Invitation

"A reward of fifty Spirit Stones?"

Shen Mo was immediately intrigued upon hearing this.

"That's right, fifty Spirit Stones for a duration of two months. If we encounter an Illusionary Stone Spirit during our night patrols, or discover a Gold-Devouring Rat breaking into the mining area to steal, you won't need to lift a finger; I will handle it myself. If you wish to refine pills or craft talismans, there will be plenty of time for that as well. Your only task is to keep me company while we stand guard."

Chen Mengze's words made him even more tempted.

"I'll go, of course I'll go."

Fifty Spirit Stones for two months was a decent mission, even for an inner-sect disciple.

He had nothing else to do, and he had originally intended to stay within the sect for these two months to focus on refining pills and crafting talismans, hoping to further improve his experience in both crafts.

Now that he had encountered a mission where he could essentially pocket fifty Spirit Stones for doing almost nothing, he naturally accepted with pleasure.

It wouldn't delay his own progress; he could refine pills anywhere, after all.

The only question was, why would she come to him for such a lucrative, easy task?

After thinking it over, Shen Mo concluded that Chen Mengze was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Despite their lack of daily contact and the resulting distance between them, she was simply extending a helping hand to her childhood friend now that a good opportunity had arisen.

Thinking this way, Chen Mengze's image in his heart became a little more endearing.

"Very well, since you agree to go, it is settled."

Chen Mengze nodded and said, "This afternoon, at the third quarter of the Wei hour, come to the Weapon Forging Hall on the right side of the mountain gate plaza to meet me."

With that, she turned and left without a word of farewell.

"I must prepare thoroughly before heading out!"

Watching her depart, Shen Mo scanned his room and began to pack.

Medicinal herbs, brushes, Beast Blood, Sandalwood Ink, yellow paper—all the materials for alchemy and talisman-making were tucked into his Qiankun Pouch, ready to be used while standing guard at the Mystic Crystal Mining Area.

"These items are easy to carry, but..." Shen Mo's gaze fell upon the Red Cloud Cauldron in the center of the room, and he felt a headache coming on. "This cauldron is far too bulky. My Qiankun Pouch has such limited space, there's no way to fit it in."

"I should take a trip to the marketplace. It's high time I upgraded my Qiankun Pouch."

After a moment of hesitation, Shen Mo decided to head to the marketplace to purchase a new one.

The pouch he was currently using was the entry-level model given for free to all outer-sect disciples when they first joined.

Its space was far too cramped.

The old Shen Mo could have made do, but now, as he experienced more and acquired more, his current pouch could no longer keep up with his needs.

In the Dao-Gaining Alley marketplace area, the River-Facing Pavilion was a sect-owned business specifically established in the market.

This place specialized in selling all sorts of rare treasures and was the only location in the Dao-Gaining Alley marketplace that sold Qiankun Pouches.

"Shopkeeper, what is the price for this Qiankun Pouch?"

Shen Mo examined the selection in the pouch section for a moment before setting his sights on a pure white one embroidered with delicate cloud patterns.

"That is a mid-grade Qiankun Pouch. It has an internal space of one hundred cubic meters and is the highest-quality pouch we have here. The price is five mid-grade Spirit Stones."

The shopkeeper, standing behind the counter, glanced over from a distance and spoke.

"Five mid-grade Spirit Stones?"

Shen Mo was startled by the price and quickly placed it back with great care.

"That price is far too high. I fear only the sect elders and a few high-ranking personal disciples could afford such a thing."

The exchange rate for one mid-grade Spirit Stone was one hundred low-grade Spirit Stones.

Five mid-grade Spirit Stones were equivalent to five hundred low-grade ones.

Such a sum could buy countless low-level medicinal herbs, talismans, and rare treasures. It was truly beyond his means.

"Where are the low-grade Qiankun Pouches?"

"On the bottom right, the leftmost row—those are all low-grade," the shopkeeper said, gesturing with his chin. "These pouches have an internal space of twenty cubic meters, and they are all priced at fifty low-grade Spirit Stones."

Shen Mo gritted his teeth; this price was something he could manage.

He had sold all the talismans and pills he had recently refined just yesterday, and after searching his home, he currently had fifty-four Spirit Stones on hand.

"I'll take it." Shen Mo handed over the majority of his wealth and successfully exchanged it for the black-and-white pouch embroidered with a Taiji symbol.

"With this, let alone the Red Cloud Cauldron, I could even take all the furniture in my house with me."

He couldn't stop fiddling with his new purchase, unable to put it down.

Upon returning from the market, Shen Mo immediately performed the blood-binding ritual, branding the Qiankun Pouch with his own divine sense.

This mark of divine sense was akin to a smartphone lock screen password from his past life; once the branding was complete, only he could open it.

If anyone else wished to force it open, they would first have to erase his divine sense mark.

And that was no easy feat.

Because, to forcibly erase a mark left by another, one's cultivation base must be at least one major realm higher than the person who left the mark.

"Whoosh!"

With a gentle tap of his palm against the ear of the Red Cloud Cauldron and a flicker of his intent, the cauldron standing in the room vanished instantly, pulled into the Qiankun Pouch.

After stowing the cauldron, he scanned his home, gathering everything he felt he might need over the next two months and tucking it all away.

The interior space of this newly purchased storage pouch was ample, unlike the meager few dozen centimeters of storage space provided by the sect.

For once, he enjoyed the luxury of not having to meticulously calculate every item, feeling the extravagance of being able to pack as much as he pleased.

"Everything is basically packed."

"Next, there is only one task left!"

Having gathered everything that needed to be taken, he walked over to a corner on the far west side of the room.

He crouched down and began to pry up the bricks embedded in the floor.

A passageway appeared in this very area.

Shen Mo descended the secret passage into a cramped space of just over ten square meters beneath the ground.

Inside, there sat only an old-fashioned Eight Immortals table.

Resting upon the table was the pot of spiritual soil, along with the Purple Sun Vermilion Fruit still developing within it.

He had dug this cellar space himself just yesterday.

His purpose was to conceal the Purple Sun Vermilion Fruit.

Because the fruit was not yet ripe, it could not be stored inside a pouch, leaving him no choice but to keep it out in the open.

However, displaying it openly in his home would be far too conspicuous.

That was why he had dug a cellar to hide the fruit.

"But a cellar alone is still not safe enough!"

He kept Uncle Chen's advice firmly in mind.

The divine sense of a Spirit Sea Realm expert within the sect was incredibly powerful; with a single thought, they could survey the four directions and let their spirit wander the void.

While the cellar could block the naked eye, it could hardly block the prying of divine sense.

Therefore, to prevent the abundant spiritual energy released by the Purple Sun Vermilion Fruit during its growth from attracting the attention of the sect's powerhouses, he had brought back one more thing alongside the new Qiankun Pouch during his trip to the market.