The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

It was already evening when they left the Demon King's place.

The lanterns on Cangwu Mountain lit up one after another, bathing the entire mountain in a warm glow.

Yin Wuxie was meticulous in everything he did, even having lanterns hung along both sides of the mountain path, stretching from the foot of the mountain all the way to the top. From a distance, it looked like a fiery red belt tied around the Cangwu Mountain.

According to information provided by Tianji Pavilion, this Liu Jinling resides at Zuixianlou in Yong'an City and spends most of his time drinking wine, except for occasionally going out to collect debts.

According to Hua Qianmei's description, Yun Zhonghe was a Taoist priest who was as thin as a monkey. He carried a wine gourd all day long and loved to go to brothels.

Liu Jinling was a refined middle-aged man, dressed smartly, but he always carried a gourd of wine in his hand.

These two people don't look like the same person at all.

But Shen Yifei knew in his heart that the most direct way for a person to completely change their appearance was to change their way of life.

If Yun Zhonghe wants to hide his identity, the best cover is to become someone completely opposite to him.

Taoist priest becomes Confucian scholar, skinny monkey becomes middle-aged, slovenly becomes sophisticated – isn’t this the most standard disguise routine?

The more drastically different things appear on the surface, the more likely they are to be a deliberate disguise.

"Master, are you so sure that Liu Jinling is Yun Zhonghe?" Liu Mengli crunched on a spirit fruit; lately, this little demon has been eating spirit fruit all the time.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's worth a try." Shen Yifei said as he walked towards the mountain gate. "Even if it isn't him, I still need to get the water-repelling pearl from him."

"What are you going to do? Liu Jinling definitely won't let you use this treasure easily."

Shen Yifei chuckled. "I'll go make a deal with him. The owner of Zuixianlou is, to put it bluntly, a businessman. Whether he's selling wine or treasures, as long as the price is right, anything is negotiable. The key is that I have what he wants."

Shen Yifei felt that if Yun Zhonghe was to reveal his true identity, his own identity would be the best test.

Yong'an City was a large city with walls over ten zhang high. Every few dozen steps along the walls, a flag was planted with the two large characters "Yong'an" embroidered on it. People came and went inside and outside the city, bustling about and creating a lively scene.

Shen Yifei landed at the city gate and followed the flow of people into the city.

Drunken Immortal Pavilion was located on the main street of the city, and Shen Yifei quickly found out its location.

On the way to Zuixianlou, Shen Yifei slowed down his pace, but his ears were still busy.

Small groups of cultivators strolled and chatted on the street, all focusing on one thing: "The Drunken Immortal Pavilion's auction!"

"There's an auction at Zuixianlou tonight; I heard there are some good items."

"The auction is held once a year; I wonder what good items will be available this time."

"It only happens once a year, and Master Liu personally oversees the selection, so it can't be bad. Last time I came, I only managed to bid on a bottle of grade three pills; the money was painfully spent, but the item itself was truly worthwhile."

Shen Yifei paused for a moment.

Zuixianlou...an auction?

These kinds of auctions are great places to gather information.

Shen Yifei strode quickly toward Zuixianlou.

Zuixianlou is located in the most prosperous area of ​​the city. It is a three-story building with a vermilion door that is wide open. Above the door hangs a golden signboard with the three characters "Zuixianlou" written in a vigorous and elegant style, clearly the work of a famous calligrapher.

Two servants dressed in blue robes stood at the entrance. Upon seeing Shen Yifei arrive, they quickly came forward to greet him, "Are you here to attend the auction, sir?"

"Exactly." Shen Yifei nodded.

"Please come in, sir. The auction won't start for another hour. Please rest in the lobby and have a drink."

Shen Yifei followed the servant through the door. The main hall was already quite full of people, chatting quietly in small groups. The air was filled with the rich aroma of wine and food, which was enough to whet one's appetite.

He found a corner seat and sat down. The waiter quickly brought over a pot of wine and several small dishes.

"Please enjoy your meal, sir. You will be notified before the auction begins."

Shen Yifei poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip. The wine was of excellent quality, with a mellow taste and a lingering aftertaste.

He remembered Liu Jinling telling him that when he arrived at Zuixianlou, he would be treated to "Xianrenzui" (a type of liquor), but he didn't know if it was this particular liquor.

He sipped his drink while listening to the conversations around him, mostly about tonight's auction items. Some said there were treasures from the Dragon Palace of the East Sea among the auction items, others said there were relics of some powerful being, and so on.

Shen Yifei listened for a while but didn't hear any useful information, so he looked away and focused on drinking.

An hour passed quickly.

A young servant in blue robes entered the lobby and announced loudly, "Esteemed guests, the auction is about to begin. Please proceed to the private rooms on the second floor!"

People in the lobby stood up and headed to the second floor. Shen Yifei also stood up and followed the crowd upstairs.

There was a large hall on the second floor, with a raised platform in the center. The platform was made of mahogany and covered with a thick layer of red velvet. More than a hundred chairs were placed below the platform.

Shen Yifei found an inconspicuous spot to sit down and waited for the auction to begin.

After a while, a woman in a purple dress walked onto the platform. She looked to be in her early twenties, with a glamorous appearance and a hot figure. Her appearance caused a stir among the audience.

When Shen Yifei saw the woman, his heart skipped a beat. From her appearance to her attire, this woman could be described in one word: "wild!"

"Esteemed guests, my name is Hongxiu, and I am the host of tonight's auction." The woman bowed to the audience, her cleavage subtly revealed. "Tonight's auction features eighteen items, each a rare treasure that will surely broaden your horizons."

A round of applause erupted from the audience.

"The first item up for auction..." Hongxiu waved her hand, and two servants carried in a mahogany tray covered with a red silk cloth. "One Thousand-Year Jade Fire Spirit Mushroom, starting price: five thousand spirit stones! Each bid must be at least five hundred spirit stones higher."

Someone in the audience immediately bid, "Five thousand five hundred!"

"Six thousand!"

"Six thousand five!"

Shen Yifei leaned back in his chair, watching the auction on stage with a bored expression.

A five-thousand-year-old fire spirit mushroom is indeed a rare find. If used for alchemy, the probability of refining it into a top-grade elixir would be greatly increased.

But for him, it was of little use. He could easily refine top-grade elixirs without such spiritual herbs.

The auction continued. It was Shen Yifei's first time attending such an auction, and he found the flurry of bids quite interesting.

However, he did have a good day today, even though it was a small incident.

When the seventh item was auctioned, it was a piece of meteorite iron from outer space. This was an extremely rare material for refining weapons. After fierce bidding, it was finally bought by an old man for 300,000 spirit stones.

He also took a good look at this meteorite iron, because his Listening Tide Sword had cracks that hadn't been repaired yet.

He had less than 10,000 spirit stones on him, which was less than a fraction of the price the other party was asking for, so he gave up the idea and continued to watch the excitement.