Lin Yu was as captivating as ever.

She spotted Wang Ba from a distance and immediately ducked her head, trying to hide.

But Wang Ba’s senses were sharp. Before she could look away, he had already noticed the redness and swelling around her eyes. She had clearly been crying just moments ago.

His mind instantly drifted to the rumors circulating about Lin Yu and that certain ‘Senior Brother Jing’.

Wang Ba shook his head inwardly.

The life of a Laborer Disciple was harsh, but the lives of bottom-rung cultivators didn’t seem much better.

He had no energy to spare for pity, nor did he wish to invite trouble. Since she clearly didn’t want to be seen in such a state, he played along. He lowered his head, feigning ignorance, and turned down a different path.

Only after he vanished did Lin Yu lift her head.

She stared at Wang Ba’s retreating back, her gaze a complex tangle of emotions—envy, resentment, and bitterness.

“Why…” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Why does a mere laborer get Senior Brother Zhao’s protection, while I can only…”

…

For the first time, Wang Ba felt an overwhelming desperation to return to Manor Ding Eighty-Seven.

He rushed into the familiar courtyard, bolted into his cramped little room, and the moment the door clicked shut, he collapsed onto the bed.

The exhaustion of the day, the suffocating caution he maintained under the watchful eyes of cultivators, the thrill of finally nearing his goal, and the nervous anticipation of the future…

In that instant, all of it melted away as he sprawled out on the mattress, limbs spread wide in the shape of the character Great.

In this pitifully small room, he found his greatest release.

He thought of nothing. He did nothing. He simply let his mind go blank.

Cluck, cluck.

Alpha-Seven heard the commotion. It hopped lightly from under the bed, paced around the mattress, and then jumped onto Wang Ba’s thigh. From there, it navigated to his stomach, and finally, his chest.

It stretched its neck, peering down at its master with eyes filled with a clear, innocent stupidity.

This perspective… cluck… seems quite novel, cluck!

Curious, Alpha-Seven pecked gently at Wang Ba’s collar. Suddenly, it felt a turbulent urge in its bowels. Deciding to follow the call of nature, it raised its tail feathers and squeezed.

Plop!

Wang Ba’s hand shot out, clamping around Alpha-Seven’s neck in silent fury.

This bastard thing actually climbed on top of me just to take a dump.

However, thanks to Alpha-Seven’s interruption, he was snapped out of his trance.

His energy returned in a rush.

Wang Ba didn’t waste a second. He tossed the chicken aside and reached into his robes, pulling out his harvest—the greatest haul of his life.

The Spirit Root Talisman. The Record of Local Products from the Three Kingdoms of Sen, Chen, and Fu. The Five Dragons Scripture. Fifteen rubbings of various cultivation manuals. And the Spirit Beast Bag.

In terms of market price, the Spirit Beast Bag was the most valuable item on the bed. But to Wang Ba, nothing mattered more than the Spirit Root Talisman, a scrap of paper worth a mere ten Spirit Stones.

He set everything else aside.

With trembling hands, he placed the Spirit Root Talisman on his lower abdomen, pressing it directly against his skin as instructed. Then, he waited.

The Spirit Root Talisman was one of the few magical items that required no Spiritual Power to activate. Placed over the Lower Dantian, it would react naturally to the body’s latent potential.

If he had Spiritual Power, he could have catalyzed it instantly. Since he didn’t, he had to wait.

Time ticked by.

The yellow paper remained unchanged.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t tell me the Physique Strengthening Scripture was a scam?”

The thought bubbled up like bile, but Wang Ba forced it down.

“Just wait. Be patient.”

Just as his patience was fraying—just as he began to suspect he had bought a dud and regretted not buying spares—he saw movement.

A corner of the talisman paper curled upward.

A wisp of green smoke rose into the air.

Accompanying the smoke, streams of hazy, radiant light began to seep from his abdomen, swirling in the air.

Pale green. Faint yellow. Soft pink. Azure blue.

Colors bloomed in sequence, shooting straight up like pillars of incense smoke.

The blue light was the most dominant. Four distinct pillars of azure light rose up, and a fifth struggled to form, flickering briefly before dying out.

Yellow, red, and green each produced only a single pillar. The green light seemed on the verge of splitting into a second strand, but like the fifth blue one, it failed to condense.

Moments later, the lights faded. The talisman crumbled into a pinch of grey ash.

“It’s a Four Spirit Root!”

“Wood, Earth, Fire, Water!”

“And the Water Spirit Root is far superior to the others.”

Wang Ba exhaled, a wave of pleasant surprise washing over him.

It was a Low Grade Spirit Root, yes. But compared to a chaotic Five Spirit Root, this was workable. It was decent.

His standards weren’t high. He just needed enough talent to enter the door of Qi Refining.

Now that his aptitude was confirmed, the next step was to match a cultivation technique to his specific elemental affinity.

His initial choice, the Five Dragons Scripture, was a balanced, generic manual. It would work, but it would be a waste of his dominant Water affinity.

Wang Ba picked up the golden pages containing the fifteen technique rubbings.

He scanned them rapidly.

Soon, his finger stopped on a title.

Ren Water Four-Defense Art.

This technique used Water as the primary cultivation element, supported by any three auxiliary elements. The specific combination of auxiliaries determined the technique’s special effects.

For example, if one used Metal, Fire, and Earth as support, they could cultivate the ‘First Order Ren Water Metal-Piercing Thorn’ during the Qi Refining stage. Its power was unparalleled, offering offensive capabilities comparable to a sword cultivator.

However, if one used Fire, Wood, and Earth—matching Wang Ba’s exact profile—they could condense the ‘First Order Ren Water Mystic Light’.

This light was formless and shapeless. A gentle sweep could slice through steel and jade alike.

More importantly, it had a secondary utility: it could nourish the soil, providing significant benefits to the growth of spiritual plants.

Wang Ba didn’t care much about the gardening perk. What sold him was that the Ren Water Four-Defense Art was the only manual in the pile that focused on a four-element structure led by Water.

It could be cultivated all the way to the Foundation Establishment stage. It allowed for easy transition to other arts later, was easy to pick up, and didn’t carry the risk of hitting a dead end early on.

Decision made.

He spread the golden paper out and began to follow the instructions.

He breathed. He focused. He tried to sense the flow.

But no matter how hard he tried, he felt like he was standing outside a locked door. He could touch the surface, but he couldn’t find the keyhole.

“Could it be… I’m lacking the ‘True Intent’?”

Wang Ba recalled the bookstore owner’s words at the Wind Sun Market.

True Intent.

But what exactly was it?

And why was he able to cultivate the Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture? That was also engraved on golden paper.

He thought back to his experience with the Great Dream Scripture. There had been a similar feeling of disconnection, a missing piece of the puzzle.

A vague understanding began to form in his mind.

He picked up the Ren Water Four-Defense Art again. He forced down his impatience, trimmed the candle wick, and began to read with absolute focus.

Compared to the tens of thousands of obscure glyphs in the Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture, this manual was practically a children’s book.

He read it three times. He felt he understood the theory, the pathways, the principles.

But when he tried to cultivate? Nothing.

He could see the Spiritual Qi drifting in the air around him, teasing him, but he couldn’t pull a single wisp into his body.

Wang Ba didn’t panic.

He had faced this exact wall before.

The solution was simple.

“Panel.”

A translucent screen flickered into existence before his eyes. A new line of text had appeared.

[Current Main Body Remaining Lifespan: 591.3 Years]

[Consumable Project: “Ren Water Four-Defense Art” (Novice). Accounts for comprehensive aptitude and Root Bone. Conversion Cost: 27 Years.]