“Rare Fowl!”
“It’s actually here!”
Delighted, Wang Ba hurried to the page about Rare Fowl.
Daoist Horn-Pot did not mince words, stating his thesis right from the start:
“All birds under the heavens trace their bloodlines back to the primordial era of the Phoenix and the Vermilion Bird.”
“However, time is the harshest judge. Even those beasts carrying the blood of the Phoenix or Vermilion Bird can, at best, inherit a mere fraction of their ancestors’ might.”
“The Rare Fowl, though a mundane chicken, stands as the closest kin to Spirit Poultry among all common breeds. Its bloodline is thicker than most, making it prone to evolution. Occasionally, a Rare Fowl may even break through its limits on its own. Classified as a ‘meat chicken,’ even if it ascends to become Spirit Poultry, it poses absolutely no threat to mortals.”
“They can eat discarded pills and insects that cultivators cannot use, gathering and purifying their spiritual energy at little cost. Their meat strengthens essence and blood. For Qi Refinement cultivators at a bottleneck, eating large quantities of Spirit Poultry over a long period may offer some help in breaking through, without pill toxicity…”
“Thus, this breed is perfectly suited to serve as Spirit Chow for the Qi Refining disciples of the great sects!”
Wang Ba read on, captivated.
A realization dawned on him—perhaps this book documented the very origin of their sect’s chicken-rearing industry.
“No wonder the sect has us raising chickens… It turns out they can actually help cultivators break through their realms!”
The effect might not be as explosive as a pill, but its advantage lay in its gentle nature and lack of side effects. That single benefit alone was likely worth the sect’s investment.
Wang Ba continued reading, his eyes scanning the text hungrily.
“To induce a Rare Fowl to break through and become Spirit Poultry, the method is as follows—”
“Grind one mid-grade Spirit Stone to powder. Mix it with one jin of First Rank Upper-Grade Meridian-Unblocking Grass seeds, two jin of First Rank Middle-Grade Moon Essence Liquid, and two liang of powdered Spirit Poultry gizzard lining. Feed this to the chicken…”
“This constitutes one course.”
“Within three courses, the fowl is guaranteed to break through!”
Wang Ba stared at the page. “…”
His scalp tingled.
A mid-grade Spirit Stone?
Daoist Horn-Pot, do you have any idea how many low-grade Spirit Stones a single mid-grade stone exchanges for?
One hundred!
And do you know how much a low-grade Spirit Poultry is worth?
Three stones for a rooster, six for a hen!
What a joke.
If he actually used this method to force a breakthrough, he wouldn’t just be losing money—he’d be bankrupting himself into the dirt!
And that wasn’t even counting the cost of the top-quality Meridian-Unblocking Grass seeds or the Moon Essence Liquid.
The only thing he actually possessed was the Chicken Gizzard Lining—the inner wall of the gizzard, known for aiding digestion. He had eaten eight Spirit Poultry recently and had the foresight to save the linings.
But one thing was certain: he would absolutely never use this official method to launder his reputation.
It was a staggering loss! A cost he couldn’t possibly afford. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
However, his eyes caught a line of small text Daoist Horn-Pot had left in the margins.
“This formula utilizes the Meridian-Unblocking Grass seeds to open the Rare Fowl’s meridians, followed by the massive spiritual energy of a mid-grade Spirit Stone poured in at once to ignite the bloodline. This is merely the humble suggestion of a common man; the reader may modify it as they see fit.”
So that’s what the Meridian-Unblocking Grass seeds do.
Wang Ba felt a flicker of understanding.
He lowered his head and thought it over.
Daoist Horn-Pot’s thinking wasn’t actually complicated. Under normal circumstances, for a Rare Fowl to evolve into Spirit Poultry, it required a long period of nurturing with spiritual energy. The energy had to transform the bird’s body and bloodline from the outside in, a naturally slow process.
So, Daoist Horn-Pot invented a brute-force method. He used the grass seeds to force open the bird’s internal channels, then shoved a mid-grade Spirit Stone down its throat to shorten the nurturing process.
The mid-grade Spirit Stone was hard and difficult to digest even as powder. That was probably why the recipe included Spirit Poultry gizzard lining.
With such a massive injection of Qi, the Rare Fowl was guaranteed to advance.
“Then… what is the Moon Essence Liquid for?” Wang Ba muttered.
“Mid-grade Spirit Stone, grass seeds, liquid, gizzard lining… Wait. A mid-grade stone holds a terrifying amount of Qi. Wouldn’t that much energy cause the Rare Fowl to explode?”
“Explode…”
Wang Ba’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He thought he had guessed the purpose of the Moon Essence Liquid!
“It’s a buffer!”
“There’s too much spiritual energy in a mid-grade Spirit Stone. Forcing it in would certainly cause problems, so there has to be something to cushion the impact. Unless I’m mistaken, the Moon Essence Liquid probably cushions and protects the bird.”
“If that’s the case… if the impact of the spiritual energy wasn’t so massive, would the Moon Essence Liquid still be necessary?”
“Probably not…”
“To reduce the shock… what if I switched to a low-grade Spirit Stone?”
“The Qi in a low-grade stone is still substantial for a mere chicken. But the cost… the cost would be negligible by comparison.”
Rubbing his chin, Wang Ba found the idea more and more plausible.
Low-grade Spirit Stones would not work as well as mid-grade ones, but if he could verify that the method worked, he could explain how he raised Spirit Poultry.
That was enough.
Coincidentally, he had sold those chickens earlier and had a stash of Spirit Stones. Now, he only lacked the Meridian-Unblocking Grass seeds.
“I’ll go to the market in a couple of days and check the prices.”
Cough! Cough!
“Strange. I practice the Physique Strengthening Scripture. My physical constitution should be far superior to what it was before. How did I suddenly fall so ill?”
“Even if that sect disciple frightened me last night, I shouldn’t be this fragile.”
Wang Ba wrapped the thin quilt tightly around himself, puzzled.
He pondered it over and over, finding no answer. It wasn’t until a burning thirst drove him to drag himself to the water vat that he found the reason.
He leaned over to scoop a ladle of water. The rippling surface caught the dim light, reflecting his face.
His reflection showed a barely noticeable sprinkling of gray at his temples.
Wang Ba froze, horror gripping his heart.
“I’m only thirty… why do I look so haggard?”
“No… wait.”
“If I calculate based on my remaining lifespan… physically, I’m likely approaching fifty or sixty years old!”
He opened the panel. The lifespan entry read:
[Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 13.2 Years]
It had been even lower before. He had only managed to claw back to this number after devouring several Spirit Poultry.
“For a body in its fifties or sixties, falling seriously ill after a fright would make sense.”
Wang Ba shook his head bitterly.
The sensation of illness was agonizing. It was a weakness that radiated from the very marrow of his bones.
And in that weakness, the desolation of his surroundings felt magnified.
The cramped, shabby room, its moldy corners, the intermittent smell of accumulated chicken droppings…
He remembered that he had hidden four Spirit Poultry in Old Man Sun’s former room.
But now, he didn’t dare go there to drain their lifespan.
He was terrified that someone was watching.
His Yin Spirit Power was nearly gone and could no longer deceive anyone.
Call it cowardice, call it caution, but he dared not take even a sliver of risk.
And so, time blurred.
He would sleep, wake up, flip through Notes on Avian Husbandry, become drowsy, and sleep again.
When thirst burned his throat, he struggled up to drink. When hunger gnawed at his stomach, he scraped cold, leftover rice into his mouth.
He drifted in a daze from daylight into darkness…
“Get up!”
“Did you hear me?!”
Dimly, he heard someone shouting at him.