Wonderful Uses, Good Fortune Comes Unbidden

After leaving the auction, Fang Shu did not immediately return to the inn.

He wandered around the market for a while, casually buying some materials for refining techniques. By the time night fell, fireflies and little lantern demons began their shifts, hanging themselves along the roadside.

Only then did he stroll leisurely back toward the inn.

When he appeared at the inn, he had already removed his fox pelt. Dressed in ordinary clothes from head to toe, no one could tell that he had gone to the auction and bought a thing or two.

Suddenly, when Fang Shu asked the innkeeper for food, the innkeeper flicked his claws over the abacus beads and said blandly, "Esteemed guest, someone came by today asking about Room Thirteen, Third Class. Nothing important, though. This old man merely thought to inform you."

Fang Shu raised an eyebrow slightly. The guest in Room Thirteen, Third Class, was none other than himself.

He immediately asked about it and discovered that Tian Jinmao had indeed come by. Perhaps that fellow had wanted to join him again and freeload at today's auction.

But when Fang Shu thought carefully, he had not seen Tian Jinmao at the auction. Then again, there had been too many people and demons that day; perhaps they had simply missed one another.

"Many thanks, Innkeeper." Fang Shu cupped his hands toward him, then entered his room.

Over the following days,

Fang Shu went straight into seclusion and began refining the sickness Killing Intent he had purchased into his body.

About seven days later,

he successfully condensed the Killing Intent. The quality of his True Qi rose another level, its color deepening as it gained a poisonous intent. The amount of True Qi that had been stagnant also began growing once more.

By then, Fang