to make their solitary way through the tenth layer's long cultivation, spanning 512 years.

Of course, some would take longer, and others less time.

But the same question remained: how many people possessed the talent to easily offset five hundred years of cultivation?

Even if someone did, they would probably be withered with age by the time they mastered it.

How could they speak of becoming sect disciples and seeking immortality and the Dao?

This was the nearly impassable chasm that lay before every mortal who cultivated the Body-Strengthening Scripture to the perfection of the ninth layer.

At that thought, Wang Ba glanced at his panel.

[Current lifespan: 247.9 years]

[Available expenditure: "Body-Strengthening Scripture," Tenth layer. Accounting for overall aptitude and Root Bone, the converted cost is 4,608 years.]

Mm, not much of a problem.

And here I was, worrying that some other nasty surprise would crop up after hearing Steward Li's words.

In the end, it was only lifespan.

Now, as long as he proceeded steadily, continuously collecting Precious Chickens and converting them into lifespan, he had hope of developing a Spiritual Root within a short time.

This could be considered the best news he had received in quite some time.

Six more days. Get through these six days, and beyond the dark willows, the flowers will bloom!

Through the brand-new window lattice, Wang Ba saw a faint gleam emerging on the horizon.

Dawn was approaching.

Early that morning, Wang Ba got up and cleaned the manor.

Following his breakthrough in the Body-Strengthening Scripture, he felt increasingly vigorous. Even with very little sleep at night, he could quickly recover his strength.

He also found time to take Jia Seven out for another morning training session.

The power of food was boundless.

Utterly enamored with Tendon-Cutting Nematodes, Jia Seven perfectly carried out every command Wang Ba gave her.

She performed the "cover" maneuver particularly well after training.

However, he did not dare let Jia Seven stay outside for too long before sending her back to his room, ready to await his orders at any moment.

What a pity. If only I had a Spirit Beast Bag, I could deal with unexpected situations at any time.

Wang Ba thought this with considerable regret.

Of course, even if he had a Spirit Beast Bag, he had no Law Power at present and could not use it.

Somewhat to Wang Ba's surprise, Old Hou actually came again.

He even chatted with him for a while without his expression changing, seemingly not caring at all that he had nearly killed him before.

I always thought Old Hou was just a big mouth. I really never saw it-he's actually a ruthless character.

Wang Ba watched the man drive away on his donkey cart, humming a tune, and felt somewhat astonished.

But he soon collected himself and began repeating his work of fermenting chicken feed, feeding the chickens, and cleaning.

Niu Yong's younger brother, who collected the chicken manure, did not come, so Wang Ba gathered the manure and set it aside.

That afternoon, he took two Spirit Chickens and some eggs with him to West Garden Market.

He had only stayed away for a few days, yet Wang Ba vaguely felt that the market seemed much less lively. There were only scattered figures outside the shops, making them look deserted.

Only the talisman, pill, and Law Artifact shops were unexpectedly packed with people.

Sales cries rose one after another.

"Low-grade Armor Talismans! No Law Power required! They can withstand attacks from cultivators below the third layer of Qi Refining! Three Lower-grade Spirit Stones each!"

"Yun Immortal Dew, the sacred lifesaving medicine! Nine Lower-grade Spirit Stones per drop! It can grow flesh on bare bones and bring the dead back to life!"

"One low-grade Law Artifact, the Treasure-Glory Mirror, powered by Spirit Stones! It can withstand attacks from cultivators up to the fourth layer of Qi Refining! A bargain price, starting at twenty Spirit Stones!"

Whenever a sales cry rang out, many people dressed as servant disciples or stewards raised their hands to snap up the goods.

There were even plenty who offered higher prices.

"Hello, brother. What's going on here?"

Wang Ba hurriedly stopped a young servant disciple on the edge of the crowd who was trying to squeeze inside.

"Stockpiling supplies!"

The young servant disciple impatiently shook off Wang Ba's hand, but when he saw the two Precious Chicken eggs Wang Ba offered, he hurriedly accepted them and gave an embarrassed smile.

"You must be a friend from Dingzi Manor. With no time to go out, it's no wonder you don't know what's happening."

As he spoke, he glanced around and lowered his voice.

"I heard-and this is only what I heard-that our sect is going to war!"

"War?"

Hearing that word so suddenly, Wang Ba felt momentarily startled, as though it was out of place.

"Well, not exactly going to war. It should be called... commencing hostilities. Yes, that's right, commencing hostilities!"

The young servant disciple corrected himself.

"They say our sect has been invited by other sects to attack someone. Think about it. Whether we're drafted to fight or stay here guarding the sect, if some blind fool attacks us, won't we all need something to defend ourselves with?"

"That's why these talismans, pills, and Law Artifacts that don't require Law Power have been so hard to get lately!"

At those words, Wang Ba's heart suddenly sank. He hurriedly grabbed the other man's arm.

"Brother, do you know which sects are joining forces with ours? And when will the fighting start? Oh, and what force are we fighting?"

"Which sects?"

The young servant disciple thought for a moment. "I heard there's the Nine-Spirit Sect, the Mountain-Sea Sect, the Great Sun Gate, the Red River Sword Sect..."

"But I don't know when we'll fight or who we're fighting. You know how it is. We're only servant disciples. No little matter escapes our ears, but they don't tell us about the big things."

Wang Ba nodded and slipped him another two eggs. The young servant disciple accepted them sheepishly. "I really don't know. But..."

Amid the clamoring all around them, the young servant disciple looked left and right. Only after seeing that everyone was busy scrambling to buy things and no one was paying attention did he lean close to Wang Ba's ear and lower his voice.

"I heard-no, this time it's not just something I heard-that if servant disciples volunteer to go along and earn merit, important figures in the sect will bestow lots of treasures on them!"

"They can even let people like us condense a Spiritual Root immediately and become Outer Sect disciples!"

"Thank you!"

Wang Ba spoke sincerely.

The young servant disciple waved and squeezed back into the crowd.

Wang Ba smiled, but inwardly, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.

He did not particularly care about earning merit and receiving rewards from the sect.

But he had seen all the sects the young servant disciple mentioned in the travelogues he had bought at the bookshop.

Like the Eastern Saint Sect, they were all immortal sects within the Chen Kingdom, and they accounted for almost all the major sects within its borders.

Among them, the Nine-Spirit Sect was renowned for beast taming, the Mountain-Sea Sect excelled at body refinement, the Great Sun Gate's visualization methods were unrivaled in the Chen Kingdom, and the Red River Sword Sect ranked first in offensive might...

The Eastern Saint Sect stood among them, but according to the travelogues, it seemed slightly weaker than the other four.

Wang Ba vaguely remembered that in the last grand competition among the younger generation of Outer Sect disciples in the Chen Kingdom, the Eastern Saint Sect had also placed near the bottom.

What sort of enemy were these sects joining forces to face?

Could it be an enemy from beyond the Chen Kingdom?

But those matters were distant, and he did not care much about them.

The crucial question was whether the impending war would affect his escape plan.

No, I have to go take a look!

At that thought, Wang Ba lost all interest in watching the commotion. He hurriedly sold his two Spirit Chickens to the grain shop and received nearly twenty Spirit Stones.

Perhaps because of the impending war and the Chicken Plague, cultivation supplies such as Spirit Chickens had soared in price.

Afterward, he put on a slight disguise and hurried toward South Lake Village.