Start with everyday skills and grind your way to immortality.

As the setting sun was swallowed up, the outline of Linjiang County gradually blurred in the gloom.

Chen Qian put down the book "Fengwu Zhi" and ran his fingertips along the rough edges of the pages for a moment.

The book was very old, with frayed and yellowed edges, and it recorded the terrible drought that happened thirty years ago.

"The land is barren for thousands of miles, and occasionally strange beasts are seen, resembling black dogs that devour people."

[Reading and Character Recognition Experience Points +1]

……

This is the most straightforward description of that year in the book.

He looked up and glanced out the window.

The small courtyard where I was staying had only two side rooms, an old locust tree, and a blue stone well in the middle.

This is the old house of my deceased parents, now inhabited by my eldest brother Chen Ke and his family.

Three years ago, his parents passed away one after another. After the mourning period in the countryside ended, he came to stay with his elder brother, who worked as an accountant in the county town.

"Cough cough"

A suppressed cough welled up from his throat, and Chen Qian quickly covered it with his sleeve.

It has been more than half a month since I transmigrated to this ancient-like world. The original owner of this body was a scholar who was weak since childhood. His cold had not yet healed and he was malnourished, which made him feel short of breath and chest tightness from time to time.

A semi-transparent panel appeared in front of me at just the right moment.

Chen Qian's gaze remained calm.

This panel, which he named "Record of All Experiences," was his greatest asset since his transmigration.

As long as you focus on doing one thing, whether it's reading, identifying herbs, or adjusting your breathing according to past life memories like now, you can accumulate experience in the corresponding skill.

There are no bottlenecks, only accumulation.

The panel is simple and clear:

Name: Chen Qian

Lifespan: 18/27

[Skills: Literacy (Mastery 477/500), Herbal Identification (Beginner 66/100), Health Preservation Techniques (Beginner 64/100), Observing Words and Expressions (Beginner 66/100)]

[Fusion Technique: None]

What concerned Chen Qian most was the lifespan section, which showed he only had nine years left to live.

As for the "Skill Fusion" section at the bottom of the panel, it is still a dull gray, and no matter how you try to touch it, it's like throwing a stone into the sea.

"The conditions are not sufficient."

Chen Qian seemed to be deep in thought. Since it is "integration", it must require certain skills to reach a certain level of mastery before a qualitative change can occur.

We can't rush it; we can only proceed gradually.

His gaze returned to the few skills that had been activated. As he focused his mind, they quietly appeared, and to the right of each skill's name, there was a line of very faint gray text annotation.

Having read five classic texts, I have achieved...

Handling or identifying more than thirty kinds of herbs by hand has achieved

For seven consecutive days, I have been practicing regular breathing exercises for at least one hour each day, and this has been achieved.

Successfully interpreting more than fifty subtle emotions or intentions has been achieved.

This "Record of All Experiences" does not grant abilities out of thin air.

First comes the hardship of personal practice, then comes the mastery of skills.

While I was pondering this.

The courtyard gate creaked open.

The first thing to peek in were two perky pigtails, tied with faded red ribbons, swaying with every movement.

Then, a small figure wearing a pale yellow coarse cloth dress hopped in like a nimble sparrow.

It was her four-year-old niece, Chen Xiaoyu.

She was small in stature, and her face still had the roundness typical of a child.

Her eyes were big and bright, like black grapes soaking in clear water, and now they were curved into crescent moons.

Her nose is slightly upturned, and the corners of her mouth naturally curve upwards, making her a delight to behold.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

Chen Xiaoyu ran to the window, tiptoed, and handed in the oil paper package she was holding. "These are malt candies Mom bought. Here's a piece for you!"

Chen Qian took it; the oil paper still carried the child's body heat.

He smiled and took two clay figures out of the drawer.

A scholar and a knight-errant, though rough around the edges, their features were vivid.

"Here, take this and have your candy in return."

Xiao Yu's eyes lit up, but she hesitated: "Mother said we can't keep taking Uncle's things."

"This is an exchange, not a take," Chen Qian said gently.

The little girl happily accepted the clay figure and ran away with it in her arms.

As she ran to the courtyard gate, she turned back and said in a clear voice, "Uncle, Mom has cooked porridge for you to eat over tonight!"

Chen Qian responded and looked at the maltose in his hand.

The sugar cubes were amber in color, gleaming warmly in the setting sun.

He carefully broke off a small piece and put it in his mouth. The sweetness melted in his mouth. This was the first time he had tasted sweetness since he traveled through time.

[Taste identification experience +1]

[A New Skill Unveiled: Taste Identification (Beginner 1/100)]

(Condition: Personally taste and memorize the five basic tastes: sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty. Status: Achieved)

Even this can be considered a skill?

Chen Qian paused for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled.

This panel can truly record "everything".

As dusk fell, he packed up his books, locked the door, and headed toward the main room where his elder brother and sister-in-law lived.

Oil lamps were already lit in the main room. The elder brother, Chen Ke, sat at the table, flipping through account books with a slight frown.

He was a middle-aged man with a square face and a short beard. He worked as an accountant at the "Qingfeng Grain Store" in the city, earning a monthly salary of two taels and two mace of silver. It was not easy for him to support his family of three plus Chen Qian.

Sister-in-law Lin Xiu was busy at the stove.

She was about thirty years old and had a pretty face, but years of hard work had caused fine lines to appear at the corners of her eyes early on.

When Chen Qian came in, she nodded as a greeting, but her eyes were devoid of warmth.

"Qian's here." Chen Ke put down the account book. "How did your studies go today?"

"Not bad. I reviewed 'Fengwu Zhi' again."

"Reading more is good." Chen Ke paused, his face showing difficulty, "However, we simply can't raise the tuition fees from Instructor Li at the county school. As you know, grain prices rose by 30% last month, and salt prices rose again yesterday..."

Chen Qian remained silent.

The original owner's greatest wish was to pass the imperial examinations and obtain official rank, so he wanted to go to the county school to prepare for the exams.

However, Li Maocai, the county school instructor, required students to pay a tribute of three taels of silver in addition to assessing their literary talent.

This is a huge sum of money for the Chen family.

"Brother, there's no need to worry," Chen Qian said calmly. "Even if you don't attend the county school, you can study on your own."

He had absolutely no interest in attending the county school or taking the imperial examinations.

Lin Xiu brought over a bowl of thin porridge and placed it heavily on the table, causing a few drops of porridge to splash out.

She didn't speak, but her dissatisfaction was obvious in her actions. There was another mouth to feed in the family, and it was a sickly person who couldn't do any work and could only study.

Chen Xiaoyu sat obediently on the small stool, her eyes fixed on the dish of pickled vegetables and the bowl of stir-fried greens on the table. There was only a small bowl of greens, and very little oil.

Dinner was eaten in silence.

The porridge was very thin, and the grains of rice could be counted.

Chen Qian drank slowly, feeling the rough rice bran slide down his throat.

His experience in "taste recognition" jumped a little further, which made him smile bitterly to himself, even tasting poverty could accumulate experience.

"Oh, right," Chen Ke suddenly said, "I heard from the grain shop manager today that the guard dog at Wang's butcher shop on West Street died last night."

Lin Xiu looked up: "Beatled to death?"

"No," Chen Ke said in a low voice, "I heard that his heart was ripped out. There was a big hole in his chest, and his heart was gone."

Chen Xiaoyu was so frightened that she moved closer to her mother.

Chen Qian paused, his hand holding the chopsticks still: "What did the authorities say?"

"What can we say? We sent two constables to take a look, and they said it was just wild dogs fighting." Chen Ke shook his head.

"But my colleague said the wound didn't look like a dog bite; it looked like it was gouged out."

A moment of silence fell over the room.

The oil lamp flame crackled and popped.

"Don't say such scary things." Lin Xiu frowned, picked up a piece of green vegetable from her chopsticks, and said, "Eat."

But Chen Qian noticed that when his brother mentioned this, his experience points for "observing people's expressions" jumped twice.

One instance was the barely perceptible fear in my brother's tone when he mentioned "taking it out".

Another time, when her sister-in-law interrupted the conversation, her eyes quickly glanced towards the door, as if she was worried that something would be overheard.

After the meal, Chen Qian took the initiative to clear the dishes.

Lin Xiu wanted to say something, but seeing his swift movements, she finally shut her mouth.

After washing up, Chen Qian returned to his room.

He did not light a lamp, but sat down at the table by the moonlight.

In my mind, the panel quietly unfolded.

Today's findings are as follows:

[Literacy and Character Interpretation Experience Points +35]

[Herbal Identification Experience +15]

[Health Preservation Technique Experience Points +20]

[Experience in reading between the lines +9]

[Taste recognition experience points +5]

[Labor Experience Points +3]

Chen Qian's gaze fell on the [literacy and character recognition] section.

He has improved this skill from "beginner 1/100" when he traveled back in time to "master 477/500" in just half a month.

Each accumulation of experience made him feel clearer-headed, more perceptive of words, and had a stronger memory.

He has already reread most of the classics, histories, philosophical works, and other historical texts left behind by the original owner.

But not enough.

He opened the "Fengwu Zhi" (a book on local customs and products) and found the passage he had read that afternoon.

"In the summer of the eighteenth year of Zhengde, Jiangling suffered a severe drought. A black dog-like beast appeared in the countryside, attacking people and livestock at night and eating their hearts and livers. The government recruited twenty strong men to surround and kill it. Nine men died, seven were injured, and three beasts were killed. The beast's carcass was burned, and the stench lingered for a month."

Beside this record, there is a small note written by the original owner in vermilion ink: "Confucius did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits. This may be an incident of a rabid dog injuring someone, which the villagers have spread through hearsay."

Chen Qian's fingers traced over the words.

The original owner was a staunch Confucian scholar who did not believe in supernatural phenomena or strange gods.

But Chen Qian is different; he has lived through the era of information explosion and knows too many abnormal possibilities.

Moreover, the fact that he has a system that can quantify everything is itself unscientific.

"Black Dog-like Beast"

"Eat only the heart and liver"

"..."

He murmured to himself, his gaze drifting to the window.

There are no stars tonight; thick clouds obscure the moonlight, and the courtyard is pitch black.

The old locust tree cast its shadow on the ground, swaying in the wind, looking just like a menacing monster.

Chen Qian suddenly remembered something.

He got up quietly and dragged an old wooden box out from under the bed.

Inside, there were miscellaneous items left by my parents.

Several old books, a chipped inkstone, a stack of yellowed letters, and at the very bottom, a thin book carefully wrapped in oilcloth.

The booklet cover was blank, and the paper was brittle and yellowed.

I found it three days ago while cleaning the room; it was tucked inside my father's old clothes trunk.

Chen Qian glanced through it at the time and found that it contained not classics or historical records, but some scattered notes.

"On the 27th of March, I had a late-night conversation with Brother Zhao. Brother Zhao said that his ancestors were once demon-suppressing guards of the 'Demon Suppression Division,' but the division was later abolished, and they went into hiding in the city."

On the third day of the fourth lunar month, I visited Brother Zhao but could not find him. The neighbors said that his whole family had moved away three days ago and their whereabouts were unknown.

On the ninth day of the fifth month, I bought a fragment of a map from a secondhand bookstore. It seemed to be a fragment of a map of the Demon Suppression Bureau, marked with the words "Linjiang".

"On the first day of the seventh lunar month, I dreamt that I was surrounded by black fog, and I woke up in a cold sweat. My wife said that in my dream I was shouting 'Don't go near the mine!'"

My notes end here.

The last record was made three months before the father's death.

Chen Qian carefully opened the booklet and found the tattered picture.

The blueprint was only the size of a palm, with charred edges, as if it had been rescued from a fire.

The outline of the landscape is drawn in black lines, with one place marked "Linjiang County" and another marked "Heishan". A strange symbol is drawn between the two places.

A circle with three wavy lines inside.

There is also a line of small print in the picture, the ink of which has faded: "Keep away".

"Montenegro."

Chen Qian's gaze was fixed on those two words.

The old cliché of "There are demons in Black Mountain, living people must not enter" from the storytellers in the teahouses suddenly pierced his mind like a needle.

I used to think it was just nonsense to scam money.

Looking at it now...

This is not unfounded.

What if Father's notes are real? What if an organization like the "Demon Suppression Bureau" truly exists in this world? What if those strange tales weren't all just rumors...?

Then the death of the watchdog at Wang's Butcher Shop might not be a coincidence.

Chen Qian carefully packed the items away, wrapped them in oilcloth again, and put them back in the box.

As he lay back down on the bed, he heard his elder brother and sister-in-law whispering in the main room.

"We can't delay any longer." It was Lin Xiu's voice, low but faintly audible in the quiet night. "The rice jar is empty, and there's only half a jar of salt left. If he doesn't find work soon..."

"Qian is not fully recovered yet, and studying is his only way out." Chen Ke's voice was weary.

"A way out? He can't even get into the county school! Look at him, reading those miscellaneous books all day long, like 'Records of Local Customs' and 'Strange Tales.' How can he pass the imperial examinations?" Lin Xiu's voice became a little agitated. "Aunt Zhang next door said that the silk shop is recruiting apprentices, providing room and board, and paying three hundred coins a month."

"This matter will be discussed later."

"Chen Ke! This family doesn't belong to you alone."

The voices suddenly lowered, turning into a muffled argument.

Chen Qian closed his eyes.

He understood his sister-in-law's anxiety; the family was indeed facing difficulties.

My elder brother receives two taels and two mace of silver per month, which is equivalent to 1,980 copper coins.

In the county town, a peck of rice costs 180 coins, a pound of salt costs 45 coins, and firewood, lamp oil, vegetables... plus the fact that he spends at least 300 coins a month on medicine, he is indeed struggling to make ends meet.

The original owner only wanted to study and pass the imperial examinations, and was unwilling to accept the position of an apprentice.

But Chen Qian is different; his first priority is to survive, and only then can he live well.

"An apprentice at a silk shop," he thought to himself.

Food and lodging are provided, which will solve the problem of survival. Three hundred coins may seem like a small amount, but it adds up. Moreover, the fabric industry might offer access to some special information, such as…

Chen Qian suddenly opened his eyes.

He remembered the newly enabled [Taste Recognition] feature on the panel.

If taste can be used as a skill, what about touch? Sight? Smell?

If he went to a silk shop and worked with fabrics all day, would he develop skills like fabric identification? If he could distinguish the material, origin, and even weaving technique of a fabric by touch, his value in the silk shop would far exceed that of an apprentice.

The thought made his heart race.

But he quickly calmed down.

Rumors had been circulating that the fighting on the northern border was at a stalemate, and signs of retreating soldiers were already emerging.

Meanwhile, in the southern states, natural disasters and man-made calamities have caused famine to accumulate into a massive flood.

With chaos reigning in both the north and south, how long can Linjiang County, situated in the middle, maintain its precarious peace?

With the nest overturned, the stable bed of this silk shop apprentice is probably beyond repair.

Thinking of his short lifespan, a dark cloud suddenly loomed over him.

In this world, money alone is probably not enough.

How can one find a place to live and thrive in this chaotic world?

Chen Qian sat up, adjusting his breathing in the darkness, following the simplified version of Tai Chi breathing he had learned in his previous life, his breaths slow and long.

[Health Preservation Technique Experience Points +1]

[Health Preservation Technique Experience Points +1]

Experience beats slowly.

He needs to survive first and recover his health.

Then, he needs to find a way to increase his lifespan.

Whether it's martial arts or anything else.

Outside the window, the sound of a night watchman's drum could be heard in the distance.

"At midnight, all was well and nothing happened."

The night watchman's aged voice drifted in the night wind, the last syllable of which lingered long, carrying a strange sense of desolation.

Chen Qian looked out through the hole in the window paper at the thick, impenetrable night.

Everything is fine.

I hope so.