"Please enlighten me, shopkeeper."
"Of course. Anyone who enters our shop is a friend. It's no more than lifting a hand."
The middle-aged shopkeeper smiled. "If the clans won't sell, there's somewhere else that will-the auction."
"An auction is held in Desolate Ruins Market every month, specializing in treasures, treasured techniques, secret inheritances, and the like. It's scheduled for the middle of the month."
"The goods either come from killing people and seizing their treasures, or are consigned by fallen lineages. But the organizers remove every identifying mark, seal, and so on. You can rest assured of that."
Lin Changheng had not known this, but he betrayed nothing. "Thank you, shopkeeper."
"If you need anything in the future, fellow Daoist, you're welcome to visit our humble shop again."
"Of course."
As the middle-aged shopkeeper called after him, Lin Changheng waved, merged into the crowd on the street, and disappeared.
Finding another deserted corner in the market, Lin Changheng changed his disguise again, then found an immortal inn to stay in.
He checked all the spirit stones he had just received with the Spirit-Sensing Technique.
None had been tampered with.
Back in the shop, he had deliberately used a mid-grade spirit stone to test the waters. If the shopkeeper truly harbored ill intentions, he probably would not have agonized over it so much.
Instead, he would have been more generous. After all, what harm was there in temporarily leaving a mid-grade spirit stone with someone to achieve a particular goal?
For now, the shopkeeper seemed aboveboard. Perhaps they would have dealings again.
Meanwhile, after Lin Changheng left, a quiet conversation began in the Pill Refining Pavilion.
"Shopkeeper, that man had so many premium pills, and I doubt that's the end of them. Should we...?"
The assistant, who had been all smiles