Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The Motive

Zhang Chen and Shen Jie walked together up to her house. After saying goodbye, he continued on his way back.

As he walked, he noticed more eyes on him than usual.

When he approached his home, a silhouette in an alley caught his attention.

As soon as he turned his gaze toward the figure, it retreated into the shadows. Thanks to his recent breakthrough, his senses had become sharper.

Frowning, Zhang Chen entered his house and locked the door.

Following his usual routine, he washed up and started preparing the crystalline rice. With the clay pot on the fire, he returned to his room and picked up the booklet.

The information in it was extremely detailed, and Zhang Chen was increasingly impressed each time he read it.

Now that he had broken through and become a cultivator, his cultivation method would change slightly.

If before he had to consume spiritual foods to expand his dantian, now his body produced its own spiritual energy, thanks to the energy of the world around him.

In the Qi Training Realm, he had to continue breaking through and accumulating energy—not only expanding the dantian but also continuously strengthening the energy within his body.

The process seemed complicated, but the hardest part was, in fact, breaking through to a new realm.

Fortunately, increasing energy wasn’t as dangerous as a breakthrough, but Zhang Chen knew he couldn’t let his guard down during cultivation.

Less danger didn’t mean no danger.

There was, however, one question that intrigued him—and the booklet didn’t address it: the role of talent in cultivation and the reason why he was practicing a technique based on the five elements.

Before, he had seen spiritual energy as colorless, but now he could see different colors in the energy around him.

Without further hesitation, Zhang Chen closed his eyes and calmed his breathing.

Breath guidance was one of the most basic forms of cultivation, used mainly to break through and become a cultivator.

Now that he had already broken through, he needed to use both his body and breath to guide the energy.

The energy already in his body served as a guide for the external energy, which he had to draw in and assimilate, increasing his own reserve.

He cleared his mind and began to sense the scarce spiritual energy in the environment. His meridians contracted as if ready to receive it, thanks to the cultivation technique he practiced.

With full concentration, Zhang Chen managed to draw in a thread of spiritual energy—but soon felt exhausted.

Maintaining the technique required intense mental effort, and the energy seemed to resist being absorbed.

A few breaths later, he had to let the energy return to the environment, frustrated by the difficulty of his first cultivation session since the breakthrough.

However, there was an explanation: in places with abundant energy, the mental effort needed to absorb it was much less.

Spiritual foods also made the process easier, as the energy within them was gentler and easier to absorb.

Wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead, Zhang Chen caught the scent of the rice, which was almost ready. He realized that time had passed more quickly than he’d thought.

"It seems maintaining this technique completely takes away my awareness of the surroundings… Who would've thought it'd be this hard? I need to find more information—but where?"

As he stood up, Zhang Chen spoke aloud to himself. He needed to plan his next steps. After all, he hadn’t forgotten the vultures circling him.

He knew the only thing keeping them at bay was the fear of his job—and that fear was about to fade.

Reaching the stove, he served himself a full bowl of rice and began eating calmly. There was no use worrying too much at that moment.

While eating, Zhang Chen couldn’t help but recall dinner with Shen Jie. A smile crept onto his face without him noticing. ( )

(Yes, just like you're thinking—an infatuated fool.)

I think it's good like this too, but it might interrupt the feeling to see a spoiler in the middle, tell me what you think.

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"She’s really cute..." he murmured, unaware. Zhang Chen quickly snapped out of it and began eating faster.

Once finished, he clearly felt the amount of energy in his body.

He was surprised—it was only slightly more than what he’d absorbed during lunch. But the most striking thing was that the meal Shen Jie had prepared contained far more spiritual energy than the rice he was eating now.

He remembered the sensation well and couldn’t be mistaken.

How much did that silly girl spend on food…? he thought, mildly troubled, as he walked back to his room. Zhang Chen didn’t know the exact cost, but he had a sense of how expensive it must have been to acquire something with so much spiritual energy.

Sitting on the floor, he pushed away all stray thoughts from his mind and closed his eyes.

Controlling his breathing, he felt spiritual energy flowing through his meridians. A pleasant sensation washed over him—the energy was gentle and easy to control.

Following specific meridians, it flowed toward his dantian.

When the mild energy entered his body, Zhang Chen sensed it merge with what was already there, strengthening it.

It was as if he could estimate how much more was needed before his dantian would need to expand again.

However, this realization made him aware that cultivation would be a laborious task. The increase in energy had been so small it was nearly insignificant.

With a faint sigh, a smile formed on his face. It would undoubtedly be difficult—but not impossible—and that was enough for him.

Zhang Chen then stored the booklet back under the false floor, and the true feast of the night finally began.

Returning to the stove, he organized everything and made sure the fire was fully extinguished.

With practiced movements, he opened a hollow space in the stove and pulled out two pouches hidden inside.

He was already familiar with the first, so he went straight to the second.

Taking her to the room, Zhang Chen calmed himself, holding her in his hands as he guided spiritual energy into the pouch.

In that very instant, his vision changed, and he found himself in a dark space that, somehow, seemed illuminated.

In his hands, the pouch—which was incredibly beautiful—glowed with lines that rose from the base to the top, but they quickly dimmed, as if nothing had happened.

At that moment, Zhang Chen felt something mysterious connect to his mind—a unique sensation, almost indescribable, second only to the visions he had experienced.

Suddenly, the space around him seemed clearer, and his eyes were drawn to a glowing corner. A small pile of spirit stones lay there.

Upon seeing the stones, Zhang Chen could hardly look away. With great effort, he forced himself to examine other parts of the space.

The area seemed no larger than three cubic meters, but at one end, beyond the boundaries, a gray mass of air emanated a sense of danger.

Turning his gaze, he noticed a stack of books neatly arranged in another corner. Then, his eyes returned to the spirit stones.

There was a pile of three hundred and another smaller one with only five. However, these five stones appeared more refined—almost like gemstones—shining brightly with energy far more concentrated than the other three hundred combined.

As he counted the stones, Zhang Chen felt an emotion difficult to describe. In his previous life, he had started from nothing and risen to great heights, forcing his enemies to betray and murder him.

Now, in this new world, he was beginning to feel a little lost. The countless visions he had experienced so far did not seem to provide the answers he needed.

He, who had once felt special, was starting to have doubts.

But at that moment, a weight was lifted from his shoulders. As he looked at the spirit stones, immense joy filled him.

“Looks like money still matters, even in this world,” he said, turning his attention to the books. But then, something puzzled him, and he continued aloud, “How do I take things out of here? Is it voice command? What should I do?”

Luckily, as soon as he thought about removing one of the books, he saw it vanish before his eyes. The moment that happened, he understood how it worked.

With a simple mental command, his consciousness was withdrawn from that space.

Opening his eyes, Zhang Chen realized he was back in the room, still holding the pouch.

Amazingly, it weighed nothing. If not for the sense of touch, he wouldn’t have even noticed he was holding it.

Looking at the floor, he saw the book he had thought of retrieving.

He picked it up, and with another thought, saw the book disappear again—just like the first time.

“This is amazing. A pouch that holds multiple items, is discreet, and lets you store and retrieve things with just a thought. I’ll call it the Magic Pouch. This is practically a priceless treasure...” he said, as many thoughts flooded his mind. Examining the pouch more closely, a deeply buried memory began to surface.

The same delicate hand that had given him the technique booklet had also handed him the pouch.

He had placed it in his chest pocket, and before he could react, the hand had pushed him—as if urging him to leave that place.

Zhang Chen didn’t know how he had arrived here or how he had gotten that house—everything seemed to have simply happened.

But there was something that made his skin crawl.

While he was still on his way here, he had struggled to climb the mountain and ended up lost in several alleys. One of those moments was etched in his memory.

As he passed through one of the alleys, he bumped into a muscular man and fell, nearly dropping the pouch from his chest.

Fortunately, he was fast enough to catch it and tuck it away again, but now, thinking clearly, he realized he hadn’t been all that fast.

The previous owner of this body had not been a confident person—especially after what had happened. He always seemed lost and afraid of causing trouble, and that’s why he hadn’t said anything when he fell.

But even without speaking, he had looked at the faces of the people around him.

The muscular man he had bumped into had a rough face and carried a machete at his waist, but a little farther ahead was an old man in white robes.

The old man seemed to have just parted ways with the rough-looking man and, at that moment, was staring directly at Zhang Chen, a doubtful expression on his face.

As soon as he fell, Zhang Chen quickly got up and ran through another alley, leaving them both behind.

“That... that must be what happened! That’s why he came to see me. They had already marked me as a target long ago!” he said, with a look of realization on his face. Finally, Zhang Chen understood why he might have become a target.

After all, on the very day he arrived in this world, Ma Jing had come to see him. That friendly expression might have fooled the former host—naive as he was—but not him.

From a very young age, Zhang Chen had dealt with seasoned opponents in the corporate world.

As he began to make sense of what was happening around him, he also realized that Shen Jie might have known he was in danger—and still chose to help him.

A wave of warmth rose in his heart.

And at that very moment, while the sun had already set and the moon remained hidden behind clouds, two figures descended the mountain and crossed the stream.

They exchanged a glance and, with a simple nod, entered the dark forest.