"Did you kill him?"

Before Luo Chen could answer, Wang Yuan nodded to himself. "It seems you did."

Luo Chen nervously retreated as Wang Yuan walked over to the charred corpse and swung his large blade.

The scorched, unrecognizable head was casually cut off with a single stroke.

Wang Yuan glanced at the nervous Luo Chen and his storage pouch, his gaze appearing momentarily conflicted.

The night breeze was cool, and the blood-stained body felt even colder.

Luo Chen forced an awkward smile. "Brother Wang, I haven't finished reading that book yet."

As if recalling something, Wang Yuan's gaze softened, and his eyelids drooped once more.

"Go home early. The Dahe Market is dangerous at night."

"Yeah, yeah."

Luo Chen turned to leave but hesitated. He walked back and painstakingly hoisted the snakeskin bag filled with herbs onto his back.

It was all he had.

As Wang Yuan watched Luo Chen's figure nearing the alleyway exit, he let out an inexplicable sigh.

"Take this. Consider it payment for the head."

A black spike, about the length of a chopstick, landed at Luo Chen's feet. The spike was stained with fresh blood and bits of flesh.

"Brother Wang, you're too kind."

"Just go. Take the route through the woods, not the main road."

"Understood."

With a heavy nod, Luo Chen disappeared into the woods without looking back.

In the alley, Wang Yuan stood for a moment, holding three heads. Then, he slowly faded into the darkness.

Ah… ah…

Clink!

Exhale!

Luo Chen slumped against the foot of his bed like a dead fish, drenched in sweat. Even his undergarments were soaked through.

On the floor before him was another Soul-Breaking Nail embedded in his waist.

Gritting his teeth through the intense pain, Luo Chen grabbed a few bottles from nearby and poured their contents onto the wound.

These were healing medicines he had concocted himself, specifically for dealing with explosions during alchemy experiments. They had proven useful on many occasions.

Today, they were even more vital.

As the medicinal powder entered his wound, a cooling sensation spread before it was replaced by searing pain.

Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck…

Low growls of curses escaped his lips intermittently.

Luo Chen had never been this angry before. Not at the enemy who had harmed him, but at his own weakness.

If he were as strong as Wang Yuan, he wouldn't have ended up in such a state.

Finally, after bandaging his wound, Luo Chen sighed in relief.

Despite the pain, he limped into the living room, opened the snakeskin bag, and meticulously sorted the herbs onto different shelves.

These low-grade herbs couldn't be stored together for long, otherwise, their effectiveness would be greatly diminished.

His unsteady steps under the dim oil lamp seemed almost pitiful.

Luo Chen even felt that this scene closely resembled the moments in his past life when he returned to work sick right after surgery.

He muttered to himself, "There's no escaping a life of toil no matter where I go, no wonder I only lived to seventy-five in my last life."

After finishing everything, he finally had the chance to lie down on the bed.

The persistent pain in his waist kept him awake despite his exhaustion.

Feeling helpless, he could only find something else to do to distract himself.

"Let's see what that poor fool left behind."

Qi-refining cultivators' storage pouches were completely unguarded since they lacked spirit consciousness and couldn't set up restrictions.

Upon their death, the enchanting power imprint on the pouch naturally dissipated.

Luo Chen opened the pouch with the remaining bit of spirit power within him.

A pile of items spilled onto his wooden bed.

"Today was the market day, and this guy surely bought a whole bunch of stuff."

A low-grade robe, a box of calming incense, five bottles of fasting pills, one bottle of Qi-Nourishing pills, one bottle of Golden Chest Powder, and a stack of talismans.

There was also a heap of withered spirit herbs that took up most of the bed.

But what Luo Chen cared about most were the spirit stones.

"Ninety two low-grade spirit stones? Damn, he was poor!" Luo Chen cursed but gleefully began storing the items back into the pouch.

Though the stones were few, they didn't match a fifth stage Qi-Refining cultivator.

However, the value of the other items far exceeded the ninety-two spirit stones.

The low-grade robe, though slightly worn, could still fetch at least a hundred spirit stones if sold.

It had a faster activation speed than talismans.

This was why Luo Chen had been able to quickly activate it earlier, and when the fool was struck by a Fireball, the robe's defensive shield had been triggered instantly.

If it had been an intact mid-grade robe, it could have endured six or seven Fireball. Unfortunately, Wang Yuan had already damaged it.

It hadn't even withstood the third spell.

Three breaths of time were not enough for the heavily injured Chen Xiao to deploy any other methods.

The five bottles of fasting pills weren't worth much, and their quality wasn't even as good as Luo Chen's own fasting concoctions, but they were still worth about one spirit stone.

The other items were, however, quite valuable.

The calming incense was one of the best external aids for low-stage cultivators in their training.

One stick of calming incense a day could allow a cultivator to practice their core techniques five extra times and was said to restore the fragile souls of low-level cultivators.

A box of twelve sticks was worth hundred twenty spirit stones.

As for the Qi-Nourishing pills, the patterned markings on them clearly indicated they came from the Spirit Herb Pavilion.

They had a fixed price—hundred spirit stones per bottle!

These were high-quality items; consuming and refining them could increase spirit power.

As for the stack of talismans, based on Luo Chen's experience, they were likely worth fifty to sixty spirit stones.

The withered spirit herbs that covered his bed were unfamiliar to him, but the fact they had been purchased in bulk suggested they had value.

By his calculations, the total value amounted to about four hundred spirit stones!

"Unexpected fortune!

"There's a saying, a horse doesn't grow strong without night grazing, and a man doesn't grow wealthy without unexpected windfalls."

In just a brief moment tonight, Luo Chen's wealth had quadrupled.

And yet, his greatest gain wasn't these items.

It was the storage pouch itself!

Its capacity wasn't large, just one cubic meter, but it was still the smallest and most affordable type of storage pouch.

Even so, it would cost ten thousand spirit stones at the Treasure Pavilion!

Who knew whether the fool had been gifted it or stolen it; he certainly couldn't have afforded it.

In fact, most low-level cultivators couldn't afford even the smallest storage pouch.

Such items were standard configures for inner disciples of major sects, outer disciples weren't qualified to possess it!

"I've struck gold! Struck gold!" Luo Chen exclaimed. "It’s no wonder that killing for treasures is such a classic trope in web novels. It really has a place in every genre. But the risks are just too high. One mistake, and a lifetime's effort could go down the drain."

Tonight alone, there had been two incidents of killing for treasure right in front of Luo Chen.

Li Zixiong from the Dajiang Gang had rallied three people to ambush Wang Yuan, and it had backfired!

The fifth stage Qi-Refining fool had tried to kill Luo Chen instantly, and that had also backfired!

"I'll leave these dangerous tasks to the professionals. I can't handle this stress."

Luo Chen pondered for a moment and picked up the last jade bottle that hadn't been stored in the pouch.

Golden Chest Powder, one of the signature pills of Spirit Herb Pavilion.

It was highly effective against injuries caused by metal-based enchanted artifacts and it only cost ten spirit stones.

Its affordability and quality made it a favorite among rogue cultivators in the Dahe Market.

Luo Chen sniffed it and found no issue with the smell, it wasn't poison.

After all, who would store poison in a healing pill bottle inside their own pouch?

If they were gravely injured and took the wrong medicine in a moment of confusion, the consequences could be disastrous.

Unfortunately, this meant Luo Chen would have to undo his freshly tied bandages again.

With a sigh, Luo Chen had no choice but to take action.

By the mid next day, Luo Chen woke up groggily.

It was a rare opportunity for him to sleep in.

In the latter half of the night, he had finally succumbed to exhaustion and fallen asleep.

After lying in a daze for a while, Luo Chen gritted his teeth and forced himself out of bed.

No matter how difficult things got, lying down and giving up was not an option.

He went to the living room, picked up a bundle of spirit herbs, and spread them out in a bamboo sieve to dry.

When he opened the door, the blazing midday sun blinded him. As his eyes adjusted, he was startled to see Wang Yuan standing outside.

Wang Yuan casually tossed an object into the sieve filled with spirit herbs.

"Take this. From now on, you're a member of the Poshan Gang.

"If anyone causes you trouble, tell them you're under my protection."

Luo Chen stared at the iron token in the sieve, momentarily dazed.

"Thank you, Brother Wang."

Wang Yuan waved dismissively. "Thank me for what? Back when I was at my lowest, you let me take a few fasting pills on credit and I never thanked you for that either.

"Alright, I've given you what you need. I'll be heading back now. The outer city might get chaotic soon, so be careful when coming and going."

With that, he turned and left without a trace of hesitation.