Mortal: Starting by looting Han Laomo's entire herb garden

"Qingxu Sect?" Zhou Yuan pondered for a moment, seemingly having no recollection of it, but he didn't mind: "Young friend Su, this way please."

The second floor is much more spacious than the first floor, and the items displayed are clearly a level higher.

Each individual crystal cabinet is filled with all sorts of rare and precious treasures.

Lu Yan's gaze swept across the area, taking in magical artifacts shimmering with spiritual light, ancient and heavy jade slips, pills sealed in boxes, and several fist-sized ores that faintly emitted lightning.

"These are all top-quality items." Seeing him examining them intently, Zhou Yuan smiled and introduced, "Those pieces are lightning-patterned steel, excellent materials for crafting lightning-attribute magic weapons..."

Lu Yan listened and nodded, but his gaze suddenly stopped.

There was a separate shelf in the corner, and a bird was perched on it.

A small, bright red bird, about the size of a palm.

The bird's feathers shone like burning flames, and its eyes were crimson gold. It seemed to sense Lu Yan's gaze, tilted its head, and let out a clear chirp.

"This is……"

Zhou Yuan followed his gaze, a complex look flashing in his eyes, before he smiled and said, "Friend Su has a keen eye. This is a savage creature with a trace of Vermilion Bird bloodline, called the Illusionary Phoenix Sparrow."

He walked over and gently teased the bird, but it turned its head away haughtily and ignored him.

"Don't underestimate it just because it's only a level one demon beast. In a real fight, even five or six cultivators at the tenth level of Qi Refining wouldn't be a match for it," Zhou Yuan said with a hint of pride.

"Moreover, it also possesses two very useful innate supernatural abilities."

Lu Yan's eyes lit up: "I'd like to hear the details."

"First, its innate flame can subdue all poisons in the world." Zhou Yuan held up a finger: "No matter what kind of poison it is, as long as it is burned by its flame, it will immediately turn into nothingness."

"Secondly, it possesses a pair of Netherworld Demon Eyes, capable of penetrating the netherworld and seeing through all kinds of illusions and restrictions." Zhou Yuan pointed to its eyes: "If one uses a secret method to attach one's divine sense to it, one can also share its vision."

Lu Yan's heart pounded wildly. This meant that he could let this guy explore any secret realm or forbidden area in the future. Coupled with his considerable combat power, he was simply his dream lover.

However, the claim of being able to control all poisons in the world is probably just boasting. After all, there are so many poisons in the world, how could it be possible to completely control them?

Furthermore, it is definitely effective against poisons of the same level, but not against poison cultivators of higher levels.

Even so, it's enough; at least the Crimson Forbidden Land won't have such potent poisons.

Zhou Yuan lowered his voice and said, "This little guy is the store's prized possession, but since you and I hit it off today, I'll take the liberty of letting you have it at a low price."

Lu Yan asked in confusion, "Such a good thing, didn't anyone want it before?"

Zhou Yuan sighed, a hint of emotion on his face: "Speaking of which, there's a reason for this. This bird was entrusted to me by an old friend. That person and I explored several secret realms together back then, and we were very close."

"Three years ago, he came to Tianyuan City, saying he had acquired this young bird and wanted to ask me to help find a suitable home for it. I laughed at him at the time, saying that he should keep such a divine creature for himself and not entrust it to others."

He paused, his gaze distant: "Who knew that parting would be forever. I later heard that he had an accident at some historical site and never returned. This bird stayed with me, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye."

"Today I met my young friend Su, who looks very much like my old friend. So I thought I would entrust this little fellow to him, which would fulfill our friendship from back then."

He spoke with such sincerity that his eyes even reddened slightly.

Lu Yan nodded: "Senior is loyal and righteous, I admire you."

Zhou Yuan lowered his eyes, concealing a hint of unease in them.

What old friend entrusted him with something? It's all made up.

The truth is, three years ago he went to explore that ancient ruin on the edge of Tianyuan Realm, accompanied by four other people.

Finally, in the struggle for the young phoenix bird, the five people turned against each other and fought fiercely.

He stole this bird by risking the lives of four people.

He thought he had struck it rich, but not long after he brought it back to Tianyuan City, a major incident occurred outside the city.

The Black Phoenix Clan's demon race triggered a beast tide, while Nascent Soul stage demon races mobilized in large numbers, frantically searching for something within a radius of 100,000 miles.

Countless people died in that beast tide.

Zhou Yuan hid in his cave at the time, afraid to go out. Later, after making inquiries, he learned that the Black Phoenix Clan seemed to be looking for a lost Illusionary Phoenix Sparrow, which was said to be used by a great figure in their clan to cultivate a secret technique.

Since then, Zhou Yuan has never dared to show the bird to anyone again.

But I can't bear to let him throw it away.

And so it dragged on for three years.

Over the past three years, he had thought about selling it countless times, but the local cultivators knew about the beast tide, and if they saw this Illusionary Phoenix Sparrow, who would dare to buy it?

What if the Black Phoenix Clan comes after me after I buy it? Do I still want my life?

Zhou Yuan had already planned to leave Tianyuan Realm and make his move in a more distant place, and he was preparing to set off in the next few days.

Who knew that I would run into this guy from out of town as soon as I went downstairs today.

It's obvious he's come from afar and knows nothing about what happened three years ago. Moreover, judging from the fact that he immediately used top-tier cultivation techniques and exquisite magical artifacts, he must be quite wealthy.

Zhou Yuan's heart skipped a beat. This was like God handing over a sucker to take over a bad situation!

Instead of traveling thousands of miles to another place, it's better to solve the problem locally, sell the bird for a good price, find a place to go into seclusion, and not come out until you break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

Zhou Yuan wore a kind smile, but in his heart he was urging: Hurry up and buy it, I'll leave immediately.

"What do you think, young friend?"

Lu Yan nodded: "Senior, I'll take this bird."

Zhou Yuan's eyes lit up: "Young friend, you're so generous. For just 200,000, the Illusionary Phoenix and the secret technique of shared vision are yours."

Lu Yan's face stiffened. Two hundred thousand? Are you kidding me? I don't even have that much in my entire fortune.

Seeing his expression, Zhou Yuan's heart skipped a beat. Oh no! Had he scared him off by asking for too high a price?

He was about to say that a lower price was fine, when Lu Yan suddenly spoke up:

"Senior, may I try its ability to share vision first?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuan felt relieved, but swallowed back the words he had prepared.

However, he was also surprised that this guy named Su Huanzhen was so wealthy. If it weren't for the fact that this was Tianyuan City, he would have already...

"Sure, of course, young friend, feel free to try." Zhou Yuan, without any suspicion, took out the Forbidden God Token from his storage bracelet and handed it over.

Lu Yan accepted the Forbidden God Token and sighed inwardly. This person trusted him too much. Such a loyal person reminded him of Wu Feng, the Dharma Transmission Disciple of Huangfeng Valley.

Unfortunately, I really can't afford it this time, but I still want it. It seems I can only repay this senior after I ascend to the Spirit Realm in the future.

He suppressed the turmoil in his mind and refined the Forbidden God Token according to the method Zhou Yuan had taught him, and then used the secret technique.

The world before Lu Yan's eyes suddenly changed in the next moment.

His vision seemed to be split in two, one half showing the scene as he saw it, and the other half showing the world as seen by the phantom phoenix.

Through those ghostly eyes, he saw faint spiritual patterns emerging on the crystal cabinets on the second floor.

Those are traces of a restriction, which are normally invisible to the naked eye.

At that moment, the phoenix flew to his shoulder and chirped softly at him.

Lu Yan paused for a moment, then turned to look at Zhou Yuan, who was also looking at him as if expecting something.

Seeing this, Lu Yan could only offer an awkward yet polite smile.

"Give it to me!"

Zhou Yuan's eyes widened, and before he could react, everything went blurry.

The person is gone.

The birds are gone too.

The entire second floor was empty, with only him standing there.

He blinked, then blinked again.

There's no one here, really no one here.

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a full three breaths before suddenly rushing towards the spot where Lu Yan had just stood, without a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation.

"this………"