Chapter 1: Arrival |
It was a windy and snowy evening.
A hunched figure appeared at the entrance of the alley, wiped the snow from his face, and pushed open the old wooden door of the courtyard.
There were several rooms in the courtyard, and he walked familiarly towards one of them.
"Chen Lin, why are you still going out in this weather? Aren't you afraid of being possessed by evil spirits?"
It seemed that someone had heard the door opening, and a window of another room was pushed open, revealing a yellowish-faced woman.
"Oh, there's no rice at home, so I went out to buy some. I'm preparing to close the door for a while."
Chen Lin pointed to the large bag in his hand and nodded in response.
The woman's eyes suddenly lit up, and she eagerly stuck her head out, blocking the snowflakes from falling into her eyes with her hand, and stared at the bag in Chen Lin's hand. "You bought rice, can you spare some for me?"
"No!"
"I can trade something for it!"
The woman's voice became even more urgent, as she was about to run out of food.
"Do you have anything valuable to trade?"
Chen Lin paused, looking at her suspiciously.
The woman opened her mouth, then suddenly gritted her teeth, puffed out her chest, and said, "How about I accompany you for a night?"
"Bang!"
The response was the sound of a door closing.
The woman looked disappointed.
Suddenly, her demeanor changed, and she gave a strange, cold smile, saying, "You damn old thing, you deserve to be struck by lightning, cursed to eat until you can't poop, and wait until I break through to the middle stage of my cultivation to see what happens to you!"
"Ptui!"
The woman spat viciously and slammed the window shut.
The large snowflakes instantly covered the footprints in the courtyard, and the entire city was shrouded in a blizzard.
Chen Lin stood inside, silently gazing at the woman's disappearing face through the window and his mouth twitching involuntarily.
He took off his hat, shook off the snow, and put the rice away in the rice container.
He found a few pieces of firewood and relit the extinguished stove, and the temperature in the room slowly rose.
He stared at the fire for a while, then sighed, stood up, and began to cook.
He put the cleaned rice on the stove, then turned to an old wooden table.
After sitting down, he opened a drawer.
First he took out a palm-sized pile of yellow paper, then a silver-colored brush.
Finally, he carefully removed a black ink bottle from his pocket and placed it on the table.
These items were the materials needed to make talismans: talisman paper, talisman brush, and spiritual ink.
He didn't just go out on this adventure because of the lack of rice; the main reason was to buy this spiritual ink.
A small bottle cost several spirit stones, and the price was so high that it made one's heart ache.
After glancing at the porridge cooking on the stove, Chen Lin took a deep breath, picked up a talisman paper, and spread it out.
He dipped the silver talisman brush in the spiritual ink, adjusted his posture to the optimal state, and his expression became solemn.
The brush tip lightly fell, and a series of fine, sparkling lines appeared on the talisman paper, slowly forming one mysterious talisman character after another.
Although the drawing seemed effortless, Chen Lin's nose began to sweat, and his brushstrokes slowed down.
When he had drawn half of the talisman, the characters on it suddenly flashed rapidly twice and then burst open with a loud bang.
Looking at the small area of the table that had been burned, Chen Lin curled his lips.
"A mid-grade talisman indeed requires more effort than a strength talisman, and the requirements for spiritual power are higher. My current cultivation at the second layer of Qi refinement is still insufficient."
He shook his head, muttered to himself, and then picked up another talisman paper to spread out.
The repetitive process continued.
This time, the talisman lines were drawn more densely, but they still failed to escape their fate, bursting open midway.
However, Chen Lin didn't show any signs of despair, calmly picking up another talisman paper to spread out.
Again, it failed.
He spread out another one.
Again, it failed.
Chen Lin was like a robot, repeatedly performing the action of drawing talismans.
And so it continued.
He repeated it nine times.
Then, on the tenth try…
This time, the action remained unchanged, and the talisman began to flash and burst open midway.
But just as the talisman characters were about to explode…
It was as if a large hand suddenly appeared, roughly gathering the already burst energy and pressing it back into the talisman paper.
Immediately after…
The talisman paper flashed, and the talisman lines became clear and bright, quickly calming down.
A subtle fireball pattern appeared on the talisman.
"It seems that my Golden Finger ability is also effective for refining mid-grade talismans. This adds another path to my wealth, although the ability is a bit weak, requiring ten attempts to succeed once."
Chen Lin nodded as he held the talisman in his hand, and then shook his head.
As a transmigrator, no matter how bad the status you obtain is, you still have the necessary benefits.
It's just that this Golden Finger ability was a bit of a letdown.
It's an innate ability, which he calls "Hit Every Ten Times".
The full name would be: "Theoretically it is possible, and if you use the correct method to make any item, you will definitely succeed once in ten times."
If it weren't for the limitation of "using the correct method", this ability would be considered heaven-defying. But with this limitation, it's quite frustrating.
What is the correct method?
For example, if you want to refine a pill medicine, you need to master the pill formula, familiarize yourself with the refining process, have a matching pill furnace and fire source, and your cultivation level needs to be within a reasonable range.
Only then can you succeed once in ten attempts.
"Ah, well, it's better than nothing."
Chen Lin didn't continue to complain.
Transmigrating to such a dangerous world, starting so badly, having an "ability" by his side was already quite good.
At least he could survive.
The smell of rice wafted through the air.
The porridge was ready.
Chen Lin didn't think too much, took the pot off the stove, and began to eat the porridge with gusto.
Even though it was just rice porridge, it wasn't ordinary rice, it was spiritual rice. Not only did it taste delicious, but it also had a certain benefit for his cultivation.
Of course, the price was not cheap, one spirit stone per catty.
Normally, he wouldn't dare to be so extravagant, but this time, since his cultivation had reached the peak of the second level of qi refinement, he wanted to try to use the energy of the spiritual rice to break through to the next level.
A bowl of porridge was quickly finished.
The gentle spiritual energy began to spread from his stomach to his entire body.
It was warm and comfortable.
Unfortunately, the spiritual energy was too little and quickly dissipated.
Chen Lin, who still wanted more, was about to scoop out another bowl when he suddenly heard a knock at the door.
"Bang bang bang!"
"Fellow Daoist Chen, open the door, it's me, Zhao Zhengyuan."
Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Lin quickly covered the pot, put a talisman in his hand, and then opened the door.
"What's going on so late at night?"
Chen Lin looked at the middle-aged man with a honest and kind face outside, but he didn't plan to invite him in.
The man was also a tenant in the courtyard, and he had a good relationship with the original owner of Chen Lin's body. However, everything here was very suspicious, and he had to be cautious.
"Hehe, I smelled the fragrance of spiritual rice from your place, and I just happened to have cooked the last piece of black-striped tiger meat and a bottle of wine. I came to invite you to drink with me."
The middle-aged man held up the things in his hand and said with a smile.
After finishing, he suddenly looked up and revealed a strange, cold smile.
This change was extremely sudden.
It was as if the man had suddenly changed into someone else, and his demeanor had also changed, giving off a feeling of eerie and madness, making people very uncomfortable.
But Chen Lin didn't show any surprise.
Since he transmigrated here, he had discovered that everyone in this place would occasionally reveal such a cold smile.
It was inexplicable, and it could happen at any time, anywhere.
After revealing such a smile, the person would suddenly become extremely arrogant, as if no one could match them.
And it seemed that the person themselves didn't have any feeling about it.
There was something wrong with the people here.
There was a big problem!
Unfortunately, Chen Lin's cultivation was too weak, and he couldn't do anything, so he could only suppress his fear and slowly seek a way to resolve it.
And to avoid drawing attention, he also occasionally made this gesture.
Chen Lin smiled coldly and said, "Okay, let's drink together."
It was just what he needed, as he had some questions to ask the man, so he nodded in agreement.
Just then, the window of another room was pushed open, and the yellow-faced woman's head poked out.
Seeing the wine and meat, her eyes suddenly lit up with a captivating light.
"Zhao Zhengyuan, what's the point of drinking with a small-minded man? Come to my place, and not only can you drink wine, but you can also drink soup!"
Chen Lin heard this and looked at the woman, then at Zhao Zhengyuan, with a seemingly amused expression.
Zhao Zhengyuan then curled his lips and walked directly into the room.
With a bang, he closed the door behind him.
Outside, the woman's angry and frustrated shouting could be heard.
"You're also a useless piece of trash, men are all no good, wait until I break through and I'll throw you all out to feed the wild beasts!"
The two of them exchanged a glance, both shaking their heads in helplessness.
Since the man had brought wine and dishes, Chen Lin could only bring out the spiritual rice porridge he had hidden away and serve two bowls.
He cut the roasted black-striped tiger meat into slices, poured the wine, and began to drink.
"Recently, the city has been getting more and more unstable. Have you heard? The patriarch of the Zhang family has mysteriously disappeared, and no one knows if he's alive or dead. He's a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, after all!"
Zhao Zhengyuan took a sip of wine and spoke with a tone of astonishment.
Chen Lin's eyes flashed slightly.
He thought to himself, "This eerie place, it's no surprise if someone dies, even if it's a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if the entire city's population died overnight."
Although he was complaining in his heart, he still maintained a deeply concerned expression on his face.
"Yes, even a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator can just disappear, this city is getting more and more chaotic."
After saying that, he drained the cup of wine in one gulp.
A clear, refreshing, and sweet liquid flowed down his throat and into his stomach.
At first, it was cool and refreshing, and then it released a wave of heat, spreading from his chest to his limbs, making the spiritual energy within him become more active.
The potency of this spiritual wine was much stronger than the spiritual rice porridge!