A cold sweat still clung to Wang Ba as he recalled the brush with death he had just survived.

Old Hou had a bone hidden in his sleeve!

His senses, sharpened far beyond those of a mortal, had instantly picked up on the anomaly. More specifically, he had felt the pulse of dense Spiritual Qi radiating from the white bone concealed within the old man’s robe.

Realizing something was wrong, Wang Ba had improvised on the spot. He brought up “bone replacement” to divert Old Hou’s attention, buying himself just enough time to retreat into the safety of the manor.

Inside, he had a weapon: Alpha-Seven.

The fully grown Spirit Hen possessed astonishing attack power. A single peck could shatter stone as if it were soft tofu. Moreover, Alpha-Seven was no ordinary beast; her intelligence was high enough to understand simple commands. She was the only combat asset Wang Ba could currently rely on.

He had been ready. The moment Old Hou barged in, he would have unleashed Alpha-Seven for a desperate last stand.

If that failed, he was prepared to crush the jade pendant Zhao Feng had given him. He would rather drag them all down in a mutually destructive end than die quietly.

But against all odds, Old Hou had hesitated. For reasons unknown, the old man had abandoned the assassination and left.

It was then that Wang Ba had a flash of inspiration. He decided to turn the tables, playing along with their expectations by staging a fake bone replacement ritual.

The Buried Bone Secret Technique described the process and the gruesome consequences of failure in vivid detail. Combined with the specifics he had gleaned from his casual chat with Old Hou yesterday, he had enough material to construct a convincing lie.

Mimicking the ritual was difficult, but his understanding of the theory carried him through.

To make the deception airtight, Wang Ba really had sliced open his own pinky finger. He really had used his own fresh blood to draw the formation arrays.

And the screaming? That was genuine.

It hurt like hell. The pain had been so intense that tears had involuntarily streamed down his face.

Of course, he hadn’t actually severed his finger bone, nor had he jammed a chicken bone into his flesh. The “twisting” and “rejection” effects were illusions maintained by his Yin God power.

The cost of this theater was enormous.

Maintaining such a high-fidelity disguise for just the time it took an incense stick to burn had consumed a full three drops of Yin God power. Including what he had spent over the past two nights, his reserve had dropped to less than four drops.

But the cost was irrelevant. What mattered were the two critical pieces of intelligence Yu Changchun’s visit had revealed.

“First, Yu Changchun’s surveillance post cannot be far from here.”

“Second… when Yu Changchun was observing me, the rotation speed of his Yin God projection was sluggish, barely faster than a mortal’s. But the moment he activated the Spirit Beast Bag, the rotation spiked instantly. If I’m not mistaken, he doesn’t dare display his full cultivation within the Sect, so he suppresses it.”

Wang Ba’s eyes narrowed. “This means I cannot rely solely on the consumption and rotation of Yin God power to judge a person’s identity or strength. It’s not accurate against those who are hiding.”

A chilling thought struck him as he remembered Deacon Li.

When they first met, Deacon Li had felt like a mortal to his senses. But during their last encounter, the Deacon’s Yin God rotation had been as rapid as any other Sect disciple.

Connecting this with the secrets Deacon Li had previously divulged, Wang Ba felt his blood run cold.

“Deacon Li… he is also a member of the Ascension Society!”

“Has the entire Sect been infiltrated? Is the ‘Ascension Society’ truly backed by Elder He?”

“Is there anyone in this place I can trust?”

His circle of contact was small. The people he saw most often were Old Hou, Niu Yong, and Deacon Li.

Niu Yong had vanished without a trace. Old Hou and Deacon Li were both confirmed cultists.

The ratio was terrifying. The more you think about it, the more horrifying it becomes.

He couldn’t fathom whether the Sect was genuinely oblivious or if this was part of some larger, darker scheme. The lower levels were leaking like a sieve, yet the higher-ups remained silent.

“Leave… I have to find a way to leave.”

Wang Ba’s stomach churned with anxiety.

He distractedly flipped through the second volume of the Buried Bone Secret Technique, but his hand froze on a specific page.

A line of text jumped out at him, stark and brutal:

To achieve a Perfect Bone Replacement, the optimal method is to forcibly extract all bones from the original owner while they still live, replacing them one by one. Following the replacement, nourish the body with spiritual medicine… in time, a Spirit Root will be nurtured.

Reading this, only two words echoed in Wang Ba’s mind:

Demonic Path.

Yes. Only a madman of the Demonic Path could devise something so utterly void of conscience.

Yet, as he thought about it, the twisted logic made sense.

If it weren’t a Demonic technique, how could it allow a mortal to defy the Heavens, change their fate, and forge a Spirit Root?

The Physique Strengthening Scripture was a grand and righteous path, but without a Hidden Spirit Root, success was virtually impossible. For a true mortal to rise, this bloody road was likely the only option.

However, considering the rare herbs and cultivator bones required for the “Perfect” method, Wang Ba realized that ordinary mortals would never enjoy such a blessing.

The reasoning was simple: If the Ascension Society had access to such vast resources, why waste them on Laborer Disciples? It would be far more cost-effective to recruit existing Qi Refining disciples.

Clearly, the laborers practicing the Buried Bone Secret Technique were not destined for greatness. They were likely resources themselves.

This realization cemented Wang Ba’s resolve to distance himself from the Society at all costs.

Not long after, Niu Yong’s younger brother arrived to collect the chicken manure.

Wang Ba asked if there was any news.

“Still nothing,” the boy said, his voice choking up. “The Punishment Hall and External Affairs Hall both sent Immortals to search, but they found no trace. He’s probably…”

The boy’s eyes reddened instantly.

Wang Ba could only offer a few hollow words of comfort.

After finishing his chores in the afternoon, Wang Ba threw all the previously slaughtered Spirit Poultry into a clay pot. He stewed them and, with great effort, forced himself to eat a quarter of the meat. The massive intake of nutrients finally allowed him to condense a single drop of Yin God power.

When he stepped out at dusk to relieve himself, he noticed something strange.

The Yin God power in the distance… it wasn’t rotating.

“Yu Changchun gave up on the surveillance?!”

Wang Ba paused, stunned. Then, his mind raced, and realization dawned. A wave of euphoria washed over him.

He didn’t know exactly why the man had stopped watching, but it was a massive relief. Being stared at from morning to night was suffocating.

Taking advantage of the privacy, Wang Ba immediately went to Old Man Sun’s coop and brought Alpha-Seven out alone.

He fed her a few Discarded Spirit Worms to warm her up. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, he dangled one of his prize possessions before her beak: a “Version 2.0” Tendon-Severing Nematode.

Alpha-Seven moved like a blur of golden light. The deadly nematode didn’t even have time to coil before it was snapped up and swallowed whole.

Crunch, crunch.

After devouring the nematode, Alpha-Seven’s eyes lit up as if she had just tasted a celestial delicacy. She scurried over to Wang Ba’s hand, rubbing her small head against his palm affectionately.

“Cluck, cluck…”

To Wang Ba, it sounded suspiciously like, Big Brother, Big Brother, give me more!

Wang Ba shook his head. I’m hallucinating again.

Still, he dotingly fed her another nematode.

“Eat up, eat up.”

He didn’t feel much sting from the loss. He now understood why Shopkeeper Lu had sold him the nematodes at a discount back then.

These things ate too much.

Aside from Spirit Stones and Spirit Poultry, Wang Ba had no high-energy food. To keep the colony alive, he had been forced to grind up Spirit Stones as feed. Without high-grade beast bones to facilitate breeding, he was looking at bankruptcy in the near future.

The cost was unsustainable, so he decided to keep only a small core population for breeding and use the rest as premium snacks for Alpha-Seven.

Of course, there was no such thing as a free lunch. Alpha-Seven had to earn her treats.

Motivated by the delicious worms, Alpha-Seven displayed shocking intelligence. She perfectly executed several tactical commands: Peck, Pounce, Ram, Hook Claw, and Cover.

The “Cover” maneuver was practiced the most.

For a little hen, she gave it her all.

Wang Ba wasn’t entirely sure how Qi Refining cultivators fought, so he focused on maximizing Alpha-Seven’s natural physical advantages.

After an outstanding performance and consuming over ten Middle-Grade Tendon-Severing Nematodes, Alpha-Seven was finally full. She hopped onto Wang Ba’s thigh, raised her pert chicken butt, wiggled her hips, and—

Plop.

A warm, wet sensation landed squarely on Wang Ba’s instep.

Wang Ba didn’t even frown.

Are you kidding? This bird was his primary bodyguard. Even if she flew onto his head and defecated, he would smile and thank her.

He waited until true night fell.

Stepping outside, he checked his senses again. The Yin God power remained still. No rotation. No eyes watching him.

Satisfied, Wang Ba selected four more Spirit Poultry and quietly slipped into the darkness.