Taoist cultivation begins with being a miner

Let's put all that aside for now and put the matter of the Mine God's Pickaxe aside. The Fruit of Luck is the most important thing, and we can't waste these three days.

First, he broke through to the third level of Qi Refining, took out the mid-grade spirit stone and the Spirit Nourishing Pill, and then began to meditate and absorb them.

As he felt the spiritual energy in his dantian gathering more and more, Lu Yan found it increasingly difficult to absorb and refine it. After an unknown amount of time, Lu Yan's body began to tremble violently, and finally, in an instant, the vortex in his dantian began to expand.

Lu Yan knew that he had broken through to the third level of Qi Refining.

This breakthrough was uneventful and went very smoothly.

Although he is still the lowest-ranking nobody in the cultivation world, he is also an elite among the trash.

After spending some more time consolidating his cultivation, he got up and looked at the sky. Before he knew it, a day had passed.

So I have two days left, and I can't waste them.

Lu Yan hurried towards the nearest gambling den; it would be a real shame not to take advantage of such good luck and gamble a bit.

Although it was late at night, gambling dens and brothels do business better as the night goes on, with gambling dens operating day and night.

The gambling den offers a wide variety of games, including not only common dice and dominoes, but also cricket fighting, cockfighting, and dogfighting.

These are all ordinary animals; I've heard that some powerful gambling dens even have monsters to fight.

This gambling den has an array that prevents cultivators from cheating using their divine sense and magic, allowing everyone to play like ordinary people.

Time was of the essence, so Lu Yan went straight to the dice and started pressing them one by one very quickly.

To avoid attracting attention, Lu Yan only bet ten or twenty spirit fragments each time.

After winning two rounds, he quickly moved to other tables to gamble, and in less than an hour he won nearly ten spirit stones.

Lu Yan knew when to stop, as continuing to win would attract attention.

After leaving, continue to the next gambling den to win spirit stones.

Lu Yan's strategy is to let the stronger players in the gambling den win more, and the weaker players win less.

Although I am blessed with good fortune and won't be in any trouble no matter how much I win, the luck fruit only guarantees my safety for three days, and I also need to think about the future.

Ten hours later, Lu Yan walked out of the ninth gambling den, with nearly one hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones on him.

Looking at the sundial on the street, I realized it was already mid-day, around 9 PM (9 PM to 11 PM) of the next day.

Lu Yan then headed to his next destination, the Black Night Treasure Market, also known as the Ghost Market on Blue Star.

The things sold inside are all shady; over 90% of the items are either obtained through murder and robbery or by digging up graves.

This is just one of the treasure markets in the outer city, and the items inside are not rare. I heard that there are similar treasure markets in the middle city and the inner city, with even more good things inside, but you need to have a lot of capital to participate in the middle city treasure market.

Before entering the treasure market, Lu Yan bought a set of clothes: a black outfit, a bamboo hat, and a mask, so that even a divine sense scan could not reveal his face.

This treasure market is located within a relatively large market area. Lu Yan is very familiar with this kind of place. As long as you pay ten spirit fragments, you can set up a stall inside.

But ten spirit shards was the price during the day; the price at night was one spirit stone, a tenfold increase.

Lu Yan glanced around briefly. There were two cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining guarding the main entrance, and more than ten cultivators at the third level of Qi Refining patrolling inside and outside the market to prevent anyone from causing trouble.

But those who can open a business here all have powerful backers, and no one dares to cause trouble here.

Upon entering the treasure market, the two Qi Refining stage cultivators at the entrance merely glanced at Lu Yan before ignoring him.

As soon as I entered, I found it was packed with people, far more than during the day, and there were even more than a hundred stalls.

The stall had everything imaginable: various damaged low-grade magical artifacts, storage bags, strange and unusual utensils, animal hides, scrolls, and so on.

Some of them were still stained with blood, making it obvious how they got there.

Low-grade magic weapons that originally cost fifteen or sixteen spirit stones in the shop only cost eleven or twelve here, a full third cheaper.

Of course, buying it also carries certain risks; you might even be hunted down by the owner's relatives and friends if you're not careful.

Lu Yan decided to set aside weapons for now and look for strange and unusual things first, because such things were more likely to hide secrets.

After wandering around for a long time, Lu Yan carefully observed each stall in order not to miss any treasures, but he couldn't find a single one that looked good.

As dawn was approaching, Lu Yan was preparing to leave when he suddenly noticed a small blue iron box on a stall.

Since it could attract him, it must be something extraordinary. Lu Yan walked up to the stall. The stall owner was dressed the same as him, and he could only sense that he was at the third level of Qi Refining.

"What is this?" Lu Yan first pretended to look at a few things, then pointed to the small iron box and asked.

"I don't know," the stall owner replied.

"Don't know? Fellow Daoist, are you joking? You don't even know your own things?" Lu Yan asked again.

"I obtained this by chance; I heard it was a gift received by a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"I only got the box, but no key. This box is made of some kind of incredibly hard material; no matter what I try, I can't open it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be selling it here." The stall owner briefly explained the origin of the metal box.

"Oh~ Something belonging to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, may I take a look?" Although he didn't know if what was said was true or false, Lu Yan became interested.

"Please go ahead." The stall owner waved his hand, gesturing for Lu Yan to take over.

Lu Yan took the iron box in his hand and examined it carefully. He found that there was only a crack and a keyhole in the middle. There were also many scratches on the box, which seemed to indicate that the stall owner had tried to break it open with a weapon but failed.

I tried to pry the metal box open, but it wouldn't budge. I shook it and heard something inside, but it probably wasn't very big.

"How much?" Lu Yan asked directly.

"Fifty spirit stones," the stall owner said, holding up his finger.

"Ahem~ Fellow Daoist, are you out of your mind? I could buy some cheaper mid-grade magic artifacts with fifty spirit stones." Upon hearing this price, Lu Yan quickly put down the iron box.

"Fellow Daoist, this is, after all, the stuff of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The contents inside are worth at least a hundred spirit stones. Fifty is already very cheap. If I could open it, I definitely wouldn't be willing to sell it," the stall owner said to Lu Yan.

"No, no, no, fellow Daoist, this thing hasn't been opened yet, so who knows what's inside? Besides, I don't even know if it belongs to a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"Even if it were something belonging to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, what if it's not something valuable, just some mundane item they cherish? Wouldn't I be at a huge loss?" Lu Yan retorted.

"Then, fellow Daoist, name your price." The stall owner didn't seem to have much attachment to the iron box.

"Ten spirit stones," Lu Yan quoted.

"No, that's too little. Take the forty spirit stones."

"Fifteen dollars, that's the most I can offer."

"Still too little, thirty-five yuan."

"..."

In the end, Lu Yan spent twenty-five spirit stones to acquire the iron box.