Old Man Sun shook out his tattered Daoist robe and tottered back toward his bedroom, his movements slow and shaky.

Before he disappeared inside, he threw a final sentence over his shoulder.

“You don’t need to count. There are exactly thirty-two hens here capable of laying eggs.”

He paused, then added, “The one in your hand isn’t ready yet. It’s still a year short.”

“Ah… yes, yes, understood!”

Wang Ba stood frozen in place, nodding mechanically. But beneath his stunned exterior, a storm of shock and ecstasy was raging in his heart.

Is this… a Golden Finger?

After suffering so much hardship, do I finally have a cheat?

He withdrew his hand in disbelief.

The translucent light screen before his eyes—invisible to anyone else—instantly dissipated.

Heart pounding, he hurriedly reached out and thrust his hand under the large hen’s belly again.

The screen shimmered back into existence.

[Target Lifespan: 19.2 years] [Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 71.7 years] [Consumable Items: None] [Absorb/Deposit?]

“It’s real! It’s actually real!”

Wang Ba bit his lip, trying hard to suppress the violent trembling of his body. He cast a quick, paranoid glance toward Old Man Sun’s bedroom.

Confirming that the old man couldn’t see him, he tucked the large hen under his arm and bolted back to his own quarters.

He slammed the door and latched the window tight.

The room was cramped and suffocating. Ignoring the filth, he pressed the large hen directly onto his bedding, pinning it down.

“Absorb… Deposit…” he muttered, his eyes darting between the options. “Let’s try absorbing first!”

Wang Ba gently tapped ‘Absorb’ in his mind.

Immediately, a progress bar popped up in his vision. As he mentally dragged the bar, the numbers on the screen shifted.

[Target Lifespan -10 years] [Body Lifespan +1 year] [Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 72.7 years]

“Cluck cluck…”

The large hen twisted its head around, looking at Wang Ba with a blank, confused expression.

With its limited intelligence, it faintly sensed that it had lost something vital, something intangible. But it was just a chicken; it had no concept of time or mortality.

“Ten years of a Rare Fowl’s lifespan only exchanges for one year of mine?”

Wang Ba frowned slightly, then nodded. “That makes sense. How can a chicken compare to a human?”

He closed his eyes, trying to sense the change in his body.

He waited.

Nothing happened.

“That’s it?” Wang Ba opened his eyes, feeling a wave of disappointment. One extra year of life didn’t feel like anything.

“Then… what about depositing?”

He hesitated, then dragged the progress bar in the opposite direction.

[Target Lifespan +11 years] [Body Lifespan -2.2 years] [Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 70.5 years]

Still, there was no physical sensation of draining.

However, Wang Ba noticed the math immediately. When converting his lifespan into the chicken’s, the ratio became 1:5.

“Is there a loss during the conversion process?”

Wang Ba felt a sting of heartache. “This back-and-forth just cost the Rare Fowl five years of total lifespan.”

But then, he noticed something beneath his hands. The large hen he was pinning down seemed to satisfy… change.

Its feathers, originally dull and dusty, began to shimmer with a healthy sheen.

More importantly, the strength of its struggle increased significantly. Wang Ba had to apply real pressure just to keep it pinned to the bed.

“Cluck… cluck…”

The hen twisted its neck, letting out a series of low noises.

Maybe it was an illusion, but Wang Ba felt the bird was almost pleading: Gently… do it gently…

Damn it!

Wang Ba shook his head violently. I’m losing my mind!

Focusing back on reality, he stared at the bird. Were these changes real?

He decided to push it further. He dragged the progress bar again.

[Target Lifespan +1 year] [Body Lifespan -0.2 years] [Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 70.3 years]

This time, the change was undeniable.

The large hen’s body swelled, becoming plumper, rounder, and more robust at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It turned its head, eyes half-closed, and bobbed its head rhythmically. It seemed… purely content.

“Cluck~~”

The sound it made was mature, resonant, and… bizarrely ecstatic.

Wang Ba was speechless.

But overriding the awkwardness was a surge of pure adrenaline.

He realized he had found the true utility of his Golden Finger.

Accelerated Maturation!

Yes, it consumed lifespan. Yes, there was a conversion loss.

But he could harvest lifespan from the disposable chickens—the ones destined for the pot anyway—and funnel that time into a select group of breeding stock.

He could force them to mature instantly.

He could drastically shorten the breeding cycle.

If he did this, the sect’s monthly tribute quota wouldn’t just be met; it would be trivial!

“However…” Wang Ba’s excitement cooled as caution took over. “With Old Man Sun here, I can’t be too reckless. If I change too much too fast, he’ll notice.”

He needed to be steady. He needed to be a ‘Gou’—a turtle hiding in its shell.

He marked the large hen, which was still lying blissfully on his bedding, and tossed it back outside into the coop.

He would observe this hen’s condition overnight before deciding his next move.

He had lost 1.4 years of his own lifespan today. But if this experiment confirmed his theory, it was a cheap price to pay.

Wang Ba closed his door again.

He shoved the soiled bedding aside and lay on the hard wooden planks, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Suddenly, a thought struck him like lightning. He sat up abruptly in the dark.

“Wait! Since I can obtain lifespan… does that mean I have a chance to master the Physique Strengthening Scripture?”

“Even if reaching the thirteenth layer requires 8,191 years… factoring in the conversion loss, that’s just over eight thousand Rare Fowl!”

Eight thousand Rare Fowl.

To an outsider, that was an impossible fortune.

But here? In this massive Spirit Chow manor? He was swimming in chickens!

Of course, that assumed he could keep his job long enough to drain them.

Scrambling out of bed, he dug the Physique Strengthening Scripture out from under the bed leg and held it up to the dim light.

He flipped through it page by page.

The Physique Strengthening Scripture wasn’t complex. From start to finish, it contained only a dozen postures. The difficulty lay in the accumulation—day after day, year after year, like dripping water wearing through stone.

Wang Ba tried to mimic the first posture. It looked simple, but holding it was exhausting.

He practiced through the entire night. By the time the roosters began to crow, he had barely managed to grasp the basics.

He had ‘entered the door,’ as they said. But to master the first layer? That would take a full year of arduous, unbroken daily cultivation.

Just then, the light screen popped up unbidden.

[Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 70.3 years] [Consumable Items: ‘Physique Strengthening Scripture’ Layer 1. Based on Comprehensive Aptitude and Root Bone, conversion requires 9 years.]

The joy of the notification was instantly strangled by the cost.

“Nine years?!” Wang Ba gasped. “Didn’t the manual say it only takes one year?”

The consumption was exorbitant.

Nine times the normal time? His aptitude must be truly garbage.

Wang Ba hesitated. Nine years of life was a heavy toll.

But then, he grit his teeth. He chose ‘Consume’.

He had no choice.

Was he really going to wait eight thousand years? Who knew what disasters would happen in that time? He needed strength now.

[Body Lifespan -9 years] [Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 61.3 years]

The next second, a strange sensation flooded his body.

His arms, his thighs…

A faint swelling sensation rippled through his muscles, giving him a feeling of explosive power.

But deep within his core, a thread of hollowness and weakness intertwined with that strength.

The conflicting sensations of vitality and drain made his stomach turn, and he nearly retched.

The light screen remained impassive.

[Current Body’s Remaining Lifespan: 61.3 years] [Consumable Items: ‘Physique Strengthening Scripture’ Layer 2. Based on Comprehensive Aptitude and Root Bone, conversion requires 18 years.]

Wang Ba stared at the new prompt. He hesitated, then swiped it away.

Closing the screen.

Mastering the first layer overnight could be explained away—perhaps he had a hidden foundation or sudden insight.

But going any further? That would be conspicuous.

In this sect, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Even with only Old Man Sun around, he refused to risk exposure.

He climbed off the bed.

His waist was stiff and board-like from sitting rigidly all night. He stretched, hearing his joints pop, and pushed open the door.

The morning light hit his face.

He blinked, surprised to see Old Man Sun standing in the middle of the courtyard.

The old man was holding a plump, round hen—the very one Wang Ba had experimented on.

Old Man Sun’s usually indifferent, frozen face was cracked with bewildered confusion.

“It shouldn’t be…” the old man muttered, staring at the bird. “How did it suddenly lay an egg…”