Wang Ba followed Shopkeeper Lu, passing through the backyard of Lu's Grain Shop, beyond the chicken coops and pigpens, to a dark room.
The darkness around him made him feel a bit nervous.
Could it be that Shopkeeper Lu had discovered the two spirit stones on him and planned to do away with him secretly?
At this thought, a chill ran down Wang Ba's spine and his throat became even drier:
"Ahem, Shopkeeper Lu, what exactly do you intend to show me? Didn't you say something about an alternative to Meridian Grass seeds?"
"Don't rush, customer. We're here."
Shopkeeper Lu's voice rang out from the front.
Before Wang Ba could speak again, a glimmer of candlelight suddenly lit up the path ahead.
"Shopkeeper Lu, what is this..."
Before he could finish, Wang Ba's eyes suddenly popped wide open!
Underneath the candlelight, there were rows and rows of grotesque creatures, writhing and flipping about like tentacles, attaching themselves to the walls, the rafters, the tabletops...
The entire room was like a gigantic nest of horrors!
"What..."
Wang Ba let out a shout in astonishment.
"What's wrong?"
Shopkeeper Lu seemed puzzled, but then explained:
"These are Tendon-Cutting Silkworms, a Class I lower grade special spirit insect!"
"They like to live inside living creatures, cutting through veins and tendons, even though doing so will shorten their already short lifespan... hence the name 'Tendon-Cutting Silkworm'."
Before the words could fade away.
Wang Ba stared in horror as one of these 'tentacles' twisted its way down from a rafter above and then crawled into Shopkeeper Lu's ear with a 'glop' sound!
However, Shopkeeper Lu seemed completely undisturbed, and only wrinkled his brow slightly before continuing:
"These insects fear light. They like to dwell in the bodies of humans and all kinds of animals... But what they love the most are objects rich in spiritual energy, such as... spirit stones."
Shopkeeper Lu reached into his sleeve and took out a spirit stone, holding it up on his palm.
The next second.
Wang Ba saw something even more terrifying!
Shopkeeper Lu's mouth opened unconsciously, and a black, tentacle-like creature reached out from his mouth, slithered rapidly along his arm, and wrapped itself around the spirit stone on his palm.
The tentacle moved continuously, creeping over the spirit stone on Shopkeeper Lu's palm.
It seemed to be extremely delighted.
Shopkeeper Lu looked at his palm with a mixture of distaste and resignation. He moved his hand closer to Wang Ba to let him have a closer look, and at the same time, he explained:
"This is what I was talking about. It can help you unblock your meridians and accelerate the cultivation of the Body Strengthening Sutra."
"The price is very cheap, a hundred for only two spirit stones. That's enough for ten plus days of cultivation!"
"Of course... it can be a bit disgusting."
Wang Ba: "... Haha, you certainly have a way with words."
Just a bit disgusting?
He was already covered in goosebumps and dared not even budge!
But he still mustered his composure to ask: "How do you use these worms to aid in cultivation?"
"It's simple, just let it burrow into your body, then activate the Body Strengthening Sutra. There's no need to use a spirit stone to lure it out. Once you put one into your body, it will continuously gnaw at your acupoints and meridians. As its body gradually dissolves, it will naturally unblock your meridians. There is a minor side effect though, the process of cultivation will be quite painfully unbearable."
"Of course, compared to the cultivation of the Spiritual Root, these are trivial matters."
Shopkeeper Lu was up front about everything, extremely sincere.
Wang Ba fell into silence for a moment, then said:
"Two spirit stones for a hundred... that's too expensive."
Shopkeeper Lu immediately countered: "How much do you think is appropriate?"
Wang Ba recalled something his mother had said in his past life, that when bargaining one should always cut the price in half, and then wait for the other party to counter.
He gritted his teeth:
"Two spirit stones for two hundred!"
"Deal!"
Shopkeeper Lu was quick and decisive.
So Wang Ba walked out holding a gourd full of silkworms and felt a bit confused.
Why didn't he make a counteroffer?
Is the profit margin really that high?
He couldn't shake the feeling that he had made a good bargain, yet also got the short end of the stick.
Watching Wang Ba leave, Shopkeeper Lu finally relaxed his fingers, which had turned white from clutching so tightly, his face was all distorted.
"It hurts so much!"
Despite the excruciating pain, he quickly put on a smiling face and hummed a little tune. His strange behavior made the boy servant quite curious.
"Master, why are you so happy over a business deal for two Spirit Stones? You didn't look this happy even when you sold something for twenty Spirit Stones."
"What do you understand, it hurt me to death back then! But, at least I managed to get rid of some of these loss-making goods! If this guy had more Spirit Stones, I would have sold all the Tendon-Cutting Silkworms in my store to him at a low price."
"They ate so many of my Spirit Stones!"
"True, you should be happy about this!"
...
Wang Ba returned to his villa after purchasing an aphrodisiac for Precious Chickens for three hundred tael from a herbal medicine shop, and with a gourd in his possession.
"This medicinal pack is so expensive, it's downright robbery!"
Wang Ba sighed, then impatiently took out a portion of the aphrodisiac, mixed it with water, and fed it to the rooster.
Let's test its effectiveness first.
Seeing the rooster eat it, he waited patiently for a while.
Sure enough, the rooster began to appear increasingly restless, moving around frequently, flapping its wings, and even crowing loudly for no reason despite it not being morning.
The comb on its head seemed to be inflating like it was filled with blood.
Wang Ba was overjoyed!
All those who have raised chickens know that this is clearly a sign that the rooster is getting heated up!
Indeed, he saw the Precious Rooster strut with its chest puffed out and its eyes shining, gradually moving towards the group of Precious Chickens.
Then, it sat on top of another rooster, and began to shake frantically!
Wang Ba: !!!
You've got it all wrong! That's your brother!
Wang Ba exclaimed mentally!
He rushed over in a few steps, intending to pull this shameless rooster off.
But before he could reach it, he saw it come down, as if it had a sudden enlightenment.
"Uh…"
Wang Ba, who saw this scene, felt a bit peeved.
You didn't have to finish so quickly.
He didn't give up and fed another rooster.
Once again, to his surprise, this rooster scanned the surroundings, and directly hopped onto a small rooster…
"I refuse to believe this is happening!"
Furious, Wang Ba directly threw the heated rooster into a flock of hens.
However, this rooster forcefully broke through the encirclement, jumped onto the boots that Wang Ba had left to dry on the side, and started rocking excessively…
In the end, Wang Ba could no longer bear it, spared some of its lifespan, and prepared to kill it after few days.
"It seems this route won't work after all!"
The exhausted Wang Ba sat on the stone steps with a helpless expression.
He began to understand why it's so hard for Precious Chickens to reproduce.
The roosters were completely unmoved!
No wonder the Sect were so generous. Other than the ones submitted to the Sect, we could do whatever we wanted with the rest.
It was because they were already aware of the difficulties in Precious Chicken reproduction and so only pretended to be generous.
"This route to self-reproduction and growth is temporarily blocked."
Wang Ba sighed.
So, the available roads are not many now.
The only option is to exchange Spirit Chickens for Precious Chickens, and after the Lifespan Breakthrough, continue to repeat this process.
The advantage is that it's fast and doesn't require any cultivation.
But the only problem is, he can't explain why he has so many Spirit Chickens.
Although he can hide himself through the Power of the Yin God, too many Spirit Chickens for sale will sooner or later attract the attention of the Sect.
"So, the problem returns to the starting point - how to launder so many Spirit Chickens?"
Wang Ba looked at the gourd on his waist.
There, perhaps, is the hope of laundering Spirit Chickens.
Tendon-Cutting Silkworm!