Chapter Twenty-Two: The Second Ring Task

Upon reaching the chicken coop, Du Hua led Li Yunfei to the innermost side, beside several cages. Pointing to three cages, each housing a single rooster, he explained, “These three are the oldest roosters. The eight next to them have been here for over four years already; in another half year, they'll turn five.”

Li Yunfei nodded. “How do you sell these five-year-old roosters?”

Du Hua replied, “You understand, young man, I've raised these chickens for over five years. They've eaten much more feed than the others, so their cost is much higher. Naturally, the price is steeper than for ordinary chickens.”

Li Yunfei said, “I understand. Just tell me your price.”

Du Hua smiled, “You were referred by Old Xiang and you’re in the business yourself. We’ll be seeing each other often, so I won’t gouge you. Let me break down the numbers.”

“Ordinary chickens are ready for sale in two months at most, usually at seven yuan per jin. In two months, a chicken consumes about twenty yuan of feed and grows to four or five jin. I make a profit of about ten yuan per chicken.”

“But these roosters raised for over five years have eaten more than six hundred yuan worth of feed. Each weighs seven or eight jin, and you can draw nearly half a jin of blood from them. Plus labor costs—how much do you think is fair for each?”

Du Hua looked at Li Yunfei with a cheerful sincerity, waiting to see if the young man understood the value. Judging by his attire and the car he drove, Li Yunfei was certainly not short of money. That Old Xiang had introduced him meant he was likely a straightforward customer.

Li Yunfei calculated silently and quickly made his decision. Though ordinary rooster blood would suffice for drawing talismans, the system had specified that the older the rooster, the better. Clearly, the rooster’s age would affect the talisman’s power, so he had to buy the old ones.

He took out his phone. “How about this—five thousand for all three old roosters?”

Du Hua burst out laughing, patting Li Yunfei’s shoulder. “You’re refreshingly direct, just as Old Xiang said. If you want, I’ll keep those eight for you too. Once they reach five years, you can come get them any time.”

Usually, the local ritual masters only bought one- or two-year-old chickens. Most of their work involved presiding over funerals, so their talismans didn’t need to be exceptional. Only when dealing with certain special cases did they require four- or five-year-old roosters. Such cases were rare, and even now, Du Hua’s supply of old roosters exceeded demand—a single rooster’s blood could produce many talismans.

In Du Hua’s eyes, Li Yunfei was not just a major client, but a generous one. His mental price for the three five-year-old roosters was a thousand each; as long as Li Yunfei offered that, Du Hua was ready to sell.

But he hadn’t expected Li Yunfei to offer so much—clearly, this man wasn’t relying on this trade for his livelihood, but was a wealthy enthusiast.

Hearing Du Hua’s words, Li Yunfei readily agreed, “Deal. Keep the eight old roosters for me. When they’re five, I’ll definitely buy them. Let’s add each other on WeChat so we can stay in touch. I’ll transfer the payment.”

“Done,” Du Hua said, pulling out his phone to add Li Yunfei on WeChat. Li Yunfei immediately transferred five thousand yuan.

After receiving the payment, Du Hua got busy—he fetched hemp rope to tie the roosters’ feet and packed them into a snakeskin bag.

Li Yunfei took the bag, bid Du Hua farewell, opened the rear door of his off-road vehicle, placed the bag in the trunk, and set off back toward the hydroelectric station.

…

By the time Li Yunfei returned to the station, it was already half past five in the afternoon. Carrying the little fox on his shoulder and the old roosters in his hand, he strode toward the dock. Passing by Fourth Granduncle’s house, he didn’t disturb him, heading straight to the dock.

After crossing the river, the little fox transformed once more into its combat form, carrying Li Yunfei back to the village in an instant.

He ignored the burial ground and the Qingyuan Village instance, heading straight to the old house’s courtyard with excitement.

He unfolded a folding table, placed a bowl on it, and took one old rooster from the snakeskin bag.

He flipped the rooster’s head over, plucked the feathers from its neck, and with a swift motion, a dog-leg knife appeared in his hand. Clean and efficient, he slit the rooster’s throat.

The dog-leg knife had become a routine tool now.

He collected every drop of rooster blood in the bowl.

From this single rooster, he drew about two hundred milliliters of blood—almost half a jin. Du Hua had not lied.

A rooster’s blood typically amounts to about six percent of its body weight, and Du Hua had calculated accordingly.

When the blood was fully drawn, Li Yunfei touched the bowl. Instantly, the chicken blood entry on his skill panel lit up, and a system prompt sounded.

“Congratulations, Host. The first stage of the transfer quest is complete. Reward granted. The second stage is now open. Please check the skill panel for details.”

As the system prompt faded, the wind rose.

Li Yunfei noticed a faint mist gathering in the sky within a radius of several dozen yards.

The mist, carried by a gentle breeze, swirled downward, forming a small, unhurried whirlwind whose tip hovered right above Li Yunfei’s head.

Very soon, the tip of the whirlwind formed by the mist poured into Li Yunfei’s Baihui acupoint, spreading through his body along the twelve main meridians and eight extraordinary channels.

In moments, his entire being felt as though it had been bathed inside and out, his body lightened, and a feeling of indescribable comfort nearly made him sigh aloud.

“Is this… spiritual energy of heaven and earth?”

Indeed, it was.

A martial artist cultivates true essence, condensing it in the lower dantian.

A sorcerer cultivates elemental magic, gathering it in the upper dantian.

But a Taoist cultivates spiritual power, which accumulates in the middle dantian.

Once the spiritual energy infused into his body was fully refined, merging into spiritual power and settling in the chest, a stream of information surfaced in Li Yunfei’s mind—a method for using spiritual power and casting the “Eye-opening Spell.”

Additionally, there was a memory detailing how to draw talismans.

Li Yunfei quickly opened his skill panel to check the second stage of the transfer quest.

Transfer Quest, Stage Two: Using the method provided by the system, draw ten effective talismans to ward off evil.

Reward for Stage Two: A basic Maoshan Taoist kit, including a century-old peach wood sword, a coin sword, a Bagua robe, a Bagua pouch, a soul-summoning bell, a Bagua mirror, a yin-yang compass, and a spirit-binding red cord.

The third stage will be unlocked upon completion of the second.

After reading the details, Li Yunfei recalled the method for drawing talismans as given by the system.

Clear in his mind, he checked the time on his phone—not yet six o’clock, just right.

The system’s instructions specified that the best times for drawing talismans were the hours of Zi, Wu, Mao, and You.

These corresponded to the moments when yin and yang were in flux, and spiritual energy was at its peak.

It wasn’t that talismans drawn at other times were useless, but drawing them during these four hours increased the success rate and infused the talismans with greater spiritual energy.

The hour of You was from five to seven in the afternoon; now, just before six, was the third quarter of You—an ideal time to draw talismans.