Chapter 5: Breaking Threshold to Change Fate
Today's lunch was the most satisfying meal Wang Chen had had since his transmigration.
The main dish was still shelled grain rice with pickled vegetables.
But this time, there was an added bowl of soy sauce-steamed insect meat.
Life was elevated!
As a carnivorous alien who would die without meat, he had gone three whole days without a hint of meat or fish.
Previously, it had been just to fill the stomach, but now this was truly a feast!
Towards the end, Wang Chen took all the leftover grain rice out of the pot.
Then he painstakingly removed the husks grain by grain.
He formed a fist-sized rice ball made purely of rice.
He filled the rice ball with pickled vegetables and two strips of insect meat and then poured the soy sauce meat juice from the bowl over the wrapped ball.
He held it in his hand and took a bite.
Although the rice was cold and the meat was no longer warm, Wang Chen felt as though he had returned to the Great Gourmet Empire in a dream.
He nearly wept.
A pickled vegetable and meat-stuffed rice ball, devoured in three bites.
It was so delicious!
It's easy to become accustomed to luxury, but difficult to revert to frugality.
After finishing the rice ball and looking at the pile of discarded husks on the table, Wang Chen had no desire to eat them.
All right, all right, all right! Today he would splurge a bit!
Wang Chen guiltlessly gathered the husks...
And put them into the storage bag.
Even the landlords didn't have surplus grain, let alone a small tenant farmer like him.
If it ever came to a point of having nothing to eat, even those husks could stave off hunger.
After eating, he went as usual to the quiet room to practice his cultivation.
...
[Five Elements Skill·Experience +1]
Glancing at the cultivation panel which hadn't changed at all, Wang Chen sighed after completing his practice.
The Five Elements Skill was the Qi Cultivation entry technique of Cloud Sun Sect, rumored to be passed down from the Ancient Immortal Sect Kunlun Sect's sect-defining supreme cultivation technique, the profound and mystic 'Taiyi Origin Mixed Right Skill.'
But time is relentless and all things change.
The divine techniques and secret tomes from tens of thousands of years ago had been altered and corrected countless times till today.
They were completely unrecognizable.
The origins of the Five Elements Skill were impressive.
Yet, among the hundred thousand Outer Sect Qi Cultivation disciples, ninety-nine percent started with it.
It really wasn't anything special.
However, despite being quite basic, the Five Elements Skill was characterized by its balance and harmony, with extremely high compatibility.
As a primary cultivation technique, it could activate nearly any low-tier spell.
And since it was easy to enter and carried a low risk of deviating from the path during practice, it was most suitable for ordinary cultivators just starting Qi Cultivation.
Of course, the shortcomings of the Five Elements Skill were also clear.
It was too mediocre.
Therefore, the majority of Qi Cultivating cultivators would switch to a new primary cultivation technique appropriate to their Root Bone attributes upon advancing to the middle Qi Cultivation tier.
The original host had similar plans.
He had labored hard in farming and gathering grains, hoarding the sect contributions without the willingness to spend them.
His goal was to reach the fourth level of Qi Cultivation and then go to the technique hall to exchange for a new primary cultivation technique.
Regrettably, he was still stuck at the bottleneck of the third tier.
Wang Chen was not discouraged.
With the breakthrough experience from Geng Metal Finger, he believed the bottleneck in Qi Cultivation was not an insurmountable chasm.
The difficulty of advancing a primary cultivation technique was, of course, higher than that of spell skills.
Persistence is victory!
Leaving the quiet room, Wang Chen picked up a hoe and went out to weed.
The harshest heat of the day had passed.
While the weather was still hot, tilling a few mu of land made Wang Chen sweat profusely.
But he was still fully energetic.
While weeding, Wang Chen was also carefully looking for any "bulls" that slipped through the net within the spirit fields.
When Earth Rhinoceros Beetles band together, they typically number around a dozen.
Their nests penetrate deep underground, emerging at night to nibble on the rice ears.
Wang Chen had gotten rid of seven Earth Rhinoceros Beetles in the morning, and he guessed he hadn't eradicated this nest of bugs yet.
Indeed, during his search, he discovered two more.
There was nothing to say, Geng Metal Finger to the rescue!
After a hearty meal at noon and his dantian filled with mana, the mastery-level Geng Metal Finger was even more powerful.
The insignificant Earth Rhinoceros Beetles were no longer a concern and instead became a newbie pack for grinding skill experience and strips of meat!
Wang Chen wished his spirit fields had a few more Earth Rhinoceros Beetles.
Dinner could have included bug meat again.
Unfortunately, by the time evening approached, he had not discovered any other Earth Rhinoceros Beetles.
The weeds in the ten mu of spirit fields had all been cleared, and Wang Chen, just like yesterday, cast the Cloud Rain Jue.
Seeing that it was getting late, Wang Chen decided to wrap up and head home.
Just at that moment, a dark shadow suddenly burst out from the fields and pounced towards his face like lightning!
Wang Chen instinctively dodged by tilting his head.
The shadow grazed past his ear and flew off with a "buzz" that hammered his eardrums!
Wang Chen quickly turned around and saw that his attacker was a huge Earth Rhinoceros Beetle.
Although the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle lived underground, it possessed the ability to fly.
It just couldn't fly very high.
And this Earth Rhinoceros Beetle that attacked Wang Chen was significantly larger than the ones he had previously taken down.
Its horns were fierce and fiendishly intimidating!
This guy was like a small fighter jet, circling back for another attack after its first strike missed.
It soared half a circle in the air and dove at Wang Chen again.
Its head, with curved horns sharp as daggers, targeted his right eye!
But this time, Wang Chen was prepared and dodged again.
At the same time, he swung his hoe.
The hoe he used for farming and weeding was not a magic artifact, but it was forged from fine smelted steel.
He aimed it at the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle and smashed down hard.
The original owner's father, Wang Shaoyuan, came from the mortal realm and had joined the Cloud Sun Sect through his martial prowess.
He had once taught young Wang Chen techniques for strengthening the physique and close combat fighting.
With five years of tending to the spirit fields, the steel hoe in Wang Chen's hand was no less than a knife or an ax.
Crack!
The heavy hoe struck the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle, knocking it to the ground.
The beetle's shell was extremely hard and impervious to swords and spears.
Despite the force of Wang Chen's blow, it did not severely injure the beetle.
The Earth Rhinoceros Beetle opened its wings once more, attempting to take flight again.
How could Wang Chen let it have the chance!
Mana gathered, he extended his finger, and the piercing Geng Metal Qi Light cut through the air.
In an instant, the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle was pinned dead to the ground.
[Geng Metal Finger Experience +1]
[Human Virtue +1]
Two pieces of information appeared in his vision at the same time, causing Wang Chen to be taken aback.
He quickly summoned his Immortal Cultivation panel.
There were changes on the panel.
The four major attributes—Physique, Root Bone, Comprehension, and Divine Soul—as well as all the skills in the Cultivation Technique and Skill tabs, now had a "+" sign next to them.
However, the "+" sign next to the four major attributes and Cultivation Techniques was grey.
The "+" signs next to the Cleansing Technique, Mighty Strength Technique, Geng Metal Finger, and Cloud Rain Jue skills were all golden!
The last two tabs on the Immortal Cultivation panel had changed to...
[Heavenly Merit: 0]
[Human Virtue: 1]
And at the end of these two tabs, they each had an added suffix: Fate-Changing, Breaking Threshold.
Heavenly Merit for changing fate, Human Virtue for breaking threshold!
Wang Chen remembered the Immortal Cultivation mobile game he played, where the system panel also had a virtue column.
But it did not differentiate between Heavenly Merit and Human Virtue.
And the virtue points gained from doing tasks could only be used to upgrade character titles.
Now in the Immortal Cultivation panel, Heavenly Merit and Human Virtue were obviously very different!
Wang Chen's mind shifted to the Skill tab.
[Cloud Rain Jue (Apprentice): 99/100]
Plus point!
[Cloud Rain Jue (Mastery): 0/200]
[Human Virtue: 0]
As expected!
After expending his only point of Human Virtue.
This spell that could not be broken through had advanced directly!!
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