"Fifteen of them..."

Chu Mu calculated in his head as he counted the Long Rainbow Swords he had successfully refined.

The Spiritual Materials had cost just over two thousand Spirit Stones in total, and there were still plenty left in his Storage Talisman.

Of course, these weren’t materials for refining Long Rainbow Swords. Back at the Black Market, in order to build up his foundation in Artifact Refining Skill, he had bought a little bit of every Spirit Ore and Spiritual Material he could find.

He had spent a good deal of time studying and experimenting with them these past few days.

Now, he had refined a total of fifteen finished products. Based on the market price for Lower Grade Magical Artifacts, even accounting for the ten failed attempts, he definitely hadn’t lost money. In fact, his profit was quite substantial.

Chu Mu wasn’t too concerned about the exact number of Spirit Stones. Or rather, ever since Alchemy had opened up a new source of income, he was no longer as stingy about Spirit Stones as he used to be.

The Cultivation Immortal Realm was vast. The Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World alone covered an enormous territory.

His current income was limited only because he hadn’t been backed into a corner yet. He faced no major threats, had enough Spirit Stones, and was simply too lazy to leave.

If it ever came to that, with the vastness of the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World, he could just pack up and move somewhere else. He could make the sky his blanket and the earth his bed. As long as he had Spirit Stones and a source of income, where could he not practice Cultivation!

’I hope the Black Market has something useful...’

Tossing the fifteen Long Rainbow Swords into his Storage Talisman, Chu Mu sensed that its time limit was running out again. He couldn’t help but ponder his earlier suspicions.

It’s as they say: you always regret not learning more when you finally need the knowledge. It hadn’t been so bad before. His Alchemy Skill was just a means to support his Cultivation needs, merely a matter of copying what others had done, so it didn’t require much depth.

But this time, Artifact Refining completely matched his interests. He had so, so many ideas, but... his limited foundation of knowledge in Artifact Refining couldn’t support his wild, unrestrained imagination.

Even now, when he looked at the Puppetry Skill inheritance, he still felt that his ability fell short of his ambition.

The body of knowledge covered by this Cultivation Immortal Technique was simply too vast.

A single Artifact Refining Manual was far from enough to satisfy his desire to do more than just blindly copy others.

If he didn’t want to just blindly copy, then he had to develop the ability to draw the gourd himself.

After cleaning up the room and taking down the miniature isolation Restriction, Chu Mu finally walked toward the door.

There is no sense of time on the Immortal Path. This time, just refining a dozen or so Magical Artifacts had taken over a month.

He pushed open the door. The scene that greeted him was the same as ever, unchanged.

From the room across the way, he could still hear the faint, alluring sounds. The Female Cultivator was very dedicated, using her body day and night just to earn a few Broken Spirit stones.

"Hm?"

Chu Mu looked at the man collecting night soil not far away, a hint of surprise on his face.

’Isn’t this street, this job, something Old Chen does?’

’With Old Chen’s stingy personality, would he be willing to give it up?’

He turned his head to look at the room to the side. The door was shut tight, and cobwebs had already formed, proving that Old Chen’s room had been empty for a long time.

"Fellow Daoist, Old Chen..."

Chu Mu called out to the man pushing the night-soil cart, but before he could finish his question, the door across the way opened, and the woman’s voice drifted over.

"Old Chen’s dead."

"Dead?"

Chu Mu frowned, looking at the disheveled Miaoyu leaning against the doorframe.

"Good advice can’t save a fool destined to die!"

"That little bastard of a son of his said his Cultivation had hit a bottleneck and he needed an Elixir for a Broken Mirror. Elixirs are in short supply in the city lately, and there were none to buy."

"That good-for-nothing didn’t dare go to the Black Market himself, so he forced Old Chen to go."

"And so he died. It’s not like we could’ve talked him out of it..."

The woman said it all so casually.

Chu Mu asked, "Did Old Chen go alone?"

"I think he went with the Niu Family Brothers."

"Eldest Niu died too. Only Niu the Second made it back, and I heard he was seriously injured..."

"Oh, right, Old Chen knocked on your door, but no one answered. He probably thought you weren’t home..."

"That little bastard is inhuman. We had someone tell him his father died, and he didn’t shed a single tear. He just cursed up a storm, came over, tore Old Chen’s room apart, and left..."

Chu Mu fell silent. He wasn’t overcome with emotion, but he couldn’t help but think that this was, after all, a neighbor, someone he’d known for a long time.

He had chatted with the old man a few times in his leisure, and now he was just... dead. So quietly.

Chu Mu said no more and started walking out of town.

He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when the Female Cultivator behind him spoke again:

"Hey, you should try to go out less these days. It’s getting more and more dangerous out there."

"A while ago, a squad of Law Enforcers was killed in the city. And just a few days ago, I heard a group of Longevity Sect disciples was ambushed, and not a single one escaped."

"Now the city’s Law Enforcement Team is patrolling outside every day. I hear people are fighting to the death out there all the time..."

"Thanks, but I’m heading into the city."

Chu Mu replied with a smile, but continued walking out of town regardless.

"Our Fellow Daoist Xu here is probably not as simple as he seems."

Once Chu Mu was a good distance away, a nearby door opened. Li Changping gazed in the direction Chu Mu had left and sighed with emotion.

"Who knows!"

Miaoyu chuckled. "Even if he’s not simple, it has nothing to do with us."

Li Changping sounded a bit wistful. "It’s just a pity. If Old Chen had found Fellow Daoist Xu back then, he might not have died. And the Niu Family Brothers wouldn’t have ended up in their current state..."

"He was asking to die!"

"We all tried to persuade him, but he wouldn’t listen. What could we do..."

"Sigh, these are increasingly troubled times. I wonder how many more days we can go on living like this..."

"We just have to take it one day at a time. Who cares if we live or die..."

As the two conversed on the street, Chu Mu walked further and further away, eventually stepping into the mountain forest.

As for whether it was peaceful or dangerous outside, Chu Mu wasn’t too concerned.

Regardless of any so-called turmoil, leaving the Marketplace was bound to be dangerous and unsafe.

That was a certainty.

He had long been mentally prepared for it.

And with his current Cultivation and Combat Power, as long as he wasn’t targeted by a Foundation Establishment Realm expert, he was confident he could escape from any Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator, even if he couldn’t beat them.

Upon entering the dense forest, Chu Mu released the Cultivation concealment of his Illusion God Mask.

According to Miaoyu, with so many disciples being slaughtered one after another, the surrounding mountains were likely crawling with Longevity Sect disciples.

It was even possible that Foundation Establishment Realm experts were clashing somewhere.

After all, would ordinary Loose Cultivators or Evil Cultivators dare to attack Longevity Sect disciples traveling in groups?

Chu Mu refused to believe there wasn’t something fishy going on behind the scenes.

Especially given the current tense situation.

The mission he had seen at the Blood Killing Pavilion in the Fengming Mountain Black Market made it all very clear.

Not only was the situation tense, but some people were fishing in troubled waters and fanning the flames.

Right now, although the situation on the surface was still stable, it was likely that behind the scenes, both sides had already torn off all pretenses.

Otherwise, what Evil Cultivator would have the guts to go after the Law Enforcement Team?

It was a purely thankless and difficult task!

In a situation like this, concealing his Cultivation would actually make him stand out.

A Cultivation at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer wasn’t high, but it wasn’t weak either.

If anyone was blind enough to try something, he’d just treat them as meat delivered to his doorstep. It would be a waste not to eat it!

With just this one Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact Dharma Robe, an ordinary Cultivator without any powerful techniques probably couldn’t even break through his Defense!

Not to mention, his Body Refining Cultivation wasn’t weak either!

Staying vigilant, Chu Mu sped through the mountains. He didn’t use his Divine Wind Boots; with his current Body Refining Cultivation, his pure physical speed was no slower than what could be achieved with an ordinary enhancement Magic.

He sprinted wildly, leaping up from time to time. A light jump would send him dozens of meters into the air, allowing him to cross several tens, or even a hundred meters, before landing with a BOOM!

When the mood struck, he even ran effortlessly across the trees. With just the slightest push, he could treat the treetops like flat ground.

There was an indescribable thrill in unleashing his pure physical strength so wantonly!

It seemed the commotion had deterred any prying eyes along the way. The journey of over two hundred li was calm and uneventful.

Soon, the Jade Emperor Black Market was right before him.

Stepping into the Black Market once more, the entrance fee was still one Lower Grade Spirit Stone, but the foot traffic was clearly much heavier than before.

The rising prices seemed to have made the Black Market even more prosperous.

But evidently, the lurking dangers outside the Marketplace had also cut off the possibility for a significant number of low-level Loose Cultivators to enter the Black Market.

Just like Old Chen. Even if you gave him ten lives, he probably still wouldn’t have been able to make it to the Jade Emperor Black Market.

Chu Mu was a little curious how they had managed to get to the Jade Emperor Valley Marketplace in the first place.

Although there were Flying Boats in the Marketplace that could travel to various places, the price was steep—clearly not something a Loose Cultivator like Old Chen could afford.

Traveling together in a group?

Or following a merchant caravan?

Chu Mu mused as he walked through the Black Market.

Although he had languished at the bottom for a while, it wasn’t for long. Once his income stream opened up, after some time, he had become somewhat out of touch with the struggles of those at the very bottom, a classic "why don’t they eat meat" scenario.

He pondered for a while but couldn’t figure it out. Spotting something of interest at a street-side stall, Chu Mu immediately cast his idle thoughts aside.

He tossed out about a hundred Lower Spirit stones for a bottle of Body Tempering Pills, tucked it away, and continued to stroll leisurely through the Black Market.

Just as he had guessed, after only a month’s absence, the Black Market was clearly filled with many good things that were once rare.

Having confirmed his suspicions, Chu Mu was no longer in a hurry.

He rented a stall and placed a single Long Rainbow Sword on display.

He set a clear price, no different from the going rate in the Black Market, but it should be quite a bit cheaper than in the Marketplace.

Magical Artifacts were in even shorter supply than he had imagined.

Less than a quarter of an hour after he put it out, it was bought by a masked Cultivator.

He put out a second one, and it wasn’t long before that one was bought as well.

He sold seven Long Rainbow Swords in a row. In just over two hours, he had taken in more than two thousand Lower Spirit stones.

Chu Mu almost didn’t dare to sell any more.

If he kept selling, he would attract too much envy.

At that point, the ones with greedy eyes might not just be some Qi Cultivation Realm cultivators.

He decisively packed up his stall. The two-thousand-some Lower Spirit stones were enough for him to do a round of shopping in the Jade Emperor Black Market.

...