Chapter 1: The Decline of a Millennia-Old Legacy—All Because of a Pig!
“Master! Please, rest in peace.”
“You spent your whole life alone. I’ll burn more paper money for you, so you can marry a dozen concubines on the other side.”
“Eat well over there! And when you’re bored, don’t think about me—I’m scared of ghosts.”
Qian Jin knelt before his master’s grave, feeding paper money to the flames and pouring out the words buried in his heart.
“I’m going to take care of the one who killed you!” After burning the last sheet, Qian Jin sprang to his feet, grabbed a shovel, and strode toward the nearby pond.
He glared at the massive egg before him, taller than he was, grinding his teeth in fury.
“What kind of so-called divine beast is this?”
“What kind of ten-thousand-year-old Xuantian Sect?”
“A bunch of fools, and a con artist to top it off.”
“You fooled my master, my grandmaster, my grandmaster’s master…”
He began counting on his fingers, his small eyes darting rapidly. “I’m the three hundred and sixtieth sect leader. How many fools came before me?”
Shaking his head, Qian Jin gave up trying to tally up his distant ancestors. “No wonder I’m the last disciple left. A bunch of idiots who couldn’t even feed themselves, yet whenever they had spirit stones, they’d toss them to this bottomless pit.”
“I’m not that stupid! Watch me smash you to pieces, and then I’ll go enjoy my life in the mortal world.”
With a shout, Qian Jin hoisted the shovel and brought it crashing down on the giant egg.
Crack—
He stared at the broken shovel in his hands, swallowing hard. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Usually I’m not even allowed to touch it, for fear I’ll break it, but can this thing even be broken?”
Gurgle—
“I’ve been crying for ages and haven’t eaten!”
“My stomach’s protesting! Time to find something to eat.”
He rubbed his belly and sighed, about to turn away when his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Isn’t this a ready-made dinner?”
“I don’t believe I can’t crack you, and if I can’t, I’ll roast you!” Without hesitation, Qian Jin gathered a huge pile of dry wood and built an enormous roasting rack.
“Fire up! Get the egg on!”
Gritting his teeth and using every ounce of strength, he finally managed to set the giant egg atop the rack.
“Whew—exhausting! But soon I’ll have a fragrant roasted egg. This thing has eaten up Xuantian Sect’s resources for tens of thousands of years—who knows, maybe if I eat it, I’ll leap straight to Foundation Establishment!”
Staring at the giant egg, his eyes grew dreamy.
“If I reach Foundation Establishment, I could fly and travel anywhere. At that point, I could eat bowl after bowl and never worry about starving again.”
As he imagined this bright future, Qian Jin’s mouth began to water.
Crack—
“My egg’s almost done!”
His fantasies were interrupted by a shattering sound. He immediately turned his gaze to the egg, now marked with a fine crack.
“More fire!” Seeing the crack, he tossed every last stick of wood onto the flames.
Crack—crack—crack—
As the fire roared, cracks spread quickly over the shell. Fork in one hand, bowl in the other, Qian Jin’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Crack—
Oink oink—
Crack—
The first crack was the egg breaking, the second was Qian Jin’s worldview shattering, and the third was the collapse of his dreams.
Oink oink—
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Such a huge egg, and all I get is a few ounces of pork?”
Staring at the palm-sized pink piglet before him, Qian Jin’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
“So this is a successful hatching? I really am the chosen one! What hundreds of ancestors failed to accomplish, I’ve done today! Hahaha—”
He threw back his head and laughed, his voice brimming with pride and confidence. Perhaps he got too carried away; he choked on his own saliva. “Cough, cough, cough—”
After a long while, he finally caught his breath.
“If those hundreds of ancestors learned that after all their frugality and sacrifices, the result was worshipping a pig, would they be so angry they’d flip their coffins?”
Qian Jin picked up the pale pink piglet, his expression odd.
Oink oink—
The piglet nestled in his palm, nuzzling his fingers with its tiny snout, clearly affectionate.
“Could this thing think I’m its father? I don’t have a pig for a son!”
“Bah! Maybe it’s a daughter.”
He twitched at the thought and quickly flipped the piglet over to check its sex.
“Huh, nothing! That can’t be right. What kind of animal has no gender?” He turned the little pig over and over, but found no clue as to whether it was male or female.
“Whatever! Male or female, it’s still a pig.”
Looking at the tiny piglet, a strange feeling welled up in Qian Jin’s heart. “What can you even do? Since Master said you’re a divine beast, hurry up and show your magical powers—give me two roasted pig’s trotters!”
Oink oink—
Whether the piglet understood or not, it only oinked twice and nuzzled his fingers again.
“Sigh! Looks like you’re useless and don’t even have much meat. What am I keeping you for?” Rubbing his stomach, Qian Jin looked at the piglet and sighed.
“Wait! Master said that if the divine beast hatched, I could open the treasure box left by the founder.”
As if remembering something, Qian Jin immediately pulled out a simple sandalwood box from his storage pouch.
“There’s really no restriction now,” he said, eyes lighting up as he licked his lips. “I wonder what the founder left behind!”
“A peerless artifact?”
“A celestial-level cultivation method?”
And so on—
Imagining countless possibilities, he nervously rubbed his hands together, full of anticipation, and slowly opened the box.
“How to Raise Pigs.”
Staring at the booklet with those four bold black characters, Qian Jin suddenly felt an urge to curse, but recalling it was from his ancestor, he swallowed the words.
“Ancestor, were you just bored and playing tricks on your descendants? Is this legendary treasure really just ‘How to Raise Pigs’?”
Grinding his teeth, he threw the box and the booklet into the fire, all the while muttering curses at his long-dead ancestor.
“So Dang Kang is finally born! Looks like my Xuantian Sect will soon dominate the entire cultivation world! Hehehe—”
“Ghost!”
Upon hearing a woman’s voice, Qian Jin leapt up and bolted.
“Where did this kid come from? So weak—only at the third level of Qi Refining!”
“Oh well, no one else around. I’ll just catch him and ask.” The woman in the bonfire glanced around, then beckoned at the fleeing Qian Jin.
“No way! A real ghost!” Qian Jin looked back and found himself flying backward at great speed, landing instantly before the woman.
“Sister Ghost, spare me! I can barely feed myself, there’s not much meat on me!”
“I may look handsome, but my Yang energy is weak. Please don’t eat me!”