He returned to Mountain Manor.
He did not immediately take a Spirit Chicken to West Garden Market.
Instead, he patiently waited a few more days before taking a male Spirit Chicken to the Lu Family Grain Shop just before the Market closed.
He looked the same as before, but this time, Shopkeeper Lu, who was drinking tea, recognized him at a glance.
"Please, come in."
Unlike before, Shopkeeper Lu came around the counter and personally greeted him with a smile.
Wang Ba felt rather overwhelmed by the favor.
But he quickly composed himself.
He brought out the rooster he was holding.
Shopkeeper Lu recognized it at a glance:
"A first-tier, low-grade Spirit Chicken!"
Despite saying that, he still took out a sheet of yellow paper. Wang Ba saw several faint, mysterious lines drawn on it.
It had quite the air of mystery of the Immortals.
Shopkeeper Lu brought the yellow paper close to the struggling Spirit Chicken. The Talisman Paper spontaneously ignited despite the lack of wind, and a wisp of gray light rose from it.
"It seems my eyes didn't deceive me."
"This gray light... indicates low grade."
Wang Ba nodded, unsurprised by the result.
Seeing that Wang Ba had no objections, Shopkeeper Lu smiled and said, "A pity it isn't female. At today's market price, I can offer you three and four-tenths Lower-grade Spirit Stones."
Spirit Stones were precious, and even in West Garden Market, they were not used much. Thus, by the standard measure, one Lower-grade Spirit Stone could be divided into ten tenths.
Three and four-tenths Spirit Stones was a tenth more than the other shops Wang Ba had asked at yesterday.
Naturally, Wang Ba favored this shop.
But he had another plan, and immediately cupped his hands.
"Shopkeeper Lu, I don't want Spirit Stones. Could we barter instead?"
"Oh? You don't want Spirit Stones?"
Shopkeeper Lu paused slightly, then smiled.
"That would be best, of course. To tell you the truth, Spirit Stones are always in short supply. If you wanted Spirit Stones, it would give me quite a headache!"
The two exchanged smiles, their relationship growing a little closer without them noticing.
After their pleasant exchange, Shopkeeper Lu asked:
"What would you like?"
Without hesitation, Wang Ba stated the terms he had pondered for a long time:
"I want to exchange it for a batch of Precious Chickens."
"A batch of Precious Chickens?"
Shopkeeper Lu's gaze flickered, and he stroked his beard.
"We certainly have Precious Chickens. Do you want to exchange all three and four-tenths Spirit Stones for Precious Chickens?"
"Uh... just leave me four-tenths of a Spirit Stone and exchange the rest for Precious Chickens. How many could I get?"
After some hesitation, Wang Ba still kept a little loose change for emergencies.
"Three Spirit Stones... how about this? I'll exchange them at our purchase price for Precious Chickens."
Shopkeeper Lu fetched an abacus and rapidly flicked its beads with his thumb and forefinger.
"For female Precious Chickens, we'll put it at thirty-two hundredths of a Spirit Stone each. For males, I can just about make it fifteen hundredths."
"A pair comes to forty-seven hundredths of a Spirit Stone."
"I'll take a little loss. How about six hens and seven roosters?"
Wang Ba silently did the calculations.
For Mountain Manor, the more hens, the better.
Not only could they lay eggs, but they also had more Spiritual Qi themselves.
For him, however, roosters were more helpful right now.
He only needed to have these roosters break through individually, then drain them one by one, and he could reap a large amount of lifespan.
He could then turn that lifespan into nourishment for the Body-Strengthening Scripture.
That would just about give him a tiny sense of security.
Once he received the chicken-raising book he had commissioned Steward Li to bring, he would find a way to slowly expand his operation with proper justification.
He could gradually improve himself without attracting attention.
It would be a little slower, but safer.
At that thought, he simply proposed his own terms.
Three Spirit Stones could buy twenty male Precious Chickens.
He asked for two extra.
Shopkeeper Lu looked troubled.
"Well... two males are worth a full three-tenths of a Spirit Stone..."
In truth, he was delighted.
After all, female Precious Chickens had abundant Spiritual Qi and could lay eggs. They were in high demand, and selling them brought considerably greater profits than selling roosters.
If he had not been hoping for repeat business, he would never have been willing to let so many go at purchase price.
But although that was what he thought, his face still wore a troubled expression.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and said:
"All right! Brother, I feel as though we're old friends already. I'll presume on my age and call you younger brother. Younger brother, I don't mind taking a little more of a loss! But if you have any more Spirit Chickens next time, be sure to remember your older brother here!"
"It was sheer luck. If I really have such luck again, I'll definitely come to you, Brother Lu."
Their conversation was most congenial, and soon Shopkeeper Lu led him inside the shop.
Only then did Wang Ba discover a whole other world within: there were even a small chicken coop, pigpens, and the like out back.
Only after selecting those with long lifespans one by one did he leave the Market in satisfaction, carrying a bamboo basket as tall as a person on his back.
Before he left, Shopkeeper Lu also pressed a small bag of something into his hands, telling him to have a look when he got back.
Wang Ba did not refuse.
Watching Wang Ba's departing figure, Shopkeeper Lu stood at the entrance, lifted his teacup, took a sip, and instructed the attendant beside him:
"Spirit Chickens are hard to come by. Go ask whether anyone new has arrived at Dingzi Manor."
The attendant was rather shrewd and offered a suggestion:
"Sir, why don't we have someone follow him?"
Unexpectedly, Shopkeeper Lu swung a palm down at him.
"You've swallowed a bear's heart and a leopard's gall! I'm only telling you to ask so we can have another source of goods in the future, not to stir up trouble! If that young man has an expert behind him, even ten lives wouldn't be enough for you to lose!"
"Go! Just ask. Don't cause trouble!"
"Yes! Yes!"
The attendant held his cheek, not daring to say another word.
Once again, he took a winding, roundabout route.
Because Wang Ba had chosen his timing so well, he encountered almost no one on the way.
But although the first level of the Body-Strengthening Scripture had made him considerably stronger, carrying twenty-two Precious Chickens along such a long mountain path still left him drenched in sweat.
Chickens defecated especially frequently, and quite a bit of chicken droppings seeped out of the bamboo basket and smeared his body.
The stench rose to the heavens.
In the past, he would certainly have been so disgusted that he retched.
But now, Wang Ba felt nothing at all.
Instead, he looked at the Precious Chickens with greater delight than he would at gold, silver, and treasure.
After all, in his eyes, these Precious Chickens were walking bundles of lifespan!
Back at Mountain Manor, he did not hesitate at all.
He immediately deposited 0.1 years of lifespan into each of the roosters he had obtained in the exchange.
Then he marked them individually and released them into Mountain Manor.
He also had the Chicken Feed deliveryman bring a few extra buckets of Chicken Feed every day.
Eight days later.
"The lifespans of this batch of male Precious Chickens have stopped growing."
"It's time to harvest."
Wang Ba took a deep breath.
Then he caught these male Precious Chickens one by one and drained their lifespans!
Twenty-two in total, with fifty-five years drained from each!
Once transferred to him, that was 5.5 years each, for a total of 121 years!
[Current remaining lifespan of main body: 179.1 years] [Available expenditure: Body-Strengthening Scripture, level 2. Accounting for overall aptitude and Root Bone, the calculated cost is 18 years]
For some inexplicable reason, Wang Ba felt as though he had returned to eighteen, his whole body brimming with youthful vitality.
Looking at the numbers on the panel, Wang Ba felt a trace of the satisfaction of longevity.
But he quickly freed himself from that illusion.
This longevity is only an illusion!
Only by truly setting foot on the path of immortality can I hope for longevity!
He did not hesitate.
[Lifespan -18 years!]
The second level of the Body-Strengthening Scripture was complete!
[Lifespan -36 years!]
The third level of the Body-Strengthening Scripture was complete!
[Current remaining lifespan of main body: 125.1 years] [Available expenditure: Body-Strengthening Scripture, level 4. Accounting for overall aptitude and Root Bone, the calculated cost is 72 years!]
As he selected the expenditure for the fourth level, Wang Ba suddenly hesitated.
Before you continue