Cultivation: I Can Steal Lifespan from Spirit Beasts

Chapter 133: Gains

Heavenly Gate Sect, Eastern Sage Outpost. By the shores of South Lake. Inside the small wooden hut at the poultry farm.

Bu Chan smoothed the wrinkles on the quilt over and over again. Her mind was elsewhere, her gaze drifting constantly toward the window and the main gate of the farm beyond it.

Despite her efforts, the quilt only seemed to get messier.

Turning back to see the tangled bedding, she couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh.

Then, with renewed focus, she began to smooth it out again, inch by inch.

Such a task could have been completed instantly with a simple circulation of Qi. Yet, without realizing when it began, she had grown to enjoy the sensation of cleaning this small wooden hut with her own hands.

Especially after returning from her grueling cultivation at the Spirit Water Courtyard, doing these mundane chores brought her a sense of inner peace and relief.

But today, her heart refused to settle.

“Senior Brother…”

Bu Chan’s eyes were brimming with worry.

Just then, she heard a faint noise.

“Is Senior Brother back?!”

Bu Chan stood up in a flurry of surprise. Without a second thought, she summoned her flying Magical Artifact beneath her feet and flew straight to the door, pulling it open with impatient eagerness.

However, when she saw the figure standing outside, her excitement turned instantly to crushing disappointment.

The visitor was a stranger. He wore a white Daoist robe, his features as fair as the bright moon, his eyes sparkling like stars. Tall and slender, he exuded a unique aura of carefree elegance and otherworldly grace.

Seeing Bu Chan open the door, the stranger was also slightly taken aback.

He quickly flashed a brilliant smile. “Hehe, Fellow Daoist. Has Fellow Daoist Wang returned?”

As he spoke, his gaze drifted past Bu Chan, attempting to peek through the crack in the door behind her.

Bu Chan immediately went on guard. She shifted subtly to block his line of sight, forcing a polite smile onto her face.

“Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist. Senior Brother just went out on urgent business. Why not leave your calling card or name? I will pass it on to him the moment he returns.”

“Oh, I see…”

His view obstructed, the man looked visibly disappointed. He had hoped to take advantage of the cautious cultivator’s absence to spy on the number of Spirit Poultry remaining in the farm.

However, he quickly adjusted his demeanor, smiling as he introduced himself. “I am…”

“Fellow Daoist Dong Qiyu?”

Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice rang out from behind him.

Dong Qiyu’s expression stiffened. He turned around.

Standing there was a man of about thirty, dressed in a simple, unadorned dark azure cultivator’s robe. His features were not particularly handsome—plain, even—but upon closer inspection, he exuded an inexplicable sense of tranquility.

“Fellow Daoist Wang!”

The newcomer was none other than Wang Ba.

At the entrance of the hut, Bu Chan’s expression remained composed as she continued to block the doorway, but the delight in her eyes betrayed her heart.

She hurriedly spoke, deliberately raising her voice for Wang Ba to hear.

“Senior Brother… not long after you left, this Fellow Daoist arrived. He came looking for you.”

Understanding Bu Chan’s hint, Wang Ba smiled faintly. “Has Fellow Daoist Dong come to purchase Spirit Poultry again?”

“Exactly!”

Dong Qiyu made no attempt to hide his intentions. He seemed to be in an excellent mood. “The Spirit Poultry raised by Fellow Daoist have benefited me immensely. I just submitted my mission and couldn’t wait to come find you.”

Wang Ba’s heart stirred slightly. On the surface, he feigned joy, followed quickly by regret.

“I am truly happy that I could be of help to Fellow Daoist. Unfortunately, the number of Spirit Poultry is limited. I must keep some as breeding stock. I fear I won’t be able to sell any more for quite some time.”

“This… Fellow Daoist, even a small number would be fine,” Dong Qiyu said, taken aback and clearly unwilling to give up.

Wang Ba shook his head with a sigh. “It isn’t that I don’t wish to sell. I would love nothing more than to earn such a large sum of Spirit Stones—who would turn away business knocking at their door? But I truly cannot supply them right now.”

“Then, can Fellow Daoist give me a definite time? How long will it take?” Dong Qiyu stared at him, persistent.

“Perhaps two or three years. Maybe seven or eight. There is no helping it; breeding Spirit Poultry relies mostly on luck,” Wang Ba said helplessly.

Dong Qiyu’s expression turned sour, but he had no grounds to argue. After a few polite exchanges, he took his leave.

Watching the man walk away with reluctance written all over his face, Wang Ba shook his head inwardly.

He had only risked selling so many Spirit Poultry to Dong Qiyu before because of special circumstances—he had desperately needed Spirit Stones to buy Supplies.

But now, he still had over twenty Middle Grade Spirit Stones in his possession. Furthermore, after his trip with Zhao Feng, he had picked up several Foundation Establishment cultivators’ Storage Bags for free. He was certainly not short on money.

Naturally, he had no desire to entangle himself further with someone as mysterious and suspicious as Dong Qiyu.

If he needed Spirit Stones in the future, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

“Bu…”

Wang Ba turned his head, intending to greet Bu Chan.

Before he could finish, a soft body crashed into his arms, causing him to stumble.

“Bu Chan.”

His hand froze in mid-air. For a moment, Wang Ba was at a loss.

After a long silence, he stiffly lowered his hand, gently stroking her hair. His gaze softened.

“I’m back. I’m back.”

…

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

Bleary-eyed, Wang Ba reached out to feel the space beside him, only for his hand to meet the edge of the narrow wooden bed.

He jolted awake, sitting up in a panic.

Looking around, the room was as cold and quiet as it had always been, as if the madness of the previous night had been nothing but a fever dream.

Hesitantly, he pinched the corner of the quilt and brought it to his nose.

A unique fragrance of grass and wood, mingled with the faint, delicate scent of a young maiden, filled his senses.

His spirit lifted instantly. Reaching under the pillow, he pulled out a single strand of long, black hair.

Holding the strand of silk between his fingers, he finally believed it.

Last night was not a dream.

This realization left him stunned for a moment.

For some reason, in that instant, he felt as though he had finally drawn a little closer to this world.

The early morning light spilled into the room from the distance.

He couldn’t help but stand up and walk to the wooden window, taking in the view outside.

By the lakeside, that familiar figure sat quietly. Her snow-white feet played absently in the clear water. She had plucked a reed leaf from the shore, rolled it into a makeshift whistle, and was blowing into it without any rhythm or tune…

A white egret skimmed the water near her, disturbing the thin morning mist.

The rising sun generously bestowed its golden light upon her, making her the most captivating sight in the world at that moment.

Wang Ba stood there, entranced.

A long time passed.

Finally, reluctantly, he withdrew his gaze. He tried to calm the ripples in his heart, intending to consume some Spirit Poultry essence and cultivate.

But he found that the waves of emotion simply refused to settle.

Wang Ba shook his head and decided to simply give himself a day off.

After some thought, he retrieved several Storage Bags from his robes, preparing to inventory his gains.

Two of them were his own.

The other five belonged to the three Incense Path cultivators Zhao Feng had slain.

He started with the Storage Bag of the Foundation Establishment cultivator who had chased him earlier.

Injecting a strand of Qi, the bag opened unexpectedly easily.

“That shouldn’t be right. This is a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s Storage Bag. Did Senior Brother break the seal for me in passing?”

Puzzled but expectant, Wang Ba opened the bag.

Immediately, he was stunned by the contents.

Not because of any great treasures, but because the vast majority of the space was filled with various sacrificial items.

Incense, candles, altars, faceless statues…

In a corner of the Storage Bag, he finally found a small parcel containing only three or four Middle Grade Spirit Stones, several sheets of golden paper, a Top Grade first-tier flying Magical Artifact, and three colorless droplets of water suspended in a container.

He casually swept the Spirit Stones into his own bag, then picked up the golden papers and the flying artifact for inspection.

The golden papers were all transcripts of Yin Spirit lineage spells, including methods for raising and controlling Yin Ghosts.

Wang Ba glanced over them briefly before storing them away to study later.

As for the Top Grade flying Magical Artifact, he discovered a peculiar Formation engraved upon it.

When Wang Ba injected his Qi, the Formation immediately converted it into an energy fluctuation that felt somewhat familiar.

“It’s the power of the soul.”

Wang Ba toyed with it for a moment before storing it away.

Finally, he carefully used his Qi to lift the three colorless water droplets, observing them closely.

He quickly realized that these spherical droplets emitted a sensation very similar to pure soul power.

Wang Ba immediately recalled an item he had heard about while Soul Searching the Incense Path cultivator, Ji Lin.

“Could this be… ‘Divine Essence Dew’?”

A look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.

Divine Essence Dew was one of the few treasures capable of replenishing and enhancing the soul for cultivators practicing soul refinement.

It was to them what Qi Refining Pills were to Qi Refining cultivators.

However, unlike manufactured pills, Divine Essence Dew was a natural treasure. It was harvested from the leaves of a second-tier rare spiritual plant called the ‘Thousand Spirit Tree’. It took over a decade for a single leaf to accumulate enough energy to form just one drop.

Wang Ba hurriedly stored the Divine Essence Dew. It would be perfect to use when he went to the Spirit Water Courtyard to cultivate.

Next, he opened the two Storage Bags belonging to the other Foundation Establishment cultivator.

To his disappointment, they were extremely similar to the first one. Aside from a large number of sacrificial items, there were only a few things of value.

As expected, there were Spirit Stones and golden papers.

However, the golden papers were largely duplicates of the previous ones.

There were, surprisingly, two more drops of Divine Essence Dew.

Besides that, there was a large drum made of human skin.

Wang Ba tapped it lightly and immediately felt a wave of dizziness.

“Good item! It can affect the soul directly!”

Delighted, Wang Ba played with the human skin drum for a moment before putting it away.

Soon, his gaze fell on the two Storage Bags belonging to the strongest of the three—the red-haired cultivator.

He opened the first one.

Immediately, Wang Ba was dazzled by the blinding glitter of Spirit Stones.

A rough scan revealed nearly 10,000 Low Grade Spirit Stones and 50 or 60 Middle Grade Spirit Stones.

Calculated together, it amounted to roughly 160 Middle Grade Spirit Stones.

In that moment, Wang Ba finally understood the old saying: A man does not get rich without a windfall; a horse does not fatten without night grass.

“This is truly overnight wealth.”

Wang Ba couldn’t help but sigh. He felt a surge of joy, but even more so, a sense of vigilance.

He feared he might not be able to resist such temptation in the future—that he might get carried away and start actively seeking out life-and-death battles for profit.

In reality, he wasn’t opposed to fighting, but only when it was absolutely unavoidable.

Calming the excitement of his sudden fortune, he searched further.

Aside from the Spirit Stones, he found several Magical Artifacts.

Among them was a second-tier Middle Grade short rod and a second-tier Low Grade flying Magical Artifact.

He fumbled with the rod for a long time but couldn’t figure out its function.

He tossed it, along with the flying artifact, into his Storage Bag. Since he hadn’t reached Foundation Establishment yet, using second-tier artifacts was incredibly draining and difficult. A Top Grade first-tier artifact was far more practical for him.

Finally, he opened the red-haired cultivator’s second Storage Bag.

As expected, this last bag held the greatest surprise.

Apart from the usual sacrificial items, there were ten drops of Divine Essence Dew.

Eight golden paper transcripts.

Several Talismans inscribed with bizarre, eerie patterns.

A black jar shrouded in Yin energy.

Wang Ba ignored the other items and went straight for the golden papers, flipping through them one by one.

Sure enough, among the transcripts, he finally found the one he desired most.

On the golden paper, three large characters were clearly written:

Divine Dream Method.

At last, Wang Ba was no longer pure.

(Chapter End)