Ding! Host is now eligible to allocate attribute points.
A voice echoed in his mind. As usual, he poured one point into his own Strength, and another into the black ox's Strength.
Chen Xun found that boosting Strength brought massive benefits—his limbs felt far more robust when working, his eyesight sharpened, and he became super tough, capable of doing the work of two men.
Cuihua, the forty-year-old unmarried woman in the village, had taken to casting shy glances his way quite often lately.
"Such is the charm of a man," Chen Xun sighed deeply as he flexed his muscles. His irresistible allure had undoubtedly captivated countless young maidens in the village.
"Hey, Old Ox! Slow down!"
Chen Xun cried out in alarm. The black ox had taken advantage of his moment of sentimental reverie to gobble up his share of the midnight snack.
Moo!
The big black ox reacted with lightning speed, swallowing the last bite in one gulp. Chen Xun gaped at it, speechless for a long while...
In the second year, Chen Xun and the ox apprenticed themselves to a blacksmith. His sheer brute strength left the blacksmith thoroughly impressed, who kept praising Chen Xun for having the makings of a master blacksmith.
Chen Xun asked for no wages—all he wanted was for him and the ox to be fed. The blacksmith readily agreed.
The following month, however, Chen Xun was kicked out of the blacksmith shop on the spot for the heinous "crime" of stepping into the shop with his left foot first.
Chen Xun sighed helplessly. Perhaps this was the sorrow of being too formidable.
They found another fertile plot of land and took up rice farming once more. The black ox plowed the fields, and man and beast worked together seamlessly, striving for prosperity through hard work.
"This is our kingdom!" Chen Xun declared, gazing at the lush green paddy fields before him, his eyes brimming with joy. He clutched a hatchet tightly in his hand, with two more tucked at his waist.
Moo!
The big black ox was equally elated, its four hooves adorned with blades and a hatchet strapped to each of its horns.
"If those villains dare to steal from us again!" Chen Xun's eyes turned icy as he glanced at the ox, who met his gaze and nodded firmly in agreement.
"We run—no direct confrontation! With all this gear we've got, I'd like to see who dares chase us!"
Moo! Moo!
This year passed rather smoothly, though. Word spread that something major had happened in the neighboring village, keeping everyone there occupied and leaving no one with the time to meddle with Chen Xun's fields.
He added another point of Strength to both himself and the ox, then happily set about harvesting the rice.
The black ox dug a pit in the cave. Chen Xun understood its intention immediately and stored bag after bag of glistening white rice inside.
He kept some aside, though—several times the amount the village chief had given him—to repay the old man's kindness.
Jingle! Jingle!
The sound of a gong echoed through the village, reverberating far and wide, its faint toll even reaching the depths of the cave. It was the village's signal to gather for an emergency.
Chen Xun narrowed his eyes and darted out of the cave at once. He hoped it wasn't a village brawl—with his current strength, taking down a burly man would be a piece of cake.
He and the ox crouched stealthily on the hillside, spying on the commotion below. To their surprise, the village was buzzing with excitement, with everyone gathered outside the village chief's house.
"Come on, Old Ox. Let's go check it out."
Moo!
In the village square, over a thousand villagers stood with hope and excitement shining in their eyes. Clutching chickens, ducks, fish, and meat in their hands, they bowed respectfully to two figures standing at the center.
"The Cloud Sky Sect is recruiting disciples! Those with spirit roots shall have the chance to tread the immortal path!"
One of the figures, clad in a Taoist robe, stood atop the roof of the village chief's house, looking down at the crowd with an air of haughty superiority.
"Immortal Masters! How can we tell if someone has spirit roots?"
"Yes! My boy Xiao Hei is as strong as an ox since he was little! A fortune-teller said he's the reincarnation of an immortal!"
The villagers chattered excitedly, firing off questions in rapid succession, making the two cultivators frown in irritation.
"Silence!"
The cultivator's voice thundered with anger. He activated a talisman in his hand, and a towering wall of flame erupted in mid-air, blazing fiercely. The air itself seemed to sizzle with intense heat.
The villagers fell completely silent, a pin-drop could be heard. Their eyes widened in terror, silently marveling—so this is the power of immortals!
"That's like the big black ox herding a dog—total dominance from start to finish," Chen Xun muttered in awe as he and the ox joined the edge of the crowd. This world truly was home to cultivators.
The black ox blinked in confusion upon hearing this. When had it ever herded a dog in the village?
"Spirit roots are divided into five ranks: the Five-Element Miscellaneous Spirit Root, the Four-Element Low-Grade Spirit Root, the Three-Element Mid-Grade Spirit Root, the Two-Element High-Grade Spirit Root, and the Single-Element Heavenly Spirit Root," the cultivator explained, hands clasped behind his back. He activated a token in his hand, adding, "Do not panic. Those under the age of twenty may now step forward to be tested."
A pillar of multicolored light shot up from the ground, dazzling the eyes. The villagers erupted in another wave of excited chatter—even the elderly clamored to step forward and try their luck.
The village's young boys and girls were eager to take the test, stepping up one by one. But the pillar of light remained completely unresponsive each time.
"This can't be! I dreamed I was an immortal just the other day!" a villager muttered frantically, shaking his head in disbelief. Suddenly, he turned and knelt before the cultivators, screaming, "Immortal Masters! Please take me as your disciple!"
"Leave. You have three breaths of time," a cold, emotionless voice replied.
"Immortal Masters, please! I really dreamed it!" the villager wailed, refusing to move from the light pillar.
Ssssh!
A flash of sword light streaked through the air. A spray of blood bloomed. The villager's eyes still held a look of utter disbelief as his body crumpled to the ground.
A chorus of terrified gasps and kneeling thuds rang out. The villagers trembled like leaves in the wind, their faces drained of color, eyes filled with nothing but fear.
Chen Xun's pupils constricted sharply. He dropped to the ground at once, cold sweat beading on his forehead. These cultivators were utterly lawless!
The big black ox also knelt down silently, lowering its head. Man and beast exchanged a glance, the last shreds of their naive fantasies about the immortal path crumbling away.
"Continue," the cultivator ordered coldly, his gaze sweeping over the crowd like a farmer inspecting his livestock.
No one dared to cause a commotion after that. The villagers filed through the light pillar in perfect order, though hope still flickered faintly in their eyes.
Chen Xun shuffled forward timidly to take the test. The result: a Five-Element Miscellaneous Spirit Root—so unremarkable that it failed to draw even a second glance from the cultivators.
"Not bad. We actually have a Three-Element Spirit Root here," the cultivator's lips twitched into a faint smile as he looked at a young girl. "Go bid your family farewell."
"Yes, Immortal Master!"
The girl's face was a mix of reluctance and secret joy. After saying goodbye to her family, the cultivator tossed her parents several taels of silver as compensation.
"Those with Five-Element Miscellaneous Spirit Roots may join the sect as servants. You shall still have a chance to walk the immortal path," the cultivator added casually, glancing at the few who had received the same result as Chen Xun.
"I'll go! Immortal Master, take me!" the other villagers with miscellaneous spirit roots exclaimed joyfully, dropping to their knees in gratitude.
The cultivator's gaze drifted to Chen Xun. At that moment, Chen Xun was already foaming at the mouth, his entire body drenched in cold sweat. Even the black ox beside him looked half-dead. Both of them had been utterly terrified by the cultivator's ruthless display moments ago.
"Cowardly hearts have no place on the immortal path. Begone," the cultivator shook his head in disdain. A flying sword shot out from his storage pouch. He lifted the selected disciples onto the sword and soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds in the blink of an eye.
The villagers stood there, dejected, their eyes fixed on the fading figures of the immortals, hearts filled with envy.
"Damn you... Old Ox! I told you to just fake being dead with a little kick! Did you want to kill me?!" Chen Xun lay sprawled on the ground, battered and bruised, his chest heaving violently. The ox's powerful hoof to his chest had nearly sent him to meet his long-dead parents.
Moo~
The ox nudged Chen Xun apologetically. It had never expected its strength to be this formidable.
It hoisted Chen Xun onto its back and carried him back to the cave. Chen Xun spent several days recuperating there before his complexion finally improved.
"We must never join those sects," Chen Xun explained to the ox, who stared at him with confused eyes. "Those places are far too dangerous—they kill people without a second thought, and they'd probably eat beef and even ox penis without hesitation!"
The black ox's eyes widened in horror, shaking its head frantically. It didn't understand the part about killing people without consequence, but it definitely understood the part about eating beef.
The cultivators' arrival had stirred no longing in Chen Xun's heart—only a deep, gnawing sense of insecurity.
His feud with Old Wang from the neighboring village had been nothing more than a few scuffles. But these cultivators... they killed people for no reason at all...
Chen Xun etched that cold, indifferent gaze of the cultivator into his memory. It was exactly the same look he had in his eyes when he slaughtered chickens.