Inside the magical artifact shop in the east of the Rogue Cultivator Zone, Chen Dengming exchanged one spirit grain to retrieve his pawned Luo Family Token, then returned his rented fishing gear to Master Hu.
Master Hu disliked being called Immortal Master, preferring instead to be called Master Hu. He possessed quite the bold and heroic demeanor of a martial world expert, and could be considered the most approachable cultivator Chen Dengming had ever met—though that was likely because he had produced a Luo Family Waist Token, as Master Hu might not have been so accommodating to an ordinary Xiantian.
The other man ran magical artifact shops in both the east and south of the gathering place, and was rumored to be a man of the Iron Alliance. The Iron Alliance was a neutral faction of medium strength among the dozen or so factions in the gathering place, mostly consisting of merchants.
"Little Chen, giving up on selling fish?"
Inside the shop, Master Hu handed the Luo Family Waist Token to Chen Dengming with one hand while casually accepting the spirit grain with the other, a pipe clenched in his mouth as he blew out smoke and laughed.
Chen Dengming sighed and shook his head. "Master Hu, with Demon Beasts causing trouble outside the gathering place right now, how would I still dare to go out fishing? Besides, Spirit Fish aren't easy to catch, so I'll just drop it."
Master Hu nodded slightly, suddenly glancing at the broken blade strapped to Chen Dengming's back and smiling. "Blade broken? Got into a fight with someone? Do you want to pick out a magical artifact here to defend yourself?"
Chen Dengming felt his heart skip a beat, immediately smiling and waving his hands. "I'm short on funds, short on funds! Once this junior becomes a cultivator in the future, I will definitely come to you, Master Hu, to have a magical artifact custom-made."
After exchanging a couple of polite pleasantries, he stepped outside, staring at the Luo Family Waist Token in his hand. He polished it over and over again before carefully stashing it away on his person.
After this experience, he wouldn't pawn this waist token again no matter what anyone said.
If he had been carrying the waist token with him by the lake that day and flashed it, perhaps the old cultivator from the Golden Character Workshop wouldn't have given him a hard time, and he wouldn't have had to take such a huge risk to fight the man to the death.
Still, matters had reached this point, and he still felt no regret. In fact, he felt a secret thrill, while simultaneously gaining a preliminary and clear understanding of his actual combat power.
If he ambushed people in the dark with gu poison and the Blood Centipede Gu, an average Qi Refining First Layer cultivator probably wouldn't be his match.
Yet if they fought head-on and the cultivator was on guard, his matchup against a Qi Refining First Layer cultivator would probably be a sixty-forty split in favor of his opponent.
The elderly cultivator he killed the other day likely possessed strength beyond the Qi Refining First Layer, otherwise he wouldn't have wielded his magical artifact with such familiarity. According to Master Hu, ordinary Qi Refining First Layer cultivators simply didn't have enough spiritual qi to manipulate magical artifacts, and thus had little need for them.
Against someone with the strength of that elderly cultivator, once they guarded against his Gu worms, it would be extremely difficult for him to kill them. He might even die himself at the slightest misstep, unable to even escape, as the speed of lightness skills definitely couldn't match a magical artifact.
The spiritual qi mastered by Immortal Cultivators was truly too formidable. Compared to True Qi, it was simply like the difference between an iron hammer and a wooden hammer—the iron hammer could easily smash the wooden hammer to pieces.
During the fight that day, if the Blood Centipede Gu hadn't swallowed spiritual qi and bitten through the Golden Bell Qi Shield condensed by his enemy in one go, relying solely on his ultimate move, Green Hill Mad Dragon, he would have been completely unable to breach the other's defense and ultimately met an inescapable death.
Moreover, if the Blood Centipede Gu hadn't helped him swallow the spiritual qi rampaging through his body at the very end, even if he didn't die, his meridians would have been severed and he would have been directly crippled.
Therefore, it was no wonder that Immortal Cultivators always remained aloof and high above, looking down on the Xiantian mortals with utter disdain and contempt.
The power wielded by the two sides possessed a massive gap in fundamental strength.
Next, I need to keep a low profile and cultivate with peace of mind, striving to become a cultivator as quickly as possible.
Chen Dengming calculated in his heart and quickly arrived at the Golden Character Workshop area near Zanhua Tower in the city.
The Golden Character Workshop and Hutong Street—these two factions controlled the vast majority of house rental rights within the gathering place.
If one wanted to rent a house to live in, they still couldn't bypass the Golden Character Workshop.
Chen Dengming had no intention of bypassing them either; he understood the principle of hiding in plain sight better than anyone.
Having killed a cultivator of the Golden Character Workshop, his current best course of action was to move as close to the Golden Character Workshop as possible.
Even if the Golden Character Workshop discovered the old cultivator's death and began investigating, they would first investigate hostile factions and suspicious targets. Who would pay attention to a mere Xiantian mortal on their own turf?
Rental housing resources were extremely important and high-demand resources, with no exception in any world.
When Chen Dengming arrived, quite a few Xiantian cultivators and mortals were already lined up here to pay their money and rent houses.
Cultivators were also lined up to rent, except they were in a separate area, served by mortals pouring tea and serving water, much like a VIP zone.
The person in charge of rental matters was none other than that same Qi Refining First Layer cultivator who had previously handed out the fishing tasks to Chen Dengming. He glanced at Chen Dengming and smiled faintly.
"The fish seller? You managed to catch a Spirit Fish and scrape together the rent money so quickly? Did you honestly hand over half of the fish?"
Chen Dengming cupped his fists politely and smiled. "Immortal Master, you misunderstand. This junior didn't catch any Spirit Fish; it's very dangerous outside the gathering place now, and I don't want to take risks anymore. This junior has already borrowed some spirit grains and now plans to rent a house first."
As he spoke, he reached out from his sleeve, holding a spirit grain the size of a mere grain of rice. It emanated a hazy glow and shone brilliantly.
Such a tiny bit of spirit grain was enough to exchange for a one-month residency right in the cheapest shack within the Rogue Cultivator Zone.
In some corners not far away, many gazes stared fixedly at the spirit grain in Chen Dengming's hand with flickering eyes, lingering over his face. Some muttered under their breath: 'The Old Shed Street fish seller', 'Struck it rich suddenly?', 'Where would such a good thing happen?'
The cultivator handling the affairs narrowed his eyes and smiled mockingly. "Spirit grain of such fine quality, not bad. You haven't been in the gathering place for long, have you? Is there really someone with a bond so strong with you that they're willing to lend spirit grains to you?"
Chen Dengming was well-prepared. He smilingly pulled out the waist token he had obtained from Fairy Lüo and said, "Immortal Master has a good eye. Actually, this junior was directed here to settle down by someone in the past. These days have been truly impossible to endure, so I had no choice but to seek help from some friends once more. I ask Immortal Master to show me much care."
"Oh?"
The cultivator's gaze sharpened, the enigmatic expression on his face vanishing in an instant, and even his smile grew somewhat stiff. "So you actually have backing after all. No wonder."
Almost at the same time, the flashes of gaze from not far away vanished in unison, and even the expressions of the people standing beside Chen Dengming became much friendlier and more amiable.
It seems the Luo family's waist token is still very useful.
Noticing the subtle change, Chen Dengming muttered inwardly while his mood also relaxed.
However, despite having the waist token, the spirit grains still had to be handed over without fail; there were no discounts or privileges.
It was just obvious that anyone harboring malicious intent or ulterior motives would now have to weigh things carefully in their mind.
Chen Dengming was also clever. He only claimed that he had been directed to settle here by someone from the Luo family, and then found some friends to borrow spirit grains from.
This was the art of language. Ordinary people hearing his words would naturally connect the two things, mistakenly thinking he had friends in the Luo family who were even willing to lend him spirit grains, their relationship clearly being quite good.
After all, no matter where one was, someone unwilling to lend money might not be a bad friend, but someone willing to lend out money definitely treated you as a very good friend.
This way, even if Chen Dengming suddenly produced spirit grains of unknown origin, no one would dare to go inquire or snoop around the Luo family.
Even if someone really did go inquire and reached as high as Fairy Lüo, that would happen to play right into Chen Dengming's hands. It would mean he might successfully borrow their momentum, and anyone wanting to cause trouble would likely back down.
Before you continue