Wang Zijia used a dagger to carefully unfold the package, frowning because there wasn't much inside. A handwritten booklet, a bottle of unknown powder, and a set of clothes.
The clothing was exactly the same as the work clothes he wore as a shop hand, even the wear and tear were similar. The only difference was that his clothes had blood and stains on them from him vomiting, while the set from the package didn't.
Using his dagger to prod at it and finding no danger, he turned his attention to the handwritten booklet first.
It was filled with dense, small handwriting that seemed to record something.
Main focal character: Xiang Ji
Position: Shopkeeper of the Talisman and Charm Area on the first floor of Wanyu Pavilion
Relation: Direct superior.
Status: Acquaintance
Introduction: Mid-level cultivator among the cultivator monks, an outer sect disciple of Wanyu Sect. Due to exceeding the age limit, he was sent to Wanyu City, serving as the shopkeeper of the first floor of Wanyu Talisman Pavilion. He oversees the low-level talisman sales on the first floor, should be approached with caution...
"Hmm?"
From what he remembered, this was information about the original body's boss?
The original body's iron rice bowl job had been at Wanyu Pavilion, doing odd jobs in the talisman and charm area, and his direct superior was this Xiang Ji, one of the few cultivators the original body had interacted with directly.
As he looked at the information on the first page of the handwritten booklet and furrowed his brows, he quickly began to flip through it.
As expected, the booklet contained all information about the original body, from relationships to martial arts skills, even some daily habits, detailed to an absurd extent.
After glancing at the look-alike corpse and looking at the thin film mask in his hands, it became abundantly clear what the other party intended to do.
So, the original body had been killed by poison... by this person?
In order to take his place?
Why?
Could it be...
The command token in the small box from the secret room flashed in his mind.
Regarding the catastrophe that had befallen the original body's family, he had a rough idea of what happened.
In his thoughts, he carefully picked up the final item in the package - a small medicine bottle. He carefully opened the cork lid, a small amount of powder sprinkled out, a faint acrid smell permeating the air.
Wang Zijia subconsciously covered his nose.
"Poison?"
"Afraid the original body wasn't dead enough?"
"Even if he wasn't, there was no need for poison. A swift murder would suffice."
His musings came to a fruitless end. Wait, why should I be afraid of poison?
With the equivalent exchange golden balance, aren't poison and cultivation enhancement drugs essentially the same for me?
And furthermore...
With a sudden flash of inspiration, Wang Zijia released his hand and took a large sniff on purpose.
As he inhaled the faintly acrid smell, his mind quickly submerged into the sea of consciousness, watching the golden balance, and thought passed by.
With Wang Zijia's thought, a newly created black iron light point counterweight emerged.
Counterweight: Inferior Corpse Dissolving Powder
Value: None
Introduction: Highly Poisonous, has special effect on corpses, best to pour into the wounds of the corpse. If a living person ingests it, it would burn the stomach, and taking a certain dose would tear apart the guts and lead to death. Of course, to swallow this requires a certain level of stupidity or mental retardation.
Looking at the counterweight, Wang Zijia's eyes brightened.
Indeed, it can be identified indirectly!
At least poison should work, and even most medicines that affect the body should be able to be identified using this method!
As he thought, the newly appeared light spot quickly flickered and disappeared after a moment.
After all, it was something to be used on corpses. Even though it was highly poisonous, he only inhaled a bit of the air. It wasn't even necessary for his body to detoxify the small amount of poison, the immune system would quickly neutralize it.
As the light point counterweight disappeared, Wang Zijia returned to his senses. Looking at the powder in his hands, he gently shook some of it onto the wounds of the corpse next to him.
"Hiss..."
As the powder poured into the wound, it bubbled as if in contact with super concentrated sulfuric acid. Billows of green smoke rose from the wound, the corrosion rapidly spreading.
"Blech!"
As the smoke rose, a foul smell pervaded the room, abruptly hitting his nose and causing Wang Zijia, caught unprepared, to dry heave.
"Damn, what kind of medicine is this, it smells so foul!"
Wang Zijia's face turned green. He reopened the window and quickly returned to the door to the study, he opened the door and dashed out of the room.
Standing outside the room and catching his breath, he looked at the melting corpse in the room. The stench was strange, it was incredibly putrid, but it dissipated and weakened very quickly.
Once he was outside the room, he could only smell a faint stench.
"Gurgle... "
His stomach growled again. He looked back at the rapidly dissolving corpse in the room, feeling the intensifying hunger in his stomach, Wang Zijia didn't stay outside the room. He went to the bedroom and looked around the room.
Wang Zijia sighs in relief when he realized that the intruder had only damaged the window and didn't touch anything else. He rummaged through the cupboard, wolfed down some pastries, and headed to the kitchen.
As soon as he entered the kitchen, he faltered. Despite his decent culinary skills, he suddenly felt like someone who had read many cooking guides but had never set foot in a kitchen before.
Brain: I can do this. Hands: No, you can't!
'Um... how do I even cook rice again? Let me think!'
After a dumbfounded moment, he somewhat clumsily began to make a fire and cook rice from memory.
'Damn, I shouldn't have impulsively exchanged all those weights!'
As he cooked, Wang Zijia grumbled. But there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't change the value of the martial arts back into cooking skills, could he?
Moreover, he couldn't exchange it back directly. This means if he wanted to exchange back cooking skills, in addition to the martial arts worth more than eighty points, he needed to add something else. Two weights would have to be exchanged together for cooking skills.
Could he mix cooking skills into spells?
A cultivator who cooks their way into the Dao?
Culinary cultivation?
Is he going crazy?
Before he fully understood how to use the Golden Finger, Wang Zijia did not plan to exchange things recklessly.
...
After a flurry of chaos, Wang Zijia finally made a meal.
Looking at the concoction in front of him, which he wasn't sure was a porridge or dry rice, Wang Zijia stayed silent. As a big shot with a cooking skill level of five, he was now experiencing the horror of the Golden Finger which caused him to cook such a dish in half a day!
"Hmm, it tastes slightly burnt. How creative!" said Wang Zijia, smacking his lips after a sip of the mixture.
He found some dried meat in the room, and started eating hungrily.
After all, he was a descendant of cultivators, somewhat like a cultivation second generation, and his family conditions weren't bad. There were plenty of good things in the kitchen.
So, after a while, Wang Zijia filled his stomach, he looked at the wrecked kitchen in annoyance.
'It seems that we should not exchange weights casually. Even if it's an experience related silver weight, it can't be exchanged carelessly, otherwise I might lose the ability to live independently.'
'For those black iron weights related to the body, I need to be even more careful. Otherwise, it's not impossible for me to accidentally kill myself!'
Lost in his thoughts, he tossed the dishes aside, not wanting to deal with them that night. He would let the housemaid clean it up tomorrow!
He then left the room, came back to the study room. By this time, the smell in the room had almost dissipated, leaving just a faint odor. It seemed like it would be completely gone by morning.
Coming to where the corpse was, he found it had disappeared, leaving only a corroded black cloth and a pool of murky, yellowish, viscous fluid.
"I miscalculated, should have moved it out to the yard!" As he spoke, Wang Zijia started cleaning, holding back his nausea.
After what felt like forever, he finally cleaned everything up.
"This corpse-dissolving powder is actually a good thing. If the inferior quality can already do this, wouldn't higher quality leave no trace? Judging by its look, this stuff should be expensive. Maybe it's a medicinal powder produced by cultivators."
Seeing that more than half of the bottle was still left, which could be used twice by sparingly, Wang Zijia stood up and carefully put it into the drawer in the study room.
After checking for a while and finding nothing left behind, he went to his bedroom.
Lying on the bed, he found it impossible to sleep. He tossed and turned, with thoughts flying in his mind. Memories from his previous life and his former life alternated, leaving him confused and unsure about his future. He was finding it hard to fall asleep!
Eventually, not managing to fall asleep, he simply entered his Sea of Consciousness again and began to study the exact uses of the Golden Finger. He couldn't afford to exchange recklessly like before and end up being unable to manage on his own.
Through his research, he discovered several small tricks.
The most surprisingly big discovery was that the weights could be split and didn't need to be fully exchanged.
Some of the weights could be split into minimum one point value for exchange, while others could be split arbitrarily. A thumb-sized weight could be split into countless light point weights, particularly the body-related black iron weights.
Especially those related to the flesh and bones. What this meant was that Wang Zijia could easily lose weight, no, it was more than just losing weight.
He could use a Photoshop level of reshaping on his body and appearance. It wouldn't be a problem for him to turn himself into a God-like figure.
Moreover, this was a physical change. It wasn't even considered plastic surgery, he could naturally grow to look like that!
Indeed, every little fatty was a promising stock, and his stock had god-level potential.
Of course, Wang Zijia didn't act hastily. He needed to do it slowly and bit by bit.
...
Tossing and turning all night, Wang Zijia could not remember when he fell asleep.
"Knock, knock..."
The noise woke Wang Zijia from his deep sleep. He quickly got out of bed and opened his bedroom door.
"Young Master, what's got you up so early today?" At the kitchen door, a middle-aged woman in her forties, was cleaning up the mess Wang Zijia made last night, while greeting him.
Wang Dan, a maid who had been working in their house for nearly ten years.
Of course, she was not a servant but she received a salary and had specific working hours.
After all, they were a cultivation family. Even in cultivation city, they certainly could afford this type of labor power.
This resulted in the original owner not lifting a finger for everything. After his father died, the original owner even gave Wang Dan a pay rise, leaving almost all the chores to her.
From cooking and buying groceries to cleaning and sweeping the floor.