Ransacking

Night gradually deepened.

Even those who returned late had long since retired to their rooms by this hour.

The surroundings lay utterly silent.

Yet Zhou Changwang and Qian Xiaoyue quietly slipped out at this moment. After turning a corner and walking barely a dozen steps, they arrived at the door of the neighboring residence.

Though this was only the outskirts of the market, the rooms were still routinely fitted with simple defensive formations.

Of course, these so-called defensive formations could at most serve as warnings. A slightly stronger attack could easily break them.

However, once the defensive formation was broken, it would immediately emit an intense flash of light.

That light possessed no offensive power, but it could draw the attention of everyone nearby.

Therefore, unless they had absolute confidence in their own strength, ordinary robber cultivators truly would not dare to forcefully break the formation and enter someone else's room.

And that was the only psychological comfort for those living on the outskirts of the market, as well as the reason they were willing to pay a certain amount of Spirit Stones in rent each month.

Naturally, Zhou Changwang and Qian Xiaoyue did not dare to force their way through the formation.

Fortunately, after Zhou Changwang had counter-killed Fang Yu and Zhao Xifeng, he had also gathered up all his spoils of war.

That naturally included the house keys the two had surely carried with them—the locations of the formation eyes for these defensive formations.

Only by using the "key" to open the door would they avoid triggering the defensive formation's warning and be able to enter and leave freely without hindrance.

Zhou Changwang took out the key and aligned it with the keyhole.

With a click, the door opened, and the two immediately entered the room.

Without lingering in places like the sitting room, they headed straight for the pair's bedroom under Qian Xiaoyue's guidance.

Compared to their own sparse arrangements, Fang Yu and Zhao Xifeng's room was far more luxurious.

Though most of the furnishings were ordinary items, the decorations and embellishments made them naturally seem rather different.

They did not pay much attention to those mundane objects. Zhou Changwang looked beneath the bed and saw four chests—three large and one small—lined up in order.

He dragged them all out. When Zhou Changwang opened one of the three large chests, his pupils immediately contracted.

Gold.

Piles of gold lay neatly arranged inside the chest, filling half of it.

"This much combined should be around five thousand taels, right?"

Zhou Changwang estimated the weight. Even if it was not five thousand taels, it had to be at least three thousand.

Unfortunately, gold and silver held little meaning for cultivators of immortal arts.

At most, they could be used to buy mortal tools. If exchanged at the Artifact Refining Hall, they could fetch three to five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, but only to be melted down as refining material into "Gold Essence."

The second chest contained silver from top to bottom.

Silver was worth even less. An entire chest like this probably could not even be exchanged for one Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

The third chest also contained silver, though it only filled half the chest. The rest consisted of books and secret manuals, more than twenty volumes piled together.

Zhou Changwang casually flipped through them.

"Blood Fiend Saber, Flame Sword, Heaven-Crippled Kick, Nine-Turn Profound Nether Scripture, Nine Forms of the Heavenly Blade, Myriad Manifestations True Formula, Primordial Art, Nine Yin and Nine Yang, Seven-Step Flight..."

They were all martial arts manuals.

There were both cultivation methods and martial techniques among them.

Thanks to his previous body's father, Zhou Changwang actually possessed some understanding of martial arts.

He knew that if these manuals fell into a mortal nation, they would surely stir up gales of blood and rain. Nearly every one of them could be called a peerless martial art, fit to serve as the sect-defending treasure and supreme foundation of a martial sect.

Unfortunately, in the cultivation world, no matter what martial art it was—whether the legendary Heavenly Demon Disintegration, Nine-Yang Divine Formula, or those grand-sounding Eight Wilderness-Reclaiming Sabers and Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect—they were nearly no different from scrap paper.

Phoenix-Cry Cove Market was filled with former martial arts masters and great figures of the Demonic Sect.

They came in pursuit of immortality, then sold their own deepest, most closely guarded ultimate arts for that sliver of possibility.

For example, his father had initially sold his own top-tier ultimate art, the Nine-Turn Golden Body Art, for a single Low-Grade Spirit Stone.

Because of that, ever since learning that Zhou Changwang possessed a Spirit Root, his father had forbidden him from practicing martial arts, wholeheartedly wishing only for him to embark upon the path of immortal cultivation.

Only then did Zhou Changwang open the smallest chest.

"Gasp!"

"Spirit Stones!"

"And there are even several talismans, ritual incense, and what is this? Jade-Slip Eyes? There are actually Jade-Slip Eyes too?"

Zhou Changwang had not held much hope, but the instant he opened the small chest, he cried out in surprise.

Those grayish crystals were none other than Spirit Stones.

Zhou Changwang made a rough count and found no fewer than one hundred and seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Besides the Spirit Stones, there were nearly ten talismans of various colors, a small bundle of ritual incense, and a full three Jade-Slip Eyes.

These Jade-Slip Eyes were special vessels for recording cultivation techniques, spells, and the like. Three Jade-Slip Eyes were practically equivalent to three techniques or spells, making them tremendously significant to him.

Meanwhile, Qian Xiaoyue also found something.

She lifted the two robber cultivators' large bed and searched around briefly before pulling out a small bundle from a pillow pocket.

Opening it, she found several Spirit Stones hidden within as well, though not many—only around thirty-odd. Besides the Spirit Stones, there were several bottles of pills.

There were no labels on the pill bottles, but that did not stump Qian Xiaoyue, who had spent years at an alchemist's side. She merely opened the bottles one by one and examined them carefully before identifying their names and uses.

"One bottle of Rejuvenation Pills and one bottle of Life-Creation Pills. Both are healing spirit pills.

"There is also one bottle of Detoxification Pills, one bottle of Vitality Pills, and one bottle of Yellow Spirit Pills.

"Among the healing spirit pills, Rejuvenation Pills mainly work on the internal organs, restoring the vital energy lost to internal injuries, while Life-Creation Pills are mostly used for external wounds.

"Detoxification Pills do as their name suggests. Swallowing one can neutralize a hundred poisons.

"As for Vitality Pills and Yellow Spirit Pills, both are spirit pills that can directly improve a cultivator's cultivation. Each tiny pill contains abundant spiritual energy, and the medicinal effect of Yellow Spirit Pills should be somewhat stronger than that of Vitality Pills.

"Unfortunately, neither bottle has much left. Only three Vitality Pills remain, while there are even fewer Yellow Spirit Pills—just two."

As Qian Xiaoyue spoke, a trace of regret could not help appearing on her face.

"No matter what, this time, we can truly count it as a tremendous haul."

A smile appeared on Zhou Changwang's face as well, and he spoke with faint excitement.

Leaving aside everything else, the more than one hundred and forty Low-Grade Spirit Stones alone filled him with satisfaction.

One had to know that the output from his three mu of Spirit Fields amounted to only one hundred and fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones over an entire year.

After deducting the rent owed to the Spirit Plant Hall, he could receive at most fifty or sixty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

It was pitifully little.

Yet now, in a single night, he had gained an income comparable to a year of his own hard work without needing to toil at all. Even if he still had to give half to Qian Xiaoyue in the end, it left him thoroughly exhilarated.