When it comes to cultivating immortality, it naturally starts with upgrading the herb garden.

After tidying everything up, Song Chen went back to his room to take stock of his harvest.

"I hope Zhou Ming has something good, otherwise I'll suffer a huge loss in this battle."

Outside the storage bag were three items: a shield wrapped with a faint wooden aura, an embroidered dagger, and a fiery red talisman.

The shield is a mid-grade magic weapon, with slightly higher defensive power than the Fire Shield spell. It consumes less spiritual energy when used, but its drawback is that it only defends one side.

Song Chen used this to his advantage to kill Zhou Ming. He didn't intend to keep him; he planned to sell him for a good price the next day.

The embroidered dagger is also a mid-grade magic weapon. After being infused with spiritual energy, it is similar to a throwing knife and can be used freely. Its frontal power is much greater than that of the trident hook, and it can be kept for use in siege battles.

As for the fiery red talisman, Song Chen didn't recognize it; he could ask someone about it tomorrow.

The storage bag contained quite a few items, including 110 spirit stones, making it quite wealthy. There were also three bottles of pills: one bottle of detoxification pills, one bottle of Qi-gathering pills, and one bottle of healing and rejuvenation pills, with seven or eight pills in each bottle.

There weren't many talismans: five low-grade lightning strike talismans, one mid-grade rocket talisman, and the rest were probably used up in the battle.

There's also a flying boat, which is quite nice, but Song Chen doesn't intend to keep it.

After all, Zhou Ming was well-liked, and many people had said that using this flying boat was too ostentatious.

Inside, there was also a high-grade spellbook called "Crimson Rainbow Journey," a map, and a letter.

Upon opening the spellbook, one could see dense annotations at the beginning, clearly indicating that Zhou Ming had put in a lot of effort to learn it. However, the annotations decreased later on, and some even disappeared altogether.

"Why haven't you been studying?"

"If this thing exists, why didn't Zhou Ming run away just now?"

This is a top-tier escape technique, covering a hundred miles in an instant. Wherever the cultivator passes, the sea of ​​clouds surges, like a rainbow piercing the sun, bridging heaven and earth. Once mastered, even a peak Qi Refining cultivator cannot catch up with its taillights. Song Chen was tempted, his mind already soaring through the heavens, but soon doubts arose in his heart.

Is there some huge side effect to Zhou Ming not practicing?

Thinking of this, he quickly flipped through the pages until he found the sentence at the very end: "It cannot be practiced by anyone who is not in the late stage of Qi Refining."

No wonder...

Song Chen prepared to put it away and practice it again in the later stages of Qi Refining.

Just as he thought of this, Feng Sancai's face flashed through his mind, and he immediately changed his mind: sell it, sell it tomorrow!

Wait until the late stage of Qi Refining?

Song Chen probably won't be able to wait that long; he needs to accelerate his development.

A top-grade escape spell can fetch at least two hundred spirit stones. Combined with Qi Gathering Pills, it would be enough to support his cultivation for a period of time.

Then, Song Chen put away his things and opened the map.

"Hand-drawn?"

At a glance, Song Chen could tell that this item was special, as it contained detailed information about the residents and merchants of Huanbei Market.

"Are there shops here too?"

At the very edge of Cliff Island, a place rarely visited by people, there is a mark on this map.

But Song Chen was not Zhou Ming after all. After looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what was going on and didn't understand why Zhou Ming had drawn this thing.

I had no choice but to put it aside for now and open the letter.

The letter was simple, mostly a confession written by Zhou Ming to his family, recounting how he selected families for the Zhang family to commit murder, how he ruined other people's homes, and the two death options that the Zhang family prepared for him because they were afraid of Feng Sancai.

In short, the whole story is filled with regret, and at the end, he even mentions that he has stored money somewhere that he can retrieve if he dies unexpectedly—a classic trope.

Ha ha!

Going is impossible; who knows how much of this letter is true and how much is false?

However, it did clear up Song Chen's doubts about the map; it turned out it was used to filter people.

They specifically target families like Song Chen and Jiang Shuyan's, robbing and killing the adults who can earn money.

They lure children who have no earning capacity into taking out loans they can never repay, and then, when the children are unable to repay, they capture them and enslave them.

That's a complete kill line.

If Song Chen hadn't suddenly awakened the system, he probably would have chosen to borrow money from Zhou Ming, right?

Ha ha!

Song Chen sneered, silently memorizing the information.

As for the Zhang family, they are only considering that Feng Sancai will not directly deal with Song Chen, so they are just throwing Zhou Ming out as a pawn.

What happens after Song Chen escapes Feng Sancai's clutches in the future?

They'll probably take action immediately, right?

With that thought in mind, Song Chen poured out a Qi Gathering Pill and swallowed it in one gulp. He then held the spirit stone in his right hand and began to cultivate.

Only overwhelming strength can overcome all his current crises.

Cultivate! Cultivate! Cultivate!

Four hours later, the sun was high in the sky, nearing noon.

After cultivating all night, Song Chen's spiritual liquid increased to more than two and a half drops in his dantian due to the combined effects of the Qi Gathering Pill and the spirit stone.

Although it's still far from the ten drops needed to reach the fifth level of Qi Refining, with the support of these double resources, it shouldn't be long before it's too late.

After inspecting the herb garden and confirming that no spiritual herbs had undergone metamorphosis, he copied two copies of "The Crimson Rainbow Journey" and then pushed open the courtyard gate with the genuine article.

Coincidentally, Jiang Shuyan from next door also went out.

"Brother Song, are you going out?"

"Um."

"Look at Uncle Zhou's house."

Jiang Shuyan leaned close to Song Chen's face, looked up at Zhou Ming's house, and said, "It seems like his house was robbed."

"Um?"

Song Chen looked in the direction he was referring to, his face full of surprise, and said, "Wow... that's possible!"

"This is terrible! Uncle Zhou used to treat me very well! Please, I hope I don't find out who did this!"

Jiang Shuyan was filled with resentment, unaware that the murderer was right next to him.

"Okay! Good luck!"

Jiang Shuyan then said to Song Chen, "Brother Song! Thanks to you, I found a good job!"

"Work?"

Song Chen was stunned. This word was truly unfamiliar in this world.

The cultivators in Huanbei either run shops or go hunting or fishing at sea; he had never heard of anyone earning spirit stones through work.

"Yes! I cut fish for people at the docks. I earn two spirit stones a month."

Jiang Shuyan looked grateful, her brows furrowed with admiration.

Song Chen asked in confusion, "Isn't the rent ten spirit stones?"

"Yes! That's why I make enough for five people, it's just right."

Jiang Shuyan laughed heartily, her expression full of innocence.

Looking at that innocent smile, Song Chen remained silent for a moment before saying:

"You can move. North Alley is an upscale area, very expensive. South Alley is cheaper, only six yuan a month."

"Really? I'll go contact the landlord right away!"

Jiang Shuyan skipped and hopped towards the middle alley, not forgetting to wave goodbye to Song Chen.

The sun was blazing, and the sunlight slanted down, casting a shadow that perfectly enveloped Jiang Shuyan's body...

Song Chen first entered the Linglong Tianlou and took out his shield, flying boat, and the book "Red Rainbow Journey".

The young cultivator from the Lower Sword Sect who was on duty was lying down, but when he saw "Crimson Rainbow Journey", he flew up.

He noticed the flying boat and realized that another formidable character had emerged from Huanbei!

"This is... a high-grade spell! Are you sure you want to sell it?"

"Sure!"

"Wait...wait a minute! Just a moment! Wait for me!"

The cultivator, unable to make up his mind, summoned an old man, the very one who had previously looked at Song Chen with increasing hostility.

For some reason, the old man's expression was very complicated when he looked at "The Red Rainbow's Journey" this time, no longer as unfriendly as before.

In the end, he even respectfully presented the spirit stone with both hands, leaving Song Chen bewildered.

The total was 325 yuan. After deducting the handling fee, Song Chen finally received 323 yuan.

Including the one in the storage bag, the total is... 438 spirit stones!

Get rich quick! Get really rich quick!

Song Chen could even exchange several mid-grade spirit stones, a luxury cultivation resource!

He purchased a mid-grade spell called "Shadow Step" for twenty-five spirit stones.

Song Chen then left the Heavenly Tower and turned into the Talisman Shop.

After adding three each of the Swiftness Talisman, Rocket Talisman, and Golden Body Talisman, there are still 302 pieces left.

As the situation at Guanshi Peak worsened, the prices of pills and talismans in the market also rose, with several types of talismans increasing by one spirit stone each.

"Boss, could you please tell me what this talisman is for?"

"This is... if I'm not mistaken, it's a high-grade talisman, the Fire Explosion Talisman. Once activated, it's equivalent to a full-force attack from a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator."

Song Chen gasped in shock. If Zhou Ming had used that talisman back then, he would have been in real trouble.

"Use with caution during the mid-stage of Qi Refining."

Why?

"The power is too great; there's a chance it could kill you."

".....OK."

After buying ten more swamp gas talismans with one hundred spirit stones, Song Chen planned to buy five more night-illuminating talismans.

Unexpectedly, the owner of the talisman shop was very generous. Seeing that he had bought so many talismans, he gave him the Night-Shining Talisman as a bonus.

"That way, we can add two more buildings!"

After putting away the talisman and leaving the shop, Song Chen went into the herb shop.

"Zhang Jiu, do you have any herbal insect repellent?"

Song Chen planned to take advantage of the abundance of spirit stones to purchase some upgrade materials needed for the herb field.

In all the upgrade paths of the medicinal field, the Herbal Insect Relief Liquid is an indispensable resource.

If you force yourself to bypass it, the upgraded herb field will either be ineffective or completely useless, so it's better not to upgrade it at all.