Chapter 5

The next morning, Wu Tao got up, feeling better than ever before.

Perhaps the joy from successfully engraving the sprint restriction yesterday had relaxed him, leading to an excellent night's sleep. He didn't even hear the amorous sounds from next door last night.

After a quick wash, he picked up the chamber pot to empty it.

He opened the door and had only taken a few steps when he heard the familiar sound of the neighbor's door opening. Without turning around, he knew that the female neighbor must have come out to see off her guest.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard Zhang Li's shout: "Daoist Li, wait for me."

Wu Tao turned around and saw Zhang Li locking her door, bending down to pick up the chamber pot and running towards him. Frightened, Wu Tao quickly moved away and said, "Take it slow, don't spill it on me."

Zhang Li, however, didn't listen. She stood in front of him, her chest heaving, and chuckled, "I'm a fairy, and even my excrement smells sweet."

Wu Tao couldn't argue with that. He certainly wasn't going to prove the correctness of her statement by smelling her chamber pot; he didn't even want to look at it.

He silently vowed to himself that he would find a fairy who doesn't defecate as his Daoist companion.

However, Zhang Li didn't seem to have any guests last night, which explained why he slept so soundly.

Zhang Li, noticing his gaze toward her door, said, "Don't look, there's no one inside. You know, the residents of Xinde Alley are all poor. Even if their bodies can handle it, their wallets can't."

Well, I'm a poor ghost too... Wu Tao said nothing and walked forward with the chamber pot.

Zhang Li walked beside him, talking non-stop like a machine gun, spilling her heart out to Wu Tao, but he didn't really want to listen. If he had a choice, he wouldn't.

The whole way, it was Zhang Li doing all the talking, while Wu Tao remained silent.

"Ah, being a cultivator in a transmigrated world, having to empty a chamber pot with another female cultivator, what a situation," Wu Tao thought bitterly.

This transmigration was simply terrible.

After emptying the chamber pot and on the way back, Wu Tao deliberately quickened his pace. Zhang Li, however, seemed oblivious to his impatience and continued to chatter about her glorious deeds at Lichunfang.

'Finally home.'

Seeing his residence, Wu Tao felt a sense of relief and said to Zhang Li, "Daoist Zhang, I'm going back to my room to cultivate."

Without waiting for her response, Wu Tao opened and closed the door in one smooth motion.

Zhang Li stood between her door and Wu Tao's, watching as his door closed. She stopped talking, her face showing no displeasure, and turned to go back to her room.

Back in his room, Wu Tao dispelled the dense chatter from Zhang Li, adjusted his mindset, and began to cultivate the Three Yang Technique.

Now that he was possessed, the Three Yang Technique would regress if not practiced, so he couldn't afford to miss a single day, or his strength would decline, and the evil qi would spread more easily.

After an hour of cultivation, Wu Tao stopped.

With the sprint restriction engraved, he could theoretically start the robe's refinement immediately.

However, he wasn't in a hurry. He planned to spend two days adjusting his state to the best before starting the refinement.

As the saying goes, "Sharpening the axe doesn't delay the chopping of wood."

During these two days, he only cultivated the Three Yang Technique in the morning and did nothing else. He only went to the market to replenish food supplies, as the ordinary rice and dried meat at home were finished.

After replenishing the food, he only had six fragments of spirit stones left.

"Starting the robe refinement tomorrow, I'll have a good night's sleep tonight."

It's worth noting that the past two nights had been quiet next door. If it remained quiet for a few more days, Wu Tao would sleep well and be in good spirits, which would greatly benefit the robe refinement.

That night, Wu Tao went to bed early. When he thought he could sleep until morning, he was woken up at some point.

There was a guest next door.

"Bad luck! The calming incense given by Zhang Li ran out long ago."

Wu Tao frowned, feeling his bad luck, and his mood turned gloomy. He thought that if he had transmigrated into a wealthy and powerful cultivator, he wouldn't have these troubles.

Clearly, transmigration is like being reborn; it depends on fate.

After a while of worrying, thinking about the robe refinement the next day, Wu Tao forced himself to sleep.

The next day, Wu Tao rubbed his drowsy forehead to wake himself up. When he went to empty the chamber pot, he saw Zhang Li opening the door to see off her guest. He sighed and continued walking forward.

On the way back, Zhang Li tried to talk to him, but Wu Tao excused himself, saying he had something to do and went back to his room.

After a cold shower, feeling more awake, Wu Tao put on a fresh robe and took out the materials for the robe refinement.

Starfire stone.

First-stage初级妖蚕丝.

He looked at the starfire stone and the silk, calculating in his mind: "I need to refine a first-stage, second-level robe with the function of sprinting. According to the requirements, I need three starfire stones and one pound of silk."

"The materials left by the original owner can be used twice. This means I can only fail once."

"Four days from now, it's time to pay the rent. I owe the manager of the labor agency four spirit stones, plus two for this month's rent, and various other expenses, totaling six lower-grade spirit stones and fifteen spirit stone fragments."

"The market price for a first-stage, second-level robe is twelve to fifteen lower-grade spirit stones."

"I can only fail once."

To be honest, despite the bonus from his primary profession as a refinement master, Wu Tao was still nervous. If he failed twice, he would definitely be taken away by the labor agency to work off his debt. Even if they let him go, he wouldn't escape the fate of dying from the evil qi spreading throughout his body in two months.

Despite his nervousness, he still had to refine the robe.

Wu Tao dug a pit in the center of his room to serve as a temporary refinement room, a poor man's method.

He had heard that the refinement masters in the sect had dedicated refinement rooms and access to earth fire.

These were things Wu Tao didn't dare to think about now.

After preparing, Wu Tao took out the book "First-Stage Robe Refinement Methods and Five Restrictions" and carefully memorized the steps and precautions for refinement.

After memorizing everything, Wu Tao adjusted his mindset, cleared his mind, and officially began the refinement.

Two starfire stones fell into the pit and were ignited by the Three Yang Technique's spiritual energy, casting a dim light on Wu Tao's face. He picked up the pre-divided pound of silk and controlled it with his spiritual energy.

The silk was still in cocoon form. Under Wu Tao's control, it floated above the pit. In the flames of the starfire stones, the silk began to loosen.

Wu Tao immediately focused his mind and used his spiritual energy to extract the silk from the cocoon, carefully peeling it off one by one. He had to be cautious about the temperature of the starfire stones; if it was too high, the silk would burn; if it was too low, it wouldn't peel off.

Before long, sweat began to appear on Wu Tao's forehead.

The process of peeling the silk was much more difficult than he had imagined.

This was just the first step, and even though it was challenging, Wu Tao didn't dare to relax his focus.

Time passed slowly, and the cocoons gradually turned into floating silk threads. When the last cocoon was completely peeled, Wu Tao felt a sense of relief.

Next was the second step: weaving the silk into a fabric and using spiritual energy as the shuttle to sew it into the shape of a robe.

This step was much simpler than the first.

Wu Tao remained focused, seamlessly performing the second step. The silk threads weaved together, and over time, the hem, sleeves, and collar gradually took shape.

Finally, a robe similar to a wide-sleeved shirt was formed.

'Second step completed. The hardest part is the third step, the final step.'

Wu Tao felt drenched in sweat, his energy and spirit significantly depleted, but the refinement process had to be completed in one go, or it would fail. This was the challenging aspect of being a refinement master.

The final step was to engrave the complete sprint restriction on every silk thread of the robe, without missing a single one. If any were missed, the restriction would be incomplete and wouldn't activate.

This was the most difficult step.

Wu Tao added another starfire stone to the pit, and the flames intensified. At this moment, he remained calm and carefully engraved the restriction.

A drop of sweat fell from his eyebrow into his eye.

Wu Tao didn't dare to blink, fearing failure.

Ironically, the more he feared something, the more likely it was to happen. Wu Tao felt a momentary lapse in concentration, and with a snap, he pressed too hard, breaking a part of the restriction symbol. The entire restriction lost its integrity and suddenly collapsed.

It failed.

The ruined robe fell onto the starfire stone and burned.

Wu Tao fell backward, lying on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, feeling extremely exhausted and unwilling to think about anything.

...