Gou Zai created a blessed land in the immortal abode

"Goodness, they're all a bunch of daring people."

Looking at the scattered cultivators running around the shops, Li Chengming felt a sense of dread.

He hadn't expected these rogue cultivators to be so audacious. Knowing there were evil cultivators in the market, they didn't run away but instead tried to rob things.

"There are too many people and too much attention here, we need to go somewhere else."

Li Chengming turned and ran towards a less crowded area.

At the same time, a talisman appeared in his hand, which was the [Qi-Concealing Talisman] he had bought from Liu's talisman shop.

This talisman can conceal the aura of a Qi Refining cultivator for about half an hour.

During this period, as long as you do not cast spells or use a lot of spiritual power, you can avoid the spiritual consciousness of cultivators below the late stage of Qi Refining.

Therefore, he was greatly favored by the cultivators.

Then, Li Chengming infused spiritual power into the talisman, attached it to his body, and then took out a piece of black cloth to cover his face.

After making all the preparations, he finally felt at ease and quietly slipped into a small shop.

The shop is not large, about four zhang long and three zhang wide.

The shop was in a mess, with shelves overturned and several jade bottles broken on the ground, the remaining medicinal liquid emitting a faint fragrance of spiritual herbs.

It is a shop selling medicinal herbs.

"If I could obtain a few precious spiritual trees and fruits, or the method of planting them, that would be the best," Li Chengming thought happily.

But deep down he didn't have much hope.

After all, the shop looked like it had been looted.

He quickly scanned his surroundings, his gaze landing on a hidden compartment behind the counter. The compartment had been pried open, revealing a jade slip inside.

Li Chengming picked it up and scanned it with his spiritual sense to read its contents.

"The Thirteen Basic Chapters on Spiritual Plants are just some introductory common sense, and have little value."

He sighed softly, then tossed the jade slip into the immortal mansion and turned to the backyard.

There are three rooms in the backyard. The one in the middle looks like an alchemy room, but there is no trace of an alchemy furnace. There is only furnace ash scattered all over the ground.

The two rooms on the left and right are a bedroom and a storage room, respectively.

The door to the storage room was ajar, and Li Chengming pushed it open and entered.

Inside, there were some low-grade spiritual herbs piled up haphazardly, a few ordinary-looking spirit-gathering herbs, and some Qi-restoring powders in white jade bottles.

Li Chengming twisted it open and smelled it; the quality was surprisingly no worse than that of the Kong family's shop.

He rummaged through the shelves again and surprisingly found two magical artifacts in the corner.

A jade vase, a jade pestle and mortar.

"What a treasure!" Li Chengming's eyes lit up.

Unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise.

Li Chengming picked up the jade bottle and looked inside; there was still half a bottle of spiritual water.

"This spiritual water contains abundant spiritual energy. Drinking it can restore spiritual energy, and using it to water spiritual plants can also improve their quality."

"No wonder the quality of this small shop's Qi-restoring powder is no worse than that of the Kong family's; it's probably because of this."

Looking at the jade pestle and mortar, they seem ordinary, but to Li Chengming they are extremely precious treasures.

"With this jade pestle and mortar, I can grind the Qi-restoring powder myself."

Li Chengming had been grinding medicinal powder in the Kong family shop for several years and had long since learned how to make Huiqi Powder.

Previously, due to a lack of tools, I had to regretfully sell the materials for the Qi-restoring powder.

In fact, this is also a way for aristocratic immortal sects to control independent cultivators.

The methods for cultivating spiritual fruits, herbs, and trees can be sold to the public, but knowledge related to the various arts of cultivation, such as alchemy, talisman making, and weapon crafting, is kept strictly confidential.

It will never appear in the market.

Li Chengming was able to learn the method of refining Qi-restoring powder by stealing knowledge over many years.

After carefully storing the two magical artifacts in his immortal abode, Li Chengming went to the alchemy room.

After searching, they found only a few white jade bottles used to hold pills and a few pills.

Even so, Li Chengming nodded repeatedly in satisfaction:

"Not bad, not bad."

"Those two magical artifacts alone are worth several dozen spirit stones. Add to that the spiritual plants and pills, and we've really made a killing today."

Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from the front yard.

Li Chengming's heart tightened, and he quickly hid behind the door, holding his breath and concentrating.

The concealment talisman is still working; as long as he doesn't actively reveal himself, it will be difficult for anyone to spot him.

"This place has been cleaned so thoroughly."

A hoarse voice came through, tinged with dissatisfaction.

"Stop complaining, hurry up and search. The Kong family won't last long. Once those three late-stage Qi Refining cultivators realize what's happening, we'll have no chance."

Two masked cultivators entered the backyard, glanced around, and headed straight for the alchemy room.

Li Chengming peered through the crack in the door and found that the auras of the two cultivators were impenetrable, presumably because they had used [Aura Concealment Talismans].

A direct confrontation would be unwise, so he waited patiently until the two entered the alchemy room before quietly slipping out through the back door.

After leaving the shop, Li Chengming searched other places for a while.

The gains were minimal; they only obtained a few spirit stones and a few pills.

"The western part of this market is mostly occupied by shops of small and medium-sized businesses, but after this looting, there probably won't be many good items left. There's no need to waste any more time."

Li Chengming was already planning his next move.

"Let's go check out the Kong family's shop; perhaps I can borrow their flying shuttle to leave this place."

Li Chengming had not forgotten his identity as a retainer of the Kong family.

They could easily leave the market with the Kong family monks and head to Kong family territory.

Li Chengming quickly walked through several alleys, avoiding the rogue cultivators who were still taking advantage of the chaos on the main street.

Kong Family Shop is located in the center of the market, in the most prosperous area of ​​the entire market.

On ordinary days, the place is always bustling with people.

But now, looking into the distance, Li Chengming could see faint spiritual light flickering in the sky above the eastern district, clearly indicating that some kind of formation was being activated.

"It seems the Kong family has retreated to their shops."

Li Chengming quickened his pace, while becoming even more careful to conceal his presence.

After turning a narrow alley, the view suddenly opened up before me.

The street where the Kong family's shop was located came into view. The shop's doors were tightly closed, and a layer of pale yellow light enveloped the entire building.

Ripples appeared on the surface of the light shield from time to time, clearly indicating that it was under some kind of attack.

Four masked cultivators dressed in black stood in front of the shop, taking turns casting spells to bombard the array's protective barrier.

Their cultivation levels were all at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and their teamwork was excellent, clearly indicating that they had come prepared.

"Four mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators..." Li Chengming's heart sank.

"I am no match for them, but looking at the crumbling formation, I'm afraid the Kong family won't be able to hold out for long either."

"No, apart from those three late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, the Kong family also has several mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators in the market, plus their retainers. Moreover, Elder Kong is also a late-stage Qi Refining seventh level cultivator."

"How did we end up trapped by four mid-stage Qi Refining heretical cultivators?"

Li Chengming frowned slightly, a bad premonition rising in his heart:

"Could it be that there is more than one evil cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refining in the workshop?"

"Good heavens, if that's really the case, then I'll have to hide in my immortal abode and never come out again."