Chapter 5: Poof! Buying a Rooster?

The ten thousand taels in his hand were equivalent to ten thousand points of premium currency. This was his confidence.

"System, I want to spend... ten thousand taels!" If he couldn't spend it all, he would absolutely not step out of this door.

"Ding! Exchange successful, you have gained ten thousand points of premium currency!"

With his premium currency in hand, Xiao Yang didn’t rush to spend it. That kind of shopping spree was only for nouveau riche; though he had some assets, he couldn’t afford to squander them so recklessly.

After some thought, he decided to first understand the avenues for spending.

"I want to spend premium currency!" he called softly.

Immediately, a panel appeared before him, accompanied by the system's prompt in his ear.

"Ding! Please choose your spending avenue."

He glanced over it casually.

There were four main sections: Shop, Lottery, Enhancement, and Secondary Professions.

The system kindly provided brief descriptions.

Shop: Purchase at original price.
Lottery: Essential for the lucky.
Enhancement: Second choice for the lucky.
Secondary Professions: For the true tycoon.

After a round of consideration, Xiao Yang felt the Shop suited him best. If he had any luck, he wouldn’t have spent ten years as a servant of the sect.

He reached out and tapped.

In the next moment, a dazzling array of items appeared.

Name: Pangu Axe
Quality: Unique
Description: The weapon of the great deity Pangu
Points: Ninety trillion

Name: Four Immortal-Slaying Swords
Quality: Innate Treasure
Description: The weapon of the Master Tongtian
Points: One hundred billion

Xiao Yang: ...

He was clearly out of his depth—the pricing was all wrong.

Though envious, with so many points required, even if he sold himself, or even the Giant Spirit Sect, it wouldn’t cover the cost.

"Heh! When I’m rich, I’ll buy out the entire system shop!" he declared fiercely.

Then he quietly lowered the price filter.

Below ten thousand premium points.

Those items costing billions were not for him.

After filtering, things looked much more pleasing.

Look at these prices—so agreeable. Everything was ten thousand.

"Damn it! System, you’re definitely doing this on purpose!" he shouted angrily, but no one answered.

"Never mind, tomorrow I must enter the Cave of Ten Thousand Insects. What should I buy to defend myself?"

Xiao Yang had some knowledge of the Cave of Ten Thousand Insects.

Few who entered ever came out alive, and those who did were mostly mad.

As for why, he’d heard the stories. The poisonous insects inside didn’t kill, but their combined toxins made life worse than death.

Ordinary methods of repelling insects failed within.

"This is tricky! Very tricky!" Xiao Yang showed a trace of worry.

The Giant Spirit Sect had a thousand-year history, and so did the Cave of Ten Thousand Insects. Countless entered, almost all died inside.

Even the few who survived were madmen.

It was, in every sense, a thousand-year puzzle.

Countless minds had tried to solve it, all in vain.

Xiao Yang was stumped as well.

He first searched for poisons from his previous life, but found that none matched the toxicity of those insects.

The idea of defending himself with insecticide was thus shattered.

Next, he considered various techniques.

But after a moment, he dismissed those as well.

Even if he had a technique, with his current aptitude, mastering it was out of the question—he might not even get started.

He pondered until evening, but found no workable solution.

Gurgle!

His mind held, but his stomach gave out.

He hadn’t eaten all day; even though he’d reached the tenth level of martial arts, hunger made his vision blur.

"Forget it, I’ll eat something first. Even if I’m to die tomorrow, let me have a decent meal tonight."

He muttered quietly.

He opened the door; at the entrance lay a plate of pickles and a bowl of rice.

Since he was to "meet his end" tomorrow, the servant disciple responsible for food had thoughtfully delivered a "last meal."

"Grumble!"

Seeing the food, Xiao Yang felt even hungrier.

He reached out for the rice, but stopped halfway.

On the ground, a mantis was gripping a thumb-thick insect.

The insect was brightly colored, clearly no "good bug."

A poisonous insect! No doubt about it.

The mantis was utterly ordinary.

In a flash, Xiao Yang had an idea.

"That's right! How could I be so foolish, missing such an obvious solution?"

He even scolded himself.

Bang!

He returned to his room, now too distracted to eat.

"I really am foolish, unable to see the simplest solution."

He walked and laughed.

Soon, he plopped onto his bed.

Once again, he opened the shop.

This time, he had a clear goal: he searched for nemeses of insects.

His idea was simple—use species suppression.

If the Cave of Ten Thousand Insects was full of poisonous bugs, he’d find a creature that treated them as snacks.

He refused to believe those bugs would risk their lives just for a bite of him.

If they did, Xiao Yang would accept his fate.

To deal with poisonous insects, Xiao Yang thought of one candidate!

That was the rooster.

In Journey to the West, there was an episode where the rooster subdued the centipede demon.

With ease, it defeated the cultivated centipede spirit.

The rooster was simply the nemesis of all poisonous insects.

Any poisonous bug that encountered it would flee.

"True or not, I'll find out soon enough."

He opened the shop and searched for rooster.

Various roosters appeared.

The most amusing was a breed called "battle chicken."

Yet those flashy roosters were expensive.

After much deliberation, Xiao Yang couldn’t bring himself to buy.

Name: Speckled Chicken
Quality: None
Description: Ordinary meat chicken
Points: 1

Seeing it only cost one premium point, he knew he couldn’t hesitate.

One word: Buy!

"Ding! One premium point deducted, you have gained one speckled chicken."

The system's prompt rang in his ear.

With a thought, Xiao Yang summoned the speckled chicken he’d just purchased.

The instant it appeared, it cleared its throat and crowed.

"Stop that!"

Xiao Yang cut it off.

Being a system product, his words were law.

As soon as he spoke, it obeyed.

The speckled chicken looked around, then quickly flapped its wings and flew out the window.

Seeing this, Xiao Yang hurried after it.

Such a plump rooster—he had to keep it from being caught and stewed, or he’d suffer a great loss.

Just as he pushed open the door, he saw the rooster strike swiftly.

It gave the mantis no chance to protest.

With two or three bites, it swallowed the prey.

"Damn! That’s so rough!"

Xiao Yang was speechless.

Inspired by the mantis, he’d summoned the rooster; it showed no gratitude and immediately devoured the mantis.

How could it be so unreasonable?

But at that moment, the rooster was clearly famished.

All it wanted was food.

Without hesitation, it rushed into the grove and began a massacre.

If it was a bug, it was food for me!