Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

As they were speaking, a group of three people walked out from Tianbaotai, all wearing ordinary gray-black masks.

Gou An sniffed at them, a slight smile creeping onto his lips: "They're out."

"Are you really going to make a move?" Long Youzi was a little flustered; he had never done anything like this in his life.

"Let's see how it goes first!" Gou An got up to pay the bill and said, "We'll talk about it when the opportunity arises, otherwise we'll discuss it later."

Gou An led Long Youzi to follow the three at a distance, relying on the lingering scent of the Jade Lotus Bottle on them, so there was no need to worry about losing them.

Finally, the three of them walked into an alleyway filled with street vendors.

Inside, it was just like the street Gou An had visited before, a place where various independent cultivators bought and sold things.

Once inside, they browsed through the stalls, clearly hoping to snag some bargains before leaving.

To avoid attracting their attention, Gou An and Long Youzi pretended to be browsing at a stall.

The stall owner was a young man wearing a toad mask. Seeing the customers, he hurriedly introduced the stall: "Fellow Daoists, feel free to look at anything here. The prices are very reasonable."

But Gou An was only pretending to play around; his thoughts were all on those three people.

Seeing that Gou An hadn't chosen what he needed, the toad vendor rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "May I ask what path you two specialize in? I'd like to give you some recommendations."

Gou An simply replied casually, "A farmer."

"Oh!" the toad vendor exclaimed hastily. "So you specialize in the Path of Cultivating Spirits. I happen to have a treasure here that came from the Hundred Refinements Sect, one of the twelve sects."

Gou An became somewhat interested after hearing this and asked curiously, "What treasure?"

"This is it!" The toad vendor took out a palm-sized object from his stall, which looked like a small altar.

"What is this?" Long Youzi asked with amusement.

"This is the Cloud-Summoning Divine Machine!" the vendor chuckled and continued, "Pour in some spiritual energy and toss it into the air, and it will automatically grow larger, eventually becoming about the size of a small granary."

"This is a commonly used magical tool by cultivators of the Spirit Cultivation Path for managing spiritual fields. It can draw in the surrounding moisture to form thin clouds, which then send down spiritual rain to nourish the fields and accelerate the growth of spiritual plants."

"If there is a lack of moisture in the world, it can also produce water mist to prevent the fields from drying out."

"That's quite useful!" Long Youzi exclaimed after hearing this.

"That's quite useful!" The toad vendor chuckled, then added, "Why don't you two buy a few? I guarantee the spiritual fields under your jurisdiction will grow exceptionally well in the future."

"How many spirit stones for one?" Gou An asked.

"I have two kinds of Xingyun Divine Machines here, one new and one old!" the vendor said with a smile. "I just don't know which one you two would like."

"What's the difference?" Gou An took the Xingyun Divine Machine from the vendor and examined it carefully.

"This new machine is more powerful and has a larger range of cloud-generating capabilities." The toad vendor said, taking out a larger cloud-generating machine and placing it in front of Gou An for comparison. It looked more exquisite in design.

Then, pointing to the one in Gou An's hand, he continued, "This old machine, although not as good-looking as the new ones, is sturdy and durable, and not prone to problems."

Gou An rubbed his chin after hearing this, and couldn't help but gasp: "Something sounds a bit off. Just tell me, how many spirit stones?"

Seeing an opportunity, the toad vendor immediately began his introduction: "This new machine costs three thousand spirit stones. However, if you want this old machine, it only costs five hundred spirit stones."

"Then let's take this old machine!" Gou An thought for a moment. It's just a matter of creating clouds and rain, there's no need to spend more spirit stones.

So Gou An spent five thousand spirit stones at the toad vendor's place and bought ten of these so-called Xingyun Divine Machines.

With these things, the spiritual plants in the Palm Heaven Map can be grown better.

These spirit stones were well spent.

The deal was done, and the three men, seemingly not finding what they needed, prepared to leave through the alley. Upon seeing this, Gou An immediately led Long Youzi to follow them.

After strolling around another street, the three seemed to have no more interest in exploring, so they found a restaurant near the city gate to sit and rest.

It seemed that they were about to leave the city shortly afterward.

Gou An did not enter the tavern to avoid being discovered, but instead found a roadside teahouse next to the tavern and sat down to rest.

At this point, the black market was halfway through its opening hours, and quite a few people had already begun to leave, though the number was small.

However, going out now carries a very high probability of encountering evil cultivators blocking the way, so most people naturally don't want to take that risk.

Only a few naive youngsters, or those who are visiting for the first time and are unaware of the dangers, would leave so early.

Most people wait until the black market is about to close and when it's busiest before leaving. At this time, there are many people on the road, making it much more difficult for evil cultivators to block the way.

Just then, Gou An sniffed the air and smelled the scent of Xian Kongzi.

Turning his head to look to the side, he saw the boy covered in mud, walking towards the city gate in a very disheveled state, as if he had encountered something.

When Gou An saw him, he patted Long Youzi on the shoulder.

Following the direction of Gou An's gaze, Long Youzi also spotted Xian Kongzi wearing a dice mask, and quickly pulled Xian Kongzi over.

"Fellow Daoist, what happened to you?" Long Youzi asked curiously.

After confirming that the two people in front of him were Long Youzi and Gou An, Xian Kongzi sighed and said, "I'm never coming to this lousy place again."

"What exactly happened?" Long Youzi asked again.

Xian Kongzi sighed again, seemingly finding it difficult to speak.

Seeing his expression, Long Youzi immediately guessed: "You went gambling again, didn't you?"

"Hehe!" Xian Kongzi could only scratch his head and give an awkward laugh.

"I knew it!" Long Youzi shook his head helplessly. "The first thing you do when you arrive at a new place is look for a casino. Are there casinos on the black market too?"

"Yes!" Xian Kongzi was a little embarrassed, so he poured himself a cup of tea, then lifted a corner of his mask and took a small sip: "I won a little last time I came, but my luck has been a bit bad this time."

"How much did you lose?" Long Youzi asked again.

"I...I've lost everything!" Xian Kongzi said, turning to look at Gou An beside him, and then said, "Fellow Daoist, didn't you say you'd give me another five thousand spirit stones if I took you out?"

He scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Why don't you give it to me in advance? I'm planning to go back and play a big game; maybe I can break even."

"Look at you, you've gone mad!" Long Youzi shook his head helplessly.

Gou An didn't rush to refuse, but just smiled and said, "Gambling is boring. I'm going to take you to do something more exciting."

"Even more exciting?" Xian Kongzi looked bewildered.

"That's right!" Gou An nodded. "After it's done, I'll give you 100,000 low-grade spirit stones!"

"Really?" Xian Kongzi's eyes widened immediately.

"Of course!" Gou An nodded with a smile.

"Then I'll do it!" Xian Kongzi nodded quickly.

Long Youzi couldn't stand it any longer and asked, "You agreed without even asking what happened?"

"At most, it's just murder and arson. Although I've never done it before, I can learn!" Xian Kongzi lowered his voice and gave a wicked smile.