Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

Shuiyue Branch, Miscellaneous Service Market.

Inside the black tent, Zhou Youyuan placed a cloth bag on the table and pushed it forward.

The bag contained the agreed-upon final payment: five low-grade spirit stones plus thirty gold beans, which was ten percent more than the original amount.

The black-robed man's withered hand reached out, rummaged around in the bag a couple of times, then, without counting, tucked it directly into his sleeve.

"The goods are here; they were prepared for you a long time ago."

A neatly folded cloth was pushed to the center of the table.

Zhou Youyuan reached out and took it, peeling it open to reveal a burr with tiny, scarlet threads stuck to it, just like the one they had agreed on last time.

Cash on delivery, goods exchanged, payment settled, no debts owed to either party.

These guys aren't exactly trustworthy, but they're surprisingly good at getting things done.

After the gifts were presented, the man in black robes made no move to offer tea or see the guest out. He remained silent for a moment, then took out another folded piece of yellow paper from his sleeve and placed it on the table:

"This is for you."

Zhou Youyuan raised an eyebrow, unfolded the document, and saw a few lines of writing hastily made with charcoal sticks. It was a summary of the whereabouts of the street vendor and Zhao Donglai over the past three months, which he had asked him to inquire about last time.

The servants were nothing special, just ordinary servants at the Dingzi Medicinal Herb Garden. The only unique thing about them was that one of their cousins ​​worked as a maid for Manager Zhao.

On the contrary, the "Spirit Gathering Technique" has recently caused quite a stir in this market. Many servants have read a few words of it and regard the "Turbid Fire Breath Swallowing Method" as gospel.

They even considered robbing him, but luckily there were other people behind the servant, so this brief incident didn't cause any major trouble.

But afterwards, the servant disappeared, most likely because Zhao Donglai had called him back.

On the contrary, Zhao Donglai himself, this old fellow, secretly sent people to find several female servants and send them into the stone building in the past three months, and those female servants never came out again.

Is this... a decision to begin cultivating the "Spirit Gathering Technique"?

Judging from this movement, the old man, like Chen Changsheng, intends to take the path of "seizing the essence and absorbing the vital energy" and use those female servants to break through the bottleneck of the third level of Qi Refining.

It seems this old guy is less wary than he expected, so he'd better hurry up.

If the other party actually breaks through to the third level of Qi Refining before he has a chance to bind, then his plan will be ruined.

"I won't charge you extra money."

Seeing that Zhou Youyuan remained silent for a long time, the man in black quickly added a sentence, his tone slightly... obsequious?

Zhou Youyuan folded the yellow paper and put it in his pocket. He leaned back in his chair and looked at the person opposite him with great interest.

Is this... a sign that they're about to admit their mistake?

Zhou Youyuan twirled the porcelain vase in his palm twice, then deliberately spoke:

"I've always been curious. In your line of work, you make a living by profiting from both sides. You know my background, and you also know Zhao Donglai's background. In these past three months, haven't you had any other thoughts?"

The man in black robes didn't respond for a moment, and the tent fell silent.

Have you ever considered it?

Of course it's been moved.

Three months ago, this kid left the tent, and that very night he sent people to investigate.

The handyman at the Jiazi Medicine Garden was named Chen Changsheng. He had been in the garden for less than half a year, had no spiritual roots, no cultivation, no background, and his origins were as clean as a blank sheet of paper.

He's just a menial servant, yet he can pull out spirit stones as a deposit and even dare to spend money to buy the blood of the herb garden manager. Either he has something to hide, or he has someone backing him.

But no matter which one it is, in his line of work, he would definitely test the waters first, just in case it's a "fat sheep".

So he followed the old rules and sent two nimble men ahead to scout the way, under the guise of patrolling, to sneak into the stinking manure cellar.

They didn't come back.

Moreover, according to the informant's report, the kid returned to work normally the next day, as if nothing had happened.

At the time, he also speculated whether it might have been done by Zhao Donglai's people, since the cellar was right below the stone building, and it wouldn't be surprising if the person in charge had a few watchdogs during a sensitive period.

So he specifically warned the second group of spies to take a different route, instead of going through the cellar, and to block them on the mountain road when they finished work.

They didn't come back.

He got annoyed by the third batch.

A seasoned practitioner who had cultivated his skills to the half-step Qi Refining stage, a ruthless man who had followed him for six years and had done more than a dozen dirty jobs, sneaked in at night and disappeared without even making a ripple.

Three groups of people, five lives lost.

There was no bloodstain, no residual spiritual energy fluctuations from the fight, and even the stench that permeated the cellar was no different from usual—it was ridiculously clean.

It was as if those five living, breathing people had never existed.

From that moment on, he knew he was doomed and in deep trouble.

He's been in this business for over twenty years, dealing with everyone from handymen to butlers; he's seen all sorts of ruthless people.

But this is the first time I've ever killed someone and left not even a trace.

He even suspected at one point that the fish caught by this so-called "manure-dispensing servant" was not the manager of the medicinal garden, but rather him, the little Karami.

In this line of work, there's an ironclad rule, earned with one's life: if you can't budge someone, then honestly admit your mistake.

So for the past three months, he has been preparing blood for Chen Changsheng as agreed, while also diligently compiling a list of Zhao Donglai's movements.

The moment the man arrived, without a word, he handed over the intelligence with both hands, not daring to take a single extra penny.

Is making money more important or is life more important?

The man in black robes figured this out twenty years ago:

"...It hasn't been touched."

Zhou Youyuan looked into the other person's eyes, which were deliberately avoiding his gaze, and his lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

He's a straightforward person, though.

Five golden beans, one fireball talisman, and three dust-repelling talismans.

He bought it simply because it was cheap and a consumable item, and having it on hand was better than not having it at all.

When he entered the cellar, he discovered that these few pieces of tattered paper were practically tailor-made for him.

The manure cellar was perpetually dark, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. When someone crept in, he could see them clearly from the shadows.

A fireball talisman was smeared on their faces, and these menial servants, who only had hand skills, couldn't even utter a sound.

As for the aftermath, that's even simpler.

The fermentation tank for spirit beast excrement is kept at high temperatures all year round and is extremely corrosive.

Those spirit beasts eat both meat and vegetables, and are often fed wild boars, pheasants and the like.

If you throw a person into the pool, their bones will turn to dust after three days, mixed with the bone powder of the spirit beasts. Who can tell which piece is human and which is beast?

And the last bit of bloody smell, once activated by the dust-repelling talisman, will leave the area within a three-zhang radius spotless, even wiping away the smell completely.

Fireball talisman kills, cesspool talisman buries, dust-repelling talisman sweeps.

Train services.

Five spies sneaked in and quietly fed the cesspool.

Even today, when Zhou Youyuan walked into this tent, he still carried a stench of feces that he couldn't wash off for three months.

However, to the man in the black robe, the smell was probably similar to the sulfur smell emanating from the King of Hell.

Having confirmed the other party's attitude, Zhou Youyuan abandoned his probing thoughts, leaned forward slightly, and changed his tone accordingly.

It's no longer casual conversation; it's business talk.

"Since you're so cooperative, let's cut to the chase. I have a big deal I'd like to do with you."

He took a worn-out parchment scroll from his pocket and placed it on the table:

"If you do a good job this time, you'll get ten spirit stones!"

The man in black robes glanced down at the cover without reacting, until he heard "ten spirit stones," at which point he tensed up.

Money can move people's hearts. With a large sum of money, what does it matter if the other side loses five of his best men?

Zhou Youyuan pointed to the booklet with his finger:

"I want you to spread this message about helping others. Remember! Not sell it, but spread it. Whether it's a copy or oral tradition, the more people who know about it, the better, especially those at the lowest levels of society. Ideally, it should be spread to every servant's quarters in every medicinal garden."

The man in black frowned and reached out to open the booklet.

The first page is the general outline of the exercise; is this booklet actually a type of exercise?

Page two, "Breath Observation Technique," a method to see spiritual roots? It was just passed on to the handyman like that?

Then, turning to the third page, his finger stopped, and the five large characters "Turbid Fire Breath Swallowing Method" came into view.

His breathing gradually became heavier, and then he rolled backward.

Those of the same origin devour each other; the yang fire burns the meridians, robbing them of their vitality, replenishing my mysterious gate, using life to fill life, and igniting all the meridians...

This cultivation mantra, which has recently become legendary in the miscellaneous goods market, was now blatantly displayed before him.

The hand that was turning the page froze in mid-air.

The Art of Gathering Spirits?!

Does this living Yama mean he should spread this thing around?