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

"You!" Long Youzi was stunned on the spot.

"Really dare?" Gou An asked with a smile.

Seeing that Gou An didn't seem to be joking, Xian Kongzi's attitude immediately turned serious: "Is it really what I said?"

Gou An nodded without saying a word.

When Xian Kongzi saw that Gou An had confirmed it, he actually became a little excited. He looked at Long Youzi beside him and said, "I made tens of thousands of spirit stones last time, but they were all robbed when I went out."

He clenched his fist, looked at Long Youzi again, and said in a low voice with a hint of resentment, "If others can take from me, why can't I take from others?"

"Alright!" Gou An glanced in the direction of the restaurant and laughed, "Then it's settled. Nobody should mess things up."

Meanwhile, on the second floor of the restaurant, the three gray-faced men were sitting around a table drinking spirit wine and chatting, completely unaware that they were being watched by eyes on the roadside below.

"Senior Brother, why don't we leave sooner?" one of the thinner people suddenly asked.

"No rush!" The one sitting in the middle simply lifted a crack in his mask and took a sip of spiritual wine: "If we go out now, we'll easily run into those evil cultivators outside."

"With your abilities, Senior Brother, those evil cultivators outside are nothing but chickens and dogs," said the most burly man on the other side.

"Hehe!" The man called the senior brother seemed to enjoy these words, and just smiled and said, "That makes sense, but leaving later will save some trouble."

He added at the end, "As you know, I hate trouble the most."

"It's a pity we fell for Tianbaotai's dirty trick this time!" The short cultivator sighed, full of resentment. "Knowing we wanted this item, they deliberately sent a shill to keep driving up the price. We ended up paying at least a million spirit stones more for that bottle."

"It's not important!" The eldest brother shook his head: "At least we got the item. Spending more spirit stones isn't perfect, but we can earn it back with this bottle later. If that guy wasn't a shill, this thing would be someone else's treasure."

"With such a treasure, the foundation of our Xuanchun Sect will be further enhanced, and in the future, we may even be able to join the ranks of the Heavenly Sects."

As he finished speaking, the gray-faced senior brother unconsciously clenched his fist, brimming with confidence.

More than an hour later, more and more people began to leave the black market.

Gou An, along with Long Youzi and Xian Kongzi, finished six pots of tea. Only then did the three people from the restaurant come down from upstairs and head towards the city gates.

Gou An immediately perked up, tapped the table lightly to alert Long Youzi and Xian Kongzi, and then followed at a distance.

After leaving the city, the three immediately flew low along one of the routes on their swords.

At this time, there were many people flying low over the main road or riding spirit pets.

Most of these spirit pets were created by beast-taming sects from a young age, who shaved off half an inch of their demonic bones to prevent them from taking human form and thus reduced their demonic nature. They were mostly used for transportation.

However, the main road leading out has many branches, causing the traffic to constantly diverge, so the further out you go, the fewer people there are on the road.

Just as they had flown more than halfway out of the way, and the three members of Xuan Chun Sect had lowered their guard considerably, eight or nine black lights suddenly shot out from the gray mist beside them, blocking their way from both sides.

"It's an evil cultivator!" Upon seeing this, the tall man immediately took out a broad-bladed heavy sword, his whole body surging with spiritual energy.

The shorter man quickly drew his longsword and held it in front of him, saying, "We really have run into them."

The eldest disciple at the front was not flustered. He simply lifted the mask off his face and tossed it aside, while taking off the hood to reveal his true appearance.

It was a cool and youthful face. He reached out and grabbed at the air, and a blue longsword appeared in his hand.

"I am Li Qiufeng, Elder of the Xuanchun Sect, the Sword-Wielding Immortal!"

As he spoke, a surge of powerful spiritual energy emanated from his body, causing the surrounding trees to rustle and rustle.

"Are you sure you want to stop me?" Li Qiufeng's gaze swept over the surroundings, his eyes filled with murderous intent, trying to intimidate the crowd blocking his way with his own aura.

Seeing this, the two people next to him also followed Li Qiufeng's example and lifted their masks to reveal their true faces.

The tall one was a rough man with a face full of fat and stubble, while the short one was a slightly sleazy-looking man with a goatee.

A group of cultivators clad in black robes, blocking the way, paused briefly upon sensing Li Qiufeng's aura before bursting into laughter: "What do we have here? Just a Golden Core elder from the insignificant Xuan Chun Sect."

"Exactly, we've killed countless people like you already."

"If it weren't for your powerful aura and the good stuff you have, we wouldn't have bothered to steal it from you."

After a round of mockery, the group of evil cultivators also released their own auras, revealing that they were all at the Core Formation stage.

The strongest of them had reached the Golden Core stage.

"Since that's the case, you insist on taking action, right?" Li Qiufeng asked again.

"We don't want to fight either!" The leader, wearing a demon mask and holding a bone staff, said in a low voice, "We just received information that a big fish is heading this way, so naturally we want to grab some benefits."

"If you hand over the items yourself, we won't have to do anything. But if you insist on resisting, then you can't blame us."

Just then, Gou An, along with Long Youzi and Xian Kongzi, hid far away behind the dense forest by the roadside.

Upon seeing the situation ahead, Xian Kongzi gasped in shock: "I never expected that the evil cultivators would get there first."

"Master, what should we do?" Long Youzi turned to look at Gou An.

Gou An rubbed his chin and pondered, "No rush. The fact that they've been stopped by others isn't necessarily a bad thing for us; it gives us a chance to take advantage of the situation."

"Master, are you planning to wait until they start fighting, and then..." Long Youzi asked curiously.

"That's right!" Gou An chuckled and nodded.

During their conversation, Li Qiufeng and the group of evil cultivators blocking their way couldn't agree on a few words and suddenly started fighting.

Although the three members of Xuan Chun Sect were outnumbered and surrounded, Li Qiufeng's combat prowess was exceptional, and he managed to fight the evil cultivators in mid-air with the other two, making it difficult to determine who was superior.

Just as Gou An was quietly waiting for them to both be exhausted, his ears suddenly twitched, and he heard a noise coming from behind the road.

Looking back, they discovered two furtive figures approaching them.

Normally, if there are evil cultivators blocking the road and fighting ahead, ordinary cultivators would not dare to approach, lest they get burned.

But the two figures were still heading this way, which was obviously abnormal.

"Are they also trying to snag a bargain?" Gou An looked at the two men, and frowned as they approached.

One of them was wearing a pure white mask, and his scent had been smelled there.

With a thought, Gou An immediately recalled...

Isn't this kid the guy who brags at the Hundred Herbs Pill Shop where I buy spiritual materials?

How did I end up here?