If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

Youzhou, Yuyang County, a dilapidated temple outside the city.

"Come on, read with me."

"The Tao has no name; it is forcibly named the Profound. Profound and yet more profound, the root of all things..."

Inside the dilapidated temple, a bloated man with his face covered stood in front of the broken Buddha statue on the temple platform, shouting at a group of beggars sitting and lying haphazardly below.

The beggars below had their eyes shining as they recited scriptures with the big man while keeping their eyes glued to the basket behind him.

The basket was filled with white steamed buns, emitting an enticing aroma.

"Everyone, read it ten more times today. After you finish, I'll give you all steamed buns."

"Come on, let's continue..."

The burly man was named Zhou Ming, and he was a servant in the Yongning Marquis's mansion in Yuyang County.

Four days ago, Zhou Ming was an archaeology student who became rich overnight after watching short videos of others making a fortune by finding a bargain.

He went to the antique street, hoping to use his professional knowledge to realize his dream of getting rich overnight.

As soon as I entered the antique street, I was pushed and fell on an antique stall because I was in a hurry.

When he woke up again, he had transmigrated into the body of Zhou Ming, a servant in the Yongning Marquis's mansion.

Zhou Ming, a servant in the Yongning Marquis's household, was merely an attendant to the eldest daughter, Su Mingyue.

While accompanying the young lady on an outing, he was kicked on the head by a startled horse and died.

That's how Zhou Ming was able to usurp the position.

After Zhou Ming woke up, a 3,000-word scripture appeared in his mind.

He couldn't understand the meaning of the scriptures, but he knew it naturally.

Once the scriptures are passed on, others can cultivate magical powers by reading them a hundred times.

When a cultivator dies, his or her husband can inherit all of his or her cultivation, including his magical power and spiritual power.

After resting at the Marquis's residence for two days, Zhou Ming's headache subsided, and he quietly slipped out of the mansion.

After buying some steamed buns and clothes on the street and changing his appearance, he arrived at this dilapidated temple.

After reading it once, Zhou Ming pushed the basket forward again.

The aroma of white steamed buns mingled with the damp, musty smell of the temple, making the beggars below unconsciously swallow their saliva.

"Nine more rounds left." A lame old beggar rubbed his grimy hands, his voice trembling. "Sir, do you keep your word?"

Zhou Ming smiled, pulled his mask up to reveal only a pair of sly eyes: "Why would I lie to you? Hurry up and read along."

"The Tao has no name; it is forcibly named the Profound. Profound and yet more profound, the root of all things..."

The beggars followed along, their voices varying greatly; some mispronounced words, others dragged out their intonations, but Zhou Ming didn't care.

He doesn't need them to read it very well, just a hundred times.

Once each person reads the scripture a hundred times, it will operate within their body on its own, like planting a seed that takes root, sprouts, and eventually bears the fruit of magical power.

And he was the one who picked the fruit.

This is the fourth day since Zhou Ming transmigrated here, and the second day since he slipped out of the Marquis's mansion.

Yesterday he bought twenty steamed buns, two old clothes, and a roll of coarse linen on the street, spending less than half a tael of silver in total.

Although the monthly allowance for the servants of the Marquis of Yongning's mansion was not much, Zhou Ming retrieved it from his previous life's memories.

The original owner of this body grew up in the Marquis's mansion and saved up a hundred taels of silver in private money, which he hid in the cracks between the bricks under the bed.

It's astonishing that a lowly servant could amass over a hundred taels of silver, demonstrating the wealth of the Marquis's household. However, all that silver now belongs to him.

Yesterday, on his first day at this dilapidated temple, he brought only ten steamed buns and tentatively taught five beggars how to use them.

The five men were skeptical, but after reading it to him haltingly about twenty times, they happily took the steamed buns and ran away.

Today, Zhou Ming brought twenty steamed buns again, and there were a few more new faces among the beggars.

Including the five from yesterday, there are now nine people in the temple.

As Zhou Ming led the reading, he secretly observed the condition of each beggar.

In his mind, the three-thousand-word scripture was as clear as if it were engraved on a stone slab.

Even more remarkably, he could sense a faint connection, invisible threads extending from those who were reciting the text, eventually converging at the center of his forehead.

The silk thread was very thin and delicate, as thin as spider silk, and felt like it would break at the slightest touch.

Zhou Ming knew that these "threads" were the chain of cause and effect. Every time the other party read the scripture, the threads would become thicker and more solid.

If you read it a hundred times, the chain of cause and effect will be completely solidified. The other person will then be considered to have officially entered his sect, and from then on, he will share in all the benefits he gains from cultivation.

Of course, it's not about dividing, it's about inheriting.

The message the scripture conveyed to him was very clear: as long as the cultivator dies, he can inherit all of their cultivation, including magical power and spiritual power.

In life, one cultivates for him; in death, one inherits from him.

This is Zhou Ming's magic touch.

But Zhou Ming knew in his heart that this "golden finger" sounded powerful, but it was nothing at all right now.

The nine people sitting below are all beggars from the lowest rung of Yuyang County.

Even if they truly read it a hundred times and cultivate magical power, and then recite it every day from now on, it would still take them a very long time to accumulate any decent cultivation.

With these mediocre talents, Zhou Ming will at best be a second-rate martial artist in his lifetime.

Unless he can find more qualified people to read his scriptures.

For the next hour, the sound of chanting echoed continuously in the dilapidated temple.

It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that I finally finished reading it ten times today.

Zhou Ming distributed eighteen of the twenty steamed buns, then put the rest into his bundle and said to everyone:

"I'll still be in this temple tomorrow night. You can come if you want, and I won't force you if you don't want to."

"Let me give you a heads-up: you've already memorized the scriptures. Go back and read them as many times as you can. Read them a hundred times, and you'll benefit from it."

The crowd responded and began to leave in twos and threes.

The lame old beggar walked away, turning back every few steps, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Zhou Ming stopped him: "Do you have something to say?"

The lame old beggar rubbed his hands and stammered, "Sir, I...I want to ask, what are the benefits of reading it a hundred times? I'm not greedy for your things, I just...I just want to..."

Zhou Ming was silent for a moment, then stretched out his hand and gently rubbed his thumb and middle finger together.

A tiny flame suddenly ignited from his fingertips.

The lame old beggar's eyes widened suddenly, and his mouth opened so wide it could fit a steamed bun.

"Read it a hundred times, and you can do it too."

The lame old beggar knelt down with a thud and began kowtowing repeatedly: "Great Immortal, spare me! Great Immortal, spare me! I promise I'll read it a hundred times, I promise I'll read it a hundred times!"

Zhou Ming was a little confused by his bow. What was going on? Was he frightened?

Seeing that Zhou Ming remained silent, the lame old beggar suddenly stood up and stumbled away into the twilight.

His speed was so fast that he didn't look like a lame old man at all.

The few beggars who hadn't left saw this scene and turned to run away as if they'd seen a ghost.

Zhou Ming blew out the wisp of fire at his fingertips; this was actually a little trick he knew before he transmigrated.

It wasn't magic, it was just a little trick: your fingers were coated with white phosphorus, and it ignited when you rubbed them together.

It might fool an honest old beggar, but if you really know what you're doing, he'll see right through you.

But that doesn't matter. What he wants is for these beggars to believe that by reading this scripture, they too can become like him.

Zhou Ming walked out of the dilapidated temple, untied his face mask, let out a long breath, and looked up at the sky.

The sky was overcast, with a few stars peeking out.

He suddenly remembered something. In the original owner's limited memories, there were no cultivators in this world, but there were martial artists.

Zhou Ming grew up in the Yongning Marquis's mansion, where the mansion hired tutors for these servants to teach them to read and write and to learn basic martial arts.

However, according to their master who taught them martial arts, martial artists are divided into six realms: skin training, flesh training, bone forging, tendon strengthening, blood exchange, and meridian opening.

Although the Yongning Marquis's mansion is just a marquis's residence, the marquis, Su Yongning, is said to be a martial artist at the Yi Jin realm.

Of course, during his time working at the Marquis's residence, Zhou Ming had not yet had the opportunity to witness it firsthand.

But he wasn't in a hurry. Haste makes waste. This was the first and last lesson he learned in his previous life on the antique street.

Thinking of the antique street, Zhou Ming couldn't help but smile wryly.

In my past life, I spent four years studying archaeology, only to find it completely useless. Instead, I tripped and fell, and ended up transmigrating, even gaining a cheat-like advantage for free. Isn't that much more exciting than finding a bargain?