Stuck on the highway, I just flew home on my sword!

Lin Ye put the pink keychain, which had a faint perfume scent, into his pocket.

He walked out of the old residential area gate.

The morning air in Jiangnan City had a unique damp chill.

The streets were full of commuters rushing to work.

Some people were carrying steaming hot buns, while others were running frantically at the bus stop to catch the bus that was about to close.

Lin Ye stood by the roadside, watching this scene full of everyday life.

Cultivators seek transcendence, but they do not reject the hustle and bustle of the mortal world.

He raised his hand and flagged down a taxi.

"Master, go to Nanyao Antique City."

The driver was a middle-aged man in his forties with a receding hairline.

Upon hearing the destination, the driver turned on the meter and glanced at Lin Ye in the rearview mirror.

"Young man, going to the antique market?"

"The waters there are very deep now."

"Nine out of ten stalls source their goods from the arts and crafts wholesale market."

"You're so young, going over there to join the fun is dangerous, or you'll get taken advantage of."

The driver was a kind-hearted person and also a chatterbox.

Lin Ye leaned back in his chair, watching the street scene rushing past the window.

"Let's just wander around."

His tone was flat.

Seeing that Lin Ye wasn't in a good mood, the driver wisely shut up and focused on driving.

Half an hour later.

The taxi stopped in front of a huge antique-style archway.

Nanyao Antique City.

The largest distribution center for antiques and collectibles in Jiangnan Province.

Even though it's a weekday, the place is still bustling with people.

The streets were lined with countless stalls.

On the stalls covered with red cloth, various porcelain items, copper coins, calligraphy and paintings, and jade stones covered in mud were displayed.

The sounds of hawking and bargaining mingled together, creating a noisy atmosphere.

Lin Ye walked into the street with his hands in the pockets of his gray casual clothes.

Unlike other Taobao affiliates, he didn't squat in front of the stall with a magnifying glass to examine it carefully.

He simply maintained a steady pace, weaving through the crowd.

The divine sense of the mid-stage Transcendent Realm has already spread out silently.

Centered on him, every object within a hundred meters is clearly visible to him.

Ordinary porcelain has an earthy smell.

The antiqued copper coins had a pungent chemical smell.

Just then.

Lin Ye stopped in front of a stall selling miscellaneous items.

The stall owner was a thin old man wearing a melon-shaped hat, slowly sipping tea from a purple clay teapot.

Lin Ye squatted down.

His gaze fell on a broken jade pendant covered in black grime.

To the average person, this jade pendant would be nothing but trash.

However, in Lin Ye's divine sense, the jade pendant contained an extremely faint trace of wood-attribute spiritual energy.

Although faint, it is definitely there.

"Boss, how much is this?"

Lin Ye pointed to the jade pendant.

The skinny old man didn't even lift his eyelids.

"If you really want this fragment of Hetian jade from the Ming Dynasty, give me five hundred and take it."

Lin Ye stood up and left.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be in such a hurry, young man!"

The skinny old man quickly put down the purple clay teapot and grabbed Lin Ye's sleeve.

"Asking for an exorbitant price and then negotiating on the spot."

Give me a fair price.

Lin Ye held up two fingers.

"twenty."

The skinny old man's face instantly fell.

"Twenty? You're haggling way too much. That's not even enough to cover my cost of goods."

"Fifty! Fifty is the minimum, just to make friends."

Lin Ye took out his phone and scanned the QR code on the stall.

"Alipay payment received, 50 yuan."

An electronic synthesized sound began.

Lin Ye picked up the broken jade pendant, casually put it in his pocket, and turned to walk towards the next stall.

The skinny old man watched Lin Ye's retreating figure, his mouth practically stretched to his ears in a wide grin.

"These days, there really are fools who would spend fifty dollars to buy a broken rock."

For the next half hour...

Lin Ye used the same method to sweep through different stalls.

A rusty bronze dagger cost 120.

A piece of black wood carving whose material is indistinguishable cost eighty yuan.

The items together cost him less than five hundred yuan.

After working like a slave at GG for the past few years, he still managed to save tens of thousands of yuan in his bank account.

This level of exertion is perfectly manageable for him.

Although the spiritual energy within these objects is extremely thin, it is still barely sufficient to set up some basic formations and serve as the foundation of the formation.

Just as Lin Ye was preparing to head home.

His steps suddenly stopped.

An exceptionally strong fluctuation of spiritual energy suddenly entered the range of his divine sense.

This fluctuation was more than ten times stronger than all the items he had just bought combined.

Lin Ye looked in the direction of the fluctuations.

That was a corner on the very edge of the antique market.

There were few people.

An old man wearing a tattered black cotton-padded coat was sitting cross-legged on a tattered woven bag.

The old man had a gloomy face and deep-set eyes, exuding a cold and unapproachable aura.

Several items were haphazardly placed on the woven bag in front of him.

A piece of blackened bone, a stone full of holes, and an ancient bronze ring.

Lin Ye's gaze was fixed on the bronze ring.

The ring's surface is engraved with extremely intricate patterns.

Although covered in mud, the unique spatial laws of the cultivation world could not be concealed.

Accept the ring!

This is what is commonly referred to as a storage ring in secular novels.

Lin Ye understood.

Since Earth was the core of cultivation, the "ancestral star," in ancient times, it is normal for it to have left behind magical artifacts of this level.

Although it's unknown how much space is in this ring.

Even if it's only a few cubic meters, it's still much more convenient than having to carry a backpack every time he goes out.

Lin Ye strode toward the secluded stall.

As I passed by a stall selling calligraphy and paintings.

The chubby stall owner kindly helped Lin Ye.

"Young man, don't go over there."

The portly stall owner lowered his voice and pointed to the gloomy old man.

"That old man's name is Zhang Jiu, and he's a genuine tomb raider."

"The things he sells are all dug out of mass graves; they're really weird."

"Moreover, this old man has a strange temper; he never bargains and always asks for exorbitant prices."

"He's been setting up his stall here for months, and he hasn't sold a single item."

"Take my advice and don't go looking for trouble."

Lin Ye nodded slightly to the portly stall owner to express his gratitude.

But his steps did not falter in the slightest.

He walked straight to Zhang Jiu's stall.

Hearing footsteps, Zhang Jiu slowly raised his head.

A hint of surprise flashed in those cloudy eyes.

He set up his stall here for several months, and even seasoned veteran players avoided him like the plague.

Today, a young punk actually came over to me.

Zhang Jiu glanced at Lin Ye and noticed that he was dressed in ordinary casual clothes and did not have the arrogance of those rich kids.

The glimmer of light in his eyes dimmed instantly.

I guess he's just a curious college student who came here to look around aimlessly.

Zhang Jiu lowered his head again, closed his eyes, and simply ignored Lin Ye.

Lin Ye squatted in front of the woven bag.

He didn't touch the ring.

He just pointed with his finger.

"Boss, what's the origin of this ring?"

Zhang Jiu opened his eyes, his voice hoarse.

"Don't ask if you're not buying."

Lin Ye spoke calmly.

Name your price.

Zhang Jiu sneered.

He extended his withered finger and tapped it on the bronze ring.

"I found this thing in a tomb deep in the mountains in my hometown a month ago."

"At the time, this thing was on the hand of a skeleton."

"It feels icy cold in your hand, and even under the bright sun, it still exudes a chill."

"I know this is a rare item."

Zhang Jiu raised his head and stared intently into Lin Ye's eyes.

"If you want it, it'll cost five thousand dollars."

"Not a penny less."