For the sake of the Great Dao, Luo Chen decided to splurge!

He went into the Spirit Herb Pavilion, under the attendant's welcoming smile at the counter, Luo Chen painfully handed over five hundred low-grade spirit stones.

"Five bottles of qi-nourishing pills. Thank you for your patronage! Please visit us again!"

Of the eleven hundred spirit stones he had just earned, nearly half were gone in an instant.

Anyone would feel the sting of that loss. But Luo Chen understood deeply that at this stage, this expenditure was necessary.

Logically, he should have invested the spirit stones into expanding his Myriad Wonders pill business, quickly increasing his proficiency and generating substantial net profits.

In doing so, he could escape his current predicament and embark on a sustainable path of cultivation.

However, the external circumstances had changed! He had consecutively killed two cultivators and looted the inheritance from three corpses. Especially that cultivator surnamed Gao. With such a wealthy background, who knew what powerful connections he had?

What if someone sought him out, disregarding the rules set by the Jade Cauldron Sect in Dahe Market, and decided to kill him? With his current strength at the fourth stage of Qi-Refining, how could he possibly fend them off?

The Soul-Breaking Nail was indeed powerful, but it wasn't invincible.

Wang Yuan had once escaped unharmed after being struck by one, only to turn around and kill two people.

Even if Luo Chen hadn't killed that third unlucky fool, Wang Yuan would undoubtedly have finished him off with his blade.

Wang Yuan was only at the seventh stage of Qi-Refining. There were countless others even stronger than him. Thus, Luo Chen couldn't afford to rely on luck.

Moving into the inner city was one solution and rapidly making progress in his cultivation realm was another.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

After experiencing the effects of the qi-nourishing pill last time, Luo Chen realized that his cultivation journey would likely rely on these pills.

He had tested it the previous night; the Perfection level Long Spring Art combined with a first-tier spirit vein did not bring him a transformative improvement.

To achieve a breakthrough, he would need to accumulate progress slowly over time.

Time? With only seventy five years of life expectancy, time was exactly what Luo Chen lacked! So using pills was a necessity, there was no other choice!

After carefully storing the five bottles of qi-nourishing pills into his storage bag, Luo Chen hesitated for a moment. In the end, he gritted his teeth and walked toward the Spirit Source Pavilion.

Fortunately, he was a cultivator; if he were an ordinary mortal constantly gritting his teeth as he spent spirit stones, he'd have broken all his teeth by now.

The Spirit Source Pavilion was a store established in Dahe Market by the Five Elements Divine Sect, one of the six great sects of the Far East.

The Five Elements Divine Sect was known for its mastery of elemental techniques, with most of its experts proficient in highly refined Five Elements spells.

Among cultivators who primarily relied on talismans and enchanted artifacts for battle, this made them stand out uniquely.

Rather than focusing on combat, the Five Elements Divine Sect preferred to apply their elemental techniques to production.

In the cultivation and nurturing of spirit plants, they were considered unmatched in the Six Domains.

Even the Medicine King Sect, which also specialized in nurturing spirit plants, only slightly outperformed the Five Elements Divine Sect in the specific field of medicinal herbs.

Beyond that, the Five Elements Divine Sect had no equal.

Take spirit rice, the most commonly used staple across the Six Domains' cultivation world, was almost entirely supplied by the Five Elements Divine Sect.

While other sects had their own private fields to grow spirit grains, for some reason, the taste and spirit energy contained in their rice couldn't compare to what the Five Elements Divine Sect produced.

Neither the taste nor the spirit energy content could compare to that of the Five Elements Divine Sect.

It could only be said that, in the field of spirit plant cultivation, the Five Elements Divine Sect overshadowed all six domains.

Luo Chen entered the Spirit Source Pavilion, first spending one spirit stone to purchase ten catties of spirit rice, then headed to the counter.

"May I look at the spell catalog?"

The charming attendant's eyes lit up as she swiftly pulled out a book.

"Which type of spell are you interested in purchasing, sir?

"Are you at mid-stage Qi-Refining? Have you learned all the essential spells? If not, I highly recommend this set of spells, just five mid-grade spirit stones."

Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.

Five mid-grade spirit stones, that's five hundred low-grade ones!

"Each spell has been personally annotated by an expert of the Five Elements Sect, ensuring you can achieve a quick grasp of the basics.

"If you've learned them all, you might consider our enhanced Five Elements spells, such as the Firebird, an evolution of Fireball. It consumes the same amount of energy but is much more versatile. If you're short on spirit stones, you could even use it to create firebird fireworks for some extra pocket money.

"This one's good too—a small water-element Cloud Rain, perfect for watering flowers!

"The price? Naturally, it's a bargain! Only three mid-grade spirit stones!"

Luo Chen staggered out of the Spirit Source Pavilion in a daze.

Spells? He didn't buy a single one!

It was simply too expensive. Three mid-grade spirit stones for a Firebird—that's three hundred low-grade ones! He would have to be crazy to spend money on that.

As for the spells he truly wanted, their prices left him breathless.

This was all because he's poor!

The Five Elements Divine Sect was renowned for its mastery of elemental spells, with extensive expertise in other spells as well. Thus, every Spirit Source Pavilion sold various spells.

These might be common low-tier spells, but with annotations from Five Elements Divine Sect experts, they became much easier for cultivators to learn.

If they were enhanced spells, they were even more remarkable. That was why Luo Chen came to take a look. However, the prices deterred him.

Looks like I'll have to go to the rogue cultivator market and look for those no-guarantee spells. No sect endorsement, no expert annotations, no after-sales support.

When he arrived at the southern rogue cultivator market, the crowd was sparse, and the atmosphere felt rather quiet.

The major market had just concluded, and the smaller market wouldn't happen for another three days.

With a "might as well try" attitude, Luo Chen wandered through the market, hoping to chance upon something worthwhile. However, after walking around, he was somewhat disappointed.

Without the small or major markets, only long-term stall owners remained, selling regular stock. Items like cultivation methods or spells were far from regular stock. The stock of such items depended on those blade-licking individuals living on the edge.

Feeling annoyed, Luo Chen cursed, "Aren't they afraid that there would be poison on their blade and that they'll die one day from licking their blades too much? I don't see a single one of them today—did they all drop dead?"

He then prepared to leave, but as he was leaving, he ran into someone familiar.

As soon as he saw the familiar face, he was overjoyed, his heart pounding.

"Brother Wang, my brother!"

As expected, Brother Wang never licked poisoned blades!

Wang Yuan glanced at him and headed toward his stall.

Luo Chen followed behind eagerly, like a loyal lackey.

Like a lackey? He was not like a lackey; He

was

Brother Wang's lackey! Luo Chen was most definitely under Brother Wang's protection!

Wang Yuan spread out a gray cloth on the ground, waved his hand, and a pile of assorted items appeared. Blood-stained enchanted artifacts, various books, bamboo scrolls, and even a yellowed jade scroll were among them.

Looking at the pile of items and the thick smell of blood, Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.

"Brother Wang, you've been quite fruitful recently!"

Wang Yuan's lips twitched. "Not all of it is mine."

Luo Chen had previously inquired and found out that Wang Yuan wasn't just involved in things like murder and stealing treasures or village brawls.

He actually had a legitimate job.

His job was to handle untraceable stolen goods for the Poshan Gang, earning significant profits from it. That was why Luo Chen saw Wang Yuan at every major and minor market. It was a job with great prospects.

"No fights outside recently?"

How could a cultivator's battle be called just a fight!

Wang Yuan lazily lowered his eyelids. "Stopped for now, will start again in a few days."

Do Gang skirmishes actually follow a schedule?

Luo Chen was a bit dumbfounded.

However, this was a good thing, otherwise, Wang Yuan wouldn't have had time to set up his stall.