DIV Chapter 31: The Zheng Family's Gift

Li Chang'an truly hadn't expended much effort. It was purely a matter of convenience.

However, if the Zheng family insisted on giving a gift of gratitude, he naturally wouldn't refuse.

"Young Miss, I still have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."

After chatting for a moment, Li Chang'an bid farewell and turned to leave the small courtyard.

Behind him, watching his departing figure, Zheng Qingqing pondered briefly and suddenly said, "Li Chang'an may have already broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining."

"What?" Zheng Ling'er couldn't help but be shocked.

Having fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivation at such a young age was comparable to elite descendants of Foundation Establishment families!

"Sister Qingqing, are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

"I shouldn't be mistaken. I recently obtained an ancient treasure in a secret realm that can barely see through illusions." Zheng Qingqing shook her head slightly.

"His strength appears unchanged, but his aura is unstable, clearly intentionally concealed. If he hadn't broken through, he wouldn't need to do this."

Hearing this, Zheng Ling'er couldn't help but fall silent.

Li Chang'an's aptitude seemed stronger than she had imagined.

She wavered somewhat, but quickly firmed her resolve again.

Her lifelong Dao companion must possess hope of Foundation Establishment.

Though Li Chang'an was good, it would be difficult for him to cross that Foundation Establishment threshold.

...

Before long, the Zheng family's gift of gratitude arrived.

This gift could indeed be called generous!

"A dwelling near the market's central area, complete with front and back courtyards!"

Li Chang'an was surprised, looking at the deed in his hand.

One must know that although Qinghe Market was built upon a second-tier spiritual vein, not the entire market could enjoy second-tier spiritual energy concentration.

Only the most central small area had heaven and earth spiritual energy concentration reaching the second-tier realm.

The further out, the lower the spiritual energy concentration.

Li Chang'an's current dwelling was at the market's outermost edge, where spiritual energy concentration barely reached first-tier low-grade.

He had previously planned to move, as he was now a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator and would be better off cultivating in an area with more abundant spiritual energy.

Now, the Zheng family had directly gifted him a better place!

"The area where that house is located must have at least first-tier superior-grade spiritual energy concentration, enough for me to cultivate to late-stage Qi Refining!"

Li Chang'an held the deed, extremely satisfied.

That very evening, he brought all his possessions and moved into his new home.

"Having a courtyard feels completely different."

Li Chang'an smiled as he came to his small courtyard, looking up at the star-filled sky.

This was already near the market's core area, where every inch of land was precious.

Having a small courtyard here was truly luxurious!

Moreover, it was also safer!

His previous dwelling had been at the market's edge. If the market were ever attacked, the edge areas would certainly be the first to suffer.

"If I had a formation array for protection, that would be even more perfect!" Li Chang'an pondered.

He was now well-off and could go to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion to buy a protective formation array for his residence, making it even safer.

Then he instructed Big Yellow to continue digging tunnels. Better safe than sorry!

"I'll go to the black market tomorrow, hopefully without encountering any accidents."

Though today's accident had brought Li Chang'an considerable gains, he preferred peaceful days.

Time slowly passed.

That night, just after the hour of zi, a golden light appeared before Li Chang'an's eyes.

[Divination has been refreshed]

[Today's Divination: Auspicious]

[You go to the black market and buy a broken formation flag, unexpectedly discovering hidden secrets within the flag, containing a complete first-tier superior-grade formation array "Cloud Mist Hidden Kill Formation"]

"Cloud Mist Hidden Kill Formation?"

Li Chang'an's heart rejoiced, as he had long heard of this formation array.

It was considered a masterpiece even among first-tier superior-grade formation arrays!

Setting up this formation required large quantities of valuable materials.

Therefore its quality was extremely high, its price quite expensive, and very few Qi Refining cultivators could afford it.

"No need to buy a formation array, saving another sum of spirit stones." Li Chang'an calculated silently in his heart.

The more spirit stones he had, the easier it would be to plan for Foundation Establishment in the future.

...

The next day, at dawn, Li Chang'an changed his aura, put on a face mask, and headed straight for the black market.

This time, no accidents occurred along the way.

He successfully arrived at the black market.

"Big Yellow, we'll wait outside while the puppet body goes in."

Li Chang'an concentrated his thoughts and controlled his puppet body to walk directly toward the black market.

He himself stayed with Big Yellow in an underground space that Big Yellow had created with magic.

Inside the black market, it was similar to Qinghe Market's trading area.

There were many stalls with people coming and going, noisy and bustling.

At every moment one could hear sounds of hawking and bargaining.

The difference was that most cultivators in the black market had hidden their faces, and very few used their real identities.

"First, let me find those formation flags mentioned in the divination." Li Chang'an's gaze moved, sweeping over stall after stall.

About a quarter-hour later, he locked onto five formation flags, all somewhat broken, with nothing particularly special visible from their appearance.

Since he wasn't entirely certain, Li Chang'an directly bought all five formation flags, planning to examine them slowly after returning.

Afterwards, he began selling items he couldn't use.

"Green Wood Sword, Green Wood Shield, these two low-grade magical artifacts came from Wu Yun's storage bag and are no longer useful to me, plus this meteor hammer..."

Li Chang'an moved between various stalls, selling these items to different stall owners at slightly reduced prices.

Soon, he had obtained over a hundred spirit stones by selling these things.

There were still many items unsold, but he temporarily stopped and left the black market.

"I've already sold enough. Selling more might draw attention."

Li Chang'an controlled his puppet to return to his side.

After taking the spirit stones and formation flags, he changed the puppet's appearance, giving it a new identity.

After a while, he controlled the puppet to re-enter the black market and continue selling remaining items.

Going back and forth like this multiple times, each transaction yielded varying amounts of spirit stones.

Sometimes it was dozens, sometimes one or two hundred.

Finally, Li Chang'an sold all the items he couldn't use.

"That's about enough, went fairly smoothly."

After the final transaction, Li Chang'an controlled his puppet to leave the black market.

But suddenly, he frowned, noticing several auras following at a distance behind him.

"Still got targeted after all." Li Chang'an felt somewhat helpless.

This black market truly wasn't a good place, he'd been targeted by robber cultivators on his very first visit.

"Do I look that easy to bully?" Li Chang'an thought it over.

The puppet body's aura was very weak, seemingly indeed easy to bully.

"Big Yellow, prepare for action!"

Li Chang'an's face showed a trace of coldness as he instructed Big Yellow.

Since they chose to be robber cultivators, they should be prepared to be robbed!

On the surface, the puppet body used several talismans, its speed suddenly increasing as if it had discovered the robber cultivators following behind.

Those robber cultivators increased their speed accordingly.

"He's discovered us!"

"Doesn't matter, he can't escape!"

Among this group of robber cultivators, the strongest was a middle-aged cultivator at the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

The others were at the third layer of Qi Refining.

The middle-aged cultivator questioned his subordinates.

"Are you certain that person is a fat sheep?"

"Boss, I've been watching the whole time. That guy sold over a hundred spirit stones' worth of treasures, definitely a fat sheep!"

"That's good!"

A trace of greed appeared in the middle-aged cultivator's eyes.

He cackled strangely a few times, then shouted loudly, "Fellow Daoist ahead, please stop! I intend to bestow upon you an opportunity!"

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